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Alex's 10 Thoughts from the Weekend
No movies or pop culture this week. We'll talk about some football: 2022 Longhorns and the NFL as well as fantasy implications. We'll talk about creative ways to eat ground deer meat. We'll discuss the fact that ketchup is a child's condiment, and how to deal with that reality as an adult.
All of this and much more as I fill in for @Ketchum in this edition of 10 Thoughts from The Weekend.
TOP 2022 BREAKOUT CANDIDATES: OFFENSE
Nominees:
TE Ja'Tavion Sanders
TE Jahleel Billingsley
OL Devon Campbell
OL Neto Umeozulu
OL Cam Williams
OL Kelvin Banks
OL Junior Angilau
WR Isaiah Neyor
QB Quinn Ewers
That's a lot of players on offense who could really change the game for the Longhorns in short order -- should they be able to break out in ways that lead them to the massive potential that all mentioned possess coming into 2022.
With Ja'Tavion Sanders, you have a former five-star, all-around athlete in his second year who now presumably will be battling it out with transfer Jahleel Billingsley to take over the role previously occupied by Cade Brewer, who was more of a "move" TE/H-back in Sark's offense as opposed to the traditional inline-type of TE role that former Horn Jared Wiley played before transferring (based on his 2021 usage, it will be sophomore Gunnar Helm filling that particular role). Whoever wins the Sanders/Billingsley battle is going to be featured, because to win that battle, the victor is going to have to be good. Both guys are athletes on a level Texas hasn't seen from a starting TE in years.
Along the offensive line, Texas could use multiple breakouts. Least likely of those listed to come out of the gates breathing fire and breaking out all over the place is probably Kelvin Banks. While he's an extremely talented player, it feels like he's going to need a little more time than his most notorious fellow OL newcomer in the class DJ Campbell, who's one of the best high school OL prospects I've seen live in my life. Whether that translates, who knows? All kinds of things can go haywire on the development-side of football and of life in general. Things happen, people are complicated and things don't always play out like you think they are sure to, but as of this moment, I'm not more sure that a player on that list is going to end up being good than I am regarding DJ Campbell.
With that said, everyone knows I also love Cam Williams, and even to the anger of many on this board was critical of the previous Texas staff for not offering (or really even contacting him) much, before the new coaches made Williams a priority. All is well that ends well, though, and Williams is a Horn. People who think he is too big, bulky, tall and baby-fat-laden to play early on might be surprised to see how well he can move and the challenge his wingspan (coupled with his massive body) presents opposing edge defenders in deciding whether to speed rush outside of him or attempt to convert inside through power. It is not an overstatement to say that Williams could come into Texas as a better option at RT than Texas has had in 6 to 7 of the last 10 years. Right tackle play at Texas has been abysmal. We don't know if he'll play early, but not considering him a breakout candidate coming into the season would be cockamamie. Junior Angilau returns as the line's most consistent contributor and a breakout season for him would mean coming into All Big-12 types of honors and a legitimate runway to the NFL. With an improving surrounding cast all around him, it is not hard to picture.
Transfer WR Isaiah Neyor clearly has an excellent case to make for a player who could stand to be a giant breakout for the Horns in 2022. He was basically the entire passing offense at Wyoming and is a legit playmaker in every sense of the term. As I wrote about last week, Neyor is already on the radars of NFL scouts, and was before even coming to Texas. How many receiving yards are there to go around in an offense that also features Xavier Worthy? Well, that will largely depend on the most obvious breakout candidate of all: QB Quinn Ewers.
For Texas to reach its goals for the 2022 season and beyond, Ewers is going to have to be good. He's going to have to execute Sark's vision and be the CEO of the program's on-field product. Casey Thompson and Hudson Card could not do that consistently and the all-out blitz to get Ewers to Texas indicates that Sarkisian believes that Ewers can do what they could not. The surrounding cast will be better for Ewers and he has better pedigree than either of the two aforementioned QBs. Hell, he has better pure recruiting pedigree than most QBs Texas has had since around the turn off the century not named Chris Simms or Vince Young.
It's impossible to name only one "TOP" breakout candidate on offense, but the three that are hardest to choose between are ...
QB QUINN EWERS
OL DJ CAMPBELL
WR ISAIAH NEYOR
2. TOP 2022 BREAKOUT CANDIDATES: DEFENSE
Nominees:
DE Justice Finkley
DE/DT Alfred Collins
NT Byron Murphy
DB Terrance Brooks
CB Jahdae Barron
CB Ryan Watts
S JD Coffey
S Anthony Cook
Justice Finkley is an obvious name that comes to mind in this area because Texas is coming off a year where it had it worst production from the EDGE position (or literally any other position in the history of the Deep Dig) from now-gone Ray Thornton who was a ghost on the field, generating production only once every 52.42 snaps. Miserable.
To give context to that number, among contributing players of over 100 defensive snaps on the season, here are the least-productive players by season on a per-snap basis going back to 2015:
2021 - LB Ray Thornton - 52.42 snaps per production caused
2020 - CB Jalen Green - 32.2 snaps per production caused
2019 - DE Jamari Chisolm - 42 snaps per production caused
2018 - DE Ta'Quon Graham - 25.57 snaps per production caused
2017 - DE Naashon Hughes - 31.92 snaps per production caused
2016 - CB Davante Davis - 36.89 snaps per production caused
2015 - S John Bonney - 26.74 snaps per production caused
In short, the EDGE spot is DYING for a breakout and Finkley looks poised as an early enrollee to try to take advantage.
Alfred Collins plays at the JACK DE which is the "strong-side" end who's more of a traditional DL than the DL/LB hybrid the BUCK DE represents, and which it feels like Finkley will be slotted to play. It's not as glamorous a position, but it's one that requires a skill set that NFL teams really need: an ability to stop the run, get your fits and also get after the QB. Collins came to Texas as a player that said himself he only plans to be here for three years. Well, that third year is here. He has grown into the body many had hoped for, but he'll need his actual play to distinguish him if he wants to make good on that prediction.
As far as I'm concerned, Byron Murphy has already broken out as the most productive contributor per-snap on the Texas defense last season, but he isn't a household name yet. If he surpasses expectations in 2022 in the same way he did in 2021 -- which will admittedly be hard -- he runs away with this award easily.
