NFL Thread

[Bastet]

17 hours ago, Lamb18 said:

So who do you want to win next weekend? Cowboys or Buccaneers?

If not for Brady, the Bucs.  Because of his putrid presence:  As always, the meteor that hits the field. 

Barring that, who cares -- the 49ers (whom I don't like, either, but hate far less) will take the winner out in the next round, and I will enjoy it.

Just as I enjoyed the eliminated Lions ruining Aaron Rodgers's season.  And letting the Seahawks play another game, but mostly that.  Spend the off-season reading some science textbooks, you dipshit.

[merylinkid]

1 hour ago, Popples said:

 

Yesterday I was thinking "How great would it be if Hamlin were out of the hospital and on the sidelines for the playoffs."   Looks like that could happen.  

[Carey]

If he's on the sidelines, then Buffalo will pretty much get that bye the 2 seeds used to have this time 3 years ago

Edited January 9, 2023 by Carey

[Crashcourse]

The BREAKING NEWS! headlines I first saw were misleading because I thought he'd been discharged from the hospital and was returning home to Buffalo.  Then later on I found out he's being transferred to a hospital in Buffalo and not returning home.  That's what the headlines should have been.

Edited January 9, 2023 by Crashcourse
clarification

[Carey]

26 minutes ago, Crashcourse said:

The BREAKING NEWS! headlines I first saw were misleading because I thought he'd been discharged from the hospital and was returning home to Buffalo.  Then later on I found out he's being transferred to a hospital in Buffalo and not returning home.  That's what the headlines should have been.

First Before Right: The Adam Schefter Story

[meep.meep]

4 hours ago, JTMacc99 said:

I think this lineup makes sense.

• Of course Dallas and Tom Brady get the Monday night game. That's the best ratings matchup this weekend.
• Seattle at San Francisco gets the mediocre Saturday afternoon slot. They can't be the 1:00 game because west coast teams, and it's too boring to be a primetime game with the 9.5 point spread indicating it could be uncompetitive at best. (This would have been Sunday night had the Packers won.)
• Chargers at Jacksonville has the Los Angeles TV market, so it shouldn't be slotted into 1:00 on Sunday, which is where it belongs as far as national interest goes, so it goes to Saturday night. 
• That leaves our three Sunday games. The Giants/Vikings has the NY market and is a 3 point game. The Bengals/Ravens have small TV markets, is a 6 point spread, but the Bengals have Joe Burrow and are last year's AFC champions. And Buffalo/Miami is a 10.5 point spread, and is right up there with the Niners/Seahawks on the "least likely to be a good game" scale. 
• So the Bills get to lead off the Sunday lineup rather than putting them in the night game where there's potential for blow out and people turning off the game. The likely competitive game with the big TV market ends up in the middle game, and Burrow and the Bengals go to primetime. 

The problem with putting this much thought into it, is that the league will change the games around at a moment's notice.  They'll "flex" a game later if they decide that it'll draw a bigger audience than the one they picked.

 

[Chit Chat]

48 minutes ago, Crashcourse said:

Then later on I found out he's being transferred to a hospital in Buffalo and not returning home.

That makes sense.  I'm sure they don't want him out in any type of crowd at the moment.  He doesn't need to catch a cold or the flu, or worse.  

[Chit Chat]

FWIW, I read that this is the first NFL postseason since 1999 to feature all 3 Florida teams.  If the Bucs fail, I've got some backup teams to root for!   

[meowmommy]

44 minutes ago, ChitChat said:

FWIW, I read that this is the first NFL postseason since 1999 to feature all 3 Florida teams.  If the Bucs fail, I've got some backup teams to root for!   

And all three are favored to fall flat on their faces.  Jacksonville could surprise, of course.

Normally I would be fervently anti-TB 12, but there's no power on earth that can make me root for Dall-ass.  Go GOAT!  Just this once!

2 hours ago, Crashcourse said:

Then later on I found out he's being transferred to a hospital in Buffalo and not returning home.  That's what the headlines should have been.

It would have been pretty miraculous to go from cardiac arrest and vented for several days to home in a week, even for a young athlete.  Most people don't realize just how debilitating the whole process can be.

