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Just a few thoughts after a weekend (and Monday night) full of football, both good and bad.
1) Cardinals have to seriously consider if Kliff Kingsbury can take the team where they want to go.
Fun fact - Since 2013, Kliff Kingsbury has an end of season record of 14-47 (includes college and pro, and getting to coach both Patrick Mahomes and Kyler Murray). Starting each season hot and watching your team slowly deflate like a weather balloon might make one think a coach can't adapt to changing circumstances, and the NFL is anything but stable. Yeah, the Cardinals lost Deandre Hopkins during the season, but it wasn't like Hopkins was putting up numbers like he used to, and Kyler Murray looked totally lost at the start of that game. The Cardinals looked way out-coached, and Kingsbury should be on the hot seat.
2) Dallas has more than Dak Prescott to worry about.
Speaking of coaches whose seats might be warm, Dallas has to be looking at Mike McCarthy and wondering if Aaron Rodgers might have had a point. The 14 penalties that the Cowboys had tied a playoff record, and those pre-snap penalties seem to take any momentum out of the offense. When was the last time you heard the words uttered "Oh my god, we would have lost, but thank God that Mike McCarthy was there to make that call"? Maybe Dak was dealing with an undisclosed injury, or the 49ers D-line just totally blew the vaunted Cowboys O-line out of the water, to the point where Prescott started to resemble Mike Glennon with all the check-downs. I'm rather suspecting that game-planning might also be a part, and Jerry has to be thinking if it would be easier to give Kellen Moore the job rather than watch him go somewhere else.
3) Philadelphia has to wonder if Hurts is the guy they want to build an offense around.
I once heard Steve Young repeat what Bill Walsh told him when Young became the starting QB of the 49ers....that he had to learn to be a great pocket QB who could run, rather be a great runner who could QB. There are a number of great QB's in the league that can create chaos and separation by the threat they have in their legs....Josh Allen, Patrick Mahomes, Lamar Jackson and Kyler Murray, just to name a few. One other thing all those QB's, along with Steve Young had in common....all have above-average arm strength, something that Jalen Hurts simply doesn't have. The Bucs dared Hurts to beat them deep, and that with Devante Smith running routes, and it seemed like the game was over before the end of the 1st quarter. Look, you can make the playoffs playing in the NFC East, and playing a weak schedule, but against the good teams, the Eagles looked lost. Jalen Hurts improved dramatically this year, but if the Eagles can package those 3 first round picks and Hurts to get ahold of Deshaun Watson, that would have to be a serious consideration.
4) Mac Jones doesn't fit in the same box as any of the QB's above
Now I will get to Josh Allen here in a second, but one might think that Mac Jones had a bad game on Saturday night, but really, nothing could be further from the truth. Yeah, he threw 2 interceptions, but the first was an amazing play by Micah Hyde to rip the ball out of the receiver's hands....sometimes the other guys make plays too. The other interception came after Mac Jones was trying to bring his team back from behind, and it wasn't as much a horrible throw as it was desperation at that point. Jones actually made some plays, including with his legs, and certainly played well enough to win if the other team wasn't so on. Mac Jones will win Offensive Rookie of the Year, and Belichick has to be at least a bit excited having him under center going forward.
5) Josh Allen may have played the best game at QB I've ever seen
Totally confess...when Josh Allen came into the league, I though he was a bust in waiting. How could a guy with 50-something percent completion percentage playing for Wyoming ever hope to get more accurate in the NFL? Guess that's why I work in title insurance. Josh Allen not only quarterbacked a "perfect game"...no punts, no field goals, all touchdowns with no turnovers, but he did so against a top-5 pass defense, and in sub-zero wind-chill temperatures. Watching Josh Allen flick his wrist and seeing the ball zip on a rope for 40 yards is utterly amazing (especially when followed by some of the ducks Hurts put other there the next afternoon), but Allen looked like robot out there on a mission. Now, given Josh Allen's history, one might think of last year's game against KC, where he looked totally lost in the AFC championship, but I suspect he's had this coming game circled in his head for quite some time. I'm thinking KC may be in running into a buzzsaw.
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