Now, we get to the DBs and the process that is set to play itself out amongst those guys. It really is one hell of a puzzle and lots of players could come out of this thing as breakout-types. Perhaps Texas will get out of the mold of rotating corners through games because it will settle on two guys who are their DUDES. It really was a messy mish-mash in 2021. As long as I have the annals of the Deep Dig currently pulled up dating back to 2018, let's look at the snap data at corner of the "top two" guys:
2021
D'Shawn Jamison 77%
Josh Thompson 54%
2020
D'Shawn Jamison 75%
Josh Thompson 66%
2019
D'Shawn Jamison 65%
Anthony Cook 49%
2018
Kris Boyd 97%
Davante Davis 69%
We have D'Shawn Jamison who has already broken out, but who will be alongside him at the other outside corner? More rotations and substitutions involving Watts (a transfer with a mouth-watering profile physically coming in) and Jahdae Barron (the most productive CB on the team per snap in 2021, generating production once every 8.29 snaps and also leading all DBs on the team -- period, and emphatically -- in completion percentage when targeted at 30% even)? Or will one of those guys grab the job and run?
Looking at DBs outside the pure outside corners, Anthony Cook was the most productive player on defense last year, but he doesn't feel like a player that has already broken out. No one talks about him in the local media, much less nationally. His move to safety from nickel could mean big things for his 2022 prospects. JD Coffey is another elite recruit who just hasn't gotten his chance yet.
As for Terrance Brooks, the early enrollee true freshman, I wrote last week about how the nickel corner spot was "Clear as Mud," but if I had to handicap it, I'd say he's in the best spot of all to go win a job for a host of reasons.
It's impossible to name only one "TOP" breakout candidate on defense, but the three that are hardest to choose between are ...
DL Byron Murphy
S Anthony Cook
DB Terrance Brooks
3. AERYN HAMPTON COMMITS TO TEXAS
Besides general wear and tear; aches and pains, etc. Not much has made me feel older recently than observing high school athletes' commitments to various colleges and thinking about what I was doing when they were born. In the case of new Texas 2024 (TWENTY TWENTY-FOUR!!! WE SHOULD HAVE BETTER HOVERBOARDS BY NOW!!) DB commit Aeryn Hampton, I was already a couple of years out of college when he came into this earth.
Anecdotally, it feels really hard to hold on to these guys that commit so early in the cycle -- a full year ahead of time. Hampton, who committed at midnight on Super Bowl Sunday (one of the larger 'F*** You's' in recent memory to @Suchomel) says not to worry, though and "Trust Me!", so Texas has that much on top of the verbal. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Still, you think about the 2023 class and the early commitment of Rueben Owens who is already back on the open market. It's a lot of time to have to babysit a player and keep him placated and happy. For the 2022 class, you think about early commits like Phaizon Wilson (decommitted) and Jaylon Guilbeau (decommitted before recommitting). In the 2021 class, there was Jalen Milroe who committed in the summer before his junior season and later decommitted and Quay Davis who signed super-early before eventually moving on. You could probably continue the exercise from class to class and I'm quite sure you'd find a couple of eager beavers a year who were just too hard to hold on to for the duration.
With all that said, Hampton sure is a fire plug on the football field. Playing both ways, he shows a terrific "my-ball" mentality both as a defender and receiver of the football. He has excellent tracking ability and flexibility through his upper body to frame the ball and put himself in position to win in contested situations without sacrificing downfield explosiveness. In short, as a DB, he will bring excellent body control, fluid hips to turn and run and elite ball skills -- very, very obvious but still true, nonetheless.
Another fact we don't have to make hard: Hampton is a difference-maker with the football in his hands. Just watch the highlights, it's not rocket science-stuff to see that he's good at the game and a big-play threat. Couple this with the fact that he is opportunistic with good ball skills (9 INTs as a sophomore) and you'll see why five of them went for pick-sixes.
If I'm a coach at Texas, I'm not going to "trust" the young man that he's going to stay on board with the good guys for the next two years. I'd continue to recruit him as if he wasn't committed at all ... he has a lot of the makings to be a really good one and that is sometimes hard to say when you only have the sophomore highlights to use to judge.
4. BEST WAYS TO ENJOY GROUND VENISON
If your family is anything like mine, it's getting to that time of year where the freezer is probably still a little-bit full from your 2022 Texas whitetail season, but you're getting thin on the steak cuts while you haven't made quite the same dent in all that ground meat. I often hear hunters with families say that it's hard to get creative with ground deer meat even though it's the most abundant and what you'll be eating most of. In my family, we eat ground deer meat multiple times a week and love it as a healthier, cheaper option than ground beef. Here are some ways you might not of thought of (and some you definitely have) to prepare it:
Crispy Tacos - Everyone knows how to make these but kids love them and so do grown-ups.
Backyard Burgers - See above, no breaking news here. I add beef tallow to my burger meat (even in ground beef I have processed with up to 20% brisket or pork) because venison burgers are just too easy to dry out any other way. I get my tallow from the lady at the farmer's market who has the beef products. The lady or guy at your farmer's market will have it, too.
Moroccan Kefta - I love this favorite of my brother-in-law. He adds jalapenos and pico de gallo into the burger mix to give it a little Texas flavor, but I think it's great anyway you can make it. Here's a recipe if you're not familiar with the dish. It's basically Moroccan-style kabobs of ground meat shaped on a stick and you can eat it with pita bread and dip it in tzatziki sauce.
Just do this using deer meat instead of lamb:
Old-Fashioned Spaghetti and Meatballs - Here's my recipe for Meatballs - my kids think they are fine, and that's all you can hope for from 4 and 7 year olds. Throw all this stuff in a bowl:
1 LB Deer Meat
1 egg
1/2 cup of panko bread crumbs
1 TBSP minced garlic
Dash of olive oil
Parmesan Reggiano Cheese
Fresh chopped parsley
Salt and Pepper
Just roll those into balls and sear the sides, then put them in the pasta sauce. Cover pasta sauce in over and let them cook at around 300 degrees for a few hours. The longer you can let them sit in the sauce, the better.
Dirty Rice - Buy a dirty rice mix at the store and use deer meat.
Stuffed Avocado - Inspired by Trudy's of course. Instead of pulled chicken and jack cheese in this simple recipe (below) used as filling, brown your deer meat on the skillet and add in some tomatillo peppers you've had in the oven roasting. They will basically turn into a saucy mix together. I usually take a burger flipper to the chunks of ground meat to make them as small as possible and really sort of "melt" in with the tomatillo sauce. It is not spicy, so don't worry about that for kids. Add cheese right before you pull it off the stove and use that as the filling to make this: (make sure the meat is hot and finished cooking before filling the avocado)
Chorizo - I personally get a TON of my deer and axis turned into chorizo meat directly from the processor (shout out to the GOAT - Hudson's), but if you don't have that option, it's super, super-easy to turn regular ground venison into venison chorizo. Just do something like this and add some of your own kick as well if you want:
Ground Deer Wellington - Love this recipe I found online. I just use this one and substitute deer meat for ground beef.
