#( tate && tom | the best worst thing to ever happen to you )

[junker-town]

11 veteran NFL QBs who could be available in 2020, ranked

Marcus Mariota, Andy Dalton, and Teddy Bridgewater could all be on new teams in 2020.

Where will Teddy Bridgewater end up? Marcus Mariota? ... and maybe Cam Newton?

This has been a year of quarterback turnover in the NFL. Thanks to injuries, rising young passers, and outright poor play, 46 different players have thrown at least 25 passes through the first nine weeks of the 2019 season, including non-stars like Devlin Hodges, Luke Falk, and Matt Moore.

2020 will bring more turnover. While much of that will come from a hearty crop of rookie quarterbacks like Tua Tagovailoa, Justin Herbert, and Joe Burrow, let’s ignore those guys for now. Instead, let’s focus on the veteran help who could punch up the middle-class teams that won’t have the opportunity to break through the tank-tastic upper crust of next year’s NFL Draft.

Several veteran quarterbacks who made starts in 2019 will be available for interested teams in 2020. Some will revive their NFL value with big performances in new settings. Others will fall into a pattern of short-term contracts and annual relocations — i.e. the Matt Cassel plan.

Let’s break down next year’s crop of likely-to-move quarterbacks by how desirable they’ll be should they hit the open market. We’ll take out the free agents-to-be with little to no chance of moving — Tom Brady, Drew Brees, and Philip Rivers foremost among them — and backups who won’t compete for a starting job, like Chad Henne, Trevor Siemian, and Mike Glennon.

Then we’ll break the veteran talent pool into two parts: free agent acquisitions and trade targets.

2020 free agents (and likely free agents)

1. Teddy Bridgewater, Saints

Bridgewater bet on himself (and his surroundings) when he opted to turn down a two-year deal with the Dolphins in order to sign a one-year, $7.5 million contract and be the league’s highest-paid backup in New Orleans. That wager paid off.

While the Dolphins were slogging their way to the AFC’s basement and trading off talent, Bridgewater returned to the starting lineup for a meaningful, non-Week 17 game for the first time since 2015. Drew Brees’ torn thumb ligament created a massive opportunity for Bridgewater, who needed some time to shake off years’ worth of rust but eventually won all five of his starts.

Bridgewater was hugely efficient as a starter, completing nearly 70 percent of his passes for 7.9 adjusted yards per attempt and a 9:2 TD:INT ratio in that stretch. He’s been better as a Saint in limited action than he was as a Viking before the 2016 knee injury that threatened to take his career. He’ll be 27 years old in 2020 and ready for a starting role somewhere — unless the Saints can talk him into another year in New Orleans as Brees’ successor.

2. Andy Dalton, Bengals

Dalton’s been good enough to push players like Auden Tate and Alex Erickson to 100+ receiving yard performances in 2019, but hasn’t been good enough to will Cincinnati to a win. That sent him to the bench (on his birthday, no less) and gave the reins to rookie Ryan Finley. None of the $17.5 million due to Dalton in the final year of his contract is guaranteed, and he’s an obvious candidate to be released by the only NFL team he’s ever known.

Throughout his 0-8 start, Dalton was handicapped by a lack of A.J. Green, a nonexistent running game, and some terrible blocking. And though he was throwing for a career-high 281 yards per game, that was the result of an awful team trying to claw back from big deficits; his 6.7 yards per pass is his least efficient number since his rookie campaign.

But the three-time Pro Bowler, for all his warts (and 0-4 postseason record) still brings a reliable presence behind center. He deserves a shot to prove his inability to exist beyond Wild Card Weekend was truly a Bengals problem and not a Dalton one. The only issue is that he’ll be 33 years old next season and competing for a job in a crowded marketplace.

3. Marcus Mariota, Titans

The man who came one pick after Jameis Winston in the 2015 NFL Draft lost his starting job to another quarterback on this list, and it appears his time with the Titans is all but over. Mariota struggled with nagging injuries and consistency issues throughout his first five seasons in the league. That kept him from ever reaching his Heisman-winning top gear.

Oddly enough, the Titans seemed to win or lose independent of his overall play behind center. Tennessee’s most successful season under Mariota also happened to be, statistically, the quarterback’s worst as a pro. His 13:15 TD:INT ratio and 79.3 passer rating in 2017 were each career worsts, but he still managed to pilot his team to a 9-7 record and an upset win over the Chiefs in the Wild Card Round. In his best season (2016), his Titans went ... 9-7, though this time without a playoff berth to finish the year.

Mariota’s inability to spark his offense led to his benching in 2019, but he remains a useful mobile quarterback. Still, he’s thrown for 300+ yards in only 12.5 percent of his games (eight of 64). Next season will give him a chance to prove it was the Titans who had a nine-win ceiling — not Mariota.

4. Jameis Winston, Buccaneers

Since Winston entered the NFL, 2015’s top pick has been the league’s most turnover-prone quarterback. He’s only finished one of those seasons with a winning record (9-7 in 2016), which means he’s spent his budding career eating way more Ls than Ws.

He’s an impact player when he’s on, but his solid 7.9 yards per attempt over the past three seasons is every bit as attributable to having a well-stocked receiving corps (led by Mike Evans) than it is to his high-risk, high-reward philosophy. Bruce Arians’ arrival in Tampa hasn’t done much to change Winston’s ways — he’s the fully formed version of himself at this point.

The Buccaneers haven’t ranked higher than 24th in the league in yards gained per rush in any of the last four seasons, putting an extra onus on Winston to force his spots downfield. There’s a chance throwing him behind a more stable offensive line and an above-average running game could give him more space to thrive.

5. Ryan Tannehill, Titans

The former Dolphins quarterback (and genesis of the Miami Miracle) has assumed the throne in Nashville. He’s been good enough to keep Mariota on the sideline through the second half of the season — in fact, he’s been good enough that he’s currently on pace for his best year as a pro.

That pace is almost certainly unsustainable, however. Despite winning his first two starts as a Titan, cracks began to show the first time he faced a contending team in Week 9. The Panthers held him scoreless in the first half and then let him rack up yards in a second half where Tennessee never trailed by fewer than 10 points. Those sort of empty calories are a Tannehill specialty; even though they don’t show up in the box score, they’re made very apparent by the fact Tannehill has never won more than eight games in a season as a starter.

On the plus side, he’s been a boon for Titans targets like A.J. Brown and Jonnu Smith and could be a better-than-expected placeholder for a rebuilding team flush with young talent. Or he could be the injury-prone QB who missed 24 games between 2016 and 2018.

