The number of teams that have lost a top 3 player from their roster already this season is staggering. Quick list off the top of the head, and these are just the potential season enders.
Bears - Jaylon Johnson
Bengals - Joe Burrow
Cardinals - James Connor (debatable on top 3, but still massive)
49ers - Nick Bosa
Chargers - Khalil Mack (plus Slater and Harris)
Saints - Demario Davis
This doesn’t even include a bunch of hugely impactful injuries of slightly less notoriety, severity or carry-overs injuries from before the season like Brock Purdy, George Kittle, Kyler Gordon, CeeDee Lamb, Austin Ekeler, Tyrone Tracy, Chris Godwin, Joe Mixon, Brandon Aiyuk, TJ Edwards, Kaleb McGray, Jayden Reed, Christian Watson, Tank Dell, Nakobe Dean, Tyler Bass, JOK, Dre Greenlaw, Aaron Jones, Alijah Vera-Tucker, Cody Mauch, Luke Goedeke, T’Vondre Sweat. There’s obviously more, but these guys are mostly Pro Bowl caliber players who are on the IR and missing extended time.
Seattle played last week against the Saints without two of their best defensive players (Julian Love and Devon Witherspoon, who were co-captains last year), but it didn’t seem to matter much against that team. And I don’t think either will be out for long.
Patriots have been missing their top CB Christian Gonzalez for the first three games due to a training camp injury. No surprise, they have been gashed quite a bit on big pass plays as a result.
It’s a theme. The Bears have been without 3 of their 4 top DBs since the preseason, Jaylon Johnson and Terrell Smith (who was a top-flight backup) both done for the season and Kyler Gordon with an uncertain timetable. Predictably the Bears pass D has been atrocious with 2 practice squad players out there trying to survive.
Minor esoteric ESPN rant. I have both Cable TV via Xfinity and streaming subscriptions to most of the networks that carry NFL games. I used to watch games on cable TV or the Xfinity DVR out of habit and convenience, but I’ve noticed that the picture quality is utterly atrocious that way. I’ve been pleased to find that streaming the games via Amazon, Peacock, Paramount and ESPN provide a consistently better viewing experience and often actually present in Dolby Vision/4K HDR.
I don’t pay for ESPN+, I get access to ESPN via the app using my Xfinity subscription, but I’m noticing that ESPN gimps the experience when not paying for ESPN+. You can’t rewind or restart the broadcast via the app (which I can do on the DVR). Also the ESPN streaming video is notably worse than Peacock or Amazon. As a non-cord cutter, you get punished which seems like the opposite of what they should want.
The NFL is so weird. The Ravens dog walk the Browns. The Packers beat the Lions convincingly. The Lions whip the Ravens on the road. The Packers get dumped by the Browns. Make it make sense.
I think we can safely say that the Cowboys lost the Micah Parsons trade. 3 weeks in and they have made two of the league’s worst offenses look like the 2001 Rams. (The Eagles’ passing game has been surprisingly inept all year, so week 1 want anything to write home about either.)
Yeah, Dallas’ defense is trash. Dead last in defensive passing yards. Gave up over 500 yards to a completely futile Giants offense who got crushed by a very average Washington defense. New York gained only 432 yards combined in the other two games.