LETS GOOOO! The Patriots have traded a conditional 5th round pick for Josh Gordon, which is actually cheaper than I had predicted. I will take that all day long. Also, reportedly if Josh Gordon is not active for 10 games, the Patriots will receive 7th round pick back from the Browns.
This is exactly what this team needs right now. Immense, immense talent. Sure he’s only played 11 games over the last 4 calendar years, but this is a guy that could thrive with a QB like Tom Brady throwing him the ball. Again, his best, and only, great season came in 2013 when he went 87 for 1,646 with 9 TDs. Not a lot of guys in this league that can even approach stats like that. And that was with bums like Jason Campbell, Brandon Weeden, and Brian Hoyer throwing him the ball.
Granted the Patriots put themselves in a shit situation by trading Brandon Cooks and letting Danny Amendola walk, but hey you play the hand you’re dealt. And right now the Patriots need a stud receiver. I’ll take that chance as its the ultimate low risk, high reward type move.
Felger and the talking heads will dump on the move, despite complaining for weeks about how the Patriots were hesitant to bring in a guy over concerns of receivers “learning the offense.” It was this or Kenny Britt or Dez Bryant. Dez is three years older than Gordon with a history of foot problems. We’ve already cut Britt once. Give me Gordon. If he’s a bum or he misses practices or he just doesn’t gel with Brady, then cut him.
It’s a great move in an area of need as Belichick jumps on an opportunity after biding his time and rotating in guys like Britt, Cordarrelle Patterson, Corey Coleman, Philip Dorsett, Jordan Matthews and others in 20 moves they made this season at the position.
Sunday was an ugly day for the New England Patriots. I was feeling pretty confident heading in and since I was in the great state of New Jersey I even placed a legal wager on my boys to pull it out. Welp, midway through the first quarter I knew I wasn’t getting that money back ever again. What seemed like a steamrolling by the Jaguars was a game that actually pivoted on just a handful of plays and missed opportunities, which I have painstakingly compiled below. Andddd go!
-Gostkowski missed another bunny in a key moment. Yuck, this guy is basically Tuukka Rask to me these days. He’s not as bad as sports talk radio says, but he’s definitely not as great as the team would have you believe. I know it’s only a handful of kicks he’s missed over the years, but they all seem to stick out in my memory because they all came in key situations. Regardless of his FG percentage, I do not want this guy anywhere near a game tying or game winning kick anymore.
-Refs missed a holding call against Gronk (and a potential roughing the passer) and the Pats were forced to kick on 4th down on their first drive, which as we mentioned above Gostkowski shanked with an absolute duck of a kick.
Gostkowski sends it OB right as Patriots end first drive pointless. Either the Telvin Smith jersey tug or Ngakoue “weight drop” should have been drive-extenders.
-A Jacksonville receiver fumbled a ball that jumped like a magic fucking bean right into another Jacksonville receiver’s hands for the luckiest of recoveries.
-This defense looked like swiss cheese all day, which is alarming, but it would be out of character for any Patriots fan to completely overreact. We’ve seen these early season losses when the team is still trying to figure it out. Whether it was the offensive line or the right linebacker rotation, we’ve seen it before and this year is probably no different especially when it comes to the wide receivers. Hell the Pats are like the high school jock who got a little too high on himself and dumped a perfectly nice girl (Kenny Britt), only to try and get her back after he’s put on the freshman 15 at college.
-Eric Rowe got roasted all day long. One of the plays against him was impossible to stop:
But he then immediately got beat for a TD he should have been able to defend.
-The defense got burned on 3rd down all game long as Bortles scrambled and found an open man or ran for first downs himself. Hell he’s got the third highest Avg Yards per Rush for a QB in the history of the league, just a tick behind Michael Vick.
-The defense was bad yes, but lets remember that it took a career day from Blake Bortles (29 of 45 for 377 yards, 4 touchdowns, 1 interception). Literally the best game of his career to topple the Patriots, which kind of stung after I clowned Bortles all week long and lost a little coin in the process, but hey thems the breaks.
