NFL Week 4 Picks: Redemption Sunday

By: Will Stevenson

  Another week, another chance to get it right. Last week was bad, but not awful bad, so I feel there is progress in the air. We get started tonight with Bengals versus Dolphins, which if you’ve been watching, will be an exciting game between two teams that are uninteresting at the moment. For some reason, that’s how these Thursday Night games have gone for the most part. 

*Winners are in bold, and by winners I mean covering against the spread.

NFL Point Spreads For Week 4 – Week Four NFL Football Point Spread – NFL Spreads 9/29 – 10/3, 2016

Date & Time	Favorite	Spread	Underdog
9/29 8:25 ET	At Cincinnati	-8	Miami
10/2 9:30 AM	Indianapolis	-2.5	Jacksonville (At London)
10/2 1:00 ET	At Washington	-8	Cleveland
10/2 1:00 ET	At New England	-5.5	Buffalo
10/2 1:00 ET	Seattle	-2.5	At NY Jets
10/2 1:00 ET	Carolina	-3	At Atlanta
10/2 1;00 ET	Detroit	–3	At Chicago
10/2 1:00 ET	At Houston	-5	Tennessee
10/2 1:00 ET	At Baltimore	-3.5	Oakland
10/2 4:05 ET	Denver	-3	At Tampa Bay
10/2 4:25 ET	Dallas	-2.5	At San Francisco
10/2 4:25 ET	At San Diego	-4	New Orleans
10/2 4:25 ET	At Arizona	-8	Los Angeles
10/2 8:30 ET	At Pittsburgh	-5	Kansas City

   Monday Night Football Point Spread

10/3 8:30 ET	At Minnesota	-5	NY Giants

 

NBA MEDIA DAY KNICKSTAPE ADDITION

David Anthony

 

NBA media day often brings a lot of excitement and joy. For Knicks fans it’s a breath of fresh air, after yet another year of mediocrity. Their were plenty of new faces and a fancy new logos to celebrate the 70th anniversary of the club.

However one thing remained the same, hope. The Knicks have once again sold their fan base on the promise of competitive basketball. With yet another new coach and new teammates, the club has big expectations.

“I DON’T THINK THERE’S BEEN THIS TYPE OF EXCITEMENT SURROUNDING OUR TEAM SINCE I’VE BEEN HERE OVER THE PAST COUPLE OF YEARS. THE GUYS THAT WE BROUGHT IN WAS A GROUP OF GUYS THAT WAS PUT TOGETHER IN A VERY STRATEGIC WAY. THE TYPE OF CHARACTER GUYS THAT WE HAVE, THE WORK ETHIC THE FOCUS LEVEL IS AT AN ALL-TIME HIGH”- CARMELO ANTHONY

For the Knicks themselves they too seem rejuvenated and anxious.

“WHATEVER THE TEAM NEEDS,I’M READY”-BRANDON JENNINGS

“I FEEL LIKE I’M IN THE BEST SHAPE THAT I’VE BEEN IN A LONG TIME”-CARMELO ANTHONY

Their was plenty of enthusiasmin the air, however there were also some serious questions answered during the session.

“I THINK WE’RE IN THE SAME SITUATION. THINGS ARE GETTING WORSE- CARMELO ANTHONY ON THE SOCIAL PROBLEMS IN THE U.S.

“PRETTY SURE”- CARMELO ANTHONY ON IF THE KNICKS WILL DO SOMETHING TO ADDRESS THE SOCIAL ISSUES

Derrick Rose also answered some questions on his upcoming trail.

“IT’S NOT TRUE. I’LL BE PROVEN INNOCENT”- DERRICK ROSE

Rose also spoke about Porzingis.

“I’M ALWAYS GOING TO FIND A WAY TO GET HIM THE BALL”- DERRICK ROSE

“I WANT TO MAKE HIM RUN! HE’S YOUNG, WHAT LIKE 18 OR SOMETHING LIKE THAT?”-DERRICK ROSE

The unicorn spoke about his offseason progress, in which he worked on his ball handing and added core strength. He also talked about his recruitment of Lance Thomas.

