Patriots Pull Out 30-23 Win Over the Ravens: The Good and the Bad

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A quick breakdown of the Patriots 30-23 win over the Ravens last night, which featured a lot of good (Tom Brady) and a lot of bad. All in all, an impressive win over the best defense in the NFL.

The Good

  • Tom Brady: Brady was at his finest last night. Hyped up, pissed off and shredding the defense. 3 Touchdowns and 400+ passing yards against the No. 1 defense in the NFL. Pretty, pretty, pretty good. That touchdown to Malcolm Mitchell in the Red Zone was an absolute missile in a window the size of a coast and is a throw most QB’s probably don’t even try. Also, getting on Edelman and Chris hogan to get their shit together after a less than ideal start seemed to really give those guys a much needed kick in the ass.
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  • Chris Hogan: Hogan earned his excellent nickname 7-11 last night as he really was open all day. Seemed like Brady had to give him a little shit to get back on the field after hurting his hand early in the game, but its hard to argue with 5 catches for 129 yards and a TD. That 79 yard TD was money as Hogan seems to have another gear in the open field I didn’t even know about.
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  • Martellus Bennett’s Health: This was huge last night after there were reports circulating that Marty was less than 100%, which is a scary thing to hear with Gronk done for the year. If Bennett goes down or can’t get the job done then the Pats are probably screwed with zero tight end presence. But Bennett looked great last night especially one his nearly 1 handed TD catch when the defender was draped all over him and Bennett ripped the ball off the guy and held on for the score. Plus the 3 TE set on play action where Bennett lined up in the middle of the other two “tight ends” and slipped into an opening for an easy first down. Great sign.
  • Special Teams: That blocked field goal by Shane McClellin was an absolute thing of beauty. Perfectly timed, incredibly athletic play by a prototypical Bill Belichick guy; a former top pick he peeled off the scrap heap of another team for peanuts. Great play against the best kicker in the league who was the only kicker in the NFL to not miss a kick yet. Jamie Collins who? And the punt coverage unit was on fire as well. Downing a punt at the 1 yard line leading to the safety, which put the Pats on the board and set the tone for the whole game.

The Bad

  • Special Teams: Holy shit talk about a Jekyll and Hyde performance from the special teams last night. They were absolutely carrying the Pats in the beginning of the game. All of Twitter was gleefully ripping off tweets about how special teams is 1/3 of the game and just as important. Then a couple fumbled punts later and suddenly the Pats are only up a field goal. I’ve never seen a BB special teams unit that hot and cold in the *same game* Thankfully TB12 saved the day, but relying too much on Brady is what has usually killed the Pats in the past. Brady has a slightly off day and the rest of the team can’t pick up the slack. Something to keep an eye on.
  • Cyrus Jones: Jesus christ, this kid is shook. Last night he could not get out of his own way and now has FOUR fumbled punts on the year. It’s clearly a mental thing, but its at the point now he just cannot be trusted back there. I also don’t get why the insist on putting him as a PR, apparently he only has 12 career punt returns in college. Maybe it was just me being dumb, but I was lead to believe he was some kind of PR specialist? Either way, hopefully he can make an impact as a depth safety because right now he is looking like a real bungle of a 2nd round pick.
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  • Linebackers Covering RBs Out of the Backfield: Said it last night and I’ll say it again; the Patriots are the only team that can give up a 40 yard screen play to a freakin full back and it doesn’t shock me. They just cannot cover running backs out of the backfield and that is a huge issue heading into the playoffs. This is where a guy like Collins would have been valuable, they just don’t really have the speed to cover guys coming out of the backfield on screens. Giving up 40 to a fullback is an embarrassment though and is probably a bigger reflection of poor tackling than anything else. This could be their potential undoing in the playoffs. Woof.
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Does the Firing of Jeff Fisher Pave the Way for Josh McDaniels as the Next HC of the Los Angeles Rams?

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So after getting smoked by the Falcons on Sunday the Rams would have to win out to even be lucky enough to have “7-9 bullshit.” With Fisher suddenly out as the Rams coach there is now an opening in Southern California, with a new stadium coming, a huge market, the 2016 No. 1 overall pick at QB and an opportunity to really build a franchise.