Thats the most concerning visual from the entire game. It kind of felt like Brady and McDaniels were starting to worry that this team might not be able to get them where they want to go. Hopefully it’s just the two of them blowing off some steam on the new guys making mental errors.
-Breathe and say it with me….Julian Edelman will be back in 3 weeks.
-I’m pretty sure Mattes and I have stumbled onto some black magic as the two guys we picked for team MVPs on The 300s Podcast, Rex Burkhead and Trey Flowers, have each gotten concussions in the first two weeks. Another guy Mattes picked as a DPOY was Deatrich Wise, who left the game late with what the announcers speculated as some jumbled finger digits. I’m not comfortable with this type of power.
-At one point midway through the second half the broadcast team pointed out that it had been a full 45 minutes since Tom Brady had thrown the ball. That cannot help gameflow and momentum.
-The non-call of the Jags jumping offsides on 4th down late in the game as the Pats tried to draw the penalty before punting. As the broadcast team, and TV shots of a fuming Belichick pointed out, the offensive lineman needs to touch the the defender if he jumps onside otherwise he can reset and the refs won’t call it. Romo even pointed out in the replay you can see the official reach for his flag before deciding against it. That one hurt.
-Before the season I predicted the Pats would split with the Jags and the Texans and be 3-1 after the first month. After Week 2, we’re exactly where I expected so unless they drop a game to the Lions and old friend Matt Patricia
or the Dolphins, who tried their very best to give away a W to the Jets on Sunday, then we’re fine.
-Don’t get it twisted, this defense is somewhere between hot garbage and a cold lunch, BUT its probably a little bit better than the defense that was one stop away from winning back to back Super Bowls last year. So it may not always be pretty, it will probably be infuriatingly bad at times, but at the end of the day it should be good enough to keep the team alive as long as TB12 is under center…..and not a second longer.
-After predicting the Pats would do their best to eviscerate Jalen Ramsey for trash talking Gronk (I may have said something about making his children orphans, but I forget) and they did nothing of the sort. The offense could not get into a rhythm and anytime they did, their momentum was killed by turnovers and missed kicks.
-Cordarrelle Patterson killed a drive when he tripped over the Ghost of Christmas Past on a key third down. After the Pats defense came up huge and forced a quick 3 and out, the offense came out onto the field and these next two tweets came over the span of 6 minutes.
A short series and a terrible punt. The #Patriots have to smell blood here. #Jags
Patterson caught a screen out of the backfield and looked like he had room to run, but his feet would not cooperate as he tripped over nothing and fell down to end the drive in its tracks.
Anddd 5 minutes after that Bortles threw a pick to try and let the Patriots back into the game. Anddd then 3 minutes after that Brady was strip sacked and that was the game.
So I just have to tip my cap to the Jaguars. It’s only Week 2 so I hope they aren’t riding too high….
“It kind of felt like we won a Super Bowl, man,” safety Tashaun Gipson said. “I won’t even kid you. It was that type of atmosphere and environment.
….because we’ve seen this story before (see: Chiefs 2014), but alas I tip my cap.
-Josh Gordon?? I say yes because of the pure ability coupled with the age; 27 whereas Dez Bryant will be 30 soon.
But obviously the guy has been dealing with issues for years. The last, and only, good season Gordon had came back in 2013. Back when Shane Victorino played for the Red Sox. Tom E. Curran makes a pretty compelling argument against the receiver as well:
He’s played in 11 of a possible 65 games since his absurd 2013 season (86 catches, 1,646 yards). He needs full-time supervision, it seems. Permissiveness, understanding and contorting for Gordon’s needs all offseason got the Browns . . . a game. One catch. A touchdown. And then they threw up their hands.
How’s that return on emotional investment and time spent? Not real good. It’s not inhumane to tell a troubled person he is unemployable, which Gordon has been and seemingly still is.