6. Case Keenum, Washington

Keenum thrived with solid blocking and a stacked receiving corps in his breakout 2017 in Minnesota. Then he was tasked with helming much worse teams in Denver and Washington and has predictably struggled. While the salad days of his Viking tenure — one where he cropped up as a top 10-ish quarterback — are likely irreplaceable, he’s been better than his losing record in Washington suggests.

Despite holes across the lineup and an offensive line that has kept him from gaining any semblance of consistency in the pocket, he completed more than 67 percent of his passes in seven games and threw more than twice as many touchdowns than interceptions. Then injuries and Washington’s eagerness to introduce rookie Dwayne Haskins to his bleak future shuffled him out of the lineup.

Granted, that’s because he’s throwing fewer deep balls — only 15 passes of 20+ yards on the season through Week 9, well behind the 56 he threw in his Minnesota breakthrough. Even so, he’s been better in Washington than he was as a Bronco. At the very least, that should make him a high-leverage backup come 2020.

7. Eli Manning, Giants

Manning will be a free agent next spring. Will he retire? Opt for free agency? Sign back on with the Giants for another year of mentoring Daniel Jones?

Either way, he’s not adding much to an NFL offense at age 39. He’s probably worth signing if you think you’re going to run into the Patriots in the playoffs, though.

Trade target wild cards

1. Cam Newton, Panthers

Newton’s 2019 regular season is over after he was placed on injured reserve due to the Lisfranc injury that has kept him from the field for all but two games. If the Panthers are enamored with backup Kyle Allen — who has piloted the team into the NFC Wild Card hunt in Newton’s absence — they can move on from the most prolific passer in franchise history without any guaranteed money remaining on the final year of his contract.

Trading Newton doesn’t make a ton of sense. His 2020 salary is reasonable and he’s still, you know, Cam Newton. But if team owner David Tepper, who purchased the team in 2018, decides to shake things up, the 2015 NFL MVP could wind up on the trading block. It’s unlikely, but that doesn’t mean it’s impossible. Allen’s passer rating since 2018 is better than Newton’s 90.5, and the veteran quarterback’s last eight games as a Panther have all ended in defeat — though he was dealing with a variety of different nagging injuries in each of them.

What are you getting from 2020 Newton? Good question! It’s doubtful he’ll get back to that MVP form, but even 85 percent of that performance would make him an above-average starter opposing defenses would have headaches containing. If a team out there can give him the blocking and wide receivers the Panthers have struggled to procure, it could lead to a renaissance for the dual-threat QB.

Update: All of that said, it potentially just got a lot easier for teams to acquire Newton one way or another. With head coach Ron Rivera being fired, it’s possible David Tepper will want to completely clean house, and that could include the end of Newton’s career as a Panther. If you believe that’s going to happen, Newton will almost certainly land a starting job next season.

2. Nick Foles, Jaguars

Foles threw only eight passes in the first half of the season thanks to a broken collarbone, but regained his starting role in Jacksonville once he came off injured reserve. If he plays up to expectations, he’ll be nigh untouchable for the Jags, who are counting on him to be the missing piece of their “legit contenders” puzzle.

But let’s say he doesn’t. Let’s say he plays roughly as well as rookie sixth-round pick Gardner Minshew II did in his eight-game stretch as the team’s top passer. There’s a chance the younger QB gets handed the reins while the Jaguars’ front office works out a way to unload a player it gave $50 million guaranteed in 2018.

The biggest caveat with Foles is his inconsistency, especially when he’s not wearing an Eagles uniform. And if he’s on the trading block in 2020, it’s safe to say that’s been an issue again over the last half of 2019. But hey, he’s a Super Bowl MVP.

3. Josh Rosen (or Ryan Fitzpatrick), Dolphins

Miami’s massive rebuild has sold off veteran talent for draft assets, and the crown jewel of that haul will be the quarterback it likely takes with what promises to be a top-five pick. That young passer is going to need a stable backup as he acclimates to the league. That’s likely Fitzpatrick — the man whose three-touchdown game against the Jets led his team to its first win of 2019 — but Rosen could get a chance to restore his value in South Beach to start 2020.

The more likely scenario, however, is that Rosen gets traded in the offseason after struggling with one of the league’s worst teams for the second straight year. While he’s shown flashes of capability behind slipshod offensive lines and hollowed-out WR depth charts, the former UCLA QB has been mostly regrettable as a pro. His career stats through 1.5 seasons: a 54.8 percent completion rate, 12 touchdowns and 19 interceptions in 19 games, and a gruesome 4.4 adjusted yards per pass.

But! He’s only 22 years old and still moldable. Some team will believe it has the right environment to foster his talent.

4. Joe Flacco, Broncos

The Broncos will have to carve out more than $50 million in salary cap space to keep Flacco in orange the next two years, which is ... not ideal. They’d eat more than $13 million in dead cap if they released him before next season, which makes him pretty tough to walk away from outright. That’s so, so much money for a player who made four starts in the month of October, threw one touchdown pass, and landed on injured reserve to kick off November.

Flacco is likely untradeable at that number. But that’s what it looked like in 2019, and John Elway threw some Day 3 picks at the Ravens anyway. Denver’s got two young QBs on the roster it can turn to in Brandon Allen and Drew Lock. If anyone comes calling on Flacco — and again, that’s pretty unlikely — the Broncos will listen.

[awed-frog]

Snape is a fascinating character, but he used his position of authority in a school to take out all of his issues on the children theoretically under his care, which is a fundamentally unacceptable thing to do. If he'd been behaving that way towards adults who could get away from him, or stand up to him effectively, that would be different - but he was a terrible teacher, he bullied his students, and his actions damaged a lot of childhoods. A brave cause doesn't make up for that.

I hope the Snape ask didn’t sound too confrontational - basically what I’m saying is, it’s probably the children thing that makes most people take against him so much. It’s definitely why I dislike him so much. The small-scale cruelties are so instantly recognisable, and so pointless. He hated his life and he wanted to spread the misery around; and while there was a lot in his life to hate, it’s hard to have much sympathy when he took out his problems on kids.

I’m not defending what he did. As an adult, and someone who’s worked in schools for ten years, I consider his behaviour in the classroom pretty much inexcusable and unforgivable. What I was trying to say, on the other hand, is that JK Rowling created this beautifully layered character, and also - maybe it’s because I read the books as a grown-up, but I personally I could never truly hate Snape. We’re given quite an insight in his past and personality, and we know that his anger, his cruelty and his pettiness come from a deep, unhealed pain. To me, that’s enough not to excuse his behaviour, but to understand it - to feel, most of all, a huge wave of empathy for someone who could have been so much more if circumstances had been different. 