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I know there have been reports this season saying that Josh McDaniels is indeed interested in head coach openings. So does this pave the way for McDaniels to leave the Pats and head for LA? With another deep playoff run and an already strong body of work running offenses obviously through Brady, but also Jimmy Garoppolo and Jacoby Brissett this season McDaniels seems to be lining himself up nicely for a new gig.

McDaniels was definitely humbled by his flameout in Denver (great story by Bleacher Report on those lessons he learned here) and already has some familiarity with the Rams, albeit in St. Louis, having been their offensive coordinator in 2011. All before coming back to the Patriots as an offensive assistant and then once again as the OC after Bill O’Brien took the Texans HC job. So its not a stretch to make the connection. And while I’d love to have McD stick around, it doesn’t look like Bill Belichick is going anywhere any time soon. So can you really fault the guy?

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This may be the best job opening in the NFL. Usually when a job opens up its in a shit market like Cleveland, which I think McDaniels has made obvious he does not want to do. He’s also gotta be real careful what situation he ultimately decides to go with because this will probably be his last shot to show he can be a successful head coach in this league. So it really comes down to Jared Goff, who has looked absolutely abysmal in his brief experience as a starting QB. Does McDaniels believe he can work with Goff and make him a star? Because if he does, take the job. If not, he may want to rethink it. But this is the same guy who helped get the Pats to 11 wins with Matt Cassel and had a record of 3-1 with 2nd and 3rd string QB’s this season.

Who the hell wouldn’t want this job?

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DeflateGate 2 Was Over Before It Started as Hypocrisy in the NFL Wins Again

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What a bunch of goddamn hypocrites the NFL is. To quote Brand New, “The Devil and God are raging inside me.” I was listening to WEEI this morning and Kirk Minihane was asking why aren’t Patriots fans more fired up about this bullshit from the league and let me tell you, I’m getting there. But I think people are just beat down. You can’t fight city hall.

All the shit the Patriots went through over the past 2 years, citing process, citing pretense, citing SCIENCE, as for why DeflateGate was much ado about nothing. And it didn’t matter, the NFL crushed us. ESPN crushed us. Mark Brunell was crying on SportsCenter for christ’s sake.

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When in reality the appropriate response to what allegedly happened is exactly what we witnessed yesterday. A complaint from a team reported by Jay Glazer, a little rumbling on Twitter and then the NFL promptly stamping it out saying nothing to see here. No misinformation. No leaving the team to twist in the wind while false reports pile up. No ESPN roundtables. So I think people are absolutely pissed, we just could not be less surprised. And I think thats what takes a lot of venom out of people.

But its shit like this that drives me absolutely bananas.

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I’m sure this was said tongue in cheek, but thats the exact issue. He’s joking about it and nobody cares. Remember how Brady denied any wrongdoing and he got DESTROYED by everyone. Now Mike Tomlin refuses to comment on it, saying theres nothing to it. And no one bats an eye. And don’t give me the “he’s got no prior incidents” response. Does anybody remember this?

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I doubt it. And thats why people aren’t calling up yelling and screaming on the radio. Because the Patriots were screwed and the PSI of balls was never the issue.

Rooney. Mara. Jones. Just wait guys, sooner or later one of these shit storms will blow up on you…and there will be no one left to speak for you. In the meantime, the Patriots will keep rolling on the way to Super Bowl title number 5; one for the thumb.

Success is the best revenge.

BREAKING NEWS: Patriots Sign Griff Whalen, the Guy Involved in the Worst Trick Play in the History of the NFL

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What a move! The Patriots just signed Griff Whalen, who if you don’t remember, was one of the architects of the worst trick play in the history of the NFL. This genius:

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Probably the hardest I’ve ever laughed at a failed play. I remember seeing them line up and thinking, well I must be missing something because this is some bullshit you couldn’t even get away with in Madden. But nope, just as dumb as it looked. Snapped the ball and somehow Griff wasn’t able to block two guys by himself for a loss.

