Four Down Territory: Preseason Walktrough

Listen, a lot has happened since we last spoke. Tom Brady and Gronk now reside in Tampa Bay, Cam Newton has the Patriots warming up to gospel music, Matt Rhule flipped the head coaching job at BAYLOR in to the Panthers gig, Teddy Bridgewater is finally going to get a shot as a starter since his knee injury in 2017, and the Washington football team decided to drop their racist name and mascot. Oh yeah, a pandemic hit the entire globe. COVID has ripped through the U.S. killing more than 185 thousand people. Millions have survived the disease but long term effects have yet to be seen. More than 60 players have tested positive for COVID; the most famous being Von Miller (who is now out for the year with what appears to be an ankle injury.) The Broncos future HOF linebacker detailed his that the mixture of his asthma and COVID made things ‘frightening.’ As the NFL preps for a season in the midst of a pandemic the obvious question remains. Is this a good idea? The MLB, NBA, and WNBA decided to hit the GO button and start, or resume, their seasons. MLB did a horrendous job protocol wise which left the Marlins in the middle of a breakout. The NBA and WNBA decided to explore the bubble route. Both leagues set up a safe spot in Florida and had players and team personnel fly in. After a 14 day quarantine and negative tests they were allowed inside the bubble for play to resume. Both leagues are thriving and play has gone on as normal. Where will the NFL fall on that spectrum? Probably closer to baseball than their basketball counterparts. Some would argue that the NFL should’ve went the bubble route and there’s more to that than meets the eye. It’s easier for the NBA to pull this off because rosters are smaller at 15 per team. Each NFL team fields a 53 man roster on Sundays. Counting players only the NBA had a total of 330 players in the bubble (only 22 teams were invited). If the NFL went that route they would have to house 1,696 players. This doesn’t include the 16 practice squad players each team gets to sign, coaches, team personnel, owners, etc.. That’s a herculean effort to say the least. Another factor is the amount of time in the bubble. Currently, the NBA champion will have spent about 14 weeks in the bubble. The Super Bowl champion will have spent over 21 weeks isolated from freinds and family. NBA players that make it to the second round of the playoffs are allowed four family members to visit. That’s about eight weeks. If the NFL followed that same model players would have to wait 18 weeks to see loved ones. Again, herculean and a hard ask. The NFL cancelled preseason to help lower the chance of the disease spreading and that’s a good start but without creating a bubble they’re putting a lot of pressure on teams to make sure players are following protocol and doing the things needed to insure the safest season as possible. It’s easy to see how that’s going to be a struggle, right? Since the murder of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor at the hands of the police athletes have leaned in more on racial inequality and using their platforms to speak against social injustice and police brutality. The NBA, WNBA, MLB, and MLS have dived in heard first to “support” these issues and the NFL is no different. Roger Goodell even gave us this video on how the league was wrong and should have listened to Colin Kaepernick back in 2016. https://twitter.com/NFL/status/1269034074552721408 https://twitter.com/NFL/status/1297707849817047041 Let the record that Kap is still being blackballed and yet to receive a workout outside of that faux meeting in 2019. Things seemed to settle down as training camp started then the shooting of Jacob Blake shook the NFL, and America to its core, again. The shooting lead the Ravens to release a statement. No, not one of those “Racism is bad” statements that absolves those in charge and with power. It was a statement that clearly identifies the root of the issue and action items to change that. Something that people, yours truly, have been asking for since the beginning. https://twitter.com/Ravens/status/1299111865910517760 As nice as that statement was it still isn’t enough. Yes, pointing out that police brutality is the arm of a much bigger villain is needed and it can’t be stated enough but following through on those action items is where the real power resides. The NFL took it up a notch and decided to put “End Racism” and “It Takes All Of Us” in endzones this season. https://twitter.com/ProFootballTalk/status/1300876093822586880 Cute. Athletes say all the time they want to use their platforms to raise awareness about social issues and bring about change. Well, how does that happen? How can an athlete’s reach go beyond the field and into legislation? Their owners, that’s how. Owners have the power. Owners have the cache to get in the room with lawmakers. Owners have the money to make things happen. And it’s time to start holding their feet to the fire. It’s time to stop giving passes to billionaires who look at a video of a man being shot seven times while walking away and acknowledging that it’s wrong. It’s time to stop giving them high fives because they threw some money to a nonprofit that helps communities of color. Why? Because they’re donating triple that amount to people and organizations who don’t give a damn about the plight of black people. An owner releases a statement saying they’re listening to the pain communities of color are expressing. Cool, how are you using your influence to change that? If owners are truly in support of their players then it’s time to start acting like it. Award Predictions The best part of every NFL season is that the slate is clean and no one remembers how wrong you were the previous year. THIS is the year that every prediction will be correct and place your bets now before the train leaves the station. If, for some reason, you have to go into hiding and can’t