NFL 2024 Offseason Thoughts

 Hello readers! Football is around the corner and the preseason is fully underway. With this, it is time to rehash some old storylines and some new ones and my thoughts on these storylines. Such storylines like Tom Brady, Bill Belichick, and the Free Agency Carousel that transpired over the course of spring and summer of this year. Let's get to work! 

Tom Brady

We hadn't heard a whole lot from the retired, 7-time Super Bowl champion lately. The guy had taken the whole 2023 season off to get prepared to take on the role of Color Commentator for the NFL on FOX with lead Play-by-Play commentator Kevin Burkhardt. The word is still out on how well Tom Brady will do as a commentator but perhaps he can turn out well. Certain players in his caliber of championships hadn't done so well in the realm of television. One person namely was Joe Montana who lasted just a season on NBC before the realm of public opinion said that he's not going to last. One other example is Terry Bradshaw who went on to have a good career as a Color Commentator on CBS during when they had the NFC package and later as a Studio Analyst on FOX. The main ingredient for television is that you have to have a solid personality and you have to help teach the average viewer of what is going on. The average Jane or John Doe won't understand football lingo like I-Right 26 Power (which I looked up, its a run play where the running back runs to the right). They need to be shown that the running back went to the right and this blocker did this and that blocker did that and that's why the play was either a success or a failure. Greg Olson, the person that Tom Brady replaces, will move down to the #2 color commentator for FOX. In my opinion, I do like Olson and his explaining of things football. I hope he does well in his new role. He seems to not mind the demotion to #2 all that much. 

Bill Belichick 

Tom Brady's old head coach Bill Belichick is out of a head coaching job for the first time this century. The head coach agreed to part ways with the New England Patriots this past January. After that, the head coach was thought he would be landing a position as head coach and general manager shortly afterwards. After a few interviews with Atlanta and Washington, Bill was the odd man out. Suffice to say, Washington went with Dan Quinn, the former defensive coordinator with Dallas, and Atlanta went with Raheem Morris, who had worked with the defense with the Rams. I do think that the head coach will get some considerations during the next year's offseason. Some takes that I have is that Bill was asking too much for a team to bring him in. Being both the head coach and general manager might be good for a personnel standpoint (saving money with having two positions for one person) but in the last few years with New England, the personnel decisions by Bill were kind of questionable. The drafting post-Tom Brady was kind of questionable. One such example is drafting injury-prone Cole Strange in the 1st round in the 2022 draft when there was better players to get. The Mac Jones experiment was also a backfire that was partly the blame on Belichick for not giving Mac the tools he needed to succeed in New England. Despite no head coaching gig, the former head coach will get to play a role with the Pat McAfee show where he will be an analyst for the show. Suffice to say, his dating prospects are alright as well as he dates a woman that is a great deal younger than him. 

Free Agency Carousel and some trades

The NFL's Free Agency period is typically a crazy time. This past Free Agency period during the spring of this year was one of the most wildest in recent memory. It seemed like every hour had someone going to a new team for a period of weeks. Here is a reminder of where everyone went to: 

Jacoby Brissett: Washington to New England
Kirk Cousins: Minnesota to Atlanta
Gardner Minshew: Indianapolis to Las Vegas
Russell Wilson: Denver to Pittsburgh
Saquon Barkley: New York Giants to Philadelphia
Austin Ekeler: Los Angeles Chargers to Washington
Ezekiel Elliott: New England to Dallas
Derrick Henry: Tennessee to Baltimore
Josh Jacobs: Las Vegas to Green Bay
Aaron Jones: Green Bay to Minnesota
Zack Moss: Indianapolis to Cincinnati
Tony Pollard: Dallas to Tennessee
Devin Singletary: Houston to New York Giants
D'Andre Swift: Philadelphia to Chicago
Odell Beckham Jr.: Baltimore to Miami
Marquise Brown: Arizona to Kansas City
Gabe Davis: Buffalo to Jacksonville
Calvin Ridley: Jacksonville to Tennessee
Mike Williams: Los Angeles Chargers to New York Jets
Zach Ertz: Detroit to Washington
Gerald Everett: Los Angeles Chargers to Chicago
Jonnu Smith: Atlanta to Miami

This list is just for the offense alone. There is a lot of movement for defense. Such names like Christian Wilkins going from Miami to Las Vegas and Chase Young going from San Francisco to New Orleans. Bobby Wagner also got another team to go to as he went to Washington from Seattle. Stephon Gilmore went to Minnesota from Dallas. 

