Tag: Quarterback

How to Stream Patriots Games This Year

In my article reacting to the NFL schedule release (https://wordpress.com/post/wheelhouseblog.com/1308), I mentioned how if an NFL fan wants to watch every game this season, it would cost at least $850 and require 6 different streaming services. Many fans mainly care about being able to watch their team every week. As a Patriots fan, this is what to do to watch every Pats regular season game if you don’t have cable/YouTube TV and don’t want to rely on random NFL streams.

  • Paramount Plus Subscription to watch 7 games scheduled for CBS: $6/ month for 4 months = $24
  • Venu Sports (Brand new combination of Warner Bros. Discovery, Fox, and ESPN for sports) to watch 6 games on FOX: $43/month for 4 months = $132 (UPDATE AS OF 8/16: A judge has blocked this venture and it could cause it to be delayed)
  • Prime Video to watch 1 TNF game (9/19/24) on Prime: $9/month for 1 month = $9
  • NFL Plus to watch 1 game (10/20/24) on NFL Network: $7/month for 1 month = $7. NFL Plus can only be watched on a phone or tablet. If you are okay with watching games on a phone or Tablet for the whole year, NFL Plus has local and primetime games for $7/month ($28 for the 4 month period 9/8/2024 – 1/5/2025). This should allow you to watch most (if not all) Pats games for a very low price.
  • Two of the Pats games are TBD and likely will be 1 pm or 4 pm games on CBS/FOX because it’s unlikely the Pats will get a primetime game Weeks 17 or 18.
  • NOTE: *The Pats regular season is from 9/8/2024 – 1/5/2025, so this blog is assuming you would purchase the subscriptions for Paramount and Venu on 9/7/2024 and cancel on 1/6/2024. If you keep them for longer in order to watch the playoffs, it will cost more.*

All told, it will cost you $172 for the year to watch every Patriots game on your TV (with the exception of the NFL Network game), which isn’t too bad. Additional benefits of the above platforms: Paramount Plus has Champions League and some other CBS NFL games. Venu will provide some other FOX NFL games, Monday Night Football, MLB (including the World Series), NHL, and college football games. Prime Video will also provide other TNF games. And of course, Paramount Plus and Prime Video have shows and movies. All told, each person will have to make the decision of the best way to watch their favorite teams play. Following the above strategy is a little annoying, but also is doable and not crazy expensive.

NFL Market Cap

Sportico released their list of most valuable NFL teams today. From Sportico’s estimate, all 32 NFL teams combined are worth $190 billion, which includes team related businesses and real estate. If the NFL was a public company, a market cap of $190 billion would make them THE 36th MOST VALUABLE COMPANY IN AMERICA. The Cowboys have become the first sports franchise to be worth over $10 billion dollars ($10.32b) and the next closest NFL team is worth $7.79b (Los Angeles Rams). The full list:

  1. Dallas Cowboys, $10.32 billion
  2. Los Angeles Rams, $7.79 billion
  3. New York Giants, $7.65 billion
  4. New England Patriots, $7.31 billion
  5. San Francisco 49ers, $6.86 billion
  6. New York Jets, $6.8 billion
  7. Miami Dolphins, $6.76 billion
  8. Philadelphia Eagles, $6.75 billion
  9. Las Vegas Raiders, $6.7 billion
  10. Washington Commanders, $6.3 billion
  11. Chicago Bears, $6.26 billion
  12. Houston Texans, $6.01 billion
  13. Atlanta Falcons, $5.9 billion
  14. Seattle Seahawks, $5.59 billion
  15. Pittsburgh Steelers, $5.55 billion
  16. Tampa Bay Buccaneers, $5.5 billion
  17. Denver Broncos, $5.49 billion
  18. Kansas City Chiefs, $5.43 billion
  19. Green Bay Packers, $5.39 billion
  20. Minnesota Vikings, $5.32 billion
  21. Tennessee Titans, $5.29 billion
  22. Los Angeles Chargers, $5.22 billion
  23. Cleveland Browns, $5.14 billion
  24. Carolina Panthers, $5.13 billion
  25. Baltimore Ravens, $5.12 billion
  26. Buffalo Bills, $5.08 billion
  27. Indianapolis Colts, $4.99 billion
  28. Detroit Lions, $4.93 billion
  29. Arizona Cardinals, $4.85 billion
  30. New Orleans Saints, $4.79 billion
  31. Jacksonville Jaguars, $4.76 billion
  32. Cincinnati Bengals, $4.71 billion