Besides, the Patriots were already down the road with one wide receiver project, Cordarelle Patterson. Then they added Corey Coleman this week.
If feels like they are at capacity when it comes to getting talented but hard-to-reach downfield receivers assimilated. This isn’t July when there’s nothing to do but conditioning, working on timing and getting on the same page. There are games every seven days now, game plans to install, fine-tune and execute.
The reality is, nobody’s got time for Josh Gordon right now.
Despite all that, the Patriots are at least doing their due diligence on Gordon according to Bert Breer.
So that may have been more than just a few pivot points, but I think its just an early season misstep for the Pats (one that I expected) as they build for the longterm and assess what their strengths and weaknesses are. Plus I feel much more confident going against the Jags in the playoffs going for the split, rather than trying to beat Sacksonville twice in one season.
Up next is old friend Matt Patricia and my worst fantasy draft pick in a decade; Matt Stafford.
The NFL overtime system is broken and it’s easy to see why. I’m not talking about two ties in two weeks, though. The fact that the league has to put its overtime rules on the screen every time a game goes to overtime is all you need to know. I’ve never seen Fox or ESPN have to explain how extra innings or basketball overtime works. Even the NHL with its loser point, 4-on-4, 3-on-3, and shootout formats over the last 20 years is still pretty simple – play five minutes and if no one wins we go to a three-round shootout.
The fact that the NFL has to explain the rules every time a game goes to overtime is ridiculous. That’s arena league stuff. Fortunately, the solution is easy. The NFL will eventually adopt the college football overtime system, the Kansas Plan.
The Kansas Plan won’t be coming to the NFL next year, but it probably will be in the next decade or so. A criticism of the Kansas Plan is that it takes special teams out of the game, with no kickoffs or punts. Pretty soon, though, that’s what regular football could look like. With the NFL moving kickoffs up to the 35-yard line and moving touchbacks out to the 25-yard line, it’s clear that they want fewer kickoffs returned. Same in college football, which now treats any fair catch of a kickoff inside the 25-yard line as a touchback. It may be a while before the kickoff is eliminated entirely but it could happen in our lifetimes, and eliminating it in overtime would be an easy way to start.
The NFL said it shortened regular season overtime from 15 to 10 minutes for player safety reasons. Making the switch to the college football overtime system could easily be justified for that same reason.
And all due respect to punters, but if a game can’t be decided in 60 minutes I don’t mind taking the option to punt off the table for OT. Overtime is intended to force an outcome, one way or another. To force an outcome, game play has to be tweaked a little bit. I don’t mind telling a team they lose the right to punt after 60 minutes of play.
While I don’t believe the current NFL overtime system is unfair, the college overtime system is undoubtedly fairer. The Kansas Plan obviously gives each team an opportunity to possess the football. This eliminates the possibility of another Super Bowl (or any game, really) ending without one side getting an opportunity on offense. If I were a Falcons fan, I’d still be upset that Matt Ryan never got to touch the football in overtime in Super Bowl 51.
Unless the NFL wants to play full 15-minute quarters until the deadlock is broken, which it most certainly does not, it’s time they go back to college and adopt the Kansas Plan. College football overtime isn’t prefect, but it’s simpler, safer and fairer. You could do a lot worse than an overtime system that’s simple, fair and safe.
For those who haven’t heard, the Clown Prince of Crime is going to get his own standalone origin movie next year, with Joaquin Phoenix set to play the lead role and Todd Phillips set to direct.
The movie isn’t scheduled to be released until October 2019, but we were already treated to a few interesting set photos this past weekend (h/t Just Jared) as well as a close-up of what a pre-Joker Joaquin Phoenix will look like:
(His name will also apparently be “Arthur.”)
