I watched the edited version of this game, but they did show Sam Darnold limping after the first drive — check the NO on 274.5 yards right away, but shit, I had a resting order of YES on 224.5 that filled while I was asleep! That’s the problem with trading games in absentia.
The other crazy thing was I saw a Twitter post that the gay-ish head ref, you know who I mean, the black guy who announced the penalty calls in this one, almost always presides over games where the underdog covers. I didn’t fact check that — or even that he’s actually gay — but I had it in mind every time the Seahawks were called for a drive-continuing defensive penalty (which happened three or four times), or an offensive offsides that caused them to punt or an illegal shift that undid the Cooper Kupp TD. I won’t say the NFL was thumbing the scale, only that I noticed. And if you had the Pats +3.5, that insanely reckless Drake Maye interception at the end of the game was perfect, given they were in game-tying and overtime-risking FG range.
They also showed AJ Brown grabbing his lower leg after being tackled, but you don’t get an announcement, only crucial third-down throws going to Romeo Doubs, and you could infer Brown was probably out. My Steak League team is already on the ropes having lost Josh Jacobs (drafted before the exempt list), Brock Bowers (way to sniff that out ahead of time, beat reporters) and now Brown. It’s a 14-team league, you don’t have any depth. Remind me never to pay for a 23-YO player who’s already going bald. Guy is aging so fast he’s like those kids with that crazy disease they used to trot out on “That’s Incredible,” you remember the show with Fran Tarkenton. Maybe it was before your time, but those 80-year old 10-year olds freaked me out. Probably was fake like almost everything else we’ve been trained to fear, but that psyop definitely worked on me. “AI is gonna kill us all,” not so much.
The Seahawks defense looked like the one that won the Super Bowl seven months ago. Nasty against the run and pass, quick, disciplined and aggressive. Pleased to have them in three leagues.
Drew Lock wasn’t bad. He took a couple sacks early he shouldn’t have, but he threw the ball accurately enough. The Seahawks remind me a bit of the 2017 Eagles where the drop-off from then MVP candidate Carson Wentz to Nick Foles was surprisingly negligible. Usually the QB is the guy who makes everything go, the one Jenga piece you can’t pull, but those Eagles were the rare exception.
Jadarian Price looked pretty good to me, had a spring in his step and showed good hands on his two targets. He split carries with George Holani, but I’d expect that split to widen, and a returning-from-serious-injury Zach Charbonnet doesn’t strike me as a major threat if Price gets rolling.
I’m awfully glad to have two shares of Jaxon Smith-Njigba. What a paragon of consistency! I don’t think it makes much difference to his production whether it’s Darnold or Lock. I couldn’t believe he scored on that 45-yard catch and run, either — it was like the defender was always just two feet behind him, and the gap neither widened nor closed.
Nice one-handed catch by Cooper Kupp. JSN has the perfect complements in Kupp and Rashid Shaheed, solid players who pose zero threat to his target share. Anyone else have to double-check constantly whether it’s Rasheed Shahid or Rashid Shaheed?
Drake Maye ran well, but otherwise had a poor game. Doubs’ soul-crushing drops didn’t help, and neither did his one good receiver getting hurt against one of the league’s top defenses on the road. I wasn’t willing to pay the premium to draft Maye this year, but this game doesn’t move the needle much either way. It did align with my Super Bowl hangover prediction for the Pats, though.
Rhamondre Stevenson didn’t have much juice against a tough defense, but he sure got a ton of work (18 carries and six targets). He’s like the Javonte Williams of the AFC, which might or might not change once TreVeyon Henderson gets healthy.
Brown was apparently in a walking boot after the game, people are saying sprained ankle. He should have had a TD too on the flea-flicker, but Maye’s underthrow resulted in a (warranted) PI call instead. He could be back in a couple weeks, but this is how lost seasons often start.
JSN at pick 3-4 or later is a steal. When at Ohio St, Olave and Garrett Wilson both told reporters that JSN was the best out of the three. And those two are really good. It’s just that JSN is special. He gets open so easily, is as smooth as anyone who has done it when it comes to receiving the ball and never goes the wrong way into traffic….which is huge when it comes to avoiding injury.
Dying laughing that you pull a “That’s Incredible” reference out of your hat. So awesome.