National Football League

[leftover pie]

Re:

http://www.businessinsider.com/video-showing-nfl-player-levitating-is-100-real-2017-11?r=UK&IR=T

I've watched that so many times, still can't quite understand it

 

[on3m@n@rmy]

Changing targeting to something like the NCAA has is long overdue, where play review by officials can impose an immediate 1 game ejection/suspension, meaning the immediate ejection carries over to the next game (e.g. ejection in the 4th quarter equals 1/4 of the suspension, so the player also sits out 3/4 of the mext game).
http://bleacherreport.com/articles/...r-targeting-rule-similar-to-college-footballs
The Gronk's cheapshot hit was one last weekend that has brought this on. The Steelers game had one of those in the endzone that could have been ruled targeting under the NCAA rule if the NFL had a rule like that.

 

[jmdirt]

Changing targeting to something like the NCAA has is long overdue, where play review by officials can impose an immediate 1 game ejection/suspension, meaning the immediate ejection carries over to the next game (e.g. ejection in the 4th quarter equals 1/4 of the suspension, so the player also sits out 3/4 of the mext game).
http://bleacherreport.com/articles/...r-targeting-rule-similar-to-college-footballs
The Gronk's cheapshot hit was one last weekend that has brought this on. The Steelers game had one of those in the endzone that could have been ruled targeting under the NCAA rule if the NFL had a rule like that.

True, Gronk could have been tossed upon reviewing that, but his hit wasn't targeting, that was after the play was over, unsportsman-like, criminal activity. As has been hashed out many times, targeting, hit to the head, is a tough call sometimes in a dynamic game. Even leading with the helmet has grey areas (ie: player could be leading with the shoulder, but his head hits first because the other player is moving too).

 

[on3m@n@rmy]

Changing targeting to something like the NCAA has is long overdue, where play review by officials can impose an immediate 1 game ejection/suspension, meaning the immediate ejection carries over to the next game (e.g. ejection in the 4th quarter equals 1/4 of the suspension, so the player also sits out 3/4 of the next game).
http://bleacherreport.com/articles/...r-targeting-rule-similar-to-college-footballs
The Gronk's cheapshot hit was one last weekend that has brought this on. The Steelers game had one of those in the endzone that could have been ruled targeting under the NCAA rule if the NFL had a rule like that.

True, Gronk could have been tossed upon reviewing that, but his hit wasn't targeting, that was after the play was over, unsportsman-like, criminal activity. As has been hashed out many times, targeting, hit to the head, is a tough call sometimes in a dynamic game. Even leading with the helmet has grey areas (ie: player could be leading with the shoulder, but his head hits first because the other player is moving too).

Re Gronk - absolutely criminal. If any one of us did that to someone, it could result in an assault & battery charge. Gronk does not get it though, based on his childlike explanation of his frustration over being held by the defender (and not getting a PI call) as the reason for his retaliation. See how well that would hold up in court - Yeah, I deliberately concussed a guy after the play was over cuz he grabbed my jersey a few times. Moron.

Re gray area, funny, Ray Lewis said yesterday there's no way he could not lead without the head - "because my head is on top of my shoulders". I think what he really meant is accidents will happen. Players have to figure it out, with help.

 

[Alpe d'Huez]

Definitely a cheap shot, and one that deserved a suspension, maybe more than one game. But I've never thought of him as a dirty player, and he did apologize. Though I don't know about to White's face. That may take time, for White.

I'll take the Saints in tonight's game, though the Falcons are almost desperate for the win. I just think the Saints have more tools. Looking forward to it very much.

 

[Angliru]

Re:

Definitely a cheap shot, and one that deserved a suspension, maybe more than one game. But I've never thought of him as a dirty player, and he did apologize. Though I don't know about to White's face. That may take time, for White.

I'll take the Saints in tonight's game, though the Falcons are almost desperate for the win. I just think the Saints have more tools. Looking forward to it very much.

Welcome back!

 

[on3m@n@rmy]

Wow. What a game. Falcs pull it out even with 3 INTs by Ryan, tho not all his fault. I thought Atlanta outplayed the Saints. Still, Saints almost pulled off come from behind win, and might have if not for 1 bad decision by Brees and great defensive play by Atlanta that resulted in that interception in the end zone with about 2 minutes left to play.

 

[Nomad]

Yeah...Brees pulls an Alex Smith there in the red zone and looks like he's about to cry on the sidelines. I'm particularly ashamed of him since I listed him along with Brady, Rodgers & Big Ben as the guys that can get it done in the red zone when the chips are down. Oh well...so much for that. Lol. And what a bonehead move by Sean Payton to get that unsportsmanlike conduct penality by running on the field to call TO. That ended the game as opposed to NO possibly getting the ball back with a little bit of time left to get in FG range.

 

[on3m@n@rmy]

I give Sean Peyton a little slack on that cuz he does not have a history of bad clock management. Normally when a coach knows he's going to want to call a timeout he will have the side judge right on his hip, but something must have been going on to distract Shawn away from that. Still it was boneheaded cuz it took away any remote chance they had remaining to tie the game.

