Some Neat Things About the 2023 NFL Season

All summer we spend way too much time analyzing what's going to happen in an upcoming season, and a lot of times we focus on the wrong things and miss many others. This season was no different as takes you were so sure of fell apart while you missed on the next big thing. So let's look at what we saw in the 2023 season.

AARON RODGERS: If you watched ESPN from, oh, March to September then I'm sure you got absolutely beat over the head about Aaron Rodgers' move from the Packers to the Jets. Mike Greenberg exhaustively turned "Get Up" into "Jet Up" to the point he made analysts talk to a framed Rodgers jersey if they dared suggest the Jets would struggle at all. It didn't help that ESPN had Rodgers' first Jets game on Monday Night Football. And you know how that went.

Four plays in and Rodgers tears his Achilles and the Jets season turned into .... well ... a normal Jets season. Of course that didn't stop ESPN with keeping Rodgers content on air (especially his regularly scheduled interviews on Pat McAfee's show). 

The story turned out to be, though, that Jordan Love ended up taking the Packers to the playoffs this season ... while Rodgers and the Jets sit home to watch. While Love has had an up and down season, he grew with a young offense and got better each week. Who knows what 2024 holds for the Jets and Rodgers but we do know the Packers are fine with their decision.

NFC EAST GETS A NEW CHAMPION: The NFC East hasn't had a repeat champion since the Eagles won four straight division titles from 2001 to 2004. For the 20th straight year, the NFC East has had a different champion.  

About a month ago, that seemed impossible. Dallas was busy getting spanked on the road while the teetering Eagles was staring down a schedule that had the Cardinals sandwiched between two games against the Giants. After struggling to beat New York, Philly inexplicably lost to Arizona and the return game against the G-men to finish second in the division. After starting 10-1, the Eagles lost 5 of their final 6 games.  

AFC NORTH FINISHED WINNERS: We all felt the AFC North was going to be good, but every team finished with a winning record. What you wouldn't guess is that the one team that didn't reach the playoffs was the Cincinnati Bengals. The defending two-time defending division champions finished 9-8 and misses the postseason. Now, you can say that having a banged up Joe Burrow to begin the season and then losing him with a wrist injury in the middle of the year tanked their hopes, but that excuse doesn't work as well when you consider the Browns used four starting quarterbacks -- including Joe Flacco, a guy who was unemployed -- and the Steelers cycled through Kenny Pickett, Mitchell Trubisky and Mason Rudolph.

Let's also acknowledge the great coaching jobs done in Baltimore, Cleveland and Pittsburgh. All dealt with devastating injuries but fought through the reach the postseason. 

BILL BELICHICK ERA OVER IN NEW ENGLAND: The expectation is that Bill Belichick has coached his last game for the Patriots in the 17-3 loss to the Jets. All those wins and six Super Bowl rings made his time there arguably the most successful run a coach has ever had at a stop.

That's what makes the ending so sad. Look, there's not much I hate more than when people feel storybook endings in sports are "how its supposed to be". It rarely is. A lot of people felt/hoped that Belichick's final game was going to end with New England adding yet another beating on the Jets and he'd walk off the field triumphantly one final time. Instead, the Jets ended a 15-game losing streak to the Pats on a snowy day and ended this era.

Belichick will be the head coach somewhere next year. And that will be a strange site. 

YOUNG VS STROUD: Whenever you have two quarterbacks selected with the first two overall picks, we always seem to compare their careers. 

2021: Lawrence, Wilson
2016: Goff, Wentz
2015: Winston, Mariota
2012: Luck, RGIII
1999: Couch, McNabb
1998: Peyton Manning, Leaf
1993: Bledsoe, Mirer
1971: Plunkett, Archie Manning

We got it in 2023 when the Panthers took Bryce Young while the Texans took CJ Stroud with the top two picks. So far, Stroud is winning this battle by a mile. Stroud's Texans won the AFC South while Young's Panthers finished with the worst record in the NFL and got his coach fired in the middle of his first season. What makes this worse is that Carolina traded its best receiver (DJ Moore) and their 2024 first rounder for the privilege of drafting Young. As you can guess, that pick will be the top overall selection in 2024. 

SPEAKING OF QUARTERBACKS, DID TEAMS LEARN ANYTHING?: There are plenty of teams that were hoping they already had the answer to the quarterback question. Most found out that they didn't.

The most notable example of this is Russell Wilson in Denver. The Broncos gave the Seattle Seahawks a haul (and Wilson's bank account a ton of money) to make him their guy in 2022. After a disastrous 2022 season, the Broncos hired Sean Payton to get it turned around ... and that didn't work either. Wilson didn't play horribly this season, but he wasn't playing at the level they needed and Payton moved on. Wilson will likely be cut before the new league year begins in March and the Broncos will look for their new guy.

