Category Archives: Dan’s Thoughts

Oh, was there Football on this week?

20 Tuesday Nov 2018

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Week 11 is now in the books (I miss saying that on the Podcast!) and before it even started, people were calling it the best week of the year so far, which I must say was a little offensive to a fan of a team who were on their Bye!

On a serious note though, it was an absolute cracker, and has put the cat amongst the pigeons again when it comes to the Pick’em competition! Considering he was leading the league going into the week, a score of just 4 points for my dad means he’s dropped to second and all three of us have really closed up going into week 12. Gee’s decision to put the colours of the blog on the line was an inspired choice! I hope he’s ready for an Aqua and Orange website (Fins up!). Lets just not mention Dad’s Trivia quiz!

So, to the action on the pitch and the thing which was most incredible was the fact that 11 of the 13 games this week finished with 5 or less points separating the teams. The big game of the week was on Monday night, in the relocated Mexico game, which saw the Chiefs face the Rams, both of whom went into the week with 9-1 records. A slight amount of shine was taken off it in the move back to LA, and even more in that the Seahawks beating the Packers on Thursday meant that a Rams win wouldn’t quite make them the first team to clinch a playoff berth, but the game itself didn’t disappoint.

While in truth, the Rams spent almost the entire game in the bigger half of the scoreboard, it was still an extremely exciting contest, and a late charge from the Chiefs very nearly saw them take the win. It finished 51-54, making it the highest scoring Monday Night game in history, and if you’ve not watched it yet, I’d seriously suggest going back and checking it out, even if you can just get access to the highlights, because lets be honest, there were a lot of them!

It was especially good if you’re a fan of the passing game. The game saw just shy of 900 passing yards, with either Tyreek Hill (215 yards), Travis Kelce (127 yards) or Brandin Cooks (107 yards) on the receiving end of nearly half of them. And there were even 8 sacks to be seen for the more defensively minded of you… I’m looking at you, Gee! [How you not mention Aaron Donald? He was immense in this game – Ed.] Oh, and it’s made my bet chart look like this:

Elsewhere, the Saints continued their absolute dominance of the NFC with a thumping victory by 48 points to 7 over the defending Super Bowl champions, and the Colts (of all people!) put on a footballing masterclass in their game over the Tennessee Titans on Sunday night.

All of these close results are showing themselves in some very close divisions as we go into the final stretch too. The NFC East is often a division which runs right into the final weeks, and this year looks to be no exception with 3 wins between the whole division. It’s at this time of year where we start looking at who might find themselves continuing their season into next year, and there are 5 teams all on 5-5, making a play for the final wildcard position in the AFC. I’m pleased to say that both my Dolphins and Gee’s Bengals are two of those teams. Looking at the fixtures coming up over the next 6 weeks, I’d rather be supporting the team in Black and Orange…

Current Conference Standings, courtesy of pro-football-reference.com

We’re treated to a number of early games this week with the Thanksgiving matches taking place on Thursday, which I know Gee will be happy about as he’ll be taking his annual Thanksgiving day off work, I’ve no doubt! [Yeup, although I am starting the day at the dentist… – Ed.} And I’m so ready for a Dolphins game again… I must be a glutton for punishment, I know.

So, who do you think is going to be playing well into the new year? Anyone who hasn’t been there for a while? And at the other end, who’ll end up propping up the league? Get in touch on Twitter and lets have a chat!

Until next time!

@TWFDan

Never has a team needed a Bye week so badly!

13 Tuesday Nov 2018

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We’re 10 weeks into a pretty good season now, and everyone’s left with just 6 or 7 games remaining. Bye weeks are often a bit of a distraction from football (even a pain in the arse if you’re running a fantasy football team!) but let me tell you – never have a team needed a Bye week more than the Dolphins do this coming weekend. Even last year when our Bye Week was effectively in week one due to the hurricane in Tampa, we didn’t look as beat up as we do now at any point during the season.

This week saw the Dolphins take a trip up-north to the frozen tundra that is Green Bay (ok, it’s not that bad, I know) and struggled to warm up all game. We went into the game battered and bruised, but with a surprising winning record, and unfortunately returned back to Miami even more battered, but without that winning record, so… not a great week if I’m honest!

As we know, Brock Osweiler has been under centre since Week 6 due to Ryan Tannehill’s injured shoulder, and he definitely didn’t have a good one this week. He was sacked 6 times for a loss of 50 yards throughout the game. Now, that wasn’t all his fault – the O-line was patchy at best, but what doesn’t help is his huge tell – when he’s under pressure, Brock always steps out to his right. Seriously, go back and watch the tape – he does it every single time. So the Packers knew that all they had to do was put some pressure on him down the middle, and then sweep him up after he rolled out to his right.

