Weekly Takeaways

First let me start by saying that I apologize for not posting as much as you or I would have liked over the past few weeks. School gets busy you know? With that said I, along with my team of co-hosts and contributors, are working on ways to increase the amount of content we produce each and every week. One of those ways is that we will begin weekly posts that will be shorter and less detailed than our usual articles and stories. These will not take the place of more elaborate and detailed articles that we work to publish whenever our free time allows, but rather they will be short, informative and fun posts designed to give you, the reader, increased content in which to read. Our first installment will be “Weekly Takeaways” in which I will list 5 things that I learned or observed in the preceding week. So be on the lookout each and every week for our Weekly Takeaways and additional content we hope to roll out in the near future!

In the first installment of “Weekly Takeaways” I want to reflect on a hectic weekend in the National Football League. In a week that was overshadowed by national anthem protests, the NFL gave us perhaps one of the most exciting weekends in years. There were game winning drives in overtime, there were hail marys, there were 40+ point games, there were goal-line stands and so much more! In fact, if I went through and named every single exciting thing that happened over this weekend in the NFL I would go against my promise of keeping these articles short and concise. So I won’t do that. Instead I will try my best to summarize a wild weekend of football into five takeaways.

(Note: these takeaways will not involve the national anthem protests seen across the league on Sunday because at SportsTake we #StickToSports)

1.There is a major difference between peacefully protesting and straight up disrespecting the national anthem and the US flag. I know, I know, I literally just said that I wasn’t going to get into the whole national anthem protest thing that’s going on in the NFL, but I mean c’mon, how can you NOT talk about it? I want to start off by saying that what Donald Trump said is inexcusable and wrong. If anyone is an S.O.B it’s him. With that said, I understand where these players are coming from and the message they are trying to send and I support that message. However, kneeling is one thing, but what LeSean McCoy did is downright Disrespectful with a capital D. Go ahead, kneel if you want and while I disagree with player’s decision to kneel they have every right to do it. But when you decide that you won’t even acknowledge the anthem and instead decide to stretch and warm up while everyone else in the stadium is at least silently acknowledging that the anthem is being played, that my friend is when it has been taken too far. (Side note: I am taking advice on what to do with my LeSean McCoy jersey. Throw it away? Give it away? Or just store it away in a forgotten closet? Let me know if you have any good ideas.)

2. Ok back to sports. Ah yes, good wholesome sports. The Philadelphia Eagles are for real. I have been saying it since before the season started, the Philadelphia Eagles will win the NFC East. We are currently three weeks into the NFL season and I have seen nothing that makes me reconsider my prediction. The Eagles looks good in every aspect on the field. They have a young QB in Carson Wentz that can make people miss with his feet, he has a strong arm and underrated accuracy (just look at that last throw against the Giants.) Wentz is also surrounded by talent on the offensive side of the ball. Mark my words, Corey Clement will be a Pro-Bowl running back and LeGarrette Blount is no scrub either. And if Wentz ever finds himself in a pickle, it’s always nice to know you have a receiver like Alshon Jeffery who can make plays. The Eagles defense ranks sixth in the NFL allowing only 75 rushing yards per game. And on special teams? Well their rookie kicker just set the Eagle’s franchise record for longest field goal and the NFL record for longest field goal by a rookie. So yea, they’re not too shabby. I don’t want to say I told you so… but I told you so. Oh and I also told you all that the Giants would miss the playoffs so I told you so x2.

3. The Falcons are the team to beat in the NFC. Many people thought that the Atlanta Falcons would struggle after losing the Super Bowl in heartbreaking fashion to the greatest player to ever grace a football field with his presence (No not Rob Gronkowski) but they were wrong! *whispers* I was one of them. But so far the Falcons have looked great. Matt Ryan and the Falcons offense don’t seem to be missing former offensive coordinator, and current 49ers head coach, Kyle Shanahan. But it sure looks like Kyle Shanahan misses Matt Ryan. (Sorry Brian Hoyer, but it’s true.) With the rest of the NFC still looking to figure out how to win, and stop the Rams offense, the Falcons have raced out to a 3-0 record. Atlanta easily looks like the best team in the NFC (really Green Bay? Almost losing at home to Andy Dalton?) Sure you can argue that the Falcons could very easily be 1-2 right now, but here at SportsTake we don’t deal in hypotheticals. But yes, the Detroit Lions did get hosed by the refs. Get it together NFL.

4. Touchdown Tommy is an ageless wonder. Rewind two weeks to when everyone thought Tom Brady, the golden boy, had finally “hit the wall” at 40 years old and the Patriots were not the same Patriots we have grown accustomed to seeing over the past decade and a half. Shame on you all. Have we not learned anything? We should have known the rumors of an aging Tom Brady were nothing but workplace gossip started by Peyton Manning. What has Tom Brady done since throwing for 267 yards and no touchdowns while only completing 44% of his passes in week one? Oh nothing, just 825 passing yards, 73% completion percentage, 8 touchdowns with 0 interceptions to go along with TWO AFC player of the week awards. In fact, the GOAT is currently on pace for one of the greatest seasons of his career statistically despite being sacked 10 times through 3 games, the most of his career. So can you pass me some of that Alkalizing Green Juice Gisele brought to help wash down this Walnut meat lasagna?

5. The Seahawks stink. You have no idea how much pleasure it brings me to write that (sorry Alex.) But it’s true!! The Seahawks are bad and Richard Sherman finally can stop running his mouth (although he continues to make dirty hits.) Statistically the Seahawk’s offense ranks 26 when it comes to putting points on the board. And their offensive line is even worse than that. Russell Wilson has been running for his life and if you’re a team with aspirations of the Super Bowl you’re franchise QB cannot be under pressure every time the ball is snapped. With their lone win coming at home by a mere 3 points against the win-less 49ers, it’s hard to see the Seahawks making much noise in the playoffs.