I’m always slightly disappointed when I see people hating Snape viciously and ferociously, because I think the HP books were masterful in giving us the opportunity to question our feelings and opinions, and learn the importance of compassion. Snape is unlike many villains in that 1) he’s not particularly attractive and 2) he’s not locked away in a cage and he doesn’t die heroically ten minutes after his terrible mistakes. And since I have a lot of feels about this, here goes.

So, the beauty aspect first - I’m trying to think of an antagonist who isn’t devastatingly handsome, and I’m having some trouble coming up with anyone. From Loki to Magneto all the way to Mark Pellegrino’s Lucifer, we’re pretty much used to being surrounded by beautiful, evil people - and, in fiction as in life, it’s inevitable that their good looks influence how we see their behaviour. Like, I know I’m bringing up this example twice a month, but I’m actually still not over the fact countless girls and women were apparently totally in love with Tate Langdon and ready to excuse everything he ever did - from raping his girlfriend’s mother to shooting down half his classmates - and that’s the most obvious case I can think of (aside from Christian Grey, probably) where good looks =I’ll adore you no matter what, because if Tate wasn’t played by stunningly gorgeous Evan Peters, would we be so ready to write steamy fanfiction about him and sigh ourselves to sleep daydreaming about his smile and dimples? And JK Rowling - she had the perfect opportunity to make Snape irresistible, didn’t she, because she was thinking of Alan Rickman was writing the character - only, she decided to steal Alan’s feels-inducing baritone and his commanding presence, and disregard everything else. Because book!Snape - one thing he’s not is attractive. So I’m wondering, you know, how many people found easy to hate him from the very beginning because of his oily hair and non-descript robes and hooked nose and yellowish skin - and I’ll always be happy Snape was mirrored, for a whole book, with ‘prince Charming’ Lockhart, who was everything Snape was not (the good and the bad). And when you pile Jewish stereotyping on top of that, you get the perfect old-fashioned villain - not majestic Tom Hiddleston pushing his raven locks back so he can smirk and kill without ruining his hairdo, but someone whose ailing, rotten soul allegedly shines through his body like a beacon, making him unlikable, sour, ugly. And to get over that - especially for children who’re used to heroes being good-looking - well - it would take some readjusting.

Also, 2) - antagonists are normally redeemed these days, because sequels and spinoffs and whatever, but even when they aren’t, it’s quite rare to see them live among us for twenty years or more. The pattern usually goes, ‘handsome yet tortured man gives in to anger and/or pain, kills thousands and/or steals precious artifact and/or dooms planet, is stopped by the pleas of his pretty yet ‘modern woman’ love interest and/or the manly begging of a ‘best friend’ he’d be screwing if tis was HBO, sees the error of his ways and/or loses control of the evil spell he’s assembling, chooses to save humanity/sacrifice himself/dies instead of carrying out his unholy projects’. 

(Really - find me one recent story that’s not like this.)

And the thing is, that’s not what happens IRL. IRL, when people have been hurt, that pain can last years and years and ruin everything in small, annoying, irritating ways. People aren’t normally given brave opportunities of redemption, and don’t change their ways after one tearful scene complete with soulful music. Like - of course Snape’s not nice to his students - he’s not nice to anyone. He’s not a good person. That’s the whole point of his character. He’s someone whose deep self-hatred and bottomless resentment at having been dealt a bad hand (because, well, he was) prevent him from letting go of the past and becoming a better person. Unfortunately, you see those people every day - they’re not those who lose control and kill, but, more often, those who ruin your day in a thousand petty ways - teachers who bully kids, construction workers who’re rude to women, colleagues who undermine each other, relatives who make passive aggressive remarks with a wide smile, husbands who belittle their wives and wives who badmouth their husbands. Many of us have enough deep-seated pain and insecurity that they end up dictating our behaviour from time to time - we’re angry at people for being younger than us, or prettier or happier or more successful, and fuck off, you never deserved that, you bitch - does that make us bad persons? I don’t know. That’s the question JK Rowling asked in creating Snape. Here is someone who’s risked his life for thirty years to prevent and fight and bring down a fascist dictator - but he wasn’t a pleasant person, and apparently made no effort to become better, or even decent. What do we do? Do we hate him? Do we admire him as a war hero? Do we understand him, feel sorry for him? There is no right answer, and the beauty of those books is that you see this happening again and again - look at Dumbledore, at Ron, at Harry himself - they’re not black and white characters. They’re real people, and those stories about them give us the space and safety we need to decide how to feel about it all, and how we want to act around real life people who may share traits with them.

So, well - personally, I used to be an angry person, and then I decided not to be any longer. I don’t see any point in hating people, even when they did terrible, unforgivable things, because that hatred doesn’t touch them - it touches me. It’s a weight I would need to carry around my neck every day of my life. Obviously I think Snape should have known better, but to be honest I’m more upset with his colleagues, with Dumbledore - why did they watch all that and do nothing? Them - the supposedly healthy, happy, well-adjusted people with loving families and a reasonable level of satisfaction with their own lives? No, Snape is someone who lived his whole life without a single friend, without someone who would care if he lived or died. He never moved on from his youth - never moved out of that castle that had been his refuge growing up - presumably, he was never invited anywhere, was merely tolerated in the staff common room as people frowned at him and wondered, had he really stopped being a Death Eater? That ugly, unpleasant, sarcastic man, way too smart for his own good? 

No, I see Snape as someone who never had any help, and he’s perhaps the only character in the books to be so completely isolated. For instance, if we compare his own big mistake (breaking off his friendship with Lily and turning on her) with Dumbledore’s big mistake (falling in love with Grindelwald) we see that some consequences are similar - as a result of those feelings, Lily and Ariana died - but everything else was different. Dumbledore, a talented, well-adjusted kid who’d made many friends at school, was surely pitied after his sister’s death - old professors probably did their best to find him a scholarship or an apprenticeship, and there was, we can be sure of it, a general sense of unfairness, of a poor orphan boy who’d suffered too much. Only Aberforth knew the truth - and Dumbledore was so ashamed he stayed away from his brother for years rather than facing that truth. Meanwhile, after Snape lost this person he considered the love of his life and his only real friend (a person he had betrayed and let down in the worst possible way), the only people he had to rely on were classmates who didn’t really like him - people like Lucius and Bellatrix, who would never see him as an equal because of his working class, half Muggle background, and goons who would have bullied him instead of being his ‘friends’ if Snape hadn’t been smart enough to defend himself. 

