In Week 3, Mac Jones played Mut 22 coins his most difficult game of the season, throwing a triple which was so awful that it generated nothing but grumbling silence from his head coach.
Do you believe that Brady will try to embarrass Belichick by racking up the score and get the Buccaneers knock out Mac defensively? Because I do. And I think Belichick has the same idea: he knows the potential damage this Tampa defense could potentially impact his young quarterback. He needs to be aware of the possibility that whether Brady is looking great, and Mac is awful and the Bucs take out the Pats then the fans will be talking. Maybe we oversold the Patriots offensive line and rush attackThe fact is that Jones was the Pats top rusher in the game on Sunday, throwing 51 times. This offensive strategy doesn't work in New England.
We were all spoilt by the fall of Tom Brady: for the vast majority of quarterbacks, it is still sudden and steep. Ben Roethlisberger looks like he was playing full Thelma, Louise and jumped off on a cliff. Steven Ruiz, the Ringer's director of video productions, cut up Ben's throws in the game against the Bengals on Sunday and put them in grainywestern style video footage with saloon tunes playing in the background. This wasn't just the funniest thing I witnessed on Monday but also one of the saddest, since Ben has a completely dirty look.
The Steelers declined to invest significant resources into the offensive line in the offseason and it has resulted in a lack of run game despite drafting Najee Harris in the first round. Harris did get 19 (!) targets during the pass game on Sunday, catching 14 of them. Lindsay Rhodes invited me to her show on Monday. She shared the following gem: Harris gained 109 yards by catching the ball and 102 receiving yards. It's amazing!
Then, take a look at Ben's Next Gen Stats passing chart which confirms the problem. There's no defense, he doesn't have the arm strength to swiftly propel the ball down the field, and that has effectively turned the offense horizontal.
The Steelers were set to put cheap Madden 22 coins their hats on defense, however the secondary didn't do well from the beginning and the defensive line, the most important aspect of the team, is now banged up as several players have been ruled out. T.J. Watt was the leading player to be excluded from Sunday's game because of a groin strain. When he first left two weeks ago the Steelers defense was weak and was a problem against Joe Burrow on Sunday as well. It's difficult to imagine a pathway that can fix these issues.