So, it's to be the Rams against the Patriots. The Rams are nicely set up to give the Patriots a bit of a hard time. Tom Brady hates an inside pass rush and with Aaron Donald and Suh, that's exactly what the Rams have. They should be able to collapse the pocket on Brady a bit. Bear in mind if they touch him though they're apt to get called for roughing the passer. Brady gets a ton of protection from the officials compared to ther quarterbacks around the league. That roughing the passer call in the AFC championship game was absurd. Brady likes to hurl himself to the ground and immediately beg for a flag on any contact, but even Brady didn't react to that contact, but the officials gave him the call anyway. If you're a defensive lineman or blitzing linebacker playing the Patriots you have to be prepared for any contact on Brady to be called a penalty. Even on a perfectly clean sack they may decide you put too much weight on him going to the ground and penalize you.
The Patriots will likely stick to quick short passes to minimize the Rams pass rush and mix in the occasional outside run. Running up the middle against Suh and Donald isn't easy.
The Rams are a confusing team to me right now. Especially when it comes to Gurley. They pretty much benched him in the championship game giving him just five carries and one catch. Everyone insists he's perfectly healthy and ready to go, but they aren't using him. Sure. Makes perfect sense to me. Why would you want a premiere running back playing in a must win series of games when you have a guy who's been cut twice this year by two different teams backing him up? I'm sure Gurley has done something, or they're hiding an injury of his, but you don't just bench a guy like him at this point of the season for no reason. He can be a game breaker who can take any carry to the house, but you keep him on the bench. People say Sean McVay is a genius, but that's a level of genius I just don't understand.
Bill Belichick is arguably a genius, but given two weeks to prepare he's apt to do something odd too. Last year he opted to bench his year-long starter at cornerback for the Super Bowl. That made life easier for the Eagles. In previous seasons he's completely flipped his defense going from a 4-3 to a 3-4 or vice versa for the big game. He'll do something to try and confuse the Rams and throw off their game planning, but his latest gambits have more backfired on the Patriots than helped them. Opposing teams have figured out to be prepared for anything facing the Patriots in the Super Bowl, so whatever edge he had in surprising teams isn't there any more.
It should be a good game.
In other news around the league, a Philly area sportswriter penned an article claiming many of his teammates hate Carson Wentz and criticizing his character. Yeah. That went over well. Suffice to say every teammate within reach has absolutely and completely discredited the report. The reporter has even had to back down on several of the assertions he made. Did a few players say things off the record that were negative about Carson? Probably, but you're never going to get 80 some guys (our overall locker room this year including the injured guys and parctice squad guys) who love everyone. The speed and ferocitiy with which his teammates rushed to his defense is truly impressive. I wouldn't want to be that reporter's source who said those things about Carson. (Many of which were absolutely incorrect. The reporter talked about Carson favoring Ertz more than Foles did, but it's by like .2%, so it's not exactly a huge difference.) That source/sources is likely to be off the team if his, or their, identity gets known.
Eli Manning continues to be in limbo in NY as the Giants are still evaluatiing his future with the club. They can save $17 million if they unload him, so I think they're unloading him if they can get anything in return. The GM refusing to say he'll be the QB in 2019 this long after the season is a bit of a tell. I'm betting the Giants are trying to get a feel from the teams above them in the draft as to who they'll be taking, if they're willling to trade down to six, and what the price would be for the Giants to move up. I suspect Gettleman wants to get Dwayne Haskins, but needs to know he'll be there at six, or the Giants can move up to get him, before making a final decision on Eli.
There's really no reason for the Cards to stay at that first pick overall if they can get something for the spot. They need way more than one player to compete in the NFC West and there's no absolutely dominant beast they could take with that first overall pick who stands out head and shoulders above the rest. WIth just one top tier quarterback available and about nine teams looking for one, the Cards are in a great spot to trade down, pick up multiple extra picks, and come away better off than they'd be keeping the first overall pick. Can the Giants compete for the first overall spot? The Raiders pick ahead of them at four and might want Haskins and have lots of ammunition to trade up to get him at one. Realistically, it's hard to see the Giants being able to trade up to get Haskins if the Raiders want him also. (Maybe bundle draft picks and OBJ?)
That could have the Giants looking at what's available in free agency and via trade. Joe Flacco is available by trade as are Blake Bortles, and many other options. Would they be better than Eli? At what price? In free agency the Giants would have to outbid other teams and the pool of free agents isn't especially deep with lots of other teams competing for them. I'm pretty sure the Giants GM isn't married to Eli at this point, but keeping Eli may be his least bad option right now.
The Redskins QB situation didn't look any better with the recent images of Kirk Cousins Alex Smith sporting external fixation. External fixation of a break typically lasts four to twelve months. Once the external fixation is removed, lots of PT is required to rebuild the leg. If he loses the external fixation at the four month mark (mid-March) he might be okay for the regular season start. If he keeps it nine months or longer (very possible) he'll likely miss the whole 2019 season. Redskins' fans should be keeping an eye out for when the external fixation comes off. That will tell them a lot about when he'll be ready to play. Figure three months after the fixation comes off for a minimal timeline, six months might be more realistic. An advantage to internal fixation is that the patient can start rehabbing and using the leg somewhat normally even when its partially healed. The plates, rods, and screws can provide significant support and stability. With external fixation, nearly everything has to wait unitl the external fixation is gone.
I'm thinking the NFL might have to rethink the Pro Bowl. About half the guys selected have opted out and are staying home or heading on vacation instead. They may need a new way to honor the best players each year and do something else to fill the week between the championship round and the Super Bowl.
Fly!!! Eagles!!! Fly!!!
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