The 5 O’Clock Club: Poll Rewind - 2017 yardage for Matt Jones + AFC Championship challenge

The 5 o’clock club aims to provide a forum for reader-driven discussion at a time of day when there isn’t much NFL news being published. Feel free to introduce topics that interest you in the comments below.

Welcome to the Poll Rewind series!

As you probably know already, each 5 o’clock club post ends with a poll question. Usually, the results are forgotten within a day or two, but no longer!

Over the course of the off-season (From now to July 2018) we will be re-visiting some (not all) of the results of polls that were published from June to December 2017.

Several of the writers on Hogs Haven — Ken, Mark, James Dorsett & Cadillactica — have agreed to help me out with the poll reviews by adding commentary so you aren’t stuck with my voice all the time.

For today, though, the comments are mine.

We go back to 21 July 2017, when the future for Matt Jones was a little bit murky. It was clear that the Redskins were moving on to Rob Kelley and Samaje Perine, but there was still the possibility that MJ could be traded or picked up by another team.

So, the poll involved the question of whether Matt Jones would find a home, and how successful he could be in 2017.

How many yards from scrimmage will Matt Jones have in 2017?

• 0 - 54%
• between 1-300 33%

As you can see, the level of belief in Matt Jones was not high. More than half the people responding to the poll predicted that he would not get a single scrimmage yard in the 2017 season. And 87% of respondents thought he would have no more than 300 yards in the season.

That would represent a huge fall off for the Redskins’ former 3rd round draft pick and 2016 starting running back. This was, after all, the next ‘beast mode’, and the guy that had convinced the Redskins coaching staff and front office to give up on Alfred Morris, who had accumulated 3 back-to-back 1,000-yard seasons prior to Matt Jones’ arrival.

Has any player ever fallen from the collective consciousness of the fan base faster than Matt Jones? At the start of 2016 he was the team’s future at running back. By 2017, I doubt whether most fans even knew whether he was on an NFL roster.

It turns out that he spent the season on the Indianapolis Colts squad, where he was active for 5 games, and got 5 carries for 14 yards and no pass receptions.

He is under contract with the Colts for 2018 for $719,000 (non-guaranteed).

Signature Bet for AFC Conference Championship

I’ve decided to back the Jacksonville Jaguars to upset the New England Patriots in Sunday’s AFC Championship Game.

So, anyone out there who wants to take the other side of the bet by backing the World Champion New England Patriots on Sunday can offer me a signature bet.

I am assuming there will be more than one taker on my offer, so here’s the deal:

Use the comments section below to outline the stakes.

• Tell me what I have to write in my sig-line if New England wins.
• Tell me what you will write in your sig-line if Jacksonville wins.

I’ll take the bet that I find the most interesting or entertaining.

Remember, it’s no good saying that I have to write something horribly embarrassing if you only offer to write that you love your mother. If you want me to risk something, you’ve got to have some skin in the game. My risk and your risk should be balanced.

I’m looking for a little creativity here. Make me laugh or make it really hurt, but come up with a bet where the stakes will amuse us all.

• You’ve got until Sunday morning 10 a.m. Eastern Standard Time to put your bet in the comments, but put it in this post so I can find it.
• I’ll choose the bet that I’m willing to take and announce it in the comments section of this post before the game on Sunday.
• It may be that you want to propose more than one set of stakes — no problem; you can do that. Just please post each set of stakes in a different comment so I can be clear what I’m reading.

Take the risk if you dare... if you think the Patriots can beat the Jaguars on Sunday, then get in line to embarrass me. But if you want me to accept your challenge, it needs to be more interesting than anyone else’s!

The loser has to post the new sig-line no later than Tuesday, 23 January 2018, and keep it until 1 July 2018.

Who’s up to the challenge?