2018 NFL Season

[NJDevs4978]

Sadly the Pats may still get the bye at 11-5 if Houston loses at Philly or against the Jags though who knows what you're getting from either team the last two weeks of the season.  But yeah if they don't get the bye they're probably toast.  Thing is there's no real frontrunner in the AFC, the Chiefs still have the Andy Reid problem and are fully capable of choking as the Charger game proved, the Chargers themselves look like the best team right now but they still might not win the division and have to play the extra game.  Pittsburgh just came off three weeks of sucking.  Houston I guess could be a darkhorse but man they didn't look THAT impressive against the Jets.

['7']

Patriots clearly aren't "The Patriots" anymore but they don't need to be to come out of the AFC this year. That was a loss in Pittsburgh that generally never happens to them and I have no idea why Brady just threw that ball up like that on that INT. He knows better. Lots of un Patriots behavior from them this year. But in a big spot at home are you really betting against them?

Overall they're just another team in the unimpressive mix of untrustworthy AFC teams. Baltimore has quietly been very impressive doing the gadget stuff with Jackson for now. Who knows how long that lasts but as of today it's working, and Harbaugh is a tremendous coach. You kind of saw that let down coming for Miami as well after the Miracle. Tough to follow up that kind of emotional game.

And look at Indy. Thought they were dead in the water after losing to the Jets earlier this year. What a job by Reich

Edited December 17, 2018 by '7'

[Colorado Rockies 1976]

This is what can happen when the Smarter-Than-The-World HC decides to trade a perfectly good young receiver (Cooks) for reasons known only to him.  Unfortunately when dealing with someone who has the amount of baggage as Gordon does, there's always the potential for it to blow up in your face...and it just did:

http://www.msn.com/en-us/sports/nfl/josh-gordon-reportedly-facing-another-indefinite-suspension-from-nfl/ar-BBRdFXF?li=BBnb7Kz&ocid=iehp

Not even all that surprised...with the Gordons for the world, it forever feels like it's only a matter of time.  If he needs to do whatever he needs to do to make sure he doesn't die young, I get it, and understand.  But whenever you put yourself in a position when you have to depend on someone like Gordon not to relapse, derail, whatever, well...it shouldn't come as any great shock when it ultimately doesn't work out. 

['7']

It was bound to happen. Gordon is just not in the right place mentally, maturity wise. However I can't really look at this is a bad move by NE. They probably knew themselves it was a matter of time before he imploded again...but in the meantime they got good production from him. They're not having the typical NE season, but they'll still make the playoffs and his contributions will be a major reason why.

They should've never jettisoned Cooks. I have no idea what that was about. 

[NJDevs4978]

1 hour ago, '7' said:

It was bound to happen. Gordon is just not in the right place mentally, maturity wise. However I can't really look at this is a bad move by NE. They probably knew themselves it was a matter of time before he imploded again...but in the meantime they got good production from him. They're not having the typical NE season, but they'll still make the playoffs and his contributions will be a major reason why.

They should've never jettisoned Cooks. I have no idea what that was about. 

BB has done a lot of 'I'm BB and you're not' type hubris moves lately, between Cooks and the Malcom Butler thing.  Even fighting Brady to the death on his personal fitness guy.

[Colorado Rockies 1976]

Pats smoke and mirror their way into another AFC East division title and even a possible #2 seed.  This feels like that definitive "End of a Run" season, where all of the success that came before somehow manifests its way onto a team that simply isn't very good.  This team could actually sneak into a SB if every last thing breaks right (especially if they manage to clinch the #2 seed, and get someone else to knock off the #1 seed for them...if they get two home playoff games, they have a chance), but I think KC would destroy them no matter where the game is played...Pats don't have the horses to beat up on KC's D, and BB and whatever puppet he happens to have "coordinating" the Pats' D will have a hell of a time coming up with a game plan that doesn't leave guys wide open all over the field. 

These Pats couldn't be more vulnerable, and some of the more familiar faces and past heroes are starting to see Father Time catch up with them.  There's just not much there, and I think the Jets can definitely go into NE and knock them off (that will derail any slim chance of the Pats making a run...even if they win a home-field WC game, they are not winning two road playoff games)...if anything, the Pats are very lucky that Darnold didn't play against them the last time. 

