Referees "Botch" Seahawks vs. Cardinals Sunday Night Football Game

To say that the officiating this season in the National Football League has been atrocious is an understatement. I get it though, it is difficult for human beings to spot everything on the field as the game is very fast. However, with the rulebook being so complex, officials not being sure what is a catch or what is a fumble, and finally the fact that NFL officials executives never fault the referees for horrible calls gives the league very little credibility. However, nobody should be allowed to merely excuse the officiating on two different field goal attempts on last weeks Sunday Night Football Game at University of Phoenix Stadium between the Arizona Cardinals and Seattle Seahawks.

Now let me say that these games are the kinds of games that I like, low scoring, defense, punting, a chess match. The Arizona Cardinals had more total yards in the game and despite the fact that the Seahawks had their defense on the field for almost fifty minutes of the game, they were still losing 3-0, seconds before the end of the game. Arizona had a chance to be up 6-0 in the game with a Chandler Catanzoro field goal in the second quarter, but Seahawks linebacker Bobby Wagner timed the snap and jumped over the line, clearly touching the long snapper with his feet before landing, and blocking the kick. Originally an official threw a flag for it for "unsportsmanlike conduct", but after a meeting, the officials picked the flag up and head official Terry McCoughly announced that there was no penalty for unsportsmanlike conduct.

Now the rule for "leaping" is simply stated in the NFL rulebook that on a field goal or an extra point, if a defensive player leaps over the line to block a kick and they contact a player on the line while leaping, then they are assessed a 15 yard penalty. Not to mention, you also cannot use your own players as leverage to block said kicks. Now if you can make it over the line by not contacting anyone and you block the kick, then that would be legal, but the rule was mostly put in place to protect linemen who might get their neck crushed after the ball is snapped by a defensive player. The Seahawks should have been penalized, but for whatever reason, they weren't. But at least one of the officials saw the play instead of what happened later in the game.

So the game goes into overtime and both the Cardinals and Seahawks trade field goals to make the score 6-6. Arizona drove down the field and had a chance to kick the game winning field goal. However, instead of going for the touchdown with the ball inside the five yard line, Bruce Arians, Head Coach of the Arizona Cardinals, decided to instead kick a field goal. So Bobby Wagner again, times the snap, jumps over the line, and barely grazes the kick and the field goal sailed wide left. You could clearly see on the play that he touches the center and uses a teammate to boost himself over the line, both of which would be considered "unsportsmanlike conduct" and "leaping" penalties. However this time, no flag was thrown and the Seahawks gained possession with a chance to win. Now, it was a poor decision by Arians for not trying to get a touchdown, but an even worse decision by the officials for not throwing a flag.

Now, the game ended in a tie because Pete Carroll made a similar coaching mistake by not trying to score a touchdown, but in all forms, the Seahawks are lucky that game only ended in a tie. The head of the officials committee, Dean Blandino came out and said that the call was correct both times for no "unsportsmanlike conduct", which doesn't surprise me because he always claims that his officials are right, even when they aren't. Right now there is very little credibility for the referees in the National Football League. I can at least give college football credit for suspending a whole team of referees without pay for completely botching the end of an Oklahoma State versus Central Michigan game earlier in the year where with four seconds to go and on fourth down, Oklahoma State committed an intentional grounding penalty and Central Michigan was given an un-timed down in order to win the game. The Quarterback threw a Hail Mary-hook and ladder and Central Michigan won off of the walk-off touchdown. The thing is that the game should have ended after the fourth down play and the officials were suspended for it. This will likely never happen at the NFL level because the people who manage the officials are too inept and let their employees get away with whatever they want.

Bobby Wagner "illegally" jumps over the line to block kick

Did New York Giants and NFL Cover Up Physical Assault?

About a month ago, Josh Brown, Pro Bowl kicker for the New York Giants, was convicted by his ex Wife for assaulting her over twenty times. Now while there were some people who called him the worst man in the world for doing what he did, but for the most part, people were skeptical and merely claimed that she was likely trying to gain attention, despite the police showing up to their house multiple times. However, it has come to light recently that the NFL and the New York Giants botched the investigation into whether or not he did abuse his wife.

This is not the first time something like this has happened. Back in the summer of 2014, the NFL found out that former running back of the Baltimore Ravens, Ray Rice, dragged his sleeping fiancee out of an elevator. However, it was found out that he assaulted her at some point in the elevator, so he got slapped on the wrist with a two game suspension. However, when TMZ released video of him sucker punching her in the elevator, the NFL claimed that they had no idea that anything happened and they suspended Ray Rice for the rest of the regular season and he hasn't played since week 17 of the 2013 NFL season because the Ravens released Rice. However, it is hard to believe that the NFL had never seen the tape especially when it was likely seen by the police and they were likely trying to hide everything in order to not get Ray Rice in trouble.