And finally - I know Harry reacts in anger when Hermione points out people make mistakes when they’re ‘only seventeen’, but the truth is, they do. Teenagers are biologically different from adults. They need more support, more social reassurance. They have extreme opinions, take braver, or crazier, decisions. In Snape’s case, because of the political situation, what could have been a six-month mistake turned into a life sentence. And the thing is, nobody ever forgave him - not even himself. As far as we know, Dumbledore left him pretty much alone when he was grieving for Lily - Snape sort of had to rebuild some kind of life on his own - he was stuck in a job he hated, living with people who despised him, teaching the siblings, and, later, children, of those classmates who’d spent their youth bullying him (and we only have Harry’s perspective on this - the opinions of someone who didn’t know anything about the Seventies - but can you imagine the rumors in other households? students would show up for Potions with their heads full of ugly tales). It’s likely Snape had PTSD, or nightmares, that he thought about his sins and crimes every time he took a shower and scrubbed his skin clean (because the tattoo wouldn’t be visible, not exactly, but would still sort of - flicker, from time to time, and wouldn’t Snape fear, every time, that Voldemort was finally coming back?). He probably didn’t have a single kind word spoken to him in twenty years. And, as I said above, none of this excuses his behaviour towards his students, but, really - I can’t bring myself to hate him. He did the job well enough all by himself.   

[granborough-station]

I always seem to travel at a time when my life is changing, and I always seem to travel in the autumn, so I suppose I could say my life changes most in the autumn.  It’s probably not true; it’s probably the same thing that makes the clock always read 11:11 when you look at it or the new word you just learned to suddenly be everywhere.  I travel in autumn and life is always changing, and since I tend to be more introspective than usual when I’m traveling, it feels like everything changes in the autumn.  Certainly, though, I’ve had some major changes this time of year--this trip is a memory, in a way, of the death of my mother, which happened this time of year five years ago--so I suppose I can’t rule it out completely.

The days leading up to my trip were tremendously awful.  

My insulin dose had been adjusted a few days prior, and rather than do the expected thing when you’re given more insulin and dropping low, my glucose levels skyrocketed to the point that I was afraid I’d have to go to the emergency room.  Instead, I pushed on and was rewarded with a rollercoaster that made me leave work early the day before my flight, sick and shaking.  I got home at 5pm and slept straight through until 3pm the next morning, at which point I forced myself to get up, since I still had things to do before meeting a friend for Chicago’s Museum of Science and Industry.  This was probably a mistake; in my defense, I was hoping this would make me sleep on the plane and awake refreshed when I arrived, but of course it didn’t happen that way.

The museum and the friend were lovely, and a great way to start the whole holiday.  I really highly recommend the MSI for anyone visiting Chicago; it’s not cheap, but it’s not the most expensive museum in the city, and it’s well worth the fare (especially if you’re an IL resident like I am and go during the free admission days!).  The friend gave me a ride to the airport and things at the airport went just fine.  The woman at the counter checked my passport and my bag and even moved me to a better seat than the one I’d selected (though, sadly, still not a window seat--perhaps for the best, though, considering the stomach distress my illness was causing).

Then things went a little...rough.  Rough air, precisely: we had the worst turbulence I’ve had on an international flight, ever.  Normally turbulence on an international flight is just a little bit of rolling and is reasonably short lived, but on this flight the turbulence was so extreme the whole thing seemed to be rattling my teeth out of my head, and it was so frequent and persistent that they started and stopped and restarted the dinner service three or four times.  Considering all I’d had that day to that point was a cup of chili and some crackers (since that was all I was willing to risk keeping down), I was a little bit frustrated by the time dinner did come out.  It wasn’t very good, either--British Airways living up to the idea that English food is horrible, haha.  Anyway, between the turbulence and the hunger and the crying baby (yes, there was one of those), I found it impossible to catch more than an hour’s sleep (ironically enough, I put on the new remake of The Mummy, stayed awake long enough to see the gorgeous Sophia Boutella a few minutes, and the moment she was replaced with Tom Cruise I fell asleep and slept until the credits were rolling!).  By the time I landed in London, I was hungry, tired, and sleepy.

The less said about border control, the better.  Terminal 5′s border control was immensely slow, and I missed Terminal 4 so much.  That, more than the uncomfortable seats, poor food, and uninteresting in flight entertainment will send me back to more familiar airlines--sorry, BA.  After more than an hour in line through customs, I literally walked up to the desk and placed my passport and landing card in the officer’s hand--yes, 12 days, holiday, thank you--and was done.  I’d made the assumption that I’d be able to charge my phone--and there’s another gripe for another day, because my phone is not unlocked as I’d hoped it would be--on the plane, so I ended up sitting at a port plugging in and charging and eating a cheese sandwich.  

I was meant to meet a friend to go to the Tate around 11 or so, but after finally eating something satisfying and sitting so long charging my phone, I found myself nearly blacking out on the tube into the city, so I negotiated an hour’s nap--and then promptly scared her by sleeping through my alarms and not waking up until three hours had passed--nearly time for the show we were both going to see.  In the end, I managed to pry myself out of the bed with a crowbar and get myself to the station where, after I wandered around Angel like a lost puppy for half an hour, she took mercy on me and found me.  We went to her hotel so she could give me a prize I’d won in a raffle--an incredibly gorgeous calendar--and then we headed to the theatre, where we had drinks and I inhaled a halloumi salad before the show started.

I love visiting the Almeida Theatre.  It’s one of my very favorites in perhaps the world, to say nothing of its superiority here in London.  Their programming is always phenomenal, and we saw a controversial new play called Against by Christopher Shinn.  It was an interesting play, but I’m not certain whether I liked it or not.  It’s very well acted, and I’m seeing it again Tuesday, so I’m interested to see how I feel about it when it’s more familiar to me.  I have a more in-depth response to the show over on my main blog, if you’re interested in learning more.  After the show there was a talkback that seemed less about the show itself than about volleyball, which I’m quite alright with, as it ended up in Ben Whishaw very enthusiastically talking about why volleyball is very important, which was adorable.

After the talkback, my friend and I sat in the bar and had drinks and talked about the show, and then when the bar closed, we moved to the lobby, where we chatted until we were both wiped from a busy day of travel and good theatre.  I headed back to my airbnb, which is absolutely amazing, by the way--I can send a link to the listing for anyone who’s looking, but it’s a Victorian semi-detached that’s been converted into flats, and my host and her partner live on the top flat.  My host is a plumber, and she’s been restoring the place, so there are the most beautiful green ceramic tiles in the kitchen (where I’m writing this next to the huge window that opens onto the houses behind it) and painted tiles in the hall--and vintage fixtures in the bathroom.  The pictures in the listing don’t do it justice at all--I don’t think photos could, really--and the price was very, very affordable.  Either way, my host and her partner have gone on a mini-break and so it’s been fun to do the shopping and pretend a little bit that this could be my place!

