50 lessons from 1st half of season
In honor of Super Bowl 50, here are 50 things we learned the first half of the season:
1. Don’t piss off Tom Brady.
2. At a time young wide receivers wow us every week, Steve Smith Sr. proved he can still hang. If that was the last we saw of him, he went out on top. But we think he will be back.
3. Todd Gurley is the real deal. It still hasn’t been a year since Gurley’s major knee injury last November at Georgia. All he has done since: get drafted 10th overall by the St. Louis Rams and run for more yards (566) in his first four starts than any other NFL player in the Super Bowl era.
4. So is Amari Cooper.
5. And Stefon Diggs is about to be.
6. We look forward to watching all of them for years to come.
7. Is Aaron Rodgers still running for his life or has that Green Bay Packers-Denver Broncos game ended?
8. How every throw became a referendum on Peyton Manning’s ability. Like nobody else in the world is getting old.
9. For a different reason, same with Andy Dalton. Like anybody is going to remember a pass he threw until January — when they will remember every pass he threw.
10. Greg Hardy and Jerry Jones. The owner can gush all he wants. But this one will not end well. It usually doesn’t when there is a character issue.
11. The Indianapolis Colts can’t run a fake punt.
12. But the Seattle Seahawks can swat the ball out of the end zone.
13. Tony Romo gets a lot more respect when he’s not playing than he does when he plays. Go figure.
14. The NFL is more fun when the Oakland Raiders are winning. And they have something good going there. Now hopefully they won’t screw it up.
15. Everyone in the world watched the Yahoo livestream. Or just a couple people. Depends on who you believe.
16. The New York Giants are going to look back at the end of the season and realize Eli Manning ’s inability to count timeouts in Week 1 cost them a playoff spot.
17. Didn’t you use to be RG3?
18. Every time there is a college opening, Chip Kelly’s name will be attached. Every time the Philadelphia Eagles lose, his name will be mentioned for a college opening. Seemed like one of those happened every week, didn’t it?
19. Mike Zimmer of the Minnesota Vikings is vastly underrated. And so his team. Keep an eye on them.
20. Remember when Rob Gronkowski was the guy who couldn’t stay healthy? Yeah, we don’t either. He’s on pace for his best season since 2011.
21. It seems like there already have been more officiating controversies than a year ago. Maybe that’s because the NFL had bigger problems in 2014. Or maybe the rule book has become so convoluted (amid improved technology for all the armchair officials at home) that not even the best of the best officials can sort it out.
22. But they sure seem like they are throwing flags on every play, doesn’t it?
23. The Cincinnati Bengals are 7-0 for the first time in franchise history. It’s the Bengals’ franchise history, but still.
24. We just knew when the Carolina Panthers took Coastal Carolina CB Josh Norman in the fifth round of the 2012 draft, he was going to turn into a shutdown corner. Yeah, sure we did.
25. Hey, did you know there are now DAILY fantasy football games? If not, you are using a DVR to skip commercials way more effectively than us.
26. You could make quite an offense out of the skill position players who have suffered significant injuries already: Tony Romo, Ben Roethlisberger, Jamaal Charles, Le’Veon Bell, Arian Foster, Dez Bryant, De- Sean Jackson, Steve Smith Sr. …
27. And you would build the defense around Terrell Suggs.
28. Jameis Winston’s first pass of his NFL career was a pick-six. Marcus Mariota had four TD passes in his debut.
29. Both have played like rookies with the speed bumps that come with that, but we think neither team will regret making them their franchise quarterback.
30. Colin Kaepernick. If you figured out what happened there, give us a call. We’re stumped.
31. And there goes another missed extra point.
32. Not much has gone right with the San Diego Chargers, but we will not forget their classy move in Week 1 inviting Junior Seau’s three children onto the field at Qualcomm Stadium before the game to honor their late father, who was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame this summer.
33. We also won’t forget Bob Kraft’s halftime speech in Week 8 in which he publicly mocked the Colts.
34. The McCown brothers, Luke and Josh, started in Week 3. We will remember that forever.
35. A game in St. Louis was delayed when fireworks caused a fire. On the field. Yeesh.
36. Andrew Luck. The Baltimore Ravens. Joe Philbin. Rex Ryan and the Buffalo Bills. The NFC East. Offensive line play. Yes, they were the biggest disappointments.
37. Don’t look now, but Jay Cutler has been playing pretty well.
38. Lots of good things happening in Arizona, but the Chris Johnson story is the best.
39. We have a soft spot for good defenses, so thank you Denver, Carolina, Arizona, Cincinnati and New England. And New Orleans and the Giants. Just kidding on those last two.
40. It’s unfair to ask who got the best of the Nick Foles-Sam Bradford deal, because it looks like both the Eagles and Rams got the worst of it.
41. When the New York Jets get a quarterback …
42. Matt Hasselbeck still has more wins than Andrew Luck.
43. Hey Atlanta. It’s not how you start, it’s how you finish. And we’re sorry about that, for your sake.
44. The Ed Hochuli-Cam Newton mini-controversy.
45. Gary Barnidge. Admit it, you didn’t know who he was eight weeks ago. Now you are upset he has not been on your Fantasy Score team. Since FantasyScore is week to week, you have nine more chances to get him. And, yes, that’s a shameless plug. Deal with it.
46. The time when the Chicago Bears put eight defenders on the goal line when the Kansas City Chiefs had the ball at the 22 late in the half with no timeouts. They dubbed it the “Red Rover” defense. We love it.
47. We still don’t know what constitutes a catch. But that’s OK, neither do the officials. Or the guys back in New York in the replay center.
48. In a day and age when players just follow the company line — or else — it was cool Brandon Weeden admitted he was “pissed” when the Cowboys benched him.
49. But it’s OK to piss off Brandon Weeden.
50. Just don’t piss off Tom Brady.