f13.net

New league year, new thread. Off season is too long!

I'm now being kept in the loop about trades for the first time ever, because my fiancee signed onto her NFL app as a Pats fan.  :drillf:

I seriously don't know why people even keep working on trades with them. It's like handing the winning guy in Monopoly your fields for half of what it cost to acquire them.
And yes, I'm just jealous.

So the Bears signed Mark Sanchez, just in case Mike Glennon gets injured or sucks. (Hint: he's going to get injured and/or suck). Sanchize will join the list of a guy who was injured all last year, a guy who lost his starting job by default to Jameis Winston and whoever they will draft (who will eventually be considered a bust).

And the Raiders are moving to Vegas.

Oh yeah, that! They'll be moving in 2019, so Raiders' fans who were psyched about the upward trend of their franchise get to watch 2 years of improvements before the Las Vegas team wins the Super Bowl in their inaugural season in Sheldon Adelson's gilded sweaty old man ball sack of a stadium paid for without almost a billion fucking dollars of taxpayer money.

Meanwhile, no one wants to go anywhere near Kaepernick.

True... I just wish it was because he sucks (he does), but I know it's more about the dumb kneeling thing.

He's a fringe guy that has to play in a certain system, so that already limits who would want him. Couple that with the baggage and there are better options out there that require little distraction.

But I think it's more of the first part than the second part. The second part of his politics is just the final straw.

No one would give a shit about his politics if he could throw for 5000 yards.

NFL bans jumping over line to block kicks.

NFL shoots down rule to push touchbacks to 20 yd line if kicker puts it through the uprights..

NFL continues to hate fun.

Upside, the NFL is finally starting to look at the commercial breaks after kickoffs. Fans complained enough about the amount of breaks that they may get less breaks but they'll be longer (I'm fine with this actually).

In my mind there should be longer breaks at the ends of quarters, and longer breaks on change of possession. There should be no breaks after a kickoff, shorter breaks on timeouts.

I got interested in the NFL due to these threads so I tried watching ESPN a couple of years ago. I found it totally unwatchable due to the constant fucking ads. Seriously guys.

But I read somewhere that ESPN is in big trouble in any case. It's already one of the most expensive channels out there, so that source of revenue is maxed out, but fees to broadcast games just keep rising due to Greedy NFL owners. And it is bleeding subscribers. It is losing 13% ad revenue year by year according to this article

https://www.fool.com/investing/2016/11/21/espn-subscriber-losses-finally-take-their-toll-at.aspx


In short they may be desperate for money.

Part of the reason they are losing subs is that people are cutting the cord on cable and getting ESPN through other providers like streamers.

The other reason is that ESPN is trying desperately to pander to the younger people they are losing, so they have really gotten involved in bullshit thinkpieces and items unrelated to actual sports, and that's driving off their older fanbase.

I used to watch Sportscenter all the time. It's unwatchable garbage now with the terrible talent, the bad storylines, and the fact they refuse to cover teams and instead favor historical nonsense or thinkpieces. I mean the top article right now on ESPN's website is a piece on the 2016 Villanova shot over UNC. Why? We're in the middle of the final four and you're wasting time talking about a shot from a year ago? Or the Gonzaga coach's legacy? Or refs getting death threats from UK fans? WTF?

Compare to a site like CBS Sports (a much better sports site imo) that's looking at NFL Mock Drafts, 2018 QBs, Fantasy sleepers in baseball, Vegas odds on the NCAA, the Raiders moving, etc.

That's sports. Sports people love gambling, fantasy, and current shit in the NFL that projects to the season coming. They aren't looking for fluff about semi-political hot take machines.

No one watches Sportscenter, or probably any other highlights on TV nowadays. Of your cable bill like $5 is for ESPN (I forget the exact number but it's the most expensive) which worked 10-15 years ago but now is fucking stupid.

The ad revenue hit that all sports broadcasters took when the daily fantasy sites pulled back was fucking HUGE. They were spending just a fucking obscene amount of money on ads.

ESPN is just fucking up. They have obvious terrible biases. They cancelled Grantland. They keep giving more and more time to sports versions of the worst of cable news channel programming, garbage like First Take and Around the Horn. They are trying to pander to both the right wing radio listening crowd and the sjw millennial and just pissing off both. Doubly stupid considering nobody 35 or younger thinks any cable package is a good deal. They should have stuck to the Sportscenter is an homage to old school trusted news but about sports thing they had for awhile.

ESPN dying will be one of the most justified capitalism deaths since tower records and all those places that didn't stock good used, weren't neighborhood, didn't carry vinyl etc.

fuck em couldn't happen to a bigger bunch of shitlords

Maybe we don't use the word thinkpieces the same, but certainly haven't seen much out of ESPN that makes me think. It's sensational nonsense almost all the time. The actual longform thinkpieces are published on things like The Undefeated, which get almost no play time on ESPN. Their website is an atrocity, the cable channel is mostly unwatchable.

I use thinkpieces meaning the intent was to make you think, but they fail hard at that. Trying to read their retrospective of the UNC/Nova 2016 game is awful.

Deadspin went the same way as ESPN and went from funny/agressive/sports stuff to a full on sensational nonsense political site with some sports on the side.

I honestly don't understand WTF happened to these places, or who let these idiot writers/anchors/producers take over. It will bury them all catering to a small subset of sports fans. The vast majority of sports people I follow want nothing to do with politics and will go out of their way to remove/block/unfollow any writer or analyst who can't remember that they aren't a CNN opinion writer and they are supposed to be covering a sports league.

They are just following the guide laid out by for-profit news - editorials and opinion pieces get clicks. Click here to ask me how.  :why_so_serious:

I loved ESPN in college (mid-90s). Sportcenter on repeat all morning made it easy to catch 15minutes here and there. Then the talking head shows started and I tuned out.

Come to think of it, I loved Mtv in the 80s until they started attempting to be a tv channel by slowly removing the M.

At least that gave us Celebrity Death Match!  :why_so_serious:

In his 6th year in the league, after coming back from surgery on his non-throwing shoulder that ended his previous season, he had the following stats in 12 games played:

Passing Yds 2,241 (3rd highest of his career)
Passing TDs 16 (3rd highest of his career)
Ints 4 (2nd lowest of his career)
QB RTG 90.7 (3rd highest of his career)

In the two seasons where he exceeded these numbers, he played in 4 more games.

It's not his stats or gameplay that are keeping him from getting a contract.

I wonder if he saw this coming ... (http://www.complex.com/sports/2017/03/colin-kaepernick-saw-this-coming)

Yeah, I didn't realize how good his numbers were last year, probably because he was on a shit team with a Mr. Potatohead as a coach. On a team with actual talent and/or coaching, he might be pretty good.

But yeah, it's pretty clear no one is going to touch him because of his politics.

I love how violent shitstains like Ray Lewis and Greg Hardy could find continued employment, but god forbid someone do something LEGAL that offends all the white old conservative fuckheads that run teams in the NFL.

Yeah, I kind of dislike how I feel compelled to side with Kap (as a Seattle fan) and even hope he finds a job.  Dude was already in a rough spot, and then had the guts to make a stand on something he must have known would make his life even more difficult.  I respect that, whatever his real motives.

I have no problem if people cover sports and politics together in principle. Politics doesn't magically disappear in stadiums and arenas, as much as some people wish it did. You especially can't say it does when the NFL builds nationalism into the pregame show. What i have problem with is shitty political opinions from uninformed idiots who think they know what they are talking about b cause they are a celebrity and with stupid sensationalism. Kaepernick isn't the problem.

Which sounds good on paper until you remember one facet, his Y/A averages was 24th in the league, and behind guys like Tyrod Taylor and Case Keenum. Even more than that, his yards per game was 30th in the league. His completion percentage was 26th, and he's in an offense where once he goes further than 10 yards down the field, his completion percentage drops into the 30s.

The problem with Kaep is he's got zero down the field threat, and he's not accurate. Period. Numbers aside, anybody with eyeballs can tell you this by watching him play. It ABSOLUTELY is his gameplay that's keeping him on the sidelines, because if he was really a top 20 QB, the NFL has enough desperate teams looking for even half-decent mouthbreather QBs to snap him up.

So Romo retiring into broadcasting.  :ye_gods:

I was surprised, and then realised he's 37. Good for him. Get paid to sit in a booth and talk about football? Instead of getting the shit beaten out of your body every Sunday? Good for you sir.

Kaep is a problem only that his opinions come off as uninformed as well. But he's the smaller of the issues, and frankly he has every right just like others to spout uninformed or biased political opinion.

I agree with the sensationalism of the issue by the media being the bigger issue. What I don't like more than anything is that Sports Writers who are hired to specifically cover a league start to play board warrior on twitter and then act like they are doing some great selfless deed.

There's nothing to stop those same writers from creating their own personal accounts and spouting their opinions there, but they know they won't get as much reach doing that, so they force it down the throats of their followers until people like myself grudgingly unfollow. And I'm not talking about one-off stories, I'm talking about making everything in sports a political issue.

Seriously. Good choice IMHO. I'm sure he'd love a shot at starting again, but a nice booth seat to sit and talk and get $$$? hell yeah, especially with his third kid due up soon. Now I am just hoping he's better than Simms... which is a low bar to start out with.

Romo is going to be very good in the booth or on set. It may take him some adjustment, but he has the charisma to pull it off. One of the few Cowboys I have liked =P

Romo will be a good broadcaster. He's very likable - for someone to have been on the Cowboys that long and me not hate them, he's got to be charming and personable.

His retirement is going to fuck the shit out of the Texans, though. I'm pretty sure they traded Brock Lobster with the sole thought that they'd win the Romo sweepstakes. Now they have to figure out someway to make a combination of Tom Savage, BRANDON WEEDON and a draft pick work on an offense that hasn't seen a good QB since Matt Schaub. I'm sure they thought they were getting the next Peyton Manning. At least Denver didn't trade away the guy who was at least a competent starter.

Of course, Houston could always sign Cutler.   :why_so_serious:

Well, Cutler is at least serviceable and has a huge arm.

I guess. I mean if you are going to look at Cutler, you might as well give Kap a try. He's younger and more mobile.

But yeah, Kap would NEVER get a shot in Houston.

Yup. Romo threw in the towel.









It was intercepted.

Good for him.  Like Haemish said, must be a pretty good dude for me not to instinctively hate him.

Cutler to Houston kinda makes sense.

Kap needs to go somewhere with a more liberal fan base, but right now I am struggling to determine if there really is such a thing in the NFL.  Too bad there is no London franchise yet.

I'm gonna guess that football is the most right wing of the 4 major sports.  Ain't gonna find a liberal fan base. Maybe he could take up soccer? :oh_i_see:

Yeah I am pretty sure Kaep was already in the most liberal part of the country.

He might be best served by going to the CFL for a couple seasons. Keeping his skills sharp in a geographic area that probably doesn't give a fuck.

The sports media and especially ESPN really fucked this up for him. Every game there was so much focus on who was going to stand/sit/kneel for something for an aspect of the game that most of us never think about. Sure, it got the message out, but they also made sure that he was focal point of where it all went back to. And it just kept going, it was like the NFL equivalent of Benghazi.

Kaep's 'stance' on the anthem is the third biggest reason he doesn't have a gig right now.  #1: He wants to be a starter.  #2: Nobody thinks he is talented enough to start for them.  You have to build an offense around a guy like Kaep and nobody wants to build that offense around a guy that flakey.  I think a desperate team could sign Kaep, RG III and Johnny Football - not to try to be successful, but to try to cash in and  have 3 cheap QBs that can run that brutal offense - maybe enough to last the season.  However, I do not see any team that desperate.  You'd need a really bad team with no plan at QB that was trying to make money while tanking so that they could get an early pick for a qb.  You'd need that team to have a coach that was locked in enough that he knew he was not going to be fired for a bad season.  You'd need a fanbase dumb enough to buy the junk and think Kaep, RG III and Johnny Football might have something to offer.   I just don't see it. 

I think it would be a close battle between NFL and MLB. Baseball people are far majority white, older, and absolutely hate changes.

Kaep needs to swallow his pride and go for a back position. Dude can run like nobody's business, but can't make a decision under pressure to save his life.

I dunno, it seems what happens with a lot of these running QBs is that they establish themselves early as pretty good dual threats where their running ability more than makes up for lack of ability in the pocket.  Then the regime decides they have to start protecting their star, and the first thing they do is limit the spontaneous running and even a lot of the designed runs.  Which doesn't usually work for extremely obvious reasons.  Early Russel Wilson would have been another example, except that it turns out he pretty capable in the pocket (it still drives me crazy that they have taken all the designed runs out of the playbook).  RG3 is an even better example, because we all saw how physically and mentally fragile he was one he was no longer able to run past everyone.

Early Kaepernick was dangerous as a QB because he could run like a fucking cheetah.  He has not lost that ability.  Somebody could make use of that, if only they could invest the money and then not worry so much about protecting it.

Not sure how much anyone cares but the Jury acquited ex-Patriots TE Aaron Hernandez in his double-murder trial.

http://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/19159319/jury-acquits-ex-new-england-patriots-tight-end-aaron-hernandez-double-murder-trial

Thankfully he still will rot in jail for life for his other murder conviction.

