November 2026 NHL Power Rankings: Appreciating the Greatness of Alex Ovechkin Pt. 1- Always a Capital…but with a massive What If

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Opening night in the NHL can spark a lot of emotions. The Stanley Cup winners get honored and celebrated with a banner raising ceremony. Toronto v. Montreal takes center stage in Canada. The league’s stars return assuming dominant performances. Sometimes, it also marks the end of an era when long-time veteran stars go for their last dance. Alex Ovechkin is the most recent example. Late September marked his 22nd and in his words, final season.

It will be difficult for viewers who loved or hated watching him, to let go. For the haters, Ovechkin is a reliable punching bag. He never fulfilled winning expectations. He’s a stats guy. His one championship could be an asterisk. He’s Russian. He plays dirty. The list goes on.

Maybe competing on a team in the capital of planet Earth’s last, living empire plays a part of those expectations and nit-picking. For much of his career, much of that criticism held weight. When Alex Ovechkin won both a title and became a complete, physical player, numerous pundits held some of the same criticisms. However, once Ovechkin drew close to surpassing Gordie Howe for second most goals scored all-time in NHL history, the serious criticisms dwindled, almost overnight. Ovechkin rocketed past both Howe and the NHL’s best player to ever grace the ice, Wayne Gretzky, in goals scored. It wouldn’t be a surprise if Ovechkin finished this season and his career with 950+ goals. No one ever predicted that or how great he really would be…

…well…maybe a few people did…and for sure one team knew he had the talent to. They believed so much, they constantly hounded Gary Bettman to draft him and break rules doing it.

The first man who believed was a general manager named Rick Dudley. Dudley fought tooth and nail, even using the number of days Alex Ovechkin was born by to qualify for an NHL draft. In 2003, Rick Dudley annoyed Bettman by trying to draft Ovechkin nine times in four different rounds despite him being four days away from turning 18. Bettman reinforced that if Dudley tried to draft Ovechkin, he would lose the draft pick. The closest Dudley got to drafting the NHL’s all-time goal scorer was in the final day of the draft in round nine. With Gary Bettman again declining Dudley’s request, Tanner Glass was picked instead. Glass played 500 NHL games. That’s great for someone drafted in the ninth round of a professional sports draft, but it would always leave a massive what-if, especially if Dudley wound up being correct.

Well, he was. The team that almost won Alex Ovechkin? The Florida Panthers. It’s one thing to say Ovechkin would have changed any city/state/province if he was taken by another team, but Florida is a bigger name now because of what has happened since Alex Ovechkin was drafted.

For those new to the sport and don’t know, the tragedy of Ovechkin not getting drafted by the Panthers was a stinging kick to the jewels because there was no season following the 2004 draft, where Florida drafted ninth and had to witness him going number one to Washington. Bettman wildly could have granted the Panthers their wish at a rare time because there was no way a season could have been played after 2003-2004.

Let’s dive into how things might have looked had Ovechkin gone to Florida. First, the coaching would have been completely different. If Alex Ovechkin went to the Panthers, he likely would not have played much in 2003-2004, if at all. As a ninth round prospect, Ovechkin more than likely would have been in the minor league affiliate AHL most of, if not the entire season. If he did see action, it would be with interim John Torchetti near the end of that season. The Capitals at that time had Glen Hanlon since 2003 and the franchise thought he could help with re-building.

To many, that’s not a bad look. Washington at least had a plan for being relevant and desperately needed a super star to bring excitement back. Down south, the Panthers had a better coach, who they hired in 2005: Jacques Martin. Martin is easily the more well-known of the two coaches at this time. He’s up there with Rick Bowness with his hockey intelligence, development and respect. Jacques Martin is credited as the coach who helped build and develop the mid-2000s Ottawa Senators teams. Many still see that era as the best in the franchise’s short history, even if Martin never got them to the Stanley Cup finals during his tenure. Martin also retired at the end of last season, so the longevity would have had benefits years later even if Florida let him go.

As we know by now, Hanlon was relieved of his duties with the Capitals. Bruce Boudreau took his place, and that is when Ovechkin’s career really took off. I won’t go into what-if’s too much, but Boudreau was a solid counter to Jacques Martin at this stage. After Boudreau was let go, there was a three year lull until Barry Trotz became Washington’s coach. The Panthers at one point had Peter DeBoer (2008-2011) and Gerard Gallant (2014-2016). Both coaches dealt with struggling rosters trying to recapture the mid-1990s magic. Florida was also a punching bag infamous for its small, sparse crowds, and could have used a super-star of their own. With DeBoer and Gallant in the picture, Panthers hockey may have turned into a pillar of Sunshine State sports prior to the hiring of Joel Quenneville.

Of course, we know Alex Ovechkin won his first title in 2018 against the Vegas Golden Knights. Florida’s young championship core we know today was trying to get it together. Fast forward through some years and we know that Spencer Carbery is a great coach for the Capitals, and this is his first as an NHL head coach. The Panthers have Paul Maurice, a coach who could surpass the great Scott Bowman in all-time wins, and has both brought and expanded a Stanley Cup winning dynasty to the Sunshine State.

The fascinating thing to consider now is how both teams could have changed with the rosters they have and had. Would John Carlsson be in Florida long-term? Would Aleksander Barkov be the captain in DC? Would Hall of Fame goaltender Roberto Luongo have left to Vancouver if Ovechkin was drafted by the Panthers? Does Bill Zito wind up as the future GM in Florida? Does Paul Maurice stay retired knowing both teams mentioned would be completely different?

We obviously will never know for certain how different things would be if Alex Ovechkin was drafted by the Panthers and not the Capitals, but it would spark one interesting answer from him: if he knew there were better chances to develop in the minor leagues, play with more all-time great coaches, win more Stanley Cups and maybe score a similar number of goals, would Ovechkin take that over what he had in Washington? Perhaps Ovechkin would answer no because of how great DC has been to him, but we can all wonder how his career would have looked if he went to the Stanley Cup finals more than once in the last 22 years. He could have had his own dynasty and be on one of the best teams right now.

Back in 2003, Rick Dudley was one of the few who knew how great Alex Ovechkin would be and almost cost the Panthers multiple picks because of it. Not only was Dudley right and now vindicated, it warrants looking into how different the NHL would be had Gary Bettman executed enough foresight and critical thinking. This not only goes down as one of the biggest what-ifs in NHL history, it goes down as one of the few times Bettman didn’t aggressively back his southern expansion desires. It is truly ironic given how much has gone right since.

Alex Ovechkin having a pre-game skate last month.

Here are the first power rankings of the season. These show where all 32 teams objectively stand going back to the rankings from last season. Some teams will have tiebreakers based on how they’d perform on a neutral site.

#32 Vancouver Canucks (final ranking last season: 32)

The next power rankings main article may be about how and why a lot of star NHL players suddenly want to create super teams, especially the U.S. ones that played for the national team. It’s really interesting to consider the domino that could have tipped off a lot of this was Vancouver’s trade of captain Quinn Hughes last season. Even then, the Canucks looked mighty dumb for unloading Hughes to an in-conference rival and continue now to play lost. Controversies or not, don’t expect any serious star to land in Vancouver any time soon.

#31 Chicago Blackhawks (final ranking last season: 31)

Good grief! How stunning Chicago has not won a road game almost two months into the regular season. One might say the absence of new captain and franchise star Connor Bedard was a reason for that, but the Blackhawks are simply a bad team. While many understand this is a serious re-build, that cannot excuse why Chicago can’t win a game outside the United Center. A six game losing streak also had them as the second worst team in the NHL. Yikes.

#30 Los Angeles Kings (final ranking last season: 21)

A brutal winless streak to begin the regular season has put Los Angeles near the back of the playoff race. There are a lot of great players on the Kings and they could still turn it around, but the chances are slim given how well the top eight western teams are playing so far. A nine point difference is easy to make up and should not be an issue for playoff experienced teams like Los Angeles. However, given how good Utah, Anaheim, Dallas and Nashville are, if the Kings can’t recover, they could find themselves near the bottom of the rankings (or in the bottom half at least) throughout the season.

#29 Columbus Blue Jackets (final ranking last season: 10)

Columbus has been so bad these first two months it’s easy to forget they were one of the hottest teams to end the last regular season. I was stunned looking at their record the last two months of early 2026 when I started writing these rankings. Coach Rick Bowness is confused by how most of the roster goes through the motions and struggles to score. It wouldn’t be a surprise if the Blue Jackets decided to be a major trade partner for a lot of teams at the March deadline if they can last that long.

#28 Toronto Maple Leafs (final ranking last season: 26)

Many readers will consider this to be a bold place to rank Toronto given how many teams they lead in current standings. The eye test would say the Maple Leafs belong here. There was a reason Florida general manager Bill Zito didn’t want to sign starting goaltender and future Hall of Famer Sergei Bobrovsky to another long-term, high-paying contract.

Goaltending isn’t the worst issue Toronto has, but it’s a clear, top three factor. The defense is bad again and the Maple Leafs have reverted to playing softer and less physical. Of course, many predicted when coach Craig Berube was fired and front office changes were made in the offseason, poor play and coaching was bound to return sooner than later. Current coach Jim Hiller is just another guy who will be chewed up and spit out.

#27 San Jose Sharks (final ranking last season: 20)

San Jose’s fiery start to the regular season wore off after a month. Granted, the Sharks have played more quality opponents since early October, but some losses have been head-scratchers. One interesting trend is which days they look better and which look worse. San Jose is undefeated on Thursdays and have lost five straight Saturday games. Any clues here?

#26 Philadelphia Flyers (final ranking last season: 16)

Unlike Los Angeles, Philadelphia’s fire still burns after a nine game losing streak to begin the regular season. While the Flyers have more hope than the Kings, the now-sudden drama around young forward Matvei Michkov asking for a trade and fresh start somewhere else is enough to deflate the team. The rumors aren’t baseless either. They came from ESPN and NHL Network’s respected analyst Kevin Weekes. Philadelphia must fix that fast before they find themselves in Detroit’s position (more on them in a bit).

#25 St. Louis Blues (final ranking last season: 28)

Whenever one wonders how competitive the NHL is at times, take a look at a team that’s near the bottom and look into their stats. Also watch a few games and look at the roster. This year’s Blues are a great example of how a team with great talent, good coaching, solid defense and middle of the pack scoring doesn’t translate to wins. St. Louis is above only the dreadful Blackhawks in the central division. The Blues don’t have either a superstar player or a top tier first line that can make opposing defenses fear them. Until general manager Doug Armstrong can fix that, St. Louis will shockingly be a middle-of-the-pack team.

#24 Calgary Flames (final ranking last season: 30)

A power rankings from last month would have put Calgary in the lower-20s. It was impressive that the Flames grabbed a win after a five game losing streak. Now Calgary is 8-6 after that fifth loss and looks like a spoiler team that could possibly do serious damage in the west. Of course, we’ve seen this story many times in past Novembers where a team can play well two months into the season and then fizzle out weeks before Christmas. If the Flames are still hot by mid-December, that five game losing streak will be labeled a slow start.

#23 Detroit Red Wings (final ranking last season: 13)

At this point, every serious sports pundit has a Dylan Larkin take or opinion ranging from trades to him becoming locker room poison, so there’s nothing new to discuss. There are two interesting things that stand out to me, (the second one is new). The first is that Larkin’s situation may not have occurred if Red Wings ownership didn’t meddle with Steve Yzerman’s general manager position. The Ilich family has terribly bungled the franchise’s goodwill and a crucial part of the long-term re-build plans Yzerman had in the works. While Steve Yzerman is still officially with the team, it’s obvious head coach Todd McLellan is the lone, capable, serious adult in the room who wants the franchise to succeed on-ice.

