{"id":122395,"date":"2019-09-10T03:47:57","date_gmt":"2019-09-10T08:47:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thevwindependent.com\/news\/?p=122395"},"modified":"2019-09-10T03:48:35","modified_gmt":"2019-09-10T08:48:35","slug":"random-thoughts-hs-college-pro-football","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/2019\/09\/10\/random-thoughts-hs-college-pro-football\/","title":{"rendered":"Random thoughts: HS, college, pro football"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

SCOTT TRUXELL\/<\/strong>independent sports editor<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

This week\u2019s Random Thoughts center around Van Wert football, the Cleveland Browns, Monday Night Football, Justin Fields, Army-Michigan, Antonio Brown and the Pittsburgh Steelers. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Two games, two impressive performances<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

After impressive back-to-back road wins, the Van Wert Cougars will open the home portion of the schedule this Friday and the opponent couldn\u2019t be much tougher \u2013 defending WBL co-champion Wapakoneta is coming to Eggerss Stadium.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After trailing for much of the game, the 2-0 Redskins were able to grind out a 19-13 overtime win over St. Marys Memorial on Friday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Check Wednesday\u2019s Sports page for a preview of this Friday\u2019s game. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Browns<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ouch. That hurt, and it was a harsh dose of reality.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019m talking about Sunday\u2019s embarrassing loss to the Tennessee Titans. It was just one game, but it wasn\u2019t what Browns fans wanted to see out of a team that has stockpiled some talent and perhaps expectations that are a bit high. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s one thing to get beat by a vastly superior team, but it\u2019s quite another to get beaten so badly by a team that\u2019s widely considered middle-of-the-pack.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Monday night football<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Count me as one of the fans who wishes the NFL would stick with a doubleheader Monday Night Football format. Personally, I\u2019d much rather have that than a Thursday night game, but I don\u2019t see that happening anytime soon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Justin Fields<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019m still not quite sure what to make of Ohio State quarterback Justin Fields. His arm isn\u2019t as strong as Dwayne Haskins and he\u2019s not as fast or nimble as J.T. Barrett, but in some ways he seems like a combination of the two. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s impressive how easily he can throw from one hash mark to the other and he\u2019s elusive enough to evade pressure. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It’ll be interesting to see his progess as the season goes along.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Army-Michigan<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

You have to feel bad for Army. After nearly knocking off Oklahoma last season, the Cadets came so close against Michigan on Saturday, but came up short again in overtime. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Wolverines never really seemed to figure out Army\u2019s triple option attack, which makes me wonder (again) why other college programs, especially struggling teams that have trouble recruiting top flight recruits, don\u2019t commit to the triple option.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Army-Michigan II<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

A question I wondered while watching some of the fourth quarter and overtime of Saturday\u2019s game \u2013 does anyone really ever root against Army?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Antonio Brown<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

At first I thought Antonio Brown lost his mind when he asked for his release from the Raiders, but after signing with the Patriots hours later, I\u2019m starting to wonder if he\u2019s a genius. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Time will tell. I\u2019m pretty sure of this \u2013 Bill Belichick and Tom Brady won\u2019t put up with Brown\u2019s shenanigans. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Steelers<\/em><\/strong> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Steelers got rid of Brown and let Le\u2019Veon Bell walk in free agency, then got hammered by the Patriots in season opener. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019m not saying they did the wrong thing, but when two top playmakers exit, it\u2019s going to have an adverse affect on nearly any team.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you have thoughts on any of the above subjects, feel free to email me at sports@thevwindependent.com<\/a>. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

SCOTT TRUXELL\/independent sports editor This week\u2019s Random Thoughts center around Van Wert football, the Cleveland Browns, Monday Night Football, Justin Fields, Army-Michigan, Antonio Brown and the Pittsburgh Steelers. Two games, two impressive performances After impressive back-to-back road wins, the Van Wert Cougars will open the home portion of the schedule this Friday and the opponent […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-122395","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sports"],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-08-01 22:19:34","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/122395","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=122395"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/122395\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=122395"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=122395"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=122395"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}