FMQB: Whoah-Oh FitzMagic!

Posted by fmquarterback on September 21, 2018
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FMQB: Whoah-Oh FitzMagic!

Whoah-oh Fitz Magic!

If you had Ryan Fitzpatrick slated as the early MVP frontrunner, and beating the Super Bowl champions and a popular Super Bowl pick in the Saints on the road, then prove it. His season is truly magical so far. I agree with DeSean Jackson, how can you take him out and give Jameis Winston his job back?

 

Believe-land:

The range of emotions this team had in a 4 day stretch was pretty crazy. On Sunday, they had 2 missed FG’s and 2 missed extra points. The last extra pt. one was rough, which came right after an exciting 4th and 5 play late in the 4th quarter. It wouldn’t have mattered, as the Saints went up by 3, but they miraculously got back into Field Goal range. Watching Gonzalez march out onto the field for the 52 yarder with his head hanging, you just knew he was going to miss. He basically lost the game for them for the 2nd straight week. Keep in mind, the Browns, the LOWLY Browns, have gone toe to toe with the Saints (pun intended) and the Steelers. Two top-tier teams. They could easily be 3-0.

 

Ah, but Thursday night! The Browns finally won! It’s been 635 days since they’ve tasted victory. They struggled against the Jets and then Tyrod Taylor goes down, Browns fans must have been thinking “not again.” But the curse is broken and the Bud Light fridge unlocked! Congrats Cleveland.

 

The Most Exciting Tie you could see!

Pro-tip, if you’re looking for an exciting game to watch this year, turn on the Packers. They’ve been in two doozys, and the battle for the NFC North was another great one on Sunday. Full disclosure, the refs did not play favorites in this one and both sides have a right to be upset. Even on Rodger’s bum knee, the Packers were up 20-7 in the 4th quarter, partially thanks to a couple bad penalties especially one roughing the passer (although this one was close). But wow, Kirk Cousins turned it on in the 4th quarter. He actually looked fantastic this game, but they scored 21 points in the quarter and a 2 pt conversion to tie it up. The controversy came on the final drive, when he heaved one up as he was getting hit by Clay Matthews. INT, end of game, but hold on a flag for roughing the passer. There is literally a picture from the perfect angle that shows Matthews making contact and the ball is still in Cousins’ hands. He doesn’t wrap Cousin’s up, nor drive him into the ground, nor does he land with all of his weight on Kirk. You can also see Clay put his left hand down and try to brace his fall. This flag was absolutely terrible, but ended up making for an exciting game. The icing of Crosby after making a kick and having him miss, and then the Vikings kicker missing 2 OT FG’s yielded the tie. I will scream this one more time from the highest mountant, the 10 minute OT rule change is garbage! After the Vikings missed their FG, the Packers were driving and punted away with 3:57 left. You’re essentially limiting the number of drives to 3 if you’re lucky. Should have kept it at 15 minutes or at least switch to college football OT rules. I foreshadowed more ties last week, I just didn’t expect it to come the next week. I wouldn’t doubt this is talked about in the offseason, especially if there’s a 3rd tie.

 

Stat of the Week #1:

Ryan Fitzpatrick, a backup QB, is leading the league in TD’s, Yards, and passer rating

 

Stat of the Week #2:

Saquon Barkley had 14 receptions on Sunday, setting a team record. That’s more than Devante Adams, Stefon Diggs, AJ Green, Amari Cooper and Larry Fitzgerald have all season.

 

Stat of the Week #3:

Patrick Mahomes, first player with 10 TD passes in first 2 games. Keep in mind Sunday was his 3rd career start. Even the year that Peyton threw 55 TD’s, he only had 9 TD’s after Week 2.

 

Stat of the Week #4:

Ryan Fitzpatrick has 4 TD’s of over 35 yards, no other QB has more than 1.

 

Stolen Stat of the Week #5:

Oakland defense in first 2 games:

2 sacks

1 forced fumbles

0 fumbles recovered

1 interception

0 touchdowns

 

Khalil Mack in first 2 games:

2 sacks

2 forced fumbles

1 fumble recovered

1 interception

1 touchdown

 

Surprising Stat of the Week #6:

The Dolphins, Bengals, Buccaneers, Rams and Jaguars are in sole possession of 1st place in their division. Tell that to 2016 fans and they’d never believe you!

