Good lord what a hell of
a game!
Honestly, I don’t even
know where to begin, other than to say that I, as a football fan, felt like my
stomach was going to drop out when I saw Aaron Rodgers getting carted off the
field with a dejected look on his face. I assumed the trainers had told him he’d
blown out his knee and was going to miss the rest of 2018, and I thought about how much less fun football would be this season without him, and how awful it was going to be for his career that he'd be missing basically two consecutive years due to injury.
You could feel Green
Bay’s season rolling away with Rodgers on that cart. No player is more important to the success of his team week in and week out than he is. They'd be completely finished without him, particularly in this game where I didn't feel like they had much of shot even before he got hurt. We all saw how the first half had played out; he’d been running for his life, they hadn’t been able to get anything going on offense, and Kahlil Mack
was doing his best Lawrence Taylor impression and making everyone think "what kind of hipster Cali weed has Jon Gruden been smoking in Oakland to think it was good idea to trade him?" As Mack rumbled into the end
zone with a Deshone Kizer interception, it just seemed like it was already over. So when Michelle Tafoya reported from the sidelines that he was going to try and give it a go in the second half, I didn’t think much of it.
And that’s when Rodgers,
down 20-0, went to another level, a place worthy of only the pantheon of
athletes. His throw to Geronimo Allison to make it 20-10 was majestic, and even on one leg, the Pack decided to completely abandon the running game in the second half and put it all on him.
When the Bears screwed up
their second-to-last possession by throwing on 3rd and short, giving Green Bay an
extra 39 seconds, I knew Rodgers was going to take them down the field for the
winning score. This became even more evident when he got a dropped interception on the first play of the drive when he drilled Chicago's Kyle Fuller directly in the chest and he couldn't come up with it. Two
plays later he found Randall Cobb, who did the rest. Wow.
Rodgers bailed out the
franchise tonight on one leg. But it wasn’t just the Packers; there’s a chance
he might’ve saved the entire league. In a sport that’s been decimated by
non-football issues, he made everyone remember tonight why they love the NFL
so much. Aaron Rodgers overcoming a bum leg and kicking Chicago’s ass in the
second half is what football is all about. This is why we watch. This is what
the league needs.
The
Saints Defense Is Abominable
Ryan Fitzpatrick leading
the Buccaneers into New Orleans and laying 48 points on them is the most
surprising result of the weekend. Don’t get me wrong, the Saints weren’t
incredible on that side last year (they ranked 17th in yards
allowed), but they never got torched like they did today in 2017. Fitzpatrick
completed 21 passes for 417 yards, meaning he incredibly averaged almost 20 yards per
completion. Holy hell. The only thing more shocking than that stat was that Fitzpatrick was able to get his helmet on over his 1700s “Over Mountain Man”
beard.
I’m not going to
overreact to Week 1 because teams get blasted all the time and still have great
seasons (The Patriots gave up 42 points to Kansas City in the first game of the
last season and still made the Super Bowl), but Desean Jackson and Mike Evans
were open by ten yards the entire game and New Orleans couldn't do anything to stop it. I don’t see how that gets significantly
better for a Saints team that was thought of before the season as a Super Bowl
contender. They really reminded me of the New Orleans teams from 2014-2016, squads
that had explosive offenses that couldn't have slowed down a team of all retirees and amputees on the other end.
I’m not a buyer in Tampa
long term because I don’t trust the Fitzpatrick/Jameis Winston QB duo at all.
Plus, don't forget that their defense also sucked today; Alvin Kamara had three touchdowns, Michael Thomas had 16 catches (PPR God) and the Saints put up 40 points of their own.
Ben
Roethlisberger And The Browns Had A “Who Can Take The Nastiest, Smelliest Dump
On The Field” Contest And No One Won
Today’s performance
against Cleveland might be the worst game of Big Ben’s career. His three pick,
two fumble performance today was eerily similar to his five interception debacle against Jacksonville in the regular season last year, and was pretty much directly responsible for their 21-21 tie against a Cleveland team that had lost 17 games in a row. What made it even worse was that they led 21-7 in the fourth quarter and relinquished the lead thanks to their own mistakes.
As bad as the Steelers were, the Browns were just as bad, considering they had a +5 turnover edge and couldn’t win themselves.