He’s also quickly running out of targets too. He was already without Albert Wilson (WR) and MarQueis Gray (TE) going into this one, but during the game, both Jakeem Grant and DeVante Parker left the field in a bad way with Leg and Shoulder problems respectively. Adding to that a shoulder issue for Kenyan Drake at Running Back, and it’s difficult to see where the points are going to come from. What I will say, is that Frank Gore is more than picking up the slack at the RB position, adding another 90 yards to his season tally on Sunday. [I have to add that at age 35 I find Gore’s productivity this season a feat that should be more celebrated – Ed.] And it’s not just on Offence we’re struggling – I commented on Sunday that I felt particularly bad for Bobby McCain (CB) who looks like he could have picked up a bad concussion. So, I think you can see why we badly need a week to heal up!

Strangely, we actually moved the ball fairly well. It was just the final product that we struggled with. I lost count of the number of times we got to within 10-15 yards [According to ESPN zero out of three red zone visits], but couldn’t finish it off. This lead to us only picking up 4 field goals during the game.

Here I go again, not giving our opponents the credit they deserved. The Packers looked good – it took them a little while to get going, but when they did, their game really came together. Aaron Jones (RB) was devastating, finding some huge holes in our Defence, including one especially long run at 67 yards. They fully deserved their win, and I don’t think anyone who watched that game would think anything otherwise.

What was really nice was connecting with an old school friend (and Cheesehead) Andy, now living in Australia while watching the game. He was surprised at how well the Green Bay Defence did, having had what he described as a ‘truly awful’ season to this point. The NFL really is a great connector!

I feel I’ve suitably rambled on about our game now, so lets have a look what happened elsewhere.

You’ll know by now that I have something of a fascination with the Kicking game. Well, Chicago kicker Cody Parker had a difficult week this week. Not only did he miss 2 extra points (something almost unthinkable a few seasons ago!), but also a couple of Field Goals, and all four hit the goalpost, which he couldn’t do again if he tried. I’ve said before that I feel for kickers as it doesn’t take many misses to find themselves on the chopping block, so I can’t imagine it’s a particularly nice week for him in training this week!

The Rams are marching on, with another win, making the Betting chart look like this:

They’re really making it look more and more like there’s a 2 horse race in the NFC. I caught the majority of the Bengals game this week, and while I will leave the majority of the coverage to Gee, in short, the Saints absolutely took them apart. It was a difficult watch to be honest, so I know how much Gee will have struggled with it.

And elsewhere in the pick’em competition, I’m 5 points away from Gee, and 6 from my Dad (I can’t even call it beginners luck for him this year!) which is annoying me. I feel like it’s too big a gap to catch at this late stage, but I’m sure there are some surprises still to come which may help me along.

But that’s it for me this week. Speaking of surprises, my Twitter topic this week will be surprise packages of the season – who’s not having the season that you expected them to have this year, good or bad? Drop me a line on Twitter and lets have a chat!

Until next time…

@TWFDan

Back To My Old Self!

06 Tuesday Nov 2018

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Firstly, I just want to say thank you to everyone who read my post last week – it was my highest viewed post since I’ve been contributing, but more importantly, it was REALLY cathartic to write.

With that said, I’m back to my old self this week, and luckily for you I’ve watched some football! Although, that’s a fairly loose term for what I saw during the Dolphins/Jets game on Sunday night. It was one of the most boring games I’ve watched for a long time, which was highlighted especially as I fell asleep while watching the game for 10 play clock minutes in the third quarter, and missed absolutely nothing! Seriously… I’ve been back and watched it… nothing happened!

That being said, I can imagine Gee would have found some positives in it. The Defences were both pretty strong, helped along by two particularly poor offences. Jets’ rookie quarterback Sam Darnold looked… well, very much like a Rookie. He seemed a bit off the boil, and very much a different player to the one I watched in the Away fixture in week 2. He definitely wasn’t helped by a Centre with a broken finger who was providing him with dud-snaps all game, but to throw 4 interceptions in one game is pretty unforgivable.

On the Miami Offence, one thing that baffled me a little was Frank Gore out snapping, and out running Kenyan Drake by 20 attempts to just 3! I’m not sure if there’s more to it than meets the eye here, but it’s a strange choice to allow the veteran 35 year old more carries than the up and coming potential future of the team’s Running Game who is just finding his feet in his third season in the league. Osweiler wasn’t great either. He’s said he wants to make it impossible for Adam Gase to put Ryan Tannehill back into the lineup when he returns to fitness, but if he wants to do that, he’s got to try a LOT harder when he has the opportunity – his deep passes over the last few weeks have been woefully poor, and his accuracy even at mid-range isn’t where it needs to be.