He apparently just committed suicide. (http://deadspin.com/aaron-hernandez-commits-suicide-in-prison-cell-1794445345)

No, he's just out with a neck injury.

Normally that would have been a "too soon" kind of joke, but for this guy...yeah. 

Yeah, I am not at all sad for his passing, nor all that bothered by hanging jokes. He was a piece of shit.

He should have had to rot in jail. As is usual for pussies who need a gun to feel like a man, he took the easy way out.

It gets better, and we might need a thread for "ridiculous celeb lawsuits," or something.

Aaron Hernandez’s Brain Being Held ‘Illegally’ by Medical Examiner: Lawyer (http://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/aaron-hernandez/aaron-hernandez-s-brain-being-held-illegally-medical-examiner-lawyer-n749011?cid=eml_nbn_20170420)


Insert joke about Tom Bradys brain here.

As a Browns fan, this is the most wonderful part of the year!  :ye_gods:

And so help me god if they take Trubisky @ 1. If this happens, I will be forced to go out and buy a Steelers sweatshirt because I can't deal with another wasted 5 years.

Happy for Lynch. He's gettin to do what he wants. Good for him.

Whew... thank god I don't have to do anything drastic.

And WTF Chicago?  :uhrr:

Chicago  :ye_gods:

The Browns trade down, as is tradition. They at least got a big bounty for it, but I feel like we always stockpile picks and then do nothing with them.

Next draft the Browns have 2 First round picks and 3 second rounders... that is insane to me.

Yeah, I'm not sure what Chicgao was doing grabbing Trubisky that high. The Texans picked up Watson so we should see a fantastic flameout by the end of the season, as they waste yet another year of great defense on a suspect QB.

I'm not sure how to feel after that first round. Is this what it feels like to have a good draft? Should I just be a traditional Browns fan and wait for the other shoe to drop?

For now, I'm quite happy with the picks. Hope Peppers turns into the Cleveland version of Polamalu. And moving up for the kid from Miami? Jury is still out given how young he is, but still... second best TE in the draft? I'll take it on behalf of the Cleveland fans.  :grin:

Having a great draft doesn't take away from the fact that you're still Cleveland.

Are the Bears the new Browns? holy fuck why do teams still do this shit.

BAD FORM!! Cleveland only has the draft, at least give us this. We can start the melee on them when preseason starts.  :grin:

Yeah, I'm not sure what they were thinking trading 3 picks to move up 1 slot for a QB that everyone agrees is still a developmental prospect. But hey, they have Mike Glennon!

That the Niners weren't even going to take, though obviously the Bears couldn't have known that for sure.

Think the Bears were worried about the other teams trading up for him rather than SF taking the titty kisser.

In other Cleveland news, they cut a safety only a few hours before he threw out the first pitch at an Indians game. (http://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/19591409/cleveland-browns-cut-tyvis-powell-hours-throwing-first-pitch-cleveland-indians-game)

IT HAS BEGUN!!

http://deadspin.com/why-your-team-sucks-2017-san-francisco-49ers-1797328541

In regards to the 49ers lets just say I might've been at a charity event in the Silicon Valley area where the only item that couldn't get a bid was a 49ers tailgate and ticket package. All with York in attendance.
 :awesome_for_real: :awesome_for_real:

In the 17 years that the Yorks have been in control we've had 5 winning seasons. Even those of us who came of age during the glory years are used to the Niners sucking now.

Please, tell me more...  :oh_i_see:

All true, and they are about to learn the hard way he's a worse asshole than Jim Harbaugh could ever hope to be. Because Harbaugh had some redeeming qualities and his shit-kicking shenanigans could actually be funny at times. Shanny's shenanigans are crude and tragic.

Plus, Harbaugh had proven he could win (albeit in college) as a head coach, whereas Kyle has been an OC that has bounced around several shitty teams and only has his dad's successes and Atlanta's run to the Super Bowl as evidence of his coaching skills.

And Atlanta's run is based on the biggest pile of flukey bullshit ever. They ran it up on teams with shit defenses, and played tight games to the finish with mediocre opponents. The difference in the end? They were healthy completely across the team, where teams like Seattle and Green Bay were shells of their former selves. When they got to Brady, it was only a matter of time until the soft underbelly of their terrible defense was exposed.

The hilarious thing is the entire city believes now they have the best roster in the league and can make it back to the Super Bowl. It's laughable. They are one offensive line injury away from complete disaster. They have ZERO depth, and they are fighting with one of their RBs over a contract. Matt Ryan has the absolute pinnacle best year of his career by a passer rating margin of 18 points. That shit is NOT REPEATABLE.

So Deshone Kizer is now the Browns' starting QB, beating out Brock Osweiler despite going 6-18 in his last preseason game AND Osweiler getting paid what now looks to be insanely stupid money. Also, the Jets two project QB's can't beat out Josh "Just here to make up the numbers" McCown as a starter. Jets are definitely angling to draft a QB #1 next season.

The amount of Browns' apologists who are backing Kizer as something different than the 27 other starting QBs is jaw dropping. After the whole mantra, sit him and let Kessler and Brock take the hits are now anointing this kid. Maybe I'm finally coming around to sensible fandom.

Is there such a thing?  :oh_i_see:

Yeah, I'm not sure what is being seen in Kizer. Could he be good? Maybe, if he played for a more competent organization. But this is the Browns. I'll be amazed if we get more than 4 wins, and even more amazed if we don't fire our head coach at the end of the season.

All those garbage time fantasy points, though!  Maybe he'll be this year's 2015 Blake Bortles.

Every single excuse I've read about his shitty 3rd preseason game was blaming his receivers, claiming Elway and Manning were shitty their first years, and "he looked like a real QB, really handled himself."

I'm about as Brownsy of a fan as they come but I'm not going to be this stupid about it. These people are just silly... and Mary Kay Cabot has her stupid shit eating grin on because she's been writing about Kizer starting since he was drafted even after everyone was claiming he should sit for at least a year and learn the ropes... Guess this time (the 27th) will be different? I won't be convinced till he makes it to his contract year and is still playing.

Saw this on twitter:

"By never playing a game, Brock Osweiler goes down as the greatest Browns quarterback in modern history." -sportspickle  :why_so_serious:

Pats vs. Chiefs opener? Can't say that gets me all jacked up. Seems like a bit of a mismatch to begin the season, as the line indicates.

Myles Garrett getting off to a great start (http://deadspin.com/myles-garrett-injured-will-be-out-a-while-1801781677)....  :oh_i_see:

No no, should be competitive.  Pats are going to regress a lot this year, based on the fact that Brady is my fantasy QB and also FUCK THE PATRIOTS.

It didn't really occur to me that deliberately going after Brady for my FF team meant I might have to root for him to put up a lot of points.  Bit of a quandary.

Well you were right, Pats really folded the tents late in the game. KC looked completely in control and the Pats defense is god-awful

It didn't help that the Pats had little pass rush when Hightower was in there, and absolutely none when he got hurt. Also, someone juiced Alex Smith's arm and he torched the fuck out of New England's secondary.

I went to bed at the end of the third quarter good lord it looks like the chiefs really went to work in the fourth to finish the game off.

Yeah, not only could the Pats get no pass rush, their defensive backfield looked a bit worn out. Plus, once the Pats went behind, the Chiefs actually started sending rushers after Brady and got to him. I don't know if the Pats O line was gassed, or just not prepared to block against more than a 3-man rush, but they got hammered. And the Pats went for it on 4th and 1 and got stuffed again, giving the Chiefs the ball back on their 40-something. At which point, Alex Smith torched them again. The only negative was that Eric Berry went down with an Achilles injury and he's probably done for the season.

Best thing I've seen in a long time: With a few minutes to go in the game and the Chiefs offense on the field, Brady on the sidelines looking frustrated, dumbfounded and shellshocked. 

(https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/ApRSvm_3sSoYQis1-OBPD_3QW6E=/0x0:1920x1080/920x613/filters:focal(807x387:1113x693)/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/56574219/20170907231330.0.jpg)

This is only the second time I've ever had Brady on a team.  The last time I drafted him, he got injured in the first game and missed the season.

http://deadspin.com/why-your-team-sucks-2017-new-england-patriots-1800674923

538.com NFL predictions game (https://projects.fivethirtyeight.com/nfl-predictions-game/)

Probability-based predictions. Pretty cool. Jump in.

I was more being snarky than actually making a prognostication.  But I'll take it!  Or not, seeing as Brady gave me 7 fantasy points.

Would any of us be surprised if they still manage to win 12 or 13?  I won't.

Just a reminder that the last 3 times the Pats lost their season opener they won the superbowl.

Just sayin..:D

Despite their shitting the bed against KC, I still don't think there's any team that's going to keep them from winning the Super Bowl this year. I will be glad to be proven wrong.

Welp, the refs have finally atoned for the infamous Fail Mary play for the Seahawks against the Packers a few years ago. They straight up handed this game to the Packers. On one fucking play, they toss out a starting cornerback for getting hit in the face by Davonte Adams DURING THE PLAY, as well as cancel a pick 6 INT against Rodgers because someone touched the back of his jersey as he's running to stop the lineman taking his errant pass into the endzone. Later on, they let two Packers' DB's just fucking rape Jimmy Graham in the endzone without a flag. I'm a hardcore Packers fan and even I can admit the refs were paid in cheese curds. Packers defense did look good though, or at least, the Seahawks offensive line looked like complete and total dog shit.

We consistently have no Oline. To suggest that one could drive a truck through our D, means that you're really saying a large company fleet of 1 ton dually trucks fully loaded in first gear without power steering would have no trouble making it past our line. And you'd be right.

That said, that was one of the shittier called games I've ever seen. Just consistently bad from start to finish, on both sides.

In a league where O Line play is just consistently godawful, both games I watched yesterday managed to be EVEN GODAWFULER. The Seahawks are just goddamn horrible at blocking. They actually paid money for Luke Joke? Because he was a cruel cruel joke on Russell Wilson. Wilson looked good when he had time to breathe, which wasn't often and that Carson kid was pretty good too. But shit, you just can't block that badly and expect to score. To be fair, Green Bay's offensive line wasn't great - we let Josh Sitton and T.J. Lang go to division rivals this year and last, and for some reason thought signing Jahri Evans at guard was a good idea. He had at least 2 holding calls against him that I remember, mostly because he couldn't get off the line quicker than the Seattle D line and had to choke a motherfucker just to keep Rodgers from getting killed.

OTOH, I watched the Cowboys/Giants game, and that was both a cruel joke of offensive line play and TERRIBLE TERRIBLE playcalling. Why does Ben McAdoo have a job? This fucker's entire offense consists of throwing checkdowns. I think they had one pass the whole night that traveled more than 5 yards in the air. I get that it's not possible to toss it downfield every time when Eli Manning is getting collapsed on like a drunk sorority girl at a Roofie Party, but fuck's sake, at least try. Brandon Marshall was fairly wasted and he still have enough talent to stretch defenses. But I think literally every play in McAdoo's route tree has the second read being a 3-yard dunk pass to the running back or slot receiver even when the down and distance is like 3rd and 30 and they are down by 2 scores. The Giants defense is too good (at least on the line) to have to be on the field 45 minutes out of 60.

Considering how terrible the O line was, and the fact that the refs basically took 14 points away, I am not completely unhappy with yesterday. Defense looked great, and bits of the offense was OK. Jimmy Graham was awful though...hope he picks it up.

So I saw the 'new team' in the booth as a promo during a pre season game on ESPN, Rex Ryan and some overcompensating woman. They were horrible, and the fiancee (new to football last year) was amazed how poorly they called the game.

I just turned on the ESPN game, realized they were calling it, couldn't last 5 minutes. Luckily, ESPN Espanol comes through and it's way more entertaining with Spanish commentators.

Haem what do you want for one of Rodgers/Carr/Rivers?

Rodgers is untouchable but I'll trade Rivers or Carr for a starting RB.

EDIT: As long as that back does not start for the Lions or the Saints. Those fuckers won't get shit for carries this year.

Not even like Zeke or Odell for Rodgers?

Two guys who will miss at least some time this year? Nope.  :why_so_serious:

Cowboys offense looked bad but the Giants can't find their dicks with both hands and I love watching OBJ look like a golden headed tard on the sidelines as their offense gets Eli-faced into the ground.

HOW BOUT DEM COWBOYS!

Fuck you ESPN for dredging back up Hank Williams Jr.

