40-Year Old Quarterback Throwback

There was a time in the NFL when Aaron Rodgers and Joe Flacco were on top of the mountain. Rodgers had won a Super Bowl with the Green Bay Packers and won four MVP awards. Flacco won a Super Bowl with an incredible playoff run in the 2012 season for the Baltimore Ravens. These two went toe to toe on Thursday night with Flacco now playing for the Cincinnati Bengals and Rodgers for the Steelers. Pittsburgh’s head coach Mike Tomlin made it known publicly that he was not please with the Cleveland Browns GM Andrew Berry for trading Joe Flacco to the Bengals. Tomlin and the Steelers know Flacco well from his days playing for the Ravens. Maybe Tomlin knew that Flacco would easily pick apart his flawed defense having two stalwart receivers to throw to in Ja’Marr Chase and Tee Higgins. That’s pretty much what happened and the fact that the Bengals still have an awful defense that couldn’t slow down Rodgers either. Flacco ended up throwing for 342 yards and 3 touchdowns. Rodgers threw for 249 yards and 4 touchdowns, but also had 2 interceptions. This game was worth watching and it gave a lot of folks a bit of the good old days of a previous era.

No Way That Should Have Happened

No matter how you slice it, when a team scores 33 points in the 4th quarter that means that their opponent screwed up royally. The New York Giants hadn’t allowed a single point through the first three quarters of the game, but then allowed the Denver Broncos to score all 33 points in the final quarter. You can mention the fact that the Giants did have a few moments to take back control of the game with a few touchdowns to answer Denver’s. However, what you can’t deny is that missing that last extra point attempt gave the Broncos exactly what they needed to complete the comeback. The Giants defense made horrible decisions and QB Jaxson Dart shouldn’t have been throwing the ball when they were ahead by 10 points with 5 minutes left in the game. So many things that could go wrong did go wrong and that kind of an outcome will cost many people their jobs.

It’s Time To Move On

Remember that whole ‘Tank For Tua’ phase of the Miami Dolphins? Yeah, that has proven to be a dud. Two playoff appearances in 2022 and 2023 were short lived. The knock on QB Tua Tagovailoa about not having the arm strength to get the ball quickly to the likes of WR Tyreek Hill and Jaylen Waddle have been proven to be true as it seems Tua has lost all confidence to throw the football. He’s well on pace for a 30 interception season as he has 10 so far. You could argue that the season ending injury to Tyreek Hill has ruined any chance the Dolphins had, but you would be foolish to overlook the fact that the offensive line isn’t built to sustain what offense this Miami team has. They can’t run the ball with any effectiveness and they certainly can’t protect any quarterback no matter who it is behind center. The defense hasn’t been relevant since they let former defensive coordinator Vic Fangio leave after the 2023 season. This whole franchise needs to start over and they need to do so quickly. The general manager Chris Grier, head coach Mike McDaniel, their entire infrastructure has to go. The same goes for Tua. It isn’t going to work in Miami. Former head coach Brian Flores was right about not wanting to ‘Tank For Tua’. His last season in 2021 all makes sense now. The power struggle with Grier and Flores lost that battle. The Miami Dolphins haven’t been relevant since the late 1990s and the early 2000s. But this all starts at the top with owner Stephen Ross. Since he purchased this team in 2009 they have made only three playoff appearances. It’s a far cry from the storied history this franchise once had.