Some Football Thoughts

Here are some football thoughts that have been rattling about my head as we finally hit the opening of NFL training camps.

1. Football is back. Well, training camp football is back. Happy Days! Football is fun! So fun!

2. In my opinion, there isn't a single manifestation of an 18-game NFL season that works. The suggestion of 18 games with players only playing in 16 of them is simply idiotic. I can't believe that ever grew from an idea to something that's being discussed. It's even more idiotic than every player playing 18 games. Expanding the season isn't for the betterment of the league. It's a money-grab by the owners. They want the projected 2+ billion dollars that they can grab from an extra two weeks of NFL games. It's an extra three weeks of game if teams get an added bye week with the scheme. More football doesn't necessarily mean better football. The Thursday Night games are often proof of that. Most of those games are a mess. The league can't keep pretending that they care about the welfare of the players. Thursday Night games, 18 game seasons. Those money-grabbing ideas put profits over the welfare of the players. Players have been a disposable commodity for the owners since 1920. Owners rely on the fact that there will always be more players so every elusive dollar is far more precious.

And, I've yet to see anyone mention that with an 18-game schedule two teams might have to play a 22-game season. 22 NFL games over five-plus months. There's no way to wrestle that into a narrative that's a positive for the continued health of the players.

3. Tyreek Hill. Where to start on this one? The NFL sure hacked up this investigation and punishment. Investigation? What investigation? The investigation into deflated footballs was more thorough and that was a shitshow. It's an absolute mystery as to how the league can claim that this investigation took four months. Hill never even traveled to New York for a sit down with Roger "the Goods" Goodell. As Ezekiel Elliott did earlier this year for bumping into a security guard. One more time, Elliott had a sit down with "the Goods" for bumping into a security guard. Hill did not in the domestic abuse of his child. Nearly every player facing consequences from the NFL has had one of these sit downs. Hill's offense is more serious than most. One might say that Elliott's past was reason for the sit down. Hill has a similar past. Actually, he was a worse past. Tyreek Hill may have/may not have harmed his child. Despite not having access to all of the evidence in the case, the NFL did have two things. A chilling recording of Hill threatening his partner and the child's mother with physical harm AND the fact that the care for the child is being directed and monitored by the Johnson County District Court and the Johnson County Department for Children and Families. Either one of these should've been enough for the NFL to punish Hill. The league has often handed out significant suspensions based on far less. Adrian Peterson lost all but two games for disciplining his child. He was honest about all of it. Hill has yet to be honest about anything. There has been no concern over Peterson being with his child since the incident or moving forward. Again, care for Hill's child is is being directed and monitored by the Johnson County District Court and the Johnson County Department for Children and Families. The NFL needs to spend less time thinking about an idiotic 18-game season and more time thinking about it's haphazard joke of a player conduct program.

I'm so glad that training camps are opening. I'm already sick of this off-field nonsense.

4. Just to get away from the recent nauseating off-field football news I turn to this little college football nugget found in a tweet from Albert Breer. Cleveland.com journalist Doug Lesmerises polled 33 writers covering the Big 10 and asked who the best coach in the conference is. The results:

1. Pat Fitzgerald (14)
2. Scott Frost (9)
3. Jeff Brohm (4)
4. James Franklin (2)
4. Jim Harbaugh (2)

When talking heads honk about college coaches that might be at the top of an NFL team's head coaching want list, Stanford's David Shaw is often the first name mentioned. I have a feeling that Fitzgerald's high on that list as well. As with Shaw, I think that the biggest obstacle to prying either from the college game is the love that each has for where they are. Fitzgerald especially. He played at Northwestern. He is Northwestern. I also feel like he's a college football coach and will always be a college football coach. I'm not sure that I can say the same for Shaw.

So, the above results leave two unaccounted for votes. There are nine remaining Big 10 coaches.

Mark Dantonio, Michigan State
Kirk Ferentz, Iowa
Paul Chryst, Wisconsin
P.J. Fleck, Minnesota
Ryan Day, Ohio State
Lovie Smith, Illinois
Tom Allen, Indiana
Mike Locksley, Maryland
Chris Ash, Rutgers

I'm guessing that Mark Dantonio received both or split them with Kirk Ferentz.

5. I started watching the fourth season of All or Nothing. This season covers the 2018 season of the Carolina Panthers. With Ron Rivera, Cam Newton, Luke Kuechly, Thomas Davis, and Greg Olsen it's bound to be fun. Olsen describing the musical Hamilton to Newton in the first episode is hilarious. Then you have NFL Films doing what they do. Turning everything into incredible art is what they do. Watching Panthers' running back Christian McCaffrey got me thinking about how many football analysts immediately labeled him as a back that couldn't run between the tackles. When I heard those criticisms I figured that they hadn't watched him play at Stanford. I saw too much of him at Stanford. When I saw him step through Cal tacklers as a freshman in the 2014 Big Game I'd already seen enough of him. That nightmare was just getting started. He has some of the best feet I've ever seen from a running back. He has Jerome Bettis-like feet. He combines that with Le'Veon Bell-like patience. His unique feet were most on display when he was running between the tackles. I was thrilled when he decided to leave Stanford after three seasons and I knew that an NFL team was going to be thrilled to have him. I know that excelling at the college level isn't always a guarantee of excelling at the NFL level. But McCaffrey looked like one of those special football players that would. And running between the tackles was very much a part of his game.

6. More All or Nothing. It appears that David Tepper will be a positive addition to the NFL's ownership. I was more than a little skeptical of a man that made his billions as a hedge fund manager.

7. Even more All or Nothing. I've always thought that Cam Newton was a little wacky. He's much more of a team leader than I thought. "Face of the Franchise" is often forced on a player. Newton's draft status and position forced that handle on him but it doesn't feel forced to me.

8. Since last season many of the Minnesota Vikings' beat writers, and many national peeps, have been barking about how Mike Zimmer wants to run the ball more. Run, run, run, and run some more. Gotta run the ball. If Zimmer called the offensive plays he'd run the ball on every down. Or damn near. Something like that. This insistence about Zimmer's supposed fixation on running the ball has gotten annoying. The beat writers, in particular, have turned it into some sad joke. If Zimmer stated a desire to run the ball with a frequency anywhere near as much as these barkers say that he did, I sure missed it. I think that his desires for the run game are far more modest. I think that he wants to run the ball more efficiently. I think that he wants to run the ball with less predictability. I think that he wants to be able pound out short yardage plays with the run. I don't care if the Vikings average yards per carry in 2018 was similar to what it was in 2017. The run game was a mess last year. It was predictable. There was no continuity between the run and pass games. In fact, it felt like there was a run offense and then there was a pass offense. The intentions of each were advertised to the defense as each trotted on and off the field. That's no way to run the football or an offense.

9. I'm certainly not the first to say this but I think that the addition of Gary Kubiak and his gang of coaches (Rick Dennison, Klint Kubiak, and Brian Pariani) is one of the sneaky strong offseason additions in the NFL. Kevin Stefanski is taking his first swing as an NFL offensive coordinator. At 37, he's one of the youngest coaches on the staff. He's also the longest-tenured coach on the staff. Kubiak is a terrific mentor for a first time offensive coordinator. Seeing as he suggested the addition of Kubiak it's apparent that Stefanski only sees the benefit of it. He isn't threatened by it. I believe that both Stefanski and Kubiak see this offense as a group effort. I'm really looking forward to seeing it play out this season.

10. Football's back!