Admin November 7, 2024
Packers may regret starting Jordan Love, Dolphins season likely over
Mackenzie Salmon breaks down the top storylines from Week 9 in the NFL.
Sports Seriously
The NFL season has officially reached its halfway point. But for some teams, will this week also serve as an inflection point?
Over the course of 17 games, any franchise is prone to go through a few swings. The setup of the schedule can be a significant factor in promoting any unevenness, as built-in advantages or disadvantages can quickly reveal themselves. But teams can hold onto the hope that their performance to date does not necessarily have to define their entire year, as it’s not uncommon to see a few groups each season rise up the standings in the final months.
Here are five teams that could surge in the second half of this season, with a closer look at their remaining schedules and other elements that could contribute to their ascent:
In 2023, the 49ers emerged from their Week 9 bye to rip off six straight wins en route to claiming the NFC’s No. 1 seed and another conference crown. Could another such revitalization be in store for Kyle Shanahan’s crew?
Even if San Francisco (4-4) can’t quite match those accomplishments, there are plenty of indications that a breakout is brewing. The leading reason for optimism: Offensive Player of the Year Christian McCaffrey could make his season debut as early as Sunday after sitting out the first half of the season with bilateral Achilles tendinitis. His singular all-purpose skills change the complexion of an offense that went from ranking fourth in yards after the catch last season to 29th so far this year without him. The team’s red zone efficiency also plunged from first to nearly worst (28th), and McCaffrey should be a force multiplier as someone who can open things up for a passing attack that desperately misses the speed of Brandon Aiyuk, who is out for the season with a torn ACL.
The defensive outlook might not be as promising, with defensive tackle Javon Hargrave‘s torn triceps leaving San Francisco thin on the interior and strong safety Talanoa Hufanga‘s timeline still unclear more than a month after he tore ligaments in his wrist. Linebacker Dre Greenlaw, however, is “getting closer” to returning from the torn Achilles he suffered in the Super Bowl, general manager John Lynch said this week.
The schedule features almost no easy outs, with trips to face the Green Bay Packers and Buffalo Bills and a home tilt against the Detroit Lions all looming. But better fortune in close games – San Francisco is 1-3 in matchups decided by six points or less, with the win over the Dallas Cowboys never seeming as close as the final score indicated – and on the health front could vault the 49ers back atop the NFC West in short order.
A trendy preseason pick to emerge as the breakout team of the fall, Arizona didn’t quite live up to outsized expectations in the early going as it slumped to a 1-3 start. Looking back, it’s easy to understand why this team was set up to stumble, as all three of those losses came against teams that currently lead their respective divisions. Yet Jonathan Gannon’s group has shown surprising resilience in rocketing back to 5-4 to seize the lead in the hypercompetitive NFC West.
Now, Arizona should have a much easier time navigating its remaining slate, which includes just one game against a team with a winning record (the Minnesota Vikings) and five against sub-.500 squads (the New York Jets, Seattle Seahawks twice, New England Patriots and Carolina Panthers). Arizona also is cobbling together a pass rush after losing leading threats BJ Ojulari and Dennis Gardeck for the season, as trade-deadline acquisition Baron Browning joins a defense that featured 16 players recording a pressure in last week’s win over the Chicago Bears. Bum luck with turnovers – Arizona ranks second in fumbles lost with eight – hasn’t derailed a hard-charging rushing attack that ranks second in yards per carry (5.3), though offensive coordinator Drew Petzing still has to find better ways to feed Marvin Harrison Jr., the uber-talented rookie receiver who hasn’t found consistency this season.
If the Cardinals can stack wins before wrapping up against the Los Angeles Rams and the 49ers in the final two weeks of the regular season, they should be within striking distance of their first division title since 2015.
Chortle all you like. While Aaron Rodgers hasn’t yet brought back the notion that his team can “run the table,” there’s a clear path toward at least playoff contention.
In ending their five-game skid with a 21-13 win over the Houston Texans last week, the Jets (3-6) exhibited several signs that augur well for a run. Yes, Gang Green can’t afford to keep undercutting itself with egregious mistakes like Malachi Corley surrendering the ball at the goal line, nor can it depend on Garrett Wilson to bail the team out with catches that set social media ablaze. But Rodgers’ connection with Wilson and Davante Adams could propel the offense to a point of stability, even if the unit never reaches the lofty heights many envisioned. Meanwhile, a defense that notched eight sacks and flustered C.J. Stroud could be back to providing a sizable margin of error.
If the Jets can leverage their mini-bye to beat the Cardinals, a highly favorable remaining schedule – there are no meetings against teams with a winning record until a Week 17 date at the Buffalo Bills – could help spark a second-half upswing. New York might have too much ground to make up to end its league-worst 13-year playoff drought, but the landscape indicates the team is likelier to land at least on the periphery of the playoff picture rather than in the mix for a top-five draft pick.
Having dropped their last three games and four of their previous five, the Buccaneers (4-5) might seem like an odd choice for this list. And with wide receiver Mike Evans set to be held out of Sunday’s game against the 49ers with a hamstring injury – and fellow wideout Chris Godwin out for the year with torn ACL – Tampa Bay’s skid might extend even further.
After that, however, the Buccaneers will enjoy what is easily the league’s easiest slate for the final stretch. Five of the final seven games are against teams that currently have two wins, with one of the remaining contests against the reeling Cowboys. Despite having to compensate for rampant defensive deficiencies – Tampa Bay ranks 27th in the NFL in yards allowed per play (5.8) – Baker Mayfield and Co. should have more than enough firepower to pad their record. Even though their three-year reign over the NFC South is likely coming to an end, the Buccaneers appear to have a solid shot at a 10-win mark, which no doubt would vault them past at least a few other teams currently ahead of them in the conference pecking order.
They haven’t joined the league’s elite class of contenders, and the longstanding pass rush problem – their nine sacks are the fewest of any team, and their 16.7% pressure rate ranks 30th – is still weighing the Falcons down. Still, Atlanta (6-3) is in a far better position than the other entrants on this list, as the team looks poised to run away with the NFC South for its first division title since its Super Bowl run in 2016.
But even though five of the Falcons’ six victories have come by six points or less, there’s reason to believe that there will be fewer close calls from here on out. Half of their remaining opponents are tied for the worst record in the league at 2-7 (New Orleans Saints, Las Vegas Raiders, New York Giants and Carolina Panthers), while the other potential playoff threats on the schedule (Denver Broncos, Los Angeles Chargers, Minnesota Vikings and Washington Commanders) have records that look overinflated. So long as Atlanta doesn’t have the kind of setback it did three weeks ago in a 34-14 loss to the Seattle Seahawks, the franchise’s first 12-win season since 2012 is within reach.
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