By Brandon Simmons
49ers and Eagles Unbeaten No More
There are no more unbeaten teams in the NFL. The San Francisco 49ers and Philadelphia Eagles both took their first loss on Sunday against the Cleveland Browns and New York Jets, respectively. The 49ers lost to the Browns after missing a potential game winning field goal. They also were without wide receiver Deebo Samuel and running back Christian McCaffrey. The Eagles were at full strength but the Jets defense put the Philly offense out of whack. Eagles QB Jalen Hurts threw for 280 yards but did it on 45 pass attempts while finishing with 3 interceptions and 2 sacks.
Both losses are significant to these teams, not because it’s their first L of the season, but they kind of lean towards each of these teams’ presumed concerns. With the Niners, many people have wondered how good QB Brock Purdy is without his playmakers. With Samuel and McCaffrey out, the offense was not as explosive. For the Eagles, it feeds into the narrative that their offense has been inconsistent this season. Philly had all of their stars in place, but Hurts still had over 40 pass attempts and the team is winless when he has to do that.
Out of both games, the 49ers loss might be a little more interesting; however, despite losing the game, Purdy might have beat the system QB allegations a little. Even without the team’s 2 best playmakers, he was still able to lead them down the field and set up the game winning field goal. If that kick is made, we’re having a whole different conversation today. For a 2nd year player, he has garnered up plenty of experience and faced some pressure-filled situations. He’s not exactly in Brady mode, but he should have a level of poise at this point of his young career to thrive in a close game with a ticking clock. If anything, that’s the win that the 49ers could take from this.
Analysts Getting Buck or Expressing the Truth
NFL analysts have been getting wild with their takes the last few weeks. It started a few weeks ago when NFL analyst Rodney Harrison called New York Jets QB Zach Wilson garbage and then tried to get Kansas City Chiefs defensive tackle Chris Jones to join in on his viewpoint. In Week 5. Former San Francisco 49er, Donte Whitner, said Dallas Cowboys QB Dak Prescott sucks, in the Cowboys’ Sunday Night Football loss to the 49ers. Last Thursday, NFL Network analyst Steve Smith had an exchange with Denver Broncos wide receiver Jerry Jeudy after Smith labeled the receiver as 3rd tier. This isn’t the first time that an analyst or commentator has talked crazy about an athlete, but it seems to be happening at a more frequent rate recently.
There’s a couple of things that can be taken from this. First, there’s a fine line between expressing your opinion and showing some respect. A lot of these analysts are getting paid big money to give these opinions, but also bring in ratings. Sometimes the latter requires them to go over the top in how they present their viewpoints, which could tip toe on the line of disrespect. Harrison saying Wilson is not a good quarterback is not going to raise as many eyebrows as him saying Wilson is garbage or scoffing at the fact that someone called him special. Still, the kicker about that is if Harrison said anything close to the opposite, his football knowledge would come into question. Now that goes into the other part of this discussion, which is how to respectfully disrespect someone. In Smith’s case, he labeled Jeudy as 3rd tier while giving an example of his production in this season. While Jeudy might take that as personal, the reality is Smith looks smart in his approach because he came with facts to support his viewpoint, as opposed to just jumping out there.
Overall, analysts do have freedom of speech, but they still must exercise some sort of restraint when wanting to go in on a player. At the end of the day, these players have a right to be talked about in a manner that isn’t demolishing their reputation or legacy. Now, do players have bad games because of something that is happening outside of the field? Of course, there are things they can’t control that will affect their play. But for the most part, the studio analyst is not keen to those things and can only base their opinion from what they see on the field. That includes if there are things in the gameplan that affects a player’s performance. The bottom line is that players expect these analysts to give their opinion based off what is shown on the field, but if what is being presented is subpar on a frequent, egregious basis then they subject themselves to some criticism they might not like.
Does Sean Payton Want Russell Wilson’s as His QB?
The Russell Wilson era in Denver continues to take a turn for a surprising worst. After the Broncos loss to the Kansas City Chiefs, Broncos head coach Sean Payton said the team had to get better at throwing the ball. However, it was his actions during the game that made headlines. Payton was seen going off on Wilson after the QB turned the ball over and it was ran back for a touchdown. However, this was just one of a few instances in which Payton has expressed frustration regarding his QB. Last month, in a Week 2 loss to the Washington Commanders, Payton criticized Wilson for not being sharper with getting the plays called out. Who can forget when Payton reportedly told Wilson to stop kissing babies before the season started? Now it is being reported that the Broncos could move on from Wilson at the end of this season, right before he’s due $37 million guaranteed.
It’s not even November and Sean Payton has already tore up the current franchise quarterback for the Broncos. Even though Russell Wilson is having a better statistical year compared to last season, it has not transferred into winning. In Payton’s mind, he probably feels inheriting one of the more dynamic QB’s of the past decade should be a walk in the park as far as leading a new team to being competitive. But so far, it feels like a walk through the Thriller video: the main character who was thought to be one thing has turned into something hideous. He probably feels it would be better starting with a rookie signal caller and coaching them up. At least if they mess up, their mistake can be corrected as opposed to a veteran who might be stuck in their own ways. The Broncos have seen plenty from Wilson to make whatever decision they need to make, so Payton might really have the green light to bring in his own person if he wanted to.
Shoutouts/Shutouts
Shout out to Julio Jones for signing with the Philadelphia Eagles. Tuesday the free agent and former Atlanta Falcons wide receiver signed with the Eagles after stints with the Tennessee Titans and Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Jones will have a familiar face in A.J. Brown, whom he played with in Tennessee and Olamide Zaccheus, whom he played with in Atlanta.
Shut out to the Los Angeles Chargers for apparently having only one fan. During the Monday Night Football broadcast, the camera kept showing a lady who was really into the game, showing all the emotions for her team, good and bad. This isn’t to dim on this woman’s light – who became a social media darling and ended up on the Pat Mcafee show – but it was just one person in the whole stadium agonizing over their team for 3 hours. I get it, it’s L.A. and there’s so much more to do, so football might be at the bottom of the list, especially for a team that moved in a few years ago. However, when you look around the league at different fan bases, you have people dressed up in the most ridiculous outfits, sometimes showing up to the games in body paint or Green Bay Packer fans literally wear cheese on their heads. You mean the best that the Chargers can do is get some random woman in big ass glasses to yell for Justin Herbert? Do better Chargers and NFL; at the very least hire her as a team influencer.
Week 7 is here and the matchups are starting to pick up once again. The Baltimore Ravens are going to be hosting the Detroit Lions. Detroit continues to impress the experts, but Baltimore is going to be one of their big tests on their schedule. The biggest matchup will be the Philadelphia Eagles hosting the Miami Dolphins. Philly took their first loss of the season this past Sunday and looking to boucn eback quickly. This is also the first time that Miami Dolphins QB Tua Tagavoiloa and Philadelphia Eagles QB Jalen Hurts – both former teammates at the University of Alabama – will face each other on the NFL level. If you can remember, Tua replaced Hurts during a national championship game and Hurts eventually transferred to the University of Oklahoma. Years later, the two have found their way back across each other’s path. Also, with both teams at 5-1 this should be a matchup that lives up to the hype. But until then…I’ll holla.