The first quarter of the season is already over, this is when teams begin to show their true values and make a push for the playoffs. Fans are excited, upset, shocked, and even delusional….Everywhere!
Jets @ Dolphins
Weird to watch a football game at 8:30 am. I picked the Jets 27-13.
Both of these teams had lost at home previous week, but that is where the comparisons ended. The Jets came out to play as they had a sense of urgency, the Dolphins did not.
The final score is not indicative of the flow of the game. Had the Jets not made dumb plays getting penalized on three long PIs, the Dolphins may have been shutout. just before the weekly garbage time yards, the Fins had less than 100 yards total offense.
The Jets are a different team than that of a year ago that won 4 games. This team is prepared and ready, and they attack you with a balanced offense, even if Fitzpatrick really did not look good at all. The addition of Marshall has created mismatches all over the field, as he, Decker and Devon Smith maybe one of the taller combinations in the NFL. Ivory is just an animal, he is like a bull running. All of this bodes well for when the weather begins to change, this team should be ready to win some games. The Jets outplayed, out-coached, had more desire than the Dolphins. Both OL and DL won their respective battles, and won them big. The negative was the penalties and ST coverage. I am sure Todd Bowles will be fixing both areas during the bye week.
The Miami Dolphins are a strange team this year, and something is not right with them. I’m becoming a weekly broken record, because outside of Jones on defense. Tannehill and Landry, the rest of this team is not even trying. Offensively they cannot possibly succeed with an OL that is among the worst in the NFL. Tannehill is getting murdered. Yesterday he probably thought that Buster Skrine was his shadow, as he got hit on almost every drop back. Landry is a spark plug and his desire to win should be contagious.
Defensively they are even bigger of a mess. Marshall was eating Grimes alive until the injury. Grimes is an excellent player, but he’s a shrimp and that was evident as Marshall had his way with him. LBs? The only one I save is Misi, who at times tried, but regressed once he realized his teammates had no interest in playing football. The DL is a total joke. Wake is a distant shadow of the pass rusher he once was and Suh looks lost.
Fans are calling for Joe Philbin’s head this week, as if that will fix this team. I joke about Clueless Joe all the time, but, who do you turn to after week 4? The DC? The OC? Hell they are as big a problem as the HC. What about the two headed GMs situation, didn’t they do the grocery shopping? Joe was given these players, and lets be honest, it’s a collection of spare parts, not a team. You do not remove your HC in the NFL mid-season, it’s not the NBA, MLB of the NHL. A football team needs to become a well oiled machine, and it takes camp to install that, not a bye week.
And fans, its week 4, is it really over?
Giants @ Bills
I picked the Bills to win 33-27, because I really felt it would be a high scoring game.
The Giants are not a good football team, but somehow they are 2-2. This was a game made for Rex and the Bills to fatten up their record, they blew that opportunity.
My concern going into this game was the up and down emotional ride that Rex takes his teams on. There is probably nobody that can motivate a team, the way Rex can. He is so good at it, and the players buy in so hard, that even Rex falls for it, and joins in the emotional high. However, there is probably nobody worst at bringing a team back to planet Earth after an emotional high. So you get week 2 and week 4.
I am totally shocked at how badly this defense is playing. Still playing better than 80% of the league, but not at the standards they established under Schwartz. Granted Rex defenses always give up points. Only time he really didn’t was when he had Cro and Revis manning the corners. However, his defenses generally over-power you. Next week they travel to Tennessee were Rex will be able to get this team on a high again, and scheme the rookie QB to death.
Offensively is were I am most puzzled. They have found a QB, he is still learning to be the every game starter, however, Tyrod has the tools. My problem is the play calling, and I blame both, Roman and Rex for this. I wrote it after week 2, I will write it again; If you do not trust the kid, do not play him! The game plan is basically 1-3 yard passes, even if its third and 8. There was at last 3 times in the first half alone that the play is designed to go short and expect the receiver to make up the rest, on third down…..all of them failed. This type of game will never allow the Bills to fall behind in a game and make a come back. You handed Tyrod the reigns, trust him!
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