I wrote before the year
that the Steelers felt like a “Year From Hell” candidate. Le’Veon Bell’s drama
and everything that’s come with that, along with Mike Tomlin’s continued year to year
regression as a coach have the potential to doom them, but what will definitely destroy them is if Roethlisberger, who has been flirting with retiring for a few
years now, is just finished as an elite QB. Josh Dobbs is their backup; I'd feel awful about that if I was them.
Pittsburgh hosts Kansas City next week, and with as well as the Chiefs played against the Chargers, that could be trouble.
As for the Browns, my
goodness. Everything broke in your favor and you had multiple chances to win it
and blew them all. Tyrod Taylor killed their last drive of regulation with an
interception, and when Roethlisberger gifted them with a turnover on
Pittsburgh’s side of the field in overtime, they had their game-winning field goal attempt
blocked. Fun fact (credit to Bill Barnwell): Since Cleveland re-entered the
league in 1999, teams that win the turnover battle in a game by five or more
are 132-4-1. The Browns have two of those losses and the tie. Good lord. That
stat is so Cleveland it doesn't even hurt, it just makes me laugh. Hue Jackson everybody!
Minnesota
and Kansas City Were The Most Impressive Teams Of The Weekend
I didn’t include Baltimore
here because they beat lowly Buffalo, who is so bad that they should already be considering themselves on the clock. Patrick Mahomes to
Tyreek Hill embarrassed the Chargers and looks like the best new QB-WR combo in
the league, while Minnesota’s defense whipped Jimmy Garoppolo (making him
look mortal in the process) and left parts of his body in the US Bank Stadium
turf. The only thing worse than Jimmy G’s play today are his dating choices.
Like always anyone that tried to talk
themselves into the Chargers this season is an idiot. We’ve seen this all
before; a loaded roster, a big home game early in the season, and nothing but horrible
play calling, blown coverages, turnovers, dropped passes, etc. It’s the same old script for the
last five seasons. What’s that? You’re saying I picked them to make the
playoffs?..... yeah, that's because I'm also an idiot.
-
College Football
Jimbo
Fisher And His Overmatched Aggies Almost Took Down Dabo And Clemson
Texas A&M’s Kellen
Mond had over 400 passing yards and led an almost comeback that had him throwing into the end zone for the tying two point conversion late in the fourth quarter. Clemson almost blew a 28-13 4th
quarter lead, and if not for the dumb “you fumble through the end zone and it’s a touchback”
rule, they probably do and Jimbo gets a signature victory in just
in second career game at College Station.
Quick tangent: the
touchback rule is so dumb. If you fumble the ball out of bounds at the 1 inch
line, you get to keep it, but if you lose it through the end zone the other
team gets it. Why? How does that make any sense? Just take it back to the ten
yard line or something. This is an easy fix.
Of all the big time
programs who made coaching changes this off-season, A&M has to feel the
best about their situation at the moment. They got a top 5 college coach in
Jimbo in a state loaded with talent backed by one of the largest athletic
departments in the country. It’s inconceivable that the Aggies haven’t ever
really put together six or seven straight awesome years in the history of
the program considering what the potential for the job has always been. Jimbo
appears on his way to making that happen, and with Nick Saban approaching his
late 60s (and potentially on his way towards retirement in the next few years),
A&M is the best positioned team in the SEC West to take the Alabama throne.
As for Clemson, I think
this “we’re going to play both Kelly Bryant and Trevor Lawrence at quarterback”
decision is stupid. It screws up the flow of the offense since both guys have
different strengths, and it doesn’t allow either of them to get into a rhythm.
I’d start Bryant because he’s a senior and the offense seems more comfortable
when he’s in there. Plus, you can redshirt Lawrence and the Mt. Everest sized thing
that he calls a nose and have him come into 2019 as the definitive starter.
A two QB system where the guys switch out possessions has never worked in the history of football, and I have no clue why coaches still decide to do it. Just start the guy that looked the best and go from there. If that guy sucks, replace him with the other guy. It's not difficult.