But, a win is a win as they say, and next week it’s on to… oh no… Green Bay.

Speaking of the Packers, they visited the Patriots on Sunday night [The clue is the big Gillette in the above photo – Ed.] , in what (barring an increasingly unlikely meeting at the Superbowl) looks like it’ll be the last meeting of the 12’s before Brady hangs up his cleats. It was a good game too and had a bit of everything including a nice trick play with Julian Edelman completing a pass for 37 yards. What is really encouraging is that Josh Gordon seems to be finding his feet in New England and is connecting well with Tom Brady. Especially nice to see given the knowledge of his off-field problems which have hindered much of his career.

Elsewhere, the Rams took their first loss of the season, meaning there are now no unbeaten teams. They’ve done well to get this far though to be fair, and the Saints are looking equally good in recent weeks. We could very easily see this being a pre-cursor to the NFC Championship game in January – you heard it here first people! Oh, and that had a slightly negative impact on my bet too, which means the chart now looks like this…

I don’t think Gee or I have mentioned yet that London will be hosting 4 games next year, between Wembley and the new Tottenham stadium. Good news all round, I think. There’s only 3 teams who are yet to play in London, so I would expect at least 2 of the Packers, Panthers and Texans to make the trip over the pond. Selfishly, I really hope the Dolphins come over again, but assuming there are no teams playing here more than once next year, a quarter of the league will be visiting London, which is great! This year’s games were a really good advert for the league too, and caused a lot of people to catch games who wouldn’t normally… although most people seem just to be talking about the toll that 3 games in 3 weeks had on the Wembley turf!

What’s your favourite game that we’ve seen over here in London? And what’s your usual pre-match routine when you visit Wembley? Get in touch on Twitter, and lets have a chat!

Until next time…

@TWFDan

Whatever your sport… it’s a bit irrelevant really isn’t it?

30 Tuesday Oct 2018

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This is going to be a tough one, and I’m going to go off topic. Stick with me guys…

The football started early for me this week, with the Dolphins taking part in Thursday Night football in a fairly convincing win for the Texans. Brocktober is well and truly over, and his performance against the Bears a few weeks back feels like a hell of a long way away now! Hardly surprising when you look at how broken the Dolphins Offence is, and how powerful the Texans Defence can be. It’s never fun coming up against JJ Watt, but that’s especially true when you’re as banged up as Miami. And just like that, we’re at 4-4. Middle of the road. Standard Dolphins.

And that’s about all of the football I managed to watch this weekend, mainly because of something which happened on Saturday night which made it just all feel so… irrelevant.

If you’ve been following the Blog and Pod for some time, you’ll know that outside of the NFL, I’m a huge Leicester City fan (and you probably now know what way this post is going to go!). I’ve been a season ticket holder for the last 10 years and have seen some incredible highs, but Saturday night was one of the lowest and worst experience of my life as a football fan.

You won’t have escaped the news of the death of our owner and Chairman Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha, along with the two pilots and two other passengers.

Saturday started off OK – I went down to the King Power stadium and watched Leicester draw with West Ham. Not fantastic, but it’ll do. But then about half an hour after I got home from the game, I started hearing reports of an accident down at the ground. An accident which involved the Owner of our club’s Helicopter. And apparently, it was on fire outside the stadium after having lost control after takeoff, going into a spin and hitting the ground.

At first you think “well, that’s got to be over exaggerated” and you assume everyone managed to get out. But then we saw the footage, and it was truly heartbreaking. The helicopter had been a regular feature in and around the ground (I live very close so used to see it flying around fairly often) and it was well known that the owner and other dignitaries used it as a taxi after every game to take them back to London. The collective hearts of all Leicester City fans stopped at the sight of it on the news, as we had a good idea who would be on board.

As news started filtering through, it became clear that Vichai would be among the deceased, and I’ve been pretty distracted and emotional ever since. I took a walk down to the stadium on Sunday afternoon to pay my respects and was met with hundreds of fellow fans and an incredibly somber mood. But what struck me wasn’t just the sense of feeling around the place, but the vast spread of people who were there paying respect – not just Leicester City fans, but fans of Nottingham Forest, Derby, Leeds, Liverpool… it was clear that the whole of football had been shaken by this tragedy. And in fact, not even just fans of football – people who had no interest in football but had been touched by his incredible generosity outside of the game were there too.

That shouldn’t have surprised me when I think back to it. Vichai was one of the most incredibly generous people to have passed through Leicester. He and his family donated literally millions to Leicester’s hospitals (in particular through their Children’s charity), Universities and the city itself. During his time at the football club, he wrote off over £100million in debts as a personal gift to the club. He bought our stadium so we we are no longer paying rent to a developer. He spent millions and millions on the squad, signed off on a huge new training facility, and the fans and people of Leicester loved him for it.

