How many NFL teams could Georgia beat right now?
By John Buhler
We ask ourselves this question at least once a year: Can the best team in college football beat the worst team in the NFL? In pretty much every instance, the answer is definitively and unequivocally no. However, the top of the college game has never been closer to the very bottom of the NFL. While one of these hypothetical exhibition contests will never happen under any circumstance, one can dream.
With only one week in the books in the college game, and only two NFL regular-season games having been completed, I think we are at an interesting enough cross section to actually have this conversation. Although I have not seen the absolute dreck of the NFL compete yet, I do have five teams going 4-13 or worse this season. I think all would beat Georgia, but some of these teams stink!
These are the five NFL teams I have winning no more than four games this year. I could be so wrong.
- Carolina Panthers (4-13)
- Minnesota Vikings (4-13)
- New England Patriots (2-15)
- New York Giants (3-14)
- Tennessee Titans (3-14)
Even though I don't think any of these five NFL teams have any sliver of hope of sniffing the playoffs, there are things I like about each of them. I think Dave Canales can work wonders with Bryce Young. Kevin O'Connell is a wizard and Justin Jefferson can ball. Drake Maye fascinates me. New York won a playoff game two years ago. And I trust Brian Callahan to get the most out of Tennessee's little talent.
So of those five teams I have listed above, is there a chance Georgia could get one of them once?
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The first team I have to cross off is Tennessee. Even though I have them going 3-14, that may have more to do with the depth of the AFC than how I really feel about the Tennessee Titans. Georgia has a great defense, but Will Levis and Mason Rudolph were college stars, and DeAndre Hopkins will find ways to get open. Brian Callahan will methodically move the sticks on Georgia to an effortless victory.
The next team I have to cross off is the Minnesota Vikings. While this isn't an absolute certainty like it is with the Titans, I trust Kevin O'Connell to come up with an offensive game plan to get the ball to Justin Jefferson on every play to thwart Kirby Smart's defense. There is virtually no way for Sam Darnold to screw this up. The fact I am even second-guessing this is why I do not trust him, period.
The third team that I am crossing off is the Carolina Panthers. I understand that Carolina has become insanely dysfunctional since David Tepper bought the team, but Bryce Young is still the Panthers' starting quarterback and Dave Canales is still their head coach. It would not be a total blowout like the Vikings over Georgia, but I would have Carolina prevailing over the Dawgs most times and on Sunday.
Now we have arrived at the two were I think Georgia could get them more than once. The next team I am going to cross off is the New England Patriots. Drake Maye is talented, but he was never a big-game performer during his college carer at North Carolina. I may like Alex Van Pelt as on offensive coordinator, but I don't trust Jerod Mayo. The defense may be good, but this is the worst team by far.
And it pains me to say this, but if any NFL team is losing to Georgia this year, it is the New York Giants. It is the combination of abysmal quarterback play, a middling roster and a head coach who is still viewing life from atop his high horse. It will be a tortoise vs. the hare sort of ordeal, as Kirby Smart will slowly be chopping wood, as Brian Daboll thinks it is cool to rest easy under the shade of an oak tree.
Overall, none of these teams would ever lose to Georgia, but the Dawgs would have their best shot against the Patriots and the Giants. New England because of a bad roster and coaching inexperience. New York because of organizational dysfunction, coaching hubris and not having the right quarterback. The reason I went with New York is because Giants fans would rather have Carson Beck.
All I know is these five teams should be scouting this dominant Georgia team before the NFL Draft.