The Good, the Sad, the Weird, and the Ugly: Events that Sparked My Interest, Week 11

Week 11 was full of some, let’s say, interesting, plays and moments. While I can’t cover them all in this week’s edition of Events that Sparked My Interest, I can talk about the good, the bad, the weird, and the ugly's of them.

The Good – Larry Fitzgerald moves to Fifth on the All-Time Receiving Yards List

The Arizona Cardinals lost to the Houston Texans 31 to 21 on Sunday, but despite that there was a bright spot. Wide Receiver Larry Fitzgerald continued to move up the all-time ladder when it comes to receiving yards, passing Tony Gonzalez for fifth all time. Fitzgerald now had 15,157 yards and is only 51 yards away from taking fourth from Isaac Bruce. Then, he would need only 84 more yards to pass Randy Moss for third all time.

Speaking of five, Fitzgerald also has the fifth most receiving yards this season, and is five years older than anyone else in the top 15.

Good for him.

The Sad – Dre Kirkpatrick Fumbles an INT Return at the 15 Yard Line

When Cincinnati Bengals cornerback Dre Kirkpatrick intercepted Denver Broncos quarterback Brock Osweiler in the end zone on Sunday, he had a clear, wide open path to the end zone. He took it back, “All… the… w-what?!”

About 15 yards from the end zone, the ball randomly popped out of his grasp and was bobbled. He managed to recover, but not before he was tackled at the one yard line.

QB Andy Dalton managed to throw a quick one yard touchdown after that, but still, his fumble was sad.

The Weird – Seahawks Confusing Fake Field Goal Attempt Backfires

With 7 second left in the first half, Seattle Seahawks head coach Pete Carroll lined his team up for a 35-yard field goal attempt. But, once the ball was snapped to holder John Ryan, he immediately flipped the ball to tight end Luke Wilson, who was pummeled before getting back to the line of scrimmage.

The call didn’t (and it still doesn’t) make any sense. The Hawks were down 7 points, and for the fake field goal to have been beneficial, Wilson would have had to run into the end zone, because there was so little time on the clock.

Why not take the points? This was one weird call.

The Ugly – Nathan Peterman throws 5 first half Interceptions

Last week, Buffalo Bills coach Sean McDermott announced that 5th round rookie backup quarterback Nathan Peterman would start against the Los Angles Chargers over incumbent starter Tyrod Taylor. How did Peterman respond?

Not well.

He managed to throw a mind boggling five interceptions in 30 minutes of football, in one of the worst performances by a quarterback in recent memory. 

It was so bad, that Richard Sherman tweeted – five minutes into the game – that “the guy they bring in has already thrown 2picks with 10mins left in the 1^st. Great decision”.

Later he added, “do you cut the new guy after this half.”

His tweets alone are enough of an indicator of how ugly Peterman’s performance was.


Subscribe to my blog via email to get an update any time something is posted. Don’t forget to follow me on Twitter at @KidReporter363 for other updates about my writing and check out all my content at haydengoldberg.contently.com. Please leave your feedback in the comment section, I reply to everyone and take any and all feedback, ideas, comments, etc. under consideration.

The Case for Abolishing Thursday Night Football: Events that Sparked My Interest, Week 10

Like what happened in Week 3 after President Trump’s remarks on player protests, only one thing really sparked my interest in week 10: the injuries that occurred during the Thursday Night Football game between the Seattle Seahawks and Arizona Cardinals. Unlike the game between them last season, this one didn’t end in a 6-6 tie after 75 minutes on the field. Instead, 10 (and possibly 11) got injured in some capacity and had to leave the field. With that in mind, here is the case for abolishing Thursday Night Football.

Injuries

Last December, Richard Sherman wrote an article for The Players Tribune about why Thursday Night Football doesn’t work for the players. He explained what the week looks like for players when they do and don't play on Thursday, and how their bodies aren’t physically ready for games after only four days.

Other players have expressed their dislike for the game for the same reason, including quarterback Ben Roethlisberger and offensive lineman Richie Incognito.

With players not able to be fully healed, the chances of injury go up, and so do injuries in actuality. This has a wide range of consequences, including poor play, minimal fan interest, and the next reason for abolishing Thursday Night Football.