During the 2014 season, a commercial was aired during NFL season showing current and former NFL players like Eli Manning and former NFL players like Cris Carter, Troy Vincent, and James Thrash talking about how abusing women was unacceptable. However, it is of my opinion that the NFL actually doesn't care that much about domestic abuse, they just made those statements to make people believe that they were making an effort to be ambassadors against it. As it stands, in the NFL, you can get suspended for four games for taking steroids, you can get suspended four games for smoking weed, and you can get suspended for four games for deflating the air out of footballs, but you get suspended for one game if you beat your girlfriend, wife, or significant others.

After the monkeys at the NFL investigated this case like they usually do by poking at it with a stick to see if it moves, it has come out that Josh Brown wrote multiple times in a journal about how he abused his wife Molly and that he has been abusing women and girls since he was seven years old. Not only this, but the NFL had to give his wife and family refuge from him because he was abusing her in Hawaii at the Pro Bowl. The NFL has lost all credibility because most of this could have been completely avoided if the NFL had done a proper investigation. Now, even though all of these admissions have come to light, Brown is on the exempt list, meaning that he can practice and get contracted money, but he cannot play until more comes to light. This even though the guy literally made admissions through his own journal.

This not only makes the NFL look bad, but also the New York Giants, whose owner Jon Mara has literally backed his abusive kicker despite knowing that the guy was doing it. Eli Manning was on those "Never Again" domestic abuse commercials, but he also backed the kicker too. If Josh Brown had been a practice squad player, he would have been released, but because he is actually a decent kicker, his case was ignored which brings even more credence to the fact that the NFL does not care if players beat their significant others. So while Colin Kaepernick continues to kneel during the national anthem and get ridiculed for it, these football players still beat their spouses and very few people care. Very sad that this has not been resolved by the league and even sadder that people turn the other cheek to abusers who help out their team.

Josh Brown, kicker for the New York Giants

Should the Cowboys Start Prescott or Romo?

For the past nine years, Tony Romo has been one of the most talented yet cursed Quarterbacks in the National Football League. Tony was originally brought in during the 2003 offseason to the Dallas Cowboys as a rookie free agent. The guy sat behind Quincy Carter, Vinny Testaverde, Drew Henson, and Drew Bledsoe before coming in as a reserve in the 2006 NFL season. And while Romo's career has been marred with great success, he will always be remembered for botching the snap in a playoff game, throwing an end zone interception in another playoff game, and the long list of collarbone, back, and rib injuries he has accumulated over his years. His choking reputation might change if he finally wins a Super Bowl, but there is no way to tell.

After suffering two collar bone injuries in the 2015 NFL season during week 2 against the Eagles and on Thanksgiving against the Panthers, the Cowboys ended the season 4-12 after horrendous Quarterback play. One would think, "well they have a great offensive line and they always have a good running game, they should be fine." However, after playing Brandon Weeden, Matt Cassell, and rookie Kellen Moore, the Cowboys only accumulated one single win. This basically forced the Cowboys to try to grab a good future prospect in the 2016 NFL draft.

After Carson Wentz and Jared Goff were picked up in the first round, the Cowboys selected Ezekiel Elliot and in the fourth round selected Dak Prescott from Mississippi State. It isn't known exactly why Prescott fell that low but it was likely because he was charged and found not guilty for a DUI he had while still in college. Either way, Dak was expected to sit behind both Romo and backup Kellen Moore. This was until Moore was sidelined in the summer after breaking his ankle, so Prescott started week one of the preseason against the Rams.

Dak actually played really well and ended his first two drives with touchdown passes. Unfortunately for the Cowboys though, Tony Romo suffered yet another back injury after sliding to the ground against the Seattle Seahawks. Since then, Prescott has started the last five regular season games and he has looked pretty impressive. He has thrown and ran a total of 7 touchdowns and has worked well in the Cowboys run first and short pass offense. So well that the Cowboys are looking like geniuses for drafting him.

However, Tony Romo is on pace to get healthy in two weeks when the Cowboys play the Eagles during their yearly Sunday Night Football matchup. The Cowboys have a decision to make, ride with Prescott, a Quarterback that will have at least four wins up to that point, or start Tony Romo, the guy that has brought the Cowboys back to relevance. "Coach" Jerry Jones has wanted Romo to be the starter but has waffled since last week. My opinion, you are paying Romo more, but the Cowboys are on a roll with Prescott. I say you need to start the hot hand because while Romo does give the Cowboys their best chance to win, he is still injury prone and would do better as a mentor. I know the Cowboys have a Quarterback controversy, but there is no right or wrong answer here. The Cowboys could be generous to Romo or they could look toward the future in favor of the hot hand.

