SeattleSealions

The other teams that have never won 13+ games in a season: Jets, Bengals, Texans.

The Lions would need to go 5-1 in their remaining schedule to clinch a 13-win season:

• @ Saints

• @ Bears

• vs. Denver

• @ Vikings

• @ Cowboys

• vs. Minnesota

If so, could the Steelers just hire Joe Barry as their new OC and the Packers could bring in Matt Canada as their new DC?

If so, could the Steelers just hire Joe Barry as their new OC and the Packers could bring in Matt Canada as their new DC?

Chiefs fall to 7-3. They are passed by the Ravens who are 8-3.

Nathaniel Hackett might have won the battle with the head-to-head victory, but Sean Payton won the war.

This is the best start for the Detroit Lions in 61 years. They are on an extended 16-4 winning streak dating back to last season.

Bill Belichick has 300 career wins, good for 3rd of all time behind only George Halas (318) and Don Shula (328).

He has six Super Bowl rings - clearly more than any other coach in the SB era, but also tied with Halas and Lambeau for 2nd-most total Championships, behind only Paul Brown (7).

He has 9 Conference Championships, most ever by a wide margin.

He is 0.705 in the playoffs, 2nd-most of any active HC (Zac Taylor leads at 0.714).

He is tied with Shula for most total playoff appearances at 19 (Andy Reid will join them this year as the Pats will not be in this years playoffs and the Chiefs will)

He has coached 44 playoff games, six more than the 2nd-best (Andy Reid).

He has 31 playoff wins, 9 more than the 2nd-best (still Andy Reid).

It's perfectly fine to be frustrated with the path that the Patriots are on. But talk of firing Bill Belichick? That's like firing John Wooden or Nick Saban or Fielding Yost after 2 or 3 bad seasons. Not only is it disrespectful to them and everything they have done, but it's disrespectful to the entire history of the sport.

Get real.

Belichick will probably coach until he hits 329 wins for most ever.

(Minimum 100 Pass Attempts)

	QBR	QBR Rank	PR	PR Rank	QBR - PR	PR Rank - QBR Rank
Russell Wilson DEN	52.5	19	104	4	51.5	15
Tyson Bagent CHI	50.3	21	71.4	34	21.1	-13
Justin Fields CHI	39.1	26	91.6	14	52.5	12
Gardner Minshew IND	61.9	11	83.8	23	21.9	-12
Patrick Mahomes KC	72.9	2	96.7	11	23.8	-9
Matthew Stafford LAR	56	15	82	24	26	-9
Josh Allen BUF	72.1	4	96.6	12	24.5	-8
Sam Howell WSH	47.5	22	91.5	15	44	7
Joshua Dobbs ARI/MIN	58.1	13	85.1	20	27	-7
Daniel Jones NYG	37.9	28	70.5	35	32.6	-7
Tua Tagovailoa MIA	65	8	106.4	2	41.4	6
Kenny Pickett PIT	36.3	30	81.1	25	44.8	5
Aidan O'Connell LV	22.2	35	76.4	30	54.2	5
C.J. Stroud HOU	63.3	10	101	6	37.7	4
Kirk Cousins MIN	63.9	9	103.8	5	39.9	4
Jordan Love GB	46.5	23	80.5	27	34	-4
Lamar Jackson BAL	61.4	12	98.1	9	36.7	3
Derek Carr NO	50.8	20	89.8	17	39	3
Deshaun Watson CLE	44.7	24	84.3	21	39.6	3
Will Levis TEN	37.6	29	80.7	26	43.1	3
Desmond Ridder ATL	40.7	25	84.1	22	43.4	3
Jalen Hurts PHI	66	7	97	10	31	-3
Joe Burrow CIN	53.8	18	90.5	16	36.7	2
Bryce Young CAR	33.2	33	75.9	31	42.7	2
Jimmy Garoppolo LV	34.4	31	78.1	29	43.7	2
Justin Herbert LAC	69.7	5	99.5	7	29.8	-2
Jared Goff DET	66.3	6	99.1	8	32.8	-2
Trevor Lawrence JAX	55.7	16	89.3	18	33.6	-2
Geno Smith SEA	54.3	17	89.2	19	34.9	-2
Baker Mayfield TB	56.4	14	93.7	13	37.3	1
Ryan Tannehill TEN	33.1	34	71.9	33	38.8	1
Mac Jones NE	38.9	27	80.2	28	41.3	-1
Dak Prescott DAL	72.7	3	105.1	3	32.4	0
Brock Purdy SF	76.4	1	109.9	1	33.5	0
Zach Wilson NYJ	34.2	32	74.6	32	40.4	0

