Tag: NFL

The 300s Staff NFL Bracket Update

By on • ( Leave a comment )

Back before the season started, a handful of The 300s staff made bold predictions about how this NFL season was going to shakedown. With the first round of the playoffs coming up, it’s time to check in and see how everyone is doing.

As a refresher for how the scoring works, in this round you get: 10 points for each correct playoff team, 5 points for correct seed, and 5 points for correct division winner. A perfect score would get you 220 points.

Mattes:

The Chiefs should be in that empty spot…oops

Just like everyone else, Mattes placed a little too much stock in the Browns and Jaguars. Although not everyone saw the Panthers making the playoffs, I doubt anyone thought they’d be as bad as they turned out this season. Although the Patriots are looking like anything but Super Bowl favorites at the moment, they were in a similar position last year. As we all know, the Patriots aren’t out of it until the clock strikes 0:00. Green Bay was able to sneak in for a first round bye, so although Mattes isn’t off to a perfect start, he’s still in good shape.

Total points: 90

Big Z:

Cowboys in the Super Bowl? YUCK!

Big Z may be the only person to pick against the Pats, but his bracket is full of red. Steelers in the AFC title game, Colts and Browns in the playoffs, Dem Boyz in the SUPER BOWL?! Yuck! The only thing Big Z has going for him at this point is his Super Bowl winner. Hey, at least he picked the 49ers in the playoffs.

Total points: 95

Joey Ballgame:

The Bengals? Really?

Joey Ballgame wins worst pick of the challenge. The Bengals? In the playoffs? Now, everyone in the world had a hard time picking the AFC, but that doesn’t mean a team led by Andy Dalton was going anywhere. Most people were riding high on the Browns, and Joey fell into that trap as well. Surprisingly, Joey is in pretty good shape here, with both of his SB teams and 3/4 championship teams still in it. He also picked the seeding right on 4 teams, which is better than anyone else.

Total Points: 115

Dom:

You know you messed up when you’re NFC title prediction happens in the Wild Card Round.

Just because I invented this new way to gamble doesn’t mean I’m any good at it. Red and I were the only guys to pick the Ravens in the playoffs, albeit losing to a team that’s getting a top 10 pick at next years draft. Just like Joey, I’m riding high on a Brady-Brees matchup in the Super Bowl, but since the Pats need to go through KC to get to the AFC title game and the Vikings play the Saints in the Wild Card, I’m going to have a hard time accumulating points.

Total Points: 100

Red:

Red is in surprisingly good shape here.

Last but not least, we have Red. Which is ironic, because his bracket has the least red of all. Red not only had the Ravens in the playoffs, but also was the only one to have the Seahawks in there. Even though the Eagles take on the Seahawks this weekend, Red still has a chance to get 6/8 Divisional Round teams and all 4 championship teams. However, it seems highly unlikely that the Eagles and Texans make it past the second round.

Total Points: 110

As you can see, these brackets are a huge challenge, especially in the NFL. Nobody had the Ravens or 49ers getting past the first round of the playoffs. The Browns, Jaguars and Cowboys were all major disappointments, and all of us homers were riding a little too high on the Patriots. Over the course of a season, anything can happen. I’ll be checking back next week with another update. LFG PATRIOTS!

The Falcons Murdered Degenerate Sports Gamblers Everywhere Sunday

By on • ( Leave a comment )

Yahoo – The Falcons took a 23-22 lead with a frantic finish that saw a pair of throws into the end zone reviewed for touchdowns…Jones’ TD left two seconds remaining for the 49ers to attempt an unlikely comeback. The ensuing kickoff resulted in typical desperate shenanigans that saw multiple backward laterals on the return.

It did not end with a 49ers score. It did end with a Falcons touchdown when Atlanta special teamer Olamide Zaccheaus picked up a lateral that rolled into end zone.

That late score meant nothing in terms of the outcome of the game. But it meant everything for bettors who took the 49 1/2-point under set by MGM. The score pushed the total to 51 points and an unexpected win for over bettors.

