We’re one week nearer to the 2025 NFL season, and in that sense we’re making progress alongside the offseason. Buckle up, it will likely be lengthy.
Fortunately the NFL does its finest to ensure we’ve loads of issues to speak about as we make our solution to Week 1. Subsequent week will carry the NFL Mix and with all of it types of stories and updates… till then although, we nonetheless must correctly type the whole lot we simply witnessed over the previous few months.
That is the place we are available. Right here at The Skinny Publish we, Michael Peterson and RJ Ochoa, catch you up on the newest and best within the NFL and enable you perceive crucial issues.
Let’s start.
What did the Tremendous Bowl change your thoughts on?
RJ:
One thing I began to appreciate because the second half of the season wore on, which clearly coincides with when the Eagles discovered themselves, was that Nick Sirianni had mellowed out a bit.
To be clear right here, mellowing out from taunting his personal crew’s fanbase just isn’t actually saying a lot, however Philadelphia was a rattling machine from about Thanksgiving on and there are clearly lots of people who deserve credit score for that. I feel we’ve to offer the pinnacle coach a lot.
The fact is that since taking on the Eagles in 2021… Sirianni has led them to the playoffs every single yr. They’ve been to 2 completely different Tremendous Bowls and simply dismantled a Chiefs crew that was typically anticipated to make historical past. He deserves his flowers.
I’m high quality being the one to offer them to him, even when he could be a bit obnoxious.
Michael:
I’m going to take this subject and flip it a bit. Nothing involves thoughts from the Tremendous Bowl’s consequence that modified my perspective, however what it did was solidify my rock-steady perception that the trendy NFL is about profitable within the trenches above all else. The best way the Eagles dismantled and undressed the Chiefs from the primary whistle till the final would be the greatest lasting impression from the ultimate recreation of the season. Heck, and that features the operating again place, too!
The place some groups zig, others shall be higher off zagging versus following the group. The Eagles zagged in a league that was full-steam forward charging in the direction of high-flying passing assaults. They signed Saquon Barkley, continued to construct their offensive and defensive traces, and so they now have a Lombardi Trophy to point out for his or her efforts.
Which occasion on the NFL Mix would you most wish to take part in?
Michael:
With the Tremendous Bowl come and gone, the subsequent huge occasion on the NFL’s calendar is the mix. Every week from this coming Wednesday, the primary place group will take the sector for athletic testing.
So my query to you is: What drill or check would you most wish to take part in if given the possibility? It could possibly be one which merely appears to be like enjoyable or one you personally imagine you wouldn’t be too unhealthy at.
I feel for me, it’s the professional agility shuttle the place you run 5 yards a technique, pivot and run 10, then end the ultimate 5 by way of the beginning line. After I was nonetheless in my enjoying days, I cherished the sensation of being explosive off the road. This drill was a good way to quantify simply how briskly you can begin, cease, and alter course which clearly transitions very properly to the on-field product of the NFL. If you had been good at it, it felt REALLY enjoyable, too.
Oh gosh, now I’m feeling nostalgic.
RJ:
This reply was legit and actual and mine goes to be nothing like that. That is The Skinny Publish method.
Actually I feel I’d wish to take part within the quarterback throwing drills. It’s the most just like how we (people who find themselves not world-class athletes) play soccer in our backyards or whereas tailgating. I’d simply have to face there and throw passes to those world-class athletes who had been operating routes for me.
Plus think about the narrative I’d create if I used to be tremendous excited to throw on the mix given how towards it quarterbacks are these days. I’d stand out and enhance my draft inventory. Win, win.
Who must nail the offseason probably the most?
RJ:
Across the third quarter of the Tremendous Bowl, when it was apparent that Kansas Metropolis was completed, I assumed so much in regards to the Buffalo Payments and Detroit Lions.
