Kavorka!
By Joe Torosian
“Don’t cry out loud. Just keep it inside, learn how to hide your feelings.”—Melissa Manchester
Kick it!
I’m a Rams fan.
John Johnson III goes…and Leonard Floyd stays…Oh well, life goes on.
They come, and they go. I understand it, I get it, but I’ll always appreciate the pleasure of growing up with a defensive line that only had one change in eight seasons.
I’ll always be grateful that my team had the same middle-linebacker for eight-seasons and the same cornerbacks for seven seasons.
But I also appreciate my team can be 7-9 one year and Super Bowl champions the next.
(BTW—if you can put names to the positions I listed above. I’ll give you a bonus. And you can bring your dog around, and I’ll give it a bonus too. I’m thinking pancakes.)
So, for now, I’ll hide my feelings and get on with business…
Who said Drew Brees wasn’t a great quarterback this weekend? I heard several different podcasts this morning defending Brees as a great quarterback. It was boring. We’ve got free agency, salary cap, the pending draft…and the debate (defense) is all about Brees?
Brees is a first-ballot hall of famer. Boom. There. Done.
But he should have retired two years ago. It’s not complex research, but New Orleans in 2019 and 2020 won with Teddy Bridgewater and Taysom Hill. And when Brees came back, they still got bounced from the playoffs.
Absolute all-time great, but he should have gone to the press box after losing to the Rams in the NFC title game in 2018.
Everyone’s in love with Brees’ completion percentage. Cool, yeah, great. I don’t want John Hufnagel or Bob Avellini throwing the football for my team either. But I’ve always believed completion percentage for a quarterback is one of the most misleading stats in football.
What’s the completion percentage 7-yards downfield? What’s the completion percentage on third down? Don’t sell me Cam Newton’s 65.8 completion number for a team that went 7-9, when Tom Brady completed 65.7 percent of his passes and won a Super Bowl.
I like Newton, but he should be in the analyst’s booth next to Brees in 2021.
So Cam is coming back to New England after taking a beating in 2020, and now he’ll be without his best offensive lineman. The Patriots’ sudden spending spree is for weapons, not self-defense.
Was the Kansas City Chiefs cutting of both their starting tackles the cost for missing the Super Bowl? (Just joking.) Or were they thinking to sign Patriots free-agent guard Joe Thuney for 5-years & $80-rocks ($32.5 guaranteed) all along?
Tangent: I’m always for paying offensive lineman (unless they’re drafted number two overall by the Rams—see 2009 & 2014 picks).
But this got me thinking about Tampa Bay and Shaq Barrett. I don’t know if I would have given him $72-million for 4-years ($36-guaranteed). I can understand keeping the band together, and the Bucs have done that, but is it okay for me to be “iffy” on Barrett?
Tampa got away with murder defensively in its last two games. They played the Green Bay Packers without left tackle David Bakhtiari in the NFC final, and then the Chiefs without Eric Fisher & Mitchell Schwartz (the KC tackles recently kicked to the curb) in the Super Bowl.
Remember this, the Rams went into Tampa Bay—with Jared Goff—and beat the Bucs. We know what the Rams defense did to Brady that night, but the question remains why couldn’t the Bucs do the same to Goff?
In that Monday night game (Rams 27, Bucs 24–final), Tampa inside linebackers Lavonte David and Devin White each had 9-tackles. (David had three for losses, White one, and a quarterback hit.) Barrett had four tackles, none for a loss, zero sacks, and zero hits on the quarterback. And this was against a Rams offensive line featuring Joseph Noteboom and Rob Havenstein.
In the playoffs—after being a no-show against Washington & New Orleans—Barrett did combine for four sacks, eight quarterback hits, and four tackles for losses against the Packers and Chiefs.
Oh, that’s right, those were the teams without three of their four starting tackles.
(Mmmm?)
Barrett was the best available, but he only had 8-sacks this season, playing in one less game. And there were a lot of edge-defenders on the market to be had.
Rams Rehab has shown (Dante Fowler Jr./Leonard Floyd) that an edge defender’s career in limbo can turn into something special in the right situation. Like playing next to Aaron Donald.
I’m just caveman (writing from The RamCave), but I think the Bucs’ most important defenders are inside linebackers David (just re-signed) and White. Not the guy they just gave all that money to on the edge.
The neanderthal in me does also question the Rams giving Floyd $64-million over the next four years. I don’t know what the guaranteed money is, but I think Floyd will be somewhere else in three.
The Dude abides…
1,179
1 Corinthians 15:12
Joe T. is the author of “Tangent Dreams: A High School Football Novel” … “Temple City & The Company of The Ages” … “The Dead Bug Tales” … “The Dark Norm” & “FaithViews for Storm Riders”…all five available through Amazon.com.
www.JoeTorosian.com
jtbank1964@yahoo.com
Follow Joe on Twitter @joet13b
Instagram: @joet13b
Parler: @Jtbank1964
MeWe: Joe Torosian
Be sure to read:
College Hoops Breakdown—Every Monday by Riley Saxon
The Urena Express—Every Wednesday by Steven Urena
