If you're the Baltimore Ravens Lamar Jackson turns 30 in January He's missed multiple games in four of the last six years He's not going to age like Aaron Rodgers When Jackson loses his speed/ athleticism, his value is going to fall off a cliff Do you continue to try to win a title with him over the next two or three seasons, or do you explore trading him? Where you're ideally targeting a front office on the hot seat, one willing to overpay in the name of keeping their jobs Considering that Derrick Henry turns 33 in January himself and that he's one of the handful of true difference makers on the roster/ the combination of the two of them makes the Ravens a unique threat Baltimore's front office has to at least be kicking the tires on moving on from Jackson before that cliff arrives

NFL Week 7 Observations Giants 27, Texans 21 OT - Not only was this the best game I’ve seen J.J. McCarthy play as a pro, but I was surprised by how many downfield throws he made, especially considering that Houston’s pass rush was impactful. - In one of these observations posts last year I put McCarthy in the Jaxson Dart, Tyler Shough bucket as I thought McCarthy had a few good showings down the stretch last year. Very few people were saying nice things about McCarthy last year. But this week and last week’s relief appearance against the Saints, are the two games he showed the most ceiling. - Cam Skattebo ran for 124 yards and a score on 17 carries after seeing none last week. More interestingly, I thought Skattebo looked good on opening day, and then began to gradually look less explosive in the following weeks. Either he was playing through something, or it may be in everyone’s best interest if New York manages his workload given his extremely physical running style. 15 carries for this guy is more like 50 given the way he plays. - Skattebo was called for a penalty for lowering his head on a run, which was a ridiculous call, to the point it sounded like the Texans’ home crowd was booing it, for quite a while. Maybe there were a ton of Giants fans there, but that really stood out to me and it was the sort of foul where it would have irked any football fan. - Skattebo ripped off a big run in overtime for 42 yards, where later on that same drive Devin Singletary broke one for 30 for a score to win the game. - Malik Nabers went for 7-111 on 9 targets. - Pretty pedestrian day for C.J. Stroud, but he did lead a nice drive to tie it, including a very nice evasion throw on third and goal for what would be a game tying score. - In overtime Houston’s play caller left their LT in a one-on-one situation with Giants edge Abdul Carter, who beat him pretty badly, moving Stroud out of the pocket immediately and basically derailing the play. Carter might be the single toughest out in a one on one, obvious passing down situation, so leaving their LT alone with him, in that spot struck me as coaching malpractice. - Houston also attempted a 1st and goal wide receiver pass, that Hutchinson tucked and ran for a few years. I thought that was fairly inept too. - Houston had a couple runs negated by penalty and had several lanes in this game, which I mention because the Giants are going to get steamrolled on the ground at some point this season. Falcons 29, 49ers 20 - Bijan Robinson had 20 carries, and 5 receptions in this contest (he was more effective as a pass catcher than on the ground) - He also saw a hook and ladder that I’d imagine Atlanta will go back to in a third and long situation this season. - Efficient game from Michael Penix, who saw very little pressure. - Nine different Falcons caught passes today. - Atlanta got the Niners to jump on a 4th and 4. - San Franciscos first drive went through their running backs, and finished on a fourth and goal over the top score from Christian McCaffrey. - Uneven game from Brock Purdy, where he had 2 interceptions while George Kittle and running back Kaelon Black lost fumbles. Atlanta had no turnovers. - Given the state of the 49ers wide receiver room, it would not surprise me if Jacob Cowing saw some role expansion. He had a rep late in the game where I wrote down his number. Bengals 35, Ravens 13 - Very good game that reminded me of a college game where the better team doesn’t show up until the second half, as Baltimore, without Lamar Jackson, was up 13-0 at halftime, then in what felt like a very short period of time it was 35-13, with the Bengals on top. - One of the Bengals scoring drives came off an interception, but four of their five scoring drives were 6 plays or fewer. - Zay Flowers busted a screen and scored on the first drive, after he was open downfield for a potential long score, but missed. This is the third time this season that I have wondered aloud if Flowers is a fringe top 5 receiver in the league. - Tee Higgins went 6-148-1 while Ja’Marr Chase went 5-62-1. Joe Burrow was 22 of 30 for 292 yards and 4 scores. All of Cincinnati’s scoring came in the second half. - Cincinnati’s pass rush was impactful. Dolphins 28, Jets 25 - Dolphins scored on their first drive, which was apparently their first lead of the season. - The Jets responded with a four play scoring drive - Geno Smith had a very nice game, 23/30 for 287 and 3 TDs, but his interception came just outside the redzone on a likely Jets scoring drive. - Omar Cooper Jr. went for 5-111-1 on 5 targets, including a 60-yard reception. Jets TE Mason Taylor also went 5-62-2, where I’d frame him as the Jets 7thbest skill player. New York has a very good looking, young skill group with two good running backs, 3 talented receivers, with Taylor serving as a more traditional tight end versus matchup nightmare Kenyon Sadiq. - This was easily Malik Willis’s best game as a Dolphin. - Ollie Gordon went for 103 yards and a score on 25 carries, he’s been much better than I was expecting in the wake of Devon Achane’s injury. - Caleb Douglas had a 63 yard score, and Greg Dulchich finally had a good looking game with 86 receiving yards on 5 catches. - The Jets missed a 40-yard field goal on the first drive of the second half. Vikings 16, Colts 10 - Jonathan Taylor broke a run for a long score, putting the Colts up 7-0 early. - The Vikings pass rush was very impactful in this game, and Daniel Jones was a liability that did virtually nothing to help his team win. - The Colts missed two field goals, while Minnesota missed one. - Minnesota linebacker Blake Cashman had kind