Just an open page for me to drop notes/ideas/things I'm hearing/seeing/working on or just caffeinated or lack of sleep thoughts on football items.
SUN 1/26/2025
(8:18amET)
-- Brian Schottenheimer’s 2006-2020 run as an offensive coordinator (ignoring 2023 and 2024 with Dallas, where Mike McCarthy was essentially the O-C).
0 = number of times his offenses were top 12 in the league in pass attempts.
5 = number of times his offenses were top 12 in the league in rush attempts.
----------------
7 = number of times his offenses were bottom 12 in the league in pass attempts.
1 = number of times his offenses were bottom 12 in the league in rush attempts.
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4 = number of times his offenses were bottom 12 in the league in scoring.
4 = number of times his offenses were top 12 in the league in rush attempts.
Schottenheimer had his best O-C run/success with Seattle 2018-2020...top 10 scoring offense three years running. Schottenheimer likely would have left Dallas to join Las Vegas/Pete Carroll if he had been passed on for the Dallas job...and that may have been part of the hiring rationale.
Also, it’s reported that Jerry’s kids pushed for Schottenheimer...but Jerry wanted the circus/Deion, which if I were Jerry...I would’ve brought the circus. Better to lose and be interesting than lose and be boring. And Deion definitely has a better resume as head coaching material, like him or not. I think Jerry knew he couldn’t control Deion...and Jerry didn’t want to lose his toy (the team) to anybody else.
You’d think Dallas is headed towards a heavy run game with Schottenheimer, but it probably depends upon what Jerry and Dak wants to do as much as anything.
-- Senior Bowl week upcoming next week (1/27).
I will have a top 10 Dynasty prospect ‘draft’ of the prospects as I previewed them going into the week -- that report will post Monday.
Tuesday-Thursday I will cover the practices and report out on things I’m seeing/hearing.
After the week’s practice and game, I will re-grade all the prospects and re-rank.
This week is heavy on the Senior Bowl, but I will be working 3-4 new scouting reports to release this week. Abdul Carter and Luther Burden are planned among the next batch.
Jalen Milroe will be studied/reported AFTER the Senior Bowl week (IF he is actually going to practice/play at all)...I want the extra info on him if I can get it. Shedeur Sanders is at the East-West Shrine week, but he is NOT going to play one second of football. Not sure what team Milroe will have him do...I think they’ll have him practice some, but I don’t know.
-- Coming up on FFM today...
Two playoff games to watch...and we’ll be on the Discord if anyone is wanting to chat about the game. I am travelling back to homebase via car this afternoon, trying to get back in time for the WSH-PHI kickoff, but I’ll likely be an hour late to it...listening to it while driving...then I’ll be online.
AFC South Awards tourney
East-West Shrine QB grades from Ross Jacobs
SAT 1/25/2025
(7:28amET)
-- NOTE: Doing some tweaks to the App notifications, so you may not get any notifications on posted items the next 24-72 hours.
-- So, the Raiders hired Pete Carroll for their head coaching job...and this, supposedly, comes with the excitement of Russell Wilson going to Las Vegas! Boy, we really needed Tom Brady to put this masterpiece together. Who could have ever made this type of hire without the vision of Brady? Pete Carroll would’ve taken any head coaching job offered to him.
If you’re a Raiders fan...are you excited about this hire...this direction?
Yes, it’s better than Antonio Pierce or Josh McDaniels...but is that the best you can say about this?
Did Ben Johnson and Liam Coen snub the Raiders...and this was all Las Vegas could do with what was left? Or did the Raiders not even try with the young coaches? No one can be that excited about this. I’d want Carroll for a ready-to-go/not far off contender hire...not for a giant clean up mess/rebuild. Dallas might have been a better fit for Carroll’s services.
And I cannot believe Russell Wilson would go to LV now...Geno Smith, yes...Russ, no. I don’t care if Russ and Pete hugged it out -- Carroll burned Russ at the end of their time together...why would he want him back? Why would Russ go back? Well...Russ is an opportunist and would love to get back to the West Coast side of things, so he’d probably be happy to be a starting QB anywhere...and happy to get away from Arthur Smith.
