Author: AG

Thoughts After the Garoppolo Trade

The trade deadline came and went, leaving us with perhaps the most exciting one in years. The big one that dropped Monday night, a day before the deadline, was the move made by the New England Patriots for a second-round pick from the San Francisco 49ers.

Huge news from the Patriots regarding the supposed heir to Brady’s throne. Garoppolo had been pumped up by Patriots fans to be the next franchise QB once Brady finally throws the towel in. After playing 100 snaps and looking solid last year, he went down with an injury — which led to Brissett and then back to Brady and we all know how last year ended. Brady has been on record saying that he wants to play atleast 4 more years, and still looks really good (leading the NFL in passing yards after Week 8). However, he is 40 years old and age will eventually catch up to him — that or Giselle making him stop.

Regardless, Garoppolo has always been highly touted and keeping him through the draft last year while the rumors were floating around certainly made people scratch their ends. Garoppolo is at the end of his contract and it was highly doubtful that the Patriots were going to be able to provide him with the money and the opportunity that another team would be able to. However, he stayed on the roster as Brady’s only backup when the Brissett trade happened — furthering the belief that the Pats thought this was their guy.

Then the news broke — a second round pick from the winless Niners (which is pretty much the same as a late 1st rounder at this point) for a potential franchise QB. I don’t hate the move from the Patriots view — they were going to be put in a tough spot in the offseason with the potential for Jimmy G to leave without them receiving anything. It’s probable the Pats have their eye on a QB in this draft. It’d be very surprising to see them not to take a young QB considering the only insurance policy is now Brian Hoyer.

For the Niners, I think this is a great move. They’re going all in on a young, potential franchise QB to pair him up with their young coach. Although the talent isn’t necessarily there, other than Carlos Hyde, this is the right move to start to build up. CJ Beathard wasn’t going to provide you the victories that you strive to have as part of a historically good organization. Garoppolo gives you that chance. At this point, the Niners are going to have a solid draft pick so they can look to provide him with the talent that’s necessary. Historically, almost everyone traded by the Patriots never seems to quite pan out as expected but the Niners taking this chance was a good move.

 

Week 8 Picks

Finally a good week in terms of picks where all writers were above .500. Week 8 features some premier primetime matchups, with the highlight having to be the NFC East showdown between the Cowboys and the Redskins. Essentially a playoff game for the two, it’ll be tough to have a chance in the NFC East falling to 3-4 with the Eagles looking sharp. Other matchups see the red hot Chargers at the Patriots and the Lions taking on the Steelers in Sunday night.

 

CONSENSUS PICKS: 30-14  (LW: 6-0)

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CONSENSUS PICKS: CIN, NE, NO, PHI, SEA, KC

Cam Newton Strikes Again

Cam Newton did his weekly press duties on Wednesday (which in itself isn’t consistent thanks to the female route question incident) and left abruptly after receiving a normal question. The legend of Cam Newton being a sore loser and acting ridiculous after a loss continues.

Cam is rivaling Odell at the point for biggest primadonna in the NFL. There was absolutely nothing wrong with this question but you can see Cam immediately shuts off and then leaves shortly after. Does the word “chunk” trigger Newton? Perhaps but this doesn’t really make sense. I’m sure we’ll get some muffled explanation from the Panthers brass but I doubt they’ll clarify this. Cam still needs to learn how to grow up after experiencing a loss, especially one that he was so detrimental to. He played like garbage, and in turn so did the Panthers. I’m sure if they win this weekend, he’ll be all smiles celebrating into the camera with his Superman pose like the clown he is.

Stern Green-Lights the Idea of Marijuana Being Removed from Banned Substance List

SI- In an interview with former NBA player Al Harrington, ex-NBA commissioner David Stern said he is in favor of removing marijuana from the league’s list of banned substances.

“I’m now at the point where, personally, I think [marijuana] probably should be removed from the ban list,” Stern said. “I think there is universal agreement that marijuana for medical purposes should be completely legal.”

Harrington, who became a cannabis entrepreneur after retiring from the NBA, produced a documentary with UNINTERRUPTED to highlight the medicinal use of marijuana in professional sports. The 37-year-old said he believes “over 70 percent of athletes in major sports smoke marijuana.”

“I think it’s that big,” Harrington said. “Not only the players, but I think coaches consume, I think the owners consume. I think in sports it’s very prevalent and it’s right there.”

