Eagles @ Giants (+7.5) [Thursday]

This Mingo fellow in the Eagles secondary has been a liability. Jaxson Dart has repeatedly targeted him. And receivers seem to be shaking him loose on improvisational plays.

Are the Giants not blitzing enough? I need to keep an eye on that.

This GIants pass rush looks neutured to me. It doesn't help that people aren't cheering much though. Isn't this supposed to be the Giants home field?

Jaxson Dart refuses to give up. It's a good and bad thing. I don't think he'll ever throw the ball away - he'll always see if he can scramble for yards. He needs to learn to run smart.

Giants are committing themselves a little bit too much to zone coverage. These lack of blitzes are killing them, as the Eagles offensive line is holding up against vanilla four-man rushes.

Jaxson Dart is just killing it. The stage isn't too big for him here in New York.

I need to analyze the Jalen Hurts throw chart, but it seems like he has a tendency to lob the ball to the left.

Why run Dart after he just returned from injury?

I'll need to study this game to figure out what the Giants did to limit Jalen Hurts and the offense in the second half. I suspect the defensive line was able to play much better and zeroed in on the left of the field where Jalen Hurts enjoys throwing.

Studying the tape, Jalen Hurts has serious issues. Outside of scripted/timing plays, he's no longer comfortable throwing balls into tight windows. Even when he's scrambling, the receiver has to be wide-ass open before he's willing to release the ball. He's leaning on Dallas Goedert too much as a security blanket on times. Furthermore, he favors certain parts of the field a little bit too much - in the Giants game (and for parts of the Bronco game the week before), Hurts was way too eager lobbing the ball to the left third of the field.

I don't know how Kellen Moore was able to temper Hurts' bad habits, but it's clear his successor is unable to do the same. If anything, Jalen may be getting worse - this is the version of Jalen we were seeing from 2023.

One thing worth noting - Jalen once again struggled managing the blitz. He held up fine against some of New York's zone rushes, but against five-man pass rushing sets, things tended to fall apart.

I'm also not impressed by Shane Bowen. The zone rushes just don't work - these defensive linemen aren't necessarily built for coverage. Frankly, the pressure numbers that I'm seeing here on Next-Gen Stats are disappointing considering all the raw talent lining up on defense inside the trenches.

Broncos vs Jets (+7) [London]

This Jets offense is horrific. Absolutely horrific. Justin Fields needs a day and a half to process the defense on any given day.

New York's quick-game management is just disgusting. Why are they constantly running the ball despite having less than a minute left in the quarter.

I think Garrett Wilson has given up on this offense, the way he was walking off the field at the end of the first half.

The Broncos defense is truly exemplary. Denver wastes little time putting pressure on the quarterback. Nik Bonitto has proven himself as one of the best pass rushers in the NFL. Together with Zach Allen, Jonathan Cooper, and John Franklin-Myers, Denver may have the best pass-rushing unit in the league.

Tanner Engstrom looks flustered out there.

Credit to the Broncos for recognizing a fake punt, even if they couldn't barely stop it.

Despite all their mistakes, Denver still won the game. Their overall talent on defense was too much for the likes of Justin Fields and the Jets rushing attack.

Cowboys @ Panthers (+3)

Dallas wing cornerbacks allowing too much cushion to the receivers.

Panthers are playing zone defense and it seems to be working against Dak Prescott. I'm seeing him settle too much for short throws, even on third downs.

Dallas' pass rushers aren't doing much so far in the first half. To their credit though, Bryce Young is getting rid of the ball in a timely manner. But they're absolute gutless against the Panthers ground game. It feels as if Rico Dowdle is finding success on just about every single one of his runs. Not sure why Dallas looks so helpless out there. I suspect losing their main linebacker (and defensive signal-caller) in Jack Sanborn really hurt them bad here.

The ground game has opened up the explosive passing game for the Panthers. Bryce Young is finding receivers in the deep field, usually outside the numbers. Dallas has serious issues defending against the running game.

Bobby Brown for the Panthers has been fantastic in run defense. Combined with Derrick Brown, Carolina should excel in run defense. That's certainly been the case today given all the plays where the Cowboys ground game found itself stunted.

Rams @ Ravens (+7.5)

Zach Orr calling a two-man pass rush on a fourth down....as if I needed any more reason to downgrade the man's tier ranking.

Cardinals @ Colts (+7)

I need to review this game, but it seems to me that the quarterback change from Kyler Murray to Jacoby Brissett sparked something on this offense, even if the change itself is only temporary until Kyler returns to full health. It makes sense - Kyler Murray has always been a bit of a brat who's not all that respected among his colleagues, whereas Jacoby is seen as somebody who could win over a locker room with his charm.

Mack Wilson is an important player for this Cardinal defense, given his role as the team's signal caller on defense. On top of that, he may be the team's most valuable player in his run defense. And blitzes have been designed using him to open up lanes to the quarterback for the other defenders.

The Colts are just so crisp in their run-blocking. It helps that Arizona is also not the best when it comes to running defense.

Zaire Franklin is crucial to the Indianapolis run defense. On several occasions have I seen him make that key disruptive act to cut the Cardinal rusher short.

49ers @ Buccaneers (-3.5)

Mac Jones has thrown some beautiful balls, especially through narrow windows of opportunity. I think the guy has redeemed himself and may possibly be worth of red-chip status. In fact, at the current rate he's going, he will be eclipsing his previous production records from his time with New England.

Tampa Bay's pass rush is failing to hit home. San Francisco's offensive front has held up remarkably well.

