COB

“Great game out there, K! /eyes bug out/“

I suspect Zac was saying good job, Burrow was saying fuck that we suck.

Yesterday was a complete shit show. Hopefully the Browns game is equally chaotic.

Denver could lose out, SD, Cincy, and KC. But we also have to win out. Not likely.

That TD was all brown at the end.

First and goal in the half yard line, can’t get the play in, delay of game. Next snap, false start. First and goal on the 11 yard line, Zac Taylor style!! /eyes bug out/

Spears scores, looks like a 5 year old while doing it.

I hope I never see this officiating crew. These dude’s flag about anything they see.

Feel so bad for Jordan Battle.

Geno Stone having a big game!

Ok two takeaways by our defense in the first half.

Zac Taylor has perfected the incredulous look when he’s complaining about the many bad calls we’re getting this year. Main feature - eyes bugging out.

Tee Higgins can really take a hit.

Hubbard out for the game, hurt his knee on that td catch.

NFL Network just aired a spot about the league planning to allowfacemask calls and non calls to be video reviewed. They’ll vote on it at the next league meeting. The main impetus for this rule change seems to be the missed facemask on Burrow last week. They gave it the Zapruder film treatment, kept showing it. They also showed the vikes qb a couple weeks back get blatantly face masked, but no call. It got me thinking abut how the bengals get fucked over by the officials, then the league changes the rule so it can’t happen to a team someone actually cares about. Examples - Kimo crawls into Palmers knee in the playoff game, quickly new rule arises, no crawling into QBs legs. Rivers takes a crown of the helmet hit from Steelers, jaw gets badly broken. I also recall Bernard getting just cheap-shotted in the face (Steelers) and getting knocked out, I thought maybe the crown of the helmet rule was a result of one of those hits. (Side note: the Steelers encouraged spearing, which unfortunately lead to Shazier’s spinal cord injury). Results of my research - inconclusive. I can’t find the evidence of the direct link between our injuries and the crown of helmet rule. What I did find, and the reason I’m writing this, is that the league voted in March of 2013 to ban hits using the crown of the helmet. And that vote was 31-1 to ban those hits. The lone no vote? Mike Brown. Mike has to be the smartest guy in the room. He has to be an iconoclast. And that trait has handicapped this franchise in very tangible and material ways. The most recent example, and the one that I think will hurt this franchise the most, was his lone vote against allowing PE money to buy small percentages of teams. The Brown family should sell this team.

It’s the Holy Trinity (Burrow, Chase, Higgins) versus the Dark Triad (Mike, Kate, Duke Tobin).

Higgins just signed with Rocky Arceneaux. He is JaMarr Chase’s agent as well. I honestly do not understand the logic there for the player, but whatever. Tee seems very interested in re-signing with us, Joe wants him, great relationship with the R1, we’ll see where this all goes!

Brown hits the hole line at top speed. His first step is amazing and it seems like he’s at full speed on like his 3rd step. That last name though.

One last thing about Mulugheta. Some guys do well with new teams as free agents. But a lot of guys never perform at the same level. They were used to their teammates, maybe the scheme fit them, maybe they benefited from the years’ long familiarity with the guys in either side of them. Whatever. But we can all think of about a hundred examples just from our team. This very year in fact. Just a thing Tee might be thinking about. It’s pretty great to have JaMarr Chase lining up on the other side of the line pulling all that attention from the safety away from you.

One other thing about Mulugheta. He seems to encourage his guys to get their unrestricted rights by playing on the tag. Tee and Bates both played on the tag. Not many guys play on the tag. There is a lot of risk to the player. The payoff comes when Mulugheta gets to auction his guy off to the whole league, be a big shot when your guy signs that mega deal. You don’t get that kind of attention by having your client sign a normal extension after your 4 year rookie deal is over.

Tee fired David Mulugheta. He was Jessie Bates’ agent. Really a guy who ignores team dynamics and player fit, just totally focused on the money. Kind of his job but also known for ignoring other factors. Jessie Bates could have stayed here and I think he’d have thrived. He’s played great in Atlanta but they’re certainly not a Super Bowl threat. He represented DeShaun Watson. After Watson very understandably said he didn’t want to sign with Cleveland, Mulugheta outsmarted that truck stop clerk up there and got that deal. It hasn’t worked out for anyone but Mulugheta. He’s a good agent for a certain type of client.

News that, while not under the radar, will be under appreciated in how much it will widen the gulf between the haves and the have nots. Mike is seriously screwing this team and this fan base with his stubborn adherence to old cap management and old school “all me” ownership. It really is an egotistical thing at this point.

Lou’s biggest problem isn’t his DC ability, it’s his haircut. Attention Lou Anarumo: it is not 1962.

Ok I just looked up burrow’s girlfriend, Olivia Ponton.

Not germane to the Dallas game in particular- I watched Myles Murphy on several plays and he’s having a tough go of it. Very blockable. I can see him getting cut after this year, especially if the new DC bothers to look at any game film. A highly motivated free agent would absolutely do better.