Ten Thoughts on the NFL

1) The praise being heaped on Denver Broncos’ team president John Elway for letting quarterback Brock Osweiler leave via free agency is ridiculous. Elway didn’t simply let Brock leave, he didn’t have some offseason epiphany that Osweiler was going to be bad in 2016. Nope, Elway wanted to keep the QB his franchise drafted and groomed, but he was outbid. Elway offered Osweiler around $16 million a year with $30 million in guaranteed money, but the Houston Texans just came to the table with a better offer.

Kudos to Elway for not upping his offer to an even sillier level, but let’s all stop kidding ourselves, had the Texans not offered what they offered, Elway would have gladly inked Osweiler.

2) Speaking of Osweiler, he wasn’t only benched on Sunday, the Texans have announced that he’s been benched for their week 16 game against the Cincinnati Bengals on Saturday Night. Tom Savage, who led Houston back from a 13-0 deficit on Sunday against the Jaguars, will get the nod at quarterback.

If you aren’t up on Savage’s bio, he was a 4th round pick of the Texans in 2014, he threw 19 passes as a rookie, then none since before relieving Osweiler on Sunday and throwing for 260 yards on 23 of 36 passing.

3) If you’re going to ice the kicker, ice him before the field goal team has a chance to actually snap the ball back to the holder, before he the holder can actually place the ball and spin the laces and definitely before the kicker can approach the ball and boot it towards the goal posts.

If you wait too long before calling the icing time out, all you’re doing is giving the kicker a chance to kick it and adjust accordingly. Kind of what happened to Kansas City Chiefs’ head coach Andy Reid, who iced Tennessee Titans’ kicker Ryan Succop. Reid called his T.O. just late enough to allow Succop to send one sailing towards the uprights. His kick was short however and he got a do-over.

Succop made good on attempt #2 and the Titans took control of the AFC South while knocking the Chiefs behind the Oakland Raiders in the AFC West.

4) Way back on Thursday Night Football the Seattle Seahawks hurt my eyes by wearing these.

These aren’t my least favorite Color Rush unis, but they are in my top 5.

5) Who would have guessed that this,

... would have led to this?

6) People still want Dak Prescott to get benched by the Dallas Cowboys or nah?

In case you missed it, Prescott had 36 passing attempts and the ball only fell incomplete on four occasions. He threw for 276 yards while completing 88.9% of his passes. He also added 20 yards and a rushing TD on 4 runs.

7) I have no problem with draft eligible college football players deciding to skip their team’s Bowl games to prepare for the NFL. Most Bowl games are meaningless exhibition games designed to make money for the universities, the networks and college football. They also provide teams an extra month or so of practice time which is very valuable to the development of players for the next season.

I get that a player made a commitment, but it’s not like players are tied to a school until graduation. Players leave early all the time, what’s one more meaningless game.

But with that being said, it is a selfish act, but I just can’t fault these men for preparing for the next level. In most cases, these premier athletes attend college football for the chance to live out a dream of being professionals some day, not for the college experience.

8) Since starting 5-0 and having their bye week during week 6 to rest up and prep for the next game, the Minnesota Vikings lost their next 4, going 2-7 since their hot start, and now sit at 7-7, in 3rd place in the NFC North.

They travel to the 8-6 Green Bay Packers next before closing with Chicago Bears at home.

The Packers end their season in Detroit to face the 9-5 Lions, and the Lions play next week in Dallas on Sunday Night Football.

Detroit still controls their own destiny, but the NFC is very competitive with the Bears having a chance to play spoiler down the stretch to two teams fighting for a wildcard spot (Washington and Minnesota).

8a) Bears’ fans, would you get enjoyment on seeing the Bears ruin a team’s playoff aspirations or are you all in on losing for a better draft pick?

9) For the first time ever the NFL is allowing fans to attend the NFL Combine in Indianapolis. You can go here for information on how to register to receive free tickets to the event.

I’m a fan of watching the Combine on TV, but I’m not sure if I’d get the same enjoyment from being up in the stands as the players go through drills. I like the teaching aspect of the event and seeing the coaches try and coach up and encourage the players.

10) Idiot.

The best part of this punch then ejection was all the fantasy football players that needed Jordan Reed to come through with some points. For those non-fantasy football players, we’re in playoff/championship territory and Reed has been a top 10 tight end two years running. I guarantee someone lost some cash by Reed getting a season worst 6 yards receiving.