NFC Hierarchy/Obituary: Week 6 edition

14) Giants (2-3): During a 16-play first quarter drive, the Giants were trying to punch it in the end zone from the 1, when... OH NO!

One thing I HATE about NFL telecasts is that they'll go to commercial breaks during official reviews instead of showing replays, which is exactly what happened after the Seahawks' touchdown return. In this case, it was a 14-point swing. Viewers were forced to watch political ads instead of getting clarity on what happened on the play and what the ruling would be. IT'S INSANE! 

Anyway, to their credit, from there on out the Giants outscored the Seahawks 29-13, and won the game late on a blocked kick that was returned for a TD. Watch Dexter Lawrence (97) pull the RG down, making it easier for Isaiah Simmons to hurdle him. It would've been a penalty if Simmons had a running start or used another player as leverage, but was clean the way the Giants executed it.

Pretty cool play. 

Daniel Jones had a legitimately good game, and not just on the Daniel Jones scale of good games. 23-34 for 257, 2 TDs, 0 INTs. 

The Giants should probably give him another contract extension.

Last week: 15

13) Cardinals (2-3): Credit to Jonathan Gannon where it's due — he did something on Sunday that most coaches wrongly don't. He went for two when down by four. The Cardinals scored a TD with 11:25 left in the fourth quarter, and they were down 23-19. Gannon went for two, and got it. 23-21. Why was that the right strategy? Per FiveThirtyEight: 

If you’re down 4 points after scoring a touchdown (with 10 minutes left), you should go for 2, because being down 2 points instead of 3 helps you more than being down 4 points instead of 3 hurts you... If you think ahead, the second point means a future field goal could win the game (and if you don’t convert, you just have to adjust to go for winning touchdowns instead of tying field goals).

And sure enough, when the Cardinals kicked a field goal with 1:37 left, they went up 24-23, which ended up being the final score of the game.

Last week: 14

12) Saints (2-3): Derek Carr's first two games vs. his last three games:

Derek Carr	Comp-Att (Comp %)	Yards (YPA)	TD-INT	Rating
First 2 games (2-0)	30-39 (76.9%)	443 (11.4)	5-1	142.4
Last 3 games (0-3)	60-89 (67.4%)	546 (6.1)	3-3	81.0

And on the eye test, he's doing dumb stuff like this:

Some of the worst INTs you'll see each season are when quarterbacks try to throw the ball away and don't quite throw it far enough.

Last week: 11

11) Bears (3-2): Caleb Williams took some heat after his slow start (and Jayden Daniels' immediate success), but he's been a lot better.

The three teams the Bears have beaten — the Titans, Rams, and Panthers — have three combined wins, so we'll get a better idea of what they are soon enough, but they also have another easy opponent Week 6 in London against the Jaguars.

Last week: 12

10) Eagles (2-2): It was a bad bye week for the Eagles, who watched as the Commanders, Cowboys, and Giants all won their games. The NFC East standings now look like this:

NFC East	Record	Div record	GB
Commanders	4-1	1-0	-
Cowboys	3-2	1-0	1
Eagles	2-2	0-0	1.5
Giants	2-3	0-2	2

They'll very likely get A.J. Brown, DeVonta Smith, and Lane Johnson back from injury following the bye, and their next four opponents have a combined record of 5-15, so they have a golden opportunity to gain some ground back in October. Of course, they had as easy a stretch to close the season as imaginable last year when they played the Cardinals and the Giants twice, and they nearly went 0-3. So, you know, we'll see!

Last week: 8

9) 49ers (2-3): A lot of weird stuff happened that contributed to the Niners' loss to the Cardinals. For example, kicker Jake Moody got hurt, which forced the Niners (up 10 at the time) to go for it on 4th and 23 from the AZ 27. (Side note: Expect the Niners to demand the NFL to allow add an emergency kicker roster spot next offseason.)

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Still, the difference in this Niners team and Niners teams of the previous two seasons was on full display. They swept the Cardinals each of the last two years, by a combined score of 156-68. This year, home loss!

Another notable difference between this year and last year will be tiebreakers. If you'll recall last year, three of the Niners' five losses were to AFC teams. They were 10-2 in the NFC and 5-1 in the NFC West, and owned tiebreakers over every team in the conference. So far in 2024 they're 0-3 in the NFC and 0-2 in the NFC West.

Last week: 4

8) Seahawks (3-2): We showed the Giants' block of a Seahawks field goal attempt above. It's worth noting that under Pete Carroll, Seattle always had very good special teams. Their special teams DVOA finishes the last four years:

• 2020: 3rd
• 2021: 5th
• 2022: 4th
• 2023: 8th

So far in 2024... 27th.

Last week: 5

7) Falcons (3-2): The Falcons' three wins have all been of the "other team is going to win this game, and then OH MY GOD NO!" variety.

Credit them for taking advantage of their opponents' mistakes, but they're also lucky to be 3-2.

I will say, credit where it's due. Kirk Cousins absolutely diced up the Buccaneers' defense from the pocket with anticipation throws all day. Week 1 he could barely move. He looks like a different player now.

Last week:  10

6) Cowboys (3-2): We were this close 🤏 to all all-timer Cowboys prime time choke job Sunday night.

Give it time. We'll get one this year.

Last week: 9

5) Buccaneers (3-2): Baker Mayfield was really good in the Bucs' loss to the Falcons, as he has been in four out of five games this season. He's completing 71.9 percent of his passes with 11 TDs and 2 INTs.

Last week: 6

4) Packers (3-2): Jayden Reed is really good.

That's an incredible catch.

Reed had 64 catches for 793 yards and 8 TDs as a rookie last season. So far in 2024 he has 21 catches for 414 yards (19.7 YPC), and 2 TDs, plus 8 rushes for 110 yards and a TD. 

Last week: 7

3) Commanders (4-1): Jayden Daniels is a more accurate Lamar Jackson.

I don't know if it'll happen this season, but we might be looking at a shift in power in the NFC East from the Eagles and Cowboys to the Commanders.

Last week: 10

2) Lions (3-1): The Lions were on their bye this week. I believe the Eagles benefited from the early bye, on the premise that they could take a step back, get their best players healthy again, maybe get their s*** together schematically, etc. The Lions, however, are mostly healthy and were doing just fine. They kinda got screwed by the early bye.

Last week: 2

1) Vikings (5-0): It was noted during the Jets-Vikings telecast on Sunday that the Vikings drafted all five of their offensive line starters:

• LT Christian Darrisaw: 2021, Round 1
• LG Blake Brandel: 2020, Round 6
• C Garrett Bradberry: 2019, Round 1
• RG Ed Ingram: 2022, Round 2
• RT Brian O'Neill: 2018, Round 2

And as you can see, they've used significant draft resources on building their line. During the telecast Kurt Warner wondered aloud when the last time a team had that kind of setup along their offensive line. I don't know if it was the last time, but the 2022 Eagles that went to the Super Bowl had an entire OL lineup of homegrown draftees.

• LT Jordan Mailata: 2018, Round 7
• LG Landon Dickerson: 2021, Round 2
• C Jason Kelce: 2011, Round 6
• RG Isaac Seumalo: 2016, Round 3
• RT Lane Johnson: 2013, Round 1

The Vikings' 5-0 start has largely been attributed to Brian Flores' swarming defense and the surprisingly solid play of Sam Darnold (though Darnold had a bad game on Sunday, in my opinion). But there's also something to be said for offensive line continuity, and the Vikings' talent at tackle in Darrisaw and O'Neill.

Last week: 1

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