I watched that whole fucking game tonight and I can safely say it was just as bad as I thought it was going to be. You know how I can tell offensive lines in the NFL are 95% shit? Breno Giacomini gets a start at right tackle for Houston, who by the way, gave up 10 fucking sacks last week on the way to scoring only 7 points. I'm amazed to learn he was on the Seahawks Super Bowl winning team. He is an abjectly terrible tackle. And he has a starting spot. Now that may be because the Texans' normal left tackle is holding out, causing a reshuffle of guys. But still - this line is BAD. They also had 3 TE's go down with injuries before the game, meaning their only TE was a practice squad dude. They often played tonight with 6 and sometimes 7 offensive linemen. And they STILL couldn't stop the Bengals from getting to the QB with only 4 men. The only time this game was even remotely watchable was when O'Brien actually let Watson throw the fucking ball downfield which wasn't often. Both teams OC's should be fired into the sun, however. Neither side could figure out that running the ball on 3rd and 1 or 3rd and 2 straight up the gut against two of the better D lines in football wasn't going to work, but they'd be damned if they weren't going to KEEP CHOPPING THAT WOOD. Watson has the excuse of being a rookie in his first start and he actually looked pretty poised - his TD run (the only TD of the game, BTW) was a thing of beauty, if you find a black man being chased by large men in white uniforms beautiful.  :why_so_serious:

Andy Dalton, however, has no such excuse for being as bad as he is. And he is FUCKING AWFUL. His O line is also terrible, mainly because cheapass Mike Brown wouldn't resign two of their best O linemen. But all it takes for Andy Dalton to throw the ball away is for him to even get a hint that he might be pressured and that ball is GONE. 3rd down that you need badly because you are behind, out of timeouts and the clock is running? TOSS IT! 4th down at the last gasp? AIR BALL! With A.J. Green, Hill, Bernard and even Blonde Puncher Joe Mixon, plus this rookie wideout who looks pretty good, Erickson? He has no excuse to be this bad. His checkdowns to one of those backs alone ought to have gotten some first downs on 3rd and long but not when he throws it away like a scared little girl. 8 quarters and they still haven't scored a TD. I look for that streak to continue.

538 is predicting the Browns will win 4 games this year, which seems hilariously optimistic.

I believe in you, Browns!  You can go 0-16 this year!

The game to watch is the Jets v Browns.

Not Jaguars vs Browns?  That one looks to be the Browns best chance to ruin a perfect 0-16 record.

https://projects.fivethirtyeight.com/2017-nfl-predictions/games/

Cowboys got smoked in Denver. No shocker there since Denver's home record is the best in the NFL for 32 years. I chalk that one up to getting down early and then just giving up. Not that I condone giving up, but you get way down and it doesn't allow for calling running plays, forcing Dallas to throw more, and that's not what we're built to do. We're the ground and pound offense that plays off the defense, and the defense was horrible yesterday. On to Arizona, which will be another tough road game I don't really expect to win. Then two at home against the shitty Rams and the suspect Packers. If we don't win both of those? I'll get nervous at the chances the playoffs aren't in the cards.

The Bungles are fucking awful as we expected, but actually they are worse than that. They might be the worst team in the history of offense, except the Giants are challenging them right now for that title. I think the worst offense in history is the 1977 Tampa Bay Bucs who averaged 7.4 points per game, and we have THREE teams under that through 2 games, including San Fran, who by the way should have taken Colin Kaepernick back because nothing would be worse than watching Brian Hoyer attempt to play QB.

Biggest shock of the early season is Oakland and their offense, averaging 35 points a game and looking like they are going to ride Lynch into several key victories and a division title if they continue like this.

Did I mention the Saints yet? They won't even get to 7-9 this year like they have the last 3 years. That's a 5-11 team if there ever was one, AT BEST.

WORST 2-0 TEAM: The Carolina Panthers. They've scored 32 points in two games, which is WAY behind everybody else offensively, but their defense held firm against two bad opponents The Niners and the Bills.
BEST 0-2 TEAM: The LA Chargers. They lost by 3 to the Broncos on the road, which is again an impossible place to play and win most of the time, and they lost to the Dolphins by 2. The problem is their schedule is impossibly brutal for the first 8 weeks. I wouldn't be shocked if they go 3-5 in that stretch, and people write them off, only to finish 6-2 and and possibly end up in a Wild Card slot.

So the Packers are exactly who we thought they were. Their defense is as usual suspect, completely vulnerable to any team with halfway decent pass blocking, as well as totally unable to handle any sort of run off tackle. Their offense is also Aaron Rodgers scrambling until his receivers can get open, which means if he can't move out of the pocket and hold the ball for the 7-9 seconds it takes these receivers to beat any shitty cornerback, he will get killed. We'll likely win 10 games just because of him, then get blown out by the Falcons in the playoffs because FUCK DOM CAPERS. The only form of defense he can make work is one that relies on a dominant pass rush - if the front 7 (plus whatever corner) can't get home, his defense will get torched.

The entire AFC West is looking stout. Now we know the Chiefs will lose in the playoffs but Oakland and Denver both look solid. That the Broncos defense was able to completely stifle Zeke Elliot is a good sign for them, while Trevor Siemian looked like an NFL QB. Who knew? BTW, trading for C.J. Anderson in fantasy paid off for me BIG TIME. Oakland's first two opponents were not that tough but they still look really good.

Jared Goff actually looks like an NFL QB at least until defenses figure out he only has one wideout he trusts. They should beat this shitty Niners team easily on yet another godawful Thursday night matchup. And yes, Kaep should be the most sought after free agent in the league right now but fuck these owners and their racist shitbaggery. FUCK THEM SO HARD. Just because of that, I would love it if some team signed him midseason because their QB loses a leg in some bizarre hunting accident and Kaep leads them to a Super Bowl victory. Unless it's the Redskins because fuck Dan Snyder.

I expect Seattle to pull their usual "We're not out yet, motherfuckers!" thing and get people worrying about playoffs, and then completely fuck the poodle. So. Back to being the standard Seattle team. Still good guys tho.

In light of all that's happened, I just saw the following quote while looking up fantasy news:

Watching the Giants implode brings me its own special brand of joy. OBJ and the media continues to try to perpetuate the myth he's more than a one-handed-catch-wonder, and Eli drinks out of a sippy cup at the end of games while Ben McAdoo checks his Zillow account everyday to figure out when is the right time to sell his house.

The NFL, a quality football product everyone!

I know I'm not in your league, but I just need to say that this is promising to be my worst year ever.

What the shitsnacks.  538 gives the Colts a 76% chance of winning.  Maybe this is some bizzaroworld version of underdog with which I am unfamiliar.

Maybe the argument is that if you have anything less than 80% chance against the Browns, then that in many intangible ways makes you the underdog.

Just saw the final scores for the 1pm games and left thinking 'wtf'!?

And the Browns lose. Shockingl!

Seen somewhere: The Ravens took a knee then forgot to stand back up.

I would concur on dom capers. I have not been really impressed by his defensive calls in years and it is just getting worse. Made worse by a lot of our big pressure guys were injured. And on offense our offensive line is having serious problems and the new running back is not doing his job throwing chip blocks there were a number of occasions he just totally ignored his blocks and guys ran right past him to sack rodgers. But I would agree we probably wind up winning 9-10 games getting into playoffs before failing out due to injuries yet again.

The Packers brain trust (coaching/GM) is determined to piss away Rodgers last few years of elite productivity by being cheap asshats. Let our 2 starting guards go over the last 2 offseasons (to division rivals, no less) even though the dudes were just hitting their late 20's/early 30's and were still pretty damn healthy for O-linemen. They are certainly more healthy than both our starting tackles right now. Refuse to sign even a middling cornerback (like a Malcolm Butler, much less a Josh Norman) despite our best corner being concussed for over a year and our next best corner a 2nd year guy with massive holes in his game. The only reason our defense is even slightly more than a speed bump is because our front 7 is good - but Dom Capers coaches that entire front 7 to collapse on the QB and over pursue, leaving them insanely vulnerable to running QB's, good backs who run off tackle, draws, screens. Our wideouts when healthy can be good but not great and our training staff uses animal sacrifice to keep the team fit, so lots of injuries. OH AND LET'S HAVE A CONVERTED WIDEOUT BE OUR RUNNING BACK. Montgomery has done well, I'll give him that, but I still don't see him as a primary back. And pass blocking isn't even remotely his strong suit.

Aside from that, I will firmly state that Tony Romo is my new favorite NFL broadcaster. Fuck all these other assholes who have played or coached. His pre-snap reads on plays are just amazing. Yes, he's a bit of a goober but he's a likable goober and you can really tell the motherfucker played him some QB and was good at it by the way he diagnoses the play. I feel bad that he had to play for a Jerry Jones team for all that time so that I couldn't root for him and he didn't get the right team around him to allow him to win a Super Bowl.

I find Romo to be obnoxious, and only slightly better than the abominable Ryan duo in the booth. His man-child inability to control himself is painful to listen to and at one point yelling at Rogers? Fuck that dude. I agree he does bring some interesting insight from a VERY narrow point of view, but it's not worth his overall lack of any ability in the booth. I personally like Collinsworth/Michaels as a team currently, and Gruden is my favorite live analyst/color guy. Even when Chucky gets pissed, he keeps a lid on it and mostly stays professional, unlike Romo. And coaches tend to have a better level view, Tony is 100% ready to shit on the O line and receivers for not properly supporting the QB gods.

He's 3 games in. He will get more polished. I think he gets too wrapped up in pre-snap reads and prognostication but his analysis and explanations are the best Xs and Os going right now. Give him some seasoning and smooth out his rough edges and he will be an even better Chris Collinsworth.

I fucking HATE Jon Gruden. I mean, he was an improvement over Kornhole, but he is fucking nails on chalkboard difficult to listen to.

At least Simms is no longer haunting the booth. Yeesh.. :uhrr:

We can all agree on some things!

Cowboys are back to not looking shitty!

From what I saw of that game, the Cowboys were greatly helped by the Arizona offensive line being unable to block 3 pass rushers with 5 guys. So...

Wins are wins in the first 6 weeks. I worry about style points after that.

Oh I agree. It was just more of they spent the first quarter literally unable to get the ball back and were lucky to only be down 1 TD before they finally started playing. I still can't figure out how the hell the Cowboys were continually sacking Palmer with a 3-man rush.

Arizona is a team on the decline in my mind. Defensively they are a train wreck as they the lowest opp yards/point of anybody in the league, and they are 28th in points against. Also their turnover margin is -1.0 per game which isn't going to do them any favors if that holds up.

They aren't really good offensively either. And their opponents have been decent but they still barely edged out a rather bad Colts team in my estimation. And on top of that, it takes them tons and tons of yards to actually score anything because their red zone TD percentage is 27% and 29th in the league. That will lose you tons and tons of games. Rarely the bottom 10 of that stat does well, and if they do it's because they are stout defensively.

Palmer is facing retirement. David Johson is on IR, and he's their best player, followed by Larry Fitzgerald who is 33. And they've let all their good defensive talent get broken or leave. You bet they are on the decline. Carson Palmer improves them over what they had previously, but he blew his shot at a Super Bowl against Carolina in the playoffs 2 years ago. They better be looking for a QB to draft.

If there was any doubt, last night should have been a clear indicator that the Bears are shit and John Fox is going to get fired. I think he may actually be trying to get fired. Mike Glennon had committed 2 turnovers before the first quarter was over. Sure, he got better after the game was completely out of reach. 4th quarter rolls around, Chicago is down 35-7 and instead of trying to win, they continued their gameplan of "run ineffectually until we are forced to throw the ball." They made the Packers defense look good (hint: it isn't, though our rookie cornerbacks this year look better than last year's versions).

The only thing better than watching the Bears suck, is watching them suck while listening to Tommy Smyth and his English buddy politely diss the shit out of them with accents:

https://twitter.com/rodger_sherman/status/913569138605461504?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw&ref_url=http%3A%2F%2Fbrobible.com%2Fsports%2Farticle%2Fchicago-bears-packers-british-announcers%2F (https://twitter.com/rodger_sherman/status/913569138605461504?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw&ref_url=http%3A%2F%2Fbrobible.com%2Fsports%2Farticle%2Fchicago-bears-packers-british-announcers%2F)

Calamity is a very accurate description of the Bears.

Cleveland is utterly imploding, what a shock.  Currently their best chance for a win is still the Jaguars (I think?) and even that is at 38% chance.

Come on guys, you can totally nail 0-16!

youareafactoryofsadness.png

Clevelanders don't care ... It's all about how the Tribe is going to lose in the ALDS.  :why_so_serious:

I am sure the Indians can pull that off.

The Cavs burned all of Cleveland's ability to win a championship for probably the next 100 years.

Thanks, LeBron!

The city of Cleveland had ONE JOB which was to keep the Cubs from winning the World Series and thus starting the chain reaction of events that precede the end of days. I bet if the Cubs had lost, November would have turned out differently. Cleveland blew it :why_so_serious:

How exactly does Miami fail to score even a field goal against New Orleans? The Saints couldn't defend my dead grandmother.

Ugliest first half from Seattle I have seen in a while. 2nd half was fine, at least until Christ Carson's leg turned into a pretzel. My fault- I put him on my fantasy team.

Maybe he can heal himself and be ready for next week.

That should be "Christ, Carson's leg" LOL

Lost Carson and Delvin Cook on the same day.... that team is shot. 

If ever there were a time for Kaepernick...

Seriously... if you are in actual talks about Weeden starting for your team and you don't entertain the idea of working out Kaep, well that speaks VOLUMES.

All of those names are objectively terrible QB's. If you seriously can't even be bothered to work out Kaep, you are admitting I'm a racist and my fans are racists too.

I realize this won't happen, but there is a possibility for two 0-16 teams this year!

San Fran and Cleveland.  Man wouldn't that be amusing.

