Week 7 Thoughts & Observations

[Tom Kessenich]

Here are some random thoughts and observations about Week 7 as I wonder why TV ratings are down for this season.

Oh yeah, it's probably because of games like Sunday night's 6-6 overtime tie between Seattle and Arizona.

6-6.

TIE.

IN OVERTIME.

Between two of the allegedly best offenses in the NFL with two of its top quarterbacks.

That's pathetic.

I know the defenses are paid to play too and Seattle and Arizona are two very good ones but don't give me none of that hoo-ha. This is a joke and it's the kind of football we've seen far too much of this season. That pure trash the NFL put on Primetime last night and far too often that's the product TV viewers are getting on Thursday, Sunday and Monday nights this year. You wanna know why viewers are looking elsewhere? Last night's humdrum affair was a Primetime example why. When kickers are missing chip shots and two of the league's premier QBs can't lead a single drive into the end zone that isn't compelling television, that's "Honey, what the hell is there for us to watch right now?"

Speaking of which, Russ Wilson hasn't thrown a TD pass in two games and Carson Palmer hasn't looked right for most of the season. I'm not feeling good about either one of them right about now. Not gonna lie.

Good news for Wilson is he gets the Saints next week so he should throw at least one TD pass against them right? RIGHT?

If you were looking for compelling television last night ...

THE WALKING DEAD IS BACK.

THE WALKING DEAD IS BACK.

Holy Fn S was that episode amazing. I'm not gonna spoil who Negan killed for those who haven't seen it yet. All I'll say is yes it's a game changer and it absolutely was unsettling to watch. Shows in their seventh season simply aren't supposed to be this good. They're supposed to be skating by, collecting pay checks and breezing to the finish line. Not this one. It's clear that Negan's arrival is signifying a bold storytelling change and I'm looking forward to it. This is, without a doubt, one of the greatest shows in TV history and last night's episode was one of the most powerful, and painful, episodes in the show's run.

Now back to football.

I'm not sure who did a better job of removing Odell Beckham Jr. from the Giants' game plan on Sunday in London - the Rams or the Giants.

Whenever teams take their star or a red-hot player out of a game I always imagine the opposing coaches on the other sidelines looking at one another in sheer disbelief thinking "Are they really making our jobs THAT much easier?" And then laughing as they sit back and have to do nothing extra to defend a difficult matchup forthem. Yet it happens all the time.

The Bears did the same thing with Cameron Meredith against the Packers this week. San Diego did it with Hunter Henry against Atlanta too. It's one of the most baffling things I see on a weekly basis and it happens week after week after week after week after week ...

Todd Gurley caught six passes on Sunday and continues to make it look completely effortless in the process. It's absolutely amazing it's taken Jeff Fisher a month into the season to realize this is what should've been happening the moment the season began.

But then again he is Jeff Fisher so what the hell am I thinking. It's shocking he's actually figured it out at all.

Fisher by the way is saying Case Keenum will remain the Rams' quarterback despite his four-interception debacle against the Giants. I love how so many people in the mainstream media are quick to pounce on Jared Goff and say he must really stink if Fisher is sticking with Keenum. None of them are even remotely considering the possibility that maybe Fisher stinks and is making a horrible decision here or might be a truly horrible evaluator of talent.

Gee, it's not like his record over the years could lead anyone to question that.

Congratulations to everyone who picked Week 7 as the week when the Vikings' lack of offense would finally bite them in the ass.

Andrew Luck was playing with T.Y. Hilton, Frank Gore, me and Greg on offense and had one of the best games you'll see a quarterback play on Sunday. I can't believe there are people who rip this guy. He is killing it for the Colts. He has nothing on that team. He's doing everything he can for them game in and game out. He is that team.

I had no idea what to expect from Jay Ajayi after last week's 200-yard game but he was ripping off huge chunks of yards against a solid Buffalo run defense on Sunday on his way to another 200-yard game. He was gashing them left and right. Kid looks absolutely legit. I think the Dolphins may have finally found themselves their offensive foundation.

