By Brandon Simmons
Texans Fans Gotta Let the Hurt Go
When Arizona Cardinals wide receiver DeAndre Hopkins caught the game winning Hail Mary pass this past Sunday against the Buffalo Bills, there was a certain fan base that really felt the sting that day and it wasn’t the Bills; enter the Houston Texans. The Texans are the former team of Hopkins, who infamously traded him away for a 2nd round pick, 4th round pick and running back David Johnson; essentially for nothing. That happened way back in the Spring and it still feels like yesterday, each and every week for Texans fans. That is because every time Hopkins evens so much as sneezes, football fans from all over will let Texans fans that their former head coach/GM made such a horrific move, which became a ripple effect into this year.
While the Texans are working through their own offensive issues, Hopkins is living it up with his new team. DHop is 2nd in the league in receptions, receiving yards and receptions per game. His arrival to this team has helped the development of Cardinals quarterback Kyler Murray, who has led this team to a 6-3 record.
Texans fans gotta let this go because it’s only going to get worse for them. Hopkins is likely to have more moments like this and it will do them no favors listening to the internet clown them for something they have no control over. The manner in which he exited this team is not his fault and probably not the way he would want to leave either; the man who orchestrated this deal is no longer with the franchise. But here we are, watching Hopkins uplift a team that was 5-10-1 last season, all the way to the top of the NFC West, while the Texans struggles on offense have contributed them to being at the bottom of the conference with no 1st or 2nd round pick to place their hopes on.. The only thing that the Houston fan base can really pin their hopes of pettiness on is the fact that the Cardinals have not been to the playoffs in a long time and a return could provide for some bumpy moments. Sure, Hopkins’ production will likely lift up Murray as he develops into a better quarterback during the regular season, but when that postseason comes around, and Arizona faces more experienced teams, Murray and DHop might have some troubles which could lead to the repeat of the early playoff exits Hopkins experienced with the Texans. And when you lose in the playoffs, that L becomes much bigger than a lot of regular season matchups. So all the petty Texans just need to hold on and ride the Twitter jokes out until January.
Jameis Time in New Orleans
When Jameis Winston signed with the New Orleans Saints, he claimed that he was looking to learn everything he could from the head coach Sean Payton while sitting behind Drew Brees; now the time has come for him to be tested on what he knows. Sunday, Brees suffered a rib injury, in addition to a collapsed lung and will now be out for at least 2-3 weeks. While some expected gadget QB Taysom Hill to step into the role, many are looking to Winston to lead the signal-calling while Brees is out. For the former Tampa Bay Buccaneer QB, this could either be him throwing himself into the market to become a starting quarterback again or throwing himself out of it.
Winston has developed a reputation as risk-taker and it kind of cost him. His first 2 seasons, he had 50 touchdowns and 30 interceptions; the following 2 seasons totaled 38 touchdowns and 25 picks. Perhaps, it was 2019 season, his 5th year, which represented his entire career up to that point, when threw for 33 touchdowns and 30 interceptions. He was still able to crack 5,000 yards but his penchant to commit turnovers did not warrant enough trust to keep him around; and the fact they were trying to get Tom Brady didn’t help his chances either.
It’s likely that Jameis will be filling in the starting QB spot until Brees is back, but the shocker would be how much of Winston’s game is implemented with what the Saints were doing. Coach Payton is aware of how Winston can throw the rock down the field, but he will not jeopardize any of his team’s success if he gets the wrong side of a risky Winston. However, the Saints’ next 3 games include the Atlanta Falcons twice with the Denver Broncos sandwiched in between. You would want to get a deep ball or two to combat the Falcons’ potential to run the score up in a rivalry game. On top of that, it would keep him comfortable within the offense by utilizing a natural part of his skillset.
Shoutouts/Shutouts
Of course, the first shout out goes to DeAndre Hopkins and his Hail Mary catch over 3 defenders. The crazier part about this, is the Arizona Cardinals gave up a touchdown when Buffalo Bills QB threw to Bills wide receiver Stefon Diggs – another wideout traded in the offseason – for a 21yard TD with 39 seconds left, which put the score at 30-26 Buffalo. The Cardinals answered back on the final play of the game, with Kyler Murray scrambling to his left and tossing it to Hopkins in the end zone for possibly the play of the year:
Shut out to the Houston Texans for letting go of DeAndre Hopkins in the first place.
Shout out to Minnesota Vikings quarterback Kirk Cousins for getting his first Monday Night Football win. Cousins went 25/36 for 2929 yards, a touchdown and 1 pick while running back Dalvin Cook toughed it out on 30 rushes for 96 yards for a crucial division win over the Chicago Bears. The Vikings had a rough start to the year but sit 2 games away from the final playoff spot.
Shut out to injuries as Bears quarterback Nick Foles suffered a hip and glute injury late in the same Monday Night game. According to ESPN, Chicago head coach, Matt Nagy, says that the injury was not as bad expected even though Foles was carted off. The Bears are heading into the bye week, but more tests will be done.
Week 11 has some matchups that will slow down your pre-Thanksgiving travel plans. The Arizona Cardinals and Seattle Seahawks are going to have a rematch of their Sunday Night Football overtime classic; but this time it will be on Thursday and hosted by the Seahawks. The Cardinals have had some big wins lately, but this could indicate how tough of a team they really are. Arizona has to go up against a Seattle team that is fighting to get back to the top of the conference. If you have not seen the Indianapolis Colts play yet, you might want to check out when their defense hosts Aaron Rodgers and the Green Bay Packers. That Colts secondary was harassing the Tennessee Titans receivers in Week 10 and will likely do the same to the Packers receivers, which will give Rodgers some problems. But until then…I’ll holla.
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