2023 Football Hall of Fame Class

The Football Hall of Fame released its list of first time eligible players for the 2023 Hall of Fame class. 

A max of 5 players can be elected and from the newcomers I would vote for Darrelle Revis, James Harrison, and Joe Thomas. From the returning players I'd support Zach Thomas (he was Brian Urlacher without the hype) and Clay Matthews (who like Thomas was wrongly overshadowed by more hyped but not more productive players).

For contributors I really hope Robert Kraft finally gets his due and gets elected. He's not getting any younger and it's a crime that Jerry Jones was inducted before Robert Kraft.

The big problem with the Hall election process is the use of an advocate to plead the player's case. Get a bad advocate and miss induction. It's a very flawed process.

Antonio Brown

I'll be honest - I didn't want New England to sign Antonio Brown. I was in agreement with Tom E. Curran that "the Patriots should run like hell away from Antonio Brown."

And, again to be honest, I thought this was both funny and probably true.

But then the Patriots signed Brown. Now I have to concede that my opinion doesn't count for much and that in Bill We Trust.

Antonio Brown and his agent are, of course, saying all the right things. He's going to be accountable, do things the right way, the Patriot way, yada yada yada. But the proof of that will be on the field. And in the locker room.

Everyone seems to want to make the Randy Moss comparison to the Brown signing. But the voice in the back of my head keeps reminding me that Randy Moss did not win a ring with the Pats. Granted that was through no fault of Moss who was a great player for New England. I'm then conversely reminded by that little voice that past Patriots personnel gambles Corey Dillion, LeGarrette Blount and Darrelle Revis all did win Super Bowls. 

One under-reported aspect to this whole scenario could be the potential impact Patriots great Troy Brown could have here. Troy's been helping with the coaching this season and what a perfect project Antonio could be for "Coach" Brown in helping Antonio become acclimated to the New England playbook and way of doing things.

As a side note - if this does work out for the Pats then it could make Tom Brady a favorite to win the MVP. Brady was a 20-1 shot before the trade (and yes I did put some money down on that).

Go Pats! (I have my fingers crossed that this doesn't blow up on them.)

Flotsam and Jetsam

Miscellaneous thoughts and observations.

If Colin Kaepernick was actually any good in the eyes of NFL evaluators wouldn't it have made sense for the Colts to have signed him instead of trading away potentially valuable receiver Phillip Dorsett to the Pats for QB Jacoby Brissett?...  Diabolical? Yes. Funny? Also yes... Breaking: Aerosmith cancels tour over Steven Tyler "health issues". Me: I though Aerosmith stopped touring a decade ago... I'll be buying a set of these... If Colin Kaepernick is being denied a job in the NFL because of his views on protest - does that mean that Darrelle Revis and RG3 are also protesting something?... I will also be buying this t-shirt...  Recently I was at a bar (surprise!) and someone played Cheyenne Anthem by Kansas on the juke box. That is easily the worst song I have ever heard played in a bar... In 5-years people who still use Microsoft Word will be looked at the same way we look at people who still use typewriters...

Darrelle Revis

While we are waiting to hear what the legal outcome will be for Darrelle Revis knocking out two guys in Pittsburgh and if the NFL will do anything about the fact that the Jets ABSOLUTELY tampered with Revis prior to him being a free agent - I thought I'd look back on a couple of predictions I made two seasons ago.

If you are into player comparisons think of Revis signing with the Jets this way; they basically just got Deion Sanders age and performance-wise during the last 4 years of his career. There was no fifth year because Deion was cooked by then.

Looks like old and washed up Deion Sanders would have been a best-case scenario. Revis may be done with the Jets after just 2-seasons.

And a prediction I made prior to the 2015 season:

Darrelle Revis will not make either first team NFL All Pro or second team All Pro. If he makes it on the Pro Bowl team it will because of his past performance. Revis was beat often in the playoffs last season (Steve Smith Sr. abused him) something not lost on the Patriots or more important on the rest of the NFL (except the Jets).

Turns out that he did make the Pro Bowl in 2015 on reputation alone but did not sniff an All Pro selection in either of the past two years.

Bill Belichick absolutely made the right decision to let Revis scurry away to New York. Once again showing why the Patriots are the Patriots and the Jets are the Jets.

Darrelle Revis

With all the Patriots All-Pro players this season being home grown - you would think that fans would finally give Bill Belichick the benefit of the doubt as GM. Yet some people still whine about the Pats not bringing back Darrelle Revis despite a full season of evidence that New England absolutely made the right choice to let Revis walk.

