So in the middle of a record-breaking heat wave in some States, pro football training camp has opened and this year I am really psyched. It's all because Aaron Rodgers is the new Jets quarterback and I plan to watch all their games this season.

Now a couple of things. I have always been a Packers fan because of Rodgers. I think he should have won way more games than what he did as a terrific QB who leaves it all on the field, and I have always thought that he is a jerk as a person. The way he has made snide remarks about his many girlfriends after he dumps them is classless. His logic on worldly issues is often flawed. I like watching him on game day, but I don't have much use for him anytime else.

So I will watch the Jets this year, even though I have hated both home teams of the Jets and the Giants (they really play in NJ) for the last ten years at least. I hate them because every season they spend a fortune and still stink. Every season they are rebuilding, but look exactly the same. Every other season they find a new franchise QB, who stinks. Every season they aim for the Super Bowl and may not make the playoffs because, you guessed it, they stink.

Now Rodgers may not be able to do anything by himself. He needs an offensive line that will hold up. He needs receivers that won't drop the ball. He needs a running game too. He is not young and can't be scrambling for his life. If he gets hurt, well that will be the end of that. But if the Jets just make the playoffs and lose in the first round, he will be King of NY.

The NY Yankees are in last place. Judge is always hurt (he is too darn big) and they can't win without him. The Mets are in next to last place. They only have pitching, sometimes. The Knicks are barely able to floor a decent team. The Nets are just as bad, but cheaper. Hockey does better, but it's only for hockey fans.

In short, New York sports is dying for a hero and Aaron Rodgers could be the one. He doesn't have to do much, just make the playoffs and find another temporary girlfriend.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Raven,

I've been hearing Rodgers has been less difficult and even seems happy to be the Jets QB now. It will be an interesting team to watch.

Yeah, people have talked about how intelligent he is but his public comments about ex-girlfriends do expose his lack of class - a lack of emotional intelligence. Hey Aaron, take the high road. There's less traffic.

I don't recall any of his grilfriends except Olivia Munn. She has seemed like a decent person. I know her from her days on "Attack of the Show" 12-13 years ago.

Weeks ago, I was thinking about the Packers. I started watching football during Bart Starr's last season in 1971 but I don't really recall watching a game he played that year. The Packers didn't get a memorably good quarterback until the late 80's when they drafted Don Majkowski but he got injured giving back-up, Brett Farve, a chance to play.

The weird thing about how people have talked about how great Brett Farve and Aaron Rodgers have been is that neither ended up surpassing (or even coming close to) the accomplishments of Starr who led the Packers to three consecutive league championships (the season before the AFL-NFL merger, and then the first two Super Bowls). Favre and Rodgers each won just one Super Bowl with their teams.

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Originally posted by catskilleagle:
I don't recall any of his girlfriends except Olivia Munn.

The weird thing about how people have talked about how great Brett Farve and Aaron Rodgers have been is that neither ended up surpassing (or even coming close to) the accomplishments of Starr who led the Packers to three consecutive league championships (the season before the AFL-NFL merger, and then the first two Super Bowls). Favre and Rodgers each won just one Super Bowl with their teams.

Rodgers last fiancée was actress Shailene Woodley, but it was his public comments after dumping Danica Patrick that were really unnecessary to me. In 2020 he was just giddy about ending that relationship. He told anyone who would listen how much better his head space was now that he's made changes in his life and how much it has improved his outlook on football. Patrick took the breakup badly and he should have just shut his mouth. Jerk!

Yes, but sports history matters most to those that experienced the time and quickly fades away for younger fans. It's always about who is playing now. They are the stars; the rest are retired. The stats are set, they can do no more.

Worse yet, no matter what the pro sport, you can't compare eras. You can have hypothetical arguments, but there is no way to compare Ty Cobb, to Mickey Mantle, to Aaron Judge. You can't compare Starr to Mahomes or to Rodgers. You don't know how anybody would play in the modern pro leagues of their time, just by the physical changes alone.

Just look at the huge giants in Basketball. In the 50's and 60's guys were stars at 6'2, that was tall back then. Now they wouldn't make high school teams.

Who can be a better team than the NY Yankees winning the World Series 6 out of 7 years between 1947 and 1953. Yogi Berra earned 10 World Series rings for the most ever for a single player. Who can say if he would even be a pro catcher in MLB today? Probably not, he stood 5'7.

But back to football, does anyone not think that the KC Chiefs will repeat this year?

History would seem to suggest betting against the Chiefs. Great teams have a hard time repeating. They don't get as lucky avoiding injury the following season and they generally lose a few players (going for the money once they've got a ring) in the off-season. There's a tendency to relax just a bit too when you're the defending champion. Meanwhile, every team they play the next season gives them all they can handle - even the bad teams. The Chiefs have to get better to do it again because other teams are better.

I thought the Chiefs were going to slip last year but they did get better.

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Originally posted by Raven:
But back to football, does anyone not think that the KC Chiefs will repeat this year?

The Hall of Fame Game, the first pre-season game of the season, snuck up on me. I thought it was going to be next week and almost missed it tonight and would have if it weren't for talk of it on the Today show this morning. Zach Thomas, retired Dolphin great, will be inducted on Saturday. It was great to see Chuck Howley, Ken Riley, and Don Coryell get in after all these years too.

I missed it. Wandered off at half time and never came back. Was pretty sure the Chiefs would run away in the second half. Wrong!

Just as well I suppose. When they start micing up the "enthusiastic" parents in the stands, it's time to walk away. I miss real football coverage and real play by play announcers.