For the trade front, it was a bit interesting. The first big news was Mac Jones going to Jacksonville for a 6th round pick. Also that happened on March 13th was that Joe Mixon, Brian Burns, Diontae Johnson, Carlton Davis, Morgan Moses went to different teams in exchange for draft selections. The lone exception for that was Diontae Johnson going to Carolina for Donte Jackson and a 6th round selection. On April 3rd, the Bills traded to Stefon Diggs and a 6th round pick and a 5th round selection to Houston for a 2025 2nd round selection. Kind of a weird trade for the Bills to make as they gave up a bit of draft capital just to get a 2nd round selection for next year. The Bills did pick up Marquez Valdes-Scantling from Kansas City but kind of a mixed offseason for the Bills. 

Anyways, that's all for my thoughts on the offseason. The 2024 Preseason and Awards Predictions post will be coming up fairly soon. Once that post is posted, the Week 1 Picks post will happen shortly before Opening Night on Thursday, September 5th. Until then, see you soon folks! 

-Tom

NFL 2020 Week 1 Recap

 Hello readers! The first week of the National Football League's regular season is in the books. The first week brought some surprises and surprises were a plenty in Week 1. The feeling of normalcy has to outweigh the surprise that the feeling of the first week brings. Especially in a pandemic. In this post I will do a recap of the games. Let's get to work!

Week 1 Recap

Houston 20, Kansas City 34: TW: Chiefs; CV: Chiefs
If there was any doubt that the Chiefs would miss a step would be brushed aside at least in this game. The loss of DeAndre Hopkins for the Texans has to sting a little bit. DeShaun Watson threw for 253 yards with a touchdown pass and throwing an interception. Watson would get a rushing touchdown as well while racking up 77 yards from the ground. Running back David Johnson would get 77 yards with a rushing touchdown of his own. Patrick Mahomes threw the ball for 211 yards with three touchdowns. The star of the game was rookie Clyde Edwards-Helaire who would rush for 138 yards with a touchdown. 

Next week:
Houston: vs Baltimore; Kansas City: @ LA Chargers

TW: 1-0; CV: 1-0

Las Vegas 34, Carolina 30: TW: Raiders; CV: Panthers
Teddy Bridgewater was impressive in this one but not quite enough to get a win. Derek Carr had a decent day with a 239 yards passing, one touchdown statline. Raiders running back Josh Jacobs continued his great start to his career with a 93 rushing yards with three touchdowns from the ground. Teddy Bridgewater did well in his Panther debut with 270 yards while throwing a touchdown as well. Christian McCaffrey almost had a 100-yard day but would finish the game with 96 yards rushing with two touchdowns. Josh Jacobs would even get some comparison to the great Walter Payton from Jon Gruden. Not bad. 

Next week:
Las Vegas: vs New Orleans; Carolina: @ Tampa Bay

TW: 2-0; CV: 1-1

Indianapolis 20, Jacksonville 27: TW: Colts; CV: Jaguars
The Return of the Minshewmania. Philip Rivers seemed like back to his Charger days, being a gunslinger and hope whatever he throws goes to the right guy. Rivers threw for 363 yards with a touchdown but had two interceptions. The Colts running game wouldn't get much as Nyheim Hines would only get 27 yards rushing and Marlon Mack would get 26 yards before leaving the game with an injury. Gardner Minshew threw the ball for 170 yards with three touchdowns. Jaguars running back James Robinson had a decent day with 62 yards from the ground. Turnovers kill. 

