I was very interested in that Washington Post article because it articulated what I had been saying for years about Payton Manning – what made him as good as he was not just physical but that he had an innate ability to see the entire field as a unit rather than as a collection of individuals. I was never an athlete but played table games all my life – chess, bridge, backgammon, poker – at a relatively high level and the same ability applies to those games – the best players always have it. In chess and backgammon they call it “sight of the board” and in card games they call it “table feel” and in football I would call it “sight of the field”. And I don’t think it exactly correlates with measured IQ level. There were players who I considered had a higher IQ than I did who I could beat regularly and visa versa, there were players who I knew I was smarter than who could regularly beat me. It was interesting that the article said that Joe Burrow could beat everyone else on the team at chess which confirms the concept.
Read that piece in the Post yesterday and it was indeed great - a terrific insight into a football mind melded with smarts Burrow was just born with. If he can stay healthy, the next 7 years should be fun!
And, on a small side note, I remember the Harvest Home Fair very well from my days living on the westside. Glad to see it’s still going strong!
Not so sure that Joe's greatness will make others great enough too, so it is imperative Bengals keeps some other skill guys as people start lining up at the Brinks' truck in the coming years. As a Chiefs fan I watched Mahomes do greatness last night only to watch very average receivers drop 6-7 passes which cost us the game. Chiefs (without Kelce) have no receiver that would have a positive WAR (channeling my baseball seam head geekiness here) and it showed like a sore thumb last night.
As Lombardi opined "football's a great game, except the quarterback is too important" and that is true - to win big you've got to have a stud at QB and Burrow is that. But you can't just have chicken salad around him or you get chicken ----.
Nothing like waking up to see this news. Saint Joe now more firmly canonized than he already was.
But with such power comes great responsibility (a la Spider-Man) … that responsibility is to bring home a Super Bowl title.
Out of all the QB’s the Bengals have had who had such potential (Cook, Anderson, Esiason, Palmer) to bring one home, Burrow is the one now expected to do it. The odds for the Men have never been higher.
And, to quote Doc, Saint Joe is “inevitable.” So, I think a Lombardi — at least one — will be inevitable with him.
My biggest take on the Burrow signing, is how both sides vowed to keep it out of the heathen media, and they did. Watching the Chiefs game last night, we saw Chris Jones in a suite. In my opinion, that was a big middle finger to the Chiefs. Look what's going on with the Raiders. I applaud the Bengals for showing the class the Bengals, and Joe Brr showed.
As a lifelong Colts fan and watching 18 for over a decade, seeing this play out will be interesting. On one hand, you have to give Joe great weapons, on the other hand, you have to hit the bargain bin to stay below the cap.
The Colts were plagued by a bad D who couldn’t stop anyone, yet they won lots of games because Peyton was the single most important player in the field every game.
We had Reggie Wayne and Marvin Harrison. Joe needs Chase and one more top receiver, the rest have to churn.
Seriously though, let's talk about this crazy amount of money. It really highlights a broader societal issue that seems hard to fix. You've got the everyday working folks out there, putting in their time and doing important work, but struggling to make ends meet. On the other hand, you've got someone tossing a football around in what some might call a "game," and they end up with more money than anyone could ever dream of.
I don't blame Burrow for taking the money. I mean, if it's on the table, why not grab it? He's undeniably talented and has been a saving grace for a struggling franchise. However, the real culprit in this whole sports money extravaganza is the NFL (and let's not forget about MLB and the rest). It's getting increasingly hard to take these situations seriously because of how absurd they've become.
Like Doc mentioned, let's hope we see more support for food banks and programs helping the regular working folks just trying to get by.
Oh, and by the way, if someone offered me $216 million for my teaching job, I'd probably take it without a second thought. But then again, that would open up a whole new set of societal questions, wouldn't it?
WHO DEY!
Katie was in charge when palmer was QB and nobody does anything without Mikes approval!