Man... it is getting almost impossible to do the 'stay the course' with this staff Cleveland is stuck with. How do you not even luck into a win in any of these first games? I'm all for consistency and keeping a GM/Coach around long enough to get it going, but when you are repeating the same stupidity game after game for 21 games in a row?

Having a shit load of draft picks being the only bright spot really is not worth it at all.

Sounds like Garrett was useful at least.

Unlike Dallas's Garrett, who fucked up time management AGAIN and let Aaron Rodgers beat him. What a clown.

The rest of the Browns schedule looks pretty tough too.  Well.  Most of it.  Maybe they can beat Cinci on try two.

They couldn't beat the Jets who are employing their former QB who couldn't do anything while in Cleveland. Couldn't beat Cinci... yeah, they are fucked.

And they benched their top draft pick QB of the future! TBF, his replacement played better (at least by the numbers) but yeah, factory of sadness.

Also, the refs in that Dallas/Green Bay were shit, but at least they made up for one idiotic unnecessary roughness call on Green Bay with another completely unnecessary roughing the passer call on Dallas. I swear, the refs continue to suck much ass. It looks like Green Bay lucked into a RB with this Aaron Jones kid. Just based on what I've seen so far, he'd be my starting back over Ty Montgomery at the moment. Holy shit, that Green Bay offensive line, though. They are going to get Aaron Rodgers fucking killed this year.

Don't count the Giants out, they may not win anything this year either now that all of their wide receivers are hurt.

https://www.cbssports.com/nfl/news/cowboys-owner-jerry-jones-players-who-disrespect-the-flag-wont-be-allowed-to-play/

Jerry Jones throwing the gauntlet down by threatening to fire his players for protesting... Yeah. OK. That'll get far if the whole OL decides just to kneel for the ha-ha's.

Giants play the 49ers, so there can be only 2, but it could be Giants and Browns... but I think there will be no 0-16 teams.  They'll all squeak out one to three wins before the end of the season.

As for Kaep - He is not a plug and play QB.  You have to build an offense around him to have success.  If you drop him into most teams, he'd struggle.  However, at this point, I think the smart thing for the NFL to do is to go to one of these bad teams with no playoff chances and a struggling QB - give them an incentive to sign and play Kaep.  Until people see him fail on the field, this idea that teams won't sign him only because they're all racist / scared of his media impact will not go away.  Even then it'll take a while....

And if you think Jones did not have a clear talk with his team before making that statement, and wasn't sure he'd get all of the core ones to stand, ... well, if they were not on boasrd, that statement would be quite different.

Well, umm... ok (http://sports-ak.espn.go.com/nfl/story/_/id/20979236/new-orleans-saints-trade-rb-adrian-peterson-arizona-cardinals-conditional-draft-pick).

Saints trade Adrian Peterson to the Cardinals for a conditional pick. Since David Johnson went down, the Cards need a back and Chris Johnson ain't doing it. Of course, if they can't block for Peterson, he won't be much of an improvement.

AD will fit in fine with the rest of the AARP crew in Arizona.

What if.... what if they finish 0 - 0?

Zeke Elliot Appeal Struck Down, Will Likely Serve Out His 6-Game Suspension (http://sports-ak.espn.go.com/nfl/story/_/id/21003461/court-clears-way-nfl-6-game-suspension-cowboys-ezekiel-elliott)

Or at least, a court has upheld his 6-game suspension so barring an appeal or some kind of reduction in suspension by the league, Zeke's going to be gone for 6 weeks.

lol green bay

Good thing the Browns sat their 2nd round draft QB, that really shook things up and turned things around.

WEEEEEEEEEEELLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL, fuck me. Not only was that my team, that was also my starting fantasy QB.

FUCK.

ME.

RUNNING.

Also, I watched the Dolphins/Falcons game and holy shit, Jay Cutler is BAD. Like, it's been a while since I watched him and I think he is so shell-shocked from all the hits he took in Chicago, he has the yips. I think he might have thrown one pass the entire game where he held the ball long enough to set himself. Otherwise he was just slinging it every which a way. To be fair, his line was hot garbage at pass blocking, usually collapsing just before he fired it out of there. Still, with the wideouts he has, he should not be as shitty as he is, even with that line. He just literally looks like "Nope, not going to take a hit for these chucklefucks." Could Matt Moore really be so bad? If it wasn't for Jay Ajayi and a really good pass rush, this team would be vying for the #1 draft pick. Atlanta, however, has no excuse because going up 17-0 on a team that can't make a third down conversion shouldn't be an issue. Somehow, they give up 20 points in the second half and can't muster diddly shit for offense until the 2 minute warning, at which point they toss up an INT with less than a minute to go. Dan Quinn, DEFENSIVE GENIUS PEOPLE!

Maybe Green Bay should pick up Kaep?  They should have lots of tape on him running for thousands of yards against them.  Plus, the city of Green Bay should be more than supportive of a person of color expressing his rights.

Kaep is an evil motherfucker when he runs. Swear that dude dodges shit he's got no business dodgin.

Frankly, I'm a touch glad he's not playing, because Seattle can't seem to catch that dude for shit.

That is why they should have signed him when they brought him in before the season. Instead we have Austin goddamned Davis. Hope Russ can stay healthy.

I managed to beat Haemish with 64 points, which is saying something considering I had Matt Ryan and his team of fuckups as my main QB for the week.

Falcons are bad. The entire NFC outside of Philly looks supremely mediocre. Hell if the AFC doesn't run away with this Super Bowl again, I'm going to assume there was a real resurgence by one of these NFC teams in the second half.

You know what? I'd be perfectly fine with Kaep. He certainly has more experience than Hundley who is likely about to show his credentials for "I will always be a backup" as well as "Mike McCarthy has coasted off Aaron Rodgers for his entire goddamn coaching career."

They won't sign him because... well, you know why.

I was thinking recently about how little of the NFL I'm watching lately and how the product looks rather...meh on TV.

Then I thought I'm mainly an NFC guy, and the NFC has one exactly one Super Bowl in the last 5 years. It's been incredibly dominant by the AFC teams in the playoffs, and we really don't talk about how much better the top end teams of the AFC seem to do against the NFC.

I've watched practically no football this year, but I did catch the last quarter of the Steelers-Chiefs game yesterday and enjoyed it a lot.  Not just because I'm a Pittsburgh fan, either, I think.

And who was it that won that one?  :awesome_for_real:

Dude, don't bring that one up!  It is just going to remind everyone of the other one....

I have cut my cable earlier this year, so there has been no football for me.  Don't feel like I am missing much.

Getting really tired of people claiming anthem protests are having a negative effect on NFL ratings... It's low hanging fruit so I understand, but it still pisses me off.

You have to remember that roughly half this country is so stupid they need reminders to keep breathing.

Obama endorsed regualar breathing, hydration, and food consumption. He also said you shouldn't drink bleach, that fuckin hippie.

I'm sure it causes some people to not watch, but I think if people were intellectually honest with themselves the time it takes to watch a full NFL game and get bombarded with literally the same ad lineup every 7 minutes for 4 minutes has a much bigger impact on ratings than the protests.

That and I think QB play continues to be an issue.

QB play, shitty refs, the less violent NFL, ads, etc. Anthem protests wouldn't even be an issue if the sports news didn't make it a clutch-your-pearls thing.

Bring back MADDEN in the booth!

"At the end of the day, the team with the most points wins!" Anyone can be Madden. Get drunk, smash yourself in the face with a 2x4, and yell all your commentary. You'll do fine.

Makes me chuckle every time that KC has a linebacker named Zombo.

The unattainable is unknown!

So in complete opposition to the norm, the Thursday night game was a really good game. Amari Cooper finally took the oven mitts off and managed to catch some passes, even for touchdowns (and thanks to the NFL Network for telling me that Cooper had a good game last year against the Chiefs, it made me make a last minute adjustment to my lineup - Carr and Cooper got me 60+ points). Those color rush uniforms are still fuckugly as shit. Kudos to Marshawn Lynch for coming off the sidelines in a play he wasn't even involved in and trying to stick up for his QB, which also involved him tussling with a ref and actually grabbing the ref's jersey. SO LONG MARSHAWN, way to get tossed the fuck out of the game you were barely involved in anyway. If you didn't see the last minute of the game, go find a replay because that shit was NUTS. There were 2, yes 2 untimed plays that happened AFTER THE GAME WAS OVER because of 2 penalties (3 of the last 4 plays from scrimmage had some kind of penalty). Again, totally nuts.

Was a good game. I'd be pissed if I was the KC offense though putting up 30 and losing because your D can't defend the redzone without holding every play.

wtf happened to the Falcons offense? You even made the Pats D look good??

or maybe Matt Patricia's guys are starting to gel.

Pretty sure we are now entering Hue Jackson's dead man walking phase. Unless he rattles off the next 3 as wins, he's done. Possibly the front office too... though I don't think that happens till we can con Manning into working there.

The CBs are coming along, being able to mostly cover Julio was impressive.

I found that game especially enjoyable because of the fog. The use of the hover camera was pretty amazing, like a video game pov. I hope they integrate that into regular broadcasts, it was great seeing the coverages from the qb's pov, as well as the holes (or nah) in the line from the rb's pov. And following the rb through the play? Really cool.

I decided to skip the evening game because I felt it was a foregone conclusion. Looks like I was right. The video game perspective is apparently something the NBC folks have talked about using more, but the logistics of it make it something they couldn't do for every game or even the majority of every game. For starters, each SkyCam takes like 2-3 operators (pilot and camera guy at least) and not every broadcast has the 2 Skycams they did last night (most have just one).

I did watch the Packers game and it was pretty awful. The Saints were definitely a team that were beatable - Drew Brees threw 2 picks in the first quarter. What happened after those 2 picks? Both of them were 3-and-outs. Brett Hundley is a back up QB and his accuracy was for shit, but even more than that, McCarthy/the OC's playcalling was shit. They were clearly afraid to give him too many passes, and thought that Aaron Jones' running could win them the game. While Jones is a really good runner (and what looks like a steal of the draft as a 5th rounder), the offense is not built to just pound the rock. Somehow, they have to let Hundley win the game and when he was given the chance, he didn't. (Hint: he wasn't given the chance with 6 minutes to go, down 2 scores so by the time he got it back, it was too late). McCarthy and Capers' shitty coaching is really going to get exposed here.

Meh, the pass rush is still shit, Butler played better for sure. Ironic that Gilmore especially was out last night. (Rowe was too).

I'm still highly suspicious of the Pat's D.

For sure. Chung is nowhere near at the level he should be, but Van Noy has been solid along with Butler. But they /really/ needed to get their CBs up to speed. Hopefully now that positions are tightening up play they can focus on squad tactics a bit.

Although going against a team that struggles to even score...

An Haemmy, I do agree. Seems like the coaching got lazy because Rogers could always pull a comeback out of his butt.

The Falcons offense is garbage right now so I wouldn't use them as a yardstick. I've warned for years that the Falcons will always make you think for a year they are really good, then correctly shit the bed when all the fluky luck runs out.

The OC is a recovering alcoholic who calls plays like he's still drinking.

Nobody on the receiving core can do anything except Julio, who is getting double and triple covered because he's the best player on the field.

They paid an average RB who was a 4th round pick a 12.5M signing bonus AHEAD of when his contract was up because they are fucking morons in the front office.

Matt Ryan is not an MVP. Matt Ryan had an MVP year last season because he was on the ONE team in the NFL who never had an offensive lineman hurt, and about 10 of his likely intercepted passes got dropped. Now? He's back to his average Andy Dalton self.

The head coach is a stubborn fool. He went for not one 4th and long, but TWO 4th and long plays from mid-field. One of them didn't succeed and the Pats turned it into an easy TD and a 17-0 lead at the half. It might as well have been 40-0 at that point, because the Falcons had nothing.

The coaching staff is all cliches and no substance. They have no idea how to actually produce a disciplined football squad. Even in their miracle run last year, they still gave away massive leads late in 4-5 games before they even got to the Super Bowl to give away the ultimate lead of all time. They can never live that down and they know it.

Pish. Amateurs. You have to do it right. Decline a 15yard penalty to bring up 4th and 1, the other team goes for it and your team subsequently jumps offsides. Now THAT is how you Browns.

The Falcons do it by taking stupid roughing the passer penalties two weeks in a row that negated interceptions. They are peak undisciplined.

Giants on bye after yesterday. MacAdoo really should be shown the door. He looks completely lost every time the camera finds him, and his team is fucking DREADFUL. The Seahawks did everything they could to gift wrap that game yesterday, but NY just wasn't in the mood to take it.

Man, if you guys did not watch the Monday Night Football game last night, you missed Carson Wentz just straight up playing like a boss. He was decent last year, but now that he's actually got weapons, he could be MVP caliber. Look for the highlights on his escape from a sack or some of the TD's he threw. The kid is really good. The Eagles seem to have a little trouble with their zone coverage over the middle (may be because they are 2 starting LB's down) but other than that, this looks like the best team in the NFC. I'm not sure how they'd stack up to New England in a Super Bowl but probably better than the Falcons.

