2019 NFL: Likes and Dislikes

Well, here we are. Is there anything worse than the week in between the championship games and Super Bowl Sunday. It’s like being forced to spend a week in purgatory, where the only football you see is either debated by talking heads or done poorly during the annual barf festival also known as the Pro Bowl.

Chiefs and 49ers kick off in a little more than a week. Until then, let’s amuse ourselves in other ways.

Let’s take a look back at some of the things I liked and disliked about the 2019 NFL season.

(You can discuss this on the BSL Board here.)

LIKES

The departure of Eli

He won two Super Bowls, both against Tom Brady. He’s seventh on the NFL all-time passing yards, has 366 touchdown passes and started 210 consecutive games between 2004 and 2017. And yet he became a punchline among the national media as the Giants have struggled to find an identity with the likes of Ben McAdoo and Pat Shurmur as head coach.

And while it’s true that Eli hasn’t been the Eli of old over the past few years, you can’t outright dismiss what he accomplished until that point. He announced his retirement this week and he deserves to go out with praise, rather than ridicule.

So, is he a Hall of Famer? I’m not afraid of hot take accusations. Yes, he is. First ballot? Eh, probably not. But he’ll get to Canton, guaranteed.

Mike Tomlin isn’t going anywhere

This team saw Antonio Brown and Le’Veon Bell depart the team after the 2018 season. Then they lost Ben Roethlisberger for the season in Week 2 of 2019. That’s quite a crappy hand to be dealt, but did that stop moronic doubters from theorizing that their head coach was on the hot seat?

Please, this organization has had three head coaches since 1969 (nice). They don’t make rash decisions. They don’t fly off the handle at the first sign of trouble. Basically, they’re the anti-Browns.

And Mike Tomlin made the legion of simpletons out there eat their words. With the likes of Mason Rudolph and Devlin Hodges under center, the Steelers still finished with an 8-8 record and were in the playoff hunt until late in the game. He deserves coach of the year votes for that.

Tomlin has never had a sub-.500 season in Pittsburgh. He will be the head coach there for as long as he wants the job.

Let the sin begin

In case you didn’t notice, the NFL has officially changed the Silver and Black into the Las Vegas Raiders. I was lucky enough to visit Sin City last weekend and trust me, that new stadium is quite a sight.

Team owner Mark Davis was upset when his team was shafted out of moving to Los Angeles a few years ago. What he ended up with was more than a consolation prize. Yes, he would have done well in L.A. He’ll do just as well in Vegas.

I can’t wait for the fall.

Bless you, Dolphins

It was a Week 17 game that everyone overlooked. The Dolphins were in Foxborough wrapping up a rebuilding season that saw the team play hard every week under first-year head coach Brian Flores. Meanwhile, the Patriots were gearing up for another playoff run and all they needed to do was beat what should have been an overmatched opponent.

Nope, with a few sprinkles of FitzMagic and some uncharacteristic Tom Brady flubs, the Patriots lost that game and as a result, lost out on having a bye week to start the playoffs. We all know what happened next as Derrick Henry and the Titans ground out a victory on the road and sent Bill Belichick, Brady, Robert Kraft and New England’s legion of annoying fans home for the winter.

And we have Flores and his band of merry men to thank for giving the nation a Patriots-free Super Bowl. One day, people will sing songs praising their greatness.

Put THIS under review

I can’t stand instant replay. The positives outweigh the benefits. It ruins the tempo of a game and turns a physical sport into a contest of camera angles. And have you noticed that when your team REALLY needs to get a call, somehow the camera never quite catches it?

Feh.

The NFL overreacted to the Saints’ whining and made pass interference reviewable. Then they totally redeemed themselves by always refusing to overturn what was or wasn’t called on the field. And it was even funnier that the Saints didn’t get to use replay on the overtime touchdown pass that ended their season.

Gardner Minshew

I watched him in college, but I must not have been paying enough attention, because I never knew he was a fountain of personality. From the facial hair to his weird pregame routine, Minshew was a gift bestowed upon the league in the sixth round of the draft.

