Jaguars VS Seahawks
The Seattle Seahawks travelled down to Jacksonville, Fla. Sunday, Oct. 12, looking to bounce back after a crushing loss in a great game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Considering the extensive injuries to the Seattle secondary, including cornerback Devon “Spoon” Witherspoon and safety Julian Love, I had my doubts going into this game. But those doubts were wrong, as the defense line managed to compensate for any weaknesses in the secondary, only allowing 59 rushing yards against a very dangerous team on the ground, and getting seven sacks, including two for sophomore defensive lineman Byron Murphy II, on 33 pressures, putting Jags QB Trevor Lawrence under pressure on over 50 percent of his passing plays. The offense also looked pretty good, only allowing one sack on Sam Darnold, who threw for 295 yards and two touchdowns in just 16 completions. Wide receiver Jaxon “JSN” Smith-Njigba got half of those throws, turning them into 162 yards and a touchdown. Smith-Njiba set the record for most receiving yards through six games in Seahawks history, extending the current longest away game win streak in the NFL to 10 games with a score of 20-12.
Buccaneers VS 49ers
On Sunday, Oct 12, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers went back home to play another NFC West team in the San Francisco 49ers. The 49ers have had terrible injury luck both this season and last, currently missing starting quarterback Brock Purdy, tight end George Kittle, wide receivers Brandon Aiyuk and Ricky Pearsall, as well as edge rusher Nick Bosa and several others I have to omit to keep this article at a reasonable length. The Bucs haven’t been lucky with injuries either this year, currently missing wide receiver Mike Evans and running back Bucky Irving. The bad injury luck continued for both teams this week, with the 49ers losing key linebacker Fred Warner for the rest of the season to an ankle injury, and the Buccaneers losing star rookie wide receiver Emeka Egbuka to a hamstring injury. But Tampa Bay managed to rise above this adversity, managing to sack backup QB Mac Jones six times and force two turnovers defensively, while quarterback Baker Mayfield, who is playing at an amazing MVP-worthy level this season, threw for 256 yards and two touchdowns, allowing the Bucs to take their first confident victory of the season with a score of 30-19.
Giants VS Eagles
The New York Giants hosted the reigning Super Bowl champion Philadelphia Eagles on Thursday night primetime, Oct. 9. This game was the third ever start for rookie Giants quarterback Jaxson Dart after benching former Seahawks QB Russel “Mr. Unlimited” Wilson. This was a big game for Dart, who threw for 195 yards and a touchdown, as well as running for 58 yards and a touchdown. New York’s rookie running back, Cam “Skat Man” Skattebo, who ran for 98 yards, averaging 5.2 yards a carry and getting three touchdowns. The Eagles offense, on the other hand, looked lethargic throughout the game, having two turnovers in the game, and got completely shut out in the second half, eventually losing the game with an embarrassing score of 34-17. A lot of Eagles fans have been calling for the firing of Offensive Coordinator Kevin Patullo over the past few weeks, and those feelings have only grown stronger after this game. While I understand the feelings of Eagles fans saying this, as a Seahawks fan who had to deal with Shane Waldron and Ryan Grubb over the past two years, I think Eagles fans should be patient, at least through the bye week. Last year, the Eagles looked pretty bad before the bye week, and fans were calling to fire Head Coach Nick Sirianni, but after the bye week, they became very competitive and eventually won the Super Bowl, and the situation this year seems pretty similar. As for the Giants, I think they should be very happy with where they are right now. While I don’t think they will make the playoffs, considering the injury to star wide receiver Malik Nabers and how competitive the NFC as a whole is this year, they should be able to make some noise in their division over the next few years if they make some good decisions in free agency and the draft.
