- Teams lose in the NFL. That’s going to happen. What will get a coaching staff in immediate trouble is actively finding ways to lose an NFL game. When you have a lead in an NFL game, the clock is your friend. Perhaps it’s your best friend. But Falcons Coach Mike Smith and the team were not interested in the friendship that the clock provides. Between the Falcons ill-timed penalty that stopped the clock, an ill-timed 3rd down pass, and the curious use of timeouts, the Falcons gave the Lions a healthy amount of time on the clock to beat them. The Lions simply took the opportunity and accommodated them. The biggest concern for the organization in my opinion is that the fan base is now expecting defeat. The fan base can now add a 21 point blown lead to their list of losses they’ve seen this year. Once losing becomes part of your culture, and is expected, change is needed. It’s amazing when the Falcons fans begin to panic when the Lions scored their first touchdown to make it a 21-10 ballgame. In most NFL cities, that’s still a comfortable and defendable margin.
- Welcome back to the NFC South race, New Orleans Saints. But to be very honest, even at 2-4, they were had just as good of a chance of winning this as anyone. The Saints used the 2nd half to demolish the Packers to a tune of 44-23 final. With the Packers rash of turnovers, the Saints outscored them 28-7 in the 2nd half. The Saints are not a good defensive football team, as they once again gave up nearly 500 yards of offense (491). The Saints need their offense to make plays in order to give their defense a larger margin of error and allow them to take chances. The Saints ended the four game winning streak for the Packers. More notably, the Saints have now extended their own home winning streak to 11 games and to 14 games in home primetime games since November of 2008. At 3-4, the Saints will have to avoid playing on the road the rest of the year in order to easily win the NFC South. That may be a problem.
- I’m not ready to say that the Carolina defense is now back to their 2013 standards. After surrendering 30 points in four of five games, the Panthers held the Seattle Seahawks to just six points until the final minute of the game. In watching multiple films of the Seahawks, they’re a team that lacks receivers who can create space on a consistent basis. The Panthers were able to contain the running opportunities for Seattle and dare them to beat them with their receivers. That planned worked until the final :47 seconds of the game. These two teams combined to go 25-5 last season. Now I see them as being largely toothless offensively with inconsistent defensive play. Thanks to the Panthers tie against the Bengals, they remain as the NFC South division leader.
- Tampa. You will have your pick of the top quarterbacks on the board in April 2015. But your problems are deeper than that. This looks like a team that was slapped together based on names, not games. The QB play is OK, not terrible. The run game is ugly. And the defense doesn’t make many plays. Lovie Smith’s first season as head coach is a tough one.