“SO YOU’RE GOING TO SEE SOME NEW STUFF”. HOPEFULLY SOME MORE PUT-BACK DUNKS”-KRISTAPS PORZINGIS

“DON’T LEAVE US”- PORZINGIS ON WHAT HE TOLD LANCE THOMAS AT THE END OF LAST SEASON

Melo also spoke about the Knicks offense.

“I HONESTLY DON’T KNOW WHAT THIS OFFENSE IS GOING TO BE. I THINK EVERYONE IS SPECULATING SOMETHING. I HONESTLY DON’T KNOW. I HAVEN’T TALKED TO JEFF ABOUT WHAT TYPE OF OFFENSE WE’RE GONNA RUN, WHAT WE’RE GOING TO BE DOING.”

Noah was missing due to a family issue, which is a shame because he would surely have provided some note worthy quote’s. He is expected to rejoin the Knicks by Wednesday.

The club has had a lot of hype and hate around their offseason plans. Predictions went all the way to the eastern conference finals to missing the playoffs altogether. With pre-season only weeks away, they will have a chance to prove the naysayers wrong. For a struggling franchise and fan base who is longing for a competitive team this may be a productive year. But only time will tell, after all most “super teams” take some time to gel.

 

ALL QUOTES WERE TAKEN FROM BLEACHER REPORT

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4 teams with must win games in week 4

By Lawrence Edwards

Here we are already in week 4 and there are teams who are facing must win situations this week. These 4 teams must come out with a win this week to keep ground in their division races.

 Carolina Panthers

Cam Newton and Carolina are coming off a straight embarrassing loss at the hands of the Minnesota Vikings. Newton was sacked 8 times and Carolina ended up being blown out 22-10, no one saw that coming. With that being said, the Panthers have a very important game coming up against ATL in week 4. Remember ATL was the only team to beat Carolina last year during the regular season and their offense has upgraded to much more than Julio Jones now. If Carolina wants to avoid going 1-3 to start the season and give ATL the early advantage for the division, then they are going to have to bounce back in a big way this week .

 Pittsburgh Steelers

The Steelers started the season off hot! They dismantled the Redskins and pulled out a tough win against a division rival the next week. D’Aneglo Williams looked liked a man straight out of the fountain of youth. They were well on their way to being the best team and proving everyone who said they will be in the SB right… They came crashing down to earth Sunday against Philly’s new revamped 4-3 defense under Jim Schwartz. Surprisingly Baltimore is the team that is 3-0 in that division at the moment and they have a winnable game against Oakland at home next week, so the Steelers are going to have to take care of Alex Smith and the Chiefs this week to keep themselves from getting too far behind Baltimore in the division race.

 Arizona Cardinals

The LA Rams are 2-1 and the Cardinals are 1-2… wait what!? Arizona was a Superbowl favorite coming into the season with a stout defense and an explosive offense. A surprising home loss to Belichek and a week 3 blowout loss to Buffalo on the road and the Cardinals are sitting in 3rd place in the NFC West. The Good News is everyone in the division has at least a 1 in the loss column. Arizona has a prime opportunity to keep themselves in the division  when the Rams come into town. A win here would put them at least in 2nd place and 1-0 in the division which is huge seeing that Seattle already has 1 division loss. Bruce Arians better get his boys together if they don’t want things getting out of control.

New York Giants

The New York Giants revamped defensive line held up well in the first two outings and was particularly impressive against Drew Brees and the Saints in week 2. They started off pretty well last week against the Redskins but begin to break down as they piled up penalties forcing them to stay on field longer than they needed. Those 128 yards in penalties and some mishaps from Vereen and Eli Manning allowed the Skins to stay in the game and ultimately pull out the win. The Giants face an extremely tough defense this week @ Minnesota and they have the offensive weapons and run defense to pull out this win but if they come with that sloppy play they showed last week this game could ugly quick! The Giants have every opportunity to take this division this season but they will have to contend with Carson Wentz and Philly’s new sheriff on defense Jim Schwartz. The Giants will have to pull their heads out of their butts this week to stay in the race in the NFC East, which is surprisingly competitive this season.

