Week 5 was another strange week in the NFL. Graham Gano kicked a game winning 63 yard field goal, Greg Joseph kicked the ugliest game winning field goal in recent memory, and one of the NFL’s best kickers, Mason Crosby, missed 5 kicks against the Lions. The Jets running game rose from the ashes, the…
This past weekend someone asked me why fantasy football is so difficult. I told her, quite frankly, it is so hard because the NFL is almost impossible to predict. Right on cue the Bills beat the Vikings and the Lions beat the Patriots with their first 100 yard rushing performance in 5 years. This, of…
Before I start writing and you start reading, let us try to take a moment to process the featured image above. Specifically: is this the greatest thing ever to happen or a sign the excesses of Western Civilization have finally gotten completely out of control? I wonder . . . Okay, so now that we…
Week 1 has come and passed, now we move on to Week 2. Or at least you, the reader, can move on to Week 2. I admittedly still need a bit of time to process the Browns and their tie against Pittsburgh. This is not the place to vent about the lack of jet sweeps…
The Zen philosopher Basho once wrote . . . Ha! I’m just kidding. Unlike my last article, I won’t be funneling my analysis through Ancient Philosophy. Hence the Caddyshack reference. No, no, instead I’d like to take some time and share a few storylines in Week One that should have a significant impact on the…
With the new season upon us, what better time than now to talk about the playoffs? There are 31 fan bases across the country full of high hopes that their favorite team will make the playoffs. For New England fans, it’s become basically an annual occurrence, so they probably aren’t too concerned. Enjoy it while…
“Evolution is the fundamental idea in all of life science – in all of biology” – Bill Nye And especially in the game of football. Yet unlike nature, where changes can be gradual and take life cycles, evolution in football must be swift, must be effective, and preferably must be trailblazing lest ye be left…
Does anyone really know what Allen Robinson’s going to do this year? There are a host of outstanding football analysts who do their best to project player performance from year to year using advanced scouting and statistical models, but even the best methods aren’t perfect, as every player reacts differently to new situations and to…
In the midst of my first 2018-19 fantasy football Mock Draft for a PPR league, I found myself in a quagmire of uncertainty. I’d drafted Alvin Kamara ninth overall and was hunting for a second running back towards the end of the third round. With pick 29, I was targeting Christian McCaffrey, figuring I would…
A little over two years ago, I wrote a piece called “Five Lessons on Hiring Head Coaches,” looking at trends and results from head coaching hires since 2000. With 13 of the league’s 32 teams making changes at the top since then, it seemed like a good time to see if the hiring practices and…
Dallas Cowboys QB Rayne Dakota Prescott is set to be a rich man within the next calendar year or so. How rich exactly is anyone’s guess, but the 2016 4th round pick out of Mississippi State is eligible for a contract extension after the 2018 season and may look to cash in. Prescott has been…
Be sure to purchase the Inside the Pylon Draft Guide (including team specific guides) for full reports on all drafted players, available now! After a heartbreaking 15-10 loss to the eventual Super Bowl champion Philadelphia Eagles in the NFC Divisional Playoff round, the Atlanta Falcons have plenty to look forward to. General manager Thomas Dimitroff…
This year, for the only the third time in 50 years, two offensive linemen from the same school were selected in the top 10 picks of the NFL Draft. The Indianapolis Colts drafted guard Quenton Nelson 6th overall and the San Francisco 49ers drafted tackle Mike McGlinchey 9th overall, both hailing from Notre Dame. While…
The 2018 NFL Draft is over and one of the better draft hauls belongs to the Chicago Bears. Let’s cut to the chase here for the Bears, as general manager Ryan Pace summed up his feelings on how this draft panned out for the Bears in his and coach Matt Nagy’s press conference once round…
Each year the NFL scouting community engages in a shuffle, as both personnel and scouts move between organizations. Sometimes these are individual movements and promotions from team to team, but other times these moves indicate a new front office that is looking to make a shift in the team’s philosophy. This tracker I have put together…
If you’ve listened to me before, you know I get on a soap box on a few topics. Player/Team fit is one of those. I watched the 1st round of the 2018 NFL Draft through the lens of: ‘Where are the best Player/Team fits’. You can read full scouting reports on each of these players…