Hey Jerry, Whatcha Doin?
It was Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones’ birthday this past Sunday. Didn’t know ahead of time nor did it matter in real time. The aftermath of their matchup against the Detroit Lions made it a lot funnier though. The Cowboys were destroyed at home by a score of 47-9. Dallas turned the ball over five times and their defense was just lethargic the entire game. The least of Jerry’s troubles are radio hosts asking him legitimate questions after this kind of a game. This franchise hasn’t appeared in a Super Bowl in over 30 years and hasn’t been to a conference title game in that same timeframe. They’ve underachieved so many times in these three decades that more and more people are not shying away from the fact that he has lost his fastball when it comes to his general manager duties. I’ve mentioned it before that Dallas can’t count on their talent to win games for them. They paid WR CeeDee Lamb and QB Dak Prescott huge contract extensions before the season, but how’s that offensive line and who is your running back to take pressure off of Prescott? The defense is a disaster and it won’t be fixed overnight. Jerry’s ego has always been a problem for them. Things won’t change until he relinquishes the general manager job.
Never Bought Into The Hype
The New Orleans Saints were winning 27-24 at halftime against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. They then proceeded to give up 27 unanswered points in second half to lose 51-27. Yes, the Saints were starting a rookie quarterback in Spencer Rattler. Yes, they turned the ball over three times. Yes, they lost their best receiver Chris Olave to a concussion early in the game and yes, they didn’t seem to get RB Alvin Kamara involved for much of the game. I mention all this to say that anyone who bought into this team as a legit contender, even with a healthy quarterback in Derek Carr is a fool. This is what they have done for many years, even when Sean Payton was their head coach. Dennis Allen didn’t have a good track record as a head coach and was hired as the successor to Payton mainly because of how the Saints defense performed with porous offenses. Just because the Saints put up gaudy numbers on offense against Carolina and Dallas in their first two games didn’t mean a thing in my mind. Now you see what has happened since. Four straight losses and soon to be five as they will play host to the Denver Broncos on a short week Thursday night. Not that I think Denver is any good, but they are coached by Sean Payton. He will not let Denver lose that game (spoiler alert, they didn’t).
Let’s Make A Deal
After that seemingly predictable Monday night game between the Buffalo Bills and the New York Jets, both teams made trades for a wide receiver on the same day.
For the Jets they went and got WR Davante Adams from the Las Vegas Raiders. Now as I pointed out (see above) their offensive line has been the biggest problem for them all season as they have not been able to run the ball effectively, nor give QB Aaron Rodgers enough time to make throws down the field. Getting Adams gives Rodgers someone else besides WR Allen Lazard that is familiar with what Rodgers wants to do on offense from their days together in Green Bay. This probably won’t work in the long run, but it keeps hope alive for their fans.
For the Bills, they reacted to the news of the Jets acquiring Davante Adams and made a trade of their own. Buffalo acquiring WR Amari Cooper from the Cleveland Browns gives them a reliable option for QB Josh Allen going forward. It was becoming clear that the cast the Bills currently have wasn’t going to work when it mattered in December and January. Cooper is a polished route runner and while he wasn’t known as a speed runner, he knows how to get open and can find the holes in coverage. If he can stop with the drops that he is committing while with the Browns, he will get plenty of targets from a better quarterback in Buffalo.
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