It’s Tuesday and that’s always a good time to reflect on the passing week of NFL action and news over the weekend. Let’s take a look at what we’ve learned from Week Seven.
Josh Brown should be Ray Rice Part 2, but he isn’t
Make no mistake, if New York Giants kicker Josh Brown played any other starting position outside of special teams, his addition to the Commissioner’s Exempt list and subsequent cutting today by the New York Giants would have been a much bigger deal.
Instead, no one will care much which is just par for the course, because no one, not the NFL and not the Giants, gave a shit about what Brown did to his wife before. If this does come up, and it will for a day or two, the NFL will act like the revelations last week that Brown was a systematic spousal abuser was the reason these actions were taken. They’ll say they had no idea how bad Brown was.
BREAKING: Giants release K Josh Brown. pic.twitter.com/v0MPq7gENz
— NFL Network (@nflnetwork) October 25, 2016
Here’s what’s really messed up about that. They won’t be lying.
Any half-assed Google search after Brown’s suspension would have told you how big a piece of shit Brown was. But the NFL and the Giants could not be bothered. They slapped a one-game suspension on him based on the fact that he’d been arrested, but not charged, with grabbing his wife by the wrist back in May.
Back then, Brown had the audacity to release this statement for his one-game suspension.
“While I do not agree with the suspension, I will accept it,” Brown said back in August. “I have exhausted the appeals process and have no other options along those lines. I will continue to work hard for this team, and I have tremendous confidence in my teammates and in my ability to move on and contribute to the team.”
Josh Brown released. Zero credit to everyone involved
— Jim Rome (@jimrome) October 25, 2016
It takes a special kind of scumbag to react that way to a one-game suspension when he should not only be kicked out of the league, but probably be in prison.
Brown had just signed a two-year, $4 million deal with the Giants. He’s a good kicker, but no kicker is worth any kind of real-world trouble. The NFL was “aware” that Brown’s wife, Molly, had accused him of past abuse. They just couldn’t find any “evidence” of it.
What evidence did they have? How about when Molly Brown had to call security to save her and her kids from her husband at last year’s Pro Bowl and the NFL had to give her another hotel room, separate from Josh. How’s that for evidence?
Former #Giants kicker Josh Brown has released a statement, via the team. It is different from the one released to ESPN: pic.twitter.com/bfwl2azx1t
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) October 25, 2016
Simply put, the NFL and the Giants, really, didn’t give a damn what Brown had actually done. They just didn’t care. Some news came out about an arrest and they tossed a one-game suspension at him. More was revealed last week, and now he’s out of the NFL. There was no legitimate NFL investigation. Otherwise, you know, that whole paying for an extra hotel room to keep Molly Brown alive thing back in January would have come up.
The end is nigh for Jeff Fisher, thank God
A nightmare bit of news circulated through the NFL back in September. Supposedly the Los Angeles Rams and head coach Jeff Fisher had reached an agreement on a three-year extension. They were just waiting for the right time to announce it. That time, obviously, never came.
If there was an extension deal out there, it was obviously conditional on the Rams winning this year. That probably would explain a lot of Fisher’s comments and choices in regard to Jared Goff and Case Keenum over the last three weeks, all losses. Keenum has personally served up game-losing interceptions in all three games and couple that with his abysmal performance in Week One against the San Francisco 49ers, one of the worst defenses (and teams) in the NFL, shows Keenum is pretty much a problem. He’s not the only problem. God forbid anyone makes that claim, but no one can justify leaving Jared Goff on the bench in the wake of such shitty quarterback play.
But Fisher can. And now we know why. According to NBCLA’s Fred Roggin, Fisher is officially on the “hot seat.”
"From what I am hearing, Jeff Fisher's fate will be sealed after the next four games." – @FredNBCLA on The @EricDickerson show just now
— Jason Stewart (@JasonStewart) October 24, 2016
Just to see that makes me tear up a little. The Rams currently sit at 3-4 and have a bye this week before hosting the Carolina Panthers on Nov. 6, a guaranteed loss. That means Fisher’s fate, and that of his 7-and-9 bullshit decree, could be sealed by the New Orleans Saints in a road loss on Nov. 27 just in time to give the entire state of California something to be thankful for on Thanksgiving. The New York Jets and Miami Dolphins show up in between those sure losses and if you think the Rams could or would be favored to win either of those games, then thanks for reading the column today, Jeff Fisher. You suck.
