f13.net

So I guess I'll start this year's thread now that Bill has spent his stimulus money. Bob Kraft is going to have to sell a lot of mac-n-cheese to cover the past couple days! I feel like this is Billy's 'hold my beer' love letter to Tampa's strategy last year...

(https://i.imgur.com/LYAZELu.png)

Considering how no one on his team could catch the ball last season, I don't blame him. He's had good luck with 2 TE sets (even though one of his tight ends turned out to be a fucking idiot murderer). Cam may be washed up but it's hard to tell with such a shit set of dudes catching the ball. This is Bill realizing he made his name because of the greatest QB of all goddamn time, so now he has to scramble to build an actual fucking team.

I'm happy that Green Bay resigned Aaron Jones, because I was sure as shit they were just going to let him walk. Now they just have to make sure they give Aaron Rodgers EVERYTHING HE FUCKING ASKED FOR GODDAMNIT because if they drive him off, the team is fucked.

I don't give all the credit to Brady, but it was certainly a wake-up call that he has to be a bit more serious about his offense now. The last several years of Brady Pats suffered from pretty terrible targets. The TE party should've happened 3 years ago but clearly they were tapped out (and the strat worked, ring attained, so...).

I think Cam was kind of a victim of circumstances, late signing, inheriting the paucity of weapons that Brady had in those last lean years plus COVID (his worst performances were the few weeks after Cam came back from COVID. I think he's still got some solid years in him, though it remains to be seen if he can rise above B-class when given a better set of targets (and some protection).

I was pretty happy last season, considering the situation. It was fun having Cam energy on the team and many of their losses were right at the buzzer, so even a single high B-class TE could've eked out wins in some of those (nudging them into the wild card last year).

Ironically, some of Cam's best stuff was the first week or two when they were still using a lot of his playbook with more RPO style stuff. I was bummed they seemed to pull back on that and hope to see it featured much more, especially given the trick plays you can build around such a versatile setup.

What the NFL got from the networks for the next 10 years of broadcast rights: $10 billion/year.

https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/31088098/nfl-announces-tv-deals-espn-abc-nbc-cbs-fox-amazon

I just wish they'd end EA's exclusive game rights.  :oh_i_see:

Being able to flex for Monday night games is something that was desperately needed. Mondays have been almost as much of a wasteland as Thursday games.

Random thoughts:

As good a coach Bill B. is, I think the last year has proven pretty definitively that Brady was doing more than his share in that relationship than any of us truly believed..  Which I did not fully expect, but there it is.  I do not expect a dramatic turnaround from the Patriots.  In part, because....

Cam Newton was on in inexplicable decline well before he put on the Pats uniform.  That is not changing. 

And LOL Chicago Bears.

A depleted Pats vs a FA stacked Bucs?  :oh_i_see:

The guy has had a lot of serious injuries. It’s not really a surprise he’s nowhere close to his earlier MVP days.

I can understand that viewpoint - at face value it makes sense. But I can't agree with it due mainly to Sky's point. Brady had a team full of insanely good players on both sides of the ball - much like the year prior with Mahomes' Chiefs. It is way easier to win when you have that caliber of roster. Revisit this debate in 5 years and see what Billy B conjures up. Now that the Bills are relevant again, New England can't sleep thru that part of the schedule and the Dolphins seem to be waking up - so it is no longer a blow off division. But who knows, maybe the Pats fall into irrelevancy again for a few years and Brady goes and gets another silver football trophy.

For the first time since I can remember clearly, I am not wondering who will be coaching the Browns and I am not focusing on the draft. Feels very 1980s again. Hope Stefanski can keep things going. Higgins was a wise signing since he was always a dependable WR that seemed to show up when needed. Troy Hill will be much needed depth in the secondary since our first round CB picks seem to be made of glass. Also read today we singed LB Anthony Walker... which is great since the LB crew seems non-existent in Cleveland, though he is more run stopper than coverage.

The more I watched Tampa Bay this year, the better their defense got. They basically shut down Aaron Rodgers twice. That Tampa team really was a lot more stacked than I think anyone recognized when Brady signed. I don't know if they'd have won the Super Bowl without him, but they'd certainly have been a contender.

Defense wins in the playoffs. You have to have an offense that can score, sure, but only KC last year had what I would consider an elite offense (and their defense was pretty decent). Look at Seattle- they dominated with a Hall of Fame laden defense, and have steadily declined while the offense has gotten better.

Speaking of Seattle, can someone please rid me of this turbulent god-bothering QB already? So fucking sick of his 'brand'.

I'm sure there are a ton of teams willing to take Russell off your hands.

If Pete wasn't 10000 years old they might just take a load of draft picks and retool, but I don't think he wants to build a team again at this stage of his career. I really wish they would do it though. Watching Wilson pratfall on another team would be a great deal of fun for me. He  has so many terrible bad habits baked in that I would be surprised if he was successful unless he found the exact right fit.

I'd take Wilson in NE, the old lady disagrees. In the 'we're going to have an old QB for a couple years' debate, our usual candidate is Fitz. Guy is just playing for fun at this point and can be a great mentor in the right system. We're also fine with Cam, because honestly NE would be playoff contenders with just about any vet QB (the pool is much smaller for vets who could win a playoff game though).

The bigger question with NE is: who's the next franchise QB? The rest of their QB bench is what we'll be watching.

So Deshaun Watson may be a complete shitbag (https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/31113664/summary-lawsuits-deshaun-watson)? 13 sexual harrassment lawsuits that all sound horribly similar. If they are true (and that's a lot of suits to be falsified, IMO), fuck him and I hope he never plays football again.

Well both sides are bieng represented by the Patented type Crazy Texas lawyer, so its gonna turn into a shitshow all round

https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/31115841/prominent-texas-attorneys-clash-cases-involving-houston-texans-qb-deshaun-watson

Not to go to Politics here, but prostitution REALLY needs to be legalized. It would alleviate a lot of this kind of bullshit. Goddamned puritans and their muskets.

Wouldn't have helped in this case. Seems the guy got his kicks from going to legit massage places and trying to get their hands touching his dick when they told him that wasn't part of the deal. If he wanted "Thai" massages there are plenty of those places to go, especially in his price range. It was the unwillingness and shock that he got his rocks off to.

It is true that people are the worst people.

So I been in meetings literally all afternoon and I finally start poking around for late day draft trades and see that Rogers finally admitted what we already knew in that he wants out of GB. So that's a thing.. Really wish the 49ers trade went thru about it. That would have been interesting since that 3 comes at the expense of the next, what, 3 years worth of 1st rounders? Not sure what the 49ers are doing out there... trade the future for the 3rd pick and then flip it for an old, still great, but old QB? Makes everyone I know wonder if the 49ers were expecting the Jets to pick differently.

