NFL 2021 Regular Season!

[worstblogever]

And just like that, it's a game.

Reich's seat is gonna start getting warm if he drops to 1-4 in a game where he blows a 19 point lead.

[babyblob]

That cheap shot and the yards given up because of it may have cost the Ravens the game.

[BeastieRunner]

Now seeing that Gruden is resigning, not getting fired.

Guess we shall see the headlines tomorrow.

[babyblob]

This has been the worst week for kicking that I have ever seen in my life.

[Kirby101]

Now seeing that Gruden is resigning, not getting fired.

Guess we shall see the headlines tomorrow.

Maybe he made a deal to go quietly for some $$?

[Kirby101]

The Giants took future hall of fame running back Barkley at 2 in 2018, because there were any good choices at QB that year.
Let me see who was in that draft. Some guy named Allen and this Jackson guy.

[Jackalope89]

The Giants took future hall of fame running back Barkley at 2 in 2018, because there were any good choices at QB that year.
Let me see who was in that draft. Some guy named Allen and this Jackson guy.

The Giants would have screwed Allen over. As a Wyoming fan, we knew we had a special kid, but out OC/QB coach at the time, sucked at developing QBs. He got exactly what he needed in Buffalo with a patient front office, an OC that can adapt to his strengths, bringing in a strong and complimentary cast on offense, and a personal QB coach in the off-seasons got Josh to where he is. And Jackson got similar treatment in Baltimore, from what I've read.

Do you really thing the Giants would have invested so much into Josh over several years?

[Scott Taylor]

Now seeing that Gruden is resigning, not getting fired.

Guess we shall see the headlines tomorrow.

Personally I'd like to see him announce games again, he was worlds better than most of what we have had going since he left. This possibly leaves the door open for that at a later date.

Not dismissing his emails, he's obviously got major issues.

[worstblogever]

Now seeing that Gruden is resigning, not getting fired.

Guess we shall see the headlines tomorrow.

Considering it a forced resignation. He and Mark Davis have had a friendship, so they might have just come to an agreement on it with some compensation without the need for "firing for cause" to try to avoid paying them like Grandpa Al would have done.

[babyblob]

Personally I'd like to see him announce games again, he was worlds better than most of what we have had going since he left. This possibly leaves the door open for that at a later date.

Not dismissing his emails, he's obviously got major issues.

It will take a while for him to be on tv if he does go that route.

Look at Thom Brennaman The Reds announcer. He used on slur on a hot mike and it took him over a year to get a job announcing again. Even then it was with the world league in Puerto Rico and then for an app that announces High School sports games. And he had a very long career as an announcer and is the son of a Hall of Fame announcer.

[The Big G]

Considering it a forced resignation. He and Mark Davis have had a friendship, so they might have just come to an agreement on it with some compensation without the need for "firing for cause" to try to avoid paying them like Grandpa Al would have done.

No need for an overhead projector this time

[worstblogever]

No need for an overhead projector this time

Frank Caliendo is going to have to find a new impression to bank on.

[worstblogever]

Given the Gruden thing, I'm gonna drop this right now...

WEEK 6 "WHO'S COOKIN' ON THE HOTSEAT?/FIRE THIS COACH!" DISCUSSION

GUYS WHO WERE ON THE HOT SEAT THIS SEASON, BUT FOR THE MOMENT LOOK SAFE: Kliff Kingsbury (Cardinals) , Mike McCarthy (Cowboys), Zac Taylor (Bengals)


11. Matt Nagy, Bears (LUKEWARM SEAT): The Double-Doink happened like 3 years ago, but it made something snap in Matt Nagy. He spent that entire off-season talking about it, and making his players relive that trauma, and they responded by getting worse afterwards. Where they didn’t respond was fixing their QB situation. They drafted Justin Fields, but for some reason Nagy was sticking with Andy Dalton. If you’re going with the Red Rifle at this stage of his career, you’re pretty f***ed. It took Dalton getting hurt and Fields going out there and *gasp* winning for Nagy to begrudgingly admit Fields would be the starter going forward, and the only person upset in Chicago about it is Andy Dalton.

The question now is, will the Bears end up being mediocre because they are (currently 3-2 and hosting the Packers next week… looks like 3-3 through six weeks), and they have a rookie QB, and will that end up being the reason they keep Nagy around for one more year? For continuity’s sake?

