Tom Brady
In The Pocket
By: JJ Lanier
TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services
Over the past few years, I feel like I’ve been living in my own personal Groundhog Day when it comes to NFC South quarterbacks; it has become a yearly ritual to write about how the division has the best collection of QB’s in the NFL.
Yet, it never fails that either Matt Ryan will have a down year, or Cam Newton will get injured, or Jameis Winston will, well, be Jameis Winston.
You’d think at some point I would learn my lesson, but apparently this isn’t that time because here I am writing about how our area should once again be privy to the best overall quarterback play of any division in football.
The one constant at quarterback in the NFC South has been Drew Brees. As much as many of us want to talk about Tom Brady’s ability to play at a high level for the better part of two decades- and I’ll be doing just that soon enough- you could argue Brees has been even better.
Over the past three seasons Brees has thrown for an average of 3,768 yards and just over 27 touchdowns and 5 interceptions, and that’s with him missing five games last season.
If this season happens to be Brees’ finale, there’s been recent speculation that is the case, I don’t expect it to be because of his on-field play.
Matt Ryan certainly hasn’t been a bad quarterback, just a bit of an inconsistent one. In his defense, a good portion of the blame can be attributed to the coaching changes the Falcons have had on the offensive side of the ball, but not all.
Ryan followed up underwhelming seasons in ‘15 and ‘17 with two of his best seasons in ‘16 and ‘18. If he continues along that pattern, 2020 should be a very promising season. (It’s smart to base a prediction solely off something as menial as patterns, right?)
Even though Tom Brady showed signs last season that his play could be regressing, he’s still an upgrade over Jameis Winston.
When you combine Bruce Arians coaching with the level of talent the Buccaneers have on the offensive side of the ball, Tampa Bay seems like a fairly obvious choice for Brady to have landed.
Mix that in with the former Patriots penchant for giving all his doubters the middle finger while outperforming expectations, would you be all that surprised if he turned in MVP type numbers this year? At this point, I’d almost be more surprised if he didn’t.
To me, the x-factor in this whole thing is Teddy Bridgewater. Before Bridgewater’s horrific injury that cost him a few seasons, he had one of the more promising futures of quarterbacks in the league.
But he had missed the better part of three seasons before stepping in for an injured Brees last season. The good news for Bridgewater is he performed well in Brees’ absence and many of the things Cam Newton struggled with- accuracy, pocket awareness, decision making- are some of Bridgewater’s strengths.
The bad news is the Panthers offensive line is still awful and as a team, I expect them to really struggle.
So, just to clarify, my prediction is based on one quarterback playing well because it’s an even year, two quarterbacks in their 40’s, and one who has thrown a grand total of 221 passes over the last four seasons.
Maybe this should’ve been the season I learned from my past mistakes.
The Jason Bishop Show with Kipp Branch March 21
Jason Bishop Show w Kipp Branch Feb 3
Who Is To Blame For Falcons’ Loss
By: JJ Lanier
TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services
If you’re a Falcons fan, it’s going to take you awhile to get over this one. Fortunately, or unfortunately depending on how you want to you look at it, you haven’t had to deal with this type of anguish very often, so here are some tips that I hope will be helpful over the next few days.
For starters, you need to be angry. I’m not talking “they put extra pickles on my burger” type rage. No, I’m talking about DMX “It’s Dark and Hell is Hot” kind of fury. There are a lot of different angles you can direct your anger towards, but if I were you I’d start with Kyle Shanahan.
Overall, Shanahan has been the best Offensive Coordinator this year. I mean, there’s a reason he’s about to become the 49ers head coach, and deservedly so. However, I’m not 100% percent convinced he didn’t hop on a plane to San Francisco once the 4th quarter started.
The play calling during those last few possessions were downright atrocious. I respect keeping the foot on the gas and going for the jugular (or whatever other common sports vernacular you want to put in there), but Shanahan has to shoulder this loss as much, if not more, than anyone.
You could also blame the defense and the fact they gave up 31 points in what amounted to just over a quarter of play, but you knew Brady wasn’t going to be held in check for the whole game. You may also want to rant a little about the overtime rules, although, and I hate to beat a dead horse of this one, it’s hard to argue too much when you had to allow 25 unanswered points just to get to overtime.
After you finish stage one and release all that pinned up anger, sit back and realize what Atlanta accomplished this season. They went from a team that basically no one picked to even make the playoffs, and turned it into arguably the most successful season in franchise history.
Matt Ryan proved idiots like me wrong and showed himself to be a legitimate Top 5 quarterback in the league. Your running game and defense surpassed everyone’s expectations. And you probably have one of the best, if not the best, collection of receivers and tight ends in the NFL. It’s tough to see right now, but the Falcons had one hell of season and you should be proud.
Now, once you complete reflection time, the last stage is to look ahead to next year. Sure, you’re losing Shanahan, and it looks like your quarterback coach may be following suit, but you have a great collection of young players at vital positions, who are bound to improve from this season to next. If your team can stay healthy, they should be able to make a run again next year.
Of course, the Super Bowl runner-up doesn’t always seem to have much success the following year- just ask any Carolina fan how that feels- so Atlanta does have some history to overcome.
I know things look bleak now, and it will probably take a few months to get over this loss, and that assuming you even can. I’m not going to lie, you’ve got a tough road ahead. If what I’ve mentioned doesn’t help you though, then know this- most of America is on your side. We all despise the Patriots.
