Chalk Talk with Chuck

It always feels a little strange sitting down for the start of the week two games. Week one’s intense excitement has faded, and I always feel like my week one viewing experience gives me the foresight to know what’s going to happen for the rest of the season. I built out teasers, set my fantasy lineup, and talked rolled out takes to my friend group with the utmost confidence. Then like a rolling brawl in a cartoon, my takes get swallowed up spit out and destroyed. Remnants of the disaster is always shit fantasy score, busted teasers and parlays, and one and a half good takes. This week followed tradition. Lots of great entertaining games, two massive comebacks, and even better some God-awful coaching.

This week had several games that were so boring they were entertaining. Games that feature intense amounts of defense on paper seem boring. Computation of low scoring and limited explosive plays should tee up a midday dad nap. Somehow the NFL can avoid this boredom by having exciting endings to games. Five of these games ended with a combined 3 touchdowns scored in the matchup. Two of these games featured successful 2-point attempts and 3 of them had game sealing or winning scores late in the 4^th quarter.

One of these low scoring affairs was Bengals/Cowboys game. Full transparency I had Cincinnati in most of my bets and I have Jamar Chase as my WR1 in my keeper league. I came into the season all in on the Beagles. I told all my friends this week to hammer them in teasers, ML parlays and start players in fantasy. I will keep it short here, they fucked me.

This was a pathetic showing from their offense. In particular, their offensive line. What the fuck is going on there? How do you spend all that money and continuously give up sack after sack? I get it they played TJ Watt and Micah Parsons in back-to-back weeks but still. Joe Burrow and his receivers are so fun to watch when they are cooking. But no one can cook behind a much of human traffic cones.

Last year my greatest take post draft was that the Bengals made a mistake passing on Penni Sewell. I’m a firm believer in the replaceability of receivers and running backs. I took shit all year from friends and family (my mother’s side of the family is from Cincinnati) about how bad that take was. At this point I’ll admit I was ¾ or ½ wrong. Look It doesn’t matter if you have Jerry Rice, Randy Moss, and TO out their if your QB gets sacked 7 times a game you’re going to lose. Not to mention at some point he’s probably going to go down with an injury. So, do I think the Bengals should have maybe considered taking a O-line piece in that spot? You’re damn right I do. Maybe the argument could be made that you take a guy in the Tee Higgins spot the year before IDK. But its not looking good down the pipe if they can’t figure this out. They have to pay Joe, Higgins, and Chase all in the same 2-year stretch and if you think the well is dry for O-line talent now wait till then. Icing on the cake here is Cincinnati has a good fucking ream outside of this problem.

Two weeks in a row now they have fallen to an inferior opponent on a last second field goal. For the 7^th week in a row this team has given up 3+ sacks (longest streak in NFL history.) This is unacceptable. I will be so pissed if they waist Joe Burrow, Tee Higgins, and Jamar Chase. This is like when the Thunder landed KD, Russ, and Harden. A young fun team that made it to the big game early. Let’s hope it wasn’t too early. Let’s hope its not over. This team is too fun when the click to let this wash away. By the way, Bill Simons I think I just beat you to that take. I can’t believe I did but the parallels there are unreal. Maybe if I find the time, I will write about it.

Okay, I don’t even know how to transition to this because this game pissed me off so much. I don’t have the words for my frustration with this team and coaching staff. Matt Canada is fucking trash. I mean he’s got the offensive creativity of a 3^rd grader running a Madden team. Fuck that might be more fun than this Steelers offence. At least the 3^rd grader would throw in 4 verts and pass for more than 7 yards every now and then. I can’t believe for the 4^th year in a row I’m being forced to watch this garbage. I know people are going to say, “It’s the quarterback talent.” Or “what is he supposed to do with 90-year-old Ben and Trubisky?” But you’re just wrong here. Not every QB in the NFL is Arron Rodgers. Not every QB has a deep bag. It’s his job to get the most out of Mitch not the other way around. You aren’t working with an offensive genius here. Trubisky Needs help. It’s no bash on him almost all QBs do. It’s so rare to have a guy that can make an offence. I think we owe Ben an apology. He dragged this shitty fucking play calling to the playoffs two years in a row. I hope Canada is a nice guy because that’s the only reason I can mentally wrap my head around him staying this long. This utter lack of creativity and willingness to be even slightly aggressive must end. Fire him and let’s move on.

At around midway through he second quarter during the week two 1:00PM slate DirectTV shit the bed. I don’t need to elaborate on the situation I’m sure you’ve heard if you are reading this. During the near hour and a half long black out of games I flipped over to my paramount plus account so I could at least watch one game. I live in DC so that game was Baltimore v. Miami. I wont lie to you, this angered me off even further. I’m shut out of a bunch closer games to watch the Ravens have their way with the Fins. I watched as Lamar lead his team down the field time after time. Slowly but surely killing me under bet. By the start of the 3^rd quarter my bet was sunk and the Vens led 35-14. DirectTV figured their shit out and I had all the other games going barely paying attention to the Ravens game. When Tua hit Tyreek for the first of their 40+ yard TD connections in the fourth I didn’t think much of it.

