Archives for November 2018

Game of Week – Patriots-Titans Should be Close

New England at Tennessee

Spread: Patriots -7

When New England Has The Ball:

Tennessee is allowing the fewest points per game while only three teams are putting up more points on a weekly basis than the Patriots. That being said, New England’s offense has certainly been better at home than on the road and the Patriots probably will not play with as much pace and tempo in this contest. As of this writing it is difficult to speculate if Rob Gronkowski and Sony Michel will play in this road matchup, es

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Bad WR Deal Led Dez Bryant to New Orleans Saints

The New Orleans Saints placed wide receiver Cameron Meredith on the injured reserve list today after finding out he’s going to need arthroscopic surgery.

That explains the signing of Dez Bryant, who will be paid $600,000 for the remainder of the season. Meredith, who suffered an ACL injury last season when he was with the Chicago Bears, signed a two-year, $9.5 million deal with the Saints as a restricted free agent. The Bears didn’t match and went out and signed wide receivers Allen Robinson and Taylor Gabriel.

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Dallas Cowboys Have a Dak Prescott Dilemma

Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones reiterated his faith in Dak Prescott hours following a 28-14 home loss to the Tennessee Titans on Monday Night Football, which dropped his team’s record to 3-5. “Listen, Dak is the quarterback of the Dallas Cowboys,” Jones said during a radio appearance on 105.3 The Fan. “He’s young, and he’s going to get extended.”

Prescott is in the third year of a four-year, $2,723,392 rookie contract. The 2016 fourth round pick will be eligible for a contract extension once the 2018 regular season ends on December 30.

Signing Prescott to an extension may be a lot easier said than done. There has been tremendous growth in quarterback salaries since Prescott was drafted.

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Panthers-Steelers Could Be QB Show

Carolina at Pittsburgh

Spread: Steelers -4

When Carolina Has The Ball: Few seem to realize it, but the Panthers have one of the NFL’s truly elite offenses. It is littered with versatile explosive playmakers and Cam Newton is playing great football. Norv Turner deserves a lot of credit for Carolina’s success and this is a very difficult unit to prepare for, especially on a very short week. However, over the last four games, Pittsburgh’s defense has really stepped up and is playing very solid football against the run and pass. You will see a lot of RPOs, read option, pre-snap movement and misdirection from this offense. And Newton has been outstanding off play action. Overall, Newton has been making big plays without leaving many plays on the field. That efficiency makes him extremely dangerous.

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49ers’ Star Tight End George Kittle Goes One-on-One

George Kittle is becoming a familiar name to even the causal NFL fan.

The second-year San Francisco 49er is proving to be one of the better tight ends in the NFL. He is having a huge year for the injury-ravaged 49ers. Kittle, 25, has 41 catches for 692 yards (that’s a whopping 16.9 per catch average) and three touchdowns

Kittle was cool enough to conduct a Q and A with Clayton Football on Wednesday. Here we go:

Did your Week 9 34-3 win over the Bay Area rival Raiders give the team an energy boost?

Kittle: “Anytime you win, you feel better. Winning cures all, so yeah, we feel better after winning after six losses. It feels good.”

You made some headlines for cheering on quarterback Nick Mullins in his interview with the NFL Network on the field last Thursday. What struck me was you were surrounded by Raiders fans. How did that happen?

George Kittle cheering on Nick Mullens during his postgame interview with us. 🤗 pic.twitter.com/Ak6KNaeNQE

— Colleen Wolfe (@ColleenWolfeNFL) November 2, 2018

Kittle: “It was funny, they were the only people down there. I thought I was going to get a hostile reaction, but they were great. They were like ‘we love you.’ I was like ‘yeaaaahhh.’ It was very fun.”

What struck me about Nick in his first game last week was his makeup. He seems very in control for such an inexperienced guy. It that a fair assessment?

Kittle:’ “Definitely. Nick deserves all of his success because of his preparation. On the first snap when we went in the huddle, he was in command. He has been the whole time. He didn’t miss a step.”

I know your record is 2-7, but it seems like coach Kyle Shanahan deserves a lot of credit for keeping you guys going in a tough season.

Kittle: “Coach Shanahan comes in each week and installs a great offensive game plan. It’s fun to watch it get installed and then play the game with it. He and the staff do a great job with it.”

I don’t know if you’re aware, but you are getting a lot of love on the mid-season All-Pro teams.

Ktttle: “We still have seven games left. Of course, I see things on social media and things, but you have to put it on the back burner. The focus is on finishing the season strong and that’s what I’m going to do.”

Demaryius Thomas Experiences Age Reality of an WR

Demaryius Thomas was steaming.

