Who’s Had the Better Vacay: Patriots or the Cowboys?
The Dallas Cowboys and New England Patriots share a 3-0 record but there might be some different perceptions on their records compared to the other 3-0 teams. Dallas and New England are two teams that has a lot of people excited based on how they’re playing right now, despite that their competition is nowhere close to playing at that level. It’s enough to draw a lot of skepticism about how far they can actually take things.
Between these two teams’, their opponents have won a combined 1 game. It’s not their fault that these teams are just bad. If you wanted to, you could probably skew the numbers and place these teams’ schedule with other undefeated squads, but the truth is, those other 3-0 teams have played competition with slightly better records, or in other words, at least 1 or 2 wins before Week 3. The one team that you could argue who could be placed with the Pats and Cowboys in this group, is the Buffalo Bills, in which all of their opponents have been winless, but nobody is expecting the Bills to take their success past the regular season. The expectations for Dallas and New England are always set high, so beating pe
The Patriots and Cowboys have enjoyed a smooth beginning to their season but it will have to come to and end for both. My guess is Dallas will see some trouble a lot sooner as they have the New Orleans Saints and a 3-0 Green Bay Packers team coming up in the next couple of weeks. Sure, the Saints do not have quarterback Drew Brees so the Dallas defense could be in a for a pleasant day. But that probably can’t be said about the Packers game as Green Bay’s defense has been drawing a lot of accolades and quarterback Aaron Rodgers is still going to light up a secondary or two. As for the Patriots, their first “test” is the 3-0 Bills, but after that they won’t face another legit opponent until November 3, when they play the Baltimore Ravens. Until then, they will be enjoying a great, extended preseason vacation, just to be well-rested for the playoffs.
Tekashio Brown
Rapper Tekashi 6ix9ine and wide receiver Antonio Brown were flaming up the headlines last week for different reasons. While the rapper was facing his own legal drama, Brown’s own on-the-field and off-the-field drama was continuing. Amid his sexual assault allegations by a former trainer, as well as a painter he hired while in Pittsburgh, Brown was released by the New England Patriots in the wake of some new developments with those cases. Thursday, it was revealed that he allegedly sent some threatening text messages to the latter accuser, and it prompted his termination with the Pats. But going back over the past year, this is probably one of the more insignificant moments he has had. Which prompted me to make a comparison to another animated figure. In the wake of that, he sent a series of tweets calling out the owner of the Patriots for his solicitation incident earlier in the year, an alleged sexual harassment incident with Fox Sports personality Shannon Sharpe when he was with CBS and Steelers quarterback Ben Roehlisberger’s own sexual assault allegations, then proceeding to announce he will not be playing in the league NFL anymore.
On the surface, comparing Tekashi to AB seems a little wild, but when you think about it, there’s something to made here. Two talented individuals, who pulled a bunch of stunts that were cheered on by others, are now facing the realities of their choices. Tekashi was getting on the internet promoting a fake gangster image by threatening real gang members and trolling everybody under the sun. In AB’s case, he also demonstrated some antagonizing behavior whether it was calling out his former quarterback, trolling a former teammate, wearing improper shoes for cryogenic treatment, threatening the general manager of his team, recording a secret phone conversation with his coach. And just like Tekashi, these actions were entertaining but polarizing.
While there were people who criticized these happenings, there was also those who cheered some of these things on. AB represented somebody who bucked a system that was sort of bucking the players in recent years. Here is a league that was accused of black balling a player for his beliefs and where the team owners friends with a man who disrespected their players publicly. Yet here is a person moving to their own drum in a sport that discourages individualism in most of the positions on the field, but actually winning this very dangerous game. People felt this was the closest the NFL would see of a player obtaining some NBA-level “freedom”.
All these things, paired with the allegations, has put Brown on the wrong side of the expected results. The serious implications of the sexual assault obviously outweigh calling your boss a cracker, but without these extra-curricular antics, AB still has a team to play on. The Chiefs kept Tyreke Hill while he was under investigation for his domestic abuse incidents. The Patriots signed Brown before his allegations came out but played him in their Week 2 matchup against the Miami Dolphins, almost a week after the first accuser came forward. As much as we admire the free spirit individuals that defy norms, sometimes there comes a cost, in which that glory can inflate a person’s ego and get them to go overboard. In life, things will get bad, but we have to be responsible in not making them any worse.
Shout outs/Shut outs
Shout out to some good news for Antonio Brown. In the midst of everything going on, including his “retirement” announcement, Brown announced he will be returning to school and taking online courses at Central Michigan University. Hopefully it keeps his mind occupied off any foolishness and he gets to find a 2nd career outside of the game.
Shut out to University of Miami-Ohio who got beat 76-5. Since we are on the subject of college, shut out to the college teams who have given up over 70 points in blowouts.
Shout out to ESPN NFL analyst Ryan Clark for his rant on defending Carolina Panthers QB Cam Newton on ESPN’s Get Up. Apparently, the QB was heavily criticized by another and suggested his career is finished. However, the former Steelers and Redskins safety had this to say:
Shut out to everybody blowing up the tweets of former Chiefs running back Larry Johnson. Johnson has been trending a few times as of late spewing some wild conspiracy theory rhetoric, but looking at his timeline, everything seems to be on brand. He has even caused a riff with rapper Meg the Stallion, accusing her of participating in satanic rituals for the advancement of her career. In all honesty, people need to leave Larry Johnson the fuck alone and let him get his tweets off. Nobody can decide whether or not CTE is affecting him just by looking at a tweet.
Week 4 will have quite a few games on tap to end the 1st quarter of the season with a bang. The Kansas City Chiefs and Detroit Lions should provide an entertaining up and down matchup in Motown. The Dallas Cowboys will get the New Orleans Saints on the road, Sunday night, which will be their first team they faced all year with a winning record. The Minnesota Vikings and Chicago Bears game should be very interesting to watch. The Bears have the better defense but facing the better quarterback right now with the Vikings Kirk Cousins. The Vikings have a good defense but Bears QB Mitchell Trubiskey is not playing so hot right now. So with both of defenses hitting the field this Sunday, I have a very difficult decision to make for my fantasy team, but until then…I’ll holla.