I'm just going to laugh and laugh when the Jets draft Wilson, the most Jets thing to ever Jet.

We were really pulling for the Pats to get Fields, and he almost slipped back far enough. We don't watch a ton of college, but the old lady is bringing me into new facets of the sport. Pretty cool, tbh, I'm happy she's finding something to get into, she's been pretty low on hobbies lately. Hell, last year was the first draft I watched.

Anyway, I think we got a decent prospect. A pocket passer with a draft chip on his shoulder works in NE.

Not happy about the Steelers getting Etienne. That's not good for anyone (other than Pittsburgh). Hopefully Big Ben lays a Big Turd that Etienne can't hurtle over  :grin:

Also hopeful for the Bears. They've had so many pieces in place and got Trubisky'd. Maybe a new talented QB will be the kick they need.

I think the Pats are better off with Jones. The guy is basically Brady-lite, not a runner, really accurate, goes thru progressions quickly. Saban > Belichick will probably need much of a transition. Good on them.

Steelers picked up Harris, not Etienne. Jags got Etienne a pick later to keep the Clemson backfield band together I guess.

Loved watching Horn and Surtain come off the board right before Dallas picked. Hilarious. Dallas did well to pick up Parsons but I'm almost certain they were assuming they'd get 1 of the top corners.

Browns got another CB and I can't fault them since they seem to be made of paper right around the end of August. If they can all stay healthy, there are going to be a lot of coverage sacks by the Browns DL.

Best part of watching round one was the Bears on the clock and they cut to the empty living room of Fields, then over to Jones. Umm... wrong feed guys. You knew the pick was fields before the tracker moved to 'the pick is in' part. Even my wife was remarking about the empty living room.

Little surprised by the Bengals pick since Burrow might be a little squirrelly going into this season. Really thought they'd hit on Penei. Not sure wtf Denver is doing since Fields and Jones was sitting there and Lock is not looking like a starter. They must be trying to do a Manning and bring in Rogers after June 1. And the Packers, yet again, do nothing in round 1 to help the offense.

Oops, my bad. It was late. I congratulated the boss (a huge Steelers fan) on Etienne this morning, and she agreed....it was a late night for a lot of us, heh. Made even more humorous when basically everyone was talking about the draft this morning and our new hire, who already thought our city was obsessed with football (we had a champion streak for our high school back when I was there), came in on her day off and heard us.

Anyway, I'm hopeful for Jones. His arm seems a lot slower compared to Brady's short/mid rifle, but I haven't seen young Brady film in ages.

This Rodgers news is just so goddamn stupid. I don't blame Rodgers one bit, personally. The Packers organization has spent at 50% of the seasons he's been there wasting his talent with a bunch of spare parts, some of the worst defenses in the league and a coach that couldn't adjust his waistband, much less a team. The last 3 years of McCarthy's reign was Rodgers running around trying not to get killed and hope somebody would get open. We finally get a coach who brings freshness to the offense, have a legit star at both wideout and running back, a potential top 5 TE, and what do they do? Draft his fucking replacement, probably two years too early, if not more and they don't even consult him about it. Rodgers clearly has AT LEAST two good years in him from now, more if he isn't having to run around on half of the plays until somebody gets open. We sign a few defensive free agents and kudos for doing that as they were all solid starters (and Zadarius is a star) but this offseason has been doing nothing but keeping together the parts of the team that were 1 game away from the Super Bowl. That's not good enough, unfortunately, and Rodgers is well within his rights to be absolutely fed up with them slow walking their way into a championship. Trade up and get one of those great wideouts everyone was talking about in the first round, or get Elijah Moore who was available when they drafted. I don't disagree that we need another young shutdown corner to go with Alexander, but goddamn - we need someone to catch the ball and take the heat off Davante Adams more.

Just please do not let Rodgers go to the fucking Raiders (which is one of the 3 that have been touted as possible destinations). I don't have a problem rooting for the Broncos again like I did when Manning got there but fuck if I'm going to root for a Gruden Raiders team. Fuck that little grunting twat. San Francisco clearly didn't think they were going to get Rodgers (and I don't want Jimmy G in Green Bay), so went with Trey Lance instead. The Broncos not drafting a QB when they did tells me they think they are going to get Rodgers.

The worst part about the whole thing is that it was ALL avoidable. Sure, Rodgers had lots of problems with the brain trust before LeFleur came in and they drafted Jordan Love, and they were legit problems. But they were solvable. Everything they've done publicly from the moment they drafted Love has all been just one stupid blunder after another, all of it basically telling Rodgers "thanks for your service, but we're going in a different direction." It's the exact same stupid way they treated Favre and they are super lucky that Rodgers was as good as he was, because if he'd been a bust, it would have been a long time without any titles. Nothing I've heard about Love leads me to believe he's the heir apparent and if he's not, Green Bay is going to be in for a long winter of our discontent.

We are no joke hoping he retires to host Jeopardy. But yeah, he's been done dirty for a long goddamned time, and last season was basically a giant middle finger (ala Fitz in Miami when he was 'supposed' to tank the season) to the Packer administration/coaching staff. 100% would not want to see him in silver and black.

And the Packers finally take a receiver in round 3, who appears to be a possession/Randall Cobb style receiver for the slot. So maybe that's good news? Just not sure they should have waited this long.

Rodgers is a whiny bitch.

I am forced to agree.  No QB is so good that you shouldn't think about his replacement, doubly so at his age.  And this whole argument that they never surround him with talent is actually mostly untrue.  Not enough pass protection, okay...but you can say that about most NFL QBs.

It’s one thing to plan on a replacement. It’s another to draft a replacement and supposedly plan for a trade and not tell your HoF-bound QB of those plans.

Cardinals drafted the fucking shoe tosser. Traded up to get him as well.

 :roflcopter:

It's a story we have heard dozens of times.  Rodgers is not so special that he is immune to it.  And "plan for a trade" is a strong statement, is that even verified?  And if so, that also happens to just about every one of them.

name some?

I'm with Rodgers on this one. Of course, one should expect your replacement to get drafted SOMEDAY. That day should not be when you are signed for 4 more years, only have 2 more years of guaranteed money on your contract, and oh by the way, you just led your team to within 1 game of the Super Bowl despite having only 2 legit stars on offense and a defense that had to IMPROVE to get to 21st ranked in the league. And that was after he essentially carried the team on the back of at least 3 years of McCarthy lazily "coaching" them to miss the playoffs. And even if you decide, yep, we are going to draft a 1st rounder to replace him, the absolute goddamn LEAST you can do is talk to the guy before you do it. As it was, he has to answer the questions "why did your team draft your replacement" and the best you can come up with is "Fucked if I know, they didn't tell me shit."

