Future Isn’t Looking Bright for the Bills and Browns (archival article)

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After the first week of the NFL season, the Buffalo Bills and Cleveland Browns are trying to regroup after losing their first games of the year. While some might think it’s too early to panic, fans in both cities are starting to entertain the idea that this is going to be another long season without a playoff appearance for their beloved teams. Neither the Bills nor Browns covered the NFL predictions against the spread last week, and they probably won’t cover again this week.

Before the season began, fans in Buffalo had a little hope for their team after coming close to making the playoffs last year. The team resigned promising quarterback Tyrod Taylor and head coach Rex Ryan promised the team would be more disciplined and cut back on the penalties that hurt them last year, but things apparently haven’t changed because the Bills were very undisciplined on Sunday and didn’t provide a lot of protection for their quarterback.

In the first half of their game against the Baltimore Ravens, the Bills were outgained 114-2 at one point, which isn’t going to cut it if you’re trying to win games. The secondary, which was supposed to be one of their biggest strengths, looked bad and blew a lot of coverage’s during the game.

In the second half, the Bills tried to mount a comeback and got close, but the team eventually imploded, making a lot of bad choices and getting penalized for them. At one point in the second half, the Bills had cut the lead to 10-7, and had the Ravens backed up deep in their territory. Instead of forcing Baltimore to punt the ball, the Bills committed two personal fouls in three plays, and gave Baltimore great position at midfield, which they converted into a field goal.

The Cleveland Browns have known more misery than most NFL franchises, but fans still fill the Dawg Pound every season, hoping this is the year the team turns things around. However, after the overhaul the team went through in the offseason, fans knew the Browns aren’t a playoff team, but remained cautiously optimistic the Browns would have a good season.

Cleveland signed former Washington Redskins quarterback Robert Griffin III to compete for the quarterback position during the offseason. Since new head coach Hue Jackson has had a lot of success reviving the careers of quarterbacks, many felt it was a good fit.

During the first half of their game against the Philadelphia Eagles, the Browns offense didn’t look very good, but Griffin seemed like he was comfortable in the offense. As the game progressed, the Eagles figured out Cleveland’s offense and essentially shut them down.

The Browns receivers had a really rough go of it in Sunday because the ball was either being overthrown by Griffin, who struggled in the second half, or they were dropping passes thrown at them. The running game was slightly better but not by much, which made it an easy victory for the Eagles.

To make matters worse for the Browns, Griffin was hurt late in the game, and on Monday, the team placed him on IR, which means he won’t be back on the field before week 10. The good news for Cleveland Browns is that the loss of Griffin all but guarantees they will have the first pick in the draft next year, hopefully they finally find their quarterback of the future.

Vikings May Be Looking To Pay Adam Thielen What He Is Worth in 2019

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If you ever wanted proof that timing matters, look no further than the current contract situation for Minnesota Vikings Adam Thielen. The undrafted wide receiver proved his value over the first four years of his career. So, the Vikings rewarded him, on the following season of 2016, with an appropriate contract extension: four years for $19.246 million.

He responded the subsequent season, in 2017, as every team hopes a player responds after getting a new contract extension—he played even better.

Then last season he took his game a step further by having his first 100+ reception year, his second with 1000+ yards and nine touchdowns (both career records). Talk about earning his keep, right?

It is easy to say that he was and he is an absolute bargain for the Vikings. After one good season in 2016, his contract was more than fair. But considering how his game has progressed the last two seasons despite all the quarterback changes, do the Vikings owe him? Clearly, he has outplayed his contract.

However, the team is under no obligation to renegotiate. Thielen’s contract was fair at the time. But what pushes the ‘new contract’ narrative forward for Thielen is the contract Stefon Diggs signed the year after Thielen signed his.

Following the 2017 season, and his incredible catch against the Saints in the playoffs, Diggs signed a five-year extension for $72 million. To be fair, the three seasons before his extension were better than Thielen’s. But they were also nothing special (200 total catches for 2472 yards and 15 touchdowns).

By his numbers, he appeared to be more deserving of the kind of deal Thielen got than Thielen was. But coming after his big catch against the Saints in the playoffs, his name was hot. It was the perfect time to shoot for the stars, and it worked.

The only problem now is that his deal makes it look like the Vikings are not doing right by Thielen.

It would be well within the Vikings rights to just wait and pay Thielen accordingly in his next extension. But then they run the risk of him becoming disillusioned with the team and feeling underappreciated—which could lead to a desire to switch teams.

But, according to some recent media reports, it doesn’t sound like the Vikings are going to wait. They have extended players contracts in the past before they were due for an extension and it looks like Thielen could be getting an extension this year.

“This team has a lot of really good things in place for it, and I know they want to take care of Adam, and I know they want Adam there and I know they want to reward Adam,” his agent, Blake Baratz said during a recent media appearance.

He went on to say that he doesn’t know what the Vikings are going to offer, but that he is ‘cautiously optimistic’ the Vikings will give Thielen the kind of raise he deserves. If the offer isn’t good, he could just hold out, right?

Yes, he could. But Baratz told Courtney Cronin from ESPN that isn’t the kind of thing his client would do; he’s not that type of person.

Of course, the willingness to extend a player everyone deems worthy and actually doing so are two different things. The Vikings could just be talking the talk right now; that doesn’t mean they will absolutely walk it later. However, history tells us that they most likely will.

So, then the next question will be whether Thielen’s intensity and production slacks off after he gets paid. It is not an uncommon phenomenon among professional athletes. But it is more likely that his numbers will go up in his second season with Kirk Cousins rather than down.