Spring Training Tomorrow; Season Opener April 1

Yes, Spring Training starts tomorrow. In another time I would be playing Little League, except that about a 15 or so months ago, someone in China decided to eat a bat. You know the rest, unless, of course, you experienced a Jumanji-type thing where you were stuck in the past for a while, perfectly understandable, perfectly understandable.

But yes, after an offseason that skyrocketed the Mets straight through the roof, we’re finally here. I will be going over each team and their expectation and, of course, I will throw in this abused, over used phrase: there’s always next year.

And no, you won’t have to split this blog up over your lifetime because it won’t be that long. I will try to shorten it to about 2 or 3, but 4 max sentences about each team, I’m already at 139 words so I’ll shut up and write about baseball.

Tampa Bay Rays: Search up Wendy’s roasts Tampa Bay Rays, sounds weird, right? Just do it. They got Rich Hill, an aging pitcher, Chris Archer, another pitcher that reached his peak, but here comes the good stuff, to add to their already stupid good roster, they got Luis Patino, the #19 overall MLB prospect and Francisco Mejia, both from the Padres, both one of the cornerstones of the future of the Padres. Cy Young winner Blake Snell packs his bags, along with Charlie Morton (a player who ages like fine wine) and Hunter Renfroe. They lose Jose Alvarado and Nate Lowe, both players that decorate their roster, not too big. Still in the bottom sixth of the league in salary, with scrappy, young players, I don’t expect them to get to the playoffs, much less the World Series, it would be a miracle if they win over 90 games, hey, a run like last year’s only happens once in a team’s lifetime. (short, eh?)

New York Yankees: The Yankees are starting to look like the 2016-17 Warriors, just building a superteam, brick by brick, $15 million contract by $15 million contract, and more, of course. The Yankees got major upgrades, bringing back DJ Lemahieu, ranked wayyyy too high on mlb.com’s top 100 players of the MLB season, Corey Kluber, they went to Vegas on this one, he’s older and he’s very injury prone (but that fits the Yanks, right?), and Jameson Taillon, to bolster their rotation. The Yankees really screwed up with their departures, Masahiro Tanaka went to Japan, J.A. Happ didn’t like New York, and goes up to Minnesota, Luis Avilan, Tommy Kahnle, and Adam Ottavino all leave New York as well, some of their best relievers leave. Second basketball comparison in a row (I’m on a roll), the Yanks are like the Spurs, they’re always gonna make the playoffs, so yeah, they’re gonna get to the playoffs, they’ll win around 90-100 games.

Toronto Blue Jays: This team’s trying to make a run for the playoffs, and anyone who doesn’t think this team is interesting is not a baseball fan. They got George Springer (an offensive sparkplug to an already great offense), Steven Matz, who they shouldn’t expect anything out of, Kirby Yates, just bullpen help at this point. Also, Marcus Semien, which is an interesting acquisition, maybe as a mentor, Robbie Ray, who I think will thrive this year, and Tyler Chatwood, who, again, I don’t expect much out of it. A lot of these signings were just filling in the holes at a bare minimum. They lost Chase Anderson, who I never really liked because he didn’t bring much to the mound, Jonathan Villar, who they got a better replacement for, and Ken Giles, he’s 30, not too old, right, well, for relievers, age is something like dog years, so, Giles is around 87. I expect that this is the beginning of a long rebuild, but the Jays handled this beautifully, so, there’s always next year, as for this year, I would they’re gonna be around mid-70s, low 80s in wins.

Baltimore Orioles: Does this team know how to rebuild? From looking at their offseason, I doubt it. They got an aging infielder, Freddy Galvis, who’s not getting any younger, Yolmer Sanchez, who had the sky as his ceiling, but then it dropped off pretty fast, Felix Hernandez and Matt Harvey, both to minor league deals. They lost Jose Iglesias, who they subbed in with FREDDY GALVIS? They also got Hanser Alberto, who has a bunch of untapped potential in my opinion, and Renato Nunez, one of their only young lightbulbs, keyword being young. Orioles fans are going to have to be put on Suicide Watch because with how their team is doing, I expect them to be worse this year.

Boston Red Sox: The Red Sox had an interesting offseason, last year, they got rid of Mookie Betts, albeit for a handsome payout, but still, Mookie? This year they said bye to Andrew Benintendi. They got Kike Hernandez as a utility man, Hunter Renfroe for the gaping hole in the Sox now (think Selena Gomez without her two front teeth, and there is no Christmas), Martin Perez as a starter, and Adam Ottavino among other relief pitchers and Marwin Gonzalez to give Ron Roenicke some breathing room. They also picked up Franchy Cordero in the AB trade. All they lost was Andrew Benintendi, but as I’ve said, that’s a lot. Beginning of a rebuild, they have embarked on a “Rockets,” which, if you didn’t read my last blog, is a rebuild where you have cap space, no good players, a generally bad team, but enough average players to keep their dignity, so, I’d say them and the Orioles slug it out for the worst team in the NL East.

Minnesota Twins: The Twins are somehow going to have to get back to number one in their division, somehow. They got Nelson Cruz, a slugger but he’s old, so he’ll definitely not do what he was doing earlier in his career, and he may not even be a starter, they got J.A. Happ, another old guy, and Alex Colome, to get that lockDOWN closer. They lost Eddie Rosario, a solid hit almost every at-bat, Trevor May, who just gave them some aesthetically pleasing play, Marwin Gonzalez, a big hit, and Sergio Romo, who is like Ken Giles, 87 years old in reliever years. I think they’re going to sit at 3^rd place in the NL Central.

Cleveland Indians: Now here are some fans that should be put in a rehab clinic, or some Men and Black stuff, like memory wiping. They got Eddie Rosario, who is a big help to them, to at least try to regain Francisco Lindor star power, Amed Rosario, who they shouldn’t expect much out of, and Andres Gimenez. I do think that Gimenez will be amazing in his career but his first MLB season was “eh,” and he was not expected to be “eh.” They also got a bunch of burned out vets on minor league deals, who probably won’t be seeing much of the bigs. They lost Francisco Lindor, the be-all and end-all of the Indians, Carlos Carrasco, a reliable pitcher, Carlos Santana, with biceps that make Arnold Schwarzenneger take a second look, and Domingo Santana, a big bat, but now he’s bringing his talents to Japan. Next year, Indians fans, you have the most cap space, with a stacked 2021-2022 shortstop free agent market, even with 2 or 3 resignations. I think they’ll be fourth in the division, at around 80 wins.

Chicago White Sox: Hey! They got the AL MVP, finally, some more people know that there’s another baseball team in Chicago, let’s capitalize on that, shall we? They got Liam Hendriks and Lance Lynn, both nice additions. No new firepower on offense, aaaaand they lost James McCann, Yolmer Sanchez and Nomar Mazara, that was most of the offensive firepower. One year wonder for the White Sox, I don’t expect them to be back in the playoffs, just one more year of having a great offseason and then we’ll talk, but for now, I think third in the division.

Kansas City Royals: Want a crash course on how to capitalize on something? Look no further than the city famous for Patrick Mahomes. The Royals got one of the most explosive young players right now in Andrew Benintendi and they didn’t give up all that much, Franchy Cordero and two players to be named later. Bargain. Also, they got Carlos Santana, haaa, you thought that was all the offense, huh? Nope, they still got Michael A. Taylor for the defensive side of the ball and he can hit. Another Rangers pitcher was given away, Mike Minor came to Kansas City. All they gave up was Khalil Lee to the Mets, and the three players mentioned above. Alex Gordon also retired. They’re right where they want to be, they got all of the right young players and a good amount of money, but all of this hasn’t amounted to anything –  yet. I say they go 2^nd in the division.

Detroit Tigers: Now here’s a team that is really struggling in sports, not just baseball, all of them. They got Jonathan Schoop and Robbie Grossman, two ok hitters, but to the Tigers, that’s like getting Joe DiMaggio and Lou Gehrig. The Mets got rid of the cancer that is Wilson Ramos and the Tigers took him. They didn’t lose anyone big, but I don’t know what is classified as “big,” judge for yourself, Ivan Nova, Austin Romine, and Jordan Zimmerman. The Tigers don’t have any big names, so, back to the gutter for them, 5^th in the division.