I'm not one to encourage prima donna behavior. There are, however, some dudes you roll out the red carpet for, ESPECIALLY if it's Green Bay. Because without Rodgers (and Favre before him), ain't nobody going to want to come to Green Bay to play football. It's the absolute ass end of nowhere. It has less to do than Buffalo. At least if it was Milwaukee, you could tempt players with the idea of being in a metropolis, small as it is. Fucking Green Bay? It HAS NOTHING but football. And if you are African-American, you will stick out like a sore thumb. The chance to play with and possibly win a Super Bowl (or at the very least contend) with a first ballot Hall of Famer and perennial MVP candidate is a draw. I have been a Packers fan since the shitty old days of the '80's. I've seen how bad that team can get without a legit star.

And it isn't like Rodgers hasn't already seen how shitty Green Bay treats its future HOF QB's, because this is a pattern that they are repeating from when Favre left. It's creating an acrimonious situation where there doesn't need to be one. At least with Favre, the Pack had the excuse of "well, he keeps waffling on whether he wants to retire." Rodgers has made absolutely no public statements or even hints that he wanted to do anything other than retire as a one-team Packer legend. With as many times as he's been hurt because his goddamn line was terrible or his coach didn't want to give him protection, and as many MVP's as he's won there, in addition to the Super Bowl and NFC Championships, I think he deserves the right to do that for as long as possible. Rodgers isn't Peyton Manning. His body isn't breaking down. Worst case scenario is he still has 2 more years of top-level play in him, with a slow Brady-like decline. I think he could probably play until he's 40. As a Packers fan, I'm disgusted with the lack of communication they've had with him and with how they've wasted some of the best years of his career.

The actual details and methods are specific to the individual cases, but....Joe Montana.  Peyton Manning.  Kurt Warner.  Brett Favre probably made his own mess, but the fact is that his team - like all teams do - was already trying to groom his replacement (let's consider the irony for a moment).  Russell Wilson has been shopped around this year.  It is a pretty normal thing for NFL teams to draft/trade for the future, they would be stupid not to.  The idea that they should have to clear everything with the team's biggest ego is a bit silly.

Yeah, no.

Montana and Young were teammates that competed for the starting position for a number of years. Eventually Montana's injuries forced him long-term to the bench and Young won an MVP and that was it for Montana (on the Niners). Peyton was coming off of neck surgery and the Colts didn't think he could play (well) again. Turns out they were right and he couldn't but he still somehow managed to win a Super Bowl as a Broncos. They hadn't drafted Luck at that point when they cut Peyton, either. Warner was injured and literally couldn't grip the football at that time he was traded.

Had Andrew Luck not been the prospect he was, the Colts probably wouldn't have gotten rid of Manning when they did. After all, his performances hadn't really dropped and even when he went to the Broncos, it wasn't until midway through his last season that his arm just disintegrated. Favre did flirt over and over again with retirement but even when they drafted Rodgers, they didn't consult with Favre and look how that turned out. A HOF QB and team legend spent years estranged all because they couldn't be assed to communicate some pretty basic, understandable shit.

Nobody is saying that they have to ask Rodgers to APPROVE of the drafting of his replacement. It's a business and everyone who plays it understands that part of the equation. It is, however, common goddamn courtesy to at least treat players with respect rather than just as interchangeable parts. How much good do you think it does Jordan Love to sit on the bench behind a guy who has enough of a grudge that he won't bother to mentor the young kid? That's exactly what happened to Rodgers, because Favre was treated the same way and acted very similar. I don't think it's too much to ask that your employer gives a little deference and respect to the feelings of long-serving employees, especially ones whose bodies get destroyed in the process of serving the company.

Or they could just be dicks, not tell him a word, and watch as the whole thing blows up in their faces. Because NOW they have a team legend who wants nothing to do with the team, and whose trade value has dropped because other teams know that if you take the step of even having the discussion about trading him, you HAVE to take what's given because you've now blown your leverage. It's not just bad communication, it's bad business.

Um, Peyton Manning had 3 extremely good years with Denver, including one of the most amazing years ever by a QB.  But regardless, the point is that all those teams did what they thought was the smart thing, probably didn't have the blessing of their HOF QB, and the QB in question was not being a whiny primadonna about it.  That said, I don't know how much of this is Rodgers actually being whiny and how much is the media just trying to squeeze juice from the lemon.

He is 37.  Two years ago everyone was asking what was wrong with him, and fair enough, he proved those people wrong.  But finding his replacement is the smart thing to do, because history shows us he is nearing the end of his rope.  Having himself been the guy (fair or no) to help move another aging legend out of town, you'd think he would be able to see both sides of it.

Edit:  if the main argument here is simply that they should have told him?  Em, I guess so?  Would that have really changed anything?  Rodger is great, and has the ego to go with it.

The point is is when you have a franchise QB at the helm (doesn’t even have to be HOF-bound) who is still playing well and isn’t in some sort of weird contract state you don’t draft a QB first round. The only exception I’ve been able to find through semi-recent memory is in fact Aaron Rodgers himself while Brett Favre was still playing. But the Packers weren’t doing all that well at the time and yet still Rogers just sat on the bench while the Packers patiently waited for Favre to retire.

Edit: here's the list of QBs drafted first round by team so you can more easily see what I mean:

https://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2021/03/28/first-round-quarterbacks-by-team-in-the-super-bowl-era/

If Rodgers wants to run the team, he is free to apply for the GM job and forgo the tens of millions of dollars he gets for playing QB. Ditto for RW3 and the rest.  A large part of the problem is the NFL's insistence that it be the focal of the sports world 24/7 365. Manufactured drama is so goddamned tiresome.

Yeah, this.  Add to it the outsized influence of the QB in this insane era of offensive bias.  Did anyone ask WR1 about the first round WR the team drafted?  Of course not.

And Trippy, Rodgers is 37.  It is definitely the time to draft a first round QB.  As to whether or not the team owes the QB an explanation, I will just agree to disagree.  Based on my above comment.

:oh_i_see:

When I was in music school, we had an improv class. Local singers would come in, drop a chart on everyone's stands, and we'd have to back them up. I was mostly playing bass at the time, we had 3 or 4 bassists in the class. But only one bassist could play at a time. The one who could play the most styles the most proficiently would get more reps and become the main bassist in the group for the semester.

There were about 20 guitarists in the class. It was common for 5+ guitarists to try to squeeze in to each song. I honestly don't know how they sorted the stuff out over on their side.

Point is, you can't compare a solo position with a group position. A great QB will replace you, a great WR will challenge you (but you can still play well and stay on the field, even if you get bumped to WR2 or slot or w/e). I mean, it's not like Aaron can go return punts if he declines. His only other option is riding the pine or getting out of town.

Also, stop pretending the QB position isn't the single most important player position in football. It's a silly contrarian trope.

Of course it is the most important position, and these days it is way over the top.  So sure, let them in the front office as well, I am sure that will turn out great for everyone.  I am a fan of RW3 the football player, but FUCK HIM for thinking he should start making management decisions.

