Ten Thoughts on the NFL

1) Another New England Patriots Super Bowl appearance...

Yay.

But here’s the silver lining. In the previous seven New England Super Bowls with Bill Belichick at the helm, we’ve been treated to exciting games. The largest margin of victory in those games was six points. The average score of those seven games has been 24.1 (New England) to 22.4 (opponents). Most NFL fans are sick and tired of seeing the Patriots win Championships, but their games have all been exciting.

I’ll be pulling for the underdog Philadelphia Eagles, but I’m really just hoping for an entertaining game.

2) Where do you stand with the conspiracy theorists? Do you think the league secretly wants the Patriot dynasty to keep rolling, or do you think there are simply coincidences that surround Tom Brady and the Pats?

Does the fact that the Jacksonville Jaguars were flagged 6 times for 98 yards, to the Patriots 1 for 10 yards bother you?

What about this?

Or this?

Some fans look at this as proof that the refs gave New England the game.

I just think the mystique of the Patriots gets into the head of their opponents and they overthink what they need to do to win. They play tight, they play not to lose, and mistakes happen.

Then again...

According to NFL Research, the one penalty called on the Patriots (which came on a special teams return) was the fewest on one team in a playoff game since the 2011 AFC Championship, when the Pats were called for one penalty in a win over the Ravens.

3) The Jaguars were a fun team to watch, and as long as they can keep that defense together they’ll be a contender. But what will they do at quarterback?

Do they dare invest in Blake Bortles long term? Will Eli Manning be a legit option for them? Do they draft a guy?

What would you do?

4) We seem to always see weird stuff like this in the playoffs.

Nick Foles has been a successful quarterback in the past, so him playing well shouldn’t be a big surprise. The Philadelphia Eagles’ offense has play-makers all over the place, and Foles just needs to distribute the ball.

5) This was a neat headline.

6) I never thought if it this way, but Adam Rank makes a great point.

That has to sting for Minnesotans.

7) So what do the Vikings do at quarterback in 2018?

Case Keenum, Teddy Bridgewater and Sam Bradford are all free agents.

The soon to be 30-year old Keenum just played the season of his life, but was it a fluke, or a sign of things to come?

Bridgewater (25-years old) is a former number one draft pick who rehabbed form a devastating knee injury and looked like a player the team would build around after his Pro Bowl 2015.

The 30-year old Bradford was brought in when Bridgewater went down, and all he did was put up a career high 99.3 passer rating in 2016 before injures caught up with him last season.

They have a championship caliber defense, but they need to figure out the QB to stay relevant in 2018.

8) The Tennessee Titans fired head coach Mike Mularkey, in part because his quarterback Marcus Mariota regressed in 2017. So I find it odd that the team decided to hire former Texans’ defensive coordinator Mike Vrabel as their new head coach. It certainly bucks the recent trend of surrounding your young franchise quarterback with offensive minds.

9) Another former Chicago Bears’ assistant coach is getting his own team to run as the Arizona Cardinals hired Carolina Panthers’ defensive coordinator Steve Wilks as their head coach. Wilks was in Chicago from 2006-2008 on Lovie Smith’s staff.

Other head coaches with the Bears on their resume includes Carolina’s Ron Rivera who played in Chicago from 1984 to 1992, and was an assistant coach twice. From 1997 to 1998, and from 2004 to 2006.

The Dolphins’ Adam Gase who was the offensive coordinator in Chicago for one season, 2015.

And who can forget New Orleans Saints’ head coach Sean Payton’s eight completions as a back up quarterback of the 1987 Spare Bears?

10) Alshon Jeffery is playing in the Super Bowl, and depending on what story you believe, he was either run out of Chicago, or had no intention of staying in Chicago, but would you like to see the former Bear win a championship?

I know this poll could be skewed by all the anti-Patriot votes, but take the Pats out of the equation for a moment, and vote either for or against Jeffery getting a ring?