['7']

To be totally honest, odds are New England is going back to another Super Bowl. It's not a given but I just don't see Lamar Jackson going in there and winning a game. I don't trust the Chiefs anywhere in the playoffs. Mahomes is still something of a rookie that Belichick feasts on (I actually think Darnold did pretty well against him, with nobody on the Jets even trying, 16-28 with 0 picks is a good performance with what Belichick does vs rookie QB's)

Chargers I think could do it, though I wonder imagine they host an AFC title game...would they play it on a sub 30k capacity soccer field? ha

[Colorado Rockies 1976]

If NE has any shot, they have to stay out of KC.  Mahomes already got a look at their D...he had issues with it initially, but once he settled in, he carved it up with ease.  This time he'll do that all game.  Still don't think the current Pats O will be able to keep up in a shootout game in Arrowhead.

The Pats aren't a lock to win their home game either, given their potential opponents...but at least they managed to stay out of the WC round.  That was the big-time Step One.

[Colorado Rockies 1976]

Lewis FINALLY put out of his fvcking misery...about friggin' time.  

[MadDog2020]

Just now, Colorado Rockies 1976 said:

Lewis FINALLY put out of his fvcking misery...about friggin' time.  

I’ll bet Hue Jackson gets that job, because Mike Brown.

[Muevelos]

Harbaugh should be fired. Literally the moment this is over. Incompetent

[NJDevs4978]

Are the Chargers really gonna let Lamar Jackson Tebow his way past them?

[Muevelos]

Chargers win. Goodbye Harbaugh. For the sake of Baltimore.

['7']

As soon as Andy Reid won the toss and deferred, he sent the Patriots to the Super Bowl. 

['7']

Different year

Same script

[NJDevs4978]

Yep...so much for the Pats being bad for 14 weeks...getting to play Furman and Eastern Michigan the last two weeks of the regular season got them in gear again

Edited January 21, 2019 by NJDevs4978

[Colorado Rockies 1976]

Didn’t think the Pats would pull that one off...their D has been brilliant in both first halves of their playoff games.  KC eventually carved them up (there’s no shutting down that kind of offense for a full game), but KC’s D clearly needs upgrades.  

And one thing that I learned:  Arrowhead is overrated, from a “tough place to go in and win” standpoint.  People tend to make that building a much bigger deal than it really is (me included).

Edited January 21, 2019 by Colorado Rockies 1976

['7']

You're right for all the hubub about Arrowhead, all they do is lose their. Constantly. I mean freaking Tennessee came in and erased a 21-3 deficit.

Rams have a shot at this, they're better coached than KC, I don't feel they'll be as tight as KC, and they might be able to get real interior pressure on Brady. But Belichick and Scarnecchia have two weeks to figure out how to keep them at bay. They usually succeed at this

Total coin flip game really. Can LA keep NE keep them from converting the 3rds that KC couldn't. The Rams do have a better secondary. Is old man Wade Phillips up to the task?

Mcvay vs Belichick is a great storyline too

[Daniel]

I think Wade Phillips probably has a trick or two up his sleeve for Brady.

As to the PI and PI generally, I've thought about basically going back to the old rules giving pass defenders more leeway and perhaps making it only a ten or fifteen yard penalty.  When what is PI is more clearly defined, you'll probably get fewer missed calls as refs will be less inclined to use discretion to not call something blatant, sort of like you don't ever get a makeup offisdes or false start call.  Perhaps in return, you go to the college rule of having one foot in bounds being a completed catch.

But ultimately, so long as you have a rule book that more or less says there's a penalty on every single play (note every good offensive lineman says he holds on every play he just knows how to get away with it) the refs are going to look like they're enforcing things arbitrarily. 

 

[NJDevs4978]

I heard a interesting tweak proposed to the OT rule on the morning WFAN show...don't even have a coin flip at the beginning of OT.  Just continue the game from the end of regulation.  Then at least you take some of the luck factor out of it.  Of course it would take a bit of the time drama out of those end of the fourth period drives if you could just finish it off in OT.

Edited January 22, 2019 by NJDevs4978

[eaglejelly]

15 hours ago, NJDevs4978 said:

I heard a interesting tweak proposed to the OT rule on the morning WFAN show...don't even have a coin flip at the beginning of OT.  Just continue the game from the end of regulation.  Then at least you take some of the luck factor out of it.  Of course it would take a bit of the time drama out of those end of the fourth period drives if you could just finish it off in OT.