Next week:
Indianapolis: vs Minnesota; Jacksonville: @ Tennessee

TW: 2-1; CV: 2-1

Miami 11, New England 21: TW: Patriots; CV: Patriots
New England didn't seem to miss a beat in the Post-Brady era. Miami did some things well but still have a long way to get to where they want to be. Ryan Fitzpatrick threw the ball for 191 yards while tossing three interceptions in the game. Myles Gaskin was the leading rusher for the Dolphins with 40 yards, while Jordan Howard would score the only Miami touchdown in the game. The last time there wasn't a guy named Tom Brady on the Patriots roster was in Week 17 in the 1999 season. Cam Newton would take the reins. Newton would get 155 yards passing but would get two rushing touchdowns while getting 75 yards rushing. Sony Michel would get a rushing touchdown as well with 37 yards from the ground. Rare to see zero passing touchdowns for the Patriots, let alone an entire game. 

Next week:
Miami: vs Buffalo; New England: @ Seattle

TW: 3-1; CV: 3-1

Philadelphia 17, Washington 27: TW: Eagles; CV: Eagles
The feel when you lose to a "Football Team." Carson Wentz was okay in the game with 270 yards passing with two touchdowns and two interceptions. Boston Scott and the Eagles rushing attack didn't get much as Scott would get 35 yards rushing. Dwayne Haskins threw the ball for 178 yards with a touchdown. Antonio Gibson ran the ball for 36 yards but would get a scoring boost from Peyton Barber with 29 yards rushing with two rushing touchdowns. Keep forgetting to mention this but I hope Ron Rivera kicks cancer's ass! #RiveraStrong. 

Next week: 
Philadelphia: vs LA Rams; Washington: @ Arizona

TW: 3-2; CV: 3-2

Seattle 38, Atlanta 25: TW: Seahawks; CV: Falcons
Russell Wilson didn't miss a beat in this one. Didn't even need a running game to be great either. Wilson threw the ball for 322 yards with four touchdown passes. He would have leading rushing honors with 29 yards while Carlos Hyde would score a touchdown with 23 yards rushing. Matt Ryan would have a better game in this one with 450 yards passing with two touchdowns while throwing a pick. Todd Gurley ran the ball for 56 yards with a touchdown. Three Falcons wide outs had 100+ receiving yards in this one. Atlanta's defense could cause problems. 

Next week:
Seattle: vs New England; Atlanta: @ Dallas

TW: 4-2; CV: 3-3

Green Bay 43, Minnesota: 34: TW: Vikings; CV: Vikings
I guess I was wrong with the whole "Packer offense struggling" narrative. Aaron Rodgers threw for 364 yards with four touchdowns. Aaron Jones ran the ball well with 66 yards rushing with a touchdown. Kirk Cousins did okay in the game with 259 yards with two touchdowns and an interception. He would also get hit from a corner blitz to cause a safety. Dalvin Cook couldn't get too much from the ground with 50 yards rushing with two touchdowns. Packers defense could be an achilles heel for this team again this season.  Who would've thought this game would be a scorefest? 

Next week: 
Green Bay: vs Detroit; Minnesota: @ Indianapolis

TW: 4-3; CV: 3-4

NY Jets 17, Buffalo 27: TW: Bills; CV: Bills
Buffalo made strides to a possible division winning season in this game. Sam Darnold's performance was alright but could've been more. Darnold threw the ball for 215 yards with a touchdown and an interception. New York's running game once again couldn't get much as Frank Gore and Le'Veon Bell would both get 24 and 14 yards rushing respectively. Josh Allen would be the better quarterback as he would get 312 yards with two touchdown passes. Allen would also get 57 yards rushing with a touchdown as well. 

Next week:
NY Jets: vs San Francisco; Buffalo: @ Miami

TW: 5-3; CV: 4-4

Cleveland 6, Baltimore 38: TW: Ravens; CV: Ravens
Browns do Browns things as usual. Baker Mayfield threw the ball for 189 yards with a touchdown and an interception. Kareem Hunt and Nick Chubb ran the ball for 72 and 60 yard rushing respectively. Lamar Jackson didn't miss a beat in this game as he threw for 275 yards with three touchdowns while rushing for 45 yards. JK Dobbins would score two touchdowns from the ground with 22 yards rushing. Mark Ingram would get 29 yards. Cleveland hasn't opened the season with a victory since 2004. At one point the Browns had a 3rd down and 41 in the game. 