RODGERS IS 37.  IT IS WELL PAST TIME TO FIND AND GROOM HIS REPLACEMENT.  Your analogy makes no sense.  If Aaron is no longer the best QB on the team, he should not be the QB1, plain and simple.  His best defense against that is to go out and play great like he usually does and let Jordan Love rot on the bench.  Other great players across many sports have done exactly that. 

Only caveat to all the Rogers/Love drama is when you draft a QB that high (and traded up to get him for whatever reason), that impacts your cap for at least 4 years without actually improving your team on the field. Hell, Love was 3rd string last year....

You pick a WR or TE there and it can (not always) have immediate impacts the following season - and with GB competing every year, why? Anything would have been better in that first round on offense than a QB. Sure, Rogers is 37 (36 at the time) and no one knew he was going to be voted league MVP this season. But he has not been dog shit enough to trade up for his replacement. So if Rogers continues for the duration of his contract, and continues ballin' out, what the hell do you do with Love? He sits, getting no meaningful reps with the first team and his rookie contract expiring. They pick up his 5th year option and hope Rogers falls off the cliff enough to replace him? Then what if Love is terribad in those replacement games and they don't franchise tag him. That then becomes a wasted first round draft pick that could have had way more value if they would have grabbed Higgins or any WR for that matter. Same thing happened with Favre not so long ago. Maybe that was a factor, but when your front office does the same stupid shit? Well, that might mean the front office is the problem and not the QBs.

Rogers is wasting away in GB while the front office puts little help around him. They should make some effort and take OBJ off the Browns' hands because right now you got Adams. Lazard is too streaky to be reliable and Valdes-Scantling is not much better.

And I say this as someone who is not at all a Rogers fan... but he is getting the shaft and chirping about it. But god forbid a football player chirps about his situation...

Wasting away? Lol fucking bullshit. They win a lot of games there.

And yet only have 1 superbowl in the Rogers era - and I don't think it is because of Rogers.

Nobody is saying that the Packers can't draft Love, or that Rodgers needs to run the fucking team. That's reductionist and stupid. But he is a valuable employee, perhaps one of the most valuable. He's marketable (he's definitely selling jerseys and enhancing the brand from a merchandising standpoint with his endorsements). He's not getting into trouble with the law. Even when the team was bad, it was as much because they couldn't protect him or get open for him because their coach was a barely sentient pile of mashed potatoes. The very least you do in that situation is talk to him like a goddamn professional and say "Look, you're getting up in years and the team needs to protect itself in case your form falls off the cliff. We're going to draft a guy who may be a replacement if he works out. If he can't beat you in an honest competition, we move on."

Rodgers knows how this works, after all, he WAS that guy. From all accounts I've heard, he hasn't treated Love like Favre treated him. He's actually been helpful to the kid. Just from a corporate communications standpoint, letting Rodgers have a heads up means that when the questions inevitably come to him, he's prepared for it rather than saying "I don't know, man, I just work here, they don't tell me anything." The last thing you want to do is have your star player have to answer uncomfortable questions about his fucking job. It's a distraction that is completely avoidable and completely unnecessary, and could have literally been handled with a goddamn phone call. It's simply more galling because of how little the team has valued the WR position (or for that matter the TE position). Rodgers has been throwing to street free agents and projects for a decade. Even Adams during his first 2 1/2 seasons was a brickhanded replacement level player with some flashes. I'm not saying these guys can't develop into something, especially being thrown to by a HOF QB, but it hasn't happened so far. They could probably have picked Love in the second round last season and gotten Justin Jefferson in the first round - that guy is really good. It might not have gotten them to the Super Bowl, but it certainly would have been more helpful than Jordan Love, who was never active for one game the entire year.

God forbid Jordan Love is handed the starting role this year and sucks. As a black QB in one of the whitest cities in the country, he's going to hear no end of horrible shit if he isn't the second coming of Rodgers and Favre.

The Packers have completely fucked this whole situation up. They were probably right to draft Love, especially given how Rodgers behaved in the playoffs the previous season (he basically decided they weren't going to win in the 2nd quarter and quit trying). They were probably right to let Love sit this past season and learn behind Rodgers. Where they went off the rails is having no plan to get rid of Rodgers after this season. The guy just won the MVP. They could have gotten SO MUCH back for him, but instead sat on their hands and hoped it would all go away, and have now squandered any chance of a decent return for him. If they had a plan about how to placate him once they decided they didn't want to move on, it absolutely didn't work.

I will not be surprised if Rodgers tells them to go fuck themselves and sits out a year. I would also not be surprised if the market for him at nearly 40 and after a year away is a lot softer than he thinks it should be if he does that. Both sides have massively fucked this up, and seem intent on taking each other down. They fucking deserve each other.

Well said.  :drill:

I would phrase this in the form of a question.

 :why_so_serious:

Given the contracts journeyman QBs have gotten after one good season recently I think you underestimate how much teams are willing to pay for anybody who looks like he can throw a ball without tripping over his own feet.

Edit: singular

Rodgers could sit a year and he'd still have teams knocking down his door. Remember, Manning could have played almost anywhere when he came back, and that was after a year where they weren't sure his head wasn't going to literally fall off his neck. Brady had the same sort of market, and he's 5 years older. It's not like we're talking about Trubisky or Blaine Gabbert. You put Rodgers on any team in the NFL and he instantly makes them contenders or keeps them contenders if they already have a top level QB. The Packers really have royally fucked this up, either by not having a plan or having a plan and just not letting their HOF QB in on the plan. Again, I think if you talk to him like he's important (since he is) and let him know "This is business and here's what we want to do," then at the very least you can work it out behind closed doors. That way, you keep his trade value high and you avoid making everybody look bad. You can say it's Rodgers hurt ego, but come on - if you are him, how could you not have the ego?

QB's who have won the Super Bowl and made the playoffs in almost every season they've played are platinum. Russell Wilson, Brady, Matt Ryan, Mahomes, Rodgers - any team that doesn't have a QB of that caliber would give up multiple first rounders to get that guy if they could work it out.

Russel Wilson
Drew Brees
Brett Favre
Steve Young

Dan Marino
Warren Moon
Kurt Warner

Just some QBs who never won or just won one SB.

Green Bay has been one of the most successful teams in the past couple of decades in winning their division, making the post season, etc.  Rodgers has had more chances than most.  I am not saying it is his failure that they 'only' have one SB during his time, but it is not accurate at all to say that the organization has not put together good teams.  They been doing it since way before he came around.

This is all a lot of hearsay anyway.  I don't think anyone knows for sure what is in his head.

