Category: NFL

Let me ask you an honest question: in his twenty-one-year NFL head-coaching career, how many of St. Louis Rams head coach Jeff Fisher’s teams have actually been good?  The answer, of course, depends on how you define good, so let’s put it this way: how many of Fisher’s teams have actually won a playoff game?

The answer will surprise you: out of twenty-one seasons, Jeff Fisher-coached teams have won a playoff game in exactly three different campaigns.  That may surprise you, considering the fact that his career started with the Houston Oilers and is still going today, but Fisher’s overall career has actually been one borne out of mediocrity more than success.  And yet, Fisher is no different from that gift you get on Christmas but know you’ll never use: he’s difficult to get rid of, and you feel guilty if you’re the one who dispatches him.

Why do I say this, then?  This is why, from CBS Sports NFL Insider Jason La Canfora:

Jeff Fisher’s job is safe in St. Louis, despite the 5-8 Rams closing in on their fourth straight losing season under Fisher. Rams owner Stan Kroenke is likely stuck in St. Louis for another year, and he is focused on a possible move to Los Angeles and is not in the business of paying ‎people $6 million plus to leave for a product he isn’t all that engaged in right now, anyway.

Fisher will be back with the Rams next season, meaning that they are more likely than not to be as hopelessly average as they are now. Why in the world has he lasted so long?

Here’s one reason: there are a lot of unknown commodities when it comes to NFL coaches.  Yes, the Rams could absolutely do better than Jeff Fisher, but it’s also important to note that they would also like to not do worse.  Their choice essentially comes down to Jeff Fisher or any head coaching candidate they can find.  And, if this guy is any indication, the waters of finding a new head coach can be pretty treacherous sometimes.

That’s just one reason, and it’s really more of a supposition than it is conclusive deduction.  But there should be something to be said for Fisher; according to a USA Today study in 2012, NFL head coaches actually have the longest average tenures out of the four major sports. The average length of that tenure?  4.39 years.  Fisher is in his 21st. That should be commended.

However, one cannot help but think that Fisher has been incredibly lucky in lasting this long.  Here’s another exercise for you, the reader: try to guess Jeff Fisher’s career winning percentage, including last night’s 31-23 victory over the Buccaneers.  You’re probably thinking somewhere in the high-50s, maybe even 60%.  If you guessed that, you would be very wrong.

It’s exactly 52%.  Fisher has lasted in the NFL for just about 21 years and has a career .520 winning percentage.  For context, Colts head coach Chuck Pagano has won two-thirds of his games in almost four years in Indianapolis and he’s about to get fired.  Mike Smith won 58% of his games in seven seasons with the Atlanta Falcons, a run that included five straight seasons from 2008-2012 with at least nine wins.  He did get fired after last season.

Welcome to the NFL.

Seriously, though: how?  How does a man whose teams are consistently mediocre retain job status for, with the exception of the 2011 season, every year since 1994?  Again, his first head coaching tenure started with the Houston Oilers.  Maybe it was because of complacent owners who were fine with the status quo of mediocrity (more on one of those owners later).  Maybe it was the weakness of the pool from which the Oilers/Titans and Rams would have to take a head coach from in the event that one of them fired Fisher.  It could be either one.

It pains me to say this, but at the same time, I just can’t emphasize this enough: he really isn’t a great NFL head coach.  Gary Davenport took the words right out of my mouth wrote about this for Bleacher Report Friday:

Jeff Fisher just isn‘t a very good head coach.

Mind you, he isn‘t a terrible head coach. He’s an experienced head coach, with this being his 21st season prowling an NFL sideline. He’s been to a Super Bowl. Six times, teams he’s coached have won double-digit games.

Of course, we just hit on part of the problem. Jeff Fisher teams have won 10 or more games only six times in 21 years. Meanwhile, nine seasons with Fisher at the helm have ended with his team winning seven or eight games.

The Rams appear headed for No. 10 in 2015.

All of three head coaches in NFL history have lost more games than Fisher. All three have more playoff and Super Bowl appearances. Many more.

The statistic that Davenport provided showed the top four head coaches in terms of most losses in NFL history.  Fisher was number four.  Numbers one, two and three were Dan Reeves (one of the better and criminally underrated head coaches in NFL history), Tom Landry, and Don Shula.  Not for nothing, but I would take any one of those three over Fisher in a second.  That’s nothing against Fisher and his longevity, but those men had greater success, especially in January and February.

I can’t honestly answer as to why Jeff Fisher still has a job in the NFL. What I can say is that it is virtually impossible for us to remove him; we can’t get rid of him and something tells me that we may not be able to anytime soon unless he decides to step away.  His teams have been consistently mediocre, and nearly 21 years really isn’t all that small of a sample size, either.  And it’s not like the Rams are magically going to get better under his tutelage next year (and the year after that, and so on).

Which is grounds to have his lifetime pass to being an NFL head coach removed.

If Father Time really is undefeated, then we just saw the greatest living example of its power.  That example comes in the form of Broncos quarterback Peyton Manning.

This may finally be the end for Peyton, the man who just this week set the all-time record in passing yards previously held by Brett Favre. Favre, because he’s a legend, congratulated Manning in the only way he knew how, which was from a tree stand while hunting in the woods:

**VIDEO** Brett Favre congratulates Peyton Manning … while hunting from a tree stand pic.twitter.com/RpnjR6975V

— Troy Hughes™ (@TommySledge) November 16, 2015

All that aside, Manning may very well be the greatest regular-season quarterback to ever play in the NFL.  But, as many wise people have said, all good things must come to an end, and Peyton Manning’s career has reached the same fate that every other good thing in the history of the world has: the end.

The end for Manning has been abrupt.  It came without warning.  But most importantly, it was no different from what happens to every other NFL player at a certain stage in his career; said player’s skills decline and no team in their right mind would sign that player, so the player is left with no other choice but to retire.

And in most cases, those players have absolutely no clue what to do when they reach retirement.  Luckily for number 18, he has endorsements such as Nationwide.  And Papa John’s.  And DirecTV. And Gatorade.  He’s prepared for retirement, and that’s a good thing. Unfortunately, retirement will (or at least should) be coming soon.