Just doesn’t feel like the Raiders are anything different besides West Coast Jacksonville Jaguars...desperately flailing away at coaches and GMs...when the bottom line issue is = Ownership. And that issue ‘ain’t changing’.
Speaking of ‘ownership issues’...
-- Brian Schottenheimer is the new head coach of the Dallas Cowboys. I don’t think I can add anything more critical or creative than what everyone is already thinking and talking about on this.
This is bad-bad news for the Cowboys. More proof of how far this particular business has sunk.
Watch this be the move to where Dallas wins the Super Bowl for Jerry somehow...
-- The Texans fired O-C Bobby Slowik Friday. I’m not surprised. I couldn’t understand why he was getting head coaching interviews after the disaster the Texans offense was in 2024 AND the big step back C.J. Stroud took in his second season...a lot of it due to the terrible O-Line.
I’m guessing this was as much a Stroud ‘call’ as anything...Stroud is smart and vocal about things (to management). I’d trust Stroud over DeMeco Ryans to hire the next O-C. I’ll bet the new O-C, whoever it is, has some tie to Stroud in the past. Just a hunch.
I hope the new O-C unlocks Stroud, but I think it’s a DeMeco Ryans problem ultimately...for Stroud not becoming a swashbuckling passer/putting up gaudy numbers. It may be ‘buy low’ season on Stroud...we’ll see.
-- Coming up on FFM today...
Bet The Close Video Podcast for Betting public release
2024 NFL Award tournament/series (next division)
Next Scouting Report hits middayET: Tetairoa McMillan
Ross Jacobs’ East-West preview scouting/grades and rankings (RBs)
FRI 1/24/2025
(6:51amET)
-- It only took 3+ years for Jacksonville to get the clue that everyone but them thought Trent Baalke was a major problem...and that no head coaching prospect with options was gonna wanna work there if Baalke was in charge. So, arguably, the single worst ownership team in the NFL (and that is saying A LOT because there are so many poorly run teams) finally made the move to fire Baalke, so that they could hire a real head coach...multiple years too late.
I’m guessing Ben Johnson rebuffed them because of Baalke...but probably because of the ownership as well. Then it was obvious Liam Coen did, because now Coen has flown back to Jacksonville to take another interview on Thursday and later night/early morning Coen struck a deal with the Jags.
Like Ben Johnson, I don’t know if Coen is a great HC prospect...or just a good one-year O-C who is cashing in with perfect timing and isn’t really great head coach material. Like with Johnson, we need to gather the clues on the new coaches -- the intro press conference, who they can recruit to put on their staff, who they sign in free agency and who they draft...we need all that info to even begin to have an idea of how to project them as Head Coach/CEOs of the future.
-- Is it me, or does the Aaron Glenn hiring for the Jets feel like (news-wise)...”Oh, and by the way...the Jets hired that D-C from Detroit, back to the other coaching news and rumors...”
All the other open head coaching jobs remaining have intrigue and controversy and critique. Ben Johnson was like the Belle of the Ball hiring. But Aaron Glenn...it’s like ‘who cares’?
I don’t really know that I care. I think it’s an interesting hire but feels like a different version of the Robert Saleh hiring...and that no matter who goes to the Jets, the whole situation is so messed up no one cares anymore. As with Johnson and Coen, we have the next few days/weeks/months to gather the clues.
-- I didn’t believe it could be true, but it looks like it is...Brian Schottenheimer is likely headed to be the Cowboys new head coach. I didn’t even think Jerry would stoop this low, but here we are...
Jerry is always looking for a coach he can control...and as long as Dak likes them, then it’s a done deal.
I wonder if Mike McCarthy is going to make a last second comeback to this job...but rebuffing Jerry a few weeks ago, likely got him cut out of the ‘circle of trust’. Dallas is going to hog all the head coaching talk spotlight when they announce Schottenheimer...and the media and fans absolutely lose their minds with how terrible the hire was, and the general state of the Dallas Cowboys.
The Cowboys are not in the class of Philly or Washington...and are about to get passed by NYG...and thus sink to the bottom of the NFL teams.
