The 2022 NFL season is a month old and so far, we’ve seen our fair share of chaos. Only one undefeated team remains, and it’s one that not many people expected: the Philadelphia Eagles. The Eagles have got a lot of love in this column this season, and rightly so, but we’re going to go in a different direction this week. It’s the NFL after all, there’s so much going on.
Lions vs Seahawks is the unlikely game of the week
Not many would have earmarked a Week 4 game between the Detroit Lions and the Seattle Seahawks as one of the potential games of the season. Even fewer would have done so once the Lions injury report was revealed. Points, it would seem, would be at a premium. No Amon-Ra St. Brown, no D’Andre Swift. No fun.
However, we got the highest-scoring game of the season at Ford Field, with the Seattle Seahawks running out 48-45 winners and Geno Smith and Jared Goff combining for 708 passing yards and six touchdown passes. How many people expected Goff and Smith to look better than the quarterbacks they were brought in to replace? No one. And it’s not close either. Smith leads all NFL quarterbacks in expected points added (EPA) and completion percentage over expected (CPOE) composite, while Goff ranks 13th.
Both defenses have a lot to answer for, but watchability should take precedence here. The Seahawks and Lions have been fun teams to watch through the first four weeks of the season and we got to see an exciting game on Sunday. Sure, neither team will likely make the playoffs, but there is a lot to be optimistic about.
Raiders finally get their first win
And then there was one. After a miserable 0-3 start with losses against the Los Angeles Chargers, Arizona Cardinals, and Tennessee Titans, the Las Vegas Raiders finally rattled off their first win of the season in Week 4 against the Denver Broncos. The Raiders have severely underwhelmed so far in 2022. The defense has been below-average and hinders a lot of what they want to do on offense. Overall, it’s not a perfect recipe. Not close.
The Raiders were playoff hopefuls after the moves they made in the offseason, but it just hasn’t clicked so far. However, they’re still only two games back of the Kansas City Chiefs. Despite the slow start, they have plenty of time to pull themselves into shape and get back into the playoff picture and there were a lot of positives to take away from the win vs Denver.
Josh Jacobs ran the ball extremely well, racking up 143 yards and two touchdowns on 5.1 yards per carry and averaging 4.14 yards after contact. It was the best Jacobs has looked in a long time. The defense also pressured Russell Wilson 10 times. It was everything we’ve wanted to see from a loaded pass rush. It also gets the Raiders off the mark. A desperately needed win.
Kenny Pickett replaces Mitchell Trubisky
It took just four games, but Kenny Pickett is set to be the new starting quarterback for the Pittsburgh Steelers. Pickett replaced Mitchell Trubisky in the Week 4 loss against the Jets, and although he threw three interceptions, Pickett gave the Steelers a lot to like. He’s accurate, willing to push the ball downfield, and he’s able to create when the pocket is collapsing or things go awry.
The same can’t be said for Trubisky. In three and a half games, Trubisky completed just 59 percent of his passes for 653 yards, two touchdowns and two interceptions. He was always going to be a stepping stone quarterback on a short leash, and after a number of disappointing performances, and the Steelers falling into a 1-3 hole with little chance of making the playoffs, Mike Tomlin has elected to make the change under center.
There’s no harm in Pickett taking over as the starter now, and if they think he’s ready to take over then getting him as many first team reps as possible is wise. In just one half of football, he showed enough as a passer to give the Steelers some hope.
Rams offense continues to struggle
One of the stranger things we’re seeing on the field this season is the dysfunction of the Los Angeles Rams offense. The Super Bowl champions have struggled to move the ball and generate points this season – outside of when Matt Stafford is targeting Cooper Kupp. Through four weeks, the Rams are scoring just 17.5 points per contest – 29th in the NFL and are 28th in EPA per play on offense, per RBSDM.
Things just aren’t clicking. Stafford is completing 70 percent of his passes but his 6.4 air yards per attempt is the fourth-lowest in the NFL. He’s getting pressured on 32 percent of his dropbacks, per PFF, and the offensive line is already banged up. That’s also affecting a porous running game that’s averaging 3.3 yards per rush and ranks 25th in rushing success rate. Anything that could go wrong for the Rams, probably has at this point.
Kupp is still playing out of his skin, but the way the Rams are operating in the passing game just doesn’t feel stable – and it’s certainly not efficient. Kupp has 16 more targets than the next closest Rams player, Tyler Higbee, after four games and Allen Robinson only has 18 targets through four games. Until something changes, the Rams will struggle. Even if they are 2-2.
Derrick Henry continues to find his groove
There were legitimate concerns regarding Derrick Henry entering the 2022 NFL season. A 28-year-old running back with an insane workload coming back from a lower body injury? That’s a tough proposition, especially when Henry was approaching a career-total 1500 touches before the season. Pair that with a Titans passing game that wouldn’t be able to consistently keep defenses honest, and a weakened offensive line, well, the signs weren’t good.
Henry started a step slow, averaging just over three yards per carry in the first two games of the season. He struggled to find holes to attack, while looking like he had lost a step as a east to west runner trying to bounce to the edge. For those worried about Henry’s long-term prospects and even his performance this season: this felt like vindication of sorts.
So, the last two weeks have probably felt like a win for anyone on the other side of the fence, because Henry is starting to look like himself once more. He totaled 203 rushing yards against the Colts and Raiders, averaging 4.8 yards per rush and forcing 10 missed tackles in that span – tied for the third-most over the last two weeks. The last two weeks have also seen an uptick in activity in the passing game for Henry, something that we haven’t really seen a lot of during his career.
Henry isn’t all the way back. Maybe he never will be, but he’s looked much better the last two weeks and that’s really helped a Titans offense that looked doomed early on.
-Thomas Valentine
Twitter: @tvalentinesport
Photo: All-Pro Reels. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license.