PFR Polls News & Rumors

Poll: Which 5-1 Team Is Strongest Contender?

October 16th, 2014 at 11:49am CST by Luke Adams

Before the 2014 regular season got underway, pundits and observers had pegged last year’s Super Bowl combatants – the Seahawks and Broncos – as the likeliest teams to reach the championship again, with clubs like the Patriots, Packers, and Saints all being picked as possible Super Bowl contenders as well. Through six weeks though, only two of those five teams are in first place in their respective divisions.

The three teams atop the NFL so far are the Chargers, Eagles, and Cowboys, all with 5-1 records. San Diego has been dominant during the season’s first few weeks, with a +73 point differential that leads the NFL. If it weren’t for a heartbreaking one-point loss in Arizona, the Chargers, who are riding a five-game winning streak, would still be unbeaten, led by MVP candidate Philip Rivers.

Another MVP candidate, perhaps the only non-QB offensive player in the discussion so far, has been crucial to Dallas’ success — running back DeMarco Murray has burst out of the gate with six consecutive 100-yard games, and leads the league in a handful of categories, including rushing yards (785), rushing TDs (six), and total yards from scrimmage (940). The fact that his 159 carries is also most in the NFL by a wide margin may be cause for concern, but for now, the Cowboys’ ability to hang onto the ball with their dominant offensive line and running game has made them one of the league’s biggest surprises.

Still, the Cowboys don’t even hold sole possession of first place in the NFC East, as the division-rival Eagles have matched them win for win in spite of some turnover problems from quarterback Nick Foles. The fact that Philadelphia has played so well despite Foles’ ups and downs and a bevy of offensive line injuries bodes well, particularly if the offense can start firing on all cylinders later in the year.

What do you think? How convinced are you that these early-season frontrunners are for real? Which of these 5-1 teams has the best shot at winning the Super Bowl this year?

Poll: Who Should Take Blame For Jets?

October 9th, 2014 at 5:39pm CST by Zachary Links

Now that Dennis Allen has been ousted in Oakland, no one’s seat is hotter than the Rex Ryan‘s. The Jets are on a four-game losing streak including an ugly blowout at the hands of the Chargers and things won’t get any easier from here.

Ryan’s tenure began with back-to-back AFC Championship Game appearances but things have tailed off quite a bit since then. The confident coach got chuckles from the press room for his Super Bowl predictions in years past but he no longer makes those claims, lest he get laughed out of the building. As a blitz-happy, defense-first coach, Ryan’s teams have been fairly stingy in that department – particularly against the run – but the offense has been generally underwhelming. That side of the ball isn’t his forte and that has put added responsibility on the shoulders of the offensive coordinator. Unfortunately, neither Eric Mangini holdover Brian Schottenheimer nor Ryan buddy Tony Sparano could get things right and things aren’t shaping up much better with Marty Mornhinweg in the driver’s seat. And in a league where “What have you done for me lately?” might as well be engraved on every owner’s office door, it’s worth noting that Ryan’s run defense allowed 182 yards and two touchdowns to UDFA Branden Oliver in the San Diego blowout.

There’s little question that Ryan will be the one to pay if things don’t turn around quickly for the Jets and the coach himself admits that he won’t be back if they can’t find a way to win. And, unfortunately, the deck is stacked against Ryan with only a few cupcakes to be had over the rest of the schedule. However, it’s certainly fair to also question the decisions made by General Manager John Idzik.

Idzik, a salary cap guru, inherited a less-than-desirable financial situation from predecessor Mike Tannenbaum. This offseason the Jets had tons of cap room to work with and, inexplicably, sat on much of it. Today, as the Jets have a $24.3MM buffer between themselves and the upper limit (second only to the Jaguars), one has to wonder exactly what Idzik was thinking. Knowing that he has a head coach who often sends the house on third-and-long, the GM did little to upgrade the Jets’ secondary and watched prize free agent cornerback Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie sign with the rival Giants after offering him a reportedly insulting deal. Eric Decker was brought in to add some much needed firepower to the offense, but there was more that needed to be done in free agency. Idzik believed that he could supplement the receiving core through the draft, but none of the three wide receivers from May’s draft remain on the 53-man roster and one – Jalen Saunders – has already been cut. Idzik wisely added Breno Giacomini to stop the Jets’ perpetual turnstile at right tackle and was fortunate to have Chris Johnson fall into his lap late in the offseason, but it looks like he fell short in many other areas.

