NFL
By: Greg Rector
Let’s look at what we learned during the 2022-2023 NFL season.
The Margin
The margin I refer to of course is between winning and losing an NFL game. There’s never been as many games decided within a one-score margin the way we’ve seen in this NFL season. Yes, so I don’t get grief from someone at teamnbsmedia.com the Minnesota Vikings set the NFL record for those one-score wins with 11 of them. This is also proof of the football adage “Any Given Sunday/Monday or Thursday night” is a real thing in football. Many of those were wins by the underdogs while the favorites sure had to struggle to get many of those wins as well.
Mahomes Magic
While he didn’t get the passing yardage record, Patrick Mahomes did get the yards from scrimmage record previously held by Drew Brees. What makes this “Magical” he transformed his game so much without having the deep passing threat of Tyreek Hill. For all of his passing yardage, he had just two completions that the analytics folks would call “Big Play” completions. You can be jealous, envious, or whatever negative emotion you want when it comes to Mahomes. The bottom line is he will be the regular season MVP. How do you game plan for what he brings to the game? You simply don’t, you hope he has an off game ask the Colts what that’s like.
AFC WEST
We didn’t get the expected war as many expected in that division. The four teams made so much noise last off-season and the battle everyone expected just never materialized at all. Plenty of reasons why it didn’t happen and no folks it’s not all Russell Wilson’s fault. Things might look great on paper, but games are won and lost on the field. Instead, the division that has the best record in the league despite the Commanders is the NFC East. Had Washington not stumbled at the end of the year all four teams could have been in the playoffs? The Giants confounded everyone by making the playoffs.
Quarterbacks
You’ve seen me say it often when it comes to quarterback play “too much credit, too much blame” and it holds true. As great as Mahomes is folks it takes his offensive line, backs, and receivers doing their jobs. Want a better example? Brock Purdy the Niners’ third-string quarterback didn’t lose a single start. Don’t call him Mr. Irrelevant either. He was in the deepest draft class in history, those 7th-round guys last year in many normal seasons would have been drafted earlier. Sure the Dolphins were nowhere near the same team without Tua, but that’s more to the limitations his backup quarterbacks have. Cooper Rush also went 4-1 for the Cowboys in Dak Prescott’s absence. Baker Mayfield in an emergency went out and helped the Rams win a game but that’s an anomaly. It just shows you anything is possible in the NFL.
The Turnarounds
As mentioned earlier not many saw the New York Giants, becoming a playoff team. Did anyone really think the Jacksonville Jaguars would become AFC South champions after having the worst record in the league last year? In the other direction did anyone think all four NFC South teams would be under .500? Did anyone see the Super Bowl champion Los Angeles Rams have the worst Super Bowl hangover since the 199 Denver Broncos? I know I didn’t have them being as bad as they were this season. Nor did I see a resurgence from the Seattle Seahawks, but they were also a pleasant surprise and that’s what makes watching the NFL so much fun.
Coaching
In every single NFL city, you can find criticism of the coaching staff. Even in Kansas City when they seemed to be an absolute shadow of themselves against the Colts. That comes with the territory. It makes you wonder though with all the people involved how so many times we see poor clock management, terrible challenges, and of course unfathomable play calls, 4th down attempts, etc. Philosophy not matching the players (Hackett), quarterback gurus unable to find any magic with others (Reich), the usual college guys who cannot find success in the professional game (Rhule/ Kingsbury), and then you have the guys like Brian Daboll and Doug Peterson, who when you look at that roster, especially on offense we all thought managed to get into the playoffs. That’s why BLACK MONDAY, exists and we shall see it yet again.
All in all the 2022-2023 NFL regular season was a blast filled with so many exciting moments and some not so much (Thursday Night Football anyone?) The league had to be happy with the season having meaningful football right up until week 18. Now it’s on to the playoffs. Follow us here at teamnbsmedia.com and on the TeamNBSMedia YouTube channel We will have coverage for all of it
