Tag: Monday Night Football

Gridiron Tales Week 12: MNF Birds Edition

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Carson Wentz Finally Has What He's Needed All Along – Dynamic Young Wideouts – NBC10 Philadelphia

Sunday: 2-1

Season: 11-7

Highlight the Highs: Gallman took advantage of Cincy’s porous run defense, while Kirk Cousins dug himself out of a hole for a big passing day

Loathe the Lows: Daniel Jones had success passing on Cincy, but was unable to convert anything into a passing TD, which includes Evan Engram being caught inside the 5 and Darius Slayton not running full speed to track down a deep pass attempt… Oh and the hamstring injury in the second half didn’t help either.

Tonight, we have birds against birds. One team has faired well against the pass the season, while the other team is the league’s get-right pass defense for opponents.

The Pick: Carson Wentz O21.5 completions vs Seahawks (+105)

Fact #1: The Seahawks have allowed an average of 30 completions over their last 5 games

Fact #2: Piggybacking on that, Seattle has allowed the most in each of these categories over the past 5 weeks: completions (30), passing yards (1,668) and QB rushes (35).

Fact #3: Wentz has only reached 22+ completions once in his last 7 games, but the Hawks have allowed every starting QB they’ve faced not named Nick Mullens to complete at least 27 passes.

Sidebar: I know it “Hurts” to watch Wentz play this season and that his backup reportedly has a package this week, but that shouldn’t deter anyone from loving this as a get-right game for the Eagles offense.


The pick: Jalen Reagor O47.5 receiving yards vs SEA

Fact #1: Over the last 5 weeks, Seattle has allowed 105 receptions to WRs — the most in the NFL over that span — and 15 more than the next closest team (TEN)

Fact #2: Over the last 5 weeks, Seattle has allowed a league-worst 1,125 receiving yards to WRs.

Fact #3: Reagor’s snap % has increased each week since returning from injury: 73%, 88% and 93%. Couple this with 18 targets in those 3 games + Philly potentially chasing points and you have a recipe for potential Reagorbombs.

Patriots Jets Monday Night Football Key Matchups

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Patriots (2-5) vs Jets (0-8)
MetLife Stadium
Kickoff: 8:15 pm

I spent more time than I care to admit this morning looking for the old Keyshawn Johnson “Key Matchups” SportsCenter commercial, but it’s nowhere to be found. For a network that has made feature film length highlight shows of nothing but SportsCenter commercials to have one of the best examples completely scrubbed from the internet is odd, but I digress.

Patriots Inactives (Stephon Gilmore, N’Keal Harry, Ja’Whaun Bentley, Lawrence Guy, JJ Taylor) via PatsPulpit

The Patriots also have more than a dozen players listed as Questionable heading into Monday night including Ryan Izzo, who if you’ve been paying attention is the only active tight end on the roster that traveled with the team. So Cam Newton may have to just forget the tight end position is even an actual eligible receiver at this point. Not to mention, Julian Edelman is still on IR with a knee injury so it’ll be another night of throwing to Jakobi Meyers, Damiere Byrd, and the stable of running backs.

Jets Inactives (Blake Cashman, Trevon Wesco) via SportsIllustrated

Sam Darnold is also doubtful to play with Joe Flacco most likely to get the start. I don’t know how the typical Jets fan feels about Darnold, but I like the player and I’d take him tomorrow if the Jets decide to draft a QB and move on. I get the sense that he’s yet another player that has been poisoned by the touch of offensive guru Adam Gase (see Tannehill, Drake, Stills etc.). Calling Gase an offensive guru at this point is, well, offensive.