Now, the question is, do you place the blame for this bad meal on the shoulders of the chef or the person who did the grocery shopping?

Poll: Who Will Be Browns’ Starting QB In 2015?

October 9th, 2014 at 1:07pm CST by Luke Adams

Earlier this week, I examined Browns quarterback Brian Hoyer as a potential candidate for a contract extension. While there’s an expectation that Hoyer and the Browns will engage in discussions at some point, and could hammer out an agreement, it’ll be an extremely complicated negotiation based on the presence of 2014 first-rounder Johnny Manziel.

We’ve seen highly-touted young signal-callers sit on the bench for a year or two before – Aaron Rodgers backing up Brett Favre in Green Bay comes to mind – but in most of those cases, the starter has a more extensive track record than Hoyer does. Often, contracts will play a part as well — teams may be reluctant to part with a highly-paid starter whose release would result in a ton of dead money on the cap.

In the case of Hoyer though, the Browns could simply move on from him at the end of the 2014 season, allowing Manziel to take the reins after learning the system for a year. The former Texas A&M QB would be inexpensive for the remainder of his rookie contract, and would have the opportunity to lead a roster that has an increasing amount of talent on both sides of the ball.

On the other hand, Hoyer’s short stints this season and last season as the Browns’ starter have been impressive, and he’s proving to be the most capable quarterback the team has had in years. A Cleveland native, Hoyer could ultimately make more sense as the club’s long-term answer at the position if he continues to excel for the rest of 2014 and Manziel remains an unproven commodity on the bench.

So what do you think? Who will be the Browns’ quarterback in 2015? Will they re-sign Hoyer intending to start him? Will Manziel have taken over by then? Weigh in with your vote below, and feel free to leave your thoughts in the comments section as well.

Poll: Next NFL Coach To Get Fired

October 4th, 2014 at 6:00pm CST by Zachary Links

After four games and zero wins to start the 2014 season, the Raiders decided that they had enough of Dennis Allen. Allen’s dismissal wasn’t terribly surprising and, truthfully, neither was the timing – the Raiders were blown out in London by the Dolphins in their week 4 showdown and Allen had led Oakland to back-to-back 4-12 seasons. The Raiders will now look to turn their year around under interim coach Tony Sparano, who could have a real chance at landing the permanent gig if he can get something out of his team. While Allen’s seat was the hottest in the NFL, there are coaches elsewhere who have shaky job security.

The always entertaining Rex Ryan is in his sixth year at the helm of the Jets and his squad isn’t looking so hot at 1-3. Gang Green opened the season with an ugly win over the Raiders, blew a considerable lead to the Packers in Week 2, and lost to the Bears and Lions in Weeks 3 and 4. This isn’t how most people saw things turning out for Ryan, who began his Jets tenure with back-to-back AFC Championship Game appearances. The offensive minded coach wasn’t able to make things work with once promising quarterback Mark Sanchez and sophomore Geno Smith could be headed down the same path. Owner Woody Johnson has a great affinity for the affable Ryan, and so do many Jets fans, but that might not be enough to save his job if the Jets can’t get in the playoff hunt.

In St. Louis, veteran head coach Jeff Fisher is in his third year with the team and many have said that both he and GM Les Snead are on the chopping block. Unfortunately for Fisher, the Rams have one heck of a mountain to climb in 2014. Lodged in the ultra-tough NFC West, the Rams are without quarterback Sam Bradford thanks to a torn ACL (again) and starting Austin Davis in his stead. The Rams seem on pace to land a high draft pick and go for a top quarterback in the 2015 draft, but there’s no guarantee that Fisher will be the one grooming him.

