NFL News

What? It has to happen sooner or latter. It has been over 2 years since the worst franchise in sports tasted sweet, sweet victory. Why not tonight? The Jets aren't a good team, they are a young team with great potential. Week one was more of a flash in the pan, this team is still very beatable. The Browns on the other hand are a better team then their record would suggest. In fact, they are an undefeated team if not for that sorry excuse for a kicker Zane Gonzalez. Look for the Browns to rely upon their opportunistic defence and the steady hand of Tyrod Taylor to keep them in this one. Sam Darnold may very well be a star in the making but he is a player who has always had a tendency to turn the ball over at a high rate. This trait does not normally correct itself in the NFL (see Winston, Jameis). Both teams will take a slug it out, old school approach. Run heavy schemes with short efficient passes and a reliance on the defence to keep the game close. This game will absolutely co...

Dominated, absolutely dismantled. This team got absolutely smacked in the mouth. Bradford looked absolutely atrocious and it trickled down to the rest of the offence save DJ and Fitz. The line play wasn't too shabby but we just couldn't sustain a drive to save our lives. Every-time the ball was punted away Alex Smith and the duo of Chris Thompson and Adrian "steroids" Peterson made sure to not give it back. They exploited our linebackers (especially Deone Buccanon) and neutralized our strengths: the pass rush and secondary (save Jamar Taylor). It truly was an excellent game plan on their end. However, I do have a bone to pick with the goddamn refs. I know, sore loser, blah blah blah. That might be the case but the refs from this game need to look up the definition of intentional grounding. Every time Alex Smith was about to get sacked he threw the ball underhanded to no one. Textbook thing you can't do. What did the officials do? Just pointed at some random receiv...

I waited until the last possible minute so these will be brief MIA-TEN: Miami wins a close and ugly one: 18-15 Niners-Vikings: Vikings humble Jimmy G and hault the hype train that has gone off the rails: 28-14 Pats-Texans: Watson is no guarantee coming off a second major knee surgery. Pats do their thing: 35-24 Bucs-Saints: A slaughter lead by Alvin Kamara as Fitz and company never stood a chance: 38-13 Jags-Giants: Jags pick up where they left off as the Giants putrid oline gets exposed by the incredible pass rush: 25-16 Bengals-Colts: Andrew Luck surprises people in this unexpected shootout: 38-30 Colts Steelers-Browns: This one gets ugly as defences shine and the Steelers adjust to life without Bell: 20-14, pitt Bills-Ravens: This boring excuse for a game is the lock of the early games. Peterman isnt ready and the Ravens play great defence: 17-10 Baltimore

The Jon Gruden experiment is bound to fail. The average head coach of Oakland and Tampa fame has never been anything special. So his re-entry into the coaching profession is puzzling to say the least. An optimist will tell you he is an offensive wizard who is known as a quarterback whisperer of sorts. Which is all fine and good. Derrick Carr could use fresh eyes. What is incredibly puzzling and also unsurprising is his obsession with a 1998 style of football, a far cry from the intricacies of the current game. Forever the head strong optimist Gruden aggressively implemented his blast from the past style by accumulating a 2012 all star team. He stocked the team with old guys such as Doug Martin and Jordy Nelson. On the defensive side of the ball the team was still aggressively average if totally neglected in the recent team revamp. The only reason the defence was passable was the presence of Khalil Mack. You might know Mack as the only player in recent memory to be named an all-pro at t...

Its hard to write something at this point in the offseason. Rookie camp is over with OTAs on the horizon. Guys are running around in shorts and fans like myself are twiddling their thumbs waiting for something meaningful to happen. The one thing I do know is Josh Rosen has impressed so far. Sure he's just throwing against air, in shorts but the reports are good. One front office source even described his camp as "unreal". He has earned the right to take some first team reps when camp begins. Now what does this all mean? From an on-field standpoint, not a ton. There is still a lot of work to be done and various ups and downs that must be conquered. However, one important takeaway is his presence in the huddle. DJ Humphries mentioned that Rosen took control of the huddle and really earned the respect of the veterans. This is huge for a rookie quarterback. You come in as a fresh faced kid and you are supposed to lead a group of men. Easier said then done. This was a conce...

The NFL seems hell bent on changing kickoffs yet again. Due to other changes made in the past, the kickoff is essentially pointless. The second they moved the ball up five yards, touchbacks sky rocketed and returns decreased. Why did the competition committee make this change? The same reason they make all changes, to protect the players. The players that get paid millions but apparently should not have any risk associated with employment. Arguably the most exciting play in the NFL is the kickoff that goes 100 yards to the house. Remember Devin Hester, Dante Hall and Josh Cribbs? These are special teamers that were household names and that was because of the kickoff. In their quest to sap all the excitement associated with big hits the league forgets what their bread and butter is. It is bone crushing hits, long kickoff returns and offensive fireworks. Two of these pillars are under serious threat right now. Too much change ruins the product on the field and the NFL is getting dangerou...