Meanwhile, Rex Ryan did the most Rex Ryan thing imaginable this week - he played a clearly injured LeSean McCoy and then watched McCoy re-injure himself and now the Bills' season could be in jeopardy. It was clear to everyone but Rex that Shady shouldn't have played in the game after injuring his hamstring in practice during the week but Rex forced him into the game and now Buffalo's in a heap of trouble heading into a matchup vs. New England in Week 8.

Rex gonna be Rex.

And here I thought the Packers were gonna win this season's award for doing the most amazingly ignorant thing when it came to forcing an injured running back to play when he shouldn't and costing him his season. Rex and Ted Thompson should get together and go bowling.

Oh speaking of the Packers, the whole Ty Montgomery playing running back thing might work against the Bears but I'm not convinced it's gonna work against a real defense. So memo to Thompson and Mike McCarthy start playing real running backs at running back, OK?

I know it came against Washington and they're not exactly the '85 Bears, but that was a damn impressive game-winning drive Matt Stafford led. Stafford's fun to watch with the game on the line.

But the Lions really do miss Theo Riddick. He adds such a dynamic element to their offense. They struggled for the entire game without him. So here's hoping that ankle injury gets healed soon.

I love you Jamaal Charles but I'm waving the white flag. It's Spencer Ware's time now.

It's fun to say Drew Brees can't play on the road and yeah he threw a Pick Six against the Chiefs but 367 and 3 TDs and a near upset win in one of the toughest venues to play with one of the worst defenses in recent league history not giving him any help at all? I'd say he's doing his part.

I'm pretty sure you've seen A.J. Green's Hail Mary catch a few times already by now but it's worth watching again. Dude loves him some Hail Marys. What an amazing receiver and it's safe to say everyone who snared him as the fourth pick in drafts this year chose wisely.

Jeremy Hill averaged 18.7 YPC against the Browns. That's OK I guess.

Have the Jaguars fired Gus Bradley yet? Seriously, how has he not been fired yet?

I keep going through the dictionary this morning and I simply cannot find enough words to describe the amount of love I have for Mike Evans. There are simply not enough of 'em.

After all the insane ways they've lost games this year, it was fitting San Diego finally found a way to win one late.

People can rag on Melvin Gordon all they want, but he's having a damn good year.

I know he's still not completely healthy but Antonio Gates has had some absolutely brutal drops the past few games. That game never should've gone to overtime. Gates should've ended it with a TD grab. Phil Rivers put one right in his hands in the end zone and Gates just dropped it. Can't blame that on the hammy.

At times, Landry Jones definitely looked like a backup quarterback against New England. But there were other times he stepped into his throws nicely and was really slinging it. Most importantly for Antonio Brown owners he got the ball to AB consistently and didn't diminish his value at all. Those are good signs for as long as Ben Roethlisberger is out.

I'm convinced if Le'Veon Bell just played wide receiver he could catch 150 passes in a season. He is remarkable.

I'll continue to harp on it because nobody else is, but New England's got a serious problem with Steve Gostkowski. When their bye comes up you're gonna see him on Waiver Wires everywhere which would've seemed unthinkable at the start of the season given his pedigree.

And finally, if you started Russ Wilson, Jordan Howard, Christine Michael, Cameron Meredith, Hunter Henry and Stephen Gostkowski this week hopefully you're a Walking Dead fan because that episode was amazing Sunday night and at least you had something awesome to enjoy. Well unless you're a huge fan of whoever Negan killed. OK then your Sunday really really sucked. I'm probably not helping you at all right now am I? Well there's always next week. Yeah next week will probably be better. Unless you start Meredith again because he plays the Vikings and has Matt Barkley as his quarterback and that's gonna be an absolute disaster again so stay the hell away from that. Seriously FAR FAR away. YIKES.

[Greg Ambrosius]

I think that was the worst week of NFL football I've watched in decades. From the Thursday Night stinker at Lambeau (6-3 at halftime) to the London game (that game made soccer look pretty) to the Sunday afternoon borefests to the Sunday Night 6-6 tie to the Monday Night Osweilerscare, it was BORING, BORING, BORING.

The NFL has problems I didn't notice before:

1. Bad, bad Quarterback Play. If you don't have a stud, you're playing boring football.

2. Bad, bad offensive lines. The college game and all of its spread offenses are not preparing offensive linemen to be good run blockers. Teams with good offensive lines will prevail in the playoffs.

