NFL 2022 Regular Season Thread.

[Hiromi]

We’re reaching the point we’re it is literally a penalty to tackle the quarterback period

[SUPERECWFAN1]

I'm at work but seeing Kansas City pull out another close one is good. It really has to get to Carr that usually these games are this close and somehow...Pat Mahomes is able to do it

[worstblogever]

I'm not sure that he's going to feel too badly about being out of a job. If I read the article about his firing correctly, he's owed $40 million dollars from that 7-year mega contract he signed.

And he's already being bandied about as the next coach at Nebraska or Arizona State. Another payday.

[worstblogever]

I'm not sure that he's going to feel too badly about being out of a job. If I read the article about his firing correctly, he's owed $40 million dollars from that 7-year mega contract he signed.

First HC axe of the season. Matt Rhule out in Carolina.

Just saw that. Not at all unexpected.

He was our #2 pick for it at the start of "FIRE THIS COACH" watch, but the only surprise in my mind is they didn't wait for their BYE week or at least after their TNF game next month to do it.

But he clearly lost the team. And two former Heismann0winning QBs.

[SUPERECWFAN1]

So some key numbers and stats.

1- Travis Kelce became the 1st player in Monday Night history to catch 4 Tds in a game.

- Pat Mahomes with his 4 TDs passed Troy Aikman on career TD list. Mahomes now has 166 TDs in his young career.

[WestPhillyPunisher]

Another undeserved roughness call gives the Raiders a FG instead of KC getting the ball. The Refs are deciding the games.

We’re reaching the point we’re it is literally a penalty to tackle the quarterback period

My uneducated guess? The zebras are overreacting after what happened to Tua.

[worstblogever]

My uneducated guess? The zebras are overreacting after what happened to Tua.

I'll note, Brady seemed to not want to talk about the call, saying, "I don't throw the flags" in the post-game after that Bucs/Falcons game.

But to everyone here, I am of the opinion, and I have heard MANY other folks in sports media who cover the NFL mention the name...

Jerome Boger.

That would be the same guy who blew a roughing the passer call the prior week in the Ravens/Bills tilt, and whose crew was suspended for the remainder of the playoffs for the "inadvertent whistle" call in the Bengals/Raiders matchup.

Boger is THE WORST.

[worstblogever]

WEEK 5 "WHO'S COOKIN' ON THE HOTSEAT?/FIRE THIS COACH!" DISCUSSION

10. Frank Reich, Colts : How do you get yet ANOTHER Pro Bowl veteran QB in free agency for the third year in a row (Rivers, Wentz, now Matt Ryan), and have him start out through five weeks with easily the worst statistical line of his career? Sure, there might be some 2-3 teams that mathematically have a worse record than the 2-2-1 Indianapolis team, but consider how long Reich has been the coach here, and that the Colts are supposed to be another favorite in the AFC. Virtually a lock to win a decision where the Jags are trying to just rise to being mediocre, the Texans are, again, gonna be hamstrung by an inept front office, and the Titans, their only supposed competition were believed to be taking a step back.

How bad is this? Reich is an offensive coach, he has a potential Hall of Famer in Ryan as his QB, a top offensive line, and a solid RB room that were underperforming before they all got the injury bug. This team is 32nd in the league, you know, LAST in points per game at 13.8 PPG. The second place team on that list is the Denver Broncos at 15.0 PPG, who the Colts still beat 12-9 this past Thursday night in what’s being called one of the ugliest, saddest showdowns in the history of TNF, AND THAT’S SAYING A LOT. It was a game only a punter or kicker’s mother would love.

Point being, if Frank Reich can’t get his team into the playoffs, we don’t think there’s enough medication to make Jim Irsay patient enough to not fire him.

9. Arthur Smith, Falcons: All right, here’s one of our true hot seats on this list. Matt Ryan is, again, gone to Indianapolis. This team is led by Marcus Mariota, and has rookie QB Desmond Ridder waiting to step in mid-season to prove something. Their top WR is suspended for gambling for the whole year, and their best RB (when available) is actually a WR. They have virtually no one you’ve ever heard of on the defensive side of the ball, and their best player, currently, might be their kicker.

Yesterday, the Falcons lost in every phase of the game, getting no sacks or turnovers from their defense, and missing their only FG attempt, and entering the 4th quarter trailing 21-0. Mariota came alive in the 4th quarter, getting his team within a score with 5 minutes to go, and the talk after this game was how on a 3rd and 5, a roughing the passer penalty gave Tom Brady and the Buccaneers a fresh set of downs to keep chewing up the rest of the clock.

