Tuesday, January 2, 2018

I Never Did Quite Make it to Acceptance



  • If the Green Bay Packers had intentionally been losing in order to secure a better draft pick, I could have accepted the season. The part I’m having a problem with is that they’ve actually been trying to win. The Packers ended up with their first losing season since 2008 and were swept by the Detroit Lions for the first time in more than a quarter-century.



  • The 35-11 game was not as close as the score indicates. A three-score game implies that the Packers had a remote chance of victory.
  • There are a lot of frustrating players on the roster. Brett Hundley will have a beautiful throw (usually dropped by a receiver), and then follow it up with a ghastly interception or foolish fumble. Jamaal Williams is a good runner; not great at catching the ball. Trevor Davis is speedy returner, who makes absolutely terrible decisions every time -- if he reversed every single one of his decisions, he’d be pretty good. 
Green Bay Packers Football GIF by Fanatics
This is Trevor Davis' face when he's 10 yards deep in the endzone and the coverage
team is on top of him. "This would be a good time to make a run for it!"

  • Honestly, no other team would ever keep Richard Rodgers on its roster. Who is our tight end coach? Why can none of our tight ends block?? 


  • Good news for Jason Spriggs! The backup offensive lineman left last week’s game with what looked to be a very serious knee injury. Fortunately, he avoided an ACL tear. He did dislocate his kneecap (ow), which is a significant injury, but far better than an ACL injury. (I’m not sure this is good news for the Packers, however…)
  • When a former offensive lineman is calling the game, you get an unusual amount of love for offensive line play. On Sunday, announcer Mark Schlereth couldn’t get enough of Green Bay left tackle David Bakhtiari, calling him the best pass protector in the league (rightly so) and saying he “dispensed justice all season long.”
Put that on your resume.
  • I’m convinced that the Packers always overestimate their offensive talent because it’s going up against the Packers defense in practice, which would make anyone look like the Patriots. “Brett Hundley looks amazing in practice!!!”
  • Defensive coordinator Dom Capers is out in Green Bay -- along with the defensive line and inside linebackers coaches -- much to the delight of fans who have been calling for Capers’ head for ages. I can’t say I’m sorry -- in the last two seasons, the Packers defense has been 30th in opponent completion percentage and 31st in quarterback rating. I don’t think Capers has had a lot to work with, in the secondary especially, but the results have under him have been unacceptable.

  • Enough with the “Jordy Nelson is no good anymore” hot takes. He obviously lost a step after tearing his ACL, but he still found a way to lead the league in touchdowns the next year. It’s not really fair to take his Brett Hundley-driven statistics as the measure of his play.


  • Nelson, for his part, is very realistic and self-aware. He knows he’s not the same player he was before his knee injury, and he knows that there probably isn’t enough money to go around for him, Randall Cobb, and Davante Adams (who just signed a four-year, $58 million extension). He understands that his role is changing as Adams becomes the number-one receiver. Said Nelson, “I have no problem with it. I’m happy for Davante. He’s put a lot of work in and grown so much ... I was in that same situation six years ago or whatever with Greg (Jennings) and Donald (Driver). So I’m not mad at all. I’m happy for him, I’m happy with the way he’s developed, I’m happy with the way he’s grown as a football player, as a person, everything.” You don’t hear a lot of professional athletes talk like that.
Green Bay Packers Football Post GIF
Because Jordy's not like other athletes. 


  • I love how much Davon House loves Green Bay. House had an injury-plagued season and is again facing free agency. When asked if he wishes he hadn’t played through some of those injuries, he responded, “Why not? Last year during this time, I was wishing I could be back here. Now that I’m here, I’m glad I played.”




  • I really don't care about James Harrison signing with the Patriots after being cut by the Steelers, but you just know New England and Pittsburgh are going to meet in the playoffs and there will be some BS, last-minute play by Harrison that will end up winning the game or some nonsense like that. Because it's the Patriots, and that's how it always works.

  • Twitter must think I like football players whose initialed first names end in J.

Do I talk about JJ Watt too much??
  • Someone on Twitter threw out the idea that if a football player wins you your league, you should donate to one of their causes. With Todd Gurley’s last couple of weeks winning a lot of his owners their leagues, several of them did contribute to Shriners Hospital for Children in thanskgiving for Gurley’s blowing up the box score. Pretty cool!



  • Philadelphia's punter forgot to take his warmup pants off.

  • That was the highlight of the Eagles-Cowboys game. No, really.
  • The Tampa Bay Buccaneers have been in a giving mood. Defensive tackle Sealver Siliga was eating with friends late on Christmas Eve at an Applebee’s. Before paying, he asked the manager how many employees were still at the restaurant, and left a $1,000 tip to be divided equally among all 10 employees there. Then, the offensive line -- apparently sick of getting crappy presents from each other -- decided that instead of exchanging gifts, they’d pool their money and give it to the training, equipment, and cafeteria staff as Christmas bonuses.


  • I worry so much about Andrew Luck. It is NEVER a good sign when a player goes to Europe for treatments.  




  • I didn’t think the Cleveland Browns had a chance to beat the Pittsburgh Steelers, but then the Steelers decided to rest all their starters and there was a glimmer of hope left!! Cleveland kept within striking distance the whole game and were down 28-24 when they got the ball back with 4:30 left. They picked up some big yards and ended up facing 3rd-and-6 at the Pittsburgh 31-yard line at the two-minute warning. They pick up four yards on the next play. It’s 4th-and-2, everything on the line. DeShone Kizer takes the snap, the Steelers pressure, looks like Kizer’s going to be sacked -- but wait! He escapes! He slides left, has a man opens he throws and --

  • Oh, the poor Browns. What’s to be done about them? They were so close to getting their first and only win of the season. How epic would it have been if they won their last game to avoid the ignominy of 0-16? And the poor receiver was inconsolable, as you can imagine. Here’s Kizer trying to comfort him.

  • It was uncomfortable having to depend on the Atlanta Falcons in order to bounce the evil Seattle Seahawks -- that’s never a position you want to be in. Fortunately, Atlanta handled the Panthers 22-10, which automatically knocked the Seahawks out of contention. It wasn’t necessary, but it was still a lot of fun to watch Seattle also lose to the Cardinals on a missed last-second field goal. Muahhahaha! This was the real celebration on new year's eve.
  • The most fun story of the day was the Buffalo Bills. They beat the Miami Dolphins, but needed the already-eliminated Cincinnati Bengals to beat the Baltimore Ravens, who were playing for a spot in the playoffs. Here’s the Buffalo locker room watching the end of the Bengals-Ravens game:


  • We’ll have to trudge through the postseason without the Packers, which is a real downer. I feel as sad as Randall Cobb in his post-game interview. My solace comes from the fact that the Cowboys and Seahawks also are sitting on their couches. I’m now taking applications for which team to cheer for. I’m open to any team except for the Kansas City Chiefs, because they’re too boring, and the New England Patriots, for obvious reasons.
Image result for tom brady bill belichick






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