Manning threw four interceptions in Sunday’s home loss to the Chiefs, and looked like a shell of himself for the entire day; he would be benched in favor of backup Brock Osweiler in the third quarter. And to put it plainly, Peyton has looked like a shell of himself for about the last calendar year.  Starting with a loss to the Rams around this date last year (November 16th, 2014), Manning has thrown 25 interceptions against just 19 touchdowns.  This is a sharp contrast from his career 2.15:1 touchdown to interception ratio; if you were to remove the numbers of the last calendar year from Peyton’s resume, his TD-INT ratio would be 2.3:1.

He has stunningly thrown an interception in each of the first nine Broncos games this season; to compare, there were nine games last season in which he didn’t throw a pick, so the sharp decline means that something else must be at play here.  That thing that is at play is the silent killer of NFL careers; injuries.

Before we get into the more recent injury(ies) Peyton is dealing with, the more long term one has to do with the feeling he has in his hands, or lack thereof.  If you saw Peyton Manning play for the Colts, you know he had one of the strongest arms in football.  I mean, just check out some of the lasers he was chucking for the team in his then-record-setting 2004 season, one that saw him throw an unprecedented 49 touchdowns.

Manning would come back to break that record with the Broncos in 2013.  He threw 55 TDs that season, but if you look closely, you can clearly tell that his arm strength is fading by this point.

Why did that arm strength fade?  There is not one definitive answer, but one of the main explanations for this sudden drop-off is his fingertips, and the fact that, you know, he has no feeling in them.  This is what Manning said to Sports Illustrated’s Peter King in August:

“I can’t feel anything in my fingertips,” Manning said Thursday. “It’s crazy. I’ve talked to a doctor recently who said,  Don’t count on the feeling coming back. It was hard for me for about two years, because one doctor told me I could wake up any morning and it might come back. So you wake up every day thinking, Today’s the day! Then it’s not.”

This is just me talking here, and I’m not Peyton Manning.  But if I had no feeling in my fingertips and I may not ever get them back again, I would probably retire.  That being said, his comeback from four neck surgeries in 2011 is nothing short of brave and admirable, and he should be commended for coming back from such a dire state.  I still can’t wrap my head around the fact that he was able to play so well without any arm strength or feeling in his fingers for his first two and a half years in Denver.  But if it were my decision, I would have hung it up after having the neck surgeries and finding out that I couldn’t feel the tips of my fingers anymore.

The other far less serious and shorter-term injury that Peyton has incurred is a partial tear of the plantar fascia in his left foot, which should keep him out at least for this week against the Bears. Osweiler, who went 14-24 for 146 yards after Peyton was benched midway through the third quarter, will take his place in the meantime. Osweiler is not a great option at quarterback but, as painful as this is to say, he’s obviously a better option than Manning at this point.

Unfortunately, it’s pretty safe to say that Peyton Manning is at the end of his rope in terms of his illustrious career.  His decline is remarkably similar to that of Dan Marino, and while the two will be united in Canton soon enough, Marino’s decline was eerily similar to that of Manning’s; Dan’s team reached the playoffs in his final season and he threw more interceptions than touchdowns in 2000 as well, just like Manning is doing in 2015.

Additionally, the only way Manning can reclaim his 2015 season is to get fully healthy again, and while that may take some time, the Broncos have no other option at this point but to bench him and allow his foot injury to heal.  Also, it wouldn’t hurt if he magically recovered the lost feeling in his fingertips; it seems to be what has caused his arm strength to go out the window in his Denver years.

Peyton Manning is one of the best quarterbacks ever; even though many rag on him for his career record in the playoffs (11-13), he routinely took teams to January that had no business being there without his presence; this is especially true in his years with the Colts. He’s one of the all-time greats, whether he under-performed in the playoffs or not.

But there is one opponent he couldn’t conquer: father time.

While I don’t usually like writing about 2-7 football teams and I only really write about topics I find interesting, this is a very rare exception.

With the circus and everlasting drama that has become the Cleveland Browns’ quarterback situation and the eternal craziness that surrounds new starter Johnny Manziel, this is a team and a state of affairs that is worthy of being addressed.  So let’s address it.

Basically, you see, what had happened was, Browns starting quarterback Josh McCown was concussed when he tried to helicopter over two Jets defenders in week 1 (that wasn’t the best idea).  He was replaced by backup/lightning rod Johnny Manziel, and, put simply, Manziel did pretty well.  Manziel, known to that point in his NFL career for his drinking problems and extended stay in rehab to get them under control, had struggled mightily in his one full game last season, throwing for just 80 yards in a 30-0 hammering at the hands of the in-state rival Bengals.

Manziel threw for 182 yards in that game against the Jets, ending the contest with a touchdown and an interception.  He would get the start the next week due to the McCown injury and defeated the Titans in easily the best performance of his young career.  While he only put the ball in the air 15 times, he threw for two touchdowns, 11.5 yards per attempt, and, most importantly, did not turn the ball over.  But the Browns and head coach Mike Pettine decided to go back to McCown in week 3, and McCown rightfully kept the job after averaging 384.67 yards per game for the next three weeks.

Unfortunately, losing his starting job led to Manziel, at least in one instance, returning to drinking.  Of course, he shouldn’t win the starting job because he has difficulties handling a backup role, but this is simply the most likely reason why this occurred.  It’s a shame, but Manziel clearly has to learn how to handle failure, and part of his lack of success in the NFL has been caused by his inability to do so.

But that was then, and this is now.  McCown’s performance took a step back after his ludicrously impressive three-week run, and he injured his shoulder in a week 7 loss to the Rams.  At this point, it was time for Manziel to step in again, and he would lead the 2-6 Browns into Cincinnati last Thursday night to play the team that ruined his debut a year ago.  How would he fare?

The answer depends on your dissemination of his play.  While his numbers are thoroughly underwhelming (15-33, 168 yards, one touchdown), he did something that he failed to do last season: protect the football.  Cleveland would lose 31-10, but Manziel orchestrated a ten-play, 92 yard drive for the Browns’ only touchdown right before the end of the first half.  His second half was marked with inconsistency, but he was still able to protect the ball through his struggles.

