The Baltimore Ravens and Jacksonville Jaguars kick off what is approximately the halfway point of the 2026 NFL season on Thursday night.

Joe Fagnano leads a Ravens squad that began the season with genuine Super Bowl aspirations, but that has now lost both former MVP quarterback Lamar Jackson and backup Snoop Huntley, against a Jaguars roster that may quietly be the favorite to actually represent the AFC in Los Angeles on Valentine’s Day with the Lombardi at stake.

In the spirit of the halfway point, let’s hand out some hardware.

Introducing what we’re affectionately calling the Halvsies.

The Halvsies are essentially the winners of the big awards from the first half of the season, and a few categories that we’ve created here just for funsies.

Enjoy, and feel free to debate the choices!

Caleb Williams and the Bears are each on an insane trajectory at the moment, but Chicago’s sustained success isn’t possible without the elite-level quarterback play head coach Ben Johnson is getting from the former No. 1 overall pick.

Williams has been terrific this season, passing for 1,267 yards with six touchdowns to just one interception through his first five games, after being sidelined for three weeks with a hamstring injury.

According to Pro Football Focus, Williams boasts the league’s highest adjusted completion percentage in the NFL, at 84.3, with Lamar Jackson second at 80.9.

Meanwhile, his 61.3 completion percentage on downfield throws also leads the league.

Williams is seemingly getting stronger and more proficient from the pocket each week.

Likewise, Head coach Ben Johnson continues to unveil new and innovative concepts to facilitate explosive plays, and the Bears’ young supporting cast is improving and developing alongside their wunderkind quarterback.

(Yes, I’m aware that on the Between The Hashmarks Podcast, I listed Brock Purdy as my choice here, but Williams’ dominance and value to a Bears team that might be the best in football is undeniable, and I’m entitled to change my mind after a few days of sleeping on it. Deal with it.)

Brian Flores and the Minnesota Vikings blitzed Lions quarterback Jared Goff on 26 of 29 dropbacks in Week 8, but it didn’t matter, and the Lions prevailed in comeback fashion because Jahmyr Gibbs flipped the script.

Gibbs trails Falcons running back Bijan Robinson for the league rushing lead by just seven yards, rushing for 773 with eight touchdowns through Detroit’s first seven games.

As Pro Football Focus points out, no running back has more explosive runs of 20 yards or more than Gibbs’ 27, no running back has forced more missed tackles than Gibbs’ 51, and he’s averaging 3.39 yards after contact per rushing attempt.

However, where Gibbs has proven most valuable is as a catalyst when the Lions have needed him the most.

In the second halves against the Vikings and Jets, two games the Lions either needed to come back to win or fight off a late challenge, Gibbs rushed for a combined 186 yards and three touchdowns. Clutch.

Blake Cashman is the brains and the heartbeat of Brian Flores’ relentless, attacking defense, and the Vikings’ off-ball linebacker is putting up some insane production through the first half of the season.

Cashman enters Week 9 with 64 total tackles, 4.5 sacks, and, through the season’s first half, is Pro Football Focus’s second-highest-graded linebacker in the sport.

According to PFF, Cashman leads the league with 31 run-stops; he’s second among linebackers with 16 total quarterback pressures and has operated as the chaos agent at the center of the whirlwind of pressure Flores is crafting for 60 minutes each Sunday.

In addition to his off-the-charts production, Cashman’s ability to quickly communicate adapting play-calls at the line of scrimmage and get the Vikings’ defense that is currently blitzing on 72.5 percent of snaps, according to FTN Fantasy, set him apart among defensive players across the NFL.

We’re entering the second week of our second annual Feed the League promotion, and I cannot thank you enough for your support of this project and the charitable endeavors it allows us to undertake.

As you might know, through November 15, we’re offering 26% off all new Subscription plans.

However, if you purchase an Annual Subscription Plan (or gift one to a friend), please let me know your favorite NFL team (either by replying to your welcome email, or letting me know on social media @MattLombardoNFL on Threads or MattLombardo.bsky.social on BlueSky) and I’ll donate 20% of the proceeds to a food pantry in the home city of your favorite team, and 10% of the proceeds to either Philabundance or Second Harvest of the Lehigh Valley to help feed folks in my community.