Decreased Play the rest of the Season

Aaron Rodgers, Odell Beckham Jr, Andrew Luck, David Johnson, Joe Thomas, JJ Watt, and Cliff Avril are among the players on the growing list of top players whose injuries have impacted their team’s season. This means that with every one of these injuries, the season gets less and less interesting. Rodgers’ injury took the Green Bay Packers from a Super Bowl contender to a team with no playoff hopes, Watt’s injury coupled with injuries to fellow Houston Texans Deshaun Watson (QB) and Whitney Mercilus (LB) killed the team’s aspirations for winning the AFC South.

When given the choice, fans won’t tune into an uninteresting game, nor will they watch a team who can no longer compete come November, let alone December. To a fan who will tune into ESPN next Monday that isn’t a diehard Atlanta Falcons or Seattle Seahawks fan, the game is suddenly a whole lot less interesting. Richard Sherman is out. Kam Chancellor may not play. Three defensive linemen will be playing hurt. The list goes on.

It doesn’t matter how you slice it, injuries are hurting the NFL season (as they always do) but the injuries from the Hawks/Cardinals game proves how much Thursday Night Football is killing the season.

Matchups are Awful

Forget the injuries, let’s go to the matchups. All teams must play on Thursday Night Football and generally games are divisional matchups. This means that, in theory, they should be good games. But, you know what? That’s wrong.

Thursday Night Football games have been some of the absolute worst games the past few seasons, providing us with matchups like Miami at Baltimore and the Bills against the Jets. The only people who tune into these games are the people who live in those markets and are fans. Even then, there are problems for those fans: the games start at 8:30pm EST.

Having Thursday Night, Sunday Night, and Monday Night football games start at 8:30 means that they aren’t over until almost midnight on days where people go to work the next day. No sane person will watch a game at home until midnight.

Between injuries, how they impact the regular season, matchups, and bad start times, it’s easy to understand why the NFL needs to abolish Thursday Night Football.

Subscribe to my blog via email to get an update any time something is posted. Don’t forget to follow me on Twitter at @KidReporter363 for other updates about my writing and check out all my content at haydengoldberg.contently.com. Please leave your feedback in the comment section, I reply to everyone and take any and all feedback, ideas, comments, etc. under consideration.

The Eagles are Going to the Playoffs, Jared Goff and the Rams are for Real: Events that Sparked My Interest, Week 9

Week 9 was headlined by games that were either close or blowouts. What caught my eye this week was the continued dominance of Jared Goff (Los Angeles Rams) and Carson Wentz (Philadelphia Eagles) and how their play will impact the playoffs.

Carson Wentz’s Improvement all but Yields a Divisional Title for the Eagles

9 weeks into the season, Carson Wentz in the NFL MVP. He’s thrown for 2,262 yards, 23 touchdowns, and lead the Eagles to an 8-1 record. He only threw for an average of one touchdown per game in the 16 he played in last year. His improvement, along with his teammates have all but guaranteed the Eagles the NFC East. If they manage to win 4 of their remaining 7 games, they are the 6^th seed.  Their remaining schedule features games against Chicago and New York, both of which are wins. They also have games Dallas, Seattle, Los Angeles, Oakland, and two against Dallas. They should be able to win a majority of those games at minimum, giving them their 4 wins. They could also make the playoffs as a division winner, and fifth win is necessary for that.

The Eagles control their own destiny to the playoffs and not making it as a division winner (at worst) would be a huge surprise. The capabilities of Wentz’s weapons – Zach Ertz in the Red Zone, Jay Ajayi’s ability to take some pressure off Wentz, Alshon Jeffery as a deep threat – and his improvement have made the Eagles a playoff lock.

Jared Goff and the Rams are for Real

Did anyone expect the Rams to be 6-2 at this point? I didn’t. Did anyone expect them to be winning the division now? I certainly never expected them to be leading the division at any point in the season. But you know what? They are! They are for real. Baring a major injury (which we’ve seen a ton of this season, including Deshaun Watson, Odell Beckham Jr. and others) the Rams will be contending for the 5^th seed in the playoffs as I don’t think they beat the Seahawks for the division title.