This Ravens team is built to take leads and hold them. They have been the most successful running team over the past 5 years. A now 14 point lead in the fourth shouldn’t be any problem. On the next drive Lamar would take the clock down from 12:12 to 7:47 (Not bad) and the ravens would punt. At this point I figured I would watch the next drive just to see if Tua had something in him that could make this interesting. The Steelers were losing, and any interdivision loss was welcome. Well just as my attention turned boom Tua hits Tyreek with another bomb. Holy shit what the hell is going on here? My thousand square foot apartment that was hosing about 6 people (almost too much for a viewing party) turned their attention towards the paramount plus TV in the living room. Side bar I have one TV in my living room set up with the DirectTV 4/1 screen and another TV that I take from my room and prop up on two barstools playing Paramount plus. The whole room starts watching in disbelief. My friend group has pretty much sold all their Tua stock at this point. Last year I was the last man on Tua island. Uncle Maz (not actually my uncle but a former NBA assistant coach and avid football fan who is in mt closest gambling group chat with me and my two friends in DC) gave me so much shit for the take he told me may stop taking my gambling advice. One day I write more about Maz the dude is a fucking legend. We all have virtually given up on this guy so we can’t believe this is going on. Lamar led the Ravens down the field the next drive and set up a 42 yard field goal for the best kicker to ever do it Justin Tucker to give the Vens a 3-point lead with 2:18 on the clock. But you know what they say, “Can’t leave Tua time.” The Dolphins marched 68-yards in 6 plays and with 14 seconds on the clock on second and goal from the Baltimore 7 Tua would find Waddle for his second touchdown and the Fins would win.

This game was shocking. I couldn’t believe that the Ravens defense looks so discombobulated. They have plenty of injuries but to give that lead up is embarrassing. I thought Lamar looked good for most of this game. I know he fumbled at the goal line but still the guy was awesome. Initially I didn’t know what to take away from this. On my walk to the metro this morning my major take away from this game hit me. Windows in the NFL are short, and injuries make them even shorter.

Baltimore has had some unfortunate injury luck over the past two years. Last year they lost every running back on the roster before week one. They lost Lamar and a slew of defensive player and fell to the bottom of the always brutal AFC North. Coming into the year thigs were looking up. If the Ravens could stay healthy, they are almost a lock for playoff berth and a dark horse Super Bowl run. But we are one week into this team and the defense is already in shambles. They don’t have a starting running back and it seems like 2021 and 22 could be two bad years of injury luck in Baltimore. What does this mean for their window to compete for a Lombardi in the near future? Is this window closing? I think my answer has to be yes.

When was the window? I would say the window was from 2018-19 to now. Lamar’s MVP season was truly the best time for the run. No one in the NFL had near an answer for what Greg Roman and the Ravens were doing back in 2019. I got the honor of going to about 4 home games that year for the ravens and they just seemed unstoppable. But, a surprise from Tennessee would send them packing early and deprive the fan base of a Mahomes vs Jackson playoff game. COVID would shock the world and even after the Ravens exacted revenge against the Titans. They would fall on the road to Buffalo in a stinker.

I think those two years were the years the Ravens had the most talent and contract flexibility. They were able to pick up massive names in free agency and stack the defensive and offensive lines. But starting last year the hyper physical style and the deep playoff/season runs seems to have caught up to them. You can’t coast in no man’s land forever I’m afraid. This game is too brutal, and the Baltimore has a really scary financial road ahead. They got to pay Lamar and from what it sounds like the dude wants the full bag (Thanks Cleveland.)

I think this has a major impact across the NFL. Teams are going to look at Baltimore as an example of how quickly things can change. Injuries are a major part of this sport, and they must be accounted for. Windows for chances to compete are short and this one was probably shut early thanks to injuries.

For the record, I think they have at least one more window of opportunity. They have Lamar Jackson. I just think this first window has closed.

We also got a poopy doubleheader week two Monday night slate. Josh Alen is a god and I have him in my keeper league and I couldn’t be happier! I was very high and remain very high on the Vikings this year even if they laid an egg last night against a very good Eagles team. I try not to take emotional games into count. I know the Eagles and Vikings aren’t rivals but that’s the home opener in Philadelphia. There has been an insane amount of hype around this team and the fanbase showed up. Also, Cousins on national TV is though. You can take the Kirk from Zimmer, but you can’t take the Zimmer out of Kirk.

Time for my new favorite segment. My new favorite thing to talk about. Welcome to the House of Hackett. Nathaniel Hackett is the new head coach of the Denver Broncos. A team who this offseason got aggressive and mortgaged their future to bring in Russell Wilson. On paper this is one of the best teams in the NFL. With an insane defense, a loaded receiving room, two great back, veterans on both offensive and defensive lines, and a Super Bowl winning QB at the helm. With this talent and experience on the field things should practically run themselves. It would be hard to standout as a bad coach with all of this around out. Yet, Nathaniel exists. This man has done what no one else can. He’s taken proven veteran NFL players and dumbed them down to freshman in high school. One of the first signs of a shit coach is the inability to control penalties. Usually, this sign comes from a lack of aggression discipline. You will have an O-lineman block a little to long after the play, a D-lineman who hits a QB late, linebacker who hits to hard, you get the picture. But even the worst of the worst can get one thing consistently or at least semi consistently correct and that’s getting plays off before the clock expires. This is probably one of the first skills play callers and coaches develop with their teams and plays. Hell, it’s a skill you learn early on, and duration of play clock decreases as play level gets higher. Almost like they are preparing coaches and players for the future.

This basic rule seems to slip through the mental framework of the new Denver head coach. Who has struggled to get plays called at a reasonable time. He accomplished something somewhat historical this last week. Getting two delay of games after opponent timeouts before field goals. His team struggled so much that the home crowed decided to give him a hand by counting down the play clock for the team each down to help prevent the delay of game. If I were on this team, I would have lost all respect for our Hackett.