So why exactly is it time to give the keys to the offense to Manziel, even when McCown has clearly played better?  For one thing, youth is obviously on Manziel’s side (he is 22; McCown is 36) and at this point, Manziel has the higher ceiling.  The Browns fell to 2-7 with the loss on Thursday, and it became apparent a long time ago that they aren’t going anywhere in 2015.

Letting Manziel play out the rest of the regular season serves a dual purpose; 1) the organization can figure out if Manziel can sustain his somewhat impressive play and 2) if Manziel fails, the team will realize this, lose, and probably get a high draft pick.  They could use that high draft pick on a quarterback (California’s Jared Goff and Penn State’s Christian Hackenberg are the two most highly-touted QBs in this year’s class) and move on from Manziel/McCown.

This is a point that was visited by Bleacher Report’s Gary Davenport on Friday:

Where he then proceeded to play so badly that the Buccaneers cut bait after one year.

Explain to me exactly how this somehow prepares the Browns for a bright future? Or any future?

Of course, the team is presently led by Mike Pettine.

Oh yeah, that’s right.  Mike Pettine.

Pettine has been consistently lukewarm toward his current starting quarterback’s style of play, and he is not overly appreciative of Manziel’s tendency of create plays outside the pocket.  When asked by reporters about his quarterback’s performance against Cincinnati, he responded in exactly the manner in which you would expect.  These are all real quotes.

“No, I can’t (say he’ll play the next game)…. When we get in and get back from this time off, we’ll assess what pool of players are available and go ahead and make those decisions from there. This will be a good time to step away and reassess where we are moving forward.”

“It was just inconsistent…. He did some good things, but in the second half, especially after we fell behind, he was just trying to make too many big plays instead of just taking completions …. It’s also a function of how well we play around him…. I don’t know if in the second half we played well enough around him for him to play well.”

Pettine is absolutely correct in stating that Manziel was inconsistent. He is also correct in stating that the Browns were not good enough around him.  I wouldn’t say this play was good enough on Thursday night:

It’s not a surprise, then, that the Browns had it taken to them in the second half.  But that isn’t Manziel’s fault; why is his coach emphasizing his inconsistency and stressing the need for the team to look at all options instead of just letting Manziel play?

I honestly can’t tell you why this hasn’t happened already, but the Browns really should give Johnny Manziel a chance.  And a real chance at that; don’t just give him another game or two and hand the reins back to McCown.  The former has shown that he is at least capable of playing at the professional level, and he should be given an opportunity/audition to prove that he can be the team’s franchise quarterback going forward.

If the team elects to go back to McCown, though, it will probably be setting itself further back.  A move like this would disallow the team to get a good look at a very clear future.

That very clear future is Johnny Manziel.

The New England Patriots could really go undefeated this season, which would have really sounded like a ridiculous statement on September 2.  Of course, the long national nightmare that was Deflategate ended the next day and Tom Brady was rightfully exonerated of any known wrongdoing in the matter.  He would miss no games.  The Patriots were set.

And by set, I mean…. they were on their way to continuing their complete reign of terror over the rest of the NFL.

It started with a seven point win over the Steelers on the Thursday night to commence the season (the Steelers only lost by a touchdown, but they also scored on the last play of the game to make the score this close; the only real consequence of the final play was suffered in Las Vegas, and we know how important that is).

What came next would be a 40-32 squeaker over the Bills, but the Patriots were leading 37-13 going into the 4th quarter.  So they really dominated both games in the first two weeks of the season but only won each by one possession.  If you think that this is a sign of the team “leaking oil” (they had two more one-possession wins against the Colts and Jets), well…. you’re probably right.  But there is also the very present and real possibility that the team could go undefeated this season.

There are a couple of similarities that everyone knows between the 2007 Patriots, the last undefeated regular season team in the NFL, and this year’s team.  There are three to be exact.  Here they are, in no particular order.

1. The team was going on a revenge tour (post-Spygate in 2007, post-Deflategate in 2015)
2. Bill Belichick
3. Tom Brady

Literally, that’s it.  The obvious similarities end here, which is not a surprise considering that the undefeated run happened eight years ago.  So much changes in the NFL from year to year, let alone week to week (See: Kaepernick, Colin) and the fact that there are even this many parallels between 2007 and 2015 is nothing short of a shock.

What are the differences?  There are some (mostly personnel and not talent), but interestingly enough, defense is not one of them.

The 2007 New England Patriots defense allowed all of 17.1 points per game, which ranked fourth in the league that season.  Last year’s Super Bowl winning Patriots squad gave up 19.6 points per game, but their defense helped them win two games that they probably should have lost in the first month of the season.  This year’s defense, although with very different personnel, is actually putting up very similar numbers.

How similar?  Actually, they aren’t just similar, they’re even slightly better.  Last year’s team was 13th in the league in yards allowed, surrendering just over 344 per game.  This year’s team is actually allowing more yards per contest (346) but somehow rank 12th; this is probably due to the constantly improving state of offense in the NFL…. and the league’s defense-deterring rules package.

In terms of points per game, the 2015 defense is again doing better than last year’s defense, amazingly.  This year’s D is only allowing 19 per game, and they’re doing it without Vince Wilfork, Darrelle Revis, and Brandon Browner.

About those losses.  They really should be what would make this year’s defense a liability.  The Patriots defense really should not be all that good this season.  Losing Wilfork, Revis, and Browner is to the Patriots after last season what losing Richard Sherman, Byron Maxwell and Brandon Mebane would have meant to the Seahawks a season ago.  That team only lost Maxwell and while they’re still second in the league in yards allowed, their defense isn’t quite as dominant as it was at this time last year.  The Patriots’ is somehow better.

And as for the offense, well, you know about the offense.  I don’t need to tell you about how Tom Brady is probably the greatest quarterback ever, or how Rob Gronkowski might be the greatest tight end to ever play by the time he’s finished, or about how Julian Edelman has filled the role of Wes Welker (and then some).  I don’t need to tell you about any of those things because you already know, and this incredible offense is still the main reason for New England’s success, and as long as Brady is at the helm, it always will be.  And, take it from me, NFL: You have ten years left of this (or thereabouts).

