If you’ve ever stumbled across one of my posts before, you know what I’ll be writing about today. The only topic on everyone’s mind – is Kylie Jenner pregnant? I kid. Since DJ Eberle punted, it falls to me to talk about the NFL protests.
https://youtu.be/Xt5d9FoSXIA
The President Stamps Out Controversy
A quick recap if you missed it, President Dump called Colin Kaepernick a “son of a bitch” and said anyone not standing for the anthem should be fired. That settles that, right? The guy who got out of Vietnam by pretending he had bone spurs in his feet has spoken.
Not quite. In response, hundreds of NFL players bent the knee, entire teams stayed in the locker room for the anthem, anthem singers took a knee while singing, a baseball player got into the act, and owners joined their teams in solidarity. If that weren’t enough, even Trump BFFs Tom Brady and Bob Kraft were critical of him. Hell, Dale Earnhardt Jr. was inspired enough to quote JFK in supporting the players.
Man, that guy sure can turn a tiny spark into it a five alarm blaze. But it’s not like he’s dealing with anything important, like nuclear Armageddon or multiple domestic natural disasters. Supporters of the Orange One are boycotting the NFL. This is funny, because conversely, people are also boycotting the NFL because Kaepernick still doesn’t have a job. Maybe the moderates are still watching. Surely ratings will decline and the Emperor will declare victory for a trend that started long before his blundering intervention, like the economy.
The Horrible “Catch” Rules
But could the league’s ratings tumble have more to do with the mediocre product? Sure, we finally had some solid football this week. But there were still several egregious plays and calls that left me annoyed.
I thought the Tuck Rule was ludicrous, but the current catch rules might be worse. You have to catch the ball, make 17 football moves, then hold it throughout the fall, the postgame press conference, and the after party.
This will sound like I’m making excuses for the Giants, who love finding new and creative ways to lose to the Eagles. But the Sterling Shepard touchdown that didn’t count was infuriating. The guy clearly caught the damn ball. Why must the NFL get in the way? He caught it cleanly then got three feet down in the end zone. Even my Dog Chief couldn’t watch the next play because he knew Orleans Darkwa was about to get stuffed on a dive play.
Other Questionable Calls
There were also some bad penalties called, as usual, including Von Miller pulling the fake out on Tyrod Taylor, offering a hand to help him up and then pulling it back. Psych, too slow bro. A little childish, sure, but a penalty? And in the surprisingly exciting Thursday night barnburner, the 49ers got hosed by a ticky tack offensive pass interference call after they recovered an onside kick and were marching for the winning score. If that’s a penalty, NFL fields would rain yellow on every play like the Dotard-in-Chief surrounded by Russian hookers. I’m also not sure there was enough video evidence to overturn the Lions game winning touchdown.
In related news, among other terrible QB performances (Sorry London. Sincerely, Joe Flacco), Jay Cutler racked up a whopping six points on the tanking Jets, averaging a putrid five yards per pass attempt. The Dolphins had to call time out with six seconds left just to score a meaningless TD to avoid the shutout. Did I mention they were playing the Jets? Well Dolphins, in case you didn’t know, there’s a QB out there who threw for 16 TDs with 4 picks in 12 games, and had a 90.7 QB rating on a team with almost no weapons. He’s been to a Super Bowl, he’s 29, and he wouldn’t have cost you $10 million like Smokin’ Jay. Now in his twelfth year, Cutler has played in two playoff games.
That’s all folks. Come back next week and I’ll breakdown my attempt to take over Aaron Judge’s soul. And come back tomorrow for Angry Ward, who traded his soul for an 8-pack of Bud nips. Follow us on Twitter at @benwhit, @MeetTheMatts, @Matt_McCarthy00, Instagram @MeetTheMatts and like our Facebook page, Meet The Matts.