Here is my solution to this House of Hackett blunder. Remember when you studied for the ACTs or SATs? They would always tell you to practice at a shorter time than you are granted because time would fly once you got into the test. My Nathan Fielder fix to this is to have Hackett live his life in a faster fashion outside of the game. Anytime he needs to decide he’s got a man with a walking “Decision Clock” behind him. Asked what to do for lunch, hit the clock and make him make that decision. Don’t know if he should have one last glass of wine before bed or if he should just have a water and relax, throw up that fucking clock. The decision clock carrier will be in charge of judging all decisions and times that they need to be made. Hopefully this will teach Hackett plan ahead a little more and be more decisive in the game. Leading to faster play calling and less penalties.  

That’s it. That is the list. If you read this far thanks. If you know me shoot me a text and tell me what you think. If you don’t email me @Charles.moffat95@gmail.com

The NFL is back. It came with one of the most exciting week ones to memory. Pittsburgh and Cincinnati have one of the wildest overtime games I’ve ever seen. Week one continues to be the Achilles heal of the Colts. A seesaw battle took place in Landover, Maryland (Go fuck yourself Daniel Snyder you boat bitch.) KC stomped on the Arizona Cardinals. To round off the week we got to see wone of the greatest displays of dog shit coaching I’ve ever seen in Seattle. I love football, I love week one, and I’m going to love breaking this all down.

Let’s start with the craziest game of the week as the defending AFC champs hosted their division rivals the Pittsburgh Steelers. Full discloser I’m a massive Steelers fan and I am also a secondary Bengals fan. My father was raised in Pittsburgh and mt mother was raised in Cincinnati. My mom is a passionate fan, but my father won the battle for my football heart. This game opened with a pick 6, closed with 3 consecutive missed kicks, and robbed me of about 10 years of my life. Joe Burrow looked rusty and the “new and improved” o-line in Cincinnati was hot garbage. For being the coolest guy on planate earth Joe Burrr’s o-lines have treated worse than a TV show trailer park husband treats his wife after a few drinks. This abuse led to 5 Burrow turnovers. Yet, the Steelers could only score one offensive touchdown. Matt Canada has about as many original thoughts as a Melania Trump addressing the 2016 GOP national convention. I get it Mitch isn’t the greatest QB of all time, but God damn give the man a chance to make a play. This bullshit dink and dunk jet sweep on 3^rd and medium just simply as to stop. More infuriating is if Canada had any creativity the Steelers wouldn’t have had TJ Watt out there so often and we wouldn’t have had to be so aggressive. Thanks to his kindergarten level play calling we lost the best defensive player in the NFL for the first half of the season. I don’t know how he is escaping criticism. Fucking Mike Zimmer and Kirk Cousins had a more exciting offense than we do.

Thanks to lack of production on the offensive end the Bengals were able to stay in the game. In the second half Joe Burrow found Ja’Marr Chase repeatedly as he torched the Steelers Defense on 10 catches for 129 yards and a touchdown. His touchdown came with just seconds left on the clock to time the game at 20 apiece. All that was need for a Bengal victory was for the best young kicker in the NFL (Even McPherson) to hit a PAT. In a heroic effort Minkah Fitzpatrick blocked the attempt. Fitzpatrick played like the star he is. This block was just the cherry on top of a dominating performance. He recorded 14 combined tackles (10 of which were solo), one pick 6, and of course the blocked PAT.

In overtime we saw the Steeler offense stall and the Bengals drive well into field goal range where backup long snapper Michael Willcox (Usually the backup TE) launched back a shit snap and McPherson shanked the chip shot wide wide wide left. This gave the steelers the ball back with around 3:30 left and they too drove into field goal range. It wasn’t ideal in fact it was far from in they asked the Wizard of Boz to attempt a 55-yard kick with 2:27 remaining. He kicked the living shit out of the ball as it slammed the left upright so hard, they could hear it Pittsburgh. This then gave the ball back to the Bengals with great field position, but it was clear coach Zach Taylor had lost faith in his special teams. It seemed like TD or bust, and he was essentially playing for the tie. With just 1:04 on the clock the steeler got the ball back on their own 20 and managed to drive down the field and set up a game winning 53-yard field goal for Boswell.

My main takeaways from this game are that the Bengals will be fine. It’s never great to see your franchise guy turn the ball over 5 times but if you want to spin it, you’re playing the best defense in football. They have all pros at all 3 levels, and you still need tome for that o-line to get in sync. My second take away is the Steelers should just relax. DO NOT RUSH T.J. WATT BACK. I get it. We won and dominated the defending AFC champs for 3 quarters. Playoff hopes are in the air. But take a fucking step back. We scored 1 offensive touchdown on 5 turnovers. That’s so bad I can’t even wrap my head around it. No team in the NFL is winning a playoff game or making a deep run putting up 23 points in an overtime game that included that many turnovers. We need this man in the future and pec injuries are nasty. IDK how fans are missing this. Just let this play out. Rest T.J. He’s not breaking the sack record, he’s not winning DPOY. Just relax and look at the big picture.

My second game I would like to break down is the Jacksonville vs Washington game. Good God dose it make a difference having a coach who care about your team. I know Jacksonville lost but they played inspired and goodish football for 4 quarters. This team still lack weapons and still makes mistakes all over the field, but they didn’t look bad. They even fought and came back after a shotty opening two quarters. I really enjoyed watching this game during the breaks in the Steelers game and when I went back to rewatch games from this weekend this was option A. It featured just about everything you could want from these two teams. We had missed field goals, blown catches, missed passes, fumbles, interceptions, missed 2-point conversions, a comeback, and 90-yard game winning drive.

