As anticipated, JJ Watt's injury is a fracture. It's a tibial plateau fracture and he's gone for the year. JJ Watt's getting up there a bit and he could be considering his life after football at this time. The injuries take a toll on a guy and coming off the back injury and now having the tibial plateau fracture he's likely considering his life after football a whole lot more. Tibial plateau fractures can also involve the ACL and MCL. I'm assuming his was a displaced fracture due to the pain level he showed which increases the risk of ligament damage.
Jerry Jones came out after the Cowboy game and said that any player that disrespects the flag will be benched. (I'm not saying Jerry lacks credibility, but he hires a whole lot of bad guys for his team and seldom disciplines them.) Two of his guys did raise their arms in protest during the anthem, so we'll have to see if they're playing in two weeks when the Cowboys have their next game.
Expect to hear news of the Ezekiel Elliott suspension court outcome sometime this week.I have a strong suspicion Elliott will be out for the next six games of the Cowboys season which is not good news for them. Elliott's suspension will take place at some point and time based on everything I've heard and he's just trying to buy time. I'm just not sure trying to buy time is helping him or the team. Had he gone ahead with the suspension from week one, he'd be just one week away from returning now..
The Cowboys have their bye this coming week and then a game against the Niners that should be an easy win for them getting them back to 3-3. Then they run into three pretty tough games in the Chiefs, Falcons, and Eagles. That's the best team in the NFL and two of the best teams in the NFC. I wouldn't be shocked to see them go 1-2 in those three games. 0-3 is not out of the question. Things are looking a bit messy for Dallas.
The Eagles seem to have come out of yesterday's game without any new major injuries. Lane Johnson reportedly got concussed and may miss the Thursday nght game simply due to the league concussion protocol. It's very challenging to get back in that short of a period of time. He claims he'll be back, but it typically takes three full days just to clear the process once there are no more symptoms. We're getting closer to getting some of the guys who have been injured back. Ronald Darby, our best cornerback is getting closer to returning. Fletcher Cox may be back this week. The Eagles are slowly but surely getting healthy.
After this Thursday night game the Eagles play the Redskins on the 23rd which gives them from the twelfth to get healthy and prepare for the Redskins. We then have a short week after that with a Sunday game against the Niners, but the Niners look pretty beatable and that'll be a 1:00 home game for the Eagles and those one o'clock games on the East coast for West coast teams tend to be messy for them. If we lose to either the Panthers or Redskins and beat the Niners we'll be at 6-2 at the halfway mark. That's not bad.
The Giants are dead. O'Dell Beckham Jr going down just puts a fork into them. They were down to one wide receiver left at the end of that game. The Giants should go into rebuilding mode this coming week and start trimming the roster of guys they don't want/need (Brandon Marshall comes to mind) and poach promising young players off of other teams' practice squads. There's a lot of talent out there and the Giants don't have a lot of good players on their roster right now. Throw a bunch of guys on injured reserve, cut some some, trade anyone you can get anything for, and start the rebuilding process. There are 31 other teams and each of them has ten guys on their practice squad they think could play in the NFL. That's 310 guys you can pick and choose from to bring in and audition for your team's future. Their big problem right now is cap space. They've got just a tick over $4 million to use to grab those guys. That's not good for them.
If the Giants could trade a Janoris Jenkins, Olivier Vernon, or similarly priced player before the trading deadline it would open up some cap space for them and let them poach a few more guys from practice squads.
Team building doesn't start with free agency these days. It starts as soon as you realize you're not making the playoffs. You then start signing guys off the streets, off of other teams' practice squads, from the CFL, or anywhere you can find someone who might help the team. The rest of the NFL season becomes an extended training camp for the non-competitive teams once they know they won't make the playoffs. There are a lot of guys out there who can play the game well and aren't getting a chance now. This is the time to find them, sign them, and see what they can do.
The Texans have finally found a QB. DeShaun Watson is the real deal. This is the first time in the team's history they have a real quarterback. The Browns on the other hand having now passed on multiple really good quarterbacks to acquire draft picks, find themselves looking for a QB in the draft again this coming year. It's not fun to be a Brown's fan.
Fly!!! Eagles!!! Fly!!!
Blogs & Forums
)