 

Stat of the Week #7:

In the Patriots Jaguars game, one QB threw the ball 45 times for 376 yards and 4 TD’s; and it wasn’t Tom Brady…

 

Stat of the Week #8:

Baker Mayfield’s first drive ended in points, and in his 1 half of play he threw for 201 yards and a QBR of 94.9 (out of 100).

 

Stat of the Week #9:

This is the first time since the new OT rules were introduced in 1972 that there were tie games in Week 1 and Week 2.

 

For the Record:

  • We’re 2 weeks in, and I wholeheartedly repeal my questioning of Andy Reid’s decision to trade Alex Smith and let Patrick Mahomes lead the team. I was dead wrong and I admit it. Mahomes looks like a star in the making.
  • The NFL eliminated their Catch Rule controversy just to replace it with Roughing the Passer. The Vikings game calls were abhorrent, and the fact the NFL agreed with the refs is an even bigger problem.
  • The Bengals are surprising, after two bum years they may have rebounded and be on their way to winning the division.
  • The Texans on the other hand are not living up to expectations, with everybody healthy
  • The Rise of the Rams is almost as abrupt as the fall of the Seahawks. They went from Super Bowl contender, to .500 team, to garbage in just 17 games
  • The Broncos comeback and final drive was pretty slick. John Gruden’s reaction to them making the kick was 100% Chucky too.

 

 

Divisional Deep Thinking:

Ties are weird, but the cool thing about the Vikings and Packers is that they now cannot tie the season series. They’ll go into their final game knowing that whoever wins will have the tiebreaker.

 

 

What it takes to Excel:

Blame me for being a homer, but this video of Rams coach Sean McVay is absolutely insane. A reporter gives him a situation such as “2015, Redskins vs Saints, 2nd and 12 on the 16 yard line with 4:24 left in the 3rd quarter.” And Sean will literally interrupt him and tell him the formation, the route, or what happened on the play.

https://sports.yahoo.com/sean-mcvays-power-recall-must-seen-believed-033739946.html

 

Video of the Year:

A few of you may have seen this, but it’s definitely worth watching again

http://dailysnark.com/colorado-mascot-shoots-himself-in-the-balls-after-accidentally-facing-t-shirt-cannon-wrong-way/

 

Quote of the Week:

“Is any of that yours?” Reporter- asking Ryan Fitzpatrick about his post-game outfit that he claimed to have borrowed from DeSean Jackson

“Just the chest hair”- Ryan Fitzpatrick

Quote of the Week #2:

“What came into the decision to let Dan Carlson (Vikings kicker) go?” Reporter

“Did you see the game?” Mike Zimmer

 

Quote of the Week #3:

“Hey, when’s the next article come out?” Reader

“Friday…hence the name” FMQB (sorry bro, I had to!)

 

Stolen Quote of the Week #4:

“The Bills are so bad, their players are retiring at halftime.” Still utterly astounded that Vontae Davis went into the locker room, put on his street clothes and just left. Never heard of anything remotely close to that. Completely disrespectful to the team, I don’t care what he says. If anything, tell the trainers you’re not feeling right or even sick and sit out the 2nd half.

 

Meme of the Week:

Meme of the Week #2:

Meme of the Week #3:

 

Meme of the Week #4:

 

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FMQB: You Vike That?!?!

Posted by fmquarterback on September 14, 2018
Posted in: NFL. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , . Leave a comment

FMQB: You Vike That?!?!

 

Rodgers Rarity:

The Sunday night game will be one that gets replayed for years and years, and I don’t think I’m exaggerating. The fact that Rodgers was terrible with his good knee, goes out and the Bears have a hay day on defense should have ended the game there. The magic when he walked back onto the field, single handedly breathing back life into the stadium that had been drawn out as he was carted off the field; it was just incredible. The entire stadium went from “oh no, not again!” to “down 20-0? No problem, we have Aaron.” Despite the Packers not doing anything offensively in the 1st half, Lambeau had hope. And while the comeback was exciting, it almost wasn’t surprising, it was expected. If anybody has seen The Natural with Robert Redford, this was like a 3 hour condensed version of that.