This game started off with a 7-play 60-yard drive that ended in a Jacksonville field goal. This drive was followed by a classic 70-yard TD drive orchestrated perfectly by Cason Wentz. In Wentz fashion he began the season lulling another fanbase into a false sense of security. Wentz would go on to lead another 70-yard drive to a touchdown to open the 2^nd quarter. Then the game starts showing it’s weirdness. Later in the quarter Lawrence would lead the Jags all the way down to the three-yard line. Here he would have his receivers trop back-to-back touchdowns. And for those of you who want to say the Jones drop was Lawrence’s fault go look at the god damn play again. It’s a lofted ball that hit both of his hands he’s got to come down with that. Then Travis Etienne (my fantasy RB2) dropped a walk-in touchdown. GOD DAMNIT dude you are paid so much money don’t run before you have secured the ball! Now I got to go the year watching James Robinson steal goal line caries and targets from you because your incapable of holding on to the ball for a stroll into the endzone. That drop turned the ball over on downs. If you ask me on the road, I always take the points. I’m going to start the “should be score” of the game now the actual score is 14-3 in Washington’s favor it should be 14-6 Washington. Then 8 plays into the next drive Curtis Samuel (who had a wonderful game) would fumble the ball on the Jaggs 34 and Lawrence had a 1:22 on the clock. He would drive the ball to the 37-yard line and with 16 seconds left in the half they had a 37-yard field goal attempt. Here second year kicker Reilly Paterson would rip the ball of the right upright. Actual score 14-3 should be score 14-9.

After an opening series punt Trevor Lawrence would lead the Jags to their first TD drive and the ball begins rolling here. For a reason unclear to me the Jaguars would go for 2. I get it from a “put us within a one score game” standpoint but it’s the middle of the third. Always take those points, I hated that. Actual score 14-9 Washington should be score 14- 14-16 Jacksonville. Then an 11 play 55-yard drive by Jacksonville would end in a field goal. Here is where the score calculator is important. Actual score 14-12 Washington should be 14-19 Jacksonville. Why is this important? Because Wentz is about to Wentz all over this game. On the next drive Carson would throw and interception on a pass where he eye-fucked Jahan Dotson and threw a pass Helen Keller could have intercepted. Then yet another Jaguars drive would stall and end in a 45-yard field goal. Actual score 15-14 Jaggs should be score 22-14 Jaggs. Only a play later Carson Wentz would do the seemingly impossible. He threw another INT but this time he did it on a screen play. God, this brought me so much joy. I don’t understand how he is so bad at completing passes with 5 or less air yards. It’s beautiful. The next play James Robinson would take the ball to the house on an 11-yard rush. Actual score 22-14 Jags, should be score 29-14. This is why you can’t fuck up on the road. At this point in the game if your up 15 points that Washington crowd has quit but they fucked up and Carson Wentz gets lucky throwing a bomb to Scarry Terry for a 49-yard TD. Now its 20-22 Jacksonville (missed 2pt attempt) instead of 21-29. Then Jacksonville punts for the first time all half and mighty Carson goes 90 yards to take the lead at 28-22. Washington would go on to win a game that they lost the turnover battle in. Lots of growing pain here but I’m optimistic about what Jacksonville.

My take aways from this game are Washington is going to be annoying. They are going to hang around the playoff picture Wentz is going to lose them more than a handful of games but hey he won them this one. I also think this is a completely different Jacksonville team. Christian Kirk may lead the division in targets. I think he gets 100 receptions easy. I have them winning the AFC South, so I hope they improve on some of the mistakes around the endzone. Easy to be better when you don’t have to worry about your head coach kicking you or hitting on your girlfriend.

The final game up for review is more here to throw comedic jabs. Denver vs. Seattle. Before this game even started the Russ BS started. I’m sure you’ve seen it but if you haven’t, he’s standing in the middle of the field, with his headphones on, his hands in the air presumably praying or something of that nature. It was so fucking bazar. I think as fans we all obsessed over Russ a little bit too much. He throws a great deep ball and is a cookie cutter person. Personally, I can’t stand his fake ass perfect citizen persona he puts on for the camera. Please spare me the shit dude. Anyone that “good” is actually just a massive piece of shit. What are you hiding Russ? It was halfway through this game that I turned to my roommate and told him, “Starting now, I hate the player and persona of Russel Wilson.” Everything about this guy’s public image sucks. He has a holier than thou vibe to himself. It was awesome to see this coupled with some of the worse coaching I’ve ever seen in my life! Nathaniel Hackett is lucky his final drive clock management was so bad because he coached an awful game up till that point.

This game started with an electric drive put together by Geno Smith. The Hawks went 70-yards in 6 plays that was finished off by Will Dissly taking the ball to the house after Geno slipped a sack, kept his eyes downfield, and dumped him the ball. Then the teams would exchange field goals. Midway through the second Russ would connect with Jerry Judy for a 67-yard TD. Okay that sounds nice, but that ball was severely underthrown that was all Judy. In response on the next drive Geno would take the Seahawks 75-yards for another TD. Leaving just 2:24 on the clock. Denver then scored a final field goal to close out the half.

That was kind of it for the scoring the game would end at 16-17 after 3 consecutive fumbles two by Denver on the goal line and one by DK sandwiched between them. Denver would go 75-yards and kick the final points of the game. But this game proves, you don’t need scoring to be entertaining.