The second is more a proposal that has only just arisen: if Matvei Michkov wants out of Philadelphia, the Red Wings must pounce on that opportunity. A serious trade proposal for both players, even if it’s one-on-one, fixes issues both teams have and are what both players are looking for. Larkin stays in the U.S., is an immediate boost to a middling offense and he doesn’t have to worry about which version of the defense shows up every night. Rick Tocchet is a phenomenal coach who should not be fired anytime soon. Michkov would go to a team where he’d have a lot more veterans on offense to build his game around, learn how to improve on special teams and is young enough where the defense is still learning and growing their game. Everyone would win in the end. Given how no team wants to give up a lot of draft capital and players for Dylan Larkin with the mess he has fed into, this could be both his and Detroit’s best shot at getting something of equal value in return.

#22 Winnipeg Jets (final ranking last season: 25)

It will be fascinating to see how Winnipeg’s defense plays this entire season with who is in net. Surprisingly, Stuart Skinner isn’t the concern. The closer the Jets get to the postseason, that’s when Skinner surprisingly plays well. Nico Daws, who was part of the massive haul Winnipeg acquired in the Connor Hellebuyck trade, is the concern. Daws did not play well in New Jersey, but he does have a playoff caliber defense in front of him and a better coaching staff that should help him improve his game. The main issue for Nico Daws is that he is in Canada now, and if he doesn’t play well, he’ll hear about it after every game.

#21 New York Islanders (final ranking last season: 11)

It’s ironic to note how two months into the regular season with Peter DeBoer as head coach New York remains a top five defensive team and is a bottom five offensive team. Usually DeBoer’s changes to a fast paced offense show up within a month or two. Not so with these Islanders. Defense is important for the current veteran core players and sophomore defenseman Matthew Schaefer could be part of that. Should New York’s offense take off in the next few months, it will be worth watching to see if there are any defensive falloffs, particularly on the penalty kill.

#20 New York Rangers (final ranking last season: 29)

This is easily a better start to the season for coach Mike Sullivan than last year. The only major change is New York struggles to win road games. Although franchise star goaltender Igor Shesterkin is out the rest of the regular season (and perhaps most of next year), Joonas Korpisalo and Dylan Garland are more than capable of protecting the net. Now the Rangers need more scoring from their talented offense. New York could make a move for a goal scoring threat within the next month if they stay in the middle on offense and bottom ten of the power-play.

#19 Pittsburgh Penguins (final ranking last season: 9)

Putting two low-end metropolitan division teams near the bottom of the rankings when they were nine and ten in the last one was not going to happen. I’ve been clear a team has to be either really good or bad to move up or down in the rankings more than ten spots. It’s also still early in the season, so despite Pittsburgh’s low standing in the east, they’re not out of anything playoffs related yet. Give that a few more months.

Yet there is valid concern for the Penguins. They struggle to hold leads, score, and defend the net consistently for all three periods. Sorry, but it’s hard to pin-point what the issues are without bluntly saying Evgeni Malkin and Kris Letang are playing old. The special teams are average and there aren’t many offensive chances generated on the rush. Coach Dan Muse found a way to re-vamp Pittsburgh last season on all sides of the puck. This year almost everything he’s done has not worked. Something has to give.

#18 Seattle Kraken (final ranking last season: 27)

It’s amazing and hilarious how the Kraken got better once former general manager Ron Francis stepped down. Seattle still struggles on offense and the penalty kill is one of the worst in the NHL, but the team plays harder now than the previous three seasons. Lane Lambert has the Kraken playing like a fringe playoff team this season. All the new general manager has to do now is not make poorly considered moves like his predecessor and this team should be in position to be close to the playoffs the rest of the season.

#17 Washington Capitals (final ranking last season: 18)

At this moment it is bizarre to see that in Alex Ovechkin’s final season, he has one goal in almost two months of play. Alex Tuch is currently the Capitals’ top scorer with eleven goals and no other player has more than six. If Washington has true aspirations of one more Stanley Cup run, they need everyone to play better on offense, starting with their captain, even if this is his final season.

#16 Florida Panthers (final ranking last season: 22)

The irony of both teams back-to-back, smack in the middle of these rankings. All of Florida’s offseason additions have generated mixed reactions each week. Brady Tkachuk started slow, but then had two straight games where he scored a hat-trick. Jacob Markstrom plays streaky at times, but has a shutout, .900 save percentage and gives up two and a half goals a game (better than Bobrovsky so far this season). Aleksander Barkov is on IR again. The Panthers are one of two franchises that will get almost every team’s best games each night. Despite the average start, they aren’t bad. It is foreseeable they will improve and climb higher in the rankings next month.

#15 New Jersey Devils (final ranking last season: 23)

What few analysts want to discuss about New Jersey’s acquisition of Connor Hellebuyck from Winnipeg is that it doesn’t fix anything long-term. Hellebuyck is superb in the regular season but historically struggles in the postseason. The western conference has great teams, but the east is more loaded in talent and boasts the last two Stanley Cup champion teams and also features two teams that have made one state a powerhouse dynasty. The Devils can make the playoffs all they want. Until they seriously address the defensive issues and play more physical, little else will change.

#14 Nashville Predators (final ranking last season: 24)

Watching Nashville be bad the last two seasons was strange. Maybe that’s because Barry Trotz is no longer the general manager. No offense meant to Trotz. He is certainly an elite coach, but maybe he wasn’t suited to be a front office executive. Serious fans and analysts understand that about plenty of coaches in the NHL and other sports leagues.

That said, it’s good to see both goaltender Juuse Saros and almost ageless center Steven Stamkos return to previous forms. Win or lose, Saros is a gauge for how well the Predators play. Stamkos is getting back to scoring and making great plays on both offense and special teams. He’s also a physical player who can set the tone early in division games. Certainly, Nashville is fun to watch again.

#13 Buffalo Sabres (final ranking last season: 5)

Buffalo’s playoff run last season always felt strange. The Sabres caught good fortune at a time many thought impossible and rode that to the second round of the playoffs. Good for them. This year looks more like what many thought Buffalo would be. They are a good team in a stacked Atlantic division and eastern conference, but they are not serious playoff contenders. The Sabres are not playing with the same defensive passion, and it has shown against opponents with more postseason experience.

#12 Anaheim Ducks (final ranking last season: 14)

I still have not bought into Anaheim being a premiere team in both the western conference and the NHL. The number of blown leads they have given up is a big reason, but their defense is cause for concern. Goaltending was much better last season and right now both Ville Husso and Lukas Dostal give up three and a half goals a game and average a .867 save percentage. That’s awful.

If the Ducks want to have another strong playoff run, their defense must aim for better numbers every week.

#11 Utah Mammoth (final ranking last season: 19)

Utah put a lot of high milage on goaltender Karel Vejmelka last season and it’s shown the first two months of the regular season. Vejmelka is 6-7 in 13 games and looks tired at times. On the contrary, first year backup Sebastian Cossa is 4-2 and had the better save percentage until Wednesday night. It’s still early in the regular season, but the Mammoth should play Cossa more to see how well he can hold up against certain opponents. That will help him gain more experience for future seasons while Vejmelka gets to rest and look better as the playoffs near.

#10 Dallas Stars (final ranking last season: 4)

Dallas’ five-on-five scoring struggles continue after how last season ended. The looming contract extension standoff with forward Jason Robertson looks more likely and the Stars need better forward depth past the second line. General manager Jim Nill needs to figure something out fast before Dallas realizes they will be a one-and-done playoff team…again.

#9 Ottawa Senators (final ranking last season: 12)

Linus Ullmark’s return in net makes Ottawa one of the NHL’s most dangerous teams. Without Ullmark in net, the Senators’ defensive struggles remain. The bigger issue that general manager Steve Staios has to contend with is the lack of depth after the third line. Constant injuries on the offense have stifled both scoring and special teams.

#8 Colorado Avalanche (final ranking last season: 1)

Colorado’s drop-off after winning last year’s President’s trophy is astounding. Despite Mackenzie Blackwood’s .901 save percentage, the Avalanche have an awful defense. More important, the special teams are average. That’s crazy given how much talent Colorado has on their top three lines. The power-play can be fixed later on in the season, but the defense has driven coach Jared Bednar crazy and even prompted a response saying, “I have no idea” about why the Avs were struggling. The defense should play more physical, and they need to care more.

#7 Vegas Golden Knights (final ranking last season: 17)

Due to Edmonton’s roaring start to the regular season, a lot of viewers seemingly have not paid much attention to Vegas. Those people should fix that. Goaltender Adin Hill has returned to peak form, Knights’ captain Mark Stone is incredible in every facet and Tomas Hertl turned back the clock to his old San Jose days on offense. The Pacific could end up as a two team race, and coach Ryan Craig should be an early Jack Adams coach of the year nominee.

#6 Montreal Canadiens (final ranking last season: 6)

NHL Network’s Mike Kelly made a great point earlier in the week about Montreal’s standing as a Stanley Cup finals team. He said that while the roster is one of the NHL’s most talented, their youth still disqualifies them from making a run similar to last year’s. While he may be right, injuries to most of their core players could be another reason the Canadiens miss the finals. Montreal lacks a lot of depth and has shakier goaltending than most of the serious Cup contending teams after Samuel Montembeault announced he played his last game as a Canadien. Despite those issues, Montreal is tied for first in the stacked Atlantic and tied for second in the eastern conference. They will be fine.

#5 Edmonton Oilers (final ranking last season: 15)

For now, it seems as if Edmonton will give a lot of teams fits considering how coach Mike Babcock has everyone playing. Perhaps the Oilers just needed a lot more discipline and a screamer in the locker room? Maybe. Defenseman Evan Bouchard is now the third best player after Leon Draisaitl and Connor McDavid. The goaltenders at least look competent. Should Edmonton hit a slump, it will be must-watch television to see how this team responds, especially Babcock.

#4 Tampa Bay Lightning (final ranking last season: 2)

An interesting conversation I dove deeply into this past week regarded what would happen if Tampa Bay decided to coax Steve Yzerman back to the organization and dump Julien Brisebois. Unlike the Dylan Larkin and Connor Hellebuyck situations, current Hart trophy winner and league MVP Nikita Kucherov had nothing to lie about nor run from when he said the organization stonewalled his communication on getting a contract extension. We now see that Yzerman wasn’t the problem during his general management tenure in Detroit, and Brisebois has let franchise legends like Steven Stamkos leave before. Kucherov isn’t an injury prone 38 year old either. He’s still in the peak of his career despite past playoff performances. Conversations regarding upper management moves to keep Kucherov on the team should be a priority if Tampa wants to continue winning.

#3 Boston Bruins (final ranking last season: 8)

Everything about Boston being a top three or five team this season is bizarre, except for one thing: defense. Goaltender Jeremy Swayman is a serious Vezina trophy candidate given how well he’s playing. His save percentage is currently at .913. The Bruins have a top three defense despite an average penalty kill. If Swayman doesn’t play, Boston is probably going to struggle in nearly every game.

