I didn’t have anything to write about this week, so
here we go on some Bits
Bits
#1: Re-thinking the Patriots in the AFC Championship
Bill Belichick is a genius.
Anyone else watch the slug and snooze last
night? The Patriots have now beaten the
Bills and Jets, two teams with rookie quarterbacks, by a combined five
points. The same offense averaged just
over 35 points per game last year until running into the Ravens in the AFC
Championship.
Bill Belichick is a genius.
And yet, Tom Brady can’t seem to get his offense
going. Danny Amendola, held together by
peanut butter, had his first injury of the season this past week. Stevan Ridley, who scored double-digit touchdowns
last year, can’t hold onto the ball (he almost fumbled again at a crucial
moment last night), and the best receiver on the field right now is known as a
punt returner and former college quarterback.
The big rookie additions at receiver, at least based on last night,
dropped the ball often and, even more often, ran incorrect routes.
Bill Belichick is a genius.
We’ve seen Tom Brady thrive with receivers like
Reche Caldwell (who somehow gained almost 700 yards and had 5 TDs in that one
season with the team). The hurry-up
approach plays to his strengths. What’s
better, the power behind the throne has a system that, allegedly, works very
well in all situations. Remember Matt
Cassel leading New England to a 10-6 season (this was before Cassel started
auditioning for Kansas City Dogcatcher)?
It’s a plug and chug…no matter what happens we can trust in Saint Bill,
for…
Bill Belichick is a genius.
But, for whatever this is worth, I am rescinding my
prediction that this team makes the AFC Championship. Rob Gronkowski’s return will certainly help
the Pats, but their dependency on unproven or brittle receivers (Gronk has his
share of surgeries) will bite this team.
Tom Brady’s legacy will have to wait another year. While I watched the game last night, I constantly
thought about how much Wes Welker helps in a game like that…sure hands,
yards-on-demand, diverting the defense…the list goes on. And yet, he isn’t there now in what looks to
be a galactically stupid personnel decision in New England. I’m calling it now…this team doesn’t win a
playoff game.
Bill Belichick is a genius.
Bit
#2: Anyone else tired of Thursday Night Football?
I enjoy coming home on Thursday night and unwinding
with football as much as the next guy, but there is a noticeable decline in the
quality of the games on Thursday compared to Sunday. For one, the matchups generally scrape the
bottom of the weekly barrel in order to placate the networks in Sunday and
Monday primetime. Last year, only three
matchups (Green Bay-Chicago, New Orleans-Atlanta, and a Seattle-San Fran
matchup that no one thought would be good) were at all worth watching. This year, we get Giants-Chicago and New
Orleans-Atlanta as the marquee matchups, but otherwise the schedule is pretty
terrible, lowlighted by Browns-Bills in a few weeks. Admittedly, NFL Network does a good job
reeling in big teams most weeks, but their competition usually is never up to
par. Remember this hall of horrors last
year: KC-San Diego, Indy-Jacksonville, and Miami-Buffalo?
In the end, I am just complaining for no real
reason, as the NFL will never forego the revenues of a mid-week game. But, seriously, these games leave a lot to be
desired every single week.
Bit
#3: Put a fork in the O’s
It’s painful to say this, but the Orioles are in all
likelihood out of the Wild Card race after losing three out of four to the
surging Yankees this week. With their
next bevy of games in Toronto, Boston, and Tampa, the O’s need to absolutely
clean up in order to have any chance at catching the Rays, who are currently
only 1 game clear of New York. The
Indians also sit between Baltimore and the playoffs, so we have to wonder what
the cause of this was. A team many
thought would challenge for the division will likely fall just short of the
postseason. And it comes down to Jim
Johnson, their closer. As of August 15,
he’s blown nine saves. Admittedly,
Johnson has more save opportunities than most other closers, but those kinds of
collapses can kill a team, especially one that posted such a ridiculous winning
percentage in one run games last year.
On the other side, I bet neither Tampa nor the
Yankees make it in. Of all the teams in
the mix, Cleveland has the easiest schedule, playing the White Sox, Twins, and
Astros. That said, a four game series
with the Royals, 2 ½ games back themselves, will be big. For the AL East teams involved, they all must
play Toronto and Boston. The Rays will
also play both the O’s and Yanks, meaning there’s going to be a fair bit of
volatility in the standings. Even
factoring in that the Indians are from Cleveland, I bet they prevail and make
the postseason.