of a monster game. - Kyler Murray broke a 30-something yard run, but otherwise had a game manager type of outing. - Murray threw a pick in the endzone, that was either overturned on review or negated by penalty. - It looked like Jordan Mason had significantly more carries than Aaron Jones (looked like Jones may have had an injury) Browns 27, Titans 24 - Both running backs had very good games. Quinshon Junkins ran for 96 yards and 2 scores on 27 carries, while Tony Pollard blew up for 129 and 3 scores on 25 carries. - Another better than he’s been in previous seasons Deshaun Watson type of game. - Cam Ward did very little, until the late game drive that tied the score. He missed a tight end wide open in the seam, but a play or two later hit on another chunk play that more or less made up for it. - Both quarterbacks threw interceptions, and neither pass rush was as impactful as I’d have expected. - KC Concepion went 8-129 on 10 targets, while Harold Fanin went 6-91. When I list a player’s production during a game it’s because I made a note while watching to check it, and both of these Browns young pass catchers got one of those notes in game. - Browns kicked a short field goal to win as time expired Steelers 16, Saints 10 (Paris) - Another solid game from Aaron Rodgers, but running backs Jaylen Warren and Rico Dowdle accounted for a ton of the Steelers offense in this game. - I love that monster tight end Darnell Washington continues to see purposeful looks in the scoring zone, as he caught a 4 yard touchdown against what looked like a small Saints DB. - Tyler Shough looked like he had a better game than one that would have led to a 10 point output, but I’m not sure New Orleans had 20 yards rushing in this game. - Both pass rushes had what I’ll call decent games, but Saints Edge Chase Young has surprised me a few times this year. Buccaneers 43, Panthers 13 - Tampa ran for over 250 yards as a team with 3 rushing touchdowns on 49 total carries versus just 11 Baker Mayfield throws. - Bryce Young threw 2 interceptions, while the Panthers also lost 2 fumbles. - Tampa’s pass rush was impactful, with edge Yaya Diaby having a big day. - Young made a great throw to Darren Waller for a 50ish yard score on a deep post. - Tampa scored two points on a blocked extra point that they returned for a score in what was a sequence I rarely see. - The best way I could describe this game was that it was over before halftime, and it struck me as a regression (for both teams, positive for Tampa, negative for Carolina) buzz saw kind of game. Broncos 30, Cardinals 16 - Bo Nix busted a 70ish yard run for a score, but he had another pedestrian game as a passer. - Jonah Coleman looked like the team’s best runner today. - Denver tried to get Jaylen Waddle involved (looked like he left with an injury), but he had a middling game with right around 50 receiving yards. - Denver’s pass rush derailed this game. - Trey McBride went 10-111-1 - Bam Knight for the second week in a row not only looked good, but had a couple of physical runs that really surprised me. - This was a game where it’s obvious that Denver could be a contender if Bo Nix was playing at a higher level. Rams 35, Raiders 21 - I thought this was Sean McVay’s best called game of the year. - A handful of really good looking play designs to manufacture touches for tight ends. - The Rams running game lead the charge, where both Kyren Williams and Blake Corum had nearly 100 yards a piece on the ground. - Puka Nacua didn’t have a monster stat line, but he might be the most physical receiver I’ve ever seen on a week in and week out basis. - I was very surprised at how impactful the Rams pass rush was given their injures to their front. - I would guess that Kirk Cousins had a solid box score, but a lot of it came when this game was already over. - Cousins threw a dropped pick six on the first drive. - The Raiders had no running game, again, where I noted a few plays where their RBs were hit in the backfield, on one occasion Ashton Jeanty was hit basically as soon as he was given a hand off. - Jeanty had a better game as a pass catcher than a runner - Tre Tucker had another good showing. - I thought there was a chance Fernando Mendoza would take over at halftime, and I’m pretty surprised he didn’t play at all. Lions 20, Packers 17 - Weird game as it looked like it would shoot out early, especially on the Lions end as their first drive was just chunk play after chunk play and you can usually tell when Jared Goff is going to play well from the jump (and he did) - Spike game from Amon-Ra St. Brown 9-153 - Jahmyr Gibbs had 29 carries and 5 receptions. He also lost a fumble in the redzone. - The Lions went for it in their own end late, failed, then Green Bay missed what was basically a free field goal attempt. - Detroit came back down, kicked a very short field goal as time expired to win after a 70ish yard drive. - The Lions secondary is a mess. There was a call on 3rd and roughly 4, where Tucker Kraft caught a 5ish yard sit down, where he was all by himself to the point he ran for another 20ish yards after the catch. The call itself looked like it offered the enormous void. - Confusion when the Packers showed motion, enormous voids in coverage, I’m not sure what’s going on there defensively but it’s a miracle Green Bay only scored 17 points. - The Packers threw 45 passes to 19 runs, even with Josh Jacobs back. Jordan Love played well for the most part, at least early, and the Packers were simply not having much success on the ground, but that’s a very wide disparity. Seahawks 20, Chiefs 3 - Seattle’s defense showed tonight why they remain a very dangerous team, as they shut down the undefeated Chiefs in both phases. - This was a game where I left questioning if the Chiefs have a “gotta have it” pass catcher. That’s a question I’ve pondered for a few years now in truth, but it really showed up tonight. - Kansas City missed two field goals. - Kansas City did not generate much pressure. - Jaxon Smith-Njigba: 9-150-1. Guy is unreal. - Emanuel Wilson ran for 100 yards and a score on 24 carries. - The Chiefs, similar to the 49ers, were “due” for a down performance, but I wouldn’t just pin this result on that notion, as Seattle’s defense forced a number of misfires and they really did an outstanding job limiting Kenneth Walker in his return to Seattle. To be clear, I do zero editing on these so I can get them out fast.