2020-2021 NFL Thread

[unclevlad]

11 minutes ago, Pariah said:

 

On the other hand, let us never underestimate the ability of a Philip Rivers-lead team to blow a big lead in the second half.

 

Call it half and half.  Rivers didn't do anything in the second half, no, but the Colts' defense got ripped.

 

And the Browns fumble again on a sneak.  So Baltimore, Miami, Cleveland, and Indy are all 10-5...and Tennessee gets the joys of Lambeau Field in December at night.

 

EDIT:  on the Steelers, if you root for em you *can't* like 49 passes to 14 rushes, or that those 14 rushes were for a grand total of 20 yards.  

[unclevlad]

Comment from David Newton of ESPN:

 

Quote

The Panthers have done such a good job at making Dwayne Haskins look bad that Washington has rolled out former Carolina quarterback Taylor Heinicke. Gutsy kid who got his chance a few years ago when Cam Newton was injured.

 

Haskins won't cost much against the cap, so I suspect they'll look for a trade until roster bonuses or somesuch kick in, and if they haven't traded him...cut him.  And trading him won't be easy.  It may well be an NBA-style trade to cut:  the other team trades for a middling draft pick AND dumps another player they're just as happy to remove from their roster...who'll be cut by WFT.

 

Oh my...WFT marched the ball nicely enough...4rd and 8 at the 12, a TD that would've made it a 1 score game is called back.  Failed to convert 4th and 18.  Less than 4 minutes left, so barring a blocked punt screwup or the like by Carolina, that's probably it.

[Logan D. Hurricanes]

On behalf of the Jags I wanna say... Good game, Jets! Thanks for Trevor Lawrence 

[unclevlad]

So the games aren't over but comebacks by the Eagles and Rams are wildly unlikely at this point.

 

NFC East:  Philly is out.

Giants control their own destiny;  win and they're in.  Lose, tho, and they're out.

Washington needs to win and have the Cowboys beat the Giants.

Dallas needs to win and have the Eagles beat WFT.

If the Giants and Cowboys TIE, the Giants are OUT.  They lost earlier to the Cowboys.  In that case, Washington's in if they tie;  they've beaten the Cowboys twice.

 

NFC West:  similar.  Cards and Rams, the winner is in.  Cards are out if they lose.  Bears are in if they win.  If the Rams lose and Bears win, the Rams are, I believe, out.

 

No, I'm not touching the AFC mess.  Wait til Tuesday, the official scenarios should be published in all their gory details.

 

EDIT:  Fox says I'm wrong...and I am.  Washington wins, they're in...period.  DOH!!!  Lose, and it's whoever wins between Giants and Boys.

 

[Cancer]

Quote

Dear Jets,

 

Thank you so much for the early Christmas gift in beating the Rams.

 

Love,

The 12s ((Seahawks fans))

 

[Pariah]

So we're guaranteed a NFC (L)East champion with a losing record; only the Eagles have been eliminated. The Bears are in the wild card round with a win next week. If they lose, the Cardinals are in with a win. Green Bay pounded the Titans in the sneau at Lambeau and are in line for the #1 seed, with New Orleans and Seattle one game behind in the standings. Tampa Bay, making their first playoff appearance in a while, is in line for the #5 seed and a first round matchup with the aforementioned Cowboys/Giants/WFT division winner.

 

In the AFC, the Chefs have secured the number one seed. But there are five teams with 10-5 records vying for four playoff berths (including the South Division title). Meaning that one 10-win team will be watching the playoffs from home.

 

Next week is going to be interesting.

[Pariah]

In fairness, he can hardly be blamed for the entirety of the $#!+show that was the Broncos' season this year. Maybe one more year will allow Fangio an opportunity to establish some continuity, something the franchise has been sorely lacking in the post-Pat Bowlen era.

 

Vic Fangio to return for third season with Broncos despite struggles, per report

 

A lot of the blame has to lie with John Elway--who, in the wake of signing Peyton Manning, could seemingly do no wrong--but there's really nobody in the organization who can fire him.

[Pariah]

The NFL has released its schedule for the final Sunday of the season, and the prime-time Sunday night game features...Washington Football Team vs. the Eagles? The last big game of the season will be to determine who wins the worst division in football.

 

Cue rant about East Coast bias in 3, 2, 1....

[unclevlad]

50 minutes ago, Pariah said:

The NFL has released its schedule for the final Sunday of the season, and the prime-time Sunday night game features...Washington Football Team vs. the Eagles? The last big game of the season will be to determine who wins the worst division in football.

 

Cue rant about East Coast bias in 3, 2, 1....

