Think Twice Before You Join These NFL Teams’ Bandwagons

Week 5 of the NFL has passed and there have been some teams that have done better than expected. Last week we looked at which teams should panic, and this week we are doing the opposite. Here are the 5 teams that I think it’s too early to jump on their bandwagon.

New York Jets 

I don’t think anybody would have predicted that after Week 5 the Jets would be sitting tied for the lead in the AFC East with a winning record. This is the team that many were saying had a good chance of going 0-16 this season. As much of a pleasant surprise this has been so far, it will be short lived. To start off, he Jets have not beat the most talented teams in the league. The Dolphins have looked horrible with Jay Cutler and the Browns are 0-5… big surprise there. The Jaguars was a surprising win, however they do not have much of an offense to speak for. Their starting quarterback, Josh McCown, has not exactly proven to be a winner as he has a 21-44 career record. Excluding this year, since the start of the 2014 season McCown has just two wins and 22 starts. Winning starts with your quarterback and I don’t think McCown is that guy. Their starting receivers are a combination of free agency or undrafted rookies. Even their running backs have potential, but as long as the three way committee continues they will be limited. On a positive note their defense has held its own so far, which I expect to relatively keep up week after week. All this added up sums up to a 6 win season, which to me is not worth hopping on the bandwagon for.

Jacksonville Jaguars 

Another 3-2 team that at the beginning of the season found themselves at the bottom of the NFL power rankings are the Jacksonville Jaguars. The Jaguars have been one of the most inconsistent teams in the NFL this year. They go from blowing the Ravens out by 37 in London to losing to the Jets the very next week. This team will go as far as the defense and running back Leonard Fournette carries them. Fournette has had an unbelievable season and has been the Jags only source of offense at all. Excluding that Ravens game, Bortles hasn’t had more than a single touchdown in any game. Their top receiver, Allen Robinson, is out for the year, leaving their well below average quarterback in Bortles with nobody to throw to. Bortles has 55 career interceptions in the 50 games he’s started, which is a huge problem. In 2015, Bortles shined, throwing 35 touchdowns, but we have not seeing anything else like that, thus proving that to be an outlier. The defense cannot hold the 5 inceptions a game, like they had on Ben Roethlisberger in week 5, the whole year. Eventually, the rookie running back and the defense will have a few bad games and the Jags record will suffer on it.

Houston Texans 

At 2-3 this may be more of a Deshaun Watson bandwagon than a Houston Texans bandwagon, however some people think the Texans are legit this year. The rookie quarterback has played ridiculous football since getting the starting job from Tom Savage in week 1. Watson has a pretty impressive college resume, winning the College Football Playoff National Championship in 2016 he’s show he’s a winner and a very talented quarterback. In the NFL he’s started only 4 games and has 12 passing and 2 rushing touchdowns. Their defense has been average, but the loss of J.J. Watt will be very detrimental. Personally, I think the Texans can make the playoffs, but only due to a poor division. I think they will end the season at a unimpressive 9-7 and squeak into the playoffs. Someone from this division has to win it, but that does not mean they are worth the bandwagon. If the Texans do make the playoffs they will most likely exit in the first round, however I am excited to see what Watson can do for the rest of this season and the future years to come.

Denver Broncos 

The fourth AFC team on this list is the Denver Broncos, who have a solid 3-1 record and just had their bye week. This is not the same Denver Broncos team that won the Super Bowl. Their defense is still very talented, but it is not the same defense they had in 2015. The defense is not the issue of this Denver Broncos team, it’s the offense. Trevor Siemian won the starting job and has shown an improvement to last season, where he started 14 games, but only threw 18 touchdowns. If Siemian returns to what he looked like last year, this teams hopes of a playoff run could be over. He has two solid wide receivers in Demaryius Thomas and Emmanuel Sanders to throw to, but he has not shown he is the elite quarterback you need to go far in the playoffs. The running game with C.J. Anderson and new addition Jamaal Charles has looked much better than last season. If the run game can do well, then it will take stress off Siemian. This team will have real tests on if they are legit after their bye week. Last season the Broncos started the season 7-3 before the bye week, then went 2-4 to close out the season. The year before this team went 6-0 to start season and lost 4 of their next 8 after the bye week. If the Broncos keep this pattern up for a third year in a row in a competitive AFC West, their playoffs hopes may end in the same manner as in 2016.

Philadelphia Eagles 

This team is off to a blistering pace, starting the season at 4-1. They are running away with what was supposed to be a very talented NFC East Division. The Eagles offense has looked very impressive and Carson Wentz appears to be making positive progress in his career. After starting 7-9 last season a lot of people wrote this team off. The defense isn’t great, and the offense most likely will not keep up its dominance. However, at the end of the year I think this team has a real shot at the playoffs, if it can avoid a collapse. Look for this division to come down to week 17 to decide who makes the playoffs, but don’t count the Cowboys or Redskins out just yet.

Written by Casey Spilka