If I had so much as my lunch money betting the under on this game I would have jumped off my roof. I know we are fond of hyperbole and recency bias in this day and age, but that was probably the most absurd, meaningless, and downright cruel bad beat I’ve ever seen. As an objective fan without any skin in the game (I don’t want to talk about my fantasy team) it was an awesome final few minutes to watch. Austin Hooper’ would be go ahead TD was erased after the refs overturned it, but with 2 seconds on the clock and no timeouts left Matt Ryan hit Julio Jones ON the goal line for the score.

This literally could not have been closer, if Jones gets tackled an inch or two further back then the clock runs out and the Niners hang on.

Normally I’d flip the channel with just 2 seconds to go, but after the Miami Miracle walkoff kick return last season I tend to stick around to witness some chaos. This game did not disappoint.

If you had money on this game I think its completely understandable to call out of work for a couple of days until you recover.

Rumors Say the Chargers May Move to London and the Chargers Responded

By on • ( Leave a comment )

Yahoo – After years of success with its games in London, the NFL might be considering taking its overseas relationship with the city one step further. Interest is picking up with the league, the Los Angeles Chargers and the rest of the NFL’s team owners in a possible move by the team to London, according to a report from The Athletic’s Vincent Bonsignore:

The Athletic has learned through NFL sources that the possibility of the Chargers moving to London has been broached among league personnel. The Athletic also has learned that, while the team is fully committed to Los Angeles where it will move into the new $4.5 billion stadium with the Rams next year, the Chargers would at least listen if the NFL approached them about about London as a possible option.

Finally, The Athletic has learned that NFL owners are concerned enough about the Chargers’ situation in L.A., where a crowded sports market and the presence of the more established Rams has resulted in a tepid embracement [sic] of the Chargers, that they would provide the necessary support for a relocation to London if the Chargers pursue it.

I guess a lot of this stems from the league just now starting to realize that LA can’t support two NFL teams. We all realize LA is one of the biggest media markets in the world, but that doesn’t change the fact that the NFL has put their head in the sand and ignored the fact that LA has never been a big sports town. Its a transient city so the majority of people in LA hail from somewhere else and already have a team. Not to mention its Hollywood so just about everyone out there is doing just about everything besides sitting at home watching sports. Thats what makes Boston a perfect sports town. Its cold and miserable like 8 months out of the year so you become a sports fan almost by default. In LA you can basically do whatever you want whenever you want. So trying to shoehorn not one, but two teams into LA after this same exact experiment failed in the 80s never made any sense. The Rams simply made it to market first and were better right off the bat so the Chargers were always going to be treated like a stepchild.

Now Philip Rivers would most likely be long retired before this move to London ever realistically happens, but its a pretty good example to take a look at. They moved from San Diego to LA, a gargantuan 2 hour and 43 minute drive north, and he refused to move his family. So the guy literally takes helicopters and buses to practice so he doesn’t have to uproot the Brady Bunch. Now imagine moving an entire franchise to London, which is a 10 and a half hour flight? Bananas. Granted I’ve seen stories in the past theorizing that for this to ever work logistically the team would likely have to be based on the East Coast as a sort of jumping off point. Otherwise you’re looking at 20+ international flights when you factor in pre-season as well as all the flights back to London. That doesn’t even take into account playoff games. Good luck signing big time free agents on that. My commute is an hour in traffic and I want to drive into the Charles every day because of it.

Welp, it seems like the Chargers agree because they have come out of the gates HOT to shoot these rumors down.

Sorry, London.

Whats the Most Random Sports Shirt/Jersey You Own?

By on • ( 2 Comments )

I think to classify as a “random” shirt or jersey it has to be a guy that was elite for a short period of time, a cult hero in no way due to their actual athletic prowess ( I was *this* close to buying a Gabe Kapler Yomiuri Giants jersey in 2005), a player that was only on a team for a hot minute (I’ve seen two John Lynch Patriots jerseys in Allston over the years), or a jersey that is so obscure that it should not realistically belong to you.

I am an unabashed jersey guy so I have a closet full of obscure pieces beyond just the Boston teams. The Priest Holmes jersey I bought in a Connecticut Marshalls in 2007, Byron Dafoe, Antoine Walker (shirt and jersey), Tim Tebow Patriots shirt, Sergei Samsonov shirt, banana yellow Marcus Mariota Oregon jersey, JR Redmond Patriots jersey, Pedro Mets shirt, a literal blank Athletics jersey, the list goes on and on.

