Pigskin Randomizer

For some reason, Super Bowl LV-426 just hasn't captured my imagination. Pizza or Mexican? These are the big decisions in my life. Maybe a charcuterie platter? That might pair better with vodka.

I don't really have a dog in this particular hunt for a Lombardi Trophy but if I'm rooting for anything, I'm rooting for the Bengals to upset the Rams, and for Joe Burrow and Ja'Marr Chase to be named co-MVPs, on the off chance it helps Bill Belichick see that Job 1 is an upgrade over Nelson Agholor at the X.

I've watched Mac Jones do the Pro Bowl griddy at least 20 times now. Okay. 21 times. It's like a hit of pigskin happiness.

Will Bill Belichick and the Patriots find Mac Daddy his pass catching binkie? His Ja'Marr Chase/Cooper Kupp? I suspect guys like that aren't that easy to find (or everyone would have one). Those Calvin Ridley rumors make me nervous. I'm not sure the environment and commitment expectations in Foxborough are a good fit for Ridley. I do commend him for taking his mental health seriously, and making it a priority, but at 1 Patriots Place, they don't just eat, sleep, and drink football, they buy football a nice dinner and take football to a movie before taking football home to make sweet, sweet love until the sunlight cracks. 

And Josh McDaniels is going to give up Hunter Renfrow? (And Hunter Renfrow wants to leave an offense run by Josh McDaniels?) Please, all of you Pats fans asking, "Did we just get a glimpse of the future?" on that Pro Bowl TD connection between Jones and Renfrow, just stop with the stupid.

It was good to hear Jerod Mayo's comments about the need to get faster and add playmakers to the defense. Those needs may well outweigh the needs of the few or the one (i.e., Mac Jones' need for a generational WR1 talent). Also, Bill Belichick is really, really bad, I mean terrible unless awful is worse than terrible, at drafting wide receivers.

If you're thinking, "Yeah, but he's due! Even a blind squirrel finds an acorn now and then!" I'm pretty sure you know absolutely nothing about probability, statistical analysis, or mathematics in general. 

Besides, we all know Belichick is drafting a defensive tackle at #21 in this year's draft, don't we?

I'm still keeping my eye on free agent WR D.J. Chark. He's big and fast and his market value may be down a bit coming off a broken ankle that cost him most of what was looking like a breakout 2021 season.

Who knows, though? (Certainly not me.) Maybe Nelson Agholor can be the guy we saw in Las Vegas in 2020 (18.7 yards/catch, 8 TD) assuming the Patriots let Mac Jones be the guy we saw in Tuscaloosa.

Probably not. 

Maybe all the talk about getting Mac Jones a weapon is just smoke. The Patriots are built to run the football with Damien Harris and Rhamondre Stevenson. If you're running 12 and 22 personnel most of the time, maybe Kendrick Bourne and Jakobi Meyers are enough.

Just taking a moment to imagine the reaction to Belichick drafting an offensive lineman with pick #21.

Okay. 

That would be fun. 

But I'm still thinking defensive tackle.

Geaux Bengals!