It does set them up to get a high pick in 2026...and easily able to fire Schottenheimer and try to hire a top head coach prospect with a high draft pick as bait -- but like Jacksonville, Jerry doesn’t believe the problem is the GM/owner...and he is definitely not firing the GM (himself).
-- Quick side note...the more I’m learning about Ben Johnson, the more I am really getting onboard the Ben-train. But...let’s see how he fills the staff and what he does in free agency and draft.
Then we’ll see if he can fix Caleb Williams...or if Caleb is going to be the death of him.
-- As for the Saints and Raiders coaching openings...I am waiting for real information to hit before reacting. Everything looks like Pete Carroll to LV and Mike McCarthy or Joe Brady to NO, but the Pete Carroll part still makes no sense to me...so I’m waiting for some real info to hit.
-- Coming up on FFM today...
Bet The Close Video Podcast for Betting subscribers today...and then public release Saturday.
2024 NFL Award tournament/series (next division)
Playoff FF scoring projections
Senior Bowl preview series/rankings: The QBs
Next Scouting Report hits later tonight or early amET Saturday: Tetairoa McMillan
THU 1/23/2025
(7:28amET)
-- So, I watched the Ben Johnson intro press conference in Chicago today. I’m ready to give my review. But first, a recap of where I was at on Johnson going into today...
I was wondering/concerned that Johnson was getting a little too much hype and that maybe he was a neat O-C/play caller that wasn’t really ready to be the CEO of the football team...as happens to most of these kinds of hires. Johnson seemed a little younger, didn’t have the gravitas a la a Dan Campbell...I wondered if Johnson would be like a Mike McDaniel in Miami -- a young, relatable-to-the-players, eager personality...that the players would walk all over, eventually...like what is happening to McDaniel in Miami now. A coach/guy that ‘everybody likes’ but that doesn’t make for a leader of a billion-dollar organization, for long.
So, in a nutshell, going into this press conference intro...I expected to see a too young/’green’, likeable guy that talked a lot of words but didn’t give me any confidence.
I leave the press conference watch thinking -- that was maybe the single best head coach intro press conference I’ve ever seen.
I don’t say that because Johnson had great one-liners or gave a lot of stats or had soundbite moments...it’s not that. It’s the fact that there were no real (obvious) ‘moments’ that’s part of the greatness of this press conference.
Johnson was in total command of that press conference/room. He hit a perfect balance of not being too extreme in any way.
He was personable, but not a jokester or an angry tyrant.
He was serious without being a maniac, nor fake serious/tough.
He was humble but not cowering...nor was he arrogant/superior...a perfect balance of expressing his real self without getting sappy or long winded or braggadocious.
He looked the media in the eye while answering every question...he never smiled nor scowled...he was polite but forceful but not too polite and not too forceful.
He didn’t over-explain or over-promise or start crying or was too evasive. He was the porridge that was ‘just right’.
He spoke without notes. And every media question he answered, he answered in a split second with thoughtful, confident responses and just detailed enough (for the situation) without being too detailed. Johnson was never searching for words...he was almost answering the question, perfectly, as the media person was finishing their last syllable.
If he were running for office, and this was your first intro to him...at first you’d think, ‘Who is this guy?’ but 5-10 minutes into it, you’re like...this guy seems to have a quick/pertinent answer for everything, I’ll vote for him...he seems like he has his $#!& together and knows what he’s talking about. Instant credibility and connection and commanding respect without having to have it come from physical size and/or being an ex-player.
Incredibly impressive.
For a contrast, Bears GM Ryan Poles, who is an empty-suit idiot (I’m convinced), spoke first for 2 minutes to intro Johnson to the podium...and Poles looked and sounded like an overgrown kid who was on a ‘bring your kid to work day’ reluctant event. He spoke for only about 1-2 minutes...used note cards...and was still stumbling, smiling too much, monotone, unsure of what to say next occasionally...so much so you can feel ‘it’ in an instant. By now, this shouldn’t be happening with a man in his position.
