6 reasons the 2019 Kansas City Chiefs look like the 2018 New England Patriots

The Chiefs lost their week 10 matchup to the Titans and now it’s time to worry about Kansas City. They haven’t looked the same. Their offensive line has some questions. Their defense has even more questions. The Raiders are ready to sneak past them …

The Chiefs lost their week 10 matchup to the Titans and now it’s time to worry about Kansas City. They haven’t looked the same. Their offensive line has some questions. Their defense has even more questions. The Raiders are ready to sneak past them in the west. Everything that can go wrong in Kansas City is going wrong . . . but there’s good news! There are a lot of weird similarities between the 2019 Chiefs and the 2018 Patriots. That Patriots team won a Super Bowl.

Who danced it better, Dak Prescott or Jimmy Garoppolo?

Seems like quarterback are emulating each other when it comes to dance moves. Dak Prescott went viral for some of his before the Vikings met his Dallas Cowboys Sunday. Then, prior to the Seattle Seahawks visiting the San Francisco 49ers Monday, …

Seems like quarterback are emulating each other when it comes to dance moves. Dak Prescott went viral for some of his before the Vikings met his Dallas Cowboys Sunday. Then, prior to the Seattle Seahawks visiting the San Francisco 49ers Monday, Jimmy Garoppolo decided to take part in “So You Think You Can Dance,” NFL style.

Dak:

Jimmy G:

Kirk Cousins may have downed Dak and the Cowboys but don’t think his moves compete with his fellow quarterbacks.

 

4 takeaways from the Eagles signing Brandon Brooks to massive contract extension

4 takeaways from the Eagles signing Brandon Brooks to a massive contract extension

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The Philadelphia Eagles rewarded Brandon Brooks for his dominant play, signing the Pro Bowl right guard to a four-year, $54.2 million extension.

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According to NFL Media’s Ian Rapoport, the deal makes Brooks the highest-paid guard in the NFL.

With the Eagles set to battle the New England Patriots at home on Sunday, here are four takeaways from the massive deal.

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1. Brooks has been ELITE

The Eagles star is currently ranked number one among guards with a 93.4 overall grade this season and he’s only allowed just one sack in his last 59 games played.

Eagles’ Brandon Brooks now the highest paid guard in NFL after signing 4-year, $56.2M contract extension

Eagles Brandon Brooks is now the highest-paid guard in NFL after signing 4-year, $54.2M contract extension

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Brandon Brooks has performed like one of the best players in football this season and on Monday, the Philadelphia Eagles rewarded him handsomely for it. The Eagles announced the signing of Brooks to a new four-year contract extension.

Jeff McLane is reporting that the deal is for four years, $56.2 million, with $30 million fully guaranteed.

According to Over The Cap, the $14.25 million average is the highest in the league among guards, ahead of Zach Martin of the Cowboys ($14 million per year). Andrew Norwell of the Jaguars averages $13.3 million.

Brooks reached the Pro Bowl in 2017 and 2018 and is certain to be an All-Pro this season as well.

Tom Brady not over Super Bowl loss, hints at Patriots using their own ‘Special’ play vs. the Eagles

Tom Brady says he’s still not over Super Bowl loss to the Eagles

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Tom Brady is preparing for his first duel with Carson Wentz, yet he still can’t get over the sting of New England’s crushing 41-33 loss to Philadelphia in Super Bowl LII.

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While a guest on WEEI’s “The Greg Hill Show” in Boston on Monday morning, Brady discussed the ‘mental scar tissue’ that remains from that crushing defeat against the Birds.

“You assume I’m over it? Come on now,” Brady said. “That’s a lot of mental scar tissue from that year. That was a tough game.

Brady went on to provide further insight into the lasting hangover he feels from that loss.

“In a lot of ways we learned from that year and we came back stronger the next year. We won the Super Bowl in ’18. I think everything is a matter of perspective and when you play in that game and you play great teams, you’re not going to win them all. This is not the Harlem Globetrotters vs. the Washington Generals. This is all about tough competition against the best teams. They deserved it that year, and now a couple years later we get a chance to play the organization again. We’ve had a lot of changes, they’ve had a lot of changes. It’s totally different circumstances. Huge game for us. Big game for them. The better team is going to win.”

Both teams are coming off bye weeks and the Patriots (8-1), are nearly unbeatable when they’ve had a week to prepare.

While discussing the “Philly Special”, Brady hinted at the Patriots pulling out their own bag of tricks in the rematch.

“Tough play to stop. They executed it well,” Brady told WEEI. “That play will go down in history, just like a lot of those big plays in the Super Bowl have. Good for them.”

MythBusters: Yes, Lamar Jackson is a pocket passer

Just because Lamar Jackson is fast, doesn’t mean he can’t throw from the pocket. Doug Farrar takes one analyst to task for this assumption.

It’s a common assumption when evaluating running quarterbacks that those quarterbacks are better on broken or designed plays in which they leave the pocket and go “schoolyard,” making things up as they go along. Sometimes it’s true, but other times, it’s an automatic label that doesn’t hold water.

Lamar Jackson is one of the most dynamic running quarterbacks in NFL history. He’s on pace to break Michael Vick’s single-season record of 1,039 rushing yards by a quarterback, set in 2006. And there’s no doubt that what Jackson does when he tucks and runs is explosive, spectacular and highlight-worthy. This 47-yard touchdown run on Sunday in Baltimore’s 49-13 thwacking of the Bengals is one of the better examples.

