I don't consider myself a conspiratorial person—especially in today's politically charged public discourse. Admitting you believe in any conspiracy theory carries with it a plethora of baggage. But after watching Baker Mayfield get picked up from the airport, come off the bench and lead a 98-yard scoring drive for the win against the Raiders Thursday night, it's just one of things that make you go "hmmm!”
I'm not as down on Mayfield as most of the sports media, not that I really consider myself part of the sports media in the first place. I believe Mayfield can be a sufficient game manager with decent accuracy and above average decision-making—both exclusively occurring when given time in the pocket. He stepped away from the comforts of the Browns' above average offensive line and cover of the Nick Chubb-Kareem Hunt rushing attack and thusly been exposed as a disappointment.
I also don't believe it would be a surprise for the Raiders to underwhelm and allow a long game-winning drive. Not that they are anything special. But if you told me the Rams paid off the Raiders, on the organizational level, to bite the bullet and take a loss to make Mayfield look good—I wouldn't be surprised. Los Angeles needs some breathing room and to put some optimism back into the club. No matter how you spin it, the Rams are in a death spiral. In my Week 9 Cheat Sheet, I called for Sean McVay's head as I believe the team's 2022 underperformance has been fully his burden to bear. I just can't get over how mishandled the backfield has been. They still don't lean into Cam Akers and had the gall to start Darrell Henderson over him for most of the season. Yes, Akers is that good and Henderson is that bad. Don't @ me. I can also understand you'd put the blame on the GM, Les Snead, but talent is talent. This team should not be anywhere near as bad as it is. The injuries to Cooper Kupp and Aaron Donald didn't happen until after the franchise had already sunk the season.
Where am I going with this? Well, I guess I just don't trust NFL ownership and there's a certain cover that comes with middling along rather than ever being the worst team in the league—just ask the Commanders, a franchise patched together year after year with newspaper clippings and paper mache. If, as an NFL franchise owner, I could put a thumb on the scale and temporarily breathe some optimism in the club to take some pressure off my GM, coaching staff and so on, then why not? Give them some plausible deniability to have another year to turn it around. The 2023 season will be much more palatable to the senses if coming off a glass-half-full finish led by Baker Mayfield—and presumably a retired Matthew Stafford—than without Mayfield and no draft picks available to adequately address the quarterback position.
I don't know. It's just all a little convenient to me. And while it's 99.9% certain none of what I said has any basis in reality, and Mayfield and the Rams gutted out a win and that's all it was... I'll begrudgingly accept what my eyes are telling me and remain skeptical.
1. Ordering Up a D'Onta Foreman Special
D'Onta Foreman and the Panthers were on bye last week, so hopefully he's had a few extra days to rest as he's currently listed as questionable. The former Texas Longhorns back has four 100-plus rushing games in his last six games. In those games he had 17, 26, 32 and 24 touches. His Week 14 opponent, the Seahawks, rank third-worst against fantasy running backs. What's a bit unique about the Seattle defense is they really don't have any full-time defensive players. Meaning, they're rotating almost everywhere. The only two defenders with 100% snaps played in most weeks are ILB Jordyn Brooks and CB Tariq Woolen. If this doesn't really mean anything to you, this is basically unheard of and doesn't happen often or anywhere else in the league. Most every team rotates along the defensive line and between a couple linebackers and a couple defensive backs as they shift between rushing and passing formations. But there's just a certain inconsistency that's going on here that's rare.
So, the Panthers are rushing the ball more, offenses are rushing more against the Seahawks as of late and do we expect Sam Darnold to throw it 40 or 50 times per game anyway? Seattle is allowing 2.01 yards before contact since Week 10. Seattle's answer for teams piling on in the run is putting more men in the box, particularly safety Ryan Neal, who's filled in nicely after Jamal Adams went down for the year. But between big plays (11 since Week 10, third-most over that span), yards before contact, a dinged up defense, a heavy-rotation defense and a downhill Foreman (who will share the backfield with Chuba Hubbard) should result in a big day for him.