All the things that concerned me about Johnson choosing here (Chicago)...he had a good-to-great answer for. I leave this watch WILDLY impressed...but it’s just a press conference...but still that’s a huge moment, and the rapid fire way he answered questions with the perfect amount of words for the situation...so quickly, so confidently...you could see his mind was working at 10x speed anyone else’s was in the room, but he wasn’t a show off or know it all or super cerebral...he was authentic and not sappy...he exuded confidence without being arrogant.
Previously, I thought Johnson might be ‘not ready’ for this and was going to a bad organization with a shaky QB and a dunce GM, and that this was a team I was already thinking about the potential to bet against in May when the OVER/UNDER win totals come out -- but after watching Ben Johnson here, I took both of my feet and rammed the down on the brake pedal on those thoughts.
I’m not sure I’ll be ‘pro’ this situation in 2025+, but I do know I am no longer instantly ‘anti’ this situation.
Thinking back of the best press conferences I have seen, and I have seen A LOT OF BAD ONES, Johnson’s maybe the single best...up there with other bests, Kevin O’Connell and Matt LaFleur...serendipitously they’re now all head coaches in the same division. Johnson even addressed that fact so adeptly and smartly that NOW I get why he accepted the job here...I’m not thinking he’s nuts anymore for going to the toughest conference.
If Ben Johnson really is this impressive...then what are the Las Vegas Raiders doing with their job search? There was a GOLDEN opportunity to land him...but the Raiders were barely on him, it appears. If they bypass Johnson to go with Pete Carroll...then questions need to be asked about what is going on in Las Vegas, and more to the point...what is Tom Brady doing playing ‘Football Exec’ and ‘NFL Commentator’...it may be Brady who is the fraud in all this. What the hell does he know about these things? Do we really think he’s in deep study of or has God-gifted talent in these areas that we just assume he does because he’s ‘Tom Brady’.
I’ll wait to see who LV hires before killing them over this process...maybe they have a major ace up their sleeve. Maybe they’ll name Ron Rivera...and really shake things up!
Actually, LV hired a Tampa Bay assistant GM to be their new GM...so, the first real sign that Brady is in charge has hit -- someone he knew or people he trusts new from his time in Tampa. But, oh wait! That same guy (John Spytek), why he and Brady played together at Michigan! So, we definitely know Tom Brady is now running the show in Las Vegas...as a 3rd job...commentator 2nd job...and then his businesses/commercials/working out/golf/dating/dad as a primary effort.
I assume this new GM hire means Liam Cohen is not far behind...likely why Cohen took himself out of the running in Jacksonville. But Cohen also signed a new, better deal to be O-C for Tampa still...but he could jump to LV (or anywhere) to be an HC, I assume. If Las Vegas, with a Tampa insider exec now in charge, passes on Cohen -- then you have to question Cohen’s ‘chops’ for being an HC right now/ever.
Tomorrow I’ll share my thoughts on the Baalke firing and Glenn to NYJ. Today...belongs to Ben Johnson.
-- Coming Up on FFM today...
Final Game Report from Divisional Round
Senior Bowl Series continues
2024 Season Award Tournament Series: NFC East
Shooting Bet The Close tonight, will post FRI for the Betting Subscribers, public release Saturday
WED 1/22/2025
(7:32amET)
-- Two more things about Ben Johnson to Chicago...
1) This article (link below), originally posted by Ross Jacobs on our Discord, captures everything I’ve been feeling/sensing on Ben Johnson for the past couple weeks...since I’ve been looking at it more, knowing he was the obvious hot coaching candidate this cycle. Something doesn’t feel right with him...and, apparently, I’m not alone in that sentiment...
https://www.si.com/nfl/raiders/news/las-vegas-ben-johnson-tom-brady-pete-carroll-liam-coen
2) If you’re Ben Johnson, and you had all the options to go anywhere you wanted...why would you go to the weakest franchise in the division you know best with three great coaches/teams in the division to compete against?
If you had a similar offer to go coach Las Vegas or Jacksonville or Chicago...why would you pick the most taxed, worst weather, worst run organization AND face your great mentor in Detroit on a regular basis, in division? Because of Caleb Williams? Really?