Shiner Bock Meatloaf - The old East Side Cafe favorite is just as good or better with deer meat. Follow your favorite meatloaf recipe, but for the sauce, start with a base of a Shiner Bock reduction with bacon then add the other stuff.
5. QUICK THOUGHTS ON EARLY 2022 BEST-BALL ADP
What is "best ball" fantasy?
There is a form of fantasy football called "best ball" which is composed of teams competing during the NFL/fantasy season with teams drafted during all parts of the offseason. These leagues do not require in-season management like sit/start decisions. You draft and then you are done. Once the season starts, the software of the site where you play these games (Underdog Fantasy, BestBall10s, Draftkings, etc) gives you the BEST lineup each week out of all the players you drafted. There is no waiver wire and are no trades, the team you draft is the one you are stuck with, which makes it essential that you understand positional allocations -- how many QBs and TEs to take, etc. in order to make sure that you are able to field a full roster each week given the possibilities of injuries, byes, etc. This time of year has traditionally been a profitable time to invest in best ball drafts if you are a skilled fantasy drafter. The reason being that values present themselves in the form of rookies who don't yet have teams as well as free agents who are waiting to find new landing spots. Taking chances on these players at discount ADPs due to uncertainty can allow you to wind up with an impossibly stacked team from the perspective of those drafting closer to the season starting.
What is ADP?
Average draft position. The average spot a player is being drafted in fantasy.
Current 2022 ADP as of 2-20-2022 on Underdog Fantasy:
1 Jonathan Taylor RB Indianapolis Colts - Of course.
2 Christian McCaffrey RB Carolina Panthers - I'm not scared of the injuries, I can't believe I've seen him go as late as 7 overall. Maybe we all get a big CMC discount in 2022 because the sentiment is not as glowing as the No.2 overall ADP among fantasy content-makers.
3 Cooper Kupp WR Los Angeles Rams - He's really going to be too expensive for me to draft, finally, after all these years?
4 Derrick Henry RB Tennessee Titans - What if Tannehill isn't back? How does that affect the offense? I don't think it will happen this year, so perhaps 2022 will be a last hurrah for the Titans riding Henry hard and going all-in for a championship. Still, what about D'Onta Foreman maybe carving out a role that could keep Henry healthier through the season with less reps or Darrynton Evans returning?
5 Ja'Marr Chase WR Cincinnati Bengals - What a spike-week stud but he'll be inconsistent.
6 Austin Ekeler RB Los Angeles Chargers - Might they finally draft a complementary back that is actually good? Will it even matter? Ekeler is an aspiring member of the fantasy media community and really cares about his stats, which we degenerates GREATLY appreciate.
7 Justin Jefferson WR Minnesota Vikings - I like him a LOT more with Kirk Cousins than I would with Kellen Mond, that's for sure.
8 Najee Harris RB Pittsburgh Steelers - Another weird QB situation and a bad OL, but what else does the PIT offense have besides Najee?
9 Tyreek Hill WR Kansas City Chiefs - I'll be into Hill as long as he's attached to Mahomes and KC doesn't draft an elite talent to siphon targets.
10 Davante Adams WR Green Bay Packers - Hard pass from me in early drafts. No Aaron Rodgers is a possibility for Adams and that is no bueno for a first-round pick.
11 Dalvin Cook RB Minnesota Vikings - Dalvin at the turn? Yes please. He's QB-proof for 2022 unlike Jefferson.
12 Deebo Samuel WR San Francisco 49ers - The second-most golden son of RosterWatch behind Cooper Kupp, once again, will be too expensive next year. His rushing from 2021 is unsustainable and who knows what Trey Lance will be able to do as a distributor in that offense. Lance looked extremely raw last season when given his shots. We'll see a volume downtick overall, making Deebo - one of my favorite players in the league - currently hugely overvalued in early best-ball.
13 Javonte Williams RB Denver Broncos - Once Melvin Gordon is officially not back in Denver, this looks like a steal, until then, I'll take the next guy on the list.
14 Joe Mixon RB Cincinnati Bengals - A RB who can catch passes in a Joe Burrow offense? Let's get Samaje Perine off this roster and go to work with Mixon as a true, three-down workhorse on the league's fastest-paced O.
15 Travis Kelce TE Kansas City Chiefs - I've never taken TEs this early and certainly would never take Kelce here after he's starting look like an old man at the position.
16 Stefon Diggs WR Buffalo Bills - Emmanuel Sanders won't be back with the team in 2022 but was Gabriel Davis enough of a stud to end 2021 to steal away possibly more targets?
17 A.J. Brown WR Tennessee Titans - If the expectation is to have Tannehill back and the offense generally assembled as designed for this iteration of the team, how is AJ Brown not going 3-4 spots earlier?
18 Alvin Kamara RB New Orleans Saints - What a difference a change in your head coach, uncertainty at the QB position and a significant assault charge in Las Vegas make on your appeal to fantasy drafters. I'll personally be all-in on the talent of a Kamara here in this spot. You're telling me I can start a 2022 best-ball draft with Derrick Henry as my RB1 and then maybe get Kamara as an RB2. Ship the trophy.
19 D'Andre Swift RB Detroit Lions - Best-ball leagues all value points per reception so that helps Swift who has been uber-efficient if nothing else, while healthy, through his NFL career once the whistle blows and the game is over.
20 Nick Chubb RB Cleveland Browns - One of the best pure runners in the league, but Kareem Hunt would be a Top 5-10 back in the league if he went elsewhere and will command touches. No interest in Chubb at this price for me.
21 CeeDee Lamb WR Dallas Cowboys - A dynamo of a talent thus far, his 2022 value could spike immensely depending on what the Cowboys choose to do with impending free agents in the badly injured Michael Gallup and Cedrick Wilson who played himself into a bigger contract than anyone expected to end 2021. Some even postulate that Amari Cooper could be moved. Love rolling the dice on Ceedee in this spot, and it's honestly mostly because I just love watching him play.
22 Mark Andrews TE Baltimore Ravens - No tight ends this early for me, even though it makes a little more sense in best-ball than redraft. In redraft, you can often find guys through the course of the season to roll with, no such luxury in best ball.
23 DK Metcalf WR Seattle Seahawks - Boy could things go south for him if things go sideways with Russell Wilson this offseason.