Giants-Redskins Recap

Cam Perry

 

The New York Giants lose their first game of the Ben McAdoo era to the Washington Redskins 29-27. This game gave most Giants fans flashbacks of 2015 with a number of mental mistakes cost the team games. A new year and some of the same mistakes plague this team, even though they had a good start when they were given good field position and a chance to score early in the game after a punt attempt that the Redskins failed to recover after it touched one of their players. Shane Vereen scored soon after to give the Giants the first points of the game.

One of the bright spots all season long for the Giants has been their receiving core and you could argue they have one of the best in the league with Odell Beckham, Victor Cruz, and Sterling Shepard. The biggest surprise out of that group has to be the play of Shepard, who continues to impress everyone in the league. Even as a rookie, he has been the most consistent player for the Giants offense and has looked like a veteran out there with his route running. Shepard had 5 catches for 73 yards and a touchdown with his biggest one being the 23-yard score to give the Giants a 14-3 lead in the first quarter.

It looked as if it would be a blowout win because while they were scoring touchdowns, the Redskins were settling for field goals. It wasn’t until Desean Jackson had a 44-yard touchdown catch to cut the score to 21-16 Giants, that you saw this team start to unravel. The most alarming stat in this game was that they committed 11 penalties for 128 yards and if you compound that with committing a bunch of turnovers you won’t win many ball games. Andrew Adams had one of the worst penalties of the day that cost the Giants some points on the board when he was called for a personal foul after Romeo Okwara blocked a punt that would have put them at the Redskins 20-yard line, but instead they did a re-kick.

As what happened last week turnovers was a problem again this week with Shane Vereen continuing the have problems holding onto the football and Eli Manning throwing two bad picks in this game – that almost turned into three – including one that sealed the game for the Redskins. This loss doesn’t entirely fall on Manning as the previous Redskins possession the Giants defense stopped them on third down, but Olivier Vernon got called for a roughing the passer penalty to give them an automatic first down. When you continue to make mistakes like that you put a lot of pressure on your quarterback to bail you out and while Eli didn’t play great the offense played good enough to win the game.

Aside from the turnovers, Manning completed 25-of-38 for 350 yards and a touchdown. Even though most people will talk about his little tantrum he had on the sidelines, he won the matchup against Josh Norman having 7 catches for 121 yards. Kirk Cousins completed 21-of-35 for 2 touchdowns and no interceptions for the Redskins. While Jackson was the leading receiver for them with 5 catches for 96 yards, Dustin Hopkins was the player of the game for the Redskins scoring a little over half their points with five field goals.
The better team lost yesterday and they really needed this win today because their upcoming schedule doesn’t do them any favors because in a couple weeks they could go from at one time leading the division to be 2-3 with the Vikings and Packers as the next two games on their slate.

The Evolution Of Allan Houston

By David Anthony

17 years ago the “shot” happened, for most Knicks fans old enough to remember this, a smile comes across your face. For those who don’t remember let me paint the perfect picture for you.

It’s Game 5 in Miami  (back in the day the first round was a 5 game series) the Knicks are down 77-76 with  4.5 seconds left in the game. Charlie Ward in-bounds the ball to Allan Houston with a few seconds remaining. Houston runs towards the lane and jumps in the air. As his arm flips, up the ball hits the front of the rim and takes a high bounce then hits the back board and goes in. The Miami crowd become as quiet as a mouse. The Knicks have just become the 2nd 8th seed to beat a number 1 seed. Houston had just won the game and the series. The Knicks would use this momentum to march all the way to the finals before losing to the Spurs.

Fast-forward one horrendous contract and one failed comeback attempt later and  Houston has made quite a name for himself.

In 2010 Houston was named special assistant to then GM and president Donnie Wash. At the time the move felt very Herb Williams”ish” (all Knicks fans know what that means). From time to time the Knicks would throw out these life long contracts to former popular players. From Starks to Larry Johnson these guys do nothing more than sign a few autographs and kiss a few babies. However along the way something strange  happened.