That isn’t to say that even if Tampa had to punt with 3 minutes to go from the 47, that pinned deep, Mariota would continue to lead another TD drive from deep in his own territory. The Bucs defense has, y’know, been REALLY GOOD all year. This drops the Falcons to 2-3, 9-12 overall under Arthur Smith and next week they have the NFC West leading 49ers coming to town, looking to bury them farther down than they even are right now.



8. Pete Carroll, Seahawks: Yes, Carroll gave this city a Super Bowl. That was… some time ago. After what were apparently many seasons of attempting to jettison his franchise QB, Russell Wilson, management sent him to Denver after a disappointing 2021 season with a 7-10 record and with offenses, defenses, and kicking team all ranked in the bottom five in the NFL in their respective categories. The Legion of Boom is LONG GONE. This defense lost Bobby Wagner this offseason, and Chris Carson retired. Elijah Penny got a nasty injury in Week 5. All they have is Metcalf and Lockett at WR, and Jamaal Adams and a bunch of scarecrows in the secondary (Adams is great against the run, but gets torched in coverage a LOT… and he got carted off in Week 1, not a good sign).

While Geno Smith has stunned many by being a competent signal caller so far this year, the defense has still been a sieve. The Seahawks are currently 31st in points allowed, giving up 30.8 a game with only Detroit being worse through five weeks, and dead last in the NFL rush defense (170 yards per game) and in yards allowed.

Those averages weren’t helped by the fact that New Orleans had two players rush for over 100 yards against them yesterday (Alvin Kamara, we would have expected, but Taysom Hill?), and Andy Dalton didn’t screw it up enough for the Saints to get the best of the Seahawks. And if they can’t stop New Orleans led by Dalton, wait until next week where Kyler Murray and Arizona come back in front of the 12s, where the Cardinals have bizarrely done really well at beating up on Pete Carroll’s boyos. Carroll wins that matchup, he’s probably back off this list, and Kingsbury would take his place on it at 2-4. Expect a pinball score in that game.


7. Mike Tomlin, Steelers: Alright, look… I don’t want Mike Tomlin fired. I think he’s a damned fine coach, he’s kept the Steelers winning for like a decade, and has never posted a record under .500 in that time. It’s prolifically good. Historically, he’s got one of the best and most consistent coaching records in the entire history of the league. This being said, even when he just loses in the playoffs, there are Yinzers out there in Pennsyltucky who call for his job. (They’re wrong, but they still do.) Now they’re 1-4, without T.J. Watt, whose whole body imploded like it couldn’t bear the weight of trying to carry all the cash they signed him to a long-term deal for, and they have Kenny Pickett trying to find his way. Pittsburgh hasn’t been four games under .500 since starting 0-4 back in 2013, when Tomlin still got the team to limp back to 8-8 by the end of that year. They have the Bucs next week, so that could be a real possibility that they drop to 1-5.

This squad does not look like they have that in them, getting destroyed 38-3 yesterday by a Bills team that was dealing with all sorts of injuries. Josh Allen put up over 400 yards and 4 TDs on the Steelers once-legendary defense, and that was done in only 46 minutes of game action, with him sitting almost the entire 4th quarter in favor of Case Keenum.

With the QBs around the AFC, I don’t want to fault Mike Tomlin for at least this season, Pittsburgh bringing a knife to a gunfight. Why WON’T he be fired? The Steelers franchise changes coaches about as often as cicadas turn up.

6. Dan Campbell, Lions : To paraphrase a cleverer poster than me, “The Lions continue their 60 year process of rebuilding…”

Wait, is it now 70? It might be 70. But to the current guy…

Dan Campbell is a former Tight Ends coach who yells about getting up again and again to bite your opponents’ kneecaps, which starts out like some inspiring Captain America speech but sometimes ends up sounding like a meek little chihuahua. He needs to send a bouquet of flowers to HBO’s Hard Knocks every day for making him look like a super-soldier throughout the pre-season, and making Detroit a hard team to root against, especially young receiver Amon Ra-St.Brown and DeAndre Swift, who is possibly the best RB in Detroit since Barry retired.

