a blog by La Kifo
We had some good games, some surprising games and most importantly a Patriots win, this past Sunday.
Bengals v. Steelers
I wonder who Katy is, probably some mediocre high school sweet heart this fire engine left behind. Anyway, this was a great game to start the day. Back and forth most of the game, Roethlisberger didn't pla particularly well. He threw two picks, one on forth down, which is not that bad since the pick ended up moving the Bengals deeper into their own territory but the throw was still pretty off. You can't say it was a timing problem between Ben and a young wide receiver because he was throwing at #84 Antonio Brown. Plain and simple, an inaccurate throw at an inopportune time. His second pick was on a long ball, that interception was less Bens fault. The receiver got pushed as close to the boundary as one can be, he was out-positioned, and didn't fight for the ball when it came into sight. Two picks is never something to be giddy about but that's how Ben plays the game, he takes chances. He took a chance later in the game lobbing a ball to the endzone into a crowd of players from both squads. Fortunately, for the Steelers Jesse James leaped up and hauled the ball in for a touchdown. That would make the game 17-6 Steelers.
Now let's fast forward to the fourth quarter, the score is 24-16 Steelers. The Bengals have the ball with two minutes left.
Bullshit, there is no way that was a fumble. How does Douche Blandino stand behind that, the receivers knee was down and I don't know how anyone, after the replay, could see it any other way. In real time, I understand the call, but since every turnover is review-able, they should have changed the call. That call, cost the Bengals the game. Not that I care whether they win or lose, it is just sad to see bad officiating ruin a good game.
Titans v. Lions
Fuck Matt Stafford, let me break this down. Awhile ago, back in the days when I used to play fantasy football, I drafted a 2nd or 3rd year quarterback named Matt Stafford. I knew about the kid when he was drafted by the Lions, 1st overall out of the University of Georgia. This specific year in fantasy was important. I had just come off an embarrassing performance the year previous, bottom four of the league and missed the playoffs. I needed a bounce back, I needed to blow some fools out of the shit water they were swimming in. So I reached for Matt Stafford, I don't remember where in the draft I did this, but probably in the first 5 rounds. I remember having drafted a decent team and going into the season, Matt Stafford was my prize cow. He was going to throw for 4,500 yards, 30+ touchdowns and maybe a couple rushing. That was just a fabrication of my mind, He didn't come close to 4,500 yards, I don't even think he broke 4,000. He threw maybe 20 touchdowns at the most and killed me for the second straight fantasy season.
Now fast-forward to Sunday 18th, 2016. I'm doing the picks for the NFL and I see the Titans/Lions line, since they were the first to kick-off and dollar signs started flashing in my eye bulbs. In hindsight, I don't know why I was so sure about the Lions being favored by 6 points, but I was. At that moment, the Lions v. Titans line could have been an immortal lock, but no. Matt Stafford and his defense, cumulatively fuck me in the ass one more time for good measure.
Are you kidding me? Hey Matt, how about you try not to throw it right at the defense, down 1 and less than a minute left in the game? So bad, I don't have the vocabulary to describe how awful of a read, decision, and throw that was.
Kansas City v. Houston
Oh No.
