The National Football League (NFL) is 15 weeks into their 18 week regular season. This year has been filled with difficult injuries and losses – totaling six season-ending injuries in quarterbacks alone. Aaron Rodgers, Anthony Richardson, Kirk Cousins, and Deshaun Watson are a few names on that list. All of these players faced different injuries, ranging from wrist to achilles issues. To introduce overall injury prevention in the sport, the league has started to make rules against tackling the quarterback. Defenders are no longer allowed to hit the quarterback around their knee and neck, or bring their full body weight onto the quarterback after he is hit. Like all rules, it is a controversial decision to protect one position over the others, but this year it has been shown that it is important to do so. The most notable quarterback to be on injury reserve is Aaron Rodgers, who was carted off the field with a torn achilles on September 11. After his surgery, Rodgers said that he plans to make an attempt at coming back onto the field near the end of the season- this would be the fastest recovery ever seen by the NFL.
Jets’ head coach, Robert Saleh, said in an ESPN interview, “If Aaron says he wants to play, he’s going to play.”
Along with notable injury problems, refereeing in the NFL has become a prominent issue because of inconsistency and blatant missed calls. Several fans and media teams are starting to bring attention to the poor officiating. The NFL has released ways they plan to fix this issue since so many teams and coaches are starting to speak on it.
“The officiating in the NFL has always been suspect, but it’s a full blown problem now, no matter how much the league wants to ignore it,” Sports Illustrated said,
First, the NFL has considered making it a full time job, so that all the focus is on the game and rules. Many current NFL refs are working second jobs, so making this a full time commitment may solve missed calls.
In addition, this year’s American Football Conference (AFC) race is the tightest the NFL has seen in years. With only 5/16 teams being under a .500 winning percentage, this leaves a window for 11 teams to compete for seven spots in the playoffs. The only two teams that have stood out this year are the Baltimore Ravens and Miami Dolphins, each leading the league with a 9-3 record. There are six teams with an overall record of 7-5 or better in this conference. This leaves very little room for error during games for each team.
The National Football Conference (NFC) only holds four teams with a winning percentage over .500, but each of these teams have a record of 9-3 or better. Because of the NFC South division, the NFC has a weak resume this season. The Carolina Panthers, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Atlanta Falcons, and New Orleans Saints are struggling to pull out wins. No team in the NFC South has above a .500 winning percentage; thus, they have a combined record of 17-29.
Based on Las Vegas Odds, the current MVP race leaders are Brock Purdy and Dak Prescott. Seventh in the race this year is Dolphins WR, Tyreek Hill, who is having one of the statistically best seasons ever. Hill is on pace to be the first player to surpass 2,000 receiving yards in a single season, which was thought to be one of the most unachievable stats. The league receiving yard record is currently held by retired NFL star Calvin Johnson, who had 1,964 yards. Quarterback for the Houston Texans, C.J Stroud is the most favored to win Offensive Rookie of the Year with an impressive season so far. Stroud is on pace to break Andrew Luck’s current rookie passing yard record. He is on his way to surpass 5,000 passing yards, which would be over 600 more yards than Luck’s record.
As the season continues, it will be an exciting race between teams for the playoff standings. With a year full of injuries and losses, each team has had to overcome in their own ways. Because of players’ impressive stats, the end of year awards will be difficult to decide.
sidebar of super bowl predictions
Owen Garee: chiefs vs cowboys and cowboys win 30-26
Cam Eoff: 27-17 dolphins beat 49ers
Zac Lavoty: 35-21 cowboys beat dolphins
Clayton Mckendry: browns vs eagles 27-13 eagles win
Ben Casper: 37-21 49ers over ravens
Jon Diorio: 27-24 49ers over ravens
Luke Jansen: Ravens take down the 49ers 31-27
Joe Lavoty: 31-28 49ers beat dolphins
Adian Twigg: Ravens and 49ers 27-36 49ers win
