The first two weeks of the NFL season are in the books so I thought it would be a good time to write down a few observations and impressions. And since I have a hard time staying on topic, I figure I might as well bring up some non-football related subjects as well. Hopefully I will continue this theme and post a little something every few weeks, but I make no promises. Sometimes there are an overwhelming amount of topics to write about that I find interesting. Other times it’s tough for me to keep up with or care about the immense amount of stories out there. With any luck I will stay engaged and keep up the effort, but I reserve the right to check out at any time.Keep it Simple

I’m a football fan, not an expert. Most of my opinions are based on limited sample sizes and my own personal biases, so I could be clueless. But early in the season I have seen a few examples of teams driving the ball down the field with relative ease, then calling a failed trick play as they near their opponent’s end zone that stalls the drive and costs them points.

The clearest example of this happened on the first drive of the first game of the season. Here’s how the Steelers started out:

1st play – rush for 18 yards
2nd play – pass for 9 yards
3rd play – rush for 4 yards
4th play – pass for 14 yards
5th play – rush for 11 yards

Then, on first down at the Patriots’ 24 yard line, after moving the ball at will and averaging over 10 yards a play, the Steelers got cute and went for a trick play. Antonio Brown caught a ball out right behind the line of scrimmage then dropped back to the middle of the field and looked to pass. The Patriots sniffed it out and tackled Brown for a 9 yard loss. The drive sputtered out from there and ended in a missed 44 yard field goal attempt.

I generally think coaches should be more creative and aggressive with their play calling, but that was clearly not the time for a trick play. When you are moving the ball down the field fairly easily, there is no need to call a play that has your best receiver try to complete a pass. Maybe they should have checked out of the play since the Patriots were playing a zone defense on that down, but I don’t think the play should have called in the first place. It’s easy to blame the kicker for missing the field goal, but 44 yard attempts outdoors are no gimmie. Primary blame for the Steelers not scoring on their opening drive should go to the play caller.

Another good example of this happened on the last Thursday night game between the Broncos and the Chiefs. With the Chiefs moving the ball down the field in a tie game in the fourth quarter, they opt for a trick play on Denver’s 17 yard line. Wide receiver Jeremy Maclin is asked to try a similar play that failed for Pittsburgh in week 1. The result was a three yard loss that put the team in a third and long situation where Alex Smith subsequently threw a pick. It is easy to blame the quarterback for throwing an interception, but better play calling would have put the Chiefs in a more manageable third down situation.

When what you are doing is working, there better be an extremely compelling reason to mix things up. In my opinion, generally not enough teams abandon game plans that aren’t working, but in the first two weeks of the NFL season I have noticed teams deviating from game plans that have been working. That doesn’t make sense to me.

Winston v Mariota

In week one, the two top drafted rookie quarterbacks faced each other and the one who was thought to be a better fit for the pros got beaten badly by the QB from Oregon. One game does not a season make, but the constant news cycle calls for immediate congratulations or condemnations. Mariota was the man and Winston was bust.

I was reluctant to draw any conclusions from the game for many reasons. Rookies are prone to mistakes, it’s a team sport, and so while the QB position is extremely important, it isn’t everything. But for me the main reason to hold any judgement was the perceived differences between the two quarterbacks. Conventional wisdom says that Winston is the better NFL fit, he has shown that he is adept at going through progressions and running the offence the way most NFL coaches design it to be run. Mariota is from an up-tempo, spread-style offence more common in college and high-school than the NFL. He is less experienced at running a traditional NFL offense.

For these reasons I think it is more likely that Tennessee will implement a style that Mariota is accustomed to while Tampa Bay will work to get Winston to adopt their style. These two paths are likely to lead to Mariota having success earlier but possibly with a lower ceiling, while Winston may be more likely to struggle early but still have the chance to become an elite NFL QB. Of course, they could both turn out to be studs or they could both be busts.

The next week Mariota’s team lost to Cleveland, one of the worst teams in the NFL over the last few years, while Winston’s team beat New Orleans, one of the better NFL teams over the last decade, although not so much lately. Perhaps it’s better to hold out judgement until at least halfway through the season or longer. The larger the sample size, the lower the margin of error. I’d like to just enjoy the first year of these two young players before we over-analyze who is the better QB.

Are You too Good for Your Home?!

In the world of golf, we are approaching the final for the FedEx Cup, lesser known than the major tournaments but much more lucrative. It is the culmination of a year long contest that started in earnest a month ago with the first of a series of tournaments that whittled the field down from the top 125 players to the final 30 that will compete this weekend. The points winner will take home $10 million, second place pulls in $3 million, third gets $2 million, fourth gets $1.5 million and even fifth place takes in a cool million.

When I last wrote about golf, Jason Day was absolutely crushing it. After that article he finished 13th in the Deutsche Bank Championship, a great finish for any top notch golfer, but for him it was his worst finish in over a month. Was that the end of his monster run? Hell no! He came back last week and put up a 10 under in his first round, including a stretch of four holes where he went five under with a dream run of birdie, eagle, birdie, birdie. After a huge round like that, he was due for a letdown, so he put up a meagre 8 under on day two. The man went 18 under par in two rounds on a PGA tour course and coasted to another victory. He has been as dominant as any golfer can be in the second half of the year. He is hitting the ball as far and as straight as anyone, his short game is terrific and his putter is dialed in. It’s like watching Tiger in his prime, except I never pulled for Tiger. Day is a stud on the course and he seems like a good guy. I hope he keeps tearing it up.

