NFL - NEWS & NOTES

He has more yards from scrimmage and he has certainly had to do more with less than Gurley. But those 6 TD's are a big glaring hurdle to overcome. Barkley has to be the shoe in for ROTY but MVP's so rarely go to non-QB's it's hard to make a case for MVP for the league -- though the Giants are probably the worst team in the league without him. Hell even with him it has taken a string of injured teams playing back-up QB's to get the Giants to 5 wins.

 

Barkley has been insane, but "more yards from scrimmage" is pretty negligible here to make it a point. As I said, outside situation and rushing TDs, all else is essentially equal.

 

I must say in honesty. I was not high on Barkley, but he has proven me wrong and looks every-bit the stud he was expected to be. He has carried that team in NY.

 

Yeah the more yards from scrimmage are mostly a non-factor -- and it's not many yards anyhow. The fact that he has done it while getting hit in the backfield more than anyone else is a much bigger factor but that doesn't show up on the old stat line. He has gotten most of those yards the hard way when Gurly is largely running into well blocked holes. I don't think either one is a potential MVP candidate and Gurley has seriously like 50% more TD's. That is the sort of thing that sticks out more than "broken tackles behind the line of scrimmage."

 

I catch a ton of crap for still believing that the Giants should have taken a QB. Even my wife was giving me shit about it this week. Love Barkley, thrilled I get to watch him in a Giants uniform, electric player. But until the Giants have a QB I will continue to harp on what could have been. Barkley is doing exactly what the Giants GM said he wanted to avoid. Making them a team that is good enough to win 6 - 9 games and winds up having to trade up or over draft a QB.

 

Yup. This is exactly the problem.

 

Gruden is supposed to be an offensive genius and yet Cooper looked like a dead WR on the Raiders. He looked so bad that most people were laughing at the Cowboys for the trade and what they gave up for cooper. Flash forward and wow what a difference Cooper looks amazing with the Cowboys. Its not like eh went to a team with a top notch QB (Brady, Brees, Rodgers ect) that all of a sudden turned him into a beast or that he went to a team where he is the second or third option and is exploiting mismatches. He is the number 1 option for the Cowboys just like he would have been for the Raiders and yet he looks like a completely different WR. Now I guess you can throw the argument out that teams have to account for Zeke but that still doesnt explain how in obvious passing situations he cant be stopped all of a sudden. Gruden will continue to drive the raiders into the ground (IMHO) but what are you going to do. If you fire him do you really want to pay another coach big money?

 

maybe cooper was playing poorly on purpose so he could get shipped out of town ? seems awfully suspicious he's now on a winning team and playing like he should have all along ? dogging it doesn't seem so far fetched to lower his own value to get the hell out of Raiderville.

 

Coop played 6 games with the Raiders this year; in FOUR of them, he had a combined 10 targets (3, 5, 1, and 1). That doesn't sound close to what Gruden had said before the season started - that his offense was going to run through Cooper.

Oh, the other two games? 22 targets, 18 receptions for 144 yards and a TD. That ain't dogging it. Really sounds more to me that Gru-dog wasn't using him properly/enough, for whatever the reason.

 

The NFL’s salary cap is rising again.

The league announced today that the salary cap will rise to somewhere in the neighborhood of $190 million in 2019. The 2018 cap is set at $177.2 million.

“The NFL informed clubs today that the projections for the 2019 salary cap are in the range of $187.0 million to $191.1 million,” the league said in a statement. “This marks a 40% increase in just five years since the 2014 season ($133.0 million) and would be the 6th consecutive year the cap is projected to climb more than $10 million per club year over year. Total projected player costs, including benefits, will be more than $7.3 billion in 2019.”

The first year the NFL had a salary cap, in 1994, it was $34.6 million. That would be about $59 million in today’s dollars. So if the cap had merely kept pace with inflation, it would be less than one-third of what it will be in 2019.

 

fair enough axe, solid points. maybe "dogging it" wasn't the right term. being lazy? not giving a shit, etc? wouldn't be the first time an athlete didn't play hard. look at manny machado ... "im no johnny hustle!" no shit.

 

btw friday is my last day in the office till jan 3rd, so i won't be on much for 2 and a 1/2 weeks. Happy Holidays everyone! Be safe, be festive, eat and drink up, get lots of presents, be nice to Santa, be nice to others, and see ya in 2019 !

to all the guys i had wars of words with my apologies and let the New Year wash away our battles and start fresh for a New Year !

 

Take me with you, Catfish. I've got Christmas day off, and that's it. Cheers, man - I hope you absolutely enjoy it.

Happy Holidays, all. Here's to a more positive, constructive new year.

 

If you can find links to stories or reports about Cooper mailing it in (a la Randy Moss when HE was in Oakland), I'd like to check 'em out.

 

Just gonna jump in here real quick...

https://247sports.com/nfl/oakland-r...-for-taking-plays-off-during-games-115357233/

I remember his on field hustle being called into question a couple different times, but the reason it probably stuck in my memory was the fact that it had been mentioned in his pre-draft profile by a couple different analysts. It wasn't exactly a red flag, but more like a point that was debatable because of the kind of offense Saban runs in Bama.

 

I remember that as well. Cooper was accused a few times of not really trying. He has some motivation now but I am curious if anything changes in the next year or two.

 

Thanks! I thought I'd heard something about that, but couldn't locate anything concrete in a quick search.

He's seeing the ball (target-wise) more so far in Dallas; hopefully that keeps up and keeps him motivated...

 

A look ahead...

 

damn dline, our company gave us off the 24th and 25th, and JAn 1, but i took the rest off. i worked my first 2 Christmas' here and we were dead. My boss goes to Florida for a week and it's like a ghost town here. so the past 3 years, i saved up my vacation time as i get 5 weeks for the end of the year. Happy Holidays ! At least you have nice weather which makes up for the next 3-4 months of cold ass temps and snow coming. ugh.

 

CARSON WENTZ OUT FOR SUNDAY'S GAME WITH A BAD TIGHT AND SORE LOWER BACK. Could miss rest of season due to the low chances of making the playoffs. Come on down SB MVP Nick Foles ! Nick to the rescue once again and the health of Wentz is now a concern for the EAGLES front office as this is his second injury in as many seasons.