National Football League

[Alpe d'Huez]

I think it all got deleted, and for good reason.

I have to agree on tomorrow's game. Though if Seattle loses, they're probably done. The 49ers are done either way. Nice to see Bowman back, and playing very well.

If it weren't so bloody cold here from here until the end of the season, I'd likely go watch more high school football too. Division III games here are often $5, and I've seen a few of those. It's fun because the playing is pretty good. Plus you can get pretty close, and just focus on certain things, like watching lane assignments, or key players. You don't get that watching TV.

 

[movingtarget]

Re:

I think it all got deleted, and for good reason.

I have to agree on tomorrow's game. Though if Seattle loses, they're probably done. The 49ers are done either way. Nice to see Bowman back, and playing very well.

If it weren't so bloody cold here from here until the end of the season, I'd likely go watch more high school football too. Division III games here are often $5, and I've seen a few of those. It's fun because the playing is pretty good. Plus you can get pretty close, and just focus on certain things, like watching lane assignments, or key players. You don't get that watching TV.

I guess the 49ers have more reason to be done with all of the changes while Seattle have lost their Defensive Coordinator which seems to have backfired but their team is basically the same bar the injuries and both sides have had those. The Cardinals impressed me early in the season but I have not seen their past few games. Whatever the result at Levi's stadium it will be intense on the field and in the stands.

 

[Alpe d'Huez]

I still think a lot of Seattles issue is that success went to their head, and players got greedy. This has happened countless times in sports.

Meanwhile the police dash cam video of Johnny Manzeil's latest incident surfaced, and I can't believe the Browns, or the league won't suspend him. His girlfriend more than once talks about him being abusive, he could have killed someone the way he was driving, and he admitted to drinking, though the police believed him to be sober. These are all three huge red flags the NFL, and teams have been burned by in recent years. What happens if the team or NFL do nothing, and in a week he's arrested for being drunk and hitting her? Christine Brennan wrote an opinionated column about it in USA Today.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/columnist/brennan/2015/10/21/johnny-manziel-suspension-girlfriend-cleveland-browns/74352352/

 

[jmdirt]

Re:

Well, he went with the nuclear option, and won't be coming back. I liked his zeal, but as you say, Googling through a bunch of stats and making bold opinions can make one look smarter than they are. I didn't buy the Eagle's hype either, but thought they could be decent. He was predicting 0-16 even. You may also recall he said Andrew Luck would bust.

Meanwhile, this week looks to have some dud matchups. The most curious game may be tomorrow's game of Seattle at San Francisco, with both teams struggling. Jets at Patriots could be decent.

But a lot of other meh games. Just look at the schedule, and you'll see.

How difficult is it to have an alter ego? I know you can detect sock puppets, but its easy to manipulate IP routing. He could already be back.

 

[Alpe d'Huez]

All I can say is two things. One, he did come back as a sock puppet, and that account was outed and quickly banned. Two, if you do think he's back, report a post saying so, and the mods will get on it.

Despite him hitting the big red button, I don't think the guy is so crazy to need to come back here and post. The internet is a huge place and he can find home elsewhere. It takes someone completely sociopathic to want to repeatedly return under sock puppets - BPC comes to mind. I think when he was possibly outed as a man arrested for faking cancer to be like Lance Armstrong, that finally did him in. Of course, who knows. It's the internet.

SEA@SF - Seahawks must win, 49ers have some talent, and at home, but very uneven as a team with a lot of problems.

 

[Amsterhammer]

Re:

All I can say is two things. One, he did come back as a sock puppet, and that account was outed and quickly banned. Two, if you do think he's back, report a post saying so, and the mods will get on it.

Despite him hitting the big red button, I don't think the guy is so crazy to need to come back here and post. The internet is a huge place and he can find home elsewhere. It takes someone completely sociopathic to want to repeatedly return under sock puppets - BPC comes to mind. I think when he was possibly outed as a man arrested for faking cancer to be like Lance Armstrong, that finally did him in. Of course, who knows. It's the internet.