They should just let every team get a possession, independently if the other team scores a TD or not

[Colorado Rockies 1976]

I think at this point, just take away the sudden death aspect, and let them play out the OT until the clock reads 0:00.  The way the NE/KC game was going in the 4th quarter, it seemed like whoever won the toss was almost guaranteed to win the game.  Sure, it's great for me and other NE fans that the coin toss went my way, but it would've been better for everyone else if NE and KC kept trading possessions for a while longer.

But there's a part of me that thinks it's the fact that the hated-in-many-circles Pats won the toss and the game that some people are bitching about the current rules.  I don't believe that there would have been as much of that if Mahomes & Co had won the toss and then the game. 

I do feel that the NFL has bigger fish to fry...starting with trying to improve the all-over-the-place officiating.  These guys get in the way of too many games, to the point where there's conspiracy theorists who are truly convinced that certain games are manipulated, if not borderline fixed.  I really feel for the Saints...I know that some will say "Well sh!t happens" and that there's always questionable calls in just about every sport, but man that was just brutal for the Saints.  It's really hard to imagine a scenario that the Saints aren't going to the SB if that PI call is made. 

Edited January 22, 2019 by Colorado Rockies 1976

[eaglejelly]

51 minutes ago, Colorado Rockies 1976 said:

I think at this point, just take away the sudden death aspect, and let them play out the OT until the clock reads 0:00.  The way the NE/KC game was going in the 4th quarter, it seemed like whoever won the toss was almost guaranteed to win the game.  Sure, it's great for me and other NE fans that the coin toss went my way, but it would've been better for everyone else if NE and KC kept trading possessions for a while longer.

But there's a part of me that thinks it's the fact that the hated-in-many-circles Pats won the toss and the game that some people are bitching about the current rules.  I don't believe that there would have been as much of that if Mahomes & Co had won the toss and then the game.

you may be right about people caring less if the Chiefs had won, but it annoys me that the league recognized that it was unfair to not let both teams have at least 1 possession, but implemented a half Ass fix.

54 minutes ago, Colorado Rockies 1976 said:

"Well sh!t happens" and that there's always questionable calls in just about every sport, but man that was just brutal for the Saints.  It's really hard to imagine a scenario that the Saints aren't going to the SB if that PI call is made. 

That was karma for "Bountygate"

['7']

On 1/21/2019 at 9:15 PM, NJDevs4978 said:

I heard a interesting tweak proposed to the OT rule on the morning WFAN show...don't even have a coin flip at the beginning of OT.  Just continue the game from the end of regulation.  Then at least you take some of the luck factor out of it.  Of course it would take a bit of the time drama out of those end of the fourth period drives if you could just finish it off in OT.

Not a terrible idea. I certainly wouldn't be vehemently against it. But I do like the end of game time drama.

I really don't mind how they do OT now. But I would guarantee each offense a possession. Unless there is a defensive score, the game would end on a defensive score. But if a TD is scored on a possession or the OT kickoff then I feel the other team has a right to have their offense on the field to match it.

['7']

On 1/22/2019 at 1:21 PM, Colorado Rockies 1976 said:

I think at this point, just take away the sudden death aspect, and let them play out the OT until the clock reads 0:00.  The way the NE/KC game was going in the 4th quarter, it seemed like whoever won the toss was almost guaranteed to win the game.  Sure, it's great for me and other NE fans that the coin toss went my way, but it would've been better for everyone else if NE and KC kept trading possessions for a while longer.

But there's a part of me that thinks it's the fact that the hated-in-many-circles Pats won the toss and the game that some people are bitching about the current rules.  I don't believe that there would have been as much of that if Mahomes & Co had won the toss and then the game. 

I do feel that the NFL has bigger fish to fry...starting with trying to improve the all-over-the-place officiating.  These guys get in the way of too many games, to the point where there's conspiracy theorists who are truly convinced that certain games are manipulated, if not borderline fixed.  I really feel for the Saints...I know that some will say "Well sh!t happens" and that there's always questionable calls in just about every sport, but man that was just brutal for the Saints.  It's really hard to imagine a scenario that the Saints aren't going to the SB if that PI call is made. 

I know we're all sick of every little thing taking forever to replay, and it's just a byproduct of the era we live in. We can look at everything in great detail so we DO look at everything in great detail

Maybe teams should be granted 1 penalty review per half? Something like that. But what happened to the Saints there we should be able to review and correct. We can right that wrong in game