Welcome to the Around The NFL End Around, a weekly look back at the world of the National Football League. Dan Hanzus serves as your guide.
It was a good week for ...
1. Tom Brady: The debate over the best QB ever will rage on, but Brady has a pretty rock-solid case now. We're firmly in living legend territory now.
2. Malcolm Butler: One play changed his life forever. That's the power of the Super Bowl.
3. Bill Belichick: He has to re-paint his boat.
It was a bad week for ...
1. Pete Carroll: Carroll has had an incredible coaching career. But, fair or not, his decision to green-light that pass will stick with him forever.
2. Browns fans:Johnny Manzielchecks into rehab, Josh Gordon gets kicked out of football and a draft pick could disappear because the GM is texting to the sidelines during games. It just never ends with this team.
3. Robert Griffin III: The former Redskins savior can't even get himself in the team's promotional materials anymore. This doesn't feel like it's going to end well, does it?
The Week In Editorial Failure
A closer inspection of the text reveals this wasn't simply a headline gaffe. The New England Revolution -- a Major League Soccer team that plays at Gillette Stadium -- are mentioned twice in the first two paragraphs of the accompanying story.
Hey, at least the author is taking it well ...
What The What?
Early in his Jets tenure, Rex Ryan got a tattoo of his wife clad only in a green Mark Sanchez No. 6 jersey. Last week in Arizona, Ryan went into a local ink parlor and had the Jets green shaded into a Bills blue. The Wall Street Journal additionally reported that Ryan donated his collection of black sleeveless Jets sweaters -- the top he wore during almost every game as coach in New York -- to a northern New Jersey Salvation Army.
The end of Rex and the Jets remains sort of depressing to me. It was long-lasting relationship with ups and downs, and nobody seemed to think it was a bad idea when it ended. But it's also hard to shake the feeling Rex and the Jets were made for each other and that -- with some added patience -- the team and coach had more fruit to bear together.
Almost everyone has a relationship that ends like this. What I'm trying to say is, it's pretty much inevitable the Jets make three to six drunken Saturday night calls to Rex this summer. Todd Bowles can never know.
Tweet of the week
I had been under the impression that Kurt Cobain has reached a level of cultural ubiquity that made further description -- read: "Nirvana Lead Singer" -- superfluous. I was wrong. Damn Millennials.
The truth about Left Shark ...
He's screwed. If Katy Perry hasn't fired him yet, she's simply waiting for the media furor to die down so she doesn't come off poorly. Perry said during her press conference last week that planning for a Super Bowl halftime performance is a daily grind over six months. And with 90 seconds of goofy dancing, Left Shark stole the whole damn show. I just know Taylor Swift was behind this somehow.
So yeah, good luck in your next career, Bryan Gaw. It was a nice run. I'm sure you got to see the world during Katy's Prismatic world tour. That's pretty cool ... but that's all over now. Hopefully you can find a job selling insurance, or maybe used cars with Josh Gordon.
Quote of the Week
"I haven't read a book since ninth grade, when they made me, like, you know you don't raise your hand but they call on you. 'A Mocking To Remember' or whatever, 'A Mockingbird to Remember'? I think that was the last book I read."
-- Patriots tight end Rob Gronkowski, who is about to embark on a Summer Of Gronk that will make every other Summer Of Gronk look like boarding school.
Life of a fan
These are always fun. Although I never understand why anyone whose team is in the Super Bowl would attend a party that includes fans of the opposing team. You can get away with that type of environment during the regular season ... but the freaking Super Bowl?
If the Jets ever make the Super Bowl (please stop laughing), I will watch the game in a fortified underground bunker with a small gathering of Jets fans who will have been vetted over a period of years.
Way to go, Carroll
This is actually really sad, though ...
Baldwin's big celebration
Doug Baldwin had one catch for three yards in the Super Bowl. Luckily for him, that lone reception went for a touchdown, giving Baldwin the opportunity to show off the touchdown celebration he waited his whole life for. Did he drop to one knee and thank the big man upstairs? Did he run to the stands and launch himself into a group of adoring 12s? Did he find a camera and mouth, "I love you Mom"?
No, he did not. In the biggest game of his life, in front of the biggest television audience ever, Doug Baldwin fake pooped (and was fined for it). This struck me as plain odd.
It also felt a touch forced, which has been pretty muchpar forthe coursewithBaldwin these last few weeks.
Hero of the Week: Luck of the Irish
It's a story that may not sit well with NFL or security officials -- not to mention the hundreds who got screwed out of tickets on the secondary market -- but you have to admire the audaciousness of the pair.
"Our game plan was to be super confident," Whelan told RTE Radio One Morning Ireland.
"We just thought if we pretend we belong there, nobody will question us."
That last line is especially important and can be employed across the life spectrum. Never underestimate the power of making people think you have power.
Until next time ...
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