We’re gonna have to keep watching all year, because from the jump, Nagy had one of the hottest seats in the NFL. Stepping away from Andy Dalton was at least a first step towards saving his job.

10. Vic Fangio, Broncos: Man, remember when this team was 3-0 and some chuckleheads thought they might win the division? But wiser people noted that trio of victories were against the Jets, Giants, and Jaguars, who were a combined 0-9 at that point? (And still only have two wins between them through five weeks)

Denver came back to Earth fast. At least, that was the case before Bridgewater got a concussion yesterday in a loss to the Ravens. (Fangio also is making headlines for being a redass and complaining about Baltimore not going into victory formation to call one more running play to tie the NFL record for consecutive 100 yard rushing games, because of COURSE he’ll use any excuse to be a redass.) They Broncos were lucky to get Teddy Bridgewater back out of concussion protocol yesterday, but it didn’t help much, they were a panacea for what was ailing the Steelers and next week they get a division matchup with the Raiders. The loser of that game’s seat is gonna start getting real warm, as both teams came out of the gate with three wins, but will drop to .500.

A reminder, Fangio declared that Covid-19 is showing "who the whiners are" around the NFL, last season. Perhaps we should also mention that last year, the game that the Broncos played without an actual QB was because under Fangio’s leadership, the whole QB room broke Covid-19 protocols so they could sit right on top of each other in the film room, rather than socially distance in corners. If you can’t get guys to adhere to that simple thing… it might be because you yourself are fighting the regulations there to keep you alive. On the field, though... “Mr. Covid Tough Guy” Fangio led Denver to a 5-11 in 2020, and to paraphrase a wiser person on CBR than I… “Denver somehow found the only person who can make dumber decisions than Vance Joseph.” Prediction: The Broncos next head coach will not have a name that starts with “V”.

9. Pete Carroll, Seahawks Yes, Carroll gave this city a Super Bowl. That was… some time ago. His franchise QB wants out of town, and as of Thursday night, the ligament in his middle finger decided to try to leave the team a bit before Russ was even ready for it to. So far this year, this team is 2-3 and while it’s about to get bleak with Geno Smith starting instead of Wilson, we want to point out that it’s not that the O-Line never got rebuilt…

The Legion of Boom is GONE. This defense is no longer scary, it’s Bobby Wagner and a bunch of scarecrows in the secondary. Through their first five games, is giving up 466 YPG, which doesn’t skew to them being bad in either phase defensively. They’re 30th against the pass, and 31st against the run. Just… Jesus. They’re kicker’s also only 60% accurate, so without an MVP under center now, for the next month they’re likely to be bad in all three phases of the game.

Our reason why we think Carroll won’t be fired no batter how bad this year gets… Even though he’s a kooky 9/11 truther who keeps violating NFL policies for practices and getting the organization fined (he kind of has a track record of cheating, but he’s not Belichek so it’s not thought about)…. Our reason he wont be fired is Pete Carroll is under contract now until 2025. That’s a lot of money to eat, no matter how awful this squad is going to get, and we think their best case scenario once Wilson gets back will be to overachieve down the stretch and maybe end up third in the division... but we are thinking they’re going to finish last.

8. Robert Saleh, Jets: Look, we’re gonna say it… we thought this was a solid hire. It probably still is… but the Jets looked AWFUL through 3 weeks, even for Gang Green. They got shut out against the Denver Broncos yesterday and struggled to get even 162 total yards of offense. We know… Saleh’s a defensive coach, and he’s got a questionable talent in his rookie signal-caller Zach Wilson. A first year head coach usually doesn’t end up on the chopping block…

The Jets inexplicably beat the Titans yesterday in OT and avoided going 0-17 in 2021, but traveled to London on Sunday where they lost a winnable game against the Atlanta Falcons, going three and out on their first two possessions while leaving their defense on the field for 11 minutes of the first quarter, and through the first three quarters, Zach Wilson had only thrown for 65 yards. He ended up with 198 yards, and the Jets launched a garbage time FG to make the final score 27-20… but it was never that close. And Atlanta? That’s not exactly a defensive juggernaut in the league.

But it can happen. Steve Wilks went 3-13 in one year in Arizona and the locker room knew his OC was a joke that whole, and they just gave up on both of them mid-season. So no matter how fired up people were to play for Saleh in San Francisco, if things don’t reverse course with the Jets, he could end up a “one and done” guy.