Still, for all that bluster, Detroit is 1-4, and is dead last in points allowed and 31st in yards allowed per game. This defense cannot stop anybody, and they got shut out 29-0 Sunday by a Patriots team led by, I s*** you not, Bailey Zappe, a rookie QB out of Western Kentucky. Yeah, a f***ing Hill-Topper humiliated this defense again, and Darth Hoodie and his mulleted-weirdo kid got the defense to get Jared Goff to put up the sort of numbers like he did facing them in the Super Bowl. At least he got THREE points that day.

Next up for a Lions team that can’t stop the run? The Dallas Cowboys! Gee, wonder how that’s gonna go… maybe Dallas runs the ball down their throat, forcing them to play from behind and throw the ball a ton against a Cowboys defense that’s scaring the s*** out of people with its ability to produce sacks…

Calling it now, Lions drop to 1-5 next week. And Campbell’s record as Detroit’s coach? It’s currently 4-17-1, and likely to go to 4-18-1.

[worstblogever]

5. Lovie Smith, Texans: We respect Lovie Smith, but we also know that the owners of the Houston Texans wanted Josh McCown to be their next coach, and it’s only because of Brian Flores’ lawsuit that the f***sticks in their front office got caught potentially skirting the Rooney Rule and backpedaled to hire Lovie to cover their asses from any league punishments that could have come.

There were some thoughts about how Lovie might be coaching his ass off through the first two games, tying the Colts in Week 1 even though they were many people’s AFC favorite, and in Week 2, they held their own against the Broncos, another trendy pick to do the same. Was Lovie turning Houston around? Week 3 was a big, “DOUBT IT” moment after the Texans lost an easily winnable game to the Bears. And it was ugly offensively. How did the Bears win with Justin Fields posting a stat line of 8/17 for 107 yards, 0 TDs, and 2 INTs? Because Houston’s defense gave up 281 yards rushing to Chicago, that’s how. And Lovie is one of those “defensive coaches”, so that’s pretty sad that his front 7 were a sieve like that. Week 4: Justin Herbert, playing hurt, carved up their secondary for 340 yards and two TDs.

But Week 5? Lovie gets Houston their first win of the year over the Jaguars. How’d they do it?

They told Davis Mills to hold onto the f***nig ball. That’s really it. Trevor Lawrence threw 2 picks, and even though Mills only threw for 140 yards for the game, and Houston’s rushing attack only got them another 116 yards on the ground… they won. Yes, the total yardage in this was Jags 422 to 256 for the Texans… and Houston didn’t get a sack… but those turnovers made all the difference in a 13-6 win. It just took one good TD drive in the 4th quarter where a 3rd and 20 got turned into a free first down when Trayvon Walker lost his damned mind and threw Davis Mills to the ground to give new life to the Texans’ inept offense.

We still think Lovie will get fired after going like 5-12 so this team can hire McCown. And that sucks, but it's gonna be what happens.

Next week, the “Draft Position” game of the week features Houston & Las Vegas. Someone’s gotta win. Or tie I guess. I dunno.


4. Josh McDaniels, Raiders: So far this year, Oakland got beat by the Chargers & Titans, and Cardinals by a combined 13 points. That Arizona loss in week two, though… it was the biggest blown lead in the history of the Raiders franchise, regardless of what city they’ve ever played in. They then went to Denver last week and won by 9, showing they clearly aren’t one of the worst teams in the league, but they will find ways to lose winnable games.

At least, that’s how they looked before they played the Chiefs on MNF and dropped to 1-4 after blowing a 17 point lead against Kansas City, seemingly because they forgot Patrick Mahomes likes to throw to Travis Kelce, who caught 4 TDs against them. They blew a 20 point second half lead to the Cardinals, and now a 17 point lead against their division rivals… let’s face it, it already looks like a long shot that the Raiders make the playoffs, given the division they’re in, and how brutal the AFC is right now.

The only question is… how many losses are going to pile up for them, and is it enough to convince ownership that hiring Josh McDaniels was a big, big mistake?


3. Nathaniel Hackett, Broncos : This team is the most inept-looking 2-3 team in the league right now. Their wins have underwhelmed, and one was against the lowly Texans. If they’d poached Eric Bienemy from the Chiefs, they wouldn’t be having this problem right now. Instead, they have a coaching staff with a first time head coach, first time OC, first time DC, and first time Special Teams coach.