Oakland Athletics: Billy Beane would be happy with what David Forst did with the team, dragging them back to the playoffs. I just want to say how amazing Matt Chapman and Matt Olson are, they are the only big talent on the A’s, and they led their division last year. This offseason, they got Elvis Andrus and Mitch Moreland on the offensive end, to smooth out some of the bumps, and Trevor Rosenthal, Mike Fiers, and Sergio Romo (there were a lot, these were the best), Rosenthal to help the back-end of the rotation, and the two others to make the bullpen very potent. My prediction is around 4^rd in their division.

Houston Astros: The cheaters are a good team, no one’s taking that away from them, and I respect good teams unless they get one of their cornerstones for a bag of chips and a can of soda. They got Michael Brantley and Jason Castro came back, giving them solid hitters and “eh” defense. They didn’t lose a lot of players, just one notable player, George Springer. Yes, he’s amazing, did they need him? No, but they do need a superstar CF to pick up right where they left off last year, and better. I think they’ll be first in their division, at around 90 wins.

Seattle Mariners: I saw a gem on the Internet today: the only way to stop Tom Brady from winning yet another ring is to put him on the Mariners. True, true, very true. The Mariners got James Paxton, I’m all for that move, that seems amazing for them, Kendall Graveman, Kenyan Middleton, Rafael Montero, and Ken Giles were all signings to give them a safety net and for their fans not to chew their nails when the seventh, eighth, and ninth innings roll around, like Mets fans. They didn’t lose any major players, just dead weights, Dee Gordon, Carl Edwards Jr. (who’s actually really good), and Mallex Smith. I think they’ll still be really bad this year, I predict last in their division, at around high 70 wins.

LA Angels: Mike Trout and Anthony Rendon are the only actually respectable players on this team, they’re both really good, but can the rest of the team keep up? I don’t know. They got Dexter Fowler, as a mentor most likely, and a small starting role, Raisel and Jose Iglesias, one with amazing potential to make the bullpen great and the other for another mentorship/small starting spot. Jose Quintana and Alex Cobb also make their way to Los Angeles, hey, I like this Angels team, except for Andrelton Simmons departing, along with some small bullpen pieces, but Andrelton Simmons was really good, that guy could range EVERYWHERE, making Derek Jeter-esque plays look easy. I think they’ll be 3^nd in their division, yeah, I said it, and at around 85 wins.

Texas Rangers:  The Rangers need to rebuild, they need a fresh start and then they’ll begin, but bringing in Khris Davis, is like putting a band-aid on a gunshot wound, it won’t help and when you take it off (trading him or releasing him) will hurt like a b**ch. Mike Foltynewicz, David Dahl, and Nate Lowe are also some players they got, wow, did the Texans get some really good players, but still, my diagnosis is a really bad team and my treatment is a rebuild. They lost Lance Lynn, Elvis Andrus, and Corey Kluber, all of them good players but that doesn’t sum up to what the Rangers got.

NL tomorrow, guys and gals.

Tttttraayyde Talk!

Andre Drummond trade: Well, he’s been thrown around quite a bit, if he goes to the Celtics, the Cavs might get greedy and ask for Jaylen Brown, Kemba Walker, or Jayson Tatum, which they’re not willing to give. Their mentality is to get Drummond without giving up one of the three listed above, that’s a tough ask for one of the top centers in the NBA. The Knicks might get him. Yes! That’s perfect, move Mitchell Robinson to the 6 man and move Noel in the deal. The Knicks don’t have much that the Cavs want, so, virtually, we’re not losing anything, just potentially gaining. Toronto: I talked about that above, and yes, that’s good, Aron Baynes is not good, Chris Boucher is not the move (I like him but Drummond is better). If we want to get freaky, move Siakam to the 3, Boucher to the 4, and Drummond to the 5, you’re not losing speed and you’re gaining height, I hope Nick Nurse is reading this. Except, Kyle Lowry’s going to have to move in this deal, no doubt. For Colin Sexton and Darius Garland to improve more, Kyle Lowry could be a mentor, like the Rose situation in New York. Knowing how volatile the bottom of the East is, they could be the 11th seed or the 4th seed in a few games, they need all the help they can get. Those are the leaders to win the lottery for Drummond, but the Lakers, Hornets, and Mavs are all in the mix as well.

John Collins trade: This is the Robin to Trae Young’s Batman, you have to keep him. The only catch here is that Collins doesn’t want the puny money the Hawks are willing to pay him, so, they want a lot for him, evidently. The Knicks are in the mix again but I feel like we’re leaning towards Drummond and anyway, we have Randle at PF. The 76ers are a great candidate for Collins, but the Hawks are reportedly looking for a lottery pick, the 6ers pick is most likely late 20s. The Thunder are also a great destination because they could convert to small ball and play Collins at the 5 while still developing Darius Bazley at the 4. Collins is young and also right in the Thunder’s wheelhouse.

Blake Griffin: Griffin could to the Suns, to remake the Clipper’s “Lob City” with Chris Paul. If you don’t know, Chris Paul and Blake Griffin teamed up in Los Angeles and they threw A LOT of lobs. But, the Suns don’t want the cap space, Chris Paul and Blake Griffin both have totally unreasonable contracts and two players cannot make up 50% of your salary, I mean, it’s possible, just not practical. He could also go to the Nets, but then, their bench will be full of Walmart baggers and free agents signed on minimum contracts. But hey, you get 4 great starters, haha. The Thunder? No, just no, because he’s old and he costs a lot, the opposite of where the Thunder should go. The Heat are the favorites, bye Kelly Olynyk and hello solid power forward. They could run a big ball lineup, with Jimmy Butler as the primary ball-handler, Tyler Herro at the 2, Duncan Robinson at the 3, Griffin at the 4 and Bam Adebayo at the 5. Butler can see things differently and he’s a vet, not all primary ball handlers need to be short and fast.

Zach Lavine: He could go to the Knicks. I couldn’t begin to make up some trades but I trust Leon Rose. This would be great. Immanuel Quickley at the 1, Lavine at 2, RJ at the 3, and then Randle and Robinson at the 4 and 5. Wow, we’re a lock for the second round of the playoffs then. Lavine could also go to the Heat, and that would make them a superteam. Duncan Robinson, Kelly Olynyk, and Kendrick Nunn may go. But, we haven’t paid any attention to the Bulls. Why would they trade him? They’re left with Lauri Markannen at PF and barely anything else. I think Lavine will stay in Chicago. Most of these rumors are really just rumors, but some really may happen.

One trade that’s not a rumor anymore is Carson Wentz to the Colts.

This trade is so bad. I don’t know what goes on behind closed doors in NFL front offices, although I would love to, but the Colts were in the market for so much more. They had Carson Wentz, Deshaun Watson, Dak Prescott (if the Cowboys didn’t resign him), Russell Wilson and a QB in the draft all at their disposal, all they had to do was choose. They went with Wentz? Aw, Cmon, Colts! Watson wanted the Colts, Russ might’ve been on the move, or they could’ve drafted Mac Jones. Wentz to the Colts doesn’t make the Colts too bad of a team. They need to draft a receiver, take Kenny Golladay or Allen Robinson in Free Agency and then touch up their defense and they have a really good team. Running backs are good, Marlon Mack, Nyheim Hines and Jonathan Taylor, added receivers are good, TEs are good, the O-line is good and their defense is a top 10 in the NFL. What Wentz needs now is renewed confidence and for his teammates to like him. Nelson Agholor was on the Eagles and he didn’t like Wentz, everyone blamed it on Agholor – Agholor leaves – 8 touchdowns, up from 3 with the Eagles, more than 500 yards more in Las Vegas and that’s on only 9 more receptions. His teammates didn’t like him; the media didn’t like him and now, with a coach that he knows? If he doesn’t prove himself here, then, well, bye this North Dakota State star’s career. I think he’s going to do well, this situation isn’t so much physical as mental and I think he’s going to hit the theoretical hammer right on the “good QB” nail. 

We’ll see if the NBA stops being so shaky and, of course, if I’m right.

