NFL Overview

It’s been roughly a month since the start of NFL action, with the season starting on September 5th, and the latest game being October 7th. It's gone by crazy fast and feels like week 1 was 2 weeks ago. Eagles, Chargers, Lions, Titans had byes just this past week. This has been the most surprising and unexpected season of football I can think of for some time, lots of close games and missed potential. Let’s overview this first month of action and see how their projection is for the season. Let’s start with the NFC East for a change and…

Commanders (4-1) - Jayden Daniels has been a success in the best way possible, you can argue that the schedule is easy but you can’t deny he’s been playing in a sensational MVP-caliber way, both on the field and in our fantasy teams. One of my friends has a fantasy team named “Everything on Jayden,” he’s on the top of the standings. Baltimore will be a very good game to really prove if they can be included in a deep playoff run conversation or not. After this team, this division is extremely underwhelming.

Cowboys (3-2) - How did y’all go from the best to worst home team in the league? This team is horrible on defense and has no convincing wins, the only consistency is Brandon Aubrey but he’s been missing some critical kicks this season. They got a last-second win over the Steelers and Giants, and beat the Cleveland Browns by 2 scores, nothing impressive. What's impressive is getting blown out by the Saints and Ravens at home by 3 possessions. With this record, and a very hard midseason schedule coming up, this team is gonna have to crawl to be near .500.

Eagles (2-2) - You had a bye week this week, a week you don’t find a hilarious way to lose games. You had a good week 1 win, seeing Saquon’s potential is nice isn’t it? How about a home opener on MNF and you have a 97.6% chance to win the game with a minute left in the 4th quarter, Saquon is wide open to catch the pass to end the game and he drops it. You lose to the Falcons by 1 point and they save their season. It’s fine… we beat a broken-down Carr Saints team by only 3 points, everything is fine we're totally not blowing leads like last year. We play Tampa Bay, we will get vengeance for them ending our seas- You got blown the hell out of Raymond James Stadium being down 24-0 late in the 2nd en route to lose 33-16. You guys are frauds from last year all over again, keep your bad coach btw, it's working out for all of us.

Giants (2-3) - This team should be 4-1. The divisional games against the Cowboys and Commanders were winnable but lost in one possession due to red zone ineptitude. They have a solid team but just not enough pieces for a good push, good win against Seattle, the Giants have hope at least but they don’t have an easy road ahead. But this division is more open than we thought so keep your head high.

Let’s transition to the new best division in football, the NFC North:

Vikings (5-0) - Wow. I mean, wow. They must’ve taken the grade I gave them in free agency seriously because they have proved everyone except Sam Darnold believers wrong. Kevin O’Connell is probably the unanimous coach of the year and Sam Darnold could be a comeback player of the year, not an MVP just yet. This is gonna be a fun team to watch and easily the surprise of the season.

Lions (3-1) - Off the bye, the Lions should be undefeated but this is still a great team, we hold our same expectations, but with no divisional games yet, I fear for a potential race for the division, but the Lions should be a playoff lock.

Bears (3-2) - I was going to say Caleb Williams so far has been a game manager until this week against the Panthers, granted it is against the worst team in football but Caleb has been turning up the past 2 weeks compared to the 2 games he made the Bears lose. Their defense and special teams have been above average to steal 2 wins for Chicago but there's plenty of hope for the Bears to still make a playoff spot with a slightly weaker NFC but a stronger NFC North.

Packers (3-2) - With proper kicking, and Jordan Love not being injured, we could be talking about a 5-0 Packers team fighting for the #1 seed in the NFC at the moment, with losses against the Eagles and Vikings being by 1 possession, a horrendous run defense, and the special teams being an issue AGAIN… here we are. I am worried with their schedule coming up and divisional matchups with this strengthened division but they should be fine, unless they face a running team.

NFC West: This division is just boring and the most underwhelming in the NFL.

Seahawks (3-2) - So… What’s happening here? Are we contenders or are we gonna have a long losing streak? Was your 3-0 start impressive, absolutely not but wins are wins. The Lions are good, however, so a competitive loss against them is fine, you have fodder next week in the Giants and you lost. The special teams and defense sold you and you have San Francisco next week to prevent a 3-game losing streak. I have doubts about both teams but the 49ers need it more. You guys have a ceiling of wild cards anyway so this isn’t that disappointing.