24 Josh Allen QB Buffalo Bills - Josh Allen, QB1 among savvy early drafters coming into 2022, who woulda thunk it?
6. TOP 24 DYNASTY RANKINGS FOR 2022 START-UP LEAGUES
What is dynasty fantasy football?
Unlike Best Ball as we described above, dynasty is the complete opposite from a management perspective -- very intensive. This starts with the fact that you draft players FOREVER. You draft a player and you keep them for season after season, until you decide to trade or cut them. Initially, leagues have a start-up draft where veteran players are selected for each roster. After the start-up draft, the only drafts you have moving forward are rookie drafts where you draft incoming rookies. These are my current Top 24 rankings for 2022 dynasty start-up drafts pre-NFL Draft during this portion of the offseason cycle. As you can see, players values change wildly from seasonal types of leagues like Best Ball and redraft (the most common form of fantasy) to dynasty, where a players age and the long-view on them as NFL assets reign supreme over short-term projections for only the year ahead:
1 Jonathan Taylor RB - 23 years old in 2022
2 Ja'Marr Chase WR - 22 years old in 2022
3 Justin Jefferson WR - 23 years old in 2022
4 Najee Harris RB - 24 years old in 2022
5 D'Andre Swift RB - 23 years old in 2022
6 Javonte Williams RB - 22 years old in 2022
7 CeeDee Lamb WR - 23 years old in 2022
8 A.J. Brown WR - 25 years old in 2022
9 Joe Mixon RB - 26 years old in 2022
10 Alvin Kamara RB - 27 years old in 2022
11 Christian McCaffrey RB - 26 years old in 2022
12 Saquon Barkley RB - 25 years old in 2022
14 Nick Chubb RB - 26 years old in 2022
15 Cam Akers RB - 23 years old in 2022
16 Travis Etienne RB - 23 years old in 2022
17 Dalvin Cook RB - 27 years old in 2022
18 Austin Ekeler RB - 27 years old in 2022
19 D.K. Metcalf WR - 24 years old in 2022
20 Derrick Henry RB - 28 years old in 2022
21 Tyreek Hill WR - 28 years old in 2022
22 Deebo Samuel WR - 26 years old in 2022
23 Davante Adams WR - 30 years old in 2022
24 Cooper Kupp WR - 29 years old in 2022
7. KETCHUP
Ketchum invented a weekly monolith that only he is capable of writing properly, but still throws it at me once or twice a year for giggles. As a result, I had to ask my kids if they had ideas for topics. My 4 year-old son said that I should write about Ketchup.
So ... here goes.
Ketchup is a condiment for children. That is where we should start. I've come to a point in life where I consider college kids to be a cockamamie and woolly mix of adults and children, so, since their brains aren't yet fully developed, use of ketchup in many eating situations can still be justified. As for us adults, it is fine in moderation, sort of like Taco Bell or fast food in general. Adult consumers of large amounts of ketchup should be thought of along the lines of those who eat Jack In The Box tacos for lunch or who still chain-smoke menthol cigarettes at age 45. It's not age-appropriate and it can be creepy.
Here are the situations where it is perfectly fine for adults to each ketchup:
- while at a hamburger place, it is fine to eat ketchup with your fries or even dip your burger in it if the burger is not of super-high quality. If the establishment offers more sophisticated mustard or mayo-based sauces designed for adult palettes (think about the various sauces at Hat Creek, etc.) then those should be thought of as the adult options.
- while at a chicken tender place, it's probably the most-OK place to eat ketchup as an adult, unless it is a place like Cain's or Zaxby's etc. which offer better sauces like Cain's sauce or buttermilk ranch, etc. While eating at those places, the higher-end sauces should be the adult options you choose from.
- at the state fair when you are indulging in other childrens' fare like corn dogs. It is fine in this situation to mix some ketchup in with your mustard to dip your corn dog in. Please use my preferred method of drinking a beer then mixing the condiments together in your empty wax cup rather than just drizzling the mustard and ketchup on top and spilling it all over anyone you bump into and getting it all over your clothes. The empty wax cup stands as a perfect dipping-agent for the mustard and ketchup mix.
- ketchup is also clearly fine as an ingredient in things like sauce to put on meatloaf or BBQ sauce, etc.
And that wraps up the list.
I will say this: if you are at a place like DQ or Chicken Express and they try to give you gravy with your chicken tenders, it is, of course, OK to substitute ketchup for fast-food white gravy, which is always a complete abomination all its own that neither adults nor children should be subjected to.
8. BUY OR SELL
BUY.
I have a rudimentary understanding of toddler and grade-school Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu technique from watching my kids' classes twice a week for the last 13 months, plus I go to the gym 4X a week to work out, which is no huge accomplishment -- except for among journalists and sports beat writers. Ketch has a size advantage on me, but I think I could probably win. I don't think it would be easy at all, though. Furthermore, I think every member of the ModCast would give me a bunch of trouble for different reasons. Even our great former co-host @DustinMcComas.
SELL.
Can't give that type of benefit of the doubt to a defensive coordinator and a unit that was miserable last season. It's "show me" time.
BUY.
He has some elite clay to mold, he's set to go big with development.
BUY.
But, it's worse for my sinuses.
SELL.
Everyone knows that Ohio State and Buffalo Bills fans are the worst.
SELL.
Again, no benefit of the doubt. Jones was not good last year and, while he could improve, projecting it out of thin air would be poppycock.
9. FAVORITE THING I ATE THIS WEEKEND
My wife got this recipe from one of my favorite YouTube Channels "How to BBQ Right" with Malcolm Reed. If you've never watched Malcolm's shows and like to cook, BBQ or grill, you are really missing out. Anyway, as a Mississippian, he talks about this "Mississippi Pot Roast" that we gave a try. It's a really simple recipe: We got an HEB Prime 1 beef shoulder roast from the store, put a dalmatian brisket rub on it (salt and pepper) and smoked it over pecan for just long enough to give it a little color and some light bark to it (maybe 2 hours). Next thing, you just toss is in a crock pot with four ingredients: a packet of brown gravy from the store, a stick of butter, a packet of dry mix to make Ranch dressing (something like Hidden Valley) and a bunch of pepperoncini peppers. Extremely easy to make and man is it delicious.
You really should try this.
10. FINALLY (And about Finality)
I have no idea how Ketch does this every week, I'm taking the next 6-8 months off from filling in for him. Hopefully longer.
Enjoy your week, Orangebloods ....
And please remember: you're going to die one day (maybe soon, completely unbeknownst to you or anyone you love) so go take advantage.