Dak Prescott and Tony Romo

Why Chip Kelly Will Consistently Fail

Despite being of the biggest Chip Kelly detractors out there, I am not coming on here to gloat in any way. While I might not have liked the guy back from his days as Head Coach of the Oregon Ducks, I do not really take much pleasure in seeing friends who are 49ers fans get upset about losing, but I need to reiterate why he has lacked success in the 2016 NFL season and why I basically predicted it would happen. My largest gripe about the way that Chip Kelly coached the Philadelphia Eagles was the fact that he refused to adapt to the National Football League. For some reason, he doesn't understand that a coach cannot continue to call the game the same way over a four year span and get the same results. That might fly in the college game, but it will not fly with the pros.

The first reason why the 49ers haven't been winning recently is the most important position on the offense, the Quarterback position. While he might have had slim pickings with Colin Kaepernick and Blaine Gabbert, he isn't doing them any favors at all. Blaine Gabbert might be the "smarter" of the two quarterbacks when it comes to making reads and watching film, but he lacks the accuracy to succeed in this league. Two examples from this season pop out at me as instances where Gabbert could have made a play, but didn't because of his lack of accuracy. One occurred when the 49ers hosted the Rams in Santa Clara where Gabbert had a wide open receiver over the middle of the field and he sailed the pass right over the guy's head and another was in the red zone against the Cowboys on Sunday where he threw a dart right to the receiver's feet, which lead to a Phil Dawson field goal.

Not to mention the play calling that Gabbert has been given was completely awful as well. I counted around six or seven times on Sunday, Gabbert running that same read option play. Now the guy has good mobility, but there were like four times in which he should have given the ball to Carlos Hyde as it was a better decision. The play was basically the same as kneeling the ball as he would always lose around a yard or two. The Cowboys obviously picked up on what the 49ers were trying to do on this play, but they kept doing it. It was a huge head scratcher, but I wasn't surprised as Chip Kelly only has around 10 to 15 total plays in his playbook.

Which brings me to the next reason why Chip Kelly will constantly fail, the fact that he continues to call running plays to Carlos Hyde out of the shotgun. This wouldn't be a terrible thing because of the offense that Hyde played in during his college days at Ohio State, but he rarely is ever running up the middle, which is where he should be most effective. Now, he did have a 32 yard scamper last Sunday against the Cowboys, but that is far too rare for him this season. Carlos Hyde is supposed to be a bruiser, he shouldn't be running east and west, that is what his backup, Shaun Draughn should be doing. The 49ers with their lack of Quarterback talent should also be giving Hyde the rock 25 times a game instead of the 15 times he had versus the Cowboys. He would do better if he had a fullback in front of him to lead block or in an offense that doesn't allow him to get a running start before he gets the ball.

Now I am not a huge football mind, I never played the game at any legitimate level, but these are the biggest reasons why Chip will consistently fail in this league. The season is fairly early and the NFC West is still fairly up for grabs, but if he doesn't adapt, he will see himself getting fired again and likely taking another college job because NFL General Managers and Owners will not hire him. In a closing opinion, I think that Chip skipped a step before becoming a Head Coach and that step was being a coordinator. I know that this would have never flown with him because he needs to be the guy in control at all times, but it would have helped him to see how real head coaches manage a team at the professional level. The reason being is that, and I am going to be honest here, he isn't cutting it and teams are starting to catch on to how to stop him. If this is true, the players are going to start to turn on him and he will have nowhere else to go.

Chip Kelly plotting next weeks game plan? 

Is Tom Brady Merely A System Quarterback?

Tom Brady has been winning in the NFL pretty much since the moment he stepped on the field back in 2001 in reserve for Drew Bledsoe. Back in 2001 there was a huge Quarterback controversy over who should start when Bledsoe got back to the field and ultimately, Head Coach, Bill Belichick rode with second year Quarterback, Tom Brady. As of right now, Tom Brady has one of the greatest home winning records, an amazing touchdown for interception percentage, four Super Bowl Championships and given the title of arguably being the greatest Quarterback in NFL History. However, one of the biggest question in the mind of certain fans is "is Tom Brady merely a Belichick system Quarterback? Or is he just that good?" To put things into perspective, if Tom Brady played for the Cleveland Browns, would he still be as good as he is right now? 