 

No.  That isn't why.  It involves a playoff berth, so it is important in that sense.  More importantly, the outcomes of every other game DO NOT affect this one.  Also, look at the schedule:

 

Miami at Buffalo, 1 p.m.

Baltimore at Cincinnati, 1 p.m.

Pittsburgh at Cleveland, 1 p.m.

Minnesota at Detroit, 1 p.m.

Tennessee at Houston, 1 p.m.

Jacksonville at Indianapolis, 1 p.m.

New York Jets at New England, 1 p.m.

Dallas at New York Giants, 1 p.m.

Atlanta at Tampa Bay, 1 p.m.

 

New Orleans at Carolina, 4:25 p.m.

Green Bay at Chicago, 4:25 p.m.

Las Vegas at Denver, 4:25 p.m.

Los Angeles Chargers at Kansas City, 4:25 p.m.

Arizona at Los Angeles Rams, 4:25 p.m.

Seattle at San Francisco, 4:25 p.m.

Washington at Philadelphia, 8:20 p.m. 

 

Games at Pats, Lions, and Broncos:  both teams out.  

Games at Bucs, Niners, Chiefs, and Panthers all have teams in the playoffs vs. teams out.  Seeding might matter, but that's less important than making the playoffs.  

Cowboys-Giants is meaningless if WFT wins.

Games at Browns, Bengals, Bills, Colts, and Texans involve the 5 teams for 4 spots in the AFC.  They're split;  the East and North play early, the South late.  But there are 2 games at the same time, so nothing is decided in advance.

 

That leaves 3 games:  Packers-Bears, Cards-Rams, Wash-Philly.  Packers were just on SNF;  that's a negative.  Plus, if Rams beat Cards, then Bears are in and the game's positioning only.  (And it might not matter even for that, the Packers may have the #1 seed in the bag.)  Cards-Rams would have been the other choice, but if the Bears lose, the Rams are in.  Do they play, or not?  And it matters because the Cards still have to win.  THAT makes for a scenario that is exactly why the NFL structured week 17 as they have, for the last several years.

[Starlord]

5 hours ago, Pariah said:

The NFL has released its schedule for the final Sunday of the season, and the prime-time Sunday night game features...Washington Football Team 

 

In response, Washington released Dwayne Haskins.  Ha!  Take that NFL!

[unclevlad]

41 minutes ago, Starlord said:

 

In response, Washington released Dwayne Haskins.  Ha!  Take that NFL!

 

Not surprising.  14/28 for 154 and 2 picks.  History of poor play.  2-time protocol violator.  I felt the only reason he didn't get released before yesterday's game was desperation;  they had no one else.  Yeah, well, Haskins showed that meant they had no one.  So, toss the trash out.  No reason to even, say, list him as inactive, as really, it seemed obvious he was gone.  This is Ron Rivera's comment:

 

Quote

“This afternoon I met with Dwayne and informed him that we would be releasing him,” Rivera said in the statement. “I told him that I believe it benefits both parties that we go our separate ways. We want to thank Dwayne for his contributions these last two seasons and wish him well moving forward.”

 

The GM position's empty;  Rivera didn't draft him so he's not vested.  And my read on Rivera is, he's very critical about the kind of reckless, irresponsible behavior Haskins showed.  So, yeah, this doesn't surprise me at all.

 

Playoff scenarios are out.  Yes, the AFC is massively complicated.

https://www.nfl.com/news/nfl-playoff-clinching-scenarios-for-week-17-of-2020-season

 

Interesting opinion/analysis article here:

https://www.nfl.com/news/nfl-overreactions-week-16-ravens-offense-not-built-to-win-super-bowl

 

Goes into why the Jets should NOT take a QB (track record is quite poor overall...Wentz, Trubisky, Mariota, Leaf all #2 picks).  

[Pariah]

 

[unclevlad]

Cam got pulled mid-3rd.  Down 22 but that's not completely insurmountable mid-3rd.  

 

Have to think that, barring an injury to Stidham, he's played his last down with the Pats.

 

Steve Levy made a point I missed.  5 teams could've clinched a playoff berth yesterday with a win.  All 5 lost.  Coulda made some cash on that bet.

 

Hey, it's Bills by 22 and the Pats have shown NOTHING on offense.  We're breaking out the filler material here, gimme a break.........

[Old Man]

4 hours ago, unclevlad said:

Cam got pulled mid-3rd.  Down 22 but that's not completely insurmountable mid-3rd.  

 

Have to think that, barring an injury to Stidham, he's played his last down with the Pats.

 

Steve Levy made a point I missed.  5 teams could've clinched a playoff berth yesterday with a win.  All 5 lost.  Coulda made some cash on that bet.

