I know these pump up hype videos are very common these days on social media. Tom Brady and Julian Edelman post them before every big game, but Cam Newton must have a cinematographer on the payroll because he’s releasing like two a week. Today we get a mashup of Cam working out with guys like OBJ while the absolute GOAT of revenge Petyr Baelish provides the foreboding voiceover.
This offseason has been absolute chaos with Cam Newton not finding a job until July and questions of whether the season will actually start on time or not, but hey, chaos is a ladder.
If you think Cam’s not out for blood this season you’ve got another thing coming. Just please be healthy because I really want to see a pissed off former MVP going at the rest of the league’s neck.
I am exhausted from years of [insert player name] Watch over the years only to watch said player never even come close to landing on my team. We just did it with Stefon Diggs for two years, people continue to do it with Odell Beckham Jr. and don’t even get me started on Danny Ainge. Pining for a superstar your team has no shot at ever landing (Anthony Davis, Karl Anthony Towns) is basically a requirement for Celtics fandom.
With that being said, are we now doing Deshaun Watson Watch for the next Patriots QB? It sure seems like it. This all started the other day when oddsmaker BetOnline.com set Deshaun Watson as the PROHIBITIVE favorite to be the Patriots starting QB in 2021. Huh? Granted this came just days after Bill O’Brien made one of the dumbest trades in league history and gave away arguably the best receiver in the league in DeAndre Hopkins for spare parts. Getting a washed up David Johnson and a 2nd round pick for an elite talent like Hopkins (not to mention one of the last lifelines for a seemingly flailing relationship with Watson) is a fireable offense in my opinion.
There were rumors floated by HOF receiver Michael Irvin that Hopkins and O’Brien had a tumultuous, shitty, bordering on disrespectful relationship, but thats no excuse to dump your second best player for a running back who hasn’t been good in THREE years. Trust me, I’ve had him in fantasy 2/3 of those seasons and got burned every time.
The Texans No. 1 goal every year should be to keep Deshaun Watson happy. No. 2 is make the playoffs. In that order. Thats how important Watson is to this franchise…sooo maybe don’t spit in the guy’s face by trading his best weapon. This would be like if the Patriots traded Julian Edelman last year. Just doesn’t make sense.
Even with all that I still find it very hard to believe an elite young QB in his prime would somehow find his way under center for the Patriots next season. It just does not happen in the NFL. Watson is entering the final year of his rookie deal with a 5th year option in 2021 so theres no huge rush for the Texans to trade him, yet. He is going to sign a contract somewhere close to $40M per year depending on what Patrick Mahomes signs for, but as Mike Reiss reports the Patriots coincidentally are set to have around $100 Million in cap space next offseason. Hmmm
Andddd now we are officially getting subtweets from Deshaun Watson!
My team suddenly doesn’t have a QB of the present or the future and now one of my favorite young players to come out of college in years is subtweeting Drake lyrics just days after his team traded his top playmaker?
I’m not sure I’m emotionally ready to handle another [insert player name] Watch, but I don’t think we have any choice. Deshaun Watson Watch is officially on.
I couldn’t care less that Odell Beckham gave out cold hard cash to LSU players after their National Championship win. Besides being laugh out loud funny, I actually think it’s awesome. I’ve long been a proponent of letting NCAA athletes make money off their own names, but I also am an adult and realize that there are some pretty well known rules around college athletes and paying them. All Odell did was put these kids in a shitty spot. Sure Joe Burrow just played his last game, but some sophomore might get hosed by the archaic NCAA because Odell gave him a few crisp benjamins.
OBJ takes a lot of shit in the media, but he does bring a lot of it on himself. However, this is another instance of why Twitter is the best website in the world. I’ve been laughing my ass off instead of working for like 20 minutes at all the NCAA tweets.
Patriots are trading WR Brandin Cooks and a fourth-round pick to LA Rams for the 23rd overall pick in the first round of the 2018 NFL Draft and a sixth-round pick, league sources told ESPN.
As per usual, I have no idea what the Patriots are planning here. On one hand, it really is great, great value to get the No. 23 overall pick for a guy with one year left on his contract. On the other hand, great value aside… Tom Brady might blow a goddamn gasket when he hears about this. First Danny Amendola walked, now Cooks is out, Gronk is still hemming and hawing about playing next year, and Julian Edelman is coming back from a shredded knee. Not exactly confidence inspiring for a QB in his 40s.
The real question here though is; what do the Patriots have up their sleeve? The Pats rarely trade up into the first round so I FULLY expect them to trade down again for five 4th round picks so they can fill out the team with more Rutgers and Navy guys. But, if we want to have a little fun for a minute; what could the Pats realistically do with this pick?
