Manchester City came back from 2-1 deficit to win 3-2 at Tyneside on Saturday evening, but the main headline was Kevin De Bruyne, as his return to Premier League action was capped with a goal and an assist.
Fantasy football has created millions of “thirtysomething” know-it-alls who have no clue about rating NFL talents. These delusional pups cannot overcome their biases and deceitful stats when evaluating their favorite players with rose-colored contact lenses. It’s humorous and sad at the same time.
It’s been over a decade since an AFC North squad took home the Vince Lombardi Trophy. However, if the NFL playoffs started after nine weeks of action, all four division teams would qualify for the postseason. Imagine that.
The New York Jets are in a three-way tie for ninth place in the ultra-competitive AFC with a mediocre 4-4 card. But it didn’t have to be this way. Anyone with an iota of football acumen knows that Zach Wilson does not give New York the “best” chance to make the playoffs. Unfortunately for Gang Green fans, everyone except Jets general manager Joe Douglas and head coach Robert Saleh understand that the Jets need a competent quarterback.
One of the NFL’s most heated rivalries will take place Sunday in the City of Brotherly Love when the Dallas Cowboys and Philadelphia Eagles butt heads in an NFC East showdown. The Cowboys have won three of the last four meetings, but the Eagles are the reigning conference champion and a top contender to reach their second straight Super Bowl.
The pass-happy NFL has a big problem. The quarterback-driven league has an unimpressive lineup of signal-callers under center at the midway point of the season. It’s a nightmare scenario for Roger Goodell and his cabal of sleazy owners. And it’s a problem that is here to stay.
Don’t look now, but the Las Vegas Raiders have finally pulled the plug on the Josh McDaniels era. I agree with Pro Football Talk Editor-in-Chief Mike Florio that McDaniels should have never been hired. But not because the Raiders were too impatient to wait 3-4 years for McDaniels to implement the Patriot Way. The former New England offensive coordinator is simply a terrible head coach.
The quality of head coaches in the NFL has sunk to a new low. Half of the league’s 32 teams sport losing records after seven weeks of action. And a whopping 19 franchises have a .500 or worse card. A league once stocked with legendary coaches is now overflowing with offensive coordinators masquerading as leaders of men. The NFL money machine is so massive owners take home handsome profits regardless of the success of their on-field product.
It wasn’t supposed to be this way. An expected showdown at MetLife Stadium between a legitimate Super Bowl contender and last year’s Cinderella squad has been reduced to a battle of the scrubs. The New York Jets need a win to keep their playoff hopes alive. The New York Giants need a win to escape the NFC East basement. However, only diehard New Yorkers give a damn.
It’s no secret that black NFL quarterbacks are judged more harshly than their white quarterbacks. The same biases and prejudices that plague American society are even worse in sports. From know-it-all writers with no athletic talent to bigoted NFL coaches, disparaging black athletes has become a sport. Their ignorance knows no limits.