#2 Minnesota Wild (final ranking last season: 7)

Forward Kirill Kaprizov finally looks like the player many envisioned five years ago. Minnesota has a deep roster that plays well almost every night and it’s clear Kaprizov is both the main star and go-to option for teammates with the puck. Not only will he be an MVP candidate this season, goaltender Jesper Wallstedt is now the untouchable number one in net. The Wild wanted to have Wallstedt play tandem with Filip Gustavsson, but after the latter’s injuries, he may be dealt somewhere before the New Year. The Wild should be the west’s best team as long as Wallstedt and Kaprizov take the ice every game.

#1 Carolina Hurricanes (final ranking last season: 3)

Many readers will find disagreements and faults with a few of these rankings, but we should all be unanimous on which NHL team is the best right now! Carolina has not skipped one beat since winning their second ever Stanley Cup championship. The Hurricanes lost three games in October, and the most impressive part is the return of goaltender Pyotr Kochetkov. Kochetkov won a franchise high eleven straight games before a 4-1 loss to Nashville on November third. Brandon Bussi dazzled fans and audiences in the Stanley Cup finals, and he can barely get ice time with Kochetkov back in net! It will be hard for almost every team to beat Carolina all season, and fewer could beat them four times in a playoff series if the Hurricanes keep playing like this.

Carolina center/forward Sebastian Aho toys with Seattle defenseman Brandon Montour (62).

NFL Week Eight Winners and Losers

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Week eight was an unexpected and wild start to November. We saw some surprising teams in first place while some playoff-seasoned teams continue to fade. The first two months of this season were anything but dull. It’s time to break down the week eight winners and losers.

Winners: Tony Pollard

This is one of the few times during the regular season where a standout player/performance makes the winners column despite his team going home with a loss. Tennessee runningback Tony Pollard had a fantastic game in Cincinnati and deserved to go back to Nashville with a win. Unfortunately for Pollard, his career day meant taking home a loss that had nothing to do with him.

Tony Pollard gashed the Bengals defense with 117 yards on 21 carries. He had both of the Titans touchdowns before the fourth quarter and was the most dangerous offensive player before quarterback Cam Ward got hot in the fourth.

Fans and analysts will talk all week about Cincinnati star quarterback Joe Burrow and his phenomenal performance for all the right reasons. Burrow carried the Bengals to a wild win. However, had Tennessee prioritized Tony Pollard on their last two offensive possessions, the Titans could have won the game and Pollard would have gotten more praise. At least Tennessee knows they have another good player they could use as trade bait before the deadline (should they continue to rebuild).

Detroit Lions

Compared to Tennessee and Cincinnati, most analysts and viewers will talk about Minnesota’s disappointing offense against Detroit’s defense rather than the latter playing a great game. Those who have watched the Lions this season know the offense and special teams are pretty good while the defense can be a sieve. Detroit almost had another complete game Sunday and got their second division win of the season.

The defense in particular was fantastic. Despite injuries to cornerback Brian Branch and rookie linebacker Jimmy Rolder, and linebacker Jack Campbell, the Lions defense played mean, physical and aggressive. Vikings quarterback Kyler Murray was sacked three times and threw one interception. Murray didn’t crack 200 yards until the last touchdown Minnesota scored midway through the fourth quarter. The Vikings had 80 rushing yards from four combined runners. It was the third game in a row Detroit’s defense kept their opponent’s offense to under 25 points.

The Lions offense did what was necessary to take the lead multiple times and hold it. Quarterback Jared Goff completed 18 of 25 passes for 176 yards, an 88.1 passer rating, a touchdown and interception. It was Detroit’s running game that made the difference. Jahmyr Gibbs ran 23 times for 153 yards and a score, while Sione Vaki had 65 yards on 11 carries.

Despite the scary injury to Jack Campbell, the Lions locker room must be filled with confidence. The defense had been seen as the liability that could keep them out of the playoffs and from winning the NFC North. If the defense and offense mirror each other more like they did Sunday, Detroit could come out as the best team in the division.

Sean Payton

Many who watch the NFL had serious suspicions the Chiefs would use Denver as a punching bag on national T.V. yesterday after Seattle ripped Kansas City into ribbons in week seven. Not only did that not happen, the Broncos wound up splitting the season series and leaped into first place in the AFC West. That credit goes to head coach Sean Payton.

Payton had Denver ready to play almost a complete game. The Broncos got the first lead of the game and only trailed by four at the end of the first half. After Kansas City dominated the third quarter, the Broncos roared back and dominated most of the fourth. Head coach Sean Payton made sure Denver’s offense scored two touchdowns and the defense sealed the win with a goal-line stand. The Broncos ended the game with 15 unanswered points after trailing 24-13.

Not only did the Chiefs lose a divisional game at the goal-line via turnover on downs, but their special teams kicking issues continue. Sean Payton’s team played well and disciplined, especially on offense. Rookie runningback Jonah Coleman looks more like the featured back Payton wanted back in training camp. The defense is still one of the NFL’s best and now the offense is finally playing better. Denver could be a more serious threat if they keep their one game lead in the west. Despite being the AFC’s top seed last season the Broncos look more like a balanced threat. That’s bad news for the rest of the conference.

Losers: Baltimore Ravens offense

No team had worse luck Sunday than Baltimore. Confidence was high because of the return of two-time league MVP quarterback Lamar Jackson after he was out for almost a month. Then Jackson injured his throwing hand his first throw of the game. That meant backup quarterback Tyler Huntley had to play the rest of the game. Well, Huntley didn’t last long either.

That meant third stringer Joe Fagnano had to finish the game on his own. Fagnano had no chance of pulling out a win in Buffalo, even though the Ravens defense played well most of the game. At some point, viewers knew the Bills offense was going to break out and put the game away. Of course, that happened in the fourth quarter. Yet Baltimore’s game-plan was almost non-existent after Derrick Henry ran for a touchdown the possession after a Josh Allen interception.

It stuns that the Ravens had two runningbacks average (close to) five yards a carry and not get a spark on offense. Derrick Henry could wind up as the second best rusher in NFL history, but Baltimore doesn’t use him as much as they should. Head coach Jesse Minter has a lot of issues on the defense to fix. Wildly, the overhyped offense is what may cost the Ravens another shot at the playoffs and bring more questions on what to do with the roster after this season.

Cleveland Browns

But wait. Baltimore wasn’t the only AFC North disappointment on Sunday. Appearing not to wish to be outdone, Cleveland played terribly and got crushed against their division rival Pittsburgh. Not only were the Browns blown out, it appeared as if they hadn’t even practiced.

Cleveland’s offensive line was almost non-existent. Starting quarterback DeShaun Watson threw for over 325 yards but took eight sacks as punishment. It didn’t help the Browns had ~35 rushing yards. There was no commitment to running the football because the defense got shredded early and Cleveland had to play catch up the entire game. Although Harold Fannin Jr. had a 150+ yard game, the Browns missed a few chances to add more than six points onto the scoreboard.

The Browns had a chance to sweep the Steelers for the first time since 1988. Instead, they fell back in both the division and playoff race. Cleveland has won some close games this season, but they will regret not playing sharper in week eight.

Shane Steichen

Ever since quarterback Daniel Jones tore his Achilles last season, it’s been a nightmare for Indianapolis. The season is all but over for the Colts and playoff chances are non-existent. One has to wonder how soon head coach Shane Steichen will get fired.

Indianapolis was everything but competitive in a blowout loss in Jacksonville. After general manager Chris Ballard was fired, the Colts traded star offensive guard Quinton Nelson to Seattle and defensive tackle DeForest Buckner to San Francisco. More trades are coming soon. Receiver Joshua Downs has gone public for asking to be traded, and word is star runningback Jonathan Taylor will be traded before the deadline. A big part of why things have fallen apart is because Steichen never recovered the magic from last season’s first half start. Now, even he looks lost and knows time is short.

Shane Steichen can’t be expected to shoulder blame for the off-field issues plaguing this franchise. On-field, he has no answers and was another popular name that got passed by both his division rivals and the rest of the league. Many names past and present can relate to this and his incoming fate.

Note: NFL’s Winners and Losers will not be published next week due to personal reasons for the writer, editor and publisher. Publications will resume around the conclusion of week ten.

NFL Week Seven Winners and Losers

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Week seven was full of eye-opening play and revealed who is closer to the playoffs. Conversely, some teams are already preparing for the offseason. As we end October, more teams separate from being playoff contenders to having high draft picks. Coaching plays a part in which team advances or goes home. It is time to break down the weekend’s winners and losers.

Winners: Ollie Gordon

Miami finally got their first win of the season Sunday and runningback Ollie Gordon had a large stake in it. Gordon has played better in the last few Dolphins games, but a road win in New York will make opposing defenses take him more seriously.

Ollie Gordon ran 25 times for 103 yards and a touchdown. His scoring run gave Miami their second lead of the game, and his runs got the Dolphins crucial first downs to take more time off the clock.

Miami lacks a lot of talent on both sides of the ball outside of quarterback Malik Willis. Now it seems there’s a rising star on the Dolphins who can take the pressure off Willis and make sure the QB doesn’t have to create game-changing plays every down. Miami could steal another win or two this season if they prioritize Ollie Gordon more on offense.

Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Despite an ugly start to the season and a winless September, Tampa Bay has improved and mostly played well in October. A fourth quarter collapse against Pittsburgh prevented the Buccaneers from having a winning record this month. While their win against Dallas on Thursday night football a few weeks ago was impressive, Tampa’s best game came Sunday in Carolina.

The Panthers had no chance of beating the Buccaneers. Tampa Bay mercilessly ran the ball through Carolina’s defense and couldn’t be stopped. Bucky Irving ran for over 100 yards and two touchdowns. Kenny Gainwell and Sean Tucker combined for another 140 yards on 21 carries and another score. Quarterback Baker Mayfield didn’t have to do much in his return as he threw for 64 yards and a touchdown on seven completions and a 109.7 passer rating.

A big reason Mayfield didn’t have to do much was because the defense was relentless in their pressure on Panthers quarterback Bryce Young. Linebacker Yaya Diaby finished the game with three of the team’s five sacks on Young. Al-Quadin Muhammad also had a sack on Bryce Young for a loss of eight yards and forced a fumble. The fumble was recovered by defensive lineman Calijah Kancey and returned for a 32 yard touchdown.

Special teams contributed too. After Carolina scored a touchdown, cornerback Zyon McCollum returned a blocked extra point to the Panthers endzone for an extra two points. Carolina failed to take their opponent seriously during their bye week, and the Buccaneers made them pay for it by winning a crucial divisional game. Tampa Bay is more than alive in a tight NFC South race. It would not be surprising if they continue to play well (or at least better) in November.

Sean McVay

Los Angeles has not been a good team most of the season outside of a week two Monday night win. Sunday was one of their best and most dominant games of the season, and it was against a quality Raiders team led by a former division rival at head coach.

There were serious calls and takes that maybe the Rams should move on from head coach Sean McVay. There is validity in those takes, and McVay probably heard and read about them last week. Los Angeles played like their season was on the line after all the injuries kept piling up. Matthew Stafford led the offense with his three touchdown passes. He’s now the first and only quarterback to lead two franchises in all-time touchdown passes.

Both runningbacks were the reason the Rams won by double digits. Blake Corum and Kyren Williams combined for two scores and almost 200 rushing yards. They averaged five and a half yards per carry against a usually stout Vegas running defense.

Los Angeles is now in the easier part of their schedule and they need as many wins as possible. Sunday was a great start.