Well they could turn around and give it to New York in a trade for Odell Beckham Jr. It was rumored that it would take a 1st rounder to pry ODB from the Giants and the Rams were the team most commonly mentioned in those rumors. Now with their first round pick in hand, the Patriots could effectively trade Brandin Cooks for ODB straight up. That would be fine with me, but of course that would open up Pandora’s Box of yet another guy bitching about his contract in the locker room.
Or are the Patriots potentially looking to package No. 23 and their own No. 31 pick to move up in the draft and take say…a quarterback?
New England is now armed with double 1’s, double 2’s, and in prime position to move up in draft and select a QB if it so chooses.
I’m still driving the Johnny Manziel hype train, but I was just listening to Felger and Mazz and they took a quick peak at the NFL Draft Value chart and according to them these two picks would, in theory, be enough ammo to move up to No. 9 overall in the Draft. Now that…that is interesting. Are the Pats looking to trade up and grab my boy Baker Mayfield?
Probably not, but Bill Belichick is nothing if not a sneaky and devious SOB so I fully expect this newly acquired draft capital to go to good use. So it sucks to see another one of Brady’s weapons, who I expected to improve in Year 2, leave the team but I’ll reserve judgement until we see what Bill does with the pick.
For what its worth Zolak seems to be thinking the same thing and I’d say and he’s *kind of* tapped into the team.
ESPN – New York Giants co-owner John Mara is not ruling out the possibility of trading receiver Odell Beckham Jr., or withholding a contract extension, in the wake of a viral social media video that was posted earlier this month. Mara, speaking Sunday to reporters at the NFL owners meeting, said there is a “possibility” that the Giants will let Beckham play in 2018 on the final year of his rookie contract. Asked if it was possible that Beckham could be on another team’s roster when the season begins, Mara said: “I can’t answer that one way or the other. We’re certainly not shopping him. Again, when you’re coming off a season when you’re 3-13 and played as poorly as we played, I wouldn’t say that anyone is untouchable.”
Hilarious. After years of enabling, coddling, and placating Odell Beckham the Giants have finally had enough of his shit.
“I think too often he allows himself to be put in bad situations and needs to use better judgment,” Mara said in a stern public rebuke.”As I’ve said before,” Mara said, “I’m tired of answering questions about Odell’s behavior and what the latest incident is. I think he knows what we expect of him, and now it’s up to him.”
ODB is a nutcase, he’s immature, he’s volatile, and he’s downright unpredictable. And I will take him on my team TOMORROW.
Absolute game changer of a talent. Despite his off field issues, its not like he’s ever done anything *that* bad. Just some excessive partying, maybe a little (alleged) recreational drug use, and some histrionics on the sidelines. I’ll accept that if it gets me ODB. Granted this dude probably has a shelf life similar to the one Randy Moss seemingly had everywhere he went. No matter how talented the guy was, after a few years every team eventually had had enough of him.
I finally got around to watching the last episode of Tom vs Time last night and like most of the Boston media has said about the finale; it didn’t make me feel great. Theres a lot of talk from Brady questioning his own motivation and commitment and the trade off between football and being a father. Questions that quite honestly weren’t being asked so loudly by our 40-year-old QB even just a few weeks ago.
Whether its a leverage play or a money play or whatever it ultimately is, it reminds me and every Patriots fan in New England that this thing is just about over. The bar is closing. The bouncers may not be escorting you out the front door just yet, but the lights are on, and the last song of the night is playing. As we all come out of our stupor of having drank 8 Bud Lights (Super Bowls) over the past several hours (2001-2018) the question becomes abundantly clear. Where are we going next?
And with that long drunken analogy laid out, my point is the Patriots have painted themselves into a corner where they are unabashedly in Win Now mode. By trading your backup and potential franchise QB this is exactly what you signed off on. Now is not the time to carefully plan for the next 10 years. Now is the time to maximize your HOF quarterback and get any piece you can to help win that 6th Super Bowl. Bring me anyone and everyone that can help Tom Brady get a ring for his incredibly lonely left hand. Quite simply, no more half measures.
I wanted Aqib Talib. I did not get him. I wanted Richard Sherman. I did not get him. I wanted the Honey Badger. I did not get him. What I want does not matter because I don’t run the Patriots, but the Patriots are going to have to pull off a couple of big moves if they want to solidify themselves as the team to beat for one or two more runs at this thing.
Bringing in ODB would be exactly that kind of move.
The NFL softened its stance on touchdown celebrations this season after years of being dubbed the No Fun League. Most of them are just fun dances (or punting the ball into the stands if you’re Stefon Diggs), but Odell Beckham is not like most cats. No, rather than salsa dance, backflip, or fake moon the crowd
ODB decided to get on all fours, crawl around, and pretend to piss like a dog?
Weird move, but I feel like free speech has been a particularly hot topic the past few days, so do your thing ODB. I guess. The NY Post missed a huge opportunity though to print the single greatest headline ever: GIANTS PISS AWAY GOLDEN OPPORTUNITY IN LOSS. But I digress.
