NFL 2021: Long-hauler Edition

[Sky]

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...

[HaemishM]

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.

[Sky]

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.

[Sir T]

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

[Sky]

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

[HaemishM]

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.

[Cyrrex]

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.

[Sky]

A depleted Pats vs a FA stacked Bucs? 

[Trippy]

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

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

[01101010]

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.

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.

[HaemishM]

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.

[WayAbvPar]

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'.

[HaemishM]

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

[WayAbvPar]

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.

[Sky]

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.

[HaemishM]

So Deshaun Watson may be a complete shitbag? 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.

[Sir T]

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

[Sky]

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.

[Sir T]

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.

[Sky]

It is true that people are the worst people.