 

Quick Hits:

  • Weather delays are extremely rare in the NFL, and we had 2 (technically 3) happen this week
  • The Colts didn’t waste time with easing Andrew Luck back into things. They tested out his shoulder on a league leading 53 attempts!
  • The Steelers didn’t seem to be missing LeVeon Bell. James Connor is leading the league in rushing
  • Saquon Barkley’s TD run shows the talent and explosiveness the Giants were hoping for, just wow. And against the Jags
  • Other than the first play of the game, Sam Darnold looks like the real deal
  • The Vikings and Jags defense looks legit
  • I want whatever Aaron Rodgers was on during his postgame interview. Or maybe I don’t…

 

Stat of the Week:

Drew Brees is on pace for 7024 passing yards

 

Stat of the Week #2:

This was the Bears first 10 point lead against the Packers since 2007

 

Follow-up Stat of the Week #3:

Julio Jones lead the league in receiving with 169 yards, but that elusive TD has his team at 0-1. On his last 20 targets to Julio Jones in the endzone, Matt Ryan is 1-20.

 

Stat of the Week #4:

The Browns 0-0-1 start is their best start since 2004.

 

Stat of the Week #5:

In the Bucs vs. Saints game: 88 points is a new record for a season opener, and there were 1004 offensive yards in that game

 

Stat of the Week #6:

Aaron Rodgers had 13 yards on a good knee in the first half, and 273 yards on a bad knee in the 2nd half

 

Stat of the Week #7:

Nathan Peterman has started 3 games in his career. One of which was this weekend where he went 5/18 for 24 yards and a 0.0 QB rating. It was 40-0 35 minutes into the game. Another start had him at 6/14, 0 TD’s and 5 INTs. Looks like you got yourself a winner there!

 

Stat of the Week #8:

The Ravens scored 47 points, yet their leading rusher had 44 yards, and leading receiver had 49 yards.

 

Stat of the Week #9:

Adrian Peterson passed Jim Brown to become 10th on the all time rushing list. He could get up to 8th if he has a good season. Frank Gore, the ageless one, should get to #4 this week. These are the only 2 active rushers in the top 25, proof the position is dying.

 

Stat of the Week #10:

Tyreek Hill touched the ball twice in the 1st quarter. The first was a 91 yard punt return, and the second a 58 yard receiving TD

 

Stat of the Week #11:

The Dolphins Titans game was 7 hours and 8 minutes long due to two lighting delays. The old record? 5 hours and 16 minutes

 

Stat of the Week:

From out of nowhere, Ryan Fitzpatrick had 417 yds and 4 TD’s

 

Takeaways from Opening Night:

  • The Falcons have struggled in the red zone for literally years. It’s ugly head reared up again last year in the playoffs with 4 shots at the endzone. Can’t believe they lost the game the exact same way
  • Although it was a slight variation, the fact they ran the Philly Special again (and the Falcons fell for it) was hilarious!
  • Nick Foles just somehow wins, no matter how bad his performance
  • The football Gods were just taunting us Thursday night. We waited 7 months, and had to wait an extra hour for a weather delay!

 

 

For the Record:

  • Jimmy Garrapolo is no longer undefeated
  • Only 1 possession in the 1st half of the Bucs Saints game did not result in a score.
  • DeShone Kizer somehow looked worse than Brent Hundley.
  • I don’t think anybody can think Khalil Mack is overpaid after watching his performance on Sunday night; same goes for Aaron Rodgers
  • Looked like the Adrian Peterson of old. He even got the workload of carries with 26 while Chris Thompson only had 5. Ended with 96 yards and a TD.
  • Still not convinced, but I may have been wrong about Patrick Mahomes
  • Case Keenum picked up right where he left off
  • New head coaches were 0-7 in their debuts
  • Ties are still a terrible way to end an NFL game

 

The Browns didn’t Lose!!!

Technically, TECHNICALLY, the Browns ended a 17 game losing streak and a 13 game opening day losing streak on Sunday. Such a weird OT period! There were 5 possessions in the last 1:47! Pittsburgh with the chance at a FG but missed, Browns Punt, Pittsburgh Fumbles in their territory giving the Browns a shot, but their FG is blocked! I will reiterate that the 10 minute overtimes were terrible and will lead to more ties, but I’ve griped about that in the past. Until they switch to college football rules, you’re going to continue to see these as more common.

 

Quote of the Week:

“You Vike That?!?!” Kirk Cousins

 

Games of the Week:

Vikings at Packers: Will likely have playoff consequences and it’s only Week 2!