Part of me says yes, but the other part of me says 'look at the trash in that division, of course GB was going to be a playoff perennial.' Just swap Mayfield for Rogers straight up and watch the world burn down.  :why_so_serious:

You can kinda of say that about any division at any given time.  And that is kinda the point, the QB itself is the often the difference, and that does not support the myth that a team fails to surround the QB with talent.  Literally all teams fail to surround the QB with the perfect talent, and much of the reason for that is that the QB sucks out fucking half of the cap money.  Want more talent?  Give up half your 20 million a year.

I've been a Packers fan since the bad old days of the mid-80s. Packers fans have been spoiled for a good 20+ years (basically since Favre's second year) by having a Hall of Fame QB followed by a futuer Hall of Fame QB. However, both Favre and Rodgers only have 1 Super Bowl each for a reason. That reason is the Packers have been reluctant to spend any money on free agents and have instead relied on replacing young players once they are eligible for free agency with other less expensive (though not necessarily better players). The two Super Bowls that they've won were on years when they actually spent money on decent free agents - Reggie White back in the late '90's and Charles Woodson back when Rodgers won his Super Bowl. No, the free agent veterans weren't the sole reason those teams won, but they did cover up a lot of the team's weaknesses, as did having HOF QB's. And they haven't drafted a first or second round wide receiver since Randall Cobb. I'm still amazed they resigned Aaron Jones.

Something is wrong with your keyboard...this is has to be a typo, right?  :drill:

No, believe it or not, I put Matt Ryan in at least the top half of QB's in the league. When his team isn't coached by a mutton head like Dan Quinn, and has a defense that can stop at least a team of 4th graders, he does quite well. I'd actually put him about equal to a Matt Stafford - a QB who is better than the team he's been provided.

Also, Green Bay signed Blake Goddamn Bortles, so I guess we're ready for the post-Rodgers era to begin.  :facepalm:

Bortles is like the poster boy for the 'Yep, Kaepernick got fucked' camp.

Ryan was decent early in his career, but he is mostly a disaster now. So many throws off his back foot that his arm strength can't cover.

Matt Ryan has not been helped by 1) an offensive line that is really offensively bad, 2) Julio Jones' leg parts having all the tensile strength of wet chicken and 3) a head coach mistakenly regarded as a defensive genius for running Seattle's Super Bowl teams only forgetting that he was blessed with an absolute world-class, all-time defensive backfield for his entire time there.

Funny how adding 3 or 4 Hall of Famers in the prime makes a coach look good!

I mean, Mike McCarthy has a career after all.  :why_so_serious:

TEBOW!  :awesome_for_real:

https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/31476623/source-tim-tebow-signs-one-year-contract-jacksonville-jaguars-tight-end

That is a pure PR stunt. That area of the country worships Tebow, so they will probably sell a few hundred jerseys before he is quietly cut before the opening game.

3 Tebow jerseys are the top sellers at fanatics right now.

https://www.fanatics.com/nfl/jerseys/o-1338+d-53447856+z-8865-128422821?ab={wt-static_graphic}{dm-FDC}{pt-league}{al-A_Spot}{ct-JERSEYS}

/sadf

Fitz is magic. I love this dude. Be more like Fitz.

(https://i.imgur.com/5EFUqIQ.jpg)

Welp we got a goldang running game again in NE. Holy crap that rookie blew the doors off the place. Now if we can get the WRs to remember that the ball goes into the hands and stays there, we'll be golden :D

It was especially delicious when Bill decided to take a victory formation knee at the end of the game and Rivera called a time out...so Bill just let the HB do his thing and hey thanks for the completely avoidable 97yd TD run!

Also, I still love Fitz. Dude is just having fun. Also kind of funny that Rivera almost yelled 'WATCH OUT' to Cam when Young almost sacked him.

Why the heck is the storyline Minshew v Lawrence when both are shitting the bed hard and not putting up 6s and Beathard keeps coming in and putting up 6s? Makes pale talk of meritocracy imo.

Probably because Beatherd has almost no chance to start long-term?

I'd start him week 1 and let the other two (I'd probably fire Minshew and give the kid the chance) fight for the spot ala Belichick. Go with the guy who is putting points on the board.

In general, I dislike the system that lets the worst team get the highest rated talent. Talk about killing the dream. Sure, kid, you wanted to be Brady. Maybe you were the Brady of NCAA. Now you're on a scrub team that has been bombing and sorry about your paper o line, time to learn how to take sacks all game long, get that ball out fast! Yeah, also your wides can't catch or run sharp routes or make moves and you have no run support.

It's amazing more 1st round picks don't commit suicide.

edited to add full disclosure: I believe in building teams from the lines outward. You don't have a line, you don't have a team.

Welp that question is answered now!  :awesome_for_real:

I'm glad Minshew is out of Jacksonville, he's not quite a starter but still has a chance to make it at this point of his career and the Eagles finally realised Flacco is not an option as backup...  :why_so_serious:

Holy crap the Pats cut Cam. I was hoping he'd at least get to hang around for another season, he never really had a solid chance to play a season with them (coming in late one year and then covid kicked his ass hard last season). Was looking forward to lots of CamMac shenans. Bummer.

I am actually pretty shocked by this. I get that Bill now has TB12v2.0 but why the hell would you start him day 1 and live with those growing pains?? I mean he could go the rare route of Herbert out in LA but more than likely he's going to struggle - then again, other than Allen in that division, there are a whole lot of ??? at QB for the other teams.

Dolphins or Texans going to call about Cam? Crazy to think a former league MVP is available. 

Better the growing pains of a reliable dude than someone who might be out for half the season again (time actually out, and then covid hangover for a month or two)? Unsure. I feel there was more to the covid protocol 'misunderstandings' than has come out publicly.

I am leaning that way myself. Cam was a social media liability and add in COVID protocol liability which impacts the whole team? I can definitely see it.

Panthers should come calling as insurance to Darnold. That would make my day.  :why_so_serious:

Would Cam want to be on the bench fighting for a starting position?

Texans could be a spot  :why_so_serious:

Texans are just a huge wild card for everything until they deal with this Deshaun situation. Cam probably wouldn't have lasted 6 games - with the way the refs just let people murder him and his body just breaking down, he'd have been injured and never gotten the starting job back if Jones is any good. Clearly, Belichek thinks he is.

I'd disagree. When he's been at actual practice and not in a post-covid fugue, he's played adequately with mediocre weapons. We're so stacked at RB right now (I mean, when you can let SONY GODDAMNED MICHEL go...and not be mad about it), we could just have Cam playing pretty well.

His two main issues have been his read/decision speed and his vaccination status. Because he WILL get covid again during the season.

His one issue is his vaccination status.

You cannot have a backup QB who isn't vaccinated because if your main QB goes down because of delta everyone who is vaccinated can play on receipt of a negative test. Everyone who isn't vaccinated must quarantine if they've been in contact until they take a test 5 days after the last exposure.