So both Jared Goff and Wentz are good now that they have decent teams around them (and are not being coached by Jeff Fisher), while Cleveland is yet again trying to decide whether to bench the rookie QB they drafted in the first round (after having traded away the opportunity to get one of those two guys last season). Oh and they are also shitting all over that rookie QB for being seen in a bar (but not drinking or acting a fool) the night before a game.

YOU KEEP FUCKING THAT CHICKEN, CLEVELAND. YOU DO YOU.

Why you got to do me like that man? But hey... I was all for Big Ben light but Sashi and his band of merry suits and diplomas decided on the 'no thanks' thing. Analytics my ass.

and Kizer was out on Friday night... so not even the night before a game, which makes it all the better.... There really is no excuses now. The Rams were utter crap for the last two years and now that they have a team in first place midway through the season? This shit happens everywhere BUT Cleveland. Detroit ffs... the team with the only 0-16 record in history is actually playoff contending.

I was wicked impressed with Wentz. Great pocket presence, vision, reading, scrambling and accuracy. Good on 'im. I like seeing talented players surrounded by a system that lets them do their thing. He also seems like a tough mother, which is always nice in a QB as long as they don't start feeling superheroic and get too beat up.

I haven't seen Goff yet this season, I only saw him getting trounced by the Pats last season once. But the game summaries I've seen look good.

I don't root for the Browns anymore. This year I'm pulling for the Eagles because my stepdad is from Philly. It's weird watching a game and not automatically assuming you're going to lose.

Funny that. Father-in-law is a big Eagles fan in Lancaster, PA.

The pass rush has never been amazing, it's more that they tend to routinely put just enough pressure on the pocket to force suboptimal decision making, then capitalise with aggressive midfield play.

Holy shit, Miami cannot block tonight.

Their goonery has been on point though.

Yeah, Kiko Alonso and Suh can just go fuck right off. Both of them should have been ejected. As a matter of fact, I think the NFL ought to start using red cards if they are really serious about player safety (they are not). Alonso should have been ejected immediately, no questions in my mind whatsoever. He practically took Flacco's fucking head clean off. Suh you could maybe have an argument against it but he's still a fucking dirty asshole.

Of course, after watching the NFL Network's talking heads give Matt Moore the sloppiest blowjob since any broadcast of a Tom Brady game, watching Miami go out and lay an egg was somewhat satisfying.

As much as I'd like to ride along this anti-kiki trip, I can't fault the guy for it. With as many protections QBs have even when running the ball past the line, there is a bit of uneven rule play against the def. I've seen plenty of Qbs run the ball, fake the defense with a lean back and get a few more yards... Rogers is text book when working the rules against hitting QBs. Everyone on the def knows they will draw a flag if the QB even looks like he's started his slide so that can by an extra few yards if the QB so chooses. Once the def challenges this, all the sudden they are the bad guys. Besides, by the time Flacco changed his body to 'give himself up' Kiki was already midtackle -  it wasn't even a true slide as he was trying for the 1st down marker and then some. Defenses are just supposed to give up at that point? Might as well go to flags.

Suh is a different story as there is a ton of past there. But wtf was Mallet thinking trying to step up against Suh and making first contact. I mean come on... either that kid is dumb as a rock or he was baiting.

Make no mistake, Ryan Mallett is dumb as a rock.  :why_so_serious:

So this weekend happened and the Browns misery continues. Wentz is basically carrying the MVP honors in his back pocket now, Watson battles against the aging but still damn good Seattle D, and they lost again. But no one cares about that... Miller from the Bears almost loses a leg, literally ah-la-Bridgewater style. New Orleans is for real. Buffalo seems to be rolling. East is West... dogs and cats living together, mass hysteria!

But we really want to shake things up with the trade circus. Most make sense... one is a wtf in my book.

Jimmy G to San Fran (http://www.nfl.com/news/story/0ap3000000870035/article/niners-acquire-jimmy-garoppolo-in-trade-with-patriots). Makes sense...

D. Brown goes to help the O-line in Seattle (http://www.nfl.com/news/story/0ap3000000869752/article/seattle-seahawks-acquire-duane-brown-from-texans) couple days after playing against them (for the lulz). Again makes sense....

Jay Ajayi to Eagles. (http://www.nfl.com/news/story/0ap3000000870287/article/dolphins-trade-rb-jay-ajayi-to-eagles-for-fourth-rounder) ummm, WUT?

The Ajayi trade was a stunner to me. Yes, Miami sucks balls this season but that, more than anything else, signaled to me that the Dolphins have given up on the season. Fuck it, let's try to get a high draft pick. Maybe they can find a QB that's better than Tannehill who may not even be that good. For a team with as many offensive weapons as they have, to suck so hard on offense is pretty unforgivable. But this trade just feels like giving up. Philadelphia, meanwhile, just solidified their lock on the NFC Championship, IMO. Wentz is playing too well, they have three good receivers, their defensive line is solid and with a 1-2 punch of Blount/Ajayi, I think they can beat any team in the NFC right now. Then they get to play either New England or Pittsburgh (no I do not believe in the Chiefs and no one else has been consistently good enough).

Speaking of the Chiefs, they won last night but it was as much about their defense and the shitty Denver offense as anything. I'm pretty much convinced now that Trevor Siemian is a backup QB at best because he made some dumb as fuck throws that he had no business making and got picked. It doesn't help that the only receiver on the team who isn't wearing oven mitts is Demarius Thomas (Emmanuel Sanders being hurt). Guys were dropping first downs and touchdowns left and right. And unlike boring ass Kubiak, Vance Joseph doesn't really seem to committed to just running the ball when that works. The only reason the score was even close is because the Denver defense kept the Chiefs from scoring touchdowns, making them settle for field goals.

And speaking of teams with less talent than they should have, the Redskins lost to the Cowboys, mainly because their receivers appear to be trash and their offensive line has more injuries than a goddamn school bus going off a cliff. They got rid of two good veteran receivers in the offseason to give touches to Jamison Crowder and Josh Doctson, and it looks like neither of them was ready for the elevation in importance.

Agreed on the AJAAYAYAYAYAYA trade. I guess it shouldn't be a shock as they were looking at trading for Gore earlier, but I mean wtf Miami?

Side note on the washington team, taking Pryor off Cleveland is about the only shining spot for the Browns...they actually seemed to luck into a positive WR release given every other WR they got rid of suddenly did well on other teams (barring the brain meltdown safety by Chargers Benji).

At best. Though he did look a bit better in the 2nd half, the lack of vision and decision making seemed pretty uncoachable. Just so many bad decisions.

Bummed NE traded Garropolo to SF. Maybe they can pick up Kaep and Belichick can stomp him into submission with a Surface tablet.

Oh god I'd love for the Pats to pick up Kaep and the cognitive dissonance it would create for so many people.

Aaron Rodgers may be the greatest player to ever play the game because look at that team now...

Haemish will firmly tell you the only reason the Packers have been remotely playoff worthy is because Rodgers is obscenely talented.

That. Fucking Mike McCarthy and Dom Capers have been living off his fucking talent for a decade. The team has only reached the playoffs through sheer luck and Rodgers talent since they won the Super Bowl in 2010 (the sheer luck was the year Rodgers was out for most of it and won the division because of a tie). I actually think other than the offensive line, they are decent offensively. They have decent options at wideout, they found a stud running back in Aaron Jones but their O line is banged up and fucking Ted Thompson let their 2 best guards do in free agency the last two years because he is fucking dumb and cheap. Ted Thompson also continually relies on the draft lottery bingo at cornerback year after year and our scouting in that department is questionable. Capers also does not know what a cornerback is used for other than rushing the passer and cannot scheme or adjust against a team that screens the blitz or runs off tackle.

The worst part about that game last night (besides our defense being clearly unable to stop fucking ANYTHING that isn't up the gut) was that just like against the Saints, McCarthy will not let Hundley be a quarterback until it's too late in the game to matter. He spent the first half calling screen passes and dink and dunk plays and then wondering why we have so many 3 and outs. By the time he let Hundley run the offense and throw the ball farther than 5 yards downfield, we were already 2 scores down.

Which, and keep in mind I'm a NE fan, goes to show that Aaron Rodgers is actually a better QB than Tom Brady. See what the Pats did in 2009 with Brady out or last year when he was suspended for 4 games. Brady is great, and Belichick doesn't win 5 SBs without him but as a pure talent Rodgers is better. McCarthy is an average coach at best.

At least the Hawks shit themselves. Jesus.

I think Brady is more accurate than Rodgers and a better pocket passer but total package, yeah, I'm going Rodgers. Brady is susceptible to pressure because he can't roll out or improvise as well when his pocket collapses. Rodgers has been living in a constant state of adrenalized panic since the minute he came into the league. You could tap his veins and power cities on the anxiety that motherfucker has to live with on a daily basis.

Agreed and I wonder if that has something to do with Brady's longevity, outside of his shoulder he doesn't actually DO That much physically on the field outside of shuffle a bit around the pocket (and the running, oh the running..fuck that is ugly). Throw in some luck and genetic lottery winning and you do have a guy who can play to 45. Rodgers may have the same physical attributes but the sheer stress that's placed upon his body running away from 300lb lineman constantly trying to kill him means that the body hits a certain age ala 38-39 and says 'fuck it I'm out'.

Which Favre was also doing, but that fucker was crazy enough to enjoy it.

I don't remember what the numbers were like, but I remember some analysis on Brady that basically said the guy makes his reads super fast and gets rid of the ball very quickly...helps his longevity and lack of mobility.  He probably has more football 'brains' than Rodgers for the most part, and the dude is just a winner.  But if I had either guy in his prime and were starting a team?  Probably Rodgers, but only by a hair.  And maybe it would even be the wrong choice, but Rodgers is a tough guy not to like.

That is far more important to me than ability. I know, that's heresy, but I'd like to see Brady get run down by a steamroller parade because he's just such a ridiculous asshole.

They shit everybody's pants. What a clusterfuck.

Giants apparently hate Ben McAdoo, which is probably true because he's an idiot who should have never gotten a head coaching job.

Let's review how this man failed upwards shall we?

Hired by the Saints in 2004 as a "Quality Control coordinator for offense" I'm assuming that means he was a film guy. Google confirms, film guy. Mind you, those Saints were 8-8 and 14th in offense. Mediocre to the max.
Hired by SF in 2005 as an OL coach and offensive film guy. That team went 4-12 and was dead last in offense. That offensive line gave up 48 sacks in a season which was 5th most in the league. So he sucked as whatever that job was.
Somehow he ends up in 2006-2011 as the TE Coach in Green Bay. Basically this is the Packers high mark of seasons where they were in the playoffs constantly and won the Super Bowl in 2010. But remember, he's a TE coach at this time.
In 2012 they make him the QB Coach at Green Bay until 2013. Note, Aaron Rodgers was a Super Bowl MVP in 2010, the NFL MVP in 2011. And the NFL MVP in 2014. Somehow while McAdoo was QB coach he won nothing and got hurt. Immediately to get MVP again once McAdoo left.
In 2014-2015 McAdoo gets hired as the NY Giants OC. Why? Because he was around the Packers while they were good. The Giants proceed to go 6-10 twice in a row for those 2 years. And yet, in his second year he had a top 10 offense. They just couldn't stop anybody. This was his only sign of any success so far, so when Coughlin got the ax, he got a head coaching job.
In 2016, the Giants lucked their way through 2016 with about 4 wins of less than 3 points, got a playoff spot, and were immediately bounced by the Packers by 25 points.

And here we are in 2017 as the team basically implodes. And he's going to get fired. Because NFL owners are apparently morons who can't read how a guy being around a winning organization doesn't mean shit if he's got Aaron Rodgers as a QB, and then he breaks Aaron Rodgers.

They would be more effective with a potted plant on the sidelines. You could put some hair gel and a pair of headphones on it and no one would know the difference.

Ben McAdoo constantly has the look of a dad trying to shop for his daughter's birthday because his wife is sick and he can't remember if he's supposed to get Debbie Doodies or Wendy Wetsherself.

It's just mindblowing to me that Rodgers was like Super Bowl MVP, NFL MVP, (McAdoo gets made QB coach), crickets, injury, (McAdoo leaves), NFL MVP

As much as I dislike Romo in the booth, he outdid himself with the nonstep verbal diarrhea calling the Pats game this week. We just turned the sound down and tuned him out, but ye gods is he grating.

I've dubbed him the Trump Era commentator.

Well congratulations Pete- your team, against all odds, played well enough to win, but giving away 3 points before the half, and then wasting a time out on a hopeless challenge made all the difference. Unfuckingreal.

Your secondary was hot garbage all night. It's amazing it was even close. Against the shit parade that is the Falcons no less.

Russel Wilson has now matured into a QB who can win you a game. The problem is his defense has now degraded through injuries into a middle of the pack unit.

I secretly want the Rams and Chargers in the Superbowl this season just for the ha-ha's.  :awesome_for_real:

You shut your dirty whore mouth.  :mob:

The games I actually picked to watch this weekend weren't even fucking close. The Raiders continue to redefine the term "DROPPED PASS." It's like all their receivers not named Michael Crabtree have had horrific nerve damage over the offseason so that their hands look normal, but do not function like hands so much as giant clubs. Meanwhile, their defense is also shit.