7. Frank Reich, Colts: All right, we need to talk about Indy. They’re 1-4, but let’s keep in mind, those losses are against some top-tier teams, in the Rams, the Seahawks, and the Titans. The latter of whom is their division rival who many picked to win the AFC South. While starting out winless in September is perhaps a disappointment in that it was the worst case scenario for their record (duh, that’s how zero works), they’re at least not awful, having yet to have been blown out, and that’s a credit to their defense, especially their back half, who are 2nd in the NFL in passing yards allowed.

But Carson Wentz… he’s already been on the injury report this year and is believed to be playing hurt. This team’s fortunes ride on the health of a guy who has the durability of wet tissue paper.
If he's not, he’s suffering from inflammation of the ego and just started tuning out coaches his last season in Philly and it’s carried over here.

Why does that fall on Frank Reich? He’s the guy who wanted to trade for Wentz, so if he’s injured and does fall out of games completely and they’re forced to start their unqualified back-up options… Reich’s likely to take some of the blame. That will happen when you green light the front office sending draft picks for a $40 million a year albratross with a busted wing. You can’t be mad at their defense, either, who going into tonight’s game, were one the best in the league, especially against the pass (Lamar Jackson did take a pin to that balloon.) If Indianapolis can’t reverse course and get into the playoffs, well, Reich’s on the fourth year of his contract, and could be shown the door.

Their one win so far this year came at the hands of the Dolphins, and they just blew a 19 point lead (16 point lead in the fourth quarter) to lose to the Ravens in overtime. This was a team expected to compete for a division title, and they’re one of the biggest disappointments of the season right now.

6. Mike Zimmer, Vikings (LUKEWARM SEAT): The Vikings were supposedly "just a QB away" from winning a Super Bowl a few years ago with the impeccable defense they had, and they spent BIG for Kirk Cousins. Then they traded away Stephon Diggs (BIG MISTAKE), and their defense officially "got a case of the olds" going into 2020. Minnesota’s biggest off-season free agent signing was CB Patrick Peterson, who age has not just proven to be “no longer an elite corner”, he’s arguably “not even a starting corner” in the league, admitting on his podcast he struggles at covering any receiver who’s simply PUT IN MOTION. That’s the top free agent addition to an aged defense.

The Vikings two wins so far this year are a nice win in Seattle against the struggling Seahawks, and last week’s last minute win against the Lions that isn’t being celebrated, but is more of a concern for folks in Minnesota because… “WE COULD BARELY BEAT THE WINLESS LIONS?!?”

This offense again is underwhelming in spite of all the talent they have, having to fight to put up 20 points against Detroit, and a defense that almost let Jared Goff and not much else stage a fourth quarter comeback. They’re 2-3, and might repeat the pattern of last season where they struggle back to .500 when the Panthers come to town. But Carolina’s got a damned fine defense and Sam Darnold is playing more like a first round pick now that he’s away from the Jets. Should be an interesting matchup.

[worstblogever]

5. Joe Judge, Giants: We don’t believe Joe Judge should have ever been a head coach. His prior experience before getting the gig in the Meadowlands with the G-Men was serving as special teams coordinator/wide receivers coach in New England (a team not regarded well for its WR corps during his tenure). His QB is living blooper reel Daniel Jones. His team’s preseason was marred by a massive brawl with THEMSELVES where the pileup of players throwing haymakers tumbled onto their starting QB who ended up at the bottom of the mound of humanity, enraging Judge so he made his players run gassers like they were back in high school JV, and resulting in one veteran filing to retire immediately, rather than play for him any more.

This guy’s team loathes him, and the New York media are salivating at all the ink they can lay out simply by getting his players to throw him under the bus. His only hope for any job security is he’s coaching in the worst division in the NFL right now, where practically any of the four teams in it could accidentally stumble into a division title to get destroyed in the first round of the playoffs. That’s the GOOD news.

Coming off an upset win at the Superdome in New Orleans, the Giants got their s*** kicked in by the Dallas Cowboys on Sunday, and the news is even worse… they sustained injuries to Daniel Jones (forcing them to put in giraffe-man Mike Glennon who threw a late pick-six), Saquon Barkley (truly a theme at this point), AND top free agent acquisition WR Kenny Golladay. Oh, and the other rookie receiver threw a punch and might be suspended, but then again he also has an ankle injury and might miss the next game if he isn’t. They lose 44-20, and four of your key offensive players are out. Who’s Judge taking his squad out to face this week…?

