Ongoing NFL Discussion Thread V

[GSC]

First topic message reminder :

I mean are we even sure Gordon isn't a one year wonder who never stuck around for his drop off season.

A lot of hype for a guy who's had more near comebacks than games played in years

[GSC]

AJ Frak Brown

[JDizzle]

The one draft I didn’t really rate as much as the consensus opinion was the Ravens. Obviously I have no idea, but drafting a Centre and a slow safety in the first round doesn’t seem to be the trending towards the way the modern NFL is played.

[Good Golly I'm Olly]

The one draft I didn’t really rate as much as the consensus opinion was the Ravens. Obviously I have no idea, but drafting a Centre and a slow safety in the first round doesn’t seem to be the trending towards the way the modern NFL is played.

They got supposed "value" but I do tend to agree, seemed to take non-premium positions, and also Ojabo basically won't play this year.
All whilst their current second best WR is Devin Duvernay.

[dummy_half]

Well, week 1 pretty much in the books, and first impressions:
Rumours of KC's decline appear to be grossly overstated
The Bills look the real deal
Bengals found a way to fail to win, while the Giants, surprisingly did find a way after being second best to the Titans in the first half.
Packers underwhelming, with Rogers throwing an interception against a divisional rival for the first time in something like 350 pass attempts.
Bucs appear a very solid unit both sides of the ball..

[Good Golly I'm Olly]

We are very very bad - turns out Matt Patricia and Joe Judge might not know how to run a competent offence. Who knew?

[Pr4wn]

The way the Patriots are being run right now really is baffling.

[dummy_half]

Week two done
Bills looked mightily impressive again against the Titans
Bengals looking to be suffering the post Superbowl losers curse, with a second close defeat.
Colts looking woeful - a tie with the Texans followed by a shut-out defeat by Jacksonville.

Undefeated so far (after 2 games):
Dolphins, Bills (who play each other next), Kansas, Eagles, Giants (2-0 winning by 3 and 1 points), Tampa.

[crazy_dave23]

Bills Dolphins could be a tight defensive game I reckon... said nobody

[Pr4wn]

The Bills look ominous. Tampa is somehow 2-0 without an offense.

[dummy_half]

Bills Dolphins could be a tight defensive game I reckon... said nobody

And oddly, that's pretty much what it turned into - Bills dominated time of possession but Miami held them to 2 tds including a 4th quarter goal line stand following 1st and Goal at the 1.

Wonder what odds you'd have got pre-season that after 3 weeks the only unbeaten teams would be the Dolphins, Eagles and Giants (prior to MNF), and that the Raiders would be the only 0-3 team.

Quick shout out to Jacksonville and Trevor Lawrence - actually have a winning record for the season to date. Shows what a difference having a competent coach can make

[Good Golly I'm Olly]

The Russell Wilson contract might go down as the worst of all time. He looks irreparably broken

[GSC]

Hadn't been good for 2 years prior. Let Russ cook was an abject failure.

[dummy_half]

An aside - my daughter and a group from her school are attending an introduction to the NFL session being run by the NY Giants in advance of their game in London this weekend.

Very impressive outreach, and something I've always felt that professional football and in particular the Premiership don't do anywhere near enough

[crazy_dave23]

Nice to hear... I've stopped paying as much attention to what the do "around" the UK games anymore as a consequence of them becoming more normal

That being said... very happy the waiting is finally over and I get to watch a Packers game this weekend for the first time!

[Lowlandbrit]

Carolina have apparently decided they should have fired Rhule last year.

[Good Golly I'm Olly]

Carolina have apparently decided they should have fired Rhule last year.

Crazy they didn't really considering he was basically told he needs to hire a new "rockstar" OC, and ended up with freaking Ben McAdoo.

[dummy_half]

An aside - my daughter and a group from her school are attending an introduction to the NFL session being run by the NY Giants in advance of their game in London this weekend.

Very impressive outreach, and something I've always felt that professional football and in particular the Premiership don't do anywhere near enough

And just to update, was apparently the best school day ever according to several of the kids. Unfortunately, my daughter isn't clearly visible on the photos posted on the Giants website, although several of her friends are. She did though get to try on one of the coach's Superbowl ring.

[Lowlandbrit]

Really interesting move by the Colts, who have fired Reich and put Jeff Saturday in charge. Seems like a pretty big loophole if you can just bring in anyone as an interim HC.

[crazy_dave23]

Really interesting move by the Colts, who have fired Reich and put Jeff Saturday in charge. Seems like a pretty big loophole if you can just bring in anyone as an interim HC.

I assume you mean the whole, not having to interview anyone loophole?

[Good Golly I'm Olly]

Irsay is off his nut since that loss to the Jags to end last season - it's fantastic entertainment

[GSC]

He is generally but this is whatever to me.

You're firing the coach then the season is over anyway and you can't hire anyone in a job until after the season. Probably be a disaster but who cares at this point

[Lowlandbrit]

Really interesting move by the Colts, who have fired Reich and put Jeff Saturday in charge. Seems like a pretty big loophole if you can just bring in anyone as an interim HC.