Ya know, now that I think about it, this $12 purchase at the downtown Minneapolis Marshalls may have to take the cake.

So I pose the question, whats the most random sports shirt or jersey you own?

The XFL Announces the First Pool of Players in the Draft and It is…Underwhelming

By on • ( 1 Comment )

This is…disappointing. Did I expect Tim Tebow and Colin Kaepernick to carry the XFL flag out of the tunnel?  No, but maybe a couple of names I actually recognized. They couldn’t even get a guy like Trent Richardson after he failed in the AAF? And where’s Johnny Manziel for christs sake? This league was built for him…which I also said about him and the CFL and the AAF….but thats besides the point.

Oh and the great Landry Jones doesn’t count because he already signed with the league and per its rules the XFL will be assigning a QB to each team. Vince McMahon has seen how many NFL teams are complete disasters because they can’t find a QB so he’s trying to micro-manage that problem and nip it in the bud.

Okay, so not a vast and deep pool of talent, but lets see what we got here. If you are a college football nerd then you’re on your own because this list is ranked on dudes I actually recognized and remember watching at some point.

1.) Connor Cook – Easily the biggest name in this entire draft pool. Cook was a pretty damn good QB at Michigan State and was once even looked at as a potential starter in the NFL when the Raiders drafted him in the 4th round in 2016. Hell he even started a playoff game after Derek Carr got injured, but he never really caught on and bounced around the league for a couple years and got released a few times. You may also remember Cook for looking like a total dickhead snatching the Big Ten Championship game MVP trophy from Archie Griffin.

 

2.) Roberto Aguayo – One of the best kickers in NCAA history turned the biggest bust of a kicker in NFL history. Aguayo was a stud at Florida State (most accurate kicker in ACC history and 3rd in NCAA history) before the guy went OFF THE RAILS in dumpster fire fashion playing for the Bucs. So much so that I worry about the guy a little bit, so hopefully he gets back on track in the XFL. The Bucs literally traded up into the 2nd round for Aguayo before he missed a boatload of kicks and was unceremoniously cut.

3.) Devin Lucien – If this name sounds familiar its because he was a 7th round draft pick of the Patriots in 2016 who became a pre-season darling before failing to make the team.

https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js

 

4.) Sealver Siliga – Another former Patriot! Siliga played 3 seasons for the Patriots making 13 starts with 5.5 sacks and 95 tackles.

5.) Darron Thomas – Thomas played QB at Oregon so thats the one and only reason he caught my eye. Thomas was actually a pretty good QB for the Ducks in the post-Dennis Dixon pre-Marcus Mariota era. Thomas led Oregon to the National Championship game in 2011, which they lost to Cam Newton and Auburn. I remember that game vividly because Mattes and I watched it in a Chilis like the scrubs that we are. You probably unfamiliar with his work because Thomas left Oregon early to enter the NFL Draft and got neither drafted nor signed as a free agent before kicking around the Canadian Football League, Champions Professional Indoor Football League, Arena Football League, Major League Football (which I’ve never even heard of because it never actually played a game), Indoor Football League, and even played for the Worcester Pirates in the National Arena League last year!

6.) HANDSOME Tanielu – What a name. Only reason he made the list.

 

Woo! The XFL Draft is sneaking up and then the inaugural  latest XFL season kicks off in February, 2020. Catch the fever!

The Patriots Are Releasing Ben Watson

By on • ( Leave a comment )

After serving his 4 game PED suspension, the Patriots opted not to activate Ben Watson before their game against the Washington R-Words this past week so that was odd. The Pats then had until 4 pm Monday to activate Watson or he would become a free agent and they opted to not activate him. Granted the Pats did pull Watson out of retirement to join the team so maybe he’s just not ready to go? This team is so thin at Tight End though I can’t imagine they wouldn’t welcome a 14-year veteran at a position of need.

Some people are speculating this could be the end, but Watson sure doesn’t sound like a guy thats ready to walk away.

By cutting Watson though the Pats save nearly $2 million in cap space so I think this means they have got to be in on a trade. Why else make the move? You’ve got three weeks until the trade deadline on Oct. 29th and the Pats were really close up against the cap already. They’ve been rumored to be in on everyone from Emmanuel Sanders (going on 6 years now) to Stefon Diggs, Trent Williams, Tyler Eifert, and even guys like AJ Green. I don’t have my calculator out, but I believe Sanders and Eifert are the only ones they could fit without having to restructure contracts so those are the only two I’m seriously looking at.