Allan Houston actually became good at his job, and he survived the Phil Jackson cuts (which not even the great Herb Williams would survive).

In 2014 Allan became the Westchester Knicks GM, although he went thru a very rough first year. The D-league team went 10-41 in there first season and had very little talent on there roster. However Houston turned things around when he added Dajuan Summers, Jimmer Fredette and Travis Trice II. The club bounced back in 2015 with a 18 game Improvement. Going 28-22 and even making the playoffs. All three players mentioned above provided plenty of spark for there club. Summers pumped in 25 and 10 a game while Fredette chipped in 21 points and 5 assist. Travis Trice II also poured in 15 points 5 assist and 3 rebounds. *side note Summers only played in 3 games before a season-ending injury, he was also a prime candidate to be called up*

Lets not forget former fan favorite Langston Galloway (who know spends his days with the Pelicans), it would be foolish to think Houston didn’t spend some time with him in the gym. Galloway has been an instant success since being called up. Providing the Knicks with a spark plug off the bench. Galloway put up 7 points 3 rebounds and 2 assist per game while playing some outstanding defense last year.

Aside from building up the minor league team, Houston has also taken on a bigger role with the big league club. He is the assistant GM to Steve Mills and even conducted the interviews at this years draft combine. Isaiah Whitehead had this to say after meeting Houston

“I MEAN I WALKED INTO THE KNICKS MEETING AND I SHOOK ALLAN HOUSTON’S HAND. THAT’S A BLESSING RIGHT THERE. HE’S A GREAT PLAYER AND I WAS SHELL-SHOCKED. I WAS KIND OF STARSTRUCK TO REALLY BE IN FRONT OF HIM AND HIM ASK ME QUESTIONS ABOUT ME. THAT WAS REALLY A BLESSING.”

Sounds like Houston still has a way with the young kids, and I mean he should. Allan is only a 2-time all-star who drilled over 1,300 3’s in his career. He is also responsible for one of the famous plays in Knicks history. He also had his infamous 50 point game against Phil Jackson, Kobe Bryant and the gang. In which he hit a few of those 1,300 threes I mentioned above.

Speaking of 3’s, Tony Wroten (who was cut due to disciplinary reasons) posted a picture of himself and Houston working on his “broken” jump shot. While Wroten remains an elite driver in the lane, he is a career 23.1% shooter from beyond the arc. Wroten said in the Instagram post

“BEEN IN THE GYM EVERYDAY WORKING WORKING WORKING WITH ONE OF THE BEST SHOOTERS TO DO IT.”

So if it’s running the D-league or conducting interviews for prospects or shooting some 3’s in the gym with Wroten, Houston has his hands all over the Knicks, and that seems to be a good thing.

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NFL “Weak” 3 Powder Rankings

The idea of the Powder Rankings is that this list will get shorter as the season runs along, but something tells me the same teams will continue to appear week after week.

1. Bears 0-3

God that was awful last night. The injuries have taken the Bears apart defensively, and when you couple that with your starting quarterback being Brian Hoyer, it’s bad.

2. Jaguars 0-3

These are your uncle’s Jaguars. It’s crazy to watch the hype machine meet reality. The Jags have talent on offense, but it didn’t show it’s face in the fourth quarter as Bortles and Flacco competed for,  “Who’s INT turn is it?”

3. Jets 1-2

Ryan Fitzpatrick.

4. 49ers 1-2

They picked the wrong time to play the Seahawks. They’re running defense was non existent as they allowed Christine Michael to run all over them. I knew I should’ve taken the points.

5. Buccaneers 1-2

Four touchdowns ago the Bucs were looking up. Now, after losing to the Rams at home in overtime, it looks as if they will struggle all year long. The LA Rams haven’t scored a touchdown since Michael Jordan was wearing 45.

6. Dolphins 1-2

Yes, they beat the Browns, but the way the Dolphins are playing will put them in position to look for a new quarterback in next year’s draft as well as some new defenders.