SEA@SF - Seahawks must win, 49ers have some talent, and at home, but very uneven as a team with a lot of problems.

Both sucking at the moment. I pick the Hawks to suck slightly less.

SEA @ SF

The recent upheaval, including my shameful, frivolous, arbitrary, grossly unfair week's ban, for no other reason than I called out the censorship of my post, should never have happened. Whatever foxxy did that led to his permaban, none of which I even saw, let alone was involved in, should never have happened. Why? Because successive generations of CN mods/admins never previously gave him the permaban that he earned a dozen times over. The man was a fascist, a misogynist, and an Islamophobe - all of which he articulated many times down the years. He should have been gone years ago.

 

[52520Andrew]

And to think the Ravens defense made this 49ers offense look good. I do like seeing them struggle against a real defense though.

 

[leftover pie]

Have managed to watch some highlights, Wilson looks to have lost some shine, a couple of picks and underthrew a ball on a play approaching the end of the 1st half which if thrown properly would have been a TD.

Of course they managed to beat the 49ers who are (in aussie terms) hapless jokes this year - but I can't see season 2015 working out that well for Seattle.

 

[movingtarget]

Rumors going around that there could be big shake up on the way at 49er land. Also heard that Vernon Davis might be gone soon, and it's hard to see Reggie Bush returning for another season. I think the shake up might be in the coaching staff area. It seems that Hyde has been playing with a stress fracture in the foot. Take Hyde out and they will have no offense at all ! As usual Kaep is polarizing opinions, some people want him gone and others are just maddened by his inconsistency.

 

[jmdirt]

At this point the 49ers need to be looking to next year. Will that be with Kaep? Gabert? Someone else? Free agents? Who will be the best QB in the next draft? If its still Kaep, they need to get him going again...this guy was really good just a few years ago.

Last night the receivers were running soft routs and not fighting to get open. Kaep is throwing poorly, but the receivers aren't helping him out either. The play calling is poor at best. They need to run plays for their mobile QB.

Hopefully Seattle will put some good football together going forward.

 

[on3m@n@rmy]

Re:

At this point the 49ers need to be looking to next year. Will that be with Kaep? Gabert? Someone else? Free agents? Who will be the best QB in the next draft? If its still Kaep, they need to get him going again...this guy was really good just a few years ago.

Last night the receivers were running soft routs and not fighting to get open. Kaep is throwing poorly, but the receivers aren't helping him out either. The play calling is poor at best. They need to run plays for their mobile QB.

Hopefully Seattle will put some good football together going forward.

SEA played ok vs a poor 9er team, and so I don't think SEA has turned the corner yet. Last night was a must win, but turn the corner... no. A really good team should have scored 30-40 points against that 9er team last night, and if not for 2 picks by Wilson SEA just might have. So as far as going forward goes, let's see what they do vs a good opponent (bold ones below from SEA's remaining schedule, IMO).
@COWBOYS
CARDINALS
49ERS
STEELERS
@VIKINGS
@RAVENS
BROWNS
RAMS
@CARDINALS
But I'm hoping as you are going forward, and their attitude is strong. But realistically, the SEA OL is so bad that I do not see them doing well against good defenses. I don't care how good the SEA defense is, if the offense cannot get first downs in those tough match-ups then the SEA defense will wear down as the game goes on. SEA's record is now 3-4, and I see them possibly losing 2 of their remaining games, ending up 10-6 and not making the playoffs as a WC team. So we'll see.

Too bad for SF they paid all that money to Kaep. Problem for Kaep on this SF team is, yes he's mobile, but he's not Wilson-style mobile, and he needs to be (but can't) with their porous OL. Kaep has a long stride, is fast, and chews up yards going downfield. But get him going sideways and he does not change direction too well. We saw that last night and also when SF played GB. I think Kaep can be fine IF SF builds their OL back up and gets him some more WR targets. Hyde is fine at RB, and dangerous when blocking is there. Get Kaep better protection and his confidence (and maybe his accuracy) will improve. Right now it looks like he's playing scared.

