Philly Front Office

Crushing the Giants before our BYE week will go a long way to bringing peace to the Delaware Valley. I’m sure my psyche isn’t different than yours in that we all need a break and a recharge. 6-2 after a tough schedule, all the drama, and before a 5-week gauntlet that includes at Packers, Lions, at Cowboys, short week Bears, and then going across the country for the Chargers¹ is a nice little island of safety. Anyway, let’s get to the other games and the Weekend Rooting Guide.

Giants at Eagles: Should Eli Manning be in the Hall of Fame?

Sunday Morning

• NONE!
  • Despite Roger Goodell’s desire for an international game every week, we finally get a reprieve from the Sunday Morning slop we have been feeding Europe. The games return on November 9th with Atlanta vs Indy in Berlin.
  • I had a nice long discussion on the internet yesterday about basically a practice squad league that would basically be a minor league system for the NFL. How would you feel about the PS Eagles facing the PS Giants this week? I would rather watch this on Tuesdays or Thursdays than literally anything else. It would mean more revenue for the league, more pay and experience for those players, and would double as a training ground for officials. Seems like a can’t miss idea to me. Roger, you can make the check out to Philly Front Office and Its Social Media Friends. Thanks, buddy. I know you’re good for it.

1pm Games

• Miami Dolphins at Atlanta Falcons
  • The Dolphins are getting close to being the worst organization in sports.² Sometimes being bad isn’t all that bad. The Ravens are bad because of injury and the Browns are bad out of necessity. As we all know with the Sixers, there’s a big difference between having a plan to be bad (the Process) and being bad accidentally (last season). You don’t want to be the latter. The Dolphins really thought they’d be good this year. Poor choices, injuries, infighting, lack of leadership, public embarrassment, dearth of talent…they have it all. They are absolutely screwed.
  • Here we are in Week 8 and I still don’t know what to make of the Falcons. They are 3-3 with a big win over Buffalo and a catastrophic loss to the Panthers. I think they aren’t good and should sell at the deadline to supplement a young offensive core, but they don’t. If they lose to Miami though, whoa boy, the strange will get stranger.
• New York Jets at Cincinnati Bengals
  • You’ve got to love when an owner criticizes the player for doing exactly what everyone expected. Woody Johnson gave Justin Fields $40m knowing he’s a bad QB and is now mad about it. Who are you really mad at Woody? Anyway, the dysfunction is good for the Jets and their quest for the #1 pick. Next up, trading Jermaine Johnson to the Eagles.
  • The Bengals got a shot in the arm last week with Joe Flacco spamming Ja’Marr Chase down the Steelers’ throat. Not a bad plan! At 3-4, the Bengals are not sellers simply because they hard holding out hope that they can bridge the gap to the return of Joe Burrow. The Jets should bring them to .500. They desperately needed competence and they got it.
• Cleveland Browns at New England Patriots
  • The Browns are really bad, but they still crushed the Dolphins. That win shouldn’t fool this team into thinking it is something it’s not. They need to sell everything they can at the deadline including Jerry Jeudy, David Njoku, Denzel Ward, and Grant Delpit.
  • Everyone is all over Drake Maye and the Patriots but their only good win is over a spiraling Bills team. The other 4 are against the Titans, Saints, Panthers, and Dolphins, plus they lost to the Raiders. Granted, you need to beat the bad teams and they are, but let’s pump the brakes please. This week is no different. Think of the competition for their 5-2 vs the Eagles 5-2 and it is no contest.
• Buffalo Bills at Carolina Panthers
  • Did Buffalo get right over the bye week? It would almost be better for them if they had a real challenge this week. Instead, they are right in the clutches of the dreaded trap game. Bhuahahaha! With KC next week, Buffalo might look past the frisky Panthers (pun intended) who are a shocking 4-3 by simply being able to run the ball and not turning it over too much. Bryce Young only has 2 INTs in the last 5 weeks. If Buffalo is fixed, they will run over Carolina. If not, they are in trouble
  • Nothing special out of Charlotte. Rico Dowdle is running the hell out of the ball and Bryce Young has been steady. An upset this week will go a long way to making this season an overall success. They have Green Bay next week then New Orleans. They could be 6-4 with playoff dreams. I’m rooting for them.
• Chicago Bears at Baltimore Ravens
  • Are the Bears…good? No. They really aren’t, but that’s fine. 4-2 seems good, but the wins aren’t impressive. They have Baltimore without Lamar and Cincy without Burrow coming up too. They could easily be 6-2 and the Indy of the NFC. On the bright side, Caleb Williams isn’t horrible and is making fewer bad decisions. This is all a good thing despite my negativity.
  • One more week at least without Lamar. A loss here and the math becomes very unfavorable to their playoff hopes even if the rest of their schedule is a cake walk. Consider this, the 4-3 Chiefs who are probably the best team in the AFC would not make the playoffs if the season ended today. Would you bet on the Bills, Chargers, and probably Broncos losing 4 more games and Lamar going undefeated assuming he’s back next week? That’s what they would have to do.
• San Francisco 49ers at Houston Texans
  • SF is starting to get healthy and survived early season trouble in what was supposed to be a gap year for financial reasons. I have to say, none of that makes me happy. They probably are not sellers or buyers if they stick to their original plan.
  • The Texans…sigh. The defense is incredible, the offense is abysmal. They are only above the dregs of the league in points scored while only giving up 88 points in 6 games, good enough for a +39 and a 2-4 record. Of course, take away their 44 point outburst against the lowly Ravens and you see that they are even worse than their numbers. If they lose they will be 2-5 while needing to pass the shockingly 6-1 Colts. 2-6 before the deadline means Danielle Hunter and others need to be on the move.

