The Minnesota Vikings prevailed over Washington 19-9 in a Thursday night game that featured a statistical oddity: Minnesota never punted, ran for 161 yards, quarterback Kirk Cousins completed 23 of 26 passes with no interceptions, and yet the Vikings could not even score 20 points. How does this happen? It was the lowest-scoring output by…
Jake Schwanitz looked at the 256 NFL regular season games in 2018 as well as the 11 postseason contests, and chose the top most thrilling, most meaningful, and most interesting duels. This series has run over the past few weeks; here it is collected in one place. #10: Pittsburgh Steelers @ New Orleans Saints (Week…
The Minnesota Vikings traveled to Los Angeles in Week 4 on a Thursday night to take on the Los Angeles Rams. An air show broke out. Kirk Cousins showcased his skills as a passer in the number eight game of 2018 when the Vikings faced the Green Bay Packers in week 2. The Vikings had…
After the Minnesota Vikings were blown out by the eventual Super Bowl champion Philadelphia Eagles in the NFC Championship game last season, they knew they had to address their quarterback position. Enter Kirk Cousins on a historic, fully-guaranteed contract. In his first start of 2018, Cousins played well, leading the Vikings to a win. The…
Week 8 takes us to the halfway point in the fantasy football season. Thus far the Rams, Steelers, and Chiefs have been the most fertile grounds for fantasy points. While the Bills, Cardinals, and 49ers have proven themselves too volatile to trust. I do not fault these 3 teams, as injuries and rookie errors have…
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…
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…
The Cover 3 defense has been a staple of some of the best defenses in recent memory. It’s a basic coverage that relies on 3 players eliminating the deep thirds of the field, while the remaining 4 players focus on underneath coverage (assuming 4 defenders are rushing). There are many variations to Cover 3, but…
The 2017 Philadelphia Eagles team will go down as one of the teams people remember for a lifetime. From the individual personalities, to the aggressive coaching, to the resiliency they showed throughout the season, both sides of the ball presented many story lines. One aspect that really stood out during the season was their success…
When we think of injuries in today’s NFL, the one that will probably spring to mind immediately is the ACL tear. The ACL, or anterior cruciate ligament, is found in both knees and a tear of this ligament more often than not requires surgery followed by rehabilitation and physical therapy. Some big names unfortunately suffered…
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…
Does a piece on a wide receiver regarded as one of the best in the league need to be written? With the recent buzz of trade rumors regarding this high profile athlete, Twitter and the media in general have exploded with remarks on his worth as a locker room guy (we as outsiders have very…
The 2018 NFL Draft is less than 3 weeks away and every team is putting the finishing touches on their draft boards. We all know the consensus top prospects such as Saquon Barkley, Bradley Chubb and Quenton Nelson. Then there are those middle round prospects that don’t get the recognition they deserve. Day 2 and…
Finding the quarterback to lead your franchise isn’t an easy task for any NFL executive. For most teams, franchise quarterbacks are acquired by miserably finishing with the league’s worst record. Others are fortunate enough to fill the position by hitting on the rare 3rd or 4th round pick. Yet, for the unlucky teams that find…