Let me just start off by saying that I am totally on board with Phoenix as the Joker. Not only is he a brilliant and extremely talented actor – seriously, he’s probably one of the very best alive at the moment – but he’s also just batshit crazy enough to pull off a performance that could actually rival Heath Ledger’s iteration of the legendary villain from The Dark Knight.
(Side note: Jared Leto has failed MISERABLY so far in the DCEU, like embarrassingly so. If you even try to defend his portrayal of the Joker in any way, you are plain wrong and we’re not going to be friends.)
However, I’m not as sold on the director.
Todd Phillips, a guy known for making cheeky, frat-boy-humor comedies like Road Trip, Old School, and the Hangover trilogy, is going to be in charge of building the backstory for one of the most compelling, sinister, and vicious villains in entertainment history. Though many may not like to admit it, a large part of the Joker’s ubiquitous appeal is his truly perverse, malicious, and downright sociopathic nature, and any story focused on what made him that way is going to have to be quite dark. Is Phillips up to the task?
Fortunately, Scott Silver, who wrote 8 Mile and helped write The Fighter, is helping Phillips co-write the Joker movie. Not only were both of those films pretty excellent, but they also both feature main characters who are dealing with some pretty serious personal demons and unfortunate life circumstances which ultimately end up molding them into the person they eventually become.
OK. Fine. I’ll keep the faith that the two of them together can get the job done.
It was also reported back in March (h/t Screen Rant) that the movie would indeed be an origin story, showing the Joker’s – aka Arthur Fleck’s – demise as a failed comedian and the path he ultimately took toward a life of crime. This is derived from Alan Moore’s and Brian Bolland’s 1988 classic Joker tale The Killing Joke, easily one of the most dark and macabre (and best!) Batman graphic novels of all time. The alleged theme of the film is making me hopeful that the movie will be as “super dark and real” as Brendan Schaub (h/t Batman-News) said it was going to be during an interview last summer.
If you still haven’t read this one, do so immediately.
What makes this movie even more interesting and appealing is the fact that it is truly a “standalone.” It will not be a part of the current DCEU, which is in a state of flux at the moment, and it will instead fall under a new banner at Warner Brothers which will focus more on origin stories and other spinoffs from the universe’s main entities going forward.
Back in December 2016 (h/t Hollywood Reporter), a future Gotham City Sirens movie focusing on Harley Quinn, Catwoman, and Poison Ivy was announced. The studio has also already confirmed a Harley-Quinn-centric Birds of Prey movie, and there’s potentially even another Harley solo movie being discussed as well. Each of those films will star Margot Robbie, who was excellent as the Joker’s main gal in Suicide Squad.
We love you, Margot, and fortunately Warner Bros. does, too.
They will also be making a Batgirl movie, too, which makes a lot of sense considering Barbara Gordon’s pivotal role in The Killing Joke storyline. Hopefully, we could even start to see other awesome and super underappreciated characters like Nightwing and Red Hood – and, eventually, Oracle – finally make their way onto the big screen as well.
So wait…what about Leto, though?
As much as I would love for his character to fade completely into obscurity, it seems as though Warner Brothers is still going to give him plenty more screen time. As first mentioned by The Hollywood Reporter, Leto is getting another chance to be the Joker in what looks like a weird, edgy (and probably entirely unnecessary) romantic comedy with Harley Quinn, which is set to come out after the Suicide Squad sequel. (So, wait, we now have to see him at least TWO more times??!!) Fortunately, this was reported last summer with virtual radio silence on the topic since, so here’s to hoping DC scraps the idea entirely and sticks with the other much better projects in process. For now, though, it seems like Leto’s sticking around, at least in the main DCEU.
Regardless, at least it seems as though the first Joker movie set to come out has some pretty solid potential, and I’m now actually pretty excited to see the finished product. And as confusing as all the DC movie “announcements” have been over the past year or so, at least the gears are turning over at Warner Bros. and things no longer seem quite so dire for DC.
The untitled Joker movie is officially set to hit theaters on October 4, 2019.
