An odd week with a few positives including the play of the year which is very "predictable" coming from me. But a few negatives and the posters above are correct, the media is acting very peculiar getting their panties in a bunch over half ass stuff like the benching of Ty Taylor. Beyond the myopic racial panic fear given off by the media this story falls into the category of what difference does it make. The Bills suck either way. More on Taylor and other non white QB's in a minute.
The Mexicans were cheering the Raiders because of the California connection and or because they are an all black team? Couldn't figure it out ?
Three coaches of teams that are showing ineptitude. The Bears but especially the Redskins and the Chiefs looked clueless. Did you see the non existent tackling by a black Redskins defense? They blew a big lead late. A disgrace they looked like an all black Big 12 defense as they usher in players into the end zone. As for the Saints my biggest issue with Drew Brees is as far as I can remember he has never developed any sort of repartee with a white WR's then again there were probably none on his teams. But even with a very fast athletic TE and once budding star like Coby Fleener nothing much has ever developed which Don alluded to above despite 50 catches last season. Yesterday we got a glimpse of the hurt Fleener can put on defenses if only Brees paid attention to him. I doubt going forward Fleener will become a center piece like the great Kelce but Fleener is still under the age of 30 and still has great untapped potential that has never fully been exploited.
I want to expound just a bit on this developing ominous trend that has developed between black QB's and white WR's which was touched on in earlier posts after the Titans game and WR Decker's lack of targets and production. One minor caveat is Cam Newton who has a good connection with TE Olsen and is frequently feeding the ball to CM. But these players are not WR's and CM's patterns are nearly all RB stuff and not proper WR routes. There was also a time with Prescott and Beasley were going good but that lasted until mid way of last season and since then the duo's connection has disintegrated into dust which Al Michaels mentioned last night. You wonder if the Cowboys are letting Beasley go after the season and prepping Switzer? Then you have Thielen who had broken out last season with Bradford and now Keenum but had little success with Bridgewater in granted a much smaller sample size but still I remember the Vikings were a run first team back then and Teddy B looked lost if pressed to throw the ball so it is easy to picture Theilen falling off with Teddy B.
Of course Jordy Nelson has disappeared with Hundley. So a pattern has deepened.
So let me go back to Tyrod Taylor, who played with Chris Hogan and you can guess the results. Not good. You can plug in any non white QB for Taylor, especially running QB's like Mariota but I'll use Taylor as an example here. Imagine this guy early on. Probably the best athlete on his midget team and then high school where he dominated the game with the ball ALWAYS in his hands. Ample chances to show off his athletic ability to the college recruiters where he hits pay dirt at Virginia Tech. Along the way including college he probably rarely saw a white WR and given his background figured like so many others white boys just aren't athletic enough to play that position. So he cruises through life never having to "worry" about making a white WR a star and lands in the NFL. And he carries with him that same mentality that he is the team STUD with the ball who can run around and make splash plays. If he does throw the ball he is looking for the black players since that is so ingrained in his DNA. With these type of story back drops with so many black QB's is it any wonder that white WR's virtually disappear when playing with a black QB? This is what I think is going on. When there is a consistent trend you have to ask the question why?
One brief mention of QB Prescott. Unlike a lot of people here I don't have a huge emotional investment in who plays QB but we are seeing reasons why he was a middle to late round draft pick. Clearly outclassed by the more athletic and talented Carson Wentz, Prescott is settling in as a mediocre limited QB. There are worse out there but if I was the Cowboys I would be getting nervous. And yes Heath was missing last night and so was LB Sean Lee. Not to put a sledgehammer on it but Lee is one of those players the ENTIRE team relies on and without him the Cowboys are lost.
On a positive note both Kelce and Fleener had solid games. Cupp and Amendola were decent and DE Joey Bosa continues to create havoc in the back field. And to think people were questioning his high pick status. He has upgraded the Charger's defense to really good.
But two things stuck out the most. One is the Bengals who are saddled with an idiot coaching staff. Their QB is above average and on defense LB Vigil has played really well and athletic S Fejedelem is getting more snaps. Will he become a Sorensen/Heath and become a stellar starter or will he be more like Colin Jones and disappear back into the special teams? I hope the former. In that game as noted above Alex Erickson caught a tremendous 29 yard TD ( sizzled the D back with a move and speed) and I just don't understand why they don't employ him more often in their three WR sets? He had an important 2-42-1 stat line. Jordan Taylor another FA WR played a bit for the Broncos hauling in one 14 yard pass and returned punts.
But the play of the year was Theilen pulling away from two black DB's, one from caste haven Tennessee U, in what can only be described as a CASTE BUSTING MOMENT. These are the moments I enjoy most and the one thing that helps me stay connected in another wise bleak landscape. See below Erickson's TD.
http://www.espn.com/video/clip?id=21475409