By Tim Clark / / Column, Tim's Two Cents, Football
Two

NBC’s opening for Super Bowl LX was fantastic.

I could save myself time and you the trouble of reading further by ending the column there, but what fun would that be?

I do have a point that I will eventually make.

The Super Bowl was a dud. Don’t get me wrong, Seattle’s defense is really good. Plus, Sam Darnold is very easy to root for. He has always been authentic and a stand up guy. Kenneth Walker proved having a standout running back can still pay dividends.

New England, on the other hand, was a total fraud. To be fair, the entire AFC Conference was a fraud this year. The Patriots faced the easiest path to the Super Bowl in NFL history. First, New England had the easiest regular season schedule in the league. Then they faced the Chargers in round one, who had a completely depleted offensive line. Next up was Houston and quarterback CJ Stroud. Stroud had been in the tank for weeks, often throwing the ball to the wrong team. Finally, in the AFC Championship they had the good fortune of playing Denver with a backup quarterback who had not thrown a pass in over two years.

If it weren’t for some crummy officiating, they would have had to beat Buffalo and Josh Allen in the AFC Championship.

Patriots quarterback Drake Maye was NFL MVP runner up. Against quality teams, Maye was pretty darn average. He was less than average in the Super Bowl.

The NFL product just isn’t that good right now.

Is it a quarterback problem?

Yes, to an extent.

Just look at how bad the AFC was this year. The Bills have Josh Allen, but injuries and a lack of other offensive talent left him on an island most games. The Bengals have Joe Burrow, but due to an annually poor offensive line he spent a large portion of the season on the IR. The Chiefs have Patrick Mahomes, but age has taken its toll on this team plus he didn’t have many trusted guys in which to throw the ball. The Chargers have Justin Herbert, but have yet to surround him with much. I also am starting to think I have slightly overvalued his skills. Drake Maye is in his second year and may very well blossom into a superstar. Maybe he backslides like Trevor Lawrence, Lamar Jackson, and CJ Stroud. The rest of the conference is dealing in scraps.

The NFC has a star in the making with Caleb Williams, but the rest range from above average to poor. Matthew Stafford was great, but he is old. So, too, is Jared Goff. Sam Darnold has proven himself for sure, but he isn’t a superstar. Likewise Jordan Love, Dak Prescott, Baker Mayfield, and Brock Purdy. Jayden Daniels is a wildcard. He may become a superstar or fall back into mediocrity. The rest qualify as unknowns.

Additionally, there are more and more player games being missed due to injuries. I don’t necessarily have an answer to this problem, other than maybe teams are being more cautious with their investments.

It certainly isn’t because there is more hard hitting. Tackling has become more suspect, and throw in the fact the rules are inconsistently applied by officials.

It just isn’t vintage NFL right now.

The Patriots being the best team the AFC had to offer just emphasized that point on the grand stage of the Super Bowl. The game was el stinko.

Guess what?

It doesn’t matter because the NFL is a locomotive rolling down the tracks and it runs over anything in its way. Fans just love football. Good, bad, somewhere in between. There will be a lot of people that agree with what I said up there, but it won’t matter. The NFL dwarfs basketball and baseball. Hockey has never been in the running.

I think playing overseas is silly, and it is certainly unfair to the players. The NFL simply adds more games to the overseas list. Roger Goodell annoys the living bodily fluids out of me. He just keeps pushing the buttons and counting the money. It is unstoppable.

Goodell showed the power of the NFL by putting this Bad Bunny gentleman in the spotlight as the halftime show. He listened to the raging lunatic in the White House and all of his minions ridicule, criticize, and threaten his league. Goodell stood tall and went forward with the show.

The results?

The highest viewed halftime show in Super Bowl history. Bad Bunny was bad man. Many of us may not have understood the words but the visuals and storytelling were universal, as was the message in the end. Once again, the NFL won. Minus the small percentage of viewers who switched over to watch Kid Rock praise Jesus, you know, like he always does(insert eye roll), way more eyes were on the NFL than ever before.

What did bad Charlie Sheen used to say?

Winning.

I think the product is subpar. So many injuries, less fundamentals, and not enough excellent quarterbacks. But it just doesn’t matter what I think. The NFL is coming down the tracks and you either get on board or you get flattened on the tracks.

Tweet of the Week

The 16th hole at the Waste Management Open provides the players with a chance to show some extra personality. Crowd favorite Joel Dahmen took time to support his team and make a birdie.

 


The Weekly Shiny Penny

Avery Hayes made his NHL debut last week with the Penguins. He scored twice on two great individual plays. He was equally humble with the media after the game. Good for him.

 


A Penny For My Final Thoughts…

I had a chance to go to the USC vs Penn State basketball game Sunday at the Bryce Jordan Center. So this week my final thoughts will focus on that experience.

  • Sitting in the lounge eating a delicious pregame meal with the suite people, I couldn’t help wonder if any of those people really cared who wins the game. It seems like more of an outing to support their university.
  • The Jordan Center is such a cavern. All you need to know about why it was built is the fact that USC couldn’t hold its  shoot around Saturday because there was a Treaty Oak Revival concert scheduled.
  • I forgot how long TV timeouts seem in person.
  • The PSU pep band is fantastic, other than I don’t know why they do a rimshot right before their own team shoots a foul shot. That seems like it would be disconcerting.
  • The empty seats you see on TV don’t do it justice. Almost the entire top two levels were empty and many empty spots in the lower level.
  • I had to check the box score because it felt like there were 50 turnovers in the game. There were 32. It was ugly.
  • Kayden Mingo was not good. He is Penn State’s best player, but it is also true they played really well when he was out with an injury. He dribbles too much which gets him in trouble. Of course, it isn’t easy working with a bunch of stiffs.
  • Mike Rhoades set up some good out of bounds plays. For those calling for his head, remember he is working with nothing.
  • USC head coach Eric Musselman deserves a medal for piecing together a respectable roster after all of the injuries.
  • I didn’t know from watching on TV that the officials will hold up the game to see if a coach wants to challenge a questionable call.
  • Alijah Arenas is the real deal. He was good all game, and then hit the buzzer beater to win the game.
  • Overall, it was an enjoyable experience. Hopefully someone in the PSU athletic department will realize basketball is supposed to be the second money making sport.
Just my two cents…