3. Too many penalties. It's gotten out of hand and now there is no flow to the NFL games. When you finally do get a good offensive play it's negated by a penalty. It's time to let the big boys play. The game is being over officiated.

Suspending Tom Brady for the first four games of the season didn't help, but now the snowball effect is that people have turned off the NFL and found politics more entertaining...in a bad way. The NFL used to be our WWE and now Trump has replaced that time slot. But even with Trump in play, the product on the field isn't as good as it was in past years and lack of good quarterbacks is really hurting the entertainment value of the games. Some of these games are just insufferable to watch.

Get it together NFL or even some of us die-hards will even start turning off the games. You definitely can't afford to lose us.

[Old School]

I agree with every point you made Greg. It is painful to watch football now.....

And the flag throwing is out of control....Seems like every big play is called back.

They can solve that though...Just put the FBI in charge of penalties. No matter how many rules are broken (like Hillary)
they'll never punish the offenders They 'll just let them play !

[CoMoHusker]

The NFL is really starting to take it on the chin. First, the decline in ratings due to the poor product being put on the field (especially in Thursday night and London games) and then the utter ridiculousness in how they dropped the ball on the Josh Brown investigation. That guy gets a one game suspension to begin the year but Tom Brady gets four games. Seems logical to me. And then, both the Giants and the league take further action once "new" evidence surfaces. C'mon man!

I'm a lifelong Husker fan and grew up in Lincoln. Josh Brown has been a POS since he was in school there and there has been evidence prior to now regarding his domestic issues. It's crazy to think that given the way the Ray Rice issue was handled, the league didn't automatically hit him with a six game suspension to begin the year. If I were them, I'd rather error on the side of caution than have egg all over my face like the league does now.

Definitely not a good stretch of weeks for the NFL. Hope the on-field product improves which would benefit from the zebras keeping those flags in their pockets way more often!

[Greg Ambrosius]

If you thought last week was bad wait until this week. Six teams on bye, a Thursday night featuring Jags and Titans, a London game featuring the Redskins, only two late afternoon games, and a Monday night game that has Jay Cutler going against THAT Vikings' D. Should be unwatchable at times.

[Coltsfan]

I agree with everything you said Greg. One other possibility is that the league is missing "stars".

With Peyton Manning retired, I think the NFL lost one of it's biggest drawing cards. Couple that with the Brady suspension that you mentioned and I think people lost some interest. Guys that were in the wings to fill their shows just never materialized. Rodgers is having a horrible year, Russell Wilson is hurt and looking very mediocre. Big Ben is down again. Matt Ryan is having a great year but nobody seems to notice or care.

The star Running Backs of the past are out or not producing which leaves us with David Johnson and yet he gets very little press. The dude is such a class act. The NFL should be promoting him. Odell Beckham is another guy with a big personality that could be a main attraction but his fighting on the field overshadows everything else he does.

And then there is my guy - Andrew Luck. He was poised to step right in to Peyton's spot as the next great NFL QB. And yet the Colts are so poorly coached and they did not surround him with any talent on either of the lines. He just can't do it all. So since the Colts are losing, nobody really cares that Andrew Luck is coming to town.

I hope they can turn it around. The games have been brutal to watch this year and I look at the schedule and I just don't see much that interests me. (Outside of Red Zone) I do think though that they need to do a better job of promoting their young talent and perhaps people will be more interested in watching some of the individual players play each week. Kind of what David STern did with the NBA years ago.


Wayne

[Greg Ambrosius]

I agree with everything you said Greg. One other possibility is that the league is missing "stars".

With Peyton Manning retired, I think the NFL lost one of it's biggest drawing cards. Couple that with the Brady suspension that you mentioned and I think people lost some interest. Guys that were in the wings to fill their shows just never materialized. Rodgers is having a horrible year, Russell Wilson is hurt and looking very mediocre. Big Ben is down again. Matt Ryan is having a great year but nobody seems to notice or care.

The star Running Backs of the past are out or not producing which leaves us with David Johnson and yet he gets very little press. The dude is such a class act. The NFL should be promoting him. Odell Beckham is another guy with a big personality that could be a main attraction but his fighting on the field overshadows everything else he does.

