From Jared Goff’s extraordinary career revival to pressure on Brock Purdy, Sky Sports NFL presenter Neil Reynolds has his final say on Week Seven of the 2024 season on the road to Super Bowl LIX…
Week Seven in the NFL is in the books and the 2024 season is starting to take shape, and that’s where this column begins, with a couple of teams that have laid down serious markers in terms of leading the race to the Super Bowl.
Goff playing his best football
I think it’s fair to say Jared Goff is in the form of his life as the quarterback of the Detroit Lions. He was outstanding once again in their 31-29 win over the Minnesota Vikings on Sunday, close to perfect for the third week in a row. He completed 22 of 25 for 280 yards, two touchdowns, no interceptions and I think he now has the confidence to take on any defense in the NFL and the backing of an excellent coach in offensive coordinator Ben Johnson.
It looks like Goff has the answers to all of the tests. That was so impressive on Sunday given he was facing Brian Flores, who did an absolute number on him when he was defensive coordinator of the New England Patriots during Goff’s time with the Rams at Super Bowl 53.
Lamar’s big night
I picked the Baltimore Ravens to represent the AFC in the Super Bowl at the start of the year, and still felt pretty good when they were 0-2 and now I’m feeling very good following their Monday Night Football win over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. I feel like the Ravens are the best team in the AFC, possibly the best team in the NFL in their current form.
There were still big runs from Derrick Henry of course, but Monday night was about Lamar Jackson putting on an absolute show through the air. He had a couple of incredible long completions to Rashod Bateman, Mark Andrews is getting up to speed at tight end, and there’s a lot to like with these Ravens. They can still make plays on defense as Marlon Humphrey showed, but they are led by an absolute box office player at quarterback in Lamar Jackson, backed up by Derrick Henry. They have the look of a Super Bowl team for sure.
The Chiefs continue to chase history
The Kansas City Chiefs might have something to say about that. At 6-0 they are the lone undefeated team in the NFL and their chase for a third straight Super Bowl crown, which has never been done before, is very much alive. It’s not about Patrick Mahomes, which makes these Chiefs so interesting.
He had no touchdown passes, a couple of interceptions on Sunday against the San Francisco 49ers and now leads the NFL with eight picks, but Mahomes refuses to be beaten. He’s now won 11 starts in a row. He made plays with his legs and scored an incredible touchdown on the ground, and is backed up by one of the best defenses in the NFL. The Chiefs were able to control that 49ers attack from start to finish and I think Steve Spagnuolo’s unit is legit and a major reason why this team has not lost a game yet this season.
Is the Watson era over in Cleveland?
Is the Deshaun Watson nightmare going to come to an end soon for the Cleveland Browns? For the third straight year since they signed him to a fully guaranteed $230m contract, his campaign has ended early. Watson, who carries so much off-field baggage with him due to more than 20 cases of sexual misconduct against him, is not loved by Browns fans at all.
He was booed upon entering the field of play on Sunday, and then Browns fans cheered as he left the field on a cart with a torn Achilles later in the day and now you have to wonder what the Browns do moving forward. They have to pay him $92m in salary over the next two years and that will count as $73m against the cap for each of those remaining two years. There are financial implications, they have to pay that money no matter what. I don’t think they can run him out on the field again in 2025 – they need to take their lumps, draft a young quarterback who can play on a rookie deal and start again.
Lawrence gives the Jags hope
There was a much-needed win for the Jacksonville Jaguars at Wembley on Sunday as they beat the New England Patriots 32-16, easing a little bit of pressure on head coach Doug Pederson. This game reminded me that Trevor Lawrence is not this team’s long-term problem, he is actually the pillar around which everything can be built.
He is the reason Doug Pederson can turn this around, and if it cannot be turned around this year and it’s a different head coach in the future then Trevor Lawrence is the reason why this Jacksonville job will be so attractive. It was massive for the Jags to get back on track, winning in London before heading back to the US.
Player of the Week – Saquon Barkley, RB, Philadelphia Eagles
Barkley stuck it to his old team as the Philadelphia Eagles romped to a 28-3 win over the New York Giants. This was probably too much to take for for Giants fans – they had one decent offensive player last season and for the last few years and they let him out of town. Saquon returned to carry the ball 17 times for 176 yards and a touchdown, proving to the Giants what they are missing and to Philadelphia that he is a perfect fit for their offense.
Play of the Week – Washington’s historic punt return
I’m going with Parker Washington’s 96-yard punt return touchdown for the Jaguars against the Patriots. I have waited a long time for this, I’ve been talking about the fact there was no kick or punt return touchdowns in the history of the London games, I’ve written about it, I’ve always wanted to see it happen – and I was 10 miles away sitting in makeup in the Sky Sports studios getting ready for our show when NFL UK messaged and asked if this was the first one. I said ‘yes it is!’ – I had some major special teams FOMO not seeing that play. A piece of history made in London.
Coach of the Week – Dan Campbell, Detroit Lions
I talked earlier about Ben Johnson helping Jared Goff from an Xs and Os point of view. Dan Campbell has not only helped out Goff from an emotional and confidence point of view, but I think it is fair to say he has saved his career and put him on a path to what Goff is now, an elite quarterback in the NFL.
When you look at the wider picture of his impact on this team, Campbell’s Lions were down by 10 on the road in Minnesota and trust me, that is a raucous and hostile environment for a visiting team. And they did not blink, they worked their way back and took that game. The Lions love their coach, they play hard for their coach and he has them believing, quite rightly, that they are a Super Bowl team.
On my radar…
On my radar is how the 49ers respond to their offensive problems. This is a team that still hasn’t won back-to-back games this season. The offense going into Sunday was ranked second in the NFL with more than 400 yards per game, but they were down to the bare bones: Deebo Samuel left the game with sickness, Brandon Aiyuk has suffered a torn ACL and MCL ending his season before it even really got started, and Christian McCaffrey is still on the sideline and yet to play this season.
So much is going to be on Brock Purdy in these weeks moving forward until CMC returns, and so much will be on Kyle Shanahan. Can he dial up anything to help this team? That wasn’t the case against the Chiefs on Sunday – Kansas City worked around their missing people to the tune of 28 points and 180 yards on the ground, but Shanahan didn’t do that for the 49ers. He needs to do that moving forward, and Brock Purdy will need to take centre stage for this team.
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