Tag: Georgia

#RushHourRap – Ludacris – Georgia

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Atlanta week continues here at #RushHourRap as the Patriots are down in Georgia so it’s only right that we pay homage to some of the best music to come out of the dirty south. Today we’ve got the ATL anthem “Georgia” from Ludacris, Field Mob, and Jamie Foxx. This one used to BANG on my high school iPod back in 2005.

Drafting Georgia RB Sony Michel is the Most Patriots Move Ever

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The Patriots love to zig when everybody else zags. They absolutely love it, which is why drafting Georgia running back Sony Michel is the most Patriots move ever. Most teams these days seem to have all but agreed that the RB position is overvalued (except for the Giants). With absolute studs like Alvin Kamara and Kareem Hunt both drafted in the 3rd round, its no secret that you can find elite running backs after Day 1 so why waste the draft capital? So we’re all in agreement? Ok cool.

*Bill Belichick immediately drafts a running back in the first round*

Its the first time he’s even drafted a SKILL POSITION player in the first round since Laurence Maroney in 2006.

Zagging for days.

You saw it in recent years as the Patriots adopted the more commonly seen in college spread attack and hurry up offense, which all but eliminated the need for a fullback. Then most of the league gravitated towards a similar approach. Then the Pats shifted gears and started heavily utilizing a fullback in James Develin, who only made the Pro Bowl this past year. Or what about when the Patriots all of a sudden changed their offense on the fly and morphed into a two Tight End system? They proceed to wreak havoc on the league with a young Rob Gronkowski and Aaron Hernandez. Until one of them became a famous serial killer, but the point remains.

Sony was a beast at Georgia playing with the big boys in the SEC, where he averaged 7.9 yards per carry last year.

He’s also the guy that ended Baker Mayfield’s college career with the walkoff TD run in that epic Rose Bowl game earlier this year.

As Phil Perry points out, Sony’s ball control is a bit of a concern, fumbling 12 times in his career, but half of those came in his freshman year. The only thing Bill Belichick preaches more than Do Your Job is hold onto the football. Ball security is job security. So that’ll be something to watch. Perry also shed some light on another reason why the Pats may have fallen in love with Sony:

“But in the passing game is probably where Michel’s true value will be at the next level. He may be the best pass-protector at the position in this year’s class of backs (two hurries on 52 pass-blocking snaps, per Pro Football Focus), and he’s a capable receiver (64 catches, 621 yards receiving in his career).”

The Pats love a guy that can play in pass protection. Thats your No. 1 priority. Then running the football, and if you can also catch the ball out of the backfield? Well now we’re cooking with gas. Too many times in recent years have teams been able to either stack the box or just sit back in coverage because the RB on the field was either a battering ram (Blount) or a receiver (James White). Dion Lewis was excellent as a runner and a receiver, but he’s gone so Belichick got someone who can do both.

The Patriots are the ultimate marketing arbitrage in the NFL, buying and selling where they identify the most value. Everybody devalues running back these days? Time for us to snatch up a potential stud while you’re all sleeping on him just because thats what the rest of the league says you should do.

They are the tastemakers of the NFL. They’re not trying to do business as business is done, no they’re setting the trends themselves and letting the rest of the league react. And thats why the Patriots will always be successful with Bill Belichick running the show.

Plus if you are a fan, not an NFL Draft Analyst that gets paid to scout and report on players, who gets genuinely angry about who your team does or doesn’t draft? Then you are lying to yourself because any rational human being realizes that the only thing we really know about the draft is that we don’t know shit. So just sit back, relax, and enjoy the show.

Totally Uninformed Bowl Game Gambling Picks – National Championship Game

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COLLEGE FOOTBALL PLAYOFF NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP – Georgia vs. Alabama

Picking all of the bowl games has not been easy. It’s been a difficult and eye-opening experience. After tonight’s National Championship game I’ll be sure to go back and take a look at all of the picks and see if there’s anything substantive to take away from this experience.

Despite my struggles, I did correctly pick both College Football Playoff semifinal games. My head tells me Alabama is the best team in the country, but I can’t help but admire the guts Georgia showed in its comeback victory last week. Too often this season I went with my head and not my gut. So I’m going with the Dawgs tonight, looking to close out my bowl season with three straight wins.

GEORGIA +4

I’ve Somehow Developed a College Football Addiction in Boston

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Maybe its just Baker Mayfield being like Johnny Football-lite and filling the massive Manziel void in my life, but I’ve recently developed a college football addiction.

Not a ton of people around here are big college football guys, probably because we’ve had ONE good year of college football in Boston since the 80s. Back in 2007 Matt Ryan was at Boston College and they got as high as No. 2 in the AP Poll.

That was fun as hell because it was the first time BC had been ANY good since the days of Doug Flutie. After Matty Ice moved on to the NFL though BC went right back into the tank.

So its hard to have a lot of love for a sport thats basically nonexistent in your market. With legitimately every major team in this city being so good (all having won a title since 2008) theres no time for shitty teams, especially shitty teams that have no intention of bringing in the players necessary to be any good. Kind of like being a Mets fan.

If I wanted to get in my car and drive to a big time college football game, I think the closest team would be Penn State; a cool 7 hour drive from Boston. Fuck you, UConn and UMass do not count, neither does Syracuse. I’m talking BIG TIME college football where they sell out 70,000+ seat arenas. It just does not exist up here.

So not long after BC went back into hibernation I declared myself a free agent and started looking for a team to call my own. I was looking for a team that was fun to watch, played fast, scored a ton of points, spread out the field, threw it a lot, recruited mobile QBs, and of course had some fire flames unis. Basically I was looking for a team that played the same style as me in Madden. Now what team matches that description to a T? The Oregon Ducks of course.

It was right at the start of the Chip Kelly era too so it was perfect timing to get into and follow a team that was actually good at playing football unlike BC. Not to mention a couple of trips (read: losses) to the National Championship and then Marcus Mariota later wins the Heisman in 2014 and I’m pretty invested in the Ducks. I still wasn’t about to sit down and watch college football all afternoon though.

But I think I reached that turning point this past Saturday. It was the first big weekend of the year with some prime matchups. I know CFB kicked off the week before, but this past Saturday we had Oregon vs Nebraska, Louisville at UNC, Georgia at Notre Dame, Auburn at Clemson, Oklahoma at Ohio State, Stanford at USC, and if you’re a real night owl type degenerate, the triple OT #Pac12AfterDark thriller in Boise St at Washington St.

Long story short, I found myself watching college football on the couch for 8 hours straight. There’s so many great characters this year led first and foremost by Baker Mayfield, who took down Ohio State almost singlehandedly on Saturday.

Maybe its something that is just fresh in my mind after a particularly lousy Week 1 in the NFL, but the majority of these college games are always exciting with the added benefit of projecting who would be a good fit where in the NFL. Sam Darnold or Josh Rosen on the Jets is not something I look forward to.

But also, just getting to watch the Heisman Race from Day 1 and witnessing all the big signature moments these guys need in an effort to win the trophy is exciting as hell.

You got comeback bids with insane catches.

You got former NFL quarterback dopplegangers.

Baker Mayfield just putting Urban Meyer right to bed.

College football, I get it now. Which is a problem since I also just spent 10+ hours watching NFL Football on Sunday, getting my money’s worth from Sunday Ticket. So this could devolve into an incredibly sedentary lifestyle quick.