The Final Word: Don’t write off the Patriots

There was plenty of drama and excitement across the league in what was a very entertaining Week Eight. But I want to start this week’s column with some of the big headlines that were written on a busy Monday around the NFL…

Five Major Takeaways from Week Eight

1) The Rams are all in!

Not for the first time, the Los Angeles Rams have shown their preference for proven veterans rather than the unscratched lottery tickets that are NFL Draft picks. On Monday, Rams general manager Les Snead dealt second- and third-round picks in 2022 to the Denver Broncos for star pass rusher Von Miller.

This move should surprise absolutely no one. The 7-1 Rams last used a first-round selection on Jared Goff in 2016. And they don’t own another one until 2024. Here is what they have done with those first-round selections:

By contrast, the Miami Dolphins have spent or will spend – over the same period of time – 12 first-round picks on players. Laremy Tunsil, Charles Harris and Minkah Fitzpatrick are no longer with the Dolphins, the jury is out on quarterback Tua Tagovailoa, Austin Jackson has moved from tackle to guard and cornerback Noah Igbinogenhe has played twice this season and has three total NFL starts to his name. Oh, and Miami are 1-7.

Miller is not the player he once was but there is gas left in the tank at 32 years old. He has never had a presence like Aaron Donald inside of him and Donald has never seen an edge threat like Miller on the same team as him. How this pair team up will be fascinating but there is no doubt the Rams are recognising that their Super Bowl window is wide open and they’re going for it.

2) A busy news day (Part 1)

There were plenty of other headlines on Monday and none bigger than the Tennessee Titans losing star running back Derrick Henry to a broken foot, for a significant period of time and possibly for the entire season.

This is devastating news for the 6-2 Titans. Henry has become so valuable to this team that he takes on the worth of a franchise quarterback. That is hard to say about a running back because we see so many late-rounders make an impact. But it all starts with Henry in Nashville and everything runs through him. Even on Sunday when he got hurt early in their 34-31 overtime win over the Indianapolis Colts, they handed the ball to their running back 28 times.

Ryan Tannehill was an above-average-to-good quarterback in Miami. He became much more than that in Tennessee, thriving off play-action passes and the fact that defenses paid so much attention to Henry. Now, will that same level of respect be paid to 36-year-old replacement Adrian Peterson? We’ll see but there is now a great deal of pressure on Tannehill.

3) A busy news day (Part 2)

Monday also saw the New Orleans Saints confirm that quarterback Jameis Winston suffered a torn ACL and MCL damage in Sunday’s win over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, while the Minnesota Vikings lost All-Pro and Pro Bowl defensive end Danielle Hunter to a pec injury for the season.

Let’s start with the Saints, who have a decision to make when Taysom Hill recovers from concussion. Do they go with Hill, who started four games in relief of Drew Brees last season, or will it be Trevor Siemian? I personally think they should go with Hill, but Payton likes him as a gadget player. In the long term, surely this team has to make a play for Russell Wilson in the offseason? After all, the Saints were on his list of preferred trade options for 2021.

Hunter’s loss is a real blow for a Vikings team that is starting to look incapable of being anything more than ‘middle of the pack’. It feels like Minnesota could be a Wild Card team, beating some lesser teams en route to the NFC playoffs, but do they have it in them to take down one of the conference’s big boys?

4) The day of the backups!

Next man up. That was the message delivered by head coaches Robert Saleh (New York Jets), Sean Payton (Saints) and Mike McCarthy (Dallas Cowboys) in Week Eight. That phrase may lead to an eye roll from some, but it is an entire belief system in the NFL and it led to wonderful moments for backup quarterbacks on Sunday.

Making the first start of his NFL career, Mike White threw for 405 yards and three touchdowns while leading the Jets to a 34-31 upset of the Cincinnati Bengals. White – who was a fifth-round draft choice of Dallas in 2018 and a Jets practice squad player in 2019 and 2020 – became just the second quarterback in NFL history to top 400 passing yards on debut.

Siemian had not thrown an NFL pass since 2019, nor started a game since 2017, when he entered a tied game against Tom Brady’s Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Siemian was solid and avoided mistakes in a 36-27 win that must have felt sweet. And what about Cooper Rush, who had thrown for two yards in five seasons coming into Sunday Night Football? He then had 325 yards passing and two touchdowns in a vital 20-16 win over Minnesota.

