In the world of sport, and in life in general, there are these certainties from which we cannot escape: you cannot run without learning to walk first, the line next to you always moves faster than yours , and morning toast always falls on the peanut butter side.
Add to that this truth: in real football, you don’t win without quality play at the quarterback position.
Sure, occasionally a champion shows up with an ordinary man at the helm (hello, Nick Foles, hello, Trent Dilfer, hello, Brad Johnson), but generally speaking, you don’t win by sending anyone to throw the ball, as the New York Jets have demonstrated every Sunday since 1969.
These very lucid observations lead us to the Houston Texans and C. J. Stroud.
This 22-year-old is coming back from a not-worse day against the Tampa Bay Bucs; a game of 470 yards and 5 touchdowns. That gives him a record of 14 touchdown passes against just 1 interception since the start of the season.
These Texans, as we recall, concluded the last season with a record of 3-13-1, in penultimate place in the overall NFL standings. This mediocrity was turning into a culture, as they had only won 11 games in their previous 3 seasons. Céline’s heart can continue, but the Texans’ defeats could no longer continue.
So we needed a quarterback, especially since this team, since its creation in 2002, has never really been able to count on an elite quarterback, with our apologies to Deshaun Watson. The Texans therefore used the second pick in the last draft to get their hands on Stroud, who is already a candidate for rookie of the year on offense.
So that’s what it looks like. We’re not going to judge C.J. Stroud’s career after eight games, but at least his presence alone in Houston allows Texans fans to dream a little, something they’ve never really been able to do in 21 years.
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In hockey, often, when things are not going well, we hear about the importance of going to watch a game “up there”. In football, it seems that when things are going average, we prefer to watch it all from below.
At least that’s what San Francisco 49ers defensive coordinator Steve Wilks is going to do on Sunday in Jacksonville. After a great start, the 49ers have just lost their last three games, and they are coming back from a 31-point blow to the Bengals.
Things had to change, and Wilks, along with coach Kyle Shanahan, decided that he was going to come down from his perch and give his instructions directly on the field.
Is success, in its purest form, achieved from heights or from dry land? This is a complex question, with which the greatest philosophers of humanity have always struggled. Maybe the 49ers can unravel this mystery that Descartes or Kant could never solve.
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Aaron Rodgers is very hard to follow, first because he sees extraterrestrials and then because he happens to eat strange plants during his travels in Peru, but hey, here he is who says it to anyone who wants it. to hear that he could return to the game this season.
There is no specific date in this file, but some experts have already circled the date of December 24, which would be absolutely perfect, with all the biblical references that implies. Can Rodgers turn water into wine and the Jets into a credible team? Can he walk on water, including the brown water of the Hudson River? Can he bring about the multiplication of loaves and, incidentally, victories? Endless happiness, we tell you.
Now, would this possible return be worth it? The Jets have six games scheduled before then, and that includes a game against the Bills, and two against the Dolphins.
Maybe he’d be better off going back to Peru after all.
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Little by little, yard by yard, we are getting closer to one-on-one matches, where you have to leave everything on the field, except perhaps your pride. Also, it is at the end of the evening that we recognize the best dancers. We must never forget that.
To this end, there will be some big games to follow on Sunday: the Texans against the Bengals, the 49ers against the Jaguars, without forgetting the Browns, who will face the double challenge of facing the Ravens, but also of having to go to Baltimore , which is something no one in life really wants to have to do.