*among players with at least 100 pass attempts

Russell Wilson has quietly been pretty dang good this season, and Sean Payton has turned this organization around despite inheriting an abysmal team and getting off to a rough first few games.

Nathaniel Hackett might feel like the head-to-head was some vindication, but let's not forget that the Jets defense scored 9 points that game. Sean Payton may be a jerk for saying what he said about Hackett, but he wasn't wrong.

In other words, "This team has never had a season where they won this exact number of regular-season games":

AFC EAST

• Miami Dolphins: 0, 2, 13, 15+ ^5

• Buffalo Bills: 0, 14+

• New York Jets: 0, 13+

• New England Patriots: 0, 15, 17 ^4

AFC NORTH

• Baltimore Ravens: 0, 1, 2, 3, 15+ ^1

• Pittsburgh Steelers: 0, 16+

• Cleveland Browns: 13, 15+ ^2

• Cincinnati Bengals: 0, 1, 13+

AFC SOUTH

• Jacksonville Jaguars: 0, 13, 15+

• Houston Texans: 0, 1, 13+

• Indianapolis Colts: 15+

• Tennessee Titans: 0, 14+

AFC WEST

• Kansas City Chiefs: 0, 1, 15+

• Los Angeles Chargers: 0, 3, 15+

• Las Vegas Raiders: 0, 14+

• Denver Broncos: 0, 1, 15+

NFC EAST

• Philadelphia Eagles: 0, 15+

• Dallas Cowboys: 2, 14+

• Washington Commanders: 0, 13, 15+

• New York Giants: 0, 15+

NFC NORTH

• Detroit Lions: 13+

• Minnesota Vikings: 0, 1, 14, 16+

• Green Bay Packers: 0, 14, 16+

• Chicago Bears: 0, 2, 16+

NFC SOUTH

• New Orleans Saints: 0, 14+

• Tampa Bay Buccaneers: 1, 14+

• Atlanta Falcons: 0, 15+

• Carolina Panthers: 0, 3, 9, 10, 13, 14, 16+

NFC WEST

• San Francisco 49ers: 0, 1, 16

• Seattle Seahawks: 0, 1, 3, 14+

• Los Angeles Rams: 0, 15+

• Arizona Cardinals: 12, 14+

NOTES

1. The Baltimore Ravens are officially considered an expansion team that started in 1996, despite never having held an expansion draft. The records from 1995 and previously are claimed by the Cleveland Browns.

2. The Cleveland Browns claim the records and championships of the team that was located in Cleveland before 1995, despite all players and personnel relocating to Baltimore and calling themselves the Ravens. They officially went "on hiatus" for 3 years and resumed their records in 1999.

3. The NFL expanded from 14 games to 16 games in 1978. A Bye Week was not added until 1989.

4. No team has ever won 17 games, as the regular season was not expanded to 17 games until 2021.

5. The 1972 Miami Dolphins are the only team to ever go undefeated in the regular season and also win the Super Bowl.

Part 8 of a series I have been doing since the beginning of the season:

• Week 7

• Week 6

• Week 5

• Week 4

• Week 3

• Week 2

• Week 1

Normally I post this series on Mondays but wanted to wait until after MNF this week just based on the fact that most results lent themselves to overreactions on Sunday, not underreactions. There's a lot to overreact to in any given week (Do the Packers have a shot at the 1-seed? Jacksonville vs. Baltimore AFCCG? Are the 49ers done for? Are the Bengals back? ext...)

