Hello all! It has been a long offseason in the NFL but with the first week of preseason going on I felt it was time to do my first post of the 2023 season. I will give my general thoughts Tom Brady, Aaron Rodgers, Lamar Jackson, Bill O'Brien in New England, and my thoughts on if the Kansas City Chiefs can repeat. It's a lot to cover but let's get to work!
Bye bye Mr. Brady
For the first time since 1999, there won't be a person named Tom Brady on a NFL roster. The GOAT, who decided to retire for the 2nd and last time this offseason, made his decision clear after a rousing defeat to the Dallas Cowboys in the Wild Card round. Sadly that game will be his riding off into the sunset moment.
In truth, the decision shouldn't have been a big surprise. The duration of the 2022 season looked and felt like a life drain to Brady, who looked slower and slower as the season went on. He looked slower on reads, slower on delivering the ball, and just looked off in general. In general, it should be nothing short of a miracle that the Tampa Bay Buccaneers even made it to the playoffs, despite them making them in a 8-9 abysmal record.
I think the NFL will miss him a lot. The NFL will miss his desire to win, his desire to work hard and his desire to be the best. The ultimate moment this season for him is his return to Gillette Stadium where the Patriots will host the Eagles in Week 1 for Tom Brady Day. I think it'll be a great moment for him and the team to possibly finally bury the hatchet between Tom Brady and head coach Bill Belichick.
Mr. Rodgers New Neighborhood
History seems to repeat itself often. In the Green Bay Packers and New York Jets case, it did indeed repeat. Aaron Rodgers, the star quarterback of the Green Bay Packers from 2005 to 2022, was traded to the New York Jets for multiple draft picks including a conditional pick for 2024. The move is a mirror image to the Brett Favre saga to the Jets in 2008.
Unlike Brett Favre, the Aaron Rodgers to the Jets story wasn't nearly as dramatic. Let alone Ed Werder hanging out at the Aaron Rodgers residence, eagerly awaiting for his car to roll out. Maybe the past experience was enough for Green Bay to acquiesce to his request to move on.
If the Jets can figure out their offense around Rodgers and stay solid on defense, they could be a contender for a wild card spot in the AFC playoffs. Maybe his presence will be a beacon for Zach Wilson who seemed lost last season. People seem to forget that the Jets were a surprise team during the early part of the 2022 season, let alone have an undefeated record in the early part. The wheels would fall off once the quarterback problem reared its ugly head. Perhaps having Aaron Rodgers will give the Jets some hope. Let's just hope that Aaron doesn't do a Brett Favre and send an unsolicited dong pic to a female Jets employee.
Lamar Jackson and the Ravens
For the first month of the offseason, all you could see on ESPN or NFL Network was whether or not the Ravens would let go or re-sign Lamar Jackson. Jackson, the unique talent out of Louisville, was a promising young star who won the NFL MVP in 2019. Since that time, he kind of lost a step. He had a solid season in 2020 which brought Baltimore a playoff win against the Titans (who had beaten the Ravens the year before). The 2021 season for Jackson was a lost year for him as the Ravens failed to make the playoffs, making 12 starts with a 7-5 record. Last year was a bit of a rebound but he failed to start more than 12 games but the Ravens limped to the playoffs before losing to the hated Cincinnati Bengals in the Wild Card round.
Jackson is certainly a unique talent in the scope of things. He has had a tough time in the NFL in regards to the conventions of his position. The success of a quarterback in the NFL is to throw the ball most of the time. Sure you can run for a first down if everyone is covered but to go all gung ho on a play is certainly something that is out of the question in the NFL in 2023. Jackson's contemporaries in Patrick Mahomes, Josh Allen, and Joe Burrow tend to throw more often than not. I certainly wish that he threw the ball more as he does have the arm to do it. Running can get you far but he has a plethora of running back options that he can go to that can give the ball to.
The drama really seemed to peak when Jackson requested a trade as he felt that the team didn't feel his worth didn't match what he was worth. A few days later the team did mark him with the franchise tag. A franchise tag gives a team some flexibility as it gives the team a one-year contract for the player they use the tag on. After the tag, the team finally bit their lip and gave Jackson a five-year contract worth $260 million. The career of Lamar Jackson has been mixed but the talent that he has is undoubtable. Hopefully Jackson can make good on his contract in 2023.