Chiefs at Steelers

Patriots at Jaguars: Rematch of the AFC Championship

 

Fantasy Football Woes:

 

Despite the meme, I do want to gripe for a second. The only league I paid to be in this year didn’t give me a notification when the draft started, so I had my first Autodraft in years. Thanks ESPN, they went WR, WR, WR, RB, TE (who is now out for the season), QB who was out Week 1. Garbage.

 

Meme of the Week:

 

 

Meme of the Week #2:

FMQB: Eight is Great!

Posted by fmquarterback on September 6, 2018
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FMQB: Eight is Great!

I’m so excited for the season to start that I couldn’t wait until Friday! Here’s your tide-over for the next 3 hours until kickoff!!!

 

Wow, year 8 for FMQB! I still love doing this, and at times it feels taxing, but I’m determined to get to 10 so you’re stuck with me for at least a few more seasons! Same pledge as last year, I’m going to try to keep the paragraphs to a minimum, and once again try to bring back nicknames which fell a bit short last year.

 

I won’t do all 32 team records this year, but of COURSE playoff predictions are here:

 

AFC:

  1. Steelers
  2. Patriots
  3. Jaguars
  4. Chargers
  5. Texans
  6. Dolphins

 

NFC:

  1. Vikings
  2. Saints
  3. Rams
  4. Eagles
  5. Falcons
  6. Packers

 

AFC Championship:

Steelers vs. Jaguars

 

NFC Championship:

Saints vs. Vikings

 

Super Bowl LIII:

Saints vs. Steelers

 

Other Predictions:

  • MVP- Carson Wentz (even if he misses a few weeks)
  • The Browns will win 7 games this year
  • This will be the Patriots last year in the playoffs under Tom Brady
  • This will be Eli Manning’s swan song
  • Offensive Player of the Year: DeShaun Watson
  • Defensive Player of the Year: JJ Watt
  • Comeback Player of the Year: Andrew Luck
  • Jon Gruden struggles in his first year, going 6-10
  • Rookie of the Year: Saquon Barkley
  • Rookie QB Watch:
    • Baker Mayfield: Starting by Week 11, goes 0-5 to end the season
    • Sam Darnold: Starts Week 1, will make the Jets competitive again at 8-8, playoffs next year
    • Josh Allen: Starts Week 3, struggles mightily but has 18 TDs and 24 INTs
    • Josh Rosen: Loses temper in Ryan Leaf-esque news conference, but starts after Sam Bradford injury in Week 4
    • Lamar Jackson: Takes over for a struggling Joe Flacco at 5-5, finishes season 9-7
  • Most Improved from Last Year? Jets or Browns
  • Most Overrated? Eagles, Patriots and Chiefs who are somehow #10 on power rankings with a new QB and a rebuilt defense
  • New coach outlook:
    • Jon Gruden- Raiders. I think he struggles his first year, has some run-ins with the NFL by overpracticing his squad or injury reports (something to do with new rules in play since he was in the league). But they’re a playoff team next year
    • Mike Vrabel- Titans. I bet this is a perennial playoff team shortly with one of the best defenses in the league in 2 years and Mariotta “good enough” to get them to 10-6 each year. I think they fall short his first year though.
    • Matt Patricia- Lions. I’m most interested in seeing this one play out. Belichcik disciples have traditionally done terribly in Head Coaching roles (Charlie Weiss, Romeo Crennel, Eric Mangini to name a few). But he has pieces to work with in Detroit.
    • Frank Reich- Colts: I think it’s a building season, but having the OC from the Super Bowl champs helps. I think he could be a good long term coach.
    • Steve Wilks, Arizona: With QB questions and a soon to be retired Larry Fitzgerald, I think Wilks is the first in this class to get fired.
    • Matt Nagy, Bears: I have a feeling this is one of those situations where you have an amazing coach with a terrible team. If he’s around long enough to get a decent QB and to rebuild, this is my Super Bowl winning coach of the bunch.
    • Pat Shurmur, Giants: 2nd go around in coaching, but he’ll have to deal with QB replacement soon. However you have a couple of the best offensive players in the game with Barkley and Beckham, and an offensive minded coach. Could be poised for a playoff run his first year.