Let’s not forget that it was under his stewardship that we did the unthinkable, overcoming all odds to win the Premier League. For those of you who aren’t football fans, that’s like the Jets winning the super bowl! (Sorry Ryan, I had to lighten this up somehow!).

And it wasn’t just the big things – he was also responsible for buying every fan a beer on his birthday, Mince pies at Christmas, Bacon Sandwiches for breakfast and Scarves for people making long trips to Away games, and he even arranged for a bottle of Whiskey and glasses to be left in the Memorial Garden at the King Power stadium on match days for people to have a toast to their lost friends and family (something that I’d seen many times and always wondered who left it there).

It’s truly incredible when you think about it. How many other clubs owners have given so much to the fans and local community, and made such a connection? I don’t know how we got so lucky! I’m not sure Mike Ashley has given the Newcastle fans as much as a bad cold!

He and his son Aiyawatt (known to us fans as ‘Top’) were also amazingly ambitious. When they signed Kasper Schmeichel in 2011, they told him they wanted to be in the Champions League within 6 years, at a time when we were struggling to break out of the Championship’s mid table. When we first went up into the Premier League, they said to the press that they’d be in the Champions League within 3 years, and despite how ludicrous it sounded at the time, look what happened!

As you can hopefully see, I feel quite indebted to this man, and I’ve been gutted since Sunday evening when his passing was officially announced. But for the club, life will go on. Hopefully, when he feels ready, we’ll see Top take over as chairman and keep his father’s legacy alive. It’s a legacy that all of us as fans want to make sure is fulfilled and we owe it to him to do anything we can to make sure it does. There’s talk of a statue, or of the stadium being renamed, but whatever happens, Vichai and his contribution to our club and our city will live on forever.

Thank you, Khun Vichai. Rest in peace.

Until next time (when I promise I’ll be more cheerful, or your money back!)

Going for 2!

24 Wednesday Oct 2018

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We’re almost exactly half way through the season now for those teams who haven’t yet had their Bye week, which quite frankly is crazy. It doesn’t seem like 10 minutes since the beginning of the season. And to think that Gee and I are neck-and-neck in the pick-em competition after 7 weeks is equally crazy!

The Dolphins didn’t do all that well this week against the Lions. Brock did a sterling job against Chicago, and while he didn’t have the worst game I’ve seen, he wasn’t quite the same player as we saw in Week 6. What is becoming apparent though is just how broken our team is. It was well documented a few weeks ago how short we were on the Offensive line, but with Tannehill also out (and looking shakier by the minute), and some serious problems at Wide Receiver too (Albert Wilson’s been put on IR, Kenny Stills has missed some practice, and Danny Amendola is listed as ‘Questionable’ for this weeks trip to Texas) it means our whole offence is being held together with plasters. On top of that, apparently we’re looking to offload De’vante Parker for a third round Draft pick too, and with less than a week left before the trade deadline, it’s a shaky time for us Dolfans.

I realise I’m not giving Detroit the credit they deserve at this point. Matthew Stafford’s team looked very good, and fully deserved the win. They looked very comfortable, putting up over 240 yards of rushing offence together, and led all the way through. And all of a sudden, from being ridiculously optimistic, Miami are now at 4-3. Don’t get me wrong, it’s still a winning record to this point, and being brutally honest, 4 games was as many as I thought we’d win all season going into this season, but it feels like a massive letdown from where we were a few weeks ago.

So what happened elsewhere… ah yes, the London game! This was a game which was absolutely made for Gee and his defensive obsession! I must say, it was well up there as one of the best Wembley games I think there has been. For those who haven’t seen it, I’d really recommend going back and watching at least the highlights. The game went down to pretty much the final play, and Tennessee came SO close to picking up the Win. It was a ballsy call by their head coach to go for 2 points at the end when they quite easily could have taken it to overtime and had another go. Personally, it’s not a call I would have made, and a lot of people were very critical of the move (including Bruce Arians who was CBS’s analyst for the game).

Another thing which will have made Gee happy this week will have been the number of Safeties which clocked up at 3. I won’t go into this too much as I know Gee will be all over it, but if you’re watching a game at the weekend and see a Safety occur, make sure you tweet me (@TWFDan) and Gee (@WrongFootball) using the hashtag #TWFSafeties so Gee can properly track them for his increasingly detailed records!

The Rams are still unbeaten, following another victory – this week a convincing win against San Francisco. Which means my betting tracker looks a bit like this:

We’ll see the third and final London game this week when the Eagles host (sort of) the Jaguars in a game which was very nearly last year’s Super Bowl. Should be a corker of a game!

