GOAT, where art thou?

Blake Bortels, Nick Foles, Case Keenum, and Brian Hoyer. Thats not exactly a murderer's row of star quarterbacks. Thanks to the mysterious hand injury to Tom Brady (aren't all Patriots injuries mysterious by the way?), this may be the QB lineup nobody expected but everybody get to watch on Championship Sunday. The question confronting Washington DC and our country's current political climate is now applicable for the NFL's final 4 as well- how did we even get here? We all know that QBs get a little too much credit and defenses and o-lines get way less credit than they deserve. But still, you rarely see 3 out of 4 teams in the championship round led by such no-name QBs.

Granted, the Eagles are Carson Wentz's team and they probably don't make it this deep in the playoffs without him. Too bad we are deprived of enjoying his game this weekend. Though Wentz is not a Rodgers or a Brees yet, by all accounts, he is going to be one of the big QB stars of the future and he would have been an exciting name in these playoffs and fun to watch. If Brady also sits out because of this injury, the league office will literally start crying. NFL is still the king on television, but their ratings have been slumping all season. Even the nail-biting, miraculous endings last weekend didn't translate into a ratings bonanza for the league. So, they need their star QBs more than ever and they are going to get them less than ever this weekend. Bad timing indeed.

This is unusual coming from a Pats non-fan like me, but we need Brady and need him to do real well this Sunday. We want the Super Bowl to be semi-watchable. Plus, the talking heads and blogs need something to talk about for 2 weeks! We need the GOAT and the Pats to win this AFC championship game and give us a reason to watch the Super bowl. At that point, I will be more than happy to go back to rooting against him and the Pats as always. A Blake Bortels-V-Case Keenum Super Bowl is only slightly more inspiring than a Blake Bortels-V-Nick Foles matchup and neither is good news for the NFL or us the fans. I should have prefaced these pronunciations with a token "no disrespect to these QBs" rider, but then again, I am indeed disrespecting them whether I intend to or not.

The main reason for these match-ups are Mike Tomlin's head-scratching coaching and Marcus Williams suddenly deciding that tackling is for losers last weekend. If those 2 had not over-thought their jobs and just kept it basic, we would have had Big Ben and Drew Brees joining Brady this weekend. That would have rivaled the Brady-Ben-Rodgers-Ryan lineup last year. In any case, let's hope for good games this Sunday. Actually, I do think the games will be close and tight. Star appeal may be the only thing missing. As for the games themselves, I expect the Vikings and the Patriots to make it to the next round. At some point, the home team is going to make it to the Super Bowl and we might as well root for and enjoy that oddity this year. Go get 'em Case Keenum.

The Patriots Maze.

The Pats will play a playoff game this weekend and win. They will then face a little stiffer competition next week, probably the Steelers, and even stiffer competition in the Super Bowl, probably the Falcons or the Saints. But they are going to win it all and cement their legacy even further. Thats how things seem to be stacking up right now. The latest controversial article on ESPN about the drama surrounding them will only enable Hoodie to whip up more "us versus them" hysteria in the locker room and push them even further. Thats just the reality of the NFL this season since I don't see a legitimate contender to the Patriots. The most drama we may have the rest of the way is this ESPN article detailing a rift between Kraft, Hoodie, and Brady over Brady's future among other things. It's an interesting read on the palace intrigue affecting the Patriots, who have in the past been nothing but a silent, peaceful, paradise led by the secretive coach and a superstar QB, who consistently took less money and allowed himself to be coached hard. Nothing was ever out of tune.

This article talks about a rift primarily in the context of the now famous Jimmy Garoppolo trade. First off, I don't believe a reputed publication like ESPN will completely cook-up a story like this. There are some insinuations to that affect primarily because Seth Wickersham's article quotes only unnamed sources. Secondly, the whole trigger for this story seems to be the trade, especially since Jimmy Geezus has looked good in a Niners uniform. I like him and want him to do well. But let's hit the brakes a little bit on this Geezus hype. Just because Hoodie is rumored to have believed he is good enough to be a franchise QB and just because he has won half a dozen games against questionable competition, there seems to be this rush to put him in the pro football hall of fame already! What he did for the Niners in limited duty this year is impressive given he took a 1-10 team to 6-10 and thats no accident. But his trade and his subsequent success is what is providing the main backdrop for this supposed Patriots rift narrative.

A lot of the narrative makes sense. I am OK with the Hoodie being portrayed as this ultimate football genius, a no-nonsense professional who has no sentimentality or emotion towards anybody or anything and is not afraid to make any decision purely based on it's football merits. I am also OK with the narrative that Robert Kraft being this old, rich guy with an emotional attachment to Brady and wants Brady to stay as long as he wants to and retire as a Patriot.  But I still find it hard to believe that Hoodie wanted to keep Jimmy G. Keep him and do what? He is going to be a free agent and wants to start. Both are problems for the Patriots. Jimmy G is widely regarded and will demand 20 million+. As good as Hoodie and Brady are, the Patriots are not winning Super Bowls with so much money tied up in one position, even if that position is QB, and even if one of the QB is the GOAT. Thats even assuming Jimmy would have agreed to stay as a backup and forego a chance to start somewhere else.