Pro Football Focus' cornerback rankings also prove the Pats made the right choice.

In Bill We Trust.

Flotsam and Jetsam

Miscellaneous thoughts and observations.

For the next few weeks I'm purposefully going to be that super annoying guy who keeps asking, "So got your Christmas shopping done yet?"... This is true - Turkey remembers... Who knew? Great Britain was once the world champion of ice hockey. They won the Gold Medal in hockey at the 1936 Winter Olympics...  Just a reminder - Russia and Turkey have a quite a history of not getting along... Barack Obama - Less Competent than Carter and More Paranoid than Nixon". Wish that could fit on a bumper sticker... Heh heh - "Revis Island"... I think LSU would be crazy to fire Les Miles. If he wins this weekend he'll have pretty much the exact same record that Nick Saban had at LSU (49-15 for Miles vs 48-16 for Saban). If anything get the man better coordinators. Where's Les Miles version of Lane Kiffen on offense?... Cool quick cartoon explanation of Einstein's Theory of General Relativity...

Flotsam and Jetsam

Miscellaneous thoughts and observations.

Can anyone recall the last time Bill Belichick mismanaged the game clock? How come almost every NFL coach seems to have problems with this?... This is pretty amazing... I think the word "orgasm" should be replaced by the word "culminate"... Some historians suggest that the new invention of chlorinated water may have saved more lives of soldiers at the front in World War I than were lost by deaths from chlorine gas in that same war... Obamacare is a dumpster fire... Hey look at me! Just an observation but guys with tattoos on their calves are more likely to wear shorts in the winter... The Jets are saddled with a 5-year $71 million contract to Darrelle Revis. Just saying but you don't see the Patriots getting stuck with deals like that... Excellent point... A "monger" of fish and a "monger" of whores engage in two very different activities... Dear Santa - all I want for Christmas is for you to bring back Orange Zima... The work of art Dogs Playing Poker sells for over $650,000...

Top 5 NFL Predictions

Here are my Top 5 NFL Predictions for this season.

1. The New England Patriots will make Super Bowl 50 as the AFC Champions. No idea who they will face but the Pats are almost a lock to be in the game (assuming Tom Brady remains healthy).

2. Darrelle Revis will not make either first team NFL All Pro or second team All Pro. If he makes it on the Pro Bowl team it will because of his past performance. Revis was beat often in the playoffs last season (Steve Smith Sr. abused him) something not lost on the Patriots or more important on the rest of the NFL (except the Jets).

3. Both Rob Gronkowski and Scott Chandler of the Patriots will finish in the Top 10 for TD's by tight ends in the NFL.

4. Within 2 months either NFL front office honchos Mike Kensil or Jeff Pash (or both) will be fired or forced to resign for the bungling DeflateGate fiasco.

5. The Houston Texans will not only make the playoffs - running back Arian Foster will finish in the Top 5 in the NFL in rushing yards.

Flotsam and Jetsam

Miscellaneous thoughts and observations.

Attention IRS - I have decided to self-identify as a snowy owl and we all know that owls don't pay taxes. Call me Hedwig... Both interesting and a reminder of what barbarians fundamentalist Islamists can be... I don't think that probe on that comet mysteriously came back to life. I think it was just laying low until the stupid controversy over the guy's shirt died down... Interesting look at the Thirty Meter Telescope (TMT) and the lying hordes of native Hawaiians who oppose it. After reading the article and knowing some of the background I think I now fall into the anti-TMT camp... Song of the Pelican would be a good name for a band... I would guess that one of the real reasons Darrelle Revis is no longer with the Patriots is because he almost single-handedly cost New England the playoff game against the Ravens. Watch the highlights some time - Steve Smith completely undressed him... Speaking of the Jets...

Flotsam and Jetsam

Miscellaneous thoughts and observations.

