4-Down Territory: Lamar’s deal, bad coaching decisions, contenders to pretenders
Every week in “4-Down Territory,” Touchdown Wire’s Doug Farrar and Luke Easterling of Bucs Wire and Draft Wire go over the things you need to know about, and the things you need to watch, in the NFL right now. With Week 1 of the 2022 NFL season in the books, there was a lot to cover!
This week, Doug and Luke discuss:
Whether Lamar Jackson (or anybody else, ever) will get the fully-guaranteed contract he wants, and Deshaun Watson somehow got;
The weirdest coaching decisions in Week 1 (Of course, we taped this before Monday Night Football, when Broncos head coach Nathaniel Hackett went all, “Hold my beer” on our choices);
Which alleged playoff contenders gave us the worst vibes after their inaugural performances; and
It’s Early Overreaction Time, so which head coach will be the first to be fired in-season?
You can watch this week’s “4-Down Territory” right here.
Why Lamar Jackson's guaranteed contract will never happen.
(Tommy Gilligan-USA TODAY Sports)
The stalemate between Lamar Jackson and the Ravens continues. ESPN and NFL.com reported Sunday morning that Baltimore offered Jackson a contract that would have given him over $230 million with more than $130 million guaranteed. That would have given him more total money and more guaranteed money than Russell Wilson or Kyler Murray, but Jackson wants the fully guaranteed contract that Deshaun Watson got. Is there any chance he’ll ever get it?
Doug: There’s no way he’ll get it. Other owners were furious when Jimmy Haslam signed off on Watson’s four-year, $230 million fully guaranteed contract, and it had nothing to do with Watson’s history of alleged sexual assault. It had to do with what the owners see as a dangerous precedent. Contracts with escape clauses are the last vestige of financial control the owners have, and even in situations like Kirk Cousins’, where it’s guaranteed for a year or two, that’s to manage the salary cap in the short term. Watson’s dead cap in the first few years of his contract is similar to the gross national product of a medium-sized country, and no other owner is going to repeat that mistake. It has nothing to do with whether Jackson or any other player deserves a guaranteed long-term deal; it’s simply about what the owners won’t tolerate.
Luke: Obviously, from Lamar’s perspective, he absolutely deserves it when you realize that Watson’s deal does indeed set a new precedent. Considering what Lamar has already accomplished in the league, and the fact that he’s still got a sky-high ceiling even from there, and the fact that he doesn’t have any of these off-field concerns, there’s no reason for him to do anything but demand MORE than what Watson got from the Browns. That said, it won’t happen, and the Ravens still have the leverage of the franchise tag to keep him from hitting the open market. The question then becomes, how far will Lamar take this? Will he sit out training camp next year? There’s plenty of risk/reward for both sides here.
Which head coach had the weirdest decision in Week 1 (Non-Nathaniel Hackett version)?
(Katie Stratman-USA TODAY Sports)
As the new season gets underway, we have all kinds of coaches with situations in which they were presented with the opportunity to do the smart thing, and they did the other thing instead. What has been the worst coaching decision of Week 1?
Doug: There were quite a few, but I’d have to go with Lovie Smith’s decision to run Rex Burkhead on third-and-1 near the end of overtime against the Colts. You have a short-yardage back in rookie Damien Pierce who killed every defense he faced in the preseason, and you’re in a situation where you need power to get the job done. Of course, Burkhead lost two yards on the play, and Smith called a punt to keep the game tied at 20. That was a tie that felt like a loss, and I have to put it on Smith’s two decisions.
Honorable mention was whatever coverages Packers defensive coordinator threw out there against the Vikings. It would be better to have a plan for Justin Jefferson than not.
Luke: I’m going with Zac Taylor of the Bengals, but it’s hard to narrow down the bad decisions in critical moments Sunday. Not challenging the Ja’Marr Chase touchdown almost backfired in a HUGE way, but they got the Ja’Marr Chase touchdown on fourth down. Then the clock management in the final moments of overtime that gave the Steelers enough time to march down for the game-winning field goal. This is the same guy who gave the ball to Samaje Perine instead of Joe Mixon with the Super Bowl on the line, though, so I guess I shouldn’t be surprised.
From contenders to pretenders?
(Syndication: Journal Sentinel)
Which alleged contender gave you the worst vibes regarding their 2022 season in the 2022 season opener?
Doug: The Green Bay Packers. Set aside the offense, which looked awful against a Vikings defense that people struggled to take seriously coming into the season. My second-worst coaching decision of the week was defensive coordinator Joe Barry’s refusal to let Jaire Alexander, his best cornerback, follow Justin Jefferson throughout the game. The postgame explanation for this was that the Packers wanted to play zone, which precluded Alexander following Jefferson when he went in motion.
My counter to that is, if your defensive scheme is the one thing preventing your best guy from covering their best guy, you need to change your defensive scheme. Of course, Jefferson torched the defensive backs who actually were covering him. Aaron Rodgers is clearly out of sorts without Davante Adams, and that’s going to show up all season. It’s early yet, and there’s time to work things out, but it didn’t look good on either side of the ball for the Packers in that game.
Luke: Definitely a worthy choice, but I’m gonna go back to Cincinnati. They supposedly overhauled the offensive line in the offseason, but it sure didn’t look like much of an improvement Sunday. The turnovers were awful, and the Bengals defense won’t have the benefit of playing an offense run by Mitch Trubisky every week. Throw in Taylor’s head-scratching decisions, and the defending AFC champs might have a tough time getting out of their own division this time around.
First coach fired?
(Orlando Ramirez-USA TODAY Sports)
Week 1 is a great time for irrational overreactions, so let’s start with this: Based on what you’ve seen, who is the first head coach to be fired in 2022?
Doug: Mike McCarthy. The Cowboys’ head coach has never been known as a guy who will coach above his own station – he pretty much needs everything to be perfect if you want him to win a lot of games. Well, things are not perfect in Dallas. The Cowboys opened the season with a 19-3 embarrassment at the hands of the Buccaneers, Dak Prescott is out for several weeks with a thumb injury, and that’s a major hit for a team that is already dealing with a lot of bad injury luck.
Jerry Jones tends to whip between too patient and too impatient with his coaches, and if McCarthy isn’t able to make something of this early season without Prescott, it wouldn’t surprise me at all if either offensive coordinator Kellen Moore, or defensive coordinator Dan Quinn, had “interim head coach” added to their titles sooner than later.
Luke: We spent much of last season discussing the depths of Matt Rhule’s struggles in Carolina, and it doesn’t look like things will be much better this year. Rhule’s Panthers kicked off the season with a home loss to the Watson-less Browns, needing a late comeback just to make a game of it against Jacoby Brissett and company. Christian McCaffrey touched the ball just 14 times, and outside of a 75-yard TD from Baker Mayfield to Robbie Anderson, Rhule’s offense was puzzling and pedestrian.
The Panthers are wasting what could be one of the league’s best young defenses. I’m not even sure what the philosophy is for this team in terms of offensive team-building at this point. Just like last year, it feels like Rhule is still in over his head. Bonus answer? After last year’s playoff collapse, and Sunday’s inexcusable loss to the Giants, isn’t Mike Vrabel’s seat getting at least a little warm?