And finally, I’ve just taken delivery of a load of new Dolphins merch today which has made me happy! I found a website called Fanatics UK who have the best range of NFL gear I’ve seen this side of the Atlantic Ocean. I promise this isn’t a sponsored post by the way – just a friendly recommendation… although if the good people at Fanatics fancy sending me some free stuff, I’m open to that!!

But what’s the best piece of NFL Merch you own? And how about the oldest? Drop me a line on Twitter – I’d love to see some photos of your haul!

Until next time…

@TWFDan

It must be love… love, love!

17 Wednesday Oct 2018

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Week 6 is now in the books, and it was a bit of a strange one for me. This was the first week of the season where I couldn’t watch any of the games Live on Sunday because of prior arrangements, and it reminded me just how much I like my Sunday night routines during the season. I couldn’t completely concentrate on what I was doing because I knew that Football was happening at the same time, and I suppose that’s how you know you love something… even if it is a sport!

So, what was I missing? Well, the Dolphins managed to overcome a bit of an injury crisis to get back to winning ways. Gee and I exchanged texts on Sunday evening when it became clear that Ryan Tannehill was going to be spending the game on the sidelines while Brock Osweiler was under centre, and we both came to the conclusion that Miami had no chance… (Quote at 1 hour before Kickoff: “I’m sorry for your loss”). And while they made hard work of it, and it took an overtime Field Goal to settle it, they managed to grind it out.

Image – Yahoo Sports

Brock was clearly the surprise of the team, but it was fantastic to see Albert Wilson pick up another impressive 43 yard touchdown which saw him make almost every one of those yards after the catch – believe it or not, he’s actually the league leader for Yards after Catch this year so far. He’s been really impressive this year. What the Dolphins badly needed was someone to step up to the plate and replace Jarvis Landry, and it really feels like he’s done that.

Speaking of Mr Landry, his team struggled a bit. The Browns have done quite well at keeping themselves in games and even picking up a couple of wins along the way, but they didn’t look good this week. I thought they’d do ok, but the Chargers proved far too much for them and came away with the win.

Elsewhere in that division, I felt for Gee and his Bengals. I can absolutely sympathise with him and his exasperation at the thought of another loss to their divisional rivals having experienced it almost every time we’ve played the Patriots in the last 10 years! There is an up side though. It was close, and the Bengals are still join top of the AFC North with over a third of the season gone. Admit it Gee, it’s a better position than you thought you’d be in at the beginning of the season! [I wasn’t brave enough for a full on prediction before the season, but I’d have definitely taken a share of the division lead if was offered. – Ed.]

Image: @NFLUK on Twitter

It was the first of this year’s Wembley games this week too, and I don’t half feel for the Oakland fans in attendance. I was there last year when the Saints gave the Dolphins a pasting (it finished 20-0, but I had to look that up, as the memory of most of that day has been repressed!) and I can tell you — it don’t feel good! Another record crowd was in attendance, and there will be no empty seats in North London for the next two Sundays either. The growth in popularity of our great sport doesn’t only show in the stadium attendances and the multiple ‘My first NFL Game’ posts I see on Facebook and Instagram each year (because I’m down with the kids), but also in people talking about it at work. I’ve genuinely had 3 people this week already come up to me at work who all know of my passion for American football and tell me that they watched the game on Sunday. I think having 3 games in consecutive weeks is brilliant too, because people who watched and enjoyed this game will give it a go again this weekend, and get to see another couple of teams, and who knows, they may even pick themselves a team to follow (although I’d save that until the following week if you’re going to do that)!

The Rams are still unbeaten, which as you’ll imagine, was good for my season’s bet, as you’ll see below:

And I managed 9 points in pick’em too, which was the best I’ve done since week one – happy days!

And that’s about it for this week. Week 7 to come and there’s some good games too. The Chargers and Titans will be on their way to London as I type, but will you be making your way to Wembley too? And I’d be really interested to hear about your game day routines too with me missing mine last week! Lets have a chat on Twitter.

Until next week…

@TWFDan

Week 5 – the Week of the Kicker

10 Wednesday Oct 2018

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We’re well over a quarter of the way through the season now – seems far too early for that to be the case, but it is! There are two teams still undefeated, and unfortunately, since I last wrote, the Dolphins are no longer one of them.

I won’t go into the Patriots game, as I’ve somewhat moved on since that drubbing, but what will take me a while to get over is the loss in this year’s ‘Wrong Football Bowl’ against the Bengals. When I was messaging Gee on Sunday night, I used the word ‘Angry’ to discuss how I felt about how things went down, and while there’s definitely an element of that, 24 hours removed from the game, I think it’s more a feeling of disappointment and one of being more than a little let down.