Russell Wilson was brought in for a king’s ransom, and underwhelmed from the jump. Now we’re hearing he’s playing with a torn lat in his throwing shoulder, and if there’s one thing we’ve seen for the past year, it’s that Russell Wilson is not someone you want playing hurt. This past week’s Thursday Night Football was a travesty to watch, and Denver fans got so bored booing three-and-outs that they were streaming for the exits in the fourth quarter of a game they had tied 9-9, and never trailed by more than a FG. That’s how little faith the Mile High City has in this office and coaching staff. With what they saw, three points was an insurmountable deficit.

Russell Wilson is now “questionable” to play next Monday against the Chargers in a Monday Night Football game with that shoulder injury, and his backup is Brett Rypien. We’ve seen nothing to think that Nathaniel Hackett has an answer as to how to reverse this team’s fortunes on offense, with them only producing a woeful 15.0 PPG, good enough for 31st in the league. At least the defense is 3rd in yards allowed, and 4th in points per game allowed, but when Justin Herbert’s coming to town… you’re gonna need more points to win. And we frankly don’t think they do it, and drop to 2-4.


2. Ron Rivera, Washington Commanders: We hate putting his name on this list, but we’ve done it for three years now. Why’s it hard? The guy risked Covid-19 while coaching through fighting cancer and BEAT IT. That battle is probably the only positive news story you can find about the Washington Football Team from the past two years. The front office absolutely wants a guy they can champion who’s up against something as reviled as cancer, because it’s only slightly better regarded than a scumbag like their owner Daniel Snyder, who currently is trying to mitigate the damage from several potentially criminal activities and ignore Congressional subpoenas, hoping he won’t be forced to sell the team. We have been, and continue to rooting for Riverboat Ron, but we know Daniel Snyder is also the exact kind of motherf***er who would fire a guy who risked death to coach his team.

They opened up with a schedule with the Jaguars (they won!) but have dropped every game since, including yesterday, when Carson Wentz through an interception at the goal line with 6 seconds left in a 21-17 loss.

While we think they’re lucky that they could get a win this week against the Chicago Bears, the Commanders had better show up for this game, given that it’s on Thursday Night Football in prime time, with the eyes of the nation focused on them.

Well, maybe not. With as bad as TNF was last week with Broncos/Colts, people will still might be too nauseous to watch football that bad again. And like they would expect from a Bears/Commanders matchup.



1. Matt Ruhle, Panthers: FIRED! THEY’RE FIRED!

I had written on Sunday evening…

“Under Ruhle’s leadership, the Panthers have lost 16 of their last 19 games. Bringing in Baker Mayfield has not changed the fortunes of Carolina’s offense. Note also, Ruhle’s supposed to be an offensive genius, he’s got a former Heismann winning QB and one of the best running backs in football over the past decade… and they cannot get in the end zone. None of the young talent on this roster looks like they’ve improved, Chuba Hubbard, DJ Moore, even veteran Robbie Anderson has regressed (and was clear, he wanted no part of Baker Mayfield, so it’s not much of a shocker they had no chemistry). In Week 4, Ruhle got outcoached by Kliff Kingsbury. KLIFF KINGSBURY!

After yesterday’s drubbing at the hands of the 49ers, who won in all three phases (a theme for the Panthers’ opponents this year) Ruhle’s record as a coach is now 11-27. Baker Mayfield left at the half and spent the second half on the sideline in a walking boot. With Sam Darnold still “nowhere near” ready to come back from a high ankle sprain, we’re talking about former XFL star PJ Walker taking snaps for Carolina next week. Who’s coming to town to greet him?

Oh, just Aaron Donald and the Rams’ defense, who are gonna be salty after losing 22-10 to the Cowboys.
We’re starting to wonder if Ruhle could be a mid-season firing, and if so, we think it could happen if they lose to Atlanta on 11/10 (a Thursday night game that’s gonna be a stinker, but it gives any interim coach a week and a half to prepare for the next game), or if they lose to Denver on 11/27 (there’s a BYE week after that).

Watch to see if this squad can get any wins (we really think playing Atlanta twice is their only chances) prior to those games, and if they don’t, Ruhle’s more likely to be rode outta town on a rail without finishing the year.”

And… yeah, I was wrong, Panthers ownership didn’t even give Ruhle more than five games, but have laughably replaced him with interim coach Steve Wilks, who went 3-13 in Arizona in his one year there, and looked WAY in over his head.

Anyway, Matt Ruhle, I hope you land back somewhere comfortable in the NCAA like Nebraska or Arizona State, who should already be trying to land your services, and you enjoy the rest of the $40 million that Carolina still owes you on the rest of your seven-year contract. Gotta say, pink slips might hurt, but that fact should dull the blow for the guy.

