Chicago Bears - Titans Ever On

Who Watches the Watchmen? (The NFL on REO)

Catches, media incompetence, and bad wins. We cover it all this week. (1,687 words)

In Watchmen, the genre-defining masterpiece by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons, there is a slogan that can be seen throughout the graphic novel, spray-painted on walls, “Who watches the Watchmen?” It’s a message about keeping those in power accountable and if that is even possible. While the things I examine this week are much less important in the grand scheme, I believe they belong in the conversation. It’s too often that we find incompetence or worse coming from those that are in a place of power in the sports’ world – whether it be the leagues, the teams, or the media that covers it all. So here is my attempt to watch the watchmen.

Quarter Season Power Rankings (The NFL on REO)

We have new Power Rankings! (669 words)

Phill’s Quarter-Season Power Rankings!

We should probably call this edition: “Not Available.” That will make more sense in a bit. This season has been unpredictable, which is one of the reasons the NFL is so much fun. Contrary to some opinions, there have been some really good games this year and we are once again shaping up to have a good number of new playoff teams in the mix. As you will see below, the Top Ten has been invaded by many new faces this time around. And that’s a good thing. I don’t know if these teams will be able to keep it up for the next 12 games, but so far, they have earned their spots on my list. Feel free to tell me I’m an idiot in the comment section below. I can take it. (You can view the first Power Rankings right here.)

The NFL on REO: Game Time!

The Regular Season is here! We rank all 16 games and we give our staff predictions for the Tennessee Titans’ record. (947 words)

It’s game time baby!

The NFL season kicks off tomorrow with the defending Super Bowl champions, the New England Patriots, facing off against the Kansas City Chiefs. I am so excited, even if this first game includes my most hated team in the history of all sports – the Patriots. It’s real NFL football for the first time in over half a year! What is better than that?

To commemorate this momentous occasion, here is my interest level for each game this week. We’ll start at the bottom.

The NFL on REO: Tennessee Titans Edition

We go “all-in” on the Tennessee Titans! We recap Preseason Game 3, do Five Questions with Paul Kuharsky, and get your predictions for the upcoming season. (1,572 words)

The Tennessee Titans – High Hopes and Legitimate Concerns

This week, we are going to take a little break from our usual league-wide coverage, and focus only on the Tennessee Titans. For those that think that seems unfair, too bad. It’s my column and I can do whatever I want. Last season, the Titans finished second in the AFC South with a 9-7 record. They missed the playoffs in a tie-breaker to the Houston Texans. The Titans have made what look to be smart moves this offseason to improve the roster and hopes are high in Tennessee.

Or, they were high until the preseason started.

The Titans were uninspired and seemingly bored the entire first preseason game against the New York Jets. Their offense was anemic and their first team defense gave up a quick score to an awful Jets’ offense. The Titans rebounded and looked good the following week against the Carolina Panthers. Both sides of the ball made plays and they calmed the doubts and fears that had been festering in the hearts of the Tennessee fan base after the first game.

The NFL on REO: Are We There Yet?

We are ready for real football. That, a little more on the Colin Kaepernick situation, and some Titans Talk in this week’s edition. (1,391 words)

My Final Preseason Thoughts

I wrote about preseason football last week – you can find those remarks right here. I feel I should add a few more thoughts about it before we move on to more important matters.

Let’s deal with the problems first:

Problem: Preseason football is not very fun to watch.

Outside of the diehard fans, not many people can sit through an entire preseason game. The starters play one or two series and then the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th string guys get on the field and attempt to make their case for getting on the team. By their very nature, the preseason games are going to be less interesting because they do not count for anything. There is no real drama. Plus, the guys at the bottom of the roster aren’t as good, which is why they are at the bottom, and the quality of football suffers.

The NFL on REO: Dominance

This week’s column contains more Gowdy Cannon zaniness and our first Power Rankings of the season. Number 3 will blow your mind! (1,741 words)

The Insane Ramblings of Gowdy Cannon

On to 2017…

Yes, I’m the guy who wrote a 2500-hundred word counseling session on how Tom Brady is the most overrated quarterback of all-time. But don’t let that keep you from reading what I’m about to write. You should appreciate it primarily because I wrote the Brady article.

While players can be overrated or underrated to team success I do not think there is any way to get around claiming team superiority in an objective way. For example, we could argue all day whether Brady, Aaron Rodgers or Matt Ryan was the best QB in the NFL last year, but we cannot argue that New England was the best team. That was objectively settled on the field.

The NFL on REO: The Draft

Recap of the 2017 NFL draft, and a few other points of interest.

An Exhaustively Researched Hypothesis

The NFL just concluded the 2017 draft. As usual, it was three days full of excitement, drama, and way too many opinions. It also helped confirm in my mind a little hypothesis I have been developing for some time: The NFL is the girl in high school that is socially oblivious, dumb as a box of rocks, kind of a jerk, but is pretty hot. Allow me to elaborate. That girl from high school had no problem getting dates. All the dumb, hormone driven, high school boys could easily overlook her lack of intelligence, her meanness, or her propensity to say or do publicly embarrassing things because…hotness. All those other negative qualities did nothing to lessen her popularity with the guys. That’s the NFL.

The NFL draft is three days of the NFL showing off, patting themselves on the back, and doing it all in the most bombastic and cringe-worthy manner possible. And we still watch. Because hotness. The NFL is hot, has been hot for a long time, and will be hot for many more years to come. It will be hot until all the negatives about the sport finally surpass how attractive it is to fans. And believe me, that time is coming.

Titans Tuesday: Pride

How I am feeling right now about the Tennessee Titans.

One thing my 33 faithful readers will know¹ is that I fully expected the 2016 Tennessee Titans to exceed most expectations. I would wager that the majority of the national sports media would have had them finishing with no more than four or five wins this season. I think their 9-7 record goes beyond exceeding expectations. It shatters them. And I am unbelievably proud of the Titans for that accomplishment.

I did not address the horrible loss to the Jacksonville Jaguars on Christmas Eve for a few reasons.

One, I was on vacation with my family for Christmas and I did not want interrupt it.

Two, where we were staying, there was no WiFi access so I was effectively shut out from the internet world. That ended up being a good thing. I didn’t want to write about that loss. The grief was still too near.

It was 32 for a long time, but I finally convinced one of my good college friends, Matt, to start reading. ↩

Titans Tuesday: “It vexes me. I am terribly vexed.”

The Titans did their best to lose on Sunday but failed due to the Bears being a little more inept.

I was furious when the game between the Tennessee Titans and the Chicago Bears ended on Sunday. I sat there, on the edge of the couch, with my head in my hands. It was ridiculous to react that way to a 27-21 Titans’ victory, but some wins are just different from others. And this win was garbage.

For the majority of three quarters, the Titans proved they were a better team than the Bears.

After a few early hiccups on defense, the team settled down and dominated, scoring 27 straight points. Marcus Mariota and the offense continued their hot streak of moving the ball and putting points on the board. The defense got in on the action as well, turning the Bears over a few times. Life was good, until the Titans forgot that in the NFL, you have to play four quarters in a game, not three.