I need to see the difference between the first three 49er drives and the next three after that. San Francisco became so much more productive after the third drive - so what change did they make, if any?

Working completely with second and third-string players, Baker Mayfield has still found ways to keep this passing game productive. It's very remarkable. I think Baker can be safely elevated to blue-chip status, especially given the way he's able to navigate around pocket pressure while matriculating the ball forward.

Lions @ Chiefs (-1.5)

This Chiefs offense works the ball downfield in a labored way. Nothing seems to come easy.

Both offensive lines have been mighty impressive so far. Aidan Hutchinson and Chris Jones have had muted effects on tonight's game so far.

Kansas and all the misdirection they utilize in their backfield is really throwing off Detroit's front seven.

I need to double-check if Detroit is really committing hard to three-linebacker sets now that the safeties are somewhat injured. On top of that, two cornerbacks are out too, which might explain their sudden shift away from their base nickel defense.

The Lions have slipped in coverage on multiple occasions. It's probably the effect of having two safeties playing injured on top of losing their top two cornerbacks.

It's worth noting that when having to resort to playing dropback football, the Lions seem to fall apart on offense. Very few people are capable of making plays, especially Goff. It's not good - should they fall behind, they're not the same team. I also feel like they're missing a second receiver to compliment Amon-Ra St. Brown.

Bills @ Falcons (+4.5)

Atlanta's offense scored on its first drive. A great sign for the offensive coordinator. But I don't know if I fullt agree with all their play calls. A hard play-action against Penix's right side despite him being a lefty? I don't like that. I also don't like play calls that involve quarterbacks motioning players into the backfield for a run. Then again, so many other offensive coordinators under the impression that an immediate extra blocker helps their ground game, seemingly unaware that the defense compensates with an extra body in the box.

Bijan Robinson is starting to round back into form behind this improving offensive line.

Good recognition from Josh Allen that a defensive end spread out wide would be bearing down on him on a bootleg.

Buffalo has doubled down on its ground game entering the second half.

Atlanta loves the pistol formation. I'm not sure it suits Michael Penix, but it does work for Bijan apparently.

Atlanta's end-game management needs serious work. Why pass when the clock is your enemy? But Atlanta's excellent zone running was able to overcome their horrible play-calling anyway.

Losing Terrel Bernard may have serious implications on this defense, as the Bills no longer have their starting linebackers on the field. I have to double-check the snap count here just to make sure Buffalo lost him early in the third quarter.

Bears @ Commanders (-4.5)

This Bears running game has seriously improved. I'm starting to see these Bears execute well on coordinated blocks. On top of that, the team seems more willing now to run Caleb Williams around on select occasions.

Jayden Daniels was actually fooled by Washington's defense on the first drive on a play that ended in an interception.

Dan Quinn made a silly challenge on a 1-yard gain, but it worked. The Bears attempted to gamble on a 4th and 1 and it didn't pay off.

Three turnovers in the first half probably goes a long way to explaining why the Bears are up by six points at the end of the second quarter.

I think Chicago has figured out screens and wheel routes work incredibly well against this Washington defense. A little surprising considering Frankie Luvu and Bobby Wagner should be one of the better set of linebackers in the league, but neither of them have done good work controlling the flat.

Chicago has made it a point to hit the quarterback on every potential RPO.

Patriots @ Saints (+4.5)

This Brandon Staley defense of the Saints looks soft and a bit disorganized. I have a hard time reading their coverage schemes and I suspect the players themselves struggle to comprehend it as well. On top of that, Staley defenses are supposed to specialize in defending against deep passes, but they haven't done that at all, at least against the Patriots.

Speaking of deep passes, Drake Maye has been fantastic on his deep throws, especially considering he's making so many of them out of structure. Kudos to the man for remaining composed when his first few reads do not pan out.

This Staley defense has also been notably soft in playing up against the flat. It seems like the defenders are all too content letting opposing skill players work in the flat. Seeing Kool-Aid McKinstry take his sweet time running a tight-end out of bounds is very concerning.

DeMario Douglas may be that Tyreek Hill option at receiver that really opens the field up for this Patriot offense. Combined with wide receiver Keyshon Boutte, tight end Hunter Henry, a mobile Drake Maye, and tailback TreVeyon Henderson (should the coaches finally opt to use him more), New England may have a truly complete offense here.

Spencer Rattler is doing admirable work playing within the structure of this offense. It's an offense that seems predicated on opening up space for playmakers like Chris Olave.

The Patriots are simply winning at the line of scrimmage on both sides of the trenches. On defense, Christian Barmore and K'lavon Chaisson are noteworthy for impacting plays on multiple occasions - the former has shown up more on tape in run plays while the latter has flashed much more in rushing the passer.

Titans @ Raiders (-4.5)

These Titans are seriously hopeless on offense. The structured plays that Callahan tries running on offense simply aren't working. It's the off-schedule plays that have been generating a little production, but there's nothing else working for this Tennessee offense.

Just like in Cincinnati, the screen game doesn't work when the opponent knows you're abusing the concept to try and manufacture yardage.

Jeffery Simmons is a beast. Singlehandedly cut short a promising Raider drive. Combined with Dre'Mont Jones and Oladejo, this defensive line had serious potential. It's a damn shame Oladejo would end up fracturing his leg later.

Tennessee is either incompetent at picking up skill players on delayed routes or they're willfully ignoring them to focus more on the receivers running more traditional routes. Whatever the reason, it's been the only theing consistently working for the the Raiders passing game.

Ashton Jeanty shows serious promise, but this offensive line doesn't do him any favors.