Ah football, my true love. You have returned. I haven’t had much time to watch live games this week but game pass has gotten me riled up. There are a bunch of fascinating developments in sports right now. Let’s dig right in.
Utah is properly rated for the first time in a while. Usually I feel like this team is massively underrated by the AP top 25. This year however I think I agree with where they have the Utes ranked. 14. I might even have them a spot or two lower if we are being honest. This is the most hyped this team has been in quite a while. The expectation is 10 wins. Anything less would be a massive disappointment. It will be interesting to see how Kyle Whittingham manages such massive expectations. You see some projecting the Utes to go undefeated and perhaps even make the CFB playoffs. I think at this point that’s a bit of a fever dream. That said this team has no excuses to not go undefeated in a totally underwhelming out of conference card.
Daniel Jones needs to be starting for the Giants at QB. This kid isn’t the best QB of all time. He’s very much a rookie but he’s so much better than Eli. He reminds me of prime Eli Manning. He has excellent ball placement, good pocket presence he just needs to be starting week one. Eli’s leash is going to be short. I think we see Jones on the field leading the Giants week 3 against Washington. Eli hasn’t looked bad in the pre-season but it is clear he can’t throw the ball deep or outside the numbers anymore. I don’t think the Giants overall record is much different depending on who starts I just think Daniel Jones is much more fun to watch and gives the Giants a much better competitive advantage. He also provides the best chance for Pat Schurmur to keep his job.
Tony Pollard’s surprising dominance in the pre-season. If for some reason Ezekiel Elliott were to truly sit out two to three weeks of the NFL season I think the Cowboys might survive. In the pre-season Pollard is averaging 6.7 yards per carry. I realize it’s the pre-season but he makes some wow plays on tape and he could be a really nice complimentary back to Zeke in Dallas. Is he as good as Zeke? Of course not, but he fascinates me and I will be closely tracking Tony Pollards career.
The pre-season is meaningless. It truly is. The amount of teams following the Rams model of just not playing players is staggering. The pre-season truly is only interesting for semi evaluating rookies. So here is what I would propose. 2 pre-season games, unlimited amounts of team vs team practices. If the NFL is worried about there bottom line televise practice scrimmages. There would be a viewership for that. Pre-season game 1, starters for a half. Pre-season game 2 final roster evaluations. Easy, thank me later Goodell.
Until next week!