The Eagles made the game competitive, mostly by their receivers acting like they were the Oakland Raiders. However, the second half wasn't even close, and like the Raiders/Pats game, I turned it off in the 3rd quarter. Meanwhile the games I should have watched (the Saints game in particular) were apparently really close, fun affairs to watch.

Also, the Packers team is utter shit. Our rookie sensation RB just got arrested for driving under the influence of the weed he smoked that morning, Brett Hundley threw 3 INTs and the Packers got shut out at home. AT HOME. AGAINST THE FUCKING SHITTASTIC RAVENS. And yet, Mike McCarthy insists that Brett Hundley IS HIS GUY (GRRRR< FOOTBAW < GRIT < GRRR HEART!) while Colin Kaepernick continues to not have a job. And our defense is the same utter shit it's been for 5 years running.

Kaep can't help the Packers any more than Hundley can.

Two reasons -

#1 The Packers don't want to run the ball. Which they should be doing instead of forcing a backup to throw the ball 30+ times. Especially since they are 25th in rushing attempts, but somehow are 9th in Yards per rush. WTF! Run the damn ball you idiots.
#2 The Packers can't run the ball as much as they want because their defense is a shitshow. Throw out the Bears and Seahawks games and here's what they've given up every week: 34,24,31,23,26,30,23. That's an average of almost 27 points against if you're name isn't the Bears or Seahawks. Those two teams are skewing the numbers down by another 4 points.

Kaep ain't scoring 28 a game with this team. Nobody is other than the guy sitting injured on the sidelines, MAYBE. And hell he only averaged 27 points a game last year.

Actually, the problem with the Packers isn't that they aren't running the ball - that yards per run is legit. That game against New Orleans was a great example. Aaron Jones was tearing up 10 yard runs or more often and early. However, when they didn't get a long run and had a 3rd down of 5 or more, McCarthy just plain refused to let Hundley throw the ball. They were constantly running checkdowns and bubble screens and patterns too shallow to get a first down. By the time the half was over, they were down 2 TD's and suddenly they can't run. It isn't just because their defense is fucking awful (it is). It's that McCarthy clearly doesn't trust Hundley to win or even try hard until it's too late to do anything but pass. He's right not to trust Hundley but the fucker has given himself no other choice. Also their O line is banged up and not very good since they've continually let their best guards go in free agency despite neither of them having any real bad injury history.

Kaep can scramble and run from the scramble - he's not as good a passer as Rodgers when he scrambles, but he is able to make more yardage (or at least as much) with his feet when he does. McCarthy's biggest problem though is that he's just not a good coach, and he's been making a living off of Aaron Rodgers ability to create great offensive plays when what was called breaks down (which was just about every play because his receivers do not get separation anymore).

Yes, Kaep can run. But so can Hundley oddly enough, and they've basically forced him to stop doing it. You're talking about a guy who had 30 rushing TDs in college in a much more difficult conference than Kaep played in, who had 59 in 4 years as opposed to Hundley's 3 years.

Which is why I'd question bringing Kaep in over Hundley because they have essentially the same skill set and McCarthy can't do shit with what he's got.

The only reason I bring up Kaep is because of experience. I'm not sure it would help substantially because again, McCarthy is a fucking terrible coach, as is Capers.

Houston and Denver, however, have no fucking excuses for not bringing in Kaep other than being Trump-loving dicks. Both those teams would substantially improve with Kaep running those offenses, Houston especially because he and Watson share a skillset. Can I just say that it's a sign that God hates us all that Deshaun Watson got injured? Because it really is.

Denver has no shot at the playoffs so they aren't going to let the circus in town.

Houston should have done it already because despite their shit record the AFC is a dumpster this year and they could secure a wild care if they went 8-8 possibly.

The Pack needs an O line.

{insert team} needs an O line. Pretty much universal at this point.

Look at how badly Dallas has done without Tyrone Smith at LT.

Look at how clean Tom Brady's pocket is (my wife a football novice even commented on this) and how integral Dante Scarnechieachaiahiaha is to coaching that line.

Did Seattle blow two years of their prime by having such a shit line?


A lot of football starts with building from the lines outwards.

Probably.

That is how I build my Madden teams =P

And yes, the Seahawks paid their world class defense and then wasted it by having a sieve O line. The sooner they fire Tom Cable and give up on the idea of him being some sort of line guru, the happier I will be.

I always play the defensive right end in Madden and love shit O lines.

I am more of a defensive tackle guy, since then I can blow up run plays too  :awesome_for_real:

Also LOLCowboys. Watching JJ watching his team shit its pants is a wonderful new holiday tradition.

It appears that without Zeke, the Cowboys just don't have any rhythm on offense. Like at all. It's amazing to watch really, because with Smith back at left tackle, they should at least be able to be moderately competitive even against a good Chargers defense. NOPE. I also just noticed yesterday that Phillip Rivers has the weirdest fucking throwing motion I think I've ever seen. It's like half sidearm, half "I'm just flinging this thing as hard as I can in no particular direction."

Detroit has no excuse really for not being able to find a running game. You can't even blame Jim Caldwell because their run game has sucked since Schwartz was coach and neither Caldwell or Jim Bob Cooter or their GM has done shit to improve it. Another team wasting a franchise QB's best years with complete ineptitude. And yet somehow, CASE GODDAMN KEENUM is having a better season passing than any other QB in the NFC North (TBF, Aaron Rodgers is out so...) What's worse is he actually looks good. Their running game isn't anything special and yes, their defense is really fucking good, so Keenum's not being asked to do HOF level things. Even so, he still has good numbers and he's playing better than at least half the starting QB's in the league. ESPN has him at #2 on Total QBR for this year behind Deshaun Watson which is just nuts to me. He's ahead of BRADY. What kind of world is this?

I didn't bother watching the Giants shit the bed against the Skins because that was a foregone conclusion.

1600 yards and 15 TDs is pretty tough to remove from the offense and replace it with Alfred Morris. Also when you remove the running game it really shows how young Dak looks at QB. Having Dak run playaction off an incredible running game is fine. If you put the game on his shoulders, you're fucked. He's not ready for that in year 2 of an NFL career with a guy like Dez Bryant as his "star" receiver. Dez is and continues to be the most underwhelming guy I've seen at a position that gets the most hype. He had 3 phenomenal years with Romo. Since Dak's come along he's a non-issue as a player and can't seem to get on the same page. He's basically TY Hilton with 2 more years on his resume.

Anyway, the big loss besides Zeke was Sean Lee, who continues to be the glue that holds the defensive crap-fest together. On the field, Dallas is 5 points a game better on D. That's insane that one guy over the span of the last 2-3 years has that much of an impact, but it's true. When you take away the best offensive player, the best defensive player, put the best blocker back in the game gimpy, and we're on the backup kicker? It's too much to overcome and I've written off the season.

Which is fine, because this Cowboys team isn't going to implode. Zeke is young, Dak is young, the line isn't going anywhere, the defense will get stronger in the draft, our best in the league kicker will come back, and Dez will hopefully get back on track and start making catches again.

Jim Bob Cooter never gets old.

Ok so if San Fran doesn't kill Garoppalo, they might actually be able to play next year.

Falcons are still trash and the NFC is Minny v. Philly unless somebody murders their QBs.

You forgot the Rams and Saints, as I think both those teams could give Minny and Philly some trouble.

Not convinced yet they can make a run, but that was the best 60 minutes Seattle has played all season.

Agreed. I tuned in for the Wentz show and was surprised to see a football game. I mostly wanted to wash the Romo out of my ear, though.

Lol Gronkslam tho http://www.espn.com/video/clip?id=21655874

They were getting away with shit on him all day.

I'm a Pats fan. I hate the BS calls on Gronk however he should be suspended for 2 games.

Yeah, I laughed about it at the time, but also said "Yeah, he's gotta sit a couple out for that". Felt bad for the kid getting dazed by it, should've been the official letting him get away with it. That whole thing was messy.

The Saints have lost to the Pats, Minny, and the Rams. They've clubbed all the non-playoff teams. I don't think they are a real threat.

Rams? They played the Vikings and got embarrassed, only scoring one TD. Granted it was in Minnesota, but guess what? It'll be in Minnesota in the playoffs too.

I have no confidence that Case Keenum can do what he's been doing at QB for the Vikings in the playoffs. I'm not saying their defense can't carry them, but I've got to see a lot more from Keenum before I'm convinced by them.

That Gronk hit should definitely be a suspension. I get why he was mad - dude was all over him. But you can't do that shit. Same goes for Marcus Peters. He got flagged in the end zone against the Jets and just fucking lost it, throwing the refs' flag into the stands. While that was funny, he should sit at least a game for that, IMO. Not only was it dumb, it probably cost them the game (well that and they've apparently forgotten how to play football as a team).

Geno Smith easily did what Eli Manning does if not better. That got lost in the hub-bub about Eli finally getting benched. He's been a liability since the 2015 season ended.

Speaking of the Giants (http://sports-ak.espn.go.com/nfl/story/_/id/21665997/new-york-giants-fire-coach-ben-mcadoo-two-seasons).

In news that should surprise no one, they fired that trash fire McAdoo and their shitty GM Jerry Reese.

Only several months too late!

Well, technically, he should never have been hired so more like 2 years too late.

After watching football for 17 years I still don't get why the fuck these players lead with their heads.

ARE YOU FUCKING INSANE?

I really wonder if removing all the hard shell gear in football would actually make the game more dangerous or less so.

I'd guess more injuries. People already don't give a fuck.

Honestly I disagree. I believe those helmets actually make football players think it's safe to lead with the head.

Take it away (make it a soft shell for incidental contact, say something like a lot of rugby players wear) and I bet that they aren't using it like a weapon.

Rugby doesn't seem to have the issues with concussions that the NFL does, at least not in the games I've watched. They still have concussions because sometimes you can't avoid getting your head hit when making contact. They also make players go off for Head Injury Assessments (HIA's) if they think he's taking a blow to the head. They've recently been amending the laws about scrums and high-tackles to further mitigate the issues. I'm not saying they don't have the same problems as the NFL, it just doesn't seem like they do from watching the games.

They have to be coached to lead with their heads, by coaches that don't give a damn. It not something that you would do naturally.

And if you weren't wearing a big hard helmet, you simply wouldnt do it!

Look they are different sports, rugby typically everything is in front of you, coming at you in similar ways. Football can be a little more chaotic.

But again I thought about line play and maybe the danger of hands going in eyes...well take away the helmets and see how much lineman get used to keeping their hands down.

The equipment is a big part of the problem.

Yes, there would certainly be no increase in concussions or broken skulls.  :uhrr:

I get what you're saying, but chopping off your hand would also reduce the amount of paper cuts you get.

edit: but here's the thing. There is a RYAN SHAZIER RULE about not leading with the head. So, it's kinda karma at some point.

And yeah, I've come around to not liking the Steelers because they're coached to not give a damn.

I'm about done with these arbitrary penalties dealt out during the week. Just another black mark for the league.

http://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/21690387/george-iloka-cincinnati-bengals-one-game-suspension-overturned

Gronk gets a game for dropping a forearm to a player on the ground after the play, giving said player a concussion.

JuJu gets a game for a block that you see almost every kick return but stops to taunt one of the dirtiest players in the game. So essentially a suspension for taunting.

Not only are the games unfun to watch, now they are continuing the spin-the-wheel for penalties bullshit.

Juju is a fucking cunt bitch who threw a dirty as fuck block that they already had to pass one rule to try to get Steelers fuckshit cheap artists to stop throwing.

How Gronk isn't suspended a fuckton of games for doing the dirtiest bullshit you've ever seen is beyond me. Imagine if a defender did that to Brady or any other QB after a play, he would probably be barred from ever playing again.

Fuck the stupid nfl, (I've watched less than 6 games combined total this season and rarely sit through a half of one without walking off) I'm with you on that but cry me a river over Juju didn't deserve it. You are fucking high. Rather the whole shitshow illustrates nicely that the offense just isn't held to anywhere near the same standards as defenders are.

I can understand your position.. I just don't agree.

just to add to the wtf, Green went MMA on Ramsey and all you heard from the league office was crickets.

No. Its not. The number of football related deaths has steadily decreased in the US as technology improves. Its even outpacing the increase in speed and size.

You can just go look at the stats and a cursory examination of them will make it abundantly clear that football is getting safer.

In 1931 41 people died from direct injuries sustained playing football I.E. collision injuries. In 2010 that number was 5. About a billion more people played football in 2010 than they did in 1931.

From 1931 to 1965(35 years) 608 people died from direct injuries from playing football. From 1966 to 2000 the total was 376. The majority of those came in first 10 years (231 or 61.4%) . From 2001 to 2013 the total was 57, normalized for 35 years that number would be 154 (rounded up).

The fatality rate by direct injury has dropped at least 10 fold from the 60's. And it looks like the 60's was about half to a quarter as deadly as the 30s. And before that? Ho-didly-fuck it was dangerous. While the sport is lambasted today for its immediate and long term danger the sport was attacked for its deadliness so hard that the President or the United States (Teddy Roosevelt) has to intervene to suggest rule changes to make the sport less deadly. It did not particularly work.

http://nccsir.unc.edu/files/2014/06/Annual-Football-2013-Fatalities-Final.pdf

These numbers i am looking at at not including non-contact injuries. A number of people die from heat stroke and while this is also going down it is not going down at the same rate because the ability to protect against heat stroke compared to catastrophic injury is less and because more people have been playing.

