Cam's QB contact complaints lead Week 9 in the NFL
Beginning with the season’s kickoff game, one recurring drama of this NFL season is officials declining to flag defenders for illegal hits made on Cam Newton while he’s attempting to pass. For what it’s worth there was one penalty assessed on a defender for an illegal hit in that Week 1 game, though it was offset by a penalty by Carolina on the play.
It finally got to be enough for Cam on Sunday, after being hit low illegally on a few occasions, most egregiously by Calais Campbell deep in Cardinals territory. Cam said that the game has lost its fun and that he doesn’t feel safe.
Newton was calling for a meeting with NFL commissioner Roger Goodell. Before that could happen, the league got busy with some PR spin to friendly outlets, like Pro Football Talk, which reported that the NFL would contend that since 2013, 11 quarterbacks have been on the wrong end of uncalled roughing the passer penalties more often than Cam Newton.
Many quickly noted that it was funny for the league to frame it that way, because if you just focus on the past two seasons, then things look far worse for them when it comes to how Cam is being officiated. By Tuesday afternoon, the meeting had already reportedly taken place, though no one knows exactly what was said. Presumably another hollow vow for the league to do better.
Meanwhile the hot take artisans are taking this as Cam Newton broadcasting a sign of weakness because he didn’t feel safe. On ESPN, Jim Kelly agreed with Cam’s assessment of calls, though bemoaned present-day passers complaining about safety when the guys of his year didn’t enjoy the same protections while occasionally playing on turf that might as well have been concrete. There’s some validity to that, but it’s very much beside the point. Just because Jim Kelly played in the NFL dark ages doesn’t mean Cam can’t complain about uncalled penalties or that he’s exposing himself by doing so.
In all likelihood, the NFL will have officials look more closely while Cam is playing for potential infractions to avoid further appearance of bias against him. Ray Lewis would have you believe that Cam’s comments will expose him to aggressive defenders, which might hold up if Cam Newton weren’t a quarterback that always seeks out contact in the open field. He simply wants to know that potentially crippling illegal hits made on him in the pocket might be properly penalized.
If that’s a problem for Ray Lewis, then it’s good he’s a thing of the past.
Brian Baldinger and his finger won’t punditing for a while
Prior to Sunday night’s Eagles-Cowboys game, NFL Network analyst Brian Baldinger went on Philadelphia sports radio, a font of reasonable thought if ever there was one, and aired his thoughts on the upcoming game, including the suggestion that the Eagles should put a bounty on Cowboys running back Ezekiel Elliott. Well, Elliott did end up hurting the Eagles pretty bad in the game, but I’m afraid bounties are most definitely a thing of the past in the NFL. And if they’re not, the league most certainly will not put up with an analyst employed
Don’t eat your fractured rib, Wade
The Broncos defensive coordinator got through a nasty collision with Melvin Gordon on the sideline Sunday not much worse for the wear. Wade was carted off in a scary scene, yet here we are four days later and he’s got the strength to compare his injury to eating barbecue. Do we think he’s actually had barbecue since going to the hospital or has it needed to be liquified and drank through a straw?
Belichick traded Jamie Collins so he’s actually bad now
Well-reputed Bill Belichick crony and jilted former Browns executive Mike Lombardi this week did the hard work of trying to convince everyone that Belichick was obviously right to deal linebacker Jamie Collins to the Browns for a third-round pick. Even though Pro Football Focus listed Collins as one of the ten best linebackers in the NFL this season, according to Lombardi, he’s actually a huge loafer who freelances constantly. Browns coach Hue Jackson had a nice counter to those comments: “He can freelance for me, then.” It’ll be years before we know who “won” the trade since we have to know what the Patriots end up doing with that pick, though it’s a big risk a Patriots team that’s rolling to deal a big cog of their defense, how matter how great Tom Brady looks right now.
Toradol sucks, gimme some Toradol
Some strange findings by ESPN in its survey of 226 NFL players regarding the use of marijuana and painkillers among players. While more players said that marijuana was better for treating pain and that fewer players would use painkillers if marijuana were permitted by the NFL, a majority of players said they would use Toradol if both were allowed by the league, in spite of concerns about long-term harmful use. Even though the survey was done anonymously, perhaps players were afraid that their names would still get out to teams as potential demon weed lovers. It’s somewhat a moot question, given that the NFL won’t remove marijuana from its banned list before the federal government takes its off its list of Schedule 1 controlled substances, though it would be nice to know the thoughts of some of the players who voted this way.
Ben’s big ass to play, according to Suggs
It’s the first meeting of the Steelers and Ravens this season, and one of the fixtures of the rivalry, aside from lots of barking and cheap shots, is Ben Roethlisberger missing games. Pittsburgh’s quarterback was missed seven against Baltimore in his now 13-year career, more than against any other team, and may very well miss his eighth on Sunday. Terrell Suggs isn’t buying it, preferring to play up the idea that Roethlisberger is a drama queen who plays up minor injuries just to take the field anyway. If that’s true, he’s really committed to the act, as the Ravens are 6-1 with Roethlisberger out of the lineup. So Terrell Suggs doesn’t have a great grasp on facts, but he sure does cuss real nice.
Red Zone bathroom pass
NFL watchability ratings are generally pointless. Everyone has access to the same prime time games and their quality typically corresponds to the night they’re broadcast. Sunday night is the best, Monday night is next, then there’s Thursday night.
Instead, here’s my expectation of how many bathroom breaks you might be able to get away with during a slate of games on Sunday. It’s generally going to be more difficult during the early slate because the NFL still insists on frontloading most of their Sunday nights into the early slot.
Early slate: Pittsburgh at Baltimore / Dallas at Cleveland / Jacksonville at Kansas City / New York Jets at Miami / Detroit at Minnesota / Philadelphia at New York Giants
Expected trips: 2
If it weren’t for the AFC South, the North would be getting a lot more attention for being a crap division in 2016. The Steelers might be struggling due to injuries. Regardless of what Suggs believes, Roethlisberger is far from assured from playing Sunday. Even if he does, I imagine he’ll still be somewhat limited coming back from the injury that fast. Otherwise, there’s Jay Ajayi’s unlikely bid to rush for 200+ yards in three straight games. And that Eagles/Giants contest should be something just for the rancor that rivalry typically produces. Also, worth noting that NFC East games result in wife-husband nut kicks than anyone other division in the NFL.
Late slate: Carolina at Los Angeles / New Orleans at San Francisco / Indianapolis at Green Bay / Tennessee at San Diego
Expected trips: 2
Six games to four! This is about as balanced as afternoon slates get on an NFL Sunday. Too bad the best of the bunch here is Colts-Packers, a game loaded with supposedly top-flight quarterbacks not playing as well as we’d like them to. Beyond that, let’s see if the Panthers can actually string two decent performances together this season.
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