Ahoy, friends. It's been a long night, yet shorter than the ones I've had recently. I feel beat up, rode hard, put away wet, and just BLAH right now. I was actually going to skip the Roundup this week because no particular reason other than I just didn't want to write. But then I started to think, and when I think about Sunday football, I think of how my thoughts look on a computer screen. So, here we are. I'm writing it, so the least you scumbags can do is read it. Here we go.
1. There is nobody in the NFL right now that should be more thankful to play on the team that he plays for than Brian Hoyer. We've been seeing chinks in his armor all season long; he's not terribly accurate, and he seems to be a poor man's Eli Manning in that he only seems to come alive late in the game when his back is against the wall. Well, yesterday was no different. In Josh Gordon's return to the Browns, Hoyer should have put up 100 points. Gordon is scheme-proof; he's mega-elite and no coach will be able to change that. Hoyer should have been completing touchdown bombs all day to this dude. Instead he threw for no touchdowns and three interceptions against an absolutely putrid defense. I hate to say it, because the guy is winning games, but I believe he's holding the Cleveland Browns back. If they didn't have a winning record for the first time in a millennium, Hoyer is on the bench right now and Johnny Manziel is racking up unsportsmanlike conduct fines left and right. The Browns are overachieving despite him. I like him and I want him to succeed, but I think he's hit his ceiling. We've seen his best and his best isn't all that great. The Browns are winning because of their run game, and that brings me to my next point.
I think a guy like Isaiah Crowell does as much harm for runningbacks in general, and where they stand in the league, as he does good. He does them proud by being a hard, fast runner with a nose for the end zone. Sure, he has buttery banana hands, but that's a fixable problem; Adrian Peterson was better-known for this early in his career than we was for his 200-yard games. Tiki Barber STILL gets guff from football fans for his fumbling proficiency. Alfred Morris fumbles the toilet paper when he goes to wipe, but he's also the friggin' Juggernaut when he gets a chance to be. A guy like Crowell shows that a team can win games with a great running game. The bad news is simple: Isaiah Crowell was an undrafted free agent. Teams see that you can get a key player for next to nothing, and that does a lot of harm for the guys that come after him. Melvin Gordon and Todd Gurley are both superior talents to Crowell, definite first-round picks in a perfect NFL world. But why bother when you can get guys like this in the fifth round? Everyone knows or has read my feelings on the runningback in the league. I hate that the first thing today's scouts and pundits judge is his ability to pass protect. I hate the fact that Andy Dalton will probably make more money in his career than Arian Foster will. But, unfortunately, it's guys like Isaiah Crowell than make this happen. This is a double-edged sword if there ever was one.
2. And now, we get to the only QB in the NFL that is likely on a shorter leash than Brian Hoyer. Robert Griffin III didn't have a favorable matchup yesterday, sure. And the team as a whole played a lot better than they did against Tampa Bay. But this guy is showing more and more every week that he just is not an NFL-caliber talent. He has arm strength and running speed. That's it. And I read somewhere that, as of now, Jay Gruden has a green light to bench him is he sees fit. Griffin doesn't even have the owner's support anymore, and that was literally the only thing keeping him on the field. I don't know if Gruden is going to pull him out and start Colt McCoy, but I know that's sure as hell what I would do at this point. The Raiders have won a game more recently than Griffin has, though there were extenuating circumstances in that incident. I just can't watch the guy anymore. It's embarrassing.
3. Other than what I mentioned earlier about how RB's are treated, I have to say that the thing in the NFL that makes me the most angry is that Odell Beckham plays for the New York Giants. Why does this bug me? Well, he plays for a division rival. Also, he does things like this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fKxrmL2JSrU
For some reason, this blog wouldn't let me link directly to the video, but there's the link. I'm certainly not the first to write about this play, or talk about it, and I won't be the last. I only have one thing to say about this: fuck Odell Beckham. And I won't sully this medium with a "Bend it Like Beckham" reference.
So that's about it. I have zero interest in the Ravens/Saints game tonight, or the Buffalo/Jets game in Detroit. I would have loved to see that game played in the 67 feet of snow that Buffalo got last week, but whatever, I ain't the commissioner. Anyway, this week is Thanksgiving, and I want to extend my wishes for the happiest of holidays to each and every person reading this blog. May you be ever satisfied and not hungry. I love you all, and I'll see you later!
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