Ten Piece Nuggets-NFL

Posted on December 23, 2019December 23, 2019 by thependulumswings staff

It’s the beginning of a long holiday week. People are dashing around from shopping malls to shopping malls. Amazon Prime trucks are dashing from address to address. The BBR staff is having it’s annual holiday golf tournament today. So we’ll keep it short with a quick, NFL Ten Piece Nugget served five from the NFC and five from the AFC style. It will be good to get something in your stomach before the eggnog and bourbon take control.

The NFC side of the playoff picture is as clear as a bell and as foggy as England. Huh? Five of the six spots are spoken for, with the sixth a Philadelphia and Dallas mess. Dallas controlled it till yesterday’s loss to Philly. Now if Philly wins against the New York football Giants they are in. If they lose, Dallas is in with a win over Washington. Winner is division champ. Loser goes home.
If the loser is Dallas, Jason Garrett is going home too. Jerry Jones said he was very disappointed in his team’s performance yesterday. Duh. They failed to score a touchdown against a banged up, but hungrier, Philly team. With Cooper, Prescott, and Elliot as your big three on O a lot of money isn’t getting a lot of production. Prescott was asked post game, “what’s the problem?” His answer was profound. “I don’t know.”
The other five spots are sealed while the order and bye’s are anything but. San Francisco, Green Bay, New Orleans, Seattle, and Minnesota are in. Only N.O. is for sure the division champ and therefore a host of a wild card at a minimum. But home field is at stake as are the top two seed spots. There are too many “if’s” to detail them.
One thing is for sure though. There are too many “if’s” by team to consider anyone of them a prohibitive NFC Super Bowl favorite. New Orleans inexplicably lost to Atlanta a while back. San Fran did the same yesterday to lowly Arizona. Green Bay is much better at home than the road. Minnesota and Seattle might both need to win three in a row on the road. But, they are both very live wild card teams, if they wind up as wild card teams, built for post season play.
New Orleans lacks weapons outside of one who is nearly unstoppable this year. Marvin Harrison’s NFL record of 143 catches in a season stood for 17 years, and no one came within even six catches of it. Sunday New Orleans Saints receiver Michael Thomas broke Harrison’s mark with one game to go. Thomas already has 145 catches on the year after he caught 12 passes for 136 yards and a touchdown in Sunday’s 38-28 come-from-behind victory over the Tennessee Titans. Can a wide receiver win the MVP award? Well, Thomas is 66-1 while Lamar Jackson is 1-30.
Speaking of Thomas as we swing into the AFC, the QB and his Baltimore Ravens now have to be considered a strong favorite to take home the Lombardi Trophy in Miami regardless of who the NFC rep is. Baltimore is winning big weekly and dominating in all aspects of the game. After a 2-2 start, they are winners of 11 straight. Eleven straight wins in the NFL is called domination. In an AFC Conference loaded with really good quarterbacking, this just in, Lamar Jackson is good.
But, as usual, don’t count out New England just yet. Their yearly trip to the biggest game of all got a shorter route thanks to Saturday’s gut check win against a gutsy Buffalo Bills team. A win this week against Miami in New England will give them a first round bye. This just in, Tom Brady is good.
Perched at # 3 is KC. If you fell asleep Sunday night you missed a 26-3 Chiefs snoozer over the somnambulistic Chicago Bears 26-3. They need a win and a week 17 loss by NE to have a bye. This just in, Patrick Mahomes is good. The Bears are not.
Don’t sleep on the Houston Texans. They clinched the AFC South for the fourth time in five years Saturday. They can score and they can play decent defense. If KC loses and Houston wins they could move up to the all important #2 seed and gain the all important bye week as well. This just in, Deshaun Watson is good.
Buffalo has won ten games and counting this year and are in as the fifth seed. They are a dangerous wild card team. They’ll scrap you for a ball anytime, anywhere. This just in, Josh Allen isn’t good yet, but he’s moving in the right direction. The Tennessee Titans could still get in. They drafted Marcus Mariotta in round one a few years back. Miami did the same with Ryan Tannehill. Tennessee looks to have given up on MM like Miami did on Tannehill. Miami’s loss is Tennessee’s gain for now. Pittsburgh needs lots of help to get in. Oakland needs lots and lots of help to get in.

Enjoy a few lousy NCAA Bowl games that no one really cares about and a few NBA early season games that no one really cares about till the weekend. Then it’s the NCAA playoffs and the final regular season week in the NFL.

A little sprinkle of cinnamon on top of the eggnog is just the right finishing touch.

Quote the Raven “Speed Kills”

Posted on March 14, 2019March 14, 2019 by thependulumswings staff

The month ago NFL trade of eleven year veteran, Baltimore Raven Joe Flacco to the Denver Broncos became official yesterday as the new fiscal year of the NFL began. There were several other trades and a bevy of free agents signing. To say the pace of play was fast would be understating it all.

Lamar Jackson, the 2018 first round pick and late year starter for the Ravens, was the beneficiary of the trade as the deck was cleared for him to take the full-time starting quarterback position. The Ravens’ brass hopes that he will be the franchise’s next, well, franchise quarterback. To say the pace of LJ’s 2018 on field play was fast would be understating it as well.

However, to say his Mercedes-Benz pace was 105 mph on Tuesday would be exactly accurate. Like a stop watch at the combine, Lamar provided video proof of his fast driving. He decided to video the needle on 105 and post it on Instagram complete with the no seat belt dash-board indicator on as well as his tapping on the steering wheel to the selected tune of his choice.

On Wednesday the 22-year-old tweeted out an apology saying that “he had made a bad decision.” We wonder if the bad decision was driving 105 mph, the unhinged seat belt, the phone recording while driving, or the world-wide web post of it all.

Some surely see this as a problem. We see this as an opportunity for Lamar, his agent, and the Ravens however. Commercial gain from endorsements, advertisements, or public service announcements can come from this. Some awesome, and some not as awesome, possibilities follow.

The Raven’s film Lamar getting in the car, buckling up, and driving exactly the posted speed. Lamar looks into the close up of the camera and quote the Raven “nevermore.” A CLIO award awaits.
A video of Lamar’s pure on field speed and elusiveness running in to the endzone for a touchdown fades to a dated video of his 105 mph dash. The camera cuts to Lamar who states that “speed on the field and off the field kills. I only speed on grass these days.” This one is tricky due to the potential dual interpretation of the word “grass” however.
Adidas has Lamar under contract. They could film him running in his three stripe cleats and have him say “the only thing faster than me in my car is me in my adi kicks.” Ok, ok, this one needs some work. But, impossible is nothing.
Mercedes-Benz could film him calmly walking out of the airport from his arrival gate spliced with OJ Simpson’s Hertz commercial running through the airport 30 years ago. The tag line could be “why run and rent when you can Benz and speed?” Ok, ok this one needs work too. But, how about those rental choices from Hertz in 1978? Fairmont, Mustang, or LTD anyone?
Lamar could go rogue and video himself going 105 the next time he so chooses, and seat belt be damned again. He could turn the smart phone on to himself and say to the average Joe, “don’t give me any Flaccover this!” Ah, these kids these days. Instant Instagram fortune awaits.

We’ll be back after these words from our fine sponsors.