Trying to figure out what's "real" and what's not is the toughest thing to do in the NFL, especially early in the season. Were Bryce Young's excellent first two weeks "real," or now, after a bad game against the Browns, is the "real" Bryce Young the one we've seen most of his career? There's so much convoluting that, too.
Different matchups, different schemes, different adjustments, different luck and, most of all, different human beings. These players aren't robots. The get put in good situations.
They get put in bad situations. One could simply say Young's struggles were indicative of who is as a player, or they could listen to Darren Waller go way, way, waaaaay in depth ... and still chuck it up to "those are the kinds of things that happen early on in the season." Trying to assess what's real and what's not regarding top teams' strengths and weaknesses is similarly hard, but not impossible. As such, we're looking at the six teams with the shortest Super Bowl odds -- the "contenders" if you will, though certainly not an exhaustive list -- and hoping to determine their biggest weaknesses.
The rest of the year will tell, but for now, this is what is keeping the upper tier up at night. The great thing about stars is that they're stars. The bad thing about stars is that they cost a lot, and so filling out the rest of the roster behind them becomes a challenge.
Right now, the Rams are dealing with injuries to reigning Defensive Player of the Year Myles Garrett, superstar wide receiver Puka Nacua and crucial offseason addition Jaylen Watson. And behind them, there's a lack of depth. Let's look at all three positions.
It's hard to be too worried about the Rams. If they were 2-1 with a dominant win over the Giants and a win at the Broncos and their only loss being after a 16-hour flight to Australia, these worries would be far less. But the margins are very, very slim in the NFL.
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