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What is right with this picture?
- Thursday night in Indianapolis, the Jets, not yet halfway through the regular season, were down to their third-string quarterback with 10 other players out with injuries.
- The Jets were not any more or less physically depleted than most NFL teams. Less than halfway through, many NFL stars and starters are down and out for the season.
- The third quarter began with the Colts up, 28-10, and a return of the kickoff by Indianapolis’ Isaiah Rodgers to the 17, where he was blasted to the ground from his blind, right side by Quincy Williams. As Rodgers laid on the ground in obvious distress, Williams led a blood dance among on-field teammates to celebrate his brutality.
As the Colts summoned for medical help, Williams returned to the bench, still congratulating himself while accepting the delighted congratulations of sideline teammates.
Even though the Colts were up by 18 and had the ball, the Jets were extraordinarily proud of having laid out Rodgers on a technically legal, but needlessly brutal and dangerous, “tackle.”
The replay on Fox didn’t provoke any condemnation of the Jets’ behavior. But Troy Aikman did offer: “That replay doesn’t really show just how hard he did get hit.” After a full-speed replay, either Aikman or Joe Buck can be heard grunting at the remorseless, defenseless viciousness.
But the three of us saw what we saw. Rogers, at 5-foot-10, 170 pounds, had already been stopped in near-sideline traffic. Williams, at 230 pounds, could have simply shoved Rogers over or — imagine! — actually used his arms to tackle him. He instead chose to devastate him, leading with a shoulder, then dancing for joy as he was joined by teammates. Sick. Twisted. Nauseating.
Then over to sideline reporter Kristina Pink for an update on injured Jets backup QB Mike White, who started for injured first-stringer Zach Wilson.
And so, NFL carnage and individual and team celebrations of excessive brutality will continue. It will continue today and tonight and next week.
But they erected a statue in front of the Ravens’ stadium depicting Ray Lewis performing his ritual blood dance as (among other things) a frequently fined unrepentant and remorseless head-hunter, didn’t they?
Even after Lewis’ curious payoffs to the families of those murder victims as per his obstruction of justice plea for lying to homicide investigators, the NFL still hired him to sell league-licensed merchandise. And first ESPN, then Fox hired him to be an NFL analyst despite his inability to speak cogent sentences.
Why? Why did the NFL and TV think we’d be smitten by the presence of such a man? We all love the smell of blood?
- So let the carnage — so much of it inexcusable and preventable, such as Williams’ brutalization of standing duck Rodgers on Thursday — proceed. Roger Goodell’s NFL has this season added a regular season game to make it 17, and proposes to soon make it 18.
That should allow a few of those disabled in early September to return in late December.
Still, Goodell’s NFL remains eager to tell fans they suffer from an absence of social sensitivity.
Matte among great Colts names
Tom Matte, a crew cut-shorn Baltimore Colts halfback in the 1960s, died last week at 82.
My formative years as a football fan were as a Giants fan — Andy Robustelli, Erich Barnes, Jim Katcavage, Joe Morrison, Y.A. Tittle, Frank Gifford, Rosey Brown, Del Shofner.
Otherwise, I’d have been a Colts fan. They always seemed to play — and often win — in muddy uniforms on dark afternoons. Or was that just the black and white Zenith?
Matte, John Mackey, Gino Marchetti, Lenny Moore, among others. How could anyone root against fellows named Ordell Braase or Steve Stonebreaker?
Drafted as a QB out of Ohio State, Matte played just three NFL games at QB, all when both Johnny Unitas and his backup, Gary Cuozzo (who later became a Middletown, N.J., orthodontist), were both out in 1965. Matte — and the images somehow clearly remain in my head — took the snaps after calling the plays he read off a list wrapped around his wrist.
Back then — I was 13 — I thought that was the coolest thing. Still do.
Red zone stats, no matter how misleading or irrelevant, have been an essential part of NFL telecasts for the last dozen or so years. Yet, still no one knows when a red-zone possession begins or ends. Yep, it’s still predicted on total ignorance posed as 20 yards of enlightenment!
Is third-and-6 from the 18 a red-zone possession, open to examination as a red-zone percentage success or failure in the same manner as first-and-goal from the 1? Sure. Maybe. But maybe not. Does a 5-yard loss to the 22 eliminate a red-zone possession? Absolutely perhaps! That’s for sure!
But as you watch Sunday, remember: Red zone stats are much too telltale to be ignored — even if no one has a clue to what, when, where, why and how. Kick a short field goal to win the game on the last play, as per plan? That’s a red-zone failure! Sanctuary!
Let’s all play Sports “Jeopardy!” Today’s first category is “Self-Entitled, Arrogant QBs Who Once Hosted ‘Jeopardy!’ ” Ready? Ready? Let’s play.
The answer is: “He falsely claimed to be immunized from COVID until he tested positive just last week.”
Reader Ronnie Zajicek, you buzzed in first.
“Who is Aaron Rodgers?”
Correct!
And our final Sports “Jeopardy!” category is “Good Investment Advice: Roger Goodell or Bernie Madoff?”
Bob loves to get excited
The hysterical, unhinged screaming from Jets radio voice Bob Wischusen on ESPN-NY after Jets touchdowns is much too forced to be even partially natural. Sure, he’s the “Jets’ guy,” he’s supposed to act pumped. But cut the logical a break. His “call” of the Jets’ first TD against the Bengals sounded as if he’d been nailed by a cattle prod. It was creepy, even if it was Halloween.
New Jersey voters last week rejected a proposal to allow gambling on Jersey college games. I’d wager that all those get-rich-quick sports gambling ads had an adverse reaction among voters, especially among those with a good sense of smell.
Sorry, the voting has been closed to select readers’ favorite nationally televised college or pro football game day/night studio show. Final tally among 5,000 ballots cast: None 4,998, Undecided 2.
So now Giants’ PSL suckers are supposed to unconditionally root for Kadarius Toney the way they were supposed to unconditionally cheer for Odell Beckham Jr.? Geez, that’s more compromise than most good folks can expend.
Troy Aikman, during Jets-Colts on Thursday, complimented Jets tight end and Rutgers man Tyler Kroft for making a nice catch by “high-pointing” the ball. Next, Aikman caught himself: “I want to apologize, Joe [Buck]. I swore I’d never say ‘high-point’ on air.” Funny! That’s the Aikman we’ve been waiting for!
Quote of the Week from Cordarrelle Patterson, who plays receiver, running back and returns kicks for the Falcons: “If my mom could go out there and work three jobs, I can go out there and play three positions.”
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