 

[Alpe d'Huez]

I watched and I'm not entirely convinced it's just Seattle's OL that's the problem. Wilson had some poor throws in there from poor reads. He's still good, and as you say more mobile than Kap. But he's not 2nd best QB in the NFL level good, as his pay grade indicates. Even if the OL were the same from two years ago, I'm not sure he'd be at the $20m level.

Looking at those games, I think the Seahawks are going to have a tough time with some of those teams defenses. It won't be a cakewalk to a 11-5 division win.

The 49ers are obviously rebuilding. But I can see why former Niner himself Dieon Sanders was upset at the organization. The person to really be upset at is Trent Balke, who is the one who made all the deals that put these players, and coaches in place. He's the one who got rid of Harbaugh. He's the one who overpaid Kaepernick, and dismissed Alex Smith and Michael Crabtree, and other players as well. Aldon Smith was a headcase, talent or not. And they had several high draft picks that basically busted. AJ Jenkins, Vance, Carradine, Lemonier.

 

[on3m@n@rmy]

Re:

I watched and I'm not entirely convinced it's just Seattle's OL that's the problem. Wilson had some poor throws in there from poor reads. He's still good, and as you say more mobile than Kap. But he's not 2nd best QB in the NFL level good, as his pay grade indicates. Even if the OL were the same from two years ago, I'm not sure he'd be at the $20m level.

Looking at those games, I think the Seahawks are going to have a tough time with some of those teams defenses. It won't be a cakewalk to a 11-5 division win.

The 49ers are obviously rebuilding. But I can see why former Niner himself Dieon Sanders was upset at the organization. The person to really be upset at is Trent Balke, who is the one who made all the deals that put these players, and coaches in place. He's the one who got rid of Harbaugh. He's the one who overpaid Kaepernick, and dismissed Alex Smith and Michael Crabtree, and other players as well. Aldon Smith was a headcase, talent or not. And they had several high draft picks that basically busted. AJ Jenkins, Vance, Carradine, Lemonier.

Agree, agree, and agree.

On whom to blame, Wilson erred noticeably for sure. But here is some other insight. I listened to a live Pete Carroll interview by Brock Huard and Mike Salk on 710ESPN Seattle today (4-10 work schedule is noice, woo-whoo). They asked Pete about some of those bad throws by Wilson. OFC Pete is typically not the type to toss his guys under the bus, but he did say (my paraphrasing) they have been wanting Wilson to (take chances sometimes) let the receiver make a play by aggressively going after the ball (e.g. toss it up and see what happens). That really would be the case with Jimmy Graham. So coaches are supporting Wilson's decisions to take a shot instead of hesitating, which has really been characteristic of his play at times. Many times I'm screaming "just get rid of the d___ ball".

If you want to see it, NFL Network is presenting Steve Largent's career in "A Football Life" tonight at 9:00pm ET. Here is the promo (http://www.nfl.com/videos/nfl-videos/0ap3000000552644/A-Football-Life-Steve-Largent-promo). Why I bring this up is that it feeds into the discussion above. As a result of the NFL Network's documentary of Steve, 710ESPN (again) interviewed Steve Largent live today. Brock and company asked Steve if he has noticed anything other than what the station had already been discussing as weaknesses of this Seattle team (e.g. OL etc). Steve said, he was "concerned" about the imprecise route running and possibly lack of WR coaching. He stopped short of saying that area of coaching is weak, but he definitely suggested that as a possibility.

As a side note, Steve mentioned he would not mind coaching in the NFL in the right place. And that place would not just be anywhere, but his heart is with Seattle and if he were offered an opportunity to coach there he would be interested.

If the promo of the documentary is anything like the full piece it is going to be worth the watch. Had another thought that has escaped me for now. I hate when that happens.