Red is 100% right. Jalen Ramsey talking trash about Rob Gronkowski and Tom Brady does ring hollow, and the Patriots will probably hand him the beating of a lifetime this Sunday. Still, I can’t help but admire the balls on this guy.
The greatest quarterback and greatest tight end of all time are coming to town this weekend and he’s not impressed. But perhaps even ballsier than saying that he doesn’t think Gronk “is as great as people think he is,” was him saying that he could play in the NHL with just six months of training. That is despite the fact that he has never skated. That is a lie that Saul Goodman himself would be proud of.
It’s also an epic troll job. The number of NHL players bent out of shape over it is incredible.
Jesus Christ guys, get a grip. Everyone talks about how easygoing hockey players are, but these guys seem like an easy group to get a reaction out of. A football player was talking out of his ass guys, not disrespecting your sport. Disrespecting your sport might sound like someone calling it the fifth-most popular sport in the United States after football, basketball, baseball and college football. Hypothetically speaking.
Shout out to the Springfield Thunderbirds, though. They get it.
That’s an A+ response to Ramsey’s claim that he could play in the NHL. That team’s social media manager deserves a raise.
I don’t think his Patriots trash talk will have any impact on Sunday’s game and I don’t believe he will ever play in the NHL, but goddammit do I respect him for having the balls to make these outrageous statements.
IGN – Breaking Bad star Aaron Paul is joining the cast of Westworld for the show’s third season. According to sources close to Deadline, Paul is set to become a series regular, but no official announcement of his character (or how prominent that character will be) has been made.
Paul won three Emmys during the run of Breaking Bad for his portrayal of high school chemistry flunkee-turned meth cook, Jesse Pinkman. Westworld’s showrunners previously teased Season 3 will mark a “radical shift” for the series.
Aaron Paul is such a great actor that in Breaking Bad he grew from a stereotypical townie, small time drug dealer to a meth kingpin escaping from white supremacist slavery. The guy put on an acting tour de force. So naturally I was pretty fucking bummed when the first role he chose after Breaking Bad, when he could’ve done anything, was NEED FOR SPEED.
Somehow that movie bombed to the tune of….wait that movie made $200 MILLION dollars?! Either way, that looked awful so I skipped it and I think a lot of Breaking Bad fans felt the same way.
Since then Aaron Paul has been kind of flying under the radar. He’s actually done 16 projects since Breaking Bad, including the Moses movie Exodus: Gods and Kings, an episode of Black Mirror, and a voice acting credit for Final Fantasy XV. Soo for a guy that seemed like he was on the brink of superstardom it’s been kind of a letdown.
Thats exactly why I am STOKED to hear Aaron Paul is coming to Westworld because that show is at a serious crossroads. I love Westworld, despite how I need an Advil after some of the episodes. It’s one of the few think pieces left on TV; a throwback to shows like LOST, which I think is the perfect comparison. I was a huge LOST guy for the first 3-4 seasons and then the show lost its way and introduced time travel.
Suddenly no one gave a shit about the smoke monster and everyone was working a 9-5 at the Dharma Initiative in the 1970s. It was at that point I was forced to take a step back and ask myself where the fuck is this show going?
So Westworld needs to avoid meandering and it never hurts to bring on more great actors. I have zero idea if he’s going to play a host, a human, a human pretending to be a host, or a host pretending to be a human, but if that show can turn the McPoyles into badass characters, then I can’t wait to see what they do with Jesse Pinkman.
MMAJunkie – To this point, things have been quiet on the promotional front for the UFC 229 lightweight title fight between champion Khabib Nurmagomedov and Conor McGregor.
That’s about to change.
The UFC announced today that next week, Sept. 20, a press conference with UFC President Dana White, Nurmagomedov and McGregor will be held at Radio City Music Hall in New York.
There are two, no three, actually four things to consider at the outset of this story:
1.) This very well may be the biggest fight in UFC history.