As part of the documentary, Harrington invited Stern to speak about the drug because “he was the commissioner during the roughest time for the NBA for drugs.”

Stern, who served as commissioner from 1984-2014, said his policies were appropriate at the time. “Some of our players came to us and said [players] were high coming into the game, so we began tightening it up,” he said.

Big words from the former NBA commissioner in regards to one of the (assumed) most frequent used banned substances in the NBA. I have to imagine that during the next CBA, this will be a highly debated topic as it is becoming legalized across the United States. It makes sense to not have something that is legal to use be a banned substance in the NBA. It always blows my mind how these athletes — not so much the NBA lately — can’t just wait until they are out of the league (see: Josh Gordon, Justin Blackmon) before they start up the drug habits. It makes huge sense here to just remove it from the list and avoid the problem altogether.

The big stand-out from this article was Al Harrington saying that he believes over 70 percent of athletes in major sports smoke marijuana. Obviously, we take Al Harrington’s word with a grain of salt but that is an absurdly high number to roll out into the public. We knew the major sports leagues’ drug testing is sub-par at best but give me a break. It’ll be interesting to see if Silver has any reaction to what his old commissioner says especially considering Stern could have easily taken this path when he was in office.

Meanwhile, JR Smith still has no idea it’s banned.

Lakers Have No Right to Complain About Gortat

ESPN – Brandon Ingram said Lonzo Ball and the Los Angeles Lakers did not take kindly to Marcin Gortat’s tweet about how John Wall “will torture” the rookie point guard when the Washington Wizards visit L.A. on Wednesday.

“Yeah, of course we did,” Ingram said when asked whether he saw Gortat’s tweet on Monday. “Everyone has social media, definitely saw it. The competitor in Lonzo, of course he didn’t take it so well, and with his teammates behind him, we didn’t take it so well.”

The Wizards center was responding to a video of Ball’s father, LaVar, saying, “Washington is coming in Wednesday? They better beware because Lonzo ain’t losing again [this week].”

What a joke — what do they expect? People aren’t going to let LaVar run his mouth and not come right back at the Lakers. Here’s the tweet in question:

First off before addressing anything, Gortat is absolutely correct. John Wall is one of the premier PGs in the league and will absolutely have his way with the rookie Lonzo all night long. Let’s get this straight — the Lakers are NOT good. The only reason anybody is even paying attention to them is because of the sitcom that the media has run with which is LaVar Ball. I actually do expect the Lakers to keep it close tonight as they are hosting a Wizards team travelling out west but give me a break. Lonzo & the Lakers can’t expect

According to The Washington Post, “Nah, no mercy,” Wall responded when asked if he would show leniency to the 19-year-old rookie point guard despite his braggadocious father.

John Wall plays with an aggression that I’d put only second to Russell Westbrook. It’ll be great to see Lonzo put in his place, as he should be all season long. John Wall is 10-5 against starting rookie point guards — should be 11-5 after tonight.

Here Comes FogGate

SBNation – The Patriots embarrassed the Falcons on Sunday night in their Super Bowl LI rematch. For some in the stadium, the game was hard — and at times impossible — to see because of thick fog.

While that’s not great for the folks that were there, it seems the Los Angeles Chargers are going to suffer the most from the fog.

The Patriots are already the best team in the NFL the past decade and a half. Bill Belichick is going to go down as one of if not the best coach of all time because of his run with New England. He’s known to not only get the most out of his players, but also strategically, even if he did cheat that one time.

The Chargers haven’t been particularly good and would obviously benefit from some clear tape. That’s not going to happen.

Great — another year, another controversy for the Patriots (not really though). Anybody who watched the Sunday night beatdown of the Falcons noticed that NBC was forced to use different angles due to the immense fog that crept into Gillette Stadium. Of course, this isn’t a real controversy but we can use this an example of what extent people will go to blame the Patriots:

Julio — are you serious? “Not trying to make excuses” but blames the fireworks for creating that fog. Somebody please tell Julio that fog of that amount is not creating by fireworks. The Jets play Atlanta this week who — guess what — will also have to try to watch film of the Falcons but nobody really cares about them so you don’t hear a word. Wouldn’t surprise me if ESPN was debating the fact on whether or not the Patriots pumped in fog machines right now.

On a real note, the Patriots won’t be able to study their own tape either so they are at the same disadvantage. That being said, this team looked real good against the Falcons in all three phases of the game. They look to be clicking at exactly the right time.

