Panic, Don't Panic, and Not so Fast, my Friend. Week 6

Continuing my Tuesday series for this season looking at the teams and fan bases that should be panicking based on the prior weekend’s game, those who might panic, but shouldn't, and then the weekly “Not so Fast, my Friend” in honor of Lee Corso and his amazing career - a team that won, but maybe should not feel so great about that win. I'm gonna wait one more game before entering either New Jersey team into despair.

Last Week in review:

Panic: Cardinals - gave up a fourth quarter lead again, but at least to a good team this time. Selection affirmed.

Don't Panic: Bills - ugly loss to the wildly inconsistent Falcons. Selection moving quickly to panic territory.

NSFMF: Panthers - took care of the Cowboys in a tight one, let's see what they do against the pathetic Jets before changing judgement here.

Bonus NSFMF: Packers - since they were on a bye last week I didn't review them fromcthe Dallas tie game. They handled the Bengals this week but concerns remain, selection stands.

Note: I don't use significant injury happening within a game as a reason to panic because it just changes all expectations. I also will not highlight the same team two weeks in a row unless panic turns to despair.

Here are my picks for week 6 of the 2025 season:

Panic: The Washington Commanders - lost 24-25 at home vs the Bears. The Commanders cannot seem to put together any kind of win streak. While the Bears are a clearly improved team from the team that had the Hail Mary debacle in last year's visit to Landover, it's the type of team the Commanders should be able to put away at the end. The fumble to set up the Bears final FG was a colossal disaster and showed that Daniels still has more to learn (he's got to simply eat the ball and take a sack there instead of trying to force the called play). With games at the Chiefs and then vs the Seahawks and Lions coming up after a trip to Dallas, the Commanders need to figure it out now. (Yes, Eagles and Lions were both seriously considered for this slot as well).

Don't Panic: Jacksonville Jaguars, lost 12-20 at home vs the Seahawks. Yeah, it was an ugly game but the Jacksonville defense kept giving the Jacksonville offense a chance in the 4th quarter. It's the type of game that a rising team will lose, but figure out how to win the next time they are in that situation. The Jags schedule also sets up nicely moving forward with 5 should win games in the next 8. If they do what they should and then win even one of the other three they are sitting at 10-4 heading into December and even 9-5 isn't too shabby.

Not so Fast, My Friend: The Los Angeles Chargers, defeated Miami 29-27 on the road. For the second week in a row the team beating the Dolphins appears in this space. The Chargers allowed two Dolphins TDs in the fourth quarter to give them the lead but with just enough time left to take advantage of the Dolphins soft defense to get into FG range. On a day when the opposing QB throws 3 picks and has a rating in the mid 50’s, and your own QB has a 112 rating, that should be a two score win at worst. I did not watch this game particularly closely, but with losses to the (at the time) despair watch list Giants and the inconsistent Commanders the past two weeks, this was a chance for the Bolts to make a statement that they are a team not to be trifled with. Instead they showed that they are indeed to be trifled with.

Despair: The New York Jets, lost 11-13 to the Broncos in London. Only two weeks ago I thought this would be a two for one Meadowlands special, but while the Giants have hope the locker room on the other side of the stadium is as bleak as the architecture. While it would be easy to just leave it at the negative 10 passing yards from the Jets offense, the end of the first half really sums up the situation even better: Getting the ball back on their own 16 with over 3 minutes to play and all three timeouts, the Jets manage to get only as far as their own 41 which includes a fake punt, and then with a timeout in hand they just let the clock run the final 30 seconds. On a drive that involves a gutsy fake punt, they then wimp out at the end. This team has no talent outside of Wilson on offense, no coaching, no competent ownership, and a look at the semi pros who play on Saturdays, no great QB prospect coming to them at #1 in the draft. Gang Green? More like gangarene.

As always I welcome friendly comments, disagreements, and debates in addition to your own panic, calm, or concern (and if you care to debate my assertion about the Cardinals, feel free if you even remembered that the Cardinals existed by the time you got this far).