Few thoughts about the draft thus far - The Browns made the right call with mayfield, the guys is an absolute stud and proven winner. Something the franchise could desperately use - The Giants got the best player in the draft in Saquon Barkley. He will take pressure off Eli and open things up for Beckham. The Giants are a sleeper offence to watch this year - Jets got their man in Darnold. Great value at number 3, despite his issue with turnovers he has all the tools to succeed - The Bills made a huge mistake drafting Josh Allen. This guy will go down as one of the biggest draft busts of all time - Ward was more of a need pick for the Browns but he is absolutely the best corner in the draft. - Chubb is an absolute steal at 5, he and Von Miller should make life hell for opposing QBs - Quenton Nelson fills an immediate need for the Colts and has the potential to be a prennial pro bowler - The Cardinals got the steal of the draft with Josh Rosen. He is the most pro ready pr...

Sam Bradford signs a one year deal with the cards worth roughly to 20 million dollars with an option for a second year. I have no idea what to make of this. A healthy Bradford can sling but he has the knees of a 70 year old so we shall see. We better still draft a QB. Kirk Cousins: the news of the day saw captain Kirk ink an impressive 3 year 86 million fully guarenteed contract. This is the perfect scenario for Kirk to succeed. Incredible defence and excellent receivers paired with a great oline. The Vikings are definitely all in on contention. Case Keenum: for an undisclosed amount. The word is out that it is a very affordable chunk of change. If Case is really the guy we saw last year then Denver just got Kirk Cousins light on a way cheaper contract. If they fix up that oline, the Broncos could be an excellent bounce back candidate. Teddy Bridgewater: as expected ol Teddy B picked a place where he could start. He signed a short, relatively inexpensive deal to prove he can stil...

Drew Brees signs with the Saints: No surprise hear as the almost 40 year old qb will finish up his career on a very competitive team. The deal is 2 years 50 million with 27 million guarenteed. He was never leaving. Sammy Watkins: Watkins signs a 3 year 42 million dollar deal to head to the Chiefs. If healthy, Watkins will provide QB Pat Mahomes with another weapon to complement Hill and Kelce. This does seem a little expensive for a guy who couldn't succeed in the most receiver friendly offence in the league. He is still young and the talent remains however. High risk-high reward move. Allen Robinson: signed a nearly identical deal with Watkins at 3 years and 42 million, with 27 guaranteed. This is an interesting deal as the guy is coming off an ACL injury. However, when he is healthy he is a bonafide number one receiver. Mitch Trubisky is probably ecstatic that he has an NFL level receiver. Andrew Norwell: signs with the Jags on a 5 year 66.5 million deal with 30 million gua...

The Cleveland Browns mad some splashy moves over the weekend. They acquired an excellent bridge QB (Tyrod Taylor) for a 3rd round pick and a true number one receiver (Jarvis Landry for a fourth and seventh). They also dealt their mediocre starting qb Deshone Kizer for mediocre cornerback Damarious Randall. My initial thoughts are wow, cleveland is actually making the right moves. The team was and still is stocked with draft picks. They were able to part with some mid round picks and acquire an above average qb and a legit star at wide receiver. Combine these guys with up and coming second year men: myles garrett and david njoku and you have an nice foundation. Add in the fact that you have the first and the fourth pick in the draft and things are looking good for the Browns future. This is what happens when you bring in a GM with an excellent reputation in Joey Dorsey. Dorsey was the main catalyst in turning the Kansas City Chiefs around. He is off to an excellent start with the Browns...

The Rams are going for it all. They could not have picked a better time to do so. The Shehawks are dismantling their once dominate defence and the niners are still a year or two away. Combine this with the uncertainty that the Cardinals face with no current qb and the time is now. Their latest addition is the enigmatic, yet talented corner Aqib Talib. Talib became expendable in Denver. This was not due to his play (he is still dominate) but a combination of a few things. He is set to make 11 million this year as a 31 year old cornerback. The Broncos are already spending a nice chunk of change of their other star corner, Chris Harris. They also have former first rounder Bradley Robey waiting in the wings. A jettisoning of Talib made sense for them. The Rams are in win now mode and they were set to lose Trumaine Johnson. Pairing Talib with Peters potentially gives them the best cornerback duo in the league. However, two personalities this large will take some finessing from Sean Mcvaay...

