The Patriots are the NFL's best team (or at worst, the second best), but I'll tell you this, Tom Brady has regressed. He is not long for this NFL world. He may want to play until he's 45, but he won't be able to. The signs are already there, with him having easily his worst season in a long time, with teh normally impregnable Patriots offense slipping to mediocrity - bouyed by a suddenly historically good defense, of course.
And you know what, at the same time the Brady era seems to ptoetnailly be nearing its close (and I can't restate this enough, they very, very easily could still win the Superbowl this year), I've never been more excited to be an NFL fan in a long time. The Brady era is over, but with it the Ben, and Rivers and nearly Rodgers and others as well. This is the era with Russell Wilson as the old fogey, and the guys like Mahomes, Watson, Jackson, Wentz, Dak and others leading the future - and a damn bright future it is. Particularly in teh AFC, the conference that sat dormant letting the Patriots dominance actually end up more stark in the 2010s than it was in the 2000s.
The NFL is in a great place at the moment. It doesn't seem as unbalanced as a few years. Maybe it is, of course, because we have a couple of historic defenses, but this season has been great. No more than this past week. I thought it set-up well with three great primetime games and all three delivered. You had the Raiders holding on to a 26-24 win in their last primetime game in Oakland. Then the Vikings and Cowboys in a thriller down to the wire, and finally that incredible, bonkers Seahawks 49ers game, which showed so many ills for the 49ers (especially Jimmy G who just isn't that good right now) but still showed them win because their defense was dominant.
Yes the game nearly ended in a tie, but that too was reminiscent of one of my weirdly favorite games of recent years, the Seahawks 6-6 tie against Arizona in 2016 (yes, I am fully serious). That game was fascinating, with dominant DL play, great individual defense, superhuman scrambles by Russell Wilson, the throttling of a 'conventional' QB in Garoppolo. All of it.
That is what the NFL can be in 2019, and it sets us up for a great second half. No undefeated teams. Scores in the two to three loss range, that are all quite capable if not perfect. That's good. perfection isn't fun. The ruthless beat of the Patriots drum is boring. The AFC has been boring for a decade now (or at least a half-decade, since Manning retired). The NFC has often been about which of the many qualified teams get a chance to beat Goliath - and most came close, if not doing so in the 2011 Giants and 2017 Eagles. It feels different this time.
It's interesting to note that all the best QBs of the year with few exceptions are African-American (or half, in Mahomes's or Wilson's case), but other than maybe Lamar Jackson, they are succeeding because they are also dominant pocket and oin the move passers. These aren't gimmick schemes stolen from college, this is the real deal, and it is so fun.
It has been an awful decade if you like parity or not seeing half the league beholden to a soulless, dominant team of Massholes, but there is finally a light at the end of the tunnel here.
And you know what, at the same time the Brady era seems to ptoetnailly be nearing its close (and I can't restate this enough, they very, very easily could still win the Superbowl this year), I've never been more excited to be an NFL fan in a long time. The Brady era is over, but with it the Ben, and Rivers and nearly Rodgers and others as well. This is the era with Russell Wilson as the old fogey, and the guys like Mahomes, Watson, Jackson, Wentz, Dak and others leading the future - and a damn bright future it is. Particularly in teh AFC, the conference that sat dormant letting the Patriots dominance actually end up more stark in the 2010s than it was in the 2000s.
The NFL is in a great place at the moment. It doesn't seem as unbalanced as a few years. Maybe it is, of course, because we have a couple of historic defenses, but this season has been great. No more than this past week. I thought it set-up well with three great primetime games and all three delivered. You had the Raiders holding on to a 26-24 win in their last primetime game in Oakland. Then the Vikings and Cowboys in a thriller down to the wire, and finally that incredible, bonkers Seahawks 49ers game, which showed so many ills for the 49ers (especially Jimmy G who just isn't that good right now) but still showed them win because their defense was dominant.
Yes the game nearly ended in a tie, but that too was reminiscent of one of my weirdly favorite games of recent years, the Seahawks 6-6 tie against Arizona in 2016 (yes, I am fully serious). That game was fascinating, with dominant DL play, great individual defense, superhuman scrambles by Russell Wilson, the throttling of a 'conventional' QB in Garoppolo. All of it.
That is what the NFL can be in 2019, and it sets us up for a great second half. No undefeated teams. Scores in the two to three loss range, that are all quite capable if not perfect. That's good. perfection isn't fun. The ruthless beat of the Patriots drum is boring. The AFC has been boring for a decade now (or at least a half-decade, since Manning retired). The NFC has often been about which of the many qualified teams get a chance to beat Goliath - and most came close, if not doing so in the 2011 Giants and 2017 Eagles. It feels different this time.
It's interesting to note that all the best QBs of the year with few exceptions are African-American (or half, in Mahomes's or Wilson's case), but other than maybe Lamar Jackson, they are succeeding because they are also dominant pocket and oin the move passers. These aren't gimmick schemes stolen from college, this is the real deal, and it is so fun.
It has been an awful decade if you like parity or not seeing half the league beholden to a soulless, dominant team of Massholes, but there is finally a light at the end of the tunnel here.