Anyone interested in being a general manager of an NFL team? From past listings, seems experience is not necessary but desired.  :why_so_serious:

Moneyball lasted almost 2 years and got a single win against a team that imploded that game day. Not all that unhappy.

I assume you mean this (http://sports-ak.espn.go.com/nfl/story/_/id/21699936/cleveland-browns-fire-personnel-czar-sashi-brown).

What an utterly Browns thing to do.

You forgot the part about firing the GM and then turning around and telling every potential candidate that they'll have to work with the head coach because he's not going anywhere. THAT is the Browns-ier thing to do.

The problem is that the Browns should have cleaned house when Haslam bought the team and never ever ever hired anybody that had any connections to the prior versions of the Browns. Basically jettison yourself from any and all cultural references to the Browns and start over.

Instead they hired Chudzinski as the coach and Lombardi as the GM, both of whom were prior Browns front office people and coaches.

Then they immediately kneejerked away from that and hired a Bills former coach (way to choose a real winning franchise there) and replaced the current GM with his assistant GM.

Then they draft Johnny Manziel knowing damn well he's got issues and that other teams aren't touching his crazy ass with a 10 foot clown pole, and Josh Gordon whose crazy ass can't stop getting high.

Then they fired those guys and essentially hired a lawyer to run the team as GM, and a baseball guy to run the football team. Oh and a Bengals guy to coach. Again, picking real winner franchises to pull your people from.

It's like they don't understand their culture is a bunch of bullshit and so they keep making kneejerk changes instead of sticking with literally anything. At all.

As someone who both plays, and now coaches, it absolutely is a coaching thing. People need to be taught to tackle and hit properly, otherwise they do all sorts of stupid shit.

LOL Browns. God it must suck being a fan. Up 21-7 to a shitty Green Bay team and choke it away in OT.

Also looks like Wentz is done for the year. I really don't want the Vikings in the Super Bowl and they may have been the only one to stop them.

Can we go ahead and have an overhaul of the officiating procedures and personnel?

Especially the catch rule as it stands in relation to touchdowns...

It doesn't sit well with me that I can be running with the ball, stretch out my arm and break the line with the tip of the ball, then get it swatted out of my hand as I'm pushed back to the 3 yard line and it's a touchdown. But If I catch the ball in a hand or both, touch two feet or an ankle or a knee or anything in the endzone, but then bobble the ball... it's incomplete. Just stop it. Either I have to have full control of the ball all the way on runs or passes or I only have to break the line for a second.

But you are possessing the ball as a runner before you break the plane. As a receiver, you've got to gain possession long enough to legally be possessing it on the ground (elbow/feet/whatever). I'm ok with how that works.

Otherwise get ready for shit to get weird (ref, it was on my helmet lol)

None of this used to really be a problem, back in the day.  I stand by my recommendation that all officiating crews should include a 10 year-old boy.  "Hey kid, did that look like a touchdown to you?"  Yes, sir, it did.

the nfl is unwatchable and almost everyone i talk to has at least cut back drastically. If not for the cancer that is fantasy football they would be freaking out right now over their numbers.

the only sad part about this is that a bunch of assgoblins think any bad news about the nfl proves that the rest of America cares as much about national anthem protests as they do.

"Gain possession long enough" is already weird as fuck.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=53t3xFNrGjg

 :roflcopter: :roffle: :rofl:

Now, I'm a Patriots fan. But, that was a touchdown. I know they are trying to play these as close to the rules as possible, and that the te should have held onto the ball, but god damn that must suck.

On the other hand however, I have no understanding of Pittsburgh not kicking the field goal. I mean, come on.

Good to see that Seattle has returned to being the dumpster fire I grew up with. I may move back to being a solid fan again, when I never had expectations and thus could not be disappointed.

Fuck the NFL. Seriously, fuck the NFL. What is a catch should not be a question that gets adjudicated based on nanosecond footage on fucking instant replay not just every weekend but every single game, and with no consistency between calls or even the principals of possession. First, there was a TD by the Panthers in the game against the Packers that was not, no way, now how a goddamn catch. Then that fucking Steelers TD that gets overturned because of whatever the fuck "survive the ground" means. Fuck the officials, fuck the competition committee, fuck instant replay, fuck the CBA, FUCK THE NFL. So fucking sick of seeing games get decided by instant replay that doesn't even make any fucking sense.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I _think_ what happened was; he wasn't touched after the catch, and bobbled the ball as he was going down. If he had been down by contact, but because he crossed uncontested, it somehow counts as loss of possession upon falling to the ground. I think.

 * edit: talking about the NEvPIT game

I cannot parse any of the rules about what is a catch fine enough to explain anything that makes any goddamn sense. None of the rules are consistent, and it's goddamn football. I shouldn't have to parse rules based on whether I think a ball wiggled. That was a catch. Did it move on the ground? Sure, but if I have to parse the actions closely enough, it never looked like he lost possession. If he had run the ball in from a handoff and that happened, it wouldn't have mattered because he'd have "already crossed the plane of the goal line." So it's bullshit. Nothing about that play should have remotely been considered an incomplete pass.

It's a shitty rule (and yes standard caveat I'm a Pats fan), however if he'd made that play in the open field say going for a first down the question is, was it a catch? The ball moves, it hits the ground. It's not a catch in the open field then it's not a catch at the goal line.

Oh and lol Steelers for trying to run a gotcha play against the most well coached and prepared team in the NFL. 

I still and will always maintain that was a catch anywhere on the fucking field.

The devil's advocate in me is quietly gleeful since most of the game has turned into a pass happy league. That and offensive pass interference.

Eh, it wouldn't be. If you saw that in the open field, where a guy goes to the ground with the ball moving, it's pretty consistently called.

The rule might suck and it might not pass the eye test most of the time, but that was a clear cut case for that demonstrating that rule. It was blatantly obvious once you saw it in the replay. Tony Romo's "awe shit" reaction to it is the perfect microcosm. Yah, it sucks, but it happened and it's the rule.

That's what I get for actually tuning in to the last five minutes of that game.  Steelers should've run the bawl with Lynch.

I don't know. A goal line slant against the Patriots sounds like a pretty safe bet.

And fuuuuuck.  Seattle got destroyed. I'm not sure Russel Wilson's Jesus magic is enough to save them come playoff time.

No its literally because the refs are dumb.

More or less the rule says

1) You gotta get 2 feet (or a knee or butt) inbounds. 2) you have to be able to* either "protect yourself", "turn upfield", "tuck the ball", or "take a step" while you have two feet on the ground in order to "demonstrate you're a runner"

If you're unable to do the second part then you must maintain control all the way to the ground and if the ground dislodges the ball you must re-control the ball before the ball touches the ground.

contact with the other team has nothing to do with it.

Upon review the officials determined that he had not "turned upfield" and therefore could not bobble the ball on the ground. Hence incomplete pass.

It was, however, complete bullshit because everyone saw him turn and lunge upfield, which makes it him a runner and means that contact with the ground would generate a fumble which he immediately recovered instead... though since he would have already crossed the plane of the end zone(and also immediately recovered it) that fumble would not have mattered

*You don't have to actually do it you just have to be able to. Since James did do one of those things he was clearly a runner

Even the undefined "Football move" language is dumb as fuck because the rules don't really even define what that means.

CLOWN. SHOES.

Literally referencing the Seattle-New England Super Bowl where the game ended with the exact same interception on a pass into coverage in the end zone and the ensuing rants about how they should've just given the ball to Lynch.

Atlanta losing tonight opens the door wide open to the Cowboys winning a completely undeserved spot in the playoffs, assuming they can pull a miracle and win out.

But if Atlanta loses to Tampa, I think that should eliminate them for sucking.

I think I heard that if Atlanta beats the Bucs tonight, Green Bay is officially eliminated from the playoffs. I'm kind of hoping that happens so I can just ignore the rest of the regular season and just hope they finally fire either McCarthy or Capers or both. How the fuck Capers still has a job after having a 30th rated defense for multiple years in a row is a mystery to me.

“Football move” was redefined to

“Being able to defend oneself”
“Tucking the ball”
“Turning up field” or
“Taking a step”

I find it pretty hilarious that everyone here is bitching about the clearly not a catch by the Pittsburgh but were just happy to say Dez didn't catch it   :why_so_serious:

I actually said at the time, as a Packers fan, that the Dez play was a fucking catch and that anyone who thought different was a fucking idiot. Because that shit was a catch.

EDIT: And here's the link to what I said about that play (http://forums.f13.net/index.php?topic=23984.msg1341288#msg1341288).

It was utter bullshit then, and it was utter bullshit to hand the game to the Pats on that play. Also, what a dumb fucking series of events that led to that Steelers INT in the endzone.

Cowboys are still playoff eligible if like 3 things happen this week, otherwise FART NOISE

Go Tribe...


 :why_so_serious:

What a fucking shit show. After all the garbage line play, the terrible play calls, the penalties- the Seahawks were still a playoff team if they had even an average kicker. I wonder if Walsh will bother showing up for the end of the season meeting? I have $50 for his bus ticket in my wallet.

I mean, the Seahaws of any team should have known Walsh was cancer.

Very glad the Ravens missed the playoffs, as I just do not want to watch that terrible team with a good defense in the playoffs. I did watch the Jags/Titans game and holy shit, Blake Bortles may have improved this year but he did not show it here. He was goddamn awful. The Jags defense needs to arrange an "accident" for him. Meanwhile, the Titans were pretty bad as well and I expect their game against the Chiefs will be a really horrible game of football.

Suck it Ravens! It 'twas glorious watching them get fucked by the Cincinnatti Bengals of all teams.

And on a play that any idiot could have seen coming from a mile away. Yes, let's give the slot receiver about 20 yards of cushion. What could go wrong?

I'm glad the Hawks are out. They didn't deserve to be there after the shitshow that was that season. I mean, I still love em, still a fan, but being honest about the play is ok, too.

I was hoping so hard that the Browns would beat the Steelers. Could've had ball-busting material for the boss for months.

"Yeah, things are bad. But are they "I got beat by a 0-15 Browns bad?""

 :drillf:

Packers remove Thompson as GM (http://sports-ak.espn.go.com/nfl/story/_/id/21936559/ted-thompson-not-return-general-manager-green-bay-packers-remain-team)

This was needed like 2 or 3 seasons ago. His personnel decisions have been shit lately. Now someone fire Dom fucking Capers please.

They already did.

Thank fuck. I didn't even see that story.

We doing predictions?

Patriots win the super and remain insufferable assholes as always. How'd I do?

Sounds good to me..:D

The Pats are pretty flawed and they miss Edelman more than people think. Plus their D is hot garbage. On the flip side every other team in the playoffs has flaws too.

I know New England has some weak spots. I just can't see any of these teams other than maybe the Steelers exploiting them. The Eagles might have given them a game in the Super Bowl with a healthy Wentz, but with Nick Foles? Their defense can't hold Tom Brady for the length of time it would take Nick Foles to get good again, even with this team. I don't see Case Keenum winning a Super Bowl against New England or Blake Bortles beating them in Foxboro. The Rams might have a shot in the Super Bowl if they can get past Minnesota's defense.

Whoever plays in the Super Bowl, I'm sure it'll be a very defensive game.

LOLBENGALS (http://sports-ak.espn.go.com/nfl/story/_/id/21944438/cincinnati-bengals-sign-marvin-lewis-two-year-deal-2019)

Pretty much everyone figured Marvin Lews was on the way out in Cincy - and they just gave him a 2-year extension coming off a second straight losing season after 2 or 3 one and done playoff runs before that. Seriously, Mike Brown is just a fucking cheap ass moron.

EDIT: Also, Carson Palmer joined Bruce Arians in retiring.

The only reason I don't want the Rams to win is fuck their owner, he doesn't deserve shit.

So... go Steelers?  Are you guys on my side for a change?  Or are most of us just rooting for the Saints to get hot and fuck everyone's shit up?

I'd rather the Saints win (it was the first team I followed as a kid) or the Jags because fuck the football gods, they've shit on us enough this season, give Jacksonville the Super Bowl to make this whole joke season complete.

Fuck New England because Belicheat and Brady.
Fuck Pittsburgh because of Rapistberger.
Fuck Atlanta because we all know they'd just choke anyway.
Fuck the Rams because Stan Kroenke is an utter piece of shit ruining teams on two continents in multiple sports.
Fuck Minnesota because I'm a Packers' fan and Blair Walsh isn't there to ruin their playoffs again.
Fuck Tennessee because their owner is a racist fuckbag (not that that doesn't apply to all the teams but still...)
Fuck Carolina for the same reason and add sexual harasser to the list.
Fuck Kansas City because they are boring.
Fuck Buffalo because of the Bills Mafia on behalf of every folding table ever, and their shitty owner (actually, I think I'd really enjoy it if they won with Tryod Taylor because they've been trying to run him out of town all season despite his decent numbers).
Fuck Philadelphia because their fans are utter assholes who throw batteries at Santa Clause and they gave Mike Vick a giant contract AFTER he got out of prison.

