Gary Greene’s Stock Up, Stock Down Teams of the Week

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Gary Greene's NFL Stock Up Stock Down defense offense
Gary Greene's NFL Stock Up Stock Down

STOCK UP TEAMS OF THE WEEK

NEW ENGLAND PATRIOTS & QB DRAKE MAYE

In the offseason when the Patriots hired HC Mike Vrabel I immediately knew the years of losing after Tom Brady departed were soon to be over, and the stock would go up. I felt though the biggest winner would be young QB Drake Maye (who I love) as he finally would have great leadership to teach him the ropes the proper way.

This is still a young team for most part but they added some nice veteran players too so I like the blend this Patriots team has. Well shockingly the team is in first place (4-2) and this week trying to pull off a really hard to do – sweep a 3 game Road trip.

Maye is completing an incredible (73%) pass completions (#2 of all QB’s) and he’s got (10) Passing TD’s and just (2) interceptions. He has been sacked (18x) but that’s what makes his completion % so amazing.

I watched last year’s tapes a few times to see how he’s improving and he has so much better pocket awareness and he’s reading the Defense better at the line of scrimmage and now able to hit his 2nd or 3rd read for nice completions. He has 6 wide receivers averaging double digit yards per catch.

The Patriots signed stud WR S. Diggs to be the game changer but so far even with the teams Offense success and solid (4-2) record he still hasn’t scored a TD.

One of the most impressive WR’s you never heard about has been WR K. Boutte, who has been sensational with some huge plays (16.7 YPC) and 3 impressive TD’s. I love his route running and how he can turn defenders and get wide open. Maye’s deep ball game has now changed with the emergence of Boutte.

Maye is (#4) in Yards Per Pass Thrown (8.5) so they can now move the chains in a hurry. The Patriots Defense has been a brick wall stopping opposing RB’s as they have not allowed any RB yet to rush for over 50 yards in any game. They are (#4) overall vs. Run (83YRPG) and (#3) allowing only (3.46YPR).

They play a very easy schedule ahead as they will face 8 very bad teams the rest of the way. If this team can just shore up the Offensive Line and Maye keeps improving his pocket savvy/awareness this team will likely finish by earning a Playoff Spot.

CHICAGO BEARS TEAM & DEFENSE

This Bears team is only 6 games into a total rebuild under an entirely new Coaching staff so much like the Patriots this is not a quick fix overnight. It’s baby steps and rebuilding every phase brick by brick.

This team last year lost 6 games by 6 points or less (4 by FG or less) and then lost its opener by just 3 points. Many said “oh no here we go again”. But instead of allowing that to destroy the beginning of a new season they have adapted and it’s clear they are now adjusting to the new Coaching schemes on both sides of the ball.

This team has talent and they really needed some better guidance and confidence. Rookie QB Caleb Williams is still very raw and his Offensive Line is a big work in Progress.

Williams in this solid 3 game win streak has looked much smarter and isn’t forcing what is not there. He has only 1 turnover in this 3 game win streak and only sacked 4x as well. He has made the plays he’s supposed to make and avoided the ones that have dearly cost his team for most of his tenure.

Now though it’s the Bears Defense that is looking like Bank Robbers as they have an incredible 7 Interceptions, 4 fumble recoveries and 5 sacks and tons of QB Pressures.

It takes time to learn a brand new OC or DC new schemes and play calling and it looks to me like this Bears Defense may be finally hitting its stride and working together to achieve Team Success.

All of a sudden this team is winning close games with back to back (25-24) wins. I don’t recall ever seeing that score in B2B weeks. It’s all baby steps and you have to learn how to win close games to become a Playoff contender.

The Bears play in maybe the toughest overall Division in the NFL but they have 4 very winnable games the next 4 weeks. They can really make this Division interesting if they keep improving and turning over their opponents.

Da’ Bears are finally back on the map again.

STOCK DOWN TEAMS OF THE WEEK

TENNESSEE TITANS OFFENSE / QB CAM WARD

Anytime you start a new season with a Rookie QB you are going to go through lots of struggles and so it’s fully expected. You simply hope there is some form of progress being made each week as you rebuild into something formidable.

For the Titans and their young QB Cam Ward there really has been very little progress. They are dead last on Offense in the league, they have scored 12, 19, 20, 0, 22 and then 10 points last week and they can’t hang their hat on running the ball or passing it as they are second worst in both categories.

Ward has been sacked (25x) which is dead last of all QB’s and 6 more times than the second worst. He is completing only (55%) of his passes (dead last) and he is third worst in Yards Per Pass Thrown (5.5) ahead only of Browns QB Gabriel and QB Joe Flacco.

They have only scored 9 first quarter points, 25 second quarter points and 16 third quarter points. Fifty points scored in first 3 quarters all season. Over half the league has basically scored that many points in just one of their 4 quarters this season.

Last week facing a bad Raiders team the Titans Offense they could only muster (225) total yards of Offense. They went just (3-13) on third downs, they turned it over (3x), and QB Ward was sacked (6x) and although the Defense allowed the Raiders only (226) total yards, they still lost by double digits.

I can’t see it getting much better as the OL is one of the worst in the league, Ward clearly isn’t seeing field well nor can he even remotely read the Defense as the Line of Scrimmage to get out of a bad play call but the one thing that could change the entire Offense is the ability to run the ball and grind clock and hopefully wear down opposing Defenses and steal a few wins here and there.

But the Titans have only 2 rushes for over 12 yards all season long. They have only 2 rushing TD’s the entire season. No opposing Defense is fearing the Titans Run Game and so it’s now even harder for the Rookie QB Ward to get open wide receivers as the Defense is overloading them and saying “run the ball all you want”.

The schedule is not an easy one ahead either with just two bottom feeders left. Remember this team is still winless if Cardinals RB Demercado doesn’t drop the ball before crossing the goal line for an easy TD to put the Cards up 3 scores in the 4th quarter they have zero wins.

Now the HC was fired and I don’t expect things to get any better. I expect they will get worse.

ARIZONA CARDINALS

To start this season I felt this team would be one of the bigger surprises if QB Murray could stay healthy. Of course only a few games in and he was hurt again. Ouch. He’s missed the past two games and sadly he is still the teams leading rusher.

The Cards QB’s are dead last in Interceptions (10) and have been sacked (18x) so far (5th worst). Opposing QB’s are completing (63%) of their passes vs. their Defense and they have lost 4 straight games and all 4 were so close.

They lost by 1, 3, 1 and 4 points and somehow managed to lose 3 straight games on a FG on the games final play. They lost to the Titans thanks to the biggest bonehead play of this entire NFL season when RB Demarcado dropped the ball inches from the Goal line on ironically the best Offensive Play (71 yards) of the season and that no TD helped lead to a huge late comeback by the horrific Titans.

The Cards Defense is 4th worst vs. Pass and simply can not make a big defensive stop when they desperately need one in “Money time”.

The only bright spot I see so far for the Cardinals is stud TE McBride. He has 37 catches and a rock solid 156 yards after the catch. He has led Offense to 20 first downs.

We saw last year when the Bears started to lose close game after close game the season derailed out of control. This team simply doesn’t have enough elite weapons to overcome the many mistakes they make and the many faults they have.

This team needed Murray to step up his game to the elite level and it simply hasn’t happened. Now they have a HC on the “Hotseat” which means the team won’t be playing loose, free and easy unless they pull out a string of nice wins.

The problem now is how the heck is that going to happen when they have an extremely difficult schedule ahead where they look to be the favorite only once the rest of the season.

This team’s Stock is crashing.

@GARYBETVEGAS