Welp, Ben Watson we hardly knew ye. Its truly the end of an era at the Tight End position in Foxborough.

The XFL Draft is Going to Be Like a Fantasy Football Draft On Speed

By on • ( Leave a comment )

PFT – The XFL will be making some noise next week, with a two-day draft that will allow the eight teams to fill out 71-man rosters. The draft happens on Tuesday and Wednesday, October 15 and 16.

Quarterbacks won’t be drafted, at least not all of them. One quarterback — presumably a perceived starter — will be “assigned” to each team by the XFL. The draft then will proceed with five phases: (1) skill-position players; (2) offensive linemen; (3) defensive front seven; (4) defensive backs; and (5) open draft, for all positions and specialists. The first four phases will result in teams choosing 10 players each; the last phase will continue until the 71-man rosters are filling.

Teams will have only 90 seconds to make their picks, via video conference with the XFL’s main office in Connecticut.

You know what my biggest complaint about live fantasy football drafts always is? That after the first 2 rounds every pick takes 7 minutes because Steve didn’t do his research. And by Steve, I mean me, because I don’t know who the freaking backup TE is in Jacksonville. Either way those live drafts are fun, but can easily take 4 hours, which is why online drafts are great. Even if you don’t know who you want to pick, tough shit because you’re getting someone. Now the NFL gives each team 10 minutes per pick in the first round and then 4-7 minutes per pick after that. Well the XFL is here to speed things along.

Each team will get a grand total of 90 seconds to make every one of their picks. LIGHTNING ROUND! Whether thats enough to make an intelligent business decision is none of my concern.

Vince McMahon promised change, speed, and entertainment. I don’t know if that necessarily translates into good football, but thats where the AAF failed; they didn’t bring anything new to the table. Sure the XFL made an official announcement that LANDRY JONES joined the league (former Steelers backup QB) as its first player, which probably speaks more to the quality of competition than I care to admit, but hey at least the XFL will be different. If that means I can bang out an entire XFL game in the time it takes to rewatch Happy Gilmore for the 100th time then I’ll check it out. What I’m not doing is devoting 2-3 hours to a subpar product. The XFL is fast food, which is fine. Theres a place in my diet for fast food every once in a while. Just don’t pretend to be something you’re not and I think 90 second draft slots are the first step in that direction.

BREAKING: The Patriots Just Placed Stephen Gostkowski on Injured Reserve

By on • ( Leave a comment )

So news broke earlier today that the Patriots were working out free agent kickers, which as Mike Reiss pointed out, the Pats do this ever year at a number of positions just to cover their asses.

So no big deal really?

Well it turns out it wasn’t just a ploy to bring in some competition for Gostkowski, it was a legitimate injury concern as the Pats just placed their kicker on IR. As bad as Gostkowski has been this year with 4 missed PATs, I’m not any more excited for a street free agent to now be handling kicking duties.

This also raises the question is this it for Gostkowski in a Patriots uniform? The team put him on IR, which means technically they could bring him back later this year, but you only get two of those a season and the Pats already have some key guys on IR:

  • Isaiah Wynn
  • James Devlin
  • N’Keal Harry

So are you really going to bring back a kicker over your (alleged) franchise LT or your first round Wide Receiver? Nope. Gostkowski has one year left on his deal, but at 35 years old with a cap hit of 5.4M next year, this could be it for him if it is any type of significant injury.

Let the kicking chaos continue.

Has Anyone Ever Been Cucked Harder Than Kirk Cousins?

By on • ( Leave a comment )

CBSSports – The Minnesota Vikings‘ offense was almost completely shut down by the Chicago Bears in Week 4…..”At some point, you’re not going to be able to run the ball for 180 yards, even with the best running back in the NFL,” Thielen said, per The Athletic. “That’s when you have to be able to throw the ball…….Kirk Cousins seems to have taken the criticism to heart, or at least realized that Thielen was correct.

Geeeeeesh. It’s hard to even begin to unpack everything happening here.