[SUPERECWFAN1]

Some more notes from this game ....


- The Chiefs likely now are happy they didn't invest heavy in Orlando Brown Jr. at left tackle. In the off season KC offered Brown a 6 year , $139 million dollar contract extension. With $30+ million signing bonus and $95 million guaranteed in the 1st 4 seasons. Brown turned it down wanting more. As one sports channel showed Brown has been....well he's not been good. Against the Raiders he nearly got Mahomes killed a few times against Chandler Jones.

KC will likely tag Brown again but a need area next season will be....left tackle. So the Chiefs will likely look to the NFL Draft to find that young player to groom a season and let Brown go.



- EVERYONE is laughing at the penalty on Chris Jones who sacked and stripped the ball , yet got a flag for roughing the passer. As one ex-defensive player said on ESPN "So were now not allowed to fall on a QB in a game ? Whats going on here NFL ?"



- In pure frustration as the season hasn't gone as Devante Adams thought , he shoved a camera man to the ground post game. Adams apologized later to the camera man over the situation. But in a pure comedy spot , Adams was ran into by Renfro on a pass pattern. Its said that KC did a rare good defensive play to Adams ...they were able to jam him seconds at the line. Which threw off the timing pattern McDaniels called.

[Ghost Rider TheHellfireDemon]

I'm very happy my Titans avoided losing a close game to an undeniable terrible Commanders team because the Titan's defense got the needed stop with an interception which is a soul-crushing Charle Brown-style chokejob. The Titans have won 3 consecutive games after the frustrating 0-2 start, and are a team entering their bye week with a winning record which makes me very happy.
The Commanders are undeniably terrible because they've lost 4 consecutive games, they failed 3 times to score a game-winning touchdown vs the Titans after a Titans defense penalty gave the Commanders terrific field position late in the game. During the 4 game losing streak, the only game that they had a realistic chance of winning was the close game vs the Titans.

Texans fans have to feel amazing because they don't have to keep waiting for the Texans to win their first game since the Texans defeated the Jaguars in an entertaining ugly low scoring game. Highly embarrassing for the Jaguars at home to lose to the hapless Texans.


The Jets with Wilson as their starter are now 2-0 because they easily defeated the Dolphins 40-17 which is unsurprising because Bridgewater had to leave this game because of a concussion, and the Jets scored first with a safety. Since the Jets steamrolled a Dolphins team that was using their 3rd string QB most likely that's why Jets fans won't overreact that the Jets are a great team.
The Jets have won 2 consecutive games which had them defeating a rebuilding Steelers team, and a struggling Dolphins team that had to use their 3rd string QB.
The Jets realistically could win more than 4 games so it'll be a less depressing season for Jets fans compared to the frustrating 2021 season.

[worstblogever]

Wondering if Carolina's going into "full tank mode", and is going to start trading away players for draft capital.

I know Buffalo might want an upgrade or extra help at RB, and McCaffrey or Hubbard could probably be snagged for a price.

Similarly, someone looking for WR help, like Baltimore, might want to see what the price would be for DJ Moore or Robbie Anderson.

And if someone needed help at CB (ARIZONA, HINT), I would think they would make anyone but Jaycee Horn available if the price was right.

[babyblob]

The Panthers went full tank mode the second they decided to start Baker.

[SUPERECWFAN1]

Wondering if Carolina's going into "full tank mode", and is going to start trading away players for draft capital.

I know Buffalo might want an upgrade or extra help at RB, and McCaffrey or Hubbard could probably be snagged for a price.

Similarly, someone looking for WR help, like Baltimore, might want to see what the price would be for DJ Moore or Robbie Anderson.

And if someone needed help at CB (ARIZONA, HINT), I would think they would make anyone but Jaycee Horn available if the price was right.

I'd look at moving McCaffrey due to the contract and short shelf life of RBs. Plus the guy has 7,000+ yards on his body right now at 26.

So I'd move him. The WRs I keep because you need a franchise QB in the draft.

[worstblogever]

I'd look at moving McCaffrey due to the contract and short shelf life of RBs. Plus the guy has 7,000+ yards on his body right now at 26.

So I'd move him. The WRs I keep because you need a franchise QB in the draft.

Robby Anderson does have some mileage on him, though. And given how well Anderson gets alone with Bakes...

I think he could be the one moved.