I assume you mean the whole, not having to interview anyone loophole?

Yes, I suppose it hasn't stopped teams before (Gruden), and he might just be a pure stopgap until they can start interviewing, but making someone that wasn't on the coaching staff the interim HC does raise the question about what the definition or limits of an interim hire are. I'd assume Saturday is still liked there, but I can't imagine the other coaches are too happy about being passed over.

[Good Golly I'm Olly]

Don't quite know how to explain that Bills/Vikes game. Unbelievable

[dummy_half]

Don't quite know how to explain that Bills/Vikes game. Unbelievable

Not sure what was the dumber play call - Minnesota trying for the QB sneak TD on 4th down, or the Bills doing the same to get out of their end zone the next play resulting in the fumble. Could have let Allen roll out and either make a shortish pass or even take the safety and get the free kick down field. Still a fantastic drive by the Bills to get the tying score with so little time on the clock, but you've got to question the VIkings defence there, they only needed to make one tackle in the field of play to run the clock out (oh, and for the officials to see that one of the Bills sideline receptions wasn't caught cleanly).

Anyway, as a Phins fan, I'm quite happy with how the season is going. Wonder what odds you'd have got from the bookies that half way through the season you'd have Philadelphia unbeaten, the Vikings at 8-1 and both NY teams comfortably above .500. Oh, and he Rams as defending SB champs at 3-6.

[Lowlandbrit]

Hadn't even realised with all the distractions of Christmas that the Broncos fired Hackett. Didn't even get a full season. Have to really love Wilson to apply for that one...

[dummy_half]

So the wildcards are done:
AFC
Buffalo narrowly beat a Dolphins team with no QB
Jacksonville (the big surprise of the second half of the season) with a big comeback to beat the Chargers
Bengals with enough to beat a faltering Baltimore

Divisional round : Jacksonville at Kansas
Cincinnati at Buffalo, in a replay of the abandoned game from the other week.

KC strong favourites to advance. THe other game too close for me to call.

NFC:
Giants beat the very peculiar Vikings*
49ers strong against the Seahawks
Dallas comfortable against Tampa, with Brady not able to find any playoff magic to inspire what has been a fairly insipid team that qualifies out of a very weak division.

Divisional round:
Giants in Philly
Dallas in San Fransisco

Assuming Hurts is fit for the Eagles, they have to be strong favourites, even allowing for my soft spot for the Giants after their invitation to my daughter's school to attend a coaching day when they were playing in London.
49ers seem to be the form team, even with Mr Irrelevant 2022 as their starting QB (who has done a very good job over the last few weeks, helped by the rest of the team being insanely strong), so must be favoured over the Cowboys


*13-4 regular season record, but the worst pass defense in the NFL and a points difference of -3 over the season despite the strongly winning record. Edged so many close games through the regular season.

[Lowlandbrit]

The 49ers trading for McCaffrey really kicked them in to another gear, they're looking scary.

[Lowlandbrit]

Eagles and Chiefs probably the two best overall teams this season, so can't really complain.

Tom Brady is giving retirement another chance.

New coaches so far:
Sean Payton to Broncos
Frank Reich to Panthers
DeMeco Ryans to Texans

[Pr4wn]

Well that was one for the ages. Cracking game.

[Lowlandbrit]

Glad Mahomes got his second title to cut off any narratives starting. Lot of competition in the AFC, but they're the team to beat. Eagles fans presumably happy that Hurts looks like the guy, and there aren't many NFC teams that have that right now, but I'm not entirely sold on them being the team to beat going forward for some reason.

[crazy_dave23]

Yeah, really good game overall and I am happy the Chiefs won... although in a way I felt the Eagles probably edged it overall on balance, but were done over by the fumble and, perhaps, by the holding call that prevented them getting a shot to win it post the inevitable KC field goal that would have followed in 3rd down incomplete.

[Lowlandbrit]

New coaches so far:
Sean Payton to Broncos
Frank Reich to Panthers
DeMeco Ryans to Texans

Last two slots went to the Eagles coordinators;
OC Shane Steichen to Colts
DC Jonathan Gannon to Cardinals

Eric Bieniemy must have gone to the Mike Zimmer school of interviewing, apparently could go to Washington as OC for some reason now.

Raiders have released Carr.

[crazy_dave23]

Rodgers going for the Favre plan of trying to move to the Jets... next question is will he end up in Minnesota next year to complete the cycle!

[twelve283]

Rodgers going for the Favre plan of trying to move to the Jets... next question is will he end up in Minnesota next year to complete the cycle!

Rodgers' looks like he's done and I think the Jets are about to find that out...but I suppose anything is better than Zach Wilson???

Speaking of players who are almost done the Cowboys just released Ezekiel Elliott...some team might get another couple of serviceable years out of him??? Doesn't feel that long ago he was the next big thing...

[Sponsored content]