The 2017 Midseason NFL Report

The battle for MVP looks like a three-quarterback race right now, with the Eagles’ Carson Wentz at the head of a pack that includes (of course) Tom Brady and (surprisingly) the Chiefs’ Alex Smith. Smith is leading the league in passer rating and having a great season, but it’s hard to envision that lasting for eight more games, so we’re left to pick between Brady and Wentz if current trends continue.

So who will it be? It’s blasphemous to say so, but we’re going to go with young Carson Wentz, though mostly because of how important narrative is in the MVP decision. Brady will probably take his team further, but his story is just too familiar with everything else being more or less equal statistically.

Two Teams Whose Stock is Falling

We’ll finish up with two teams who are currently on downward trends– the Raiders and, yes, the Cowboys.

The Raiders

When Derek Carr’s season-ending injury dashed the Raider’s hopes last year, observers thought the best was yet to come for this young team, but their performance so far has been disappointing. Carr has played reasonably well, but Marshawn Lynch has done little to justify his signing and the Raiders’ 26th ranked defense has really sent their stock plummeting.

The Cowboys

The Cowboys look to get well against the slipping Redskins this week, but with such high expectations coming into the season, you still have to say the Cowboys are trending down right now. Like we said up above, we’ll think they’ll straighten things out enough to grab the final NFC wild-card, but that too will be disappointing with such a wealth of offensive talent.