It’s not easy being a backup quarterback. It requires skill and dedication, but also patience, perseverance and a selflessness. I was very pleased to see this trio enjoy their moment in the sun in Week Eight.

5) Don’t write off the Patriots

The New England Patriots are 4-4 following Sunday’s impressive 27-24 win over the Los Angeles Chargers in California (although you could have been forgiven for thinking the game was being played in Foxborogh given the number of Patriots fans present in SoFi Stadium). That puts Bill Belichick’s team very much in the AFC playoff picture as we near the unofficial midway mark of the 2021 season.

Not for the first time, New England’s defense confounded a young quarterback. Justin Herbert had the worst day of his career when facing the Patriots in 2020 and he was not much better on Sunday. Herbert threw for just 223 yards and was intercepted twice, with a late pick-six turning the tide in New England’s favour for good.

Belichick mixes up his coverages and schemes so often, it is hard to see a pattern. I guess that’s the whole point. This was a very Patriots-like performance. The defense was stout, the running game produced 141 yards and a touchdown and rookie quarterback Mac Jones was steady after probably being instructed simply to not mess things up.

Player of the Week: Mike White

I’ve already given you the numbers for White’s special day, but there are a couple of statistics that speak volumes when you dig a little deeper.

White was not nervous and if he was, he didn’t show it when opening the game with 11-straight completions. Then came trouble. He was intercepted twice on consecutive drives to end the first quarter.

Was this going to lead to an additional three quarters-worth of mistakes? Not a chance. White showed tremendous mental strength to put those errors behind him, throwing for a further 306 yards, three touchdowns and no picks after those two turnovers. Oh, and he made a diving catch on a ‘Philly Special’ two-point conversion pass from Jamison Crowder. What a day!

Play of the Week

It has to be the interception in ‘that’ endzone at Arizona’s State Farm Stadium from Rasul Douglas that saw the Green Bay Packers record a 24-21 victory over the previously-unbeaten Cardinals last Thursday night.

Douglas was a practice squad player for the Cardinals before making that stunning interception in the same piece of real estate that housed Malcolm Butler’s pick of Russell Wilson in the most amazing play in Super Bowl history.

Adding to the dramatic nature of this game-winning interception was the fact that, for some reason, Arizona wide receiver A.J. Green never even turned around. What was he thinking? That, we will never know.

Coach of the Week: Matt LaFleur

With leading receivers Davante Adams and Allen Lazard on the Covid-19 list, tight end Robert Tonyan on the trainer’s table with a torn ACL and with a wafer-thin cornerback group, Matt LaFleur engineered a massive win for the Green Bay Packers – their seventh in a row since an opening week loss to New Orleans.

We seem to credit every big Green Bay moment to Aaron Rodgers, but the head coach deserves some praise. LaFleur has now won 33 of his first 40 regular season games. His 33-7 mark is the best of any head coach in the Super Bowl era through 40 games – better than anyone else out there! He is also 15-3 in regular season games decided by one score. Again, that could be the Rodgers factor. But let’s give the coach his moment in the sun here.

On my Radar

Indianapolis Colts quarterback Carson Wentz headed into Sunday’s showdown with Tennessee having thrown just one interception on the season. Wentz led the NFL with 15 in 2020. I was not convinced he had completely tidied up his game because it all looks too frantic at times with Wentz and he tries too hard to make things happen, often compounding problems that come his way.

And, on Sunday, he threw away a game the Colts had every chance of winning as Indianapolis came out on the wrong end of a 34-31 overtime scoreline, Wentz burying them with two late interceptions.

The first one out of his own endzone could also be blamed on pressure. Wentz couldn’t take the sack as a safety likely ends the game and he couldn’t throw it away as that would have resulted in two points for the Titans. But he could have fired it at the feet of Nyhiem Hines, who was just in front of him. Instead, Wentz lofted a left-hander back into the pack and Elijah Molden scored.

As for the overtime pick, that was unforgivable. He had an open man in the flat on 1st-and-10, yet fired into triple coverage, allowing for Kevin Byard to pounce on the interception. That set up the game-winning kick for the Titans and left me wondering if Wentz can ever rid the mistakes from his game.

Join Neil Reynolds and guests for Inside The Huddle, every Tuesday from 9pm on Sky Sports NFL for a look back on the best of the weekend’s NFL action.