Tests occur 2-3 days before the game being returned close to game time. So if your head QB goes down with a covid diagnosis... You don't have a fucking backup if they're not vaccinated. What good is a backup if their ability to play is correlated with the starter? Fucking worthless.

I think everyone is also glossing over the fact that Cam has not really been a very good QB since about 2015.  But whatever, him being an anti-vaxxer is all we really need to know about this case.

I disagree that's the only issue, but I do feel it's a prime issue. If Mac hadn't stepped up, BB may have tried another season with Cam. Since Mac seems as advertised (cough rookie of the year cough), he doesn't have to.

As far as telling that to the press, see Urban Meyer.

Large part of me appreciates Meyer's position. Stop fucking around with this and come out with it. No vax = liability to the team and grounds for dismissal. Go play for another team that doesn't care *cough Minn cough*

And having Belichick coming out yesterday saying vax'd players also get COVID was just a dumbass position to take. He knows damn well the science behind it and knows vaccinations shouldn't be hand-waved away. Fuck him and all the "it's a personal decision" players and coaches.

For some reason, the NFL doesn't want the backlash of a bunch of spreadnecks getting pissed because their team's star QB refuses to get vaxxed. And there appear to be a lot of unvaxxed QB's out there - so much for QB being a "cerebral" position.  :why_so_serious:

Any coach who isn't an antivaxtard knows the QB needs to be vaccinated. Just watching Cam come back and play in a fog for a month was enough to show the need.

THAT SAID, "it's a personal decision," as a phrase, is signaling for the spreadnecks. Nobody wants to be the next Kaep. The irony of the cancel culture bit that conservatives love to gripe about :D

And let us not forget the Bronco's game last year which eliminated the entire active QB roster for a game which shall be know as the Benny Hill game.

Well that game last night was a pleasant surprise. Dallas came to play and Tampa was as methodical as ever. Not quite sure why Dallas has decided to make Dak throw 60 times a game but I guess we'll see if that lasts - looked good doing it, but why the hell do you have a $90m RB if you aren't going to use him?

Meanwhile Baltimore is going to make a whole lot of knee surgeons rich this year at this rate.

McCarthy apparently said to the reporter at halftime when asked about how little they ran that they were just "taking what the defense was giving them." Based on how much Elliot got stuffed when he did get the ball, I'd say he was probably right. TBF, Tampa's defensive front 7 is really good, and their defensive backfield was a bit weak, especially after they had a few injuries. If Dallas could have turned one of those field goal attempts into a TD, they win the game (or at least make Brady drive for a TD instead of a field goal to win). Dak looked great, though, especially for a guy coming off two ankle surgeries and a preseason shoulder injury.

At some point, though, someone really needs to dissect Brady and see what the fuck he's been taking. No 44 year old man should be able to still drop dimes like that TD to Brown. I vote we do it now just so the Packers don't have to get embarrassed by him in the playoffs again.

Jesus fucking Christ, did the entire Packers team get fucking Covid or something? I know, let's build a defense that makes Rapester McCrabfingers look like an All-Pro, can't stop the run at all, and puts no pressure on the QB against a team that is literally playing a home game in a stadium a few hundred miles to the east of their actual home. Oh and let's let our All-Pro center sign somewhere else in free agency and start two rookies on the O line while shifting our really good right guard to left tackle because our starting left tackle's leg is crab meat. No running game, no pass protection, and our QB is throwing wild ass blind passes like he's Jameis Winston or something. Just an utter shitshow from start to finish.

Once your QB starts thinking about retirement it's time to move on because he will have lost his edge.

Love watching the Browns being the Browns. No matter what they are doing right, a fumble or interception is in the queue and as a fan, you basically know that they are going to lose.
I'm not even mad. Chubb doesn't fumble... not like that. Straight up fate at that point. I made the mistake of watching the 2nd quarter from my apt complex's club house as I am in the midst of moving and had to file some paperwork with the office. Thought they looked great at that point. Got home and my buddy in Pittsburgh texted me about the game and how the Browns are gunna Browns.

That said, Browns didn't look terribad. I think they'll still be good enough to get into the playoffs, but it'll be uphill from here. Nothing new here, start of the season and the Browns are in the cellar as usual.

All true, but the important difference over the last year or more is that the Browns are actually not at all terrible.  No reason to think that they won't compete for the division all the way until the end, no?

Packers getting run out of a neutral building by Teddy Two Gloves shocked and amused me. The NFC North is a pit of despair almost as deep as the NFC East. Jesus.

It is week 1 and I do think the Packers will end up winning the division. But if the defense is that fucking bad against Winston, I'm not sure its ceiling is all that high. The last two seasons I've been convinced the team was not as good as its record of playoff placement would indicate and this may be the year the close victories go the other way.

Teddy plays for the Broncos now. You mean Lasik Jameis.

Brahns is the Brahns, meaning they're a lock on the playoffs these days. Let's not forget they played the goddamned Chiefs, not the Lions.

MNF was kinda lame, so the old lady went home and I went out to run a quick errand. Came back halfway through the 4th and man, glad I watched the end of THAT game! Crazy.

Also, with all the cavalier rule-changing (insert gripe about jersey #s, I goddamned hate not being able to read defenses as easily), can we put INTs due to receiver error on the receiver and not the QB who just threw a beautiful pass (that someone hamfisted and gave to the defense)?

Both my teams lost, but man did they look pretty good doing so. Mac Jones is the real deal, hard to remember the kid is a goddamned rookie in his first game. The old lady was skeptical about the Cam cut, but I saw enough in preseason to know we have a solid QB now. Both the Pats and Browns Ds need to step up, and the Pats barely tapped their deep RB position.

Sherman acquired and now Brown activated, we get it Brady, you want to score triple digits on Bill.

(spoiler: you could probably sit all your starters and win, so...)

Sherman's likely not going to play against the Pats.

https://twitter.com/NFLSTROUD/status/1443266536186208265?s=20

Guess the email grinder was too much for John Gruden.

https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/32384058/jon-gruden-resigns-las-vegas-raiders-head-coach

That shit escalated so fast, I didn't even know what the hell it was about until he resigned.

Just old ass emails the NFL found while investigating Dan Snyder, only to discover that Gruden was a giant dumbass who couldn't refrain from making racist, homophobic comments about the NFLPA president, Roger Goddell and Michael Sam.

Couldn't have happened to a nicer asshole.

"I never meant all the horrible things I said about people to sound horrible."

I find it interesting that only Gruden's emails have come out so far.  The league is full of hardo dumbasses like Gruden.

It probably means that they just wanted to get rid of THAT guy.

He talked shit about Goddell and other owners. That's all it takes.

I guess it's true that Davante Adams can catch anything  :why_so_serious:

It would have to happen the week they play the only undefeated team left in the league.

Aaron Rodgers is a dullard. Neat.