7. Browns 0-3

Your kicker was signed on Saturday. Terrell Pryor was out there like it was Pee-Wee football as he played every position possible to push the Browns to victory. Well, they are the Browns and I can’t deny that, but I must certainly cannot overlook their efforts on the road.

8. Bills 1-2

Look, they played Arizona in the pick of the week: The Cardinals do not fair well playing eastern time zone games at 1pm. So yes, they won. The defense actually turned the Cardinals over,but that was too be expected.

9. Lions 1-2

Just like the 49ers, the Lions ran into a Packer team ready to get back on track offensively.  Marvin Jones had a career day, but that Lions defense did what they do,  give up big plays.

10. Washington 1-2

Well, you won, barely. Watching the Giants turn the ball over in the redzone was vintage regular season Eli.

11. Panthers 1-2

Wow, the Panthers looked like it was the Superbowl all over again. The offensive line was completely taken over as the Panthers only victory this season is against the 49ers. With every pass, Cam Newton gets closer to that one injury that will put him out for the season.

12. Titans 1-2

Another week. Another chance to win. Another loss. When you depend on a 35 year old Receiver to get you a win, then the odds of you being good aren’t great. Their defense has kept them in games this season, it’s the offense that has yet to match their output.

13. Bengals 1-2

A loss to the Broncos isn’t too bad, considering the Broncos are on their path to the playoffs again. But the Bengals losing at home in blowout fashion is concerning as the Steelers and Ravens will be tough divisional games this season.

14. Chargers 1-2

Injuries aside, the Chargers did what the Chargers do: lose close games. They are now 3-11 in these close games under Mike McCoy.

 15. Colts 1-2

Sometimes playing another team just as bad as you is the perfect way to build a winning mindset.

The Saints and Falcons play tonight, and both have been bad since last Sunday, so no need to pile on.

The Giants returned to form and the Cowboys beat a dismantled Bears team, so that keeps them off the list.

The Seahawks won in offensive fashion as Russell Wilson went down again, but it was impressive enough.

The Rams are winning the division, they won on the road and scored touchdowns, does that deserve to not be made fun of at this time?

Although the Texans didn’t show on Thursday night, they are division contenders.

NFL Week 3– The Weekly Wrap-Up

By Kim Dunning

 

The NFL week 3 started off with a snooze fest.  Once again the Patriots proved it’s a system that makes them succeed when their third string quarterback plus the Patriots defense took the Houston Texans dignity with a shutout.  This game was all Pats.

 

Some of the Sunday games were very close and interesting.  Others were blow outs and snooze fests just like the Thursday night game.

 

The Eagles soared to the top of the NFC East with their convincing win over the Pittsburgh Steelers.  The Steelers are the team that experts picked to go to the Super Bowl.  This was Philly’s Super Bowl though because we know they will never win the real one.  Philly dominated from start to finish.

 

In other NFC East news, the Redskins claimed their first victory of the season with a win over division rival New York Giants.  The game was close and sloppy.  Odell Beckham threw a hissy fit but the kicking net got the best of him.

 

Dallas rolled over the much injured Chicago Bears.  Thanks to Philly beating them up pretty good on Monday night football.  Dak Prescott threw his first NFL touchdown in the Sunday Night Prime Time game.

 

The Vikings remained on top of the NFC north.  They rolled over the NFC Champions with a convincing all around win.  Defense kept the Vikings in the game and the offense fed off the momentum.

 

The Lions remain the Lions we know.  They struggled to keep pace with Green Bay.  They tried to mount a comeback, but Aaron Rodgers was back in Rodgers form.

 

The Ravens remained undefeated with their win over the Jags.  The Jags kept pace with the Ravens but in the end the Ravens were just a little too much for them to handle.

 

It took overtime for the Dolphins to get their win over the Browns.  The Browns are 0-3 but who didn’t expect that.

 

In other close games, the Los Angeles Rams are on top of the NFC West.  Who thought that was going to happen.  They handled Bucs in a very close game.

 

The Bronco’s remained undefeated as they handed Cincinnati another loss and moved them further down in the always competitive NFC North.

 

It took the Bills firing their offensive coordinator to get their first win of the season over the heavily favored Cardinals.  The Cardinals fall to 1-2 and look to be in a lot of trouble.