Chip
Kelly, Dan Mullen, And Willie Taggart Are All Off To Disappointing Starts At
Their New Schools
Kelly’s and Mullen’s
problems are pretty easy to diagnose, which is that neither of them have a competent
quarterback. Feleipe Franks was pretty much the sole reason the Gators lost to
Kentucky for the first time since 1986, while UCLA started the immortal Wilton
Speight against Cincinnati, and then ran into a buzz saw against an Oklahoma
team that might be the best team in the country not named Alabama. This will
probably be a tough year for Kelly and UCLA, but I think they're just a
quarterback away from being able to contend in the Pac 12. I’d be a little bit
more concerned about Mullen, who hasn’t exactly lit it up on recruiting trail
so far, but it's not panic time yet.
However, the ship is
taking on water fast at FSU. The ‘Noles were abominable against Virginia Tech
in his debut and then followed that up by trailing Samford in the second half.
Sheesh. I was anti-Taggart before the season because he was a below .500 coach
who had exactly one ten win season in his career. What had he proven to get a
job like FSU? What makes it even worse is that Florida State has the best QB
situation of the UCLA-Florida-FSU trio and have looked the worst offensively.
More bad news: If the Seminoles fire him after the season, he’ll be owed 85% of
the $24 million left on his contract. That’s $20.4 million. $20.4 million! So
they’re basically stuck with him for another year no matter how awful they look
this season. Good grief.
Outside
Of Georiga, The SEC East Is A Crapshoot
The ‘Dawgs blasted South
Carolina this weekend and left little doubt about who the best team in the
division is, unless you think Missouri can beat them in Columbia in two weeks
(and I think they have a decent shot). But if Georgia goes in there and
destroys them, then we can go ahead and pencil them in for a trip to Atlanta on
the first Saturday of December.
Florida has athletes, but
as mentioned above, their quarterback situation is in total disarray and they
might have the worst offense in the division. Kentucky beat them but weren’t
good enough to pull away. Vanderbilt is Vanderbilt, South Carolina was cooked
in the Georgia game by the third quarter, and we’re not sure if Mizzou will be
able to stop anyone with any consistency. Which leaves us with Tennessee, who
might have an awful defense and definitely can’t block. The Vols could beat any
of the teams in the East and also lose to any of them on any given week, and
they’ll probably be no rhyme and reason for it other than the fact that all
these teams are probably around 6-6. Tennessee will probably
be favored to beat the Gators in two weeks, but neither of them are good or do
anything particularly special. It'd be easy for one of the East teams to get hot for a few weeks, run through this crappy division, finish 6-2 in conference play, and trick everyone into thinking they're better than they actually are.
The
Post-Sam Darnold Era For Clay Helton At USC Is Playing Out The Exact Way I
Expected
I’ve been saying for a
few years now that Helton is more suited for a Drivers Ed job than being the head man
at a major program, and that Sam Darnold carried his sorry ass for the last two
seasons. Their performance against Stanford proved my point and was really damning; three points,
three turnovers, and nothing imaginable at all to what was a completely
lifeless offense. Here’s the other thing to think about: Chip Kelly is
eventually going to get it rolling at UCLA, and with that in mind, you can’t
let yourself be replaced as THE program in Los Angeles, which will be the
inevitable conclusion of the Helton Era if he hangs around for too long. I think the Trojans are going to be really bad this season, and there's no better time to pull the plug than at the end of the season. You don't want to lose all the momentum and excitement in the city to Chip and UCLA.
If
The Season Ended Today, Who Should Be In The Playoff?
With everyone through two
weeks, and with most of the major programs having played at least one Power 5
opponent, here’s my first Playoff Top 4 of the 2018 season. This is based ONLY
on how the teams have performed this season, not what we thought coming into 2018
or what opportunities can do the rest of the year.
Alabama
The Tide have the most
talent in the country and the best quarterback of the Saban era in Tua.
Georgia
The Bulldogs took apart
South Carolina on the road and don’t appear to be missing any of the pieces
they lost from the 2017 team.
Oklahoma
The Sooners blew out FAU
and UCLA back to back weeks and even with Kyler Murray taking over at QB for
the departed Baker Mayfield, they don’t appear to have missed a beat.
Ohio State
We’ll learn more about
the Buckeyes this week when they travel to play TCU, but they have blown two
Power 5 teams off the field in consecutive weeks. Granted, those teams were
Oregon State and Rutgers, but Dwayne Haskins looks like the real deal.
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