So for those of you who don’t know, the Dolphins went 17-0 up just after half time, and with the help of one pick six and one returned fumble TD, the Bengals scored 27 unanswered points and won the game. Yes, there are definite positives in how the Dolphins are doing things, but it’s seriously frustrating to give up a 3 score lead in less than a half of football. I’ve seen a lot of people on twitter putting the blame squarely at Tannehill, and it’s easy to see why. Where in the last few weeks he has been making some great throws, this week he seemed a bit clumsy, was taking too many risks, and held onto the ball too long at times. But for me, the injury to Tunsil was more of a turning point – when he went off, he was replaced with rookie Sam Young, who really struggled to give Tannehill the time in the pocket that he needed. [It also doesn’t help that Tunsil is the third offensive linemen of the Dolphins to pick up an injury – Ed.]

Also, too many 3rd and Long situations… that’s never good.

On the plus side, the run game was pretty good again this week, and Jakeem Grant is just born to return kicks, which is always useful. And I must say, all of this takes nothing away from the Bengals, who had a great second half – I know Gee was worried specifically about the absence of Tyler Eifert, but he didn’t need to be on this performance. Oh well, to paraphrase Boring Bill, it’s on to Chicago next week!

But enough about the Dolphins, what has been happening elsewhere? Well, one thing that caught my eye was the situation in the Blue half of New York where the Giants haven’t had the start to the season that they wanted, and now sit at 1-4. Before this week though, Odell Beckham was asked about how he felt about things – more specifically the Quarterback situation. He said that he ‘didn’t know’ if there was a problem under centre, which of course meant that some facets of the media decided that they hated each other. During their game this week though, Mr Beckham got chance to show what he could do with the ball and threw a 57 yard Touchdown! They lost the game in the end, courtesy of a last second Panthers field goal, but keeping it close will have helped their confidence a little.

For those of you who have followed us for a while, you’ll know that I have a lot of respect for the kickers of the league, so I can’t really sign off this week’s post without at least a brief look at Mason Crosby in Green Bay. He’s missed a few crucial kicks over the last couple of weeks, including 2 potential game winners against the Vikings the other week, but this weekend he missed a PAT and 4 Field Goals… I’ve mentioned it before, but the world of the kicker is a cut-throat one, and it often doesn’t take much for a kicker to find themselves on the sharp end of the cut. With figures like this, I worry that it won’t be long before he’s out of a job, so lets keep an eye on the situation there.

And on a similar note, I almost missed the opportunity to bring up Graham Gano’s incredible 63 yard field goal winner for the Panthers – amazing to think kickers can make them from that far out!

Oh yes, and you’ve not had an update on my LA Rams Super Bowl bet for a couple of weeks have you! Don’t let me hold you back any longer…

I’ve had chance to watch a couple of their games recently, and I am REALLY impressed! I couldn’t think of a better team to have my money on at the minute which is always a positive.

But who is your money on? What odds would you give your team of making the Super Bowl this year after 5 weeks? Give me a shout on Twitter and lets have a chat!

Until next time…

@TWFDan

High-fives All Round!

26 Wednesday Sep 2018

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So, we’re three weeks into the season now, and things are starting to spice up a bit!

Where to start this week? Suppose I’ll start with the Dolphins as is traditional. I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but we’re 3-0 – how on earth did that happen?! We’ve not looked overwhelmingly fantastic this year so far, but have been doing enough to win games, which I suppose is all that matters. With only one of our first three opponents going into Week 4 with a winning record (the Titans, if you’re asking), the Patriots this week are going to be a real test.

Performance-wise, it was a bit of a mixed bag. Tannehill and his receiving team seem to be on the same page and working well together, and a special mention this week has to go to Albert Wilson for not only taking the QB role in a trick play touchdown, but also managing to run in a 74 yard touchdown which won us the game – if he doesn’t get a Madden Team of the Week card in Ultimate Team this week, I’ll be very disappointed.

On the other side of the ball though, the Defence weren’t as good as they have been for the first two weeks. Some of that’s down to injury (and ejection!) meaning the line were taking a lot more reps than they would usually have in the Florida sun, but we’ll have to wait and see how they pick up next week.

Elsewhere, there were some comings and goings at the QB position – it was Carson Wentz’ first game since his mid-season injury last year, and he wasted very little time in getting back into the swing of things. That’s hardly surprising though given that the reports coming out of Philadelphia suggested he was keeping deeply ingrained in the foundations of the team during his absence, and was frequently seen as the Eagles biggest fan in their run up to the Super Bowl. Bit harsh on Nick Foles though, I must say. He’s not done too badly this year so far but it’s clear they feel that Wentz is their Franchise QB for years to come, so it makes sense to bring him back.