Around the league, there are several more teams that could shake things up on the sidelines. Who do you think is the next coach to go?

Poll: Should Dennis Allen Be Fired?

September 28th, 2014 at 10:42pm CST by Rob DiRe

Raiders’ head coach Dennis Allen has been on the hot seat since before the season started, and after a blowout loss in a showcase game in London, he could be on the way out very soon.

Before the season started, we polled our readers on which coach they thought would be fired first. Our readers took Jason Garrett of the Cowboys to be the first to go, but at 3-1 as they are in the process of blowing out the Saints, Garrett’s job could be safe for a while. Allen was the second choice in that poll, and right now he looks like the best bet to go first, considering the reports that came out tonight.

Terry Collins of the Associated Press reported that Allen had been fired and that the official team report was coming, but later deleted the tweet. He eventually replaced it with an apology, saying he was unable to confirm that report (via Twitter).

Allen was hired in Oakland prior to the 2012 season. He took over one of the worst teams in football, but has failed to turn them around at all so far. The Raiders posted four win seasons in 2012 and 2013, and to start off 0-4 this year puts them behind the curve on even a four-win season.

General manager Reggie McKenzie has failed equally in terms of procuring, drafting, and keeping talent during his short tenure with the team. His best move to keep his own job could be to fire Allen as a scapegoat, and reset his own clock in the front office.

Despite having little to no talent to work with, it is unclear how much longer the organization stick with Allen. The team has a week off after returning from London, and if McKenzie was going to make this move, it would make sense to do it now when their team still has time to prepare.

Poll: Should NFL Expand To London?

September 27th, 2014 at 3:28pm CST by Luke Adams

As we wrote yesterday, the NFL’s international chief, Mark Waller, still believes the league is on track for potential expansion to Europe by around 2022. With the NFL ramping up to three games played at Wembley Stadium in London this season, Waller and company are beginning to experiment in different ways with those overseas contests, as he explained to Albert Breer of the NFL Network.

“I’m less focused on going from three (games) to four, four to five, five to six,” Waller said. “Can we do back-to-back games? Will the surface hold up? Can we start sending teams there without the bye attached? It’s not about the number anymore. … We’re at a place now where if we continue to do the job with the fans, the fan base will grow, and we’ll be able to have a team (in London). The questions now are logistical.”

While the NFL’s global marketing plan is ambitious, it’s worth considering whether having a franchise in London is the logical next step for the league. In my view, getting a team back in Los Angeles should be the NFL’s top priority, but that doesn’t necessarily preclude the possibility of expanding to London. Reports continue to suggest that when a combination of the right team, the right owner, and the right stadium come together, NFL football will return to L.A., and the league’s goal of installing a franchise overseas can be viewed as an entirely separate issue.

Still, with no NFL franchise seemingly on the verge of relocation at the moment, one has to wonder if the league is willing to move multiple teams within the next few years to get teams in L.A. and London. At 32 franchises, the NFL already features more teams than any of the other major North American sports leagues, so further expansion seems somewhat dubious.

That’s one possible roadblock for a London team, and Waller himself names a few more — it’s not clear yet whether Wembley Stadium will be capable of hosting eight games per season, or whether European fans more accustomed to following another form of football would continue to turn up and support a franchise full-time. Additionally, traveling from one coast of America to the other is already viewed as a significant handicap for West Coast clubs. The idea of having eight teams per year traveling overseas for games likely won’t be an easy sell.

What do you think? Does it make sense for the NFL to attempt to get a franchise in place in London within the next decade or so, or is that an overly ambitious plan for the league?

Poll: Which Team Will Stay Winless Longest?

September 25th, 2014 at 12:38pm CST by Luke Adams

On Wednesday, PFR readers voted the Bengals the most likely team to be the last unbeaten club standing in the NFL this season. The league’s three 3-0 squads haven’t necessarily looked dominant, and face tough schedules in the next few weeks, which could ensure that no team remains undefeated for long.

