Another great week of football, and unfortunately another week of Antonio Brown news. I’ll get to that later where it will hopefully be the last time I ever talk about Brown. For now, let’s get to some real football.
College Football
SUU vs South Dakota State
I was actually pretty close on this score. It wasn’t the 49-17 game I thought, but it played out like it.
The Thunderbird defense obviously still has a way to go under new coordinator Brandon Fisher. With this being his first year at SUU, the defense should get some slack. Fisher’s take on the defense can be found here.
Quarterback Chris Helbig continues to do extremely well. The Jackrabbits were only able to sack Helbig once, allowing him to complete 26 passes for 211 yards. The main problem this game was the special teams.
SDSU blocked not one, but two field goal attempts by the T-Birds, taking six points off the board. In hindsight, it wouldn’t have mattered much. The problem comes in later games. If SUU can’t have the confidence that the O-Line can block for a field goal, it’s hard to get anything going.
Fourth down stops are big momentum swings for teams no matter where they are at. The Thunderbirds need to be able to put points on the board, whether it be three or six. Not putting points on the board is the only killer for this offense and is what will keep SUU out of many games this season.
NFL News
Lamar Jackson vs Patrick Mahomes
This is going to be fun. Lamar Jackson and Patrick Mahomes are superstars. It’s amazing to me just how slow the game comes to Jackson like on these plays.
We all know how Patrick Mahomes is. He’s the first quarterback since Tom Brady in 2017 to throw for 3 TD and 0 INT in each of the first three games of the season. The man was the 2018 NFL MVP for a reason.
This matchup is going places. I can see this becoming the most heated rivarly for this generation of football fans. Both guys are superstars and they have a great team built around them. It’s a shame that both teams can make it to the Super Bowl in the same year. But the AFC championship will have to do.
Antonio Brown being…. Himself?
I gotta admit, I don’t get Antonio Brown. The man had the NFL world at his finger tips. He was on track to becoming one of the greatest, if not THE greatest, pass catcher of all time. And what did he do? He threw it all away. I’ve got a couple of small takes on this news.
First, get a better agent. Drew Rosenhaus is supposed to be one of the best agents in all of sports. His client list has included Terrell Owens, Willis McGahee, and Tyreek Hill, among others. How is it that this guy couldn’t tell AB, “Hey, you get $30-40 million, but you have to be sure to show up to practice and not get accused of sexual assault because it’s a really big deal now.” Agent 101 is telling your client what his contract says and what “conduct detrimental to the team” actually means.
Second, if your agent isn’t going to tell you anything, do it yourself! Brown went to school (and is now going back; which I applaud him for in that). I get that a contract is super long, but there has got to be a bullet point or something in there that says what would void the money. Brown was just lazy with his contract negationations with the Raiders and Patriots.
Last thing about Brown today, and this gets a little more serious. I am actually worried he might have a form of CTE. It’s something that is impossible to actually see if someone has while they’re alive because it doesn’t show up in any brain scans. But, we’ve seen people younger than Brown who have been in worse situations. Honestly, I hope the best for Brown. He seems like he can be a really good guy, and looks like a great father.
Predictions
SUU faces off against Cal Poly this weekend for their Homecoming game. The Mustangs have had a good schedule so far, beating San Diego and losing to Weber State, one of the best FCS teams in the country, and Oregon State, an overwelming FBS teams compared to Cal Poly. I’ll actually take SUU on this one. I think Demario Warren is gonna have his guys ready. As long as Fisher has his guys ready to defend the run, the Thunderbirds should win.
SUU 24 Cal Poly 14
Only one other prediciton this week, just to keep it short. BYU really stunk it up against Washington. However, the Cougars are the only team in the nation to open the season with three of four opponents ranked and for all four teams to be in a Power-5 Conference. Having a 2-2 record is not bad at all. This week they’ll take on Toledo. Facing a MAC team should be easier than a Power-5, but the Rockets are still a good team. BYU has had some good games with them and there is not reason to think this won’t be the same. However, I’m still taking the Cougars
BYU 35 Toledo 24
Debate
As always, debate is one of the best things about football. Leave a comment and lets discuss these takes. If you can’t leave one here for some reason, share it on my social accounts. Let’s go!
Kurt's Football Takes 