Let’s summarize: He made 12 starts, threw for 3,271 yards and 21 touchdowns with just 6 interceptions. His QB rating was a healthy 91.2. Not bad for a rookie. Too bad for Nick Foles, who had signed a hefty deal last offseason and has suddenly become irrelevant in Jacksonville.

The best part is the ballad of Minshew’s career is just getting started. Let’s see where he goes from here.

K.C.’s best

The Chiefs have loyal fans. Every season, they pack their stadium, cheer relentlessly and end up getting kicked in the crotch. The last time they won a championship was the 1969 (nice) season, when they beat the Vikings in Super Bowl 4.

We’re now at Super Bowl 54. That’s 50 years of waiting. They deserve to see their team hoist the Lombardi Trophy. Not only would it be great for the city, it would finally get the monkey off the back of head coach Andy Reid, who has faced tons of criticism for not being able to win the big game.

DISLIKES

Ram-sacked

After disappointing me in last year’s Super Bowl, my Rams weren’t done. They came out flat to start 2019, didn’t get any lucky bounces and got blown out on more than one occasion. They ended up 9-7 and were thrown in the dustbin of teams that followed up a Super Bowl loss by missing the playoffs.

And now they’re going to start paying Jared Goff huge money while seemingly half their roster will be unrestricted free agents this offseason. And they don’t have many draft picks, to boot. This should be fun going forward, especially with the 49ers and their stacked roster in the same division.

Life without Luck

This isn’t a shot at current Colts quarterback Jacoby Brissett. He’s capable and an all-around good guy. He’s just not Andrew Luck.

Watching Luck end his career before the season began undoubtedly took the steam out of the organization, no matter how supportive they were of his decision. They started out fine, jumping out to a 5-2 record with three wins over eventual playoff teams. But that didn’t last.

The Colts fell apart down the stretch, losing seven of their final nine games. And it’s hard not to imagine that things would have been different had they had Luck under center. Sigh.

Ugh, Cleveland

I love and respect the great state of Ohio. Two groomsmen at my wedding hail from there. And yet, I can’t hide my disgust over the Browns. They’re beyond a dumpster fire. They’re a disgrace.

It’s hard to imagine this team will ever be a winner as long as Jimmy Haslam is the owner. He’s too impulsive, and quite frankly, he’s not intelligent enough to build a winner. I understand he built a fortune in the truck stop business, but this is football and like Donnie from “The Big Lebowski,” he’s out of his element.

Kevin Stefanski is now the new head coach. This poor bastard. I’ll give him six months before he goes prematurely gray.

Seriously, who gets mono?

You won’t meet a bigger Sam Darnold apologist than yours truly, but even I was wondering what the hell Sammy was up to in New York to come down with the kissing disease. Actually, maybe I don’t want to know.

Anyway, that diagnosis basically sunk the Jets season before it began. The team went 7-6 when he was under center. Had he not missed three games — all of which the Jets lost — they might have been contended for a playoff spot.

Let’s make sure we’re healthy in the fall, ok?

Matt Patricia

Let’s not knock him for his physique, especially when I’m no small man either. However, he doesn’t present himself as an NFL success. He looks like a gas station attendant in Barstow who is happy to inform you that they’re all out of fuel.

Shave the beard. Stop wearing a garbage bag as a shirt. Ditch the hat. Throw the pencil away. Just be normal, please? Don’t you feel embarrassed lecturing players about staying in shape when it looks like you woke up in a gutter? Ugh.

He’s gone? He’s not here?

The news broke this week and I’m not dealing with it well. Philip Rivers and his platoon-sized family have moved out of San Diego. And going to Florida, of all places. This means we’re faced with the harsh truth that his time with the Chargers is over.

And where the Bolts go from here is anyone’s guess. They have more problems than just filling a hole at quarterback. They need to find a way to get fans to attend their home games at the new SoFi Stadium next season. Who knows, the solution for both could come from the same place. Cough, Tom Brady, cough.

Draft content is coming

I’m already seeing tweets about endless motors, quick twitches and elite bursts. That means the desert of draft prep is approaching in the windshield. It’s up to us to survive it.

My advice? Believe nothing. Every insider trying to break news is being led astray by various general managers and free agents. It’s a lie.

Alrighty, see you next week as we break down the Super Bowl!