Both the Texans and Packers were entering crucial years, with number two pick C.J. Stroud as the supposed savior in Houston and Jordan Love taking over for a legend Aaron Rodgers in Green Bay.
In the Wildcard Round, they blew out the Browns and Cowboys, shredding what had been two of the best defenses across the NFL, with the two young quarterbacks being the stars of the show in their playoff debuts!
The regular season has come to a close and after 17 games, it’s time to talk about what players were able to show in their first years as pros. Therefore, I put together my annual NFL All-Rookie team, consisting of a starting lineup on offense and defense, along with six “key backups”.
Just like the All-Pro teams this year, I decided to add a 12th spot to offense and defense, along with the classic four special-teamers. However, I took a little more freedom with that, since only two rookie fullbacks saw extended run (Cowboys’ Hunter Luepke and Saints’ Adam Prentice) and I thought there were more deserving players along the defensive front than an additional slot defender, since I already went with nickel personnel.
Let’s get into it:
We’ve arrived at the final week of the 2023/24 NFL season!
I decided to go to a podcast format here and preview the action at hand. I will run through the entire week 18 schedule, diving a little more into the key games on the slate, discussing Xs and Os, different individual matchups, picking the winners and throwing out some betting leans.
It’s that time of the year again – not only do we hand out presents but also votes for the the NFL’s Pro Bowl games.
I’m filling out my ballot and taking you guys along for the ride, making my case for all my picks and adding some statistics for context.
It’s that point of the year again – we enter the figurative fourth quarter of the NFL season. Teams are starting to separate themselves at the top-end and bottom of the league, but there’s still very little clarity in the middle of the pack. So now I’ll try to distinguish between those squads with similar records, as we head down the home stretch, and rank them one through 32.
As always, these are power RANKINGS rather than standings. So I’m well aware that these aren’t fully compliant with how records stack up and that some teams may have beat others, who are listed ahead of them. I base this on what my eyes tell my first of course, but will bring up different metrics, in order to make my points, as well as add context to certain numbers.
Let’s get into it:
After having December 3rd circled on the calendar ever since losing the NFC Championship game, the 49ers came back to Philadelphia with revenge on their mind and an incredible gameplan in their pocket.
Kyle Shanahan put together an absolute clinic on how to expose defensive rules and put guys not just in conflict but in absolute hell. Let me break down for you how exactly he did that!
With both these teams having had questions around their offensive play-caller and second-year quarterback, the way to get back on track for them was to re-dedicate themselves to more diverse run games. However, they’re doing it in slightly different ways.
I broke down what that plan looked like for these teams this past Sunday, what this can create for them and how I believe they’ll be trying to control matchups this way going forward!
We’ve arrived at the week of Thanksgiving and since I’m in a generous, giving mood, I decided to give something to look forward to for fanbases of the teams that aren’t currently projected to be factors in the playoff picture. And while this includes a couple of teams from the NFC South, that could ultimately still host a playoff game due to the division they’re in, and two .500 teams from the AFC, I think when you look at the list of teams, they all still lack certain elements, which the best way to acquire those is with high draft picks.
I will start by quickly listing the current draft order – if the season ended today – then share my general bird’s-eye view of the upcoming class, before we work our way through each team, shortly discussing their overall state and how they may already look ahead to February through April with their scouting staffs to some degree.
The cut-off for the teams discussed here is pick 16, which makes sense considering the next teams up would be the Bengals and Bills before we get to the current playoff seeds – Cincinnati may have a couple of uncomfortable decisions to make in free agency but were on pace to be one of the most dangerous groups in the AFC, while Buffalo is still very much in the thick of things with the way they looked this past Sunday and being just half a game back from the number seven seed.
The Minnesota Vikings went 13-4 last year, winning some of the craziest games late across the NFL. This season has been a true rollercoaster, starting off with thre straight Ls and losing star players to injury, but somehow they’re up to a 6-4 record now and right in the thick of things of a murky NFC.
Let’s break down what the insertion of quarterback Joshua Dobbs has meant and how Brian Flores is starting to turn around the defense.
While the 17-game schedule for each team has thrown off where exactly the mid-way point of the NFL season is, we are through nine of 18 total weeks and we’ve played exactly half of the 272 contests (136). So at this point, it’s time to summarize what has happened here a little bit and hand out all the major awards as if the season ended today.
I’ll once again break down the top three candidates through half of 2023, making my case for each of them, based on watching the tape and looking at the numbers, along with reflecting a little bit on what I predicted just before we kicked off the year. A quick note on that – I could have literally used the cover photo from back then.
Let’s get into it:
Halil's Real Footballtalk 