Another eventful week of NFL action is in the books, and we saw a scoring explosion in a couple of the divisional battles.
While losing to Baltimore was the last thing Cincinnati needed, the overtime game had enough drama on its own to carry the week.
If that wasn’t enough, Houston and Buffalo played out a game that went right to the wire and the Jaguars finally got a win in enthralling fashion.
We’ve recapped some of the big storylines to emerge in the last few days in the National Football League below.
1 – Kirk Cousins Is A Perfect Fit in Atlanta
Plenty rightfully questioned the Falcons handling of their quarterback position during the offseason, giving a boatload of money to an injured Kirk Cousins then spending (or wasting) the eighth overall pick on Michael Penix.
This is not like the wide receiver or cornerback spot where you are getting multiple players at the one position on the field at any point in time.
But for 2024 at least, it sure looks like they have hit a proverbial home run with Cousins coming to town.
He was poor in Week 1 but since then he has gone from strength to strength and Week 5 was his proper coming out party.
On the back of the game winning drive against Philadelphia in Week 2, Cousins threw for a whopping 509 yards and four touchdowns to guide the Falcons to a 36-30 overtime win.
The best moment was without a doubt this game winning touchdown on the only possession of overtime.
He’s not going to do that every week (Raheem Morris and co might want to think about using Bijan Robinson a bit more) but boy is it good to see Cousins getting better and better each week.
The guy Cousins replaced in Washington clearly is happy for his former backup.
Yes we do like that.
2 – Overtime is Fine But It Could Be Improved
We have not had many overtime games so far in 2024, but the NFL’s system remains overly convoluted and could be simplified.
Online outrage with the old sudden death system brought about the current regular season model where the team that receives the ball first can only win it with a touchdown, otherwise the second team will have a chance to match or better that initial outcome.
On the plus side it’s better than the stupid college system that belongs exclusively in EA Sports video games as a training mode.
But as it stands, the setup needs to be simplified solely so that it becomes far more straightforward.
Assuming the old “first team to score wins and if you lose the coin toss, play some defence” approach is a no-go, there is only one real option for the NFL.
Pick a pre-determined period of time, say 10 minutes if a full 15 minute quarter is too long and let them go until the clock hits 0:00.
This way both teams are guaranteed to get the ball and you could see some wild and wacky plays as the extra period moves towards a conclusion.
3 – Davante Adams Should Have Plenty of Suitors
He might be 32 and he might have an injured hamstring, but plenty of teams should be putting in an offer for Raiders receiver Davante Adams.
The veteran receiver who has missed the last couple of games has asked the Vegas brass for a trade to a new team and it seems like they are willing to acquiesce to his request.
He can still contribute to his next team in a big way and that hamstring injury will likely become a lot less problematic once he lands in his new city.
The preferred destinations are the New York Jets which would reunite him with Aaron Rodgers and the New Orleans Saints and Derek Carr.
For some reason his only former quarterback he isn’t eager to re-join is Jimmy Garoppolo.
But Adams is the sort of receiver who just about every team should at least enquire about.
Even Kansas City, the reigning champions, could use Adams as a one or two year rental and provide a great chance for Adams to get that Super Bowl ring he wants.
But they would have to pay massive overs given they are in the same division as the Raiders and the same issue would apply to the LA Chargers who need an alpha at receiver.
No team could use a receiver like Adams more than the New England Patriots but he will be long retired before the Pats are competing for the Super Bowl again.
Buffalo could provide what he wants in terms of prestige, but given then just got rid of Stefon Diggs and are trying to reprogram Josh Allen, do they want to change course now?
He would provide an upgrade to plenty of other locker rooms from a talent perspective including but not limited to the Giants, Commanders, Bears, Cardinals, Browns, Steelers and Jaguars.
Given the state of some of those teams, Adams may say no but for a lot of those teams they have to at least ask.
4 – It’s Time to Worry About Aaron Rodgers
It turns out that being a 40-year-old coming back from a major injury is not a recipe for instant success in the NFL.
After showing some flashes of his old self, Rodgers has looked rusty, disinterested and perhaps most worryingly, old.
There are some throws, like this pick-six to Andrew Van Ginkel that you just wouldn’t expect him to force.
Not to mention the warning signs that not all is well between him and head coach Robert Saleh, who will probably pay the price for Rodgers’ struggles before the quarterback.
It might explain why the press conference quotes just seem forced at best.
An Achilles injury is nothing to just walk off, but at some point the Jets front office will be asking the question over whether they are going to achieve the lofty goals they set when acquiring Rodgers from the Packers and building their roster to suit the aging veteran.
5 – Cleveland Needs to Cut Bait on Watson
While there might be some hope that Rodgers will get back to his former self as the season goes along, there is no hope left in Cleveland for Deshaun Watson.
Putting his off-field issues to the side, the guy who once looked like a future NFL MVP appears to be a broken player, physically and mentally.
It’s not totally on the former Clemson signal caller, with the Browns struggling to build a proper offensive line around the guy they traded their future for three years ago.
Watson has taken a beating and it only seems like a matter of time before one of these hits will send him back to the sideline, unable to return.
Considering he has only 17 of a possible 39 games since joining the Browns due to suspension and then injuries, while looking pretty poor when he’s been on the field should have Cleveland considering their options.
There will be some short term pain no matter what happens in the next year or two with Cleveland, either they stick with Watson through to the end of his contract and hope he suddenly realises his potential (unlikely) or they eat the rest of the contract and move him on.
The latter seems like the much more appealing option with the way it’s going.