AFC News and Notes from Week 8
By Teddy Covers
Sportsmemo.com
Welcome to Teddy’s unique look at the NFL. Teddy watches games all day on Sunday, typing furiously on his laptop while giving you the key info that the box scores and game recaps don’t necessarily have. This week: AFC thoughts and opinions from Week 8.
Cincinnati Bengals
Andy Dalton looked really good last week against the Lions, and he looked every bit as good here on a five TD afternoon. The Jets played their corners in single coverage for most of the game, and Cincinnati’s receivers won the vast majority of those one-on-one battles. Cinci’s offensive line kept Dalton’s uniform clean for extended stretches, giving him time to throw. And Dalton showed great accuracy on his deep balls, something he hasn’t shown very often as a pro. It’s surely worth noting that Dalton only targeted AJ Green on seven of his thirty pass attempts, spreading the ball among his playmakers; something that’s been a problem for him in the past.
The Bengals have the requisite offensive playmakers to make a deep January run. Their defense was stellar; effectively blitzing (and rattling) Geno Smith, creating turnovers, and stuffing the run completely. Conservative head coach Marvin Lewis even showed aggressiveness here, going for it on fourth and goal from the 1-yard line in the first half and throwing deep with a big second half lead instead of running it up the gut for the final 30 minutes.
Only four QB’s rank among my true elite level NFL quarterbacks: Peyton Manning, Tom Brady, Drew Brees and Aaron Rodgers. My second tier is much larger: Eli Manning, Ben Roethlisberger, Matt Ryan, Colin Kaepernick, Russell Wilson, Tony Romo, Matthew Stafford, Joe Flacco, Cam Newton, Philip Rivers and Jay Cutler. If Andy Dalton can put himself into that second tier, the Bengals are legit Super Bowl contenders.
Buffalo Bills
Thad Lewis is making 'inexperienced QB' type mistakes; certainly no surprise in his first road game against a quality foe. Lewis lost a poorly protected fumble deep in Buffalo territory to set up the Saints first score. At times, he looked completely rattled and his accuracy was off. But I was certainly impressed with his toughness, and he made a handful of really nice throws into small windows; a serviceable starter while EJ Manuel gets healthy again.
It was a mixed bag defensively today. Buffalo had a surprisingly effective pass rush against Drew Brees, getting pressure against a solid offensive line. And rookie middle linebacker Kiko Alonso was making tackles all over the field; another impressive showing for the youngster. But this secondary got torched badly once again, and it appeared as if they were out-schemed. When you see Kenny Stills racing down the sidelines for a 69-yard catch-and-run TD and he’s matched up one-on-one against linebacker Jerry Hughes, it’s never a good sign for any defense.
Cleveland Browns
This defense has declined precipitously in recent weeks. A month ago, this stop unit looked elite. Now they're struggling in pass coverage and their not stuffing the run the way they were; a shell of the stop unit we saw in September. KC had their season high yards-per-carry average against them and spent a good portion of the game converting ‘third and short’ chances. The Browns only strength was their pass rush; very creative blitz calls from coordinator Ray Horton.
Jason Campbell isn't going to make the type of horrific mistakes that Brandon Weeden has been making in recent weeks. And Campbell actually found some rhythm in this ballgame, rallying the Browns from a two score deficit to cover the spread and make things interesting in the fourth quarter. Campbell threw a couple of nice strikes to Josh Gordon, including a flea flicker TD pass, but Gordon was so wide open on that play that Weeden could have hit him in stride as well. And with the game on the line in the second half, Campbell couldn’t get this offense moving – three punts and a ‘stopped on downs’ on their final four drives.
Kansas City Chiefs
It’s not very often that teams exceed their season win total before Halloween, but KC accomplished that task with this victory; going Over the 7 or 7.5 wins they were lined at before the season started. And they’ve done it almost entirely on defense. How good is Bob Sutton’s D? Well, they rank first in the NFL in points allowed, takeaways, sacks, third down conversion percentage and red zone TD percentage allowed. Even on an afternoon where the stop unit wasn’t at their best, they stepped up and controlled the game when it mattered most -- the fourth quarter -- just as they’ve done all year.
KC's running game is strong enough to rely on their ground game for third down conversions. Left tackle Brandon Albert is a road grader for Jamal Charles, and the Chiefs receivers are solid downfield blockers. Charles hasn't had many explosive runs this year, with only one carry longer than 20 yards, but he's been as effective as any back in the NFL.
Alex Smith is never going to blow you away with his ability and he had a very rough second half here, unable to generate any downfield passing game. The general perception of Smith is spot-on. He’s not going to make mistakes that cost his team the game. He can scramble away from pressure and create first downs with his feet. And Smith sees the field well, spreading the ball around to multiple receivers. But down by a score with two minutes to go, I wouldn’t want to ask Alex Smith to lead a game winning drive; something that could definitely be an issue as their schedule toughens considerably over the back half of the season.
Miami Dolphins
Ryan Tannehill had been sacked 26 times, most in the NFL coming into the game. Here, the Dolphins used a bevy of 'max protect' schemes in the first half, sending out only two receivers while leaving everyone else in to block for their QB. The end result? Tannehill had time to throw, but his receivers struggled to get open -- lots of throwaway passes, leading to a lousy completion percentage.
Once the Dolphins fell behind, they were forced to stop using those max protect schemes, which led to six more sacks on Tannehill, all in the second half. Tannehill did not react well to the blitz, unable to make play with the defense in his face, resulting in a pair of second half interceptions. And he was nothing short of awful trying to throw deep, completing only two passes that travelled ten yards past the line of scrimmage all day.
This team did not react well to adversity. Yes, some calls went against them. Yes, the Pats got a lucky, game changing interception. Yes, they lost the momentum. But Miami’s body language while things were steamrolling against them was awful, and we didn't see anybody step up to make a momentum changing play on either side of the ball. Lots of quit in the Dolphins today.
Oakland Raiders
I'm really starting to like Terrelle Pryor. I like his maturity, taking responsibility for the Raiders 4th quarter meltdown at Kansas City prior to the bye (“I lost the game for us”). I like his decision making in the pocket, knowing when to tuck and run, and when to take downfield shots. His accuracy looks pretty good. He's tough to bring down, not taking a ton of sacks and capable of getting tough yards on the ground. And he keeps his eyes focused downfield every time he's starting to scramble.
Pryor came into the game as the only guy in the league to lead his team in both passing and running yards this year, and he did it again here. He threw one bad pick early, scrambling out of the pocket, then overthrowing his receiver downfield. I'm not going to rip him for the throw -- a QB trying to make a big play. And frankly, this receiving corps is as weak as any in the league - Pryor is going to have INT's because he's got an inexperienced group of WR's who aren't always going to be where they are supposed to be. Pryor’s second interception hit WR Brice Butler right between the numbers; not his fault at all.
The Raiders defense won the game for them, while the offense spent the second half sputtering. Oakland stuffed the run and spent the day forcing Big Ben into short checkdown throws. Steelers OL injuries were certainly a factor, but this Oakland stop unit has looked solid in each of their last three games.