Intro: A new idea I had in order to help me go through the NFL team’s rosters and examine all the personnel and coaching changes, etc., one-by-one. I’m going to look at two teams head-to-head in seven key categories (my bias on what is ‘key’). The team that gets my vote in each category gets a ‘win’…the first team to 4 wins moves on to the next round. Just a quick, hopefully fun, way to take the temperature of each team heading into the 2023 preseason.
The seven categories…it’s actually six because one category is so important that it’s worth double:
1-2) The quarterbacks comparison…the winner of this gets 2 wins, or if too close to call it could be a 1-1 split.
3) O-Line -- Judging which team has the better O-Line…the most critical aspect of a team after the QB.
4) Cornerbacks -- After O-Line, I think the most critical position is shutdown corners (or not having any).
5) Head Coach/Organization -- A battle of which coaches will get in the way less, to some degree but also an edge given to teams that will attract free agents or be a desired destination in trades…and what teams are filling the stadium for home games, etc. Everything rolled into one judgment call.
6) Offensive Weapons -- Which team has the better, scarier RB-WR-TE group.
7) Kicker -- If it comes down to #7, of course the kicker should make the determination...as the kicker often determines the winner of a 59+ minute war prior with a last second make/miss.
As we lead into each category and tap a winner -- I’m also listing the major add/loss for each team in the offseason so far, just to eyeball it as a list.
Is this a brilliant way to judge teams over another? Who knows! But it struck me as something fun to do while studying each team this preseason, after the majority of offseason moves have been made.
SF major adds: DT Hargrave, PK Moody, SAF J. Brown, OC Brendel
SF major losses: OL McGlinchey, QB Garoppolo, DE Ebukam, DE Omenihu, DB J. Ward, CB Moseley
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PHI major adds: DT Carter, OG Steen, LB N. Smith, SAF S. Brown, RB Swift
PHI major losses: DT Hargrave, OT Dillard, RB Sanders, OG Seumalo, LB Edwards, SAF Epps, SAF Gardner-Johnson, QB Minshew
QB (2x): Easy win for Hurts over Purdy and/or Lance and/or Darnold.
Eagles take a quick (2-0) lead.
…and I know this seems like a boring/too easy repeat of last year’s NFC championship…and I know it’s dull to have the same two NFC finalists back at it for 2023, but seriously…on paper…who the hell is close to either of these two teams in the NFC? Detroit? Minnesota? Anything from the NFC South? Dallas could get hot, I guess…but not better than Philly right now. I think Seattle is the only real threat lurking out there…and that’s if the 49ers QB situation falls apart.
O-Line: The 49ers usually have a respected O-Line, but Philly might have a top 1-2-3 O-Line in the league.
Philly on the verge of a blowout? (3-0).
CBs: Ward-Lenoir-Oliver is no match at all for Slay-Bradberry-Maddox.
Wow, Eagles with impunity (4-0) series win.
HC/Organization: Players and media respect both organizations, but the difference between the two is -- Kyle Shanahan is arguably the best head coach in the NFL, and Nick Sirianni is not.
SF gets on the board, but too late…(4-1) Philly.
Weapons: I take the 49ers backfield easily over Philly’s…Kittle-Goedert push…Eagles with arguably the better WR group, but it’s super close (Deebo can be better than AJB if he’s healthy and Smith is a touch better than Aiyuk). SF has the best overall weapons group.
Philly’s lead/win here shrinks to (4-2).
Kicker: You have to go Jake Elliott over a rookie kicker (Moody).
The Eagles wrap it up (5-2) and go on to meet up with the Chiefs again in the Super Bowl.
