Cleveland Rocks
The Browns rally from a 30-0 deficit to win their second-straight Super Bowl
by Sam Burns @49ersPX1
SUPER BOWL LIV, ARIZONA - The game ended how most expected: the Cleveland Browns raising their second straight Lombardi Trophy. However, the events that took place between the kickoff and game clock expiring were anything but predictable. The Eagles and Browns seemed to be feeling each other out for most of the first quarter. The Browns (17-1), rolled through most of their regular season schedule, with a lone loss coming in Week 3 against the Bills. As for the Eagles (13-3), they also dominated most of the regular season. With losses, coming in Weeks 4, 11, and 13. After trading a few punts, Zach Ertz got the scoring started by breaking a few tackles and rumbling into the end zone for a 21 yard score. From then on, it was a downward spiral for the Browns… at least until the 3rd Quarter. The Eagles made their way to the Super Bowl after wins against the Seahawks and Panthers, and began to prove the doubters wrong in the 2nd Quarter, putting up 20 unanswered points to extend the lead to 27-0 at halftime over the defending Super Bowl champs. Meanwhile,
the Browns offense couldn’t quit shooting themselves in the foot. The Eagles defense was flying all over the field. NFL MVP Brett Hundley completed as many passes to the defense as he did his own team. Owner of the Cleveland Browns, Chris BigTex, was quoted as saying, “They kept the NFL MVP at bay for the whole 1st half. The Eagles are a fantastic team and the fact that they treated the MVP like that is a great feat. With nothing to lose, we decided to bring in Webb for the 2nd half...” The Browns could only hang their head at their first half performance. Terrible offense. Terrible defense. Leading to 30-0 deficit with just 2:55 left in the third quarter. Then, the Browns made a decision that helped them right the ship: bring in second year QB Zac Webb. Webb, a former 4th round pick in 2017, had only appeared in seven total games in his career, and BigTex was putting the game in his hands. “…we just had nothing to lose at that point. [Webb] looked at me after Hundley's 2nd INT when we were already down 27-0, so I knew what he was telling me. In the locker room I explained to Hundley what was about to happen and
told Webb to get his head right, because he's going in.” Nobody expected Webb to be as good as he was. Looking like a veteran, Webb was slinging passes all over the field, as he attempted to get the Browns back in it. On just his second pass, Webb completed a 9 yard slant route to Nelson Agholor, who proceeded to take it the remaining 70 yards to the house. That began the comeback. Still down 30-7 after 3 quarters, the Browns had plenty of work to do. Webb continued dominating as he threw 3 more TD passes in the 4th quarter to tie the game up at 30. All the Eagles could do was watch. When asked about the team’s 2nd half collapse and the emergence of Zac Webb, Mike Majesty, the Owner of the Philadelphia Eagles, was quoted as saying, “I think we got a little too confident. The Browns are a tremendous team…This is the NFL, you can’t give a team an inch. We lost focus. Zac [Webb] is an amazing talent. He
Hundley vs Webb Super Bowl LIV
Hundley 2/9 22% 26 yds 0-2 0.0 rtg
Webb 16-25 64% 270 4-0 139.9 rtg
smelled blood and attacked.” Attack he did. 16/25 270 yards 4 TD 0 INT. Carried by their second-year QB, the Browns took the game to overtime…and won. After not scoring on their first drive, the Eagles left the game up to their defense…and just like they had in the 4th quarter…they let their team down. The Browns kicked the field goal, and went on to win their second straight Lombardi Trophy 33-30 over the Philadelphia Eagles. When asked about the turning point of the game BigTexas18 said, “The real turning point came after we had scored a couple of TD's and were down 30-15, Shane Ray broke loose and sacked Tebow and made him fumble. That set us up to score again right away. I feel our defense got mad and pumped up when they saw Tebow hit the field.” It was one for the ages. A 27-0 halftime lead turned into a 33-30 OT defeat at the hands of a Super Bowl MVP backup QB replacing a league MVP starting QB. You couldn’t write a more intriguing story than this. Now, we move towards the offseason, and the chase for the Lombardi Trophy starts all over again.