Next week:
Cleveland: vs Cincinnati; Baltimore: @ Houston

TW: 6-3; CV: 5-4

Chicago 27, Detroit 23: TW: Lions; CV: Lions
At one point the Lions were ahead 23-6 at the start of the 4th quarter. Mitchell Trubisky showed some sort of life late in the game as he would finish with 242 yards passing with three touchdowns. David Montgomery ran the ball for 64 yards. Matthew Stafford threw for 297 yards with a touchdown and an interception while throwing the ball for 42 times. Former Washington running back Adrian Peterson made the most of his opportunity with 93 yards rushing. Dandre Swift would get a rushing touchdown for Detroit as well. If you're Jamie Collins, don't try to prove a point by headbutting into an officials chest., it won't end well for you.

Next week: 
Chicago: vs NY Giants; Detroit: @ Green Bay

TW: 6-4; CV: 5-5

LA Chargers 16, Cincinnati 13: TW: Bengals; CV: Chargers
Joe Burrow's debut for the Bungles was... meh. Chargers quarterback Tyrod Taylor threw the ball for 208 yards but wouldn't throw a touchdown in the game. Austin Ekeler ran the ball for 84 yards while Joshua Kelley would ran for 60 yards and score the only touchdown for the Chargers. Joe Burrow threw the ball for 193 yards but would throw a costly interception in the game. He showcased his running while scoring a touchdown while compiling 46 yards. Joe Mixon would be the leading rusher for the Bungles with 69 yards. Can't blame Burrow too much on this game, he didn't have much of an offseason to learn. 

Next week:
LA Chargers: vs Kansas City; Cincinnati: @ Cleveland

TW: 6-5; CV: 6-5

Arizona 24, San Francisco 20: TW: 49ers; CV: Cardinals
This game was probably the biggest shock of the week. Kyler Murray threw the ball for 230 yards with a touchdown but threw an interception in the game. Murray was also the leading rusher for the Cards with 91 yards with a touchdown. Kenyan Drake ran the ball for 60 yards with a rushing touchdown. Jimmy Garoppolo threw the ball for 259 yards with two touchdowns. Raheem Mostert was the leading rusher for the 49ers with 56 yards. San Francisco's defense just couldn't hold off a late Cardinal drive. 

Next week:
Arizona: vs Washington; San Francisco: @ NY Jets

TW: 6-6; CV: 7-5

Tampa Bay 23, New Orleans 34: TW: Saints; CV: Bucanneers
The game didn't exactly live up to the hype. Tom Brady would don a uniform that wasn't red, white and blue for the first time in his career. His debut was mixed as he threw for 239 yards with two touchdowns and two interceptions. One of those interceptions was a pick-six by Janoris Jenkins. Brady would go in for a rushing touchdown as well. Ronald Jones was the leading rusher for the Bucs as he ran 66 yards. Drew Brees threw for 160 yards with two touchdowns. Latavius Murray ran for 48 yards while Alvin Kamara ran for 16 yards with a touchdown. Brady vs Brees doesn't have the same ring to it as Brady vs Manning. 

Next week:
Tampa Bay: vs Carolina; New Orleans: @ Las Vegas

TW: 7-6; CV: 7-6

Dallas 17, LA Rams 20: TW: Cowboys; CV: Rams
You have all that offensive talent and you can't put up more than 17 points. Oh wait that's right Mike McCarthy is your coach. Dak Prescott would finish the game with 266 passing yards with a touchdown while racking up 30 yards rushing. Ezekiel Elliot ran the ball well with 96 yards including a touchdown. Jared Goff of the Rams finished the game with 275 yards passing while throwing an interception. Malcolm Brown finished the game with 79 yards rushing with two touchdowns, good day for those who had him in fantasy. 

