Week 10 is in the books, but if you need some NFL hot takes to bring to work in the morning, we’ve got you covered.
Another week has come and gone, but we’re constantly learning things about the NFL as the cream rises to the top. Or, as this week showed us, the cream struggles to separate itself as we saw a handful of upsets seemingly rock our perfect picture of how the season will play out.
Before we get ahead of ourselves and start workshopping our Week 11 takes, stick your hand in our grab bag of observations and pull a few so you can feel like Lamar Jackson rocking shades on the sideline.
Don’t panic, Saints fans
Sunday was the one year anniversary of one of the most important reminders in football. A year ago this week, the New England Patriots lost to the Tennessee Titans in rather convincing fashion.
We’ve done this before, Saints fans — do not panic.
It’s to the point where saying the Saints are the most complete team in football feels watered down because we’re saying it so much. But after a 26-9 thumping by the Falcons on Sunday, there’s reason to say it again.
Over the last handful of years, New Orleans is the best team in football at self-diagnosing and adjusting from week-to-week. It’s how the team burned off 8-game win streaks in back-to-back seasons and why the team won with Bridgewater replacing Brees. It’s why they’re always Super Bowl favorites no matter what happens.
Losing to the hapless Falcons on Sunday stings, but it doesn’t indicate anything other than even the Saints are capable of a bad day. Atlanta didn’t give us a blueprint to beating the Saints and this isn’t the beginning of a downward spiral. New Orleans has a bigger chip on its shoulder than what happened on Sunday; if anything the hot takes about their bad day will only fuel their already white-hot vendetta to burn the rest of the league to the ground.
Don’t panic, the Saints are going to be just fine. If anything, they’re going to breakdown what went wrong and end up even better than they already were.
Patrick Mahomes Appreciation Time
The Chiefs lost on Sunday, and they absolutely shouldn’t have. There will be things written about Andy Reid’s inability to ever know what to do with his timeouts, or how Kansas City should have run on 3rd-and-1 instead of trying to pass.
Instead of rehashing what the Chiefs didn’t do, let’s fawn over something they did do. Specifically, the latest entry in Patrick Mahomes’ ever-expanding encyclopedia of extraordinary everything.
Mahomes gave us the sequel to his left-handed throw by performing a jump pass touchdown to Mecole Hardman. It was Mahomes’ Barry Lyndon, we know he’s a Kubrickian genius, but you still need to let it wash over you and sink in to truly appreciate how great it is.
Forget the Chiefs, that’s why having Mahomes healthy is good for football; he’s so damn exciting.
That’s what we miss when he’s out, and it’s why football is more enjoyable when Mahomes is healthy. Sure, the Chiefs lost on Sunday but they’re still one of the best teams in football because their quarterback literally levitates when he throws touchdown passes.
We all owe the Raiders an apology
Say it out loud with me: Oakland, we’re sorry.
Not sorry for laughing at them for the tumultuous˚ offseason they had — that’s still funny. But give credit where it’s due, the Raiders have graduated from clown college and are actually a good football team.
Let’s quickly go over a few things we need to own up and apologize to the Raiders for:
- They won the Khalil Mack trade. Oakland drafted Josh Jacobs with last year’s first-rounder and right now the Bears pick would in the Top 15. Mack is still a generational talent but the Raiders are still 5-4 without him and play the Bengals and Jets next. There’s a very real chance Oakland is 7-4 without Mack and with a potential Top 15 pick in their pocket.
- Jon Gruden is good head coach. This was the biggest punchline last year, as it very much appeared the game had passed him by. But everything we killed Gruden for, he has thrown right back at us. Derek Carr looks great, the defense is actually good, and he’s changed the culture in Oakland in one season.
That’s the type of Big Energy that has fans so jacked up everyone has forgotten the team is moving to a new state this spring.
Right now the Raiders are the sixth-seed in the playoffs, and there’s a very real chance they meet Kansas City in Week 13 with the division lead on the line. Not a soul in football expected this when the Raiders were clowning their way through Hard Knocks. Yet here we are, and it’s time we all apologized for being so wrong.