Recommended listening for this article: Stevie Ray Vaughan’s Life By The Drop.
And then there were four.
The Patriots, Jaguars, Vikings and Eagles. That’s what we have left in the NFL postseason. In the mascot battle, I believe the Patriots would be the favorite because the other three aren’t familiar with firearms. I suppose they’re the favorite on the football field as well. That’s not the point of this quick hitter write-up, however.
I was just perusing the four teams left and asking myself what can we learn about building a football team based on the ones still alive? My thoughts after this colon:
New England Patriots
– If you have the best coach of all time and a HOF Quarterback AND you’ve been busted for cheating a handful of times, you’re in good shape. That’s all sorts of advantages.
Jacksonville Jaguars
– You need to use all three avenues available to add talent in the NFL. Take a look at that defense. Jalen Ramsey, Myles Jack, Telvin Smith, Yannick Ngakoue and Dante Fowler are drafted guys from the last few years that are pillars of the defense. In free agency, they added Malik Jackson, Calais Campbell, A.J. Bouye and Barry Church. They traded for Marcel Dareus during the season to complete the run defense. So many teams have a lot of pride in drafting and developing their own guys to avoid free agency. In a lot of cases that’s just arrogance. The Jaguars had money and identified the right players and boom: from last place in their division to the AFC title game.
– If you build your team well enough, you just need a QB that won’t bleep it up. Blake Bortles converted some big third downs for them against Pittsburgh, but throwing for 230 yards and a score when your team scores 45 points means the rest of that team is doing heavy lifting.
Minnesota Vikings
– You can find wide receiver value all over the place, you don’t need to use a first round pick on one. Not that you shouldn’t if Julio Jones, AJ Green, Odell Beckham etc are available, but Adam Thielen (91 catches for 1276 yards and 4 TD) was undrafted. Stefon Diggs (64 catches for 849 yards and 8 TD) was a fifth round pick. Laquon Treadwell was a first round pick that hasn’t worked out at all.
– Great coaching can overcome injuries. Mike Zimmer’s team is doing this without the guy they planned to start at QB and their starting RB.
– If you can find a worthwhile backup QB it’s worth paying for. Without Case Keenum behind Sam Bradford, this doesn’t happen for them. I’d be curious how much Sam Bradford is worth now. He can still play, his knees just won’t let him survive a season.
Philadelphia Eagles
– The line of scrimmage is the most important thing in football. Do I have to say “aside from QB”? Heck, maybe even more important than the QB. Case Keenum, Nick Foles and Blake Bortles are still in this thing because their teams dominate at the line of scrimmage on defense. Philadelphia does it on both sides. The addition of Timmy Jernigan next to Fletcher Cox makes for one of the best Defensive Tackle combos in the league. Add in Brandon Graham, Derek Barnett, Vinny Curry and Chris Long on the edge and you can see why the Eagles are doing what they’re doing. The Cowboys should take note of the Jernigan addition. Having a monster at the nose tackle makes your ‘under’ tackle even more dominant. Invest in the fat man position, Cowboys. Please and thank you.
– Dominating the line of scrimmage and having a good quarterback is usually more important to a running back than said running back’s talent. Jay Ajayi averaged 5.8 yards per carry as an Eagle. LeGarrette Blount and Corey Clement both averaged well over 4 yards per carry. They can block, and teams respect their quarterbacks’ ability to win through the air.
– A dynamic tight end is a young quarterback’s best friend. Zack Ertz (74 catches for 824 yards and 8 TD) was the best receiving option on the team. Having a guy who can run, is a downfield threat, runs quality routes and catches contested balls makes life much easier on the QB. Cowboys, I know it hurts, but it’s time to be looking for a new TE1.
Ya got all that Cowboys?
Good, great, wonderful. Now go win the Super Bowl and whatnot.
Rbudai says
TE1 – I agree with you. It’s time, learning with Witten is an added bonus. Would you pluck Mark Andrews at #19 or trade up in 2nd with one of our compensatory picks to add to our 2nd to draft him. Would love him with our 2nd round pick, but can’t see him making it that long.
Jeff Cavanaugh says
If you take Andrews (who I’m a fan of) this coaching staff has to change some. He’s called a TE but he plays slot receiver. This team loves to mash their TEs in to the line of scrimmage and have them block DEs. He’d be starting from 0 learning to do that.
Eric Cox says
Haven’t had time to read the whole article yet, but I had to commend the music choice.
Jeff Cavanaugh says
*fist bump*
Zach Johnson says
Gathers looked pretty good before he went down with an injury, and Swaim has looked decent in his limited playing time. Could either of them be the possible answer to the next TE1 question? Or should the Cowboys look for that man in the Draft?
Jeff Cavanaugh says
I’d love it if Rico turned in to that dude. But I think projecting it or planning for it would be pretty risky.
Rbudai says
Jeff, Fair points on how the Cowboys using their TE and maybe because of that Andrews would not get utilized best for his skill set. Would hope if they had that kind of player the coaching staff could/would adjust.
I am terrible at trade suggestions in the NFL, but two guys I have noticed this season who I like are Trey Burton (PHI) and McDonald (PITT). McDonald look to be moving into the #1 role in Pittsburgh, Burton is behind Ertz. You like either of those guys, if they were available any idea what draft pick it might cost for them?