Find Your Perfect Franchise at MyPerfectFranchise.Net
Orangebloods Owned! Contact Andy Luedecke (aka @widespread panic) anytime at:
aluedecke@myperfectfranchise.net
(404) 973-9901
www.myperfectfranchise.net
Alex's 10 Thoughts from the Weekend
No movies or pop culture this week. We'll talk about some football: 2022 Longhorns and the NFL as well as fantasy implications. We'll talk about creative ways to eat ground deer meat. We'll discuss the fact that ketchup is a child's condiment, and how to deal with that reality as an adult.
All of this and much more as I fill in for @Ketchum in this edition of 10 Thoughts from The Weekend.
*****
TOP 2022 BREAKOUT CANDIDATES: OFFENSE
Nominees:
TE Ja'Tavion Sanders
TE Jahleel Billingsley
OL Devon Campbell
OL Neto Umeozulu
OL Cam Williams
OL Kelvin Banks
OL Junior Angilau
WR Isaiah Neyor
QB Quinn Ewers
That's a lot of players on offense who could really change the game for the Longhorns in short order -- should they be able to break out in ways that lead them to the massive potential that all mentioned possess coming into 2022.
With Ja'Tavion Sanders, you have a former five-star, all-around athlete in his second year who now presumably will be battling it out with transfer Jahleel Billingsley to take over the role previously occupied by Cade Brewer, who was more of a "move" TE/H-back in Sark's offense as opposed to the traditional inline-type of TE role that former Horn Jared Wiley played before transferring (based on his 2021 usage, it will be sophomore Gunnar Helm filling that particular role). Whoever wins the Sanders/Billingsley battle is going to be featured, because to win that battle, the victor is going to have to be good. Both guys are athletes on a level Texas hasn't seen from a starting TE in years.
Along the offensive line, Texas could use multiple breakouts. Least likely of those listed to come out of the gates breathing fire and breaking out all over the place is probably Kelvin Banks. While he's an extremely talented player, it feels like he's going to need a little more time than his most notorious fellow OL newcomer in the class DJ Campbell, who's one of the best high school OL prospects I've seen live in my life. Whether that translates, who knows? All kinds of things can go haywire on the development-side of football and of life in general. Things happen, people are complicated and things don't always play out like you think they are sure to, but as of this moment, I'm not more sure that a player on that list is going to end up being good than I am regarding DJ Campbell.
With that said, everyone knows I also love Cam Williams, and even to the anger of many on this board was critical of the previous Texas staff for not offering (or really even contacting him) much, before the new coaches made Williams a priority. All is well that ends well, though, and Williams is a Horn. People who think he is too big, bulky, tall and baby-fat-laden to play early on might be surprised to see how well he can move and the challenge his wingspan (coupled with his massive body) presents opposing edge defenders in deciding whether to speed rush outside of him or attempt to convert inside through power. It is not an overstatement to say that Williams could come into Texas as a better option at RT than Texas has had in 6 to 7 of the last 10 years. Right tackle play at Texas has been abysmal. We don't know if he'll play early, but not considering him a breakout candidate coming into the season would be cockamamie. Junior Angilau returns as the line's most consistent contributor and a breakout season for him would mean coming into All Big-12 types of honors and a legitimate runway to the NFL. With an improving surrounding cast all around him, it is not hard to picture.
Transfer WR Isaiah Neyor clearly has an excellent case to make for a player who could stand to be a giant breakout for the Horns in 2022. He was basically the entire passing offense at Wyoming and is a legit playmaker in every sense of the term. As I wrote about last week, Neyor is already on the radars of NFL scouts, and was before even coming to Texas. How many receiving yards are there to go around in an offense that also features Xavier Worthy? Well, that will largely depend on the most obvious breakout candidate of all: QB Quinn Ewers.
For Texas to reach its goals for the 2022 season and beyond, Ewers is going to have to be good. He's going to have to execute Sark's vision and be the CEO of the program's on-field product. Casey Thompson and Hudson Card could not do that consistently and the all-out blitz to get Ewers to Texas indicates that Sarkisian believes that Ewers can do what they could not. The surrounding cast will be better for Ewers and he has better pedigree than either of the two aforementioned QBs. Hell, he has better pure recruiting pedigree than most QBs Texas has had since around the turn off the century not named Chris Simms or Vince Young.
It's impossible to name only one "TOP" breakout candidate on offense, but the three that are hardest to choose between are ...
QB QUINN EWERS
OL DJ CAMPBELL
WR ISAIAH NEYOR
2. TOP 2022 BREAKOUT CANDIDATES: DEFENSE
Nominees:
DE Justice Finkley
DE/DT Alfred Collins
NT Byron Murphy
DB Terrance Brooks
CB Jahdae Barron
CB Ryan Watts
S JD Coffey
S Anthony Cook
Justice Finkley is an obvious name that comes to mind in this area because Texas is coming off a year where it had it worst production from the EDGE position (or literally any other position in the history of the Deep Dig) from now-gone Ray Thornton who was a ghost on the field, generating production only once every 52.42 snaps. Miserable.
To give context to that number, among contributing players of over 100 defensive snaps on the season, here are the least-productive players by season on a per-snap basis going back to 2015:
2021 - LB Ray Thornton - 52.42 snaps per production caused
2020 - CB Jalen Green - 32.2 snaps per production caused
2019 - DE Jamari Chisolm - 42 snaps per production caused
2018 - DE Ta'Quon Graham - 25.57 snaps per production caused
2017 - DE Naashon Hughes - 31.92 snaps per production caused
2016 - CB Davante Davis - 36.89 snaps per production caused
2015 - S John Bonney - 26.74 snaps per production caused
In short, the EDGE spot is DYING for a breakout and Finkley looks poised as an early enrollee to try to take advantage.
Alfred Collins plays at the JACK DE which is the "strong-side" end who's more of a traditional DL than the DL/LB hybrid the BUCK DE represents, and which it feels like Finkley will be slotted to play. It's not as glamorous a position, but it's one that requires a skill set that NFL teams really need: an ability to stop the run, get your fits and also get after the QB. Collins came to Texas as a player that said himself he only plans to be here for three years. Well, that third year is here. He has grown into the body many had hoped for, but he'll need his actual play to distinguish him if he wants to make good on that prediction.
As far as I'm concerned, Byron Murphy has already broken out as the most productive contributor per-snap on the Texas defense last season, but he isn't a household name yet. If he surpasses expectations in 2022 in the same way he did in 2021 -- which will admittedly be hard -- he runs away with this award easily.
