The 2019 NFL Week 15 Roundup | O Tu O Ninguna

Scott Boras has a choreography problem.

Well HAD a choreography problem. The unquestioned and most prolifically powerful agent in human history might have more liquid assets than Zeus, but he was born with two left feet; no amount of klieg-light negotiations would a Fred Astaire make. And so it would happen that a few months back in the lead-up to his instamodel daughter Natalie’s wedding in San Diego, Scott found himself looking up at a stormy mountain; one of the very few times in his life he’d find himself twisting in the wind, helpless. He was tasked with committing to muscle memory a 47-step, 3 and a half minute dance routine set to Luis Miguel’s 2008 first-dance classic, ‘O Tu O Ninguna’, which translates to ‘You or No One’. It’s an emotional rollercoaster of a ballad exceeded only by the complexity of the choreography commissioned for the occasion. Oh it was tortuous affair to memorize with what seemed to be endless steps, dramatic twirls and punctuating dips. Nevermind the need to make the final routine look natural, artistic and sweeping, the current state of affairs was pitiful, wooden, syncopated and plodding, further distressing Natalie who had already nailed her part weeks prior. But ever the student and always willing to rise to the occasion, Scott found redemption in math. Scott methodically broke down his choreography into 12 4-step segments and carefully stitched them together into a dad-dance, smile-lit masterpiece that lives one in iphone video reels throughout Southern California. Not once did Scott mash Natalie’s bejeweled toes, never did he lose focus on his latest foray into the personal non-negotiable enterprise of family affairs.

Scott’s embrace of challenge and his workman’s approach to problem-solving has served him well in his nearly four decade-long career. His penchant for basic truth is intertwined tightly with his ethos and stems from his early days in the Baseball minors that saw his arthritic knees force a premature exit from his Field of Dreams at the ripe age of 26. His baseball gloried hopes extinguished, Scott set off immediately for a Law Degree and as a side-hustle concurrently represented rapidly ascending fellow minor-league teammates Mike Fischlin and Bill Caudill in their contract negotiations (with the Cleveland Indians and Seattle Mariners, respectively) as a lark because neither did Scott have any business hammering out life-altering contracts nor did Mike and Bill have any experience in the daunting art of crafting long-term employment agreements. Collectively, their shared currency was a bond of trust long ago forged in the bunkers of America’s Pastime. Having grown up around and contributed to them years earlier, Scott’s savvy grounding and simple familiarity in statistics and applying them to contract negotiations was an easy fit and an unmet need in his vision of maximizing player leverage. Unusual for the time in the early 1980s, this template would go on to become his signature paper-forest negotiating style. His negotiations on behalf of Mike Fishlin and Bill Caudill effectively ended his main-hustle as an attorney fighting drug class-action lawsuits and birthed a revolution fighting for the everyday journeyman. Scott quickly established Boras Corporation whole sole purpose was that of a sports agency. From the beginning, Scott drove down to the details in EVERY negotiation: Team budgets for three years out; Salary guarantees for the entire roster; Team rankings on Pitching, Defense, Offense; Minor League strengths, weaknesses, rising stars, lack thereof; Broadcast rights; Attendance figures; Stadium revenues; Merchandising revenues; Spousal input. In short, everything AND the kitchen sink. This Wall of Sound tactic has grown over the years and has flourished into a 137 employee mini-behemoth based in Newport Beach, CA. The War Room where such Team statistics are unearthed is the centerpiece of a contemporary $20M steel and darkened glass headquarters complete with a 20 foot crystal blue waterfall and baskets of artfully arranged ripe fruits at an arm’s reach anywhere on-property. This California-cool, technology-forward yet accessible environment belies the ferocity of an operation that today represents upwards of 200 major league players, in varieties from the unknown to the megawatt, and more than $2B in payroll. You might have heard recently that Scott Boras made headlines for simultaneously crafting the contracts for Stephen Strausburg (Nats: $245M, 7 years), Gerrit Cole (Yankees: $324M, 9 years) and Anthony Rendon (Angels: 4245, 7 years) thick in the midst of Baseball’s Winter meetings. With a staggering $824M in contracts inked within 3 weeks of each other, Scott’s rake at 5% pencils out to more than any single player will earn in the upcoming 2020 Season. Before you put your calculators away don’t forget that Scott was responsible for Bryce Harper’s messy DC exit to the Philly tune of $330M over 13 years just 10 months ago. All of this goes to say that Scott’s hard-driving, ruthless negotiation style has earned him no fans among Owners where he relishes in being the most hated man in baseball. Down in the Clubhouse, players are whistling quite a different tune as they loft him to cult-hero status. Business is Business, as they say, but only if the juice is worth the squeeze. And if it’s worth the squeeze, then you hijack the fruit. Sure it’s not all blue skies and butterflies in the underbelly of Professional Sports but is never really was, was it? Scott Boras brought simple math to a Sport awash with it and single-handedly upended the Owner/Player dynamic in ways that manifest themselves today throughout Professional Sports, media and Business at large. Luis Miguel couldn’t have belted it out better with his first-dance translated ballad, ‘You or No One’. Not bad for a guy with two left feet, huh?

