The 2022 NFL Week 6 Roundup | Post Haste
Old Dog, New Tricks
The evening of March 10th in New York City this past early Spring was a cloudy, dreary one dripping with all the glum of Lemony Snicket. A thick layer of icy slush encrusted the sidewalks outside MLB headquarters in midtown where workers busily scraped, plowed and salted wide paths down to bare concrete shouldering West 50th and 6th ensuring safe passage for the throngs of pedestrians brushing past the modern steel and glass skyscraper just feet away. The scene was a fitting allegory for what was taking shape 50 stories UP deep within the Office of the Commissioner’s board room. There, Commissioner Rob Manfred gushed that an agreement between the Owners and Players on a NEW Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) had been reached — 99 days deep into the second longest work stoppage in League history. Press releases practically typed themselves with all manner of gesturing emoji while in televised interviews the three parties fawned over one another despite the mutual ugly, nasty vitriol that best characterized the mood which immediately preceded the suddenly rosy afternoon. AS the clouds parted over New York giving way to a classically brisk moonlit late-Winter night in March, details of the CBA began flooding the sports world. Universal Designated Hitter, full jersey sponsorship rights and new Draft lottery guidelines among other incremental incidentals — all predictable — tended to be outshouted by the headline 23% increase in the minimum salary, like growth in the Luxury Tax and the addition of buzzy arbitration bonus pools. Amid the pure shower of cash, little was written about at the time of the new expanded Post Season, buried in the 360 page pdf. That quiet part of the 2022 CBA is now screaming with a full throat and with it has the entire 2022 Post Season in complete chaos. Supposed sure things have been thrown to the icy cold showers of teary denial while wild card afterthoughts are in hot contention and gunning for the World Series at full throttle. Everything all at once, Baseball is threatening to devolve into pure FUN.
Long the bane of purists, fans and players alike, the Post Season in the MLB has been a point of contention and conjecture for decades. Since the 1960s, simple accounting determined who made the playoffs. Division leaders automatically advanced to the post season where teams competed in the League Championship Series. The victors then went on to play in the World Series where the National and American Leagues battled for the Commissioner’s trophy. But rapid League expansion (to three Divisions per League) and the proliferation of Teams made the law of numbers the law of the land. With the traditional format and some 30 teams, you’d be better off headed to Vegas than the Fall Classic. And so a Wild Card spot was awarded beginning in 1994 to the Division runner-up with the best record. A new Division Series was thusly added to incorporate more post-season opportunity for teams who would’ve otherwise hit the dugouts. The system worked well enough in the ensuing 20 years but not without vociferous criticism. Baseball soldiered on nevertheless. In 2011, a second wild card slot was added; essentially a tacked-on pre-round of playoff action stuffed ahead of the now-traditional Division Series. With this change, two wild card teams in each League faced off in a one-game playoff; akin to a play-in round. The winner of the wild card play-in would go on to meet near-certain death against the top seed in the Division Series. Arcane rules plucked teams into wild card status; rules that wildly contradicted conventional wisdom. This much-reviled tacky bolt-on lived in infamy — undisturbed — until this year.
That’s when the 2022 CBA introduced a much-anticipated expanded offseason. MLB and the Owners have long salivated over the thought of more Fall games because of the advertising and ancillary riches that naturally accompany them. Players, not so much. More work, more potential for injury, same pay? Three strikes! The pact they ultimately signed nicely addressed the final bone of contention along with cushy compensation escalators for each year of the 6-year agreement. The first two pieces? Yah those are still there but at least there’s more pay for more play. Anyhow back to the CBA, OUT went the universally unpopular play-in wild card game. IN came the Wild Card series, where three wild card teams and the lowest-seeded Division winner flesh-out the outer periphery of the playoffs for each of the National and American leagues. Sure there are still plenty of arcane rules for determining eligibility for the new series but at least there’s a 20% better chance of October action for any given team and once there at least there’s ball to be played rather than a cheap on-off. That’s how it was sold back in March. What we’re seeing in real-time tells another tale; one where the contours of reality playfully become untethered from boring boilerplate on a printed page.