To answer this question, one has to look into the history of other Quarterbacks in Patriots history under Bill Belichick. Since Tom Brady started for the team, only three other Quarterbacks have started for the Patriots. These Quarterbacks were Matt Cassell back in 2008 after Tom Brady was lost for the season in week one, Jimmy Garoppolo starting in this season after Brady was suspended for four games because of "Bounty Gate" and finally Jacoby Brissett, who played on Thursday against Houston after Garoppolo was injured against Miami last week. Do you want to know what the total record of all three of these Quarterbacks are? Their record is 14-5 with the five losses being in 2008 if I am not mistaken. 

The thing that people need to understand is that Bill Belichick runs his football team like a submarine. Nobody is more important than the next guy, they all work hard and there are not very many distractions from their players. The Patriots have a motto that is "Do Your Job" and the players play with much intensity, they make mistakes and never make them again and despite not very much talent on their team, they have a great scheme and they play smart. Personally, I think that the Patriots could win with just about any Quarterback in this league as they did so with rookie Quarterback Jacoby Brissett. Not that Brissett is a bad Quarterback, but the defense did the job by blanking the Texans. Belichick also has a very Quarterback friendly offense with Rob Gronkowski at Tight End and quick receivers that can play in the slot. 

I do think that Tom Brady is the best Quarterback in the league right now, despite being in a great scheme. However, I think that if Brady didn't have Belichick as a Head Coach, he would never have won four Super Bowls. I think that most people feel that way and I believe that we will see a possible Quarterback controversy in the future. If Brady plays the rest of the season this year, which I think he will, I don't think that both Brady and Garoppolo will be on the same team one or two years down the line. I don't think both can coexist and if the Patriots do not trade Brady, a team will definitely go after Garoppolo much like the the Texans did with Brock Osweiler last offseason. No matter what the Patriots decide to do, I think it is a win-win scenario because Garoppolo does seem to be a talented player, I am just not sure he will win multiple Super Bowls like the man before him. I think the bigger question is who the Quarterback is going to be in week four against the Buffalo Bills, it could be receiver Julian Edleman. 

The four best Quarterbacks in the AFC East

Does Jeff Fisher Deserve Contract Extension?

A few weeks ago, the Front Office for the Los Angeles Rams offered fifth year Head Coach, Jeff Fisher, a three year contract extension and everyone thought he already signed it. However, to my dismay and a few people that I talked to, he actually signed it today and I am dumbfounded that the offer was still on the table. This especially after the horrible showing by the Rams where they lost to the 49ers on Monday Night Football 28-0. This was a game where the Rams not only scored zero points, but also crossed the 50 yard line twice only to have starting Quarterback Case Keenum throw an interception both times.

I am going to put it bluntly to anyone reading this, but it is something that I have been saying for weeks, the Rams could be the worst team in the NFL this season and I have a hard time seeing them win a single game. Now they do play the Seahawks twice this season, a team that they have taken three games out of four against, but this team is absolutely depleted. They lost their starting Defensive End, Chris Long to the New England Patriots, their starting Middle Linebacker, James Laurinaitis to the New Orleans Saints, they lost their best Cornerback, Janoris Jenkins to the New York Giants, and their best Safety, Rodney McLeod to the Philadelphia Eagles. So in all actuality, the best players on their team is Todd Gurley at Running Back, Michael Brockers at Defensive Tackle, and Alec Ogletree at Linebacker.

Here is the main reason why I feel that Jeff Fisher does not deserve that extension and the Rams were not smart to give it to him. Jeff Fisher is a great defensive coach. You can look back at how daunting his defenses have been and the number of great players that have come out of his system of play. But much like the late great Buddy Ryan, Jeff Fisher doesn't care about offense at all and will unintentionally constrict the play at Quarterback. The best Quarterback he ever had was Steve McNair, who not only went to a Super Bowl with the Tennessee Titans, but also won Most Valuable Player in 2003 with Co-MVP Peyton Manning. However, McNair's play declined because of the "ground and pound" play calling of running it on first and second and then passing it on third down, which would have worked twenty years ago, but didn't work in 2004 when the NFL became a passing league. That along with the fact that the league has overrated Fisher as a Head Coach as he only has five total playoff appearances in the last twenty years.

Not to mention, the drafting of Quarterback Jared Goff and sticking him at the number three Quarterback position and deactivating him on game days does not validate Fisher either. Their defense is not good enough nor does their offense have enough talent to give Case Keenum the nod at Quarterback. You could see a lot of griping by the fans if Goff does not start soon and I still wonder why the Rams organization did not pull the plug on this Jeff Fisher experiment. Hopefully for their sake there is a clause that says they don't have to give Fisher all of his money if they fire him, but as of right now, it looks like he will get all of his money and the Rams will be out of luck. As a final matter of speaking, if the Rams are last place in the NFL this season, they will not get the first pick, but rather it will be given to the Tennessee Titans, the team that got copious draft picks in exchange for the pick the Rams used on Jared Goff. 

