In honor of Thanksgiving approaching, here’s a list of what I’m thankful for, at least as it relates to the National Football League.

I have been a Miami Dolphins fan since the late 1970’s, mostly because my friend Jimmy who lived around the corner liked the Dolphins.  A solid way to choose a lifelong commitment, I’m sure you’ll agree.  Anyway, the Miami teams of the late 70’s through the mid 90’s were consistently good, often VERY good and occasionally great, but never Super Bowl Champions. Dan Marino retired in 1999 and the 2000’s has brought a new era of Dolphins lore.  Let’s call it the Era of Massive Mediocrity.  In the last 20 years my Phins have won the division twice, won a grand total of 1 playoff game, and finished between 7-9 and 9-7 no less than eight times. That has allowed us to smartly avoid both playing exciting, meaningful games for the fans to enjoy, AND super high draft picks that could be converted into superstar players. Let’s just say it’s been a long couple decades. However, in 2019 Brian Flores became the Head Coach, and it appears we are finally moving in the right direction.  Despite having  a pronounced lack of talent on the roster last season, Miami won 5 of its last 9 games to turn what could have been a laughable campaign into a 5-11 one that showed signs of promise.  Then we added our latest (and certainly most viable) attempt to replace Dan Marino, drafting Alabama’s star quarterback Tua Tagovailoa, and this year we appear to be well ahead of schedule on our journey back to relevance. Miami is 6-4 with a couple very impressive wins, and though nobody sees a Super Bowl appearance in our immediate future, winning a title sometime in the next 5 years seems entirely plausible.  It’s a nice change.

If baseball has been enjoying a golden age of third basemen for the last ten years (and they have, believe me), then it looks like we may be heading into a golden age of QB play in the NFL.  Sure, it helps that it’s become a pass-happy league and the rules have made it incredibly difficult to play any sort of meaningful defense on wide receivers and quarterbacks without getting called for a penalty, but let’s give some respect to the talent level of today’s young field generals. Patrick Mahomes is 25 and already has an MVP and Super Bowl ring.  Lamar Jackson is 23 and has an MVP trophy too. Josh Allen is 24, Kyler Murray is 23, Joe Burrow is 23, Justin Herbert is 22, and if you are a GM/Head Coach and you have ANY of those guys behind center, you probably feel like you have the position locked up for the next several years.  Let’s just say it’s a scary time to be a cornerback in the National Football League. But it’s a great time to be a fan watching the Red Zone channel on Sundays.  Scoring is way up and that doesn’t look likely to change any time soon.

 

As physical as football is, it seems crazy to see guys still playing at an elite level in their mid 30’s.  Which makes the play of Ben Roethlisberger and Philip Rivers, both 38 years old, so impressive and surprising. But Holy-Middle-Age-Crisis, Batman, the fact that Tom Brady (43) and Drew Brees (41) are still among the better signal callers in football is completely bonkers. The geriatric set has led those 4 teams to a combined 25-8 record. So tell those Millennials to get the hell off our lawn, because the old-timers aren’t ready to move on quite yet. It’s not only quarterbacks either, as Arizona wideout Larry Fitzgerald and offensive lineman Richie Incognito are still going strong at 37. People are rightly amazed at Roger Federer’s continued brilliance at age 39, but it’s not like Dominick Thiem is trying to clothesline him on change-overs. This is football for god’s sake.

Who doesn’t enjoy a good dumpster fire from time to time? The NFC East is traditionally one of the NFL’s toughest divisions, and all four teams have had periods of dominance over the years.  Each team has won the Super Bowl (no other division can say that), and each fan base is used to fielding solid teams every year (though the Washington Football Team has admittedly been on the struggle bus for most of the last 14 years, finishing better than 3^rd only twice during that period). But 2020 is heading into uncharted waters for the NFC East. The Philadelphia Eagles are 3-6-1 and looking at their remaining schedule, their most likely finishing record is 6-9-1. That’s not overly remarkable, except for the fact that if they DO finish with that record, they will almost certainly win the division.  The Cowboys, Giants and Washington Washingtonians are a combined 6-20, and they have earned that record through hard work, dedication, and overall suckiness. As a general rule, you don’t want bad teams making the playoffs, as they clearly don’t deserve to be there and it lowers the overall level of play in the most important games of the year.  But every once in a while, isn’t it kind of fun to see a bad team get a shot at fame and glory?  

Look, I’m not a Pats hater despite being a Dolphins fan and living in the New York metropolitan area, a true hotbed of New England animosity.  Maybe it’s my Red Sox fandom bleeding over into football, maybe it’s that there are people I love who are huge Patriots fans, or maybe it’s just grudging respect. But what New England has done since Bill Belichick and Tom Brady arrived has been absolutely incredible, and between the 6 Super Bowl rings, the 11 straight playoff appearances, and even more recently 3 Championships, an AFC title and an appearance in the AFC Championship game in the last 5 seasons, there’s really no argument whatsoever about what franchise has dominated the 2000’s.  Belichick is the GOAT of head coaches, and Tom Brady is the GOAT of quarterbacks. All that is settled. But suddenly, and finally, things seem to be changing. Tom Brady is in Tampa Bay and the Patriots are a very pedestrian 4-6.  Worse, there’s no reason to think their record is misleading or that they are even remotely capable of a 2^nd half turn-around which could lead to another Super Bowl run. And as a sports fan who likes seeing fan bases rewarded for years and years of suffering, it brings a smile to my face knowing that the path to Super Bowl LV will be free from interference from the residents of Foxborough.  I have a feeling I’m not alone on this one.

Games are Still Being Played 

Let’s not forget this is 2020.  Any professional football games being played is a blessing for pigskin fans everywhere. 

Happy Thanksgiving to all!