The answer has to be -- he wasn’t getting good, or any offers from the other teams. And it has been reported, Chicago never met with him in person...they just threw a bunch of money at him. So, Chicago was desperate, an organization run by ‘jokes’ of a Head of Operations and GM...and those two guys threw desperate money at Johnson, who likely didn’t have any options or offers close to this, or at all...and ‘boom’ he’s with the Bears.
Nothing feels good or right about this from a football future standpoint.
I don’t blame Johnson for cashing in at all, but everything else about this, football-related, is giving me concerns. It should be good for Caleb…in that that he gets someone who will call cool plays and kiss his butt, but I’m not sure Johnson has what it takes to corral/fix Caleb. Needing a ‘bad cap’, Caleb got a ‘good cop’, and he will take advantage of it for as long as he can.
In a year or two, there will likely be a debate -- Is the problem Caleb or Ben Johnson?
-- Josh McDaniels is going to be the O-C for Mike Vrabel...sounds like a perfect pairing...as the disaster in the making in New England.
Hopefully, this is the last iteration of ex-Belichick assistant coaches getting prime jobs in the NFL forever.
If New England wasn’t already a place for players to avoid for taxes and weather...now they have two of the worst personality coaches in the NFL, two miserable SOBs who are stock footage/central casting of full-of-themselves high school football coaches. They can yell profanities at the players together for the next 2-3 years before they get swept out of New England. No coveted free agent with options would ever sign a deal with/step foot in New England.
If you’re a Midwest team with no established star QB and play outdoors/no dome...like Chicago, New England. Pittsburgh, Cleveland, New York...you either have to overpay a hot young offensive coach to come there...or you hire a ‘ball coach’ with a personality as miserable as the weather there to try to put a collection of grinders out there to grind, grinder players that are happy just to have NFL jobs mixed with rookies who got trapped to work there for a minimum 4-year sentence.
The future is not bright, at all, for New England.
The bad teams are getting 'badder', so far, this offseason.
-- It looks like Aaron Glenn is about to become the Jets head coach, speaking of coaching via profanity. But there is hope for Glenn above all these because he has some Dan Campbell leadership traits in him. Ben Johnson does not have any Dan Campbell in him...but Glenn has some. I have more hope for Glenn than Johnson, for the effect on the team/organization aspect...but I’m not holding my breath.
-- We’ll soon be down to DAL-JAX-LV-NO for the last HC job openings.
Liam Cohen is becoming the new Ben Johnson hot young coaching prospect...with Johnson off the market. It looks like he’s headed to Jacksonville, unless the Raiders get desperate and make him a huge offer.
The Saints may hone in on Mike McCarthy, leaving Las Vegas and Dallas as ‘open’.
Dallas will probably be last to choose, because then they have leverage over their weak candidates...the only head coaching job left for their terrible candidates to get...whichever ‘Stooge for Jerry’ that is ready for a big paycheck. Dallas doesn’t have to hurry because Jerry is running the show, so there is no ‘getting behind’, organizationally, as far as Jerry is concerned.
The Raiders...I don’t know what they are doing. Pete Carroll feels like a very odd choice. It’s a rebuild team...wouldn’t they want a young coach to rebuild with? I feel like Vegas may go with an unconventional option...possibly a name barely mentioned, or not mentioned at all until the end of the musical chairs seat selection/filling of jobs is about done.
-- Coming up on FFM today...
WSH-DET game report
Conf Round FF scoring projections
New scouting report in the eveningET
Senior Bowl positional preview scouting grades/ranks series
TUE 1/21/2025
(7:21amET)
-- Well, Ben Johnson did get a new job...to the Chicago Bears.
I think that’s a poor decision by Johnson. One of two things happened here, or both...and it’s all ‘bad news’ when trying to scout/get in the head of Ben Johnson.
Ben Johnson either...
1) Had multiple options and decided to choose the Bears over all of the options -- meaning he scouted Caleb as ‘great’, the QB who he wants to hitch his wagon to...and he also had to have liked/trusted GM Ryan Poles. Both ‘bad’/suspect decisions by Johnson.
