The halfway point of the NFL season has come and gone with even more surprising storylines we have seen over the past week. A Seahawks receiver not named DK Metcalf had a game, the Jim Harbaugh effect continues into the NFL and we have a second head coach casualty. 

JSN Breakout is Here

This past Sunday the Seattle Seahawks battled their division rival Los Angeles Rams in a tightly-contested bout in which LA came out victorious, 26-20, in overtime. There are a lot of things that went wrong for Seattle.

The O-line was poor, Geno Smith had three interceptions, and there were so many penalties that Seattle committed they seemingly couldn’t stay out of their way. One thing that did go right was the performance of second-year wide receiver Jaxon Smith-Njigba.

The young Seahawks wide receiver impressed with seven catches for 180 yards and two touchdowns. JSN could have had even more catches as there were two enormous plays that he could’ve had but were both called back for offensive holding. These penalties and 10 others would go on to cost Seattle the game but that doesn’t take away from this game and the season that Smith-Njigba is having. 

Despite being the second or third wide receiver depending on who you ask, JSN has had an underrated first half of the season. The 22-year-old has 50 catches on the year which puts him tied for eighth in the league which ties him with Chris Godwin of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and above Justin Jefferson of the Minnesota Vikings.

JSN is also tied for 12th in receiving yards tied with fellow Seahawk DK Metcalf and ahead of Malik Nabers of the New York Giants and Drake London of the Atlanta Falcons.

This game encapsulates everything there is to be excited about at the beginning of Smith-Njigba’s career. Showing how he can be much more than a respectable second or third-receiving option but could be the No. 1 wide receiver on a pretty good team. The future is bright for this budding superstar. 

The Jim Harbaugh Effect

Jim Harbaugh, in his first eight games as the Los Angeles Chargers head coach, has already matched the win total the Chargers had last season. The Chargers hit a low point amid their 5-12 record last year with former head coach Brandon Staley being fired after a 63-7 loss to the Las Vegas Raiders. 

Harbaugh has something that is not even the best and brightest first-time NFL head coach. That is NFL experience and experience winning football games. As inventive as Mike McDonald’s defense is and as impressive as Dave Canales QB resurrection resume is they have not won games in the NFL like Jim Harbaugh. 

You may be asking yourself how Harbaugh has made the Chargers a better team. The defense has been the main catalyst for the turnaround in LA. 

This is Harbaugh’s bread and butter. What he cultivated at his previous head coaching position at the University of Michigan was a smash-mouth, hard-nosed team that made Michigan such a difficult team to beat. This was most evident when Harbaugh’s Michigan won the National Championship game. 

The story in Los Angeles has been about the turnaround the Chargers defense has made from this year compared to last. In 2023 under Staley, the Chargers allowed 362.9 per game, the fifth worst in the league. This year the Chargers are eighth-best in yards allowed at 303.8 yards a game. This is an impressive turnaround for LA in just one offseason with very similar personnel. It will be interesting to see how LA does the rest of the season. 

Dennis Allen Gets Fired

In an unsurprising move on Monday morning, the New Orleans Saints fired head coach Dennis Allen. After losing seven games in a row, the Saints made the decision to let go of Allen. After a promising 2-0 start for New Orleans, they put up 47 points in Week 1 and 44 points in Week 2, things spiraled out of control for the Saints.

Since then, the Saints have not scored more than 30 points in a game and are 0-4 in one-possession games. They just lost to the Carolina Panthers 23-22, a team they beat by 37 in Week 1. 

Looking at past seasons Allen guided the Saints to a respectable 9-8 in 2023. They didn’t make the playoffs but a good season to build off of. That has not been the case unfortunately for Saints fans and they will look to reset this offseason. 

New Jersey native Darren Rizzi, who hails from Hilldale, took over Monday as interim head coach. The former Saints assistant coach will take over for their week 10 affair against division rival Atlanta Falcons. 

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