NFL 2021: Week Eight in the Box

Who the hell is Mike White? 400+ passing yards by a Jets quarterback for the first time since Vinny Testaverde in 2000. I want to see more of this guy.

Saints beat Bucs with their 3rd string QB Trevor Siemian, but may have lost Jameis Winston for the season.

Bucs had 3 turnovers; Saints had zero.

Bucs had 11 penalties for 99 yards; Saints had 2 for 10.

Bucs damn near ran out of ammunition shooting themselves in the foot.

Von Miller has been reportedly traded to the LA Rams for a second and a third round pick in next years’ draft and payment of a chunk of his salary… Seems like a good trade. Miller was due to be a free agent, so the Broncos getting anything for him is a win as they officially enter the rebuilding phase. And the Rams, who are in “win now” mode, roll the dice to get a good pass rusher with an amazing track record (and an injury history). It’s a Win/Let’s take a chance deal.

I will say that this, in no way, is a “BLOCKBUSTER” or “SHOCKING”. God, I hate the NFL hype machine.

Titans RB Derrick Henry is having foot surgery, and is out indefinitely. Saints QB Jameis Winston has a torn ACL and damaged MCL, and is out for the season.

And, Ravens LB Malik Harrison was struck in the leg by a stray bullet on Sunday night (the Ravens had a bye this week).

No, it is a blockbuster trade in that Von Miller IS Denver. He’s been there his whole career, he’s the last one left from the glory days, he’s a future Hall of Famer, he’s a pillar of the community, he’s everything a city hopes they one day get on their sports teams. It’s not Gretzky to LA, but it’s Messier to New York.

That 2nd and 3rd round pick is pretty low compensation considering the Rams are going to do well this season and draft in a very low order next year.

They’ve been rebuilding ever since Peyton Manning retired. Since they won SB 50, they’ve gone 9-7, 5-11, 6-10, and 7-9. This year they’re 4-4 after a 3-0 start.

Yeah it’s a weird situation. You are giving the team a good player, which should make them better, improve their record, and make the draft picks you receive less valuable. It seems like a better value in that sense for LA.

On the other hand, the draft is all a big gamble anyway, so it can be argued that quantity is better than quality. Getting a low first round draft pick that busts can be painful. Getting a dozen picks, and half turn out to be good players, that can really help a rebuilding franchise.

Adrian Peterson is signing with Tennessee, I guess Jim Brown wasn’t available.

Maybe he’s got something left, but I doubt it.

Gretzky was in his prime, with three more points titles and a Hart trophy. This is more like Gretzky to the Rangers.

Yes, Miller means a lot to Denver, but as a player, his best days are behind him. He’s still very good and is a great addition to a team aiming for the Super Bowl, but I’m not sure he’s dominant anymore.

Man, I still can’t believe how that Jets Bengals game went down. The NFL seems wackier than ever this season.

The Bengals shouldn’t have been in the position they were in (bad pick by Burrow in the 4th quarter) but that penalty on that incidental helmet to helmet contact was egregiously bad. The defender got as low as it appeared humanly possible to go without turfing his face and the runner got a little lower still.

If anything I thought they were going to call it on the offense for initiating the contact. Ah well.

On to the Browns back at home.

Calvin Ridley has released a statement:

"These past few weeks have been very challenging and as much as I’d like to be on the field competing with my teammates, I need to step away from football at this time and focus on my mental wellbeing. This will help me be the best version of myself now and in the future.

I want to thank my teammates, the entire Atlanta Falcons organization, our great fans, my friends, and my family for all of their support during this time."

Kudos to a young man who is willing to put his mental health ahead of the hyper-masculine “you play at any cost!” mentality that is so pervasive in football. Here’s hoping he quickly deals with his issues and finds a way to be happy, whether or not that includes professional football.

I’m picturing a Weekend at Bernie’s situation.

If someone was too busy over the weekend to watch any football, but needed that fix and had Gamepass (thus access to every game played), what game would you suggest?

Watch Denver-Washington. The ineptitude in that game was “it’s so bad, it’s good,” especially the plot twists in the last two minutes.

I bet someone out there made a best games of the week guide. I’d watch the condensed versions of the best 2-3 games every week.

Bengals @ Jets was actually a good game worth watching.

On another note, it looks like the NFL heard my pleas through the ether and granted my wish. Just saw a commercial that says now you can get Game Pass for $9.99 a month instead of $100 for the whole season.

That’s pretty slick, I guess they’re trying to set it up to be comparable to netflix and the other streaming services as just another server you’re willing to pay for monthly.

Though they traditionally did mid-season deals on gamepass with a discount, so this may be the new version of that. It may end up being $100 again next year at the start of the season.

I think you have to be right, cuz there isn’t 10 months in the NFL season. $10 per month for just September, October, November and December means $40 all-in. Then figure you can get all playoff games free with rabbit ears.

So this may very well be just their new season-already-started discount sale price. I notice November just started; maybe that’s the cutoff.