4pm Games

• Tampa Bay Buccaneers at New Orleans Saints
  • It took 1 bad performance against a great defense for the NFL world to turn on Baker Mayfield. Basically, as long as he comes back in the 4th quarter, everyone is willing to overlook his bad play the rest of the game. It’s not the end of the world and the Bucs are going to win their division going away, but let’s pump the breaks on the Baker for MVP bus. Although, against this Saints team, I’m sure everyone will hop right back on.
  • Kellen Moore should be given more credit for his team sticking in games this year despite Spencer Rattler at QB and very little talent. Other than a blowout against the Seahawks, they have played everyone close. That doesn’t mean they should deviate from the plan though. Selling at the deadline is imperative. I have my eye on Alontae Taylor as a CB to the Eagles.
• Dallas Cowboys at Denver Broncos
  • The Broncos are 5-2 and beat the Eagles thanks to the most horrific officiating I’ve ever seen that gifted the Broncos 14 points and took away the chance of a comeback (I am not letting this go). They also just had an incredible comeback against the Giants that they had no business winning. So are they good? Dallas is a good barometer for that.
  • Denver is a pretty good barometer for the Cowboys as well. Dak is putting up MVP numbers but their best win isn’t a win at all. It’s the tie against the Packers. They are 3-3-1 but have only defeated the Jets, Russel Wilson led Giants, and the Mariota led Commanders. If Dak is for real, he will handle the Broncos even if Patrick Surtain is locking up Pickens or Lamb. A loss here though and all those media outlets desperate to tie something of note to the Cowboys can keep quiet.
• Tennessee Titans at Indianapolis Colts
  • The Titans have a new coach and will be without Jeffery Simmons this week. Just go through the motions and lose to try to get another #1 pick. Also, please trade Roger McCreary to the Eagles. Thank you.
  • The Colts enchanted season rolls on against the Titans. No need to play this one. Jonathan Taylor is going to run for 200 yards and the Colts will improve to 7-1. They get the Steelers next week.

Sunday Night Football

• Green Bay Packers at Pittsburgh Steelers
  • The big headline from this one is Aaron Rodgers playing the Packers, but it is also a good test for both sides. The Steelers have yet to face anyone very good and are 4-2. A revenge win for Rodgers at home would go a long way to making this team seem credible.
  • The Packers are also in need of a shot of credibility. They beat Detroit but lost to Cleveland. They tied Dallas. Their other wins have been unconvincing over bad teams. A win this week before facing Carolina (trap game alert) could mean they are playing for the top of the NFC against the Eagles on November 10 (I will be at this game!). A loss though and they would be clearly below the top tier despite that Detroit win.

Monday Night Football

• Washington Commanders at Kansas City Chiefs
  • No Jayden Daniels again for the Commanders. The worry coming into the season was that they were too old and had very little depth. Without Daniels playing out of his mind again there would be no way for this team to repeat last year’s magic. They doubled down on competing instead of investing in Daniels’ youth. They are in serious risk of dropping to 3-5 with Seattle and Detroit coming next. That’s rough.
  • Rashee Rice came back and the Chiefs were playing the Raiders at home so, despite the cushy digs, predictably everyone crowned the Chiefs as officially back. They probably aren’t wrong though. They still have Mahomes and for everyone in the AFC, that’s always a big problem.

1. We get a small break in playing the Raiders at home before going to Washington, going to Buffalo in December, and then finishing with Washington. Hardest schedule I have ever seen. ↩︎
2. I absolutely have to write about this now ↩︎