2020-2021 NFL Thread

[Badger]

19 hours ago, Old Man said:

By DVOA they’re fourth after the Steelers, Saints, and Football Team. But still elite. 

What was the name of the 3rd football team?

[Cancer]

Washington.

[unclevlad]

38 minutes ago, Badger said:

What was the name of the 3rd football team?

I Don't Know.  Weren't you listening?


(Cancer gets -10 likes for epic comic fail.)

 

And speaking of epic fail...perfect flea flicker, Trubisky throws a perfect pass, and Javon Wims in the end zone has it slip through his arms like a greased pig.  

[archer]

45 minutes ago, Badger said:

What was the name of the 3rd football team?

 

I think the name is WTF.

[unclevlad]

3 hours ago, archer said:

 

I think the name is WTF.

 

Nah, that's the right fielder.

 

And speaking of WTF...2 possessions, 2 turnovers, and 14-0  BROWNS????????

 

This is turning into a Back to the Future game...you could cash in *huge* on props so far.

 

But it's just over 5 minutes in....

 

EDIT.........................

 

 

Can someone call a maid service to clean the brain matter scattered across my wall???

Not even the end of the 1st and this game is all but over.

[archer]

35 minutes ago, unclevlad said:

 

Nah, that's the right fielder.

 

 

WTF - Washington Team Football.

 

I'm not sure what marketing genius on their team thought it up but it's certainly unforgettable....

[unclevlad]

Exactly.  The right fielder was never named in the skit.

[Old Man]

Is anyone else watching this Browns game?  4 TDs before the end of the first quarter?  What method do you think the Browns will use to lose this one?

[unclevlad]

32 minutes ago, Old Man said:

Is anyone else watching this Browns game?  4 TDs before the end of the first quarter?  What method do you think the Browns will use to lose this one?

 

I don't think they will.  Steelers are too sloppy;  they're the ones who seem to have had little or no prep for this one.  Even on their TD, the snap *almost* doomed the 4th and 1 before that.  The defense isn't a lot better.  Browns turn around after that, and go 9 plays and 65 yards to get it back to 28, in, what, 90 seconds or so.  Even tho they just gave up the long FG.

 

Granted, the Steelers looked terrible in the first half of last week too, but the margin's even bigger this time.

[Old Man]

The Browns have failed to Brown. 

[unclevlad]

3 minutes ago, Old Man said:

The Browns have failed to Brown. 

 

True.  No big mistakes on offense at all, and moved the ball very nicely when necessary.  Taking the ball back at 11 minutes in the 4th, and going 13 plays, 60 yards and 6:40 off the clock was *solid*, thank you.  Defense maybe could be criticized after the 1st quarter but to a degree they were probably playing soft.  ALMOST too soft, but they also forced a few mistakes in the 2nd half and with that kind of lead, that's all they needed.

 

Even more to me, the Steelers have rusted through.  They got manhandled overall.  And Ben's mistakes were killers.  Even more, what we saw tonight, we've been seeing to a degree for the last 6 or 7 games.  The Steelers and the Seahawks both just did an about-face worthy of Mike Shanahan-led Bronco teams.

And it's WAY too early to speculate, but Big Ben looked terrible.  I don't follow them, so I can't say how much was Covid, or players choosing to sit out, or what, but they were overpowered too much of the time.  That suggests a)  is Ben's time about up? and b) do the Steelers need to completely retool...and is Ben the right QB for that?  

And the need to find Ben's replacement is now GLARING.  17 years in the league, 231 games started, he'll be 39 in 2 months, and he's been *beaten up* over his career.  

[Pariah]

The Browns won a playoff game? The Seahawks lost at home to the Rams, who started a back-up QB? The Colts amassed 450 yards total offense with no turnovers and still lost, becoming the first team in NFL history with that distinction?

 

Truly this is the end times.

