Post by spiderfan on Nov 21, 2022 19:49:43 GMT -8
Happy Few Days Before Thanksgiving Sports Coast to Coast! It is I, Spiderfan, your official NFL analyst with a pre-Thanksgiving edition of Red Hot Gridiron. Without further ado, let us begin!
Mahomes vs Herbert is nonsense (in more ways than one)
I know that what I'm about to say is biased due to my Chiefs fandom, but I don't care: Patrick Mahomes and Justin Herbert are NOT rivals. The Chiefs and Chargers have history going back to the AFL, but that wasn't talked about when the Chiefs and Chargers played each other on Sunday Night Football, it was all about "Mahomes vs Herbert". In the 5 times they have played against each other the Chargers have won a grand total of once. Not only that, but it would down right insane to compare the two as far as talent is concerned. Mahomes can do things that very few quarterbacks have ever done. Herbert on the other hand is a big armed QB that is overhyped because the national sports media world (most of which mind you is at least partially based in LA) desperately wants the team in their town to be good. I have nothing against homerism when it is made clear to the audience or is subdued where one can't tell there is homerism. What I do have something against is homerism that is hidden from the audience. Such a phenomenon is disrespecting the audience as far I'm concerned.
It's also not fair to a player like Justin Herbert (or for the whole Chargers team for that matter) who end up underachieving the artificially high expectations that are put on them, let alone Patrick Mahomes who ends up not getting the credit he deserves because he's lumped in with someone who isn't in the same stratosphere.
40-3
Last week I discussed both the Choke Bowl that was the Bills-Vikings game and the embarrassing choke that the Cowboys had against the Packers. On Thursday, the Packers resumed to being their sucky selves, only making their win against the Cowboys stand out more. With that in mind I looked at the Cowboys as a team that was on a downward trajectory. The Vikings on the other hand despite doing their best to steal defeat from the jaws of victory managed to do the opposite against the Bills and therefore looked like a team on an upward trajectory. Using that logic, if you had told me before the game that the score would be 40-3, I would have guessed that the recipient of that blowout loss would have been the Cowboys... and I would have been wrong.
Yeah, the Vikings Super Bowl hype train needs to stop at the station. 40-3 loss? It seems weird to have a "burn the tape and move on" type of game for a team that just a week ago looked to be on precipice of becoming one of this season's juggernauts. Not only do I feel bad for Vikings fans, but I feel bad for people all across the country that were stuck watching arguably the least competitive game in the NFL this season.
I'm reminded of something that I've learned doing this column for years, which is that you can never truly predict what is going to happen in the NFL with sustained success. Sure, you can get a feeling for a team or for a player or for a coach that turns out to be right on the money. In the end, more than likely you are going to be wrong. At least that's how it has gone with me.
Other thoughts:
-Don't the Bears' scrappiness distract you from the fact their record is terrible. It certainly didn't phase the Falcons.
-The deciding play of the Colts-Eagles game was Matt Ryan being sacked on 3rd and Goal with less than 5 minutes left up 3. If the Colts score a TD, they go up 10 and in all likelihood give Jeff Saturday his second win as HC of the Colts. Instead the Colts kicked a FG, leaving the door open for the Eagles. A door that Jalen Hurts was happy to walk through to get the game winning touchdown.
-Barring some type of record tying or breaking comeback or a Hail Mary, Patriots return man Marcus Jones' last second punt return TD for the win against the Jets will go down as the best finish of the 2022 NFL season.
-Carson Wentz has now officially been the cause of improvement for 2 NFC East teams by being benched for someone else. And to think there was a time where he was nearly MVP.
-The Rams are the reigning Super Bowl champions and look like a has been version of themselves. There's a Lakers joke somewhere in there, but I don't follow of the NBA so...
-Snowy weather caused the following sentence to be a reality: The Buffalo Bills defeated the Cleveland Browns in Detroit 31-23. Never something I thought I'd say, but here we are.
-Baker Mayfield is seemingly determined to play himself out of the NFL and into the XFL. That was also not something I ever though I would say, but here we are.
-The Tinys have a tough schedule coming up, so it would be a shame if they lost to the lowly Lions and put themselves in a tough spot with division games coming up... (PSSST The Lions won)
-If only Josh McDaniels had won as much as the HC of the Broncos as he has as a HC against the Broncos, maybe he's still be the HC of the Broncos.
-The Bengals could have easily fallen into a trap game against a bad Steelers team similar to how the Steelers had trouble with bad Bengals teams, but this isn't Bengals-Steelers of yesteryear. These days the Bengals are the better team and they aren't prone to those mistakes. Good for them.
-Someone is going to get Jimmy G in free agency next year and be very happy they did.
Week 11 of the National Football League season is now in the books. As always I hope ya enjoyed and I hope everyone has a fun and safe Thanksgiving. Remember, football is the greatest game in the world. This is spiderfan out.