2) He had no other real options...that the Bears were the only ones willing to pay/overpay and the Raiders and Jags bowed out or didn’t rush to make him an offer -- meaning he didn’t impress LV or JAX that much, just like he didn’t impress 2024 NFL Exec of the Year, the new Washington GM Adam Peters last year during the coaching carousel.
The next thing we’ll get to review on Johnson will be his intro press conference. I will definitely review that and tell you what I think.
Right now...and for the past week+...I got a bad feeling on Ben Johnson...that he might be a really nice O-C and weaker head coach material, like most of them are. Seeing who he fills his staff with will be another ‘tell’.
Now that Johnson is gone/off the market...it looks bleak, seemingly, for what remains for candidates.
My current guesses on the other open spots (my odds-on favorite listed first)...
DAL = Jason Witten or Kellen Moore...not sure Brian Schottenheimer rumors are legit, but not impossible.
JAX = Liam Cohen or Josh McCown
LV = Pete Carroll or Josh McCown
NO = Mike McCarthy or Aaron Glenn
NYJ = Aaron Glenn or Arthur Smith
-- OK, as of yesterday...the scouting reports are complete/posted for the four most asked about prospects for 2025 for the past 1-2-3 months (Shedeur, Cam, Hunter, Jeanty). Now, where do I go next?
The next one out is a curveball from a Ross Jacobs suggestion...a player I have not seen one second of play from. Tet McMillan won’t be far behind...a player many have as the #1 Dynasty Rookie Draft prospect for 2025, right now...over Ashton Jeanty.
This week, we’ll likely see the next scouting reports out on Wednesday and then Friday this week. As I work my way towards a regular flow of daily-ish full scouting reports. With the NFL playoffs going and the first four scouting reports being so high priority (and they took a lot of time to conduct/write)...so I’m backed up on to-do items while going through all the Senior Bowl preview stuff as well.
This week is almost my last week of being crushed by multiple football items all at the same time. Next week (1/27 week) is Senior Bowl week in Mobile, so we’ll cover that whole week and THEN it will be hard-core, daily-ish scouting reports focus on all the top prospects and prospects of my interest all the way up to the NFL Draft, and then beyond that we’re still doing scouting studies...panning for gold from the four corners of the globe. From February on will be scouting report-mania. It’s a process...building the scouting grades/boards and doing cross checks as the Combine and Pro Days unfold right up to the NFL Draft, and beyond.
The day-to-day dirty work of scouting that never ends in the offseason!
-- Coming up on FFM today...
Divisional Round playoff game report
Senior Bowl Preview positional report/rankings
Stash report update -- TUE or WED
=================
MON 1/20/25
(8:08amET)
-- Initial thoughts on LAR-PHI...
1) My heart got a little broken as I watched the Rams nearly pull off a minor miracle comeback, but they came up empty. Thus, we close the books on the Rams betting season 2024. 20 yards and what would have been a home playoff game this Sunday away from paying off the long shot bets on the Rams winning the NFC. We got close.
We can’t complain...we collected on them pretty nicely in 2024.
We now conduct our offseason studies to try to find out who our 2025 season Rams/24 version bet will be. So many things will happen between now and May (schedule release) bet time...I can’t even hazard a guess. The Rams bet was a perfect storm this offseason...and into the season start. Not sure there can be one, but there always seems to be one.
2) I hate to be the ‘I told you so...’ guy, but I did write the following lines in two different reports last week...
*I think Philly just has too much of a run game advantage and I have a premonition of Kyren Williams having a key fumble in this game, as he flirted with 2-3x last game...and had some struggles with all 2024 season on & off...the Eagles are just a bad matchup for LAR.
*I’m not gonna hold my breath for any reporting on how inefficient Kyren Williams (16-760, 3-16-0/3) ran this season because he posted a sad 4.11 yards per carry this season. Nor will I wait for any questioning of Kyren Williams’ five fumbles this season, four of them lost...had two other moments in this game where the ball came out/the team got it back but neither event was ruled a fumble...and he’s had more than a few of those type of fumble, not fumble...just ruled ‘down’ type moments this season.
