Ten Thoughts on the NFL: Post Super Bowl edition

1) What the New England Patriots have done during the Bill Belichick/Tom Brady era is incredible. I get the fatigue many NFL fans have with them, but as a gigantic Chicago Bulls fans during the Phil Jackson/Michael Jordan era, I can see both sides to watching a dominating run. Cheering on the Bulls during that time was so rewarding. We got to watch greatness on a daily basis. As good as Jordan was, those teams were all so fun to root for. Scottie Pippen was the only other constant on Chicago’s championship teams, but those six squads had plenty of other guys that helped them achieve their rings.

As Bulls fans we have a special place in our memories for Horace Grant, John Paxson (pre running the Bulls), Steve Kerr, Dennis Rodman, Cliff Levingston, Stacey King, Toni Kukoc, John Salley, etc.

And I’d imagine it’s similar for Patriots fans. Brady is in the G.O.A.T. discussion, but Pats’ fans must have fond memories of Kevin Faulk, Richard Seymour, Deion Branch, Tedy Bruschi, Shane Vereen, Dont’a Hightower, Chris Long, and all those other players that helped their franchise to six Super Bowl wins in nine tries.

2) I mentioned Brady is in the G.O.A.T. discussion, and not the clear cut G.O.A.T., because you can’t discount what Joe Montana did during his time. Montana went 4 for 4 in Super Bowls with the San Francisco 49ers, and in a much different era his passing numbers in those games hold up even today. His career 127.8 passer rating in Super Bowls is still the best of all time. Even if you take Brady’s four best performances and calculate the passer rating from only them (106.4), he’s still far short of Montana’s Super Bowl greatness.

I’m not saying Brady isn’t the greatest of all time, but I’m not saying he is either.

3) Where did all this Julian Edelman for the Hall of Fame nonsense start?

Edelman is a damn good player, but at no time during his career was he ever considered one of the best wide receivers in the game. He was an important piece to three Super Bowl champions, but he’s also a 0 time All Pro and a 0 time Pro Bowler.

4) Los Angeles Rams head coach Sean McVay is still a damn good football coach, and he’ll have his team back at it, but he matched wits with the best and came up short.

“There really is no other way to put it, I’m pretty numb right now, but definitely I got outcoached,” McVay said. “I didn’t do enough for our football team.”

5) McVay’s first offseason task will be to take the training wheels off his quarterback, Jared Goff.

From Sports Illustrated;

It’s well-documented that McVay uses to the coach-to-quarterback communication to adjust calls based on what the defense is showing, up to the point where that communication cuts off, with 15 seconds left on the play clock.

The Patriots wanted to negate that creative advantage, so they essentially sent in two calls on every play. One was what they’d show before the snap. The other was what they’d switch into post-snap. And if you want to see how it worked, go back and watch how Goff held the ball, and doubted what he was looking at, over and over and over.

If Goff can’t get to a point where he can make all the necessary adjustments on his own, the Rams may want to think about finding a new QB.

6) The Oakland Raiders are expected to become the Las Vegas Raiders for the 2020 season, but the latest talk is they might play their home games in 2019 in San Francisco. Their lease is up at the Oakland Coliseum and they need a “home” for this year, so they are talking to the San Francisco Giants about playing their home games at Oracle Park.

Their new Vegas stadium will be a combo for them and for UNLV, so why not just play their 2019 games at the current UNLV home stadium, Sam Boyd Stadium to get a jump start on the Vegas market?

EDIT: Not in San Fran...

7) It’s possible we’ll see a veteran QB shuffle this offseason as rumors are circulating that the Dolphins are going to get rid of Ryan Tannehill and the Bengals are parting ways with Andy Dalton. The Giants may move on from Eli Manning and the Ravens may be ready to trade Joe Flacco. Also with the Eagles picking up the option on Nick Foles, they are likely to trade him away too.

EDIT: And then this happened...

8) Speaking of Eagle QBs, the latest news about about Carson Wentz doesn’t paint the young player in the best light with anonymous players reported to have called Wentz “egotistical,” “selfish,” and “uncompromising,” and that he plays “favorites,” doesn’t like to be “questioned,” needs to “practice what he preaches,” and fails “to take accountability.”

This recent Philly Voice article also says that players like Foles more than Wentz.

This should be a fun offseason in Philadelphia.

9) We’ll be bringing you guys a lot of draft coverage in the coming weeks, and part of that will be our Mocking the Mocks series where we look at a mock draft from an NFL analyst and, well, mock it.

This latest three rounder from the NFL Networks’ Chad Reuter has the Chicago Bears going in an unexpected direction.

87 - Terry McLaurin, WR, Ohio State

McLaurin’s always had speed, but a big Senior Bowl week showed that he might now be a reliable enough receiver to go in the top 100.

Admittedly, I haven’t done a ton of digging into the draft yet, but I do know what the Bears need and I wouldn’t have wide receiver anywhere near the top of that list.

Perhaps Ryan Pace would have McLaurin so high atop his board that he’d be the best player available, but I’m not mocking a wide out to the Bears with their first pick in the 2019 draft.

10) There were conflicting rumors/reports over the weekend as to which teams would be playing in the 2019 season opener for the NFL’s 100 Year celebration. One report had it being a rematch of one of the conference championship games with the Super Bowl winning team deciding which, meaning it’d be the Patriots vs. the Kansas City Chiefs. The NFL has traditionally gone with the Super Bowl champs in that Thursday prime time slot, but with the 100th season celebration taking place they might go a different route.

The other report was that it’d be the Chicago Bears vs. the Green Bay Packers from Soldier Field to kick off the 2019 season. Since this is also the Bears’ 100th season, the celebratory tie-in makes sense. I’d imagine that the Bears would be allowed to pick their home opponent for their own 100th year anniversary — much like the Packers did a year ago — and I’d expect they’d want a piece of the Pack.