Just the Los Angeles Rams. You’re sending Mike Glennon out with no skill position players against Aaron Donald and that defense. THIS… is gonna be ugly. Oh, and pro-tip, if you can get the Rams’ defense in fantasy football, DO THAT NOW, and thank Joe Judge for you winning a fantasy game on a defense getting you like 20 or 30 points.

4. Brian Flores, Dolphins: The Dolphins are 1-4, and that one win came in Week 1 against the Patriots by a single point. They got utterly destroyed by a Bucs team with major concerns in its secondary, and have been forced to send Jacoby Brissett out at QB instead of Tu’a, but… well, this franchise has been lobbying to trade for DeShaun “Serial Massage Therapist Groper” Watson in a way that’s come to public knowledge and seems to indicate they don’t think Flores can coach offense with what he’s got. And Tu’a, while now confirmed as injury prone, was a first round pick…

That’s the hand Flores is getting dealt by the organization under center. The Dolphins are simply an afterthought right now in the league, there’s nothing going on to be excited about other than that Xavien Howard, but at this point that’s more of, “He’s the loneliest man in the NFL because nobody ever throws to his side of the field”. That’s the only Miami story.

Brian Flores… he enters Sunday 16-20 as a coach, and he’s going to be playing a Jacksonville team in London with a twenty game losing streak. He had better have his team ready to play, because if he blows that matchup, it might be fait accompli that he’s fired at the end of the year, if not Miami’s BYE week (which isn’t until Week 14).

3. Dan Campbell, Lions : To paraphrase a cleverer poster than me, , “The Lions continue their 60 year process of rebuilding…” They’re 0-5 again, getting handled by the 49ers and Packers in the first two weeks, Getting beat in week 3 on a record 66 yard FG at the final gun against the Ravens, and then in Week 4 they handed Bears’ rookie QB Justin Fields his first win, with Jared Goff having a big hand in that by fumbling away to the Bears twice.

How did Week 5 go against the Vikings? They took a late one point lead with about 45 seconds left only to watch an under-achieving Minnesota offense led by Kirk Cousins to go back down the other way and get a game winning 54 yard FG as time expired.

We always say that first year coaches are not usually on the hot seat, but Dan Campbell is a former Tight Ends coach who yells about getting up again and again to bite your opponents’ kneecaps, which starts out like some inspiring Captain America speech but ends up sounding like a meek little chihuahua. He’s close to motivating… but not close enough.

The Lions have Jared Goff at QB without Sean McVay in his headset, and that quickly has seen him transform back into the rube he was as a rookie under the tutelage of Jeff Fisher. Oh yeah, they traded Stafford for this guy, and tried convincing themselves they could make Cinderella work as the clock was already at 11:59 PM. Well, now you have Jared Goff sitting in a rotting pumpkin in rags. Great job, Detroit. Can you run the ball yet? NO. Do you have any receivers? Well, you have T.J. Hockensen at tight-end, and nothing else since Kenny Golladay got the hell out of town. How’s the defense? Well, Jeff Okudah went down for the year in Week 1, and otherwise, you have just an aging Michael Brockers at DT. That’s it. That’s all. The cupboard is almost bare, and this looks like they will be one of the worst three teams in football by year’s end.

They’re only hope to avoid another 0-16 is that they can go 0-17 this time. Minnesota and Chicago are always ready to stumble and get tripped up for a division win in one of their four games against them. But is Dan Campbell good enough to capitalize? After he went 5-7 as an interim coach with the Dolphins?

It’s Detroit. And were it anywhere else, if this guy bombs in his first season, he’d be fired. But they’re used to 3 and 4 win seasons, so he might get a pass. The only upside right now is at least the Lions are losing in heartbreaking ways at the gun and not getting blown out every week, just every other week.





2. Urban Meyer, Jaguars: Jacksonville’s preseason was filled with self-inflicted wounds caused by decisions from Meyer, from hiring coaches without vetting them properly (strength and conditioning coach Chris Doyle), bringing in Tim Tebow as a possible TIGHT END option that was nothing but a media distraction, and acting like he’s the smartest guy in the NFL because of his college success. I’m not the end-all-be-all coaching expert, but having a rookie QB throw over 50 times in his first start MAAAYBE isn’t a winning formula, even if he is a butt-chin wonder like Trevor Lawrence.