So, the other option was, Hoodie keeps Jimmy and trades or cuts Brady if he doesn't retire at the end of this season or maybe next if Hoodie could convince Jimmy to be a backup one more year. I just don't see that happening, though most football minds will tell you thats probably the right decision. It maybe logical and rational to say let the 40 year-old guy go in favor of the 26 year-old talent, but life ain't always rational or logical. I just do not see the Pats letting go of Brady coming off of possibly 2 Super Bowls and possibly 2 Super Bowl MVP awards as well. If anybody can do that, it's probably Hoodie and he has the pedigree and the goodwill to pull it off, but it's still unfathomable to me. Far easier said than done. People immediately compare this scenario to what the Niners did with Joe Montana or the Packers with Brett Favre. Both those scenarios are significantly different from what the Pats are dealing here with Brady.

First of all, Favre retired and un-retired causing a lot of confusion for Packers and Aaron Rodgers. It was relatively easy for the Packers to say "no" to Favre when he un-retired because Favre initiated all of this confusion by retiring in the first place. Brady's situation is much different and is closer to Joe Montana's actually. But even Joe was coming off of 2 lost years where he barely played due to injuries. As great as Joe was, he was not coming off of a Super Bowl MVP performance or 2 when the Niners kicked him out.  Secondly. both Montana and Favre were succeeded by Steve Young and Aaron Rodgers who then went onto win Super Bowls and carve out a place in the Hall of Fame themselves. Rodgers is still going strong. History would not have been too kind to these decisions if the successors were not hall-of-fame good. This goes back to my first point that there is this assumption that Jimmy Garoppolo's greatness is a foregone conclusion. It's not.

I hope Jimmy Geezus is indeed great. I have my own vested interest in him succeeding. But he could also fail due to a variety of reasons. Do note that by fail here I don't mean Tim Couch or JaMarcus Russell level of bustage. Jimmy G could end up being a Matt Stafford or Andy Dalton and still be considered a bust when he is tasked to replace the great Tom Brady. Just to be clear, Stafford and Dalton are some of the highest paid starting QBs in the league today and even that level of performance won't be sufficient for the Patriot faithful who are clamoring for Jimmy today. So, I do not see a lot of practical options for Hoodie other than to have traded Jimmy G. Maybe he could have gotten more in return, but he had to trade him. I don't blame Kraft for asking to keep Brady either. Show at least some loyalty, especially for a legend who has taken less money than most to play for your team. Trading Jimmy was not just the right thing to do, but practically the only thing to do.

I doubt if Kraft or Brady requested that Hoodie trade Jimmy G just so that Brady feels safe. If that's true, I have to say, Brady' level of insecurity is even more legendary than his game. Kraft's diktat is supposedly why Hoodie wants to walk away now because he will never tolerate interference in football decisions from the ownership. And there is also this counter-narrative from Pats fans and well-wishers like Bill Simmons of The Ringer that this ESPN article and the storyline is all wrong because Kraft has never interfered in football operations in 18 long seasons and he is not going to start now. I disagree on both these points because, if Kraft says lets keep Brady, that is not interference in my book. Brady is only the most important Pats player in the history of the franchise. He is darn near a civic institution and I would have called him a regional monument if he was an immovable object. The Pats owner stepping in and saying let's keep Brady and make sure he retires a Patriot is not interfering in football operations at all and Hoodie having to listen to him on this point is no end of the world.

Heck, if he wants to trade Brady, Hoodie probably should run it by not just Kraft but also the Mayor of Boston and the Governor of Massachusetts! If Hoodie is upset by that, it's on him. He is missing the point. A Brady trade is not just a football decision. It's way more strategic and higher-level than that. Even in Kraft's own version of the Jimmy G trade story he mentions how Hoodie called him to inform and get consent and he called back and said OK. My point being, even a Jimmy G trade requires and deserves Kraft's consent and a courtesy call. Hoodie works for Kraft after all and it only makes sense to get Kraft's approval on semi-major decisions. And Kraft has every right to say "No" on rare occasions and Brady's future with the team is the rarest of rare occasions. If Kraft steps into the draft war room and says pick that QB in the 4th round over that line-backer, thats interfering in football operations. Kraft saying keep Brady doesn't even come close to that. It's an entirely different conversation. Again, I am saying all this knowing fully well that replacing the 40 year-old Brady with a 26 year-old Jimmy G is probably the rational football move here.