Chicago also wanted to know if Justin Fields is their guy. After a robust ending to last season, the feeling was that the Bears figured out how to use Fields and be successful. And then that didn't happen. Once again, Fields and the Bears had a strong finish to the season, but with the Bears holding onto the top overall pick in the draft (which is likely USC's Caleb Williams) the organization must make a huge decision in the coming months. Do you extend Fields or do you move on? 

The Steelers cobbled together Kenny Pickett, Mitchell Trubisky and Mason Rudolph to reach the playoffs, but they have to know that this may need to change in 2024. The Commanders punted on drafting a QB in 2023 to see if 5th round pick Sam Howell could be that guy for them. Howell looked the part over the first half of the season before completely falling apart over the last several weeks. With Washington holding onto the 2nd overall pick and the prospect of drafting either Williams or North Carolina's Drake Maye with that pick, you'd have to think they'll be moving on from Howell. 

The Patriots will seemingly move on from Mac Jones. The Raiders ditched Jimmy G. The Falcons know that Desmond Ridder isn't their guy ... and Taylor Heineke couldn't come and save and the day this time.

Of course, the Cardinals went from moving on from Kyler Murray after the season started to now he's back as the future of the team. It also seemed like the Vikings and Kirk Cousins may part after the season, but that now seems less likely. And the Buccaneers may have found their guy with Baker Mayfield's comeback year.

JOE FLACCO:  Let's talk about Joe Flacco. The Browns had spend a ton of guaranteed money on Deshaun Watson, who suffered various injuries all season. When he missed time, Dorian Thompson-Robinson had to start. Then P.J. Walker would start. Once Watson was declared out for the year after Week 10 and the Browns' offense struggling with the backup QBs, Cleveland brought in Joe Flacco off the street to be their starter. Flacco went 4-1 with the Browns, throwing for 1,616 yards (323.2 ypg) and 13 TDs. 

So has Flacco's career been revived? Even if the Browns have to stick with Watson next season, I just laid out the quarterback situations around the league.  Someone will go after him. 

JOSH ALLEN IS SO FUN TO WATCH: Allen gives us that Brett Favre type fun to watching football. He could throw the most amazing passes you've ever witnessed ... and some of the more puzzling interceptions you'll see. And that could be in the same game. Even if you don't care about the Bills, his games are always fun to watch. 

PUKA NACUA: From out of nowhere, the Rams' Puka Nacua sets the NFL rookie record for catches in a season and receiving yards in a season. The 5th round pick did that while first round pick, the Chargers' Quinton Johnson, caught 33 passes all year. 

 

Michigan vs Washington Is a Great Break From The Norm

Tomorrow night we will be treated to a Michigan-Washington national championship game. 

No Georgia. No Alabama. No Clemson. No Ohio State. 

Those four schools have made up 15 of the 18 previous participants of the past nine (the only nine) College Football Playoffs national championship games. Only Oregon (2015), LSU (2020) and TCU (2023) have pushed through to reach the title game ... until this year. In fact, 18 of the last 19 national champions have hailed from the south -- only Ohio State doesn't hail from the stretch of the country from Texas to South Carolina. Well, we get a non-south champ once again.

This is the first time either Michigan (who lost in the CFP semifinals the last two seasons) and Washington (their only previous CFP appearances was in the 2016 season) have reached this title game. Michigan's last national championship was a split national championship in 1997, while Washington last won a split title in 1991.

Not only does this feel different because of two new participants, this may also feel like an outlier for other reasons. While Michigan is one of the legendary programs in college football, win or lose this could be Jim Harbaugh's final season in Ann Arbor. The pull of the NFL is strong for him and with a lot of dark clouds surrounding him this past year it could finally be time for him to take a pro job. Now, that doesn't mean that Michigan can't get back without him, but remember what the Wolverines were when they hired Harbaugh and his focus on getting his program back to the elite level. He's done that, but it may be hard to maintain that once he leaves.

As for Washington, there will be a lot of changes upcoming for the Huskies. The next time Washington faces Michigan, they will be doing so as Big Ten foes. Yes, this is the final hurrah for the Pac-12 as the Huskies (along with Oregon, USC and UCLA) will move to the Big Ten next season. While this program will still be great, winning in the Big Ten will be more difficult than what they've been used to. Washington will continue to battle Oregon and USC for conference titles while also dealing with Ohio State, Penn State and, yes, Michigan, for those honors.

Of course the 12-team playoff coming takes the pressure of winning the conference for either of these programs off the table. You just got to play well to get in. But this doesn't feel like we are witnessing another emerging program like Georgia or an Alabama-Clemson type national rivalry. That's okay. These have been two great teams this season and worthy champions. Michigan has been building towards this moment for a few years now. Washington added their new coach and transfer quarterback Michael Penix Jr. before last season and the offense has vaulted to the top of the nation due to their big play ability. 

