unclevlad

Not Penix' finest hour. I thought Washington would get some of the big plays, but...nope. Penix has been rattled most of the game, and now, he's battered and bruised. Side thought...anyone else looking at his low, 3/4 throwing motion and thinking that's not gonna fly in the NFL?

Another potential issue is later mods by third parties. I suspect, tho, that Old Man may be right.

Tip-toe tap dancing

I strongly suggest reading the article. This is...seriously bizarre.

With good reason. <ducks> Oh dear, I waited a bit too long. My pick is Michigan, forget the line...based on picking *against* the worst unit in the game, the Washington defense. So...gee...Michigan, 8 plays, 84 yards.

That's actually probably a pretty big deal for him. https://www.behindthesteelcurtain.com/2023/5/29/23740996/explaining-how-the-nfl-works-part-4-futures-contracts-practice-squad-salary-steelers He's signing for league min? That's, what, $400K? And it means he's a lot more likely to actually stick. I doubt any of us really thought about it...but...well, we know the tenuous nature of assistant coaches' jobs. But here, think of those guys on practice squads...barely hanging on, not at all sure if they'll have the spot the next season. Pay's pretty good *if you can get that spot*...but if no team's vested in having you, man...that'd be nerve-racking.

The Giants' DC resigned. Stories are that it's pretty much wholesale changes among the position group coaches. Picks... Texans over Browns. Yes, this may be dictated by emotion. Chiefs over Dolphins. Florida teams, single digit temps? No thank you. But this may well be a very low-scoring game, due to the weather, so this is probably my least confident prediction. Bills over Steelers. Could end up with another game decided by a fluke play. Biggest line of the weekend...bigger than Cowboys over Packers. Not sure I see it, the Bills make too many bonehead plays. Cowboys over Packers by a lot. Likely the blowout of the weekend, given Dallas is home. Rams over Lions. A tad contrarian, to be sure. Bucs over Eagles. The Eagles are just way too beat up. They're favored but I think that's still looking through them through the lens of making the SB last year. This team has been bad. I'll grant, the Bucs don't exactly inspire confidence either, so yeah, this one could blow up in my face quite spectacularly.

Optimism

Actually, I agree that having Trump off the ballot in some states will lead to chaos, but what alternative is there? To ignore his role in Jan. 6th? To deny the severity of what took place? That, of course, has been the Fox News/Trumpist strategy...nothing seriously wrong happened. And, as Dean notes, this has nothing to do with legalities, and everything to do with creating distraction/chaos/delay, as these all work in Trump's favor. He thinks he's got a big lead; I find it hard to believe there's many undecideds left out there, not after this long, so...if he does, he'd love to have the election tomorrow. But, it's almost as good to simply tie up the process by throwing anything he/they can find, to clog up the works.

Google. "What's the force needed to uproot a tree stump?" or something close to that. Then a bit of math and science.

The minimum impact is still large, but the dates, IIRC: --before the '25 guarantees kick in --but I think they want to play some games cuz they can get some of the cap hit spread out to 2025. IIRC that's the post-June 1 designation. So I believe Wilson doesn't get released for quite some time. Out the door already: Smith (Atlanta), Rivera (Washington). No surprises there. Hired: by Washington, Bob Myers. The man that shaped the Warriors dynasty. No specific role mentioned. Also, Magic Johnson will be part of the advisory committee picking the next HC and head of football operations. They don't know football inside and out, but they certainly have been key cogs in successful sports organizations. EDIT: The Athletic is reporting that Myers is also going to be part of the advisory committee.

Well, we can...actually do this. With some work. https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/d018/e3e81929583d82067a120adf8d0c134acefb.pdf The key number...they gave 60 kN (kilonewtons) force. The newton is the standard unit of force, it's 1 kg-m / sec^2. To lift 1 ton, you're lifting against gravity, which is basically 10 m/s. So..it's 10,000 newtons. So a lifting STR of 6 tons can uproot the stump. Call it 8 tons to rip out the entire tree. 40-45 STR for the trees discussed in the paper. 50, if you want some safety margin, and some SFX...that the mythical's STR grasps the entire tree, which is why it doesn't split or crush at the point of contact. Something of the classic issue...fine, Superman can *lift* the large jet, but in this context? The entire force required to lift it would be exerted by his hands, so the force exerted at the point of contact is almost beyond belief. TV Tropes has fun with this one. Another potentially useful page: https://thetimberlandinvestor.com/how-much-does-a-tree-weigh/ The redwood from CRT's post...92m would be 3x the last column. Diameter...15 feet, or 180 inches. Use the 22" column, now it's 8x. Volume increases as the square of width...so 64x. OK...as an estimate? 200x the 95' by 22" amount of 4 tons, so....800 tons for the tree. That's even before the root ball. So, we're talking 80 STR to handle the mass, treating it as freestanding.

And their reward for next week is a trip to KC, where the forecast for next weekend is single-digit temperatures. Pittsburgh could arguably thank Buffalo for winning; they end up 7th, and head to Buffalo...but the early forecast there is...20's. Schedule: Browns/Texans Saturday afternoon (late) slot; Dolphins/Chiefs Saturday night. Oh joy, single digit temps and a night game. Hey, good news, this is the Peacock-only game. I can live with not seeing it, I think. Steelers/Bills is Sunday early, Packers/Cowboys late, Rams/Lions Sunday night. Eagles-Bucs Monday night. That's not altogether bad; of the 3 night games, the only brutal one from a weather/temp perspective is Fins-Chiefs.

