Some Football Thoughts

Here are some football thoughts that I've been thinking about recently.

1. NFL Television Viewership:
-through 12 weeks, NFL games  were averaging 15.8 million viewers
-that number is up 5% vs. 2017
-46 of the top 50 most-watched shows on TV are NFL games
-19 of the top 20 most watched shows on TV are NFL games
The NFL is doing a lot of things wrong, blackballing Colin Kaepernick and officiating among them, but driving away viewers and interest isn't one of them.

2. This little nugget from 360 Fantasy Football:
Larry Fitzgerald has more career tackles than dropped passes.
He has 29 drops on 211 targets, 37 career tackles.
Fitzgerald has been one of the most fun players to watch in all of my years of watching football.

3. Speaking of career numbers, the fun that people have had with Tom Brady reaching 1,000 career rushing yards was hilarious. Those people include Brady himself.

4. I've missed Jared Allen so it was a thrill to see that he's back in the news for an unlikely reason. He's gunning for the Olympics with a Curling team made up of former NFL players. Allen has recruited Marc Bulger, Keith Bullock, and Michael Roos to join him on his curling quest.
"We aren't coming in to disrespect the curling world. We just want to be a part of it."
It seems like a tremendous long shot for Allen and his football friends to be in Beijing for the 2022 Winter Olympics but it sure is fun imagining him on that stage.

5. The Kansas City Chiefs are hypocrites in their respective handlings of Kareem Hunt and Tyreek Hill.

6. Los Angeles Chargers safety Derwin James has been outstanding in his rookie season. It was still surprising to see these remarkable positional snap counts through Week 13 for James from Pro Football Focus.
Box safety: 287
Free safety: 204
Defensive line: 130
Nickel: 125
Outside: 15
This sort of position versatility would be remarkable for a 10-year vet. A rookie? He's the Defensive Rookie of the Year in my book.

7. This from former Eagles and Browns executive Joe Banner after another Washington Redskins quarterback was injured:
"The team leaders in Washington should be in Bruce Allen's office this morning for a discussion. The message should be that you can't expect us to continue to risk our health and well-being when you are keeping a player who can help us win out of the building for political reasons."
The fact that the Redskins didn't even bring Colin Kaepernick in for a workout tells everyone so loud and so clear that the quarterback that just wants to make this society a better one has been kept out of the league for non-football reasons. The Redskins signed one quarterback (Mark Sanchez) that hasn't taken an NFL snap for as long as Kaepernick and a second quarterback (Josh Johnson) that hasn't taken an NFL snap since 2011. The Redskins signed Rueben Foster! A linebacker that has more domestic abuse offenses than seasons in the NFL.

8. Army-Navy is an amazing game and rivalry for so many reasons. I was at the 2000 game in Baltimore. Navy won 30-28 and chipped away at Army's 49-45-7 series lead. Four years later, the series was tied at 49-49-7. It's been mostly Navy since but with this year's win Army has taken three in a row. Fun game. fun rivalry, fun football. Incredible players.

9. I can't say this enough, NFL Network's A Football Life is fantastic. The most recent episode on Doug Williams was amazing. It's Thurman Thomas night tonight. I look forward to it but I'm very disappointed that it's the Season 8 finale. Thank you NFL Films for all that you do.

10. Perhaps I was getting a bit frosty because the game wasn't going well for the Minnesota Vikings but the Monday Night Football broadcasting team isn't good. At one point, with the Vikings facing a fourth-and-goal from the 1, "sideline" reporter Anthony "Booger" McFarland said that the Vikings should kick the field goal to make it a one-score game. The score was 6-0. It was going to be a one-score game no matter what the Vikings did. I muted the game at that point. I wish that I had done it much sooner.

11. While I don't agree with the decision of college football players to skip their team's bowl games, I don't think that it's anybody's business that they do so. It's their life. It's their decision. No one else is in a position to criticize it.

12. The only thing more pointless than a December mock draft is every mock draft done before December.