Over the course of the weekend, several friends and colleagues from around the league were asking me who I thought would win the game between the Green Bay Packers and New York Giants at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. The same question was asked of me quite a bit on Sunday morning as the fans were out in force early while I was doing some filming outside the ground.
Questions like this make me especially nervous during this most unpredictable of seasons! None of us can really forecast what is going to happen on an NFL Sunday. And I was living proof of that. I told every Packers fan who asked me the question: "Don't worry, you're going to have a good day." I took a more sympathetic approach towards the Giants fans and tried to prepare them for the worst.
I even went so far as to suggest the game would be quite one-sided. I felt the Giants were going to be too banged up at wide receiver and too reliant on Saquon Barkley. When the Packers marched to a 17-3 lead in the first half, I felt good about my oft-whispered prediction.
What I didn't factor in was the Brian Daboll effect. The Giants are playing so hard for their rookie head coach and while Barkley was, once again, an influential figure; he was not alone. The defense held Green Bay to just 301 total yards, sacked Aaron Rodgers twice, recovered a fumble and stood firm under the shadow of their own goal posts with the game on the line, knocking away a game-tying pass on fourth down.
It wasn't pretty for New York's offense as they gained just 338 total yards and Daniel Jones failed to throw a touchdown pass. But Daboll dialled up just enough key plays to keep the Packers on their heels and the Giants are now 4-1, which is incredible when you think what they are working with; especially at receiver.
Their rise to prominence has been one of the most remarkable stories of the opening five weeks of this NFL season.
The tense and hard-fought game brought the curtain down on this year's contests at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium and what a treat these have been. Both games were played out under sunny skies, went right down to the wire, featured some of the biggest names in the sport and provided a great atmosphere for the fans in attendance.
We should hardly be surprised by a close Tottenham game. A total of six regular season contests have now been played at the purpose-built NFL stadium and five of them have been decided by one score. The only game not decided by a single score at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium was Carolina's 37-26 win over Tampa Bay in 2019.
Next up, it's the Jacksonville Jaguars at Wembley Stadium as they take on the Denver Broncos at the end of the month.
Who's Hot…
Josh Allen… The best player in the NFL today plays quarterback for the Buffalo Bills and his name is Josh Allen. He was sensational during Sunday's 38-3 demolition of the Pittsburgh Steelers that could have been much, much worse had Buffalo not eased off the gas pedal. Allen threw for a career-high 424 yards and four touchdowns, with 348 of those yards and all four scoring throws coming in the first half. Gabe Davis was sensational at receiver as he went for three for 171 yards and two scores and Stefon Diggs went over 100 yards and also found the end zone. But Allen was the star of the show as he continues to play at an MVP level.
New York's youngsters… The Jets scored 21 unanswered fourth quarter points to pull away from the Miami Dolphins, recording a 40-17 win that improved Robert Saleh's team to 3-2 on the season. And the future looks bright for the Jets as their young players continue to step up. Rookie rusher Breece Hall gained 197 scrimmage yards and scored two touchdowns, second-year running back Michael Carter scored twice on the ground and rookie corner Sauce Gardner forced an early safety that knocked Dolphins quarterback Teddy Bridgewater from the game. He also intercepted third-string passer Skylar Thompson, setting up a Zach Wilson touchdown dive. Oh, and the Jets quarterback is also only in his second season. Things are on the up with Big Apple football.
Taysom Hill… During our Sky Sports NFL pre-game show on Sunday night, I presented the question about Andy Dalton potentially being the season-long replacement for Jameis Winston. It sparked a conversation about that pair, but it was Taysom Hill who ended up stealing the show in the backfield during New Orleans' thrilling 39-32 win over the Seattle Seahawks. Hill took direct snaps to the tune of nine carries for 112 yards and three touchdowns, while also completing his only throw for a 22-yard touchdown to tight end Adam Trautman. It won't be Hill replacing Dalton or Winston, but he will have a massive role to play if the Saints are to contend the rest of the way.
Who's Not…
Russell Wilson… I don't need to pile on too much here because much has been said and written about Denver's quarterback in recent days. But it cannot be sugar-coated… he is playing really poorly and is a major reason the Broncos have opened this season in pretty disappointing fashion. Thursday's 12-9 overtime defeat to Indianapolis was not easy on the eye. I look back now and think with the appointment of Nathaniel Hackett, Denver wanted Aaron Rodgers all along and when they moved to their Plan B on the same day A-Rod committed to Green Bay, the Broncos felt obliged to trade for Wilson and later offer him a new contract that keeps him a Bronco for the next seven seasons. So, this needs to get fixed.
Trevor Lawrence… A promising start has come apart at the seams just a little bit in the past two weeks. After throwing an interception and losing four fumbles in last week's loss to Philadelphia, Trevor Lawrence threw another two picks on Sunday as Jacksonville fell to a 13-6 home defeat at the hands of the previously-winless Houston Texans. The Jags have much more talent and way more leadership than a year ago, but no team can continually overcome turnovers and especially not those still in the process of building towards something more promising. This was the most disappointing of Jacksonville's results so far this season, in my mind, and the quarterback is culpable.