Now, we get to the DBs and the process that is set to play itself out amongst those guys. It really is one hell of a puzzle and lots of players could come out of this thing as breakout-types. Perhaps Texas will get out of the mold of rotating corners through games because it will settle on two guys who are their DUDES. It really was a messy mish-mash in 2021. As long as I have the annals of the Deep Dig currently pulled up dating back to 2018, let's look at the snap data at corner of the "top two" guys:
2021
D'Shawn Jamison 77%
Josh Thompson 54%
2020
D'Shawn Jamison 75%
Josh Thompson 66%
2019
D'Shawn Jamison 65%
Anthony Cook 49%
2018
Kris Boyd 97%
Davante Davis 69%
We have D'Shawn Jamison who has already broken out, but who will be alongside him at the other outside corner? More rotations and substitutions involving Watts (a transfer with a mouth-watering profile physically coming in) and Jahdae Barron (the most productive CB on the team per snap in 2021, generating production once every 8.29 snaps and also leading all DBs on the team -- period, and emphatically -- in completion percentage when targeted at 30% even)? Or will one of those guys grab the job and run?
Looking at DBs outside the pure outside corners, Anthony Cook was the most productive player on defense last year, but he doesn't feel like a player that has already broken out. No one talks about him in the local media, much less nationally. His move to safety from nickel could mean big things for his 2022 prospects. JD Coffey is another elite recruit who just hasn't gotten his chance yet.
As for Terrance Brooks, the early enrollee true freshman, I wrote last week about how the nickel corner spot was "Clear as Mud," but if I had to handicap it, I'd say he's in the best spot of all to go win a job for a host of reasons.
It's impossible to name only one "TOP" breakout candidate on defense, but the three that are hardest to choose between are ...
DL Byron Murphy
S Anthony Cook
DB Terrance Brooks
3. AERYN HAMPTON COMMITS TO TEXAS
Besides general wear and tear; aches and pains, etc. Not much has made me feel older recently than observing high school athletes' commitments to various colleges and thinking about what I was doing when they were born. In the case of new Texas 2024 (TWENTY TWENTY-FOUR!!! WE SHOULD HAVE BETTER HOVERBOARDS BY NOW!!) DB commit Aeryn Hampton, I was already a couple of years out of college when he came into this earth.
Anecdotally, it feels really hard to hold on to these guys that commit so early in the cycle -- a full year ahead of time. Hampton, who committed at midnight on Super Bowl Sunday (one of the larger 'F*** You's' in recent memory to @Suchomel) says not to worry, though and "Trust Me!", so Texas has that much on top of the verbal. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Still, you think about the 2023 class and the early commitment of Rueben Owens who is already back on the open market. It's a lot of time to have to babysit a player and keep him placated and happy. For the 2022 class, you think about early commits like Phaizon Wilson (decommitted) and Jaylon Guilbeau (decommitted before recommitting). In the 2021 class, there was Jalen Milroe who committed in the summer before his junior season and later decommitted and Quay Davis who signed super-early before eventually moving on. You could probably continue the exercise from class to class and I'm quite sure you'd find a couple of eager beavers a year who were just too hard to hold on to for the duration.
With all that said, Hampton sure is a fire plug on the football field. Playing both ways, he shows a terrific "my-ball" mentality both as a defender and receiver of the football. He has excellent tracking ability and flexibility through his upper body to frame the ball and put himself in position to win in contested situations without sacrificing downfield explosiveness. In short, as a DB, he will bring excellent body control, fluid hips to turn and run and elite ball skills -- very, very obvious but still true, nonetheless.
Another fact we don't have to make hard: Hampton is a difference-maker with the football in his hands. Just watch the highlights, it's not rocket science-stuff to see that he's good at the game and a big-play threat. Couple this with the fact that he is opportunistic with good ball skills (9 INTs as a sophomore) and you'll see why five of them went for pick-sixes.
If I'm a coach at Texas, I'm not going to "trust" the young man that he's going to stay on board with the good guys for the next two years. I'd continue to recruit him as if he wasn't committed at all ... he has a lot of the makings to be a really good one and that is sometimes hard to say when you only have the sophomore highlights to use to judge.
4. BEST WAYS TO ENJOY GROUND VENISON
If your family is anything like mine, it's getting to that time of year where the freezer is probably still a little-bit full from your 2022 Texas whitetail season, but you're getting thin on the steak cuts while you haven't made quite the same dent in all that ground meat. I often hear hunters with families say that it's hard to get creative with ground deer meat even though it's the most abundant and what you'll be eating most of. In my family, we eat ground deer meat multiple times a week and love it as a healthier, cheaper option than ground beef. Here are some ways you might not of thought of (and some you definitely have) to prepare it:
Crispy Tacos - Everyone knows how to make these but kids love them and so do grown-ups.
Backyard Burgers - See above, no breaking news here. I add beef tallow to my burger meat (even in ground beef I have processed with up to 20% brisket or pork) because venison burgers are just too easy to dry out any other way. I get my tallow from the lady at the farmer's market who has the beef products. The lady or guy at your farmer's market will have it, too.
Moroccan Kefta - I love this favorite of my brother-in-law. He adds jalapenos and pico de gallo into the burger mix to give it a little Texas flavor, but I think it's great anyway you can make it. Here's a recipe if you're not familiar with the dish. It's basically Moroccan-style kabobs of ground meat shaped on a stick and you can eat it with pita bread and dip it in tzatziki sauce.
Just do this using deer meat instead of lamb:
Old-Fashioned Spaghetti and Meatballs - Here's my recipe for Meatballs - my kids think they are fine, and that's all you can hope for from 4 and 7 year olds. Throw all this stuff in a bowl:
1 LB Deer Meat
1 egg
1/2 cup of panko bread crumbs
1 TBSP minced garlic
Dash of olive oil
Parmesan Reggiano Cheese
Fresh chopped parsley
Salt and Pepper
Just roll those into balls and sear the sides, then put them in the pasta sauce. Cover pasta sauce in over and let them cook at around 300 degrees for a few hours. The longer you can let them sit in the sauce, the better.
Dirty Rice - Buy a dirty rice mix at the store and use deer meat.
Stuffed Avocado - Inspired by Trudy's of course. Instead of pulled chicken and jack cheese in this simple recipe (below) used as filling, brown your deer meat on the skillet and add in some tomatillo peppers you've had in the oven roasting. They will basically turn into a saucy mix together. I usually take a burger flipper to the chunks of ground meat to make them as small as possible and really sort of "melt" in with the tomatillo sauce. It is not spicy, so don't worry about that for kids. Add cheese right before you pull it off the stove and use that as the filling to make this: (make sure the meat is hot and finished cooking before filling the avocado)
Chorizo - I personally get a TON of my deer and axis turned into chorizo meat directly from the processor (shout out to the GOAT - Hudson's), but if you don't have that option, it's super, super-easy to turn regular ground venison into venison chorizo. Just do something like this and add some of your own kick as well if you want:
Ground Deer Wellington - Love this recipe I found online. I just use this one and substitute deer meat for ground beef.
