Tuesday (and sometimes Wednesday) is our time to reflect on the events of the past weekend of NFL action. Here’s a few of the things we’re thinking about heading into the final six games of the season.
Johnny Manziel’s career is likely over in Cleveland
Who could have predicted something so predictable. In news just as shocking as Charlie Sheen’s recent health report, Cleveland Browns quarterback Johnny Manziel has been demoted from the team’s starting quarterback position after photos and videos showing him in full Johnny Football party mode surfaced on social media last weekend in Texas during the team’s bye week.
That, as they say, is that.
Personally, I had jumped on the Johnny Manziel bandwagon last season the minute he decided voluntarily to go into rehab. The idea that Manziel had made that call of his own accord, for the first time, made me root for the kid. Reports of a drunken fight last month with his girlfriend changed that.
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Now, Manziel has been relegated to third on the Browns’ depth chart and won’t see the field again this season barring a catastrophe. So Josh McCown gets his job back and Austin Davis, who played in or started 10 games for the St. Louis Rams last season, is probably legitimately the best QB on the team. Davis threw for 2,001 yards, 12 touchdowns and nine interceptions.
At 2-8, the Browns are in a pitched battle for the No. 1 pick, but even if they somehow end up as just the second or third worst team in the NFL, it’s likely that they’ll still pick a quarterback, again, in the first round of the 2016 NFL Draft.
The Chip Kelly and Philadelphia Eagles divorce is all but certain
Congratulations USC. Between the horrible NFL performances this season of Philadelphia Eagles head coach Chip Kelly and Rams coach Jeff Fisher, you may have your pick of high-priced, low NFL value coaches this offseason. And, hey, it worked out pretty well last time with Pete Carroll.
According to Adam Schefter at ESPN, Kelly’s time in Philadelphia is most likely drawing to a close come the end of the season when the Eagles miss the playoffs.
“The momentum seems to be piling up against a Chip return to Philadelphia,” Schefter said on NFL Radio Tuesday. “I think both sides are sick of each other.”
Of course, none of that would have been a problem if Kelly hadn’t shipped half the team out of town since he arrived two seasons ago. Kelly still has two years left on his contract and no years left on the success of his gimmick offense in the NFL. That ended last season and quarterback and running back changes didn’t help.
NFL officiating is terrible, but some rule changes could help
Monday night in Gillette Stadium was just the latest in a seasons-long example of the problems not only with NFL officiating, but with the game’s current rules and replay structure.
In Monday night’s game, a 20-13 New England Patriots win over the Buffalo Bills, the refs suffered from an inadvertent whistle that negated a huge play from wide receiver Danny Amendola. And, of course, there was the two seconds the refs ran off to end the game after Bills wideout Sammy Watkins scooted out of bounds.
There are multiple, horrible examples of questionable, if not outright stupid calls all season and that’s not even counting the calls they missed. There’s an easy solution for this and it’s one I detailed in the offseason; make every play reviewable via instant replay.
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So many times we’re told that a certain play “is non-reviewable” like that just solves the problem. But it doesn’t. In an ideal world, the NFL, the teams and the fans want the referees involved in the game as little as possible. Mistakes are flat-out bad for the game.
The solution is simple; Give each coach three challenges at the beginning of the game. Make every call reviewable and if the coach wins the challenge, not only does he keep his team’s time out, he keeps his challenge flag.
