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Smash Articles
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Here's the question. How close is this team, especially when you consider that the margin between winning and losing in the NFL can be razor thin. Things are evolving and change is in the air. For example, Chad Greenway returned to action last Sunday. Teddy Bridgewater secured his first passing touchdown to Cordarrel Patterson. Finally, Cordarrel is earning his keep by being forced to earn his gravy working with Teddy ... Teddy ... Teddy. Do you think that will be Teddy's last touchdown pass or was that metaphorically like Chuck Yeager breaking through the sound barrier? So, do you, like others think that Teddy and this team is sitting upon the precipice of the NFL's ultimate challenge? To go where no one has gone before .... Then there this guy, Kyle Rudolph who's chomping at the bit. His brain is telling him that his body is ready to go full tilt however there is a statistical screening for this type injury that states that if you wait to heal up to that threshold ... the problem dissolves away into the abyss ... however, if you rush the stress, the problem prolongs. When you do what you are told to do, in time you will be unleashed back upon the field of battle, giving Teddy one more bullet in his gun. A rookie quarterbacks greatest asset is a dangerous pass catching tight end option. Now what if it all begins this weekend? Teams, that have this franchise penciled off, one by one, week by week, as victories in their column (like the Dolphins), actually start to fall, one by one. Leading to two monumental clashes versus the Packers at home and in Detroit. We've long since been dusted into their rear view mirror but things have a way of creeping up upon you. What happens when this defense melds into continuity ... when one can read the others mind and react without words ... where the transition morphs from one in which every quarterback that we face looks like a franchise quarterback ... to where no franchise and their quarterback can testify a word. Are we capable? Are we evolving? Are we anticipating that level of trust that screams to us all that none shall falter in our quest. Can we really be that close? They are too young, they say. They are too inexperienced. They are just a bunch of rookies and newbies, where they ask, how could they stand the test of time against our salt? Well, look around, as permanent betrayals are popping up throughout the league. They dance around Peyton as if everyone deserves this years every play, but it is not to be. The injuries are not at a normal pace. They are not at a normal spread. They are tearing at the fabric of this league ... smashing the star power ... for one to evolve from the abyss. The commissioner ... and his cohorts ... have been hard at work choosing winners and losers as it all flies in the face of the gods. They are very angry as warriors are quick to the hunt. As time evolves, All Day will be granted his constitutional right to a quick and speedy trial. As the proceeding flies into the face of the powers that be, a vengeful back will once again be unleashed upon the league with a fresh set of legs. Legs that have been cooled by outside forces ... and vengeful characters bent upon the destruction of the NFL's greatest prize. Adrian Peterson had the rookie rushing title ripped from his hands. He had the NFL season rushing record a mere handful of seconds from his grasp ... all to achieve a meaningless playoff title for Christian Ponder's resume. All of these cuts have been bled for a reason. It is to maintain the fire and anguish deep within his belly. Only with this internal rage, with Jerry Jones record laughing in his face, can he ultimately achieve what now belongs to Emmitt Smith' ... to be ripped from his grasp. At 2 & 5, the entire league is looking at this lowly bunch of brutalized children as an afterthought. What is true is that within every week to week struggle there lies a victory. It is difficult for most in this league to remain true to its focus. For some, the playoffs are expected to come easy, in that with Peyton Manning ... we can write our ticket. For this franchise, however, they need a focal point. They need a dream. They need to know of the lore of the past as one of the NFL's greatest records was just a matter of seconds from their grasp. Can one hope? Can one dream? For each member of this franchise, one might ask, what is in it for me? Taking the easy road by expelling the playoffs from our minds seems to be the smart play. If the team succeeds, then there might be a some sort of bonus for me but, is it worth the risk of facing what one might see as insurmountable odds. Three games from 500 ... well that's not impossible ... is it? It could happen but again, how, what, where and why could that happen? Suffice it to say ... This is what happens in the NFL. It begins by seeing a vision. How, as a team, that has suffered at great personal cost to every member, do you send a message within a crescendo of meaning ... without every saying a word? Can you see the vision yet? Can you touch it yet? Can you smell it yet? Can you taste that pure and ultimate vision that has been forcibly scrubbed from our minds. It begins with that first playoff game. It begins with that first offensive play with Adrian Peterson carrying that ball. It begins with Adrian Peterson standing upon the commissioners podium ... that stated that Adrian Peterson must be taken away from this franchise and placed upon a franchise that can achieve the NFL's ultimate prize. After all, some franchises count and other don't. Of course, their justification for their unwarranted power play will always be what happened to Barry Sanders in Detroit. We all must answer the bell ... this isn't Detroit. Can you see that vision? Can you all rally around what shall become obvious? Power was cleaved from the soul of this franchise. It was done without due process. It was done with ultimate authority. It was done with only a very few powerful voices. What was done was emasculation. A powerful stroke of Japanese steel and the balls of this franchise were cleaved. It left us with fear. It left us all powerless. It left us without direction or ambition. Then time entered the equation. Then mindful hands of the gods entered the arena. Then a strange thing occurred. Power evolves ... but not in a straight line. It evolves on an exponential curve. Initial manipulation turns upon its ugly head to truth. Things fall apart for the established mode. The it all culminates into one. This is how the once silent and powerless mass arises into a great and powerful tool ... until the power transforms to the hands of the once vanquished. Tell me, why is it that Adrian Peterson must be sacrificed for the transgressions of a commissioner that has been omnipotent with god-like absolute power ... to decide the winners and losers in this league. The reckoning is coming and this time there is no way to save the omnipotent one. The rug ... on which you stand ... shall be pulled from beneath your feet ... by the very ones that created you from all that power. They respect you ... but they love ... they love money. So ... how close are they??? |
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