The Great Rabbino Wraps Up the Jewish NFL Season

rabbi-fine-metrodome

The Great Rabbino at the Metrodome

It was a down year for Jews in the NFL as most of the stalwarts from recent years past could not find a team to play for this year. The season began without David Binn, Sage Rosenfels, Kyle Kosier, Adam Goldberg, Igor Olshanksy, or Greg Camarillo on NFL rosters. Camarillo did eventually find his way onto a team, signing with the New Orleans Saints during the season. But he finished with just 4 catches on the season for 44 yards.  In terms of highlights, the top play of the year for Jewish NFLers belongs to punter and kick holder Adam Podlesh‘s 2-point conversion. As for the rest, most of the great Jewish NFLers are Offensive Linemen; we’re not complaining, but they don’t have too many highlights.
Here is how everyone checked out:
Gabe Carimi was one of the bigger stories of the Jewish sports year, but unfortunately for being benched. The Bears O-Line struggled and Carimi was a part of that. The Great Rabbino is still a big fan, and hopefully with a healthy off-season he can come back better than ever.
Brian de la Puente had a nice season blocking for Drew Brees and a slew of RBs in New Orleans. He started all 16 games for the Saints.
Mitchell Schwartz, a top draft pick for the Cleveland Browns in 2012, started as well on the Browns’ O-Line. Looks like he and Trent Richardson were good finds for a struggling team.
Fullback Erik Lorig scored his first NFL touchdown. He started 7 games for the Bucs and had 12 receptions for 83 yards.

Antonio Garay

Antonio Garay had only one sack in his 16 games. He did however keep up his amusing Twitter account @antoniogaray71.
Julian Edelman (who we’ll claim for The Tribe) had 21 receptions for 235 yards and 3 TDs. He also continued to return some punts and kickoffs returning 1 punt for a TD. He ended the season on the Injured Reserve list.
Taylor Mays played in all 16 games and should appear in the playoffs for the Bengals. He had 22 tackles.
Adam Podlesh had another solid season for the Bears. He averaged 42 yards per punt with 34 inside the 20. He also scored a nice 2 point conversion.
And we have decided to give Geoff Schwartz the TGR NFL Player of the Year Award. Even though Schwartz didn’t start for the Vikings O-Line, he was a vital part of their blocking scheme. Which as we all know led the way for Adrian Peterson to have one of the greatest and historic seasons of all time. Congrats to the Schwartz.
Another bizarre year in the NFL. Keep an on eye on Mays and Schwartz in the playoffs.
And Let Us Say…Amen.
 
A version of this post first appeared on TheGreatRabbino.com.
(Photo: Wikimedia Commons)