Half of their wins have come against teams who have a combined record of 4-22 (the Colts, 49ers, and Giants), so some statistics may be juiced, but in the NFL a win is a win, and you’ve only got 16 chances at one.

In addition to their high scoring wins, they’ve also won some close games, including ones against the Cowboys and (sadly) the 49ers in which their defense has held onto the win. Since Aaron Donald has ended his holdout, the Rams defense has only gotten better, and I expect that to continue, possibly putting the team in the playoffs.

Subscribe to my blog via email to get an update any time something is posted. Don’t forget to follow me on Twitter at @KidReporter363 for other updates about my writing and check out all my content at haydengoldberg.contently.com. Please leave your feedback in the comment section, I reply to everyone and take any and all feedback, ideas, comments, etc. under consideration.

Deshaun Watson Will Recover From Injury, Seahawks make Big Trade to Bolster Offensive Line: Events that Sparked My Interest, Week 8

Week 8 was the week leading up to the NFL Trade Deadline, and outside of the trades made, only one thing really sparked my interest: Deshaun Watson. With that in mind, Events that Sparked My Interest is back.

Deshaun Watson is here to stay, once he Recovers from ACL Injury

This season, Houston Texans quarterback Deshaun Watson has had a stellar rookie season, but his performance against the Seahawks – in Seattle – shows that he is here to say. Coming into the game, he had put up three or more touchdowns in each of the past three games. In Week 8, he scorched the Legion of Boom with 402 yards and four touchdowns in addition to 67 yards on the ground. The final of his three interceptions is forgiven because the throw was a last-ditch effort to stay in the game, and the first two were bound to happen as he is a rookie in Seattle. His ability to escape the pocket and find the open receiver was eerily reminiscent of Russell Wilson and leads me to believe that Watson is here to stay. He has a great defense (that will only get better when healthy), a plethora of unique receivers, and a running game to support him.

Sadly, earlier today, he tore his ACL (as I was writing this) and is out for the season. But, I expect him to do great things once he gets back next season because of these various reasons.

Duane Brown Trade Upgrades Seahawks Offensive Line an Incomprehensive Amount

The trade deadline this season was October 31st at 4pm EST and there were an unheard-of flurry of moves resembling the MLB trade deadline. Among the most significant of the moves was the Seahawks trading for an offensive lineman. Since the Seahawks traded Max Unger for Jimmy Graham, their offensive line has been atrocious. For years, fans have been dying for the team to upgrade their offensive line, and they finally did it. They acquired Left Tackle Duane Brown from the Houston Texans, who they went up against two days prior.

What did they have to give up? Well, it started like this:

Seahawks Trade	Texans Trade
CB Jeremy Lane          2018 5th Round Pick         2019 2nd Round Pick	LT Duane Brown

But then Lane (with his big contract) failed his physical so the deal was off until Seahawks General Manager John Schneider amended the deal with Texans GM Rick Smith, so that the new trade looked like this:

Seahawks Trade	Texans Trade
2018 3rd Round Pick ·         2019 2nd Round Pick	·         LT Duane Brown ·        2018 5th Round Pick

In order to create the cap room for Brown (because Lane wasn't traded), the Seahawks converted the approximately $6.26 million of Wilson's salary that has yet to be paid into a signing bonus paid immediately, with the $6 million plus cap hit being spread out over the next three seasons.

This deal is huge because they are not only bolstering their offensive-line but they traded away two top picks. They now don't have a second-round pick till 2020 and have only 7 picks as compared to the 9.5 Schneider averages each year. Nor do they have a second rounder this year. Even though they are known for finding gems late in the draft, they’ve also drafted a lot of key pieces in the second round including Bobby Wagner (2012), Paul Richardson (2014), Frank Clark (2015), and Jarran Reed (2016).

Only time will tell if the Hawks made a good decision.

Subscribe to my blog via email to get an update any time something is posted. Don’t forget to follow me on Twitter at @KidReporter363 for other updates about my writing and check out all my content at haydengoldberg.contently.com. Please leave your feedback in the comment section, I reply to everyone and take any and all feedback, ideas, comments, etc. under consideration.