Basketball Review Continued

Thunder: The OKC Thunder pulled a “Rockets” before the Rockets pulled a “Rockets”. A “Rockets” is where a team sells their good players for draft picks, but still having players that will sustain their dignity. Yes, they’re bad, but they have so many draft picks, so out in the future, that they’re scouting kids who just learned how to walk. Theo Maledon, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Luguentz Dort make up a great, young backcourt that’s not producing. The Thunder went a little overboard here because these are young players, but we need some really delicate coaching here, and we don’t want a Michael Carter-Williams or Anthony Bennett. Darius Bazley and Al Horford are great bigs, one’s old, one’s young. I would love to watch this team win, Al Horford is on his death (retiring) bed on this team, if this isn’t his death (retiring) bed then he will be a journeyman for the rest of his career. Bring in a leader, like Leon Rose brought in Derrick Rose, make this offseason the best you can and draft well (because the bad drafting slander will never cease if you swing and miss on this). Claim your OKC Thunder being good again non bandwagon ticket here, with me. Save this blog and show it (rub it in their faces daily and talk to them about it every chance you get) to your buddies when they break big. My prediction: 11th in Conference.

Pacers: Looking back at yesterday’s game will not sum up the Pacers’ season for you, that was a warning, because I didn’t want you to think that their team is better than KD, Curry, and Klay Thompson, or KD, Kyrie and Harden. They have a good team, and they’ll win a lot of games. Malcolm Brogdon and Justin Holiday are not a good backcourt, Brogdon is as volatile as the stock market right now, Holiday never displayed even smidges of signs to be as good as his good brother, Jrue Holiday, and before you go hunt down the Pacers roster, no, there isn’t a better bench replacement, except maybe Jeremy Lamb, but that’s up to the HC. Doug McDermott is just a placeholder, in my opinion, 13 points for a bench player? Douggie will take that. TJ Warren is actually there at SF but he’s injured, personally, Warren is built like a borderline PF, but he plays like an SG. Wow, that’s a player I want. Of course, he doesn’t have the speed of a guard and doesn’t have the height of a PF, so that’s the only downside to him, he’s in the middle, but you can’t call him an SF. The frontcourt for the Pacers is dangerous, Domantas Sabonis and Myles Turner are stereotypical bigs nowadays, Sabonis can shoot and Turner is dabbling in shooting. Both are great and defense and they both don’t specialize in back-to-basket play, except for Turner, because you can’t blame a giraffe for reaching a 20 ft banana. If you look at the big picture, this roster is built for 4th or 5th place in the East, which they are. My prediction: 5th seed

Knicks: My favorite team, finally, finally turning it around. It’s wild what a better coach can do to a team. Exit David Fizdale and enter Tom Thibodeau and you’ve got a 6th place team, that weren’t just bottom feeders in the East or the NBA. We weren’t even at the bottom of the food chain. We were whale excrement, just sitting at the bottom of the ocean. Well, now, with the right roster moves right before the deadline, we could be like a bass, or a trout, or salmon. They start Elfrid Payton at point, I don’t like that, no one does, Derrick Rose should be the 1. Reggie Bullock shouldn’t even be the third string shooting guard on a bad team (yes, I just said the Knicks aren’t a bad team). Start Immanuel Quickley at SG or put him as the second string at point. I’m pleased with RJ Barrett’s performance so far, yes, I want him gone, yes, I’ll give him a little more time. Kevin Knox has to go, please, he was pulling comparisons to Jayson Tatum or Paul George when he was drafted, and now he has to go. Julius Randle is a great player, he may be one of the best power forwards right now, I’ll put him at 3, behind Giannis Antetokounmpo and Anthony Davis. There may have been slight bias but I will give you a solid argument for each PF why he shouldn’t be better. Mitchell Robinson and Nerlens Noel are really good centers, they hold down the fort well together and separately. Obi Toppin has yet to prove himself, but Immanuel Quickley is going to be the next Jeremy Lin. They’re both guards and they both play the same way, he plays electrically, and right now, everyone is rooting for Quickley. 

My dream Knicks lineup:

PG: Derrick Rose

SG: Immanuel Quickley

SF: RJ Barrett

PF: Julius Randle (offense plays around Randle)

C: Mitchell Robinson

Bench: Elfrid Payton, Nerlens Noel and Obi Toppin.

This way, the fans are happy and the Knicks are better.

Next, the trades.

Basketball, yes, finally.

I will write about 6 teams in two posts, randomly generated, and then trade talk. Here is the order: Raptors, Magic, Clippers, Thunder, Pacers and Knicks, all done by a random number generator.

Raptors: 7th in East. This is such a good roster. Kawhi Leonard was just a really good boost to send them to the Finals and win. Kawhi Leonard is criminally overrated, yeah, great defender, good scorer, ferocious muscles but he’s just a cog in a machine, not like LeBron to the Lakers, Cavs, and Heat. Yes, I know, after I said Tom Brady was washed, he went out and won his 7th Super Bowl as if saying, “HA, that’s for you, Yulian!” They are 7th in the East only because the East has emerged with some really big underdogs, like the Pacers and Knicks. Kyle Lowry and Fred Vanvleet make for the most underrated backcourt in the NBA. Vanvleet could play both guard spots but mostly plays the 2 even though he handles the ball really well and does so throughout the game. Kyle Lowry hasn’t really gotten much attention from the media because ESPN and SportsCenter mostly covered the NFL up until about a week ago and BleacherReport turned into OnlyLameloBallReport. Lowry is a productive scorer, not anything amazing because they do have a three headed monster (that’s he’s a part of) and they’re all pretty equal. Pascal Siakam could be moved to small forward, he has everything OG Anunoby has and more. That would free space for Aron Banes to come to PF and Chris Boucher to C. I love Chris Boucher, he is 6’9” and he rebounds like a 7’1” center and can shoot like a SF. Nick Nurse is an amazing coach, last year’s COTY and I love his style. The only flaw I see in this team is their bench. It’s weird, it doesn’t sit right with me. They have shooters but everyone needs to have one solid bench player to play through or a nine man rotation (so one starter is on the floor at all times), but even though the second one is harder, just get a good bench player. My prediction: 8th in the conference.

Orlando Magic: A good team, with a lot of hidden gems, whatever they shed in the offseason didn’t matter because the season is what sucked for them. So say they have been plagued by injuries would be an understatement, Jonathan Isaac, one of the most fun players to watch in the NBA, out for the season. They are playing without Markelle Fultz, Aaron Gordon and Cole Anthony. And, for the moment, without Evan Fournier, their role player shooting guard. They are playing with Michael Carter-Williams, a bust in the 2013 NBA Draft at PG, Terrence Ross, Dwayne Bacon, Gary Clark, and the only bright spot on this team, Nikola Vucevic. At full health, this team is amazing, but, realistically, no Jonathan Isaac, so, their only liability is SF, and that’s huuuuuuuuuge. Dwyane Bacon and James Ennis III cannot, I repeat, cannot play SF for the rest of the year, haul someone in, Magic – at every position except 1 and 5. There’s not much more Vucevic can do, 23 PPG and 11 boards per game are outstanding. He’s not fast, he’s not obligated to pass the ball around and he isn’t a real Joel-Embiid-type-build, but he’s your only superstar. I wouldn’t be surprised to see him leave Orlando at the end of the season, because Orlando doesn't really suit him. My prediction: They horribly miss the playoffs.

LA Clippers: High hopes for this team at the beginning of last season, yeah, they got to the playoffs, so did the Nets (last year). They’re 21-9, steep decline incoming, though. Paul George and Kawhi Leonard are out (when I’m writing this 2/18) and, looking at their roster, that was the system that was everything they played through. Patrick Beverley, Reggie Jackson, and a fading Lou Williams are the backcourt for the Clippers. Lou is having one of the worst seasons in his career, Reggie Jackson was never a real sparkplug and Patrick Beverley’s defense is fading too. It’s almost as though everything’s against the Clippers, oh wait, it is. Not to worry, though, the two superstars aren’t out for too long. Serge Ibaka hasn’t been playing well, compared to his Toronto days and Nicolas Batum was never amazing. The system relies so heavily on Kawhi Leonard and Paul George (in my opinion, I still think the Patriots’ system relied more heavily on Brady than here), that they’re slipping and falling. Rebuild mode? Not yet. Do something the Rockets did so perfectly? Not yet, next year (seems I use that term quite frequently in my blogs). Prediction: 5th in West.

More tomorrow.