[Lamb18]

I'm watching the Dallas/Washington game, thanks to NFL Plus. Anyhow, why didn't Heinecke play? Is he injured?

Also the opening special teams fiascos were pretty funny! First the kicker drops the ball and Commanders recovers on the 20 yard line. Next play--first NFL play ever for Howell--is Howell throwing a pass for a touchdown. Dallas kick returner muffins catching the ball and a Commander guy nabs it.

I guess Commanders are my underdog team of the year, despite their awful owner. Jaguars in second place.

[Irlandesa]

On 1/8/2023 at 3:25 PM, mojoween said:

Feels like Chicago landing the number one pick came out of nowhere.  And they were helped by, of all people, Lovie Smith.

Love it!  I think Lovie knew he'd get fired.  The Texans never felt behind him.  So I love that he likely robbed them of the #1 pick.

13 hours ago, ScorpioSoul said:

Please stop making everything about race. I am just so sick of the pearl clutching every time a team fires or doesn't hire a black coach. Yes the Saturday thing was strange, but he has ties to the team.

A number of black coaches on the Colts staff also had ties to The Colts with actual NFL coaching experience.  Making it about race is usually about the larger picture which is why race comes into play.  It's not about Job A or Job Z but about the pattern developed when you look at all the jobs, A to Z.

10 hours ago, Magog said:

I also don't want the Cowboys winning the Super Bowl.

I'm sooo torn.  Rodgers essentially got Mike McCarthy fired and as a Green Bay fan, I always thought he deserved better than getting fired with only a few games to go in the season even if they were playing poorly.  Part of me would absolutely love for him to pull off a feat that no other NFL coach has done by getting a second SB ring with another team.

But goodness I hate Jerry Jones.

10 hours ago, roamyn said:

After the game, the announcers said it sounded like Aaron told one of his teammates "I think I'm gonna keep this jersey". 

Why else would he say that unless he already knew he was leaving?

He said that to a Lions player who asked for his jersey, which he does give away usually.  Does this mean it's the end for him?  I don't know.  It would depend on if he felt that he has "won."

His play had been good but not as great when they drafted Jordan Love in the first round. I do not think it's a coincidence that he followed up that draft pick with two MVP-level seasons.  It's something very similar to what happened with Favre when Aaron started showing promise as a QB.  A competitive fire was lit. 

Had they traded them last season, like I wanted them to, then GB likely would have money and draft picks to rebuild like Seattle.  Instead, he got them to commit to him with a monster extension that they're stuck with even if they decide to go with Love or Rodgers retires. 

And what happens this season?  His play tanks.  He lost his best receiver and broke his thumb but I'd have to think GB might have done just as well with Love at QB this year and that's a problem.

I think he wants to set the terms of his departure from GB. It has always been that way.  The only way to make it easy is if he retires but I don't think he will make it easy if he suspects, at all, that the team would rather move on to Love. So this offseason will be a dance of trying to convince him that they want him back and will be disappointed if he retires even if they want him to retire.

tl;dr: He says he doesn't want to hold the team hostage but from my experience as a GB fan, he absolutely wants to hold the team hostage.

[Court]

Look here yall. I'm cursed to be a Dallas/Atl fan for life. Don't ask how I ended up here in this misery. I'm a realistic fan. 

 

So that being said, there's zero chance Dallas wins the second round of playoffs so cheer for them to beat wax statue Brady. The offense and Dak is awful and the defense can't do it all. Because I fear Tampa has a chance to win the second round. 

[Carey]

Just now, Court said:

So that being said, there's zero chance Dallas wins the second round of playoffs so cheer for them to beat wax statue Brady. The offense and Dak is awful and the defense can't do it all. Because I fear Tampa has a chance to win the second round. 

The only chance Tampa has in winning the second round is if Minnesota beats New York

[Chit Chat]

23 minutes ago, Court said:

Because I fear Tampa has a chance to win the second round. 

Sadly, the Bucs normally tank on night games.   Hoping they can pull it together though.  Again, no illusions that they're Super Bowl ready, but we won't jump ship!  

[Moose135]

2 hours ago, Irlandesa said:

But goodness I hate Jerry Jones.

So say we all.

[JTMacc99]

15 hours ago, Lamb18 said:

I'm watching the Dallas/Washington game, thanks to NFL Plus. Anyhow, why didn't Heinecke play? Is he injured?

