By Brandon Simmons
Dwayne Haskins Gets Cut
The Dwayne Haskins era in Washington has come to an end. Monday, the Washington Football Team released the quarterback in the wake of a series of events that included poor performances, benchings and off-the-field incidents. The latter came about when Haskins was spotted at a strip club without a mask on. He was called for it by his coach as well as half the fanbase, with some criticizing his lack of maturity.
It’s an unfortunate outcome for Haskins but nobody seems taken aback that this ended up the way tit did; not even the timeliness of it. Earlier this year, Haskins was benched after the Week 4 loss to the Baltimore Ravens, a game in which he put up career high numbers in completions and passing yards. However, Yahoo Sports reported that quite a few players and coaches saw him brag on his numbers heavily, despite the loss they just suffered. Around this time, Alex Smith was returning from his devastating injury and WFT QB Kyle Allen was being named the starter. Haskins eventually got his starting job back in Week 14, in which Washington won 23-15 over the San Francisco 49ers; but he put up a stat line throwing 7 out of 12 for 51 yards and 0 touchdowns. Couple that with the recent events of the COVID violations and media confusion, it seemed to be too much for the Washington Football Team to put up with, so they had to cut ties and focus on getting better at that position going forward. It’s a huge risk, because they don’t know how healthy Smith will be going into next year and Kyle Allen is not a proven commodity. But knowing all of that, and them still making the move, there’s either more that factored into this decision that the public is unaware of or they were getting to the inevitable very quickly.
Booger was Buggin
ESPN analyst Booger McFarland has been criticized for things he has said on air before, but his latest remarks are some of the wildest things he has ever said. Monday, while covering the topic of Dwayne Haskins being released, he went on a mini rant with his concerns of black players coming into the league:
There is one thing in this video that make this a horrible take: him singling out black players. At the top of his rant, he specifically goes after African American players, then tries to justify by saying that 70 percent of the league is black. The problem is, in his attempt to single out players, or black QB’s, who he think is not taking their careers seriously, he’s inadvertanly lumping in guys like Deshaun Watson, Kyler Murray and Lamar Jackson, who have become pillars of their teams within their first few seasons. These 3 guys have come into some of their own branding as well by appearing in a few commercials, but their production has really shown on the field. Knowing all of this, the rant encountered a racial undertone, like how one white person sees a gang movie and figures all black people are either Crip or Blood. While trying to bring up examples of past failures, such as Jamarcus Russell, he could have brought up Johnny Manziel, which would have been a more timely, and precise, case when comparing Haskins.
The racial undertones surrounding black quarterback commentary may never go away and Booger proved that with his statements. Haskins is not immune from criticism on any level, certainly not because he is black. McFarland should have just left his speech to generalize all young QB’s since there have busts, or potential busts, whether they were black or white. He could have pointed out Haskins’ performances in games and rode with that; but whatever point he was attempting to make got lost from the very jump.
5 Way Tie for Final Spot?
The Tennessee Titans, Miami Dolphins, Baltimore Ravens, Cleveland Browns and Indianapolis Colts all share a 10-5 record and the possibility to be knocked out of the playoffs. The Colts and the Titans are clinging to a chance at winning the division, but Tennessee owns the tie breaker. It’s unsure what other tiebreakers the Titans own, since they are in the spot for the lowest of the division winners, but in that regards, the Dolphins lead all the Wild Card teams at this very moment.
What this all comes down to is who is less likely to get beat in Week 17. The Titans will face the Houston Texans, the Dolphins will have the Buffalo Bills, the Ravens are going to play the Cincinnati Bengals, the Browns will face the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Colts are going to be playing the Jacksonville Jaguars. All the teams mentioned in the first paragraph have opponents who have essentially wrapped their season’s fate for better or for worse. The Steelers have announced they are sitting quarterback Ben Roethlisberger this week so he can get a bye week, which puts backup QB Mason Rudolph in the fold for the Steelers. This could be a break for the Browns since most of their playoff seed competition are playing backups or less than stellar teams.
The Dolphins could be in real trouble this Sunday, since they have the Bills on their plate. Buffalo might have QB Josh Allen still in the lineup to make sure they get a win and clinch the 2 seed. Even though Buffalo is tied with Pittsburgh for that 2 spot, the Bills own the tiebreaker but want to make sure they can get that win with no hiccups, even with Big Ben being sat down this weekend. The Dolphins are good, but this is a tough Bills team playing even tougher at the right time of the year. The AFC East has already been wrapped up so Miami can’t rely on that avenue. There only hope is beating the Bills this weekend, who will be employing a full squad.
Shoutouts/Shutouts
Shout out to Dolphins quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick for his facemask completion that saved Miami’s season. This past Saturday, against the Las Vegas Raiders, Fitzpatrick was leading the Dolphins late in the game in relief of rookie QB Tua Tagovailoa. As he was moving down the field, with 19 seconds left in the game, Fitzpatrick dropped back to pass, but Raiders defensive end Arden Key accidentally grabbed the QB’s facemask as he threw the ball; a ball that was still completed to wide receiver Mack Hollins for 34 yards. A roughing-the-passer penalty was called, adding 15 yards to the end of the play and putting the Dolphins in position for the game winning field goal.
Shut out to the Raiders for losing that game and getting knocked out of the playoff race. Some people point out to the fact that Las Vegas had a chance to score a touchdown to put the game away, when Raiders running back Josh Jacobs ran to the front of the end zone and fell down in hopes of running the clock down since, at the time, Miami used all their timeouts. It did not exactly happen that way and Las Vegas ended using 2 more timeouts before kicking the field goal.
The final week of the regular season has come upon us. There are no more Thursday or Monday Night Football games so everything will be stuffed on Sunday. Ironically, the best matchup of the day could be found between the Washington Football Team and Philadelphia Eagles. This is the rematch from the season opener in which both teams have since changed quarterbacks. The WFT just has to win the game and they will have clinched the NFC East. If they lose, the winner of the Dallas Cowboys and New York Giants game, to be played earlier that day, will get the division crown. On paper, it does not look like a glamorus game, but with these two division rivals going at it, things could turn up on both sides real quick. But until then…I’ll holla.
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