Oh man, do I love being right. Especially at 9:30 am EST when the Baltimore Ravens become the team I said they would be last week. Now, I know many of you are getting tired of “Cranky Christian” and all his negativity. But, really, I’m just saving you from yourself. So I’m going to keep doing that. Here are the top overreactions from Week 3 in the National Football League.
The NFL Should Move to London
Look, I love getting up at 9:00 am EST and drinking beer all day watching football as much as the next guy. And I’m sure the NFL loves seeing over 80,000 people paying to watch their product. But the idea of putting an actual team there permanently is beyond moronic. First and foremost, “American Football” has the same cache has a Premier League team coming over here. It’s a novelty item that folks are happy to pay for once a year, maybe twice.
The more obvious reason against these overreactions is that the play of those games is TERRIBLE! Sure, most of the games have been insanely competitive. So is a 17-16 baseball game, just the pitching and fielding sucks. If you watched the game on Yahoo! Sports, Alex Flanagan mentioned it during her sideline report. The Jags have played five of these games and have their routine down. Baltimore was making its first trip across the pond and had no clue what it was doing. The travel, time change, etc. probably heavily influenced their gameplay.
Do you want to risk watching that eight times a year? Do eight teams want to spend that much on travel to ensure that doesn’t happy? More importantly, are we going to add a new team and have an odd number teams? We can’t relocate someone and hurt a fan base, right?
Chargers Should Go Back to San Diego
Admittedly, this has been one of the biggest overreactions all season long. But it’s making a bigger presence because of the abysmal attendance of the Chargers in Los Angeles. Once again, the Bolts had a BRUTAL showing for their home game against the Chiefs. Sure, they’ve announced more than 25,000 at each game (in a stadium that seats 27,000), but just look at those pictures. C’mon Man.
The issue here is two-fold. 1) San Diego is two hours from L.A., and that fan base isn’t going to travel all that way to see a team when the owner clearly never wanted to stay. It doesn’t help how much the parking, tickets, food, etc. all are. Plus, the home-viewing experience is so much better than in-game at any professional event.
Issue #2 is that the product is just terrible. The Chargers are 0-3, missing last-minute field goals to win/tie in each of the first two games of the year. Three turnovers in Sunday’s game doesn’t help either.
Think about it, would you travel two hours to see a girl who broke up with you just to have a terrible experience and have to drive two hours home? That’s the life of a San Diego Chargers fan.
The NFL Has It Out For The Detroit Lions
This one might be a tougher sell after how they lost. However, I saw a number of people on social media finally coming around to the idea the league wants the Lions to lose. First off, the rule is bad, but the call was correct. Similar to how Sterling Shepard didn’t “complete the process” of the catch ten years after Calvin Johnson struggled to do the same.
Secondly, the fact that the governing body of a professional sport would “have it out” for one team is absurd. Same with the idea that they “play favorites.” It’s one of the dumbest overreactions in the world. Maybe, just maybe, some teams/players know the rules better and are better at competing within those rules. Sure it sucks to lose that way, but the rule has been around since the 1950’s.
Besides, corruption in sports is boxing’s thing. They’ve had that patented for decades.
The Rams Might Just Be For Real
I’m going to use the same logic I did for the Ravens last week. Let’s look at L.A.’s competition this year. They blew out the Colts in Week 1, lost to the Redskins at home in Week 2, and then barely held off the 49ers on Sunday. What kind of competition is that? Especially when you were up 15 in the final nine minutes against Brian Hoyer?!?!
Yes, Jared Goff has some impressive numbers (817 yards, five touchdowns, one interception). And he is showing signs of promise. But that defense ranks in the bottom 10 of the league in yards (27th) and points (22nd) allowed. In the NFC West, that is not going to fly. I’ll be really intrigued to see how they play in the next two weeks with the Dallas Cowboys and Seattle Seahawks on the docket.
Not So Crazy Overreactions: Kareem Hunt is Rookie of the Year
Yeah, that’s right, I’m all in on the Toledo Rocket. After setting a record for most yards from scrimmage in an NFL debut, against the reigning Super Bowl champs, he’s only gotten better. He leads the league in rushing yards (401), rushing touchdowns (4), yards per game (133.7), yards per carry (8.5), and fantasy dreams busted (mine).
By the way, he also leads the NFL in total yards (538) and rushing/receiving touchdowns (6). He’s a dual-threat player with very little film available. That makes him insanely dangerous. Much in the way Ezekiel Elliott took the league by storm last year, Hunt has done the same. Or like Aaron Judge burst onto the scene earlier this year in baseball and ran away with the Rookie of the Year voting despite a rough second half. I’m calling it right now, the Chiefs running back WILL win Rookie of the Year.
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