Joe Flacco is forever living off that 6 week stretch when he got HOT and lead the Ravens to a Super Bowl in 2012. He was rewarded handsomely for that run with a 6-year $120 million extension, making him the highest paid player in the NFL at the time. All this for a player who ProFootballReference.com says has had a comparable career to that of Jay Cutler, Andy Dalton, and Matt Hasselbeck. And that seems pretty accurate. Flacco has/had the physical tools to be elite at times, but was often a middle of the road QB and at times a complete bum. With that being said he’s been OK this year despite an 0-2 record, throwing for 1 TD and 1 INT albeit with a garish completion percentage of 51.9% So the Jets best hopes of finally stomping out the Patriots probaly went out the window once Darnold was ruled out, but the Pats are so bad this year you can’t rule it out.

Cam Newton/Jarrett Stidham/Brian Hoyer have not been much better though aside from the Seattle game, which seems like it was years ago at this point. I’m curious to see if the Pats double down on keeping the ball in Cam’s hands as much as possible with designed runs or if they take a step back after last week’s game ending fumble. This is a roster devoid of offensive talent outside of the running back position though so there aren’t a ton of other options for Josh McDaniels and the Patriots.

Jamison Crowder is expected to play after missing yet another game last week. When Crowder does play he has been a high end WR2, but he’s already missed four games this season so he’s been impossible for fantasy owners (like me) to rely on. Despite missing four games, Crowder still leads the Jets in targets, receptions, receiving yards, and receiving touchdowns. I wouldn’t be surprised to see a big game from him, especially if the Pats go up early.

Spread Patriots (-9.5) vs Jets (+9.5)

Despite being 2-5, the Pats are still nearly double digits favorites over the Jets (they’re even getting 10 points in some books). But even against the 0-8 Jets, I’m not comfortable laying 10 points with this increasingly ineffectual Patriots team. This is not the Patriots offense of my twenties so I’m not expecting a blowout tonight.

Prediction: Pats 17 Jets 10

The Jets have only scored more than 14 points twice this season so that doesn’t bode well for Gang Green, even with Stephon Gilmore out tonight. On the other side, Cam Newton has only thrown for 2 touchdowns with 7 picks in 6 games against varying strengths of defense. So I think the Patriots run day and night, control the clock, pop a couple TDs and get the hell out of there with an ugly W as the Jets continue their lonely march towards drafting Trevor Lawrence next year.

Former Patriots Kicker Stephen Gostkowski Missed FOUR Kicks Last Night

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I woke up to the news that old friend and former Patriot Stephen Gostkowski missed FOUR kicks last night, including an extra point, and I just cringed. Granted one of them was tipped at the line, but holy hell what a disaster for the former Patriots place kicker.

Twitter was unsurprisingly ready to roast him.

Anddd then he stepped up and nailed the game winner from 25 yards out.

Now to be fair Stephen Gostkowski was statistically one of the best kickers in the league when he was with the Patriots. And it says a lot that the Pats started just their third kicker in a season opener in the last 20 years on Sunday. However, I never felt 100% comfortable with him kicking in late game situations. I wondered if maybe that was just be me remembering some isolated incidents, but then I went and actually looked it up. Nope, completely justified.

  • Missed extra point in SB LI
  • Missed FG AND missed extra point in SB LII
  • Missed 46 yarder in SB LIII
  • Missed extra point in the 2015 AFC Championship
  • Missed game winning FG to lose to Arizona in 2012
  • Belichick not trusting him and going for it on 4th and 13 at the 32 in SB XLII
  • Granted he didn’t finish the season due to injury, but he also missed four extra points in 2019.

So best of luck to Gostkowski in Tennessee, love ya, mean it, but Titans fans you are in for a wild ride. Now excuse me while I return to my team as they flip flop between a career journeyman in Nick Folk and a kicker the Pats drafted in the 5th round before cutting!

Last Night I Had to Root for the Jets. I Don’t Know How People Do This

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With the prospect of falling to 0-2 staring me dead in the face, I needed an extremely reasonable 8 points from Jamison Crowder to win my fantasy football matchup. For a guy that had 17 targets and 17 points in Week 1 that seemed pretty reasonable, except for the fact the guy that gave him all those targets was out with MONO. I’m not here to slut shame anyone, but you really put me in a shitty spot, Sam.