And then there is my guy - Andrew Luck. He was poised to step right in to Peyton's spot as the next great NFL QB. And yet the Colts are so poorly coached and they did not surround him with any talent on either of the lines. He just can't do it all. So since the Colts are losing, nobody really cares that Andrew Luck is coming to town.

I hope they can turn it around. The games have been brutal to watch this year and I look at the schedule and I just don't see much that interests me. (Outside of Red Zone) I do think though that they need to do a better job of promoting their young talent and perhaps people will be more interested in watching some of the individual players play each week. Kind of what David STern did with the NBA years ago.


Wayne

Agreed. This is a quarterback driven league and you can't lose Manning and Brady and others and expect the product to be as good. It's terrible right now.

Anyway, last week 7 of the 15 games finished with 40 or fewer total points. On a normal week, there isn't a single game with an Over/Under of 40. That tells you what we saw last weekend.

[KenGill]

That Sunday Night game admittedly wasn't too exciting for most of it, but it sure seemed to get interesting as the game got late, you had missed FG's from both teams and a pretty exciting blocked kick, along with rules controversy. And a memorable 6-6 tie score -- first one in NFL since 1972.

Agree with the play level being down a bit this year, and with the mediocre QB play.

[TR]

I agree with everything you said Greg. One other possibility is that the league is missing "stars".

With Peyton Manning retired, I think the NFL lost one of it's biggest drawing cards. Couple that with the Brady suspension that you mentioned and I think people lost some interest. Guys that were in the wings to fill their shows just never materialized. Rodgers is having a horrible year, Russell Wilson is hurt and looking very mediocre. Big Ben is down again. Matt Ryan is having a great year but nobody seems to notice or care.

The star Running Backs of the past are out or not producing which leaves us with David Johnson and yet he gets very little press. The dude is such a class act. The NFL should be promoting him. Odell Beckham is another guy with a big personality that could be a main attraction but his fighting on the field overshadows everything else he does.

And then there is my guy - Andrew Luck. He was poised to step right in to Peyton's spot as the next great NFL QB. And yet the Colts are so poorly coached and they did not surround him with any talent on either of the lines. He just can't do it all. So since the Colts are losing, nobody really cares that Andrew Luck is coming to town.

I hope they can turn it around. The games have been brutal to watch this year and I look at the schedule and I just don't see much that interests me. (Outside of Red Zone) I do think though that they need to do a better job of promoting their young talent and perhaps people will be more interested in watching some of the individual players play each week. Kind of what David STern did with the NBA years ago.


Wayne

Matthew Stafford is balling out...3 straight weeks of comebacks on last possession. He should definitely be promoted more.

[Tom Kessenich]

I agree with everything you said Greg. One other possibility is that the league is missing "stars".

With Peyton Manning retired, I think the NFL lost one of it's biggest drawing cards. Couple that with the Brady suspension that you mentioned and I think people lost some interest. Guys that were in the wings to fill their shows just never materialized. Rodgers is having a horrible year, Russell Wilson is hurt and looking very mediocre. Big Ben is down again. Matt Ryan is having a great year but nobody seems to notice or care.

The star Running Backs of the past are out or not producing which leaves us with David Johnson and yet he gets very little press. The dude is such a class act. The NFL should be promoting him. Odell Beckham is another guy with a big personality that could be a main attraction but his fighting on the field overshadows everything else he does.

And then there is my guy - Andrew Luck. He was poised to step right in to Peyton's spot as the next great NFL QB. And yet the Colts are so poorly coached and they did not surround him with any talent on either of the lines. He just can't do it all. So since the Colts are losing, nobody really cares that Andrew Luck is coming to town.

I hope they can turn it around. The games have been brutal to watch this year and I look at the schedule and I just don't see much that interests me. (Outside of Red Zone) I do think though that they need to do a better job of promoting their young talent and perhaps people will be more interested in watching some of the individual players play each week. Kind of what David STern did with the NBA years ago.


Wayne

Matthew Stafford is balling out...3 straight weeks of comebacks on last possession. He should definitely be promoted more.

I mentioned him in this column and have talked about him in others. I'm definitely not ignoring him.