Turning now to the NFL in Week 15, the blockbuster game of the week with Falcons at San Francisco was one where the 9ers found plenty of left feet their very own, 22–29, to the ATL. That the 9ers faltered just when they needed to galvanize their energies most surely disappointed fans at Levi’s Stadium and beyond. That with this this game they clinched a playoff berth was of little solace to a Team that weeks ago were gunning for home field advantage in the Playoffs; now even THAT is seriously in doubt. And that the scrappy Falcons, of all Teams, were to ones to splash some cold water on Super Bowl aspirations added sea salt to an already festering wound made deeper with an injury-riddled squad and that wild last-minute Julio Jones TD-not-a-TD-YES-it’s-a-TD back and forth debacle; a debacle that drags the 9ers “down” to 11–3 on the Season. ATL, at 5–9 and NOT Miami-bound, served as the party spoiler quite comfortably. Pats at Cincy was another game that saw NE clinch AND win, 34–13. Notable with this game is that TORN Brady and the Offense are getting, ahem, BETTER, after weeks of surprising flimsiness. More unsettling is the fact that the Pats blowout win came almost exclusively as a windfall of Bengals turnovers; a reactive win versus a proactive show of force. Quite the comedown for the reigning Super Bowl champs who at this pace look a pinch ill at ease, 11–3 in the most perfunctory of terms. The Bengals at 1–13, meanwhile, slide further into irrelevance.

Down in Tennesee, the Texans came to visit and stole a Win, 24–21. Correction, the Texans BARELY escaped with a Win. For goodness sake, the Texans were up 14–0 at the close of the first quarter and nearly collapsed into disaster with the ensuing 3 quarters, a product of the scattershot gameplay of late. VERY unbecoming for a team who calls a still very formidable Deshaun Watson their centerpiece QB. You have to give due credit to where it is deserved. In this case to TEN QB Ryan Tannehill and Co who by the skin of their chinny chin-chin came jussssst this close to decoding the Texans vault. HOU and TEN will duke it out as they remain very much in the hunt for a playoff berth. The Broncos traipsed on down to a snowy KC and promptly had their Bell rung, 3–23. Patrick Mahomes reeled out another of his signature performances (29/34, 340 yards, 2 TD, 1 INT); a performance that dazzled alongside a showstopping outing by TE Travis Kelce. At this point for the 10–4 Team, the Chiefs are recovering the dominance on both sides of the football that came so easy to them last year. And the promise that rookie DEN QB Drew Lock displayed so confidently in the past several weeks faltered considerably and is a textbook case for what happens when sapling is fed into a tree shredder: all you can do is look away. And speaking of looking away, Rams fans would be forgiven for looking away from their horrendously stinky 22–44 Loss to America’s Team. Simply put, The Rams were positively destroyed by a Team that until recently had been languishing…and badly. The Cowboys, Dak especially, along with Zeke and Tony Pollard exploded into Week 15 and most likely ended the Rams Season summarily, such was the declarative might that DAL forged this W. Jared Goff, for his part, delivered an ashen performance; an alarming trend in a 2019 LA Season full of them. In a similar vein for their crosstown rivals, the Chargers went belly-up to Kirk Cousins and his Vikings, 10–39. IN a word, LAC was thrashed. Thrashed about and embarrassed by their SEVEN (!!!) turnovers. Just when they seemed to be getting this situation/curse under control the Chargers go ahead and shovel coal in the Turnover fire. The Vikings took full control of this cardinal weakness and are afire at 10–4 on the Season. LAC, at 5–9, are literally on fire, much as a dumpster set ablaze. Ohhh and the stench….yeeeeck. Upstate in Northern California, RaiderNation played their final game at their Oakland Coliseum and came away with a heartbreaking Loss. Derek Carr and Team had led the entirety of the game and let JAX snatch Victory in the final 27 seconds of the match. 27 seconds! The renaissance of JAGS Gardner Minshew continued apace with a very decent showing for the JAGS (19/28, 207 yards, 1 TD) and 70s style mustachioed faces everywhere. Raiders fans were none too pleased with (1) yet another Loss and (2) being abandoned by their Raiders for the THIRD time in 3 decades, this time to Vegas in the Fall. RaiderNation littered with field with plastic helmets full of nacho cheese and showered the stadium with cacophonous boos as the game closed out but not before storming the field, officials and security helpless to the onslaught. They didn’t go quietly into that quiet goodnight. But they went one final time.

And lastly in Round Robin fashion, Green Bay escaped with a win against the Bears (21–13) and clinched a playoff spot their very own. The Seahawks, too, clinched as they merrily trimmed the CAR Tree, 30–24. Russell Wilson delivered yet again but CAR’s Kyle Allen showed spark for a Team free of it all Season long. His 3 INTs, though? Yah that’s gonna need some work there. BUF pushed backup PIT QB Devlin Hodges to the brink and he fell over, 17–10. It was a particularly sloppy outing for PIT that saw the comedy of errors ensue with Hodges’ 4 INTs and 4 sacks. BUF QB Josh Allen roared and clinched; PIT and Devlin winced and buckled. At 8–6, Steel City remains in the hunt…mathematically at least. The Eagles landed at Fedex Field and smothered the Skins, predictably, 37–27. It was Carson Wentz’s game to lose and the managed to escape with the Win along with his teammates. With they took the L, the Skins showed tremendous promise in a VERY poised, polished and much-improved execution on the part of QB Dwayne Haskins (19/28, 261 yards 2TD). Paired with WR Terry McLaurin and it’s not inconceivable to see the Light past the 2019 WAS Season graveyard. At 3–11, the Post Season cannot come soon enough for the Skins. And in New York, the fairy tale has officially come to a close with Eli Manning dawning his Giants uniform for the last time. It was a teary affair that neatly concluded with a 36–20 victory over MIA, homecoming-style. The Super Bowl MVP met this game with equal parts sportsmanship and honest modesty set against the reality of a League — and Team — that’s changed around him. With NYG hopes squarely on Daniel Jones, for better or worse, Eli graciously has received the cue and Call, and exits MetLife Stadium for the last time as a player and skates his way into a likely lucrative network contract involving a hot seat in an analyst booth. There are worse things in life. Congrats Eli and well done!