The 2019 NFL Week 10 Roundup | Golden State BEEF

In hindsight, perhaps it was the at the height of achievement that the silent sticky tendrils of grandiosity whispered their way into the Golden State Warriors organization — unannounced — when the seeds of decline implanted themselves then harmlessly enough but by now making much hay in painfully visible ways as the NBA 2019 Season sallys forth.

. FACT: The 2019 Warriors are a searing-hot discombobulation of a mess payload vomited about at 3rd the 16th streets in bayside San Francisco from whence the locomotive train wreck screeched to a cacophonous and extremely embarrassing stop. As steam billows forth, the Team has ambled out of the fresh wreckage and bystanders scratch their heads in wondering how it all went so bad so fast. Exactly a year ago, Golden State in 2018 was slip-sliding off of a first-place 8–1 opening month before a precipitous decline to a 7–7 record in November. It was around this time that the now famous Draymond Green/Kevin Durant BEEF was born; November 14th to be exact. IN essence, Kevin was upset about Draymond not passing the ball to him in what could’ve played out into the game-winning shot and made clear in no uncertain terms his displeasure with this snub. Draymond, ever the statesman, dared Kevin to leave the Team knowing full well that he was an eligible free agent at the end of the 2018 Season. Leave! — We don’t NEED you, seems to be the cleaned-up and explective-free invective of record. Draymond received a suspension; Kevin received a Clarion Call. Six months and change more of gameplay would see the Warriors appear in the Finals against the Toronto Raptors and their team captain Drake (aka Drizzy). The months that punctuated the intervening months between the November BEEF and the June Finals were a tenuous, seething bunch between the Golden State duo-at-arms. The hatchet not quite buried, was set aside, and the rest is history. The Warriors suffered an ugly collapse in the Finals with busted-up players stewn about in its wake. Kevin and Klay Thompson would suffer crippling injuries in back-to-back games that would erase their 2019 Season. So Kevin entered free agency and the waiting arms of the Brooklyn Nets. Klay is STILL out nursing a severely torn ACL and is out until at least next April. THEN. Then the unthinkable. It was the crash that shook the League a week back or so when Steph collided with Aron Baynes, fell on his wrist and crushed what remained of fans hope for the remainder of this Season.

Which brings us to Chase Center, Golden State’s palatial new $1B home in Mission Bay. Four years in the planning and two years of construction later, Chase Center is the shining beacon of what a modern house of basketball has become in 2020. Seating for 18,064, the League’s largest center-hung video board boasting of 75M LEDs, 32 courtside Lounges each with a wine vault and butler, 44 Oracle “lesser” suites, a JP Morgan Club, the largest in-house Cryotherapy Unit and a 35,000 square foot Performance Center/Locker Room (seen outlandishly and oh-so-California above in the featured pic). The list goes on and on; the point being that there is thought that fanciful designs of grandeur penned at the pinnacle of success have baked into all the moneyed blueprints a curse. Ownership’s arrogant thinking that continued dominance would be a given is universally known to have Lady Lucky casting a squinty eye in your direction. Betting — and building — the house around it, as the superstitious way of thinking goes, could very well have been the catalyst for the problems piling up for the Warriors. Well, or so the thinking goes. Time will tell and the 2019 Season is all but lost now as the Team slumps around in Last Place. But at least they slump around in cryogenic style.

Turning now the Week 10 and you’d be forgiven for mistaking this week for Week 1 what with the lack of clarity as to what in the HECK was going on! What was up, pointed down, What was left, leaned right. What was in turned out to be inside out. Yikes seems all the Teams in the NFL twisted themselves into pretzels in successful attempts to break with collective school-of-thought. I suppose you HAVE to begin with Atlanta’s absurd upset of NOLA, 26–9. Entering the week, the Saints hadn’t lost a game in since Week 2 and ATL’s Matt Ryan was hobbling back from an ankle injury to low low expectations. Instead, Matt played with pluck and the Falcons Defense mounted a stunning improvement from weeks past. The Saints meanwhile squandered their nearly 14 point favorite standing and delivered an undisciplined, and penalty-laden Loss to their fans. Still, nobody’s crying for them where they cling to a 7–2 record on the Season. The Falcons, at 2–7, shed tears of joy but remain in the toilet. Those are the breaks, kiddos. Meanwhile, another powerhouse Team, the Chiefs, were tickled pink to announce to the world the triumphant return of Patrick Mahomes. And in typical Patrick fashion, he SHOWED UP (36/50, 446 yards, 4TDs). But so too did the Titans. Ryan Tannehill and a particularly effective outing from RB Derrick Henry proved too much for KC who would go on to lose 32–35, the result of a missed a harrowing Harrison Butker FG attempt. KC holds, unusually bottom-heavy, at 6–4. Elsewhere Down in Cinci, fans witnessed the emergence of Lamar Jackson as the hand-down favorite for MVP at this point in the season. At once sinewy, athletic, acrobatic and confident, Lamar is a meme factory unto himself. Move over Russell Wilson! His blend of passing and rushing efficacy has brought BAL fans to rapturous applause. It’s also brought competitors to their knees. And it was no different for the Bengals who could do little more than stop and stare in what would be their 9 Loss in a row, 49–13.