So yes, the Patriots signed this guy to help fill in at WR since the team is falling apart at the seams and is now down Gronk and Amendola. Even the go-to emergency Go Route specialist Matthew Slater is out with an injury so the Pats needed to fill the depth chart with some security.

New England also bypassed former Patriots Kembrell Thompkins and Aaron Dobson (Drop-son) to sign Griff, so goes to show how highly Belichick thinks of his former draft picks.

We now turn to the man of 47 career receptions in our time of need.

Taking a Look at the 2017 Baseball Hall of Fame Ballot

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Big Z here. It’s my first post at The 300s, so let me introduce myself by discussing the oldest topic known to sports radio: the National Baseball Hall of Fame. The 2017 ballot, released last month, featured 34 players including 19 newcomers. Voters can select up to ten players from the ballot of 34. I’m not a member of the Baseball Writers’ Association of America, nor am I Hall of Fame voter. But if I were, here is what my ballot would look like.

MY VOTES

Barry Bonds – “An alien god who destroyed space-time to bring us joy.”

Roger Clemens – Only two players to play since 1931 have more wins than Clemens (Warren Spahn, Greg Maddux). No one has more Cy Young Awards.

Vladimir Guerrero – Vladdy made nine all-star games in 12 seasons 1999-2010. He was a great offensive player and one hell of an outfielder, one of the best players of the 2000s.

Trevor Hoffman – One of the best relievers of his era, Hoffman retired as the all-time saves leader. Hoffman shouldn’t lose votes because the greatest reliever of all-time is on the ballot in just a few years.

Jorge Posada – Maybe as a Red Sox fan I’m overstating his value, but the dude won five rings. A five-time all-star who played in at least 137 games every year between 2000 and 2007, Posada was a big part of the Yankees “Core Four.”

Ivan Rodriguez – One of the best catchers of all time, Rodriguez was arguably the best of his era. He appeared in 2,427 games as a catcher, the most in Major League History, and finished with 2,844 hits. It is too bad he stole Pedro’s MVP award in 1999, though.

Curt Schilling – The best big-game pitcher of his era, Schilling holds an 11-2 record with a 2.23 ERA in 19 postseason appearances. Won a ring in Arizona before winning two with the Sox. Sad to see him self destruct in recent years, but a worthy Hall of Famer nonetheless.

Sammy Sosa – If I’m going to vote for Bonds and Clemens, no reason not to vote for the only man in history with three 60+ home run seasons.

Jason Varitek – Again, as a Red Sox fan, I’m probably overstating his value. But Varitek caught four no-hitters and often worked wonders with a pitching staff. I never believed in the true effect a catcher could have on a pitching staff until the 2006 Red Sox season went up in smoke while Javy Lopez filled in for an injured Varitek.

 HARD PASSES

Jeff Bagwell – Bagwell hit a lot of home runs in an era with a lot of home runs. A shame that the strike shortened his 1994 MVP campaign. Through 115 team games that year, Bagwell hit 39 home runs and drove in 116 runs with a .368 average. A truly special season could have put him over the top for me, but Bagwell was just one of the many guys who had the rug pulled out from under them that year.

Manny Ramirez – Tough decision here. I’m not opposed to voting for players alleged to have used performance enhancing drugs during their careers, but it’s tough to vote for a guy who was actually busted twice. Ramirez’s history of quitting on his teammates doesn’t help his case either.

HALL OF VERY GOOD

Jeff Kent – Kent had some really good seasons 1998-2005, including an MVP campaign in 2000. Ultimately, though, he was not dominant enough for a long enough period of time to get my vote.

Edgar Martinez – A seven-time All-Star, Martinez was a very good player for a long period of time. However, he wasn’t even the best player on his own team for most of his career (Griffey, A-Rod, Ichiro). Not enough offensive production to separate him from the pack for me, but it has nothing to do with him being a DH.

Mike Mussina – The Moose pitched very well in an era of inflated offense. However, he was never the most feared pitcher in the game, and never won a Cy Young award.

Tim Raines – Admittedly, Raines’s heyday was before my time. But looking at his numbers, there’s not enough there for me. Raines posted average numbers the second half of his career.

