Bell Tolls: Reality bites some NFL teams entering Week 8
CHARLOTTE – Take stock of the fortunes of some of the NFL's projected championship contenders, and they hardly resemble the formidable squads they were last season.
"It's like a wise old dude told me, 'With winning comes a whole different set of problems,'" Carolina Panthers coach Ron Rivera told Paste BN Sports.
Rivera is preparing his .500 Panthers for Sunday's clash against the Seattle Seahawks, and the records cast light on a whole slew of problems.
The Seahawks (3-3) are defending Super Bowl champions, but are aiming to avoid the first three-game losing streak they've ever had with Russell Wilson at quarterback.
Seattle matched Denver for the best regular-season record in 2013 with a 13-3 mark, but has already lost as many games this season. And the defense that was so dominant in 2013 is nothing of the sort now. Last year, the Seahawks were the first unit since the 1985 Chicago Bears to lead the NFL in fewest yards allowed, fewest points allowed and forced turnovers.
This season, the Seahawks rank 19th in scoring defense and have had major issues in trying to duplicate their impact in rushing the passer.
Carolina (3-3-1) can relate, a season after winning the NFC South with a 12-4 mark. The Panthers ranked just behind Seattle last year, second for yards allowed and second in scoring defense.
The rankings in those respective categories now: 26th and 29th.
The meltdown of the Panthers defense, more pronounced than Seattle's woes, is one of the NFL's biggest surprises from the first eight weeks because the unit has been so strong in recent seasons.
Then again, it underscores how difficult it is in the NFL to maintain consistency.
Rivera mentioned how offseason roster tweaks due to free agency and injuries (his O-line and running back groups have been devastated) are obvious indicators of the year-to-year changes.
"And then every now and then," Rivera said, "there's something else you don't expect."
In Carolina's case, it was the fallout from defensive end Greg Hardy's domestic violence case. Hardy is inactive while awaiting trial on his appeal for a conviction. The football impact has cost the Panthers its most active D-lineman.
Still, life in the NFL means teams must adjust on the fly. "What you don't want now is a team that is waiting for something to happen," Rivera said. "You want us to play like we did last year, going out and making things happen. Playing aggressively. Attacking. Putting it all out there."
There are some teams you may have figured would still be bad this season. The Raiders and Jaguars (who have a combined one win) came into the season with the look of rebuilding teams with their rookie quarterbacks.
But the Seahawks? People were talking about a dynasty after last season.
The Panthers were seemingly poised to build off last year's success and take another step.
And weren't the New Orleans Saints a popular Super Bowl pick?
Yes, and I'm among the suckers who thought the Saints on a Super track.
Instead, New Orleans (2-4) has a must-win game against Green Bay, and it's a good thing for the Saints that the game is in the Superdome. The Saints are winless away from New Orleans, proving that some issues can indeed linger from year to year.
New Orleans' defense is troubled, too, allowing a spike in yards and still unable to generate the turnovers that D-coordinator Rob Ryan identified as the major goal coming into the season. Injuries on both sides of the ball have hurt, too.
Did somebody mention turnovers? That's significant when considering what's happened with the Kansas City Chiefs, who were an inspiring 11-5 playoff squad last season, but are 3-3 at the moment.
The Chiefs won so many games last season by generating takeaways and setting up Alex Smith with short fields. The Seahawks were the only team in the NFL with more takeaways than Kansas City last season, but now the Chiefs are experiencing life from a different perspective.
Just one team, the New York Jets, have produced fewer than Kansas City's four takeaways.
So much for that formula. The Chiefs rank 27th in the NFL for points off turnovers.
Another team experiencing a culture shock of sorts: The Bengals. Cincinnati (3-2-1) blasted Baltimore in Week 1 and started 3-0. Yet in their two losses, at AFC contenders New England and Indianapolis, the Bengals were outscored, 70-17.
That's from a team that won the AFC North last season with an 11-5 record and with three consecutive playoff berths, came into the season viewed as a legitimate Super Bowl contender.
Losing the services of all-pro receiver A.J. Green has hurt (he's missed three games with a toe injury), but that can't be the end-all. Look at Detroit. It has learned to win when Calvin Johnson isn't on the field. Yet the Bengals offense hasn't looked as bad in years as it did last weekend at Indianapolis, without Green.
But they are suffering on both sides of the ball.
Still, it's not time to panic yet. The good news for the so-called contenders who have fallen on hard times is that there is still time to regain their groove.
"Every year I've been in the NFL, the teams that have gone on to the Super Bowl have gone through lulls," Bengals coach Marvin Lewis told reporters this week. "But you've got to find a way to pull out of it. You've got to push over the hump."
Other items of interest as Week 8 rolls on…
Who's hot: Aaron Rodgers. Since urging fans to relax after a 1-2 start, the Packers quarterback heads into Sunday night's game at New Orleans on an MVP-like tear. Rodgers, with a sizzling 18-1 TD-to-INT ratio on the season, has passed for at least three TDs with no picks in four consecutive games. He's the only the second quarterback with such a streak (Tom Brady, 2007) and his 192 consecutive passes without an interception is the longest of his career. And after averaging just 18 points in their first three games, the Packers have doubled that while scoring an average of 36.3 points on their four-game winning streak. Relax, indeed.
Key matchup: Luke Kuechly vs. Marshawn Lynch . Seattle's "Beast Mode" of a running back hasn't rushed for 100 yards since the season-opening romp of Green Bay. Now comes a matchup against severely-weakened Panthers defense that has allowed an NFL-high 5.3 yards per rush and by some accounts missed at least 13 tackles last weekend. Kuechly, who leads the NFL with 82 combined tackles, will be pressed to clog the lanes for Lynch.
Next man up: Colt McCoy. Washington's expected starter at quarterback for the Monday nighter at Dallas hasn't opened a game in something like 1,000 days, since Week 14 in 2011 when he toiled for the Browns. Yet coach Jay Gruden figures that giving the former University of Texas standout the call in the Lone State State is a better alternative than turnover-prone Kirk Cousins. There's supposedly an outside shot of a surprise, that Gruden will insert Robert Griffin III back into the lineup. But that "gametime decision" seems to be a mind-game stretch, with McCoy getting the practice reps and Griffin still gradually rehabbing his way back from a dislocated ankle. McCoy, who came off the bench and sparkled in last Sunday's win against Tennessee, will be pressed in more ways than one to make an impression in a hurry. Part of the Cowboys' winning formula has been to limit opportunity for opponents by hogging the football – reflected with a 34-minute average time of possession that is second-highest in the league.
Rookie watch: Jadeveon Clowney. The No. 1 pick in the draft is poised to get back on the field for the Texans, just in time to harass another rookie, Titans quarterback Zach Mettenberger. Clowney, coming off arthroscopic knee surgery, hasn't played since Week 1, when he registered just one tackle in 23 snaps. Expect Houston to break him in gradually, but with J.J. Watt on the other side of the defense, there's plenty of potential for quick impact.
Did you notice? The Raiders head into Cleveland still seeking their first victory of the season, but can make a case that they'll still managed to inflict some carry-over damage to opponents. So far, each opponent that has defeated the Raiders (0-6) this season has lost its next game. Uh-oh, Arizona. Meanwhile, the Browns are facing a winless team for the second consecutive week and after losing at Jacksonville are hoping to avoid a dubious repeat.
Stat's the fact: Andrew Luck, taking an NFL-high 2,331 passing yards into Sunday's game at Pittsburgh, has thrown for 300 yards in five consecutive games – the longest streak in the league since Peyton Manning's streak last season.