On the other hand, the league’s three 0-3 teams have struggled immensely in the early going. The Jaguars started off the season by jumping out to a 17-0 lead against the Eagles, but have since been outscored by an incredible 119-27 margin, including 34-0 in the second half of that game in Philadelphia. The Raiders have played tighter games, but also faced three opponents (Jets, Texans, Patriots) that have looked shaky in their other contests. As for the Buccaneers, they’re coming off a 56-14 defeat that was even worse than the final score suggests, after having dropped home games to Derek Anderson and Austin Davis in the season’s first two weeks.

At this point, all three winless clubs have turned to new quarterbacks, with the Jaguars (Blake Bortles) and Raiders (Derek Carr) giving their rookies a chance under center, while Mike Glennon prepares to take over for the injured Josh McCown in Tampa Bay. While there’s some optimism that these young signal-callers could help turn their respective teams’ seasons around, the jury’s still very much out on that.

Over the next few weeks, the Bucs will play in Pittsburgh and New Orleans before hosting the Ravens and then taking a Week 7 bye; the Jaguars alternate road and home games against the Chargers, Steelers, Titans, and Browns; and the Raiders play in London against the Dolphins before returning stateside for their bye and then home games against the Chargers and Cardinals.

What do you think? Which of these last-place teams will take the longest to win its first game? And are any of them in real danger of a winless season?

Poll: Which Team Will Stay Unbeaten Longest?

September 24th, 2014 at 10:09am CST by Luke Adams

Through three weeks, only three NFL teams remain unbeaten, and they aren’t necessarily the ones we would have predicted entering the 2014 season. The 3-0 Bengals are the AFC’s only team without a loss, while the Cardinals and Eagles sit atop the NFC at 3-0 themselves.

Although all three teams have looked impressive in their victories, most observers likely wouldn’t consider the unbeaten squads to be the class of the NFL at this point. The Cardinals have won their first three games in spite of backup Drew Stanton taking over for the injured Carson Palmer, while two of the Eagles’ three victories required significant second-half comebacks. The Bengals have looked the strongest of the three squads so far, though their schedule has yet to feature a 2013 playoff team.

The Bengals and Cardinals have byes in Week 4, so each team’s loss column will remain unblemished for at least one more week, but it won’t be easy keeping those winning streaks going starting in Week 5. Cincinnati faces a four-week stretch of games against the Patriots, Panthers, Colts, and Ravens, while the Cardinals will head to Denver to play the Broncos before facing the Redskins, Raiders, and Eagles. As for the Eagles, starting in Week 4, they’ll play in San Francisco before hosting the Rams and Giants in advance of their Week 7 bye.

What do you think? Which of these teams will stay unbeaten the longest? And is it because that club is the strongest of the bunch, or is it just a case of favorable scheduling?

Poll: Should Peterson, Hardy Play Week 3?

September 16th, 2014 at 12:27pm CST by Luke Adams

After last week’s Ray Rice drama led to the Ravens cutting their running back and the league suspending him indefinitely, attention has shifted this week to a pair of other cases of off-field violence involving NFL players. Adrian Peterson, who was indicted and charged with injuring a child, and Greg Hardy, who was recently found guilty by a judge of assaulting and threatening to kill his ex-girlfriend, were both inactive in Week 2.

However, Peterson has since been reinstated by the Vikings, and it sounds like the Panthers are at least considering doing the same for Hardy. The NFL typically allows for due process, waiting until cases have fully played out before announcing disciplinary measures for players. In these cases, however, while the legal process hasn’t been completed, Peterson has admitted to causing injury to his son, while Hardy has been found guilty by a judge, if not yet a jury.