So with that being said I was tasked with watching the entire Jets game AND rooting for a backup QB to feed my guy. Naturally Crowder had a huge catch called back on a penalty and Trevor Siemian failed to impress all night. At least he was a guy with a few years in the league and 20+ starts under his belt though; that gave me hope for a touchdown pass. Welp, once he broke (probably) his ankle I was then forced to root for a 2nd year THIRD string QB in Luke Faulk who is apparently Chad Pennington reincarnated.

Meanwhile the “offensive guru” (Booger McFarland’s words not mine) Adam Gase just set football back about 50 years as he refused to call a play that didn’t involve Le’Veon Bell running the ball or Le’Veon Bell catching a screenpass at the line of scrimmage. The Jets apparently punted on the entire concept of the forward pass last night and were appropriately rewarded with a 3 point performance.

My guy Crowder? The guy I needed 8 points from? Yea he got 6.

HOW DO YOU PEOPLE LIVE THIS WAY??

PS – My other option was Kenyan Drake, the running back from the Dolphins that just got shutout 43-0 so no that wasn’t an option.

Return of the Sanchize: Mark Sanchez is in at QB

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In just his second start since replacing the injured Alex Smith, Colt McCoy went down with an injury of his own (Update: McCoy fractured his fibula so he’s likely done for the season). Hate to see the Colt .45 get knocked out of the game. It seems like every time this guy gets ready to shine he gets injured, whether its the BCS National Championship or Monday Night Football against the defending champs.

But, the good news is that means MARK SANCHEZ IS NOW UNDER CENTER!

He just completed 5/7 passes to end the first half, so watch out world, the Sanchize is back. I’m glad to see Sanchez’s time on the bench hasn’t taken away his flair for the dramatics either.

Patriots Bills Week 8 Game Preview, Odds, and Things to Watch For

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Image result for patriots bills

So this might be one of the easiest previews I’m going to write this season, as I expect this one to be an absolute rout. With all due to respect to Papa Giorgio – our resident Bills/Islanders/Mets fan and apparent masochist – this is going to be child’s play for the Patriots and there’s really not a whole lot to talk about. Let’s hop right to it.

As always, here’s a quick look at where, when, and how to watch the game along with the latest lines:

  • Location: New Era Field (Orchard Park, NY)
  • Kickoff: Monday, Oct. 29, 8:15 p.m. ET
  • TV: ESPN
  • Odds (via Odds Shark): Patriots: -14 (spread) / Patriots: -1053 (moneyline) / 44 (total)

The lines for this game really tell the whole story: the Pats are two-touchdown favorites on the road; they’re expected to be responsible for over 60 percent of the game total; and there’s a FOUR-FIGURE moneyline. (For those who don’t know what that last part means, basically it means you would need to bet over $1,000 just to win $100 by picking the Pats to win on Monday night.)

I’m not going to sugarcoat it: the Bills (2-5) are pretty bad. For a team that made the playoffs just last season, it’s actually pretty incredible to see how far they’ve tumbled in such short order.

To be fair, they have at least played pretty well on the defensive side of the ball, currently sitting at No. 11 overall and No. 16 in points per game allowed. They’re also tied for eighth in the league with 19 sacks, led by defensive end Jerry Hughes (4.5 sacks) and the ageless wonder in the middle of the defensive line, Kyle Williams (3.5 sacks).

Second-year cornerback Tre’Davious White is also a criminally underrated player, as he is truly one of the game’s elite. (You might remember him as the guy who Gronk cheap-shotted – resulting in a one-game suspension – the last time these two teams played in Buffalo on December 3 of last season.) In fact, he was so good as a rookie last season that Pro Football Focus not only anointed him their Defensive Rookie of the Year, but they also went so far as to rank him as the No. 2 overall corner in the entire league. The Bills absolutely stole him with the 27th-overall pick in the 2017 draft, and he could be a problem for Josh Gordon this week.