 

 

Stat of the Week:

Tom Brady is the 3rd QB to enter a season as a starter at 41 or older. The other two (Brett Favre and Warren Moon) struggled mightily after age 41. Remember Peyton Manning’s 55 TD year, and the following season he limped his way into retirement? When is that going to happen for Brady? Even with his crazy diet, it’s going to catch up to him at somepoint, and the Patriots are going to go from a Super Bowl caliber team to a 6-10 team VERY quickly.

 

Stat of the Week #2:

The Vikings are the only team with a winning record in the Super Bowl era not to have won a title

 

Stat of the Week #3:

Julio Jones only had 3 TD’s last season (yet was griping about wanting a new contract). I’ll admit he’s a beast for yardage, and hands down a top receiver in the league, but he’s only had one double-digit TD season in his 7 year career.

 

Feel Good Player to Watch:

Keep an eye on Shaquem Griffin for the Seahawks. He had his left hand amputated as a kid so only has one hand. A high school coach wouldn’t let him join the team because “Football players have 2 hands.” He ended up playing college ball at UCF, but wasn’t even initially invited to the Combine! But he got in and did one handed bench press and ran a blistering 4.38 40 yard dash! He got drafted in the 5th round, which is basically less than 50-50 that you make the team. Not only did he make the team, he’s starting week 1 for the Seahawks! To put this into perspective, there is only one other Rookie starting for the team, and it’s the Punter.

 

Nostalgia:

Jon Gruden’s last playoff victory was the Super Bowl win (against the Raiders) where he became the youngest head coach to win a Super Bowl. To give perspective at how long ago this was, Tom Brady had 1 Super Bowl appearance and victory by this point.

 

 

To Boldly Go Where We’ll Never Go Back To Again!

So apparently the NFL got scared away by the 10 degree temperatures in the #BoldNorth last year. Next 6 Super Bowl locations are Atlanta, Miami, Tampa Bay, Los Angeles, Phoenix, and New Orleans. Nothing north of the Mason Dixon line!

 

Quick Hits:

  • I have been anti-Patrick Mahomes for the past year (nothing against him, I just don’t get why they ran Alex Smith out of town), but WOW, that arm! He had a throw that went 70 yards in the air, which was longer than ANY pass the entire season last year.
  • Funny how Adrian Peterson was so picky on taking a contract last year, and now he just signed for the Veteran minimum in Washington
  • LeVeon Bell should take a hint from this, take your money now, the market for you next year when you’re a year older won’t be great
  • On the same note, I have a feeling that things between Bell and Pittsburgh is going to get ugly, very fast. It’s not unfeasible to see him sit out the entire season.
  • I don’t see the hatred with NBC’s new “Green Zone.” I actually think this is much better than the gaudy yellow line showing the first down marker. It’s more pleasing to the eye because it’s subtle, but it’s fast to realize where a player is in relation to the 1st down. It needs some tweaking because it looks video game-ish when players are running through it, but don’t let the Twitter trolls get rid of this feature!
  • Losing Khalil Mack just lost the Raiders the West
  • How Aaron Rodgers is making 2/3 of what other QB’s are getting paid is beyond me

 

Aaron Rodgers Contract:

That last statement was obviously written last week. He got a whopping $103M in guaranteed money, and with incentives could reach $179.5M. I made a big deal out of the inequality of pay. The fact that Matthew Stafford, Derek Carr, Jimmy Garrapolo and Kirk Cousins were the highest paid QB’s was ridiculous (that’s 1 playoff win COMBINED between the 4 of them). The contracts are more about timing than skill. Well the Packers made right with the future hall of famer in my opinion. Here’s the crazy thing, you look at those numbers and it isn’t even surprising anymore, you hardly bat an eye. Here’s why: Alex Rodriguez surpassed the $200M mark…18 years ago! Steph Curry also surpassed $200M last year. Rodgers can only hope he gets that high, as it’s after incentives. His guaranteed money is half that amount.

 

Buzz:

For some reason, people are buzzing about a few surprise teams. Rumors around the league say that Mitch Trubisky could be like the Jared Goff of last year and is maturing as a QB. The Giants are also supposedly looking stronger, helped by Saquon Barkley of course but if he’s the next Ezekial Elliot that could be huge. The Chargers are also getting a LOT of buzz. Not a ton has changed with them, but they went on a run and had some ugly losses that should have made this a playoff team.