Gary Sheffield – Sheff posted very good offensive numbers for a long period of time, but it’s hard to think he would’ve bounced around as much as he did if he were truly one of the all-time greats.

Larry Walker – Very good offensive numbers are offset by playing in Colorado in the 1990s. To give you an idea of what was going on in that era, he hit .379 with 37 HRs and 115 RBI in 127 games in 1999 and finished 10th in the MVP voting that season. He was a very good player in his era, but not head and shoulders above everybody else.

JUST A BIT OUTSIDE

Fred McGriff

Lee Smith

Billy Wagner

RESPECT THE HUSTLE

Orlando Cabrera

Mike Cameron

Derrek Lee

Magglio Ordonez

Edgar Renteria

Tim Wakefield

THANKS FOR PLAYING

Casey Blake

Pat Burrell

JD Drew

Carlos Guillen

Melvin Mora

$23 PLEASE

Arthur Rhodes

Freddy Sanchez

Matt Stairs

Yankees Respond to Red Sox Trading for Chris Sale and Sign Aroldis Chapman to Monster Deal. Rivalry is Back On

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The Yankees just signed Aroldis Chapman to a 5 year $86 Million deal the largest deal any reliever has ever received. My initial reaction? Shit. My next response? This is the not fucking around crew.

And I love it. As much as its going to suck having to fear Aroldis Chapman coming out of the pen to slam a close game shut 19 times a year, this is phenomenal for the Sox Yankees rivalry.

To be honest its been pretty dull the past few years as both teams really haven’t been very good at the same time. Sox win the AL East last year? Yankees finish 9 games back. So it will be good to have a new stud on the other side for us all to hate. Plus both teams are young and getting better, which is great for breeding that next generation of contempt. You need guys going head to head beating each others brains in every season for years to really get that bad blood going. Throw in a nut job like Chris Sale and I think we’ve got a dog days of summer bench clearing brawl just waiting to happen.

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This reminds me of the good old days back in the early 2000s when these two teams were getting after it like the Cold War, constantly trying to one up the other side with big signings, trades, digging up international gems (cue Theo Epstein trashing his hotel room after losing out on Jose Contreras to the Yankees). We had Theo and the whole front office flying out to Arizona to have fucking Thanksgiving dinner with Curt Schilling, all in hopes of getting him to waive his no-trade clause for the Sox over the Yankees. Reminds me of the days when each side was calling the other the Evil Empire. Red Sox trade for one of the top 3 pitchers in baseball? Literally the next day the Yankees sign arguably the best closer in baseball. Giving this rivalry the juice it needed. Love it.

Bud “George Costanza” Selig Said He Did All He Could to Stop Steroids in Baseball

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Yahoo Sports – [Bud] Selig, who has long maintained the stance that he should not receive any blame for players’ rampant steroid use during his tenure (1998-2015), was quick to point out, again, that he feels he did all he could… “I honestly don’t know what else I could have done. That’s my answer.”

So a lot of people are pretty pissed off that Bud Selig is getting inducted into the Hall of Fame, mainly because he oversaw the league when everyone from the No. 3 hitter to the bat boy was popping steroids like tic tacs. I don’t know why people are shocked. Did some shady shit go down during the Steroid Era? Absolutely. Are the record books totally fucked now because bums like Sammy Sosa have 600+ Home Runs? Definitely. But was baseball the most popular it had been in a long long time due to the Steroid Era? 100%

Say what you will, I don’t give a shit either way, but you can’t vote in Selig and then develop this morally elitist attitude when it comes time to vote guys you think may have done steroids. Don’t work that way guys. But the guy was the commissioner of Major League Baseball for 20+ years. He was going in no matter what barring a Bill Clinton-esque sex scandal.

You HAVE to respect his absolute snake game though. Pulling the old Costanza card when asked about steroids: “I honestly don’t know what else I could have done.” Idk, like fucking anything. Was that wrong? Should I not have done that?

Either way, DON’T CARE. Love steroids in baseball. Christ I’m a proponent of giving players aluminum bats so they can hit 1,200 foot dingers. I need to see Mookie Betts hit a Home Run to the fucking Boston Common and I need it now.