Cardinals (2-3) - Kyler Murray is like the chaos factor in the NFL, this team is fun to watch, no expectations, and can upset your favorite team whenever they like (unless you're the Bills, Commanders or Lions). They have a not-too-tough schedule where they can make a run but the inconsistency factor is there. Plus, Black Ops 6 is coming out soon. Regardless, I can see an 8-win team causing problems for wild card teams in the NFC, keep doing your thing.

49ers (2-3) - What kind of Super Bowl hangover is this? I know I can’t be one to talk about Kyle Shanahan in the 4th quarter but seriously, it might need to be studied. We could be talking about another possible 5-0 team fighting for the #1 seed, but the chaos of this season won’t stop. Christian McCaffrey does his best Madden curse impression and you guys keep losing 1-possession games in the 4th quarter. The problem isn’t exactly the offense, but it definitely isn’t the defense, so I don’t know; this hopefully is an early slump because with this schedule they have no time to slack off.

Rams (1-4) - Injuries, there’s always the one team in the NFL that’s injured to everything and it’s the Rams' turn this year. They still are having winnable games even with all the setbacks possible. However, with only 1 to show for it, it doesn't look promising.

NFC South

Falcons (3-2) - How about those Dirty Birds in the south?! As this being my favorite team, I could write a full narrative about the first 5 weeks of the season. Heck, even the Eagles game alone, since that saved our season. We are a completely different team from the one you saw in week 1 ok? With our new franchise passing yards leader, Kirk Cousins, we are going to the promised land. Our division looks stacked this year huh? Well so are we, Bucs and Saints ain’t nothing. Rise Up!

Buccaneers (3-2) - So, uh… that loss sucks huh? You completely choked that one away, 93% chance to win but you shot yourself in the foot with late offensive penalties against the Falcons. At least you made a good TNF game? I’m just overreacting, this team continues to be a threat mostly due to this division but this isn’t a season-altering loss by any means. Wouldn't mind if you kept losing tho.

Saints (2-3) - Are y’all trying to be the Seahawks? Who’s Dat fraudulent team? It’s the Saints. What a first 2 weeks of hopium y'all had. 40+ points in back-to-back games, everything clicking on all cylinders, and you rattle off 3 straight losses. The Eagles and Falcons were wins in your hand and you threw it across the Superdome. Plus Derek Carr is out for 4 weeks, Enjoy Spencer Rattler and a 7-game losing streak!

Panthers (1-4) - Same thing as last year huh? God this franchise is horrible, Bryce Young needs any help he can get, or not since he got benched for Andy Dalton, who immediately won a game, then lost 2. No tanking can save a David Tepper-led organization.

AFC East

Bills (3-2) - I knew this team would still be good without Diggs, but the difference is noticeable. If Keon Coleman had the performance of Nabers or Harrison Jr., we wouldn’t worry about anything. They had a typical Buffalo loss last week with Sean McDermott’s boneheaded play-calling against the Texans. They aren’t in a bad spot; they are still a good bet to run with the division.

Jets (2-3) - So why did you fire Saleh? The underachieving has to do with the offense? The Denver game couldn’t be a better example. Rodgers needs to do better if he wants to succeed with this team, because while the schedule is easy, a bad offense can usurp a good defense.

Dolphins (2-3) - Yeah, your season is over. Tua got another concussion. Is he gonna retire early? I would hope not, but I’d completely understand. Mike McDaniel recently said he expects him to play football again later in the season. At least they won another game?

Patriots (1-4) - This team was competitive for the first two weeks, and it looked like the new coaching era in New England would turn out well, until a four-game losing streak. Your offensive line is god-awful, but you decide to start Drake Maye? He’s gonna run for his life against Will Anderson Jr.

AFC North

Ravens (3-2) - Another 5-0 team we could be talking about, but a three-game winning streak to bring back the season’s momentum is great. The Bengals could use some of your notes. For some reason, the AFC seems weaker this year, so you might get the #1 seed, but none of this matters unless you get a Super Bowl. Let King Henry run his way to one.