So when the Patriots did not resign Darrelle Revis to a contract many in the Boston media were all over them for not stepping up and signing the great corner. But here's the thing - if the Patriots had signed Revis to a similar deal to what the Jets gave him then those very same media members would have instead ripped New England for overpaying for a CB and breaking their rules of financial restraint. You know it's true... RIP Gene Patton - aka Gene, Gene the Dancing Machine... Today is Michael Caine's birthday. Probably going to watch one of his older movies at some point today. Something like The Man Who Would Be King... Heh heh... So if your fantasy football league had a trade that sent LeSean McCoy and Nick Foles to another team for Sam Bradford and DeMarco Murray who would you say won that trade? Basically that's what the Eagles just did... Cool... As a reminder - if you say "My Cocaine" you are also saying "Michael Caine" in his own voice... Hmmmm - no net change in thickness of Arctic Sea ice since 1940... Today is also Albert Einstein's birthday. Just a reminder that even though E=MC2 is perhaps the most famous scientific equation in history - Einstein never received the Nobel Prize for coming up with it. The reasons for this slight were mostly because Einstein was Jewish... Muppets as comic book characters... Random Albert Einstein trivia; when Einstein lived in Princeton he had a small 17-foot sailboat he named Tinef which is Yiddish for "piece of junk"... Tom Hanks is a really nice guy...

Top 5 - Thoughts on Darrelle Revis

Here are 5 thoughts on Darrelle Revis and his signing with the New York Jets.

1. First - thank you! The New England Patriots are Super Bowl Champions and Darrelle Revis played a big role in that success. Patriots fans have become somewhat jaded by the success of the Belichick/Brady era but fans of other NFL teams - say of the Jets, Dolphins and Bills for example - can tell you how difficult just one Super Bowl can be to attain. So thank you Darrelle for 2014.

2. In Bill we trust. Only a moron would think that Revis signing with the Jets took Belichick by surprise. I'm sure he has a Plan B, Plan C, etc. etc. What are those plans? Only Bill really knows so it is a waste of time speculating about it (though all day today on sports talk radio people will be doing just that).

3. It should not be overlooked that Tom Brady had a full season of practice against Revis. Do you not think that will come in handy the two times each year New England plays the Jets? You also know that Belichick was looking at Revis all year with questions of what are his weaknesses and how could teams exploit them.

4. The Jets were 4-12 last year and they still have Geno Smith as their starting QB. The Patriots are a playoff team with or without Revis. The Jets? Not so much. But hey you got the back pages of the tabloids for a couple of days in March - so you have that going for ya!

5. I'm hoping the NFL awards the Patriots a draft pick for compensation for Jets owner Woody Johnson's comments about Revis which were a clear cut example of tampering. I want the draft pick just so I can point at the player New England takes with that pick and say, "that's the guy we got because the Jets owner can't keep his mouth shut."

Bonus thought: If you are into player comparisons think of Revis signing with the Jets this way; they basically just got Deion Sanders age and performance-wise during the last 4 years of his career. There was no fifth year because Deion was cooked by then.

Flotsam and Jetsam

Miscellaneous thoughts and observations.

The Patriots should be pissed the NFL still hasn't acted on Jets owner Woody Johnson tampering with Darrelle Revis... After donating my organs - I think this is what I want my ashes buried in... It is what it is - none of the Patriots coaches last year played NFL football... This is just piling on... Who knew? Gene Hackman was the producers original choice to play Mike Brady on The Brady Bunch but the studio insisted on Robert Reed... He did indeed!... Knowing that Neil Diamond wrote Sweet Caroline about prepubescent Caroline Kennedy - his song Girl You'll Be a Woman Soon is even more creepy... Speaking of Revis - with their recent trades the Bills no longer have the cap room to sign Revis if he hits the free agent market...

Flotsam and Jetsam

Miscellaneous thoughts and observations.

I'm really happy the Patriots signed Darrelle Revis. Some are curious if his deal precludes New England from using the franchise tag on him next year. I'm curious if Bill Belichick will also use him as an extra receiver (like a reverse Troy Brown)... I'm starting to understand why some people are afraid of clowns... Put me in the camp of people who think the Boston Celtics having special St. Patrick's Day uniforms as a dumb idea. They're the Boston CELTICS!!... Interesting - did climate change allow Genghis Khan to invade with such success? Wonder what Dan Carlin thinks of this?... Heh heh - the Germans play Monopoly... How is Jerry Sandusky not dead in jail by now?... I laughed at the Obama Between Two Ferns interview but I agree that this Presidency and Between Two Ferns have officially jumped the shark... As a Boston fan I'm getting restless. It has been way too many months since our last championship... If I knew then what I know now I would have bought all the lawn darts I could before they became illegal and I would give the Jarts as a semi-joke gift every Christmas to friends who have pre-teen boys...  Interesting - a possible explanation for what happened to flight MH370... Patrick Laverty made a great point. The Florida Marlins complained that the Red Sox failed to field a major league team last time they played but the Marlins still LOST that game! What does that say about the Marlins...  RIP American hero and Band of Brothers icon Wild Bill Guarnere...