Well, we are nearing the end of Week 9 of the NFL season, and it has been another wild week. The script writers have really been on their game this year. We have seen dominant wins, surprising losses, devastating injuries, and more! Even with all of this, I feel like I continue to be drawn to some of the same things week after week. The best thing though is that we have football to discuss. Whether we love the situation or not, it is still worth discussing.

The Evil Empire Is A Distant Memory

As someone who watched the New England Patriots dynasty from its humble beginnings, I think we can safely say that their period of dominance has passed. Now, I think it is time to start having some real discussions about Bill Bellichick, both as a coach and a GM. Even during their peak, I always had some questions about Bellichick as a GM. I felt like he made some very questionable draft picks, many of which never panned out. I think some of the free agent signings he made were buoyed by Tom Brady’s influence. I think some of the best signings that were made happened because players were willing to take a discount just to play with the GOAT.

Since Brady has left, the Patriots are suffering from some of the same issues. Coach Bellichick has made a few questionable draft picks, and coupled with that he has made some questionable free agency decisions. And without Brady there to cover up some of the teams failings, we are seeing a decline in team performance. Bellichick has always been heralded as a defensive genius, but this year even the defense has looked shaky at best.

Looking back on it, I wonder if Bellichick should have retired when Brady left. At that time he was considered to be one of the greatest coaches ever. His performance since then has done nothing but tarnish that legacy. Now, we are seeing the questions really come up about who was the real architect of the dynasty. Was it Bill, or was it Brady all along?

The Importance Of Depth

This week we saw an incredible number of projected back-up or even third string QB’s make starts. Then we saw even more come in due to injury. The NFL is a violent game (no matter what they are trying to do to it), and it is more important than ever to have quality depth. Every team is going to deal with injuries during the season. And yes, it is usually the teams that are the healthiest at the end that are competing for the title. But, in order to be healthy at the end, and be in position to compete for the title, you need to have quality depth to survive the gauntlet that is the NFL season.

No team embodies that more than the Vikings this week. In last week’s game they lost their franchise quarterback and their all-pro receiver is still on IR. They came into this week with a 5th round rookie as the starting quarterback. In the first quarter of the game they lost both him and one of their top receiving targets to injury. They were forced to put in a player who has only been on the team since Tuesday, and ask him to lead the team to victory. And he did…in exciting fashion. What would the team have done if they had simply relied on what they had instead of making a move to acquire another QB?

Analysis Paralysis

In a tumultuous week, the Raiders leadership made a decision to clean house and get rid of both their head coach and their GM. This a bold move to make at this point of the season, and thanks to some new NFL rules it is one that doesn’t have much perceived upside. However, this was the correct move to make and the team responded in a very favorable way. They looked more spirited on both offense and defense than they have all year. Now, why do I bring this up? The truth is, I think there are several other teams that should be looking to make similar moves. But, the problem is they are going to waste the rest of the season in analysis mode. The problem is that they are going to be analyzing the wrong things.

The Raiders made the move to clean house, and now they are in a position to truly look at their roster from top to bottom and analyze what they have so that they are in a position to make smarter moves in the future. Teams that are going to ride out the rest of the season with lame duck coaching staffs or front offices are going to waste resources analyzing those. At this point of the season, it begins to become clear which coaches are going to be looking for new jobs next year. Why not be like the Raiders and get a jump start on evaluating your rosters with fresh eyes?

Force or Farce

I love this phrase that one of my colleagues here at The Sports Affiliation has begun using for our midweek show. I am going to co-opt it here for a slightly different purpose. At this point of the season we want to start talking about Super Bowl odds. There is still a lot of football to be played before I am willing to hang my hat on a favorite, but I think we can start dividing teams into those that are going to be a force down the stretch, and those that have been a farce thus far.

There were a couple of games this week that I think helped shape these lists a bit. Both the Chiefs-Dolphins game and the Ravens-Seahawks game helped me learn a lot about what the rest of the season is going to look like. After last week some people were ready to bury the 49ers and crown the Seahawks as the best team in the NFC West. This week proved to me that the Seahawks are not quite ready for prime time. They were dominated by a team that many would label as somewhere between the third and fifth best team in the AFC. In Germany, the Chiefs showed that they are still the class of the AFC, and that they are masters of finding ways to win. The Dolphins high-powered offense simply looked out of sorts against the Chiefs defense for almost the whole game. And while the Dolphins defense was solid…the Chiefs found a way to do just enough.

That’s going to do it for me this week. I’m going to take a week off of calling for more transparency around the NFL officiating, but I retain the right to bring it back up next week. As always, if you need assistance with your fantasy rosters please reach out to me on X(Twitter) @2fatguysff