I don't know if this is sour grapes or not, but after the game Drew Brees lashed out against Thursday night games.
http://bleacherreport.com/articles/...hursday-night-football-is-absolutely-not-safe
Sour grapes or not, I 100% agree with Brees. NFL should only play games on Saturday, Sunday, or Mondays; no other days of the week. But this is one area where I have a problem with the league because they only care about the moolah $$$, and they don't give a rat's behind about players or minimizing injury. Fans should start a Thursday night NFL boycott - don't go to the games and don't turn it on. Lol.

 

[jmdirt]

RE: Thursday Night Football.

Let me start by stating the obvious, its not Thursday games that are a problem, its the short recovery/prep period between games. The NFL should look at scheduling so that teams playing on Thursday did not play the previous Sunday. I'm not going to take the time to look at bye weeks to figure out if that works, but the NFL should.

DB, or anyone, can't put all of the blame on fatigue though because AK's concussion had nothing to do with player fatigue, nor does landing wrong and injuring an extremity.

I like Thursday Night Football because its one night a week that there is something to watch other than stupid sit-coms and reality shows. If the teams were fresher, it would likely be that much better. A person can only watch three games on Sunday. Sure you can check on other games, but if you watch three entire games, that takes all day. If they fold the Thursday game into Sunday, that's one less game that I can watch (yes, its all about me! )

 

[on3m@n@rmy]

Ok. I like that idea - not playing TNF on a short week. That should make everybody happy.

 

[Alpe d'Huez]

Re:

he NFL should look at scheduling so that teams playing on Thursday did not play the previous Sunday. I'm not going to take the time to look at bye weeks to figure out if that works, but the NFL should.

Someone did, and it doesn't work.

What they'd need to do to make that happen is only have about 6-8 Thursday games per season. This would screw up the bye/rest week for those teams that play though, which isn't all that fair. The other option is to offer 2 bye weeks to teams, and one of those having a Thursday game after. This was done back in 1993 for one year.

I'd personally be fine if they got rid of the Thursday games. The only thing I like about them is that you often get to see teams you don't normally see. For example, I live in the Northeast, and the Patriots, Giants, Jets, and sometimes Bills are on every weekend. Not a fan of any of them, really.

Agree with On3@my, it's really about money. The same reason they want to expand the season to 18 games, and add another wildcard game.

 

[movingtarget]

Re: Re:

he NFL should look at scheduling so that teams playing on Thursday did not play the previous Sunday. I'm not going to take the time to look at bye weeks to figure out if that works, but the NFL should.

Someone did, and it doesn't work.

What they'd need to do to make that happen is only have about 6-8 Thursday games per season. This would screw up the bye/rest week for those teams that play though, which isn't all that fair. The other option is to offer 2 bye weeks to teams, and one of those having a Thursday game after. This was done back in 1993 for one year.

I'd personally be fine if they got rid of the Thursday games. The only thing I like about them is that you often get to see teams you don't normally see. For example, I live in the Northeast, and the Patriots, Giants, Jets, and sometimes Bills are on every weekend. Not a fan of any of them, really.

Agree with On3@my, it's really about money. The same reason they want to expand the season to 18 games, and add another wildcard game.

I think an 18 game season would be fine with only two preseason games instead of four. There is no reason for Thursday night games and they always have the late round game on Monday. With College football as well you have to wonder how much football does the average fan watch apart from their home team games. I think a lot of the time people are just scanning the score or watching bits and pieces.

 

[Archibald]

Wentz gone for the season...
pity as the wentz/goff contest was looking pretty good, til the injury before goff coughed it up at 34-35

 

[movingtarget]

Re:

Wentz gone for the season...
pity as the wentz/goff contest was looking pretty good, til the injury before goff coughed it up at 34-35

Bad news for the Eagles. Shades of Carr getting injured for the Raiders last year before the playoffs. Falcons getting results at the right time. Browns lead 21-7 and still get beat. The Bills win the Snow Bowl ! 49ers win two in a row and I almost fall off my chair ! Brady's protege is making a difference.

 

[movingtarget]

Eagles issues

http://p.nytimes.com/email/re?location=pMJKdIFVI6pghfX2HXfSzxRpdoyDWYNWftnS2EhDhGZXDYF2Z0e9feMkrIaZH6iGjDECVljhy4Ub6+XA22YGto9JPKakENaw24tmDaIdZKkXUTZDqAPqS1ebW8kV5iIH3gmPKkpNAoiUVKF5RWlgDHPgtjq4hY0R&campaign_id=129&instance_id=107827&segment_id=117374&user_id=12d98412e3bcc0522f6cfbf4c21c54e6&regi_id=42685115

 

[Alpe d'Huez]

Foles is unquestionably a better QB than Matt McGloin, but can he lead the Eagles to the SB? Does he have to lead them? As good as Wentz was, the Eagles are a pretty deep team across the board. Foles doesn't move the way Wentz does, nor does he extend plays quite as well in the pocket, but he's a solid, experienced QB who has won in the past. I think they can win without him, but when they run up against another tough team in the playoffs, say, Minnesota, or New Orleans, maybe the Rams again, I'm not so sure.