Drake Maye Ridiculousness

Quick blog to get my thoughts out. People freaking out about Drake Maye playing bad during TRAINING CAMP is the peak definition of July/August being slow sports months. There isn’t much to talk about, so everyone wants to over exaggerate to get attention and make headlines. Maye is a rookie on a rebuilding team – there’s going to be growing pains. The Pats drafted him at 3 for a reason. They want him to grow and develop over time. The idiotic talk of Joe Milton being better is crazy. Milton played in college for 6 years and only started once for a reason. He has an amazing arm that looks good during training camp when he can’t be sacked. Once full-speed games start being played, it’ll be obvious he’s not the guy. People need to calm down and be patient.

Is the 2020 QB Class the Best Ever?

The 2020 NFL Draft Class of QBs is starting to look like they have what it takes to become the best ever. All five of the below QBs have received massive deals upwards of $50 M a year and four of them have been Pro Bowlers. Let’s dive into the stars of the class:

Joe Burrow, Cinncinatti Bengals: Round 1 Pick 1

Burrow is widely regarded as a Top 5 QB in the league, with his only kryptonite being his health. When healthy, he is the only QB other than Tom Brady that has shown he can consistently best Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs. In his only two fully healthy seasons, he has made it to the AFC Championship twice, the Super Bowl once, and has a 5-2 record in the playoffs. He also has the best completion percentage in NFL history.

Tua Tagovailoa, Miami Dolphins: Round 1 Pick 5

The most controversial QB from this draft. There are some who consider him a great QB, and others who think he is average and aided by a great coach and offense. The past two seasons he has upped his game and led the league in passer rating in 2022 and passing yards in 2023. He is 5th in career completion percentage.

Justin Herbert, Los Angeles Chargers: Round 1 Pick 6

He is possibly the most talented QB in the entire league. He has shown how brilliant he can be, but has dealt with terrible coaching and many injuries to players around him. Despite this, he has thrown the most passing yards and 2nd most passing TDs in league history by a player in their first 4 years. Jim Harbaugh is only going to help elevate his game and help him start winning more.

Jordan Love, Green Bay Packers: Round 1 Pick 26

He was an extremely controversial draft pick, but it looks genius now. He still is a little bit of an unknown, having only played one year as a starter. He took over from Aaron Rodgers and played great. The last 8 games of the year, he completed 70.3% of his passes, had 18 TDs and just 1 INT. Unlike Favre and Rodgers, he made the playoffs in first year and won a game.

Jalen Hurts, Philadelphia Eagles: Round 2 Pick 53

His success has been the most surprising since Carson Wentz looked like the franchise QB in Philly when he was drafted. He took over from Wentz and has been great. In 2022, he was the MVP runner up, an All-Pro, and led the Eagles to a Super Bowl appearance. He has 41 rushing TDs already in 4 seasons.