Once they were eliminated, playing the rookie was a pretty easy choice for the coaching staff. They know darn well what they have in Heinecke.  Howell, like every other rookie QB in the 2022 draft other than Pickett, entered the league with a "Probably not ready to play this year" comment in his scouting report.

He was productive at NC, but there's a reason he wasn't taken until the fourth round. Rivera's had him on the team the whole year. He saw enough to think it would be a good idea to give the kid an NFL start and see how it goes. It gives the team some very useful insight about the kid as they form a plan for the QB room for 2023.

[mojoween]

I have GOT to do something about all the dust flying around this house. 

 

[merylinkid]

19 hours ago, JTMacc99 said:

Once they were eliminated, playing the rookie was a pretty easy choice for the coaching staff. They know darn well what they have in Heinecke.  Howell, like every other rookie QB in the 2022 draft other than Pickett, entered the league with a "Probably not ready to play this year" comment in his scouting report.

Wentz was supposed to start.   But he said, nah play the rookie, give him a chance.  He even gave Howell's family his box so they could watch him play in his first NFL game.   Since Dallas fell apart, it worked out okay.   But if Dallas had remembered they had a chance at the #1 Seed if they won, it might have not looked like a good idea.     

[JTMacc99]

1 hour ago, merylinkid said:

Wentz was supposed to start.   But he said, nah play the rookie, give him a chance.  He even gave Howell's family his box so they could watch him play in his first NFL game

That's really interesting! I hadn't heard that part of it.

I was listening to some reporters talk about the Giants decision to elevate Davis Webb from the practice squad the last two weeks and start him week 18. They said that moves like that resonate with the players when they see a coach do that. Webb worked hard on the practice squad all year, and by adding him to the active roster for two games, he not only got to play but he got two active roster paychecks. Which is a BIG increase over practice squad.

Also, it was reported that the Dolphins tried to sign Webb off of the Giants practice squad (before signing Mike Glennon ::shudder::) and Webb chose to stay with the Giants. I'm not sure if that factored into the Giants decision to elevate him, but it might have.

[meowmommy]

Damar Hamlin has been discharged from the hospital in Buffalo.  😁

[estellasmum]

Tua has been ruled out from playing this weekend. I'm shocked, but relieved. 

[mojoween]

This might just be the craziest tweet I have ever seen.  

 

[JTMacc99]

1 hour ago, estellasmum said:

Tua has been ruled out from playing this weekend. I'm shocked, but relieved. 

He wants to play.

Doctors: "No."

[Chit Chat]

Quote

When Super Bowl IV was played #OTD in 1970 at Tulane Stadium, it had one of the most "unique" halftime shows of all-time: A reenactment of the Battle of New Orleans from the War of 1812.
 

Interesting.  Might've been better than some of the musical acts we've seen over the years!!  

[Wildcard]

Quote

Tua has been ruled out from playing this weekend. I'm shocked, but relieved. 

As a life-long Dolphins fan, I'm happy about this development. There's no need to risk his health for one game,

[merylinkid]

there is only one response to that video:

Topic:  Honestly I think the Super Bowl shows have gotten over produced.   I was fine with Up with People.   Although Re-Enacting the Battle of New Orleans is more than a bit odd.

[Guest]

1 hour ago, ChitChat said:

Quote

When Super Bowl IV was played #OTD in 1970 at Tulane Stadium, it had one of the most "unique" halftime shows of all-time: A reenactment of the Battle of New Orleans from the War of 1812.
 

Interesting.  Might've been better than some of the musical acts we've seen over the years!!  

So crap being deposited on the field at halftime has been a long-standing tradition!

[roamyn]

5 hours ago, tracyscott76 said:

So crap being deposited on the field at halftime has been a long-standing tradition!

Eh, halftime, next Monday night's game.  What's the difference.

[Carey]

10 hours ago, estellasmum said:

Tua has been ruled out from playing this weekend. I'm shocked, but relieved. 

Not shocked & relieved.  As mentioned, safety first.  Putting in the other factors makes this game & his attendance rather meaningless.  While Tua showed that he would not completely crumble in the elements, he wasn't that great early on.

