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1. Don’t look now but that immature Jacksonville Jaguars’ receiver better known as Reggie Williams finally looks to be maturing. Williams, who was drafted ninth overall in the 2004 draft, one pick behind Roy Williams, has been a borderline bust during his first two seasons. Known for making a decent play, then showboating and then disappearing for the rest of the game, Williams now looks like he has finally connected the dots. In two starts, against Dallas and Pittsburgh no less, Williams has become a favorite target of Byron Leftwich, leading the team with 14 receptions. Williams has been seen making more than one play per game, including becoming a fairly reliable third down. Four of his 14 receptions and 66 of his 142 receiving yards have come on third down.
We know that wide receivers typically take longer to develop, than say, prospective running backs or linebackers but if Reggie Williams keeps this up this will be exactly what the Jaguars passing game needed. Especially since with the retirement of Jimmy Smith.
2. As much as the Washington Redskins have been maligned for their offensive failures, it should be noted that the defense also hasn’t been adequate.
Defensive coordinator Gregg Williams is known for bringing all sorts of exotic blitzes which either drop the quarterback or force him into poor decisions but the pressure cooking schemes have not been visible in weeks one or two. The upgraded Redskins’ defense has tallied only two sacks, which is on par with the likes of Oakland and Tennessee, and has only forced one takeaway, good enough to put the Redskins in a tie for fewest in the NFL.
Particularly surprising was the fact that last week against the Dallas Cowboys, the Redskins didn’t send much pressure up the middle to try and crumble Drew Bledsoe’s pocket and remove the space that he used to step up. Look for the coaching staff to get things in order this week against the Houston Texans.
3. Before we all jump on the Baltimore Ravens bandwagon, it is definitely worth noting that Steve McNair has not often been on target as the new starting quarterback.
McNair has only completed 55% of his passes in his first two games against Oakland and Tampa Bay. More importantly, the offense has looked in disarray during more drives than not.
At home against Oakland, the Ravens started six of their first 12 drives in Raiders territory but only came up with four field goals. Only three of McNair’s 33 completed passes have been for 20 yards or longer and at this point in his career, some are beginning to question his downfield arm strength.
Granted, considering who was the starting quarterback last year, McNair is still a big upgrade. With Kyle Boller starting, we were speculating whether the Ravens could be a fringe playoff team. With McNair, we can speculate about Super Bowl potential.
4. Sticking with the Ravens, while the offense is still searching for an identity, the defense looks to be back and effective as ever.
Let me introduce to a few new players:
Adalius Thomas, who has played virtually every position for this defense, is pretty much as versatile a player as you can find in the NFL. Thomas already leads the team with 14 tackles and has one sack and one interception. He’s on the fast track to a Pro Bowl appearance.
With him and Bart Scott manning the outside linebacking spots, opposing teams have been shut down with their outside runs.
In the middle, the defensive line has clogged up most of the lanes with solid play from rookie tackle Haloti Ngata, which has seemingly reinvigorated the starter beside him, Kelly Gregg. On the outside, Terrell Suggs, with two sacks and a fumble recovery, continues to be a nightmare for drop-back quarterbacks.
The one weakness on the defense was supposed to be strong safety Dawan Landry but he, too, has been solid in the first two games of the season.
Throw in a very creative defensive coordinator in Rex Ryan, who likes to mix up his formations, along with two former Defensive Players of the Years in Ray Lewis and Ed Reed, and this defense is going to get stronger as the season goes on.
5. Not many teams can handle the season-long loss of a starting defensive end like Jevon Kearse but one team who has the depth to overcome it is the Philadelphia Eagles. The Eagles will plug in former first-round pick Jerome McDougle into the eight-man rotation and although there will clearly be a drop-off in production, McDougle still has a lot of upside and the Eagles are lucky to have him waiting opposed to being forced into signing a street free agent at this point.
The Eagles have been using two sets of defensive linemen and rotating them in and out four at a time, which has thrown opposing offensive lines for a loop. They lead the league with 13 sacks.
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