Top 10 Coaches in the NFL

1. Andy Reid, Kansas City Chiefs

2. Kyle Shanahan, San Francisco 49ers

3. Sean McVay, Los Angeles Rams

4. Sean Payton , Denver Broncos

5. Mike Tomlin, Pittsburgh Steelers

6. John Harbaugh, Baltimore Ravens

7. Jim Harbaugh, Los Angeles Chargers

8. Kevin Stefanski, Cleveland Browns

9. Mike McCarthy, Dallas Cowboys

10. Doug Peterson, Jacksonville Jaguars

Best Patriots Players to Suffer the Logan Mankins Curse

Most people are probably asking: “What is the Logan Mankins Curse?” The Logan Mankins Curse refers to a player who played for the Pats during the Brady-Belichick era, but did not win a ring. I call it the Logan Mankins Curse because he was drafted by the Pats in 2005 (right after they won 3 Super Bowls from 2001-2004) and was traded away weeks before the 2014 season (in which the Pats won the first of 3 Super Bowls from 2014-2018). I want to be clear: this is not named after him as a slight or because he was bad. Logan Mankins is a Hall of Fame worthy player and one of the best Pats of all time. His career with them just happened to be during the 9 season span they didn’t win (2005-2013).

I will be ranking players based on how good they were with the Pats, not how good their careers were overall.

1. Randy Moss, WR

One of the greatest wide receivers in NFL history and he was arguably at his best with the Pats. It’s such a shame they couldn’t get a ring for an all-time great player.

2. Logan Mankins, Guard

As talked about in the intro, this guy was a beast. He was a six time All-Pro with the Pats and he deserved a ring more than anyone else on this list.

3. Wes Welker, WR

A better regular season version of Julian Edelman, Welker was the perfect complement to Randy Moss and thrived while playing with Brady. He came up short twice with the Pats.

4. Aaron Hernandez, TE

He is now remembered for the awful things he did off the field more than anything else. On the field, he was super talented and along with Gronk gave the Pats a devastating TE combo.

5. Brandon Meriweather, Saftey

He was a very underrated player and could absolutely lay guys out. People don’t play the game like him anymore due to rule changes.

6. BenJarvus Green-Ellis, Running Back

An all-time nickname (Law Firm), hard running style, and lack of fumbling made him a great fit in New England. He brought that great hard-nosed running style before we had LeGarrette Blount.

7. Danny Woodhead, Running Back

He was such a gritty and talented pass catcher who complemented the Pats playing style so well.

8. Aqib Talib, Corner Back

He only played here a year, but was an All-Pro and Pro Bowler for us.

9. Brandin Cooks, WR

He also came in for just a year, but helped us get to a Super Bowl as our WR1 when Edelman was out in 2017.

10. Matt Cassell, QB

He was better after the Pats, but still managed to come in and lead the Pats to 11 wins after Brady went down in 2008.

Bonus Fun Fact: In doing the research for this blog, I realized that during the 2010 season, the Pats had Randy Moss, Wes Welker, Julian Edelman, Deion Branch, Kevin Faulk, Rob Gronkowski, and Aaron Hernandez all at the same time. I know that some players were early in the careers and some later, but to have all that talent on the same team is crazy. And it’s no surprise Brady won MVP that year.

Drake Maye vs Mac Jones

There are many reasons why most Patriots fans, including myself, believe Drake Maye will fair much better than Mac Jones. Below are my reasons, some obvious and some not so much.

Drake Maye has much more talent than Mac Jones. Physically he is slightly bigger at 6’4″, 230 lbs vs Mac at 6’3″ 220. He also is much more athletic and has such a better arm than Mac does.

Maye also produced in a much harder situation than Mac. Mac was aided by the greatest college football coach ever and maybe the greatest wide receiver room in college football history. Maye dealt with much more difficulty and still stood out.

Maye seems like intangibly he is also better than Mac. Mac had a tendency to pout and have poor body language, whereas Maye seems to have a better attitude, which I think is important. When the going gets tough, you want a QB who weathers the storm instead of complaining about the storm.

For all of Mac’s shortcomings, he really had no help offensively, as the Pats have had the worst offensive skill talent in the league since Brady left and their offensive line play was poor too. They are still very much a work in progress, but they did use significant draft capital on WRs and Oline this year. Hopefully, the Pats will continue to build the offense around Maye and give him viable options and protection.

Maye also benefits from not being the heir apparent franchise QB to Tom Brady. That is nearly an impossible role to live up to and Mac didn’t come close. Now that Pats fans have endured a couple shitty seasons, their expectations are not as high as the immediate Post-Brady era.