This pandemic is revealing so much about the perceived intelligence of certain athletes.

Timing suggests he's not vaccinated rather than vaccinated but had a breakthrough infection. Which is in line with his evasive answers previously.

https://dknation.draftkings.com/2021/11/3/22761419/aaron-rodgers-covid-news-is-he-vaccinated-packers-vs-chiefs-backup-jordan-love

Some places are saying he's unvaccinated based on the claims by two sports writers which seems like a unreliable source for information this important.

https://twitter.com/RapSheet/status/1455912321763717123

I suppose it is possible that there are people out there who are evasive about their vaccine status and have actually been vaccinated....but that sounds like a pretty poor bet.  Dude is unvaccinated.

He's said he was "immunized", which sounds like he rubbed some fucking cinnamon oil on his forehead and called it a day. 

But hey, welcome to be wrong here.

Yes ESPN is reporting he had an "alternate" treatment prior to training camp and requested his treatment be considered similar to an approved vaccine and was denied, obviously. And so the NFL considers him unvaccinated.

https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/32542413/green-bay-packers-qb-aaron-rodgers-tests-positive-covid-19-source-says

So in the span of 72 hours:
Rogers has proven to be some homeopathic nut job and him and the Packers violated about every single COVID protocol laid out by the league since the start of the season
OBJ is essentially off the Browns team after his father decided to do his dirty work for him
Ruggs killed a woman by smashing his car into hers going over 150mph at 3:30am while drunk as fuck as is off to prison for at least a few years

what else did I miss here?

This Aaron Rodgers thing may have just finally killed any amount of give-a-fuck about the NFL I have. I've ignored a lot of shit the NFL does as an organization and as a collective of individuals. Rodgers going from intelligent dude to "I wanted the NFL to make horse paste the same as a vaccine" has just broken me. I can't look past this shit anymore, as being all "it's a personal choice" about Covid vaccination is just an absolute redline for me. To realize he threw out some weasel words about "immunization" then tried to get the NFL to pass that off as equivalent to vaccination is just fucking evil and cowardly.

If this thread was in Politics, I might say a few things about what I might be okay with in terms of health and life consequences for him.

Also, he is on my fantasy team, and my fantasy team was looking hard for another way to prove it is the worst.

In random commentary on the Aaron Rodgers news there are references to him believing in chemtrails and I found the original ESPN article from last year that mentions this* and a lot of other stuff about him:

https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/30155009/karaoke-trivia-frat-parties-tales-aaron-rodgers-inner-weirdness

Some have taken to blaming his fiancée for the anti-vaxx stuff but it’s clear Rodgers was, uh, “unconventional” long before they met. The article also indirectly explains why he’s a Jeopardy nut — he loves trivial.

* the article doesn’t actual say whether or not the backups interviewed believe Rodgers believes in chemtrails but it is the type of subject he likes talking about

Apparently the "treatment" he wanted to NFL to qualify as equivalent to being vaccinated was some fucking "homeopathic" shit.

I'm done. Fuck this asshole.

Not terribly shocked - I mean Rogers has been a little off since college. I mean he went to Cal and I am pretty sure he frequented those drum circles.  :why_so_serious:

Frankly, I don't really care if someone wants to pay thousands of dollars to stick a stone egg up their hoo-ha to drain the toxins in their bloodstream, or realign their chakras or whatever. While I think it's dumb as shit and they are getting fleeced by con jobs, it doesn't affect me one bit. Vaccinations for a preventable disease that's killing scores of people daily and seriously inhibiting my personal life? That's a red line. And not being upfront and saying "I'm not vaxxed" but instead using weasel words like "Immunized" then acting like drinking diluted unicorn tears or some bullshit qualifies you to go maskless and flout the NFL's Covid protocols. Public figures doing that shit just means that more people ignore good common sense and don't get vaxxed as well, which keeps us in this idiotic cycle of "let's see how long it takes for Covid to mutate into sentience."

Oh no, a dumb redneck did dumb redneck shit.

Also, OBJ has been a drag on the Browns since day 1, it just never worked out for him. You want the ball, make some plays. Maybe it's because we're Pats fans, but step up or step off. Next man up, don't care what number is on your jersey. If I'm the QB, ODB is exactly the same as Peoples-Jones (and honestly their stats are similar, so....).

Browns are going to do much better now that he's gone.

It's hard to expect anything from top Athletes who have been manipulated and coddled by coaches for their entire live.  Google "Cupping" if you want to read about more stupid shit they do.

Well we are going to find out.... to be honest, Cleveland trucked along without him in the past 4 years and have been making advances. Browns are fucked with injuries this year so that is going to skew things, but at least they are without the drama now - at least until Baker gets franchised and that drama mill starts turning.

And the Qaron Rogers story is all sorts of lulz. Why on Earth he went on Pat McAfee's show as he does and basically read Joe Rogan's notes on everything COVID it seems. Keeps getting better....

Rodgers is a chemtrail-believing, Rogan-listening horse paste aficionado. How the fuck anyone can think listening to Joe Rogan about anything, much less medical advice, is a good idea I will never understand. The only question I expect him to be able to answer is "how many steroids can I take before my testicles shrivel" and "how tight should I hold the belt when I'm hanging naked in the closet with my dick in my hand?"

Caroline man keeps seeing ghosts from New England, story at 11.

Yes, apparently it wasn't just that Adam Gase was a terrible coach, Sam Darnold really is a bad NFL QB.

Also, I caved and watched the Packers/Chiefs game. Woof. I'm not sure what happened to Mahomes, but he has been terrible this season. The only thing that helped was that Jordan Love is a young kid making his first start on a team that has been blessed with a Hall of Fame QB (who happens to be a dumbass). His arm looks strong enough, but he was completely unable to handle the million blitzes that the Chiefs pulled on him, and made a lot of bad decisions and/or bad throws. The Chiefs defense is not good so I can't really even take any positives from the one decent looking TD drive. Had the Packers not missed two field goals, the game would have been tied, and had Love not thrown a terrible pick inside the 20, it very likely would have been a Packers win. I want to say the Packers defense is much improved, given how many of the top players were out injured, but with as bad as the Chiefs played, I can't gauge this defense correctly.

Ref ruin another game. Bears likely would've won the game if it had been professionally refereed. It was an ugly game but made completely unwatchable by the shit level of officiating. So many missed calls, blown calls, and arguably aggressive behavior by the refs. I had to stop watching before the 3rd quarter was over. It had gotten to the point that it really didn't matter what the players were doing, in came a ref to fuck up his job and arbitrarily move the ball around.

I should've turned off when they took 6 points off the board for Chicago for a low block (that was legal), not long before that they did not throw a flag on a blatant illegal low block of the exact same kind (the new rule about having to be inside the TE to legally low block).