 

The NFC is utterly stacked. You have the Eagles, Rams are right up there, Falcons, Saints, Vikings with Dalvin Cook back, the Packers are always competitive with Rodgers, as are the Panthers with Newton. The Cowboys, Redskins, Lions, and Seahawks will all be mediocre teams but you don’t want to overlook them.

 

Games of Week 1:

Atlanta at Philadelphia- The playoff game last year was Atlanta’s to win

49ers at Vikings- Will be interesting to essentially see 2 new QB’s on teams with high expectations duke it out

Texans at Patriots- a passing of the torch possibly? The GOAT playing against the young stud QB

Rams at Oakland- Battle of Old LA

Chiefs at Chargers- Battle for the AFC West starts Week 1. Will be a key game for playoff purposes

 

Quote of the Season:

“Stretching is way overrated. Did you know World War I and World War II, all those guys that fought in that war, right? They did pushups, jumping jacks, situps, climbed the rope and ran. But none of this fancy (expletive). Okay? And they won two world wars — two world wars! — by doing jumping jacks, pushups, and situps. You think they were worried when they’re running across Normandy about (expletive) stretching?” Bob Wylie- Offensive Line coach of the browns

 

Meme of the Week:

 

FMQB: Draft Edition!

Posted by fmquarterback on May 4, 2018
Posted in: Uncategorized. Tagged: , , , . Leave a comment

 

What?!?! A Draft edition??? But FMQB doesn’t watch college football! This years draft was historic, and crazy, so I felt I needed to address some of it. This is a Triple-Purpose episode, to also look back at my 2017 predictions and the crazy Free Agency that happened in March. Plus, to catch up on a few memes since we last spoke 3 months ago.

 

Bumbling Browns:

I am shocked, SHOCKED at the Baker Mayfield pick, for several reasons. First, it came out of nowhere with Darnold supposed to be #1 the weeks going into it. Second, Baker Mayfield is Johnny Manziel 2.0, and that experiment ended horribly. Third, Josh Allen has a better arm and Josh Rosen is the most NFL ready QB. Mayfield easily could have been the 4th QB taken this year. Fourth, Mayfield has off the field issues and is short. People are comparing him to Brett Favre though, only time will tell. I will say this, 4 years ago he didn’t have a college scholarship and now he’s #1 overall. He must either have talent or know how to work his butt off to make that much of an improvement.

 

In addition to that one pick, why the heck to you take Denzel Ward at #4? He wasn’t on anybody’s top 10 list even. So why not take Saquon Barkley #1, the Giants wouldn’t take a QB, which means you have a top 2 QB at #4 (and very likely Mayfield anyway). They should have traded down in that spot for a QB hungry team and gotten way more.

 

More Surprises:

  • Why did the Cardinals sign Sam Bradford to a $20M deal if they were going to trade up to get Josh Rosen? Seems like a waste.
  • Holy crap are the Raiders stacked at WR now! Carr will have his choice between Jordy Nelson, Amari Cooper, and Martavis Bryant on every play.
  • What happened to the Patriots interest in Lamar Jackson? They passed him over at 23 and 31.
  • For that matter, why did the Ravens sign RGIII and then go up and get Jackson?
  • The Broncos will be scary on defense this year, Von Miller and Bradley Chubb could be a wicked duo

 

Uneven Trades:

It was weird to see how uneven the trades were this year. I know GM’s have a scorecard (i.e a 15 is worth so many points, and a 7th rounder is worth way less, so you can pair them together to get even trades). But to move up 5 spots the Bills gave up two 2nd round picks to the Bucs, but 6 spots later, they gave up only a 3rd to move up 6 spots. And then the Packers seemed to make a killing by going back 13 spots but picking up another 1st round pick. Just didn’t seem like there was any consistency with them.

 

Thank you ESPN for not leaking who #1 was. For years they had their cameras aimed in the green room, and whenever a player would get a call, they’d announce them as the pick even though we wouldn’t know for sure for another 3 minutes. Pulling away and letting Goodell announce it truly makes it must see TV.

