Some Football Thoughts

Football is often on my mind and the NFL gave us a lot to think about this week.

1. The Myles Garrett meltdown. The most astonishing thing about Garrett's attack on Mason Rudolph is that it happened at all. But, is it really all that astonishing? The NFL has received tons of criticism over the years for doing little to make the game safer. At the same time, the players have always been viewed as the innocent victims. They aren't. Football is a violent game. It will always be a violent game. That's part of what makes football so damn fun to play and to watch. It's when the players take it beyond simply getting the opponent to the ground that it truly becomes dangerous. It's when players intentionally try to hurt other players. That's on them. It's not the owners. It's not the big, bad NFL. It's the players. When Garrett tried to crack the head of Rudolph with Rudolph's own helmet, it's on Garrett. The second most astonishing thing about the attack is that there are many people defending Garrett's actions. I'm not getting into that nonsense. The Cleveland Browns defense appeared to have an agenda other than getting Pittsburgh Steelers offensive players on the ground. I turned off that game thinking that Gregg Williams was still on the Browns sideline. Receivers JuJu Smith-Schuster and Diontae Johnson, the only real threats in the Steelers' passing game, were sent to the sidelines with concussions. Browns safety Damarious Randall was ejected for his vicious hit to Johnson. That wasn't enough for a Browns defense looking to weed out Steelers threats as running back James Conner left the game with a shoulder injury. So, with 14 seconds left in a game in which the Browns led 21-7 and a preseason-level Steelers offense on the field, Myles Garrett hits Mason Rudolph a few beats after he's thrown the ball. Not only does he hit Rudolph late, he puts in a little extra oomph in the take-down. Rudolph doesn't take kindly to that and little a wrestling ensues: push, shove, knee there, jab here, yank, pull, and everyone knows the rest. This is all on the players. They have to respect their peers. They need to play a violent game in a physical manner but they need to do it without intentions to injure. This game is nothing without the great players that populate it at every level.

2. The Colin Kaepernick kerfuffle. This one is all on the NFL. What the hell are they doing? Nearly everyone with an opinion, and everyone has one of those, says that it looks like a PR stunt. It looks like a PR stunt because it is a PR stunt. Some in the media knew that some "news" was coming a week before Kaepernick knew. That's a PR stunt. The good thing for Kaepernick is that he's been working toward and physically ready for a workout since his banishment from the league. He hoped that an opportunity could come at any minute and he had to be ready for it. So he's ready for this one. Even if it is a PR stunt. The best thing that can come from it is that he gets the opportunity that he should've had three years ago.

I found former Green Bay Packers executive Andrew Brandt's thoughts on this PR stunt interesting:

-NFL passing buck to teams, putting it on them
-dangerous precedent of NFL staging this, other players/agents will want same
-there is no way this goes the way the NFL wants it to go

3. So, the supposed MVP through 10 weeks had a fourth quarter fumble returned for a TD, threw an OT interception, commanded an OT three-and-out, and only won in OT because he lucked into a third possession that lead to the game-winning field goal. Many talking heads trumpeted Russell Wilson's case for the MVP after his Monday night performance against the 49ers. That's a puzzle. Other than a couple MVP-like throws, that was probably the worst game I've seen Wilson play in some time. I figured that it would hurt his MVP case rather than enhance it. Especially after the ridiculous performance Lamar Jackson had the day before.

4. Whenever the Minnesota Vikings approach a game in which they are overwhelming favorites I hope that everyone in the organization remembers last year's Week 3 game against the Buffalo Bills. The Vikings can not look toward next week's bye and forget that they are playing the Denver Broncos.

5. Tomorrow's Houston Texans-Baltimore Ravens game should be a blast. I wish that it wasn't at the same time as the Broncos-Vikings game.

5. Speaking of fun, it sure is fun to watch Dalvin Cook play football.

6. Eric Kendricks too.

7. Here's hoping next week is an NFL week of only good, on-field football thoughts.

8. Skol Vikings!