Next week:
Dallas: vs Atlanta; LA Rams: @ Philadelphia

TW: 7-7; CV: 8-6

Pittsburgh 26, NY Giants 16: TW: Steelers; CV: Steelers
Safe to say that Big Ben is back to form. Ben Roethlisberger finished the game with 229 yards passing with three touchdowns. Benny Snell would pick up the rushing yardage in the game with 113 yards rushing while James Conner would go down to injury. Daniel Jones had a mixed game with 279 yards passing with two touchdowns while throwing two interceptions. Jones also ran for 22 yards, the Giants leading rusher in the game. 

Next week:
Pittsburgh: vs Denver; NY Giants: @ Chicago

TW: 8-7; CV: 9-6

Tennessee 16, Denver 14: TW: Broncos; CV: Titans
A former Patriot saves the day. Ryan Tannehill threw for 249 yards with two touchdowns. Derrick Henry continues his successful career with a 116 yard rushing day. Drew Lock got the start for Denver and looked fine but perhaps more was needed. Lock finished the game with 216 yards with a touchdown pass to Noah Fant. Recently acquired running back Melvin Gordon ran the ball for 78 yards with a touchdown. Ultimately the game came down to Stephen Gostkowski, former Patriots kicker, to kick a 25-yard field goal to give the Titans a 1-0 start to 2020. 

Next week:
Tennessee: vs Jacksonville; Denver: @ Pittsburgh

TW: 8-8; CV: 10-6

2020 Week by Week Record: 

TW's record:

Week 1: 8-8

Cardinal Viking's record:

Week 1: 10-6

Previous Picking Records:

Cardinal Viking:

2017: 167-89
2018: 156-98-2
2019: 151-104-1

My record: 

2012: 164-90-2

2013: 162-92-1

2014: 172-83-1

2017: 164-92

2018: 156-98-2

2019: 161-94-1

See you guys tomorrow for the Week 2 Picks post!

-Tom

NFL 2020 Offseason Thoughts

Hello readers! It has been a fair while since I had last wrote on this blog. Days and months have passed since I wrote back in February on the Kansas City Chiefs victory in Super Bowl LIV over the San Francisco 49ers. In this post I'll talk about: Tom Brady, my take on the coronavirus pandemic and how it could affect the 2020 season, and my thoughts on making the season more fan friendly.

Brady taking his talents to Tampa

Tom Brady has been in the NFL for 20 seasons. For the 100+ years that the National Football League has existed, Tom Brady has been in it for 1/5th of its history. How about that for crazy stats. For 20 seasons he played for the New England Patriots, a franchise who's best known player was offensive guard John Hannah (if you've never heard of him, check him out). Brady helped put the Patriots on the map and gave Boston area fans a reason to watch football on Sundays.

In March, Tom Brady bid farewell to the team that he helped lead to countless victories, including six Super Bowl wins, including nine Super Bowl appearances. The rumors of his departure were ever growing when last fall he put his house up for sale. Once the news broke, the media went into a frenzy. Once the hardy veteran's contract with the Patriots was up, he became for the first time in his career, a free agent.

I could imagine there were a few teams that wanted him, but I felt that he knew all along that he wanted to be a Buccaneer. Who could blame him for wanting to go there? He has one of the best wide receivers in the game in Mike Evans along with former Patriot teammate Rob Gronkowski. Tampa Bay has an underrated defense as well, finishing the 2019 season as the best rush defense in the league, only allowing 73.8 yards/game. Along with head coach Bruce Arians, the Bucs look to make some noise in the NFC South.

The After-Brady Era 

The loss of Brady will hurt but it was to be expected. There was no "Brady riding off into the sunset" victory last season. If Brady truly wanted to retire, he would've after Super Bowl LIII. Patriots head coach Bill Belichek has won games before Brady, and it would to be expected that he will win games after Brady.

The team that Belichek has is still relatively good. They still have the hallmark Belichek defense that from top to bottom has great depth and uses many packages to confuse offenses. It is more of how well the offense can do.

Before July, it had been assumed that Jarrett Stidham would be Tom Brady's successor in New England. All that changed on July 2nd when former Carolina Panthers quarterback Cam Newton signed a 1-year deal with the Patriots. The 10th year passer out of Auburn will compete against Stidham along with Brian Hoyer for the starting quarterback role in New England.