The real reason the Patriots should have hope for an undefeated season is obvious: the schedule.  They have, at this moment, exactly two games remaining against teams who are over .500, and while they have one more road game than home game from here on out, it’s easy to see how they could run the table.  They still have two games left against the AFC South (against the Texans and Titans, who, at 3-5 and 1-6, respectively, could still win the division) and an additional three remaining over the NFC East, which really isn’t good either.

The schedule, combined with the talent on the roster, are the main ingredients for an opportunity at an undefeated season.  The team faced only six playoff teams in 2007, and do you know, on their previously played and remaining 2015 schedule, how many current playoff teams are on it?  Six.  Serendipity, but really, just an easy schedule.  But more than anything, this is an amazing team that, through all of the drama and craziness surrounding them over Deflategate, stayed the course and reached a new level of play that they had never attained previously.

And that’s the most astounding part of what the Patriots have done in 2015.  With all of the losses, all of the insanity around the team over the summer, all of the challenges that come with trying to repeat as Super Bowl Champion.  Through all of it, absolutely nothing seems to matter when it comes to their success.  Nothing.

With the week-to-week nature of the NFL and the fact that this edition of the Patriots isn’t as dominant as the one from 2007, the team probably won’t go undefeated.  But everything is in line for them to do so, and if they play the way they are capable of playing week in and week out, they’ll probably be able to pull it off.

Which means that it’s more than okay to start discussing the possibility of it now.

This probably won’t be a terribly long article; the NFC East doesn’t really deserve all that much of our time.

Currently, predicting the winner of the NFC East is essentially a week-to-week proposition.  Last week and the three weeks before that, one would have to go with the unimpressive New York Giants, who were coming off a last-minute 30-27 victory over the hapless San Francisco 49ers.  For the first week or two of the season, the clear-cut favorite was the Dallas Cowboys; of course, as the NFL goes, centerpieces Dez Bryant and Tony Romo went down, each for several weeks.  Since Romo sustained a collarbone injury in week 2 against the Eagles, the Cowboys haven’t won; in fact, they descended deeper into quarterback purgatory, as Brandon Weeden’s struggles necessitated a change to newly-acquired backup quarterback Matt Cassel.

The aforementioned Giants, who are likely still the best team in the division, could easily be 5-1 as we discuss this subject right now. Obviously, critical clock management failures against Dallas and Atlanta sunk them in their first two games; without these shortcomings, we would definitely be talking about the Giants in the same breath as the best teams in the NFL right now, even though we really shouldn’t fall into this trap.

As for the Philadelphia Eagles, no words can actually describe what they have done in the opening six weeks.  In the first two weeks of the season, they lost 26-24 to the Falcons and 20-10 to Dallas; in six out of the eight quarters of those games, they were absolutely nuked, getting outscored 40-13 with the exception of the second half of the Atlanta game.  After that, save for a loss to Washington in week 4, they’ve won every single game.  But they’re still a mess; prized running back acquisition DeMarco Murray has been the second best running back…. on his own team.  New quarterback Sam Bradford has thrown as many touchdowns as interceptions (nine each).  The way the Eangles have won is clearly an unsustainable way to win games in the National Football League.

Lost in this whole mess, unbelievably, are the oft-discussed Washington Redskins.  They also made a quarterback change going into the season, tabbing Kirk Cousins to depose incumbent quarterback Robert Griffin III.  Cousins has also played very poorly, throwing for just six touchdowns and eight picks.  While the team is at a respectable 2-4 with two losses being decided by a touchdown each, they’re likely going nowhere… again.

The Eagles, in case you were wondering, somehow, some way, lead the NFC East.  They’re 3-3 (and a really bad 3-3 at that) with wins against the Giants, Jets and Saints.  While the wins against the Giants and Jets are technically good, they played both of those teams on “trap weeks”; meaning, those teams didn’t necessarily play their best games against Philly.  They have won two in a row, which has been critical after the loss to the Redskins dropped them to 1-3.

What are we to take away from this?  Nothing, really.  The division is still terrible, and we’re only six games into the season.  Somehow, this division is so terrible that it may actually rival the futility of the AFC South, which has the Texans, Jaguars, and Titans.  That’s saying something really significant.  Then again, no teams in that division have positive point differentials, and the East has two teams of this kind (Giants and Eagles).

Bleacher Report’s Mike Tanier addressed the subject I am writing about yesterday:

“A win’s a win,” Sam Bradford said after the game. “We’re taking things week by week, and our goal was to get out of here with a win, and that’s what we did tonight.”

The first-place Eagles still talk like a team in crisis mode, even after back-to-back lopsided victories. And no wonder: They are just two weeks removed from speculation that their head coach would take the first train out of Philly headed for Attractive College Opportunity to Be Determined Later. And their offense still doesn’t really have its act together.

Futility comes in all shapes and sizes, but this example of futility just feels special.  This division was actually supposed to be interesting going into the season, but injury and underachievement have forced it into easily becoming the worst division in at least the NFC.

Like the NFC South a year ago, this division really will be won by an 8-8 squad.  The best team in this division is probably still the Giants; even though the Eagles, and particularly their defense, have looked greatly improved recently, they still have many problems to sort out.  If they don’t figure out these problems quickly, it will probably be difficult for them to stay in playoff contention, even in this division.

Even in this division, one that is so remarkably terrible.

You may have heard that Seahawks’ safety Kam Chancellor is holding out for a new contract.  Chancellor, one of the starting safeties on Seattle’s super bowl teams of the last two seasons, is making $5.65 million against the cap in 2015 and also has two more years left on his contract.  The hard-hitting stalwart of the Legion of Boom thinks he can get more than that, but his organization isn’t budging.

And while the Seahawks have been unwilling to pay Chancellor, they may soon be left with no other choice.