Matt Rhule… We're only five weeks into the 2022 season but the Carolina Panthers head coach might want to have one of those Mondays where he shuts his office door and unplugs his phone. The hot seat is getting positively volcanic and this article may well have dated itself in terms of Rhule's job status when you read this. I'm not sure he has much time left in charge of the Panthers. His offense is tepid and putrid and the Panthers are now 1-27 under Rhule when they allow 17 points or more. Sunday's 37-15 defeat to the San Francisco 49ers was as predictable as it was depressing.
The Fast Five…
- That Dallas Cowboys defense is for real and our man Aden Durde is right at the heart of it with his defensive line stepping up every weekend. The British coach leads a group that got big plays out of DeMarcus Lawrence, Dorance Armstrong and Micah Parsons in Sunday's 22-10 win over the Los Angeles Rams. Parsons now has six sacks in five games and is on pace for the NFL Defensive Player of the Year prize.
- The Los Angeles Rams look in real trouble, to me. Their offensive line is a mess. They gave up seven sacks to Buffalo in Week 1, seven sacks to San Francisco in Week 2 and another five to the Dallas Cowboys last night. The lack of push up front is also impacting the running game, compounding the passing attack problems. Matthew Stafford cannot operate effectively behind this group.
- I'm all for player safety but there was no reason for Jerome Boger to throw a flag on Grady Jarrett's sack of Tom Brady, especially with a close game hanging in the balance. Atlanta trailed Tampa Bay 21-15 when Jarrett sacked Brady on third down with three minutes remaining. It was not a violent case of roughing the passer. Boger said afterwards that Jarrett was "unnecessarily throwing him to the ground.' It broke Falcons' hearts and the Bucs closed out the win. This was wrong. It was a regular sacking of a quarterback. It just so happened that the quarterback who got sacked made a big fuss about it. You hate to see games decided like this.
- The Seattle Seahawks were on the wrong end of a 39-32 scoreline against New Orleans on Sunday, but could it be that they have actually upgraded at quarterback by moving from Russell Wilson to Geno Smith? It sounds ridiculous, I know, but have you seen Wilson play lately? And Geno has thrown for 588 yards, five touchdowns and no picks in his last two games.
- The Los Angeles Chargers have righted their ship with two straight wins and it is clear that Austin Ekeler is becoming the focal point of their attack. After scoring his first three touchdowns of the season last week, he racked up 199 total yards on 20 touches, finding the end zone twice during LA's 30-28 win over Cleveland.
Fact of the Week
Entering Monday Night Football, there have been 26 games this season in which a team has won or tied after trailing in the fourth quarter – the second-most such games through Week 5 in NFL history. Only the 2011 season had more such games with 28.
Finish That Sentence
Each week in this spot I ask readers - via Twitter - to randomly send me the start of a sentence and, as we so often did on our NFL UK Live stage show tours, I will finish the sentence with the first thought that comes into my head. Here we go…
From Big Lad (@BigLad1080) The Niners have a good chance of making the Super Bowl this year… because they are playing so well on defense, they have players who can change a game on offense in a split second in Deebo Samuel, George Kittle, Brandon Aiyuk and even Ja'Juan Jennings; and they are well coached. Oh, and because the NFC is wide open and they know what it takes to advance deep into the playoffs.
From Steven Fitzpatrick (@stevofitz) The Chargers fourth and two call at the end of the game was… overly-aggressive, risky and downright foolish from head coach Brandon Staley. I know he has Justin Herbert and he likes to go for it on fourth down, but sometimes you have to play the percentages, punt and play defense. This approach is going to bite Staley in the backside at some point and veteran Chargers receiver Keenan Allen – watching on from home while injured – was quick to publicly criticise the call in an unusual show of dissent. Cade York missed the 54-yard field goal that would have given Cleveland the win and landed Staley in hot water. The coach dodged a bullet and needs to learn from this mistake which did not prove to be costly.
From Matt Whiley (@MatthewWhiley) This season, the Minnesota Vikings will… continue to play imperfect games but win a lot more of them than they lose. It took a late Cameron Dantzler forced and recovered fumble to see off the Chicago Bears, but the Vikings' 4-1 record will be the envy of many teams around the league. This team is too talented not to make the playoffs this year. And with the NFC being so wide open, don't bet against them making some noise when they get there. Perfect imperfection is going to be the theme of Minnesota's season.
Final Thought…
NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell didn't partake in our 'Finish That Sentence' round at Saturday's NFL UK Live in London, but he did drop quite the news line by suggesting that London could host two franchises in the future. That got me thinking and connecting dots, taking two plus two and making a lot more than four! I playfully suggested we could have teams based at Wembley and Tottenham; and then additional teams in Munich and Frankfurt, given that those cities will alternate regular season games in Germany in the coming years. So, I asked if we could have an entire European division as opposed to a single franchise. Rather than laugh it off, the Commissioner said: "That's part of what we're doing, right? We're trying to sort of see, could you have multiple locations in Europe where you could have an NFL franchise? Because it would be easier as a division." Whether you agree with the feasibility of that or not, Roger Goodell always chooses his words carefully and he never gets tripped up. I didn't lure him into those words through some cunning plan. His words were a timely reminder of how seriously he and the league take their plans for London and the rest of Europe and beyond. Exciting and historic times.
