Willo's 2021 stock report: Week Six
By Thomas Willoughby
As quickly as it came, it disappears for another year. The NFL has blessed us with two genuinely watchable games at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, and all we have left are the memories. Be it the beer snake, the queues, the in-stadium prices, or even the football itself, everyone has something they’ll remember for months to come.
Honestly? I’ll miss it. Having games here still feels magical, to me, regardless of who’s over. With three promised for 2022, and the potential of a trip to Germany on the cards as well, the futures bright for the international growth of the game. Feel like I’m repeating what I said last week a bit.
ANYWAY. We’ve plenty to get through, and not much time to do so. Here are the stocks.
Invest Heavily
I’d have liked to not talk about the Tampa Bay Buccaneers much this season, and certainly not this early on in the year. But, here we are. 6 weeks in, and the world champs are 5-1. Not only are they 5-1, but it’s hard to see where the next loss is coming from. We really are in the most cursed timeline, aren’t we?
It’s not like they’ve even been that impressive. Of their 5 wins, one of them came against a side with a winning record. Two of them came against the Falcons and the Dolphins, who are bad. The other one was a thrown lead by the new-look New England Patriots, who seem hell-bent on throwing every lead they get. And yet. And yet. Here we are. They feel unstoppable. They feel inevitable.
Just look at their run from now until the end of the year. Bears, Saints, Washington, Giants, Colts, Falcons, Bills, Saints, Panthers, Jets, Panthers. The Bills will be a test. They might legitimately go 16-1. And once they get into the playoffs, probably with the first seed, by the way, Tom Brady will enter another plane of existence. Again. Get as much of them while you can, and do your best to enjoy the deeper descent into the abyss we’re sinking into.
Trending Up
The NFL, in 2021, is a passing league. The rulebook is built to protect quarterbacks, and the shield is increasingly gearing its marketing towards big throws, and circus catches. Defense isnt sexy anymore, guys. Neither is running the ball, for that matter. Dispute all that, the Tennessee Titans are something of an anti-modern football team. The prioritised the run above all else. When you have Derrick Henry, though, it’s easy to see why.
Listen, Henry could very easily have been someone to invest heavily in. A quiet week one made us think that teams had finally figured it out. Week two on, he’s been in a class of his very own. 783 rushing yards, and 10 touchdowns, through six weeks isn’t to be sniffed at. Against Buffalo on Monday night, he logged 143 yards from 20 carries, and 3 touchdowns. 7.2 yards per carry, for goodness sake. The modern NFL isn’t built for this.
The Titans have Julio Jones and AJ Brown. When they’re healthy, they’re as potent a receiving duo as you’re likely to find. But this team runs through Henry. Give him the ball, and you’re picking up 5 yards. Minimum. No one can handle it, and Tennessee shouldn’t hide from it. If he keeps this up, we need to have a serious conversation about his value as the leagues MVP. For now, Tennessee need to ride him as far as his hamstrings will carry them. Long live the king.
Keep An Eye On
I’m here today to tell you all something I feel like you already know, but don’t want to say for fear of being ridiculed. Trevon Diggs: he isn’t a very good cornerback. Yes, yes, I know what you’re gonna say; “but Willo, look at how many picks he has! 7 in 6 games? That’s obscene!”. You’re right! It’s a lot of picks! But you know what’s cooler than picking off tipped or underthrown passes? Not facing a target full stop.
Trevon Diggs has been getting “DPOY” shouts for a little while. His turnover ability is unquestionable. They (I) don’t call him “big play Tre…von” for nothing. But if you dig a little deeper, there are some worrying signs, many of which were highlighted immediately after his pick-six against the Patriots on Sunday. Diggs caught tipped pass and took it to the house with under 3 minutes on the clock, and with the very first play of the next drive, gave up a 75 yard touchdown.
And this is what I want you all to realise; Trevon Diggs might well have more than a pick a game right now…but he’s on pace to give up over 1200 yards. The reason he’s getting so many picks is because coordinators and quarterbacks feel comfortable targeting him. When the interceptions dry up, and they will dry up, what’s left? “Gives up the big play Tre…von”.
Trending Down
I’m not sure if you’ve noticed, and it’s pretty easy to forget given the actions, words, and directives, of our leaders, but the COVID-19 pandemic is still very much on. Players and coaches are still being tested on a regular basis, and, as such, players and coaches are still being placed on COVID IR should they be found positive. One such case this weekend was Kliff Kinsbury, of the unbeaten Arizona Cardinals. Wouldn’t you know it, despite the upheaval that must have caused, they didn’t miss a beat. How about that?
I ended last season by telling the Cardinals to end the Kingsbury experience, and tie this super talented team to a coach worthy of unlocking its potential. They didn’t, and loaded up again heading into 2021. It’s clearly paid off, because they’re the leagues last unbeaten side. But, as we saw on Sunday, that record is very much the product of the talent on the field, rather than the mind of the man under the headset.
The Cardinals are good, don’t get me wrong. But they went into Cleveland, against a really good Browns unit, and slapped the brakes off them. This is a team that can operate on autopilot. Kingsbury has invented this team, he’s merely the salesman peddling it. His reputation should be on the chopping block, here.
Sell Sell Sell!
You’ll recall, last week, how Jon Gruden left the Las Vegas Raiders following the leak of a series of emails send from a Washington Football Team email address, that basically offended every single group of people imaginable. Those emails came from the investigation into the teams conduct over a number of years. While that leak ultimately saw the likely end of Gruden’s time in the NFL, it placed further scrutiny on the organisation and its operations. So they decided, half a week before their game against the Chiefs, to retire the number of the late Sean Taylor, who remains beloved by the teams fans all these years after his tragic death. They botched it.
From the off, it was clear the event was planned at the last minute. The road that’s been re-dedicated in his name was lined with portaloos. The halftime ceremony involved a grand total of zero speeches. Dan Snyder, the owner of the team, attended a pre-match meeting with Taylor’s family members in khaki’s and a hoodie. The whole sorry event went by as if it were any other day. It smacks of an organisation doing anything they can to take the heat away from the bad press they’ve recently been getting.
And let’s not pretend like this is an isolated incident, either. We can talk all day about the racial connotations of the teams former name, and the reasons behind the change. But they obviously made that change to take eyeballs away from the then ongoing investigation into their conduct. I feel for the fans, because being associated with this team must see any respect they hold it in sink on a daily basis.
The Washington Football Team, as an organisation, needs to be scrubbed from top to toe. It’s absolutely gross. The manner in which it handled the retirement of Sean Taylor’s jersey number is merely icing on a cake made exclusively of sewage. It’s high time for change.
Featured Image Credit: Andy Lyons-Getty Images
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