While the sport of golf lacks the huge draw that Tiger once was, for many of the fans, it has gotten better than it has been for a while. There is no shortage of young, promising players that seem like good people and are easy to root for. Spieth had his run earlier in the year, and he is sure to win more tournaments, but he also impressed me with the way he handled all the attention that came from his major victories. After winning the Masters and US Open, he fulfilled smaller previous commitments that many would blow off after a big win and the chaos it brings. He kept his word and that impressed me.

Another young player with a big following stepped up and grabbed his second tournament win this year when Jason Day decided to step back and give someone else a chance. Rickie Fowler should soon be known for winning tournaments as much as he is known for rocking flat-billed hats and bright colored clothes. Last year, he finished in the top 5 in every major tournament. This year, his major record was not as stellar. And mid-season, a player poll was released that named him the most overrated golfer on the tour. Apparently other players looked down on him for his lack of tour wins, so what did he do? He won the next tournament he played in, The Player’s Championship, considered to be the unofficial fifth major. Add to that another win at the Deutsche Bank Championship and Fowler will not be forgotten among the young guns on the tour. He seems personable, good-natured and approachable, just like many of the other good young golfers on the tour. There is no huge name like Tiger in golf anymore, but there are plenty of kids in their twenties that are easy to root for.

Where’s the Punchline?

In Guatemala, former president Otto Pérez Molina is in court custody awaiting possible charges for graft, and the first round of elections for his replacement have concluded. The leading vote getter was a former TV comedian, Jimmy Morales, who once played the role of a cowboy who accidentally became president. His motto is, “neither corrupt, nor a thief.” And that appears to be all the people are looking for at this moment. He will head to a runoff election and while the whole process seems a bit comical, I see it as a positive sign when world leaders are peacefully removed and held accountable in the eyes of the law. Good luck to the people of Guatemala and to whoever wins in the runoff election.

Bulls on Parade

In last week’s Republican debate, most candidates’ opening remarks stressed that they are on the side of the people in a struggle against government. As the debate went on, few talked about the people in this country who live in poverty or still lack health insurance. No one spoke with concern about the kids who are raised in neighborhoods where it is easier to get hard drugs than fresh produce. No one seemed to care about the air we all breathe. How do you represent all people when you want to ease environmental restrictions that benefit us all and cut funding to social programs that help those who need it most?

Carly Fiorina made the strongest impression and has seen the biggest gain in the polls since the debates. Her opinions were well informed and she spoke confidently and forcefully. She stood out on a cramped stage not just because she was the only woman, but because she was one of the most eloquent, informed and passionate candidates of the evening. She clearly knows a lot about the volatile situations in the Middle East and has a hawkish stance on military action that should appeal to most Republicans.

The field has a few senators that voted both in favor of the Iraq war, currently an unpopular decision among the general public, and against expanded military action to combat the Islamic State, an unpopular decision among hawks which tend to favor Republicans. Outsiders, like Fiorina, Trump and Carson, can claim they would have done otherwise. On this issue they may have a leg up, but Trump doesn’t sound like he has an intricate knowledge of events in the Middle East, or anywhere else in the world that he doesn’t own property, and Ben Carson will likely take a hit from his recent comments on his opposition to the US having a Muslim president. This makes me believe that Fiorina is the most likely of the political outsiders to make waves in the primaries when it matters most.

Ben Carson made a good showing at the debate. He is not as forceful a speaker as many of the other candidates, but he has a calm confidence that commands respect. He is obviously intelligent and has yet to be dragged into much of the juvenile bickering that has consumed many candidates – maybe the spread of pettiness is a Trump effect, or maybe it’s just a result of politics as usual. He’d be on the right track if he didn’t put his foot in his mouth after the debate, but he has since made multiple comments indicating he does not think a Muslim should be president of the US. While the Republican party is generally aligned with many Christian organizations, words that send a message of religious exclusion generally do not play well with the American electorate. Concerns that a Muslim president would hold sharia law over American law are as unfounded as concerns that JFK would be beholden to the Pope. Carson has had a chance to walk his comments back and he has refused, he may come to regret that decision.

Jeb Bush made a better showing in the most recent debate than he did in the first. He didn’t ace it by any means, but he generally held his own and more importantly he improved from the previous debate. He’s got a lot of money and establishment support, at this stage of campaigning it’s all about staying relevant and staying out of trouble. In the first debate he seemed a bit nervous and less sure of himself; I was not sure what kind of candidate he would be. In the recent debate, he was more confident and vocal. In the context of the two debates, it seems to me that Bush was rusty in the first, but gained the necessary experience and will improve as time goes on.

Right now bookmakers have Hillary Clinton as a 3-2 favorite to be our next president and Bush is the second choice at 5-1. No doubt it’s a bit depressing to think that we are likely in line for another Bush or Clinton, but I’ll give Jeb the benefit of the doubt that he is his own man, and I like me some Slick Willy Clinton, so if his better half wants to give it a crack, I’m willing to see what she can do. There’s still a long way to go and anything can happen. The front-runners might be derailed by controversy and then it would be anyone’s game. Either way the show goes on, and all those senators and governors running for president are sure to spend more time working on their campaign than representing their constituents.

That’s all I got for now. Thanks for reading and if you didn’t enjoy it, I promise to do better next time.