The Hawks, who led the NFL is total defense last season (with Chancellor) gave up 352 total yards to their opponent, the St. Louis Rams, on just 52 plays.  The L.O.B. gave up 276 of those yards to Rams’ quarterback Nick Foles; 37 of them came on a game tying touchdown pass from Foles to Lance Kendricks with 53 seconds to play.

To be completely fair, the Seahawks at least partially lost to St. Louis because of, well… themselves.  They tried to sneak an onside kick past Jeff Fisher’s squad at the commencement of overtime.  It was really meant to carry much further down the field, but kicker Steven Hauschska accidentally kicked it about the same distance as a typical onside kick would go; the Rams recovered and subsequently kicked a field goal.

After that, the Seahawks drove into Ram territory but were held to a fourth and one.  Needing a first down with one yard to get, Pete Carroll rightly decided to hand the ball to Marshawn Lynch, in a turn of events from the end of Super Bowl XLIX.  The result was… yeah, he didn’t make it.

4th and short. Game on the line. Give it to #BeastMode? STUFFED. Rams Win. #SEAvsSTLhttp://t.co/EdIKwFm7Rq

— NFL (@NFL) September 13, 2015

And it’s true: the Seahawks didn’t lose on Sunday just because of Chancellor’s absence.  Bleacher Report’s Mike Tanier wrote to this point today:

Russell Wilson endured six sacks. Lynch rushed for 73 yards but needed to break about 63 tackles to do it. When you watch Lynch get stuffed in overtime, watch right tackle Garry Gilliam get shoved into the backfield by Michael Brockers.

Gilliam is one of the Seahawks’ pet projects. Instead of drafting a tackle in a fairly deep draft for offensive linemen, they tinkered with Gilliam, an undrafted 2014 rookie who started his college career at tight end. They talked themselves into naming Gilliam the starter when Justin Britt moved inside to guard. The Seahawks hadn’t bothered drafting a guard until the fourth round, either.

Even with the offensive line blocking like ushers at a free concert and the secondary operating at 75 percent capacity, the Seahawks still had a chance to avoid an upset at the hands of the Rams thanks to Nick Foles getting surprised by a shotgun snap, Isaiah Pead somehow getting meaningful carries that led to meaningful fumbles and Cary Williams making a spectacular defensive play and then pulling a Cary Williams by taking the rest of the afternoon off.

The Rams won the overtime toss and chose to receive, making the Seahawks’ path to victory clear: Pin the Rams at or inside their own 20, unleash the Legion of Boom, get good field position and either parlay that into a win.

Instead, the Seahawks onside-kicked, giving the Rams great field position for their cannon-legged field-goal kicker and a chance to win the game with their defense, the one the Seahawks couldn’t block at all.

Self-outsmartment.

All of this is true; it isn’t just because of Kam.  (Interesting side note: Gilliam’s claim to fame is catching a touchdown pass on the fake field goal in last year’s NFC Championship game.)  But the Seahawks absolutely need him, and this is why: their defense is a shell of itself without him.

Rookie Dion Bailey filled in at Chancellor’s position on Sunday, and he failed miserably, particularly on the most important play of the game:

Down by seven. Less than a minute left. Nick Foles + Lance Kendricks = 37-yard game-tying TD! #SEAvsSTLhttp://t.co/wJjpQVNXfq

— NFL (@NFL) September 13, 2015

On the play, Bailey fell down, leaving Kendricks open and giving the Los Angeles Rams new life.  While it is impossible to say for sure, it isn’t likely that something like this would happen to Chancellor, even considering the knee problems he suffered at the end of last season.

And there’s something else that Chancellor brings: physicality. Intimidation.  Demorilization.  A physical offense and a hard-hitting defense have been the hallmarks of this golden age in the Pacific Northwest, and Chancellor brings to the offense what Lynch brings to the offense: attitude, determination, and the will to destroy the opponent and rally the troops.  The Seahawks have missed both with him gone.

Consider this hit he made on Julian Edelman in the Super Bowl:

While Edelman holds on for the catch, his bell is rung and suspicions are aroused that he played the rest of the game with a concussion. The play turned the fortunes of the Patriots, but really only because Edelman survived the hit from the much bigger and scarier Chancellor.

The players are naturally taking notice of Chancellor’s absence, and while they aren’t saying boo in the press about it, one has shown his support.  That one is none other than the Kam Chancellor of the Seahawks’ offense: Marshawn Lynch.  He wore Chancellor’s jersey at practice for one day last week, but changed back into his usual jersey the next day; after all, he is really just there so he won’t get fined.

For the fashionistas: yes, Marshawn Lynch was back in his usual No. 24 at #Seahawks practice today. @thenewstribunepic.twitter.com/R7MkEYVf19

— Gregg Bell (@gbellseattle) September 11, 2015

So the players (at least Lynch, anyway) are starting to understand; the Seahawks really need Kam Chancellor.  While it’s extremely difficult to blame him for, you know, trying to get more money (who has ever done that before?), it’s also understandable to feel empathy for the plight of the Seahawks here; one of their employees is basically refusing to come to work because of his salary (or lack thereof).

But no matter whose fault it is, the 12th man will assuredly be sleepless is Seattle, and here’s why:

Kam Chancellor has left the Seahawks no other option.  They have to bring him back.

The Patriots and Steelers played Thursday night in the NFL’s first game back from its disastrous offseason.  The game was quite a spectacle; even before it started, the Patriots got their rings, quarterback Tom Brady took a victory lap to the tune of Nas’ “Hate Me Now” and rapper T-Pain performed his hit “All I Do is Win”; there was even a performance from the Springfield Symphony Orchestra. If all that wasn’t surreal enough, the actual game itself began, and the Steelers almost immediately had some problems with their headsets.

This is what happened, as told by Jeremy Fowler of ESPN.com:

It wouldn’t be a New England Patriots game without some drama involving off-the-field strategy.

Pittsburgh Steelers coaches were upset that their coach-to-coach headsets picked up the Patriots’ radio broadcast for the majority of the first half of Thursday night’s game, which New England went on to win 28-21.

When pressed after the game, an unhappy Mike Tomlin said headset issues have occurred repeatedly in New England.

“That’s always the case. Yes. I said what I said,” Tomlin said.

