The Regular Season has already reached the half-time mark – time for an interim conclusion! In an interview with DAZN, the German ex-NFL professional and football expert Björn Werner gives his assessments: to the Giants, the Raiders, the Rams, the German players in the NFL – and he says who he would like to see in the Super Bowl.
… the positive surprises of this season so far: “You think you’ve seen everything, and then there’s such an incredible start from all the teams. For example the Cleveland Browns, who had to go into overtime four times already – if they still have an overtime, it’s a record! Everyone wins against everyone, the Patriots have lost at the start of the season two games in a row. Patrick Mahomes is one of my most positive surprises, I thought in the offseason that he is not ready yet. But he came out totally casual and is currently one of the best quarterbacks in the NFL!
… the negative surprises this season: “One of my negative surprises is definitely the New York Giants. In the offseason I was actually positive about them and thought that Saquon Barkley would be a great year, OBJ got his big contract – I thought Eli Manning would do it and play another big season. But so far, there’s dead pants. That’s the biggest disappointment I’ve had so far. There was not much going on at the Cardinals, the 49ers had bad luck with Jimmy Garoppolo’s injury. Looking at the players, I think it’s incredible that the Patriots traded for Josh Gordon and he’s doing really well. Personally, I’m not such a big fan of it, the boy has already got a lot of chances and there are other players out there who are just as good and don’t get as many chances. Everyone has their own opinion, personally I’m not a big fan of it.”
… his playoff forecasts at halftime: “The Los Angeles Rams are high up in the NFC, they are currently my super bowl favourite. You’ve seen it on paper before the season that they have an incredible squad and they play like that. More often you see that teams have the players, but don’t get that on the field. The rams are great right now. The Vikings and the New Orleans Saints are also very strong, these are my three favourites, one of them will make it into the Super Bowl.”
“Otherwise, the first quarter of the season was a bit weak from the Seattle Seahawks, but since then it’s been a whole different team. In the AFC the New England Patriots are at the top again, as always. They lost two games in a row and they all panic, but everybody who knows the Patriots: they always start a bit slow and then it goes uphill. The biggest disappointment in the AFC for me so far is the Jaguars, I thought they’d make it far into the playoffs. Halfway through, it looks like they’re missing the playoffs. Then, of course, you also have to name the Kansas City Chiefs, they are my AFC favourite next to the Patriots. Mahomes delivers, he has his weapons around him and he uses them.”
… his mid-season MVP: “Todd Gurley. Gurley has felt incredibly many touchdowns, two, three per game. He doesn’t have too many yards now compared to other running backs, but he is a runner and receiver for the rams. For me, the MVP is the one who helps his team the most; the Rams haven’t lost a game yet and Todd Gurley is the MVP of the first half for me because his stats just show how important he is to the team.”
… the German players in the NFL: “We just lack a bit of the big stories, that was great for Football Germany, of course, when we had several players in the 53-man squads. Currently it’s only Mark Nzeocha and EQ St. Brown. They both play well, Mark is a replacement linebacker and plays in the special team and recently had a blocked punt, he plays an important role. But at the end of the day we don’t have a quarterback out there, or someone to start with, and that’s just a bit missing. But let’s see: in a few years there might be some new people, we have a lot of guys in college football right now.”
“Kasim Edebali is currently a Free Agent, if you ask me, he’s good enough for the NFL. He has played a good preseason, for me it is difficult to explain why he is currently not in any 53-man squad. But that’s the business side of the NFL: Kasim has been in the NFL for four years now, so his minimum salary is high and he becomes more expensive than the rookies. I think he’s gonna get another chance this year. If that doesn’t happen, it’s gonna be very hard to get back in. If you don’t know him, Kasim is the most positive person ever. He has just had a daughter and is concentrating on what is great – and otherwise he just stays in football form, which is of course important. He’s waiting for his chance to see what happens. The season is still very long. Hopefully we’ll see him again somewhere.”
… the quarterback situation in the NFL: “The quarterback is the most important position for any team. That’s why it’s so hard to find a player that you have on the position for 10, 15 years. Not every NFL team has a quarterback like that. For example, we now have the situation at the Buccaneers where Jameis Winston was suspended at the start of the season – and suddenly Fitzmagic came out and we all celebrated it! But we also knew that Fitzmagic would come to an end at some point, and after his first bad game he was taken straight out. Now Winston had a really bad game, and Fitzpatrick is back again. That’s a lot of instability in a team if you don’t have a clear quarterback, and no head coach wants that.”
“Eli Manning, for example, has brought two Super Bowls to New York and also extremely good individual statistics. But I think it’s about time we broke up. And Blake Bortles at the Jaguars is another candidate. I didn’t understand why you gave him that good contract again. He didn’t do it badly last year, but everyone who follows the Jaguars and has a little bit of knowledge about football knows he’s not that quarterback you can hope to take your team to the next level over the next few years. They have a strong defense, usually a strong run game. It’s about time to part with Bortles; in the end it’s not fair to Bortles either: whenever they play badly, it’s his fault and when they play well, it’s the run game or the defense. That’s a strange situation right now, where sometimes a reboot is the best way for both sides.”
… his favorite story of the season so far: “That’s Adam Thielen from the Vikings. He did very well last year, now he set the record of Calvin Johnson for eight games in a row with at least 100 Receiving-Yards each. That’s very surprising of course, he was a walk on in college, then he was an undrafted rookie – and now he’s one of the best wide receivers in the NFL. It’s one of those stories where you just keep your fingers crossed and hope that he can keep it up. That’s also motivation and inspiration for many players out there.”
“Another great story is J.J. Watt: Watt was very dominant over the last years, then the injuries came and many wrote him off afterwards. And now, together with Khalil Mack, he’s my defense MVP at half time of the season. If you watch a game from the Houston Texans, you see the old J.J. Watt again; at every second play he is at the quarterback. And I still don’t understand why the Raiders traded Khalil Mack. I don’t understand the whole Raiders system. You don’t often find a player like Khalil Mack, at one point in the season he had more sacks than the whole defense of the raiders. He produces a lot of fumbles and we always talk about keys to the game – the Turnover Battle is always part of it. If you have a player who can take the ball away, that’s an extra posse for your offense.”
… his wish-Super-Bowl: “(thoughtful) In any case a part of it would be not to see the New England Patriots in the Super Bowl, even if a lot of Patriots fans in Germany will be angry now, if I say so. (laughs) I’d just like to see some fresh teams at the Super Bowl. Normally it is in the NFL by the Salary Cap and the Draft so that not always the same teams are strong. Sure, some teams can take off upstairs. This also shows how dominant the Patriots have been over the last few years and they deserve respect for that. But it’s also a little boring. I’d just like to see Chiefs versus the Rams in the Super Bowl, that’d be a great shootout.”