Vincent Verhei's blog

Buffalo Bills head coach Sean McDermott announced Wednesday that with Josh Allen out due with an elbow injury, Derek Anderson will start Sunday's tilt versus the Indianapolis Colts.

(Thanks to Kevin Patra and NFL.com for mentioning Football Outsiders and DVOA in the article, by the way!)

Anderson had spent seven years in Carolina as Cam Newton's backup, throwing all of 168 passes in that time. He was not re-signed after last season and remained unemployed until the Bills acquired him last week. With Allen injured and Nathan Peterman healthy, Anderson is the best option on the roster.

In the time it takes you to read this, the Baltimore Ravens have sacked Marcus Mariota again. We break down Mariota's sacks and look at other quarterbacks who suffered severe beatings (Randall Cunningham, hello!). Plus, the best passers, runners, and receivers of Week 6.

Let's be honest -- the biggest game of the week doesn't hit until Sunday night when the Patriots host the Chiefs. But the action begins Thursday night with the Eagles taking on the Giants in the Meadowlands. Other notable Sunday games include Steelers-Bengals, Bears-Dolphins, Panthers-Washington, and Ravens-Titans. Finally the 49ers travel to Green Bay on Monday night. Use this thread to discuss them all.

Saquon Barkley's good plays against Carolina were very good, but his bad plays were very bad. What does that kind of all-or-nothing production say about the Giants' chances this year, and Barkley's career going forward? Plus the best passers, runners, and receivers of the week, including a running game like we haven't seen in almost 60 years.

The NFL has a bunch of interesting matchups in Week 5. Sunday has a rematch of the Minnesota-Philadelphia NFC Championship Game, Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs offense facing off against the Jacksonville defense, Miami-Cincinnati in the "One of These Teams is Somehow Going to be 4-1" Bowl, and Atlanta-Pittsburgh in a duel of preseason Super Bowl favorites trying to save their seasons. And Monday night will see a pair of NFC playoff leaders when 2-1 Washington visits 3-1 New Orleans. Use this thread to discuss them all.

NFL quarterbacks are putting up passing numbers like never before. Does that mean the league's worst quarterbacks (*cough* Josh Allen *cough*) are hurting their teams like never before?

Admittedly, the Vikings-Rams Thursday night tilt lost a lot of luster after Minnesota got stomped by Buffalo last week, but at least Los Angeles will be wearing their throwback uniforms. Other big games this weekend include Miami at New England, Chicago at Tampa Bay, and Kansas City's trip to Denver on Monday night. Use this thread to talk about them all.

There's a new weapon being used in NFL offensive arsenals, and teams like the Dolphins, Rams, and Bears are getting big results out of it. Plus, the best passers, runners, and receivers in Week 3.

The last time the Cleveland Browns won a regular season game, Myles Garrett was still playing at Texas A&M. Together they have a chance to win again, hosting the Jets on Thursday night. Use this thread to discuss that game and all the weekend's action, up to the Steelers-Buccaneers contest on Monday night.

We've all seen the Next Gen Stats as part of NFL broadcasts -- player speed, distance traveled, etc. -- but this story on NFL.com is the first time I've seen anything really useful done with the data. For each pass thrown in the NFL, they've calculated the likelihood of a completion based on six factors:

• Air distance, the actual distance between the passer and receiver, both horizontally and vertically.
• Target separation, the distance between the receiver and the nearest defender in coverage.