Buffalo absolutely needed to be considering to themselves that they might have given Philly a greater recreation. Detroit will need to have thought to themselves that they might have had comparable, perhaps not similar, ranges of success towards a Chiefs crew all of us thought was fraudulent all through the season.
I feel that round this time of yr folks look to the worst groups within the NFL and assume that they’re those below probably the most strain to nail free company and the draft. There may be actually strain on the individuals who work for these groups, however I feel the actual strain is round these groups who’re actually shut.
Have a look at the Eagles of two years in the past who misplaced the Tremendous Bowl. They’re an incredible instance of figuring out what labored and what didn’t and fixing what wanted to be fastened to return to the final word recreation two years later and win it. There isn’t any prize for being shut, and what’s extra is there isn’t any assure that you’ll keep shut.
The Payments, Lions and whereas we’re at it the Baltimore Ravens, San Francisco 49ers, Cincinnati Bengals and Inexperienced Bay Packers all must tighten issues up.
Michael:
I like your body of thought right here.
As a substitute of going with some low-hanging fruit, I’m going with the Baltimore Ravens, imagine it or not. After a season the place they had been the league’s No. 1 offense behind one other MVP-caliber season by Lamar Jackson, they fell quick within the AFC Championship due to a dropped move by Mark Andrews on a two-point conversion try.
“However Michael, what might they presumably must ‘nail’ this offseason after all of the success they only had in 2024?”
Thanks for asking that query, somebody who’s actually not me setting myself up.
The Ravens had been stellar on offense and likewise a top-10 protection by way of factors allowed, however their move protection truly ended the yr thirty first within the NFL. When opposing groups couldn’t run the ball towards them, they far too simply had been capable of pivot to the air with little to no bother. For my part, that is the very last thing the Ravens must do to get them over that hump into Tremendous Bowl competition.
Ought to the legality of the Tush Push be a sizzling subject of debate this offseason on the league conferences subsequent month?
Michael:
I feel I’m simply uninterested in it, ya know?
The ultimate straw for me was the Eagles primarily utilizing the intimidation issue of the play to troll the Commanders through the NFC Championship recreation. Washington defenders had been doing the whole lot they might to cease the play on the aim line and understanding that, Nick Sirianni used an extended depend to try to draw them offsides. It occurred twice as a result of linebacker Frankie Luvu was unsurprisingly attempting to time the snap up and when he was flagged twice, the officers threatened to offer the Eagles a rating mechanically based mostly on some rule likely didn’t even find out about.
I feel the sheer psychological chess recreation that the Tush Push presents was on full show throughout that sequence and it appeared like one of the vital unhealthy conditions I’ve ever seen in a soccer recreation. Watching a crew do the whole lot of their energy to cease an already unfair play solely to get threatened by the officers was virtually surreal. Whereas solely authorized, the Eagles and/or Sirianni certain felt like they need to have been flagged for one thing by way of that sequence. Egregious baiting? I’d argue they had been simply as responsible for delaying the sport at that time as Washington.
I don’t know. Am I simply an outdated man yelling at a cloud? Fairly presumably, however I can’t assist however really feel like I by no means need to see that in a soccer recreation once more.
RJ:
My tackle all of that is that we’ve to resolve as a society what we’re going to do about all of it this offseason and I don’t care which method that’s, however it needs to be determined.
This offseason we both outlaw the Tush Push or let it stand ceaselessly, however no matter choice we make we’ve to return to phrases with and settle for shifting ahead.
I absolutely perceive the purpose at hand about how the Eagles are kind of inception-ing the Tush Push at this level. I don’t fault them for this or assume they’re dishonest in any kind of method. They’re dwelling and working inside the confines of the principles. That’s fully truthful recreation.
However I’d supply that the league is in a troublesome spot. In the event that they outlaw the Tush Push then what’s subsequent. How lengthy till they outlaw (perhaps they need to!) the baiting that Patrick Mahomes was accused of doing relative to officers?
It’s a must to watch out right here.