This could be the beginning of new power programs in Ann Arbor and/or Seattle. Maybe this is their one shining moment that they haven't had since 1997 or 1991, respectively, and it will be a while before we see them in this spot again. Either way, this will be a fantastic game with a great champion that we should all enjoy ... even if it doesn't have a southern team or the Buckeyes in it.

NFL Coaching Vacancies Coming This Monday

With the final week of the NFL's regular season coming this weekend, let's go ahead and look to see what teams will be looking for new head coaches next week.

ALREADY OPEN

Carolina Panthers: The Panthers job is already open when Frank Reich was fired midway through his first season in Charlotte. But is this a desirable job? After all, the last three head coaches have been fired mid-season, including each of the last two years. Owner David Tepper seems to have taken the Daniel Snyder role of hated NFL owner by fans and whomever gets this job knows they are stuck with turning around Bryce Young and won't have a first round pick to bring in top talent in the draft.

Las Vegas Raiders: The Raiders are an interesting case since they fired Josh McDaniels mid-season and interim head coach Antonio Pierce has done a fantastic job filling in. Will he get the job, though? 

Los Angeles Chargers: The Chargers finally dismissed Brandon Staley, but this will be one of the more desirable jobs on the market. You have an elite quarterback and talent on the roster (there are some cap issues that need to be addressed), but expect big names to be tied to this gig. 

PROBABLY FIRED

Atlanta Falcons: The Falcons may have gotten the less out of their talent this season, which falls on Arthur Smith. They've yet to find a quarterback, but there could be some available this offseason ... meaning that if job did open up then they would need to marry the coach and the QB. 

Washington Commanders: The Commanders organization will be getting a hard reset. That's no surprise. New owner Josh Harris' top job since taking over the franchise this summer is to dump everything that had to do with Daniel Snyder (that could include the name). Ron Rivera took over in 2020 as the franchise was hitting its lowest point. Not just COVID, but the name change, and being the positive face for a team that had to deal with 25 years of Snyder's transgressions. It is hard to win games during that, and Rivera didn't. It won't be just Rivera who will get the axe -- expect the front office to be overhauled as well. Harris will get to begin to create the organization in the way he wants.

PROBABLY NOT

Chicago Bears: It seems as if Matt Eberflus will be back in Chicago next season, especially if the Bears will stick with Justin Fields as their quarterback. That isn't a mutual exclusive scenario, though, as Eberflus could be back and Chicago elects to move on from Fields and use the top overall pick on Caleb Williams. 

New Orleans Saints: This looks like a we-will-try-this-one-more-year deal in New Orleans. Maybe we get a final shot at Dennis Allen and Derek Carr before blowing this thing up for 2025. Of course, the Saints have an outside shot at winning the NFC South which could strengthen Allen's hold on this job. This, to me, is the most 50/50 chance a move gets made.

Tennessee Titans: If Mike Vrabel comes available, he will be scooped up by somebody. He's done a great job in Nashville, even if their record this season is dismal. This may be more of a divorce if anything even happens. If certain jobs open up that are interested in Vrabel, maybe it would be time for the Titans to let go of their coach in a trade and move on to the future of the franchise. I just don't see that happening. 

Tampa Bay Buccaneers: If Tampa Bay chokes away their shot at the NFC South, Bowles is a candidate to get fired. The entire NFC South is in jeopardy, so losing a win-and-in opportunity against the lowly Panthers will be detrimental to Bowles chances to stay on. 

New York Jets: If Aaron Rodgers wants Robert Saleh there, he's staying.

Dallas Cowboys: The only way I can see Jerry Jones moving on from Mike McCarthy is if he epically collapses in the playoffs. Even then, he's probably safe.

Pittsburgh Steelers: There is no way anyone with any sense would feel the Steelers should move on from Mike Tomlin. But if Mike Tomlin wants to move away from the Steelers?

Seattle Seahawks: Let me say this: Pete Carroll only leaves Seattle on his own terms. There is no way they will fire him after this season. None. But Carroll is no spring chicken and there will be a day where he decides to hang it up so every year there is that possibility. I strongly feel that won't be this season. He looks like he's been having fun and his teams are playing with the same toughness they always have.

SPECIAL CASE

New England Patriots: I would expect the Patriots and Bill Belichick to divorce this offseason, but I don't see Robert Kraft to actually fire him. Belichick has actually done an okay job coaching this year, but his job as general manager has been horrible. It's been over two decades and may just be time to move on. But Belichick has a lot of value and Kraft would likely trade Belichick instead of a) letting him get away for nothing and b) not have the awkwardness of actually firing the coach that brought you six Super Bowl trophies.