2.) The UFC has become known for promoting the hell out of their bigger fights; cooking up absolute juggernauts to throw gigantic bankrolls behind in order to reap the even bigger returns.
3.) Conor himself usually subsidizes the UFC’s promotion with his own tidal wave of social media shit talking, interview soliloquy’s, and released, ominous training footage.
4.) There has been precisely MINIMAL promotion for this fight so far. Not from the UFC. Not from Conor. Not from Conor’s “team” (I hate that concept and phrase) who are also usually a promotion vehicle in and of themselves. Virtual radio silence on the part of everyone.
So this press conference was announced this week and by the time it occurs we will be a little more than two weeks out from the fight itself. That is, again, possibly the biggest fight in UFC history. At Madison Square Garden. For Conor to stay quiet is one thing. He has that whole “throwing a dolly at a bus and injuring people” thing to deal with. Sure, he is still Conor Fucking McGregor and so it is a bit odd for him to stay silent because of anything. I can’t help but wonder if he has something saved up his sleeve for when the fight is that much more imminent.
While we have excuses and possible explanations for Conor, for those that follow the business-side of MMA and the art form that is the UFC promoting MMA, the company’s silence is absolutely mind boggling. Barely any social media coverage. No “On Demand” ads that I’ve seen so far. I don’t want to go so far as to question whether or not the UFC has faith the fight will go down, but what the hell else explains this? For Mayweather-McGregor there was a 6 month, international press tour. This may not be THAT big, objectively, but it is the biggest thing MMA has to offer and features 2 internationally born and beloved fighters, so what gives?
I don’t know. I honestly don’t have a clue except to maybe speculate that Conor and the UFC are on the same page and are going to see what happens when they wait for a couple weeks out to both light the fire and throw 310 pounds of gas on it. But is that even enough time to REALLY get people excited? I’m not sure it is.
We can ask, wonder, ruminate, and ponder all we want but in the end on September 20th the two best 155ers in the world will be on the same stage, speaking in wonderfully distinct accents, discussing what should be a monumental fight and a bona fide game changer in terms of the landscape of 155 pounds and beyond. Nothing will be the same after the first Saturday in October.
It’s one thing to call Josh Allen and Joe Flacco trash because they are in fact not good at football. However, when Jalen Ramsey starts chirping Rob Gronkowski it kind of rings false.
“I don’t think Gronk’s good,” Ramsey told ESPN.com’s Mina Kimes in a story that was published late last month. He then clarified: “Let me say — I don’t think Gronk is as great as people think he is.”
If I know the Patriots, and I like to think I do, these guys love nothing more than stomping on the heads of their loudest and cockiest enemies before dancing on their graves. With that being said, are Tom Brady and Rob Gronkowski going to make a orphans out of Jalen Ramsey’s children?
Not that good? Lets see…Gronk was voted the No. 1 tight end in the league by his peers last year, he is a 4x All-Pro, and thats before we even get into his career stats.
4th all time in Touchdowns for a TE
11th all time in Receiving Yards for a TE
21st all time in Receptions for a TE
1st all time in Receiving Yards per Game for a TE
All of that despite being *92nd* in Career Games Played for a TE. Gronk is one of the all-time greats and a hands down first ballot Hall of Famer at the ripe old age of 29.
Yet Jalen Ramsey has decided to put a target on his back by chirping Gronk for some reason.
Jaguars CB Jalen Ramsey on facing Patriots TE Rob Gronkowski. Ramsey previously said he didn’t think Gronk “is as great as people think he is.” pic.twitter.com/23erBn80vM
In the run-up to a December clash between the two AFC powerhouses in 2007, second year Steelers safety Anthony Smith guaranteed a win against the (undefeated) Patriots. When asked about it, he doubled down
Brady and the Patriots not only heard Smith, they went directly at him when the game began. Randy Moss caught a 63-yard touchdown running past Smith. And the Patriots used a double pass play to exploit Smith for a second score
Brady himself found Smith after one score, making sure his thoughts were understood.
