2017 Week 8 Monday Game Ball

All is right in the NFL again… I think so. The Pats, Steelers, and Chiefs all won, Dallas beat the Redskins, the Seahawks won a shoot-out. This is the NFL I have come to know and rely on for the past five years.

Ending the midway point in the season, the Chiefs and Broncos had a defensive battle, kinda. Both defenses played well, the Broncos kept Alex Smith under 300 yards (he barely got over 200), kept Kareem Hunt under 100 yards (46 yards), forced turnovers (one just happened to be a Tyreek Hill pick), and kept the Denver offense in the game.

The only problem was; the Denver offense didn’t show up for the second consecutive week. After being shutout in Los Angeles against the Chargers (still weird), Trevor Siemain looked like a 7th round pick again.

While it was a good-hearted story for the first basically hour of his NFL career, the reasons for Siemain being a 7th rounder are showing (maybe at the wrong time), and these signs are telling. Yes, he did beat Brady in Denver, yes, he does throw a nice ball, and yes, he has some arm talent, but he is just not good. It is time for Denver to consider another option at quarterback because in a year where the secondary teams in the AFC aren’t as strong, the Broncos are missing out on a great opportunity to possibly steal a Super Bowl. Who knows, the Bills and Jaguars are the two Wild Card teams right now, they could slip up, and Denver could crawl back into the playoff picture in yet another year where they don’t have a quarterback. It has short of become the new style of offense in the NFL (Jaguars, Bears, Cardinals, Rams, and these Broncos).

It was a defensive battle and it’s only right to reward a defender for ballin’ out last night. That defender is Kansas City’s Pro Bowl Cornerback Marcus Peters. Peters had a fumble recovery for a touchdown, a pass deflection, two tackles, and an interception. I’d call that an all-around game by the corner. Kansas City has had a knack over the years for having a defense that causes turnovers, and that is exactly what KC did last night.


It took a while, but the NFL seems like it is back on its head, and we can just enjoy the few surprise teams as the season charges toward the playoffs. Happy midway point! Let’s try to enjoy every last waking second of the second half.     

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The 2023 Offseason is Brian Cashman's Biggest Test Yet

Image
   Now that the World Series is over five days from now the offseason begins. With that in mind, this is the biggest offseason that Brian Cashman will have in his 25-year tenure as Yankee General Manager. For the first time since 2016 the Bronx Bombers watched the postseason from their couches, and they earned that right. Amazingly, this team finished over .500, although not that far above that mark. This iteration of the Bronx Bombers finish with the same record as that 2016 team—but the feeling with this squad feels different. Following the 2016 season, there was hope of the two power bats that would usher in the “Baby Bombers,” and in that offseason, the farm system was rated in the Top 10 in all of baseball. There was almost certainty that Brian Cashman would put a championship team around Aaron Judge, Gary Sanchez, Greg Bird, and Luis Severino that would be a title contender for years to come. There was hope. And that hope almost turned into reality. Almost. But, that was then
Read more

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

  There is a crossroads in the Bronx in between River and 161 st Street right now. As New York Yankee Manager Aaron Boone likes to put it “[the season] is right in front of them.” The second half of the season is for the taking. As we move into the dog days of summer the Bronx Bombers are nine games out of the division and now a game and a half out of the AL Wild Card race following a disappointing first series in Colorado. With that, the historic starting Tampa Bay Rays have cooled off, going 3-7 before the break while showing signs of being mortal. Baltimore, who has been keeping pace with Tampa, didn’t look like a Superpower when they split against the Yankees two series before the break. The AL East is still a Spartan Training Facility with every team above .500, the Orioles holding the first Wild Card spot, and the “struggling” Boston Red Sox tied the Yankees in the Wild Card race. And unlike Robin Williams in Mrs. Doubtfire, help is not on the way. Aaron Judge’s toe is still a m
Read more

The Answer for the Mets

  As Yogi Berra would say “it’s déjà vu all over again.” Buck Showalter is an all too familiar place. The 67-year-old manager has taken a time machine back to 2012. No, he is not managing in Baltimore anymore, however that’s what it feels like the end of Showalter’s Oriole tenure in Queens right now. The Mets simply can’t get out of their own way. With Pete Alonso likely headed to the Injured List, the Mets scored 10 runs last night in Atlanta. 10 runs on the heels of back-to-back gut-wrenching losses at the hands of the team that has foiled the Mets for the better part of almost three decades, the Atlanta Braves. 10 runs with their hired ace, Justin Verlander, who was looking to put together good starts consecutively for the first time all season. The Mets looked like they were about to exercise some demons in Atlanta last night, and then, the other shoe dropped. It wasn’t good enough. Again. Last night, I wrote that the Mets season was on the line with Verlander toeing the slab. Well
Read more