Decoded Blog

The best-paid defender in football is not the linebacker who runs the defense or the corner who shadows the star. It is the edge rusher hunting the quarterback, on about $47m a year. The money picks him; the film picks two others.

The Bears, Lions, Packers and Vikings have new “Rivalries” uniforms for 2026, each worn once at home against a division rival. It’s a real Nike and NFL programme, now in year two, and the schedule is what makes it work.

Left-handed quarterbacks are the NFL’s rarest breed, none on a roster as recently as 2020. How many there are now, the famous names, and whether the edge is real.

One blocker beaten twice in a preseason game became a leaguewide talking point. That is the left tackle’s job: guard the blindside, the side a right-handed quarterback cannot see as he throws. Lose it, and you can lose your quarterback.

Passer rating and QBR can rate the same quarterback completely differently, and it isn’t a mistake. One scores the throws, the other scores the whole game. Here is what separates them, and which number to trust for which question.

The 17th game was not a gift to fans. It came out of the 2020 labour deal, traded for more player revenue and a record TV contract.

As promised, here are my first-ever NFL division picks. I lined up ESPN, FanDuel and Bleacher Report, followed the consensus where it was solid, and backed my own read on four divisions. Tell me where I’m wrong.

Ask which NFL division is the best and you get two answers, both fair, and they can flatly contradict each other. It comes down to one thing: whether you are measuring what already happened, or guessing what happens next. This also then has another added layer to it. You will find fans like me making,…

Divisional rivals meet twice a season, guaranteed. Six of seventeen games against the same three clubs, which is why these five feuds have piled up 680 meetings between them.

In the last weekend of the 2025 season, Tampa Bay went from division leaders to eliminated without playing a game. A third team joined the tie and reversed it. The NFL rulebook explains how, and the reason is stranger than the headlines were.