This will be the most controversial, but I think Maye will actually benefit from not having the greatest coach of all time lead the Patriots. The Bill vs Tom debate created lots of controversy and pressure for everyone in Foxboro. I believe it influenced Bill to go for broke in terms of winning and he simply tried a quick reload, instead of a full on rebuild that the Pats realistically needed. Now that he’s gone, they can focus on rebuilding correctly and getting back to winning championships.

Most Liked Teams in Sports

This is an odd list to make as opposed to my list on most hated teams in sports. Most fans really only like the teams that they root for, and anyone outside of that is either irrelevant or hated. This list is the teams that fans of other organizations like for various reasons.

Army Black Knights Football and Navy Midshipmen Football (tie)

This one speaks for itself. The fact all the people on these teams are joining the military to fight for our country, makes them so easy to root for. The legendary game they play each year is also one of the best events in sports.

Buffalo Bills

They are loveable for two reasons: their fans and the fact they keep coming up short. You can make the argument that Bills fans are the best in all of sports. Despite the terrible upstate New York weather, they come out to games in full force. The lack of success in big moments also leads fans of other teams to feel for the Bills

Boston Red Sox

For years they were the loveable losers, bound by the Curse of the Bambino. They have shaken off that curse this century, but still have fans all over the country and are a well-liked team. Having the most iconic stadium in sports in Fenway Park helps their mystique.

Green Bay Packers

Despite being a super successful franchise, they are not hated at all. The combination of being from a small city, being owned by shareholders rather than a billionaire, and the iconic Lambeau Field make the Packers easy to like.

Chicago Cubs

They have a lot of the same traits as the Red Sox with having overcome a long drought and having a legendary stadium.

UConn Huskies Basketball

They are the anti blue blood college basketball program. Whereas other successful CBB teams have an air of superiority, they have been spectacular the past 25 years, but still feel like a blue collar program

Detroit Lions

This is a team that has long suffered from not achieving despite having great players like Calvin Johnson and Barry Sanders. They are a legendary franchise that’s easy to root for.

St. Louis Cardinals

An iconic franchise with some of the best jerseys in sports makes them easy to like. The backdrop of their stadium and the surrounding area is also awesome.

Oregon Ducks Football

This is mainly due to their connection with Nike. Oregon is known for having such cool uniforms and going against the traditional teams like Michigan and Alabama, and it’s super interesting.

Most Hated Teams in Sports

Being a hated team in sports gets more of a bad rap than it should. It’s better to be hated as a sports team than to be irrelevant and not talked about (think Los Angeles Angels or Atlanta Falcons). Below are the most hated teams in American sports:

Dallas Cowboys

They are the most popular team in the most popular sport in America, the highest valued sports franchise in the world, and the most hated team in sports. The Cowboys get talked about so much despite not having accomplished anything notable in the past 30 years. That’s an easy team for fans to hate.

New York Yankees

The evil empire. The championships. The pinstripes. The Yankees are an iconic franchise. People all over the world wear their hat to the point that their logo is more so a fashion statement and representation of New York City than just a sports team. Even though they have underwhelmed the past decade plus, they will forever be near the top of this list.

Duke Blue Devils Basketball

Much like the teams above them, no matter how good or bad Duke is any given year, their reputation automatically makes people hate them. An elite university and elite basketball program that wins so much is the perfect villain college basketball needs.

Alabama Crimson Tide Football

They are an absolute juggernaut of a program, having dominated college football the past 15 years. Even with Nick Saban leaving, this is a team that everyone will circle on their schedules and fans will live to see them be mediocre.

New England Patriots

The Pats went 4-13 last year, and not a single person outside of New England felt bad after they dominated the most competitive league in sports for two decades. The success they’ve had combined with some “cheating,” has made them one of the most hated teams in America.

Houston Astros

They are newer to this list than most of the other teams on it. The sign stealing scandal is still fresh in so many minds, that they will be hated for years to come.