Sometimes, there are bigger forces in play than just football and I am glad the Pats did the right thing here. And I am not even a Pats fan. Brady has slipped a bit, but he is still good. If Hoodie is the genius we all say he is, and I agree he is all that, then just go draft the next young QB in 2018, develop him, and turn the franchise over to him in 2 or 3 years when Brady steps away. Jimmy G is not the only worthy successor to a legendary QB that college football will ever graduate. So, go to plan B with all your football acumen. It's as simple as that. Believe me, finding the next Jimmy G is not nearly as hard as finding the next Tom Brady. I started of saying I trust the ESPN article. So, whats the bottom-line here? The net-net is, Hoodie and Brady are probably upset at a lot of things and grievances might have piled up over 18 years. They may be ready to move on from each other. But to me, the Jimmy G trade just feels like a convenient and sexy event to build this whole story around. Jimmy G sure has been a fun sub-plot to the entire second half of this NFL season, but the way I see it, he was going to be traded one way or the other. Hoodie wanting to quit may have nothing to with it.

As for us in the rest of the league waiting for the Pats to crash and burn, lets just enjoy the drama and if it evolves into something more and maybe even a real divorce, let's enjoy that even more!

Fond memories

All memories don't have to be amazingly memorable. As an Arizona Cardinals fan, I consider the Arians-Palmer era as a decent and fun one though they didn't win a championship or even make it to the Super Bowl. Cards are not quite the New England Patriots and given their checkered past, living through this era felt a lot better to me than it actually was. Cards have been to just 5 playoffs in 20 years and 6 in around 35 years. Arians-Palmer took us to 2 of those playoffs in the last 5 and had a losing season only once. So, we might as well call this era a dynasty of epic proportions and compare them to Hoodie and Brady. Life is all about context and perspective and this is practically a dynasty for the Cards fans. Both Arians and Palmer retired this week and that puts a nice wrap on this stretch. They also started together in the desert in 2013.

The high point of their combined run was obviously the 2015 season with a 13-3 regular season, a first round playoff bye, and a NFC championship game appearance. The highlight of that season and probably a top-5 moment in the history of the AZ Cardinals was the OT win against Aaron Rodgers and the Green Bay Packers in a classic playoff game. That Cards' season ended in Carolina in an embarrassing fashion for Palmer. You never know which Palmer showed up and the one in Carolina was definitely not the good one. They missed the playoffs the next 2 years. 2014 had a lot of potential too until Palmer got injured. Between his injuries and inconsistency, Palmer left a lot to be desired. Arians was up and down too with his coaching. But I will still miss them both. It was a mostly positive experience with these two at the helm and I thank them for the memories.

As for the here and now, the NFL playoffs are kicking off this weekend. Parity rules in the NFL and there is always a healthy dose of churn and surprises in the list of playoff teams every year. This year's entrants are no different and even more fascinating! Some real long playoff droughts are being terminated this weekend. The Bills are in the playoffs after a staggering 18-year break. I can't believe they have not made it since their loss in the music city miracle back in the day. Their last playoff appearance pre-dates iPhones and HD TVs. Even the QB they lost to in that game, Steve McNair, is unfortunately dead already. The bad news for the Bills is, they didn't really make it to the playoffs this year either. They pulled the ultimate back-door maneuver to sneak in. Of course the Bills' fans don't care and it's not their problem that the Baltimore Ravens collapsed and lost to let Buffalo in.

And here's the even worse news for the Bills. They probably have no shot against the Jaguars, who are ending a 10-year playoff drought. Thats saying something given that they will be playing against a Blake Bortels led Jaguars team. Of course, nobody will be surprised if the Bills do win and thats saying something about Blake himself. This is not going to be a made-for-TV matchup with a lot of excitement and star power. Hope it stays close so people have something to watch in this game. The other not-so-sexy matchup sends Titans to Kansas City. The Titans are ending a 9-year playoff drought. Come Monday, they will be ready to start another drought after the loss to the Chiefs. The NFC match-ups are a lot more interesting. The Saints-Panthers is the headliner. I like the Saints in this one, though Cam and the Panthers are no joke. The Falcons @ Rams will be a good one and probably the closest contest of the weekend.

The Rams are ending a long 13-year playoff drought themselves, but it feels much shorter because they are new to LA. So, LA doesn't care about the drought nor about the Rams in general for that matter, but there will be enough bandwagon fans to join this playoff spectacle anyways. I give the Falcons a slight edge to pull off the upset here due to their playoff experience, but if they can't contain Gurley, they will be done. As always, the Falcons may win the first 2.5 quarters and then mail it in at the most inappropriate moment. We shall see. In the larger picture, all of these teams seem like nothing more than a nice bait for the Patriots. There is an explosive ESPN piece today on the palace intrigue and politics between the Hoodie, Brady, and Kraft. For most teams, this would be a major detraction. Of course for the Patriots this is probably the best thing ever. Hoodie will craft this into motivational fodder and the Pats may have just clinched their Super Bowl, though that seemed like an eventuality this season anyways.