Steelers (3-2) - Again, another 5-0 team… If you don’t get it by now, a lot of teams are losing winnable games, and the NFL looks more mediocre than ever, with a bunch of around .500 teams, but that’s easy to have early in the season. Justin Fields is definitely the QB1 for this team, but how far can this team really go? They have a division lead, but they have all of their divisional games in the last eight weeks, so they need to keep winning now and don’t stop.

Bengals (1-4) - Ok, but seriously, WTH is going on with the Bengals? This is the epitome of a team that seriously should be 5-0, but Zac Taylor-led teams always fall behind early. This is the second-worst start of his career. One-possession losses to the Patriots, Chiefs, Commanders, and Ravens. In my opinion, the worst loss has to be the Chiefs. They need to go like 9 out of 12 in terms of winning for a solid chance at the postseason, or they will have a very long offseason.

Browns (1-4) - Seriously, how does this team have a win… They should be the worst team in football, but the defense is too good for that. They clearly have the worst offense in the NFL, and like I said earlier, a bad offense usurps a good defense. I look at their schedule and only see one winnable game; looks like we’re going back to 2016.

AFC West

Chiefs (5-0) - This is the most typical Chiefs season I’ve ever seen: win games while making every other NFL fan despise you, game by game, with one-possession wins. Nothing looks good or great on this team, but they are 5-0. I don't know how they do it, but that builds championship teams for sure. Super Bowl appearance or bust is not a far reach for this team every year.

Broncos (3-2) - Oh, ok Broncos, good winning streak you got there. There’s too much chaos in the NFL for you guys to be 5-0, though, with an early 0-2 start in one-possession games. However, you silenced the Bucs and just didn’t make mistakes against the Jets, a really good upset win. The Raiders are a light snack, so maybe you guys can be competitive this year? (First step, don’t throw interceptions every game, Bo Nix.)

Chargers (2-2) - If you took Justin Herbert in fantasy thinking it would be the same, I feel horribly bad for you. The Chargers used to be this flashy offensive team we would rave about. Jim Harbaugh just wants to make them a bland running team, and they’ve lost two straight. I have no idea what to expect from this team; the schedule looks moderate, so maybe like 8 or 9 wins?

Raiders (2-3) - I really thought Gardner Minshew would be an improvement for this team, but he’s gassed. They had a massive win against the Ravens, but nothing else to reflect on. You gave the Panthers their first win, allowed 34 unanswered points to the Denver Broncos, and had no red zone against the Chargers. Their schedule is also very difficult for this team, so good luck.

AFC South

Texans (4-1) - Man, there are so many cases where the Texans should be losing games, but that happens with more one-possession games. They only have one game that isn’t close, and it’s the one they lost. They got blasted by the Vikings in a “Stefon Diggs Revenge Game,” but he didn’t do anything. Still, an elite team overcoming their mistakes should have a deeper playoff run than last year, hopefully.

Colts (2-3) - I mean, I know the Jags had to win a game at some point, but seriously? Where were you in the third quarter, just for you to score 24 in the fourth? I should ask the same of your defense, but I digress. It’s not like it's the worst start, but we really have to ask if Anthony Richardson is the best option at QB right now. He’s like a more mobile Nick Mullens or Will Levis.

Titans (1-3) - Will Levis believers might be drowning in tears. If this team had just a serviceable QB, they could be winning this division, but Will Levis is making selfish turnovers and just hasn’t been good at all. The only reason this team has a win is because the Dolphins are horrible without their franchise QB. They’re tanking again.

Jaguars (1-4) - Thank the Lord you finally got a win; why do you guys suck so much?? Can you guys please learn how to close games? Last year’s collapse was definitely not a fluke; Duval just actually sucks. On another note, people are making a lot of Daniel Jones and Trevor Lawrence comparisons. My take on it is that Daniel Jones is more mobile and doesn’t have as much of a bad contract as Trevor Lawrence. Their stats are incredibly similar, even though they are talked about in completely different ways. What does this team really need to do better? I don’t really know, but the schedule doesn’t get any easier whatsoever. Strap in for a rough season.