The old lady went home when they flagged the Bears for roughing when a guy barely brushed Ben's thigh and didn't make contact otherwise....right after they did not flag the Steelers for a helmet-to-helmet hard shot on Fields as he crossed out of bounds (intentionally heading for the sideline, a light push would've sufficed, it was clear roughing).

Jacksonville is on to their next coach 13 games into this season.

https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/32879774/urban-meyer-jacksonville-jaguars-head-coach-rocky-first-year

Thanks Urban...hardly knew ya. Astounding how fast that man fell in the last few weeks. I get not winning that much your first year, but holy shit those stories that came out about his behavior. Never really like Urban as he always came off as an arrogant asshat, but didn't realize how bad he actually was.

You never realize how bad college coaches are until you get them in a situation where they aren't able to just lord it over a bunch of barely adult indentured servants. When they have to actually deal with real adults who are getting paid to be there, they think their little tinpot dictator act wears thin real fucking fast because those guys don't have to take this shit.

The very first game we saw him coach, the old lady said 'that guy looks like he doesn't want to be there'. He has looked dialed out the entire season, good riddance. I feel bad for Lawrence, hope he can bounce back and doesn't turn into a Jets qb.

Are NFL players hosting giant orgies or something post game? How the hell do people reliant on their health as part of their job catch COVID this easily? 

If they can’t field a team, they should have to forfeit. These schedule changes are dumb.

I mean they are in their office together as a group most of the week... weight room, conference/class rooms, eating together...

The NFL relaxed a lot of their masking requirements for vaxxed people and let the team eat together again. It's not rocket science. With the increased transmissibility and breakthroughs of Omicron, it's real easy to see that just one case in the facility is going to infect a whole fuckload of people, vaxxed or not.

They spend a few hours a week literally teabagging each other on national tv so

Another week, another bout of shit refereeing. Watching your punter's plant leg get taken out during a block that gets returned for a TD without a flag hitting turf anywhere is just the kind of shit I expect from these unprofessional cunts.

Anyway, highlight of the weekend was Brady pulling a Bellichik on a Surface tablet  :grin:

Yesterday was a trip. Browns win that game and they are in 1st in the AFC north but the result from losing to the Raiders they are the 12th seed in the AFC today. Disappointing, but it really is amazing how competitive this football season is overall - in the AFC at least. No real team blowing passed everyone. I mean no one in the AFC North or West is under .500 which is insane.

Yeah, all of Dcember has been playoff football in the AFC. Wild. I wonder how long until someone actually clinches something1

Kind of hard to call that a competitive football game when the NFL allowed it to go on with over 20 players on both sides quarantined. A 2-day delay is not enough. Having to watch Nick Mullens try to Superman a team of 3rd stringers into a playoff spot is really fucking ridiculous.

I mean, it is basically preseason football at that point and hell, Cleveland almost pulled it off (shit officiating not withstanding). But not a lot can complain when the Broncos were forced to use a WR at QB last year... unfair sure, but I'd guess the NFL is just trying to avoid having to refund the ticket sales on games that forfeited.


I'd say division winners will clinch in game 16 or 17. I'm hoping that final game between Cin and Cleve is for the division or go home. How great would that be for the two bottom dwellers in a division with Baltimore and Pittsburgh playing for the North title. If that comes down to it, I am actually going to be rooting for Cincinnati because I feel I owe it to Burrow and what he did in 2019 at LSU.

Antonio Brown just quit the Bucks in outstanding fashion. Took his pad off on the sideline and walked out. Video below.

https://twitter.com/barstoolsports/status/1477736779923046413

That dude needs to spend some time in a padded room.

That dude clearly has some mental problems, and is likely to end up causing some real violent headlines soon if he doesn't get help.

He will be Broke by 40, and I wouldn't be at all surprised if he's dead by 50.

Technically he is not even off the team yet...  :why_so_serious:

Kyler Murray with the dumbest play since the butt-fumble. Eee-fucking-gads. I know this season is weird, and he's been a bit banged up, but ever since losing Hopkins (and some games with), he's been, at best, mediocre. Is he just too short with too wimpy of an arm?

That game was just dreadful.

At least they weren’t Dallas.

Other than the Bengals/Raiders and Dallas/49ers, the wildcard games were boring as hell. Got a feeling next week will be more of the same.

Wild card weekend really showed that there really shouldn't be 7 teams from each division in the playoffs. The Cardinals looked like total shit, though I can excuse that they were banged up. Kyler Murray looked like a kid against men - one would hope having Hopkins in the game and having playoff experience will mean he won't shit the bed so hard next year. However, Kingsbury's record as coach after the first 7 games is pretty terribad.

The Cowboys/49ers game was good, but holy shit, Mike McCarthy is just a terrible coach. 14 penalties, a number of which were pre-snap, avoidable penalties. And then that QB draw. What a dumb fucking playcall. Don't blame the ref, you know he's got to touch the ball to run another play, don't put yourself in a position where you are relying on the fucking ref to be fast enough to save your ass. And then for Dak Prescott to praise fans for throwing shit at the refs is just unacceptable. The Niners get Green Bay and I'm a bit worried about the Niners team - they do look good at times. However, they also look mediocre in the same game. No way they should have let Dallas get that close.

Also, LOL at Rapistberger's last game being blown out by a young QB.

If Bosa is not a go for the Packers, I can't see the 49ers being competitive. Jimmy G routinely shits the bed mid game every game... only by luck and the def bailing them out that they win those games. NFC though...it'll most likely be Brady/Rogers in the championship.

AFC should be a bit more exciting. Bills looked world beaters against a NE team that took a bad week to have their def fold. KC had their warm up game and now the fun begins. Still can't wrap my head around the Titans are the top seed... will see if Burreaux's voodoo magic holds up. I think the AFC has the best matchups next round. Personally, I want to a Bengals/Bills championship.

So help me god if the super bowl is a 49ers/Bengals....

FFS, Burreaux is special. Even getting thumped all game, still throws for more than 300 yards. Man blew out the college season in 2019 and just keeps looking amazing.

He's very special and Tannehill reminded the world why the Dolphins let him go.

 :grin:

:awesome_for_real:

Goddamn, Packers. Just somehow block up a punt so the dude in the middle doesn't run right up the fucking gut and block a punt. Holy... fucking... shit.

Also, fuck Aaron Rodgers. He throws 27 passes - 21 of them were targeted at either Aaron Jones or Davante Adams. Yes, those are the best players on the team, but after three quarters of that shit, most defenses will figure out how to cover them. Maybe, you know, throw to some of those other receivers, including the one you threw an almighty hissy fit to get the team to trade for. Just showed how much of a complete fucking tool belt he is, and he did it after their best defense in a decade showed up and kept the Niners to 6 goddamn points on offense.

Fucking blocked punt. Just fucking clownshoes.

I almost feel bad for Throw Rogan.

Almost.