And in this week’s edition of How DARE They!?!?, The Fins won again!! Right? Lowly MIA chose Weeks 9 and 10 to come out and play. This time, the Colts would find themselves drowning in embarrassment that their worst fears had come to light. They looked on as the MIA Defense metallurgic fortification played out in real-time and gave IND every reason to hang their heads low. This is their second loss in a row and at 5–4 are at a crossroads. The Dolphins at the same time have won two weeks in a row which parlays into them owning the best record in the AFC East…for the past 2 weeks. Take THAT football statisticians. You take that and MIA will take it to the bank. But what is that saying about a stopped clock being right twice a day? Exactly! Down in Tampa Bay, the Cards tried desperately for W and had to settle for an L, 27–30. Rookie #1 Draft Pick Kyler Murray reeled out yet another in one of his signature formidable performances (27/44, 324 yards, 1TD). But it was to be a crucial and unusual-for-him (first in 177 pass attempts) INT late in the 4th that sealed the deal for the Bucks. Oh they’re still garbage at 3–6 and last in a tough NFC West but where they are now is eons ahead of where they were at this time last year. Measured against that yard stick, then they are in first place. Too bad that yard stick is only visible in Glendale, AZ.

And in our routine Round Robin fashion, the Chargers lost to RaiderNation, 24–26, in dramatic fashion festooned with fireworks aplenty in the final minutes. Continuing like that and it’s not unreasonable to think of OAK marching steadfast into the AFC playoffs. Funny to think that we’re just a few months removed from the Raiders having been embroiled in the whole AB drama. Turns out that helmet really didn’t’ fit 😊. Down in Dallas, America’s Team mounted an unlikely comeback late in their game with Lizo’s favorite Team — the Minnesotttta Vikings — behind a heady steam of momentum only to see their drive falter, 28–24. Dak Prescott and Amari Cooper worked VERY well on Sunday but simply put, the DAL Defense was outmaneuvered and outlasted. Kirk Cousins redeems himself yet again and is no longer embarrassed to cash that weekly princely paycheck. The Bears declawed the Lions, 13–20, in a game that noticeably witnessed the hometown crowd BOOO CHI QB Mitch Trubisky for throwing an Incompletion just ahead of the half. The other news out of this matchup was that DET’s Matt Stafford after having not missed a start in nearly a decade is OUT for the rest of Season owing to debilitating neck and hip injuries that will take some time to recover from. Also, The rapidly decelerating Rams lost to Steel City in an interesting reversal or fortune for each team in their own right. Defending NFC Champs in the Rams struggling behind one-time wunderkind Jared Goff and the once-dismissed Steelers forging together a nice 4 game winning streak driven by upstart Mason Rudolph. Maybe hope is not lost for either Team? We SHALL see. And over in NJ, the Giants took on the foolhardy Jets and came out with the short end of the stick, 17–34. Really! Sam Darnold played with little trace of that mono-stricken hospital gown what with a rare, mistake-free performance. OH don’t get me wrong. The Team is still piss-poor and the Offense is unquestionably weak. But NYG’s Defense is worse and is paired with an Offensive line that is borderline criminal. So again, the best of the worst? No winners here. And finally, last night’s playoff-caliber matchup which had SEA handing the 9ers their first loss of the Season 27–24 in a squeaker of an OT win. Oh it was a thrilling and oddly balanced affair that had viewers howling at their screens all night long. Right now, there may not be two better Teams in the NFL and with that we ALL win. If this is the level that can be witnessed in the regular Season, I can’t wait to see what these Teams have in store in January.