Instead, let's spend some time talking about the opposite - storylines that may have flown under the radar or otherwise just aren't getting the attention they deserve. Some things I think people are underreacting to or otherwise deserve more discussion:

• It's time to change the narrative about the Detroit Lions: This team is still being talked about as a fun, plucky upstart team, and the consensus is sort of "We'll see if they can keep it up." It's time to stop asking "Are the Lions legit?" and start asking "Will the Lions be able to win some playoff games?" Because they are 6-2 and their remaining schedule is one of the easiest in the entire NFL (Bears twice, Packers, Vikings twice, Chargers, Broncos, Cowboys, Saints). Barring an epic collapse or heartbreaking injury, the Lions will win their division, and they will host one, if not two, playoff games.

• Mayfield isn't the problem in Tampa - Boyles is: Last Thursday, Todd Boyles made multiple decisions that were far too conservative - electing to try a 50-yd FG on a 4th & 2 (kick was blocked) when losing by 3 in Q1, lining up the FG unit to attempt to draw the Bills offside and ultimately punting instead of going for it on 4th & 3 from the Bills 43 yd line just before halftime, and punting on 4th & 4 when trailing by 2 TDs in the 4th quarter. This was just the latest exercise in futility for a Buccaneers squad with legit playmakers but horrible coaches. This team should be running away with their milquetoast division. Instead they are on a 3-game losing streak.

• The Commanders are awful, but they have found their franchise QB: Sam Howell is a gamer. He's had his share of struggles over the season, but he has found ways to keep his team in the game and competitive even despite being sacked more than any other QB in the league. This is likely Rivera's last year in Washington, and I expect this team to build around Howell and be a very good team next year.

• The Titans are who we thought they were, but they took too long to figure that out: Sportsbettors loved the Titans as a bit of a sleeper to win the AFC South based on Vrabel's extremely consistent coaching, Derrick Henry, and the fact that we at least know what to expect from Tannehill. Instead they stumbled around for the first several weeks. This is not a bad team by any means, but they certainly aren't good either. They have a couple winnable games coming up and it's far too early to count them out, but they made lives a lot harder on themselves than it had to be.

• The Saints are poised to run away with the NFC South: Partially due to the Buccs slamming their heads into a brick wall repeatedly, the Saints now sit atop their division and their remaining schedule is cake - Bears, @ Vikings, BYE, @ Falcons, Lions, Panthers, Giants, @ Rams, @ Buccs, Falcons.

• This isn't so much an underreaction as me admitting that I'm wrong about one of my old reactions - The Rams are not "sneaky good". They aren't good at all. They're solidly mediocre. They beat bad teams and get their shit pushed in by good teams. Outside of a horrific Week 1 game by the Seahawks, their two wins are against the Colts and Cardinals. They haven't lost to a "bad" team, but this is the NFL - there's no such thing as a quality loss. They have a chance to get an easy win next week in GB before going on their BYE, but the rest of their schedule is a gauntlet, and the preseason expectation of them being a 6-win team is starting to look pretty accurate.

Per Tankathon, the only teams with easier remaining schedules are the Saints, Colts, and Falcons.

Easiest Remaining Opponents:

• Bears 2x

• Packers

• Broncos

• Chargers

Hardest Remaining Opponents:

• Vikings 2x

• Saints

• Cowboys

Meanwhile, the other top teams in the NFC:

• Eagles - 12th-hardest Remaining SoS

• Seahawks - 6th-hardest Remaining SoS

• 49ers - 7th-hardest Remaining SoS

• Cowboys - 4th-hardest Remaining SoS