Hail to the Kings Texas A&M sits atop the mountain of college football's elite
T
exas A&M has fought the stigma of being second fiddle in the state of Texas for the past 25 years. The Longhorns have traditionally ruled the state with Texas winning the most recent national title (2005) and having five conference championships since the Aggies last one (1993). Things started to change when Kevin Sumlin took over the Aggie program in 2012 and turned Johnny Manziel into a household name throughout college football. Texas A&M was gaining national prominence yet was in a very tough SEC. The Aggies were winning and Texas was struggling, but not winning in the country’s most difficult conference was holding A&M back. Then came Geoff Collins. Collins had been the defensive coordinator at Mississippi State and Florida and replaced Sumlin after the 2016 season. The Aggies defense came alive. The Wrecking Crew returned to College Station. Texas A&M improved to a Top 25 defense in 2017 and posted back-to-back Top 10 defensive seasons the past two years. The Aggies won their first national championship since 1939 and posted back-to-back SEC titles. This year they are expected to
by Mike Peters @PX1Sports
bear the fruits of that success as seven players are expected to be taken in the first two rounds of the NFL Draft. Of course, the majority of those players are expected to come from the defensive side of the ball. Antwan Graves, a junior from nearby Bryan, was a starter on all three of the Top 25 defenses and was considered the emotional leader of the defense. He is expected to be the first Aggie off the board within the top 15 picks of the draft. Defensive end Tyler Harper, a fifth-year senior, and linebacker Anton Austin, the defensive captain, are both expected to follow Graves as first round selections. Junior linebacker Rijo Poole could also join this group in the first round after a spectacular 2019 campaign. Halfback Tamani Redmon, a two-time Doak Walker finalist after back-to-back 1,000 yard, 10 touchdown seasons, is likely to be the first offensive player from A&M off the board in the early part of the second round. Powerful right guard Zachary Anderson and defensive tackle Angelo Barber, the yin to Graves’ yang, are also expected to go in the draft’s second round. All told, A&M is expected to see seven players selected in the first two rounds of the NFL draft. For comparison,
only 12 other SEC players are expected to be taken in that same time-frame. More than a one-third of the top SEC players play at A&M. That’s a significant jump from the old days of being Texas’ little brother. Now the Aggies are the kings of Texas, the kings of the SEC and, for one more night in late April, will be the kings of college football.
Texas A&M Top Draft Prospects
DT Antwan Graves 6-3 300 - Top 15 pick
DE Tyler Harper 6-5 259 - Late 1st round
OLB Anton Austin 6-3 244 - Late 1st round
OLB Rijo Poole 6-0 227 - Late 1st/Early 2nd
HB Tamani Redmon 6-0 209 - 2nd round
OG Zachery Anderson 6-4 311 - 2nd round
DT Angelo Barber 6-2 308 - 2nd Round
Draft Profiles
An inside look at some of the top prospects in the 2020 NFL Draft. LOLB Shawn Kelly - Wisconsin
OT Dion Greenwood - Ohio State
Kelly is a former 1st team All-American has drawn the obvious comparisons to JJ Watt as both went to Wisconsin and share similar stories of being lightly recruited in high school. Kelly is considered the safest pick in the draft at 6'3 260 because he can play OLB in a 3-4 or DE in a 4-3. His best fit may be DE in a 4-3 where he can instantly get 10 sacks a year. Kelly has the size to hold up at DE at 6'3 260 pounds and also the power move to get after the QB. Defensive coordinators for teams drafting in the top five of the draft are salivating over having Kelly on their team.
Typically you will see a few offensive tackles go in the first round and that is the case again this year. The best of the bunch is Dion Greenwood. What makes Greenwood stand out is that he excels at both run and pass blocking rare among tackles these days. Greenwood also showed speed and agility at the combine. His lone weakness may be his size at only 312 pounds and he isn't exceptionally strong. Despite being a finesse OT, Greenwood is a plug and play OT that will start from day 1.