Given the increased pressure on the NFL to come down hard on off-field instances of domestic violence and abuse in the wake of the Rice incident, the league appears to be mulling intervening in the cases of both Peterson and Hardy. We heard as much regarding Hardy’s case earlier this morning, and Jason Cole of Bleacher Report says the league is taking a long look at Peterson’s case as well.

The Peterson incident, which was publicly reported more recently than Hardy’s altercation, seems to be drawing more attention around the NFL and beyond, with Minnesota governor Mark Dayton suggesting today that the Vikings should have kept the running back suspended until the accusation of abuse is resolved in the legal system. Robert Klemko of TheMMQB.com and others have also pointed out that the Vikings’ call for “due process” didn’t seem to apply to less talented players previously on the roster who ran into legal troubles of their own.

What do you think? Are you fine with seeing Peterson and Hardy on the field until their cases have been closed? Or do we already know enough in both instances that their teams – or the league – would be justified in keeping them out of action for Week 3 and beyond?

Poll: Which Week 1 Overachiever Is For Real?

September 8th, 2014 at 10:42pm CST by David Kipke

Although Ray Rice‘s release and suspension currently dominates headlines, the first weekend of the NFL season had several intriguing matchups, including some that left many in the football community scratching their heads.

The Lions just lowered the boom on Eli Manning‘s Giants in this season’s first Monday Night Football matchup. The Giants’ secondary had no answer for Calvin Johnson, and eventually fell 35-14 as their offense stagnated, picking up less than 2.5 yards per carry on the ground. Should the Bears and Packers be worried about Detroit? Or is this Giants team just destined to become the NFC East’s doormat this year?

Many thought that the Falcons were one of football’s unluckiest teams last season. Injuries prevented the team’s offensive playmaking core of Roddy White, Julio Jones, and Steven Jackson from ever taking the field together. Atlanta was a popular bounce-back candidate heading into this season, and the team’ supporters were vindicated early by the Falcons’ 37-34 victory over the Saints this past weekend. Are the Falcons a serious playoff contender? Or were they overachieving?

The Patriots just went to the AFC Title Game last season without injured stars Sebastian Vollmer, Jerod Mayo, Vince Wilfork, and Rob Gronkowski. The team would additionally lose Pro Bowl cornerback Aqib Talib to a leg injury in the second quarter of that game against the Broncos. On top of returning all of those impact starters, Bill Belichick‘s squad was strengthened when Darrelle Revis was brought in to fill the the vacated cornerback position after Talib signed with the Broncos in free agency. These new-look Patriots flopped big-time this weekend in the form of a 33-20 loss to the Dolphins. Are the Dolphins for real? Or did they just catch the high-octane Patriots machine before it was firing on all cylinders?

The Bills made some of the biggest waves of the offseason when they traded up on draft night to select Sammy Watkins fourth overall. The win-now move was a clear signal to Bills fans that Doug Marrone intends to contend in his second season at the helm of the team. Although the Watkins move drew some criticism in the spring, the Bills silenced some of those critics by leaving Chicago with a 23-20 victory. The Bears, a popular playoff projection candidate, came into the game with the league’s scariest receiving duo in Alshon Jeffery and Brandon Marshall and a revived pass rush led by Jared Allen. Are Marrone’s Bills going to make noise in the AFC East this season? Or are they going to fall back down to earth next weekend against the Dolphins?

The Titans’ lead was never in doubt on Sunday as the team cruised to a 26-10 victory over the Chiefs in Kansas City this weekend. The Chiefs’ infamous Wild Card meltdown to the Colts last season left confirmed what many skeptics already suspected of Andy Reid‘s squad: that they had vastly overachieved in 2013 thanks largely to the easiest schedule in the NFL. The Titans were expected to rock the boat in a weak AFC South this year, but this commanding victory on the road against a reigning playoff team raised some eyebrows. Are Jake Locker and the Titans going to keep up their winning form? Or did they just take advantage of a highly overrated Chiefs’ team?

Will we see one or more of these teams in the postseason? Do you think any other surprise winners from Week 1 are legit? Share your thoughts in the comments below!

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