And about that game… the Houston Texans, regarded as many as a candidate to be the worst team in the NFL this year… the Jags got blown out by THAT team. One that doesn’t have a first or second day drat pick until 2022. One that doesn’t have DeShaun Watson, and keeps letting Arizona poach its Pro Bowlers. THAT Texans team wiped the floor with Urban Meyer’s squad, and to their 16th consecutive loss (they’re now at 20 straight, with only the expansion Bucs of the 1970s as a worse team that exists within modern NFL history).

In Week two, they just got flat-out handled by the Denver Broncos. In week three, Arizona’s came to town, and Kliff Kingsbury gifted the Jags a free seven points right before halftime by attempting a 68 yard field goal that was returned for a TD. The Jags were up 9 with 18 minutes left, and were running the ball down Arizona’s throat. How’d they lose it? Meyer called a flea-flicker even though J.J. Watt was fishing for sacks and in Jacksonville’s backfield all afternoon. Trevor Lawrence panicked and threw a pick six a few plays after Arizona had cut the lead to two, and that mistake put the Cardinals up for good.

In Week 4, the Jags blew another double-digit lead to the Cincinnatti Bengals, and more importantly… Urban Meyer trends on Twitter for getting free lap dances in the bar of his Cleveland restaurant because… well, I guess that’s what happens when you got a title with Ohio State. THAT… is not what you want to make headlines for after a month into the season… zero wins, poor development on Trevor Lawrence, and having someone rub their ass on your junk in your own dive bar.

In Week five, his team just got flat-out handled by their division rivals, the Titans, and we’re predicting that Urban Meyer could get fired if he loses next Sunday in front of Jacksonville’s OTHER home crowd in London, as Jacksonville’s on a BYE week after it, and playing the Miami Dolphins right now might be the cure for what ails them. But if they blow it, he could be toast.

Meyer should send a gift basket to Jon Gruden though, because at least he wasn’t being talked about as much this week because…

[worstblogever]

1. Jon Gruden, Raiders: RESIGNED/FIRED! THAT ESCALATED QUICKLY!

Our reason why John Gruden wouldn’t be fired for all of last season and at the start of this season was, “Yes, he orchestrated the trade of Khalil Mack his first year back, and this off-season traded away All-Pro center Rodney Hudson. The team’s top free agent signing was Kenyan Drake, who’s got 57 total yards and missed blitz pickups frequently enough that Derek Carr had to scream at Gruden to bench him, and was obliged… But no matter what his record is at year’s end: He still is only in year FOUR of a TEN YEAR contract. That’s a lot of money tied up into the guy, and if Mark Davis drops the axe, he’d have to keep paying Gruden millions until 2028. The business model is no longer a “Commitment to Excellence” though, it’s ‘find a way to make a profit until Patrick Mahomes and Justin Herbert retire’.”

Well, holy s***, an avalanche of e-mails were made public of Gruden spending years of sending racist and homophobic comments within them that made it clear, that he was problematic. His excuse/non-apology when the first one dropped about NFLPA President DeMorris Smith was, “Well, I was angry when I wrote that, and it’s meant as a comment about liars.”

Okay, first up? Nobody has ever used “lip size” as a metaphor for a liar. So you’re full of s***.

Second… “It’s just because I was angry.”

The best comment I heard about the non-apology was from former NFL tight end Fred Davis (now a commentator) who then said, and I'm paraphrasing, “Now I think his players have to ask… have you ever been ‘angry’ with a player? Have you ever been ‘angry’ with an assistant coach?” Because excusing making a racist comment because you’re 'angry; does not give you a pass for it, at all."

The surprise is that Jon Gruden accepted there was no path forward and Spider-Y-2-Banana’ed his way out of Vegas after a 3-0 start, two consecutive losses, and a truckload of e-mails. Most thought he would be trying to weather the storm, but from the sound of things… there’s like 40 days and nights worth of s***ty e-mails to come still, and nobody had an ark ready for him to survive all the controversy.

Alas, Chucky’s coaching comeback comes to an end, and it’s unlikely he’ll be given as big a platform as a commentator in the booth like MNF or ESPN’s QB Camp again… but Fox Sports or FS1 is his most likely landing spot, if he wants one. We feel like it would be best if he just went away.