 

Draft Predictions:

Baker Mayfield and Josh Rosen will be the “busts” of this draft class. Baker Mayfield will be crushed by the organization around him, and Josh Rosen will be Jay Cutler 2.0; bad attitude and no leadership. Josh Allen will see moderate success, taking the Bills to the playoffs a couple times but never winning (think Matthew Stafford type success). The Jets won the QB battle and he’ll have them relevant in 2 years. Saquon Barkley and Ezekiel Elliot will fight for 1st and 2nd in yards for the next 5 years. Lamar Jackson will go down as the 2nd best QB of this class. Still, I bet this draft class is talked about in a 30 for 30 twenty five years down the road, just like the 1983, 1998 and 2004 ones are today.

 

Roger Goodell:

It’s almost becoming a laughing stock to see Roger Goodell get booed. He tried to prevent it this year by having Troy Aikman, Michael Irvin and Jason Witten come out with him and toss footballs to fans. As soon as he addressed the booing by saying “C’mon, you’re going to boo these 3 Cowboy legends?” the booing got louder! Maybe I was naïve as a kid, but I would get excited to see Paul Tagliabue come out.

 

Stat of the Week:

For the first time in the Draft era, 4 QB’s were taken in the top 10.

 

Stat of the Week #2:

Baker Mayfield is the first college QB to walk on to a team his freshman year, and be selected with the #1 overall draft pick.

 

Highest Paid NFL Players:

  1. Kirk Cousins, 0 playoff wins, has never won more than 9 games in a season
  2. Jimmy Garrapolo, has started 7 games in his entire career
  3. Matthew Stafford, 0 playoff wins
  4. Derek Carr- 0 playoff wins

 

#’s 5, 7, 8 and 9 each have one Super Bowl win. 10 and 11 have two rings, and Brady is #15 despite winning 5 and making 8 of the last 17 Super Bowls.

 

  • With is new contract, Jimmy Garrapolo will earn more in 5 years ($137.5M) than Tom Brady earned in his first 14 ($135.4M)

 

*Full disclosure, I wrote this before Matt Ryan’s monster deal. Still, he’s 4-6 in the playoffs

 

Quotes of the Week:

“Bacon Mayfield and Lama Jackson” Adam Schefter

 

Exciting Free Agent Moves so far:

It was a busy and exciting free agency back in March, it definitely felt like more big names were being moved than previous years. The Patriots core seems to have fallen apart

 

  • Sam Bradford to the Cardinals
  • Case Keenum to the Broncos
  • Alex Smith traded to the Redskins
  • Jarvis Landry to the Browns
  • Jimmy Graham to the Packers
  • Brandin Cooks, Ndamukong Suh, Aquib Talib, and Marcus Peters to the Rams
  • Frank Gore, Danny Amendola, and Robert Quinn to the Dolphins
  • Kirk Cousins to the Vikings
  • Jordy Nelson, Doug Martin, and Martavis Bryant to the Raiders
  • Richard Sherman and Jerick McKinnon to the 49ers
  • Malcolm Butler to the Titans
  • Adrian Peterson and Dez Bryant are notably unemployed

 

A look back at 2017 predictions:

  • Rookie of the Year: Predicted Christian McCaffrey and Reuben Foster. Both got votes, but it was Alvin Kamara and Marshon Lattimore
  • Blake Bortles last year as a starting QB (whoops, took his team to the AFC Championship game and signed a new contract).
  • Cutler leads Dolphins to the playoffs (give me crap about this one, it’s ok)
  • Jets get the #1 pick (not that 5-11 is good, but it’s better than most people thought)
  • Alex Smith starts all 16 games (nailed it, and he still got ran out of town)
  • Osweiler is starting for the Broncos by Week 9 (point of this one being that Trevor Siemien was NOT the guy. It was week 13 for the record)
  • DeShone Kizer surprises the league and the Browns, better stats than Deshaun Watson (yeah, oops)
  • Jared Goff shows some promise, more TD’s than INT’s (definitely got this one right, in fact underestimated his year 1 to year 2 progression by a lot!)
  • Carson Palmer’s final year, same with Fitzgerald (1 right, the other was dang close
  • Ty Montgomery a Top 10 RB in the league, breaks 1000 yards (273 yards, but in my defense he missed over half the season).
  • MVP- Aaron Rodgers (once again, injuries defeated me)
  • Records: A little rough last year, I had 2 that were spot on and 6 that were only one win/loss off. I also had the Eagles and Saints getting last place in their divisions…
  • Playoffs: 4 of 6 in the AFC, only 1 of 6 in the NFC, ouch!
  • Super Bowl: I had the Pats in it!