 

Staying in the west, San Francisco lost to division foe Seattle.  Russell Wilson has a knee sprain but it didn’t seem to hinder the Seahawks offense.  They won the game handedly.

 

Ryan Fitzpatrick was the MVP for the Chiefs this week.  Fitzpatrick threw six interceptions and earned a spot on Monday Night Football’s C’mon Man.  The Jets lost big and the Chiefs bought dinner for Fitzpatrick after the game.

 

The Chargers and Colts entertained fans with their back and forth game.  This came down to who had the ball last.  Luckily for the Colts, the Chargers fumbled.

 

Monday Night’s game was a 10-year anniversary game.  It has been 10-years since the Saints returned to the Dome after Hurricane Katrina.  The Saints had a good first drive.  Atlanta just ran all over their defense in the first half.  In the second half, Atlanta kept their foot on the gas and rolled over the Saints.  The Saints fall to 0-3.

 

Week 3 had some mismatched games and some of them were exciting down to the wire finishes.  Other games were ones that you either took a nap or found a different game to watch.  As always, the NFL entertained and fans look forward to the next week of football.

Cheesehead Woes

By Melvin Jackson III

 
Last week the Packers were up against a challenge in their division against the Vikings who were starting their newly acquired quarterback Sam Bradford. This was a move that needed to be done because Hill could not move the offense and the defense was doing all the work. This game was the first in the new stadium for the Vikings so the cheeseheads already had their backs against the wall with all the excitement surrounding things.

The game started off as a slug match with the Packers trying to contain adrian Peterson and dare Sam Bradford to throw the ball. That plan on defense backfired because bradford had an offensive line that was winning in the trenches against a Green Bay defensive line that has been lack luster since BJ Raji retried. The defense gave up over 100 yards recieving to Diggs and made Bradford look like Joe Montana.

On the offensive side of the ball, aaron Rodgers had his work cut out for him because the Viking defense was pushing his weak offensive line backwards and not giving him enough time to make a proper read to find open targets. The run game didn’t give him much help either. He didn’t have his best game and as I have always said, the Packers go as far as Rodgers takes them.

This game was won by defense and sent the cheeseheads to their first divison lost and to a 1-1 start with their schedule not getting any easier. They need to regroup and try to get the running game going and unleash Eddie Lacy. Also they can’t ask too much from Nelson who is coming off a serious knee injury, so Cobb and the rest of the wideout gang needs to step up.

Debbie Browners

Tay Holloway

Another season and another reason to think high and to think proud. The browns signed the former rookie of the year Robert Griffin and they seemed to have a breath of fresh air. It seems to be that way for years with each new quarterback that they would get to attempt to lead them to some type of good record. It must be something in the water with the Browns because it seems that is the place to be where careers go to die or just plain get paid to be mediocre.

The preseason looked great for them and it looked like RG3 and Pryor were having some type of magical connection but that all came to a end when the real season started and once again RG3 is injured and out for an extended period of time. That took the breath out of the Browns once again and they went on to get smashed by the Eagles in week 1. I didn’t feel sorry for them because its the way I have grew up and know the Browns to be; Debbie Browners. I really don’t understand why they were so excited for RG3 because this man reads a defense as well is Floyd Mayweather reads books. I am sure people would hope he could return back to his rookie form but things have changed since 2012 and the pistol offense is kinda being phased out because like the wildcat, the defense has figured it out.

Another bright spot that will still happen because this player is incredibly talented is after week 4 they get wide receiver Josh Gordon back on the field for the first time in almost two years. He was suspended because he cant stay off the marijuana and he had to sit for a year. I guess this time he has learned his lesson or maybe not. We will see because I am sure that the league will give him a random drug test after a game, which they have just started doing. I think its a good idea but then again why after a game, the game is played and if a player were high you are too late. If Gordon can come in and be the productive receiver he was before he was suspended then that is a bright spot for the Browns.

