Housing is a human right and your NFL week 2 preview
With all the hype surrounding America’s showpiece sporting event, you’d be forgiven if you missed the news, broken to coincide with the Super Bowl, that Quicken Loans had signed a four-year contract with the NFL to be its exclusive mortgage sponsor.
Quicken—founded by Dan Gilbert, owner of the Cleveland Cavaliers—has been the largest provider of residential mortgages in the US since 2017 and already have a range of sports sponsorship deals with NASCAR, the PGA Tour and, of course, the NBA through the Cavs.
Last year, Quicken agreed to a $32.5 million no-fault settlement with the United States government after they were accused of knowingly approving hundreds of loans insured by the Federal Housing Authority (FHA) to unqualified borrowers, When the borrowers inevitably defaulted, the lawsuit alleged, Quicken made a profit at a cost to the taxpayer.
In one example, a borrower was granted a mortgage based on two-year old information, defaulted after one payment, and the government paid Quicken nearly $500,000 as a result.
When signing the deal, Quicken become the NFL’s first mortgage partner since Ameriquest, which signed a three-year, $55 million deal back in October 2004.
However, less than a year later the firm announced it was setting aside $325 million to settle investigations by no fewer than 30 state attorneys general because of allegations it preyed on borrowers. By 2006, it closed all its retail offices and investigations continue to this day into how much the actions of Ameriquest and other mortgage lenders contributed to the contributed to the worldwide financial crash of 2007.
Needless to say, Ameriquest did not see out its contract with the NFL which makes the news the league had entered back into the mortgage partnership all that more interesting.
It’s clear that the reason for any fraud in the mortgage market is because there’s always a quick buck to be made. We have normalised the commodification of housing to such an extent that trillions of euro are tied up in residential property worldwide. Not as primary homes, but as investments. Governments encourage these investments through tax breaks and bank bailouts while, at the same time, slashing the funding for social housing programmes.
And this is not just a US problem. If anything, it’s worse in Ireland where we’ve in excess of 80,000 people on housing waiting lists and more than 10,000 people homeless.
But it doesn’t need to be this way. Housing is a human right. Article 25 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, states that:
Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself and of his family, including food, clothing, housing and medical care and necessary social services, and the right to security in the event of unemployment, sickness, disability, widowhood, old age or other lack of livelihood in circumstances beyond his control.
It’s worth remembering that the next time Quicken spend millions of dollars on a playful Super Bowl commercial.
Game of the week
Baltimore Ravens @ Houston Texans
Sunday, 9.25pm
You can’t really ask for a worse start in the AFC than taking on the Chiefs and Ravens back to back. But that’s exactly the scenario faced by Bill O’Brien and the Houston Texans. O’Brien can hardly forget that this game last year was a disaster for his side. They gave up over 250 yards on the ground, while Lamar Jackson had an equally good day through the air, completing 17 of 24 passes for 222 yards and four touchdowns.
It doesn’t bode well for Houston that Jackson is coming off the best passing day of his career last week and looks to have taken the next step in his development when it comes to throwing the ball.
Even without Nuke Hopkins, the Texans offence looked okay last week. However, the offensive line — which had actually improved a lot in 2019—were awful against Kansas City and proved that, no matter how good your quarterback is, you can’t have him running for his life on every play.
Verdict: This could get real ugly, real quickly for the Texans, depending on what sort of statement the Ravens want to make. However, expect Baltimore to take their foot off the gas in the fourth quarter while still winning by two scores.
6pm kickoff worth watching on GamePass
Philadelphia Eagles @ LA Rams
Sunday, 6pm
Just how bad are the Eagles, and how good are the Rams? That’s the question posed in this early kickoff. I predicted Philly to win their opener last week against the Washington Professional Football Team because they have, on paper, a decent rushing attack and were coming up against 2019’s 31st ranked run defence. However, they managed just 57 yards on 17 carries.
I’m still not quite sure how the Rams beat the Cowboys last week. They averaged just 3.8 yards per carry on the ground and Jared Goff failed to complete a single touchdown throw. And yet, they secured victory over a Dallas Cowboys team that many predicted could have a very good season. Some eejit even said they were a Super Bowl contender.
Verdict: Victory in this game will come down to how well the Eagles’ interior offensive line can hold up against Aaron Donald. Zack Martin is arguably the best guard in the league and he couldn’t do it last week, so expect Donald to dominate again in a Rams win.
TV games that are on far too late for people on this side of the Atlantic
Cincinnati Bengals @ Cleveland Browns — Browns
New England Patriots @ Seattle Seahawks—Seahawks
New Orleans Saints @ Las Vegas Raiders—Saints
Games you’ll only watch on RedZone for fantasy implications
Jacksonville Jaguars @ Tennessee Titans—Titans
Carolina Panthers @ Tampa Bay Buccaneers —Bucs
Denver Broncos @ Pittsburgh Steelers—Steelers
San Francisco 49ers @ New York Jets—49ers
Buffalo Bills @ Miami Dolphins—Bills
Minnesota Vikings @ Indianapolis Colts—Colts
Detroit Lions @ Green Bay Packers —Packers
Atlanta Falcons @ Dallas Cowboys—Falcons
New York Football Giants @ Chicago Bears—Bears
Washington Football Team @ Arizona Cardinals—Cardinals
Kansas City Chiefs @ LA Chargers—Chiefs
