OBSERVATIONS: All About QBs Named Joe

By Hal McCoy

UNSOLICITED OBSERVATIONS from the Man Cave, watching our Havanese puppy, Parker, romp gleefully in the snow, refusing to come in until she looks like Frosty the Snowman.

—BENGAL BANGLES: How much longer will the Cincinnati Bengals be the Rodney Dangerfield of the NFL. . .no respect? They should wear a ‘U’ on their uniforms to specify that they are underdogs. Every game. And they keep winning.

Any day I expect somebody on ESPN to say, “Kansas City quarterback Pat Mahomes has a high ankle sprain, but he can beat the Bengals on one leg.”

Well, so far he hasn’t beaten them on two legs in his last three starts against them.

There is a rumor that the NFL is going to require Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow to wear a surgeon’s general warning sticker on his helmet. Why not? The NFL has thrown every obstacle they can come up with to slow them down.

But Burrow keeps throwing and Ja’Marr Chase keeps catching.

When Burrow sets up in the pocker he is like a big game hunter looking for a tiger. And he usually finds it. . .aptly named wide receiver Chase. Defensive backs are always chasing him.

Once the ball is snapped, Chase disappears. Defensive backs yell to each other, “Which way did he go?” To find him, defensive backs flee for the end zone and follow the flight of the ball. He’ll be under it when it comes down. . .usually in the end zone.

Burrow & Chase is becoming a more well-known duos than Bonnie & Clyde, Martin & Lewis, Jekyll & Hyde, Baskin & Robins, Sonny & Cher, Simon & Garfunkel, Batman & Robin, Tom & Jerry.

Joe Burrow is referred to as Joe Cool. How about Joe Mo(mentum), Joe Go(for it), Joe Snow, Joe No(weaknesses), Joe So(Good), Joe Oh(My goodness).

Maybe Las Vegas is finally paying attention after the Bengals, 5 1/2-point underdogs, beat Buffalo, 27-10. The early line has the Bengals favored by 1 1/2, probably because of Mahomes’ uncertainty. The odds from The Man Cave says Bengals by 10.

—PLAIN OL’ JOE: A note/memo to the Cleveland Browns scouting staff: If you want to play in the first Super Bowl in franchise history, look for a quarterback named Joe.

Since the Browns joined the NFL in 1950, 61 different quarterbacks have started at least one game. Since the Super Bowl era, they’ve had 44 try their hands at signal-calling.

Why Joe? Five quarterbacks named Joe have started Super Bowl games: Joe Namath, Joe Kapp, Joe Montona, Joe Flacco and Joe Burrow.

The Browns have tried guys named Bernie, Vinny, Spergon, Kelly, Luke, Trent, Brady, Jake, Seneca, Brandon, Tyrod, Case, Colt, Baker, Jacoby, DeShane and Deshaun.

No Joes.

—QUOTE: From quarterback Joe Namath before his New York Jets of the old AFL beat the heavily favored Baltimore Colts of the NFL in the 1969 Super Bowl: “I’ve got news for you. We’re gonna win the game. I guarantee it.” (Do you think Joe Burrow might say that if the Cincinnati Bengals make the Super Bowl?)

—WHO’S REALLY GOOD?: The NCAA basketball tournament should be as wide open as Stephen A. Smith’s mouth. There is no dominant team.

Number One Houston lost to Temple at home (Temple?). And defending champion Kansas? The Chalk Talk Jayhawks were erased this week by Baylor. It was a third straight loss by Kansas, only the third time in the 20-year Bill Self era that the J-Hawks have lost three straight.

And mighty Duke, unrated, lost to Virginia Tech, which had lost seven straight. Seven straight? Yes, that’s the Virginia Tech team that mauled Dayton, 77-49. The Gobblers were 9-1 after beating UD, won their next two to go 11-1, then lost seven straight.

How about Wisconsin? The Badgers were 4-0 after beating UD in the Battle 4 Atlantis. Since then? 8-and-6.

—FAMILY AFFAIR: It was a tough couple of days for the Pegula family. Terry and Kim Pegula own the Buffalo Bills and, of course, the Bills lost to the Cincinnati Bengals in the AFC playoffs.

A day later, their daughter, tennis star Jessica Pegula, the No. 3 seed, lost in the Australian Open.

So for the Pegula family it was love-and-love.

—MOVIN’ AROUND: The transfer portal isn’t just altering the landscape of college football and college men’s basketball.

It is alive and squirming in women’s college basketball, too.

While Ohio State’s men’s basketball team finds new ways to lose games every time out, the Buckeye women were 19-0 and No. 2 in the AP poll until they lost at home this week to Iowa.

The team’s leading scorer is Taylor Mikesell and Ohio State is the third collegiate stop for the Massillon native. She started at Maryland for two years, then played a year at Oregon before crash-landing in Columbus.

And, no, she is not related to former University of Dayton guard Ryan Mikesell.

—SAY WHAT?: Either this is the way the Cowboys feel about quarterback Dak Prescott or somebody in the front office might be fired.

A post on the Cowboys’ Twitter account: “Dak Prescott gave away the ball twice in the narrow loss to the 49ers.”

It reads like Prescott just handed the ball off to a 49ers defender. . .twice. No, they were pass interceptions, which happens.

That tweet? It sniffs like owner Jerry Jones.

—NO DEFENSE, AGAIN: Do NBA teams have defensive co-ordinators? Probably not. The Detroit Pistons scored 130 points in a game at home this week. . .and lost by 20. Milwaukee scored 150, 83 in the first half.

—NEW NICKNAMES: From a friend who is not a fan of the American League baseball team in New York: “I call ‘em the New York Skankees or the New York Spankees because I’m a Boston Red Sox fan.”

Well, Sweet Caroline.

—NAME GAME: Some professional basketball franchises you may never have heard of or have forgotten (not counting the American Basketball Association:

Tri-City Blackhawks, St. Louis Hawks, Charlotte Bobcats, New Jersey Nets, Fort Wayne Zollner Pistons, San Diego Rockets, San Diego Clippers, Buffalo Braves, Syracuse Nationals, Baltimore Bullets, Seattle Supersonics, Chicago Zephyrs,
Chicago Packers, Cleveland Rebels, Pittsburgh Ironmen, Providence Steamrollers.

And, of course, the most nomadic franchise of all. . .The Rochester Royals who became the Cincinnati Royals who became the Kansas City Kings who became the Sacramento Kings.

—Now for the old ABA, which operated with red, white and blue basketballs from 1967 to 1976 when it folded and some teams were absorbed into the NBA. Some of the franchises folded or moved in mid-season:

Virginia Squires, Kentucky Colonels, Indiana Pacers, Brooklyn Nets, Denver Nuggets, San Antonio Spurs, Utah Stars, St. Louis Spirit, New York Americans, Anaheim Amigos, Los Angeles Stars, Dallas Chapparals, Houston Mavericks, Minnesota Muskies, Miami Floridians, Memphis Pros, Tampa Sounds, Baltimore Hustlers, Pittsburgh Condors, Oakland Oaks, Memphis Tams, San Diego Conquistadors.