Jimmy G though has gone the other way. He came off mid-game on Sunday with an injury which has turned out to be an ACL tear officially ruling him out for the rest of the season. I’m really disappointed about this – he was such an energising force for the 49ers at the end of last season (who remembers how badly they were doing before he joined?!) and while it hadn’t completely carried over into this season, he won’t be playing any further part this year.

Oh hang on, how have I got this far into this week’s post without mentioning the BROWNS?! The fans in Cleveland woke up on Friday feeling like it was Christmas morning… not least because the last time they woke up after a win it WAS Christmas Day… in 2016! (Note – I cant take credit for this. Neil Reynolds pointed this out on twitter the other day!). I’m really pleased for Browns fans. I don’t think they’ll get too many wins this year, but they seem to be in a much better place than they have been.

Betting update:

At what point should it get tempting to cash out?! The Rams are now showing themselves as the actual favourites for the Super Bowl this year (according to bet365 anyway!) but it is of course still early days!

Oh, and less said about picks and fantasy the better – stupidly, after sending my picks to Gee, I think I forgot to actually submit them, and as a result, it didn’t register, so this week I’m very thankful to Gee for being the organised member of the team who keeps spreadsheets of this kind of thing! I take back everything I said last week when I was rubbing in the fact I was beating him (although… I think I still am!). [We are in fact level after three weeks -Ed.]

How are your team doing so far this year? Is anyone particularly surprising you so far? Drop me a line on twitter and lets have a chat!

This time next week, I’ll be in Dubai with Mrs. B celebrating our anniversary, so my Dad will be filling my shoes and making his picks for the week against Gee. Be gentle on him – he’s a Vikings fan so hasn’t finished scratching his head over how they managed to lose to the Bills!

Speak to you in a couple of weeks…

@TWFDan

Woah Woah Woah Fitzmagic!

18 Tuesday Sep 2018

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Well, we’re two weeks into the season now, and I have to say it’s been pretty exciting so far! I’m not sure how much of that is to do with the Dolphins being at 2-0, but I’m trying to keep my feet on the ground in remembering that last time we went 2-0 (in 2013, if you’re asking) we ended up at 8-8. That being said, it’s always nice to pick up a win over the Jets… least of all so I can rub it in to my Jet supporting friend who is affectionately saved in my phone as ‘Flash Gordon’.

Anyway, I think we all got a new hero this week in the form of Ryan Fitzpatrick…

Image Credit – NFL.com

It’s brilliant to see someone enjoying their football (and the spotlight it’s bringing!), especially when you look at the journey he’s had around the league – he’s now at his 7th franchise since he joined the league in 2005. And as well as he’s played in the last 2 weeks, there’s a very real chance that in a couple of weeks time, he’ll find himself teeing up kicks and sitting on the bench once Jameis Winston returns. Personally, I think that would be very harsh, but you just know that once they get their big name back, even if he doesn’t go immediately back into the lineup, it won’t take much of a drop in form for Fitzpatrick to be replaced.

Heading over to the AFC, one of the strangest pieces of news coming out of the league this weekend was the retirement of Bills cornerback Vontae Davis. Now, that isn’t all that strange a story in itself, but the fact that it came at Half Time in their game against the Chargers that caused it to be such a talking point. The 2x Pro Bowler says that reality hit him hard during the first half and as a result, he informed his coaches of his decision, and quietly left the stadium.

How does everyone feel about that? Personally, I’m on the side of his team mates who have said that they feel it was a ‘disrespectful’ move – for me, the least he could have done was to either see out the game, or tell his coaches about his decision, but still head out to the sidelines to be part of the team to see things through. That being said, we don’t know how the conversation went and what was decided above his head. It does go to show though how much of a mess they’re in in Buffalo – I don’t think anyone thought they’d have a season up to the same level as last year, but we certainly didn’t expect them to look this bad!

Image Credit – tmz.com

Elsewhere, the Patriots have a new target for Tom Brady in the form of former Brown Josh Gordon. In what was a bit of an unexpected move, Cleveland announced on Saturday that they were going to be cutting Gordon on Monday, and within hours of that cut taking place, he was signing for Bill Belichick’s crew. I’m not sure how I feel about this. With all of the personal problems that he’s faced over the last few years, it’s difficult not to feel his head perhaps wasn’t ‘in it’ in Cleveland, but that throws up its own questions over his commitment to New England – although I’m sure they discussed that at length with him before signing. As the story goes, he turned up to training late last week, and injured a hamstring while taking part in a photo-shoot. I think we all want to know that he’s well in himself, and hopefully this fresh start works out well for him.

