Willo's 2021 stock report: Week Fourteen

By Thomas Willoughby

Apologies, all. As you may have noticed, there was no stock report last week. Sadly I came down with a case of what’s plaguing the world currently, and the stocks was a bridge too far. Let me take this moment to wish you all well, and urge everyone to wear your masks, keep your distances, and get jabbed up when you can. I assure you, you don’t want this thing.

Back to business: what a thoroughly decent weekend of NFL football. Thrills, spills, and some pretty close endings. Let’s break it down a bit! Here’s the stocks!

Invest Heavily

Before penning this piece, I went back and looked at what I’ve talked about already, so I’m not recycling anything. It’s something I do every week, to be fair, but this week I ran a single word search across every report in 2021: “Kupp”. No results. How are we fourteen weeks into the 2021 season, and not made mention of the league’s premier wide receiver?!? Need to step my game up.

Cooper Kupp has been an interesting case over the past few seasons. Since joining the NFL, he’s been pretty integral to what the Sean McVay Rams do offensively. He started as a safety blanket for Jared Goff over the middle, but slowly developed into someone you can line up outside in certain scenarios. In 2021, with a significantly better quarterback at the helm, Kupp has evolved into someone who can do it all. In the slot, stretching the field, in double coverage: it doesn’t matter. Just throw him the ball and let him do the rest. As such, with four games to go, Kupp has more catches, more yards, and more touchdowns than in any other season he’s played.

The Rams needed to win on Sunday, and Kupp’s 13 reception, 123-yard performance gave them the win. As a result, the Rams are now only a game behind Arizona in the race for that division. If they’re going to catch, and overtake, their rivals, throwing the ball to Kupp all the time might well be the best tactic.

Ralph Freso-AP Photo

Trending Up

Seven weeks ago, I gave the Kansas City Chiefs a dressing down. Off the back of another back-breaking defeat, I warned of the possibility that the Chiefs might be exiting the 2021 party early, if they didn’t buck their ideas up. I guess Andy Reid must be an avid reader of this series, because, and fair play to them, the Chiefs did buck their ideas up. 9-4, and back at the top of the AFC West. Mahomes and company are flying.

Kansas City have won six games on the spin, which is no easy feat in the NFL. More importantly, they’ve not had to rely on their offense to do so, but their defense has stepped up. Yes, they scored 48 points on Sunday afternoon, but it wasn’t the Patrick Mahomes show, as it’s so often been at Arrowhead. The Las Vegas Raiders, depleted as they are, offered exactly nothing offensively. 44 rushing yards. Total. Across four players. 263 passing yards from Derek Carr, resulting in one passing touchdown. Such an empty showing, but one made possible thanks to a positively decent showing from the Kansas defense.

With four games to go, the Chiefs are exactly where they want to be: with a positive record, and on their way to post-season football. That said, their run-in (Chargers, Steelers, Bengals, Broncos) isn’t necessarily as straightforward as they’d like. If I had to guess, I suspect they go 3-1 over the next four weeks, which ought to be enough to give them another divisional crown. And then? You wouldn’t bet against them making another run, would you?

Keep An Eye On

I hope you’ve been paying attention, because it’s getting mighty interesting in the NFC quagmire. With four weeks to go, no less than 8 teams can genuinely harbour playoff aspirations. Coming out of week 14, we have one team on 7-6, five on 6-7, and a further two on 5-8. Absolutely disgusting.

Can we discount Seattle and Carolina? Probably. Both would need to win out, and both have some pretty difficult fixtures on the horizon. Everyone else? All hold their own destiny in their own hands. Mainly because a lot of them are playing each other. The Falcons (6-7) travel to the 49ers (7-6) this weekend. Washington play the Eagles (both 6-7) twice before the season is out. The Saints face the Panthers and Falcons, too. And, while Minnesota don’t face anyone in the mess, do have to face the Rams and Packers before the year is done. It’s obscene.

So who ends up in the playoffs? Your guess is as good as mine. We discuss this every week on The Touchdown Review (please tune in, it’s really fun), and every week we can’t believe how ridiculous the notion of the Falcons or the Washington Football Team playing post-season football this season. But right now? A fortnight from Christmas? It’s quite exciting watching actually meaningful football across multiple slates. Watch, in awe, as eight pretty bad teams try to beat each other. It’ll be exciting, I promise.

Jacob Kupferman - AP Photo

Trending Down

We’ll get onto the concept of time shortly, but I’d like to caveat this section by saying that I do not think Trevor Lawrence is a bad quarterback. I do not think that Trevor Lawrence will have a bad career. But Jacksonville were willing to tank 2020 in order to get Trevor Lawrence under center for 2021 and beyond. It’s time to write off Trevor Lawrence’s 2021 completely. This is a wash.

Don’t get me wrong, he’s got the cards stacked against him. The coaching and front office setup in Jacksonville is a mess. The sooner the Urban Meyer experiment ends, the sooner we can get on with getting one of the most exciting talents in the sport back on track. And it’s undeniable that the Jaguars are a million miles from a good team. But Trevor Lawrence needs to help himself, and, right now, he’s not.

The Tennessee Titans weren’t actually very good on Sunday. Yes, they’re a good team, but the Jaguars had enough of the ball to trouble them. The problem was Lawrence throwing four very very easy interceptions. Which is a story that’s followed him all season. 9 touchdowns, 14 picks. He’s on pace to have a worse rookie season than Josh Rosen. That isn’t a great foundation to build a career from.

Again, I’m not writing off Lawrence. If they give him a competent coaching team, and some professional teammates, he’s going to be fine. Right now, looking at some of the throws he’s making, he’s the exact opposite from what Jacksonville expected him to be. Add a minus between the 1 and the 6 on his jersey, and shave his head, and that’s who Trevor Lawrence is in 2021: Blake Bortles.

Sell Sell Sell!

As a fan of multiple team sports, I find myself buying into the idea of “time” for new regimes. I mean, I’m a Manchester United season ticket holder that as recently as last month looked for excuses for Ole Gunnar Solskjaer. “Time” is the most valuable commodity a manager or head coach can have. But sports is a results-driven business, and time is hard to come by if the results aren’t warranting that time. Matt Rhule has been in charge of the Carolina Panthers for just over a season and a half. In that time, the Panthers are 10-18. How much time should one be allowed?

The latest loss for the Panthers came at home to a pretty bad Atlanta Falcons outfit. Taking an early 7-0 lead, the Panthers proceeded to step on every upturned rake in front of them. Interceptions, missed throws, fumbles caused by the quarterback being stood on by his protection; it was a circus of a performance. At this stage in a successful regime, a side should look like they have a way of playing. The 2021 Panthers look like less of a collective, and more like a set of individuals. That’s not great.

The Panthers recently let offensive genius Joe Brady go, presumably because they weren’t scoring 35 points a game. Typically, scapegoating one prominent person doesn’t end well for anyone involved. Despite being in the playoff hunt, and despite a collection of genuinely excellent defenders, it really does feel like the reign of Rhule is coming to an end. How much time should a head coach be allowed to find success? Expect the Panthers to be internally asking that question in the coming days and weeks.

Featured Image Credit: Charlie Riedel – Associated Press

Thomas Willoughby

NFL ANALYST & SOCIAL MEDIA

THOMAS IS A WRITER AND THE SOCIAL MEDIA CONTENT PROVIDER FOR THE TOUCHDOWN. YOU CAN FIND HIM @WILLO290592 ON TWITTER

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