 

[movingtarget]

I think most people agree that the Seahawks beat a mediocre 49ers. They led 17-0 at halftime and only won 20-3 not that it was ever in doubt but they need to keep improving. The 49ers just have to show something. Their defense is good one week and mediocre the next while their offense is woeful and if this continues they should at least get a good draft pick for next season but I am expecting another clean out before next season, They need new blood. Tomsula keeps saying that they have the squad but it does not look that way and if they can't motivate themselves for a Seahawks game with the rivalry between both teams then it's not looking good. They looked flat throughout the game and their offense is too easy to read. If Kaep cannot improve he might be gone at the end of the season along with many others.

 

[Alpe d'Huez]

Cowboys-Giants may be interesting as both teams are playing weak in some areas, but other areas solid, and neither are out of it yet.

 

[Alpe d'Huez]

Not a lot of interest among all NFL fans this week it seems.

BUF@JAX - Who cares. In London, and on Yahoo!, make it "interesting".
TB@WAS - Who cares.
ATL@TEN - Who cares.
NO@IND - Saints playing better, but so are Colts.
MIN@DET - Peterson out. Otherwise, who cares.
PIT@KC - Landry Jones starts for Steelers, KC has weak OL, more problems.
CLE@STL - Don't really care, but might be okay game.
HOU@MIA - Who cares.
NYJ@NE - One game I look forward to seeing.
OAK@SD - Both teams have issues. Only their fans care.
DAL@NYG - I don't see Cassell leading Boys far. But DL will give Giants OL fits.
PHI@CAR - Carolina will lose at some point, but is this the game?
BAL@ARI - Ravens way underperforming, Cards good at beating up on weak teams.

 

[Amsterhammer]

SEA @ SF - a good start
BUF @ JAX (Wembley, 9:30 am Eastern) - Bills for me.
TB @ WSH - I hate it, but I can't help myself, this is a game we should be able to not lose.
ATL @ TEN - Away banker.
NO @ IND - Who turns up? Colts, maybe.
MIN @ DET - I'll take a chance on the LIons finding some form.
PIT @ KC - Steelers should be good enough.
CLE @ STL - Home banker.
HOU @ MIA - Home banker.
NYJ @ NE - Another one.
OAK @ SD - Bolts should be better.
DAL @ NYG - Who knows? Anything could happen. Who can manage to suck less?
PHI @ CAR - Panthers for sure.
BAL @ ARI - Sadly, another Ravens loss on the cards.

 

[52520Andrew]

Re:

BAL @ ARI - Sadly, another Ravens loss on the cards.

I see what you did there

Also start all Arizona offensive players in fantasy against the Ravens, especially Palmer, Fitz, and Brown.

 

[Alpe d'Huez]

Yahoo! stream excellent here, and webcast just as good at HDTV. They appear to be using NFL network crew, so the production is tops. I'm watching it on my 46" TV, streaming from the Yahoo! Channel on my Apple TV and it looks great.

 

[Billie]

Texans should fire their whole coaching staff during halftime.

 

[Amsterhammer]

That was absolutely awesome.

Of course, the Buccs really are awful so it shouldn't have been such unbelievably hard work. Biggest comeback In Skin's history!

 

[Billie]

Re:

Texans should fire their whole coaching staff during halftime.

and they let Foster play in the second half and now his career is basically over.....

 

[Alpe d'Huez]

Fantastic win for Wasington and Cousins.

Cowboys terrible.

 

[The Hitch]

I think Cowboys were ok for a team without their 2 mvps. Major special teams gaffes that won't happen every game cost them.

But they are running out of games to actually do something in. If they only have 2 or 3 wins when Romo gets back, that's not enough.

 

[on3m@n@rmy]

Hear what Jerry Jones said after the game about the cowboys starting QB next week? JONES says Cassel will be the cowboys starter next week. I thought that was the head coach's call. Jones needs to put his fat ego in the closet and let Jason make the personnel calls, which affects game planning. I'd go with Matt too, but jeez.

84,000 plus attend the game at Wembley for a nice show of support.