I do feel for the guy.  Seems like a nice person, but there's nothing he can do about his inactive status, and that's all for the best

[morriss]

Alright! Alright! Alright!    Time for the annual Cowboys "shit their pants" show.....🤣

[Carey]

So I had a dream prior to this morning where I slept through the postseason.  It must have been a nightmare since I missed the playoffs & Super Bowl, but THEN?  I looked at the statistics & noticed that the Bengals had entered the 4X AFC champs category, but then Dallas moved from a 3rd-place tie for most Lombardi Trophies to a 3-way first place tie at SIX.

I can't remember if I was more stunned than livid or the opposite.  I guess the good news is that I woke up & it was just a bad DREAM!

[xaxat]

Until today, I had no idea that JJ Watt was a host on Saturday Night Live.

Congrats on the career. See you in Canton.

[cambridgeguy]

1 hour ago, xaxat said:

Until today, I had no idea that JJ Watt was a host on Saturday Night Live.

The Mannings, Brady, and Watt have all done it.  I'd rank them Peyton>JJ>Eli>Brady.  I'd rank Peyton's United way sketch and JJ's Madden 21 one as the best among all 4.

 

[Chit Chat]

8 hours ago, morriss said:

Alright! Alright! Alright!    Time for the annual Cowboys "shit their pants" show.

Don't forget that my Bucs tend to shit their pants during primetime games.  This game is literally a crapshoot for both teams. 

[Carey]

Don't forget that Tom Brady is undefeated against the Cowboys.  That may change, but I'm not picking against TB12 until he loses

[meowmommy]

3 hours ago, cambridgeguy said:

I'd rank them Peyton>JJ>Eli>Brady.  I'd rank Peyton's United way sketch and JJ's Madden 21 one as the best among all 4.

That United Way sketch never fails to make me laugh out loud, and I have no sense of humor.  Peyton did an amazing job.

[Chit Chat]

1 hour ago, meowmommy said:

Peyton did an amazing job.

Peyton has really good comedic timing.  He's been funny on SNL and all of the commercials he done.  I love the latest one where they're doing charades and Cooper gets to shine!  

1 hour ago, Carey said:

Don't forget that Tom Brady is undefeated against the Cowboys.  That may change, but I'm not picking against TB12 until he loses

The team has got to pull it together though.   Of course, we have a lot of injuries (as do other teams), but there are days when our receivers can't catch shit, then other days where they're superheroes!  I hope that group shows up for this next game. 

[mojoween]

I know this horse is long out of the barn, but I thought about it again when they brought up how many Raiders records Derek Carr has - quarterbacks getting the yardage and TD count whenever a touchdown is scored is stupid.  Like, if you throw a five yard out rout, and the receiver then runs 65 more yards and scores, how is that credited to the QB?  The receiver did most of the damn work.

On a completely unrelated note, the AFC Championship game in Atlanta’s dome (provided it is KC and Buffalo) sucks.

[merylinkid]

They asked Indy and Detroit both of which have domes.   So I think it was always going to be in a dome to avoid either team having the advantage of weather.   Which kinda sucks, because the whole point of the Bills going for the #1 seed was to make everyone come to Buffalo in January.    Not that KC in January is any great shakes either.   Indy and Detroit said no.   Indy definitely already had a conflict on that date.   I am going to assume Detroit did too.   Atlanta got it by probably being the only stadium/city without something else going on that weekend.

[Carey]

As mentioned elsewhere, this might be a situation (neutral site conference title game) that is here to stay.  At first I wasn't a fan of it, but then I was okay with it.  Similar to New England having to go to Pittsburgh a long time ago, it's not much of a hinderance for Kansas City.  Everyone else?  Probably.  Cincinnati might be able to deal with it, and if they get to Buffalo & beat them, then this is a moot point.

Until it isn't.  The closest I could think of in terms of a last minute change becoming sorta permanent was six years ago when the NFL pushed the Steelers/KC game back over 7 hours.  It was one of the final years, if not the final year where the Sunday divisional round was 1:00 & 4:45 in terms of kickoff before moving to 3:00 and 6:30 to emulate the following weeks start times.