Image result for tre'davious white

White is one of the game’s premiere young defenders.

On offense, it’s just a sad state of affairs. To start, Derek Anderson will be the Bill’s starting quarterback this week. He may truly be the only quarterback in the NFL right now who is a worse option than Nathan Peterman – the Bill’s only other healthy signal-caller, with a career 3-to-9 TD-to-INT ratio – but he’s still going to be the guy leading the way for Buffalo on Monday night.

There once was a time where it looked like Anderson might be something. Back in 2007, as a fresh-faced sophomore, he led the Cleveland Browns to a 10-5 record, which was by far the closest they have been to making the postseason since 2002. He also compiled over 3,700 passing yards and 29 touchdowns that season. You can’t ever take that away from him.

Image result for derek anderson browns

Derek Anderson – back in the glory days.

After that one season, however, he fell completely off a cliff. Though he ended up making 26 more starts over the next three years – two with Cleveland and the third with Arizona – he has spent the last seven seasons holding a clipboard as the backup for Cam Newton in Carolina. In just his fifth start since 2011 last Sunday, he threw three picks and could not even crack 200 yards. Simply put: there’s no need to worry about the Bill’s passing game this week.

The Bills do have a decent pair of guys in the backfield, led by LeSean McCoy. For all the flak McCoy gets for his injury woes, you might be surprised to hear that he has actually started at least 15 games in three of the last four seasons heading into 2018. The only problem is, minor ailments and game script have kept him from making much noise outside of two games this year; besides two solid 19-plus-touch, 90-plus-yard performances in Weeks 5 and 6, Shady has averaged just 7.8 touches and 31.8 yards across his other four games. The man is coming off of two straight 1,500-yard seasons before this, though, so he can definitely do some damage if he does play. Chris Ivory is a solid backup as well, and, per ESPN’s Mike Rodak, he’s expected to play after dealing with a hammy issue earlier in the week.

(MONDAY AFTERNOON UPDATE: According to Schefty, Shady has cleared concussion protocol and will play tonight.)

Image result for lesean mccoy

I’m not sleeping on you, Shady. I know what you’re capable of.

Storylines

(Gronk’s Time to Shine): Per usual, Buffalo native Rob Gronkowski will be looking to feast in his old stomping grounds. He just seems to hit another level every time he’s in Buffalo. Per Rich Hribar of Rotoworld, in seven career games in Upstate New York, Gronk has averaged 9.6 targets, 6.3 catches, 104.3 yards, and one touchdown per contest. After not having Gronk for the Bears game last week, the big tight end returned to practice Thursday afternoon and all signs point toward him being ready to go on Monday night. Especially considering how last year’s game ended up there, Gronk will be chomping at the bit to get out on the field and dominate, feeding off of what is sure to be a rowdy Bills Mafia crowd that should be on his case all game long.

Image result for gronkowski eating

Get ready to watch Gronk feast on Monday night.

(Gordon to Slow His Roll): As mentioned above, Josh Gordon is very likely to see a lot of coverage from Tre’Davious White this week, limiting his upside and potential impact on Monday night. Since he will be taking up most of White’s attention, however, that should open things up for the rest of the offense – including for former Bill, Chris Hogan, who posted six catches last week against the Bears and has over 60 yards in each of the Pats’ past two games. I’m not saying Gordon is going to be invisible in this one, but do expect his red-hot play to finally cool down a bit this week.

(What You Got, Kenjon?): With Sony Michel very unlikely to play in this week’s contest, former Panthers and Eagles (and Oregon Ducks!) running back Kenjon Barner will serve as the between-the-tackles compliment to James White in Week 8. White will still dominate most of the backfield touches, but Barner will be called upon to tote the rock quite a bit, especially if the Pats go up big, as expected. Last week, he carried the ball 10 times for 36 yards after Michel went down and has averaged over four yards a carry for his career. Thankfully, Michel should be coming back at some point over the next couple of weeks, and hopefully Barner can get it done in the meantime.