[buddyrabrahams]

10 NFL players who disappointed in 2018

The 2018 NFL regular season was filled with highs and lows from start to finish. New players established themselves as the future, older players have had their careers called into question, and the amount of change league-wide was unparalleled. It was exciting, frustrating and euphoric all in one. But for some players, it was also wildly disappointing. Who are the players who disappointed? Here’s a look at 10 players who under-performed in 2018.

10. Chris Boswell, K, Pittsburgh Steelers

A year ago, Chris Boswell was considered one of the best kickers in the league and was voted to his first ever Pro Bowl. In fact, he was so dominating in 2017 that he was named an honorary member of the Killer B’s alongside Ben Roethlisberger, Antonio Brown and Le���Veon Bell, and even received a four-year, $16.8 million extension from the Steelers. However, like each of the other Killer B’s, 2018 wasn’t nearly as kind to him. Boswell alone cost Pittsburgh at least two games with missed kicks, and it could be argued that he was the reason they ultimately missed the playoffs. Boswell finished the 2018 campaign having connected on just 65% of his field goal attempts (13-of-20), while missing five — yes, five — point after (PAT) attempts. It had gotten so bad late in the season that Pittsburgh considered signing a new kicker, cutting Bowsell loose and just eating the remainder of his contract.

9. Vic Beasley, DE, Atlanta Falcons

When he was taken at No. 8 overall in the 2015 NFL Draft, expectations were that Vic Beasley would take the league by storm and establish himself as one of the elite pass rushers in the game. It was considered such a sure thing that teams like the New York Giants were actively working to move up and acquire him in said draft. In the end, he landed with the Falcons and in 2016, he recorded 15.5 sacks, was named an All-Pro and seemed to be on his way to living up to the immense expectations. However, it was all downhill from there as Beasley fell off the map in 2017 and continued that trend in 2018. In 16 games (nine starts), Beasley recorded just 20 tackles (16 solo) and five sacks, while earning a Pro Football Focus grade of 42.2, which put him behind more than 100 other edge rushers.

8. Hayden Hurst, TE, Baltimore Ravens

As a first-round pick (No. 25 overall), Hayden Hurst was expected to come in, start and produce for the Ravens right away. And considering what they had passed over when trading down in the 2018 NFL Draft, the pressure was immediately on the young tight end to make some magic happen. That is not how things went, however. Hurst began his career on the bench, missing the first four games of the regular season due to a foot injury. When he finally did reach the field, it was clear the tight end was light years behind other players. It took him several more weeks to get up to speed, but he was never able to establish himself as any sort of reliable target or dominating force. Ultimately, Hurst fell well short of his rookie expectations, finishing the season with just 13 receptions for 163 yards and one touchdown.

7. Case Keenum, QB, Denver Broncos

After a remarkable 2017 campaign in which he led the Minnesota Vikings to an 11-3 record in 14 games, Case Keenum earned a two-year, $36 million to take over as the Broncos’ starting quarterback. However, things in Denver did not go as planned as Keenum led them to a record of just 6-10, while completing 62.3% of his passes for 3,890 yards, 18 touchdowns and 15 interceptions. Head coach Vance Joseph, who has since been fired, challenged Keenum during the season, saying the quarterback simply had to make more plays. Meanwhile, shot-caller John Elways said Keenum will remain the quarterback, but cautioned that decision may be on borrowed time. All in all, it was a far cry from what the Broncos expected after Keenum looked like a superstar just a year ago.

6. Golden Tate, WR, Philadelphia Eagles

With the Eagles now in the playoffs and Golden Tate making plays, many are quick to look back and label the receiver one of the best mid-season pickups. However, it may be easy to forget that Tate really didn’t do much for the Eagles after they sent a 2019 third-round pick to the Detroit Lions in exchange for him. Rather, in eight games, Tate recorded just 30 receptions for 278 yards and one touchdown as he struggled to fit in Philly’s offense. His yards per reception were down under double-digits for the first time in his career and his impact on special teams was non-existent. Of course, Tate could erase half a poor season with continued success in the playoffs, but either way, he failed to live up to expectations during the regular season and could be on his way out of town once the new league year arrives in March.

5. Marcus Peters, CB, Los Angeles Rams

Marcus Peters is known as an overly-aggressive ballhawk, which has worked in his favor in recent years. It led him to back-to-back Pro Bowl nods in 2015 and 2016, landed him on the All-Pro Team in 2016 and even won him the NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year honor in 2015, among other awards and accolades. However, the Kansas City Chiefs had enough of him and shipped him off to Las Angeles last March. In a new system needing his style of play, expectations were high for Peters, who was intended to help establish a dominant defensive culture for the Rams. Instead, Peters had his worst season to date, recording just 43 tackles, eight passes defensed and three interceptions. All of those numbers were career-lows, and they weren’t helped by his 60.1 Pro Football Focus grade, which was 95th among cornerbacks league-wide.

4. Ronald Jones II, RB, Tampa Bay Buccaneers

While Saquon Barkley was clearly the best available running back in the 2018 NFL Draft, many experts believed similar quality talent could be found later in the first round and even into the second and third rounds. Suffice it to say, when the Buccaneers selected Ronald Jones II with pick No. 38 overall, they anticipated a back who would come in and compete for a starting job and, possibly, even rush for upwards of 1,000 yards. They got anything but that. Jones struggled with his field awareness out of the gate, failing to recognize running lanes, lacking patience behind his blockers, and producing little out of the backfield. He fell way behind Peyton Barber on the depth chart and failed to log a single touch in the team’s final four games, finishing his rookie season with a lowly 23 carries for 44 yards (1.9 ypc) and one touchdown.

3. Blake Bortles, QB, Jacksonville Jaguars

After leading the Jaguars to an AFC Championship Game a season ago, Tom Coughlin & Co., perhaps foolishly, put all of their eggs into the Blake Bortles basket this past season. Their belief was that he had finally turned a corner and was going to become a quarterback capable of winning big games. Instead, Bortles regressed and set the stage for what would be a wildly disappointing season across the board in Jacksonville. In 13 games, Bortles completed 60.3% of his passes for 2,718 yards, 13 touchdowns, 11 interceptions and eight fumbles. He was ultimately benched in favor of Cody Kessler despite a three-year, $54 million extension in the offseason. The end of Bortles in Jacksonville is almost a guarantee heading into the new league year.