But to assume Jackson can’t throw from the pocket just because he can scald defenses with his feet is something we should be past when we look at quarterbacks of Jackson’s type. Whether it’s Vick later in his career or Randall Cunningham later in his career, or any number of quarterbacks in the modern day who are competing for the 2019 Most Valuable Player award, we are clearly in an era where quarterbacks of a certain stripe can actually do more than one thing to bring value to their teams.

But there was a reach back to the old days in the CBS broadcast of the game. Color announcer Rich Gannon, generally one of the more astute members of his profession, had this to say with 12:18 left in the first quarter, right after Jackson led his team downfield with more than one nice throw from the pocket, and finished it off with a 2-yard touchdown pass to tight end Mark Andrews:

“The Ravens do such a good job changing the launch point for Lamar Jackson. He rarely throws the ball from the pocket. They get him out on the edges, they cut the field in half, and he throws the ball so well and so accurately on the move.”

To be clear, this wasn’t Gannon slamming Jackson in any way. But when we look at the stats, we see that the “he rarely throws the ball from the pocket” statement is quite incorrect. Per Sports Info Solutions, Jackson has attempted 240 passes from the pocket this season, completing 134 for 1,611 yards, 10 touchdowns and five interceptions, and a passer rating of 95.9. This season, Jackson has more attempts from the pocket than Kirk Cousins, Mitchell Trubisky or Josh Allen.

Furthermore, Jackson isn’t one of the league’s more prolific out-of-pocket passers, probably because when he’s out of the pocket, he’s most likely running. Here’s a short list of the quarterbacks who have more passing attempt outside the pocket than Jackson’s 34: Aaron Rodgers, Kirk Cousins, Gardner Minshew, Carson Wentz, Josh Allen, Derek Carr, Baker Mayfield, Jared Goff and Matthew Stafford.

So maybe we shouldn’t assume what we have always assumed. The intention here is not to go after Gannon specifically — if we’re going to go after anyone for their Lamar Jackson takes over time, it would always be Bill Polian — but it is a kind request for announcers and analysts to watch what Lamar Jackson is doing, and to understand and communicate that it’s not at all like the historical stereotype.

Touchdown Wire editor Doug Farrar has also covered football for Yahoo! Sports, Sports Illustrated, Bleacher Report, the Washington Post, and Football Outsiders. His first book, “The Genius of Desperation,” a schematic history of professional football, was published by Triumph Books in 2018 and won the Professional Football Researchers Association’s Nelson Ross Award for “Outstanding recent achievement in pro football research and historiography.”

NFC playoff picture: Where the Eagles stand after Cowboys loss on Sunday night

NFC Playoff picture and where the Eagles stand after Cowboys loss

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The Philadelphia Eagles have finished up a much-needed bye week as the team sits at 5-4, with the New England Patriots visiting the Linc this week.

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Things seemed cloudy on Sunday with the San Francisco 49ers, New Orleans Saints, Minnesota Vikings, Seattle Seahawks, and Green Bay Packers all playing so well. It was assumed that the NFC East might only get one team into the playoffs with Philadelphia or Dallas representing the division in the postseason.

After Sunday’s wild and crazy action, culminating with the Cowboys’ huge loss at home to the Vikings, the NFC is now wide open.

Here are your current NFC standings:

National Football Conference

San Francisco 49ers 8-0
Green Bay Packers 8-2
New Orleans Saints 8-2
Seattle Seahawks 7-2
Minnesota Vikings 7-3
Dallas Cowboys 5-4
LA Rams 5-4
Philadelphia Eagles 5-4
Carolina Panthers 5-4
Chicago Bears 4-5
Detroit Lions 3-5-1

Even with the Eagles Week 10 bye,  six of the eight teams currently ahead of them in the playoff picture all did battle with one another on Sunday, with the Panthers losing to the Packers, the Cowboys losing to the Vikings at home, and the 49ers hosting the Seahawks on Monday Night Football.

The Eagles will host the Patriots this week and Seahawks and the Seahawks next Sunday, before playing four of their remaining five games against teams that are a combined 4-22. After the two home matchups, the Eagles will travel to Miami to face the Dolphins, then they’ll host the Giants, travel to Washington, host Dallas and then finish the regular season on the road at MetLife Stadium against the Giants.

After the crushing loss to the Vikings, Dallas will face the Lions, Patriots, Bills, Eagles, and Rams over the next five weeks in a scenario that will make the Week 16 showdown in Philadelphia for the NFC East title.

Eagles open up as 3.5-point home underdogs to the Patriots in Week 11

The Philadelphia Eagles open up as 3.5-point home underdogs to the New England Patriots on Sunday.

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The Philadelphia Eagles return home on Sunday for a huge matchup with the defending Super Bowl champion, New England Patriots. Despite the Birds current 5-4 record and rest from the bye week, Philadelphia opens up as 3.5-point road underdogs according to odds from BetMGM.

The numbers speak for themselves as the New England Patriots have won an NFL-leading 14 games coming out of a bye week since the 2010 season.

The Patriots are an NFL-best 47-9 (83.9 percent) following a loss since 2003, while the Philadelphia Eagles are 6-4 following their bye week since 2010 as well.

The Eagles have won two in a row to get above .500 at 5-4 and are getting healthy at the right time.

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