WR Shaynon Corbett - Auburn Every year WR is one of the most drafted positions in the first round even if the talent says it doesn't need to be. This year arguably the top guy is from Auburn who saw his stock skyrocket after the combine. Corbett is a bit undersized at 5'11 194 so there is debate over if he is best suited at the slot or outside. Any team looking for a guy with speed who can go across the middle and make catches will be very happy with the addition of Corbett. HB Tyrone Ogletree - UCLA In the last four drafts, only one halfback has been drafted in the first round, Tennessee's Darryl Jordan. That will change this year with Tyrone Ogletree, one of the best HB prospects in quite some time. It takes about 5 seconds to see why the scouts love him so much at 235 pounds with an eye popping 4.49 40-yard dash. Ogletree's strength and trucking means he can run you over and he also shows juking ability and elusiveness. The only knock on Ogletree is his acceleration but most teams will gladly look past that for all of the other things that he has to offer.
LOLB Derron Gibson - LSU Gibson came to LSU as a 5* safety and made the move to LB because of injuries. After that he was just to good to move back to the secondary. His blistering 4.57 40 time was 2nd among OLB and he excels at angles he takes to the ball. Gibson is also solid at tackling and, despite his 6'0 238 pound frame, can deliver the big hit. If Greenwood gets with the right coaching staff that can make his game more well-rounded then the sky is the limit. QB Taray Bryan - Texas Bryan will wow you with his athleticism posting the second best 40 (4.65) and best 3 cone (6.84) and 20 yd shuttle (4.09) among QBs. He accels at throwing on the run and has a good enough arm to make most of the NFL throws. He shows good accuracy on intermediate passes and is always a threat to run from the pocket. In a draft light on quarterback talent, Bryan is the guy that can change the game for you on offense. Whether he can step in right away on day one remains to be seen. Either way, Bryan makes for an intriguing prospect that very well could be the #1 overall pick in this year's draft.
2020 Draft Preview PX1 Sports' Top 32 Big Board 1. HB Tyrone Ogletree - UCLA 2. RT Dion Greenwood - tOSU 3. LOLB Shawn Kelly - Wisc 4. QB Taray Bryan - Texas 5. LOLB Derron Gibson - LSU 6. WR Clifford Hopkins - Bama 7. CB Systeek Dukes - Miami 8. CB DeVaughn Young - Bama 8. WR Shaynon Corbett - Aub 10. ROLB Michael Jeffery - Wisc 11. CB Marco Riley - USC 12. DT Antwan Graves - A&M 13. WR Silas Reddick - Auburn 14. HB James Blake - UCLA 15. HB Mike Duncan - FSU 16. LT Q'Dareus Mack - Georgia 17. LT Jack Phillip - Michigan St 18. SS Deontae Lucas - Penn St, 19.FS Derron Brandon - PSU 20. CB Demarcus Parker - Pitts 21. LOLB Gilbert Phiillip UGA 22. WR Jamius Lucas - UCLA 23. SS Kedron Newman - Okla 24. RE Jackson Russ - Florida 25. RE Tyler Harper - A&M 26. TE Kalum Martin - Miami 27. LE Marvin Ellis - Wisconsin 28. LG Maurio Gilbert - Bama 29. LOLB Rijo Poole - A&M 30. WR Davin Florence - MSU 31. LT Markus Graham - Pitt 32. MLB Parker Gaines - LSU
Brandon Georgiafan's Top 10 Mock Draft 1. Dolphins - QB Taray Bryan - Texas 2. Saints - DT Antwan Graves - Texas A&M 3. Texans - DT Tyler Crisp - Texas 4. Cowboys - CB Systeek Dukes - Miami 5. 49ers - WR Shaynon Corbett Auburn 6. Colts - LOLB Shawn Kelly - Wisconsin 7. Chiefs - LT Q'Dareus Mack - UGA 8. Ravens - LOLB Derron Gibson - LSU 9. Vikings - RT Dion Greenwood - Ohio St 10. Raiders - MLB Rashaud Mason - Fla
Mike Peters' Top 10 Mock Draft 1. Dolphins - QB Taray Bryan - Texas 2. Saints - DT Antwan Graves - Texas A&M 3. Texans - CB Systeek Dukes - Miami 4. Cowboys - CB Devaughn Young - Bama 5. 49ers - LOLB Shawn Kelly - Wisconsin 6. Colts - HB Tyrone Ogletree - UCLA 7. Chiefs - DE Jackson Russ - Florida 8. Ravens - CB Marco Riley - USC 9. Vikings - RT Dion Greenwood - Ohio St 10. Raiders - MLB Rashaud Mason - Fla