Shiner Bock Meatloaf - The old East Side Cafe favorite is just as good or better with deer meat. Follow your favorite meatloaf recipe, but for the sauce, start with a base of a Shiner Bock reduction with bacon then add the other stuff.
5. QUICK THOUGHTS ON EARLY 2022 BEST-BALL ADP
What is "best ball" fantasy?
There is a form of fantasy football called "best ball" which is composed of teams competing during the NFL/fantasy season with teams drafted during all parts of the offseason. These leagues do not require in-season management like sit/start decisions. You draft and then you are done. Once the season starts, the software of the site where you play these games (Underdog Fantasy, BestBall10s, Draftkings, etc) gives you the BEST lineup each week out of all the players you drafted. There is no waiver wire and are no trades, the team you draft is the one you are stuck with, which makes it essential that you understand positional allocations -- how many QBs and TEs to take, etc. in order to make sure that you are able to field a full roster each week given the possibilities of injuries, byes, etc. This time of year has traditionally been a profitable time to invest in best ball drafts if you are a skilled fantasy drafter. The reason being that values present themselves in the form of rookies who don't yet have teams as well as free agents who are waiting to find new landing spots. Taking chances on these players at discount ADPs due to uncertainty can allow you to wind up with an impossibly stacked team from the perspective of those drafting closer to the season starting.
What is ADP?
Average draft position. The average spot a player is being drafted in fantasy.
Current 2022 ADP as of 2-20-2022 on Underdog Fantasy:
1 Jonathan Taylor RB Indianapolis Colts - Of course.
2 Christian McCaffrey RB Carolina Panthers - I'm not scared of the injuries, I can't believe I've seen him go as late as 7 overall. Maybe we all get a big CMC discount in 2022 because the sentiment is not as glowing as the No.2 overall ADP among fantasy content-makers.
3 Cooper Kupp WR Los Angeles Rams - He's really going to be too expensive for me to draft, finally, after all these years?
4 Derrick Henry RB Tennessee Titans - What if Tannehill isn't back? How does that affect the offense? I don't think it will happen this year, so perhaps 2022 will be a last hurrah for the Titans riding Henry hard and going all-in for a championship. Still, what about D'Onta Foreman maybe carving out a role that could keep Henry healthier through the season with less reps or Darrynton Evans returning?
5 Ja'Marr Chase WR Cincinnati Bengals - What a spike-week stud but he'll be inconsistent.
6 Austin Ekeler RB Los Angeles Chargers - Might they finally draft a complementary back that is actually good? Will it even matter? Ekeler is an aspiring member of the fantasy media community and really cares about his stats, which we degenerates GREATLY appreciate.
7 Justin Jefferson WR Minnesota Vikings - I like him a LOT more with Kirk Cousins than I would with Kellen Mond, that's for sure.
8 Najee Harris RB Pittsburgh Steelers - Another weird QB situation and a bad OL, but what else does the PIT offense have besides Najee?
9 Tyreek Hill WR Kansas City Chiefs - I'll be into Hill as long as he's attached to Mahomes and KC doesn't draft an elite talent to siphon targets.
10 Davante Adams WR Green Bay Packers - Hard pass from me in early drafts. No Aaron Rodgers is a possibility for Adams and that is no bueno for a first-round pick.
11 Dalvin Cook RB Minnesota Vikings - Dalvin at the turn? Yes please. He's QB-proof for 2022 unlike Jefferson.
12 Deebo Samuel WR San Francisco 49ers - The second-most golden son of RosterWatch behind Cooper Kupp, once again, will be too expensive next year. His rushing from 2021 is unsustainable and who knows what Trey Lance will be able to do as a distributor in that offense. Lance looked extremely raw last season when given his shots. We'll see a volume downtick overall, making Deebo - one of my favorite players in the league - currently hugely overvalued in early best-ball.
13 Javonte Williams RB Denver Broncos - Once Melvin Gordon is officially not back in Denver, this looks like a steal, until then, I'll take the next guy on the list.
14 Joe Mixon RB Cincinnati Bengals - A RB who can catch passes in a Joe Burrow offense? Let's get Samaje Perine off this roster and go to work with Mixon as a true, three-down workhorse on the league's fastest-paced O.
15 Travis Kelce TE Kansas City Chiefs - I've never taken TEs this early and certainly would never take Kelce here after he's starting look like an old man at the position.
16 Stefon Diggs WR Buffalo Bills - Emmanuel Sanders won't be back with the team in 2022 but was Gabriel Davis enough of a stud to end 2021 to steal away possibly more targets?
17 A.J. Brown WR Tennessee Titans - If the expectation is to have Tannehill back and the offense generally assembled as designed for this iteration of the team, how is AJ Brown not going 3-4 spots earlier?
18 Alvin Kamara RB New Orleans Saints - What a difference a change in your head coach, uncertainty at the QB position and a significant assault charge in Las Vegas make on your appeal to fantasy drafters. I'll personally be all-in on the talent of a Kamara here in this spot. You're telling me I can start a 2022 best-ball draft with Derrick Henry as my RB1 and then maybe get Kamara as an RB2. Ship the trophy.
19 D'Andre Swift RB Detroit Lions - Best-ball leagues all value points per reception so that helps Swift who has been uber-efficient if nothing else, while healthy, through his NFL career once the whistle blows and the game is over.
20 Nick Chubb RB Cleveland Browns - One of the best pure runners in the league, but Kareem Hunt would be a Top 5-10 back in the league if he went elsewhere and will command touches. No interest in Chubb at this price for me.
21 CeeDee Lamb WR Dallas Cowboys - A dynamo of a talent thus far, his 2022 value could spike immensely depending on what the Cowboys choose to do with impending free agents in the badly injured Michael Gallup and Cedrick Wilson who played himself into a bigger contract than anyone expected to end 2021. Some even postulate that Amari Cooper could be moved. Love rolling the dice on Ceedee in this spot, and it's honestly mostly because I just love watching him play.
22 Mark Andrews TE Baltimore Ravens - No tight ends this early for me, even though it makes a little more sense in best-ball than redraft. In redraft, you can often find guys through the course of the season to roll with, no such luxury in best ball.
23 DK Metcalf WR Seattle Seahawks - Boy could things go south for him if things go sideways with Russell Wilson this offseason.