Prediction

This will be an absolute massacre. The Pats will be up by at least two scores at the half, if not more, and Derek Anderson will demonstrate even further that it’s probably time to hang ’em up for good. The Pats win this one in an absolute blowout, 37-12.

Derek Jeter, the King of Optics, Continues to be a Walking PR Disaster as Marlins Owner

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Derek Jeter, Mr. Yankee, the guy who did it “right” sure is piling up the PR blunders as he got bagged on TV at the Dolphins game last night after being a no show at the MLB Winter Meetings the day before. The perception of him as a newly minted CEO is somewhere between aloof and Jeffrey Loria 2.0. Not great. First he comes into Miami, after the MLB gifted him the team despite a better bid from Jeb Bush, and axes franchise icons left and right. This included firing a guy while he was in the hospital after undergoing colon cancer surgery. Not to mention Jeets wasn’t even doing the firing himself. He had a guy he had already fired deliver the bad news on his behalf.

Then it came out that he hadn’t even SPOKEN to Giancarlo Stanton. Ya know, the franchise’s all-time greatest player. May want to shoot him a text or something. Jeter then announces to the world his intention to gut the team’s payroll and likely trade off said Miami legend, Giancarlo Stanton.

Man, he must be fucking awesome at poker. Jeter then proceeds to work out finalized trades with the Cardinals AND Giants before actually asking Stanton if he’d accept a trade to either team. It was reported that the Marlins threatened Stanton to either accept one of the trades or he’d be a Marlin “for the rest of [his] life” surrounded by no talent on a losing franchise. Wow.

Naturally, once Stanton blocked those trades, Jeter was basically up shits creek with zero leverage and old friend Brian Cashman *knew* it. The goddamn Yankees snuck in under the cover of darkness and robbed Jeter blind by basically eating the contract, sending over Starlin Castro and a few bum ass prospects. For a guy who just hit 60 home runs. Unbelievable.

So after all that, you would think the CEO of the team, who had his dick sucked by the media for nearly two decades, would merely show up to the MLB Winter Meetings to answer a few questions and play some grab ass with the media. Nope, total no show. And the baseball nerds were PISSED. Even guys like Buster Olney are starting to turn on Jeter.

To top it all off, the very next day Jeter gets BAGGED on national TV sitting in the luxury box at the Dolphins game in Miami. A mere one hour flight from where the Winter Meetings are taking place in Orlando. And he knew it too.

In his first time speaking to the press as a member of the Yankees Giancarlo Stanton wasted no time in ripping the Marlins and how they go about their business. In a matter of a couple of months on the job Jeter has already blown through most of the goodwill he had earned over the years as a figurehead of the Yankees dynasty.

AND ITS NOT EVEN JANUARY YET.

Yea Jeets.

Patriots Drop an Ugly Game to the Dolphins with Steelers Looming

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Last night the Patriots lost 27-20 to the Dolphins in a shitshow of a game. They didn’t have Gronkowski who was out due to suspension from the people’s elbow he dropped on a guy last week, but Miami hit em hard, shut down their receivers and even pretended to deflate the football (I guess?) after a TD.

It was ugly. For all the people saying this loss doesn’t matter, it’ll sure as shit matter if the Pats lose a tight one to the Steelers next week. Then the Patriots are facing the prospect of opening the playoffs on the road in fucking Jacksonville. Not like the Jacksonville is this powerhouse that you should fear, but the Patriots could very easily slip from the No. 1 seed with home field advantage to having to hike down to Florida for a playoff game in front of those diehard fans watching from goddamn swimming pools.

If we learned anything from this game its that the Patriots can lose one of Edelman or Gronk and still manage, but they absolutely cannot lose both. They won the Super Bowl last year without Gronk, but Edelman balled out all year and made all-time catches in the SB.