After seeing the dog taking a leak TD dance, it reminded me of an old classic from The Man Show. Adam Carolla’s trademark celebration of reading the newspaper while taking a dump. After seeing ODB, this one cannot be far behind:
A younger version of myself would freak out at the prospect of my franchise quarterback appearing on the cover of Madden because dudes used to routinely get injured after landing the cover. But TB12 put that to rest real quick with a few simple demonstrations.
Smashed mirror? No problem? Walk under a ladder? Get that shit out of my face.
Lets get scientific about it though and break it down year by year, going back an arbitrary number of years because Madden 03 was the first Madden I actually had. On the PC no less. You ever try running go routes on a 12 inch computer screen? Holy hell, but I digress. Onto the list, with some help from Digital Trends.
2003: Marshall Faulk has one of his worst years ever and its the beginning of the end of his career.
CURSE: In full effect
2004: Michael Vick fractures his fibula and misses the first 11 games of the season
CURSE: 100%
2005: Ray Lewis has a down year, but nothing curse worthy…he did tear his hamstring the following year though.
CURSE: Meh
2006: Donovan McNabb was plagued by a groin injury before tearing his ACL later in the year.
CURSE: You bet
2007: Shaun Alexander broke his foot in Week 3 that season.
CURSE: Prevails once again
2008: Vince Young was plagued by quad injuries all year before being replaced by KERRY COLLINS.
CURSE: Continues to cruise
2009: Brett Favre played pretty well actually before injuring his shoulder down the stretch and tanking his (and the Jets) effectiveness.
CURSE: Yea, not even including Brett’s cell phone pic troubles
2010: Larry Fitzgerald/Troy Polamalu – Fitz actually had a career year, but Polamalu injured his MCL, missed a month and then eventually injured his PCL as well.
CURSE: 50/50 split but still yes
2011: Drew Brees stayed healthy but threw twice as many picks as the year prior and the Saints lost to the first team to ever make the playoffs with a losing record in Seattle that year.
CURSE: Not reallyyy
2012: Peyton Hillis came out of nowhere to have a huge year to land the cover of Madden only to battle illness and hamstring issues all season. Rushed for under 600 yards, the Browns let him walk after the season and that was a wrap on Hillis’ career.
CURSE: Yup, you sunk my battleship
2013: Calvin Johnson set the single season record for receiving yards soo he did alright.
CURSE: Nope, Megatron shatters it
2014: Adrian Peterson battled through a foot injury all year long and the Vikings only won 10 games.
CURSE: Yessir
2015: Richard Sherman had a great season and stayed healthy…but they did lose to the Patriots in the Super Bowl.
CURSE: Nah, but we did get this legendary GIF out of Sherman’s season
2016: Odell Beckham Jr. has 1,400+ receiving yards and 13 TDs and is named to this second consecutive Pro Bowl.
CURSE: No shot
2017: Rob Gronkowski played only 8 games last season as missed the first game of the year with a hamstring injury, then got on a roll, but ultimately hurt his back in Week 7 against Seattle and missed the rest of the season.
CURSE: Put the smackdown on Gronk
So by my scientific count, that makes 10 instances of the Madden Curse wrecking a guy’s season since Madden 2003.
But, hey this is Tom Brady we’re talking about. The 5 time Super Bowl champ who continues to get better like a goddamn fine wine. As long as he’s go his avocado ice cream and his shady health guru Alex Guerrero and his TB12 voodoo magic, I think Brady will continue to roll. You think the Madden Curse and mother nature can stop this specimen?
I think not.
PS – If something does happen to Tom this year I am going to go full Brian Mills on everyone that has ever worked at EA Sports.
SNY – Giants wide receiver Sterling Shepard was offered and turned down Adderall, a prescription stimulant, during his recent trip to Miami, according to a TerezOwens.com report. Shepard, along with wide receivers Odell Beckham, Victor Cruz and Roger Lewis were seen partying in Miami on a yacht with Justin Bieber and rappers Fabolous and Trey Songz following the Giants’ win over the Redskins.
What an absolute bunch of morons. Its one thing to be out partying when you have a few days off. Its another thing to be on a boat with rappers and drugs a few days before your biggest game of the year.
Sure, maybe Shepard did indeed turn down anything offered his way, thats not my point. I don’t care if these guys are blowing lines of Adderall off bathroom stalls. My point is these dummies are putting themselves in terrible positions just days before a PLAYOFF game. Can you even imagine Julian Edelman and Danny Amendola partying on a boat before a game? Not even Gronk does that shit, who has been on the record saying he doesn’t even drink during the season. No. Those guys get shitfaced and tear up the city *after* they win the Super Bowl. Not before the postseason even starts.
Sure the Giants beat the Patriots in the Super Bowl. Twice. I remember. But theres a reason the Pats are in the hunt every single year and its the first time the Giants have made the playoffs in half a decade and its shit like this.
The 300s 