Tag: NFL

Oakland, How Could You Be So Stupid?

Insane.  On Sunday, cocky Adam Schefter strutted his stuff on Twitter, and SportsCenter reporting that Jon Gruden will be the next Head Coach of the Oakland Raiders.  I for one, cannot believe a team would make such an asinine decision to hire Gruden.  Not only are they going to hire him, they are offering him an Ownership Stake!  INSANITY!

What a complete, and utter gong-show.  Was Gruden once a very good NFL coach?  Absolutely, the man has won a Super Bowl.  It was clear by the end of his tenure in Tampa, that the game had passed him by.  Hi defense wasn’t what it once was, and he had an aging roster.  Since his win over Oakland in 2002, his teams toiled in mediocrity.  He was fired in 2009.  Since that time he’s done Hooter’s Commercials, and “Gruden’s QB Camp”.  They really want to hire this guy?  He is a goddamn media personality now.  He has been for quite some time, what makes the Raiders think he will do any better than Del Rio?

The Raiders pretty much pissed on Del Rio this past weekend.  He was fired after going 6-10, just one season after finishing 12-4.  Del Rio is a joke in his own right, but the man restored respectability to a once proud Franchise.  They canned him before they could even get on the flight home.  That’s the Oakland Raiders for ya!

Image result for jack del rio fired

Overall I’d be super pissed if my team went after Gruden.  Granted, he’s probably (definitely) better than Hue Jackson.  Gruden is a media circus.  The internet lost it’s bonkers when the news broke.  Now imagine mini-camp, OTA’s, and Training Camp?  Going to be a fucking zoo.

I’d also be worried about how long he was removed from NFL coaching.  He hasn’t coached a game in nearly 10 years.  Long ass time to be removed from the best league in the world.  Back in ’09 it seemed like Gruden’s methods and schemes had gone stale.  Wonder how they will look in 2018-19?

Now, I think he could be a good coach for a still very young Derek Carr.  I think Gruden’s ability to connect with Quarterback’s on a personal, and coaching level is very real.  Spider 2 y Banana man!

I would also like to think that he is inheriting a pretty good roster.  The Tampa 2 defense he inherited in Tampa Bay was one of the best of all time.  He doesn’t have anything similar in Oakland, but they have Kalil Mack, Derek Carr, Marshawn Lynch, Amari Cooper, Donald Penn, and many other good foundational players Jon can work with.   I still think this is an extremely asinine decision to mortgage so much on a man who’s been a TV personality for so long.  The Raiders had better hope this works out, or dark times will be ahead.

Image result for Gruden qb camp Carr

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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!

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.

0-16.

0-16.  Oh and fucking sixteen.  This past Sunday was the worst Sports related event in my lifetime.  What happened is exactly what I did NOT want to happen.  The Browns played the Steelers hard, as Brown, Bell, and Ben did not suit up.  The Browns were driving late in the 4th quarter to take the lead.  It was 28-24 Steelers with under 2 minutes left to play.  Kizer was leading a march into Steeler territory, where they found themselves a 4th and 2 from the Pittsburgh 27.  After a timeout the Browns shockingly drew up a play that left Corey Coleman WIDE OPEN for an easy first down, and probably a touchdown.  The ball went right through his hands ending the game.

Image result for Corey Coleman drop

Again, not much to analyze.  They lost.  Again.  You try to prepare for 0-16, but never really can.  The pain, anger, and sadness felt once the game was over just can’t compare to anything I’ve felt sports.  I hope to look at back at this season one day, and be able to smile.  I highly doubt it I’m afraid.  The Browns secured the #1 overall, pick and #4 overall pick with a Texans loss on Sunday.  Great!  There isn’t a QB worth my morning shit coming out of College.  Great, just fucking great.  They’re going to pick some bag of milk like Sam Darnold, Josh Rosen, or Josh Allen (? No idea if that’s even his name). Anyone watch Darnold on Saturday? WOOF.

Image result for Sam Darnold interception

I am not going predict who they take, or even give you some BS as to who they should take. Whoever they pick better be properly developed, and the team built around him.  Godspeed whatever poor bastard gets chosen.

Unfortunately, it looks like it will come down to Sam Darnold or Josh Rosen.  Leader in the clubhouse seems to be Sam Darnold, simply because there isn’t rumblings of him having a swollen camel toe like our man at UCLA, Josh Rosen (What a pussy).

Again, what a pussy.  Look dude, part of being drafted high is the fact that 90% of the teams suck.  It’s nothing new guy.  He apparently would prefer a more stable frachise in the New York Giants.  Yeah Josh, the Giants are a real model Franchise right now, huh?

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Despite Rosen apparently being a massive loser, he does have OK numbers:

Rosen stats.JPG

Solid enough numbers that’s for damn sure, but UCLA sucks in a garbage Conference.

Darnold has put up similar numbers:

Darnold stats.JPG

Not much there, but Darnold has 387 more passing yards than Rosen with 3 more interceptions.  Overall, the numbers are eerily similar.  There is one stat that stands out to me.  With the same exact numbers Rosen’s UCLA went 6-7 overall this season.  Darnold lead USC to 11-3. So, I guess it will come down to which player is less of a pussy?  Which ever one declares, and open about being ok with going to Cleveland will be picked.

So, everything really hinges on whether or not he will come out.  Who knows if he will.  I don’t follow College Football closely, especially Schools on the West Coast.  Hopefully does so we can take him #1 overall, and get this thing going.  If not, take some other QB (Baker Mayfield, Rosen, Allen).  Either way, no dicking around with the QB position this year.  Pick a guy, and direction for fucks sake.

Finally, to coaching.  Hue Jackson.  Wow.  I have never hated someone as much as Hue.  Hue came out, and blamed all of the players for this 0-16 campaign as par for the course.   He spews nothing but incoherent bullshit.  He even had the balls to pat himself on the back for the job he did:

Job well done Hue, you vile weed.  He couldn’t be more wrong.  Is the team bad?  Yes!  Absolutely they suck, but they are not 0-16 suck.  How many games over the past 2 years should have been won had the team had half a clue? upwards to 10.  I hope soon his players completely turn on him, and trash him in the media.  He deserves it for constantly blaming them.  The players aren’t the ones who completely ruined DeShone Kizer.  Kizer is fucking good.  He has all the tools, ability, and toughness to be a starting QB in the NFL.  Had he been coached properly, they probably win against Green Bay, Indianapolis, Pittsburgh TWICE, Jacksonville, and Detroit.   DeShone had a rough year, but he is not as bad his stats would indicate.  There were a lot of boneheaded decisions, but not all were on him.

Kizer stats

Hue refused to dial down the offense to acclimate a rookie QB.  Despite having arguably one of the worst Wide Receiving corps in league history, he’d still have Kizer chuck it up to JAG’s.  The Browns were in the top 10 in the league in passes attempted over 30 yards.  Inexcusable.  They refused to run the ball, or gave up half-way through games.

DeShone exhibited the ability to make plays with his legs this season, amassing 417 yards and 5 rushing touchdowns.  Solid.  Definitely a foundation to build on.  Poor kid was set up to fail. Say it with me again, “Fuck Hue Jackson”.  I hope they hold on to Kizer whether they go in for a Darnold/Rosen draft pick, or Cousins/Taylor free agent.

Image result for DeShone Kizer browns

It is going to one hell of an off-season for the Browns.  Over $100 million in cap space to waste, and two top 5 draft picks. We’ll see how it goes.  Hopefully they don’t, “drop the ball” 😉

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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

 

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.

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.