The world of sports did not stop over the weekend, and the NFL was right there at the center of it all.
We were treated to some incredible college action on Saturday and for a moment it seemed like the NFL would not be able to match it. What a silly thought.
Sunday was absolutely outstanding in the NFL and featured a rookie winning his first start, a scrap between one head coach and another defensive coordinator, another walk-off block, and a tie among other things.
Here at The Skinny Post we, Michael Peterson and RJ Ochoa, make it a point to sort through it all and highlight what matters most.
How much are you buying the Jaxson Dart win for the Giants?
It goes without saying that the win was massive for New York. I’d go as far as saying that it was arguably the biggest regular season win they have had post-Eli Manning. There is not a lot of competition for that title, though.
Losing Malik Nabers made it difficult to fully emerge from things with only sunshine and rainbows, but Giants fans woke up on Monday with a reason and a purpose to root for their team for the first time in forever. Jaxson Dart has a lot of refinement left, but this ship is no longer pointing due south. Beyond Dart the G-Men also have Cam Skattebo amplifying things. Dare I go as far to suggest that the Giants are actually kind of fun.
It has been a long trek through the wilderness for these Giants and it probably isn’t fully over. They just experienced a serious reprieve, though. I am buying this a ton.
This is going to sound biased as the resident Chargers guy here, but I’m not buying him just yet. He was carried by a defense/pass rush that took advantage of one of the worst offensive line groups they’ll see all season. Dart played VERY well on third downs and I have to give him his flowers there, but it was a wildly off day by the Chargers defense compared to their standards they’ve set the last 20+ games under Jim Harbaugh.
If he wasn’t handing it off to Skattebo, it would have been a much worse day due to him having to carry the load on his own.
Also, he threw for less than 150 yards and his lone touchdown toss was a shovel pass. He showed that he wasn’t going to be the reason the Giants lost, but he was certainly not the reason they won.
Who is the better of the two final unbeaten teams?
I really like both of these teams.
The Eagles are the more well-rounded team, in my opinion, but the Bills have a quarterback who can will just about any offense to victory in some way, shape, or form. The defense also has some dudes and Sean McDermott is getting the most out of them right now.
I think I do want to see a bit more from the Bills in terms of playing better competition (the Ravens are now 1-3 so, yeah) but overall I’d currently take Buffalo over the Eagles in a best of three (wouldn’t that be cool in the NFL?).
It is pretty silly to bet against the Philadelphia Eagles right now. I get that in every single way.
But on some level it feels like the Eagles are still grinding things out in ways that are more difficult than they have to be. This is a testament to them! And their greatness! My point is that I don’t necessarily think this is sustainable, although it obviously was last year and has been for the majority of the Nick Sirianni era.
Right now the most unstoppable team, from a vibes standpoint, in the NFL is the Buffalo Bills and that is mostly because they have the most unstoppable player, again from a vibes standpoint, in Josh Allen.
Who is starting to fade after a month’s worth of games?
All week long people are going to be coming for the Indianapolis Colts and pointing out that the clock finally struck midnight with them. That may be the case, but I am going to go in a different direction.
Obviously they have been without their starting quarterback, but I am starting to wonder about the Washington Commanders a bit. The Atlanta Falcons are a very strange team and that is undeniable, but they put up 435 yards of offense and 34 points on Dan Quinn’s defense.
Washington was a popular pick for regression this year and this may be where things start to tip for them. They have a date with the Chargers on the West Coast this week and then host Chicago before back-to-back trips against Dallas and Kansas City. Seattle and Detroit await after that.
I didn’t expect them to fade so quickly after a 3-0 start, but the Chargers look like they’re about to fade pretty quickly following the loss of their second starting offensive tackle in Joe Alt. As you said above, the Bolts host Washington this week, but that’s going to likely come with Jayden Daniels’ return to the field after missing two weeks. The Chargers just struggled to contain rookie quarterback Jaxson Dart in the scramble game and Daniels is on a whole different level in that facet of the game.
After beginning with a squeaky clean 3-0 record against their division, it’s all of a sudden very tough to foresee them winning many of the next handful of contests without Alt considering how battered that offensive line is from getting abused by the Giants and the Broncos the past two weeks.
Ashton Jeanty finally showed up
It was great to see both Jeanty and Omarion Hampton break out in the same week. Jeanty had the better day with three total touchdowns, but Hampton had a much more efficient day on the ground. Both nearly willed their teams to victory, but it just wasn’t the day for either the Raiders or Chargers.
Will we see this continue in the weeks to come? Is this the expectation now? Time will tell.
How is this not the game plan every week for the Raiders? Jeanty had 21 carries for 138 yards and 2 receptions (off of only 2 targets) for another 17 yards. He had 3 total scores.
This should be everything the Raiders are about. Jeanty should be used at this rate at minimum each and every week. The only way that Las Vegas is going to stand a chance is if they lean on their all-world running back and hopefully this game serves as a wake up call to that reality.
