Sure, let’s do a bit of a draft recap

I will get to this man a bit later since he went through quite the night.

As usual, the draft was a fun time…well, the first night was fun then it got steadily less fun until the final rounds when other than NFL Network’s Stump The Truck, almost nothing was really all that fun. But I watched most of it. What can I say, I am way into football. Probably too much but soon enough I will be on my own a lot more so football may be the only thing that keeps me company. God, that’s sad. Let’s move on.

First of all, I will take a look at my mock draft and compare it to the actual draft results and…yep, I got basically nothing right. I couldn’t even get the first two picks right. I had C.J. Stroud going first followed by Bryce Young. I think Carolina made the right pick out of the two but I was sure they had their sights set on Stroud. Funny enough, though, I got two picks exactly right: Zay Flowers to the Ravens at #22 and Wanya Morris to the Chiefs at #92. That really doesn’t make any sense but it’s the truth. Other than that, everything else wrong and some were REALLY wrong.

Reaches

It’s always too soon to look at this but there seem to be picks that were universally thought of as reaches: as in a team picked a player way earlier than they probably would have gone. I know some teams absolutely want a specific player and worry about not getting them that much that they either take them too soon or trade up to get them when they didn’t need to. Still doesn’t mean it wasn’t a stretch for that player. Let’s look at a few that felt obvious.

Darnell Wright (#10 overall to Chicago) – I, along with most others, had Wright pegged as a late-1st round/early-2nd round pick at best. The fact that the Bears also passed on Peter Skoronski, from Northwestern (supposedly Chicago’s Big Ten school) is the real headscratcher here.

Jahmyr Gibbs (#12 to Detroit) – Speaking of headscratchers, it’s like Detroit brought back Matt Millen and his new focus wasn’t wide receivers but running backs. Detroit did not need help at running back but took Gibbs at this point anyway. I had figured he’d end up on the Bills which didn’t thrill me but Gibbs is better than what they have at this point. Anyway, Detroit ended up trading D’Andre Swift to the Eagles because of this pick. I don’t get it.

Deonte Banks (#24 to NY Giants) – Did the Giants need a cornerback? Absolutely. Was Joey Porter Jr. still on the board? Absolutely. Was Kelee Ringo still on the board? Absolutely. Was Cam Smith still on the board? Absolutely. I could go on and on but Banks wasn’t a first rounder and I’d be shocked if he plays like one.

Derick Hall (#37 to Seattle) – The Seahawks didn’t exactly need a defensive end but they decided to pick one anyway. OK, that’s fine. To pick Hall when there were a few other guys on the board who were rated way higher made no sense. Hall was barely a second rounder in most mock drafts.

Steals

On the other hand, we have our draft steals. Every draft has their steals and yes I know Tom Brady was a “steal.” Actually, no, at the time, no one thought he was a steal of a pick. No one. At all. If you say you did, you’re a dirty fucking liar. Again, this is way too early so by the time the next draft occurred, yes, Brady was considered a massive steal. Hell, he would have been a steal as a late second rounder.

Christian Gonzalez (#17 to New England) – The biggest steal of the draft in my opinion. I had him going third overall and many mock drafts had him in the top seven picks. Did the Pats need any help in the secondary? No, but how do you pass on a guy that has dropped approximately 10 spots or so in the first round when you don’t have a huge need? Once again, Bill Belichick is playing 4-D Parcheesi while everyone else is playing Snakes and Ladders.

Dalton Kincaid (#25 to Buffalo) – I was not happy when Bijan Robinson was off the board super early. Man did he go from not even a first rounder like a month ago to Top 10 pick. Anyway, the Bills did the next best thing (that they needed) by getting the best tight end in the draft in Kincaid. Josh Allen could make the guy…well, not a star but a very dependable receiver.

Joey Porter Jr. (#32 to Pittsburgh) – How did the last into the second round? There were easily six different teams that should have taken him and passed. Yeah I’m looking at you New York Football Giants (or GEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE-Men in honour of Chris Berman). He may make a couple of teams pay for passing on him this coming season.

