2017 Sunday Week 3 Game Ball

Yesterday, was well to say the least interesting. From what President Trump said about the players of the NFL, and would continue to say throughout the day when players, coaches, and owners linked arms and kneeled for the National Anthem. What was also interesting and seemingly took over the narrative of Week 3 of 2017 was the way that the players, coaches, owners, and teams as a whole responded to such comments.  There are too many great and powerful quotes to repeat in this column, but the response from the players just kept getting more and more powerful as the games went along.

Week 3 also served as the ground breaking for sports and politics being intertwined until at least Donald Trump exists the office of President of the United States. However, maybe the best thing of all was not the sound bites about what happened at a rally in Alabama the Friday before, nor the examples of league wide unity, but the escapism that this great game can give us. You see, what the President or any non-sports does not understand when the want fans of the NFL or any sport to boycott is how the game makes fans feel. What a great game can do for people going through a tough time, or wanting to escape the harsh reality that we leave in; including politics, it always you to forget for a while. You don’t have to think about what is going on in the world for 3+ hours at a time, instead you worry about how your team will pick up this 3rd down, or what the play will be coming out of a timeout to get your favorite player open for the game-winning shot, or how your bullpen will fair against the middle of the order in a one run game.

You cannot put a value on that, no amount of money, period. That escapism is something that you cannot boycott or shy away from. You cannot fire a work force that makes the most money as a whole franchise in all of sports. If you wanted to attack a sport, don’t attack football. Sports fans think Roger Goodell is an unstoppable force, try stopping everyone associated with football.

Getting into the actual games that were as a collection, the best in recent memory. If President Trump’s comments didn’t happen and it was just a regular week of football, it would’ve been a fantastic week of football. From the Lions almost win (that should’ve been a win), Tom Brady’s first 40-year-old comeback, to “Mr. Free Play” Aaron Rodgers willing the Packers back into the game in the Heat Bowl in Green Bay, topped all off with the great performance by Chris Thompson. To me that is a great football week, it’s going to be tough to beat that week, but I hope it gets better.


The game that I didn’t mention was the Giants-Eagles game that was a rough game to watch before the 4th quarter. The 4th quarter saw Odell Beckham Jr. “act like a dog” and make one of the best catches of the season. You saw a glimpse of what the Giants could be when they came back down 14 and scoring 21 un-answered points. The championship style defense acted like it in the 4th quarter, and the Eagles put on a show in their home opener. It also showcases my game ball winner for Sunday Week 3. It goes to the Philly kicker Jake Elliott. Elliott accounted for 9 of the 27 points that the Eagles scored on Sunday. He was 3 of 3 on extra points and hit a game-winning 61-yard field goal as time expired. Elliott, the Eagles, and Philly fans alike went absolutely insane. You also got to see Elliott’s parents have an emotional moment that is top ten this decade, it also saw a picture of Elliott being carried off the field in Philadelphia like the end of Rudy.  Great week of football, and hears to many more.     

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

The 2023 Offseason is Brian Cashman's Biggest Test Yet

The Question going into the Trade Deadline for the New York Yankees

The Answer for the Mets