Post by spiderfan on Sept 17, 2018 22:51:09 GMT -8
Hey everybody it is me Spiderfan here and today I welcome you to my Random Thoughts & Stuff on Week 2 of the National Football League season. Let us begin!
Oh, ho, ho, Fitzmagic!
(image via Larry Brown Sports)
We start out this Week's column with quite possibly the biggest storyline of the young NFL season and that is the play of Tampa Bay Buccaneers Quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick. As of right now the man has 9 total TD's, 1 Interception (which Bucs HC Dirk Koetter took responsibility for), 819 passing yards, and 151.5 QB Rating. No Buccaneers has ever had this good of a 2 game stretch in the 40+ year history of the franchise. Jameis Winston (currently on suspension for off-field conduct) has never had a 400 passing yard game in his career (bolden his career).
I predicted that based on his history Fitzpatrick would play well, but THIS WELL? Wow. I can't tell you how long Fitzmagic will last, but it will be fun to watch. Speaking of which here is this song (it was done when he was with the Bills, but it still works) about the subject:
Reintroducing the New York Football Tinys
For those of you who are either new readers or for those who don't remember, last year I started calling the NFC New York team the Tinys. Why? Because they kept shrinking and shrinking and ultimately had a 3-13 season. I thought with the addition of new HC Pat Shurmur, OBJ returning, and with the drafting of Saquon Barkley that they would improve. As mentioned last week, they had a valiant effort against the Sacksonville Jaguars and my prediction was on track to come true. But then Sunday Night Football happened.
The Tinys went to JerryWorld to play against the Dallas Ostriches who came off an absolute debacle in Week 1 against the Carolina Panthers and looked to get a key divisional road win. I thought they were going to utterly humiliate the Ostriches and send them into a tailspin, but nope it was the Tinys who got humiliated. The score ended up being 20-13 but that was because of some garbage time points, the real score was really 20-3 against the Ostriches. A team who outside of one early deep bomb produced very little offense and was very beatable.
Good for you Tinys another awful season awaits! Hit it Reducto!
The Next NFL Dumpster Fire
10 years ago the Detroit Lions became the first team in NFL history to go 0-16. What they did get for accomplishing this feat? Georgia QB Matthew Stafford, who helped dig them out of their winless hole and became the first great Lions QB since the Hall of Famer Bobby Layne (Scott Mitchell had one great season but he didn't sustain that success). Now 10 years later, the Lions have somehow turned back into the bad team they were in the pre-Stafford era.
How did this happen? This is a team after all who is coming off back to back winning seasons and has made the playoffs 2 of the previous 4 seasons. I put the blame on new HC Matt Patricia who has created a culture that is causing players to quite literally quit on the team
You see, for as great as a Head Coach as Bill Belichick as is, his assistants end up being flat out terrible as head coaches. Whether it be Romeo Crennel, Eric Mangini, Josh McDaniels, Bill O'Brien, Nick Saban (who couldn't coach at the pro level), and even Charlie Weiss (who wasn't an NFL head coach, but had the biggest buyout in the history of college football) they don't have success at either the NFL level or in Weiss' case NCAA level.
They all try to be Belichick but being as there can be only one Belichick they all fail and Matt Patricia is just the next one in line. As I said last week I expect Patricia to be a one and done coach and he will probably take Lions GM Bob Quinn down with him. Quinn after all, was the guy who thought it was a good idea to fire Jim Caldwell and replace him with Patricia. I think that was a bad idea.
The Pittsburgh Steelers have been stolen
It isn't that James Conner has played bad, but the Steelers are clearly missing Le'Veon Bell. There just seems to be something missing and frankly it is the Steelers own fault for not paying Le'Veon Bell and for that something to be missing. They are reaching a point to where their season who could be over soon, and that will surely not lead to good things.
