With the conclusion of the Los Angeles Chargers and New York Jets’ Monday Night Football matchup, the NFL has officially reached the midway point of the 2023-2024 season. After nine entertaining weeks, there have been surprises, disappointments, unexpected breakouts as well as unexpected duds.
Starting with the disappointments, there are a handful of teams that have let their fans down tremendously thus far. These include the Arizona Cardinals, Carolina Panthers, New York Giants, Chicago Bears and Denver Broncos.
The Panthers are 1-7 with their rookie quarterback, Bryce Young, and many fans have deep regrets for how the 2023 draft went. The Panthers took Young with the No. 1 pick instead of C.J. Stroud, who has led a struggling Houston Texans team to a 4-4 record.
The Cardinals have the worst record in the league, sitting at 1-8. They have gone the whole season without their star QB, Kyler Murray, and their starting running back, James Conner, has also been injured for a couple weeks, which has caused a lot of problems for the team.
“At this point, I think we should just tank the rest of the season and keep Kyler healthy,” said Christian Davies, a junior management information systems, or MIS, major. “Our season was doomed from the beginning, and there is no point in trying to do anything but prepare for the next season now.”
One team that has completely flipped the script this year is the Detroit Lions, who are 6-2. Jared Goff, Jahmyr Gibbs and Amon-Ra St. Brown have all had great seasons so far, and Detroit’s defense has shown it is finally capable of matching up against high-rate offenses — besides their 38-6 blowout loss to the Baltimore Ravens in Week 7.
A young Jacksonville Jaguars team has also gone 6-2 through the first nine weeks, thanks in part to their off-season pickup of Calvin Ridley. Running back Travis Etienne has been a tremendous part of the Jaguars’ success as well.
To no one’s surprise, the reigning Super Bowl champions, the Kansas City Chiefs, are 7-2 through the midway point of the season. Patrick Mahomes has not been performing like his usual self, but the rest of the team as a whole has been solid enough to get them back into one of the top spots in the league yet again.
“I love Patrick Mahomes and Travis Kelce,” said Jackson Kiser, a junior marketing major. “I think they will go down as one of the best duos of all time. I just really wish all of the Taylor Swift media hype comes to an end soon; it is very annoying.”
The Miami Dolphins took the country by storm with their explosive offense and are sitting at 6-3. The Dolphins broke an NFL record in Week 3 when they defeated the Broncos with a score of 70-20, which included eight combined touchdowns from running backs Raheem Mostert and rookie De’Von Achane.
“I am very pleased with how well we look this year, especially on offense,” said Christian Castillo, a senior mass communication major. “Tua and Tyreek are phenomenal, and how could you not love coach Mike McDaniel?”
With nine more weeks to go in the 2023 season, time will only tell what teams will make the playoffs and what teams will end their seasons in disappointment.