So yeah, New Orleans, Jacksonville and I guess the Bills?

Minn is a great team from a neutral perspective. I think a full blown Andy Reid + Alex Smith win a super bowl redemption thing would be cool so KC is alright in my book too. I'm not even even sure what the Bills bit was about and they are never winning anything but I'd be ok with it.

The rest I'm on board with though I'm not even aware of the Tenn thing for me its just they aren't good enough to bother rooting for and those uniforms are so tacky and shit. Carolina is just fuck Cam Newton for me.


Minn, KC, Jax, NO, Buff is my rooting interests in order. I may watch none of it though, fuck the nfl and a tiny bit fuck football in general.

I am pulling for Minnesota or NO.

That's what the Bills do. Farm team for good players who will go on to play well elsewhere. It's comedic.

Pats because they're the best team in the history of football.

So I take it most people are losing patience and interest in the NFL?  Well, if that's the case...maybe it's time to bring back the XFL! :awesome_for_real: :ye_gods:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/early-lead/wp/2017/12/21/vince-mcmahon-moves-100-million-closer-to-potentially-bringing-back-the-xfl/?utm_term=.300e06a4b19a

It's not.

Because what a sport with rampant steroid use, and which causes catastrophic long term injuries needs is Vince McMahon.

I don't follow pro ball much, but I find it interesting that teams are so smitten over Gruden.  The guy has a Super Bowl, yeah, and with the Buccaneers, sure.  But he also has barely a .500 record if you take out the Super Bowl year.  In fact, he had one decent season after the super bowl, 2005, in which his team went 11-5.  Otherwise, his last 5 years he was 34-46.  And he got canned.  Throw in the fact that he hasn't coached in almost a decade and I think he's going to fall on his face in Oakland.

Oh it's almost assured that Gruden's going to fail. I think he's been overrated for years as both a coach and a color commentator. I mean, he's better than Kornheiser was but he's still fucking nails on chalkboard annoying to me. The Raiders probably aren't as talented as they were since many of those guys seemed to have career years in 2016 and have fallen down since then. I'm looking at you, Amari Cooper.

I am just glad MNF will be watchable again.

Don't say that until they announce the next color commentator. I hear Alex Jones is free.  :why_so_serious:

So who went to the Brown's 0-16 parade today? :awesome_for_real:

https://www.cbssports.com/nfl/news/emmanuel-ogbah-is-really-angry-about-parade-celebrating-browns-0-16-season/

lol chiefs

Wow, the Chiefs are so bad. What's worse is that the Titans are equally bad only one point less so. Worst of all, of course, are the refs who just absolutely shit the bed in that game. Like I seriously want someone to check all the refs for concussions. Holy shit, that Mariotta fumble was an actual fumble. Of course, the earhole shot that Kelce took was actually a fumble too so...

But yeah, LOL CHIEFS.

The Rams, OTOH, laid an egg. Not being able to stop the run the entire second half killed them. And look, the FALCONS LEARNED HOW TO RUN THE BALL WITH A LEAD. Too bad that shit's a year too late. Fuckers.

Now we get to see the most boring offense in football (Titans) lose to New England in a goddamn blizzard probably, and the Falcons will probably get to the Super Bowl for a rematch they will lose 500-10.

Rams turned the ball over twice and despite winning almost every other stat, that and time of possession cost them the game.

The Falcons simply ground them out on the running game, and never gave the best offense in the league the time to score. However, that's not going to work against the Philly D who is #1 in the league against the rush, while LA was 27th.

Suck it Steelers.

Wtf New Orleans , what was that attempt at a tackle?

Saints, what in the actual fuck? How do you tackle?

The worst part is that I know exactly what kind of stupid shit he was trying to pull on that last play. He was going for the big, dumb, not even remotely worth trying shoulder slam to get a big hit. Which if he'd connected probably would have broken the reeiver's neck or given him a concussion. Or he could have, you know, actually tried a tackle with both arms and made sure. That was just about the dumbest fucking way to lose a playoff game that I can imagine.

Nah, he just misjudged the timing and ducked under to not get a PI penalty.  He should have played more containment to manage the clock but he is an aggressive rookie (he played for the Utes so I watched him for years).

Yup he totally failed his job took a terrible line because he wanted a highlight reel tackle. Well he got his highlight real time just probably not the way he wants to see it. It was not that the receiver made some weird juke move the guy just missed his tackle..

Given Minnesota's terrible bad luck with field goals in playoff games, he should have taken the PI and taken the chance with a field goal. Instead, he not only missed the tackle, he took out the only other guy who might have been able to catch Diggs.

https://twitter.com/ImranC23_/status/952713762183811072

Sickest burn: Marcus Williams was trying to tackle Manti Te'o's girlfriend.  :mob:

New rule: if you go helmet to helmet, drawing the roughness penalty, the offender is removed for as many downs/games/seasons as the injured player.

Being able to remove a star player for a 15 yard penalty is pretty shitty (fines are meaningless).

Unless it's against a Patriot because fuck those guys.

 
 :why_so_serious: :why_so_serious: :why_so_serious:

Another Tom Brady Super Bowl Win.

There is no God.

There is. It just turns out he's not a very nice one  :why_so_serious:

There's still time for the Patriot bus to rollover and kill the team. Give karma a chance.

The whole team celebrating!

(https://i.imgur.com/WA3LsJd.jpg)

Seriously, check out the stats. 6-98 vs 1-10.

That 10 yard penalty the Pats took? On special teams.

At least I can feel good about not watching the Superbowl.

Yeah, I have to say the refs were throwing some stupid PI flags on the Jags while totally ignoring shit the Pats were doing. Fuck that team.

Yeah the refs won it  :oh_i_see: :oh_i_see: :oh_i_see:

Some excellent analysis regarding the Jags and how they  let the Patriots back in with overly conservative  (https://twitter.com/SharpFootball/status/955454941073731584) and predictable play calling in the second half.

And the age old comment still applies, the prevent defense only prevents you from winning.  :oh_i_see:

I still don't understand why coaches continue to do this every single time. Yes, the Jags def is the bread and butter of that team, but only when it is playing the unpredictable. Once you go into some canned defense to try and contain, you fuck yourselves out of the game.

In defense of the refs, the Jags D was playing really rough and dirty the whole game.

I normally cheer the Pats D when they do that and then admit it should've been a flag. But I felt the Jags won the dirty D contest and the flags reflected it.

I thought some of the plays the Pats D was making were just as rough, but they weren't even remotely called, like the refs were watching a totally different game. I don't think it was necessarily the reason they lost - I'd certainly blame the shitty Prevent D over the refs. But the refs still sucked.

Muh refs.


Seriously though, Jags played good o for the first half, short runs intermixed with flat outs at around the 5 yard mark. This got them plenty of 1st downs and got some points.

In the second, the Patriots adjusted, and apparently the Jags had no plan b. So ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Defending well only gets you so far, you still need to score points.

Here's an idea Jags, stop a 3rd and 18? You win the game. The rest is just fucking nonsense.

Super Bowl MVP Nick Foles. Figure that one out.  :awesome_for_real:

It was tough to find a favorite in that game.  The evil empire vs the team with the worst fans in the league.

Naw, the worst fans are New England/Boston fans.  Poor, whiny as fuck losers and even worse when they win.  Suck it chowds!!! :grin:

No, Eagles fans are by far the worst.  Vikings fans were subjected to endless abuse in the playoff game at Philadelphia.  Spat on, beer cans thrown at them, shoved, told they would be raped.

But even if you put all that aside there are two things they did that were nothing less than despicable.  One was Millie a 99-year old Vikings fan that was awarded tickets to the game.  Some Eagles fan thought that it was ok to create and parade around with a banner that said "Fuck Millie".  A 99-year old woman.

The second was an Eagles fan yelled "Fuck you" at a baby in a stroller that had a little Vikings jersey on.  A baby.  In a stroller.

Jesus.

Counter argument: Trump is a Patriots fan, therefore the Patriots have the worst fans.  My earlier assessment of them is spot on for Trump.

Eagles fans are stupid, loud and punch horses.

Patriot fans think Brady is the greatest player of any sport ever.

Advantage Philly.

I don't know, my facebook feed was full of people rooting for the Eagles because they are the team that "doesn't kneel".   :oh_i_see:

Cmon folks. Let's just come together over the glorious fact that the Patriots didn't win.

Even in losing I can still find solace in the tears of other teams fans still whining about the Patriots.  :why_so_serious: :why_so_serious:

Is Philly still standing?

No one’s whining. But thanks for proving my point about pats fans.

lol, um exactly.  Pats fans are obnoxious because the team has won shitloads of superbowls. You wouldn't care otherwise. Anyways...

Pats defense was poop all night and Malcolm Butler was benched. The melt down on local radio is epic.  Eagles played with big balls all night and deserved to win. How is it there was only 1 sack in the game TOTAL (and a fairly important one)????  Crazy. Oh and one punt. 

The downside, (outside of 6 new england states, and small pockets of Giants, Cowboys and Redskin fans) is that this game was the perfect ending for the NFL season and gives some relief to Roger Goodell. Fuck that guy.

That was a really great game (unless you like defense). FUCK TOM BRADY and SUPERFUCK BILL BELICHEK. I look forward with glee to the fuckton of schaudenfraude over Brady and Belichek's feud over TB12's trainer guru and all-around con man Alex Guerrero. But even more, I look forward to the lovely angst of Pats fans who will have to question why Belichek benched one of their better corners for what he called "matchups." Yeah, the guy who played 98% of all defensive snaps this year, against all sorts of top recievers gets benched in the biggest game of the year because somehow he doesn't matchup well against the Eagles? GET THE FUCK OUT OF HERE. There is a story there and I look forward to it leaking out of Pats camp all offseason long. I hope it's bigger than Deflategate.

I think we can safely say that Eagles fans and Pats fans are mostly people who should be sealed in barrels and fired into the sun. But at least Tom Brady didn't win.

I say we just hit both cities (well, one city, one college town with a pier) with neutron bombs and replace the inhabitants with America's homeless.

It's not just when you're teams were winning that New England fans were annoying.  They cried and moaned for years "Curse of the Bambino, Bucky Dent, Bill Buckner, poor us boo hoo" like huge babies.  When all their teams started winning championships (Bruins, Pats, Red Sox, Celtics) the past 10-15 years, the chowds have become unbearable obnoxious winners.  Philly fans booing Santa or being drunk assholes are infinitely more bearable.  The Pats won 5 super bowls but they also have a legacy of being caught cheating on multiple occasions.  Fuck Brady and his deflated footballs.  Fuck Bellicheck, his stupid hoodie and his grumpy old man attitude about everything.  Fuck Big Papi and his steroids.  And fuck that little weasel Brad Marchant when he cheap shots other players then runs and hides behind that Frankenstein face Chara.

 :why_so_serious: :why_so_serious: :why_so_serious: :why_so_serious: :why_so_serious:

Philly is a festering pile. This isn't really a debate.

You know, shit was not that bad last night in Philly, honestly. Most of the population of the city was out on the street and there was a few bad things that happened, but on a given night, I would guess that two to three cars get set on fire anyway. Most of it was just happy, exuberant people high-fiving each other and playing instruments and shit. If a million people spill onto the streets and they're determined to really fuck shit up, they could level the city.

I found out something I never knew about the "Icicles thrown at Santa" thing. Santa wasn't a hired Santa actor--the hired Santa actor stiffed the organization and so in desperation they went through the stands to find a dude at the last second who happened to be dressed at Santa. That was a skinny 20-year old drunk who stumbled out and was like, "HAI KIDS I AM THE SANTAS". I might have thrown an icicle at that, really.

Footage last night from Philly was hilarious. Guy riding on top of the police van. Other ppl randomly riding on top of cars. People jumping off awning at Ritz Carlton...random groups of ppl singing along to that Meek Mills song.  Who doesn't love a good city wide celebration/riot.

I find it distressing that I now know two things about Nick Foles I never really wanted to know: He went to Liberty University and has a ginormous dong.

How would you know that? :headscratch: :ye_gods:

Don't forget the footage of the drunk fans eating horse shit off the streets, that was cool.

You do know his nickname right?

Large Coals Foles?

It's been in the news since the game. His two nicknames in college were Big Dick Nick and Footlong Foles.  Was also confirmed a couple years ago by a teammate that he had the biggest johnson on the team.

So Josh McDaniels meets with Belichek on Tuesday and decides, nope, don't want to be in charge of the adderall-fueled trash fire that is the Indy Colts, even if Andrew Luck returns.

Wow.

As much as I dislike Josh, Colts started the parade before they got it in writing. Players keep talking about the NFL being just a business, well.... there ya go. Get the man to sign before you go off on the victory lap.


Also read that Luck's shoulder still isn't right and may need clean up surgery. It'll be a miracle if he comes back as good as he was, or was supposed to be. I'm not even sure anymore. Love the fact that Luck and RG3 are both afterthoughts in the QB realm now - replaced by Case Keenum and Nick Foles.  :grin:

I just had to correct you, so that we could all remember the Football Gods hate our fucking guts.