A big storyline amongst NFL nerds going into the game was that out of nowhere Russ stated he wanted to run a more “up-tempo offense.” Despite not one of his former teammates or affiliates saying they ever heard him say that. Fine, lets just pretend this egomaniac did want that. Why on planate earth was he snapping the ball with 2 seconds on the clock every fucking down? Hey, Russ it’s loud in Seattle remember? You played there for 10 years you shouldn’t give fans 40 seconds every single down to reach a fever pitch. This has so many negative side affects including screwing your o-line over and setting them up for failure. Both goal line fumbles were on plays were Russ waited way to long to snap the ball. Not to mention that waiting 40 seconds to “Read the defense” isn’t playing up-tempo it’s the opposite. I can’t stand this guy and I hope we all start coming around on what a jerk he is.

Every year there are a few coaches that are awful and exciting. The league is much better when we have these kinds of coaches hanging around. Coming into the year we had bad coaches. But I was scared they wouldn’t be fun to make fun of. Kingsbury is an awful coach but its not fun to make fun off. He’s just unoriginal. McCarthy is bad but every Cowboys coach is bad because Jerry Jones is such bastard. We needed the horrible decision maker. That guy who is going to fuck opportunities up. Let’s start with way back in August. If you were listening to the Buck/Aikman broadcast, you heard them say over and over that Denver looked out of sync and it probably because they didn’t play starters this preseason. Hey Coach if you got a new QB, new coaching staff, new offense, how about just new everything. Play your starters at least once in the preseason. Okay so that’s error one. Error two is utter lack of discipline on the defensive side of the ball. They had 12 penalties for 106 yards! How the fuck do you do that? That team is chalked full of veterans at every position! There is no way they should have that many penalty yards. Then let’s get into those two awful goal line fumbles. On the first one how is Javonte not out there? How is he not getting more carries period. He’s averaging 6.1 yard a carry in this game has only 15 less rush yards than Gordon who had 5 more carries. He is great after contact. Here Denver is knocking on the door they are on the half yard line, and they go shotgun on 4^th and goal and give the ball to Gordon. On top of that there were 4 seconds on the play clock. So much to complain about but don’t worry he makes the exact same mistake about two minutes later. Moments later DK would fumble, and Seattle would commit an obvious PI in the endzone putting the ball inside the one. On third down from the shotgun wonder Russ would let the play clock go down to one and hand the ball off in shotgun to William. The Seahawks defense was in the backfield before he handed the ball off. Jevonte didn’t stand a chance. That’s just piss poor coaching.

I wish I could say it ended there but it doesn’t. Denver would get the ball back in the fourth drive down and settle for a field goal with around 4 minutes left. This confused the shit out of me. Why go for it in the 3^rd and not the 4^th. Whatever it paid off they got the stop and got the ball back with a little over 4 minutes on the clock. Yet again every single play Denver was snapping the ball inside of 5 seconds on the play clock. WAKE THE FUCK UP. Snap the ball earlier. Russ gets them over the 50-yard line on a 3^rd and 14 setting up a 4^th and 5 with 1:03 on the clock. At this point you assume Denver would use one of its 3 available timeouts, right? Wrong. They run the clock down to 20 seconds then take the TO. This is because it was “the gameplan” to attempt a field goal if they were within 65 yards. What? Anything beyond 55 yards should be a last-ditch effort. A no time on the clock situation. Denver would miss the kick and Seattle would go on to win. It was amazing. I love bad coaches.

My main takeaways from this game are Denver has a long uphill fight in the toughest division in the NFL. Bad coaching, strange offense, and penalties. None of that is going to help in this year’s race. Can’t wait to watch this team every week. Seattle played hard inspired football. They got just about everything possible out of Geno and they barely squeaked it out. It was awesome to see them win like that. It was great to have Russ lose to them. But at the end of the day this team isn’t good, and they aren’t going to play like that every week.

Shoutout Cody Barton. I grew up down the street from the guy. He balled out. I think his performance is being overlooked. Awesome game. Way to go Cody!  

That’s it. That is the list. If you read this far thanks. If you know me shoot me a text and tell me what you think. If you don’t email me @Charles.moffat95@gmail.com

Hello all who read. I have been absent from my weekly regimen. I have been trying to write as much as possible but lately life has been kicking me in the balls over and over. I got dumped by a girl I loved, I started having panic attacks, my depression came back, and now my grandmother has died.  

Please don’t feel bad for me. This is part of life. You get older and things get tougher. We also become tougher as a result. Life wouldn’t be any fun if it was easy.

I’ve never had a family member I know die. I had an uncle die but he didn’t talk to the family. I do not really know how to act or how I feel. I have cried a bit but not like I thought I would. I haven’t really come out of this numb state of mind. I know it’s cliché, but I think I’m in shock. I don’t really know what to do.

For reference of time and how raw these emotions are; I found out she died yesterday April 25,2022 at around 6PM. I’m positing this at 2PM on April 26, 2022.

Thinking clearly isn’t really in the cards for me right now. I am trying to be as thoughtful, and self-loving as possible but it is hard. I’ve felt that guilt of not talking to her enough. I’m feeling guilt about not knowing everything I could about her from her. But I also know that’s not entirely abnormal or realistic.

