Fields is a different story. He’s still a young QB, gaining confidence each week, and plays in an offense that doesn’t offer much from a talent perspective. Since Week 7 against the New England Patriots, Fields has been accurate, confident, and playing intelligent, decisive football throughout the last few weeks. The Bears might be 3-7 at the moment, but Fields has been the main reason they were close in their past two games. Though the former Ohio State Buckeye is far from a perfect product, he has a special skill set that, once figured out, could lead to the Bears being a potential playoff contender in the coming years.
With Tom Brady, Aaron Rodgers, and other veteran quarterbacks at the backend of their careers, it was important for the NFL to take on a youth movement. Thanks to the emergence of Fields, Tua, and Hurts, the NFL will likely spend the next ten years or more with the new era of quarterbacks.
Jeff Saturday won his first game with the Colts. What’s next?
Even though they won on Sunday, the Indianapolis Colts are in an odd spot. That’s because owner Jim Irsay went against the grain and did something unprecedented: looking outside the organization and hiring Jeff Saturday as interim head coach following Frank Reich’s firing.
Many, including myself, questioned the unprecedented move. As a team that will likely be looking for a permanent coach with much more experience, why would you hire a former franchise center in the middle of the season away from the high school team he was coaching in Georgia to be an interim head coach?
Clout? Chaos? Catering to fans? All of the above? Who knows.
However, coach Saturday – that is so weird to say – was impressive yesterday. The Colts had their most complete game of the season against the Las Vegas Raiders. Matt Ryan was back under center and played a clean game while the run game led by Jonathan Taylor led the way. Indy’s defense came to play with Stephon Gilmore coming in clutch with a late PBU against Davante Adams.
While this could work out for the Colts, it’s only one game, and things will likely change. I just can’t get over the fact that Jim Irsay didn’t want to go with someone on the rise in the NFL ranks like Bubba Ventrone or a former head coach such as Gus Bradley.
One thing is for certain; Jim Irsay doesn’t play by the rules.
What’s next for coach Saturday’s Colts? Well, they aren’t tanking like we thought they were. This team played a great game on Sunday, and they didn’t show signs of being quitters when everyone wrote them off. Could they lose out? Very possible. However, I don’t think that is likely. This Colts organization is still looking to win football games this year.
Maybe, just maybe, Jeff Saturday could coach his way into the permanent headman gig. That would be a great story, and one Colts fans would get behind without question.
Clemson still has a shot at the CFP, but UNC and self-inflicted wounds remain.
Well, well, well. What do we have here? No. 9 Clemson is still in the playoff hunt, huh? That’s right. The Tigers aren’t dead just yet after a 31-10 beatdown on a previously hot Louisville team that was one of the tops in the country in total sacks and had racked up turnovers at a high clip throughout the last few weeks.
Clemson wasn’t perfect on Saturday, though I believe they have a recipe for success, and that’s running the football at a high clip while playing great defense. This Tigers team looked like a team that could dominate teams with this style of play. An aggressive downhill rushing attack featuring superstar Will Shipley, Phil Mafah, and quarterback D.J. Uiagalelei looks to be the way forward for the Tigers as they look to have offensive production at a higher rate.
However, questions remain among head coach Dabo Swinney, his coordinators, the transfer portal, and his QBs.
I appreciate his willingness to stick to Uiagalelei. Yet, the leash seems very short, and one bad game from No. 5 could result in the Cade Klubnik era starting sooner than later. Could that be in the ACC Championship against Heisman contender Drake Maye and the Tar Heels? It’s certainly possible.
This Tigers team hasn’t blown teams out by 30-40 points due to an explosive offense and an elite defense. Those times seem like a distant memory because Dabo chose to keep his “culture” intact by hiring within the program at offensive coordinator (Brandon Streeter) and defensive coordinator (Wes Goodwin). Goodwin’s defense is ranked outside the Top 25 nationally in point-per-game allowed, while Streeter’s offense is outside the Top 50 in yards per game.
The Tigers are different. They’re still talented, but I don’t think this type of “culture” in Clemson can continue like this without getting with the program. Clemson has enough clout to attract good coaches from anywhere around the country. They could be an elite force in the transfer portal if Dabo weren’t stuck being a traditionalist.
Clemson could sneak into the College Football Playoff as the No. 4 seed as ACC champions. However, I’m hesitant to say this will be the case with all of the current underlying issues in upstate South Carolina. North Carolina is my pick to play spoiler two weeks from Saturday in Charlotte.