Tom Brady and Randy Moss took that to heart and ruthlessly attacked Smith, roasted him, and just went out of their way to embarrass the guy on national TV for having the gall to question the Patriots.
Hell even Belichick got into the mud to put the finishing touches on the battered, bruised and beaten safety.
“We’ve played against a lot better safeties than him, I’ll tell you,” said the Patriots coach. By the game’s end, the stats told a stark picture. The Patriots passed 46 times for 399 yards and four touchdowns, barely bothering with a run game.
Now obviously Jalen Ramsey is no Anthony Smith, rather he was All-Pro last season, but you keep knocking on the devils door and sooner or later someone’s going to answer.
If you’re a normal person and you don’t pay attention to preseason hockey then I totally get it; I envy you in fact. However, I couldn’t let the day pass without addressing this story. So just to catch everyone up to speed, the Bruins are currently in China as they’re playing exhibition games against Calgary on Sept. 15 in Shenzhen and Sept. 19 in Beijing.
The good news? Puck drops Saturday night at 2:30 AM! So when you’re coming back from the bar blind drunk you’ll be able to flip on NHL Network and watch the black and gold til the wee hours. Then they also play on the 19th at 7:30 am so you can have some Bruins with your bacon and eggs that morning.
Hopefully nobody steals any sunglasses though because I don’t think DT45 can get any more Americans out of Chinese prison for shoplifting. That….Trump…..card has already been played. I’ll see myself out.
After a solid performance against the Texans at home in Week 1, the Patriots already have their first tough matchup of the year. This Sunday, they’re set to square off on the road against the Jacksonville Jaguars, who, were it not for a big fourth-quarter Patriots comeback – capped off by a HUGE touchdown from Danny “Playoff” Amendola with 2:48 remaining – would have been last year’s AFC champions.
As always, here’s a quick snapshot of when, where, and how to watch the game along with the latest lines:
Somehow, the Patriots are favored in this one, but BUYER BEWARE. I don’t know if people are still somehow basing their opinion off of old, outdated perceptions, but these ain’t your granddaddy’s Jaguars.
Again, this is a team that was leading 20-10 early on in the fourth quarter against the Pats in last year’s AFC championship, and one that is bringing back pretty much every starter from a truly stifling defense that finished second in both yards allowed and points per game allowed in 2017. They also finished second in both sacks and interceptions to boot. Point being: their D is absolutely lethal, perhaps even “all-time” good. (Yes, they really are that freakin’ good.)
Jalen Ramsey (left) and A.J. Bouye (right) form unquestionably the best corner pairing in the game right now.
On the offensive side of things, the Jags are not quite as daunting, but they’re certainly not bereft of talent. Stud running back Leonard Fournette is expected to play, as long as his hamstring, which forced him out of action early on in Week 1, holds up at practice on Friday:
It’s the Patriots game. Only way Fournette is missing that is if there’s a setback. Hard to do with more rest. So, I’d relax. @_fournette also gotta keep snacking on kale, avocado, beans, & nuts etc.. #AntiCrampingFoods and of course stay hydrated. https://t.co/zuo4ohtoaN
Even though the Pats held him to just 3.2 yards per carry in January, he’s still probably one of the game’s best. Also, backup T.J. Yeldon, one of this week’s hottest fantasy pickups, is no slouch either; he finished the game with almost 70 total yards in relief of Fournette last Sunday, and let’s not forget he averaged 5.2 yards per carry as the team’s backup ball-carrier last year. Both backs can also catch balls out of the backfield, so the Pats will need to watch out for them all over the field on Sunday.
Fortunately, the Jaguars have Blake Bortles and a depleted receiving corps responsible for the other half of the offense. Bortles is perhaps one of the most intriguing players in the entire league; here’s a guy who’s thrown over 20 touchdowns in three straight seasons, including 35 of them in 2015, but one who has also thrown 48 picks over that same time frame and can oftentimes look like a lost Pop Warner player on the field.