I feel there's a few reasons why Cam Newton came to New England. First was the fact that the Patriots, in my opinion, was like an island of misfit toys of sorts, when other teams discarded their players, they found success in New England. All you have to look is Rodney Harrison who was discarded by the Chargers in March 2003, eleven months later he would end up helping the Patriots win their 2nd championship. Bill Belichek always gave you a 2nd chance if he felt that you still had something left in the tank. A sort of 21st century version of the Oakland Raiders in the 1970's.

2nd reason was that the Patriots are a stable franchise that can help him with his mechanics, help him be a better player for them. It should be a fact that the most successful teams in any sense of the word, starts from the top and works their way to the bottom. If you have a stable front office/leadership then people will gravitate towards that. People tend to like places where there isn't a lot of drama or weak leadership.

Coronavirus and the NFL

If you've been living in a cave or under a bridge for the past several months, you've more than likely noticed that there's a pandemic going on. It has certainly affected local, state, national and international governments. The way that the pandemic has been going on in the US has been less than satisfactory. While I won't go into the political side of the issue, I do believe that things haven't gotten better in the United States, compared to other countries. Be smart, where a mask if you have to go out in public.

I think the NFL will be watching how well the other three major sports leagues will handle their situations. The National Basketball Association and the National Hockey League will have restarts to their seasons later this month and Major League Baseball will start its season on Thursday the 23rd (I'm writing this as of the 18th). If it proves to be successful, then there should a good chance that the football season will start as scheduled come September. If it doesn't, then there could be problems.

There could be a possible reduction to the season where perhaps the only games will be divisional games or rather teams will play teams in close proximity to each other, to lessen the spread. The ultimate worst case scenario is that won't be no football this season. It is rather difficult to see how well things will go come September. American football is not exactly a sport where "social distancing" is a thing that is practiced all that often. Just imagine Aaron Rodgers telling Anthony Barr to practice social distancing while Rodgers hits Devantae Adams for a touchdown. In other words, it ain't gonna happen.

The Fan Experience

The major sports leagues in the US will more than likely have to have no fans in the stands for games. This will likely be none the truer than in the NFL. Since the possibility of no fans in the stands is in all likelihood, I've come up with a few ways to possibly make the fan experience better and help take our minds off of the problems of the outside world.

Cheaper price for NFL Sunday Ticket: The fact that you have to pay so much money for a TV package like Sunday Ticket is outrageous, let alone during a pandemic. It sucks that you have to be a Jets fan in Colorado or a Bears fan in Texas. It sucks that you have to pay close to 400 bucks for a whole season, hell it even sucks for those fans that can't even go to the games this season. You want to get fans interested in your league, make it cheaper, especially since many people right now are out of work.

Lessen the crowd noise: I don't really like artificial crowd noise. Hell, I hate it when teams put in crowd noise to drown out the fans in the stadium. I want to hear the players mic'd up. I want to hear them say words that you wouldn't say to your own grandmother. I want to hear them make adjustments as the game goes on.

Bring back vintage uniforms: I like history. I enjoy watching old NFL films productions. Bring back old school uniforms. I want to see uniforms that teams wore in their early years.

Bring back Monday Night Football on ABC: There's a reason why ESPN shows their Wild Card game on their network and ABC, TO INCREASE VIEWERSHIP. It sucks that its on cable and not on an ABC affiliate. Monday is usually the last time you get to watch football until Thursday. Just for this season have it be on ABC/ESPN simulcast.

Let fans make the call: This one perhaps could be a iffy. There's no question that NFL officiating has been questionable over the last few years, let alone decades. You want to gauge fan interest, let them vote on the call on whether or not a player caught the ball or not. Let them decide on a fumble.

The next post that will happen will more than likely happen later this month. Once training camps start happening I'll talk more. Eventually, I'll get into my preseason picks and my picks for the weekly games. Until then, thank you for reading and I'll see you all on the next post.

-Tom