Ahead of Tomorrow’s Super Bowl 55

I’ve heard this phrase go around for a few days now, I and I think it’s really cool – this Super Bowl is going to be the GOAT of the Old Generation, Tom Brady (or every generation in my opinion, unless Patrick Mahomes or Trace McSorely has anything to say about that) versus the GOAT of the Next Generation, Patrick Mahomes, and their supporting cast – it’s like Mission: Impossible (except with a few more characters [players] on both sides).

Maybe now you can name the whole cast of Mission: Impossible but in some 7-10 years, after the franchise stops producing, you won’t be able to name the other characters, just the main one(s), Tom Cruise, Tom Brady and Patrick Mahomes.

For tomorrow’s Super Bowl, I think that the Bucs need to come out firing because when you’re playing against not only the number one team in the AFC, but also the best and most unpredictable one. If the run game worked so well in the win against the Bills, then the Chiefs should use that as a crutch, but the main support, for both teams, should and will be the pass game. If I’m talking about blitzes (you might be thinking to yourself – when was this guy talking about blitzes? – you’re right, when?) then I would say that it would be horrible to blitz both QBs. One, because Tom Brady has the best pocket presence and awareness in the league and he will get rid of the football really quickly and for the opponent – when you blitz Patrick Mahomes, he will roll out of the pocket, or if that fails then he’ll find someone (ah hahaha, I’m entering your mind again, you’re thinking to yourself – hey kid, you know how stupid that sounds? – yeah, yeah I do, I don’t get it either) because we’ve seen SportsCenter lose control over themselves when it happened the first time and when history repeated itself.

Talking about playbooks and game plans, a game plan in the regular season is far different than one in the playoffs and I think both of them are far different than the one in the Super Bowl. So, I think that the viewers will see a game plan that’s tailored around combating what the other team did to the Bills and the Packers, respectively.

I know, choppy language, let me clear it up. The Chiefs will try to account for the run game and try to just PLAY better in the redzone than the Bucs. The Bucs will just play the pass, especially the deep zones and the mid zone, if it is a run, then the Bucs’ freakishly good Front 7 will stop it. I think it will be thrilling (Yes, I know I sound like a science teacher getting his/her blood pressure up by talking about the Water Cycle), seeing Andy Reid and Bruce Arians bounce off of each other’s play, but the matchup we’ve been waiting for, which might be a conspiracy orchestrated by the NFL by doing all sorts of science/tech-y things to make certain teams lose games and certain teams win games to perfectly create a matchup for Tom Brady to hand the torch of the NFL onto Patrick Mahomes, if you haven’t guessed it yet, the Bucs will win it.

Final Score: 27-21 Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

Back to some unfinished business …

Packers vs. Bucs: This game looks easy on paper, the Bucs are playing with 5 above average players at their position and while the Jets have absolutely no one, we don’t even have a best player (me, a Jets fan, quietly crying reviewing the Bucs roster). The Bucs have the GOAT at QB, and he has so many more players to throw to than he had in New England. I thought that the Rodgers-Adams connection would be too much to handle. Factor in the run game with Aaron Jones, AJ Dillon, and Jamaal Williams and a good defense and I thought that’s the recipe to beat the Bucs. But, the GOAT, in what may be his final season, defied all expectations – again. Not many people predicted a State Farm Super Bowl, but I was a black sheep, and my prediction just made sense. I thought the probable 2020-2021 MVP would throw for over 350 yards with four touchdowns and one pick, not really. It just didn’t come together, the Packers were always playing one step behind and were always treading a swamp, instead of plain water. The Bucs? Oh, they just walked, they didn’t need to tread anything. A nonexistent run game got going really well, using their tank, Leonard Fourtnette, more than my would-be choice, Ronald Jones II. And he produced, being their inside-the-10 running back, getting 55 yards on twelve carries and an impressive touchdown run where he stiff-armed and tore his way into the endzone. What won the game for the Bucs was not their defense, their passing game, or their coaching/decision making, no, it was their redzone play. Not one specific play, it was their play in general inside the 20. They would do a mix of passing and running in the redzone, more specifically fades to Mike Evans and Gronk and slants to Chris Godwin, and then outside zone runs to Fourtnette and that would work. Props to them.

Chiefs vs. Bills: The Chiefs were better, Patrick Mahomes and his curly hair are just unmatched. You have to give credit to Andy Reid, not just for being a great coach and leading a team to the Super Bowl for a second straight time but for incorporating a run game that’s virtually nonexistent. I’ll get to how, why, and with whom, but I just want to say one thing. Notice how both coaches incorporated the run game and something different than they did in the regular season. They caught the other team off guard and confused them, while still having a strategy and not running around like a chicken with its head off.  The Chiefs ran the ball more than they usually do, and get this, without their starting running backs even getting started. Andy Reid saw something in Darrel Williams pregame and he produced, 13 for 52 and one touchdown and the rookie Clyde Edwards Helaire got a touchdown on 7 carries and… and… and… 6 yards. Also, the Chiefs wanted to focus on the short or 9-12 yard passing game, and guess what? They put up 38 points. The Bills came in expecting deep passes (usually complete) and a minimal run game, the Chiefs did the extraordinary, they stretched time. What does my mother tell me all the time? There are only 24 hours in a day (or 48 minutes of football in a football game) and you can’t stretch them, at all. The Chiefs still took their deep shots and still took chances but also incorporated the medium passing game and the run game. Another thing I noticed was that the two (to say main here would be an understatement, so I’m going to say, well, only) only receivers, Tyreek Hill and Travis Kelce got (again, most would be an understatement, literally, they got 89% of the passing/receiving yards of the game, so, I’ll say all, but know it’s not really all) all of the receptions in the game, and that worked, expect more of the same, Bucs. On the flip side of the coin, the Bills played on the flip side of the coin. They didn’t run the ball, when they did, it was Josh Allen tucking it and running it. Josh Allen spread the ball around really well for a young QB who is pretty much only targeting his best friend, Stefon Diggs, both on and off the field. Cole Beasley, the definition of Swiss Army Knife, caught 7 passes for 88 yards while reportedly playing on a broken leg, yes, I wrote that correctly and you read that correctly. The Bills didn’t come in with a game plan as good as the Chiefs, but hey, with any game plan it’s hard to beat the Chiefs.

Final Note – on Baseball: Trevor Bauer is the biggest Diva in sports history, yes, even bigger than what Kevin Durant did, and is doing (he did, if you didn’t know joining teams to create super teams and virtually spitting on his old team). Trevor Bauer got Mets’ fans excited that he’s coming to New York, LA wasn’t even in the Trevor-Bauer-Media-Spotlight-Talks (keep in mind I said “spotlight,” hardcore baseball fans knew he was in talks just regular fans didn’t) until 2 or so days before he signed. Then, even though the Mets have built a great team under Uncle Steve Cohen and we offered him more money than the Dodgers, he spurs us and walks over to LA, wow, thanks, Bauer. Let’s see him go 8-7 with a 4.17 ERA this season because he was never really amazing. Yes, I know, this paragraph is a sad Mets fan crying but remember, numbers don’t lie, the people interpreting them do. And, we already didn’t really need him, we have a Top 5, or maybe even Top 3, starting rotation in the league, Jacob DeGoat, Noah Syndergaard, Marcus Stroman, Carlos Carrasco, Joey Lucchesi, David Peterson, and more reinforcements coming.

So, bite me, Dodgers, Dodgers fans, and most importantly, Trevor “Biggest Diva in MLB and the guy who isn’t worth signing” Bauer.

MLB Baseball and NFL Football Updates 

Steve Cohen was the guy the Mets needed, he was the bull we needed, the guy who’s going to push other owners into a corner and he’s going to have to give up his best player, well, except that Mike Chernoff has succumbed to Cohen so far and he’s got way more on his list. If Cohen can get a Robin, the GM, to him being Batman, and make the correct management decisions, those predictions about the Mets making the World Series or the Mets being the “fourth-best odds to win it all,” c’mon, stop raising our blood pressure, Vegas.

But, now, with the addition of Francisco Lindor, who will carry our offense, our defense and our locker room, we could actually trudge to the top of the hardest division in baseball, the NL East. I see two solutions to please the hearts of Mets fans and to make this season successful. If the Mets could bring in a really above-average outfielder, yes, I’m looking at you, Marcell Ozuna, who could play left field, and slide Jeff McNeil down to second, then this team is fundamentally sound. Or the Mets could trade – controversy incoming – Jeff McNeil or Dominic Smith, and trade one of them for a pitcher, then that would clear up second base and left field. Let me explain, Jeff McNeil, great player, great contact hitter, great hustle, and great trade value (see how I slipped that in?). He’s 28, and has a lot of potential, even at 28.