The supposed beauty of the new expanded playoff infrastructure was that the top two teams in the NL and AL automatically advanced to the Division series while the four remaining wild card teams in each League fought through concurrent best-of-three series. This afforded the top two teams a small rest break after hard-fought regular seasons. A brief break without fear of competitive atrophy. This left the league afterthoughts in a grueling best-of the-worst Wild Card series gauntlet which, on paper, meant they’d be winded and sure to meet their maker in the ensuing Division Series. That’s precisely when fate intervened. In the debut of the Wild Card series just weeks ago, three of the four wild card matchups concluded with the lower-ranked teams advancing. The unlikely Mariners, Padres and Phillies each passed GO alongside AL #3 seed Cleveland to reach the Division Series. Then things went bonkers, might that you’ve been paying attention. In the National League, the plucky Phillies (just 87 wins) promptly picked off the 101 win-strong Braves in a 3–1 series. Similarly, the Padres managed 89 wins this season yet knocked down the winningest team in baseball this past Saturday in the Dodgers. When does a stunning 111 WIN stat mean nothing? In the 2022 Division Series where Dodger Blue turned beet red in a 1–3 embarrassment to their I-5 rivals. Over in the American League, the hated Astros are maintaining a semblance of normalcy and predictability where the AL top seed easily ousted Toronto 3–0, despite an outrageous 18-inning marathon series ender this weekend. A MUCH harder go of it up at Yankee Stadium where the #2 seeded Bronx Bombers are struggling to stay afloat against their lower-rated rivals in the Guardians. In this series, 99 Yankee wins means zilch. Baseball overlords would have it no other way.
All of these zigs, zags, permutations, short circuits and packages of unbridled surprise culminate it one of the most exciting post-seasons in recent memory. Lights out for powerhouse would-be World Series shoe-ins coupled with the comeback-kid Wild Card story that everyone loves are twin narratives in equal measure juicily irresistible paralyzingly arresting. That the Dodgers are decorated with prodigious talent, laden with a $310M payroll to show for it, yet manage to consistently reel in blockbuster post-season disappointment is a story to be told. That the Phillies, of all teams, which wouldn’t have even made the Wild Card round with last year’s rules, are accelerating into the post-season alongside Slam Diego is sturdy reason enough to think that maybe Baseball isn’t the lethargic, anachronistic hunk of junk time sink it’s come to resemble. Or not. Whatever your thoughts, Baseball is dangerously relevant again with NCAA-style magic and upset playing out beneath stadium lights and our watchful, discerning eye. Who doesn’t love the serendipity of the unexpected? Better still, who would have thought that the Owners and Players back in March could have ever mutually ironed out the makings of sustained poignant drama so thoughtfully and thoroughly? Surely they didn’t. But they’ll take the heady goodwill just the same. WE fans, meanwhile, revel in the post-season spoils of a 146 year old dog trying on a new trick or two.
Turning now to a 102 year old dog, the NFL in Week 6 laid bare measured chaos its very own. Outbursts, freefall, turnarounds, momentum and embarrassment each played key roles around the League this past weekend. Bills at Chiefs was a prime example of two equally-matched battering rams having at it out down in Arrowhead Stadium. BUF currently boasts of the League’s best-rated Offense and Defense and its 5–1 record certainly underscores the top-ranking. The Team’s squeaker 24–20 win over KC, not as much. A win, BTW, that came at the hands of a perfectly-timed late game Patrick Mahomes pick. Which, naturally, speaks volumes to BUF’s stainless steel secondary and its suffocating, hungry prowess. BUF’s Josh Allen and KC’s Mahomes are the top-performing QBs at the 33% mark of the season so it’s assured that we’ll be witnessing post-Season drama from both teams come January. Over in Seattle, the Hawks bounced back with a win a home where the Cards are spiraling offensively. SEA’s 19–9 victory highlights starter Geno Smith continuing nicely in a reset year (Russell who?) as Arizona desperately awaits the return of DeAndre Hopkins this weekend who will have completed a positive PED test-induced suspension. That a Team is banking on a superstar REC to right the ship speaks more to dysfunction than strategy. You know what they say about hope as a strategy. Meanwhile, up in Green Bay, complete humiliation where the Jets Jets Jets launched out of Lambeau Field with afterburners fully ablaze, 27–10. The perennial New York laggards put on quite the show and even Zach Wilson played a starring role. At the same time, the Packers have lots of explaining to do. Disappointment on both sides of the football are doing fans no favors. Aaron’s moody return to the team this year has so far yielded a rocky rollout. His supposed injured throwing thumb and static with this receiving core help to explain Green Bay’s lowly loss to NYJ. Beyond that, at 3–3, they gotta boggie lest they be forgotten in the scrap pile of yesteryear; definitely not the look anyone associated with Aaron Rodgers is familiar with.
