Week 9 of the NFL saw the first Frankfurt Game, which confirmed a problematic trend for the Miami Dolphins. The Seattle Seahawks are turning out to be paper tigers and we have an Offensive Rookie of the Year. The most important findings of the week.
NFL: Miami Dolphins continue to wait
Head coach Mike McDaniel put it aptly at one of his must-see press conferences during the week: If the Dolphins won the game in Frankfurt against the Kansas City Chiefs, everyone would talk about Miami as the Super Bowl favorites, if not, then they would always have Haven’t won a game against a team with a positive record and would be portrayed as soft.
Soft it is, then. It may have been tight in the last quarter against the bosses in Frankfurt and they were on the verge of at least equalizing before the end of the game. But a fumble on 4th down ended the game and the Dolphins are 0-3 against teams over .500! As a colleague from “nfl.com” correctly noted, it was at least competitive this time after being clearly beaten against the Eagles and Bills. But the bottom line is that this time too it is a defeat. In total, they have now lost six games in a row against teams over .500.
And it’s bitter, especially after the week you’ve had. The Dolphins performed with all the self-confidence in the world and were already talking openly about the Super Bowl. McDaniel himself explained to the “NFL Network” that they had flown to Frankfurt on Tuesday to simulate a week away next February, when they would also be there for a long time in Las Vegas. So Super Bowl is just a formality.
Confidence is certainly good, but then you can’t act like the Dolphins did before the break. For the most part nothing worked. There was no noticeable advantage of being better acclimatized. The Chiefs were the ones who looked more awake, even though they only started their trip on Thursday. And they even managed to play left-handed, which in turn revealed the clear deficits of Fangio’s defense.
Fangio did everything he could to take Travis Kelce (3 REC, 14 YDS) out of the game, but his vaunted defense was completely unable to get the other receivers under control. Why? Because Mahomes kept finding gaps in the zone. Although none of the Chiefs receivers have performed particularly well recently, and that didn’t change against Miami, they were good enough. And they were open, very wide open, with their targets.
Even with the dream cornerback duo of Jalen Ramsey and Xavien Howard on the field together for the first time, Mahomes had little trouble finding the open receiver, especially over the middle and over short distances. A switch to man coverage would probably have been beneficial here. Additionally, the Dolphins’ pass rush wasn’t good enough without blitzing. Bradley Chubb’s fastest sack took 4.6 seconds, underscoring that Mahomes simply had way too much time to throw.
The bottom line is that we have to continue to state that the Dolphins are not the big favorites despite their offense. Not unless they prove that they can beat good teams.
NFL: The Seattle Seahawks are a paper tiger
The big story last week was the fact that the Seahawks were suddenly back at the top of the NFC West as a result of the 49ers’ third defeat in a row. Everyone was full of praise and impressed by this quick turnaround in Seattle. Surely they won’t be a real contender in the NFC?
The answer: No, they won’t. You are a paper tiger. And a pretty shaky one at that. They were overrun by the Baltimore Ravens, clearly the best team in the NFL at the moment according to DVOA. Literally! The Ravens ran for 298 yards and three touchdowns on just 27 carries. According to “Next Gen Stats” this was a measly +157 rushing yards over expected.
As a reminder, the Seahawks did a lot in the offseason to strengthen the run defense. They even brought back linebacker Bobby Wagner and traded for defensive lineman Leonard Williams during the week. The result is sobering.
What’s also alarming is the fact that after the pack in Baltimore they have a point difference of -4, which makes their now 5-3 record no longer look so good.
In addition, according to ESPN, the Seahawks have the fourth toughest remaining schedule in the league. There are still four games against the Niners (2), Cowboys and Eagles, among others, which at least doesn’t bode well.
This could of course be an overreaction, but given this idea, the signs of a successful end to the season should at least be questioned.
NFL: CJ Stroud is the Offensive Rookie of the Year
Is there still any doubt about CJ Stroud or who is the better quarterback of the top two picks in the 2023 draft? While top pick Bryce Young only threw two pick sixes today, Stroud played an incredible game and turned the game against the Buccaneers three times in the final quarter.