Blake Jones, NFL director of football operations, went down to the field to help with the headsets. The league described the reception problem as “intermittent.”

When asked if he got a satisfactory resolution, Tomlin said: “Eventually.” Tomlin is a member of the league’s competition committee.

Because it was not a complete system failure, New England’s coaches were not required to shut down their headsets during the repairs. However, the Patriots said they experienced issues as well.

“We had a lot of problems,” Bill Belichick said. “We had to switch headphones a couple of times. The communication system wasn’t very good. We deal with that, it seems, weekly.

Unfortunately, this just so happened to occur during a New England Patriots game.  And as is often the case with the Patriots, some, and in particular Steeler fans, are jumping to the conclusion that the headsets are the reason why they won, and that simply isn’t the case.

It wasn’t the headsets, it just wasn’t.  While they probably didn’t help their cause, the Steelers had plenty of opportunities to get on the scoreboard while the technical difficulties were occuring.  For example, Pittsburgh’s first drive took all of five plays to get 56 yards down field to the Pats’ 24; 33 of these yards came by way of fill-in running back DeAngelo Williams’ ground exploits.  Then, offensive coordinator Todd Haley dialed up this play, which was, um, something:

TRICK PLAY ALERT! Antonio Brown looks to throw the ball and … not good. #Kickoff2015#PITvsNEhttp://t.co/KinBbSoKvK

— NFL (@NFL) September 11, 2015

The drive stalled after that play and a 10-yard holding penalty subsequently after.  Kicker Josh Scobee came onto the field and proceeded to shank a 44-yard field goal attempt well wide to the right.

After a second-quarter New England touchdown, Big Ben and the Steeler offense got back to work, and Roethlisberger connected with Darrius Heyward-Bey on a 43-yard bomb to the Patriot 35.  After a Williams 6-yard run, the drive came to a halt, bringing Scobee back into the game for a 46-yard try.  Scobee would miss to the right again, and the Patriots would be well on their way after a score on their next drive.

New England would go up 21-3 at the beginning of the second half, and while the Steelers would mount a mini-comeback in the fourth quarter, it wouldn’t be nearly enough.  The Patriots would win 28-21, and that score was in part because of an Antonio Brown touchdown catch with two seconds to play.

So why did the Steelers lose this game, anyway?  If you listen to them, they might talk at length about the headset issues and how they were negatively affected by them.  And they may also complain about something else, as reported by USA Today’s Tom Pelissero:

Trouble with headsets wasn’t all that had the Pittsburgh Steelers upset during Thursday night’s loss to the New England Patriots.

Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger vigorously protested after left tackle Kelvin Beachum was called for a false start on third-and-goal from the Patriots’ 1-yard line – an infraction triggered by the New England line sliding during Roethlisberger’s snap count.

“I thought that there was a rule against that,” Roethlisberger told reporters. “Maybe there’s not. Maybe it’s just an unwritten rule. … We saw it on film, that the Patriots do that. They shift and slide and do stuff on the goal line, knowing that it’s an itchy trigger finger-type down there.”

Left guard Ramon Foster, who also moved on the play, confirmed the Steelers had seen it on film and players were told it’s legal, provided the Patriots don’t cross the line of scrimmage.

“They time it up in the cadence,” Foster told USA TODAY Sports, smiling and shaking his head. “Yeah, that’s one of the things they do. Welcome to Foxborough.”

There is a rule against “attempting to disconcert Team A at snap by words or signals,” but a routine line slide wouldn’t seem to expressly violate that. An NFL spokesman did not immediately respond to a request seeking clarification early Friday morning.

Okay, let’s be perfectly clear here.  The Patriots’ pre-play activity in the trenches is 100% legal.  Sliding defenders from side to side to affect the cadence of the offense is a legal maneuver because the Patriots did not jump offsides.  It’s even a move that I used to attempt to pull in Madden; it never worked for me, but it worked beautifully for Belichick’s team on Thursday.

There are myriad reasons why the Steelers lost to the Patriots Thursday.  It certainly could not have helped them that they were without three of their best players (Le’Veon Bell, Martavis Bryant, Maurkice Pouncey) due to injury and, in the cases of Bell and Bryant, suspension.  In part because of this, as well as the motivation the Patriots got from the DeflateGate ruling, Brady’s Bunch was simply the better team Thursday.

A malfunctioning headset or two can’t change that fact.

This isn’t ISIS; no one’s dying. – Tom Brady

A ruling in Deflategate is supposedly coming in the next day or two, which means that the story may finally, mercifully go away.  There has never been, in the history of American civilization, more of a fuss made by the removal of a half-pound of air from a football.  But, alas, the story has dragged on.  And on.  And on.

Tom Brady, the accused culprit in this never-ending saga, was initially suspended four games for his presumed role in the deflation of the footballs.  However, in a report published by attorney Ted Wells on May 6, it is stated that it is “more probable than not” that Brady and the Patriots knew that the balls were inadequately inflated.  And you know what “more probable than not” means; it isn’t a 100% certainty that Brady and the Patriots staff were doing this on purpose.  For example, it was more probable than not that the 2007 Mets were going to win the NL East; of course, they choked away a seven-game lead with 17 games left to play and missed the playoffs.  And it was more probable than not that the U.S. hockey team would lose to the U.S.S.R. in the 1980 Olympics.  That didn’t happen, either.

