Happy Thursday!
New members: Every Thursday morning, we send out the Angles email — in which we take a critical, “overview” look at the slate ahead.
Week: 4
Total Main Slate Games: 12
Slate Overview:
The NFL has put us in whiplash mode to begin the season, with a slate a couple weeks ago in which many of the top teams were missing, a slate last week in which all the top offenses were playing (with many of them playing one another), and a slate this week with…well, we’ll call it “a very unique setup.”
Let’s start with the teams missing from this slate, as this always helps us get a better sense of what the slate actually includes.
Thursday night gives us the Dolphins and Bengals. The Dolphins rank 2nd in early-season offensive DVOA (Football Outsiders), and while the Bengals currently rank 31st(!!!), we know they are capable of performing at a much higher level.
Sunday night gives us Kansas City at Tampa. The Chiefs rank 9th in early-season offensive DVOA, and while the Bucs rank 27th, they are getting Mike Evans back this week, and should start rounding into form over the next few weekends.
Monday night gives us the Rams and 49ers. Both of these teams currently rank outside the top 16 in offensive DVOA, though both ranked top 8 last season.
Teams missing :: Dolphins // Chiefs // Rams // 49ers // Bucs // Bengals. That’s four of the top eight offenses (DVOA) from last season, plus a Bengals team that caught fire down the stretch last season and a Dolphins team that has been on fire to begin 2022.
But if we want to look at “offenses missing” through a different lens…
