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SPORTS DAVE LONG’S LONGSHOTS
NFL turns 100 The NFL’s landmark 100th season is underway and for those who love the history of it all it should be an exciting season with all kinds of remembrances of days gone by. Things like the all-time All-Pro team, as well as its greatest teams, games, coaches and seasons. Since all of that is right in my wheelhouse, I’m looking forward to researching and writing about such things once a month as the year unfolds. Of course taking the attention away from that locally was the Patriots’ swooping in to sign deceitful Antonio Brown after he shot his way out of Oakland with adolescent and abhorrent histrionics. While we all ponder what the over-under is in games before he acts out next, and how much of that Coach B will swallow before acting, here’s a look at some of the big stories to follow as Year 100 gets going. That laughter you’re hearing is coming from Pittsburgh at all the “experts” who declared Oakland got a “steal” for only giving Pittsburgh a third- and a fifth-round pick for Brown. How’s that steal look now? It could also be me, since my desire to see the Cleveland Browns get stomped is off to a nice start after they got pummeled amid a deluge of 18 penalties at home 43-13 by Tennessee when petulant Baker Mayfield threw three picks. Football 101: Name the five guys who ran for 1,000 yards in their rookie season after being undrafted. Hint: Three happened this century, one was the AFL’s answer to Jimmy Brown and the last played for George Halas and had one of the greatest sports names ever. Shaky return for Jimmy G in the 49ers’ 31-17 win over Tampa Bay when the D scored two TDs and he has a 56.1 QB rating. After going down in Week 3 for good and a game and a half into 2016’s four-game audition/replacement stint for the suspended Tom Brady all eyes are on him. He’s got to show he can stay on the field for 16 games or
it likely will end badly in SF. Incidentally, amazingly the Niners had only two interceptions all last year – which they already topped by getting three on Jameis Winston in that win over TB. Getting bombed in the opener by Dallas won’t help this. But if the Pats are to get one final shot at Eli Manning, the G-Men will have to hold out until they meet in prime time on Oct. 10 before giving in to media pressure in the Apple to install Daniel Jones at QB. Every team has had bad guys on their roster through the years (see Hernandez, Aaron). But after concealing the Kareem Hunt and Tyreek Hill issues until they got caught, I don’t know how anyone can root for the Chiefs. Which they followed up by giving Hill a new deal worth $54 million, with $35 million guaranteed. Cutting a guy less than a week after trading for him as the Patriots did with center Russ (Jethro) Bodine doesn’t seem like an effective use of the sixth-round pick they gave to get him from Buffalo. Let’s see if I got this straight. Houston got just a third-round pick from Seattle for Jadeveon Clowning, but gave up two first-round picks for gas mask tackle Laremy Tunsil and OK wideout Kenny Stills from Miami? I’d say Bill O’Brien is in a damn the future, Super Bowl-or-bust mode, because he thinks he’s getting fired if the Texans don’t do it this year. The biggest off-season trend was to hire teenagers who worked under 30-year-old Sean McVay in L.A. to be head coaches. Time will tell, but count me as a skeptic for how it will work out for Matt LaFleur in Green Bay and Zac Taylor with Cincinnati. After winning the power struggle with Mike McCarthy and already having early issues with LaFleur, Aaron Rodgers had better deliver for the always overrated Packers, or the Teflon that protects him with the national media may start to flake off. For those thinking an L.A.-L.A. Super Bowl: Before their first game the talent-rich Chargers have already lost All-Pro safety Derwin James till November, left tackle
Russell Okung indefinitely and the Melvin Gordon holdout has stretched into the regular season. Not rooting for this, but I’ve got a feeling the Belichick coaching tree will take another hit when Matt Patricia doesn’t make it in Detroit. Guessing he’s out no later than 2020, but it could come this year. Football 101 Answer: Phillip Lindsay 1,037 with Denver in 2018; LeGarrette Blount 1,007 with Tampa Bay in 2010; Dominic Rhodes 1,104 with Indy in 2001; Cookie Gilchrist 1,096 with Buffalo in 1962, and Beattie Feathers 1,004 with the Bears in 1934 in 11 games and just 119 carries for an 8.4 yards per carry average and then never had more than 350 in his six other NFL seasons. Beattie Feathers is a cool name, with the best name now in the NFL being Ju-Ju Smith-Shuester. From a pure talent standpoint it’s a worthwhile game as Antonio Brown no doubt makes the Patriots even better. So rationalize all you want but signing that clown is an embarrassment because it rewards abject dishonesty and selfishness. And for those thinking being in Foxborough will make AB more humble: When the bad time came, how humble did being dumped by the 49ers, Eagles, Cowboys, Bills and Bengals make Terrell Owens? Same “me first” guy. NFC Division Winners: East – Eagles (and not just because I hate Dallas). Central – Minnesota. South – New Orleans. West – L.A. Wild Cards – Seattle and Dallas. AFC Division Winners: East – New England. Central – Baltimore (otherwise, curtains for John Harbaugh). South – Tennessee. West – KC. Wild Cards – San Diego, er, L.A. Chargers and Pittsburgh. Finally, for those of us keeping an eye out for the sign of a tick down, 42-year-old Tom Brady looked a lot like 30-year-old Tom Brady in Sunday’s 33-3 beatdown of the Steelers. A good sign. Email Dave Long at dlong@hippopress. com.
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HIPPO | SEPTEMBER 12 - 18, 2019 | PAGE 10