When the New York Giants are in a funk, it’s usually because Eli Manning stunk it up. That’s the popular storyline, and the media sticks to it. It’s routine to target the quarterback in the blame game.
Matt Youmans
Being called a nice guy is sometimes a backhanded compliment, and by almost all accounts, Georgia football coach Mark Richt is a nice guy. He’s also cunning enough to survive in a cutthroat business. The problem is, he does not thrive in the biggest games. He wins a lot of games and has a pleasant personality, so he still has a job.
While star quarterbacks continue to fall, the power rating on Carson Palmer and the Arizona Cardinals keeps rising. Of course, the NFL is a stock market, with rises and falls, injuries and overreactions.
If only the Buffalo Bills had a quarterback, they would be in business. That statement was true in recent years, but for a team that was bankrupt at the NFL’s most important position, a gamble on Tyrod Taylor could be paying off.
A losing quarterback is often heckled and ripped. It seldom happens to Andrew Luck, who usually leads a good life. But when things turned bad this week, Luck was the target, and the angry critic was his coach.
A broken collarbone knocked out Tony Romo, and despite finishing the game with his left arm in a sling, he probably had a better Sunday than the opposing quarterback. It was that much of a fiasco for the Philadelphia Eagles.
Believe it or not, Pete Carroll is the second-oldest head coach in the NFL. It’s hard to believe because of his up-tempo approach to life, and he will need all of that energy to lead the Seattle Seahawks through this season.
For decades, betting has driven the popularity of the NFL, a league that has forcefully opposed betting. The new reality is betting has company in the form of the booming fantasy sports industry, which is doing its part to help drive the popularity of the NFL while the league enthusiastically promotes it as a business partner.
A special feeling, a sense of unbridled optimism, sweeps through Las Vegas sports books on the first Sunday of the NFL season. It was especially true in the morning. By mid-afternoon, when the usual suspects were getting routed and Peyton Manning was lobbing lame ducks, some things changed.
Egotistical and innovative, Chip Kelly does things his way. He’s an outside-the-box thinker, which means a lot of people initially disagree with the way he does things.
With three minutes on the clock, Ben Roethlisberger held the football and the fates of millions of gamblers in his hands. There was only one reason to keep watching. The point-spread decision was in the air.
One game is only a first date, but that’s all it took for most in the media to make a long-term commitment to UCLA quarterback Josh Rosen. He is being hyped as the next great one.
Seven months after winning his fourth Super Bowl, Tom Brady prevailed in another big game with the clock winding down. Again, his opponent was second-guessed and properly portrayed as idiotic.
A buzz surrounded Southern California football even before coach Steve Sarkisian slammed too many drinks and embarrassed himself in public. He slurred words, shouted profanities and generally played the part of a college kid at a frat party.
Despite his many mistakes as NFL commissioner, Roger Goodell is a smart man who works for smart men. Eventually, because they are motivated by money, they will figure it out.