The Bye Week Was Just What They Needed

They just needed a bye week to get things back in order. The Buffalo Bills have been struggling a bit this season. Their defense couldn’t stop the run and weren’t getting enough pressure on opposing quarterbacks. RB James Cook was hit or miss at times and QB Josh Allen is beginning to show that he needs more reliable targets. All of that was out the window as they took care of business against the Carolina Panthers. Cook ran the ball for 216 yards and 2 touchdowns. Allen threw a touchdown pass and ran for two more. The Bills defense ended up with 7 sacks and allowed only 9 points to the Panthers. If Buffalo can defeat the Kansas City Chiefs next week they will be looking a lot better for their rematch with the New England Patriots.

Minnesota Is Headed For A Cold Winter

The season did look promising after their first game which was a comeback victory of their division rival the Chicago Bears. The Minnesota Vikings have a solid duo of wide receivers in Justin Jefferson and Jordan Addison who has returned from a 3-game suspension. Their backfield is fully healthy with the recent return of RB Aaron Jones to pair with RB Jordan Mason. Yet, they don’t have QB J.J. McCarthy who was been out with an ankle sprain for several weeks. Backup QB Carson Wentz looked okay at times, but the Vikings offensive line has been a shell of itself with mounting injuries across the board. Wentz has now gone down for the season with a torn labrum in his shoulder and McCarthy will return from injury in their next game. They’re currently 3-4, but I don’t know if they will be able to climb out of this rut they are in. The Vikings defense has looked good, but they can only do so much when the offense can’t score to save themselves. Detroit and Green Bay are far better teams and even the Bears have played better of late. The NFC gauntlet isn’t as daunting as the AFC’s, but there are many teams that will be vying for wild card spots as we approach December and January.

Atlanta, I’m Done With You

This last loss by the Atlanta Falcons at home to the Miami Dolphins has me rethinking the position that they are in. I figured they were on the cusp of figuring it out and getting their offense on track with the young core they’ve put together. The defense has looked better this season and the crop of talent they have begun to put together is beginning to gel. That is all out the window now as this loss to the lowly Dolphins showed me that they aren’t ready to take that next step. Yes, QB Michael Penix was injured and didn’t play in this game. Even if he did I don’t believe it would have made a difference as he has been far too inconsistent overall this year. WR Drake London was also injured and didn’t play and that would have made a bigger difference in the outcome in my estimation. Atlanta just seemed to not care about this matchup as the Dolphins scored 34 points and the Falcons only scored 10, which 7 of them came in garbage time in the 4th quarter. This has been the second game this season in which the Falcons didn’t bother to put in any kind of effort. The first came in Week 3 when they were shutout by the Carolina Panthers 30-0. That was the first sign of what we have seen this season from them. The Falcons finished 8-9 last season in the first year under head coach Raheem Morris. If they happen to finish with a worse record this year, it wouldn’t be far fetched to think that another coaching change and perhaps a front office change would be considered. You can’t take two steps back after the progress this franchise has shown in the personnel moves they have made. The rest of the games on their schedule are relatively easy, but their next two are on the road against New England and Indianapolis. Those will likely be losses and a 3-6 record doesn’t bode well for a wild card spot. Their history has been mired in disappointment and that will likely continue until someone can actually take charge and right this ships course.