This year the Pats have been surprisingly fine on offense without Edelman because Gronkowski, Amendola, Cooks, Hogan, and the stable of runningbacks have shared the load. But without both Edelman and Gronkowski? Well without both the Patriots went 0-11 on third down last night. An absolutely absurd stat for a team that routinely moves the chains on offense. Without that horse of a man to draw double coverage and make big plays when you need em most, the Pats offense looked strikingly like their defense last night; a bunch of JAGs.

This was a game I worried about going into for the sole reason that dirtbag Ndamukong Suh gets off on hitting Brady late, low, and hard. And the delusional Dolphins fans that defend him.

The Dolphins have a legit defensive line with him and Cameron Wake, and Jordan Phillips, which we all know is the one thing that seems to disrupt the Pats. Throw in the fact that they ALWAYS seem to struggle when playing down in Miami late in the year and this had all the makings of a trap game with Pittsburgh looming next week.

So the Pats get down early for the first time in about a month of football and now facing a 17 point deficit, Suh and the boys are able to just pin their ears back and tee off on Brady. Not ideal.

Granted they almost came back and they probably would have if not for a ton of uncharacteristically sloppy plays. Not converting late in the 4th on 1st and goal from the 1-inch line is unexcusable. The Patriots did not look themselves at all with James White drawing an illegal motion penalty, Solder taking a holding penalty, and a couple of busted plays later the Pats are kicking a 35 yard FG. Granted they still would have had to recover an onside kick either way to have a chance, this series was a microcosm of the entire game. Bad execution, some poor throws by Brady, not enough time to throw, and just overall sloppy football.

Its for those exact reasons that I fully expect the Patriots to blow doors in Pittsburgh next week. Those guys are marshmallow soft and are feeling themselves just a bit too much for a team that has had to squeak out wins over dog shit teams. Over the past month the Steelers have beat the Colts by 3 points, smoked the Titans by 23, barely beat a Brett Hundley led Packers team by 3 points, beat the Bengals by 3 points, and the Ravens by 1 point. Not exactly the class of the AFC there. Sure, the Pats haven’t played the hardest schedule either, but before last night they weren’t just squeaking by like Pittsburgh. They were fucking demolishing teams, or tomato cans as Shanks likes to put it. Over the same period of time New England has blown out the Broncos by 25 points, the Raiders by 25 points, the Dolphins by 18 points, and the Bills by 20 points.

Don’t be surprised when they take the Steelers to the woodshed on Sunday.

Apparently Jon Gruden’s Son, Deuce Gruden, is the Goddamn Hulk

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Look at that picture! Just solar eclipsing the human gun show himself, Ed Hochuli. Incredible. I don’t know how I missed this, but the NFL is just littered with Grudens and last night we got all 3 on one screen.

We got the OG Jon Gruden up in the booth on Monday Night Football of course, we got his brother the former Arena Football legend Jay Gruden coaching the R-Words and then to my utter dismay we have Jon Gruden’s son, Deuce, working as a strength coach for Washington. Plot twist though; he is the goddamn hulk.

How was this 5’6″ bodybuilder with the last name Gruden not on my watch list? I feel like I should get an internet demerit for missing this. But, make no mistake I am all in on Deuce Gruden now. I am fascinated by this kid. Imagine growing up with Chucky as your dad back in his prime as the Raiders coach? No wonder this kid is a machine.

Cowboys Receiver Cole Beasley Just Ethered Some Fantasy Football Nerd

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You come at the king, you best not miss. Cole Beasley just put this fantasy football owner in a goddamn body bag.

You just heard two sounds. One was Cole hitting Enter on his keyboard, the other was this kid hitting the ground. You have to love the utterly absurd phrase of “Don’t mother fuck me bro.” I’m gonna have to start working that into conversations from now on. If you’re gonna shit talk Cole Beasley about his fantasy football production then be prepared to face the repercussions.

Don’t worry Cole, I got you.