Jalin Hyatt (#73 to NY Giants) – So the Giants make one of the worst picks of the early part of the draft and then somehow snag Hyatt in the third round. Hey, whatever works. I could have also put Hyatt’s Tennessee Volunteer teammate Cedric Tillman here as he went one spot later to the Browns.

Alright let’s get down to the Will Levis situation. ESPN did this man (and his family) dirty. Well, most of them. I think the girlfriend loved the attention. Still though, to spend four-plus hours in that room and not get your name called has to suck. And ESPN loved it. You know they did. Most people had him going in the #7-#13 range. I had him going to Washington at #16. Then someone on Reddit (I think) tweeted that the Panthers were considering him for the top pick. All of a sudden, people became a lot more interested in him. It also meant that every draft pick that wasn’t him would make him look worse. And yes I know there are others that suffer the same plight but he is, by far, the most hyped of anyone who has had that happen. Also, why didn’t Tennessee move up into the first round to get him? Now they lose a potential option year if he ends up being good. Poor management by the Titans there.

Best Draft

Again, this is way too early but you can kind of tell when a team probably had a good draft (unless one of their top picks is a flop). Here is my list of the top three teams from draft day.

Philadelphia – It feels almost unanimous among experts (which I am not one of) that the Eagles had the best draft. Not only did they continue their Georgia Bulldog-riffic defense picking Jalen Carter and Nolan Smith, but they also drafted Bama’s Tyler Steen who could potentially anchor the offensive line soon enough and somehow had Kelee Ringo (another Bulldog) fall into their lap in the fourth round. Finally, Detroit’s stupidity made it so the Eagles got D’Andre Swift in a trade with the Lions. An all-around great few days for possibly the NFC favourites.

Indianapolis – No, this isn’t all about the Anthony Richardson pick although that is what much of the Colts’ draft will hinge on. They had a great draft otherwise, though, with a huge value pick in the fourth round, nabbing Adetomiwa Adeboware. Really, it’s Richardson and Adeboware for the Colts. If they both hit then this will end up being the number one draft crop in hindsight. Otherwise….yikes. Huge risk-reward for a team that feels the time is right to make huge moves.

Pittsburgh – The Eagles’ cross-state rival also had quite the good, if not underrated, draft, looking like the smartest team coming out of the draft. They filled pretty much all their needs in the first three rounds and then got some great value late. Porter is a steal and teams may regret not picking him.

Worst Draft

Very rarely does a team get selected having the worst draft and then it ends up that everyone was wrong in hindsight. So yeah, this is not a good group to be in.

Jacksonville – Third worst on our list is the Jags with a bit of a perplexing draft. Things were looking great for a team that looked like it may run away with the AFC South over the next few years. That may not be the case anymore, and this draft didn’t help matters any. Unfortunately, the Cam Robinson situation forced them to pick O-line early but Anton Harrison may not have been the guy. Tank Bigsby was a pretty bad pick and could have been got two rounds later. And for a team that needed a tight end as another weapon for Trevor Lawrence, getting Brenton Strange isn’t it with other guys on the board. Just weird all around.

Minnesota – Look, they did pretty well with the Jordan Addison pick. Beyond that? Woof. Every other pick was a reach and they really didn’t do anything to help Kirk Cousins beyond getting Addison to hopefully pair with Justin Jefferson. Cousins is in the last year of his contract and this felt like the year the Vikings really had to try and go for it or start building for the future and they did neither.

San Francisco – Just like Philly, it’s a pretty unanimous vote on the other end of the draft grades. The ass end, if you will. The 49ers did a deplorable job this time around. Lucky for them, as long as Brock Purdy and/or Trey Lance are ready to go, this team is ready to battle for the NFC title at the very least. But holy shit, you’d think you would draft one guy that would help the team this coming season. Especially on the offensive line, where they needed help and drafted nobody. But hey, they drafted a kicker. Before the 100th pick. For fuck’s sakes what a joke.

