Slow starts, bad luck, lousy play — these seven teams somehow overcame a forgettable first month to stay in the playoff race.
I got a flat tire on the way home from LaGuardia on Monday and it got me thinking. First, I thought, “This isn’t going to help me make deadline on this week’s What We Learned column.” Then I thought, “Unless I use this experience in the column lead!”
By hanging 40 on the Jaguars, Dallas proved it could contend in a free-for-all division race. Plus: Is Adam Thielen the best wide receiver in the NFL?
The Chargers have avoided their annual slow start, and with a soft schedule ahead, competitors had better watch their backs.
Maybe it’s a stretch and maybe it’s too meta, but when you’re changing a tire in a rainy parking lot in Mamaroneck, New York, on your way home from rainy Cleveland, you’ve got to find some way to make it work for you.
So what I want to look at here is a couple of teams who were sitting on the side of the road with flat tires in September but now, for one reason or another, find themselves with a chance to make something of their seasons — teams we may have felt like abandoning on the side of the road after the first few weeks but who have roared (or crawled, or lucked) back into contention by mid-October. A 16-game season sounds short, but it’s amazing how much time you actually have to turn things around in this NFL. Unless you’re the Raiders.
This is the weirdest one, because the Texans have rebounded from an 0-3 start with three straight wins for which they seem to have been only partially responsible.
They beat the Colts in overtime after Indy coach Frank Reich went for it on fourth down and didn’t get it. They beat the Cowboys in overtime after Jason Garrett didn’t go for it on fourth down. And they beat the Bills after Josh Allen got hurt and Buffalo had to put Nathan Intercepterman in the game at quarterback.
The Texans are three funny bounces away from being 0-6. They’re the Giants’ only win, which obviously doesn’t scream “playoff contender.” But 3-3 is good enough to be tied for first in the moribund AFC South. They were a preseason favorite in that division for a reason. J. Watt looks totally rejuvenated. And Houston’s remaining schedule rates among the easiest in the league. The Texans are in this thing.
Seattle started 0-2 with road losses at Denver and Chicago but has won three of its past four and lost by only two to the undefeated Rams. Now, that’s no small loss, since the Rams sit three games ahead of the Seahawks in their own division. But at 3-3, Seattle is in a midpack NFC jumble out of which two wild-card teams must eventually emerge. The Seahawks sacked Derek Carr six times Sunday in London, and if the Frank Clark -led pass rush can dominate like that, it will allow the young Legion of Boom replacements in the secondary some time to develop.
On offense, Seattle appears determined to sit out the NFL’s high-octane passing-game revolution. But the Seahawks have rushed for at least 100 yards in each of their past four games, which is how they want to play it. Could Pete Carroll’s bunch bore the rest of the NFC wild-card field into submission?
Catch up on what’s happening coming out of Week 6:
• The most unpredictable trends, moments from Week 6 »
• Who’s next? The heirs apparent to the Patriots’ AFC throne
• Let’s overreact to Week 6: Cowboys poised to take NFC East? »
• AFC on notice: Chargers are legit threats
• Week 6 takeaways: Can anyone stop the Rams?
• The biggest injuries of Week 6 » More NFL coverage »
I wrote about the Chargers on Sunday off their victory in Cleveland, so I’ll keep this short. They were 1-2 and have won three in a row to move within a game of Kansas City, and they don’t play a team that currently has a winning record until their Steelers/Bengals/Chiefs/Ravens gantlet to open December. They could have Joey Bosa back by then.
Another preseason darling, Minnesota was 1-2-1 after a Week 4 loss to the Rams. The Vikings rebounded with a signature Week 5 victory in Philadelphia, avenging their NFC Championship Game loss to the eventual Super Bowl champs, then beat the Cardinals on Sunday to move within a half-game of the first-place Bears.
Kirk Cousins is red-hot to start the season, completing 71.2 percent of his passes while ranking fourth in the league in passing yards with 12 touchdown throws against just three interceptions. No one is playing the receiver position better than Adam Thielen, the ground game finally got going in Week 6, and the defense appears to be putting it together after a rough start. Minnesota’s Nov. 25 rematch with the Packers could loom large, as the winner (if there is one!) will hold a tiebreaker edge over the loser. Of course, that will matter only if the Bears drop a few more puzzlers like they did Sunday in Miami.
When our man Jeremy Fowler reported two weeks ago that Le’Veon Bell was planning to report to the Steelers after the bye, we suggested in this space that the Steelers could easily lose to Atlanta and Cincinnati and be 1-4-1 by the time that happened. Instead, they drubbed the Falcons and broke the Bengals’ hearts as usual, so they sit a half-game out of the Cincinnati/Baltimore first-place tie.
James Conner already has three games this season with 100 or more rushing yards and two or more touchdowns. Bell has had only three such games in his career. So when/if Bell does return, Pittsburgh will either be stacked at running back or be able to trade Bell for a helpful defensive player and/or nice draft pick. The Ravens’ AFC-leading plus-76 point differential is daunting, and until the final minute Sunday the Bengals had played as well as any AFC team this side of Kansas City. But Pittsburgh knows what it’s like to turn it on in the second half, and the Steelers are sure to be heard from before this is all over.
What? They’ve won two in a row after a 1-3 start. And their plus-26 point differential is only two worse than New England’s. I’m not saying the Jets are a threat to steal the division from the Patriots, but they sure don’t look like a lot of fun to play. Sam Darnold completed EIGHTY percent of his passes in Sunday’s victory over the Colts. Now, the Jets were 3-3 last year and finished 5-11. So let’s see them navigate this upcoming Vikings/Bears/Dolphins stretch before believing. But if the 3-3 Seahawks are on this list, the 3-3 Jets have to be on it, too.
Come on. You weren’t REALLY worried about them at 1-2, were you? We’ve seen this movie before.
Couple of other things we learned in Week 6:
Baker Mayfield reflects on the Browns’ 38-14 loss to the Chargers, saying their execution was poor and admits that he is “at fault for the majority of it.”
Cleveland was bummed after Sunday’s 38-14 loss to the Chargers. It was the first game this season the Browns didn’t have a real chance to win, and it dropped them to 2-3-1. Grouchy players left the locker room without doing their postgame interviews.