[Old Man]

50 minutes ago, unclevlad said:

 

True.  No big mistakes on offense at all, and moved the ball very nicely when necessary.  Taking the ball back at 11 minutes in the 4th, and going 13 plays, 60 yards and 6:40 off the clock was *solid*, thank you.  Defense maybe could be criticized after the 1st quarter but to a degree they were probably playing soft.  ALMOST too soft, but they also forced a few mistakes in the 2nd half and with that kind of lead, that's all they needed.

 

Even more to me, the Steelers have rusted through.  They got manhandled overall.  And Ben's mistakes were killers.  Even more, what we saw tonight, we've been seeing to a degree for the last 6 or 7 games.  The Steelers and the Seahawks both just did an about-face worthy of Mike Shanahan-led Bronco teams.

And it's WAY too early to speculate, but Big Ben looked terrible.  I don't follow them, so I can't say how much was Covid, or players choosing to sit out, or what, but they were overpowered too much of the time.  That suggests a)  is Ben's time about up? and b) do the Steelers need to completely retool...and is Ben the right QB for that?  

And the need to find Ben's replacement is now GLARING.  17 years in the league, 231 games started, he'll be 39 in 2 months, and he's been *beaten up* over his career.  

 

Ben really looked like he didn't want to be there, from beginning to end, and the strange lack of chemistry between him and his receivers that past couple of months continued through the first half.  Still I feel as though the Steelers lost this game more than the Browns won it.  The Browns are really clicking, make no mistake, but when the Steelers finally got going in the second half they were moving the ball with impunity.  They just couldn't come back from committing four turnovers.

 

I suppose the Browns' historic postseason run will end next week in KC.  I hate to see either the Ravens or Bills lose, as they play each other, but I'm pulling for the Bills.

[unclevlad]

We now have to wonder who's going to retire...altho obviously it's way too early.  More than any season, this one will take time before it'll be let go completely.  Brees is believed to be leaning that way;  I think Rivers may well do so for family reasons;  the man's got 9 kids!!!!  Enduring another season, or even half-season, of semi-isolation would seem especially burdensome.  September's a long ways off, but it still feels like "mostly open" is more likely than "back to normal."  And Ben seemed burned out...if the 2021 season is at all like this one in terms of continued heavy testing (baseball season may tell us a LOT about that)...and with the age and wear and tear...who knows.  Brady probably will, but IMO the Bucs need to pay serious attention and figure on moving on *soon*.  Remember how fast Peyton slipped.

[Badger]

The Steelers steelered.

[archer]

36 minutes ago, unclevlad said:

We now have to wonder who's going to retire...altho obviously it's way too early.  More than any season, this one will take time before it'll be let go completely.  Brees is believed to be leaning that way;  I think Rivers may well do so for family reasons;  the man's got 9 kids!!!!  Enduring another season, or even half-season, of semi-isolation would seem especially burdensome.  September's a long ways off, but it still feels like "mostly open" is more likely than "back to normal."  And Ben seemed burned out...if the 2021 season is at all like this one in terms of continued heavy testing (baseball season may tell us a LOT about that)...and with the age and wear and tear...who knows.  Brady probably will, but IMO the Bucs need to pay serious attention and figure on moving on *soon*.  Remember how fast Peyton slipped.

 

I'd imagine by the time that regular season football arrives that each of the teams will have finagled a way to get vaccines for each player on their roster, coaches, and any staff in close contact with the players.

 

They'll still have issues of how many butts in seats at the game and all the rest. But I don't think they'll have to endure semi-isolation or not be able to have team meetings and the rest they've had to go through as players this time around.

 

And with players getting to practice together more and rosters being more stable, it won't be so hard on older players who tend to suffer more when they suffer those bone-jarring hits.

 

A big question for me are the players who are hitting their free agency year. With revenues drastically down at the stadium, TV ratings likely down, and merchandising drastically down, what kind of money are the teams going to be willing to throw at players this time around?

 

And will players be willing to sign for that or would they rather sit out a year and hope the league's revenue situation gets better? 

