Canal Street Chronicles
The Buccaneers and Saints faced off in a heated NFC South battle this week, but the final score really didn’t show it. Coming into this game, Tampa Bay was struggling with many injuries and had just lost badly to the Detroit Lions on Monday Night Football. This was a potential trap game, and the only reason the game was close in the first half was due to the Bucs’ offense struggling. But Tampa Bay quickly turned it around and beat the Saints 23-3. This wasn’t a pretty win for the Bucs, but it’s a win nonetheless.
Somehow, someway, the Falcons may have had the worst loss of the entire NFL season so far. The Miami Dolphins were 1-6. They have looked like a mess from top to bottom, their only win was by 6 against the (at the time) winless New York Jets and there was a good chance a head coach change was coming sooner rather than later. This was a must win game by the Falcons but instead they lost; it wasn’t just a loss, they got dominated. Yes, QB Michael Penix was out this game, but this loss wasn’t just on backup Kirk Cousins, who didn’t turn the ball over. The Falcons’ defense could not stop the run; the offense quickly went away from the running game and struggled to run; and the pass defense was picked apart by QB Tua Tagovailoa, who the Dolphins might move on from after this season. This was just a bad game.
Keeping it going with horrible performances, the Panthers were beaten by the Bills 40-3. Like with the Falcons, Carolina had their starting QB out for this game, but in this case, Andy Dalton, who came in to start, definetly helped the loss get as bad as it did. In addition, Buffalo did everything they wanted to with ease; the Panthers’ run defense allowed RB James Cook to run for 216 yards and touchdowns, and Josh Allen only had to throw 19 times. QB Bryce Young’s injury doesn’t seem as bad as previously feared, so he should be able to come back soon, and maybe the Panthers can bounce back.
On the other side of Tampa Bay’s dominant win, the Saints had a tough day. I’ll start with the defense first so I can talk about the positives. The pass rush was really good, specifically from Chase Young, and Kool-Aid McKinstry had a really good day. This loss was not on the defense; it was on the offense. The run game was abandoned very quickly by HC Kellen Moore, and the concentration issues on offense got to a point that it led to QB Spencer Rattler being benched. The game was out of hand by then, but in his first NFL snaps, rookie Tyler Shough didn’t look bad. He had some issues in the pocket and timing with receivers, but he made accurate throws and pushed...
