Tales of the Week – Week 5 2018 NFL Season
By:Tyrone Montgomery Jr.
Headline Photo From: Las Vegas Journal-Review
The Past is The Past!”
The Oakland (Soon To Be Vegas) Raiders are a complete disaster. Ownership and Management looks just as lost and confused as the players do. They don’t run the ball. The bad thing is they added another former Pro Bowl RB, Doug Martin. They’re proving to be only one dimensional. They added a Wide Receiver in Jordy Nelson, who looks like he’s ready to pull a Vontae Davis any minute now. Amari Cooper is one of the best WR’s in the league and he barely even gets the ball, killing many fantasy teams worldwide. Their defense went from bad to worst in just a summer. Of course, this was expected as they loss their only bright spot on the defense, Defensive End, Khalil Mack. That was done by Head Coach/ GM Jon Gruden. Gruden came out of retirement to return back to coaching and to run a team. It hasn’t worked out for him very well as The Oakland Raiders are off to a 1-4 start.
Generally, running both roles on any team in sports is hard and most people fail at it. Gruden had it made. He was sitting in a booth on Monday nights fully rested. You all probably remember those nights he would be in the booth in his long trench coach staying warm cracking jokes and smiling. Now, he’s on the sideline about to get chilly soon, and he just looks frustrated and rightfully so. Everyone needs a good workout from time to time. Dieting is okay, but there’s nothing like a good workout. Maybe its cardio on the elliptical. Perhaps we like to swim or life weights. Or even play a sport. Let’s take basketball for example. Occasionally, we get on the court, and there’s an older gentleman playing. Jon Gruden is the old guy on the court still trying to play and gets beat by his man every time. Occasionally, they may make a shot or 2. But ultimately in the end, they look bad and have no business playing in that game. I know it’s early, but Jon Gruden may regret coming back to the sidelines.
Bad Examples lead to Bad Things
Over the weekend, The New York Giants went to Carolina to play The Panthers.
Before the game, in a sit down interview with ESPN Josina Anderson, when asked if the Giants had a QB Problem, OBJ replied “Uhh, I Don’t Know.” He also went on to say “I don’t feel like I’m being given the opportunity to be the very best that I can be, to bring that every single day — and that’s really all I want to do, to bring that every single day.” Beckham also went as far as ripping the entire Giants offensive staff too. Odell Beckham Jr. had his best game of the season with 8 Catches/ 131 Yards/ 1 TD. Not only was that his first TD he caught this season, but he also threw one too. OBJ went 1/1 for 57 Yards to rookie Saquan Barkley on a trick play that had the Carolina Panthers hoodwinked. The Giants trailed the whole game leading into the 4th. Suddenly, Barkley had what we all assumed to be a game winning TD until Carolina Panthers Kicker Graham Gano kicked a Game Winning 63 Yard Field Goal. That kick tied the NFL record with distance. Emotions are a part of the game, especially when it comes to football. Most athletes should know to leave it all on the field and play with passion. People are always watching. We may not see or notice it, but people are ALWAYS watching, especially if we’re a leader or someone important. We all have people we look up to. In New York, most of the team looks up to Odell Beckham Jr. Despite his foolishness, he is still the best player on the team and they need him. I saw something over the weekend that caught my attention. You ever heard of the term like father, like son? Monkey see monkey do? Sterling Shepard, who is a young talented WR had a tantrum on the sideline this weekend. Frustration is blooming on this team. Shepard was seen punching the bench and throwing trash cans. The team leader, Odell Beckham Jr, was seen trying to calm him down afterwards. The irony of the situation is that a few years ago, Beckham had a similar tantrum situation when he got into a fight with the kicking net. After the game, Beckham had this to say. “I don’t regret anything that I said. If it took that for us to come together as a team like we did {Sunday}, I can take that every single time.” When asked about OBJ’s comments, Giants Head Coach Pat Shurmur had this to say:
“Alright, listen, I’m gonna answer all the drama questions right now. I’m gonna go back to what I said, alright? I addressed it with Odell. I addressed it with our team,” Shurmur said, voice beginning to rise again.
“I publicly declared that I didn’t agree with his comments and I asked anyone who was interested if they wanted clarification go to Odell because he’s a big man.“I’m not gonna give the public a pound of flesh on this, alright? That would make me small, not strong.
These are the kind of things, in my opinion, when you have the locker room that we have, that will help galvanize them. Cause the locker room took care of it. That’s all I’m saying on it. Finito. Done! “Let’s talk football, not drama.”
–Giants Head Coach Pat Shurmur
The crazy thing about this drama is its only going to get worst. As good as a talent Odell Beckham Jr. is, he is selfish, egotistical, and he doesn’t care about anyone but himself. He doesn’t even care about winning. He wasn’t upset at the heartbreaking loss. He got his numbers. He caught TD’s and he threw them too. He was the man in that game. He got paid over the summer too and that’s all that matters to him. This has disaster written all over it, and this is only the beginning.