Mike Macdonald and Nick Emmanwori

Sunday night was a big one for Seattle. Back-to-back agonizing losses to San Francisco and Denver were talked about nonstop for almost two weeks. Led by the Seahawks’ former Super Bowl MVP Kenneth Walker III, Kansas City was the AFC’s best team. This looked like a game that could go in the Chiefs’ favor early and get ugly. Well, it was ugly and decisive all right, but it was a throttling Kansas City won’t forget anytime soon.

The real praise and highlights goes to Seattle’s defense led by determined head coach Mike Macdonald. He destroyed any and every opportunity the Chiefs had on every possession. It’s almost unheard of in the last 15 years where the usually calm head coach Andy Reid was not only completely out-coached, but he erupted into angry vocal tirades, reminiscent of his own mentor during losses. Kansas City was lucky they weren’t shut out. You’ll read and hear throughout this week that Kenneth Walker III averaged just over two yards a carry and this was the first game in which Patrick Mahomes II failed to reach the opponent’s redzone. What you may not hear often is that according to OptaStats, the Chiefs were the first team in the Super Bowl era to have a game with no 10+ yard rushes, no 20+ yard passes, no red-zone drives, no touchdowns and multiple missed field goals.

For those who have watched the NFL for decades, Mahomes looked like the classic Eli Manning drooling face memes that still circulate the internet and remains top tier sports humor. Not only was he befuddled at how things went off the rails early and often, it was the first time Mahomes was chased down from behind on a reverse roll-out running pass by a defender. That defender was sophomore strong safety Nick Emmanwori, who not only forced Mahomes into an interception during the play, but went stride for stride with who’s considered the fastest NFL receiver in Xavier Worthy. A starting safety is usually not, if ever, that fast. Unless they play again in the Super Bowl, Travis Kelce will finish his career with no touchdowns against Seattle. Walker left the field without shaking hands with his former teammates after the game ended.

Seattle still has a lot to prove this regular season. Their next game should be a Monday night thriller at home against the Chicago Bears. That game will feature the two most innovative head coaches the NFL has to offer. Yet, Sunday night was about the defending Super Bowl champions finally playing a dominant, one-sided game this season. It came at the best time against the AFC’s best team.

Losers: DeMeco Ryans

Houston had all the momentum and positive feelings rolling into what many thought would or should be an easy home win against New York. The Giants faced on-going questions about their ability to play winning football, especially on offense. The Texans were on a two game winning streak. One of those wins was against the impressive Jacksonville Jaguars in London. Houston fell flat Sunday in scarlet red fashion.

Not only did New York’s new quarterback J.J. McCarthy get his first start with the team, but running back Cam Skattebo came back. Both played well and gashed the supposedly elite Texans defense. McCarthy finished the game with 252 passing yards and Skattebo averaged over seven yards a carry, had 124 rushing yards and a touchdown. New York’s four rushing touchdowns earned them a hard-fought overtime win.

Head coach DeMeco Ryans has been one of the more respected leaders for any team in both the AFC and the NFL. He knows how to prepare his players well, especially his defense. Evidence of that was sorely vacant on Sunday. This is a lingering loss viewers knew Houston would deeply regret, especially if they miss the playoffs. At 2-5, that game could very well cost the Texans their season.

Tennessee Titans defense

Houston wasn’t the only AFC South team that had their defense fail them Sunday. Every time Tennessee’s offense got a lead in their home game against Cleveland, the defense found a way to rip it away.

While there were turnovers for both teams, the Titans defense struggled to stop the Browns passing attack and keep runners out of the endzone. Quarterback DeShaun Watson finished 25 of 36 for 308 yards. He also ran for a game tying score on Cleveland’s second-to-last offensive possession. Runningback Quinshon Judkins had his best game of the season with 17 carries for 96 yards and two touchdowns.

What sealed the loss for Tennessee was the Browns’ last offensive possession. The Titans allowed Cleveland to get 57 yards in 55 seconds. Watson found Harold Fannin Jr. for a 36 yard catch and run where no defender could make a competent tackle until he got deep in Tennessee territory. Then the Titans committed a five yard offside penalty that made Andre Szmyt’s field goal attempt easier and shorter. Of course he made it because the Titans are in the losers column.

Tennessee’s offense has been correctly criticized throughout the season, but it’s deflating that one of the few good games the offense has, the defense weighs the team down and is a major reason why the Titans are pretty much eliminated from the playoff race.

Arizona’s four yard hook and ladder play on 4th and 13

Few plays catch peoples’ attention because of their failure, especially on a fourth down. Those plays stand out like a throbbing sore thumb when they’re trick plays.

Arizona trailed 27-13 to start the fourth quarter and had a good chance to at least get some points and make Denver work the remaining quarter for the win. The Cardinals drive sputtered at the Broncos 40 yard line. At 4th and 13, rookie head coach Mike LaFleur decided to let the offense stay out instead of attempting a field goal. It was a disastrous decision, mostly because this was the play-call and result.

If there was one play to sum up Arizona’s 10 game losing streak at home, this would be it. A hook-and-ladder play near the sidelines is wild, especially when far away from the first down marker. Denver might have stopped the drive, but the Cardinals could not capitalize when it mattered. It shouldn’t surprise readers that the Broncos at least got their own field goal their following possession.

Sunday night football and NFL fans for week eight

There has been a solid schedule of Sunday night games so far this season. Seattle’s almost perfect home win against Kansas City is one of the network’s best of all 2026. If you expected week eight to have a sequel alas, you are wrong. The reason is because commissioner Roger Goodell and company have decided to not flex the Eagles-Commanders game, even though Philadelphia plays tonight.

Ratings are important for the NFL and no division has ratings glamour more than the NFC east. The current dilemma is, fans of neither the Eagles nor Commanders want to watch their awful teams on national broadcast televison after October. Who can blame them? Washington is nowhere close to being a caliber team. However, they are close to firing their head coach Dan Quinn. Philadelphia will have an offense filled with backups at almost every position. None of that should appeal to either local or national audiences.

The dumbest part about this is that the NFL had until October 20th to make a change. They punted on the decision and determined we should all suffer because of it. If you haven’t seen your family for the last month and a half, make an exception next Sunday night.

NFL Week Five Winners and Losers

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Week five in the NFL had a lot of thrills, jaw-dropping surprises and stunning, hair-pulling moments. Some of the best games of 2026 were played yesterday. Audiences found out which teams may be legitimate contenders and which ones could be one and done if they reach the playoffs. Here are this weeks winners and losers.

Winners: Aaron Rodgers

It has been a mixed few weeks for Pittsburgh veteran quarterback Aaron Rodgers. This is his last NFL season and it has shown at times. That was not the case Sunday. Rodgers turned back the clock and had a vintage performance.

Aaron Rodgers was the Steelers best offensive player in a dominant home win versus Indianapolis. He completed 22 of 31 passes for 235 yards, three touchdowns, no interceptions and a 125.1 passer rating. Rodgers also had a run for six yards and was sacked once. The Colts had almost no answer on how to stop the 42 year old passer.

Pittsburgh’s offense has improved after an awful week two loss in New England, and that’s mostly because Aaron Rodgers has played better. The Steelers offense has scored 30+ points twice in their last three games. When Rodgers plays better, Pittsburgh is surprisingly a top team in the AFC.

Liam Coen

Eagles head coach Nick Sirianni has and will continue to catch heat for how the final seconds in London were handled after taking a one point lead, but the same should be applied to Jacksonville’s head coach Liam Coen for how he handled the end. Unlike Sirianni, Coen had his players fully prepared to play for any scenario.

The Jaguars stole a win Sunday no matter the timezone (for many in the U.S., it was morning while in London it was late afternoon). Jacksonville played from behind the entire second half until quarterback Trevor Lawrence threw his second touchdown pass of the game to Parker Washington. While kicker Cam Little missed the extra point, a two point lead finally let the Jaguars breathe and consider how to play the final two minutes.

In Sirianni’s defense, Philadelphia had only eight seconds left after getting the lead back. All special teams had to do was make a simple kick to pin Jacksonville far back and seal a win. However, it seems Sirianni’s special teams had not practiced that scenario and were not ready to preserve a lead with eight seconds left. Coen’s team had and did.

Ameer Abdullah returned the 57 yard kickoff for 53 yards. He worked the angles of the field well and got great blocking that didn’t get called for a penalty. Cam Little then got to attempt and make a 57 yard field goal with one second left.

If Jacksonville didn’t have a terrible second half in Denver, they would be the talk of both the NFL and the North American sports world. Coen has his team ready to go at least 90% of the time and ready to play out any scenario no matter how good the team is plays. The Jaguars are due for a lot of credit and respect with how they play every intangible of the game well.

The Fred Warner-led 49ers defense

The 2025-26 49ers defense was well respected because of former defensive coordinator Robert Saleh. Saleh is an excellent coach and evaluator of defensive talent. No matter the injuries, he knew how to make the defense play well. However, the defense had pitfalls when he didn’t have his best player and captain Fred Warner on the field. Seattle was one of the few teams that could exploit that.

Defensive coordinator Raheem Morris had to rely on Warner in what many believe was America’s game of the week. The Seahawks offense is different this year, especially at the runningback position. The 49ers defense turned those changes into overwhelming mismatches.

San Francisco’s defense intercepted quarterback Sam Darnold on Seattle’s first possession of the game. It set up head coach Kyle Shanahan’s offense at the Seahawks 18 yard line, and the 49ers scored a fast touchdown in four plays. The Seahawks tied it up and even took a lead, but San Francisco wasn’t done creating turnovers.

Whenever Seattle got their first lead of the game, Fred Warner led the defense to another turnover. He forced a fumble from runningback Emanuel Wilson. Safety Malik Mustapha recovered the fumble, and San Francisco’s offense scored a touchdown the next play. Right before halftime, 49ers defensive lineman Gracen Halton forced another fumble at the Seahawks two yard line and rolled onto the ball in the endzone. San Francisco led by eight instead of one at the half because of that play.

Seattle came close to winning several times in the second half, but was limited to six points on their last two of three possessions. The 49ers also caught a few breaks on the Seahawks last possession and came out with the win after a turnover on downs.

San Francisco is still undefeated because of how well the offense plays with quarterback Brock Purdy, but they are also undefeated because a fully healthy Fred Warner makes a difference for the defense. They are more feared, respected and play better football. The reigning Super Bowl champions are winless against him the last two times he’s been on the field. That should say everything about how important Warner is to San Francisco’s success.

Baltimore Ravens

Without starting quarterback Lamar Jackson in week five, Baltimore faced an uphill task of winning in Atlanta against the high-flying Falcons. Despite an early lead and stopping Atlanta’s offense most of the first half, the Ravens still trailed…and then the Falcons offense started playing well.

Baltimore head coach Jesse Minter kept the team focused even after Atlanta went up by eight points. Quarterback Tyler Huntley led the Ravens to their first touchdown of the game and cut the deficit to two. After Baltimore trailed by eight again, Huntley and the offense scored another touchdown and converted a two point conversion to tie the game and send it to overtime.

Tyler Huntley led the Ravens offense to another touchdown after a long, seven minute possession in overtime. According to OptaSTATS on X (formerly Twitter), Huntley is the only quarterback in NFL history to go 10-for-10 or better with a passing and a rushing touchdown in the final two minutes of the fourth quarter plus overtime. He also didn’t turn the ball over in his third start replacing Jackson.