He did this with a running back as the kicker and seemingly no defense behind him. Stroud set a rookie record with 470 passing yards – passing Rams QB Marc Bulger, who threw for 453 yards in 2002 – as well as his five touchdown passes.
How good was that? In just his eighth game, he has already surpassed the career highs of Hall-of-Famers like John Elway, Brett Favre and Steve Young, to name just a few glorious names.
After this performance, the Offensive Rookie of the Year Award should already be awarded. Ultimately, of course, Young still has a chance to overtake Stroud one day, but based on what has been shown so far, that will at least be difficult. The Texans are building something really good. And currently with a few rather average receivers, all of whom are exceeding themselves. If DeMeco Ryans gets his defense under control now, the Texans could actually be on the attack in the not too distant future – at least in the AFC South.
NFL: Liberated Raiders to be treated with caution
The Las Vegas Raiders played like they were excited and seemed liberated in their clear victory over the New York Giants. Josh McDaniels is gone and after it came as a surprise at the beginning of the week, unsurprisingly more information has now leaked out suggesting that the separation has become inevitable.
It’s not uncommon for something like this to happen, dirty laundry ends up being washed everywhere in such situations as time passes. There is talk of a very loud meeting in which people railed against the coaches. However, judging by the subsequent defeat at the Lions on Monday evening, it wasn’t a cleansing storm. And so Mark Davis finally pulled the ripcord.
At least that’s what the reports from the city of sin go.
Is this all true? Who knows. The bottom line is that there seemed to be great relief within the team. The Raiders had scored 24 points before halftime, three more than in any game under McDaniels this season. And that with Aidan O’Connell as quarterback, who has been anything but convincing in his start so far this season. This time he played matter-of-factly and calmly. He didn’t even get a sack.
But they also gave him a good helping hand and relied primarily and creatively on the run game. Josh Jacobs led the team with two touchdowns and Jakobi Meyers, probably the only ex-Patriot on this team with a somewhat secure future, scored with a jet sweep.
What is this liberated appearance worth now? Based on previous experiences and observations, nothing at all. As a reminder: the desolate Colts also won their first game last year after Frank Reich was fired under the leadership of ex-high school coach Jeff Saturday. After that everything was lost.
It remains to be seen whether things will be similar with Antonio Pierce as interim coach. But as things stand, I wouldn’t rule it out yet. The Raiders could just as easily perform similarly now as they did in 2021, when they even reached the playoffs under Rich Bisaccia. But before we make a serious forecast, we should first take a look at the coming weeks. Especially if it’s not going to be against desolate opponents in the near future.
NFL: Joshua Dobbs for the win
Playing quarterback is damn hard. Especially in the NFL. But if you look at what Joshua Dobbs is currently playing, you could certainly question this wisdom.
Dobbs was on the field for his fifth NFL team on Sunday after his midweek trade from Arizona to Minnesota. He was a fourth-round pick of the Steelers in 2017 and landed with the Jaguars (undrafted) in 2019, returning to Pittsburgh in 2020 before landing in Cleveland in 2022. In the meantime he went to Detroit before he suddenly became a starter for the Titans shortly before the end of the season. In March he went back to Cleveland, who traded him to the Cardinals in August.
As is well known, he started the season there before they sent him to Minnesota during the week because the Vikings had lost Kirk Cousins. After just a few days with the team, Dobbs was on the bench as a backup, but had to be quickly called into action because rookie Jaren Hall was injured. And here I go back to the beginning: it’s damn hard to play quarterback in the NFL!
Dobbs, however, played as if he had been in this offense for a long time. Yes, he lost two fumbles. Gifted. He also made a great comeback and contributed three total touchdowns – two of them via passes, which is really impressive considering the fact that he probably didn’t even know all of his teammates and had internalized the entire playbook.
Whatever happens after this season, someone should give this player a chance and a proper contract. In any case, he deserves it, no matter what happens between now and the end of the season. “Pay the man!” – as Deion “Prime Time” Sanders used to say on the NFL Network.
Marcus Blumberg