Third String 1st Round Rookie Quarterbacks

When a team drafts a Quarterback with their first overall pick and especially when that Quarterback is selected within the top 5, then usually coaches and fans expect that Quarterback to start immediately. Instances where first overall picks that were Quarterbacks were drafted and started immediately was first overall pick in the 2011 NFL Draft, Cam Newton, for the Carolina Panthers, first overall pick in the 1998 NFL Draft, Peyton Manning, for the Indianapolis Colts, and second overall pick in the 2012 NFL Draft, Robert Griffin III, for the Washington Redskins. All of these player came in, started for their specific teams in week one and were expected to make an impact. Now some of these first round rookie Quarterbacks have successful careers and some of them merely fizzle out.

In the 2016 NFL Draft, the top two picks were Jared Goff out of the University of California Berkley and Carson Wentz out of North Dakota State. These two players were picked by the Los Angeles Rams and the Philadelphia Eagles by trading multiple picks in order to get into the first and second position, primed to draft their future Quarterbacks. What the Rams did was they swapped first rounders with the Tennessee Titans (the 15th overall pick for the 1st overall pick), then the Rams sent the Titans two 2nd rounders, one 3rd rounder, and their 1st and 2nd rounder from 2017 for a 4th and a 6th rounder from 2016. The Eagles also made some blockbuster trades to make it from pick number 13 to pick number 1. First they traded linebacker Kiko Alonso and cornerback Byron Maxwell and the 13th overall pick to the Dolphins for the 8th overall pick, then traded disgruntled running back Demarco Murray and their fourth round pick to the Titans for their 4th round pick (100th overall). Then they traded the 8th overall pick, a 3rd round pick, a 4th round pick, their 1st rounder in 2017, and their 2nd rounder in 2018 to the Browns for the 2nd overall pick and a 4th round pick in 2017.

Now originally, coach of the LA Rams, Jeff Fisher promised then Quarterback, Case Keenum, that he would be the starter before this trade ever went down as did Eagles Head Coach Doug Pederson promise Quarterback Sam Bradford. There was even a short hold out and trade demand by Sam Bradford after he found out that the trade took place because he feared his starting position on the team, however, this never happened with Case Keenum. And while Keenum has had a modicum of success in the NFL, he has been far from elite status or even the consideration of being good, while Bradford, despite being overpaid and overrated should always be penciled in as being a starter on teams that he is on until there is actually a Quarterback that has the skills to start about him.

Now a lot of speculation has gone into why both Carson Wentz and Jared Goff are being considered 3rd string Quarterbacks for their specific teams. Now Goff has played in every preseason game for the Rams, Wentz had a hairline fracture to his ribs in the first game against the Buccaneers that sidelined him for the whole preseason. According to many, Goff has played horribly and despite a shaky game where receivers dropped passes, Wentz played decently against Tampa. Now mind you, I am an Eagles fan so I am a bit biased, but it is saying a lot that Jared Goff cannot start above Case Keenum and even former 3rd round pick in 2015 Sean Mannion. Case Keenum, who is making 3.6 million dollars as a starting Quarterback and hasn't even put up that great of numbers would be considered a backup Quarterback on most teams and it is scary that Goff has not been able to beat The low paid Keenum out.

Carson Wentz on the other hand is currently not starting because A. Sam Bradford is currently the better Quarterback until injured or B. until Wentz proves that he is better, which he will only be able to do so if Bradfrod gets injured. Bradford is currently making 36 million over the span of 2 years with around 28 million guaranteed so there is no way that Wentz is starting over a player that is making that much money. And the backup, Chase Daniel is making around 4.5 million a year as a backup with Wentz signing a 4 year 26.5 million dollar contract. Now one could make the case that Wentz should be starting over Daniel and I think that would happen if Bradford were to get injured, but currently that is all up in the air.

I personally feel like Jared Goff was a huge reach by the LA Rams and I don't think that he will ever pan out. Not because he isn't a good person, but he isn't a good player in the Rams system. They don't have a particularly good offensive line and the only skill player of note is Todd Gurley at running back. As for Wentz, he has shown more promise with a better offensive line and better all around players around him, he seems like the better player picked. Now it is very early in the careers of these two guys and anything can happen, however, this rarely stops fans from trying to see the future and speculating the outcomes of their careers.