2. Joe Flacco, QB, Baltimore Ravens

Some would argue that Joe Flacco is a disappointment more often than not, but that’s a debate for another day. When it comes to the 2018 season however, there’s no denying he was a letdown. In nine games, Flacco completed 61.2% of his passes for 2,465 yards, 12 touchdowns and six interceptions. And while those numbers are far from awful, the Ravens were 4-5 over that span and Flacco wasn’t exactly raising their odds of victory. After suffering an injury, Flacco was benched in favor of rookie quarterback Lamar Jackson, and the team never looked back. Flacco took the demotion in stride, but the avalanche had already begun. The Ravens made it clear Flacco would open the 2019 league year on the trading block and that his career in Baltimore was over. It was a rapid fall from grace for the one-time Super Bowl MVP and a disappointing end to his time as a Raven.

1. Kirk Cousins, QB, Minnesota Vikings

Kirk Cousins connected on a career-high 70.1% of his passes in 2018, tossed a career-high 30 touchdowns and amassed 4,298 yards passing, which was the second-highest total of his NFL career. Those are hardly numbers of a disappointment, right? Wrong.

While Cousins put up some solid numbers for the Vikings this past season, an ongoing issue persisted: an inability to rise to the occasion and win a big game. Some players have the ability to step up in big moments, but at this point in his career, Cousins has been unable to do so despite being provided with ideal opportunities. Such was the case in Week 17 when the Vikings needed a win against the Chicago Bears. Instead of earning his three-year, $84 million contract, Cousins bombed out and had his worst game of the season in a soul-crushing loss that saw him in a visible spat with a teammate. All the big numbers in the world don’t mean a thing when you can’t win the game you have to.

from Larry Brown Sports http://bit.ly/2shWHZL

[junker-town]

11 veteran NFL QBs who could be available in 2020, ranked

Marcus Mariota, Andy Dalton, and Teddy Bridgewater could all be on new teams in 2020.

Where will Teddy Bridgewater end up? Marcus Mariota? ... and maybe Cam Newton?

This has been a year of quarterback turnover in the NFL. Thanks to injuries, rising young passers, and outright poor play, 46 different players have thrown at least 25 passes through the first nine weeks of the 2019 season, including non-stars like Devlin Hodges, Luke Falk, and Matt Moore.

2020 will bring more turnover. While much of that will come from a hearty crop of rookie quarterbacks like Tua Tagovailoa, Justin Herbert, and Joe Burrow, let’s ignore those guys for now. Instead, let’s focus on the veteran help who could punch up the middle-class teams that won’t have the opportunity to break through the tank-tastic upper crust of next year’s NFL Draft.

Several veteran quarterbacks who made starts in 2019 will be available for interested teams in 2020. Some will revive their NFL value with big performances in new settings. Others will fall into a pattern of short-term contracts and annual relocations — i.e. the Matt Cassel plan.

Let’s break down next year’s crop of likely-to-move quarterbacks by how desirable they’ll be should they hit the open market. We’ll take out the free agents-to-be with little to no chance of moving — Tom Brady, Drew Brees, and Philip Rivers foremost among them — and backups who won’t compete for a starting job, like Chad Henne, Trevor Siemian, and Mike Glennon.

Then we’ll break the veteran talent pool into two parts: free agent acquisitions and trade targets.

2020 free agents (and likely free agents)

1. Teddy Bridgewater, Saints

Bridgewater bet on himself (and his surroundings) when he opted to turn down a two-year deal with the Dolphins in order to sign a one-year, $7.5 million contract and be the league’s highest-paid backup in New Orleans. That wager paid off.

While the Dolphins were slogging their way to the AFC’s basement and trading off talent, Bridgewater returned to the starting lineup for a meaningful, non-Week 17 game for the first time since 2015. Drew Brees’ torn thumb ligament created a massive opportunity for Bridgewater, who needed some time to shake off years’ worth of rust but eventually won all five of his starts.

Bridgewater was hugely efficient as a starter, completing nearly 70 percent of his passes for 7.9 adjusted yards per attempt and a 9:2 TD:INT ratio in that stretch. He’s been better as a Saint in limited action than he was as a Viking before the 2016 knee injury that threatened to take his career. He’ll be 27 years old in 2020 and ready for a starting role somewhere — unless the Saints can talk him into another year in New Orleans as Brees’ successor.

2. Andy Dalton, Bengals

Dalton’s been good enough to push players like Auden Tate and Alex Erickson to 100+ receiving yard performances in 2019, but hasn’t been good enough to will Cincinnati to a win. That sent him to the bench (on his birthday, no less) and gave the reins to rookie Ryan Finley. None of the $17.5 million due to Dalton in the final year of his contract is guaranteed, and he’s an obvious candidate to be released by the only NFL team he’s ever known.

Throughout his 0-8 start, Dalton was handicapped by a lack of A.J. Green, a nonexistent running game, and some terrible blocking. And though he was throwing for a career-high 281 yards per game, that was the result of an awful team trying to claw back from big deficits; his 6.7 yards per pass is his least efficient number since his rookie campaign.

But the three-time Pro Bowler, for all his warts (and 0-4 postseason record) still brings a reliable presence behind center. He deserves a shot to prove his inability to exist beyond Wild Card Weekend was truly a Bengals problem and not a Dalton one. The only issue is that he’ll be 33 years old next season and competing for a job in a crowded marketplace.

3. Marcus Mariota, Titans

The man who came one pick after Jameis Winston in the 2015 NFL Draft lost his starting job to another quarterback on this list, and it appears his time with the Titans is all but over. Mariota struggled with nagging injuries and consistency issues throughout his first five seasons in the league. That kept him from ever reaching his Heisman-winning top gear.

Oddly enough, the Titans seemed to win or lose independent of his overall play behind center. Tennessee’s most successful season under Mariota also happened to be, statistically, the quarterback’s worst as a pro. His 13:15 TD:INT ratio and 79.3 passer rating in 2017 were each career worsts, but he still managed to pilot his team to a 9-7 record and an upset win over the Chiefs in the Wild Card Round. In his best season (2016), his Titans went ... 9-7, though this time without a playoff berth to finish the year.

Mariota’s inability to spark his offense led to his benching in 2019, but he remains a useful mobile quarterback. Still, he’s thrown for 300+ yards in only 12.5 percent of his games (eight of 64). Next season will give him a chance to prove it was the Titans who had a nine-win ceiling — not Mariota.