First, there’s the vaunted “it” factor teams look for in QBs. It’s what makes someone a natural leader and a complete alpha male and every team desperately wants their franchise QB to have “it”. For all of his flaws, it definitely seemed, at least in college and early in his pro career, that Kirk Cousins was full of piss and vinegar. He was fiery. He had passion. He wanted to win. Needless to say, it seems like that flame has burnt out. The Vikings thought they got the QB who shouted “YOU LIKE THAT?!” at a herd of bewildered Washington Redskins beat reporters. What they have now seems to be a QB who meekly asks his receivers “how do you like that?” in regards to the sandwich he has prepared them for lunch. Quite the 180.

On that note, what does this say for Cousins and his receivers? For the offense as a whole? How can they soldier on with the usual power dynamic of an NFL offense so badly shifted. You have your QB, terrified to attempt a downfield pass, now tucking his tail between his legs and apologizing to a wide receiver for his shortcomings. That is a brutal reality for that team and kind of feels like a point of no return.

The worst part about all this is the Vikings owe Cousin for this season and $29m and change for 2020 GUARANTEED. It honestly could end up being a Brock Osweiler situation where they trade Cousins and some extra incentives to a team to just take on his salary. Who knows, maybe they’ll even make Thielen the head of personnel and ask him who they should pick up to stand under center since he’s calling the fucking shots anyway.

The NFL man. Never a dull moment.

The 300s Fantasy Football Round Up – Week 3

By on • ( Leave a comment )

Blogger’s Note: Sorry for the tardiness this week. Big time snooze button week for the boys at The 300s. Leave us alone.

Welcome back. Week 3 has come and gone already. So have the playoff hopes of many of your favorite teams. Sorry I’m not sorry. Anyway, it was an interesting week in fantasy football, particularly within this modest enterprise. Losers became winners. Winners became losers. Some things didn’t change. Let’s check it out.


Biz Z (2-1)

Week 3 was a good week for the Z Men. A very good week. We rolled up 191 points. A personal record, and the highest one-week total in the 12-year history of my league. My only regret was starting Allen Robinson over Brandin Cooks. That kept me from hitting two bills. (Side note – my league’s scoring system is a bit goofy. Even in a standard Yahoo league I would’ve posted 159.)


Dom (2-1)

The Scruffy Looking Nerfherders did it again. Led by a 43 point showing by Keenan Allen and rounded out by solid games by Brady, Zeke, TY Hilton, Marlon Mack, I hardly noticed the duds by Conner and Andrews. Conner is really starting to frustrate me, but luckily I have the depth to wait him out or try to make a 2 for 1 trade. I’m only 5 points back of the league lead in points, so I’m feeling great going into Week 4.

Joey B (0-3)

I would have finally gotten on the board had I started recently acquired Rex Burkhead. But I did not. Did I err in starting someone else? Nope, just simply forgot to sub him in. “Things fall apart, the center cannot hold.”


Red (0-3)

Another week, another painful fantasy loss for your boy. This one was especially tough to swallow because my opponent jumped into the way back machine to pull out the W. I lost by 4 points after Lesean fucking Mccoy went off for 21 points like it was 2013 again. It also did not help that Ezekiel Elliott’s own backup outscored him by 5 points with garbage time points. Goddamnit.

 

Mattes (3-0)

My entire team dominated this week, and I ended up being the third-highest scorer yet again. That’s now three-straight top-three finishes, and I cannot believe how great of a start it’s been. Even my flexes showed out this week, as I got unreal performances from both Sterling Shepard and Rex Burkhead. Dak, Dalvin, and Kelce continue to roll; Kerryon is at least getting volume and is due to explode soon; Thielen finally got a bit more involved on Sunday; and my bench is still stacked, with Scary Terry McLaurin set to get his first start this week as well. I’m waiting for the inevitable crash and burn, but I’ll take 3-0!!!

 

Lippa (2-1)

A solid 138 point week from my team to move to 2-1. Things were looking a little hazy when Mike Evans scored a bazillion points in the first half of his game, but Tyler Lockett and Alvin Kamara balled out in the second half of that Seahawks/Saints game to get me up to 2-1. Next week QB streaming continues, as Josh Allen goes to the waiver bog, and Matthew Stafford, your time is now, as you face a porous Chiefs secondary.