After being traded by the Denver Broncos and then coming back on Sunday to beat them in Denver, Thomas went on a Denver sports talk show and vented. He accused head coach Vance Joseph of lying to him, saying he wouldn’t be traded. He said Joseph told him not to listen to trade talks because they weren’t true.

But it was true. The Broncos were trying to trade him and did, sending him to the Houston Texans. He fumed that the receivers coach (Zach Azzanni) told him in games before the trade he wanted to get some of the younger, talented receivers playing time.

“That’s so disrespectful to me because I’ve put so much into the game, but you want me to come out for a rookie,’’ Thomas said on radio.

Welcome to the NFL. While receivers are vital to fantasy football and remain big names, the reality is once a veteran receiver reaches the age of 31, reality sets in. Teams are looking to replace them, and that’s what happened to Thomas in Denver.

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Fantasy Fact or Fiction – Aaron Rodgers Has New Toy

Below are several fantasy players whose production stuck out in Week 9 in either a positive or negative manner. Let’s examine if that trend will keep up or if it was just a blip on the radar.

Tevin Coleman

Week 9 Stat Line: 13 Carries For 88 Rushing Yards, 5 Receptions For 68 Yards And 2 Touchdowns

Fact or Fiction? Fact

Coleman is a linear athlete that runs somewhat high and doesn’t show great vision, but his acceleration and long speed is rare and Coleman is an excellent receiver. The Falcons haven’t run the ball well this year, but if Coleman remains a constant in this excellent passing game, his fantasy value is obvious. Matt Ryan went Coleman’s way seven times on Sunday, but we do need to realize that the most targets Coleman saw in any other game this year was just four, so there is some risk here.

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NFC East is a Mess – Who Will Emerge

he NFC East went from exhibiting big aggression in the front office to dropping a big goose egg on the field.

Yes, this division is up for grabs. May the least messy team win.

Last week, the NFL East was the most aggressive division at the trade deadline. The Dallas Cowboys acquired wide receiver Amari Cooper. The Philadelphia Eagles grabbed wide receiver Golden Tate. The Washington Redskins traded for safety Ha Ha Clinton Dix.

This week, the NFC East’s feast has turned into a famine. The Cowboys were dominated in Monday night’s, 28-14, loss to the Tennessee Titans. Cooper did well but he didn’t spark the Cowboys stagnate offense. At 3-5, the Cowboys are in crisis mode.

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Miami Dolphins’ Curious Case of Reshad Jones

Miami Dolphins safety Reshad Jones pulled himself out of Sunday’s 13-6 win over the New York Jets during the first quarter after playing 10 defensive snaps. He was reportedly frustrated with the plan of rotating safeties in an effort to get 2018 first round pick Minkah Fitzpatrick more playing time. The nine-year veteran didn’t return to the game.

Jones has been playing through a partially torn labrum in his right shoulder, but his absence doesn’t appear to be injury related. He had been on the field for all 265 of Miami’s defensive plays since returning to the lineup after missing two contests during the latter part of September because of the shoulder prior to removing himself.

Head coach Adam Gase said at yesterday’s news conference that he and Jones were “on the same page” after a Sunday night meeting Jones’ initiated. Jones will not be suspended. He will play on November 11th against the Green Bay Packers. Gase indicated that any discipline Jones might be facing would be handled internally.

The NFL Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) allows the Dolphins to fine Jones for up to four weeks salary for conduct detrimental to the team. This type of fine would cost Jones as much as $215,294.

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Baltimore Ravens’ Problem is Players not John Harbaugh

In addition to writing for Clayton Football, I also work in my home city of Pittsburgh for Steelers Nation Radio and co-host a daily show. Leading up to the Steelers’ Week 9 trip to Baltimore, I did quite a bit dissecting of the matchups in that game. In the end, what I concluded was that the Ravens had very few, if any, matchups on paper that favored then against Pittsburgh. Needless to say, this is very concerning as Baltimore now sits at 4-5 and firmly behind the 5-2-1 Steelers in the AFC North.

Now, that isn’t to say that Baltimore is a terrible football team or on other given weeks, it wouldn’t have more matchups in its favor. And, they blew the doors off the Steelers in Pittsburgh just a few weeks earlier, which can’t be forgotten.

From the top down, this is a strong organization and the talk of dismissing John Harbaugh from his duties during the season or even during this much-needed Week 10 bye is ludicrous. From owner, to general manager to head coach, Baltimore has been one of the top organizations over Harbaugh’s tenure. However, in that chain of command, Ozzie Newsome is no longer on board and the last link in that chain that wasn’t mentioned, quarterback, is and has been a liability for some time now. Now, if Harbaugh’s message has gotten old or the Ravens players are no longer responding to him, a change should be considered this offseason … but certainly not now. Harbaugh is an excellent head football coach and wouldn’t be unemployed long.

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