Welcome to Five Hot Takes From Week 10. Five Hot Takes is a weekly feature where I, Brick Wall Blitz, take a look at five takes from the week of football I consider hot, then counter them with my own opinion on the subject matter.
Five Hot Takes From Week 10
The 2nd half of the 2016 season has begun, and the takes are sizzling.
1. Marcus Mariota Is Elite.
This is surfacing a lot of places now. Even though Mariota is a really good quarterback and he’s my favorite young quarterback in the league, but elite? It’s obvious that at this rate he’ll be there, but his production is slightly inflated by the quality of the teams he’s faced.
However, considering that his head coach is Mike Mularkey, who uses play-calling tactics from the prehistoric era, all things balance out. Mariota isn’t elite yet, but he certainly is really good, and he’ll be elite one day.
2. Kirk Cousins Has Cemented His Place as the Redskins’ Franchise Quarterback
If that statements means, “They’re gonna give him a load of money,” then sure. But Cousins is a bad quarterback, and this was seen from 2012-14. He needs a decent offensive line and a great receiving cast to look functional, and even then he’s forcing turnover-worthy passes and checking down from clean pockets.
Against the Minnesota Vikings, who were once the top defense in the league a few games back, Cousins’ two touchdown passes were off a connection to Jamison Crowder that was low and behind him and an underthrown pass to a completely-uncovered Vernon Davis (who wasn’t even the right guy either; Jordan Reed was even more open).
And don’t distribute any stats out because they’re irrelevant. After the massive statistical drop that Blake Bortles has suffered this season, theoretically people would pay less attention to raw numbers, but that’s not the case.
3. Tony Romo Should Retire
He’s still in his prime and one of the top quarterbacks in the league, and he is certainly one of the most mobile. Loads of teams will want him. Popular connections include Arizona and Denver, though the Cardinals aren’t the most favorable due to their coaching this season, and the Broncos have an offensive line that will murder Romo. It’s doubtful he’ll stay in Dallas at this point to back up Dak Prescott, but it’s still a toss-up.
4. The Bengals Are Done.
Not quite. They’re in a big hole, but they’re also in a weak AFC North, where the Baltimore Ravens have beaten bad teams to stumble to a 5-4 division lead. The Pittsburgh Steelers suffered a four-game losing streak with an unhealthy Ben Roethlisberger, and the Cleveland Browns are the Cleveland Browns.
Sure, Andy Dalton‘s been weak without four accuracy-erasing receivers and a dominant offensive line and playcalling scheme like in 2015, but their last seven games are against Buffalo, Baltimore twice, Pittsburgh, Cleveland, Philadelphia and Houston. Most of these games are manageable.
5. The Seahawks Only Dominated a Weaker Patriots Defense
It is true that the New England Patriots defense is not among one of the stronger units this season, but the Seattle Seahawks boast one of the top offenses in the league. The offensive line is horrible, but the skill players are incredible.
They have Russell Wilson, one of the most precise passers in the league and a major running threat. C.J. Prosise and Thomas Rawls offer rich young talent in the backfield. Doug Baldwin is awesome, as is Jimmy Graham. Tyler Lockett, Paul Richardson, and Jermaine Kearse are also explosive players and the play-calling/scheming is excellent.
The win was legit.