I loved my grandmother so much. She was so thoughtful, patent, kind, humorous, loving, and intelligent. She dealt with my grandfather’s constant obstinate behavior better than anyone could. Here is one of my favorite examples of how much my grandma would go through daily and just how kind she was:

I had just touched down in Florida after flying in on a redeye. It was my sophomore year of college spring break, and my grandpa was recovering from a non-fatal cancer diagnosis. He complaint constantly about the various tasks the “Matriarch in his life was forcing him to do.” The matriarch consisted of my mother, my aunt Linda, my aunt Wendy, and of course my grandmother. They weren’t making him do anything out of the ordinary for recovery. It was basic things like, taking pills, working on his speech therapy, and eating healthy meals. But my grandfather is the kind of guy who takes a left when you told him to take a right just because he hates being told what to do.

Both he and my grandmother are night owls. Idk if grandma was a night owl by choice or by force. When I walked in the door around 1AM my grandpa was still up watching west coast college basketball. Both he and my grandmother are sports fans. They both also went to Utah State University (mine and my mother’s alma mater) so staying up late for games was nothing out of the usual. I don’t think the aggies were on the tube that night.

My grandma offered to cook me a quick grilled cheese after the long flight, and I took her up on it. I knew we would be up for at least another 2 hours. Like I said night owls. My grandma was also great at making comfort foods like grilled cheese. She made the best French toast you ever had. I legit never order French Toast anywhere because it will always be a letdown.

While she was in the prosses of making the GC for me my grandpa had made his way from his recliner to the kitchen. He began to do the classic hover that every old man does when they secretly want something from the kitchen.

As my meal was near complete my grandma finally cracked and ask what my grandpa wanted. It was obvious he had something on his mind. “Well John what do you want?” She asked him as he watched her scrape the sandwich off the panini press. “Oh well you’re not going to let CJ eat alone, are you?” He replied clearly hinting towards wanting something to eat. “Would you like a sandwich?” She asked him as she put my grilled cheese on the plate. “Oh no, no I couldn’t eat that much now.” You could tell a ridiculous request was coming because my grandfather had changed his tone of voice to a humbler setting. “Well how about a half a sandwich John?” You could feel that she knew what was coming next. “Oh, half is too much how about a quarter?” My grandfather replied.

I remember how shocked I was to hear such a bazar request. A quarter of a grilled cheese sandwich might as well be one bite. It’s not a fraction I’ve ever heard someone request. Sure, maybe a half but a quarter? I couldn’t help but laugh at the request. My grandfather gave us a look of what seemed to be complete awe. As if to suggest we were the ones who were out of hand.

This is where my grandmother’s intelligence, strength, and patients all kicked in at once. I fell straight for the look of awe. My grandpa was good at this trick and if it were just me in the kitchen, he probably would have won this battle. But Grandma stood firm. She didn’t budge. She’d been training her whole life for this moment. While some people may think she never won any battles they are wrong. She won tons of them she was good at pick and choosing her spots. She knew if she stayed logical and didn’t lose her temper eventually my grandfather would drop the ridiculous request, and shuffle on back to his recliner. She was smart offering alternatives like a half a sandwich. It was 1AM I was tired and if it were me, I would have just caved or stormed off to bed. Not grandma she knew if she was firm but kind, she would eventually win her battle. After only a few minutes she made won. Grandpa went back to his recliner. And grandma went back to hers.

You could tell that she had delt with a million small ridiculous requests in her life.

Idk why that’s always the fist story that comes to mind when I think of my grandma. Maybe it’s because she handled such an absurd request with such grace. Maybe it’s because I saw her defeat my grandfather in a test of stubbornness (An impossible feat to the normal soul). Or maybe because in that moment she stayed loving and happy. She managed to chuckle a few times as my grandpa contested her. You could feel just how warm and graceful her spirit was in moments like this. Whenever possible she showed just how important it was to be kind and forgiving.

Before writing it out I had never really taken this idea that she carried herself with so well to heart. I’d observed her intense patients, love, and care. Her warmth and her grace. I was even lucky enough to feel her kind spirit whenever I was with her. But not till now did I ever fully realize what it was that made her so special to so many. I hope I can absorb a quarter of that kindhearted spirit. I hope one day I can be what she was to so many.

I want to start by saying sorry to my readers. I have not been posting over the past few weeks. I have been dealing with a lot of personal problems. I struggle at times with anxiety and for the first time in my life I had a panic attack. I want to be open because I feel like most of the time people in sports and what not don’t really talk about mental health problems until it’s convenient. On April 1, 2022, I had the worst panic attack of my life and ended up needing to go to the hospital. I’m fine and doing great but I think it’s worth letting people know what’s up. Don’t be afraid to admit you aren’t 100 its all good. I’m not all the time an no one is. Sports and writing always help and I’m really happy to be back and typing.

Alright now let’s talk about QBs.

This Saturday I woke up and wanted to do my first ever QB ranking. I wanted to see if I could outline the status of QBs in the NFL. There has been so much movement. There are a lot of guys who have gone from one level to another in the past few years. I also think we are about to head into the most exciting year of NFL history. To my memory I have never seen an offseason with so much movement and change. We are crawling out of a QB generation that had so many legends who, for the most part, spent their entire carriers in one place. Big Ben, Philip Rivers, Drew Breese, Payton, Eli, and so on. All these guys were top tier amazing QBs who defined an era of the NFL.

We now sit at the transition point. A new generation of exciting gunslingers are entering the fold. I’m Excited to break down my ranking of these guys. I want to be clear that these tiers are fluid. They are amendable. I open to all arguments presented but please read my argument before you lose your shit okay.

