AS PART OF his brilliantly titled new series on The Players’ Tribune – Tuesdays with Richard on Thursdays — Seattle Seahawks cornerback Richard Sherman compared the NFL’s treatment of players to how F1 teams deal with their cars.
They keep them ticking over for as long as they can, replacing parts every now and again, but when the time comes to scrap them, they show no mercy.
Sherman says that players know the risk, they take decisions and make sacrifices with full knowledge that the injury rate in the league is 100%.
However, the league does not show the players the same dedication and Shreman contends that when “you’re not making them money, at the end of the day, they’ll find somebody else.”
This weekend, two of the biggest names in the NFL, including the reigning MVP Cam Newton, were forced to leave games with a concussion.
For the Panthers’ quarterback, it’s the second time in a season that’s only four weeks old that his team is left hoping that he’s not facing time off with head injury.
It’s been a difficult start to the season for Carolina and they now sit at the bottom of the NFC South, two games back on the Atlanta Falcons and Julio Jones who terrorised them on Sunday evening.
The nature of the result, a 48-33 beat down that proved the money saved in letting Josh Norman leave cannot cover elite wide receivers, was just one a number of shock results this weekend showing the NFL is as unpredictable as ever.
If you know someone who predicted the Patriots would be shut out at home for the first time since 1993, let me know and I’ll ask them for the Euromillions numbers this week?
If you can find anyone who, 25% of the way through the season, had the Rams atop the NFC West with a 3-1 record despite having a -13 points differential can you ask them if Dak Prescott will win Rookie of the Year despite the likelihood that he’ll only start eight games?
So we’ve learned that making predictions in this sport is a mug’s game.
With that in mind, here’s how I think the playoffs will look based on what we’ve seen through four weeks:
AFC
Denver Broncos
New England Patriots
Pittsburgh Steelers
Houston Texans
Baltimore Ravens (W)
Oakland Raiders (W)
NFC
Minnesota Vikings
Philadelphia Eagles
Atlanta Falcons
Seattle Seahawks
Green Bay Packers (W)
Dallas Cowboys (W)
There are a few teams I’m still not sure about here. Obviously the Rams are leading the division and I don’t have them even getting a wildcard spot but I just can’t buy into a team averaging less than 16 points per game, especially when they’re conceding an average of 19 in each contest.
Plus, come on, Jeff Fisher.
And the Panthers, last year’s NFC champions, are not making the postseason either but this year’s Falcons look a lot better than the team that started last year 5-0 before collapsing.
They already have a win over their rivals and the weaknesses in the Carolina defence have been highlighted now for other teams to exploit.
Plus history — never mind question marks over the health of Newton — is not on Carolina’s side. Of the seven previous teams under the modern playoff format to start 1-3 or worse after a title game appearance, only the 1996 Cowboys made the playoffs.
But, and this is not be making excuses or picking splinters out of my arse from sitting on the fence, the cliché is true.
On any given Sunday anything can happen in the NFL which is why the more we know, the less we understand about the league.