Bill O'Brien to New England
From 2001 to 2019, the New England Patriots were a team to be reckoned with. They posted winning seasons, division titles, and even Super Bowl championships. The team spread fear to their opponents. Ravaging the land, salting the fields, making off with the women and children. Okay, maybe a bit of an exaggeration. You get the point.
The reason for the Patriots dominance was really the offensive mind of Tom Brady and the defensive mind of Bill Belichick. Arguably it was more Brady than Belichick but suffice to say, the coach-player duo won six championships in those years together. Recently since Tom Brady left after the 2019 season, the team has fallen back to the days where they didn't focus on details, weren't a menace to the league and didn't have sustained success.
In 2020, the team failed to make the playoffs on the arm of Cam Newton. The team made it back to the playoffs in 2021 with rookie Mac Jones but ultimately got demolished in a near perfect game against the Buffalo Bills. The 2022 season was a lost one for the Patriots. With Josh McDaniels becoming the head coach of the Las Vegas Raiders, the team went with a two-person job of running the offense. Both of them with no experience in coaching offensive football in the NFL: Joe Judge and Matt Patricia. Judge served as a special teams coach and Patricia as a defensive coordinator. Despite the offensive ineptitude, the Patriots missed the playoffs with an 8-9 record. For the 2023 season, they needed to return to providing solid offensive football.
The return to offensive prominence was the return of former offensive coach Bill O'Brien. O'Brien had served on the offensive coaching side of the team from 2007 to 2012 including an Offensive Coordinator stint during the 2011 season. During his time in New England, the offense was a force to be reckoned with as he provided the offense with amazing playcalling with rollouts, sweeps, screens, etc. After 2011, he did move around the coaching ranks. After being let go by the Houston Texans in 2020, he did have a stint as the offensive coordinator for Nick Saban's Alabama Crimson Tide. He would even coach a quarterback by the name of Mac Jones.
For a return to prominence, let alone playoffs, the Patriots need to get their offense back on track. Mac Jones was dealt with a lot of blame in 2022 for the offense's woes but it is not entirely on him. The lack of proper coaching was a factor in his about face season. In 2022, the Patriots offense averaged 21.4 points/game, if they can get back to 25 to 30 points/game it would be a marked improvement from a year ago. With a offensive mind like Bill O'Brien and an eager student with Mac Jones, I think the Patriots should play better in 2023.
Could KC Repeat?
In the aftermath of a Super Bowl, the winning team has reason to celebrate their accomplishment. After 30 minutes of the final whistle, the following question gets asked by pundits and skeptics: Can the winner repeat their championship? Throughout the history of the NFL's Super Bowl era, that answer can be easily answered.
Throughout the Super Bowl Era, from 1966 to 2022, there has been a repeat champion only eight times. The 1966-67 Packers, 1972-73 Dolphins, 1974-75 and 1978-79 Steelers, 1988-89 49ers, 1992-93 Cowboys, 1997-98 Broncos and 2003-04 Patriots. Of the 57 Super Bowls that have been played, only 16 of them were involved with the teams that were aforementioned. That is just 28%. It will be a tall task for the Kansas City Chiefs to enter into the conversation of among the greatest teams of all time to repeat.
The Chiefs entering into 2023 will have some work to do to get back to a Super Bowl. For the Chiefs, they lost Offensive Coordinator Eric Bieniemy to Washington who became their Offensive Coordinator. Matt Nagy, the former Chicago Bears head coach, will take over the Offensive Coordinator duties. To compare Matt Nagy to Eric Bieniemy will take some getting used to. Another change is the losses of JuJu Smith-Schuster and Frank Clark to free agency. The losses will take some getting used to but the Chiefs did add Richie James from the Giants and Felix Anudike-Uzomah in the draft.
One thing to think about is how well the AFC West did during the offseason. Denver got a new head coach who has been proven to do good in any place he goes to. Las Vegas could prove to be a better team but it is yet to be seen. Los Angeles finally got an offensive guy that can work with Justin Herbert but they still have Brandon Staley who might be feeling some heat on his seat during the duration of this season. It could be a interesting time for the Chiefs and I think they have enough to get to the playoffs with a division title but I don't see them repeating. There I said it.
Future Posts
With the 2023 season right around the corner, I will plan on doing a Preseason Predictions post in a couple of weeks. Hang in there people, football is around the corner.
-Tom
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