Finally, a quick look at the two networks showing the draft. Most people seemed to be watching ESPN, as per usual. The NFL Network picked up the rest of the viewers. Problem was, the amount of complaints I heard about ESPN were staggering. Yet, these same people obviously outright refused to just, oh I don’t know, turn to the other network with draft coverage. I get that hearing the old NFL Primetime music is great (it really is) but if the coverage sucks then change the channel. My opinion, as you may know, is that the NFL Network has always had better coverage since they started showing the draft. I mean, that’s their whole thing: the NFL. ESPN suffers from trying to put in as many horrific stories about the draftees and too many people involved in the production. At least a quarter of the people involved could have been axed because they sucked at their job on this night.

I think that’s the first draft recap I have done in a long time. I don’t feel like looking. I’m not really a recap kind of guy but I figured what the hell. We are now 107 days away from the college football season and the posts will start coming along more frequently once again. We are getting close to true football season, folks! Not that I’m minding the XFL since it has been pretty good. The USFL, on the other hand, ugh. Have a great rest of the week everyone.

Ugh, not again – Week 9 NFL Recap

The men in stripes.  Yes they have a bit of a thankless job.  But that’s part of the deal.  You’re there to do a job.  And as much as people want to call it a game and it doesn’t mean anything, it’s still a billion dollar business where a lot of money and some livelihoods are at stake when the players take the field.  What the officials do during the course of a game is very important.

That is why what happened last night is so tough to justify.  So many mistakes.  In and of itself, not a big deal.  But when they are at important times of a game, you really can’t defend it.  And in the end, the officials have no responsibility.  If they did, there would be repercussions.

Let’s start with the end of the first half.  Richard Sherman is clearly offside which is fine.  He runs into Dan Carpenter and the kick is blocked.  To be honest, I don’t think Sherman even touched the ball.  If he didn’t, it should have been an automatic 15 yards.  The refs thought he did so there’s the first problem right off the bat.  So now that Carpenter is down and has to be tended to, the Bills have to rush to spike the ball because Carpenter has to sit out a play.  After that the Bills can set up again for another field goal attempt, except the play clock wasn’t reset properly and the Bills ended up with a delay of game penalty.  At this point, the officials should have figured out that someone fucked up and that there shouldn’t have been a penalty.  Carpenter ends up missing the field goal.

Then near the end of the game, it looks like Sherman shoves a Bills player to the ground.  Whether it was unsportsmanlike or not was again up for debate but the refs made no attempt to figure it out even with an official mere steps from the egregious hit.

So among the list of things of why the NFL’s product is suffering, add this to the list: horrible officiating.  And no accountability.  When the Big XII officials messed up the Central Michigan-Oklahoma State game they ended up being suspended for the next week.  Why isn’t the NFL doing this here?  Who knows what goes on in the mind of Commissioner Gingersnaps.