I’ll get to potential trade targets for Saint Cohen right after I say how the Mets might fill in the holes. We got the best shortstop in the game in a trade recently but gave away a promising middle infielder, I’ll take that every day and twice on Sunday, so I’m not complaining. The most MLB-ready middle infielder is the 29^th ranked prospect in the pipeline, i-n-c-o-n-v-i-n-i-e-n-t. We could call him, roll the dice with him, or we could have Luis Guillorme, a defensive wizard or we could trade McNeil and a prospect for a reliever and a minor league second baseman, like Andy Young or Zack McKinstry, who aren’t too treasured but are also MLB-ready.

Disclaimer: We are not going to be left without a second baseman, and even if we were, we have such a structurally well-organized team, that we wouldn’t even notice it. If we get Trevor Bauer too, then we have the best rotation in baseball. I support Luis Rojas at the helm, and with him there, we have a really good chance to be a successful team and make the playoffs (and hopefully more).

NFL recaps from last weekend:

Packers vs. Rams: This game was never in question, Aaron Rodgers is aging like fine wine, but not even fine wine, the word “age” is not in his vocabulary, he just gets better, and with all of the underrated weapons that the Packers have, it’s a no-brainer. The Rams, on the other hand, tried but failed. It was like Aaron Rodgers was a step ahead, he always knew what the Rams were trying to throw at him. One of the quickest releases in the game steps up again. For an advanced football fan, like me, I saw that while the Rams tried to man up a lot of the game. The fans wanted to see Jalen Ramsey on Davante Adams, and we got to see that a bit, but later Ramsey went on Adams, but Adams was just better, he was just better.  The fact that the Packers had so many underrated stars was so interesting to me, because the Rams would counter it with their unsung heroes. Darius Williams and David Long Jr. tried as hard as they could to stop Alan Lazard and Marquez Valdez-Scantling, but Rodgers would audible to a run and then their three-headed monster of Aaron Jones, Jamaal Williams and AJ Dillon would find a crease, and it boils down to this: the Packers were playing chess way better than the Rams were.

My pick: Rodgers wins MVP along with the NFC title game.

Ravens vs. Bills: I love the Bills, I love Bills mafia, I know that sadly their team has been bottom dwellers for the better part of the last quarter-century, they’re a good team now, but their win? That was cheap. The Ravens were handicapped for some of the game, and they were without last year’s MVP, Lamar Jackson. After that, Tyler Huntley had to step in, and he’s not Lamar at all, and after that Josh Allen look the Ravens' chances and threw them into the fire, and heated himself, as it was a very cold day in Orchard Park. Josh Allen had a game without mistakes, 206 yards and a touchdown is amazing, considering the Ravens' above-average defense. The Bills Wild Card is the run game: Devin Singletary had as good a year as you could muster, considering they have such a good offense, in this game? Even worse, only 25 yards out of Singletary and 4 other yards, not even out of Zack Moss, but out of TJ Yeldon. Allen tried to spread the ball around to his many underrated weapons and did so successfully. No one on the team’s receivers got less than 2 receptions. The Ravens pride and joy, the run game, thrived, 84 yards between the two lead backs.

My thoughts: The offense didn’t produce, but rather it sputtered.

Browns vs. Chiefs: The refs were on the Chiefs side the whole time, they missed calls but the Browns still fought hard. When Patrick Mahomes came out of the game with a concussion, Chad Henne came in. The veteran backup gave the Browns way too many chances to come back, but guess what, the surprisingly hidden talent has the confidence of a bull. The Browns could never get the run game going, and the passing game will never get going with Baker Mayfield under center. Without Odell Beckham Jr. the Browns spread the ball around, so, everything was against the Browns, not a surprise they didn’t win.

Bucs vs. Saints: Tom Brady didn’t throw an interception, no surprise there, but he also didn’t even get 200 yards. 199 to be exact. This does not bear well for the Bucs in the championship round, because this is going to be an offensive game against the Pack. The run game went as well as it could have, about 60 yards each among Ronald Jones and Leonard Fourtnette. A rushing touchdown too, but not between one of them, another running back maybe, no, Tom Brady got a touchdown. Drew Brees played most likely his last game in the NFL. He didn’t even squeeze out 150 yards and got 3 interceptions. It took a while to get Alvin Kamara going, 85 yards on 18 carries, not very Kamara-ish. Tre’Quan Smith caught three passes, two of them for touchdowns and both of them from different QBs. Wild. Hopefully, Brees doesn’t retire, because Jameis Winston can’t lead a team.

Predictions for the Championship Round:

Bills vs. Chiefs: The Chiefs and the Bills both have two of the best arms, and quarterbacks for that matter, in the NFL. These teams are identical in a way. They both have sputtering run games, they both have a great WR1 in Tyreek Hill and Stefon Diggs. The secondary targets for both teams are very different, Travis Kelce, the best tight end in the league, and John Brown or Cole Beasley for the Bills, so they make up the lost ground. The defenses are both perfectly average, although they both have one superstar, Tre White, and Tyrann Mathieu. Two star defensive tackles: Ed Oliver and Chris Jones. Except the Bills defense is better because of the safeties. Cover Two is the answer for the Bills, because with Micah Hyde and Jordan Poyer both locking down half of the field each, you can’t really get anything started. Both QBs are wild and unpredictable, they both know how to scramble, but only one knows how to fight for yards. Josh Allen’s hulking frame, at about 6’5” always trucks over a cornerback and gets those two extra yards. Patrick Mahomes never does that, he’s 6’3” and he’s still shaky from a concussion he suffered in the win against the Browns. The Bills are playing at a huge advantage; the best QB in the NFL is shaky from a concussion? Yes, please. But just watch the Chiefs offense step up, they have too many weapons not to do that. Both teams have to lean on the run game, as a crutch because I don’t know what the coaches are planning on both sides but I do know how much they’re planning. The Bills are expecting everything. Like a boxer, the Bills have to attack the weaknesses. And the Chiefs? Well, they have two options, like back in their lounge chair because after all, they are the Chiefs, or, if they aren’t too sure about Mahomes’ status, so they will play their hearts out and create opportunities that they didn’t create in the regular season. Listen to what I just wrote, they went 14-2 in the regular season, and now they’re creating more opportunities to catch the Bills off guard? Yikes. My pick: Chiefs, contrary to popular belief.

Player to Watch: Patrick Mahomes, the leader of this offense has got a lot to prove, can he take his team to the Super Bowl again? Can he win when he’s playing with the aftermath of a concussion? And can he scramble and create opportunities for himself? Tre White needs to stick to Tyreek Hill like glue in man coverage. When in zone, if it’s a cover 2, 3, 4, or 6, White needs to be in a deep zone, with the Chiefs offense being so deep shot oriented, White needs to play deep to stop anything going to his assigned zone. Can Mahomes work around that? Another question.

My point: Mahomes needs to perform, it doesn’t matter. Everyone is against him, but he needs to perform.

Packers vs. Bucs: Two veterans, Aaron Rodgers and Tom Brady, are squaring off here, both wearing number 12 and both are going to wear jackets in Canton, Ohio, after they retire. While the guys at the Pro Football Hall of Fame are speculating as to what the measurements are for the QBs, they have a game to play and prepare for. Aaron Rodgers is having an MVP season and he’ll win the trophy after this year for sure. Brady has more weapons, but Rodgers only needs one, the rest are the stage crew. When you hand the ball off to Aaron Jones, he’s going to get you 4 or 5 yards every time, he’s going to break off the occasional 30-yard run, so, he is one of the most reliable backs in the NFL, that’s what makes the Packers so good. Of course, if a team relies so heavily on the passing game, the defense is going to play passing defense, if you mix in an Aaron Jones, then the defense has to guess, and that’s never good with Aaron Rodgers on the other side of the line of scrimmage. For the Bucs, they need to pass heavily, overwhelm the Packers with their weapons, keep them guessing. Run shotgun, with a running back next to the QB, and then mix in a lot of things in that formation, and then give them something they never saw before. Keep the Packers on their toes, and stay one step ahead – with an average and young Packers secondary, that’s not so hard for Tom Brady.