 

Watching the draft, seeing big free agent moves, and writing this gets me SO excited for football season. Only 4 months away…

 

Meme of the Week:

Meme of the Week #2: (Read the stuff on the left too): Credit Chris Kuck

Meme of the Week #3:

FMQB: Philly Special

Posted by fmquarterback on February 9, 2018
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FMQB: Philly Special

 

I’m really not too sure what to say about this year’s game. It for sure was an exciting game, I think I’m a bit still in shock at the outcome. Nick Foles was tasked with outdueling the best QB of all time, and even despite a couple strong comeback attempts, he was able to do so.

 

1st Quarter:

Both teams opened with opening drive field goals. The Patriots scored points for the 1st time in the 1st quarter under Belichick, which should have been an ominous sign of what was to come. It only got more bizarre from there. Philly scored a TD but missed the extra point to give it a strange 9-3 score at the end of 1.

 

2nd Quarter:

New England opened the second with a rare missed FG by Gostkowski. So rare, that yours truly used that play to run to the bathroom (in order to not miss commercials), and was surprised to see the score when it came back on. The first and only punt of the game came next, and then the Patriots turned the ball over on downs. Then came NE field goal, PHI interception, NE touchdown. Then PHI drove 70 yards in under 2 minutes and set up “The Philly Special.” Earlier in the game the Patriots tried a pass to Brady but he failed to catch it. The Eagles ran the play to perfection and TE Burton threw it to Foles in the endzone. 2 things I loved about this: First, watching Foles stand like a statue while the play developed before running took an insane amount of patience. Second, NFL films caught Foles and Coach Pederson discussing it. It was 4th and 1 (which is gutsy as all get out in the Super Bowl), and Foles asks Pederson “Philly Special?” Doug takes about 5 seconds but says “Yeah let’s do it.” Trick plays in that scenario when you’re guaranteed 3 points is just so high risk high reward that it’s hard to call. But that’s the only way to beat the Patriots, is to keep the foot on the gas. Philly up 22-12 at halftime (guarantee nobody had that in their pools).

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FMQB: Welcome to the Bold North

Posted by fmquarterback on February 2, 2018
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FMQB: Welcome to the Bold North

 

This football on the field is from the Super Bowl LII style guide for useage of logo.

The city is abuzz, the game is 48 hours away, and much like our last election you’re basically going to be upset with whoever wins! It’s pretty sweet to have the Super Bowl in my own town, I live 4 miles from the festivities and it’s neat to actually have Minneapolis put on the map for once. More info next week, but I got to work at the Super Bowl experience!!!

 

Welcome to Minneapolis:

Despite me wanting nothing more than winter to be over, we’ve actually had a surprisingly mild January for Minnesota. Have had at least two 40 degree days, probably four other 30+ degree days. But the football gods laughed and laughed when they sent down single digit weather for all the tourists at the end of this week. This will look great for scheduling another Super Bowl here… For the record, Minnesota has a tendency to overuse slogans. My main pet peeve is the “State of Hockey,” but the “Bold North” slogan is really starting to inch up there for me.

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FMQB: Super Bowl Set!

Posted by fmquarterback on January 26, 2018
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FMQB: Super Bowl Set

 

As what seems to be the norm in this year’s playoffs, we had one super exciting game followed by a game where it was over in the first half hour. Somehow with a wild playoff year, we still have both #1 seeds going at it again. The Super Bowl is set, and we’re ready for the big game in 9 days!!!

 

Will be weird to have a “bye” week in football, but per usual I’ll do a short post on the Championship round this week, and a post on the Super Bowl next week.

 

Patriots vs. Jaguars:

 

From the little I saw the Jaguars this year, and if you don’t count the Bills game, they were an interesting team when it came to leads. Even though their offense can be suspect, their defense was able to hold while they put up a considerable lead. Then come the 2nd half or 4th quarter, it would slowly be whittled away. For the Steelers game, had the game been 4 minutes longer the Steelers would have won that game easily. The same thing happened on Sunday, getting up 20-10 in the 4th quarter and holding Brady to 0 TD passes in the first 51 minutes of gametime. Gronk’s injury was huge, yet the Patriots only scored when he was off the field.

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