Baltimore won the game when Falcons backup quarterback Tua Tagovailoa threw an interception on the first play of Atlanta’s following possession. The Ravens had no reason to come back multiple times down eight points with a backup quarterback and steal a win in overtime. Head coach Jesse Minter has some great moments the first few weeks of the season, but a Sunday night win in Atlanta could be his best one.

Losers: Klint Kubiak

Las Vegas has been a great team to watch and analyze the first month of the regular season. It’s mostly because head coach Klint Kubiak has done a stellar job with turning around the confidence, play-calls, and better usage of time management. Sometimes there are bad games. Sunday was one such example.

The Raiders got smacked around in New England start to finish. The Patriots scored touchdowns on their first two possessions in the game and never worried about Las Vegas making a comeback. Quarterback Drake Maye had five total touchdowns and 399 total yards. It got so bad Kubiak finally let number one overall pick Fernando Mendoza play and close out the game.

The Raiders had not played a terrible game a quarter into the season and that is a miracle given what viewers watched from them the last two decades. Sunday felt like a return to the past. Kubiak somehow didn’t have his team ready to play after a heavy, divisional game the previous week. It can happen for rookie coaches, but there will be concern if it happens again this month.

DeShaun Watson

Cleveland had won three games in a row and had to play a Jets team in New York that was humiliated the prior weekend in Chicago. While the Jets had a better chance to score and play a competent football game, one expected the Browns would do the same given their winning record. That didn’t happen…at least on the offensive side of the ball.

Quarterback DeShaun Watson played better the last two weeks and had a good chance to steal another win on the road. Watson completed 15 of 33 passes for 155 yards and a touchdown. That was good enough for 12 points, but not a win after Cleveland’s defense kept New York’s offense to 17. Watson was sacked eight times and struggled to get rid of the ball To compare, Tyson Bagent was sacked once against the Jets defense in week four, and he is a less talented quarterback than Watson.

New York has a young defense that plays hard. They were embarrassed and wanted a bounce-back performance. DeShaun Watson’s improvement is a big reason the Browns have three wins and are over .500. When Cleveland does lose, it is mostly because Watson plays badly. The AFC North is a tight race and these types of games keep more inept teams out of the playoffs.

Kellen Moore

Klint Kubiak wasn’t the only offensive-minded head coach working with an undermanned team to flounder the last two weeks. New Orleans’ Kellen Moore has done a phenomenal job most of the last calendar year with turning the Saints around and getting them closer to winning the NFC South. The last two games were not kind to Moore. New Orleans’ early afternoon home loss to the Vikings was definitely on him.

The Saints offense in particular struggled. FOX put this graphic up at one point.

Not only was that terrible for the Saints offense, it highlights how Moore and quarterback Tyler Shough had no answers despite runningback Alvin Kamara getting some touches.

It’s fair to say Kellen Moore does not have enough talent to work with especially when trying to run the ball, but it’s hard to tell when there are few attempts to run said ball. A defense that heavily blitzes can be worn down by running the ball or using pass/run option read decisions. New Orleans still has a lot to work on and it’s disappointing their last two losses stem from coaches exacerbating certain offensive issues.

Arizona Cardinals offense

Two of the NFL’s worst defenses played in Arizona Sunday. The Lions and Cardinals are supposed to have really good offenses that can stretch the field and put up a lot of points. Well, Detroit listened, showed up and scored 45. Arizona though, struggled most of the game.

The Cardinals started well and got a lead early when quarterback Jacoby Brissett found tight-end Teagan Quitoriano for a two yard touchdown. That was it for Arizona until midway through the third quarter when the game was out of reach at 31-7. There was a point in the first and early second quarter where the Lions couldn’t do anything on offense. Instead of putting long scoring drives together, the Cardinals went three-and-out multiple times, couldn’t establish a stable running game, and got Brissett sacked whenever he looked downfield.

Arizona is in a serious spiral after a promising start to the season. Jeremiyah Love is struggling because of multiple ankle injuries. Love also said at one point last week that it has been a long season. That is alarming considering he said that after week four. Former high first round pick Marvin Harrison Jr. was in a slump until the Cardinals front office and staff decided to deactivate him ahead of playing one of the NFL’s worst defenses, and subsequently traded him to Houston right before kickoff. Finally, Brissett cannot keep taking a lot of hits every week. Jacoby Brissett trying to elude defensive linemen every week is a big reason why he has not inspired too much confidence outside of finding open tight-ends. A lot of pressure will turn to the Arizona’s coaching staff to start rookie Carson Beck sometime this month or next if there is no progress.

NFL Week Four Winners and Losers

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What an exciting week four! We saw jaw-dropping touchdown catches, an upset in Philadelphia, the Jets getting their first interception for the first time in almost two years, and three other teams remain undefeated after four games. The first Sunday of October delivered surprising results and some exciting divisional matchups. So, let’s take a look at what stood out to start the month.

Winners: Ben Johnson

Chicago stunned viewers with their total destruction of Philadelphia last Monday night. Many analysts believed the Bears wouldn’t do that to the Jets yesterday. The common thought was if Chicago won, it would be close. The Bears proved more people wrong in their dismantling of New York on Sunday afternoon.

Instead of riding the hot-hand at quarterback with Case Keenum, head coach Ben Johnson wisely reverted to top backup Tyson Bagent since he was back to full health after suffering a concussion in practice two weeks ago. Johnson’s game-plan with and without Bagent was excellent start to finish.

Chicago scorched the Jets defense in the first quarter. After a bizarre turnover on downs, the Bears scored a touchdown the next possession. Chicago mercilessly ran the ball against the improved New York defense, and ended the first half with a double digit lead.

The Bears did more in the second half despite giving up nine more points. The Jets offense scored a touchdown when quarterback Geno Smith found Isaiah Williams for 58 yards, but that was their only big play of the game. It was also the last possession New York had as Chicago went on a masterful eight and a half minute final drive to close out the game. The Bears offense ended the game with more first downs than the Jets offense had plays.

Chicago’s defense sacked Smith three times and limited New York’s passing attack to 61 yards before the big play. Defensive coordinator Dennis Allen has more to work with this season because of Johnson’s focus on the offense and clock management. ESPN Insights backs this up with a stat featured on Sportscenter with Scott Van Pelt late Sunday night stating Chicago had the fourth highest play differential in a game since 1970, and the best first down differential in franchise history. The Bears ran 57 more plays and had 27 more first downs than the Jets. Game preparation has improved and is better even on shorter weeks. It’s clear Ben Johnson was the perfect hire to rejuvenate this franchise.

New England Patriots

After their trip to Super Bowl 60, it is clear New England is struggling to regain their 2025-26 form. While there have been high moments, the Patriots hadn’t played a good game…until Sunday. It came at what was possibly the most important week of the season as New England earned a needed win in Buffalo.

Head coach Mike Vrabel had everyone ready to play. The Patriots scored two touchdowns on their first three drives of the game. Despite forcing some turnovers in the first half, the undefeated Bills led by three points. Vrabel outsmarted rookie head coach Joe Brady in the second half and frustrated Buffalo’s offense.

New England scored a touchdown to start the third quarter and shut down the Bills offense until mid-fourth. Once Buffalo got the lead back, the Patriots offense wasted no time. Quarterback Drake Maye led a perfect scoring drive capped off with a one-handed touchdown grab by receiver Efton Chism III. Maye then converted a bold two point conversion to keep the lead at three. That forced the Bills to either play for a tie to reach overtime or win the game within the final 62 seconds.

Buffalo’s offense couldn’t score again and the Bills lost their first home game in their new stadium and first game of the season to the rival Patriots. Not only did New England win a crucial game to get them back to .500 and one game out of first place in the AFC East, they won without star cornerback Christian Gonzalez playing a snap. New England’s other two rivals lost, keeping the east a two team race the Patriots can focus on. One week in the NFL can change a lot for any given team.

Kenneth Walker III

There wasn’t a more needed and better addition for any team in last offseason’s free agency like runningback and reigning Super Bowl MVP Kenneth Walker III was for Kansas City. The Chiefs struggled to find a crucial playmaker the last few off-seasons who can take pressure off elite quarterback Patrick Mahomes II. General manager Brett Veach has come up empty in the last few drafts, and most of the speedy receivers signed in free agency either can’t stay healthy or have hands like a burled oak table when the football gets near them. Veach had a superstar runningback land into his lap this off-season. Kansas City is now the AFC’s best team because of Kenneth Walker III’s play.

The Chiefs played a slugfest Sunday in Las Vegas. The Raiders team many are used to watching every year has become dangerous and not dreadful. Without Kenneth Walker III, Kansas City would have lost. The Chiefs from the last couple seasons might have done enough to get a field goal and a one point lead near the end of the game, but Las Vegas probably would have scored a game winning touchdown to stay undefeated. With Walker III, Kansas City took over the game and set the Raiders on their heels.

The most pivotal moments in the Chiefs win were when Kenneth Walker III scored two straight touchdowns and gave Kansas City their first and only double digit lead of the game. Walker finished the game with 22 rushes for 177 yards and two touchdowns. According to Yahoo Sports, he became the third ever runningback to rush for 170 yards at least twice in his team’s first four games of a season. Head coach Andy Reid was careful in the first of two games against Las Vegas to use Walker against a revived defense. When Reid did go to Kenneth Walker III, there was no doubt who the best player was on the field.

League MVP has unfortunately turned into a quarterback award and it shouldn’t. There is a great argument that the NFL MVP frontrunner should be Kenneth Walker III. Kansas City is nowhere close to undefeated or even at a winning record without him.

Carolina Panthers

Believe it or not, this could be the year the NFC South playoff race isn’t filled with mediocre at best, sub-.500 teams. New Orleans will be a threat to win the division most of the season, but Carolina finally looks like the playoff team many longed to see with head coach Dave Canales and franchise star quarterback Bryce Young. Sunday night’s impressive home win against Detroit showed more proof this team could go far and do damage in the playoffs.

The Panthers offense demolished a terrible Lions defense with a 450+ yard performance. Even when Detroit’s defense played well, Young completed crucial passes to receiver Tetairoa McMillan to seal the win.

On defense, Carolina suffered more injuries during the game and played without both starting cornerbacks. The Panthers defensive line stepped up and blocked at least four of quarterback Jared Goff’s passes, limited multi-faceted runningback Jahmyr Gibbs to 46 yards on 15 carries, and forced the juggernaut Lions offense into multiple turnovers on downs.

Many viewers didn’t believe or know if the Panthers could keep up their progress after last season’s late surge. It appears the Carolina team that started to put it together last season is a legitimate playoff threat in the NFC. Hopefully the rest of the south is on notice and actually plays good football outside of one team.

Losers: Dante Stills

Field goals are pivotal points in an American football game because one defining moment can occur for either team. Usually viewers see the team attempting the field goal as the one with the most pressure to mess up and make a terrible mistake. Once in a while, it happens with a team defending against the kick, and it can lead to serious changes. Arizona had one Sunday in New York and it cost them their second win of the season.

In one of the biggest changes during an NFL game this season, New York’s field goal on a fourth and eight was called back because of a holding penalty on Cardinals defensive lineman Dante Stills. Many argued online it was not a penalty for various reasons, but irrefutable video proof shows Stills guilty of holding onto and dragging an offensive lineman towards him. The penalty gave the Giants a fresh set of downs, and they went on to score a touchdown and re-gain the lead. New York never trailed again after this penalty.