Other goings-on

• Another thing came up with this Monday Night Football game which, I hate to say it, was one of the better MNF games in recent memory: the preferential treatment given to Richard Sherman. Now don’t get me wrong, I love listening to the guy.  He’s intelligent, well thought out, and the league would do wise to hear him speak and really listen to what he has to say.  But to say he doesn’t get his way a bit more on the field than most is ridiculous.  In an era where secondaries have the deck stacked against them, it stands out more that Sherman, more often than not, gets the benefit of the doubt with calls (or non-calls).  So for him to say he doesn’t get any preferential treatment is ridiculous.  Not totally his fault since officials shouldn’t be doing that in the first place but it is the case.  Especially now in a league that has a lot less star power at the quarterback position, you will see other position players getting calls go their way.  It’s human nature unfortunately but still tough to justify.
• The New York Jets are trying to be more of a gongshow than the Cleveland Browns. I don’t know why or how but Todd Bowles has a mess on his hands, one that will probably lead to his shitcanning.  They can’t even get birthday celebrations right.
• Blair Walsh is on his last leg as kicker of the Minnesota Vikings, pun very intended. His missed extra point ended up biting the Vikings in the ass as they would go on to lose to the Lions in overtime.  Ever since he missed that short field goal last year in the playoffs, it seemed like it was for sure that he would eventually be cut.  Don’t be surprised if it’s in the next week or so.
• Is Matty Ice back? He sure seems to be.  Now that Carolina is average at best, the Falcons have taken over the NFC South lead and could conceivably wrap the division up in early December.  This is in no small part to Matt Ryan and his performance which is getting some MVP chatter.  And rightfully so.  Not many thought the Falcons would be this good but their offense has to be considered the best in the league right now, even ahead of the Cowboys and Patriots.
• Should we crown the Raiders the kings of the AFC West? I wouldn’t do that yet but they are looking like the best team in that division and the second best team in the conference (and honestly, the fourth best team in football).  Derek Carr has also put himself in the MVP race with his performance so far.

Alright, might as well start looking at the playoff picture already.  Yes it’s a little early and no I don’t care.  This is what we have as of today:

AFC		NFC
	Division Champs		Division Champs
1	New England (East)	1	Dallas (East)
2	Oakland (West)	2	Seattle (West)
3	Houston (South)	3	Atlanta (South)
4	Baltimore (North)	4	Minnesota (North)
	Wild-Cards		Wild-Cards
5	Kansas City	5	NY Giants
6	Denver	6	Washington

The next teams after Denver?  Miami and Pittsburgh are a game-and-a-half back.  Ugh.  Even though we are at the mid-point of the season, it feels like the AFC West will get three teams into the playoffs and there’s nothing any other team can do about it.  New England should win the AFC East.  The other two divisions aren’t that great so there is a chance 9-7 wins either division.

In the NFC, I would say Dallas and Atlanta really are the class of the league with Seattle close behind.   The NFC North is beating up on each other but I wouldn’t sleep on either the Vikings or Packers (or even the Lions) on making waves in the playoffs.  Also, in the NFC, it still feels like a lot of teams are still in the race.  Really, and I am going out on a limb here, I would say the only teams that truly have no shot to make the playoffs in the NFC are San Francisco and Chicago at this point.  Even not-so-good teams like the Bucs or Rams could go on a three or four game winning streak and be right in the Wild Card mix.  This is what will help salvage some of the NFL season: the excitement going into the final two weeks.  Problem is we are only going into Week 10.  Still a long haul.

Alright so there are two college games tonight.  One is quite as important as Western Michigan has to continue to win and win fairly big to keep their New Year’s Six hopes alive.  Tomorrow I will do another bowl projections post (where for art thou Jerry Palm?) and then back to the schedules late in the week.  Have a great day everyone.

National Championship Recap – Sponsored by Roll F’n Tide

Are we sure that’s not blood?

Yep. Evil Saban has done it again.  And he did it with style.  That onside kick in the fourth quarter is the stuff of legend.  It will now go down in lore as the play that basically won Bama its fourth title in seven years.  If that doesn’t make them a dynasty I don’t know what does.  Other items from last night’s 45-40 Crimson Tide victory over Clemson:

Ciara’s dress – Why is it that so many are outraged over what Ciara was wearing when the national anthem was sung?  Who gives a shit?  She sang it well and that’s all that matters.  First off, we may be seeing more of her than Russell Wilson ever does.  And secondly, people are all up in arms over this yet we turn into bloodthirsty fans wanting “hard-nosed football” and some “good battles in the trenches” that will lead to “possible concussions and broken bones?”  There is something seriously wrong with society (mostly American society although Canadians somewhat fall into that category).

Either Clemson’s horrible special teams play or Alabama’s fantastic special teams play – Your choice.  You could go either way on this one.  I figured the Tide would have the edge on special teams but not like this.  They dominated that part of the game and it was the key to victory.  Without Kenyan Drake’s kickoff return for a touchdown and the onside kick heard ‘round the world, it would be Clemson celebrating their victory right now.