Texas Longhorns Football

They suffer from a similar “curse” that the Cowboys do. Texas Football is such a big brand, despite not winning a national championship for almost 20 years and people can’t stand it.

Michigan Wolverines Football

Before this year, Michigan was similar to Texas in that they hadn’t won a title in a long time, but were still talked about so much. This year, their cheating scandal combined with their dominating season gives football fans more fire to fuel their hate.

Philadelphia Eagles

This is a rare one, where people mainly hate this team because of how terrible their fans are. Philly easily has the worst fans in sports and it’s on full display at Eagles games.

Kansas City Chiefs

The Chiefs are starting to suffer from what the Pats have, where their success is breeding hate. That combined with all of the complaining they do every time the refs don’t bend the rules in their favor, makes them easy to hate.

Positional Tiers

In the NFL, some positions are of the upmost importance and others are not. Below, I broke down different positions into four separate tiers based on how critical they are to team success:

First Tier Positions: All or most of these must be filled with capable players or it’s unlikely your team will have success. The great ones should be paid a premium and held onto as long as possible:

  • Quarterback: The sky is blue, grass is green, QB is the most important position. Even people who aren’t football fans know this is the most important position in football and probably all sports. You get the most glory for winning and the most hate for losing and deservedly so. If you have Tom Brady or Patrick Mahomes you can have a dynasty that lasts for 20 years. If you’re the Browns and you’ve had 38 QBs start from 1999-2023, then you’re in trouble.
  • Receivers (TE/WR): I’m going to group all pass catchers into one here which may be controversial. All you have to do is look at Rob Gronkowski and Travis Kelce, who are the two greatest TE of all time, and were either the main or one of the main weapons on 7 of the past 10 Super Bowl winners. What makes TE so sneakily amazing is they can put up the production of a WR, while also being able to block in the run game, and being paid much less than WRs are. WRs are still immensely important though. Having a guy like Tyreek Hill or Justin Jefferson is an absolute nightmare for opposing defenses.
  • Offensive Tackle: Protecting your quarterback is one of the most important jobs a team has and the person mainly responsible for that tends to be the left tackle. However, a great right tackle is a massive asset too, because star edge rushers can lineup on either side of the ball. With so many great edge rushers in the league now and fewer great tackles this position is even more important.
  • Edge Rusher/Interior Defensive Lineman: I once again group these positions together because while Edge Rushers are typically the guys who put up sacks, great interior defenders like Aaron Donald, Chris Jones, and Justin Madubuike are just as dangerous. These positions are the main weapon against stopping a great QB and offense.

Second Tier: Important positions, but not required to have studs at. It’s okay to let them walk if the price is too high:

  • Cornerback: With so many great receivers in the league today, having great cornerbacks to shut them down is extremely important. However, a solid overall secondary and a good defensive play caller can also help to slow great players down. This is a position one could argue is in the 1st tier, but I’m comfortable having it at the very top of the 2nd tier.
  • Off ball Linebacker: This is by no means a necessity for a team to have great players at this position, but it helps. The impact guys like Fred Warner and Roquan Smith have is huge, but it doesn’t stack up to the positions above it.
  • Interior Offensive Lineman (G/C): Once again, its great to have studs at this position, especially with guys like Chris Jones and Justin Madubuike reeking havoc nowadays. But, a solid bunch is better than a single elite player here.

Third Tier: Positions you should not splurge on.

  • Running Back: With the rare exception of guys like Christian McCaffrey and Derrick Henry, teams should not spend big at this position. It’s better to have a group of 3 guys who all compliment each other than one star who may get hurt.
  • Safety: This is not a position worth spending a lot of money on as it does not have a major impact like the ones in tiers above do.
  • Kicker: A great luxury, but a solid guy can get the job done. The Ravens have the greatest kicker ever in Justin Tucker, but have done very little recently in the postseason.

Fourth Tier: Really not important. No explanations needed.

  • Return Man
  • Fullback
  • Punter
  • Long Snapper