NFL Week 2

Andrew Luck finally lost back to back games. It hadn’t happened since his college days and it didn’t look like happening against the Eagles with a decent lead for most of the game. Yet Chip Kelly’s lads can pile on points at a whim and Trent Richardson is hardly the running back you want to ice a game with. The Colts thus start 0-2, a mark at which the probability of making the playoffs (even at this early stage) drops through the floor. Other teams sitting on that perilous mark include the New York Giants, Kansas City Chiefs and New Orleans Saints. Things had better turn around quickly.

The Seahawks lost, it was weird. Though credit has to go to the Chargers more than anything as they earned this one with some sublime offensive play. Phil Rivers did what he always does (except for that year where he was crap and we all thought he was done…) while Antonio Gates is as good as ever, taking this contender for catch of the week:

Oh and the 49ers lost their first game at their new stadium.

Teams That Are Worse Than Expected

• Tampa Bay Buccaneers
• New Orleans Saints
• New York Giants
• Kansas City Chiefs
• San Francisco 49ers

Teams We Missed The Bus With (But Not The Bandwagon)

• Buffalo Bills
• San Diego Chargers
• Arizona Cardinals

Mathematical NFL

RG3 x (Talent x Effectiveness / Injury Probability) < Kirk Cousins

The Other Catch of the Week

This from Chicago’s Brandon Marshall.

That Adrian Peterson Thing

The Vikings have reinstated Peterson after standing him down for the Patriots game following his indictment for child abuse. Peterson allegedly hit his young son with a switch (a tree branch in this case) as punishment for misbehaving.

AP turned himself into police and his bond was set at US$15000. He has apologised, saying he’s not perfect, but he’s also not a child abuser. Since then there has already been another reported instance of violently disciplining another child, whipping him in a car which cause the kid head injuries after he hit himself on the car seat trying to avoid it. That one was responded too pretty decisively.

Keep in mind there were clearly other occasions we’ll never hear about. This was his strategy as a parent, he wasn’t by accounts doing this out of rage or anything. Clearly he was misguided and although I find it hard to imagine a situation where one would ever strike another human being at all, let alone a child, it really isn’t my place to tell him how to raise his kids. I’ll leave that to the courts and trust their punishment is fitting. But Peterson is paying the cost for being a figure in the public eye. You’re kidding yourself if you don’t think millions of people in America weren’t subjected to the same excessive physical abuse as children. Peterson himself said he was following the strategy exhibited by his own father, a strategy he credits with keeping him out of trouble and helping him on the path to his current success.

Granted, Peterson’s father was arrested and served 10 years for laundering money for a crack ring while AP was a kid. So… that leaves us with a sticky situation. You can’t choose your parents or your upbringing, but how much agency does he have over the legacy of his father and how much should he be expected to learn from those lessons?

Look, I’m not gonna come out and say that smacking children is wrong in every situation. That’s not my place to say. But family abuse is a serious issue and one that in the light of the Ray Rice Affair, the NFL needs to be very vigilant with. Peterson wasn’t trying to do anything other than teach the boy a lesson, and so he therefore needs a lesson himself on better parenting techniques. Let’s not turn him into a villain though - this isn’t like the Ray Rice thing. This man still has the right to a career. Probably not during ongoing legal procedures but then this is the NFL after all. The Vikings were awful without him and I guess they felt that they were shooting themselves in the foot or something. I’ve come to expect no less from the organisational side of the NFL so I won’t dwell on that. (Update: The NFL have since put Peterson on the exempt list until the legal stuff is dealt with. A week and a half too late, but whatever. We know they never react until their own faces need saving).

Corporal Punishment is also something which is much more prevalent in the States than here in our own Anti-Smacking Bill Nation. Some schools in America still use “paddling” as a disciplinary tool. The problem with an issue like this is that the line between discipline and abuse is always moving. Peterson crossed it regardless, the child’s other parent says as much, but where the argument comes from is in his intentions. I think he meant well, he was just an idiot about it.

Let’s just hope this doesn’t happen again. I like the guy as a player and I much prefer to think of him as that guy in the Vikings helmet and not the Smiling Spanker in his mugshot.

Eeek!

Blake Griffin – Slam Poet

Weirdest Fake Punt Ever

This from the Arkansas State – Miami game in the ACC. Setting up to give it the old boot on fourth down, they fake it instead and throw. As an added distraction, an Arkansas State player seemingly fakes his own death to put off his marker. It didn’t work… the pass was intercepted.

The inspiration was this prank from last year that North Carolina played on their QB.

MLB Playoff Hunt

Guaranteed Playoff Spots:

• LA Angels
  
• Baltimore Orioles
  
• Washington Nationals

Just A Matter of Time

• St Louis Cardinals
• Detroit Tigers
• LA Dodgers
• San Francisco Giants
• Oakland Athletics

Probable Wildcards

• Pittsburgh Pirates
• Kansas City Royals

Longshots

• Seattle Mariners
• Milwaukee Brewers

Fictional One Man Stage Show of the Week

Good Week:

Darren Sproles (Philadelphia Eagles) – Look, we know what a great player Shady McCoy is, yet for the second week in a row it was little Sproles that bailed their asses out of trouble and into a W. 263 all-purpose yards in 2 games, with a pair of rushing TDs. Monstrous.

Jordy Nelson (Green Bay Packers) - 209 receiving yards from 9 catches with a touchdown against the Jets. The man’s a machine.

Los Angeles Angels – The best team in baseball. No argument. They just had a 10 game win streak and have won 17 of their last 20, streaking away into first place in the division and peaking right before the playoffs. Mike Trout leads the MLB with 107 RBI, and is 5th with 34 homers, while Jered Weaver is the AL leader in wins (one ahead of teammate Matt Shoemaker).

Bad Week:

Charles Tillman (Chicago Bears) – Sad news for one of the great cornerbacks of his era. Tillman tore his tricep again, just as he did last year, meaning his season is already over. In fact there’s talk that it could prove career ending. Let’s hope not.

Giancarlo Stanton (Miami Marlins) – A potential MVP season is over early after Stanton was hit by an errant pitch against the Brewers this week caught him square in the face. Check out the damage below:

Player of the Week:

Aaron Rodgers (Green Bay Packers) – Just in case anyone was doubting him. ESPN can do the rest, I'm done here.

Upcoming Dates (NZ Time):

September 30 - MLB Postseason Begins

October 22 - MLB World Series Begins

October 29 - NBA Regular Season Begins