I was very interested in that Washington Post article because it articulated what I had been saying for years about Payton Manning – what made him as good as he was not just physical but that he had an innate ability to see the entire field as a unit rather than as a collection of individuals. I was never an athlete but played table games all my life – chess, bridge, backgammon, poker – at a relatively high level and the same ability applies to those games – the best players always have it. In chess and backgammon they call it “sight of the board” and in card games they call it “table feel” and in football I would call it “sight of the field”. And I don’t think it exactly correlates with measured IQ level. There were players who I considered had a higher IQ than I did who I could beat regularly and visa versa, there were players who I knew I was smarter than who could regularly beat me. It was interesting that the article said that Joe Burrow could beat everyone else on the team at chess which confirms the concept.
Didn't Brown make Palmer the highest paid QB before he quit?
Read that piece in the Post yesterday and it was indeed great - a terrific insight into a football mind melded with smarts Burrow was just born with. If he can stay healthy, the next 7 years should be fun!
And, on a small side note, I remember the Harvest Home Fair very well from my days living on the westside. Glad to see it’s still going strong!
Not so sure that Joe's greatness will make others great enough too, so it is imperative Bengals keeps some other skill guys as people start lining up at the Brinks' truck in the coming years. As a Chiefs fan I watched Mahomes do greatness last night only to watch very average receivers drop 6-7 passes which cost us the game. Chiefs (without Kelce) have no receiver that would have a positive WAR (channeling my baseball seam head geekiness here) and it showed like a sore thumb last night.
As Lombardi opined "football's a great game, except the quarterback is too important" and that is true - to win big you've got to have a stud at QB and Burrow is that. But you can't just have chicken salad around him or you get chicken ----.
Nothing like waking up to see this news. Saint Joe now more firmly canonized than he already was.
But with such power comes great responsibility (a la Spider-Man) … that responsibility is to bring home a Super Bowl title.
Out of all the QB’s the Bengals have had who had such potential (Cook, Anderson, Esiason, Palmer) to bring one home, Burrow is the one now expected to do it. The odds for the Men have never been higher.
And, to quote Doc, Saint Joe is “inevitable.” So, I think a Lombardi — at least one — will be inevitable with him.
We’ve officially mortgaged the farm (I ain’t complaining) now let’s grab that Super Bowl ring this year (and next?)!!!!
My biggest take on the Burrow signing, is how both sides vowed to keep it out of the heathen media, and they did. Watching the Chiefs game last night, we saw Chris Jones in a suite. In my opinion, that was a big middle finger to the Chiefs. Look what's going on with the Raiders. I applaud the Bengals for showing the class the Bengals, and Joe Brr showed.
As a lifelong Colts fan and watching 18 for over a decade, seeing this play out will be interesting. On one hand, you have to give Joe great weapons, on the other hand, you have to hit the bargain bin to stay below the cap.
The Colts were plagued by a bad D who couldn’t stop anyone, yet they won lots of games because Peyton was the single most important player in the field every game.
We had Reggie Wayne and Marvin Harrison. Joe needs Chase and one more top receiver, the rest have to churn.
Win now. Super Bowl or Bust!!
Seriously though, let's talk about this crazy amount of money. It really highlights a broader societal issue that seems hard to fix. You've got the everyday working folks out there, putting in their time and doing important work, but struggling to make ends meet. On the other hand, you've got someone tossing a football around in what some might call a "game," and they end up with more money than anyone could ever dream of.
I don't blame Burrow for taking the money. I mean, if it's on the table, why not grab it? He's undeniably talented and has been a saving grace for a struggling franchise. However, the real culprit in this whole sports money extravaganza is the NFL (and let's not forget about MLB and the rest). It's getting increasingly hard to take these situations seriously because of how absurd they've become.
Like Doc mentioned, let's hope we see more support for food banks and programs helping the regular working folks just trying to get by.
Oh, and by the way, if someone offered me $216 million for my teaching job, I'd probably take it without a second thought. But then again, that would open up a whole new set of societal questions, wouldn't it?
I'd rather Joe end up being a Peyton Manning than a Tom Brady... even if it costs a few rings.
Has anyone checked Mike Brown for a pulse? Maybe the fam got tired of reading articles about “sign him already!”