#offense

#offense

The team announced Wednesday that it has hired Todd Monken, bringing one of the league's most accomplished offensive minds back to Cleveland to lead a franchise searching for stability - and answers - on that side of the ball. Monken spent the last three seasons as the Baltimore Ravens' offensive coordinator, overseeing one of the most productive stretches in franchise history.

SANTA CLARA Even with dominating defenses such as Denver, Houston and Seattle, the path to Super Bowl LX will be mostly navigated by the offense. It's offense that is most valued by NFL rulemakers and puts defenses at a disadvantage, and a game's tempo and pace are dictated by the quarterback and the coach who designs and calls the plays. With that in mind, here's a subjective ranking of those unions among the eight teams remaining in the divisional round of the NFL playoffs:

The Cowboys are the 19th best team by DVOA, which feels about right. With 14 teams making the playoffs, that means they're just on the outside of that threshold. It's worth noting that three of their four remaining opponents all rank below them in DVOA, as do two of the teams ahead of them in the conference standings. Let's highlight special teams real quick, because it's been bad.

We've put ourselves in a position to really attack this second half of the season, and we know we can improve,

It shouldn't come as a shock that the Cleveland Browns are 2-5 through the first seven weeks of the season. The defensive line is very good, yes, and Denzel Ward is still one of the premier cornerbacks in football, but the offense is nothing short of abysmal. Going into the preseason, Kevin Stefanski had four main options at quarterback upon finding out Deshaun Watson would be out for the year: Joe Flacco, Kenny Pickett, Dillon Gabriel, and Shedeur Sanders.

The O's just finished up a disappointing 2025 season. After making the playoffs in the prior two campaigns, they fell to the basement of the American League East this year, finishing 75-87. Their lack of rotation depth was a big part of that but the lineup also wasn't great. The team hit a collective .235/.305/.394. The resultant 96 wRC+ was better than just nine clubs in the majors.

The Heat's undermanned offense needs a best-case-scenario season from Nikola Jovic. When critics paint a bleak picture of Miami's outlook, they'll often cite the lack of a superstar as the primary culprit behind all of the doom-and-gloom talk. It's true that's a role the Heat will have to figure out how to fill if they ever want to rejoin the championship race, but that's a long-term puzzle for the front office to solve.

No doubt they need the likes of Springer and his suddenly rejuvenated offense, as well as Daulton Varsho and his Gold Glove calibre defense in the outfield, along with Kevin Gausman to dominate opposing hitters into submission. But if there was one player that the Jays can't afford to lose this postseason, that player is none other than Alejandro Kirk.

Play of the Game: Tua Tagovailoa was sacked at the Patriots 37-yard line on fourth-and-12 with 53 seconds left. That completed a day where, again, the theme was lost opportunity. On the previous possession, Tua threw a fourth-down interception over the middle that was returned 20 yards to the Dolphins 38 with 2:12 left. Bottom-line: The Dolphins needed winning plays from their quarterback.