In Week Six of the NFL, the enduring slogan “any given Sunday” has no place. Seven games were decided by 14 points or more, and the majority of them were never close in a league where most games are often competitive and come down to the last minutes.
It’s surprising to witness so many blowouts in one week, and it’s something to consider as the season gets closer to its halfway point and the playoff picture is more obvious. Let’s quickly review the things we discovered and the things we already knew from this week’s landslide victories.
The Cardinals defence is still undergoing a significant reconstruction. Head coach of the Cardinals Jonathan Gannon has experimented with about every defensive strategy imaginable, but nothing truly seems to be working. The Cardinals allowed a success percentage of 55% this week (i.e., 50% of the yards required on first and second down, 100% on third and fourth down) according to TruMedia, placing them squarely in the Very Very Bad category. The Cardinals defence is going to have a difficult season, but we already knew that.
Although there isn’t technically much “new” to take away from this game, Jordan Love is currently playing outstanding football. He’s almost cut his sack rate in half from the previous campaign, but the Packers offence still relies heavily on him for big plays. This man is already a top-tier quarterback, so it becomes wiser by the week that they gave him a market-rate contract despite the short sample size.
OL. This place saw a great deal of activity, much of which was incomprehensible. In the second quarter, the Saints scored all 27 of their points. And with four minutes remaining in the third quarter, they were winning 27–24 as well. The offence, who was starting a rookie quarterback, played poorly and some really horrible tackling led to them giving up four touchdowns in the last 19 minutes of the game. On 28 attempts, rookie running backs for the Bucs, Sean Tucker (undrafted) and Bucky Irving (fourth round), combined for — 217 yards and two touchdowns?