Dante Stills isn’t the sole reason Arizona lost, but he is the embodiment of how the Cardinals remain a sloppy team while still trying to get things right. A third year veteran shouldn’t make egregious mistakes like that on a pivotal play. Arizona is 1-3, and instead of talking about how the Cardinals somehow remain in the NFC West divisional race, analysts are left wondering how soon rookie quarterback Carson Beck will make his debut if Arizona falls any further in the overall playoff race. American football is a team sport, and it can take just one player to screw everything up.

Green Bay Packers, even in a win

If you were forced to watch Green Bay’s ugly win in Tampa Bay on FOX, you at least deserve financial compensation. That was a game no one wanted to win and fewer wanted to watch. Both Bay teams are awful this season for various reasons, but unfortunately, neither team wanted to settle for a tie and go their separate ways.

At this point, there’s not much else to say about the Buccaneers. Yes, rookie quarterback Jalon Daniels was ok in his NFL debut. Unfortunately for Daniels, he was a rookie in his first game. There were mistakes he probably shouldn’t have made in a winnable game. It’s not as if the other 52 Tampa players stepped up anyway.

The Packers are a legitimate cause for concern. After an ugly 1-1 start to the season, Green Bay was thumped at home in week three in Michael Penix Jr.’s first game back with Atlanta. There should have been much more urgency built up over a week and a half heading into Sunday. The Packers not only lacked it after the second touchdown, but they were fortunate to come away with a win after a turnover filled fourth quarter. The Buccaneers’ turnover on downs on their final possession of the game cemented how Green Bay is both lucky and not a serious playoff contending team.

Much has been said about head coach Todd Bowles getting fired in Florida, but Matt LaFleur is on the hot seat too. It would not be surprising if both teams wind up going for full re-builds after the regular season ends.

Vance Joseph

Last week this site raved about the play of Talanoa Hufanga and how he can be the center-piece of an elite defense if he stays healthy. Turns out that’s going to happen after Denver lost both their starting cornerbacks to injuries in a disastrous loss at San Francisco.

Like most of the last full calendar year of games watching the Broncos attempt to play football, Sean Payton’s team played a slow, dismal first half. The biggest development of a 3-3 tie after two quarters was an Achilles injury to defensive player of the year winner and all-pro cornerback Pat Surtain II. Riley Moss also left because of injury, and that left Denver vulnerable in the passing game despite the 49ers having an extremely thin receiving core. The advantage still should have been with defensive coordinator Vance Joseph.

That was not the case. San Francisco flipped a switch and scored three straight touchdowns in the second half. A special teams fumble leading to the first score aside, Joseph couldn’t stop anything Kyle Shanahan’s offense ran without their two starting corners. Quarterback Brock Purdy, runningback Christian McCaffrey and tight-end George Kittle bullied the Broncos defense. Denver led the league in redzone scoring defense last year. San Francisco scored two of their three touchdowns in the redzone with little resistance.

It’s fair to say the Broncos loss can be blamed on injuries, but San Francisco didn’t stretch the field most of the game even with the starting cornerbacks out. Kittle had a 56 yard touchdown catch and run after he beat all of Denver’s defense (including Hufanga) by himself. It’s probably an off-game for Joseph’s unit, but bad performances like that could be a reason the Broncos miss the playoffs.

Miami Dolphins

There are five winless teams at the end of week four. Of the five, the most unfortunate one has to be Miami. Despite playing passionate football, the Dolphins seemingly cannot do enough to steal or seal a win.

Thankfully this team is not the 2007 team that went 1-15 (this website kept up with their games that year. Trust us, it was ugly), but it might not fare better because there’s a severe lack of talent on the roster. To make things worse, most of the talented players landed on IR before October.

Sunday was another strange low for Miami. Minnesota won their second game of their undefeated stretch without scoring a touchdown. It’s the first time since the 1923 Chicago Cardinals any NFL team has done that. The Vikings scored 15 points and could have scored a touchdown at the end, but decided to down the ball and run out the rest of the clock.

However, the game was almost different and the Dolphins almost pulled out a win. Receiver Chris Bell beat Minnesota’s secondary and scored a long yardage touchdown…until it turned out the ref flagged him for stepping out of bounds before catching the ball. Miami punted the next play.

Head coach Jeff Hafley is doing a great job of keeping morale in the locker room. There are good players on the Dolphins roster, but even one or two mistakes m make Miami a serious candidate for 0-17.

NFL Week Three Winners and Losers

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Week three of the NFL regular season featured many pivotal games. Most divisions are slowly showing which teams will stand out as playoff favorites before Halloween. While a lot of wins and plays stood out, some were more eye-opening than others. Here are this weeks winners and losers.

Winners: John Harbaugh

The Giants had as bad a week that any a team could have in week two. They were blown out on primetime last Monday night and lost their starting quarterback to a season-ending injury. Most teams would have caved in on a short week and played a similar type of game the following weekend. Big Blue was the opposite on Sunday.

Head coach John Harbaugh united the locker room on a short week and the Giants played a stellar defensive home game against Tennessee. While backup quarterback Jameis Winston completed 14 of 22 passes for a paltry 118 yards, he led the now-anemic offense to four scoring drives. New York’s defense held the Titans to seven points, less than 175 total yards and intercepted quarterback Malik Willis at the end of the game to seal a win.

The most impressive part of the Giants’ win Sunday afternoon was their special teams. Harbaugh is a former special teams coach and does his best work with kickers and returners. Kicker Dominic Zvada made all four of his field goal attempts and scored all of New York’s points. Punter Jordan Stout averaged 50 yards per punt, including a whopping 74 yarder early in the second quarter.

Not all of the Giants’ wins will be pretty this season under John Harbaugh, but New York desperately needed a response after last Monday night’s disaster. A solid performance by any side of the ball would have meant a lot. All three sides did more than enough for a win and to put the Giants back over .500.

Washington Commanders

Like their division rival New York, Washington was soundly embarrassed on primetime last week and lost their young, franchise star quarterback to injury. No one gave the Commanders a chance to beat the defending Super Bowl champions at home. The Seahawks were on a 12 game winning streak and had starting quarterback Sam Darnold back. Washington did not care.

The Commanders never trailed Sunday. After forcing a Jadarian Price fumble on the Seahawks’ second possession of the game, Washington ran through Seattle’s battered defense on four plays to score a touchdown. The Seahawks came back to tie the game early in the second quarter, but Washington’s offense then responded with a long scoring drive of their own.

It did not matter how well the Seahawks played. The Commanders capitalized off every mistake and didn’t let up. Washington forced three turnovers and got touchdowns after all of them. The Commanders converted 20 points from turnovers. This was the first game they scored 20 or more points off turnovers since Week 17 of the 2005 regular season. Washington also forced the Seahawks to commit a turnover on downs late in the second quarter.

Commanders head coach Dan Quinn is unfairly on the hot seat this season and an 0-2 start after week two made it warmer. Quinn, backup quarterback Marcus Mariota (who’s now 3-0 against Seattle) and an older Commanders defense had what could (or should be) their best game of their season. There is a lot to build off after Sunday’s win that will keep Washington relevant in the NFC East.

Talanoa Hufanga

Denver’s epic, comeback win on Sunday night will be one of the top games of the regular season, even if it was in week three. Although the Broncos offense had a sluggish start, they woke up in the second half and delivered. However, the offense would not have gotten the win if it wasn’t for the outstanding play of the defense led by safety Talanoa Hufanga.

Hufanga was on another level Sunday night. Signed by Denver last season, Talanoa Hufanga is one of the most underrated NFL safeties. If he stays healthy, he can go toe-to-toe with the best offenses. In a Sunday night home win versus Los Angeles, Hufanga recorded five tackles, one sack and two interceptions. His first one was returned for a touchdown and gave the Broncos their first lead of the game. His second pick was the last play of the game that sealed the stunning win.

The Denver defense has not been at the same elite level many have watched the last few seasons, but there are still valuable players who can turn a game around instantly. Talanoa Hufanga is one, and if the Broncos have aspirations to go back to the AFC championship game, they will need him at full health. Hufanga is more than capable of playing like this more often.

Losers: Joe Burrow

Cincinnati quarterback Joe Burrow is mostly an elite NFL passer. He has endured a lot of losses and lows despite reaching the Super Bowl and other meaningful highs in his six year career. There are also times when he’s the reason the Bengals have come up short and lost. Sunday was one of those times.

Burrow played a great road game Sunday. He completed 28 of 37 passes for 282 yards and three touchdowns. Joe Burrow kept Cincinnati in a divisional shootout game and did everything he was supposed to…except he committed a costly error on Cincinnati’s last possession of the game. Burrow fumbled the ball at mid-field and Pittsburgh recovered. Instead of the Bengals going for a game-winning score and cementing themselves as the best team in the AFC North, they lost and now every team in the division is tied at 2-1.

Joe Burrow is the Bengals best player, and he deserves heaps of praise. He also deserves a rightful amount of criticism. PFWA sports writer Scott Kacsmar found a fascinating statistic after the loss: Joe Burrow is 1-34 when (he and) the Bengals trail in the last eight minutes of an NFL game. We could say that’s on Cincinnati’s usually terrible defense, but 35 games seems an objective sample-size. Burrow’s supposed to be a clutch passer and franchise star under pressure. He is anything but when his team trails, and that’s an issue the team must address this season.

Houston Texans (specifically the defense)

Detroit Lions head coach Dan Campbell gave us one of the best sports quotes this decade after his team lost to San Francisco back in the 2024 NFC championship game. After leading by double digits, San Francisco came back to win. Campbell knew the loss made the team look bad and told the media and players, “This might have been our only shot”. Everyone knows Campbell meant that one shot was to go to and win the Super Bowl. That’s the most accurate thing to think and talk about with this year’s Houston Texans.

Houston has never played well on the road in Indianapolis, but the Colts had not won a game in over ten months despite playing hard. The Texans had a wakeup call in a resounding loss against the Bengals in week two. One would expect more urgency in week three. That was not the case Sunday.

This is Houston’s second season starting 0-3 under head coach DeMeco Ryans. Last year, the defense played at a level many had not seen in the conference in almost a decade. This year feels different. The defense is not the same elite unit and struggles to create turnovers, shut down star receivers and keep opponents out of the endzone. Houston’s defense ended September with no interceptions, gave up 252.5 passing yards a game, 338 total yards a game and 37.5 points per game. That’s not an elite defense. That’s a defense teams like Chicago, Dallas and Detroit would covet and feel playoff hopes with.

There’s still a lot of time for the Texans to fix a lot of things on every side of the ball, but there are serious questions after a second straight sloppy start to the season for Houston. The defense should not have to fix a lot of the team’s issues, and the offensive line has to play better at the line of scrimmage. That might not happen given how a lot of teams were repeatedly told the Texans were Super Bowl caliber this season.

Tyler Shough

New Orleans has again enamored audiences by how competitive they play and how close they keep games no matter the opponent. At some point, the Saints offense must learn how to put opponents away late in the second half. That starts with sophomore starting quarterback Tyler Shough.

Shough completed 29 of 42 passes for 255 yards and four touchdowns. He looked like the best player on the field and was close to unstoppable. The undefeated Raiders’ defense struggled to get a read on Shough and couldn’t shake him mentally…until the fourth quarter.