Makes sense for both teams. Robert Quinn has been limited by injuries and was much too costly for the Rams. This is especially true in a year where many key Rams defenders were set to become free agents. This has to mean the team is gearing up for a mega extension for Aaron Donald. It also clears them up to tag either Watkins or Joyner and then potentially workout a multi-year contract with whoever does not receive said tag. The Dolphins did not give up much in terms of compensation (a forth round pick) for a guy who can still play when healthy. Their 4-3 scheme is also a better fit for Quinn then the Rams 3-4. This also means that Dolphins will be doing some shuffling along the defensive line. Ndamkung Suh is scheduled to account for 26 million against the cap. While Andre Branch and Cameron Wake combine for 18 million in blocked cash. Look for the team to dump one or two of these players in an effort to clean up their hellish cap situation. Branch is an almost guarantee while Suh cou...

Wild move by the Chiefs. Sure Peters was coming off a down year by his standards. But a down year for Peters is 5 plus ints while still being a top ten corner in the league. There are two possible reasons the Chiefs make this deal: A. They were tired of Peters antics on and off the field or B. They knew there was no chance he was going to resign. In either case the deal makes a bit of sense. I just am not in favour of giving up one of the games premier defensive playmakers when your team is competing. Its not like the guy is too old or his play has fallen off a cliff. Heck he has created the most turnovers in his first three years in the league then anyone this side of Ed Reed. The kicker in this deal is we don't know what the Rams gave up. If were talking a first or second round pick then this is a great get by the chiefs. Anything less and this is highway robbery for the Rams. Looking at the Rams side of things this is a no brainer. Your team is full of young talent and you wan...

He toyed with our emotions, he considered other avenues. He won a golf tournament, travelled to a few foreign countries and then realized his destiny. He is a football player at heart and one of the best to ever do it. Larry Fitzgerald knew he had unfinished business. Records to break, playoff games to be win and new a coach to be broken in. It official, he's back. You know what this tells me? The cardinals are not in rebuild mode. As our esteemed coach would say we are in retool mode. The pieces are there: playoff ready defence and two of the best offensive pieces in the league. A few holes need to be filled but this is an 8-8 team that is only going to get better. I am pumped for another 100 catch, 1,000 yard season as the GOT continues to truck along on his journey to the Hall of Fame.

McDaniels backed out of the Colts job. One of two things happened: Andrew Luck is not as healthy as we thought or Bill Belichick wants another superbowl. That what logic tells me. But the Patriots consistently defy logic and exact revenge on their opponents. Deflategate isn't dead! The Patriots were discredited and embarrassed when the Colts fabricated the deflategate scandal. Wouldn't this be the perfect revenge. Lead the Colts on until everybody has a coach in place and then pull the rug out at the last second. Isn't that the ultimate screw job? Make no mistake this is fighting fire with fire and I love it. The colts are now screwed, where do they go from here? The ultimate fuck you by the evil empire.

A sobering Superbowl experience is just the start for the New England Patriots. They saw this coming but it doesn't make things any easier. Both offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels and defensive coordinator Matt Patricia are leaving for greener pastures. McDaniels will become the head coach of the Colts and Patricia will take over the Lions. McDaniels finds himself in a great spot but that is contingent on one thing: The health of Andrew Luck. My intuition tells me that Luck will be healthy enough to go. Its hard to picture someone taking that job without Luck in tow. However, it is worth mentioning that McDaniels does have a relationship with last years starter Jacoby Brissett. That will be something to watch going forward. This could prove to be an excellent hire by the Colts brass if they keep Josh out of personnel decisions. His previous reign in Denver ended catastrophically when he was given both the GM and Head coaching jobs. He proceeded to let his ego get the best of h...

That is one of the best games these two eyes have ever seen. The Eagles were actually lead to a superbowl victory by Nick Foles, Nick Fucking Foles. Not only did they beat the Pats in an old fashion shootout but they did so against the king. Brady was no slouch himself, passing for 500 yards and a few scores. The defence just left him with no margin for error. It almost like playing without your second best corner is a deterrent or something. If your into offensive football this was the game for you. Long runs, acrobatic catches, hell there were even some missed kicks to add to the drama. Doug Pederson deserves all the credit in the world, the guy has huge nuts. Going for it on fourth down in the redzone while incorporating a trick play in which your qb becomes a receiver, incredible. Pederson is the best offensive play caller in the NFL. The man out coached Bill Belicheck. This had the feeling of a game that the Patriots would not win, even when they were on the comeback trail. There ...