My pick: Packers move on.

Player to Watch: The Whole Bucs secondary.

Weird that I’m saying the Bucs secondary, right? Well, no. Let me explain. With how Aaron Rodgers torched the Rams secondary last week, this week, the Bucs need to account for everyone, and they don’t have a really good corner, like the Rams had Jalen Ramsey, and look how Adams popped off. I suggested that teams double team good receivers before, and that was when they had good cornerbacks, but now, that’s not a suggestion anymore.

That’s an order, unless you want to be the scapegoat/laughing stock of social media for the next three months.

Divisional Weekend is upon Us

We have a few games that will be interesting, and for some really unknown reason, from the analysts that I watched on ESPN, NFL Network, Fox and so on and so forth, they have made some crazy projections. Views are down that much, huh?

Packers vs. Rams: Ask me to tell you about this game in the middle of the season, and I’ll tell you the answer in a heartbeat. It’s easy, the Green Bay Packers. But now, after the Rams upset the Seahawks, I’m not too sure.  Teacher vs. Student in this one: a confusing phrase in this case, but, Jared Goff idolized Rodgers as a kid. He even went to the same college as him, the University of California. He shined in college but burned out really quickly in the NFL, Aaron Rodgers is the flip side of the same collegiate coin. He wasn’t too snazzy in college, but he also wasn’t a bum, he was somewhere in the middle, never breaking 3000 yards and being a redzone scrambler, to the best of my understanding, posting 393 yards and 8 touchdowns in his two years at Cal, but he shined in the NFL, sneaking into the GOAT conversation in my opinion. The Rams defense, which is the best in the NFL, vs. the number three offense in the NFL, again, in my opinion, and the Packers defense, which is not amazing, against the sub-par Rams offense. This is going to be a good game in my opinion, but don’t count the Rams out, just the Packers offense is so fine-tuned that even the best, in this case, will not stop them. Player to Watch: Sorry, I’m going to do a matchup this one. One of the most highly-anticipated matchups this season: Davante Adams vs. Jalen Ramsey. A lockdown corner versus a guy that makes your head spin for days after guarding him, Adams. I think that Ramsey will win this one, leaving Rodgers to play without his right hand, theoretically. Ramsey is so much more physical and he can keep up with anyone, plus trash talk? It makes me shiver to imagine him up against me.

Ravens vs. Bills: Game of the weekend for me. The top of the 2018 Draft Class will face off here, Lamar Jackson, reigning MVP and sprouting young gunslinger, Josh Allen. Sports Illustrated made one of the best articles of 2020 in one of their issues, talking about the “Josh Allen Experience.” In a word, the Josh Allen Experience is the way Josh Allen plays, the rowdy, 6’5” behemoth with more speed and throw power than Patrick Mahomes and more behind the line of scrimmage athleticism and football IQ than Lamar Jackson. The only sad thing about him is his accuracy, but of course, that could be fixed with more experience in the NFL. Lamar Jackson and the Ravens offense played average last week, their defense was the saving grace, containing the freak of nature in the Titans backfield, Derrick Henry, and confusing Ryan Tannehill got the job done and created the win for the Ravens. Containing a great football mind in Sean McDermott and a great player in Josh Allen is going to be slightly harder than stopping Henry. The Ravens defense has to put pressure on Allen, make him crack, come up with a lot of different concepts to confuse the young kid. Make them run the ball, and force them out of their comfort zone. But most importantly, while you’re playing chess against the Bills, your offense must set the tone. Put the game into the capable hands of the reigning MVP, Lamar Jackson. My pick: Bills move on. Player to Watch: Lamar Jackson. He got an A on his first test, now let’s up the ante a little, we have the multi-dimensional Bills. By multi-dimensional I mean that they have a well-rounded offense and a really, really solid defense, match that with a good coach. And this test is an Algebra 1 test, I just took a test on exponents, and not 5^2 or 3^3, I struggled through (15x-6y^3/3x^9+2y^0) – 12x^7+7y^2. So, that, mixed with Algebra 2 and Calculus, is what Jackson has to trudge through. He’s capable - I believe in him.

Browns vs. Chiefs: Insurance Super Bowl. No, the game is not being played in Hartford, Connecticut. The game is being headed by the two captains of the offense, the QBs, Baker Mayfield and Patrick Mahomes. If you watch TV, you might see Mayfield starring in a Progressive commercial and you’ll see Patrick Mahomes and Aaron Rodgers starring in a State Farm commercial. More than three years ago, Patrick Mahomes and Baker Mayfield took each other on, both of them were still in college, but, boy, was that a good game. 54 points in just the first half, and both Baker Mayfield and Patrick Mahomes were trading shots, you get a 30+ yard pass, you get a 30+ yard pass, you get a 30+ yard bomb. Mayfield and Mahomes both had their favorite targets, Dede Westbrook and Mark Andrews for Oklahoma and mainly Keke Coutee for Mahomes, but Mahomes threw to 9 different receivers, again, just in the first half. Mahomes has the better team heading into this weekend, but again, don’t count Mayfield out, the Chiefs are an offensive-minded team, their defense is lacking, just watch Mayfield produce as much as he did in college. But, I think the Chiefs will come out of the trenches with this one, because they went 14-1 and because Mahomes is unstoppable. But, remember how Juju Smith-Schuster or “Tik Tok Boy,” said the “Browns in the Browns” and he lollygagged the whole game, yeah, look at the score of that game :) Player to Watch: The Browns offense. When OBJ went down, their offense took a hit. Who knows what could’ve happened if Baker went to the Chiefs. He’s a very capable QB, he could be just as good as Mahomes is now. So, if the Browns offense, especially their WRs and TEs, can get open and create space, Baker will find them. Watch their offense, and hope that they get open, because if they do, that’s a competitive game. 

Buccaneers vs. Saints: Want to see two old guys playing chess against each other and occasionally throwing balls? Head over to Central Park. Just kidding, this one’s going to be at the Mercedes Benz Superdome in New Orleans and the two old guys are Drew Brees and Tom Brady. Both are playing with teams that you would draft when you played fantasy football with your buddies. Their offenses are overpowering, their defenses are overpowering. You can’t stop these teams, just watch what’s going to happen on Sunday. Who has the edge at QB? For the sake of argument, let’s say tie. RB? Saints, Alvin Kamara plays the game like he’s not trying, and he’s the whole Saints offense. WR? Bucs, Mike Evans, Chris Godwin, and Antonio Brown are no match for a guy who the Saints pay $100 million to catch slant passes and be injured for the whole year (Michael Thomas). TE? Bucs, they do have the GOAT TE, Rob Gronkowski, and that gives you a bit of an advantage. Front 7? Saints, Cam Jordan, Marcus Davenport, David Onyemata, Kwon Alexander, and Demario Davis as the leaders of the Front 7 will clamp down any run, unfortunately, the Bucs don’t have much of a run game. Secondary? Saints again, I made this statement based on the safeties, Marcus Williams, Malcolm Jenkins, and CJ Gardner-Johnson are really good, while the Bucs have Antoine Winfield Jr. and Jordan Whitehead, I didn’t say them because they haven’t developed yet and we don’t know their full potential. The Bucs have Carlton Davis, Sean Murphy-Bunting and Jamal Dean at CB, the Saints have Marshon Lattimore and Janoris Jenkins, take Gardner-Johnson and put him at CB and you have a better secondary than before. The Wild Card? Saints, TAYSOM HILL will confuse you, because there’s nothing like him in the NFL, he kind of reminds me of my father in chess, his goal? Confuse me. The Bucs’ Wild Card is Leonard Fourtnette and Ronald Jones II, if they can get them going, the Bucs and Tom Brady could lean on the run game when the pass isn’t working, but I doubt it. Taysom Hill is a Swiss army knife, put him at TE, RB, QB, WR, and he’ll perform at his best, tell me how to stop that. I say Saints get this one, Brady sadly doesn’t get a chance at a 7th ring. Player to Watch: Saints defense. To make this game competitive, they need to step up, when the Bucs are playing with a Madden team, it’s impossible to stop them. Maybe, maybe not, I haven’t learned physics yet. But, if a weak and took a very aggressive grizzly bear’s food, then the bear’s going to stomp the ant. If the ant had a United States Navy warship’s defense system, then the grizzly bear would be stomped. So, the Saints defense needs to play a lot, a lot, a lot better than normal to stop the grizzly bear. I’m not too sure about the result, but when the Tampa Bay Bucs vs. the New Orleans Saints rolls around, sit down and laissez le bon temps rouler.