So far, we’ve helped put food on the table in Denver, New Orleans, San Francisco, Chicago, Buffalo, and Philadelphia!

When the regime eliminated SNAP benefits last fall, over five million folks, including over two million children, were plunged into hunger. That’s unacceptable in America.

So, please consider subscribing, or purchasing a gift subscription for a friend, by hitting the green button below, and let’s do some good. Together!

In a year where, at least through the first half of the season, the Browns have defied and exceeded every possible expectation, Boston has emerged as one of Cleveland’s cornerstones and a dynamic offensive weapon, in his own right.

Boston has become a big-play merchant, averaging 15.7 yards per reception while catching 26 passes for 409 yards and three touchdowns.

So far this season, only Tennessee Titans wide receiver Carnell Tate has more receptions or receiving yards than Boston.

Boston also happens to be playing on a deeper offense, surrounded by emerging playmakers like fellow rookie wideout K.C. Concepcion and tight end Harold Fannin Jr., on a more efficient offense in Cleveland, each contending for targets in head coach Todd Monken’s system.

David Bailey has been everything the New York Jets could have envisioned or asked for after selecting him No. 2 overall in this past spring’s NFL Draft.

Bailey has been a tone-setter and the Jets’ defensive cornerstone, logging 5.5 sacks with 35 total tackles.

Beyond the stat sheet, Bailey’s 26 quarterback pressures rank 18th in the league, according to Pro Football Focus, while he’s also added 15 hurries, and his 16 run-stops rank fifth among all edge rushers.

Bailey’s explosive first step and ability to knife his way into the backfield torpedoing plays before they have a chance to get started, make it look like he’s merely scratching the surface of his potential impact moving forward from here.

There isn’t a team that’s weathered adversity this season better than the New York Giants.

If before the season you told me that before Halloween, the Giants would have lost quarterback Jaxson Dart and All-Pro pass rusher Brian Burns for the season, been forced to play without All-Pro left tackle Andrew Thomas for a spell, and withstood a Cam Skattebo benching due to his fumblitis, I’d have been convinced that New York’s season had come unglued and they’d once again be occupying the basement in the NFC East.

Instead, Harbaugh’s Giants are best in class in the division, looking to potentially be buyers in the running back market to elevate an offense that J.J. McCarthy has been operating at a high level the past two weeks while racing out to a 4-2-1 record.

Harbaugh’s Giants are playing like the most complete team in the most disappointing and underachieving division in football.

Harbaugh has almost immediately changed the culture in North Jersey and has the Giants positioned to win the division in his first season despite losing some of the most important players on the roster to significant injury. That’s no small feat.

Entering this season, there was every reason in the world to be optimistic that Justin Herbert, paired with a dominant pair of running backs, and behind a healthy offensive line in offensive coordinator Mike McDaniel’s system, could be the catalyst for an insurgent run to the AFC West crown, if not more.

Yeah, that hasn’t worked out.

The Chargers rank dead last in DVOA (-35.8), dead last in offensive DVOA (-31.2), and Herbert ranks 20th in efficiency, two spots below Cam Ward and three below Tanner McKee. Big. Time. Yikes.

It’s a wonder that Jim Harbaugh hasn’t fired McDaniel, and at this point it feels fair to question if Los Angeles will ultimately shop Herbert in the 11th hour leading up to the NFL trade deadline just to hit the reset button on a situation that seems to be resetting the definition of ‘rock bottom’ every single week.

The Packers’ wide receiver reset continues to pick up steam each week, as Matthew Golden continues to emerge as a more significant focal point.

Green Bay’s first-round pick in the 2025 draft has vaulted to the top of quarterback Jordan Love’s target hierarchy and has become an explosive play assembly line opposite Christian Watson.

Golden, who was drafted in part because of his game-altering speed, has parlayed it into averaging 4.6 yards after the catch per reception, on his 43 catches for 619 yards and four touchdowns.

The former Texas standout’s production is impressive in its own right, but also may be merely a harbinger of what he’s capable of, given that Love has targeted him a team-high 82 times, with Watson checking in second on that list with 66.