Author: AG

Josh Rosen & Sam Darnold Both Declare for the NFL Draft

The California QBs that were touted as top picks before the season have both officially made their statements and declared for the draft within 1 hour of each other. Rosen, the UCLA product, made his statement on twitter first — followed up by USC’s QB Darnold doing the same but on Instagram.

There obviously was talk of both of them not wanting to go to the Browns because of the state of the franchise and I’m not going to get in depth in their abilities because Danny did so here. However, these two were selected as pre-season favorites to go early in the draft for a reason. Both slumped a little during their seasons and the records aren’t exactly eye-opening, but they both managed to have solid seasons.

If I had to choose one? And I’m sure Cleveland or the Giants will select a QB, if not both — I’m going Rosen. USC QBs never really pan out well  in the NFL(see: Leinart, Barkley, Sanchez, Kessler). I’d be shocked if the Browns went Darnold here as I feel even Josh Allen is a better prospect than him.

Either way, it is now official and the Browns are on the clock — let’s see if Rosen can be the game-changer to turn a franchise around.

Office Lock of the Day 1/3

Finally a loss on the office lock. Can’t be perfect in betting — just not possible. 5 wins in 6 games isn’t bad so we are going to bounce back in the new year.

Arsenal vs Chelsea -0 (-122)

Taking the draw no bet for the off chance that Chelsea isn’t able to put one in the night. Arsenal is at home but are missing a few key players due to injury (Ramsay, Giroud, Ozil) and Chelsea are on form and just bagged in 5 against a decent Stoke team over the weekend. I see this being a 1 goal victory for Chelsea in a low-scoring affair, despite being at Emirates. Take Chelsea with the DNB for some cover if they draw.

 

LOTD: 5-1-0    Form: WWWWL

Last Pick

End of an Era-zona: Carson Palmer Retires From the NFL

We all knew this was coming after he’s been injury plagued the last couple of seasons but this is a bit of sad news. Poor Larry Fitz is going to be left with Blaine Gabbert and Drew Stanton missing him on wide open slants. This is the right move for Palmer though. David Johnson was returning next year and it would have been interesting to see what they could have done but the time was right.

The writing was there for Palmer, Peterson, and Fitz to have one more run at glory with a team that with the right coach can be a force to be reckoned with. Palmer did play poorly down the stretch and the broken arm at 38 years old proved to be the end-all for him. Of course, he’ll mostly be remembered for his time on the Bengals (where he was one of the top QBs in the league) and his fiasco with that organization. He’s not quite Hall of Fame material but Palmer’s career is nothing to be ashamed of.

I’m sure he’ll be fine in his retirement.

Jimmy Graham Likely to Leave Seattle in Free Agency

Jimmy Graham has finished his contract that was given to him for 4 years, $40 million by the Saints a year before being traded to the Seahawks.

It’s no secret that he has been criminally underused in his time as a Hawk and will almost definitely be finding himself a new home this offseason. Sure — he finished with 10 TDs, certainly not shabby but only with 520 yards. He was a game-changer on the Saints and used as a primary weapon (as he should be) rather than just a red-zone target on Seattle.

I’d love to see him go back to the Saints. I can’t imagine he’d garner too big of a contract as he looked pretty bad this year — dropping some easy passes. To see him re-connect with Brees on a revitalized Saints team would be exciting for all fans (except other NFC South teams of course). He wasted his prime and is now 31 years old but the talent is still definitely there. If he’s willing to take a pay cut…a Gronk-Graham double TE set in Brady’s final years? Sign me up.

Are They Serious? The Bengals Extend Marvin Lewis For 2 More Years

News broke late Tuesday evening that the Bengals have decided to extend their coach Marvin Lewis amidst end of season rumblings that he would step down as coach after a dismal 2017 season by the Bengals.

Live look at Bengals’ fans:

Congratulations for spoiling the Ravens’ season, Bengals fans! Your reward? Another two years of absolutely no success!

https://twitter.com/RoobNBCS/status/948325790294446081

It’s amazing how these types of organizations constantly drop the ball. Cleveland is doing everything in their power to make the worst possible decisions in the AFC North while the Bengals are doing their best to keep up. How you retain Marvin Lewis at this point makes zero sense. Sure — consistency is important in the NFL but you have made this man the second most tenured head coach (behind Belichick, mind you) and you have not gotten ONE single playoff win. 0-7 in the playoffs and they are stuck with Andy Dalton as their franchise QB.

Lewis has to be the nicest guy ever otherwise I have no idea how he got this extension because it is surely not due to coaching ability. Cincy had a trainwreck of a season and is wasting away AJ Green’s career at this point. I genuinely feel bad for the fans that thought it was a sure thing that he was leaving at the end of the season. Ohio has to be cursed for professional football.

UCF Completes Their Perfect Season and Beats Auburn

Two years ago, the UFC Knights were 0-12. Coach Scott Frost was hired and they are now crowned Peach Bowl champions after finishing a perfect season with a 34-27 win over Auburn. The American conference champions weren’t given a shot at the playoffs despite their perfect season, which is fine — the best opponent they played all season was Memphis. They came to play against Auburn though, who beat both Alabama & Georgia and came through with a victory.

“It was the right thing to do to come coach these guys,” Frost said, holding the game ball. “I’m not happy for me. I’m so happy for these guys.”

Frost, who has been confirmed as the next Nebraska coach, agreed with UCF to coach the last game and what an amazing way to go out. QB McKenzie Milton led the way with 242 yds and 2 TDs through the air. Though not outstandingly efficient, he added 116 yds and 1 TD on the ground which was huge for the Knights. Auburn almost was able to send it to overtime but a game-ending interception (set to Titanic music below) clinched it for UCF.

https://twitter.com/titanictd/status/948027480413220864

Frost was quoted after the game as saying “it wasn’t right” for UCF to not be even mentioned in the playoff talk.

