Ted Nguyen

| Tuesday A daily NFL destination that provides in-depth analysis of football’s biggest stories. Each Tuesday, analyzes the best and worst coaching decisions he saw during the week’s games. offensive coordinator Joe Brady completes the ever-elusive process of building a rushing attack to complement . The relentlessly attack holes in the Packers’ heavy zone scheme. It’s getting increasingly harder to defend head coach Mike Tomlin, and it’s time to end the experiment in Kansas City. We’ll get…

| Special Wednesday edition A daily NFL destination that provides in-depth analysis of football’s biggest stories. Each Tuesday (Wednesday this week), analyzes the best and worst coaching decisions he saw during the week’s games. Defensive coordinator Mike Macdonald and the put together one of the best defensive performances of the season, slowing down the high-powered 49ers offense. head coach Kevin Stefanski unleashed his veteran quarterback’s arm on the Texans’ secondary. defensive coordi…

Super Wild Card Weekend is here, and as expected, weather is going to have an impact on two of the AFC games. This means the battle in the trenches will be put even more in the spotlight. We’re going to see old-school football being played because of the weather. Which of these teams can win with this brand of football? Here is one important matchup to look out for in each of the AFC wild-card games. Advertisement at Houston (4:30 p.m. ET Saturday) Key matchup: OT vs. DEs and When the Browns…

The have been the model of consistency over the past 20 seasons in one category: bad defense. From 2003-2022, they ranked 31st in points allowed per drive (2.54). This season, defensive coordinator Patrick Graham performed a minor miracle. The Raiders spent the second-least amount of money on defense and their second-highest-paid player, , didn’t play a down for them. Yet, Graham engineered arguably the best defense the Raiders have had in the last two decades. They finished 12th in points allo…

The 2023 NFL playoffs have been about exorcising demons that have plagued each team playing in the conference championship round. Heading into the postseason, the narrative was struggles against the blitz, Kyle Shanahan’s teams can’t come from behind to win a game in the fourth quarter, Andy Reid is unwilling to run the ball, can’t make big-time throws in the clutch. Advertisement It took a half, but Jackson figured out the defense and the put up 24 second-half points to seal the win. Shanah…

The decided last offseason to move on from offensive coordinator Greg Roman and replace him with Todd Monken. The intent was to modernize their offense and help take the next step as a passer. To that end, they were successful. It took some time for Jackson to get acclimated to the offense, but from Week 9 to 17 (the Ravens rested their starters in Week 18), they ranked fifth in EPA per dropback. And they weren’t just scorching bad teams through the air. Jackson had five touchdown passes again…

The defense has to have an overarching philosophy against the in Sunday’s : We are going to stop the run, and if and his weapons can beat our defensive backs, by far the best part of our defense, we can live with it. The , as good as their defense has been, have been susceptible to the run, in particular zone runs, in which the 49ers specialize. It won’t be as simple as loading the box. To stop San Francisco’s rushing attack, Kansas City will need a masterpiece from defensive coordinator Stev…

One of the Kansas City Chiefs’ mottos throughout the playoffs was: “In Spags we trust.” Spags, of course, is Steve Spagnuolo, the Chiefs’ fifth-year defensive coordinator, who has earned that trust by helping them win three Super Bowls. The players had T-shirts made with the phrase and repeated it to the media after each of their playoff wins, including after yet another ace performance from their shrewd play caller in the 25-22 win over the in Super Bowl LVIII Sunday. The Chiefs’ defense neede…

After a last-minute breakdown in contract talks with Kliff Kingsbury earlier this month, the quickly pivoted and hired Luke Getsy as their offensive coordinator. There were plenty of questions about Kingsbury, who went on to take the same job with the , but there are even more about Getsy. The former offensive coordinator was fired last month after a two-year tenure from 2022-23 for good reason. The Bears averaged just 19.2 points per game (23rd) and 307.8 yards per game (28th) in 2022. They i…

Where an team values Michigan quarterback J.J. McCarthy will depend on its tolerance for projection. In the last five years, there has been a shift from the old Bill Parcells rules of valuing experience when drafting quarterbacks. McCarthy could be the latest potential first-round quarterback whose evaluation is based more on traits than experience and on-field production. McCarthy certainly wasn’t the driving force for the national champion Wolverines. It was a team led by its defense and runn…