It was utterly predictable that the Raiders would blow the doors off the Giants in their first game free of the weight and burden that was carrying Josh McDaniels as coach.
One, the Giants suck, so getting them on the road was something of a gimme. But two, any team that suddenly doesn’t have to play for a clueless, paranoid giblet is all going to be reenacting the Shawshank escape scene, with the McDaniels-less air being the falling rain in the river.
McDaniels thought he could be a tyrant without any of the cred, which just makes a coach an ass. Even his last, desperate ploy to try to win over his players was ruined by his jealousy and pettiness, clinging to the one thing that put him in the place where he was while clearly becoming clear that it was all a fraud.
As we separate ourselves from the Patriots dynasty, and thus all gain our own version of freedom, it is something of a mystery how it came to be in the first place. Not only has Bill Belichick lorded over perhaps the worst coaching tree not just in the history of the sport, but possibly the four major ones as well. Even Ditka had Buddy Ryan.
Look at it. All of McDaniels, Romeo Crennel, Charlie Weiss, and Matt Patricia have proven to be Grade A morons when given their own reins somewhere else. These guys have gone around flashing their Super Bowl rings, while every player they coach outside of Foxboro wonders what they’ve done with the mask and gun they used to get them. But beyond that, Belichick now continues to drive the Patriots squarely into the dirt, only rising up just long enough so Mac Jones can try to kick someone in the balls.
The NFL is a weird place, that we’ve known, and it really doesn’t take much for any team to be around .500 or that much more to then be a contender. And we’re apparently learning that, if given the right tilt of the Earth for 15 years, any roped-together gaggle of morons can run roughshod over the rest of the league. Maybe it was the cheating after all?
-Anyway, in today’s exhibition of compartmentalization that few of us can even fathom, Luis Diaz came off the bench for Liverpool to equalize in injury time to save them total embarrassment at Luton.
For those who might not know, Diaz’s parents were kidnapped a week ago in Colombia. His mother was quickly rescued, but his father remains missing. Diaz was given the option by the team as to whether he wanted to resume training on Friday, and whether he wanted to come with the team to Luton or not, let alone even be in the squad. Sometimes work can be a healthy distraction, but this is certainly a far more gargantuan of a situation than we usually apply that phrase to.
-And now to the goofy side of the sport, as the Vancouver Whitecaps were eliminated from the MLS playoffs, with the final nail being driven in by the ref. But not in the way you might think:
The goal was eventually ruled out, but only because the scorer, Denis Bouanga, was offside for the final pass. Props to the ref here, whose defensive positioning was expert, and thus started a lethal counterattack that teams dream of. It’s not his fault that Bouanga couldn’t hold his wad and stay behind the ball.
Follow Sam on Twitter @Felsgate and on Bluesky @felsgate.bsky.social
