How I learned to stop worrying and embrace the diva receiver

Marshall and Bryant have both weathered their share of scandals for dramatic behavior. In time, the two have emotionally stabilized on the field. Beckham is still only in his third season in the NFL. Even if he’ll never attain the NFL’s overly rigid definition of maturity, he will learn not to be so easily provoked if given a chance by the media and his own teammates. By now you’d figure football culture would understand that the receiver position is more inclined than most to have divas as its stars and putting up with their antics is typically worth it. Terrell Owens may have been ostracized by the media and turned off some coaches, but it’s hard to deny the guy was also great when called upon.

And now we check in with one of the more mild-mannered greats.

A lesson in semantics with Jerry Rice

It’s been a learning experience for a lot of people in the NFL when it comes to race relations in 2016, though apparently Jerry Rice was unaware that All Lives Matter is more a renouncement of Black Lives Matter than that is a genuine wish for all people to get along. He’s early in the season, he’s still picking up the discourse. By the playoffs he should be all set and ready to discourse at the highest level.

No one quite knows what's with the ratings dip

The NFL’s Sunday night ratings continue to experience a dip compared to 2015. After the Falcons-Saints game drew an all-time low for Monday Night Football going against the presidential debates. Given that there’s another Hillary-Trump showdown this Sunday evening, expect that to be a headline again next week. It might be a while before we have any credible data on why ratings have fallen, though we do know that a lot of people are willing to tell pollsters that it’s because of anthem protests, whether or not that is actually the case. For what it’s worth, according to my own highly scientific Twitter poll, only six percent of responders attributed the ratings dip to the protests.

Quick aside: it’s worth noting that the Monday night games are this year’s Thursday night in terms of game quality. The average margin of victory in the five games is 18.4 points, the closest contest being a 13-point win. At least Tampa Bay-Carolina seems like it might be competitive based on the relative struggles of the two teams to start the season.

The Colts are willing London guinea pigs

Indianapolis is the first team to not have a bye week following a game in London. This was by choice, as the league’s schedule makers reached out to the team about whether the Colts wanted the bye in Week 5. The team declined, meaning their bye will instead be in Week 10, though in the meantime the league is interested in seeing what effect the travel would have on a team playing a game the next Sunday.

According to Albert Breer, the league is going to survey Colts players and coaches about the experience of playing a game the week after the London trip. That means we have to count on Indy losing this week to throw a wrench in the viability of a permanent London franchise. Wait, they’re the playing the Bears at home? Uh oh.

The NFL is really dedicated to this questionable fumble ruling

The NFL might be a league of denial on head injuries but the league is actually pretty forthcoming when it comes to admitting officiating mistakes, even if it usually takes a few days after the fact. Even fans continue to be baffled by the replay of Duke Johnson’s fumble that shows he had possession of the ball before Sarah Thomas awarded it to Washington, the league has stood by the ruling. While Johnson claims only he touched the ball, even if a Washington player had it on the bottom of the pile, it must have been for a millisecond, or at least short enough that it’s debatable to have demonstrated possession. At this point, what’s done is done, but the NFL is counting on the benefit of the doubt to carry them through on this one.

Red Zone bathroom pass 

NFL watchability ratings are generally pointless. Everyone has access to the same prime time games and their quality typically corresponds to the night they’re broadcast. Sunday night is the best, Monday night is next, then there’s Thursday night.

Instead, here’s my expectation of how many bathroom breaks you might be able to get away with during a slate of games on Sunday. It’s generally going to be more difficult during the early slate because the NFL still insists on frontloading most of their Sunday nights into the early slot.

After waking up early for the first London game last Sunday, we return to the standard Sunday format for the next two weeks.

Early slate: Washington at Baltimore / New England at Cleveland / Philadelphia at Detroit / Chicago at Indianapolis / Tennessee at Miami / Houston at Minnesota / New York Jets at Pittsburgh

Expected trips: 3

Not a particularly compelling game in the bunch save for monitoring Tom Brady’s progress against Cleveland. Otherwise best to make sure your body is prepared for the next slate.

Late slate: Atlanta at Denver / Cincinnati at Dallas / Buffalo at Los Angeles / San Diego at Oakland

Expected trips: 1

With the possible exception of San Diego and Oakland, these are all strong contests. Though just because it’s the afternoon slate there are fewer games so you should safely be able to sneak in one trip.