Bit
#4: A&M won’t win
This is a great sports weekend. I probably should have led with this game,
since it’s been talked about for months, but my whining about Thursday nights
takes precedence. We’ve all heard about
Johnny Manziel this summer, a fact I laboriously pointed out last week. For this week, all attention will be on how
he does in a home matchup against Alabama.
When looking at this game, I confess that I didn’t
watch either of these teams during their first few games. For Alabama, the box score tells us that the
offense barely got going against Virginia Tech.
Just over 200 yards of offense for the Tide, that needed two special
teams touchdowns to win the game.
A&M has yet to play any substantive competition, so it’s anybody’s
guess on their success this weekend, but we can draw a few thoughts. First, Bama brings last year’s national
championship roster into College Station.
A lot of these players won big games last year and the year before, so
they will likely not be very intimidated by the 12th Man
atmosphere. That said, the offensive
line lost many of its starters to the NFL, meaning running back T.J. Yeldon may
have tough going. For A&M, they
still have arguably the best player in college football leading the
charge. Manziel started his Heisman
campaign in Tuscaloosa last year and I don’t count on him blowing this game at
all. On the other side of the ball,
however, the players that exerted the most pressure on AJ McCarron last year
have all left for the NFL. Throw in a
spate of defensive suspensions by Kevin Sumlin for the previous two games, and
we have no idea how well this Aggie team will perform defensively.
As such, I give the edge to Bama. I trust Kirby Smart to learn from the loss last
year and any offensive woes won’t stick around for long with this team. I say Bama 21-17.
Bit
#5: SI Piece on Oklahoma St
I’ve been following the weeklong articles from SI
that revealed huge malfeasances at Oklahoma State as far as its football
program. We’re talking most of what has
regrettably become all-too-familiar.
Cash, drugs, academic misconduct, and racy recruiting visits all
permeate the rather surprising allegations.
An even worse part of all this is that former coach Les Miles and
current coach Mike Gundy are mentioned as being involved in all these
behaviors. Admittedly, the article does
not seem to provide definitive proof that either Miles or Gundy took any kind
of organizational hand, but player did report that a certain attitude came down
from the top. Miles, especially, is
repeatedly indicated as the driving-force behind these developments, supposedly
to bring Oklahoma State to national prominence.
The discussion of a hostess service that allegedly paid sexual favors to
recruits made my skin crawl most of all.
The big problem of course is that these things are
rapidly becoming par for the course in college football. Helping not at all is the NCAA, an
increasingly feckless organization that bungled the last program torpedoed by
investigative journalism. I am referring
to Miami and the inability of the NCAA to find any evidence of violations. I realize many readers take these stories
with a grain of salt, which I get. But I
tend to think the players that give interviews for these stories are telling
the truth…the problem is we have become de-sensitized and a little too
comfortable with the culture surrounding college football. I don’t have a solution or proposal, but
before too long these types of stories will become the rule and not the
exception.
Bit
#6: NFL Power Rankings…such as they are after one week
1.
Denver
(1-0)
Would you want to play these guys
after last Thursday?
2.
49ers
(1-0)
Big win against Green Bay last
Sunday, and Kaepernick continues to look good, whether in the pocket or out.
3.
Saints
(1-0)
Running game definitely needs to
improve but beating your chief divisional rival out of the gate looks pretty
good. Also, they gave up 367 yards, a
modest figure compared to last year.
4.
Packers
(0-1)
Two big corners injured left the
secondary gashed in San Fran, but Aaron Rodgers can still put up massive
numbers. Expect their record not to be
great all season, but this is a good team.
5.
Bears
(1-0)
I am normally not this high on the
Bears but after beating a very capable defense in Cincy last week they have shown
the Trestman offense has some ability.
6.
Bengals
(0-1)
Based purely on competition, the
Bengals put in a good Week 1 showing last week.
A primetime game this weekend will be an interesting test case for the
offense.
7.
Seahawks
(1-0)
Purely symptomatic of playing one
week, but a pedestrian 12 points against a perennially bad defense can’t be
sneezed at. The biggest game of the week,
however, is their tilt against the Niners.
8.
Falcons
(0-1)
Like the Bengals, a good showing
against a tough team and in a tough building.
Matt Ryan threw for over 300 yards and, with Steven Jackson gaining 77
yards on the ground, the offense looks balanced. Let’s see how healthy their receivers are against
St. Louis.
9.
Texans
(1-0)
In the top 10 based purely on
resume, not their showing against San Diego, even if it was gutsy.
10. Patriots (2-0)
Similar to Texans, this definitely
isn’t based on their slim victories over rookie QBs, but it’s Week 2 so this
will all change.
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