Was OJ Howard invisible until he caught the ball? – It was insane and completely out of the blue how OJ Howard played last night.  What the hell were the Clemson secondary doing on Howard’s catches?  He was so wide open on two of them you could have fit a yacht between him and the nearest defender.  Talk about broken coverage.  How about shattered coverage or non-existent coverage.

Two of the three Heisman finalists showed why they got a trip to New York a month ago – Derrick Henry and Deshaun Watson both put on a show worthy of being Heisman Trophy finalists.  Henry was pretty much the only reason Bama was still in it at the half and Watson was the only reason (almost) that the Tigers were in it late.

Even though 85 points were scored, the defenses weren’t half-bad – The defenses, especially Clemson’s Kevin Dodd who had a crazy good night, were actually pretty good last night.  Problem was they seemed to give up the odd big play and almost every time those big plays either directly or a few plays later, lead to scoring.  If it wasn’t for those big plays, no chance either team hits 30 points.

The VY Comparison – It was almost getting eerie how much this game was mirroring the 2006 Rose Bowl game.  You remember that one right?  The one where Vince Young broke USC’s hearts at the end.  Even the score in this one was mirroring the score back then.  And the Watson-Young comparisons came from everywhere all night and rightfully so.  If Clemson repeats what it did this year, Watson could very well walk away with the Heisman next year (that Young deserved the year his Horns won the title) and be one of the best college players of this generation.

Those refs again – They’re at it again.  What in the hell happened near the end of the first half?  The clock wasn’t run properly, leading Dabo Swinney to go apeshit and rightfully so.  This is easy stuff.  Find out what the clock should have been at and put it back at that spot.  Nope.  Can’t do that.  And they wonder why officials in college football are probably treated with less respect than most other sports in North America.  It’s not the fact it’s college and not the pros.  It’s the fact that these types of mistakes are dumb and shouldn’t happen.  Yet they do on a near-weekly basis.

Another season over. I am so sad now.  Lost.  What do I do now?  Work more productively and not think about college football?  Hang out with my kids when they’re with me?  Socialize with others?  Hmmm…this sounds like addictive behaviour almost.  I am obviously kidding but from late August until early January my mind does wander a bit to college football and I do spend less time on other pursuits because of it.  I have seven-and-a-half months to make up for it.  The 2016 college football season starts September 1^st so we are 233 days away.  Damn.

In the meantime, there are a few more college football games to be played. Yes, I’m serious.  I am talking about the few all-star games that are still around as showcases for draft-eligible players.  Here they are:

• Dream Bowl (Jan. 18, Noon, ASN) – The Dream Bowl is the showcase game for non-FBS players. Usually it’s mostly FCS players but sprinkled in are the best from D-II and D-III. The reason it’s this coming Monday is because all Americans (except people in Arizona because who the fuck knows why) are off for Martin Luther King Day. It is supposedly on ASN but at this point I do not see it on the guide. It may appear later this week but we shall see.
• East–West Shrine Game (Jan. 23, 3:00, NFL Network) – This is the granddaddy of all college all-star games (along with the Senior Bowl). As far as I can tell this should be on the NFL Network here as well but I know the Canadian version of that channel can be a bit screwy.
• NFLPA Collegiate Bowl (Jan. 23, 5:30, ESPN2) – Another newer college football all-star game. At this point, there is no knowledge whether this will be on the specialty pack (or even on a TSN station although I doubt it).
• Senior Bowl (Jan. 30, 1:30, NFL Network) – This one we should definitely get on the NFL Network since I remember last year’s game appearing on there as well. This is the final chance for draft-eligible seniors to show their stuff before we get into draft season and the combines.

So there you go. A bit of college football to whet your appetite through the month of January.  Then for February through August, nothing.  Sorry.  I wish I could help you.  I really do.  Seriously.