A turnover-plagued fourth quarter allowed Las Vegas to get back into the game and steal a win in New Orleans. All of New Orleans’ possessions in the last quarter ended in turnovers. Three of those were on Tyler Shough.

The first one was a strip sack and recovery by defensive end Malcolm Koonce. The Raiders scored a touchdown and never trailed again after the turnover. The next possession, Shough was intercepted by cornerback Hezekiah Masses. Las Vegas scored another touchdown three plays later.

Tyler Shough wasn’t done though. This time it was safety Jeremy Chinn who forced a fumble the following possession and ended a four and a half minute drive. The recovery by cornerback Taron Johnson gave the Raiders the ball back for a minute, but the damage was done.

The NFC South will be a tight race all season and one or two wins could determine how early the division is won. If New Orleans doesn’t win the south, they can point to this game for why. Their offense, especially their starting quarterback, turned the ball over too many times instead of sealing an important home win.

2026-27 NHL Eastern Conference Playoff Picks

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Last season was a championship three-peat for the eastern conference. The Carolina Hurricanes became the first eastern conference team to end the Sunshine State’s six year monopoly of the Stanley Cup finals. This year, they will face a fully healthy Panthers and a reinvigorated Lightning. Outside of Florida and Carolina, other teams will challenge for the championship. Washington and Montreal will be two top teams many think will push back. Ottawa, Pittsburgh and Philadelphia will take the next steps and be closer to the championship round than they were last year. Teams like the Bruins, Sabres and Rangers will have a lot to say too.

The conference is again loaded with the deepest and most dangerous teams in the NHL. It’s time to break down which eight eastern teams will make the 2026-27 playoffs.

Atlantic: Florida Panthers

The healthier the roster, the more wins Florida goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky will pile up.

Florida didn’t have a chance to defend their reigning champion season last year because of the amount of serious injuries that piled up. The Panthers finished their 2025-26 season without their captain, their best playmaker and veteran enforcer, and still finished with more than 80 points.

Now they get everyone back to start the season Tuesday in Carolina. Florida also added former captains Radko Gudas and Brady Tkachuk, and goaltender depth with Jacob Markstrom and Akira Schmid. The Panthers will be the favorites to win the championship all year for good reasons.

Tampa Bay Lightning

Tampa Bay’s core returns for another chance to win the Stanley Cup.

Tampa Bay could have gone to the eastern conference finals had Montreal not gotten lucky in their game seven matchup. While there’s a debate that could have been the Lightning’s last chance to win a Stanley Cup without the rival Panthers being in the way, Tampa Bay still boasts an elite roster. Jon Cooper is still one of the NHL’s best coaches and Andrei Vasilevskiy remains the world’s best goaltender. The defensive additions in the offseason should help the Lightning go further in the playoffs this year.

Ottawa Senators

This is a big season for Ottawa. Gone are the days when their young core could play however they wanted to and make mistakes with little blowback. The Senators have a lot of pressure this year to at least win a playoff series and finish as a top six team in the east. Linus Ullmark stunned viewers last season when he had the best playoff series of his career against reigning Cup champion Carolina. Despite a sweep, the defense proved it can hang with the NHL’s best. The offense has a lot of playmakers and remains a force on the power-play. No pressure on coach Travis Green.

Montreal Canadiens

Montreal had a cinderella 2025-26 season. Now they’re targets for making it to the conference finals.

Montreal rounds out a crowded Atlantic that will do a lot of damage in the playoffs. The Canadiens dazzled many with their long playoff run last year. Cole Caufield continues to stay under the radar among top NHL scorers. Lane Hutson has some of the best eyes and skills for any current young player. Jakub Dobes will continue to gain interest from many who love watching goaltenders play. Montreal might not replicate last year’s stellar success, but they will remain one of the most dangerous teams in the east.

Metropolitan: Carolina Hurricanes

Nobody dominated the 2026 Stanley Cup playoffs like Carolina. It won’t be as easy this season with both Sunshine State teams back in contention.

The reigning Cup champions return with a mostly intact, deep roster. If Florida or Tampa Bay don’t reach the finals, it will be Carolina.

Washington Capitals

Coach Spencer Carberry has made Washington one of the top teams again in the Metropolitan. While the roster is still known for its scoring prowess, there is better defensive depth and more goaltenders Carberry can turn to should injuries/slumps arrive. The Capitals should be one of the best teams in the conference not found in Florida or North Carolina.

Philadelphia Flyers

Philadelphia stunned many by upsetting Pittsburgh in the first round of the playoffs and stealing a win from Carolina in the second.

Not only did Philadelphia impress in the playoffs but they got better in the offseason. Rick Tocchet showed viewers why he is one of the best NHL coaches. The Flyers defense and continued offensive progress could make them one of the top two teams in the metropolitan and a true threat to atlantic division opponents.

Pittsburgh Penguins

It’s hard to pick what fourth team could make the playoffs from this division. Columbus could be one of the NHL’s worst teams this season. New Jersey will have issues with their defense and goaltenders again, and both New York teams will face a lot of drama from coaching to more roster trades before March. None of these four look like stable options that could come close to making the playoffs.

That leaves Pittsburgh as the lone choice. The Penguins should build off last season’s progress, do better on offense and solidify their goaltending options. Arturs Silovs is a good choice to name as starter. Now Pittsburgh needs to improve on special teams, especially the power-play. While a lot of people aren’t happy the Penguins haven’t won a series in almost a decade, there will be plenty of time to work on and figure that out in a long season. At least this is a Pittsburgh team most people can stomach to watch.

Regular season eastern conference playoffs prediction record: 3-5

2026-27 NHL Western Conference Playoff Picks

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The western conference is in a championship drought. Vegas won the championship in 2023. Three years have passed and no team in the west has come close after Edmonton forced a game seven against Florida in 2024. All 16 teams in this conference have massive amounts of pressure to not just win the Stanley Cup, but to at least make it to the finals and force the eastern opponent to play scared.

Despite the desperation, the conference had the most entertaining playoffs. Many viewers were stunned at Anaheim’s progression last season. Minnesota finally won a first round series for the first time in a decade. Utah held their own and looks like a breakout team this season. This could also be a last dance for Dallas and Los Angeles’ star-studded rosters. Finally, no matter the success teams have out west, Colorado and Vegas remain the big names every team must get past. Eight incredibly deep and talented teams will make the 2027 Stanley Cup playoffs. It’s time to break down which teams in each division have the best chances to make the 2026-27 postseason.

Central: Colorado Avalanche

As long as coach Jared Bednar is with Colorado, the Avalanche will make the playoffs.

It would take the annihilation of the state of Colorado for the Avalanche not to make the playoffs. Even if 75% of the roster is on injured reserve, coach Jared Bednar would find a way to get this team into the postseason. Easiest pick in the conference.

Minnesota Wild

The biggest hurdle Minnesota had to clear last season was winning a playoff series. Now they can play like a championship favorite many predicted they would be in the past. The stacked roster will go blow for blow with the Avalanche all year.

Utah Mammoth

Unlike the NHL Network, this website has Karel Vejmelka as (at least) a top ten goaltender. Vejmelka is a big reason why Utah made the playoffs last year, and their depth behind him is better this season.

Utah put on a show in the playoffs against the western conference champion Golden Knights. The Mammoth’s young core isn’t in their prime yet, but they do show improvement every year. From coach Andre Tourigny to the fourth line, Utah should be the team to watch in the central division this season. It wouldn’t be a surprise if they wind up as the third best team and go further in the 2027 playoffs than they did in 2026.

Dallas Stars

There’s no doubt Dallas has top tier talent to make the postseason. One thing the Stars lack are players who enjoy playing physical and making goaltenders uncomfortable for more than one period. General manager Jim Nill traded most of those players away and it cost Dallas in the 2026 playoffs. Nill has to get some of the depth back and the Stars have to continue playing better defense. Jamie Benn and Tyler Seguin are another season closer to retirement and Dallas has to find a way to get them back into the championship round.

Pacific: Vegas Golden Knights

A roster this deep will return to the 2027 Stanley Cup playoffs.

Vegas is the favorite in the pacific to make it back to the playoffs. While the defense has to continue last seasons improvement, the offense and special teams should be more than enough to get the Golden Knights a top three spot in the division.

Los Angeles Kings

Anze Kopitar may have retired but Los Angeles still has an incredible roster. While new captain Drew Doughty is also close to retirement, the offense should be in the NHL’s top half in scoring while the defense continues to snuff out scoring chances. As long as the Kings don’t run into Colorado or Edmonton in the first round again, they should be fine.

San Jose Sharks

Is the third year the charm for San Jose’s Macklin Celebrini to make the playoffs? Additional help signed and drafted in the offseason combined with a bastion of minor league talent should be the difference this year.

Move over Connor McDavid and Edmonton. There is a younger, more gifted and standout league darling who is the next big thing. San Jose’s Macklin Celebrini made all-time great parallels with his stats, play and comparisons last season while the Sharks barely missed out on a playoff spot. The pacific division is clearly the worst of the four, but that could change if San Jose takes the next step or two this season.

The Sharks also did what the Oilers failed to do with McDavid and Leon Draisaitl in the past: they added more skill on defense while growing their minor league systems. Buffalo traded them third year defenseman Phil Kesselring and San Jose signed former captain Jacob Trouba. Trouba’s physical play and veteran experience are more valuable than his speed (of which the Sharks have plenty on offense and defense). That will help Darnell Nurse play a more limited role in this defense and make San Jose a more formidable opponent for every team this season.

Anaheim Ducks

Anaheim’s Leo Carlsson (91) signed a lucrative five year, $90 million extension in the offseason. That could come back to bite the Ducks’ championship chances.

At this moment there is little to no confidence that Calgary, Edmonton, Seattle and Vancouver will make the playoffs. Two teams are in long-term re-builds, one is just terrible for fun and the other is about to have a firesale by next season. That leaves Anaheim as the lone option standing.

It’s possible the Ducks are just as good, if not better than last season. Anaheim’s problem is they lost some good defensive players in John Carlson and Jacob Trouba to extend younger stars like Leo Carlsson. The defensive losses in free agency weren’t patched up and coach Joel Quenneville is not the type to favor defense first. The Ducks will have an interesting season since there weren’t high hopes for them last year. This year, Anaheim will be taken more seriously almost every night by their rivals and out of conference opponents.

Regular season western conference playoffs prediction record: 6-2

NFL Week Two Winners and Losers

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It’s hard to have a spectacular follow-up week of games after the NFL’s regular season premiere, but week two didn’t disappoint. There were comebacks and interesting stories that will dominate headlines and progress the following months. Here is who and what stood out most after this season’s week two.

Winners: Green Bay Packers

Green Bay had not won a game in 286 days before Sunday. They had given up consecutive double digit leads to division rivals in back-to-back games. Head coach Matt LaFleur and starting quarterback Jordan Love faced constant criticism throughout all of 2026. The Packers needed a win to get back to .500.

Not only did Green Bay get a win Sunday, they won after trailing by ten points midway through the fourth quarter. Love found Christian Watson for a three yard touchdown the possession after the Jets extended their 17-7 lead. The Packers got the ball back after forcing another punt from New York and tied the game their following possession.

LaFleur and the offense could have mentally checked out after the Jets took a ten point lead. Instead, Green Bay rallied to win an overtime, road thriller. New York will be a better team this season, but they went through some growing pains against a veteran Packers team that is now tied for second in the NFC North.