 

Martavis Bryant Would Like You to Know He’s Upset

Sporting News–  Martavis Bryant said last weekend he was happy to be a Steeler, but his actions make that hard to believe.

Bryant, who reportedly asked for a trade weeks ago, was a no-show for a team meeting Monday. A teammate told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette that Bryant “called in sick.” 

After Sunday’s win over Cincinnati, Bryant commented on an Instagram post defending himself against fellow Steelers wideout JuJu Smith-Schuster. Bryant caught just one pass Sunday for three yards, while Smith-Schuster, a rookie from USC, had two catches for 39 yards and a touchdown.

The since-deleted comment read: “JuJu is no where near better than me, fool. All they need to do is give me what I want and y’all can have JuJu and whoever else.”

Bryant later refined his remarks and commented on the same post: “JuJu is the future and got great talent and is going to be one of the best to play this game. I want him to get his. I just want mines, period, point-blank.”

Bryant has 18 catches this season for 234 yards and one touchdown. He was suspended all of 2016 for multiple violations of the league’s substance abuse policy.

This comes on the heel of the rumors of Martavis Bryant requesting a trade last week. He suited up for the Steelers this week and things looked better as they opened up play with a reverse to — you guessed it — Martavis Bryant. That would be the first of TWO looks that he got all game. Bryant, clearly upset with the Steelers, went on a rant against his fellow WR JuJu Smith-Schuster (who absolutely crushed it with his hide-and-seek celebration) on a random Instagram post. And then today..

Now I’m never a fan of guys not playing out their contract but something has to be done in Pittsburgh. Bryant’s contract ends this season and he’s clearly not on the same page with anybody on the Steelers. Trade him or bench him — but the Steelers have to do something. Bryant is obviously extremely talented but isn’t near the level of Antonio Brown or Le’Veon Bell, Big Ben’s top two targets. The emergence of the dynamic rookie Smith-Schuster is clearly not helping his case either.

Lighting up social media and now skipping practice? The Steelers need to ship this guy out of town before it becomes detrimental to their Super Bowl efforts. Hardly utilizing him, they’re 5-2 anyway — might as well save some face and get some value before he pulls a Blount and walks out on the team.

It’s Time For Vontaze Burfict To Go

ProFootballTalk-  Steelers running back Le’Veon Bell is fed up with Bengals linebacker Vontaze Burfict.

After Burfict kicked at the head of Steelers fullback Roosevelt Nix in a pileup during Sunday’s game, Bell posted a video of the incident on Twitter and blasted Burfict for his behavior.

“Dude gotta go, man,” Bell wrote. “That’s not football at all.”

Bell felt that Nix showed admirable restraint by not retaliating against Burfict, but the NFL shouldn’t be restrained in its punishment of him.

“It’s unbelievable the league is just condoning this activity,” Bell wrote. “But if Rosie reacts, Rosie would be the one that would get into trouble.”

Burfict was suspended for the first three games of last season for cheap shots against the Steelers in the 2015 playoffs, and suspended for the first three games of this season for a cheap shot in the preseason. Those suspensions apparently haven’t been enough to make him change his ways. Another suspension may be in order.

 

Another season, another controversy that Burfict finds himself involved in. After being suspended for a total of 6 games — this man does not learn. The game was only 45 seconds in before Burfict caused trouble against the Steelers — a team he has already been suspended for his actions against. This time it was for a kick on the Steelers’ FB Nix.

 

These plays aren’t going to stop happening and Burfict will continue to put players in harms way. Bell, clearly frustrated that he keeps getting away with it, aired his grievances out and I have to agree. Burfict has been flagged a whopping 17 times in his NFL career for a personal foul, and that’s not even counting all the plays he should have been flagged for (including this one).

If the NFL actually cared about player safety, which they don’t, Burfict would be gone. I don’t know if this play is strong enough to warrant any kind of suspension but this is a clear indication that even after the hit on Anthony Sherman in the preseason (yes, preseason), Burfict does not care and never will. It’s a joke that the NFL won’t actually step in and do something.

Week 7 Picks

The parity this year has been incredible — it’s starting to look like nobody wants to separate from the pack. Our picks struggle for the third consecutive week but we have some movement on the overall leaderboard. The highlight no doubt this week is the rematch between the Falcons and the Patriots. Let’s take a look at this picks:

CONSENSUS PICKS:   24-14  (LW: 3-1)

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CONSENSUS PICKS: MIN, LAR, DAL, PIT, NE, PHI