Moving onto matters closer to home, our Fantasy team did pretty poorly this week. I struggled to get a decent replacement Running Back for Marshawn Lynch who looked like he was going to be out injured, so while I left him on the bench, he ended up not only playing but putting up some decent numbers too – none of which I benefited from of course, so we’re now 0-2!

And there’s been some exciting developments with the LA Rams Bet…

Cash out has finally moved up from the initial £5 I put on, and they’re now second favourites on bet365 to win the ‘Bowl this year! Early days yet, I know…!

Oh, and I’ve just realised that I now have this platform to brag about my picking success which I didn’t have last year! I very much doubt he’ll mention it [A slur on my character that I have taken note of – Ed.] but Gee is now bottom of the Pigskin Pickem table. That being said, my Dad is beating us both not only in Trivia (Gee and I are both 0-2 after this week!) but he’s also top of Pick’em, which I must say, he is loving.

So it’s over to you – Which games are you looking forward to this week? How do you think Josh Gordon will fit in in Foxborough? Let’s have a chat on Twitter!

Until next time…

@TWFDan

Great Start To The Season… Except For Our Fantasy Team!

12 Wednesday Sep 2018

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Ok, it’s Tuesday which means it’s Blogging time for me! I’m just back from watching a boring England side in ‘the Other Football’ beat Switzerland in a boring friendly… such a comedown from a great weekend of NFL!

Where to start? Well, the Dolphins I suppose! Good win for the fins this week against a battered and bruised Tennessee Titans – this despite two weather related game breaks meaning the game which started at 6pm over here in England went on to finish just after 1:20am on Monday morning! It’s a good job my boss knows why I’m always knackered on Mondays during the season. On a serious note, I was impressed by Miami – we looked renewed which was nice, and special mentions have to go to Frank Gore and Kenyan Drake (who I can see running through some dirty great holes in defences this year), a debuting Minkah Fitzpatrick (who made some critical defensive stops) and Ryan Tannehill who looked fresh returning from Injury.

Speaking of which, there were a few QBs coming back this week. I got to see some of Deshaun Watson for the Texans and Andrew Luck for the Colts. It won’t be long before Watson is back to his best, but Andrew Luck is going to struggle if his line let him get hit as much as he did by the Bengals in the coming weeks.

Image Credit – nypost.com

Honourable QB mentions should also go to Aaron Rodgers, who lead his team to an incredible comeback victory even with an injured leg, after being down by more than 20 points, and Ryan Fitzpatrick who threw over 400 yards and got himself a couple of touchdowns in the process – hands up who had him in their fantasy team? …anyone?? If he carries on like that, Jamies Winston will struggle to get back in when his suspension is up.

The Browns did the most Brownsy thing they possibly could and when attempting a medium range kick to win their game with the Steelers in overtime, managed to get it blocked and come away with a tie. It means they definitely won’t go 0-16 this year but it would have been nice of them to get one in the W column in a divisional game week one. Le’veon Bell will have been a keen spectator of that game, having not travelled with Pittsburgh for this one due to his ongoing contractual hold-out. I can’t see him leaving the Steelers, but some of their key players will be knocking on management’s door this week trying to get a deal done and get him back in yellow and black.

Image Credit – CBS Sports

And my early pick for the Super Bowl, the Rams, managed a good win on Monday too. Not managed to watch that game yet but I’ll pick that up in the next few days. So, “how’s the odds chart looking Dan?” I hear you cry! Well, like this, I reply:

Odds are down to 10-1 after week one actually making them third favourites – level with the Eagles and behind only the Vikings and the Patriots. Not bad after one game!

The Wrong Football fantasy team didn’t manage to get off to a winning start unfortunately, beaten by 192.5 to 183.4. This disappoints me having gone unbeaten with the ‘Suh Tang Clan’ 2 years ago (I might have mentioned it once or twice on the pod…!!). I’ll be wheeling and dealing in the market this week as I was too late to pick up a good Running back off waivers and Lynch is questionable. The full team looks something like this:

Feedback welcomed, but I can’t promise to listen!!

Anyway, before I go this week, quick shout to Darren Butler (@darrenbutler87) who gave me a great little bit of trivia this week which I wanted to share with you…

“For three years between 1983 and 1986 the Heisman Trophy Winner was not drafted by an NFL Franchise, with all three opting to join the USFL spring series instead.”

Lovely little stat that! In the spirit of our trivia competition, if you’ve got a good bit of NFL trivia to share (useless or otherwise – the more ‘pub knowledge’ the better!) drop me a tweet @TWFDan and you may get a mention here next week!

That’s all for now. Until next time…

@TWFDan