4. Jameis Winston, Buccaneers

Since Winston entered the NFL, 2015’s top pick has been the league’s most turnover-prone quarterback. He’s only finished one of those seasons with a winning record (9-7 in 2016), which means he’s spent his budding career eating way more Ls than Ws.

He’s an impact player when he’s on, but his solid 7.9 yards per attempt over the past three seasons is every bit as attributable to having a well-stocked receiving corps (led by Mike Evans) than it is to his high-risk, high-reward philosophy. Bruce Arians’ arrival in Tampa hasn’t done much to change Winston’s ways — he’s the fully formed version of himself at this point.

The Buccaneers haven’t ranked higher than 24th in the league in yards gained per rush in any of the last four seasons, putting an extra onus on Winston to force his spots downfield. There’s a chance throwing him behind a more stable offensive line and an above-average running game could give him more space to thrive.

5. Ryan Tannehill, Titans

The former Dolphins quarterback (and genesis of the Miami Miracle) has assumed the throne in Nashville. He’s been good enough to keep Mariota on the sideline through the second half of the season — in fact, he’s been good enough that he’s currently on pace for his best year as a pro.

That pace is almost certainly unsustainable, however. Despite winning his first two starts as a Titan, cracks began to show the first time he faced a contending team in Week 9. The Panthers held him scoreless in the first half and then let him rack up yards in a second half where Tennessee never trailed by fewer than 10 points. Those sort of empty calories are a Tannehill specialty; even though they don’t show up in the box score, they’re made very apparent by the fact Tannehill has never won more than eight games in a season as a starter.

On the plus side, he’s been a boon for Titans targets like A.J. Brown and Jonnu Smith and could be a better-than-expected placeholder for a rebuilding team flush with young talent. Or he could be the injury-prone QB who missed 24 games between 2016 and 2018.

6. Case Keenum, Washington

Keenum thrived with solid blocking and a stacked receiving corps in his breakout 2017 in Minnesota. Then he was tasked with helming much worse teams in Denver and Washington and has predictably struggled. While the salad days of his Viking tenure — one where he cropped up as a top 10-ish quarterback — are likely irreplaceable, he’s been better than his losing record in Washington suggests.

Despite holes across the lineup and an offensive line that has kept him from gaining any semblance of consistency in the pocket, he completed more than 67 percent of his passes in seven games and threw more than twice as many touchdowns than interceptions. Then injuries and Washington’s eagerness to introduce rookie Dwayne Haskins to his bleak future shuffled him out of the lineup.

Granted, that’s because he’s throwing fewer deep balls — only 15 passes of 20+ yards on the season through Week 9, well behind the 56 he threw in his Minnesota breakthrough. Even so, he’s been better in Washington than he was as a Bronco. At the very least, that should make him a high-leverage backup come 2020.

7. Eli Manning, Giants

Manning will be a free agent next spring. Will he retire? Opt for free agency? Sign back on with the Giants for another year of mentoring Daniel Jones?

Either way, he’s not adding much to an NFL offense at age 39. He’s probably worth signing if you think you’re going to run into the Patriots in the playoffs, though.

Trade target wild cards

1. Cam Newton, Panthers

Newton’s 2019 regular season is over after he was placed on injured reserve due to the Lisfranc injury that has kept him from the field for all but two games. If the Panthers are enamored with backup Kyle Allen — who has piloted the team into the NFC Wild Card hunt in Newton’s absence — they can move on from the most prolific passer in franchise history without any guaranteed money remaining on the final year of his contract.

Trading Newton doesn’t make a ton of sense. His 2020 salary is reasonable and he’s still, you know, Cam Newton. But if team owner David Tepper, who purchased the team in 2018, decides to shake things up, the 2015 NFL MVP could wind up on the trading block. It’s unlikely, but that doesn’t mean it’s impossible. Allen’s passer rating since 2018 is better than Newton’s 90.5, and the veteran quarterback’s last eight games as a Panther have all ended in defeat — though he was dealing with a variety of different nagging injuries in each of them.

What are you getting from 2020 Newton? Good question! It’s doubtful he’ll get back to that MVP form, but even 85 percent of that performance would make him an above-average starter opposing defenses would have headaches containing. If a team out there can give him the blocking and wide receivers the Panthers have struggled to procure, it could lead to a renaissance for the dual-threat QB.

2. Nick Foles, Jaguars

Foles threw only eight passes in the first half of the season thanks to a broken collarbone, but regained his starting role in Jacksonville once he came off injured reserve. If he plays up to expectations, he’ll be nigh untouchable for the Jags, who are counting on him to be the missing piece of their “legit contenders” puzzle.

But let’s say he doesn’t. Let’s say he plays roughly as well as rookie sixth-round pick Gardner Minshew II did in his eight-game stretch as the team’s top passer. There’s a chance the younger QB gets handed the reins while the Jaguars’ front office works out a way to unload a player it gave $50 million guaranteed in 2018.

The biggest caveat with Foles is his inconsistency, especially when he’s not wearing an Eagles uniform. And if he’s on the trading block in 2020, it’s safe to say that’s been an issue again over the last half of 2019. But hey, he’s a Super Bowl MVP.

3. Josh Rosen (or Ryan Fitzpatrick), Dolphins

Miami’s massive rebuild has sold off veteran talent for draft assets, and the crown jewel of that haul will be the quarterback it likely takes with what promises to be a top-five pick. That young passer is going to need a stable backup as he acclimates to the league. That’s likely Fitzpatrick — the man whose three-touchdown game against the Jets led his team to its first win of 2019 — but Rosen could get a chance to restore his value in South Beach to start 2020.

The more likely scenario, however, is that Rosen gets traded in the offseason after struggling with one of the league’s worst teams for the second straight year. While he’s shown flashes of capability behind slipshod offensive lines and hollowed-out WR depth charts, the former UCLA QB has been mostly regrettable as a pro. His career stats through 1.5 seasons: a 54.8 percent completion rate, 12 touchdowns and 19 interceptions in 19 games, and a gruesome 4.4 adjusted yards per pass.

But! He’s only 22 years old and still moldable. Some team will believe it has the right environment to foster his talent.

4. Joe Flacco, Broncos

The Broncos will have to carve out more than $50 million in salary cap space to keep Flacco in orange the next two years, which is ... not ideal. They’d eat more than $13 million in dead cap if they released him before next season, which makes him pretty tough to walk away from outright. That’s so, so much money for a player who made four starts in the month of October, threw one touchdown pass, and landed on injured reserve to kick off November.