Tier 1A

This tier consists of one player and one player only. He’s a god. I hate him but I also respect and love him. You probably know by now but incase your don’t it’s Tom Brady. Look you can say what you want about this guy. You can call him a self centered prick. I don’t care he’s the best QB of all time. He’s the best player in football history. I will even go one step further and say he’s the most accomplished athlete of all time. If you come at me with some Olympic athlete to argue this I will tell you to fuck off. Only two people have a legit argument. One is MJ the other is Serina. That’s it. That is the list of people who compete with TB12 for most accomplished athlete of all time.

Tier 1B

I will have it be known that it was painful to suck Tom off that hard. I just am so sick of people seeing a guy like Mahomes win a super bowl and do all the magic shit he does and they compere him to TB. Just stop it will never happen again.

Alright, now that we have the Brady stuff in the rear view we can move on to the fun part. This tier consists of only 3 guys and between them there are only two Super Bowls. I think these guys are on another level because of what they can do inside and outside the pocket. I think they are capable of taking a team to a super bowl win being the center focus of the offence. They don’t need all the targets and their offence can be one dimensional and they are still capable of the highest highs. It’s Mahomes, Allen, and Rodgers. Look it is a simple as this. if you get one of these 3 guys on your team you become a contender. It doesn’t matter what the other significant pieces are. If you got one of these three guys you are making the playoffs and capable of a deep run.

Tier 2

Tier two consists of guys that I think are elite and one or two of these guys might squeeze their way up into the the 1B group when all is said and done this year. These guys are fucking good. They win games for their team. Some have amazing targets some don’t some have great O-line support some don’t but it doesn’t really matter. If you got one of these guys on your team you have the chance to make a deep run in the playoffs or even win a Super Bowl. This list consists of Joe Burrow, Lamar Jackson, Justin Herbert, and Russel Wilson. Just so you know Russ is barely holding on to that spot. This is by far the easiest tear to slip in and out of it’s a group that is meant for the best of the best. It’s meant for those guys who you see on the opposing teams roster and you go “well fuck as long as they got that guy it’s no guarantee.” They are so close to the guys above but also not far from those below. One or two bad seasons in a row and boom you no longer are tier two.

Tier 3

Again this list is full of really really good players. With the right set up they can be a reliable signal caller for a championship team. If you have one of these guys you might have to spend money else where but you should be very happy. They are not “game managers” they are not “mid” these guys give you a chance. They can move the ball down field and with a good defense and some skill assets they could win it all for you! Here it is: Dak, Kyler, Watson, Stafford and Carr. This is a great list of guys. Carr is the closest to moving down. But he’s impressed me over the years. He’s a great leader and when he’s got time he can be very dangerous. He is in the toughest division in football and will be tested but damn I think he takes another leap.

Tier 4

This is the “everything has to be perfect around them” group. Teams get tricked into paying these dudes way to much money all the time. These guys are like a nice blanket for your couch. If it’s too comfortable then you will never get anything done. They are the embodiment of “let’s not make a mistake and just go with that.” The are ordering the two egg breakfast at a dinner. You wont be stunned by the dish but dame at least you know what your getting. If you put a good core around one of these guys and somehow manage not paying them more than they are worth you have a chance to make the big game and every now and then one of these guys wins it. Here they are: Jimmy G, Mac Jones, Ryan Tannehill, Matt Ryan, and Jerrod Goff. All of these guys need the perfect environment to win. They all need so much help. And they all lack down field ability. If you got one of these guys the world is not over. You can win a ring but don’t get too jacked up on them.

Tier 5

This group is the hardest to evaluate because my sample size is so small. If your QB is in this tier now they could lad at 1B or the well by week 9. All these guys are young. They have probably been playing for an absolute shit team. They are all on their rookie deal and some could be better than the dudes above. Hell I would take some of them over the dudes above because of the up side but I’m not willing to put them anywhere else but here for now. If I could I would place these guys to the side of the pyramid and sort them when I feel like I got enough evidence. Joe Burrow is a perfect example of one of these guys. He was here last year. I saw enough to move him out. Here are the guys: Trevor Lawrence, Justin Fields, Tua, Tre Lance, Davis Mills, Zach Willison, Jalen Hurts. I hope they all do will but hell IDK.

Tier 6

Here is the most entertaining group of the bunch. I’ve seen enough of these guys to know they when they take the field anything can happen. They could throw a INT or a TD at any given time. They will put balls out there and you’ll wonder how they even played college. Then the next week they will got 28/33 with 300 yards and 4 touchdowns. As inconsistent as your uncle whose been married 4 times and just as fun to watch melt down. Here are the guys sitting in 6: Mitchell Trubisky, Jameis Winston, and Baker Mayfield. If you got one of these guys have fun making the wild card. If the winds of shit are blowing in the right direction you might just go on a playoff run but more than likely you’ll miss the playoffs and find yourself breaking household objects over their comedic follies.

Tier 7

God I’m so sorry if you are a team with one of these guys. Bad often good a few times a year and painfully over drafted. All three of these poor souls don’t have “it.” They are backups that start because some guy in a front office thinks they can fix them. Like that rotten ex who you thought you could change. This guy lulls you into a sense of hope right before he tosses 4 INTs in a loss to the shittiest team in the NFL. If you got them you are probably tanking. Here are the 7s: Daniel Jones, Carson Wentz, and Sam Darnold.

That’s it. That is the list. If you read this far thanks. If you know me shoot me a text and tell me what you think. If you don’t email me @Charles.moffat95@gmail.com

Again I’m busy and don’t have an editor. If you want to edit I’ll give you a shoutout. These Blogs are all one take I don’t read them over. Have a good one! Thanks for reading.

