As a Patriots fan we have officially entered the dark ages. It is the year 2022 and somehow we are still going to have to watch Brian Hoyer start for this team.
If this report holds up, this means that Mac Jones will miss at least the next four weeks for the Patriots. Our next four games you may ask… away at Green Bay, at home vs. Detroit, away against Cleveland and at home against Chicago. I’m very worried. However, this isn’t an article about the Patriots. We’re here to talk about what happened around the league this week. Let’s get into it.
1. The Cincinnati Bengals bounce back against the New York Jets
After two weeks of inconsistent and disappointing play, the reigning AFC Champions finally looked like themselves on Sunday. Joe Burrow had himself an interception-free game while also throwing for three touchdowns. The Bengals defense also did their part by forcing four Jets turnovers on the day. While Cincy may have bounced back in New York, they have two very hard tests in these next two weeks. They host the undefeated Dolphins on Thursday night this week and then travel to Baltimore on Sunday night to play Lamar Jackson and the Ravens.
2. The Philadelphia Eagles are not playing around
When the Eagles made that draft day trade to get A.J. Brown from the Titans, I knew that this offense would become something that defenses around the league would fear. Three games into the season, the Eagles are averaging 28.6 points per game and they’ve just been running rampant against every single opponent. After the Lions game, in which the Eagles allowed 35 points, people were questioning the defense. These last two weeks have definitely shut up the doubters. Holding the Vikings to seven points and only allowing six points to the Commanders on Sunday.We’ve talked about the Eagles offense and defense as complete units, now I want to highlight some key players on this team.
Jalen Hurts is on a different level this year. He is currently third in the league in passing yards, first in yards per completion and attempt and tied for third in rushing touchdowns. He is the key to this well-oiled machine in Philly and I’m happy that he is finally getting the respect he deserves. I’ll never forget that people were calling for Gardner Minshew to start over him last year.
Lastly, these Eagles receivers, especially DeVonta Smith and A.J. Brown. Both of these guys are WR1’s anywhere in the league. Smith won a Heisman Trophy for a reason and that showed yesterday. A.J. Brown is and has been a top 10 receiver in this league. Take a look at their stats in the FIRST HALF yesterday.
Absolutely insane. They’ll have some interesting games coming up as they host the upstart Jaguars next week and then travel to Arizona to face off Kyler Murray and the Cardinals.
3. Lamar Jackson is ridiculous
This is the second time in my life that I’ve sat and watched Lamar Jackson make the Patriots look foolish. It’s a weird feeling because he’s probably my favorite player in the whole league, but obviously I’m a die-hard New England Patriots fan for life. Throughout the game I just caught myself laughing in anger because there’s just simply no way that you can truly contain this man. Without both of his starting offensive tackles Lamar still put on a clinic against the Patriots defense. Here are Lamar’s stats from Sunday.
18/29 for 218 yards and 4 TD’s
11 carries for 107 yards and a rushing touchdown.
Lamar leads the league in passing touchdowns, yards per carry and passer rating. I’m just going to leave these two tweets below to see for yourself. Lamar Jackson is a top five quarterback in this league and if you don’t agree then you are simply a hater. Don’t know what else this man has to do to earn the respect he deserves.
4. The Jacksonville Jaguars are leading the AFC South????
You see what happens when you remove Urban Meyer from your organization and spend money in the offseason? Things are turning around in Jacksonville whether you like it or not. After a shaky week one performance against the Commanders, Trevor Lawrence has truly bounced back. And not only that, the Jaguars defense has only allowed 10 points in the last two weeks and held the Chargers to 26 total rushing yards yesterday. Another thing that stood out to me is that in the past two weeks, this Jaguars offensive line has not let up a single sack. It isn’t a coincidence that they’ve won those two games. They are currently leading the AFC South and have a decent schedule for the next four or five weeks. Their only big test will be going to Philadelphia to play the Eagles next week. I’m excited to see what this team can do.
5. The Denver Broncos are not fun to watch… at all
That was one of the worst game I’ve ever watched in my life. For the love of God please stop putting Russell Wilson and the Broncos on prime time television. Though three games, the Broncos have not scored more than 16 points, they have only three offensive touchdowns and Russell Wilson and Nathaniel Hackett don’t seem to be on the same page at all.
The Denver Broncos are 29th in team offense and they haven’t shown me anything to put any sort of belief in them. If they struggle on offense once again next week against the winless Raiders, then I will officially start to put Nathaniel Hackett on the hot seat.
What a weird year so far. The Jaguars are currently winning the AFC South, the Dolphins are undefeated and the Eagles might be the best team in the NFC. Regardless we are in for another crazy season and I’m all for it. What I’m not all for is Brian Hoyer being the Patriots starting quarterback in 2022. That makes me want to cry myself to sleep. Just bring Cam Newton back at this point. We’re last in the division, we might as well. I still believe Cam could’ve done the exact same thing that Mac did last year. Cam’s year with the Patriots we were lining up Gunner Olszewski on the outside at receiver and still went 7-9. Time for me to root for Lamar to get his ring because the way things are looking the Patriots aren’t going to sniff the playoffs. This is YSN, until next time, signing out.