What an absolute bombshell. Alex Smith is traded to the Redskins for Kendall Fuller and a third round pick. Upon receiving Smith, the skins gave him a 4 year extension worth upwards of 90 million, with a 70 million dollar signing bonus. This proverbial fuck you to Kirk Cousins is a sign that things between him and the organization were beyond repair. Which is expected after he received the franchise tag two straight years. As for the trade itself, I don't get it, at least as far as Washington goes. The Chiefs absolutely needed to deal Smith and the return was better then advertised. Kendall Fuller is the best slot corner in the league (according to Pro football focus) and a third round pick is the cherry on top. KC can now transition into the Patrick Mahomes era seamlessly. For the Chiefs this makes total sense. For the Redskins this is just classic Dan Snyder. Kirk Cousins is a younger qb who has had a great amount of success statistically. Pencil him in for 25 plus tds and 40...

Aqib Talib, most of you know him as the loose cannon, chain snatching corner with a mouth. He also happens to be one of the better corners in the NFL. He and Chris Harris have formed one of the best  duos in the league for the better part of four years. Talib even made the pro bowl this year. So why would the Broncos decide to shop him. Well he is due 11 million dollars next year. This is problematic for a 31 year old corner. The corner back position is predicated on speed and maneuverability. Many corners see a significant drop off when they enter their 30s. While this hasn't happened to Talib yet, there is always a possibility. Combine that with the emergence of Bradley Roby and you potentially have an expendable asset in the aging corner. I honestly don't get this. That cornerback duo is one of the driving forces for the Broncos. Their ability to shutdown the top two receivers gives Denver so much flexibility. They should try and negotiate a pay cut, Talib is still at the...

The Arizona Cardinals have made some significant coaching changes as of late. The biggest one is the introduction of Steve Wilks as the new head coach. Wilks served as the defensive coordinator for the stingy Carolina Panthers last year. He has a long career coaching but limited experience as a coordinator or head coach. However, his knowledge and leadership allowed him to secure a head coaching job. Wilks is loved by players and ownership alike. He received rave reviews from Steve Kiem and Mike Bidwell, as well as a number of former players. He is regarded as both a players coach and disciplinarian. If that is at all possible. Upon his hiring, Wilks wasted little time in securing some excellent coaches. He brought over his linebacker coach, Al Holcomb from Carolina. Holcomb is credited with development of Luke Keuchly and Shaq Thompson, as well as the breakout of Tom Davis. An excellent coup for the Cards. He also brought former panthers offensive line coach Ray Brown to fill the s...

He's tall, athletic and good looking. He's a solid 6'5, 237 pounds. He looks the part of an NFL quarterback with a strong arm and an ability to look good in workouts. Sounds good right? Unfortunately, he's missing that one key ingredient that makes a good qb: accuracy. How can something so obvious be overlooked, especially when we are talking about a potential number one pick. As the great Bruce Arians once said, "you cant teach accuracy, you either have it or you don't". With Allen were not talking about something that can be left to interpretation. We are talking about a career 56.2% career completion percentage. Now I know what your thinking, how many tds did he throw? Well I'm glad you asked. While playing for an incredibly small school (Wyoming) against shitty competition, Allen managed 28 tds and 15 ints as a sophomre and only 16 tds vs 6 ints as a junior. Not exactly incredible numbers. Combine that with the fact he never beat a ranked team ...

This could get ugly. Not only our the overmatched Titans marching into Foxborough, they are facing an angry Pats team. They anger stems from an ESPN hit piece and the talented, yet stupid Kevin Byard (who said they want to make Brady look like Bortles). If there is one thing I know about the Pats, you dont give them bulletin board material. Angry Brady is a scary Brady. Now, I think the score of this game will be closer then the actual game itself. This will arise from the Titans tendancy to go on 85 minute drives and often settling for field goals. Dont be surprised if Tennesse wins the time of possession. However, The only thing the Pats need to do is strike quickly and this game is over. If they go up by 2 possessions early on, the Titans will not be able to recover. They are not a team that plays well from behind. Key matchup: Pats front seven vs. The titans run game. The Titans run game is the offences only hope. The Pats front seven has been a weakness all year. I see the Titan...

This sucks. This was supposed to be Matty Ice vs the Wentz Wagon. Unfortunately, Eagles fans are stuck with big dick Nick Foles. As far as backups go, you could absolutely do worse but this is the playoffs, the ultimate QB dick measuring contest. This game will be a little closer then expected, however. The Eagles are stacked everywhere and that includes the defence. The same can be said about the Falcons. These are two of the most complete teams in the league. It is for this reason they will essentially cancel each other out. This gives advantage to the team with a real QB: The Falcons. Key matchup: Julio Jones vs. the eagles secondary. The Eagles lack that one shutdown corner, so it wont surprise me if you see multiple players on him throughout the game. This will give him different looks and hopefully throw off the timing with Matt Ryan. Realistically though, this matchup comes down to Steve Sarkisian (atls OC), if he decides to get cute and not force feed Jones it will put Atlant...