I’m a huge NFL guy. Massive fan of the sport and the league. I’m a Steeler fan to my core. My father grew up in Pittsburgh and I have been watching the Black and Gold every weekend of my life. For the first time I can remember the Steelers have entered Quarter Back uncertainty. I was lucky to grow up watching my team have a really food franchise QB. When Ben hung up the cleats I was pretty scared. I didn’t want the Steelers to make the mistake of overpaying for a mid level guy or drastically overpaying for a guy like Watson. With this years draft being mediocre at best at the position there were plenty of avenues for Kevin Colbert and the Steelers front office to fuck this up. Lets face it lots of teams fuck this up. But as I see it the Steelers have done exactly what you should do so far when the QB market is this bad and I break it all down for you.

Firs, address other weaknesses:

Pittsburgh had one of the worst O-lines I’ve been forced to watch. At least twice a game an opposing teams defender had a free shot at the guy. I also pulled up Najee’s top ten plays from last year on youtube. While the dude had over 1,000 yards on the carpet only 3-4 of those highlights were runs over 20 yards. That’s fucking dumb. Some of them were him just gaining 7-10 yards after bouncing off of an entire D-line. When things are that bad up front don’t overpay or rush to a Rookie QB. Go out and get O-line guys in free agency. That’s exactly what they did bringing in a couple solid veterans.

Second, make what’s good better

This can be done in many ways. If you have a good receiving core make theme great. Look at the Bangles last year. If you got a good pass rush make it better. The Bills this year. If you got a solid all around defense add one more guy. That’s what the Steelers did this year. Adding Myles Jack was one of the best things I’ve seen the Steelers do in free agency. Having him next to Devin Bush is amazing. They also managed to add Brian Flores as linebackers coach! Take a step back and look at that for a second. We now have the best assistant coach in the NFL, the best pass-rushers, one of the best interior D-lineman, one of the best safeties, and now one of the best linebackers. With a line up like that you could have Sister Jean at QB and still go .500

Third, Get the Meh guy

Look the reality of the situation in Pitt right now is we aren’t wining the division or the SB anytime soon. Jimmy G, Cason Wentz, and all the other middling guys out there aren’t going to change that. If you brought in a big name and big contract guy you wouldn’t have been able to make the improvements else where. So, what do you do? You go out get a guy like Mitch Trubisky and wait till the rookie of your dreams comes out of the draft. I know it’s not sexy and I know it’s not fool proof but if you have the ability to create a roster that’s perfect everywhere but QB (think the chiefs before Mahomes) then you become the most desirable team to play for. Then that Vet who is looking to win just one more before they go could fall in your lap. Or that rooking with a big arm and great intangibles can develop properly behind your team. You do this all while keeping the money spent on other positions for the rookie window or the retirement window.

Those three reasons are why I love what the Steelers have done.

If you read this far thanks if you agree or disagree email me charles.moffat95@gmil.com

I write all these without editing sorry for all errors maybe I’ll get around to it but I’m a busy guy.

Hello and welcome to my blog. This really is just meant to be a creative outlet where I talk about the things that I love. Including but not limited to: Sports (NFL, NBA, MLB in that order), Anime, TV shows, and whatever else I feel like writing about. I give myself a small chance that I will ever share my writing publicly so if you’re here I told you about it and you said, “fuck you yeah right.” and I replied with “no really take a look.” I hope you enjoy. Below I will lay out a few things I hope to write about on this page.

Sports: I’m a sports guy. In the truest form I might add. I am most comfortable and confidant talking about sports. I landed my first two jobs largely due to the fact that I was able to talk to my interviewers about the Utah Jazz and the Pittsburgh Steelers (My two favorite teams). But it doesn’t stop there. I went to sports broadcasting camp as a kid, broke several household items when games didn’t go my way, and cried many times in victory but mostly defeat. I’ve possessed several fat heads, bubblehead’s, and posters. I collected cards from every league as a kid. I played every sport my parents would let me (thanks mom for driving) and while I wasn’t the best I loved every minute of it. I still love it. I play in adult leagues here in DC all the time. Sports are by far the biggest part of my life. I’ve got more useless information in my brain about players, events, and stats then I would care to admit. I owe my life to sports. I can’t wait to write about them.

Amine: An odd transition I will admit but bare with me. If you’re here for just sports cool. You can skip right over anything I write about anime. If you want to shit on me for being a nerd cool. I don’t really give a fuck about your opinion on it anyway. Amine is a great medium. It’s given me some of the greatest moments of my life. From the Hunter x Hunter ant arc to the marine ford battle. I’m an original weeb. Back in middle school I used to use a Hidden Mist headband as belt. I was scared of kids bulling me but back in 2008 long Baggy Ts were in so they always covered up the headband. I have enjoyed following all the different worlds and characters that I have come to know throughout my short life and look forward to discussing some of them. I hope to do a recap style blog for this. Maybe breakdown the different shows from start to finish. could be fun fuck it IDK.

TV: Idk I’m a big fan of survivor as well as all the HBO stuff. I love GOT, The Wire, Sopranos, and all that shit. I also am a huge fan of animated comedies like South Park. One thing I hope to accomplish is a guild to watching South Park. My sister says I have a unique anility to pick the write episode based on character. So look out for episode ranking based on who the center focus of the episode is.

If you read this far I guess you aren’t disgusted by horrendous writing and spelling errors so you just might fit in. Hope you like it.