Football Playoff Projections 2021; RIP Tommy Lasorda

 

Yulian with the legendary Tommy Lasorda

Because I’m afraid some playoff games might be played before I get my blog out there, so here are my playoff predictions:

Titans vs. Ravens: I’m going Titans. The Ravens really turned around their play late in the year, right at the perfect time, but the Titans are coming in just as hot. The Ravens have all the right pieces, just not as much offense as the Titans. I predict this is going to be a shootout, or an offensively sputtering game (the Titans defense is good, it’s just not good enough for Ryan Tannehill, Derrick Henry, and AJ Brown, with a great supporting cast). Henry is the RedZone choice, the first down choice, the second down choice, the third-down choice, the fourth and short choice, he is the choice. He is a rushing machine, and the Ravens run stopping attack is just not it. But, really bad run stopping attacks could be turned into good ones, because the front 7 could come down for the run, but that leaves 4 guys in pass coverage, and with AJ Brown and Jonnu Smith going underneath and Corey Davis going deep (or vice versa), that’s 5-6 yard game every time. Player to Watch: Lamar Jackson. L. I. T. E. R. A. L. L. Y. the key to this game, because if it’s going to be a shootout, the Ravens need to bust out the playbook, and who’s the best player to center around? Action Jackson.

Browns vs. Steelers: This is quite obvious to everyone, I’m going Steelers. The Steelers are by far the worst 11-0 team in history, just because their schedule was a cakewalk, and they were exposed as pretenders late in the season. The Browns put up a great brawl against the Ravens a few weeks ago, but I think the Steelers will pull out because their defense is far, far, far above average and the Browns offense is just not doing the job. Player to Watch: Diontae Johnson and Eric Ebron. The unsung heroes for the Steelers are supposed to shine today; Johnson is the most underrated player on this team, and Ebron because he’s going to act as a safety net for Big Ben.

Colts vs. Bills: This could not be an easier choice for me; Bills are coming out on top. The 7 seed Colts will not pull out because they don’t have a true playmaker at WR1, without that, you can’t win a game. Tre’Davious White could play safety just because White could easily lock up one side of the field and read Philip Rivers like a book, he wouldn’t play CB because of the lack of a WR1. The Bills have Josh Allen, Stefon Diggs and Cole Beasley. Devin Singletary and Zack Moss are a mediocre two-headed monster at RB. Everything points towards the Bills and nothing to the Colts. Player(s) to watch: J. Taylor and Josh Allen. Taylor is amazing, he fights for yards, he’s built like a linebacker and he’s fast. The Colts should switch up the playcalling to get Taylor involved but to not draw attention to him. Send him in the flats but don’t throw to him every time. Allen because he finally got that WR1 and Bills fans want to see the Bills dominate, and Allen is the catalyst for this game to go Buffalo’s side.

Bucs vs. Football Team: The Bucs, they have the GOAT at QB, two superstar wide receivers, a good running back and the greatest TE to ever play the game. They are playing with a dream team, they are playing with a fantasy team, but I’m going to make a completely unnecessary comment about the Bucs being only the 5 seed. Tom Brady is washed. Oh, wait, hold on, my legal team is telling me that any harm done to Bucs fans after reading this comment is not my fault and I can’t be held accountable. Football Team? Next year guys, next year. You have a nice young core but your—I can’t quite put my finger on it,  your everything needs to be changed, along with your nothing, I’m sorry, I couldn’t really make up anything to say there. Player to Watch: (Scary) Terry McLaurin. If Football Team wants to make this game close and to put pressure on the Bucs, Alex Smith has to give the ball to McLaurin and to McLaurin only. Throw to him 80% of the time. Carlton Davis III couldn’t keep up with Tyreek Hill, and Terry is a slower runner than Tyreek but he makes quicker cuts. If Washington would have a playmaker at QB, Terry would have 1500 yards instead of just over 1100 this season.

Seahawks vs. Rams: The Seahawks are going to win this one. The Rams have been a middle of the road team ever since their Super Bowl loss in 2018 and that is the worst thing you could be in my opinion (you didn’t make the playoffs and you don’t get a good draft pick). Russell Wilson will try to get an MVP vote this year, but this year ain’t it again, Chief. The Rams don’t have an offense, if they do, it’s sputtering. The Seahawks are moving on, only because of DK Metcalf and Tyler Lockett. Player(s) to Watch: The Rams defense. The Rams want to make this game competitive, right? The only way to do this is for the defense to lock up. The Seahawks have a high-powered offense ran through their receivers. Russell Wilson is still a great QB, but if he didn’t have these two studs at receiver, he would be barely anything. But, we can’t change facts, they have the receivers, so, we need to bring pressure. If we flush him out of the pocket, he’ll be forced to make a quick decision, which is tough for anyone. Then we drop into coverage while the linemen swarm him. Sean McVay has to come up a lot more, but, it’s just a concept.

Saints vs. Bears: THERE IS LITERALLY NO CHANCE FOR THE POOR BEARS. Zero, they sadly have Nick Foles under center, I would have Mitchell Trubisky, he’s younger and he can sling it, but it’s mostly 10 yards in any direction around his receiver. Just because he’s younger, I would start him to get some momentum going into next season. The Saints have the best all-around offense in the league, on paper at least. The Saints have Alvin Kamara, Michael Thomas, Jared Cook, and the conductor Drew Brees. No defense on my part needed, I just know and you guys just know. Player to Watch: For your fun, Alvin Kamara, he’s the most fun player to watch in the NFL, his balance makes him look like he’s not trying, he just runs and breaks tackles.

Chiefs and Titans: No one, no one, no one will touch me when this game comes on, I will go into a figurative hibernation, and I will sit and watch two great offenses go at it. The offense is better for the Chiefs, but the defense is better for the Titans. The Chiefs will go into the AFC Championship because a deep post to Tyreek Hill will sauce anyone, Mahomes will connect with him 60 yards past the line of scrimmage, and he will backflip into the endzone. But, if you scald your finger in hot water, you won’t do it again, right? So, I believe that they will double cover Tyreek, one overtop, one underneath (in man), and run a Cover 1 concept, it will neutralize the Chiefs pretty easily. A linebacker on Kelce, staying one step ahead, a QB Spy on Mahomes, then, the Chiefs are pretty much blanketed. It’s obviously not that simple, it’s just a possible concept that could work (money makes the world go round; defense makes the football world go round). Player to Watch: Derrick Henry. This is a shootout, and more than 75% of the Titans defense is only Derrick Henry. In the playoffs, they’re going to lean on Henry even more than ever before, they’re up against the best offense in the league and they need to keep up. The Chiefs will win this one just because of their offense and I trust in Andy Reid to make the right defensive schemes and plays.

Bills and Steelers: The Bills get this one. A great offense (The Bills) versus a great defense (Steelers) and an above average offense (Steelers) versus an above average defense (Bills). It should be great, but the Bills have so many concepts and such a deep playbook that it makes them unstoppable. Big Ben won’t be able to do much, because his receivers are young and don’t get much separation, put Tre White clamping Juju Smith-Schuster and there’s nothing Ben can do. What I just said is true, but actually no, but actually yes. I did a bit of digging, and I saw that Diontae Johnson gets the most targets on the team, and that stat was not obvious, Johnson, a second year receiver gets more targets than the “superstar” on the Steelers, Juju? So, Johnson might have a bigger impact on this game than we imagine. Player to watch: Chase Claypool. I know this contradicts literally everything I said in the piece above but, listen, Claypool is faster than a linebacker and bigger than CBs, it just makes sense, right? And, to account for Smith-Schuster and Johnson, Claypool is going to get a dream matchup, but, Ben isn’t going to throw to him because he’s intent on keeping his spot on the Steelers, and not as a backup, so, his two sweet spots are getting the ball, but my plan would be to spread the ball, create more opportunities.