24 Josh Allen QB Buffalo Bills - Josh Allen, QB1 among savvy early drafters coming into 2022, who woulda thunk it?
6. TOP 24 DYNASTY RANKINGS FOR 2022 START-UP LEAGUES
What is dynasty fantasy football?
Unlike Best Ball as we described above, dynasty is the complete opposite from a management perspective -- very intensive. This starts with the fact that you draft players FOREVER. You draft a player and you keep them for season after season, until you decide to trade or cut them. Initially, leagues have a start-up draft where veteran players are selected for each roster. After the start-up draft, the only drafts you have moving forward are rookie drafts where you draft incoming rookies. These are my current Top 24 rankings for 2022 dynasty start-up drafts pre-NFL Draft during this portion of the offseason cycle. As you can see, players values change wildly from seasonal types of leagues like Best Ball and redraft (the most common form of fantasy) to dynasty, where a players age and the long-view on them as NFL assets reign supreme over short-term projections for only the year ahead:
1 Jonathan Taylor RB - 23 years old in 2022
2 Ja'Marr Chase WR - 22 years old in 2022
3 Justin Jefferson WR - 23 years old in 2022
4 Najee Harris RB - 24 years old in 2022
5 D'Andre Swift RB - 23 years old in 2022
6 Javonte Williams RB - 22 years old in 2022
7 CeeDee Lamb WR - 23 years old in 2022
8 A.J. Brown WR - 25 years old in 2022
9 Joe Mixon RB - 26 years old in 2022
10 Alvin Kamara RB - 27 years old in 2022
11 Christian McCaffrey RB - 26 years old in 2022
12 Saquon Barkley RB - 25 years old in 2022
14 Nick Chubb RB - 26 years old in 2022
15 Cam Akers RB - 23 years old in 2022
16 Travis Etienne RB - 23 years old in 2022
17 Dalvin Cook RB - 27 years old in 2022
18 Austin Ekeler RB - 27 years old in 2022
19 D.K. Metcalf WR - 24 years old in 2022
20 Derrick Henry RB - 28 years old in 2022
21 Tyreek Hill WR - 28 years old in 2022
22 Deebo Samuel WR - 26 years old in 2022
23 Davante Adams WR - 30 years old in 2022
24 Cooper Kupp WR - 29 years old in 2022
7. KETCHUP
Ketchum invented a weekly monolith that only he is capable of writing properly, but still throws it at me once or twice a year for giggles. As a result, I had to ask my kids if they had ideas for topics. My 4 year-old son said that I should write about Ketchup.
So ... here goes.
Ketchup is a condiment for children. That is where we should start. I've come to a point in life where I consider college kids to be a cockamamie and woolly mix of adults and children, so, since their brains aren't yet fully developed, use of ketchup in many eating situations can still be justified. As for us adults, it is fine in moderation, sort of like Taco Bell or fast food in general. Adult consumers of large amounts of ketchup should be thought of along the lines of those who eat Jack In The Box tacos for lunch or who still chain-smoke menthol cigarettes at age 45. It's not age-appropriate and it can be creepy.
Here are the situations where it is perfectly fine for adults to each ketchup:
- while at a hamburger place, it is fine to eat ketchup with your fries or even dip your burger in it if the burger is not of super-high quality. If the establishment offers more sophisticated mustard or mayo-based sauces designed for adult palettes (think about the various sauces at Hat Creek, etc.) then those should be thought of as the adult options.
- while at a chicken tender place, it's probably the most-OK place to eat ketchup as an adult, unless it is a place like Cain's or Zaxby's etc. which offer better sauces like Cain's sauce or buttermilk ranch, etc. While eating at those places, the higher-end sauces should be the adult options you choose from.
- at the state fair when you are indulging in other childrens' fare like corn dogs. It is fine in this situation to mix some ketchup in with your mustard to dip your corn dog in. Please use my preferred method of drinking a beer then mixing the condiments together in your empty wax cup rather than just drizzling the mustard and ketchup on top and spilling it all over anyone you bump into and getting it all over your clothes. The empty wax cup stands as a perfect dipping-agent for the mustard and ketchup mix.
- ketchup is also clearly fine as an ingredient in things like sauce to put on meatloaf or BBQ sauce, etc.
And that wraps up the list.
I will say this: if you are at a place like DQ or Chicken Express and they try to give you gravy with your chicken tenders, it is, of course, OK to substitute ketchup for fast-food white gravy, which is always a complete abomination all its own that neither adults nor children should be subjected to.
8. BUY OR SELL
BUY.
I have a rudimentary understanding of toddler and grade-school Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu technique from watching my kids' classes twice a week for the last 13 months, plus I go to the gym 4X a week to work out, which is no huge accomplishment -- except for among journalists and sports beat writers. Ketch has a size advantage on me, but I think I could probably win. I don't think it would be easy at all, though. Furthermore, I think every member of the ModCast would give me a bunch of trouble for different reasons. Even our great former co-host @DustinMcComas.
SELL.
Can't give that type of benefit of the doubt to a defensive coordinator and a unit that was miserable last season. It's "show me" time.
BUY.
He has some elite clay to mold, he's set to go big with development.
BUY.
But, it's worse for my sinuses.
SELL.
Everyone knows that Ohio State and Buffalo Bills fans are the worst.
SELL.
Again, no benefit of the doubt. Jones was not good last year and, while he could improve, projecting it out of thin air would be poppycock.
9. FAVORITE THING I ATE THIS WEEKEND
My wife got this recipe from one of my favorite YouTube Channels "How to BBQ Right" with Malcolm Reed. If you've never watched Malcolm's shows and like to cook, BBQ or grill, you are really missing out. Anyway, as a Mississippian, he talks about this "Mississippi Pot Roast" that we gave a try. It's a really simple recipe: We got an HEB Prime 1 beef shoulder roast from the store, put a dalmatian brisket rub on it (salt and pepper) and smoked it over pecan for just long enough to give it a little color and some light bark to it (maybe 2 hours). Next thing, you just toss is in a crock pot with four ingredients: a packet of brown gravy from the store, a stick of butter, a packet of dry mix to make Ranch dressing (something like Hidden Valley) and a bunch of pepperoncini peppers. Extremely easy to make and man is it delicious.
You really should try this.
10. FINALLY (And about Finality)
I have no idea how Ketch does this every week, I'm taking the next 6-8 months off from filling in for him. Hopefully longer.
Enjoy your week, Orangebloods ....
And please remember: you're going to die one day (maybe soon, completely unbeknownst to you or anyone you love) so go take advantage.
