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Nomad

Apr 20, 2016
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Sounds like some really good games today - only able to watch a few.

How about those Commanders not missing a beat with Marcus Mariota in relief of Daniels: 207 yds passing, 1 TD (118 Rtg), 40 yds rushing, 1 TD - hanging 41 pts on the Raiders! The only mistake he made was he gave up a fumble when the ball was stripped during a long run he broke. Mariota, a traditional dual-threat, looked comfortable & in command of the offense (Kingsbury didn't have to change the scheme for him). The Commanders play the Falcons next & I wonder if they'll rest Daniels another game since Mariota played so well (they play the Chargers after that & certainly would want Daniels at full strength for that big game).

Most entertaining Bronco game. For the second straight week they lose in a walk-off FG situation. Hard fought game on both sides. Herbert beat them with his arm (he made an incredible game tying throw to Allen where he threw a bullet off-platform rolling out on his weak side with a heavy pass rush in his face). Najee Harris looks to done with an Achilles tear but they didn't miss a beat with Omarion Hampton who shredded that "great Bronco D" with his rushing & receiving ability. Lol. Harbaugh is looking like a genius taking him in the 1st rd (he may be better than Jeanty).

Though it's very early in the year, and so much can change in the 2nd half of any season, the Chargers are looking very good. They ripped through the division beating the Chiefs, Raiders & Broncos first time around playing with a level of confidence I haven't seen with previous Charger teams. And Herbert is playing like a "Tier 1" QB. But it's way too early to say they'll win the division & have a deep playoff run - lots of football left - and as we all know injuries can hit these top QBs with vengeance.

Unbelievable throw:

View: https://youtube.com/shorts/VOIl8MmOryM?si=CSdXsPXIQidfgAbL
 
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SHAD0W93

SHAD0W93

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Thankfully Wilson decided to go full Tua and just throw the ball away repeatedly, even on a fourth down. Giants had a chance and 1000000% sh*t the bed so bad I smell it at Disneyland. Good turnaround by the chiefs at halftime and coming out with a win and some steam for the Ravens next week.



Bengals got absolutely annihilated today. This isn’t a playoff team and they’re threatening to not be one again with Burrow. Dolphins and Bengals should just merge their teams.
 
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Nomad

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Yeah, it looks like the Chiefs made some much needed halftime adjustments. Vintage Mahomes throwing the ball with Tyquan Thornton stepping it up finally catching some passes from that otherwise stagnated receiving corp.

Sad Giants - Wilson just doesn't have it anymore. The last drive in the red zone where he failed to get it into the endzone on 4 tries was hard to watch. Wilson booed after every play. Lol. Daboll looks frustrated as hell. Countdown to Jaxson Dart?
 
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Alpe d'Huez

Alpe d'Huez

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Chiefs finally played good. Not great, but good. Mahomes looked like himself in the 2nd half. But the Giants team from last week was a mirage. This was Wilson his last few games with the Steelers, or Broncos. He truly must be considered finished at this point. As soon as Dart is ready, this team will be, and should be his. They can't do worse than the Saints with Spencer Rattler.

With how bad Penix looked today, do the Falcons go with Cousins?

And what about the Colts starting 3-0 and Indiana Jones and the Quest for a Winning Season?!

Best division so far? NFC West at 9-3.
 
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movingtarget

Aug 5, 2009
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Bengals were awful against the Vikings. Mason at RB was a good pick up for the Vikings.

Texans/Jaga game was barely watchable. Both offenses looked anaemic.

Browns game was a crazy finish and their defense played well.L Love had a forgettable game for GB.

49ers grafted out another low scoring win. 49ers young defense played well. Ricky Pearsall improving all the time at WR. Mac Jones was solid once again. Cards WR's had a few awful drops. 49ers have to be happy about the 3-0 start with no Purdy, Kittle or Aiyuk.

Rams dominated the Eagles in the first half but the Eagles offense finally got going in the second half.

