It’s your last chance to get caught up on the happenings at PFF before the next slate of games is upon us, and our new ‘PFF Week’ posts provide quick access to the week that was. The ‘Back East’ edition covers all things pertaining to the AFC and NFC East divisions for a one-stop Saturday shop built to keep you in the loop and on top of your football-watching game.
Week 5 Wrap
With a quarter of the regular season now on tape, coaches have moved on from the evaluation stage to the judgment stage for their players and teams. They are now more willing to alter who starts, game day inactives, snaps counts, rotations. Coaches are also self-evaluating by taking a quick look at their trends to determine what they’ve been doing right and just what they’ve been doing wrong also. Some of this is determined by injury, some by schemes and quite often, by players not living up to the expectations that the staff had for them when the season started. Those that exceed expectations are rewarded with more chances to prove themselves and greater exposure for opportunity in the future.
Last week some teams in the NFC and AFC East met the challenge in front of them but more than a few failed and were rewarded with another mark in the loss column. The Bills lost the game and their young quarterback for a time against the Browns. The Patriots struggles at wide receiver and the loss of Vince Wilfork caught up to them in a late rainstorm against the Bengals. The Dolphins were pushed around by the Ravens at home. The Giants imploded against the Eagles late in the game once again. Cowboy fans should hold their heads high for how well their team played as a whole only to be done in by a costly mistake. The Jets surprised many as their rookie quarterback led them to a Monday Night Football win against a depleted, but still talented, Falcons team on the road. Follow up your team’s efforts with the ReFocused series right here.
Buffalo at Cleveland | New England at Cincinnati | Baltimore at Miami | NY Jets at Atlanta
Philadelphia at NY Giants | Denver at Dallas | NY Jets at Atlanta
The Bills loss illustrated the importance of special teams which Neil Hornsby reviews in his The Third Phase article for you. Just as each team reviews and grades it’s players, the same is done here with here so you can have the PFF Team of Week 5 and the ‘Had a Bad Day’ Team by Khaled Elsayed. The first year players from the East’s are well represented in the Race for Rookie of the Year as they own three of the top ten spots on the list. The Secret Superstar section by Gordon McGuinness highlights those players who quietly do their jobs but happened to catch his eye with some sterling effort in their play from Week 5. With the games fully broken down the only thing left is to reset the PFF Power Rankings for the teams as they start to transition to the next week on the practice fields.
Looking ahead to Week 6
With last weeks’ game film broken down and sent to the quality control coaches for cutups what’s next on the agenda? Coaches start setting up next week’s playbook in meetings and on the practice field during the week. That means turning an eye on what matchups are exploitable on film which is where the Three to Focus On series comes in. Here you can get a logical and thoughtful breakdown of a trio of matchups that could have a major impact in the upcoming game. The Giants travelled to Chicago on a short week hoping to get something right going for their season. The Redskins come out of the bye hoping to put salt in the wound of the Cowboys off their brutal loss to the Broncos. Can the Eagles take advantage of Bucs who are resetting their quarterback situation with a rookie? The Bills hope to rally around Thad Lewis, who was the third string practice squad quarterback last week, against the Bengals. The Patriots defend the Razor against the red-hot Saints while the Jets catch the Steelers off their bye looking to shake up their season.
NY Giants at Chicago | Philadelphia at Tampa Bay | Washington at Dallas
Cincinnati at Buffalo | Green Bay at Baltimore | Pittsburgh at NY Jets | New Orleans at New England
With the Giants game on Thursday it offers another chance for a new Analysis Notebook by Sam Monson detailing how important the communication between quarterback and wide receivers are prior to the snap. Also available is the ReFocused article covering the Bears and Giants matchup.
Additionally
– One of the rising articles at PFF is Palazzolo’s Pitch which turns the spotlight onto the rookie quarterbacks and how they have done so far this season.
– This week’s 32 Observations by Nathan Jahnke highlight’s each teams receiving game.
– The tour of PFF’s Signature Stats continues with Accuracy Percentage with Michael Renner which provides a more realistic view of how well quarterbacks are hitting their marks this year.
– One of the big highlights at PFF is Khaled Elsayed’s Offensive Line Rankings which provide an unbiased review of each team work in the trenches and how they do as a whole. This is excellent for PFF readers who can take their eye off the ball once the ball is snapped and focus on the close quarter battles up front.
© 2024 PFF - all rights reserved.