To demonstrate the ridiculousness of the report and the entire story itself, the entire thing hinges on a series of text message exchanges between Jim McNally, the attendant of the officials’ locker room and Patriots locker room assistant John Jastremski.  They went like this, in no particular order, per NESN:

McNally: Tom sucks…im going make that next ball a (expletive) balloon

Jastremski: Talked to him last night. He actually brought you up and said you must have a lot of stress trying to get them done…

Jastremski: I told him it was. He was right though…

Jastremski: I checked some of the balls this morn… The refs (expletive) us…a few of then were at almost 16

Jastremski: They didnt recheck then after they put air in them

McNally: (Expletive) tom …16 is nothing…wait till next sunday

Jastremski: Omg! Spaz

Jastremski: Can‟t wait to give you your needle this week 🙂

McNally: (Expletive) tom….make sure the pump is attached to the needle…..(expletive) watermelons coming

Jastremski: So angry

McNally: The only thing deflating (Sunday)..is his passing rating

Jastremski: I have a big needle for u this week

McNally: Better be surrounded by cash and newkicks….or its a rugby sunday

McNally: (Expletive) tom

Jastremski: Maybe u will have some nice size 11s in ur locker

McNally: Tom must really be working your balls hard this week

McNally: You working

Jastremski: Yup

McNally: Nice dude….jimmy needs some kicks….lets make a deal…..come on help the deflator

McNally: Chill buddy im just (expletive) with you ….im not going to espn……..yet

To be fair to Wells and the NFL, the texts do portray the equipment managers, and especially Brady, as being pretty aware of what was happening.  But we can’t be sure that these two weren’t joking, and we can’t be sure that they are credible sources, either.

But the story has become such a joke.  The NFL and Brady are fighting over a small piece of air.  Brady was suspended four games by NFL dictator commissioner Roger Goodell, and Brady filed an appeal of the suspension almost immediately.  The drama that ensued was insane; Pats’ owner Robert Kraft said he wouldn’t fight the penalties levied against his organization after saying he would demand an apology from the league if his team was found innocent.  More on him later.

We later find out that Brady destroyed his phone to potentially hide the deflating evidence.  The NFL’s autocrat “independent arbiter”, Roger Goodell, upheld Brady’s suspension on July 28, at which point you would figure the story would be over.  And if you figured this, you would be so wrong.

The day after, Kraft would pull back his support in the league and Brady would file another appeal.  This one wouldn’t be heard by Goodell but rather by Richard Berman, an independent judge, in New York.  Berman is expected to rule this week, and there is virtually no likelihood of a settlement between the two parties.

The story has become tiring; heck, it was tiring 24 hours after it broke.  It’s a silly controversy.  Worst of all?  The Patriots won the Deflategate game 45-7 over the Colts; meaning, they probably would’ve won the game without the air being taken out of the balls. In this case, though, their reputation precedes them, and the finger will be pointed, just like it was during Spygate, at Brady and the former HC of the NYJ.

And the NFL is not blameless here, either.  How could they want this story to go on forever, especially at a time when the public opinion of Goodell is as negative as ever?  With Brady being one of the best players in the game, why would the league want to provoke what seems like a witch hunt against him?  And why would the NFL be wasting so much effort and energy with Deflategate when it has far, far bigger problems?

These bigger problems were addressed by Nate Scott of USA Today’s For The Win this morning:

This is arrogance of the highest order. The NFL has major issues (and you better believe the release of Concussion on Christmas Day is going to be a major issue for the league) and the league’s commissioner is in a protracted legal battle over whether or not he can suspend one of his star players for four games instead of one or two.

Yes, Commissioner Goodell is wasting league time and resources to try and keep one of his most marketable stars off the field. This doesn’t even make good business sense. All those sports marketing reporters can’t wipe Goodell’s chin and explain to us how what he’s doing is actually good for the bottom line. It isn’t.

This is about showing off the power of The Shield, and not allowing one player to show up the Commissioner, who fought long and hard in those CBA negotiations to have the total power to do whatever he wants. Goodell earned that right, and he’s not going to give it up just because no one in the actual sport cares. This is his show.

Concussion.  About that.

Concussion‘s trailer hit exclusively on MMQB.com yesterday, and it looks like it could be a PR disaster for the NFL.  It stars Will Smith as Bennet Omalu, a doctor who became famous for discovering the brain disease CTE.  CTE has served in part to claim the lives of former players Junior Seau, Dave Duerson, and others.

MMQB is up. @SI_PeterKing on all 32 teams and exclusive debut of @ConcussionMovie trailer: http://t.co/q0tc3HHglnhttps://t.co/HNJCF2OoDw

— The MMQB (@theMMQB) August 31, 2015

The movie will likely showcase the league’s years of denial in terms of concussions, and it may be all we are talking about this winter; the movie will be released on Christmas Day.  But this isn’t what Goodell is worried about right now; he’s worried about a little chunk of air.

This story has gone far past its saturation point.  The public and the players have had more than enough (a Bleacher Report poll said 70 percent of players don’t consider the Pats cheaters, and most players simply don’t care about Deflategate at all), so why can’t the parties involved make up and compromise?

In terms of winners and losers in this scandal, well, there are only losers; it’s a no-win situation for everyone involved.

Which is why Goodell, Brady, Kraft, and everyone else involved need it to go away.

You’ve probably heard, especially recently, the discussion of NFL quarterbacks, and particularly which ones are “elite” and which ones aren’t.  This debate has extended to, among others, Baltimore Ravens quarterback Joe Flacco.  Flacco led his team to a Super Bowl title in 2013, and his postseason run got him a new six year, $120.6 million contract.

As you can imagine, pundits have taken their time to debate Flacco’s eliteness.  But first, we have to understand what elite means. According to dictionary.com, the definition of “elite” is: “representing the most choice or select; best.”  Okay, so with that out of the way, NFL fans have had hypothetical debates, especially recently, over the eliteness of Flacco and others.  And you are going to hear the word elite a lot in this article.

But this debate has become utterly ridiculous.  Why?  Because it’s gotten so far out of control it can’t be saved.  It started two years ago, in the midst of the Ravens’ Super Bowl run.  As transcribed by Rodger Sherman of SBNation, the Ravens’ website has fed the elite fire.  Here are a few article titles since then:

Jan. 14, 2013: “Joe Flacco not elite? ‘You’re crazy.’“

June 5, 2013: “Pres. Obama to Joe Flacco: ‘You’re elite.’“

Dec. 12, 2014: “Joe Flacco sending ‘elite’ subliminal message?“

Jan. 3, 2015: “Joe Flacco ‘The best quarterback in football’“

(We are counting this as an assertion of eliteness.)

Jan. 3, 2015: “Joe Flacco leaves elite tip in Pittsburgh“

(To be fair, we had the same headline.)