Panthers spanked the Falcons
 
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Unchained

Sep 5, 2016
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There was some sadness watching Russell Wilson.. He still thinks correctly but his arm and the developing motion to throw the ball with anything on it are just not there..don't know how long it takes him to get rid of the ball.. his handoff actions look like me doing a bounce pass in my failed basketball career.. Should have had Telegraph on my jersey! Wilson looks like everything is an effort, 75% of the time and he has moments of his previous greatness.
Atlanta and New Orleans had anemic offenses all day..
KC played decent.. Coaching staff have to be worried if it's a close game and your kicker is a crapshoot.
Are people so rudimentary that in moments of joy they need to do a slashing gesture as second nature celebration? What a stupid penalty..
Denver had some moments, both offense and defense stepped it up, were high on emotion.. Herbert calming them down.
NFL deserves credit for kickoff experimentation.. current format has brought back the run back and with an often bouncing kick off, lots of possibilities both good and bad, more exciting.
I was personally pretty happy with the bang bang style play were defenders were chasing the quarterback and at the almost instant intersection ..defensive player smashing into the QB as he releases the ball.. Some but not all were roughing the passer ..saw multiple games were quarterbacks took some earth shattering hits.
Old football feeling.. Giants had a guy on the field.number of a fullback, did everything like a fullback of 25-40+ years ago..
And my complaints wouldn't be complete without mentioning all the New York things like bridges and museums, George Benson playing On Broadway and nothing about Giants is New York.. even lots of the players live in affluent areas of Northern New Jersey.. They did show an overly attractive video of a government ham,egg and cheese from some dump in Jersey City or Hoboken.. I had a flashback of eating sausage and peppers sandwiches at 420..430 in the morning after the bars close..
I am sure Alpe and others will keep it real.. Chargers with 3 division wins in first 3 weeks is incredible.. But what will it mean?
 
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Nomad

Apr 20, 2016
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movingtarget said:
Mac Jones was solid once again.
Click to expand...
He sure was. Rex Ryan is looking like a fool criticizing Jones for his "pea shooter" arm stating he has no business playing in the NFL. Lol. I love it when these self-proclaimed "know-it-all" pundits/talking heads get put to shame for making some of the stupidest comments. Lol. And coming from a former NFL HC, it's even more embarrassing.

And credit Jones even more for playing hurt yesterday reaggravating a PCL strain from an injury sustained during the preseason:

www.ninersnation.com

49ers news: Mac Jones re-aggravated his PCL; Nick Bosa’s knee injury updates

Nick Bosa potentially avoided a serious knee injury. The 49ers are awaiting further test results.
www.ninersnation.com www.ninersnation.com
 
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Alpe d'Huez

Alpe d'Huez

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It does make you wonder. Are guys being drafted too quickly, thrown to the wolves, and if they don't succeed right away, a la Jayden Daniels, they are deemed to never make it in the NFL?

We now have Geno Smith, Baker Mayfield, Sam Darnold, Daniel Jones, and possibly Mac Jones showing that's not true. You put them in a system they can exceed in, and once they get enough snaps and used the NFL speed and play, they can do fine. Justin Fields looked better last year, and in limited play this year before hurt, than he ever did. Is Zach Wilson next? He sure looked good in the last two pre-seasons, though he's seen very limited regular season play. What about Tre Lance? He finally looked like he belonged in the NFL, if as a backup, for the Chargers. Can he start for the right team? As I said in an early post, Carson Wentz didn't pile on the yards, but he looked surprisingly effective for the Vikings. You listen to the Raiders talk, and they seem to think they have something in Kenny Pickett, waiting in the wings. Do they?And is some team willing to take Anthony Richardson, sit him another year or two, then slowly put him into the best possible offense for him to succeed?

Then we see guys who had a ton of snaps in college like Purdy, or Tyson Bagent take right to the NFL. Granted, Bagent isn't starting, but he's looked between good, and surprisingly good, and very comfortable, when he has played.

But why didn't this work for Mitch Trubisky? Why has Bryce Young not only have many bad games, but his ceiling seems to be above average? Why has Trevor Lawrence struggled so much? Why didn't Josh Rosen make it in the NFL? Though my guess with him is a lack of interest. He's pursuing his MBA at Wharton right now and what little he's said has been acknowledging that the NFL would never have been a long-term career. But it still makes you wonder.
 
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Unchained

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Turns out Jets and now Giants are trial by fire. Geno Smith is still playing okay, don't know if being under constant threat will end his career. Michael Penix look lost. Trevor Lawrence really doesn't do anything that well, footwork, seeing the field. Flexibility is pretty important.. You saw Chiefs getting hurt at the line and they didn't go full West coast slant but QB, receivers and bad offensive coordinator quickly adapted to being quick and getting rid of the ball and avoiding PM getting broken in half.
Fields doesn't really look like he is on a steep learning curve.. Not sure where he peaked but a performance plateau has been reached ..and ancient Aaron is getting it done. It's really hard to stereotype a quarterback from Jets alumni.. Zach Wilson must be really really bad in practice. Same with Deion's kid
 
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Nomad

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Alpe d'Huez said:
It does make you wonder. Are guys being drafted too quickly, thrown to the wolves, and if they don't succeed right away, a la Jayden Daniels, they are deemed to never make it in the NFL?