GO DOLPHINS...

Yes, go Dolphins but did we have to start the season against the Chargers (a team we might see in the Super Bowl in February)? It seems so far away now but football season always flies by like a jet.

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Originally posted by wolfie:
GO DOLPHINS...

The Giants utterly embarrassed themselves on a nationwide Sunday Night football game to start off their new season. They didn't deserve to make the playoffs last year, but people took it as a sign of improvement anyway.

Well the offense couldn't score a point and the defense gave up 40. It would have been worse if the Cowboys didn't let up. Daniel Jones is a backup QB at best and Saquon Barkley will not carry a team. They are back to the drawing board again.

Next up, the Jets tonight. I don't think they beat Bills unless the Bills hand it to them, but I hope they at least put up enough points to make a game out of it.

Did you all see my Dolphins.

If we play like that all season who knows where we might end up.

Yeah, that was an embarrassing loss. The Cowboys got a couple of lucky scores early plus a field goal. The Giants were still only two scores down (assuming they'd go for and get both 2-point plays) at the end of the first quarter but the horror continued with Jones getting sacked right and left and the receivers dropping or fumbling the ball later. Even the Cowboys back-ups overpowered them.

I saw the 49er game. Let's see if the Cowboys can keep up with them when they play in a few weeks.

quote:

Originally posted by Raven:
The Giants utterly embarrassed themselves on a nationwide Sunday Night football game to start off their new season. They didn't deserve to make the playoffs last year, but people took it as a sign of improvement anyway.

Well the offense couldn't score a point and the defense gave up 40. It would have been worse if the Cowboys didn't let up. Daniel Jones is a backup QB at best and Saquon Barkley will not carry a team. They are back to the drawing board again.

Next up, the Jets tonight. I don't think they beat Bills unless the Bills hand it to them, but I hope they at least put up enough points to make a game out of it.

Out here on the west coast, we got to see the Chargers last two drives and the Dolphins last one. I was afraid the Chargers were going to have plenty of time to score on that last drive. All they needed was a field goal but Miami's defense stopped them. That was awesome.

quote:

Originally posted by wolfie:
Did you all see my Dolphins.

If we play like that all season who knows where we might end up.

So, four plays and that's all for Aaron Rodgers. The Football Gods are laughing at us. That's what happens when he is talking Super Bowl before the Jets win a game, and it was all very anticlimactic.

But it was a great game anyway. Mainly because Joss Allen kept playing into the hands of the Jets defense. Make no mistake, the Jets cannot win with Zach Wilson as QB. The offense won't score enough points and the opposing QB won't cough up the ball on cue. If Rodgers is hurt for a while, it will be the same Jets as last year and they will miss the playoffs again.

As for the Bills, they never should have lost this game.

They are hinting at Achilles. A full tear and he is gone for the season. A partial tear takes 8 to 12 weeks. Hope it's not that, but I got a bad feeling.

So Rodgers has torn his Achilles and surgery will likely end his season, maybe his career. I'm bummed out. Not because I am such a Jets fan, they have been an awful team and I rarely watched them, but because I wanted to see Rodgers away from Green Bay. I wanted to see if he could get them to the playoffs and I could watch every game.

Now it will have to wait till next year, if he can come back at 41. Imagine all the fans who went out and bought season tickets, or any game tickets, just because they signed Rodgers. A lot of Jets fans are sick today. If they have to stay with Zach Wilson, it's just 2022 all over again. No defense can win games when the offense can't score.

Oh well, I really have no particular team I'm interested in following now, most of my favorite players have retired. I guess my Sundays have opened up.

The Bears could not have been worse in all aspects of the game. The defense did not exist. The quarterback roles were reversed. Love looks like the guy going into his third year and Fields looked like the guy still learning the ropes.

Don't know if anyone noticed but we won again.

Yes, it looks good so far. The Dolphins have won two close games. On Sunday, they play Denver which has lost two close games.

I didn't get to see the 49ers-Giants games. The Niners were picked by only 10 points so I took that. I predicted they would win by at least 21 but I heard the Giants played tough especially in the first half.

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Originally posted by wolfie:
Don't know if anyone noticed but we won again.

quote:

Originally posted by catskilleagle:
I didn't get to see the 49ers-Giants games. The Niners were picked by only 10 points so I took that. I predicted they would win by at least 21 but I heard the Giants played tough especially in the first half.:

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They scored only 2 field goals in the first half. The closest they got was 12 - 17 in the 3rd and then they scored no more after that. The 49ers had only McCaffrey really working, so I wasn't impressed that much with them either, but at no time did it feel like the Giants could win.

Jets lost again to super nemesis Patriots in a close game that they should have won, having multiple chances for one good scoring play.

This is why I wanted to see Rodgers with this team. Could a good quarterback who can read defenses do better with the Jets or is it just the whole game plan that stinks year after year? Is it the players or the coaches?

Can't tell because they have probably ruined Zach Wilson already, if he ever had it in him to lead a pro team. It was torture to see the Patriots keep giving him chances to win in the last few minutes and he almost got lucky with the final Hail Mary. The just made it worse.

He holds the ball too long, takes too many sacks, can't read the defense, ignores open receivers and throws into coverage. The Jets need new coaches and an old quarterback. New year, same team.

Caught the end of the Colts/Ravens game. The Colts won after committing a clear penalty that was ignored even though it was all over instant replay. That's the kind of stuff that makes me wonder how this sport, with all of its micromanaged, technology inspected rules, still lets games be decided by the inconsistent whims of the referees.