They've only got the 12th pick. Some sites have QBs going 1-3...Williams is the only one listed at #1 that I saw; Drake Maye is pretty consistently 2nd or 3rd; and the last is Jayden Daniels from LSU. Broncos have a LOT of needs, including wideout, if they can offload your favorite whipping boy, Jerry Jeudy. One site had em going for an edge rusher. But figure, they've got work to do, so...perhaps consider Houston's draft approach? DON'T take a QB in '22, get other needs. Then get the QB and a complementary piece in '23, and turn things around. OK, we gotta say, Stroud had perhaps the single best rookie QB season *ever*...and that's really not hyperbole. He led the league in TD to INT ratio...among all QBs. OK, it's not the insane numbers Aaron the Flake put up...pushed 10 twice, and once was at 12.5. Lots of us loathe him as a person, but 475 TDs, 105 picks is...amazing. What I think would be seriously wrong is trying to trade up. That smacks totally of Yet Another Instant Fix attempt, and they've thrown away so many assets in pursuit of that already...the Wilson trade, getting permission to sign Payton. I think they need to look longer term...that is, of course, almost unheard of in modern American pro sports, tho. Bills win the AFC East for the 4th consecutive year. This is in stark contrast to the NFC East, where no team has repeated in 19 years now.

They've only got the 12th pick. Some sites have QBs going 1-3...Williams is the only one listed at #1 that I saw; Drake Maye is pretty consistently 2nd or 3rd; and the last is Jayden Daniels from LSU. Broncos have a LOT of needs, including wideout, if they can offload your favorite whipping boy, Jerry Jeudy. One site had em going for an edge rusher. But figure, they've got work to do, so...perhaps consider Houston's draft approach? DON'T take a QB in '22, get other needs. Then get the QB and a complementary piece in '23, and turn things around. OK, we gotta say, Stroud had perhaps the single best rookie QB season *ever*...and that's really not hyperbole. He led the league in TD to INT ratio...among all QBs. OK, it's not the insane numbers Aaron the Flake put up...pushed 10 twice, and once was at 12.5. Lots of us loathe him as a person, but 475 TDs, 105 picks is...amazing. What I think would be seriously wrong is trying to trade up. That smacks totally of Yet Another Instant Fix attempt, and they've thrown away so many assets in pursuit of that already...the Wilson trade, getting permission to sign Payton. I think they need to look longer term...that is, of course, almost unheard of in modern American pro sports, tho.

Pittsburgh Steelers. 3 coaches in 55 YEARS. Denver Broncos. 3 coaches in 55 weeks.

Chargers do what the Chargers do...Chiefs move the ball 50 yards in 3 minutes to kick a go-ahead FG with less than a minute to go. Chargers can't do anything...not surprising. Early surprise to me. Eagles -1.5 at Bucs.

I'm not ready to forgive them for hiring Urban Meyer.

There is no paranoia like coaches' paranoia. Dak's still in the game. It's 35-10, less than 10 minutes left. Giants are still up 24-3 early 4th. But there's a 1 in...what, 100,000 chance that the Commanders and Eagles can come back!!! KEEP DAK IN!!!

A functional definition of insanity is repeating the same action over and over, expecting a different result. Like...rooting for the Vikings. Or the Raiders. Or the Broncos.

Eagles are waving the white flag, looks like. Mariota's in, with a minute left in the first half. Eagles just have few weapons, Hurts is dinged.

Dak may end up sitting out the 4th quarter. Eagles look rudderless...totally adrift. Offense is sputtering, defense gets gashed for numerous big plays...and the Giants aren't exactly a juggernaut. It's 17-0 right now, and honestly, it doesn't feel that close. The way things are shaping up, Bucs-Eagles may well be the rout of the first round...by the Bucs. Despite the lack of scoring by the Bucs...everyone's shredding this Eagles defense, so we can kinda anticipate the Bucs will get a few TDs. Sheesh...make that 24-0, XP to come. 46 yards to a WIDE open Barkley, busted coverage for about a 15 yard TD to Slayton. 2 plays 60-odd yards, right after the 2 minute warning.

Every time I think Republican officials can't sink to new lows, I'm proven wrong....

Looks like the Browns are enjoying a bye week. And the Jacksonville run defense is about as resilient as tissue paper. First possession of the second half, Henry rips off a massive run...which gives him 41 games of 100+ yards, which is the franchise record for the Titans/Oilers. Who, you might recall, had a back named Campbell. Titans up 15. Can hear the cheering coming down the pike from both Pittsburgh and Buffalo. Amusing possibility...if Buffalo and Jacksonville both lose, then...Buffalo plays at Miami *again* in the WC round.

Oh. My. Lord.... Tyler Goodson and, to a degree Gardner Minshew, are getting no sleep tonight. Texans up 23-17, a minute left. It's 4th and 1. Shallow little wheel route to the back in the flat. Not a perfect throw...wrong side of the back, forcing him to spin...but Goodson had his hands on it, and I think also looked a bit away, starting to run before completing the catch. DOINK............................. Incomplete. Texans can't quite run out the clock, but they're able to run it down to 8 seconds before punting. They take the intentional safety with 1 second left, and the Colts don't get divine intervention. On the flip side, the Texans' kicker is breathing a massive sigh of relief...as he pushed the extra point on the go-ahead...his first missed XP of the year. EDIT: I think the Hades Herald just pushed out a special edition, warning of a massive blizzard.......the TEXANS are in the playoffs!