Mr. Scot

I'm sure he would. Most players would. (outside of guys like Freddie Mitchell, at least) But I think you have to take the situation into account to give a true grade.

You have to put some context on that too. It's not like we were world users. Hell, the one truly good team we faced absolutely drubbed us. Bill Parcells quotes aside, the Panthers weren't necessarily as good as our final record made some believe.

Mentioned it elsewhere, but I kinda hope the "star effect" is felt here. Tom Brady sure as gell wasn't the first quarterback to get injured by a low hit, but it was his injury that resulted in a rule change. Perhaps the fact that this time it's Aaron Rodgers going down will make a difference. I'm not necessarily betting on it, but loss of revenue is the one thing NFL owners respond to. Not having the allure of seeing Aaron Rodgers is definitely something I could see hurting the Jets. As far as Carolina, Bryce Young certainly doesn't possess anywhere near the national star power of a Rodgers, a Josh Allen or others but he's David Tepper's biggest draw at the moment. If something were to happen to him, you can bet Tepper would have a bullseye on his back.

Former leader.

Think if it this way... If you were to go to a group of Lions fans right now, which take do you think you'd hear more of? #1) "Good start. Still, we were sloppy in some areas, benefited from opponent mistakes in others and frankly just got lucky more than once. There's a lot of work yet to be done so let's try and stay reasonable and not get too full of ourselves right now." #2) HOLY SH-T, WE JUST BEAT THE WORLD CHAMPS! BEN JOHNSON IS A GENIUS! DAN CAMPBELL IS A COACHING GOD! IT'S FINALLY OUR TIME! SUPER BOWL BOUND BABY!!! ... Yeah

Better opponent... Strong defense... Way more experienced quarterback... Down an important player... And the growing pains won't all just work themselves out in one week. Oy There's plenty of reason to believe we could come out of next Monday looking worse than we did this past Sunday. I say "adjust your expectations', but the people who have reasonable ones don't need to hear that...and the ones who don't won't listen anyway.

Sometimes I feel like I am

It shouldn't be. Expectations for this season never should have been as high as some folla set them.

I don't necessarily put that on a lack of awareness so much as I do and attempt to play hero. Heaven knows confidence bordering on arrogance is a double-edged sword that exists in an extremely high percentage of NFL players. Wide receivers and defensive backs seem especially prone to it (we've got prominent examples of both in our team history). Smith-Marsette certainly sounds like a guy who falls into that category. It's an unfortunate axiom of the NFL that the bravado which helps you do great things can also compel you to do stupid things Now, all that said, if his fellow special teamer had been smarter and not drawn an offsetting flag by blocking one of the Falcons gunners out of bounds, we're all looking at that play a hell of a lot differently.

FYI: Jets are confirming that Rodgers has a torn achilles

Captain Dickhead was more than happy to brag to opposing defenders about how the league implement a rule just for him.

I was. Said it elsewhere: These days we have guys who've been in the league for two or three years that still can't consistently go through theie progressions. Young went through them regularly as a rookie making his first start.

Football is a way more cerebral game than many think. But even with that understood, fan takes are much more frequently emotion driven than logic driven. I get it. I just can't get on board with it.

If Young can connect with him... If the OL can continue to give him time... If the receiver's not blanketed by a speedy cover corner... If the rest of the offense can capitalize.... Lotta ifs...no real guarantees

It'd probably take something like that before any real change happens.

My worry here is that the NFL might take a (deliberately) shortsiggted approach. To be specific, their public read might be that it's only the field in Met Life Stadium which needs fixing. All the other turf fields are just fine.

I'd never want to deem an injury to a player "a good thing". That said, there is some good that could at least potentially come out of what happened to Aaron Rodgers. Why? Because the league pays more attention when bad things happen to star players. Injury to Teddy Bridgewater? Eeehh, no big deal. Injury to Tom Brady? HOLY SH-T! WHAT CAUSED THIS? WE MUST INVESTIGATE IMMEDIATELY!!!

I can't see giving Bryce a D with this being his first start as a rookie. I've seen a hell of a lot worse.

Because you were expecting to. (in some cases, looking for a reason to) That, or perhaps you sadly just don't really understand what you're watching

There's a lot of pining right now for a deep threat receiver, mixed in with hope that DJ Chark can maybe be that guy. I don't have any argument with either take, but there's another element that also needs to be understood. The mere presence of such a player isn't going to be enough to make defensive units pull back. Defenses are going to continue to challenge the Panthers until Bryce Young proves he can connect downfield consistently enough to make them pay for it. The Saints have been a good defensive team. And for all his woes as a head coach, Dennis Allen does know a thing or two about coaching that side of the ball. This won't be anything close to a cakewalk. My plan is to go into next Monday looking for (and hoping for) improvement, but I'd stop short of expecting a "get right" type performance just yet. It's still very early in the season, even earlier in the team's new era. Adjust your expectations accordingly.

Wouldn't even call it that, honestly. It's just a level-headed approach, but amidst a "torches and pitchforks" mentality it ends up looking like positivity. Kudos to the OP

Don't think so.