Flacco is likely untradeable at that number. But that’s what it looked like in 2019, and John Elway threw some Day 3 picks at the Ravens anyway. Denver’s got two young QBs on the roster it can turn to in Brandon Allen and Drew Lock. If anyone comes calling on Flacco — and again, that’s pretty unlikely — the Broncos will listen.

[ctastrophe]

"yea, that's my boy. that's right my boy."

[ctastrophe]

✩ -- ( tate & tom )

ultimate ship meme | not accepting

Disagreements:

Who is more likely to raise their voice? tateWho threatens to leave but never actually does? tom...tate...Who actually keeps their word and leaves? tateWho trashes the house? probably tate when he's in a super bad moodDo either of them get physical? tateHow often do they argue/disagree? often enoughWho is the first to apologise? tom

Sex:

Who is on top? tateWho is on the bottom? tomWho has the strangest desires? ...tate?Any kinks? of course. Who’s dominant in bed? tateIs head ever in the equation? yes and oftenIf so, who is better at performing it? tom.Ever had sex in public? probably.Who moans the most? tom Who leaves the most marks? tateWho screams the loudest? probably tomWho is the more experienced of the two? um...Do they ‘fuck’ or ‘make love’? fuck but tom thinks it's love (tate sometimes thinks they make love too)Rough or soft? rought almost alwaysHow long do they usually last? ranges on their amount of time. Is protection used? noDoes it ever get boring? nopeWhere is the strangest place they’d have sex? probably tour bus while it was moving

Family:

Do your muses plan on having children/or have children? nopeIf so, how many children do your muses want/have? 0Who is the favorite parent? tomWho is the authoritative parent? tateWho is more likely to allow the children to have a day off school? tateWho lets the children indulge in sweets and junk food when the other isn’t around? tateWho turns up to extra curricular activities to support their children? tom - tate if he was promised reward sexWho goes to parent teacher interviews? tom - tate if he was promised reward sexWho changes the diapers? tomWho gets up in the middle of the night to feed the baby? tomWho spends the most time with the children? tomWho packs their lunch boxes? tomWho gives their children ‘the talk’? tomWho cleans up after the kids? tomWho worries the most? tomWho are the children more likely to learn their first swear word from? tate

Affection:

Who likes to cuddle? tomWho is the little spoon? usually tom unless tate needs comfort Who gets naughty in the most inappropriate of places? tateWho struggles to keep their hands to themself? tateHow long can they cuddle until one becomes uncomfortable? about 5 minutesWho gives the most kisses? tomWhat is their favourite non-sexual activity? tate likes to watch tom study, tom likes to watch tate performWhere is their favourite place to cuddle? the bed.Who is more likely to playfully grope the other?  tateHow often do they get time to themselves? often enough.

Sleeping:

Who snores? hmmm neither?If both do, who snores the loudest? n/aDo they share a bed or sleep separately? unless they're fighting they shareIf they sleep together, do they cozy up together or lay far apart? they’re close but tate can’t fall asleep cuddledWho talks in their sleep? probably tateWhat do they wear to bed? sleep pants or shorts or naked.Are either of your muses insomniacs? both on occasion.Can sleeping pills be found by the bedside? noDo they wrap their limbs around each other or just lay side by side? legs intertwined at the beginning but apart by the morningWho wakes up with bed hair? both - but really tomWho wakes up first? tom.Who prepares breakfast in bed for the other? tom probably wouldWhat is their favourite sleeping position? tate likes to sleep on his stomach with his arm underneath tom even though he complains that it’s asleep when he wakes up and will push tom off if he needed to moveWho hogs the sheets? tateDo they set an alarm each night? no. Can a television be found in their bedroom? noWho has nightmares? both on occasionWho has ridiculous dreams? tomWho sprawls out and takes up most of the bed?  tate on purpose tom on accident Who makes the bed?  tom What time is bed time?  varies anywhere from like 9 pm to 3 am Any routines/rituals before bed? tate has to do pushups, crunches, and some jumping right before bed every night or he can’t sleep Who’s the grumpiest when they wake up? it varies. they can both be grumpy.

Work:

Who is the busiest? tateWho rakes in the highest income? tateAre any of your muses unemployed? not currentlyWho takes the most sick days? um tate?Who is more likely to turn up late to work? tateWho sucks up to their boss? neither…What are their jobs? tate - bass player, tom - future doctorWho stresses the most? tomDo your muses enjoy or despise their careers/occupations? so far? enjoyment.Are your muses financially stable?  they're okay.

Home:

Who does the washing? both tate is picky af and would probably yell if tom did his Who takes out the trash? tate…okay tom Who does the ironing? neitherWho does the cooking? a little of both but tate likes tom to cook moreWho is more likely to burn the house down just trying? …tate...he forgetsWho is messier? tateWho leaves the toilet roll empty? tateWho leaves their dirty clothes on the floor? both - but really tateWho forgets to flush the toilet? hmmmmmm neither? Who is the prankster around the house? tateWho loses the car keys when it comes time to go somewhere? tateWho mows the lawn? what lawnWho answers the telephone? tom….Who does the vacuuming? tomWho does the groceries? tomWho takes the longest to shower? tateWho spends the most time in the bathroom? tate

Miscellaneous:

Is money a problem? nopeHow many cars do they own? one… but neither really driveDo they own their home or do they rent? rent - apartmentDo they live near the coast or deep in the countryside? near the coastDo they live in the city or in the country?  cityDo they enjoy their surroundings? sometimesWhat do they do when they’re away from each other? skype, sext, argueWhere did they first meet? at a party How did they first meet? at a party and then again through friends Who spends the most money when out shopping? tateWho’s more likely to flash their assets? who knows probably tate Who finds it amusing when the other trips over? tateAny mental issues? controlling, abusive, insecurity, paranoiaWho’s terrified of bugs? depends on the bugWho kills the spiders around the house? tate. tom probably catches and releases Their favourite place? who knows…marsWho pays the bills? right now tate but eventually tom will help cause tate don’t like free-loaders hahaDo they have any fears for their future? naturally. who doesn't?Who’s more likely to surprise the other with a fancy dinner? tomWho uses up all of the hot water? tate :) Who’s the tallest? tateWho’s more likely to just randomly hop into the shower with the other? tateWho wanders around in their underwear? both but probably tate more Who sings the loudest when singing along to the radio? probably tomWhat do they tease each other about? tate calls tom a goody two shoes and also doctor boy, tom probably teases tate for the time he takes to get ready Who is more likely to cringe at the other’s fashion sense at times? probably tom?Do they have mutual friends? yesWho crushed first?  probably tomAny alcohol or substance related problems? tateWho is more likely to stumble home, drunk, at 3am? tateWho swears the most? tate