Patrick Mahomes is the truth
Ever since before the 2017 NFL Draft I have been a believer in Patrick Mahomes. He is one of the most gifted QBs to ever play the game of football and his amazing stats at Texas Tech (41 TDs 10 INTs and over 5,000 passing yards) led to me to think that he had the potential to be an absolute stud QB in the NFL. Fast forward to now and oh my goodness, he has more than delivered on that potential so far. 10 TDs, 0 INTs, and a 143.3 QB Rating. He has thrown more TD passes in 2 games than anyone else in the entire history of the National Football League and has the Chiefs undefeated after 2 games. If he keeps playing close to this level the Chiefs will have all kinds of success. I wish the Chiefs played the Buccaneers so we could decide who the best QB in the NFL as of right now is.
Neither the Packers or Vikings pulled a victory from the jaws of defeat
There was yet another tie, this time in Green Bay. Kirk Cousins tried to choke but Clay Matthews did a metaphorical Heimlich maneuver and the Vikings ended up not losing as they should have. I would like to remind everyone that Clay Matthews almost ruined the Packers comeback against the Bears with a similar play against Mitch Trubisky, it just so happened that this time the Vikings capitalized on the play. The Vikings cut Daniel Carlson in favor of Dan Bailey (the 2nd most accurate kicker in NFL history) so they won't not win a game on a missed FG again, at least that isn't likely.
I imagine the Packers will get right back to business, although Aaron Rodgers playing on one leg is bound to bite them at some point. Rodgers is great, so maybe that isn't as likely as I think.
The Sacksonville Jaguars are maybe the best team in the NFL
The Tinys are terrible. The Patriots are great. The Jaguars played the Tinys close and yet dominated the Patriots without having star RB Leonard Fournette, so I can't decide whether the Jaguars are the best team in the league or not. Leave your thoughts down below.
Other thoughts:
-Khalil Mack and the Bears pulled off a good win against the Seahawks. I'm curious to see how the Bears preform from here on.
-The Rams even without their kicker are dominant. Amazing.
-What is up with the Cardinals? 6 points in 2 games? C'mon guys ya gotta do better than that.
-Sam Darnold turned out to be overrated. Like I predicted.
-The Browns are still the Browns. Like I predicted.
-The Dolphins are somehow good, not like I predicted. Like at all.
-That Panthers-Falcons game was great.
-Deshaun Watson had one of the worst mental errors I've ever seen in a football game. Not good.
-How bout those Broncos, coming back after being down multiple possessions in the 4th quarter?
-The Raiders are rebuilding folks, stop hating on Gruden.
-Congrats to Josh Allen for making his NFL debut and to the Chargers for actually winning a football game.
ROAD TO 0-16
7 teams in the NFL currently only have losses on their resume. I will keep doing this segment until every team has something else in another column whether that be a win or a tie.
Teams that only have losses:
Buffalo Bills
Las Vegas.. er.. Oakland Raiders
Houston Texans
New York Tinys
Seattle Seahawks
Arizona Cardinals
Detroit Lions
Because it is early in the year, there are teams on here currently like the Bills, Seahawks, Raiders, and Texans who I don't expect to be on here very long. That leaves the Lions, Cardinals, and Tinys as the teams that are IMO most likely to go 0-16.
ROAD TO 16-0
6 teams in the NFL currently only have wins on their resume. I will keep doing this segment until every team has something else in another column whether that be a loss or tie.
Teams that only have wins:
Miami Dolphins
Kansas City Chiefs
Cincinnati Bengals
Sacksonville Jaguars
Los Angeles Rams
Tampa Bay Buccaneers
I can not believe the Dolphins are on here right now. I am also pleasantly surprised by the continued appearance of the Bengals. With that said the teams that are IMO most likely to go 16-0 are the Rams, Jaguars, Chiefs, and Buccaneers.
And that Ladies and Gentlemen was my Random Thoughts & Stuff on Week 2 of the National Football League season. I know last week's wasn't that great, so I hope I made up for it with this one. See y'all again next week. This is spiderfan out.