Packers vs. Bucs: Packers are winning this one. Wow, I am imagining this to be such a good game. Momentum plays a big part in anything, especially playoff football. For the whole season, the Bucs have been inching forward, trying to win any games, but the Bucs just haven’t been good, and the defense hasn’t been playing well. The young stars need to step up, Antoine Winfield Jr. and Jordan Whitehead need to lock up Adams. Put one guy on Marquez Valdez-Scantling and a linebacker on Robert Tonyan and then Whitehead, Winfield and Carlton Davis, covering Adams, two at a time, they will switch out. The Packers have to stop Mike Evans, Chris Godwin and Rob Gronkowski. That is a tough ask for any team. My answer: man coverage. That way everyone is accounted for, one person in a mid-read (that’s a zone in the middle of the field that sees who’s man coverage is slipping and drifts over to help). Brady can’t scramble that well, so we can take that away, but the sleepers, Scotty Miller and Antonio Brown are short and have small builds, but they get open. The Packers might expect a lot of 5 wide concepts, just to make it that much harder to cover everyone. The Bucs might expect shotgun concepts (QB 5 or so yards behind center) with Aaron Jones on the left or right, going out on a route. I think that the Packers will win this one, Aaron Rodgers is still far from being washed and he is arguably the greatest QB mind to ever step onto a gridiron. Player to Watch: Aaron Jones. While the Bucs and Bruce Arians are scrambling, trying to figure out how to checkmate Aaron Rodgers, Rodgers will use his wild card (or horse, because we’re sticking with the chess theme), Aaron Jones, he will go out of the backfield or just on a designed run.

Saints vs. Seahawks: Two aging QBs going at it, like in the game above. I think that the X factor in this game is the offenses. Two QBs playing chess against each other, the defenses are like flies hovering around a bull, it just brushes the pesky flies away. The Seahawks have two WRs that Wilson throws to, DK Metcalf and Tyler Lockett. The Saints have a true number one, Michael Thomas, though he might not be in the game, because he’s always injured, but they have a receiver that’s not really targeted, but he’s there for Brees, Emmanuel Sanders. The Saints have the edge at RB and at TE. Alvin Kamara is unstoppable game in and game out. Jared Cook is fast, he’s big and he can catch, that’s all you want out of a TE. The Seahawks don’t have a definite TE; it’s more of a “by committee” situation. On the defensive end, the Saints have the edge on paper, but with their lackluster play so far this season, the secondary needs to step up as well as Cameron Jordan. The elite pass rusher had only 7.5 sacks this season, down from 15.5 last year, a crazy dip in his performance. The defense posted an above average season, but name one player better than Marshon Lattimore (other than Cam Jordan). No one, exactly. He is the leader of the secondary, and he’s had a sub-par season (for a CB of his caliber) and he has to step it up, especially switching between DK Metcalf and Tyler Lockett throughout the game. Player to Watch: Tyler Lockett. For a casual football fan, Tyler Lockett is shadowed by DK Metcalf, for obvious reasons, like ESPN talking about him non-stop, social media, and so on and so forth, but watch Tyler Lockett, watch his route running, watch him dissect his matchup. Against the Saints, he might be clamped, because of the underrated corners, but usually, the Seahawks will isolate Lockett on one side or in the slot and then run a route towards the back of the endzone (if in RedZone) or towards the sideline. DK Metcalf will always be the older sibling, getting all the attention and always getting the ball, but the Seahawks should look at the safety net, Lockett.

Legendary Tommy Lasorda died a few days ago and he will be remembered throughout baseball forever. I know everyone says that for every good baseball player or coach, but 70 years of his life dedicated to baseball? That’s perseverance and dedication. Not many people get to meet the Hall of Famer, but, I did. Thanks to Gary Green, the person who oversees business operations at Baseball America, I had a chance to meet him at a Mets game in September 2019. The game was down to the wire, literally, in the bottom of the eight, journeyman Rajai Davis knocked in not one, not two, but three Metsies with a double into the left field corner. During that game, Mr. Green introduced me to the two-time Manager of the Year and he taught me one lesson that’s ringing in my ears ever since the tragic news broke. He taught me how to shake a hand, firmly and to look in your peer’s eyes. My father taught me this, my mother taught me this, and many other people will teach me this but I am one of the handful of people IN. THE. WORLD that can say that I met Tommy Lasorda, and the pinkie-full of people that can say I was taught, by Tommy Lasorda, how to shake a hand. Tommy, you’ll always be in our thoughts and may you rest in peace. 

Fantasy Football and the Jets

I will write about the NBA later when the season advances and I could actually make some predictions and analyses. By the way, when my admissions exams to high school are over, I will write two blogs per week, so stay tuned, buckle in, get ready, light the fireworks because this little drummer boy is going to start going into battle. I’m going to stop blabbering now and get down to football.

Fantasy Football: In my best league, I finished the season horribly, dropping two straight, yikes, I know. After finishing 9-4, my starting lineup heading into the easy(ish) divisional round looked something like this: Aaron Rodgers (MVP-MVP-MV-whaaaat did I say?), Josh Jacobs (this was a test for next year), Cam Akers (this would be Christian McCaffrey’s spot, but he played three games all year), Terry Mclaurin (picking him up 100% next year), Davante Adams (Best WR in football), Travis Kelce, Allen Robinson, Miami’s defense, and Jason Sanders. I put up 20 points more than my opponent, who had a bad roster (which, mind you, was not burdened with injury) and his players just didn’t perform (unfortunate timing, I know, but really, who cares? I got to the Finals!).

In the Finals, I was matched up against a guy who’s 11-2, and had Aaron Jones, Derrick Henry and Dalvin Cook on his roster. All three from trades (this guy was playing chess, not checkers), oh, you thought I was done, oh no, he had Lamar Jackson, Stefon Diggs and Deandre Hopkins. How could I not forget about Ronald Jones, TJ Hockenson, Baltimore’s defense, and Younghoe Koo. Vegas would’ve called it: David vs. Goliath (multiplied by Socrates, Plato, and my mother because of his uncanny trading ability).

In the finals, I had the unfortunate experience of bearing through a game without my anchor, Travis Kelce, but lucky for me, Dalvin Cook was out, so there was a light at the end of the playoff tunnel. I took advantage of Cook’s absence as I took Alexander Mattison, the backup running back who lives in the shadow (he put up 29.5 points). During the day, where I didn’t have Travis Kelce, my team stood up to the schoolyard bully and bloodied his mouth, and gave him a black eye. I put up 151.2 points in that week and for the two-week playoff series: a whopping 322.64 points, to belittle the puny 283.12 points.

In my other uneventful leagues, I went to the Finals in one (as the four seed) and lost to the three seed. In the other leagues, I didn’t make the playoffs as I couldn’t communicate with my other opponents, because it was a random league.

The Jets finished the season horribly; the Jets just shoot themselves in the foot every year, last year, we had a shot at Joe Burrow, or Justin Jefferson, but we took an O-Lineman :/ We started the first 8 games of the season 1-7, we finished the season 7-9, and we can’t make this stuff up. With a chance at a generational talent on display in college, Trevor Lawrence, Adam Gase decided to turn this team around, that’s like walking into a dark room (the season almost over), blind, having your feet tied (having literally no talent on the team), and knowing that Chucky, Annabelle, and IT (that being the Jets fan base) are in there having a tea party. Now, with the second overall pick, I’m going to out on a limb and say… QB!!!

Most mock drafts say Justin Fields go number two, some more say Justin Fields, one or two say Penei Sewell and someone said Ja’Marr Chase (I really don’t know what that person’s thinking). Now, my mock draft is very unprecedented. I say the Jets take Kyle Pitts, TE out of Florida. Now, my reasoning is… hahaha you thought that Kyle Pitts is going number two (I wouldn’t put it past Joe Douglas, though). I say Justin Fields from Ohio State. Now, Zach Wilson is a great player, he just got hot at the wrong time, and there isn’t much hype around him. Now, the hype part doesn’t matter, but, he might actually be a flash in the pan. Or be just good in college. Justin Fields was shadowed by the potential number one pick, Trevor Lawrence, the whole college season. Justin Fields had just begun to blossom a little later in the season, for the non-college fanatics, like me, to get to know. He’s a bigger guy, he can scramble, he has more throw power, he could take hits and for me at least, he’s tougher. I would take Trevor Lawrence in a heartbeat, just because he doesn’t need to be tamed as much (while Justin Fields is like a young colt) and because he’s more of a field general.

My full mock draft and awards will come in my next piece, which is Sunday because by then I’ll get rid of the high school test burden.