Kyren Williams, more than any player or thing, cost the Rams a home playoff game this week...and cost me my final bets on the Rams for the 2024 season. I know the ball was slippery -- but that made it even more likely the bad fumble was gonna happen with him because he was susceptible. Just like my diet is ‘at risk’ the closer in proximity I am to a Crumbl cookie store.
3) I think Jalen Hurts is not going into this week’s game 100%...that knee issue could set in, but he has a week to get treatment on it. The Eagles sustained what may be some serious, playoff game altering injuries in this game. I kinda like the Commanders this week, first thought/reaction -- if/guessing ahead that those Philly injuries carry over.
4) I hit all the player Props that I bet in this game...which locked in the weekend as a positive ROI regardless of the Prop betting results of the later game. I didn’t bet much on this weekend, but it felt good to rinse away some of the butt kicking from last weekend’s Prop betting.
-- Initial thoughts on BAL-BUF...
1) Fall back to earth...
Lost every Prop bet here, which was essentially focused on Derrick Henry to catch 2 passes for 7 yards, and he dropped a 50+ yard TD pass on the first series and later dropped a second pass. Lovely. Dalton Kincaid doing nothing was the final nails in the coffin.
2) I had the weird feeling that Buffalo would win this game outright all week. I bet a minor amount on it. I instantly thought the same about this upcoming week, after this game finished...that Buffalo was gonna beat KC.
3) To push my 2024 season narrative that Jayden Daniels was already better than Lamar Jackson...Daniels is still alive in the playoffs, and Lamar is not. Lamar has never won a second game in a playoff run.
4) What might have been for Baltimore if Zay Flowers were healthy, and Diontae Johnson stayed sane.
5) How is it that suddenly Curtis Samuel is the Bills top ‘other’ WR (aside from #1 Shakir)...after a season of being ignored? And where has Amari Cooper gone? As a Bill, in his last 5 games, Amari has 4 games with 10 or fewer yards receiving. He meant absolutely nothing to them.
Round Two of the playoffs, the BIG trade deadline acquisitions...
Amari 0 catches, 1 target
DeAndre Hopkins 0 catches, 1 target
Diontae Johnson...cut by Baltimore, then cut by Houston, then claimed by Baltimore...inactive.
-- I did not go to Crumbl last week. I am trying to get on a diet, low carb. I resisted last week. This week...looks resistible, but there is one problem...
New this week:
A Jonas Brothers inspired cookie, which I like the celebrity inspired cookie idea. I’ll know I made it when I have my own cookie at Crumbl. A butter cookie with caramel cream cheese with caramel popcorn pieces. I dismissed this at first, but typing out the description...I’m wavering. I could get sucked into that.
Tres Leche cake Biscoff version...I LOVE Tres Leche, especially from Crumbl. I hate Biscoff. I’ve had this prior, and it was OK...but the Biscoff turns me away. Why is Biscoff suddenly in everything? Never heard or seen anyone talking about or eating a Biscoff cookie...now it’s mixed in ice cream concretes and Crumbl cookie offerings. Bravo to the Biscoff marketing team...but you’re no Oreo.
Strawberry Milk cookie...actually looks pretty good. Love a streusel based cookie.
The Brookie is back...not for me, half Choc Chip and half Brownie cookie. I get why it would be beloved, but I’m not a heavy chocolate lover.
Sugar Cookie with a frosted Circus Animal cookie topping. Had it before, not bad.
Peanut Butter cookie with Reese’s pieces. Doesn’t call out to me.
But the problem of the week...the thing that could suck me into a visit: Triple Berry Cobbler. The first time a cobbler (served warm) is being offered to my knowledge. House-made berry jam in-between layers of cinnamon streusel with vanilla bean mousse topping. Come on man...you’re killing me. My stomach is growing typing this out.
Here’s what it looks like: https://youtu.be/2qb-5cCgy2o?si=txFQeRxqwbmf-nNT
-- Coming Up on FFM today...
Div. playoff game report
Scouting Report tonightET: Ashton Jeanty
Senior Bowl preview series continues