 

Hey, it's Bills by 22 and the Pats have shown NOTHING on offense.  We're breaking out the filler material here, gimme a break.........

 

Honestly I wonder if Cam ever got over covid.  He was sharp the first three weeks, missed two weeks with coronavirus, and when he came back he seemed... mentally tired, and his accuracy was all over the place.  Tonight he was missing receivers by ten yards.

[unclevlad]

So no one claimed Haskins.  Not surprising;  it leaves Washington on the hook for around $9M or so in guaranteed money.  Good chance someone will sign him, sure, but they'll be able to write the ticket, and it'll be with a much less severe downside.  It almost certainly will be for less, and NOT guaranteed, so if he doesn't pan out?  Good-bye.

 

Reflective article here:

https://theundefeated.com/features/dwayne-haskins-is-out-in-washington-but-he-isnt-the-only-one-to-blame/

 

Doesn't forgive Haskins, but it also points out that the organization has to be analyzed for failing *him* as well.

[Badger]

20 hours ago, Old Man said:

 

Honestly I wonder if Cam ever got over covid.  He was sharp the first three weeks, missed two weeks with coronavirus, and when he came back he seemed... mentally tired, and his accuracy was all over the place.  Tonight he was missing receivers by ten yards.

Maybe, but he had been injured practically all the previous couple years. His arm is groundchuck at this point.  So, things very likely would have caught up mid season regardless. I can think of a whole lot of old Qbs, who seem to hit a wall mid season in their last or next to last season.

[Pariah]

Honestly, I don't think Cam Newton has ever fully recovered from that strip-sack in the first quarter of Super Bowl 50. Even by the end of that game you could tell that something wasn't quite right with him.

[unclevlad]

17 hours ago, Pariah said:

Honestly, I don't think Cam Newton has ever fully recovered from that strip-sack in the first quarter of Super Bowl 50. Even by the end of that game you could tell that something wasn't quite right with him.

 

Stats back that up, actually.  QBRs were 58, 58, 64, 57, and 67 in the SB year.  Next 3 years, 48, 53, 55 before the lost 2019 season which was *abysmal* before the injury.  You also see significant drop-offs in yards per attempt and net yards per attempt.  Pro Football Reference shows 139 games played, 138 starts...319 sacks.  So about 2.3 sacks per game.

 

And remember Ron Rivera complaining that Cam took a greater beating because he was so big, and hard to bring down?  Or it might've just been supporting Cam complaining.  Well, whether it was disproportionate or not, it does clearly seem that it did take a toll.

[Pariah]

Alvina Kamara fined for Christmas cleats worn during six-TD explosion, plans to match fine in charity donation

 

$5,000 for not wearing shoes in team colors? Grinch indeed.

 

(Yes, I understand all the nonsense about 'protecting the brand' and all that. And that's just what it is. Nonsense.)

 

I thought this was really cool, though:

 

"While Kamara will turn the NFL's fine into a charitable donation, Fantasy football managers have been donating to one of the foundations Kamara supports after he helped them win their respective leagues. Son of a Saint, an organization that mentors boys who have lost their fathers due to either death or incarceration, has received $21,000 from almost 400 donors, according to ESPN's Mike Triplett."

[unclevlad]

The true reason being that the NFL wasn't allowed to monetize them.

 

Stat I just saw on NFL.com:

going into Sunday, 240 games.

Home team record:  120-119-1.

 

Article was pointing out that there is probably one, and only one, real home field advantage for the playoffs this year:  Green Bay, due to the weather issues.

Curiously, tho, last year, it was pointed out, it was only 132-123-1.

[Pariah]

And just one week after his amazing 6 touchdown game, Kamara and the rest of the Saints running backs are out this weekend due to COVID-19.

 

After seeing Taysom Hill play quarterback for a couple of weeks while Drew Brees was out, we may see him line up at running back this week.

 

And it gets worse. If the Saints are unable to leapfrog Green Bay for the first overall seed, they'll have a game next week. And if that game is on Saturday, the running backs may not be reinstated in time for it.

 

Yikes.

[Pariah]

The Franchise has left us.

 

Denver Broncos Hall of Fame RB Floyd Little dies at 78

 

 

 

[Old Man]

It appears that Gase and Marrone will be fired on Monday. Supposedly Jax has Urban Meyer lined up to take over as HC. 

[Pariah]

Why?!

 

Meaning, why would Urban Meyer want that job?

[Logan D. Hurricanes]

Trevor Lawrence, a lot of cap space, a lot of draft picks, and nowhere to go but up.