 

For that matter, how many players are just going to be flat-out released not because they aren't particularly good players but because teams won't be willing/able to pay the money to keep them on the roster? And if the league reaches a certain point where teams are pretty sure they can find an available player to fill a spot if they release a player, does that create an incentive for teams to release more and more players in order to cut salaries?

 

Yeah, there are league minimum salaries and a few players on each team who have guarantees in their contracts. But most players aren't making minimum at the moment and aren't guaranteed money if cut (if I understand correctly, it's been a number of years since I followed league finances and player salaries).

 

If most of the small market teams and/or owners without deep pockets aren't in really great financial shape at the end of this season and don't think things are going to be back to normal next season, the offseason could get ugly.

[Old Man]

The Football Team's impressive QB, Taylor Heinicke, was apparently signed off the street a week ago.  Prior to that he was taking a math class.

 

After barely beating the Steelers' backups in Week 17 to make the playoffs, the Browns came to Heinz Field with no head coach, no O-line coach, and a backup O-line.  Third string left guard Blake Hance was signed off the Jets' practice squad a week ago, drove to Cleveland, and met Baker Mayfield for the first time in the locker room immediately prior to the game.

 

Baker Mayfield is undefeated in the playoffs.

 

If still on the team, Ben Roethlisberger will count $41M against the cap for the Steelers in 2021.

 

[slikmar]

I thought they would blow it. Perhaps don't start playing prevent defense after the first quarter, even with a 28 point lead. Getting the TD at the end of the first half was huge for the Browns. allowed them to break, temporarily, the momentum the Steelers were building.

[Old Man]

The Eagles have fired HC Doug Pederson.

[unclevlad]

22 hours ago, Old Man said:

The Eagles have fired HC Doug Pederson.

 

Mmm.  I'd missed that.  Well...not surprising to me.  This is the headline from The Athletic:
 

Quote

Lombardi: The Eagles front office and Jeffrey Lurie did not trust Doug Pederson

 

After what he did?  Yeah, I can see it.  

 

22 hours ago, slikmar said:

I thought they would blow it. Perhaps don't start playing prevent defense after the first quarter, even with a 28 point lead. Getting the TD at the end of the first half was huge for the Browns. allowed them to break, temporarily, the momentum the Steelers were building.

 

Probably wasn't a full prevent, but it was softer, for sure, and that is asking for trouble.
BUT, by the same token, the Steelers had shown they couldn't be consistent, and that they'd allow too much.  Maybe it's 20-20 hindsight but the Steelers got gouged on defense too often.  

 

One point about Ben's contract:  yeah, he'll cost $41M if he's on the roster but he's gonna cost $22M regardless.  The big kicker is if he's on the roster on the 3rd day of the new league year, which means early April.  $15M roster bonus kicks in.  But can they cut him?  Not that easy to do.  Indy could release Peyton because of doubt after the neck injury, but when to part from an aging superstar is always tough.

 

And all the points Old Man made...had the script been flipped and the Browns had the disastrous first quarter, it probably would've been understood.  But the Steelers laid a massive egg, and it went along with a whole nestful they laid for several weeks.  So there's problems there.

[Old Man]

[Cancer]

I think that in the part of the world where there is widely available television coverage of professional sports events, it is true that there is a spike in domestic violence incidents on game days. 

[Cancer]

Seahawks have fired their offensive coordinator, Brian Schottenheimer.

[Badger]

On 1/12/2021 at 1:36 PM, Old Man said:

I did see an impressive compilation of Steeler fan meltdowns on youtube.

[Old Man]

3 hours ago, Cancer said:

Seahawks have fired their offensive coordinator, Brian Schottenheimer.

 

Who will they get to coast on Russ' ability to scramble now?

36 minutes ago, Badger said:

I did see an impressive compilation of Steeler fan meltdowns on youtube.

 

To be fair, it was a shockingly bad first quarter coupled with some extremely suspect playcalling.  Tomlin (and Vrabel) really seem like they outwitted themselves in the playoffs.