Traina Thoughts: It's Been A Brutal Season On The Field For The NFL
1. Toward the end of last night’s Eagles’ rout of the Cowboys, Cris Collinsworth made a comment about being disappointed that so many controversial stories have dominated the NFL season instead of talk about the good young quarterbacks throughout the league.
This was such a ridiculous statement for many reasons.
For starters, there are only three good quarterbacks who are in their first or second year: Carson Wentz, Jared Goff and Dak Prescott. You can go four if you include DeShaun Watson, but he's done for the year. There are many more who either flat-out stink or who are mediocre at the very best: Nathan Peterman, Jay Cutler, Josh McCown, DeShone Kizer, Andy Dalton, Tom Savage, Brock Osweiler, Trevor Siemian, Brett Hundley, Drew Stanton, Blaine Gabbert, Brian Hoyer.
Secondly, the most underreported story of the 2017 season is that it’s been an atrocious year on the field.
The year has been dominated by inept QBs, terrible matchups, numerous injuries to big stars and brutal teams.
In a way, the league is lucky that the focus has been on Colin Kaepernick getting blackballed, players kneeling during the national anthem, the unstable reality show host in charge of the country calling players “son of a bitches,” and Roger Goodell and Jerry Jones trying to recreate the Mr. McMahon-Stone Cold Steve Austin feud from the late '90s. Because if you wanted to talk about actual football and the actual games, you'd realize about 1/3 of the teams (Dolphins, Jets, Bengals, Browns, Texans, Colts, Broncos, Giants, Packers, Bears, Cardinals, Niners) are completely unwatchable.
This, of course, is in part due to season-ending injuries to the following players: Aaron Rodgers, Odell Beckham Jr., DeShaun Watson, Andrew Luck, David Johnson, J.J. Watt and many more.
Week after week, the schedule is filled with garbage games. Yesterday, for example, saw three games in the 4 p.m. window. Two were not competitive (Patriots-Raiders, Bills-Chargers) and the other featured two bad teams (Broncos-Bengals. We thought we'd be saved by a good game at night, but the Cowboys are now a mess without Ezekiel Elliott and the Philly-Dallas game turned into a trainwreck.
Things won't be getting better anytime soon. Week 12 features just two games between winning teams: Minnesota at Detroit on Thanksgiving and Saints at Rams on Sunday.
Yes, this has been a very bad year for the NFL off the field. But it's been just as bad on the field, as well.
2. Favorites went 8-3-1 in the NFL yesterday, so that meant a bad day for Vegas. What a shame.
3. Michael Irvin thinks playing offensive line is "easy as anything."
Naturally, this stupid take didn't sit well with Packers offensive tackle, David Bakhtiari.
4. When I last left you on Friday, Traina Thoughts was celebrating the 21st anniversary of The Rock's WWE debut. Later that day, me and The Rock became best friends on Twitter.
5. Kobe Bryant is not interested in giving phony answers to keep people in California happy.
6. This Saturday Night Live sketch, featuring Chance the Rapper as an NBA reporter who has to cover and NHL game, was excellent.
7. A new edition of Road Trippin' with Biz is out. In this episode, the man known as BizNasty, Paul Bissonnette, hits the streets of Montreal with Anthony Duclair. The highlight comes at the 4:28 mark when Biz tries to introduce Duclair in French.
8. If you missed this over the weekend, turn up the volume on your device and let this guy brighten up your Monday.
9. SportsCenter host, Scott Van Pelt, is the guest on the latest episode of Off The Board. Topics include: Why he's not interested in covering LaVar Ball; Has ESPN promoted his show well; ESPN/Barstool controversy; 'ESPN is dying' narrative; Is it OK for someone to not know Jerry Seinfeld. You can listen to the podcast below or on iTunes and SoundCloud.
10. RANDOM WRESTLING VIDEO OF THE DAY: It's Thanksgiving week, so it's time to remember the Gobbledy Gooker. How did Mean Gene Okerlund not win an Emmy for this performance?
Traina Thoughts is the best of the Internet, plus musings by SI.com writer, Jimmy Traina. Get the link to a new Traina's Thoughts each day by following on Twitter and liking on Facebook. Catch up on previous editions of Traina Thoughts right here. And check out Jimmy Traina's weekly podcast, "Off The Board."
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BONUS ITEM: Seahawks win a shootout over the Falcons tonight.
