Five Wide: 2024 Week Twelve

By Thomas Willoughby

The Falcons were on a bye-week this week, which meant I got to enjoy a peaceful Sunday. Redzone for 7 hours, watching players on my fantasy team let me down in real time. Three quarters of the way through the season and Kelce Dagger has gone from a shoe-in for playoff football to on the cusp of missing out in a matter of weeks. Horrid

Big week for the NFL this week. Thanksgiving is round the corner, which gives us 3 games mid-week, plus a couple of big hitters getting a bye week themselves. We’re at the home stretch. 6 weeks left. Enjoy it, people.

The Anti-Woke Cowboys

A few weeks back I made a real show of myself by declaring NFL players as woke. I’m not proud of it, but I couldn’t let the trend of choosing to not score a touchdown slide. Fortunately, it appears my words were heeded. Juanyeh Thomas, you are a superstar. 

I love this so much. Sliding down with the ball kills the game dead. Not only did he join an exclusive club of players that have scored kick-return TDs, but he nabbed his first ever NFL touchdown. Likely netting him a nice bonus. It also gave the Commanders a shot at tying the game up with only a handful of seconds on the clock, therefore extending an incredible end to what as a rather dull game. Everyone won. Thank you, Juanyeh.

The Comeback Kid

At the start of the year, Bryce Young was benched. At the time, I stated that his time in Carolina is probably over, on the basis that very few QBs win their job back and succeed. Bryce Young has won his job back, and, since winning his job back, he’s looked pretty good? On Sunday, against the reigning champs, he looked as good as he’s ever looked in the NFL. Interesting.

The Chiefs are a strange team this year, granted. 10-1, but have rarely looked as dominant as they have over the past few years. The Panthers are one of the league’s bottom tier sides, and they still couldn’t put them away. Thanks, in no small part, to the efforts of Bryce Young. 263 yards and a touchdown is pretty nice, especially when you consider where Young was this time last year. 

Look, he’s still got a long way to go. But it’s worth remembering that the quarterback position is just really hard to play. Sometimes it takes time to figure it out. I’ll repeat what I said when he was benched; I wouldn’t bet against him being successful in the NFL. Give him til the end of the season and see where things are then.

The Ballad of Daniel Jones

What a week for the New York Giants. I mean, no, they didn’t win. In fact they were beaten so badly the opposition quarterback started mocking their new QB1 mid-game. No, this was the week all their chickens came home to roost. The decisions of years past came to a head, and it doesn’t reflect well on them.

The week started with long-time starting quarterback, Daniel Jones, asking to be released. Jones has been a strange case. He was maligned from day one, considered a reach at 6th overall, especially when the draft class was as weak as it was in 2019. He never really looked like much more than a game-manager at best. Just get the ball to Saquon. Things clicked in Brian Daboll’s first season, however, ending the season with a 9-7-1 record, and their first playoff win since 2011. Jones signed a 4 year contract extension, and the future looked bright.

Jones’ 2023 was ended prematurely through injury, however the first major issue that the contract extension would cause came around at the start of 2024. Saquon Barkley could not be paid, and was allowed to walk. He went to the Philadelphia Eagles, and has been outstanding. This week, Barkley picked up 255 rushing yards, 47 receiving yards, and 2 rushing TDs. That’s more yards than the Giants managed total.

Jones was benched last week, and was forced to play as the scout teams safety in practice. I’m not really sure what his future in the NFL looks like, but it’s clear the Giants got it wrong with him. What they’ll learn from this experience, who knows. But their fans get to enjoy watching their best player in recent times win games for one of their biggest rivals by himself. Which I’m sure they’ll enjoy.

Adam Hunger-AP Photo

MVT

Who do you think the most important player in the NFL is? Common thought would suggest it’s a quarterback. Given they’ve got the MVP award on a rotation, it’s probably Patrick Mahomes or Lamar Jackson, right? Joe Burrow could be in that conversation given how exception he’s been this year, despite the lack of success the Bengals are having this season. Maybe Jared Goff for the job he’s doing in Detroit? Let me suggest someone you might not have thought of initially. It’s Tua Tagovailoa.

Tagovailoa’s repeated concussion issues have marred what has been an incredibly fruitful relationship between him and Mike McDaniel. There are absolutely questions to be asked about the 3rd year head coach’s ability to get a tune out of this team when Tua’s out. When he’s in, however, they’re a completely different beast. Despite their horrendous start, the Dolphins are 2 games back in the AFC wild card race, and have a chance at pulling post-season football out of the hat.

All they need to do is keep Tua on his feet and out of the medical room.

Taylor Tennis

Look, I’m not a coach. I don’t know how to motivate a group of people, not least a group of people significantly more talented than I. I write my little words every week and hope no one gets upset at them, and that’s it. So, when I say this, know it’s coming from a place of ignorance. Zac Taylor: I do not think table tennis is going to save your season.

You’re 4-7, you’re miles off the pace in the AFC North, and 3 games back in the wild card race. Your quarterback is playing out of his mind and you’re barely scraping by. I think you’ve bigger issue to solve than what the boys do between film sessions. I look forward to this coming back to bite me when the Bengals rattle off 6 wins straight and make a run in the playoffs.

Features Image Credit: Jim Dedmon-Imagn Images

Thomas Willoughby

NFL ANALYST

THOMAS IS A WRITER, AND REGULAR GUEST ON THE TOUCHDOWN REVIEW SHOW PODCAST, FOR THE TOUCHDOWN. YOU CAN FIND HIM @WILLO290592 ON TWITTER

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