Already in week 2 of the 2016 season the browns are down two quarterbacks – RG3 and Josh McCown –  and Cody Kessler  will get the start and they have also signed Charlie Whitehurst. This is just all around once again bad news for a team that just cant get right. Their fans are very loyal and hold out hope that one day they will be back on top like they was in 1964, when some of our mothers was born.

 

 

The Passing of the Running Game

337 carries, 2019 yards, 8 touchdowns combined with 45 catches, 645 yards and 5 touchdowns receiving. 300 carries,  1953 yards and 22 touchdowns.

I am old enough to remember when the running back position was something to be sought after by young men in high school. Everybody wanted to be Barry Sanders, Walter Payton, Emmitt Smith, Marshall Faulk and others. The NFL has rid itself of the feature running back for each team. More and more are we seeing a running back by committee, situational backs and running backs who go undrafted but still make it in the league.

Naturally when something goes away in football, outsiders will concede that there aren’t any good ones anymore. That is definitely not the case. As the pass attack has risen for all teams, the quality of quarterbacking has not risen as coaches have replaced the run game with 2 right end sets and 4 wide receiver combinations that keep defenses in a pass defense strategy. There are still good running backs on this league, but the starting running back has dwindled over the years. Not only had their playing time decreased, so has their money.

As we know the NFL is leaning towards a much safer game “cough cough” by eliminating kickoff returns, wedges, big hits on receivers and quarterbacks (unless you are Cam Newton). The running back is just as injured as any other player on the field. They are the one player that everyone is trying to take out on any given play. We know their shelf life is always around 3 years or less, and even if they make it past that number, getting past 30 is near impossible. There are always outliers, but those injuries and hits will pile up eventually, making them disposable and replaceable to the team, and by their contract.

There are a few theories as this phenomenon has slowly taken place.

1. The salary cap.

The salary cap has made it difficult to keep star and decent running backs on the team, while also allowing more of them on the roster due to injury concerns. Remember when Lamar Miller was a free agent, but the Dolphins needed to sure up the defense and offensive line again? They let Miller walk and replaced him with a cheap and injured Arian Foster.

2. Less positions to pay.

Once offenses started moving towards the pass friendly concept, money began to open up. Running backs got more team friendly deals, Fullbacks became obsolete, Defensive tackles became defensive pass rushers, and linebackers became safety’s with 20 extra pounds. Remember how Ray Lewis and Brian Urlacher couldn’t stay on the field because teams had 4 wideouts and a tight end faster than your safety? They were there for stopping the running game, but with no running game, they became unneeded, which means you can pay them all less.

3.Wide receivers are cheaper, and more useful in today’s game.

Instead of paying Le’veon Bell to a super contract, the Steelers can let him go, give a raise to Antonio Brown and the other nameless, small receivers ready to take his place. Teams could pay one Good running back, maybe two or they could draft and sign 5 wide receivers and a few tight ends.

We know the running defenses in college don’t compare to the NFL, so guys who are averaging 5.7 yards per carry in college won’t see that in the league. They probably couldn’t get that average in screen passes. Not only are the defenses not up to par, guys are carrying the ball 250/300+ times a year in less games in college. We’ve seen the toll those carries have taken on the Alabama running backs that have made it to the NFL who can’t stay healthy nor produce. If you’re a feature back in college, that’s 3 years at the least of caring the ball 600+ times, not counting practice, catches and pass blocking. Most of our running back stars are done by their 2nd year in the league as they adjust to defenses.

I miss running backs, especially the star ones. I miss the 1500 yard rusher. I miss CJ2k. I know it’s not the most exciting thing to watch a 13 play drive with 10 runs, but I miss it. I also miss the fact that these guys use to get paid. Now they get used in their rookie contract, only to not be resigned, then get injured and are never heard from again.

The running backs are gone, the fullbacks are gone and now the Kirk Cousins’s of the world are getting 20 million a year to throw 6 yard passes and bubble screens.

Oh Yea, those stats at the beginning belong to Leonard Fournette and Christian Mccaffrey who are juniors and will be drafted. The way the NFL works, probably in the second round. KiJana Carter and Curtis Enis. Oh the glory days.