Kyle Shanahan

Matt LaFleur wasn’t the only head coach who impressed in a win against an AFC East opponent Sunday. San Francisco dominated Miami in their first game back in the United States this season.

Kyle Shanahan’s 49ers left no doubt which team was superior start to finish. San Francisco jumped out to an early 14-6 lead to end the first half. The 49ers dominated the first two quarters so they could take as much time off the clock as possible. However, the undermanned Dolphins played hard and tried to keep the game close.

Shanahan made the necessary changes and San Francisco made it a rout in the second half. The 49ers scored three third quarter touchdowns and sealed an easy win before the fourth. Brock Purdy threw two touchdowns that quarter; one to tight-end George Kittle and the other to fullback Kyle Juszczyk. The second scoring pass capped off a five minute drive that exhausted all of Miami’s defensive players.

Many viewers did not think San Francisco would be undefeated after two games because of the mounting injury concerns. Free agent wide receiver addition Mike Evans left because of a hip injury in the dominant win yesterday. It is increasingly difficult to ignore the mounting injury concerns with the 49ers wide receiving room. They are even more thin after another game. Despite this serious analysis, head coach Kyle Shanahan guided San Francisco to another winning record that again seems next to impossible because of how competitive the NFC West is. It will be hard to beat the 49ers each week because of how the roster, no matter the replacements, is well-coached.

Jaxon Smith-Njigba

Few wide receivers can claim to be the NFL’s best. Fewer can dominate every facet on offense. When all is said and done, Seattle’s Jaxon Smith-Njigba could easily be the best wide receiver and offensive player the NFL sees every week.

After a week and a half off, the Seahawks played their first road and division game late Sunday afternoon. Arizona impressed many with a dominant road win in Los Angeles last week. Anyone who has paid attention to the NFL for a few years knows the Cardinals last beat Seattle almost five years ago. Jaxon Smith-Njigba made sure Arizona came up empty-handed again and even surpassed the Cardinals offense in total yards by himself.

Smith-Njigba dominated from the second snap of the Seahawks first offensive possession. He started the game with an 82 yard catch and run for a touchdown. Jaxon Smith-Njigba had 100+ yards before halftime despite a tie. The reigning Offensive Player of the Year came out the second half and gave Seattle their second lead of the afternoon the first possession. Smith-Njigba then added to the Seahawks lead to begin the fourth quarter and seal up another road win. Yesterday’s win was also Seattle’s 12th straight, their longest in franchise history.

Jaxon Smith-Njigba is one of the hardest players to cover and get a read on. As FOX’s Tom Brady analyzed in last year’s playoffs, Smith-Njigba always hides what routes he’s running by keeping his body parallel, head and shoulders stiff, and not giving away any movements pre-snap. Arizona’s secondary struggled to cover him all afternoon and even franchise great safety Budda Baker had no solutions on how to eliminate Smith-Njigba one-on-one. The nine catch, 155 yard, three touchdown performance is an impressive stat-line, but the Seahawks’ best receiver plays a complete game whenever one watches him. It’s not a surprise he has all of Seattle’s receiving touchdowns two weeks into the season (He is the first receiver to have scored his team’s first four receiving touchdowns in a season since Minnesota’s Ahmad Rashad did in 1979).

Sunday Night Football

Indianapolis usually plays Kansas City well. The Colts are one of the few teams that give Andy Reid, Patrick Mahomes II, Steve Spagnuolo and Travis Kelce heart palpitations no matter who is on their roster. Despite a devastating loss last season, Indianapolis came out swinging early Sunday night and didn’t let up.

Although the Chiefs have played two games this season, Sunday night’s home win could go down as their most impressive so far. Defensive coordinator Lou Anarumo threw everything he could at Mahomes who still found a way to throw for over 300 yards and three touchdowns. Kenneth Walker III had another 100 yard night and the offense was elite in the redzone.

Despite Kansas City’s big stars playing well, the Colts either tied or took the lead several times. In overtime, Indianapolis nearly won the game on their only possession. Their decision to kick a field goal on fourth and eight after Spagnuolo’s defense smothered the previous three plays was smart. However, Mahomes is just different. He and Walker III led the offense the final possession in overtime and got enough yards for kicker Harrison Butker to attempt and make a 40 yard field goal.

Patrick Mahomes is undefeated in his eight, regular season overtime games. Sunday Night Football on NBC gave viewers one of, if not the best game in September. There have been valid criticisms of what games the NFL gives for the U.S.’ top country program early in the season, but there are none after week two. If anything, we should watch these two teams on primetime more often.

Losers: Jason Licht

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers ended their 50th season in franchise history on a dismal note. They bottomed out of the NFC South division race and gave up countless leads. The worst may have been the week 15 Thursday night loss to Atlanta when Kirk Cousins led a double digit comeback. Anyone with working eyes knew a head coaching change and a roster overhaul was inevitable. Yet, Tampa Bay’s front office and upper management decided to delay the inevitable and keep head coach Todd Bowles and most of the roster intact. Two weeks into the regular season, those delays have cost the team in many ways.

Cleveland came into Tampa’s Raymond James Stadium Sunday off a humiliating 34-10 loss to Jacksonville. Everything that could have gone wrong for the Browns off and on the field, did. The Buccaneers had nothing to worry about after losing a tight game to Cincinnati. All they had to do was handle business and make Cleveland’s offense uncomfortable. That worked for one half.

The second half was almost all about the Browns. Tampa Bay went up by ten after quarterback Baker Mayfield threw a five yard touchdown to sophomore star receiver Emeka Egbuka. The Buccaneers then lost control and made Deshaun Watson look like his old Houston self the rest of the game. Even with a two hour lightning storm delay, Tampa Bay could not complete a two-minute drive. They bumbled around on offense and gave up big chunk plays to less experienced playmakers on defense.

One could say this is all on head coach Todd Bowles for not having the Buccaneers ready to play better. This is on management, especially the Glazer family and general manager Jason Licht for delaying more serious moves in the offseason and not understanding this would carry over to begin the regular season. When Tampa’s all-time best receiver decided to move on and play for another NFC team, Licht should have recognized it was time for necessary, massive changes. Instead the Buccaneers top brass decided to sit on their hands, cross their fingers and hope last season was a mirage. Last season was a warning. Now it’s a nightmare.

The 2024 quarterback draft class

We are in the third season of the 2024 draft class leaving their mark on the NFL and while there have been highlights, it has mostly been a mess for the quarterback position. Usually there aren’t too many memorable weeks where a specific quarterback class makes headlines, but this one did Sunday. Almost none were for good reasons.

The 2024 quarterback class includes number one overall pick Caleb Williams, second overall pick Jayden Daniels, third overall pick Drake Maye, eighth overall pick Michael Penix Jr., tenth overall pick J.J. McCarthy, twelfth overall pick Bo Nix, and late rounders Spencer Rattler, Jordan Travis, Joe Milton, Devin Leary, and Michael Pratt. Clearly the late rounders are not starting on any of the 32 teams. Fine. Rattler did start for New Orleans last year, but couldn’t prove he was the guy who could keep the Saints competitive. The first round quarterbacks though were all supposed to be both good and starting worthy. Well, most are starting worthy, but all have faced unfortunate fates.

Sunday was bad luck for most of the starters. Both Williams and Daniels left their divisional bouts after suffering serious injuries. While Caleb Williams injured his hamstring running on a play deep in Minnesota territory, Jayden Daniels dislocated the same left elbow he injured last season. This time it was in Dallas before the first half ended. The injury was so outlandishly bad, it made FOX’s Tom Brady swear live on-air during the call re-play. While Williams and Daniels won’t be out the rest of the season, they will miss time and their teams will play more low-scoring games.

The other two quarterbacks who played Sunday also struggled. Defenses are adapting to Drake Maye and Pittsburgh became the newest team to halt the potent Josh McDaniels offense, limiting it to 13 points. Maye threw an interception and was sacked three times. Bo Nix again played a great half of a game, but he still struggles to play a full four quarters and dazzle both his coaches and audiences. One never knows when or which Nix will show up each game.

At least the previous four got to play. Michael Penix Jr. remains out with multiple leg injuries and his team plays like they miss him…or any good quarterback with a pulse. Finally, there’s J.J. McCarthy. By all appearance, he is an all-time bust up there with JaMarcus Russell, Ryan Leaf, Brodie Croyle, Johnny Manziel and Nathan Peterman in the Super Bowl-era.

All the quarterbacks (minus McCarthy) are all talented and can in theory lead their teams far into the playoffs if given the chance. The problem is none of them can stay healthy long enough for that to happen. This could become the most cursed quarterback class in a long time.

Baltimore Ravens defense

Baltimore has one of the most talented defenses in the NFL. They have a deep linebacker core, a fantastic secondary, and generate a lot of pressure on opposing quarterbacks and offenses. When head coach Jesse Minter was hired this offseason, the hope was he’d turn it back into a fearsome unit similar to the Ray Lewis-led days or what previous coordinator Mike Macdonald had three years ago. That could still happen, but the defensive issues stand out after an unexpected week two loss.

The Ravens led by eight points twice in their home game against New Orleans. Although the Saints kicked field goals to trim Baltimore’s lead multiple times, there was no threat of a lead change…until the fourth quarter. The Ravens defense forgot how to cover New Orleans’ receivers, gave up big plays, and played sloppy in their own redzone.

Baltimore’s defense gave up both a touchdown and a tying two-point conversion after a five and a half minute drive in the fourth quarter. What was worse was how the Saints didn’t get the conversion the first time. The Ravens committed a holding penalty that gave New Orleans a second attempt and the successful conversion after.

The most controversial play in the game was Tyler Shough’s one yard touchdown run on fourth-and-goal. There is an angle where Shough broke past the goal-line for the score, but many believed the touchdown didn’t count. The problem is if the play was reversed, defensive captain and middle linebacker Roquan Smith would have been flagged for a blatant face-mask penalty that would have been an automatic first and goal and a fresh new set of downs inside the one yard line. That would have been a probable touchdown for New Orleans anyway.

It was a sloppy sequence at the end and a mess of a second half for the Ravens defense. Baltimore’s defense should improve during the season, but that was a game that could keep the Ravens lower in the playoff seeding later in the year.

Second half Jacksonville Jaguars

Denver had a great, comeback home win against Jacksonville after Kansas City thumped them last Monday Night in Kansas City. Since the Broncos needed everything to go right in order to win, that meant everything that could go wrong for the Jaguars, did.

Both teams had four possessions each in the second half. Both got field goals their first possession. Denver still needed to get at least a touchdown against the hottest team in their conference. They got two.

The two touchdowns were only possible because Jacksonville’s offense gave the Broncos hope. Quarterback Trevor Lawrence was intercepted by cornerback Riley Moss. Denver tied the game after a five minute drive the following possession.

Yet, the Jaguars still had a chance to take a lead and shut down the Broncos offense after. However, kicker Cam Little missed a 54 yard field goal attempt and gave Denver the ball back at mid-field. The Broncos predictably went downfield and scored another touchdown to take a seven point lead. Jacksonville’s last gasp was a five play final drive that resulted in a punt.

The Jaguars could still be one of the AFC’s best teams this season, but by not closing out a winnable game on either side of the ball, Jacksonville showed why many viewers still don’t believe they are a serious championship contending team. Denver was humiliated by a division rival not even a full week ago and somehow the Jaguars could not capitalize off that. It will eat at them most of the season.