Here we go, the midway point of the season – things are getting serious. By now, it should be clear where every team is heading, but this is a strange NFL season. So much has yet to be decided. The NFC – aside from the Eagles – looks like a crapshoot. The AFC has the Chiefs and the Bills, but then plenty of question marks. Week 8 didn’t do much to point us in any real direction. We just got more chaos.
Even a bad game for the Bills is good
When a team wins by 10 points against Aaron Rodgers and the Green Bay Packers, it’s usually considered a good thing. However, the Buffalo Bills looked particularly disjointed against the Packers in the second half of their Sunday Night Football matchup. Ultimately, the Bills won 27-17 to move to 7-1 on the season – while the Packers dropped to 3-5 – but it wasn’t always pretty.
The Bills raced out to a 14-0 lead with touchdown passes from Josh Allen to Dawson Knox and Stefon Diggs and led by 17 points at halftime. It looked as if the Bills could crush the Packers with Rodgers struggling to move the ball downfield aside from one big play – the touchdown pass to Romeo Doubs. The second half was a different story, though mainly for the Bills. Allen turned the ball over twice, throwing two ugly interceptions, and the Bills scored just three points the rest of the way.
Luckily, the defense stood tall, but the offense can’t afford to play like that too often – especially against playoff-calibre teams. That sort of performance gets you blown out and embarrassed. Thankfully, that wasn’t the case and the Bills still won. Lucky for some, but an ugly performance.
The Wild, Wild (NFC) South
Phew, talk about unbridled chaos. The NFC South isn’t packed with quality in 2022. None of the four teams have a winning record – including the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, but someone has to win the division and make the playoffs. In the long run, it’s hard to write off Tom Brady and the Bucs, but they’re on a three-game losing streak. Adding to the concern, two of those losses came against the Pittsburgh Steelers and Carolina Panthers, leaving them third in the division standings. Panic stations.
Elsewhere in the division, we got a hectic matchup between the Panthers and Falcons – with the winner taking the top spot in the South. The game was close all the way through but got really wacky in the final few minutes. The Panthers scored a touchdown to take a three-point lead with four minutes to go before the Falcons drove down the field on the next series to score a go-ahead touchdown with just over two minutes to go. The next series saw the Panthers come up short and turn the ball over, allowing the Falcons to kick a field goal with 40 seconds left to make the score 34-28. A six-point game. Surely ball game, you would think?
Nope. With 12 seconds left, D.J. Moore caught a 62-yard touchdown pass from P.J. Walker to tie the game – if the Panthers hit the extra point, they would win. But, Moore took his helmet off in the celebrations and the Panthers were given a 15-yard penalty, meaning their extra point attempt would be backed up to the 30-yard line. Of course, the kick was missed and the game would go to overtime.
And then, even more shenanigans in the extra frame. Marcus Mariota was intercepted on the opening drive, meaning the Panthers only needed a field goal to win. But the 30-yard field goal attempt was missed, allowing the Falcons to drive down the field and score the game-winning field goal. Seriously, this is one of the games of the season for all the wrong reasons. What a wild division.
Christian McCaffrey goes scorched earth
The whole footballing world knows how talented Christian McCaffrey is, but the San Francisco 49ers were largely criticised for trading for the 26-year-old running back a couple of weeks ago. It wasn’t so much the trading for McCaffrey that was met with derision, more so what the 49ers paid the Panthers for his services: a second-rounder, a third-rounder, a fourth-rounder – all in 2023 – and a fifth-round pick in 2024. That’s a lot to give up for a non-premium position – especially when that player has had a laundry list of injuries and has a lot of miles under his belt.
However, Christian McCaffrey is a difference-maker. A one-of-a-kind player, McCaffrey proved just how valuable he can be against the Rams on Sunday by hitting football’s version of the cycle with a rushing touchdown, a receiving touchdown, and a passing touchdown. In doing so, he became just the fourth player since the merger to achieve that feat, all while racking up 149 yards from scrimmage. He carried the team on his back in a must-win game that made sure the 49ers wouldn’t fall further behind the Seahawks in the race for the NFC West.
In the long run, the trade might not shine too brightly for the 49ers, but right now, McCaffrey has been electric. Kyle Shanahan is showing what he can do with a truly elite running back, and it’s paying off. If McCaffrey stays healthy, the 49ers can continue to lean on him.
Russell Wilson looks a little more like himself
The Russell Wilson era in Denver has been…an unmitigated disaster. Heading into Sunday’s game against the Jaguars, the Broncos were 2-5 with one of – if not the worst – offenses in the league. Nothing was clicking. And it looked to be the same old story after Wilson threw a horrible interception early in the 1st quarter to set up a scoring drive for the Jaguars. But once Wilson led a scoring drive of his own – capped off by Jerry Jeudy touchdown from a Wilson pop pass – things felt a little different.
It wasn’t Wilson’s finest game, he completed 60 percent of his passes for 252 yards, one touchdown, and one interception. But there were signs of the old Russ in there. He hit a couple of deep sideline bombs and, more importantly, did something he’s struggled to do all season: worked the middle of the field, completing eight passes inside the numbers, per NFL Next Gen Stats. That’s a sign of improvement from Wilson – and while it might not seem like a lot, it counts for something considering how bad he’s been.
In the second half, Wilson orchestrated two touchdown drives, including the game-winner that culminated in a Latavius Murray touchdown run. It might not prove to be a launch point for the Broncos season – which is already in dire straits – but it could be the catalyst for a midseason turnaround. Broncos country, let’s…wait and see.
Credit where it’s due for the Tennessee Titans
Consistency isn’t always truly appreciated in the NFL, especially if it doesn’t translate to postseason success. But credit where it’s due because the Tennessee Titans are truly one of the more consistent franchises in the NFL. So much so that they’re probably flying under the radar. After a 0-2 start, the Titans are the winners of five straight games and look like the clear favourites to win the AFC South for a third consecutive season. If that happens, or even if they finish with a winning record, it’ll be their seventh straight season with a winning record.
As we’ve said, it hasn’t translated to postseason success – although the Titans did make the AFC Championship Game once in 2019 – but they really do deserve their flowers. It’s hard to consistently win games for that long unless you’re well-coached and have a great infrastructure. Even without Ryan Tannehill, the Titans humbled the Houston Texans on Sunday.
Derrick Henry and the Titans rushed for 314 yards and two touchdowns while the defense held the Texans to just 10 points. It wasn’t the prettiest game, but the Titans won with their bread and butter. Henry continues to prove that he has more than enough juice left in the tank, and while not many are talking about the Titans, they’re still finding ways to win.
-Thomas Valentine
Twitter: @tvalentinesport