STACKHOUSE’S 10 MONDAY THOUGHTS
1 – ZIMMER ERROR – There are just some quarterbacks you can’t give the ball to in the final two minutes of the game and allow them to have an opportunity to beat you because they almost assuredly will do just that. Russell Wilson falls into this category and while I understand the notion of salting the game away by converting a 4th and 1, I also feel the easy choice for the Minnesota Vikings on Sunday night would have been to kick the field goal and, worse case scenario, you end up in a tie game heading to overtime. Instead, the Vikings failed on 4th-and-1 and Wilson used the entire two minutes to march down the field and orchestrate a game winning drive.
2 – THE MATH – Math has ruined a lot of things in 2020 and Sunday night’s football game was one of them. Zimmer played the math by going for it on 4th-and-1. What the math never takes into account are the human beings involved. If Seattle’s quarterback is Sam Darnold, then you go with the math. If Minnesota’s secondary wasn’t full of young kids, you maybe go with the math. For me, I looked at the players involved and paid no attention to the math because it’s pointless unless the players are equals. Math is simply a coward’s way of justifying a bad decision. This doesn’t just apply to football, but to other decisions made by leaders in life.
3 – PRESCOTT/SMITH – On the same day Alex Smith made an unbelievable comeback from a broken leg that almost killed him, Dak Prescott suffered a similar injury to his ankle where the bone broke through the skin. Smith, just with that one appearance, has already won Comeback Player Of The Year in my books. I don’t know why but I felt queasy watching him come in. I feared for his safety yet I know he wouldn’t be in there if he wasn’t at any greater risk than other players. As far as Prescott goes, because of the nature of the break he has similar risks that Smith had during the recovery phase.
4 – PRESCOTT TOP QB – I’ve heard numerous people (even Cowboys fans) refer to Prescott as being overrated and I don’t understand how they arrive at that. Prescott, through four games, had to be in the top 3-4 for MVP consideration and when I look at what he’s done throughout his short career despite having a below average head coach for all of it, what he’s done is nothing short of remarkable. If you don’t think his current head coach is below average, I present to you 37-year-old Aaron Rodgers under Matt LaFleur. Just imagine if Rodgers had LaFleur 6-8 years ago.
5 – PRESCOTT PECKING ORDER – If I was picking a quarterback to run my team there aren’t many that I’d choose before Prescott. Patrick Mahomes and Russell Wilson are likely the only two I’d want before Prescott. Guys like Rodgers, Tom Brady, Drew Brees, and Ben Roethlisberger are past their prime while others like Kyler Murray and Josh Allen aren’t there yet. I also have Prescott above Lamar Jackson so if Cowboys fans think Prescott is overrated, I can’t wait to see who it is they will be satisfied with if Prescott has indeed played his last snap for Dallas. Personally, I hope Prescott recovers and is as good as new and also does go somewhere else because it’s really hard to hate the Cowboys with Prescott at the controls. San Francisco would be a perfect landing spot.
6 – NFL FANTASY NOTES – Over the last three weeks, Alvin Kamara has been fantasy football’s top running back. Give yourself props if you can name who’s second. If you said Carolina’s Mike Davis, then you deserve a prize. Fantasy owners can capitalize for one more week as Christian McCaffrey figures to return in week 7. In my Yahoo league, I took a flyer on Eagles WR Greg Ward seeing as how I’m decimated with injuries and bye weeks and it paid off in the form of a touchdown. A better choice, if he’s still available, is Travis Fulgham. Before the year, Fulgham wasn’t even on the radar for the Eagles receiving corps.
7 – TAYLOR HALL SIGNING – Much-maligned Taylor Hall has signed a one year $8-million contract with the Buffalo Sabres. You can bet this is an expensive way for the Sabres to acquire assets for him come trade deadline time while it’s also an opportunity for Hall to rebuild is value and hit the market again next year. I’m a little surprised there weren’t other contenders out there that were able to shuffle some money around to make it work. Frankly, Hall at $8-million would be a better investment for Winnipeg than Paul Stastny at $6.5-million. The Jets could have signed Hall and moved Blake Wheeler to centre but I guess they see it differently and a further move to fill the void at right wing would be needed, although getting a second line winger is easier than a second line centre. Hall is also a far superior left winger to Nik Ehlers.
8 – OILERS FAILURE – Despite offering more term and more money, GM Ken Holland was unable to land a goalie he had targeted in free agency as Jacob Markstrom went to Calgary, Thomas Greiss ended up in Detroit, and Corey Crawford went to New Jersey. If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again so Mike Smith will be back for another year to partner with Mikko Koskinen. One name to maybe watch is Ilya Konovalov, a third round pick from 2019 but whether or not they can get him to North America for whenever the next season begins remains to be seen and I, admittedly, have no idea how that works with KHL players under contract. Regardless, Holland is going to have to find a way to get someone creatively. He can’t go with Smith and Koskinen again and another disappointing year in Edmonton will, surely, result in a Connor McDavid trade request. I’m shocked he hasn’t asked already. One possibility would be Tuukka Rask, but he’s threatening to retire if Boston tries to ship him out.
9 – SJHL PREVIEWS – I am in the process of writing previews for each of the 12 SJHL teams and have about six of them done. In a nutshell, La Ronge has a rookie to watch in Narek Aleksanyan. He would’ve played for them last year but was ineligible because he was an underage out-of-province player. Yorkton is once again top-heavy up front with a powerhouse top line. Estevan will be very strong with six returning defensemen to build with. Battlefords should come back to the pack after some unexpected player losses. Nipawin still has plenty of talent left from last year and are poised to be near the top of the standings but they’ll have plenty of company with Humboldt perhaps being the team to beat.
10 – GOALTENDING – I can’t remember a year where so many SJHL teams were solidified in goal with above average netminders. Battlefords returns two from last year, Estevan added a stud from Quebec (Emerik Demers), Humboldt picked up a veteran from BC, La Ronge has both of their number one capable tenders back, Kindersley got Matthew Pesenti back from Yorkton, the Terriers return Philippe Bond and also have highly touted rookie Jacob Herman in the fold. Joe Young, perhaps the best in the league last year with a below average Weyburn team, is back. Top rookie Ross Hawryluk will anchor Nipawin. Some other teams I haven’t talked to also have aces up their sleeves and that will be revealed in the coming days.
(Mike Stackhouse is a freelance writer/broadcaster. Follow him on Twitter at @Stack1975)