We now have Geno Smith, Baker Mayfield, Sam Darnold, Daniel Jones, and possibly Mac Jones showing that's not true. You put them in a system they can exceed in, and once they get enough snaps and used the NFL speed and play, they can do fine. Justin Fields looked better last year, and in limited play this year before hurt, than he ever did. Is Zach Wilson next? He sure looked good in the last two pre-seasons, though he's seen very limited regular season play. What about Tre Lance? He finally looked like he belonged in the NFL, if as a backup, for the Chargers. Can he start for the right team? As I said in an early post, Carson Wentz didn't pile on the yards, but he looked surprisingly effective for the Vikings. You listen to the Raiders talk, and they seem to think they have something in Kenny Pickett, waiting in the wings. Do they?And is some team willing to take Anthony Richardson, sit him another year or two, then slowly put him into the best possible offense for him to succeed?

Then we see guys who had a ton of snaps in college like Purdy, or Tyson Bagent take right to the NFL. Granted, Bagent isn't starting, but he's looked between good, and surprisingly good, and very comfortable, when he has played.

But why didn't this work for Mitch Trubisky? Why has Bryce Young not only have many bad games, but his ceiling seems to be above average? Why has Trevor Lawrence struggled so much? Why didn't Josh Rosen make it in the NFL? Though my guess with him is a lack of interest. He's pursuing his MBA at Wharton right now and what little he's said has been acknowledging that the NFL would never have been a long-term career. But it still makes you wonder.
Click to expand...
Great points & always a good topic of discussion. It's perplexing - Anthony Richardson that you mentioned is a good example. Do you keep him as a backup sitting behind Jones for the foreseeable future or do you trade him to another team that's willing to start him? Deemed to have one of the strongest arms - both in distance & velocity - in the history of the game, and an athletic freak on top of that, looks to be at least at this point in his career a backup if stays with the Colts. Contrast that with Josh Allen who also has one of the strongest arms in the history of the game, and outstanding athleticism as well, was properly developed & is now a "Tier 1" QB & one of the best in the game.

People forget Allen had major accuracy problems coming out of Wyoming & was labeled "The Wild Arm of the West". Lol. He was considered a boom or bust prospect (Elway had the opportunity to draft him but thought he was too risky to take a chance on - as if he knows anything about QBs. Lol). But within his first 2 yrs of starting, the Bills, who were up to the task, straightened out his accuracy issues & by that third year he became a polished pocket passer. Why was Allen so effectively developed & AR not? Why did the Bills stick with Allen not bringing in a veteran QB to compete with him for the starting job like they did with AR? AR has the same accuracy problems coming out of college that Allen had, but the coaching staff seems unable to correct these issues & seems to have given up.

Bottom line though is selecting a QB in the 1st rd is risky as the majority are "misses" as opposed to "hits." In 20 years of NFL Drafts, from 2002 through 2023, a startling 39 of the 61 quarterbacks picked in the first round (63.9 percent) were more of a "miss" than a "hit." That included "misses" on more than half of the quarterbacks picked in the top 10 (21 of 37, 56.8 percent):

Hoping a first-round QB will save your franchise? They're way more 'miss' than 'hit' | FOX Sports

As teams turn to the NFL Draft to find their quarterbacks of the future, there's a surprisingly low chance their choice will be right. Here's what history tells us.
www.foxsports.com www.foxsports.com

But I don't these stats are going to discourage owners from selecting QBs in the 1st rd hoping that their guy will be the franchise QB to lead the team to the "promised land." As long as there are success stories with likes of Mahomes, Jackson, Stafford, Allen, Burrow, etc, owners will continue to gamble, IMO.
 
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Alpe d'Huez

Alpe d'Huez

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You are right. And I think it is the owner, not the GM of these teams.

Regarding Elway, that makes me think of Paxton Lynch. And he's a guy who actually did have several chances, but in the end he couldn't even make it in the USFL. Drew Lock was another Elway pick, and he's had a few games...as a backup. That's it.

Very impressive win by Detroit. Game wasn't as close as the score indicated. Over 200 yards on the ground, Goff made some key throws. Lions D had seven sacks of Lamar.

Who would have thought both the Ravens and Chiefs would be 1-2, and next week one of them will be 1-3.
 
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SHAD0W93

SHAD0W93

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Alpe d'Huez said:
You are right. And I think it is the owner, not the GM of these teams.

Regarding Elway, that makes me think of Paxton Lynch. And he's a guy who actually did have several chances, but in the end he couldn't even make it in the USFL. Drew Lock was another Elway pick, and he's had a few games...as a backup. That's it.

Very impressive win by Detroit. Game wasn't as close as the score indicated. Over 200 yards on the ground, Goff made some key throws. Lions D had seven sacks of Lamar.