come out until Super Bowl Sunday then have no fear. Offensive Rookie of the Year: Clyde Edwards-Helaire, Kansas City Chiefs Almost put Joe Burrow and CeeDee Lamb in this spot but Clyde is in the perfect situation with one of the best offensive minds the NFL has to offer. Defenses will be putting all their resources in to stopping Hill, Watkins, and Kelce. Clyde will have ample opportunity to rack up yards and touchdowns. Defensive Rookie of the Year: Chase Young, Washington Football Team One of the few things Washington fans can smile about is their defensive front. Chase will have plenty of one on one opportunities and will have double digit sacks his rookie year. Will he be 2020's Nick Bosa? Rookie of the Year: Clyde Edwards-Helaire, Kansas City Chiefs Young is going to need to have a record setting season to capture this award. He can do it but offense is supreme in the NFL. Offensive Player of the Year: Patrick Mahomes, Kansas City Chiefs This one is easy, right? Defensive Player of the Year: Aaron Donald, Los Angeles Rams The most dominant defensive force in the league. The award should be his for the taking. Comeback Player of the Year: Alex Smith, Washington Football Team Even if Alex never steps foot on the field during a game he still deserves the award. It doesn’t matter what JJ Watt and Big Ben do this year; this award belongs to Alex. Coach of the Year: Frank Reich, Indianapolis Colts Frank started to get national attention last year for his offensive chops. With old man Rivers the Colts will win the AFC South. Most Valuable Player: Cam Newton, New England Patriots If Josh McDaniels could build and offense around TIM TEBOW imagine what he can do with a quarterback that’s…you know…actually good. Playoff Predictions What are predictions if they don’t include playoff and Super Bowl forecasts? NFC Seattle (LET RUSS COOK!)New Orleans (Drew's last chance.)Minnesota (The NFC North is up for grabs. Why not the Vikings?)Dallas (Elite offense.) San Francisco (Victims of Russ cooking.)Philadelphia (Trust Doug Pederson or perish.) Green Bay (Rodgers is slipping but not that much.) AFC Kansas City (LOL who did you expect?)Baltimore (Lamar is going to prove it's not a fluke.) Indianapolis (Frank Reich becomes a household name.)New England (Cam is healthy. That means a lot.) Pittsburgh (Welcome back, Big Ben.)Houston (Nuk is gone but Watson is talented enough to take them to the playoffs.)Buffalo (A bone for the Josh Allen hive.) Wild Card Weekend NFC San Francisco over Dallas, Philadelphia over Minnesota, New Orleans over Green Bay AFC New England over Pittsburgh, Indianapolis over Houston, Baltimore over Buffalo Divisional Round NFC Seattle over San Francisco, New Orleans over Philadelphia AFC Kansas City over New England, Baltimore over Indianapolis NFC Championship Seattle over New Orleans AFC Championship Kansas City over Indianapolis Super Bowl Kansas City over Seattle Week One Predictions In order to hold myself accountable for the stuff that comes out of my mouth I’m going to be keeping track of my overall prediction record. This is just winner predictions. No lines or anything related to numbers; I'm allergic. You’ve been warned. Winners are in red. Thursday Night Football Houston at Kansas City Sunday Games New York Jets at Buffalo Green Bay at Minnesota Philadelphia at Washington Cleveland at Baltimore Indianapolis at Jacksonville Las Vegas at Carolina Chicago at Detroit Seattle at Atlanta Miami at New England Los Angeles Chargers at Cincinnati Arizona at San Francisco Tampa Bay at New Orleans Sunday Night Football Dallas at Los Angeles Rams Monday Night Football Pittsburgh at New York Giants Tennessee at Denver Misc. Thoughts that I Need to Get Off My Chest Things that just need to be said. Don’t believe the Buc’s hype. It has the 2011 “Dream Team” Eagles written all over it. They’re going 9-7Seahawks will win the NFC West and the number one seed. Remember: LET RUSS COOK!The Titans are going to fall off a cliff. They aren’t making the playoffs.Dak is going to have another good season and force Jerry to admit that he thinks Prescott isn’t worth the investment. This is McVay’s year to prove he’s the genius people think he is. The Rams don’t have a lot of draft capital or cap room so Sean’s mind is going to have to carry this offense in a tough NFC West. If they struggle this year then the seat is going to get hot in LA in 2021.Josh Allen will still be bad at playing quarterback.Nick Foles will be starting by week 5.Jacksonville will win the Trevor Lawrence sweepstakes by going 1-15.The Raiders are going to give us something special. I don’t know if it’s good or bad but we’re getting something.Andy Reid is going to end at least two zoom press conferences by saying, “Okay guys it’s time for lunch. Thanks for coming.”Dan Snyder will not be the owner of the Washington Football team come December. Click here and here fore more details.ESPN seems to have gotten the MNF crew correct. Steve Levy is entertaining but can keep the show on track. Brian Griese can give breakdowns and correlate college trends to NFL traits. Louis Riddick is going to be the wild card. His unique ability to breakdown the game from a player and front office point of view is an asset that many networks don’t have.Tua will start after Miami’s bye week. (Week 11) Cam Newton warming up to gospel? Patriots are going undefeated. https://twitter.com/ComplexSports/status/1300151557862940672 The best part of football season is Twitter. Let's all have a laugh. https://twitter.com/NFL_Memes/status/1302649799120912384 https://twitter.com/BoogerJokes/status/1301176584900993024 https://twitter.com/QuineTime/status/1303338493452656643 https://twitter.com/KingJosiah54/status/1300904539688640512 Keep it locked in at Goingfor2's daily lineup for all your fantasy needs. https://twitter.com/GeoffLambert77/status/1302210225269805056 @ me madads14 As always, thanks for reading.

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