Over in Steel City, the Bucs arrived marooned in stasis. The Steelers sensed the opposing unease and took full advantage of the situation. Despite upstart QB Kenny Pickett’s exit into concussion protocol, stalwart Mitch Trubisky stepped in admirably and delivered a much-needed morale booster directly to fans. That the smiles came at the expense of Tompa Bay simply added yet more cherries atop a whip cream-laden sundae. Tom Brady, for his part, was seen angrily scolding his freshman Offensive line for their seeming resemblance to swiss cheese. His defenders looked on as a timeworn parable dangled conspicuously overhead: A craftsman NEVER blames his tools. At 3–3, Tom and his Bucs aren’t reveling in the assumed success they’d be feted with at this point in the Season. All may not be lost nor will all that’s missing necessarily be found as the clock ticks ever downward. Up in New York, yet ANOTHER surprise where the Giants trailed the visiting Ravens by double-digits and amazingly stole the W from the hardy city birds, 24–20. The Giants are cresting on their 3rd victory in a row while the Ravens are faced to reckon with self-induced heartache with relatively sloppy, undisciplined gameplay. This results in superstar QB Lamar Jackson confined to the pressure cooker hungering to deliver yet, as on Sunday, offering a game-sealing interception instead. Whatever the malaise in Baltimore, the Giants are the talk of the town as-is coach Brian Daboll. And speaking of NFC East, the sole remaining unbeaten team in the Eagles continue apace at 6–0 after sending the Cowboys into the Texan sunset, 26–17. The game was a particular showpiece for the lucrative Jalen Hurts-AJ Brown duo while on the other side of the ledger, The DAL Cooper Rush experiment is rapidly turning to rust. Cooper strongly delivered a 4 game winning streak in Dak Prescott’s long shadow but on Sunday the seams started to show. 18/38 181yds 1TD 3 INTs, 2 of the INTs in the first half alone and a final INT late in the game that would ultimately go on to decide the team’s fate. Rush and Co have capably earned a 4–2 record and, luckily for the America’s Team, Dak returns from thumb surgery triumphantly this weekend. We’ll see if the momentum continues with the outpatient leading the Team’s charge.
Elsewhere in our Round Robin, the Rams returning to winning form (24–10) tough at the expense of the reeling Panthers where things have gotten so bad that star RB Christian McCaffrey is reportedly on the pricey Carolina trade menu; a tacit admission that this year and likely NEXT are lost to rebuilding. CAR fans are left to wonder just where thing went so wrong. Down at Hard Rock, a reversal of fortune is still front and center where MIA’s QB revolving door continues to spin comically. Third string QB Skyler Thompson started but injured his thumb shortly thereafter. 2nd string QB Teddy Bridgewater, just cleared to return from concussion protocol and still not yet 100%, was pressed shakily into action and an unfortunate 16–24 loss to MIN resulted. Not helping matters is yet another solid outing from everyone’s favorite journeyman in MIN QB Kirk Cousins. All of sudden the Vikings are at 5–1 and stand tall atop the NFC North propelled by a well-earned 4 week winning streak. In Atlanta, QB Marcus Mariota picked an interesting week to explode offensively. Jimmy G and his 49ers were hard-pressed to match the showout especially considering the Teams injury-hobbled Defensive line. An unlikely Falcons 28–14 victory ensued. Also, the Pats are getting along quite well with QB understudy Bailey Zappe who is delivering where starter Mac Jones watches nervously from the sidelines. NE handed the visiting Brownies return tickets home without much of a fuss, 38–15, the Jags collected their latest loss (their 3rd in a row) to IND and the CIN Joe Burrow-Ja’Marr Chase synergy lit up the same venue (NOLA’s Caesars Superdome) where the duo in 2019 famously led LSU to National Championship supremacy. The poetry wasn’t lost on Bengals fans who look askew at the Team’s 3–3 record and are forced to wonder if there is more poetic synergy from whence it came. They and the Team will NEED it.
