Dumping Them Out – Football is BACK (For The Final Time This Year)

John Rich9/14/2026 12:19 AM

Welcome back to another episode of Dumping Them Out. Football is FINALLY back. We have FINALLY reached the last day of the year it's acceptable to say that.

Power Rankings of Days Football is Back

1. Saturday Week 0 of college football season - the day football is literally back

T2. NFL Sunday Week 1

T2. NFL Opening Game Week 1 - Sunday is the day the NFL really starts, but it's hard to argue for NFL football being any more "back" than it is in the literal first game of the year. So they tie

4. College Football Saturday Week 1 - the first real college football day of the year

5. College Football Thursday Week 1 - if you're going to ignore Week 0, you might as well keep waiting until the first full day of game

6. Hall of Fame Game - technically football

Honorable Mention: For the sickos I saw on Twitter claiming football is back for the Thursday FCS games ahead of Week 0

Slightly Less Honorable Mention: For any perverts out there who want to claim the start of high school football

There's been a whole lot of fun football today. Saints-Lions went into OT. Bears-Panthers nearly went over 100 points. Joe Burrow is a quarterback again maybe. Josh Allen and Lamar Jackson are still electric. But there was one particular moment that I can't get over. I can't be the only person who was flabbergasted by this one.

One of the craziest experiences I ever have as a football fan is when I learn a new rule. There's just no way that should still be happening. I've been watching football every damn weekend of football season my entire life. But football always finds a way to surprise me. Especially when it's a rule I was absolutely certain I understood, but then Mike Peirera's big dumb head pops up on the side of my screen to tell me I'm a big dumb moron.

He intended to throw it forward? What the hell has intention ever had to do with anything? Call me a big gay non-ball knowing idiot, but I could have sworn a football that leaves a quarterback's hand and goes directly backwards is a fumble. I've lived my whole life 100% certain of that fact. If you showed me that play before today I'd have bet you everything I own it was a fumble.

There must me a better explanation for that rule. Or something that having that rule in place prevents from happening. Was what happened today with that Jared Goff "incompletion" an unintentional consequence of a rule that was created to prevent… fuck idk… something else? Unfair intentional grounding calls? Idk. I feel like I must be missing something.

Also, Calais Campbell said on Twitter that the same thing happened to him vs Cam Newton in the 2014 playoffs.

So I scrubbed through the game on YouTube to find the moment Calais Campbell is talking about. It happens right here at 1:42:30.

Mike Tirico: "The throwing motion by Cam Newton as he's facing sideways trying to throw it forward, oftentimes if you get twisted, and you're trying to throw a forward pass but the twist sends the pass backwards the other way, they'll say it was a forward pass."

What the hell man. Call me crazy, but I think if a ball travels backwards straight out of the QB's hand it should be a fumble. That seems like it would be by far the easiest, most fair way to call it. Once you start messing with intent, you open a whole can of worms that should really never have to be opened. But for some reason the NFL has this paragraph in their rulebook.

So it is an intentional grounding thing? Now I'm trying to read too deep into why the NFL does what they do. I guess it's just another rule in place to protect the offense. And the NFL will never change a rule in a way that could potentially throw the defense a bone. At least it didn't end up affecting that Saints-Lions game in a meaningful way.

Now that the 2026 NFL season is underway, I would like to once again point out how absurdly terrible of a move it was by the Minnesota Vikings to let Sam Darnold go. People talk about it plenty. But it's still not talked about enough.

That move just isn't going to go down as one of the worst front office movies in sports history as much as it should. Somebody told Minnesota that Sam Darnold wasn't a Super Bowl winning QB, so they spit in the face of a 14-3 season. They fell victim to ring culture. But even if Sam Darnold didn't win a Super Bowl the very next season… even if Sam Darnold got hit by a bus on his way out of the Vikings facility… letting a QB walk after a 4,300+ yard, 35 TD, 14 win season is absolutely fucking criminal.

Now Vikings fans have to cheer for Carson Wentz. Who did just beat the Packers. But I used to watch Carson Wentz play for my Colts. Even when he won games, I wished it was anyone else doing it. Winning with Carson Wentz is never as sweet as winning with not-Carson Wentz. Honestly… winding up with Carson Wentz as your QB1 is kind of the perfect punishment for the Vikings dumbass Sam Darnold decision. Hope you're happy Minnesota.