To be fair, though, Bortles did come on strong toward the end of last season, and he played very well in the AFC championship (23/36, 293 yards, 1 TD, 0 INT, 98.5 RTG). You could do a lot worse than him at quarterback, and if you’re not careful he can flame you. However, after letting Allen Hurns walk this offseason and losing Marquis Lee for the year due to injury, the Jags receiving corps is still trying to flesh itself out. Besides Keelan Cole – who I’m expecting a big year from and who truly might’ve been one of the best receivers in the NFL over the last five or so weeks of 2017 – it’s a lot of young, highly-drafted guys (Dede Westbrook, D.J. Chark) or extremely overrated veterans (Donte Moncrief, Austin Sefarian-Jenkins) to choose from for Blakey Boy.
Stephon Gilmore and the rest of the secondary should be able to keep Bortles and the receivers at bay in this one, but Fournette and Yeldon could do some work against a Pats defense that gave up the second most receiving yards out of the opposing backfield last season. The Patriots also allowed the Texans to rush for over five yards per carry as a team last week – even when taking Deshaun Watson out of the picture and only accounting for their running backs – so the team could struggle to stop the ground game this week.
Though he was sacked three times, Brady played great against the Jags in January (26/38, 290 yards, 2 TDs, 0 INT, 108.4 RTG), but with much less to work with in terms of talent around him, things could be a bit more difficult this time around. Jalen Ramsey should be able to lock down Hogan (if, of course, he’s not on Gronk instead) and A.J. Bouye should be able to take care of whoever else. (Yeah, I know how good Phillip Dorsett looked last week, but don’t expect a repeat performance in Jacksonville.) Rex Burkhead and James White will likely be relied upon heavily again down in the Sunshine State as well.
Storylines to Keep an Eye On
(Can Trent Brown and the Boys Up Front Keep it Up?): Brown passed his first test in a Patriots uniform last week against a strong Texans pass-rush, but Houston’s front pales in comparison to the group the Jags possess. From monster-man Calais Campbell (12.5 sacks in 2017) to guys like Dante Fowler, Yannick Ngakoue, and Malik Jackson, Brown and the rest of the O-line are going to have their hands full once again.
(Will We See Sony Michel?/Running Back Rotation): After missing Week 1 while still recovering from a knee injury, rookie Sony Michel has been participating in positional drills once again at practice this week. While there’s been no real indication from anyone of note as to whether or not he’ll play this Sunday, Kevin Duffy of the Boston Herald points out that the rookie is hopeful:
“I’m doing all I can do to prepare,” Michel said in his first interview since suffering the knee injury. “Whatever coach’s plan is, I don’t know what his plan is, but my mindset is prepare as if I’m playing.”
After losing Jeremy Hill for the season this week to an ACL tear, Michel would certainly be a welcomed presence. I am unsure if the team wants the rookie to begin his NFL life against such a tough defense, but then again Bill is certainly not averse to throwing people right into the fire. If not, then newly signed Kenjon Barner might get a little more run than expected. Kenneth Farrow (Melvin Gordon’s backup with the then-San Diego Chargers in 2016) or preseason standout Ralph Webb could also get promoted from the practice squad. Otherwise, Burkhead and White are both going to be in for a long afternoon.
Come ahhhn, Sony. We’re getting anxious over here.
Prediction
The Patriots come out trying to establish the run and are not so successful. With Hogan and Gronk being locked down by the Jags secondary, this ultimately causes Brady to have to force balls to the likes of Dorsett and Cordarrelle Patterson, and that doesn’t go so well. Meanwhile, Bortles is able to move the ball a little better than expected against the Pats defense, to the tune of 300 yards and two scores. Brady, as he always does, finds a way to finally punch one or two in later in the game. Unfortunately, though, the Jags win out in the end 20-14.
The 300s 