So when a change happens over a tough case, there will be people complaining that the league takes advantage of a one time thing.  IMO, this was slated to occur later anyway, but probably due to other factors in life 

[bluegirl147]

1 hour ago, Carey said:

As mentioned elsewhere, this might be a situation (neutral site conference title game) that is here to stay. 

What about time zones?  Some teams don't play as well in other time zones.  Steelers don't do well on the West Coast. So what if it's say SF and Philly one year? Do they meet in the middle?

And when will the neutral site be decided each year?  Will they choose a city that is an equal distance from each team?

And let's talk money.  This year money that would have been spent in KC if they were to host the Championship game this year will be spent in Atlanta if they end up playing Buffalo.  

But my biggest problem with this whole idea is this

1 hour ago, merylinkid said:

Which kinda sucks, because the whole point of the Bills going for the #1 seed was to make everyone come to Buffalo in January.   

Teams play for the number one seed so they can have homefield advantage.  Who can ever forget that very snowy game in New England when they beat Oakland in that divisional playoff game in 2001?  Weather can be a huge factor.

[mojoween]

The neutral-site World Series was the wooooooooorst.  If they want a neutral site, then everyone should play in the same state and no one ever has any advantages.

[merylinkid]

All teams have homefield advantage -- except the chargers.

[mojoween]

52 minutes ago, merylinkid said:

All teams have homefield advantage -- except the chargers.

Not even if they played the Rams?

[JTMacc99]

I don't have a strong opinion either way about the decision to play a KC / Buffalo AFC Championship game at a neutral site. 

I can see how it's a little bit of an attempt to make it fair. By using the rule on the book, which is standings/seedings will be determined by winning percentage, that put KC at 1 and Buffalo at 2.

However, when you factor in that had the Bills actually finished at 14-3, they would have been the 1 seed, and got the bye and the homefield advantage. So in this scenario, KC got the 1 seed and the bye. They get to play the lower seeded team in the divisional round. 

So KC still got most of the advantages of being the 1 seed based on winning percentage, even if there was a distinct possibility it all would have gone to the Bills. Moving the AFC Championship to a neutral site seems like a decent way to true up the balance of things.

Of course, both teams actually have to make it there before we have to think about it for real. 

 

This was Eli's best SNL sketch:

 

[cambridgeguy]

1 hour ago, mojoween said:

The neutral-site World Series was the wooooooooorst.  If they want a neutral site, then everyone should play in the same state and no one ever has any advantages.

If they want a neutral site then send them to London.

[bluegirl147]

2 minutes ago, cambridgeguy said:

If they want a neutral site then send them to London.

Don't give them any ideas.

[NUguy514]

1 hour ago, mojoween said:

Not even if they played the Rams?

No, not even then.  Anecdotally, there are more Rams fans here than there are Chargers fans, of whom there are almost zero.

[meowmommy]

21 minutes ago, NUguy514 said:

Anecdotally, there are more Rams fans here than there are Chargers fans, of whom there are almost zero.

Well, the Rams were in LA for many, many years before they went to St. Louis and then came back again.  The Chargers, oh golly, I still automatically think of them as San Diego and probably most everyone else does, too.

But my understanding is that LA, despite its size, isn't really a football town, and thus, supporting two franchises makes zero sense.

I assumed @merylinkid was referring to teams in the playoffs when she said only the Chargers wouldn't benefit by playing at home.

2 hours ago, JTMacc99 said:

This was Eli's best SNL sketch:

It was, but it was Jason Sudeikis, not Eli, who carried that skit. 

Edited January 13, 2023 by meowmommy

[NUguy514]

1 hour ago, meowmommy said:

But my understanding is that LA, despite its size, isn't really a football town, and thus, supporting two franchises makes zero sense.

You're exactly right about that.  We're a baseball/basketball city (which is too bad for me because football is my favorite of the big sports), and while the Rams are certainly more popular than the Chargers, there really isn't a big fanbase the way there is for the Lakers (whom I detest) and the Dodgers (whom I love).  I think it's fair to say that even the Clippers, Angels, Ducks, and Kings have bigger fan bases.  I actually do like the Rams very much, but I and half of LA were rooting for the Bengals last year.  Absolutely no one here would care if the Chargers made the Super Bowl unless they were rooting against the NFC team.  That's about how popular our football teams are.