 

Amazon is Now Taking On the Bane of My Existence: Grocery Stores

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Forbes – On Monday, in the midst of what will likely be its largest holiday season in history, Amazon.com AMZN +2.43% unveiled a video for Amazon Go, a supposedly new store that will allow customers to walk in, pick up items and leave without having to pay in a traditional check-out line.

Amazon, did we just become best friends? Yup. With apps for ordering food from my couch, calling a taxi from the barstool and streaming full on movies from my phone, Amazon was falling behind a bit. That is until they decided to take on the goddamn bane of my existence: the grocery store. The grocery store is where men go to die.

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Sure, free 2 days shipping is cool, I guess. But uhh, thats not really gonna get the juices flowing. A grocery store free of useless employees and horrifically long lines just so I can CHECK MYSELF OUT? Sign me the fuck up.

Legit nothing worse than the Sophie’s Choice of do I A.) Wait in line for 10 minutes so the teenager can ring me up and slowly pack up half my stuff or B.) Go do the grocery store employees’ job for them in self checkout? I almost always choose option A because as Will Hunting once said, because fuck him thats why.

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I’m gonna get my money’s worth. Any discussions of the misery that is a grocery store has to include the Bill Burr bit that is A+ material. “Here I was, I thought I was a comedian. Apparently I also work at a grocery store.”

Come on Amazon don’t screw this up. I need this. You need this. But more importantly the world needs this.

The NFL Promoting #CleatsForACause is the Height of Hypocrisy

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Yesterday the NFL went out of its way to promote the fact that it was allowing and encouraging all of its players to wear custom cleats, which is the absolute height of hypocrisy for a league that has spent YEARS fining players tens of thousands of dollars for doing just that.

How does the NFL figure to sidestep the ridiculousness that are these fines? Make it about charity of course. Use it as a way to raise awareness for the various charities that NFL players work with. Which is of course a great cause, that I totally support, but once again the NFL could do so much more.

You really want to make an impact on these charities rather than just grab some good PR? Take all that money you’ve stuffed into your coffers over the years fining guys like Odell Beckham for wearing fire custom cleats. All the money collected for guys wearing different color socks. What about the money that Dangelo Williams was getting fined for having pink in his hair to raise awareness for breast cancer?

The NFL always has been and always will be a PR machine, nothing more, nothing less. Stay woke my friends.

Now without further ado, the best of the best from #CleatsForACause

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With New MLB CBA All-Star Game Will No Longer Decide Home Field for the World Series

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ESPN – The league that wins Major League Baseball’s All-Star Game no longer will get home-field advantage in the World Series, which instead will go to the pennant winner with the better regular-season record.

Lot of big changes to the Major League Baseball Collective Bargaining Agreement that the players and owners essentially agreed to at the 11th hour. Which is a shame because I was full on rooting for a Winter Meetings that was exclusively focused on Minor League Baseball because those guys were going regardless. Would have loved to see GMs wheeling and dealing players that make 28K a year over cocktails in the hotel bar. Catch the fever.

But anyways, of all the changes to the CBA the biggest has to be the ALl-Star game will no longer decide which league gets home field advantage in the World Series. And thats good because it never made any sense other than it was just a way for the league to drum up interest in a boring exhibition game. But to penalize a team and take away home field advantage in the World Series because fucking Dan Uggla let a ball go through his legs in July is asinine.

All the owners can cut the shit though about how this is a great change like its some great burden lifted off their shoulders. These assholes voted 30-0 on this when it was introduced in 2003. THIRTY TO ZERO! So they all thought it was a good idea, every single one of them. Ironically enough, the Cubs may not have even won the World Series if not for this bullshit parlor trick of a rule. If the Cubs have home field advantage its one less game without the DH spot, so one less game they can play Kyle Schwarber, who only had ya know massively clutch hits in Game 7 in Cleveland. Yet, NL baseball fans still will never admit the DH is necessary and awesome. We do not need to see pitchers take 3 strikes and walk back to the bench. Get out of my face with that nonsense. Cubs fans know it now, but maybe next year its different?

Careful what you wish for guys!