Here was another terrible pick by yours truly. Texans -1, should have taken that. At the time, I don't think I understood how great of a line, Texans -1 was. Will Fuller V, is a beast. He followed up last weeks smoldering of the Bears, with another big performance this week. 4 catches, 104 yards. This kid is going to be a stud in fantasy and reality. Jadaveon Clowney is low key, a huge bust. Clowney is an athletic beast, but he doesn't have block shedding moves, or a general awareness of the game. On Sunday, he was left unblocked at the end of the line of scrimmage and if you played football at the higher levels you must know what is coming if no one is blocking you, a pulling lineman. What they teach defensive ends to do at the middle school level is one, identify that you've left unblocked, two, stay on the line of scrimmage, do not sink into the back field even a little bit. Lastly, make yourself big, take up as much space on the line of scrimmage as you can (stay vertical to the line scrimmage, only exposing your shoulder) and jam your shoulder right into the chest of the pulling offensive lineman. That is called spilling, it might be called something different depending on who and where you played, but that is a very basic technique coaches teach players pretty early. So without going into too much detail, Clowney found himself in that exact position, no one blocking him and a pulling lineman coming down the line to try and flatten his ass. Clowney does what you are explicitly told not to do and rushes past the line of scrimmage and into backfield. Now amazingly he managed to avoid getting buried by the pulling lineman and then wrapped up the ball carrier for a loss of yards. What is the point of me telling you this? Good question, if you put Clowney with a bright defensive mind like say maybe Todd Bowles, or here's a good one, Bill Belichick. Clowney could be a main contributor or just significantly better than he is now, because he has all the intangibles, physicality, size. He just needs a head on his shoulders and someone to put him in the right place at the right time. Other than all that bullshit, this was the sloppiest of the Sunday games. Chiefs fumbled like 8 times and lost all them. Then Brock Oswieler throws 2 picks to same guy, a really good guy in Marcus Peters. It was kind of unbelievable how this game turned out. The final scoring play was a blocked field goal attempt that somehow, someway found its way through the uprights.
Miami v. New England
I'm going to skip this one, we already talked about the Patriots squeaking by the Dolphins 2nd half surge.
Baltimore v. Cleveland
Is this grown man seriously going to cry over playing for the Cleveland Browns? Hey Josh, there are these things called mens recreation leagues. You get half the injuries and drink twice the beer, I think it might suite you.
If you're betting with Cleveland, then you got two problems. One you're addicted to gambling, two you like the Browns. I got one solution for you, get out of Cleveland. As soon as you hit the city limits, you'll be wondering why you were there in the first place. I don't want to beat on a dead horse, but Ravens -5 was my Immortal lock. Some people are just born to make picks.
Cowboys v. Redskins
I don't want to say that I called Dak Prescott being this good, this early because I didn't. I did borderline explicitly say he would be taken by the Dallas Cowboys. I also said, he would need time to develop his arm and mind. Also, that when he did, he could be a talented average starter. I think I said, Cam Newtons sophomore season, would look similar to his stats.
We'll have to wait and see how good Dak actually is, but from watching him in college to now I can pretty much say he was a steal in the draft and has the talent and mind to be a top 15 starter at least. If I had to put a better number than that, my guess would be that he could be in the top 10 of starting quarterbacks. Prescotts growth and development from his time at Mississippi State to now is pretty incredible. In college the kid struggled to complete passes over 10-15 yards. Now he's throwing back pylon fades on a dime. I'm a fan of the kid, looking forward to see what he does with the rest of his career. Let's stop complementing my evaluation talent, and start complimenting my pick making ability. Washington -3.5, was tempting. I almost wanted to take the Redskins, at home but I couldn't help but think, Washington is overrated. A big factor for me was Washingtons week 1 loss to the Steelers. Pittsburgh had no trouble getting the match-ups they wanted. They dismantled the Redskins secondary, mainly just one man by the name of Bashaud Breeland. The Redskins look like lobsters sitting in boiling water. 0-2, with both games at home is a rough way to start the season. Kirk Cousins has had a lot shit talked his way. He played well in the first three quarters of this game, but it all started on 3rd down and goal with 10 minutes left in the game
Bad throw, it looked a lot like the Matt Stafford interception, except in a different part of the field and time in the game. But Kirk wasn't done, he had another magnificently horrible interception, this time with less than 2 minutes in the game. He basically did the same thing as Stafford and himself, earlier in the game, threw the ball right into the hands of the defender, who read the slant route easy.
If he steps up his play a miniscule amount, the Redskins would be in a much better position. I'm also not one of those people ready to dump on the guy after one and a quarter bad starts. He is better than he's playing right now and if we don't see that next week at the Giants, then we will the following week when the Redskins host the Browns. To be continued. Comments are closed.
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