Jan. 5, 2015: “Why isn’t Flacco considered elite?”

Jan. 8, 2015: “Is Joe Flacco an elite QB?“

(The answer was yes.)

Feb. 18, 2015: “Is Joe Flacco elite? Gary Kubiak’s awesome answer.“

May 28, 2015: “Why Joe Flacco will break into elite QB club under Marc Trestman“

WAIT I THOUGHT HE’D BEEN IN THE CLUB THIS WHOLE TIME

July 24, 2015: “Torrey Smith’s brilliant response to Joe Flacco elite question“

Aug. 20, 2015: “Eagles head coach Chip Kelly calls Joe Flacco elite“

That, in and of itself, is the reason why we shouldn’t be debating this stuff.  It’s perfectly easy to understand the team promoting its best player, but their borderline obsession with his being “elite” is insane. And this is from the same people that brought you this gem last summer.  But they aren’t the only ones.

On August 6, the Republican Debate was held in Cleveland, Ohio. MSNBC, among other networks, was there to cover it.  During Chris Matthews’ “Hardball”, a man bearing a sign with a very specific message could easily be seen behind Matthews’ set.  (Keep in mind, “Hardball” is a political show on a political cable news network.)  Here’s the image:

Meanwhile, behind Chris Matthews … pic.twitter.com/8tHac2HMeZ

— Ann Coulter (@AnnCoulter) August 7, 2015

Yes, that is someone with a sign asking if Joe Flacco is an elite quarterback.  While the occurrence was extremely funny when it happened, it was really just a denotation of our infatuation with a completely random debate like this one.

To show how obsessed we are in America about football, and debate like this one, the guy holding the sign has a known identity.  While we don’t know his real name, he goes on Twitter by PFTCommenter; PFT stands for NBC Sports’ football blog, Pro Football Talk.  He’s no joke, either: he has 56.7 thousand followers.

And he also has a Wikipedia profile.  Here it is:

PFT Commenter (alternatively spelled PFTCommenter or Pro Football Talk Commenter) is a pseudonymous and satirical sportswriter who covers the National Football League for online publications including Kissing Suzy Kolber, SBNation, Football Savages, and his own site, StrongTakes.com, as well as on Twitter. PFT Commenter, whose name references Profootballtalk.com, mimics the “macho posturing and racism”,^[1] or “hot takes“,^[2] in the website’s comment sections.

His writing style is characterized by “didactic misspelling, erratic punctuation, barely veiled racism, not-quite-latent homophobia, conspiratorial anxiety, and arrogant disdain for critical thought” and the character is “dumb on purpose”,^[3] earning a comparison to the Stephen Colbert character on The Colbert Report^[1] with his ability to “undermine the league’s resident apologists and party-liners.”^[3] PFT Commenter often overpraises white players for their blue-collar attitudes, criticizes black players for being selfish and overrated, and “eagerly takes the truth-y NFL party line on every possible issue”.^[1] In response to criticisms of his poor spelling, he wrote, “Im on record that I dont care about spelling, I care about TELLING.”^[2]

PFT Commenter began as a commenter on ProFootballTalk.com^[4] before starting the @PFTCommenter Twitter account in 2012 and eventually becoming a contributor for SBNation, Kissing Suzy Kolber and Football Savages.^[2]

PFT Commenter has also written a self-published^[2]e-book, Goodell vs. Obama: The Battle for the Future of the NFL, which imagines a dystopian future in which PresidentBarack Obama attempts to turn the Dallas Cowboys into a soccer team in Kenya, and NFL commissioner Roger Goodell fights him in a boxing match to stop him.^[5]

PFT Commenter (alternatively spelled PFTCommenter or Pro Football Talk Commenter) is a pseudonymous and satirical sportswriter who covers the National Football League for online publications including Kissing Suzy Kolber, SBNation, Football Savages, and his own site, StrongTakes.com, as well as on Twitter. PFT Commenter, whose name references Profootballtalk.com, mimics the “macho posturing and racism”,^[1] or “hot takes“,^[2] in the website’s comment sections.

His writing style is characterized by “didactic misspelling, erratic punctuation, barely veiled racism, not-quite-latent homophobia, conspiratorial anxiety, and arrogant disdain for critical thought” and the character is “dumb on purpose”,^[3] earning a comparison to the Stephen Colbert character on The Colbert Report^[1] with his ability to “undermine the league’s resident apologists and party-liners.”^[3] PFT Commenter often overpraises white players for their blue-collar attitudes, criticizes black players for being selfish and overrated, and “eagerly takes the truth-y NFL party line on every possible issue”.^[1] In response to criticisms of his poor spelling, he wrote, “Im on record that I dont care about spelling, I care about TELLING.”^[2]

PFT Commenter began as a commenter on ProFootballTalk.com^[4] before starting the @PFTCommenter Twitter account in 2012 and eventually becoming a contributor for SBNation, Kissing Suzy Kolber and Football Savages.^[2]

PFT Commenter has also written a self-published^[2]e-book, Goodell vs. Obama: The Battle for the Future of the NFL, which imagines a dystopian future in which PresidentBarack Obama attempts to turn the Dallas Cowboys into a soccer team in Kenya, and NFL commissioner Roger Goodell fights him in a boxing match to stop him.^[5]

To be honest, good for him.  He has built a cult following out of giving hot takes on the game’s most talked about players and made a living off of it.  He is popular mainly because of our football-obsessed culture in America and our constant need to talk about something related to the sport.  But as they say, don’t hate the player.  Hate the game.

That game is the Flacco debate.  But here is why we shouldn’t be doing this: it won’t help the Ravens win or lose any games.  It’s a futile discussion to have.  Most of all?  Joe Flacco has one more ring than anyone debating whether he is elite or not.  That says it all.

There’s no reason to debate this; it’s not important.  It fills the time until the NFL season starts and gives sports pundits something to talk about related to football.  And, do you know the best part?  People will probably try to determine his “eliteness” by quantifying his value to their fantasy teams.  That is the culture of NFL fandom, ladies and gentlemen.

So this debate is stupid and ridiculous.  But here’s the problem:

It’s not going away anytime soon.