Who would have thought both the Ravens and Chiefs would be 1-2, and next week one of them will be 1-3.
Click to expand...
They can always be 1-2-1, which would be funny and I’m down for that.
 
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Nomad

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Alpe d'Huez said:
Why has Bryce Young not only have many bad games, but his ceiling seems to be above average? Why has Trevor Lawrence struggled so much?
Click to expand...
Young is currently "Tier 3" and coaches have said his ceiling is probably "Tier 2" at best. Let's be honest - his lack of height is killing him. How is a 5'10" guy going to survive in a league that is the land of the giants? (maybe that's why Murray, also 5'10" & "Tier 3" hasn't lived up to expectations as a #1 OA). Carolina is attempting to transition Young into a more mobile/dual-threat type QB & get him out of the pocket. He has the athleticism & runs 4.5. And he's shown some good rushing ability on some nice runs this year. And he can throw the ball - he threw 55 times for 328 & 3 scores in the loss against Arizona. The Panthers are working with him to be more effective on off-schedule plays utilizing his mobility/athleticism (but how much more patience David Tepper is going to have with this developmental project is anyone's guess).

catcrave.com

5 major observations from Bryce Young's performance against the Falcons

Bryce Young needed to come through.
catcrave.com catcrave.com

On Lawrence, he's in trouble regressing from a "Tier 2" & that impressive 2022 season to now a "Tier 3." On his 2025 Tier list ranking, opposing coaches are saying that Lawrence doesn't seem have it anymore. That he's hesitant in his throws & missing open receivers. One coach was even quoted as saying "there's nothing that scares you about the kid." Doesn't sound very hopeful unless Coen can perform a miracle (and I think it's going to entail more than just changing his shotgun stance? Lol).
 
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Alpe d'Huez

Alpe d'Huez

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Colin is right. I'm not ready to put Herbert in that same level of Allen and Lamar, and I still think Mahomes is better than Justin, but there's no question right now the Chargers are better, and Herbert is leading their offense to wins - something Mahomes isn't doing. A team the Chiefs remind me of right now are the Texans. You watch them play and they are able to make some plays, Stroud looks like he can still make all the throws, but they are 0-3, and not playing terrible, but not winning.

Stats are also damning for the Chiefs - Buffalo leads the league at 420 yards per game on offense. They have 102 points, while the Colts and Lions are at 103, and nearly as many yards, and the Ravens at 111 points.

The Chiefs? 315 yards per game, worse than the Raiders, Giants, Bears, Jaguars. Right in the middle of the league. Points? They are 60 total. Worse than Carolina, Jets, Panthers and Jaguars. What about their defense? Nope. Right in the middle of the league. What about Mahomes and passing? Right in the middle of the league, again.

Granted, they could blow out the Ravens, the game is at home, and they are going to get receivers back, but they just don't look like the Chiefs of the 2020-2023. An old pitcher who's lost 5mph off his fastball is a good analogy.
 
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Nomad

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Alpe d'Huez said:
Colin is right. I'm not ready to put Herbert in that same level of Allen and Lamar, and I still think Mahomes is better than Justin, but there's no question right now the Chargers are better, and Herbert is leading their offense to wins - something Mahomes isn't doing. A team the Chiefs remind me of right now are the Texans. You watch them play and they are able to make some plays, Stroud looks like he can still make all the throws, but they are 0-3, and not playing terrible, but not winning.
Click to expand...
You're right - Herbert is not in same playing level as Mahomes, Jackson & Allen - those guys are "Tier 1" QBs. Herbert is a "Tier 2" QB but one of the best out of that group (his arm strength & passing skills are on par with Allen). However, Herbert could play exceptionally well & win MVP but it would mean nothing until he can win a playoff game. A dismal 0-2 in postseason is shameful for a QB of his caliber. Like you have said, he's being paid "take us to the SB type money." If Herbert stays healthy - and assuming they'll make the postseason one way or another - the real test will be that first playoff game.

And what's happening with Stroud & the Texans? 0-3 with Stroud's 3rd year at the helm (last year they were 2-1 at this point). The offense is anemic (6th worse scoring offense) & Stroud's numbers are way down throwing more picks than TDs! (nothing like those sensational numbers he put up during his ROY season). The situation reminds me of the movie "Apollo 13" & that iconic radio transmission; "Houston, we have a problem." Lol

www.nytimes.com

Is Texans’ C.J. Stroud playing his way out of extension? NFL QB stock report, Week 4

It once seemed like a foregone conclusion that Houston would pay Stroud. Given how poorly he's played lately, maybe it's not a slam dunk.
www.nytimes.com www.nytimes.com
 
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