I have to wonder how much longer the Steelers can keep winning with smoke and mirrors? They are somehow 11-2, when they easily could be 9-4, or 8-5. How on earth the Ravens could have possibly allowed Brown to be one on one late in the game on a fly pattern is absolutely mind boggling. Next up is New England, who just had a sloppy loss to the Dolphins, remind us that despite coming into that game at 10-2, they still had issues, and missing Gronk was a bigger killer than thought. I'll take the Pats.

At this point in the season I still think the team to beat is the Saints. They have everything it takes to win in the playoffs, even the SB. They run very well, have a HOF QB, a solid defense, and experience. Don't worry about that last loss to Atlanta. They were short handed, and still almost won, in a game the Falcons desperately needed. They get the Jets this weekend, then home against Atlanta, and close out the season at Tampa. Their only losses were close ones, to Minnesota, NE, at the Rams, and Falcons. They swept Carolina already.

That end to the Seattle-Jacksonville game was ugly. Have they handed down fines and suspensions yet?

 

[on3m@n@rmy]

Yeah pretty much agree with that assessment of the Eagles. With talented receivers, a running game, and solid defense they should still be good to finish the regular season but might struggle against a tough team in the playoffs. The Eagles offense probably will not be using Foles to throw on the move like they relied on so much with Wentz. But the silver lining is now that Foles is starting you can throw all their season tendencies out the window and defenses will have to start from scratch to figure out what their offense is going to do.

There will be no suspensions resulting from the chaos at the end of the Seahawks Jags game per the league. I'm not so sure about fines. The scrum involving Jags Center and Hawks d-tackle Bennett initiated because Bennett took a swipe at the ball at the snap. It was not a dirty play or a punch by Bennett but the center took issue with it so it turned into a wrestling match. I think Seattle players at that point were still frustrated and angry that pass interference was not called against the Jags on the previous Seattle series when Seattle's WR Richardson was literally thrown down to the ground by the defender 10 yards downfield. Still no excuse

 

[leftover pie]

Re:

I have to wonder how much longer the Steelers can keep winning with smoke and mirrors? They are somehow 11-2, when they easily could be 9-4, or 8-5. How on earth the Ravens could have possibly allowed Brown to be one on one late in the game on a fly pattern is absolutely mind boggling.

not to mention the ravens went 3 & out [including 2 pass plays (despite running the ball well all night)] in the drive before - really squandered a good opportunity to take time off the clock, Steelers really had no business winning that game.

it's all set up for a tantalising finish in both divisions, aaron rodgers could be back this week, the packers on a crazy wildcard run maybe?

 

[Nomad]

Ref Wentz: Complete rupture of the ACL but apparently no collateral ligament or cartilage damage detected. Interesting analysis of the dynamics of his injury by Dr. Klapper:

https://247sports.com/nfl/philadelphia-eagles/Bolt/Carson-Wentz-could-return-from-ACL-injury-sooner-than-expected-112179045

 

[jmdirt]

I don't know if everyone gets the same click-bate at the bottom of the site, but the "NFL Unveils Brand New Helmet Designs for all 32 Teams" shows some cool designs. I'm kinda scared to click on it to see them all though.

 

[jmdirt]

If BO could play that well every game, the Broncos would be good to go! Granted they were playing another pounded team, but he played well which got the entire offense rolling including the run game (I suppose the argument could be made that it was vice-versa). Is he a franchise QB? He could lead them to 10 wins with solid, consistent play like that so maybe.

 

[Alpe d'Huez]

Some games this week:

LAC@KC - The Chargers are on a roll, and if KC ever needed to show consistency now's the time. I won't bank on it though.
HOU@JAX - If the Jags win this, and they should, they all but lock up their division, amazing as that sounds.
GB@CAR - It looks like Rogers is active, and will start. Keep in mind, GB was one of the best teams in the NFL until he was hurt. But will he be rusty? If they lose, their season is over.
PHI@NYG - One thing makes this game interesting, Foles against a solid defense. Not that the Giants will win, they have a poor offense against Philly's stellar defense.
LAR@SEA - If the Rams are going to get over the hump and really be legit, they must beat the bully and win this game. They lost to Seattle earlier this year, and had no answer for Wilson, and Seattle must win this game. If Wagner and KJ Wright don't play, I change my pick. Both are questionable.
NE@PIT - I can't believe the Pats, and especially Brady will play as poorly as they did last week. Steelers have a habit of playing up/down to their opponant. Brady has owned the Steelers for some time...usually.
DAL@OAK - Both teams underperforming. One loss from the season likely done.

 

[The Hitch]

Just when you think Patriots (and in particular Brady) can't get even more luck stuff like that happens. Every time it looks like he might lose an important game his defense interecepts it to win the game for him.

 

[movingtarget]

Just when you think Patriots (and in particular Brady) can't get even more luck stuff like that happens. Every time it looks like he might lose an important game his defense interecepts it to win the game for him.

The last Super Bowl has to be one of the best escapes ever.......or one of the best chokes........