This is going to be the problem with college football is that nobody knows what to do with these teams that aren’t in the power 5 conferences. Would UCF have beaten any of the top 4 teams? It’s hard to say — did they deserve a shot? Well they just proved themselves on a pretty big stage. Obviously UCF will have a drop-off next year without coach Frost but I think something needs to be done to let these little schools have a chance at the big title. I’m sure the Knights are happy with their win and will enjoy being the only undefeated team in the playoff era but it would have been awesome to see if they would have been able to compete for a national title. Could be time for an 8 team playoff already.

 

PS – The Auburn pile-driver was my favorite thing from this season.

 

Saquon Barkley Declares For The Draft

 

Penn State’s superstar running back Saquon Barkley is officially forgoing his senior year and has declared for the 2018 NFL Draft. He announced it through a post on his instagram

https://www.instagram.com/p/BdY1TB1BgK2/

 

The pre-season favorite for the Heisman trophy started off the season in fire and helped lead Penn State make it all the way up to #2 before they ended up hitting a slight slump. Though they hung around, they were never in the playoff hunt and teams started to zero in on Barkley. He did have one of the better bowl performances of the year in Penn State’s 35-28 Fiesta Bowl win over Washington in which he had 137 yards and 2 TDs including a real casual 91 yard TD — ending his season total at 1,271 yards and 18 TDs.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WwSK6ATJCwE

He ended his Penn State career with 3,843 rushing yards which was just 90 yards shy of the Penn State record. He won’t care though as this was absolutely the right decision.

Barkley is a game-changer and an electric player who can run and catch. He’s top 2 on both Mel Kiper and Todd McShay’s board and I have to imagine he doesn’t make it out of the top 5.

The Colts pick third and GM Jim Irsay said that they might look to take a running back early — which makes sense with Frank Gore being as old as dirt. I think they like Mack but it’s hard to pass up on Barkley. It’d be interesting to see him paired up with a healthy Luck and a competent coach (if they get one). The Giants, who haven’t had a solid running back in forever, would also be an intriguing landing spot at #2 if they don’t decide to take a QB. Lots of intrigue this draft but this kid is absolutely going to be a stud.

Johnny Manziel Approved for CFL Contract

 

The CFL has just found the key to getting people to watch and it comes in the form of Johnny Manziel. Is 2018 the year of Johnny Manziel? Probably not — but I’m still excited. With talks of the XFL returning, I was fully on-board with the idea of Manziel going to the league but the CFL announced that he was cleared after their investigation.

“Since last summer, the Canadian Football League has been engaged in a thorough process to determine the eligibility of Johnny Manziel. This process has been conducted with the cooperation of Mr. Manziel and independent of the team which currently holds his CFL rights, the Hamilton Tiger-Cats.

It has included an ongoing assessment by an independent expert on the issue of violence against women, a review by legal counsel, and an in-person interview of Mr. Manziel conducted by the Commissioner. As well, Mr. Manziel has been required to meet a number of conditions set by the league.

As a result of this process, the Commissioner has now informed Mr. Manziel and the Tiger-Cats he is prepared to approve a contract for Mr. Manziel should one be negotiated.

The process that led to this decision does, however, continue. Mr. Manziel has been informed he must continue to meet a number of conditions in order to remain eligible. These conditions, while extensive and exacting, remain confidential.”

It’d be nice to see Johnny Poutine Football to get his act together and finally get back on a football field. The big question is what kind of shape is he in because the pictures we’ve last seen of him are ROUGH.

Image result for johnny football skinny

Let’s hope he’s got back in some kind of shape so we can actually see a comeback attempt. He wasn’t horrendous for the Browns outside of one game so this may open a comeback for the NFL if teams see he’s actually straightened out. His rights are owned by the Hamilton Tiger-Cats. They now have until January 7 to sign him otherwise he becomes a free agent. I’m sure he’ll have to pass some drug tests before he starts playing but 2018 could be Johnny’s year.

Tom Brady Recorded His 100th Regular Season Win At Gillette Stadium on Sunday

With the win over the Bills, the greatest quarterback of all time recorded a staggering 100th win at his home stadium — becoming the only QB to win 100 games in one stadium. Another notch in the book for someone who just keeps rewriting the record books in the later stage of his career.

Crazy to think he has won 100 games at Gillette during the regular season. Just how hard is it to beat Brady at home? Let’s take a look at who else has wins at Foxboro since Brady’s entered the league.

  • Matt Cassel (5)
  • Chad Pennington (3)
  • Peyton Manning (2)
  • Brett Favre (2)
  • Brian Hoyer (2)
  • Sixteen QBs (1)

 

Cassel obviously started the season where Brady went down with an ACL tear — so not surprising there. The next person with the most success is Chad Pennington — with 3 wins. That, in its self I think is most impressive that Brady’s rate. There has not been a QB that has been able to win 3 times at Gillette other than Pennington. Brady is 100-16 in the regular season and 16-3 in the playoffs. If there was any doubt you had that Gillette is not a fortress, that should now be gone.

For perspective, it would take 12 and a half years of sweeping the home games (8 per year) to reach 100 wins. Granted, Brady’s been along for a long time but this is still no minor feat. Brees is in second place with 61 wins at the Superdome. That’s a gap of almost 40 wins. Brady goes for 101 wins this weekend in a home-field clinching win against the Jets.