TheValkyries
proudly reppin' 2 superbowl wins since DEFLATEGATE
2/3s of "the single most valuable player in the market by an order of magnitude" is still a lot of money.
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NFL Quarantine Thread: 2020-2021 Season?
- Thread starter TheValkyries
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The difference between 20 million a year and 35 million a year is huge. It gives you a ridiculous leg up on competition and lets you sign 3 or 4 quality players for the middle class of your roster which is what the Patriots are predicated on.
The Cap space and cap flexibility that Brady gave the Patriots allowed Belichick to build depth on his roster that other teams couldn't.
It also allowed Belichick to do this in contract negation with higher level players:
TheValkyries
proudly reppin' 2 superbowl wins since DEFLATEGATE
https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id...ts-dynasty-how-got-here-next-why-not-easy-fix
"To start, they have $26.4 million in dead money on their cap for players whose contracts are no longer on the roster. The biggest of those charges is the $13.5 million in dead money owed to Brady. In a move that still hasn't been explained publicly, the Patriots gave Brady a "two-year extension" in August 2019 that really amounted to a $8 million raise and the guarantee that his deal would void after the season without any ability for the Patriots to franchise their star passer.
In return, the team created $5.5 million in 2019 cap space and presumably kept the veteran quarterback happy, although that peace didn't last long or keep Brady around after the season. When Brady decided to sign with the Buccaneers, that $13.5 million in dead money accelerated onto New England's 2020 cap. It also owes $4.5 million in dead money for Antonio Brown's ill-fated stint with the team, which cost the Pats $10.3 million of cap room over two years for one win over the Dolphins. New England also owes $2 million in dead money for Bennett, $1.4 million for kicker Stephen Gostkowski and $1 million for safety Duron Harmon.
Early in March, the Patriots decided to keep two veteran contributors around by franchising Thuney and signing Devin McCourty to a two-year, $23 million deal. They used voidable years in McCourty's deal to help keep his cap hit lower than it would typically be, but Thuney's franchise tag amounts to $14.8 million of the cap. With Mason also on a large deal, they have $24.9 million of their cap committed to guards, nearly $5 million more than any other team in football. "
They made a lot of fucking moves in the last few years to try and milk as much out of Brady as they could. If you want to pretend all their trades and big name splash signings didn't exist, then you can. They blatantly and quite obviously tried to swing for the fences for Brady and last year all the swings missed. It is what it is.
"To start, they have $26.4 million in dead money on their cap for players whose contracts are no longer on the roster. The biggest of those charges is the $13.5 million in dead money owed to Brady. In a move that still hasn't been explained publicly, the Patriots gave Brady a "two-year extension" in August 2019 that really amounted to a $8 million raise and the guarantee that his deal would void after the season without any ability for the Patriots to franchise their star passer.
In return, the team created $5.5 million in 2019 cap space and presumably kept the veteran quarterback happy, although that peace didn't last long or keep Brady around after the season. When Brady decided to sign with the Buccaneers, that $13.5 million in dead money accelerated onto New England's 2020 cap. It also owes $4.5 million in dead money for Antonio Brown's ill-fated stint with the team, which cost the Pats $10.3 million of cap room over two years for one win over the Dolphins. New England also owes $2 million in dead money for Bennett, $1.4 million for kicker Stephen Gostkowski and $1 million for safety Duron Harmon.
Early in March, the Patriots decided to keep two veteran contributors around by franchising Thuney and signing Devin McCourty to a two-year, $23 million deal. They used voidable years in McCourty's deal to help keep his cap hit lower than it would typically be, but Thuney's franchise tag amounts to $14.8 million of the cap. With Mason also on a large deal, they have $24.9 million of their cap committed to guards, nearly $5 million more than any other team in football. "
They made a lot of fucking moves in the last few years to try and milk as much out of Brady as they could. If you want to pretend all their trades and big name splash signings didn't exist, then you can. They blatantly and quite obviously tried to swing for the fences for Brady and last year all the swings missed. It is what it is.
In 2019 they planned to go into the season with a receiving group of:
Edelman
Dorsett
Jakobi Meyers
N'Keal Harry
Matt Lacosse
Ryan Izzo
Then the league surprisingly unsuspended Josh Gordon and the Patriots signed AB out of total desperation, knowing how bad the pass catchers on their roster were. They then traded for Sanu again out of total desperation, in what is possibly the worst NFL trade of the decade.
In fact in 2018 when they traded for Josh Gordon, that move was also made out of total desperation.
All of the moves they made at receiver, they made because they ignored the position and had no plan.
Since 2018:
They didn't have a plan at receiver
They didn't had a plan at TE after Gronk
And its pretty damn clear that now that they never had a plan at QB once Brady left.
And because of that, they now have the worst passing attack in the entire NFL
In fact, you could say that if Belichick had his way at QB, they'd be in a far worse position that they are now because they'd be stuck with middling, made of glass QB Jimmy G, who has a far higher salary than anything Brady ever played at.
Brady's play from 2014-2017 (the highest level a QB has ever played at) basically guaranteed that Belichick couldn't trade him, and basically saved the Patriots from middling QB hell.
Belichick is making excuses for his extreme neglect, misevaluations and poor drafting when it comes to the skill positions. They've drafted ONE above average skill player since 2012 and that's James white
People came into this season thinking that Brady froze young receivers out last year, and that Cam would be better for the Patriots since he could buy more time for them to get open, instead of just admitting the obvious fact that they were all terrible and Belichick screwed up.
Now people are trying to blame cam for losses when his no.1 receiver is Jakobi fkn meyers
Edelman
Dorsett
Jakobi Meyers
N'Keal Harry
Matt Lacosse
Ryan Izzo
Then the league surprisingly unsuspended Josh Gordon and the Patriots signed AB out of total desperation, knowing how bad the pass catchers on their roster were. They then traded for Sanu again out of total desperation, in what is possibly the worst NFL trade of the decade.
In fact in 2018 when they traded for Josh Gordon, that move was also made out of total desperation.
All of the moves they made at receiver, they made because they ignored the position and had no plan.
Since 2018:
They didn't have a plan at receiver
They didn't had a plan at TE after Gronk
And its pretty damn clear that now that they never had a plan at QB once Brady left.
And because of that, they now have the worst passing attack in the entire NFL
In fact, you could say that if Belichick had his way at QB, they'd be in a far worse position that they are now because they'd be stuck with middling, made of glass QB Jimmy G, who has a far higher salary than anything Brady ever played at.
Brady's play from 2014-2017 (the highest level a QB has ever played at) basically guaranteed that Belichick couldn't trade him, and basically saved the Patriots from middling QB hell.
Belichick is making excuses for his extreme neglect, misevaluations and poor drafting when it comes to the skill positions. They've drafted ONE above average skill player since 2012 and that's James white
People came into this season thinking that Brady froze young receivers out last year, and that Cam would be better for the Patriots since he could buy more time for them to get open, instead of just admitting the obvious fact that they were all terrible and Belichick screwed up.
Now people are trying to blame cam for losses when his no.1 receiver is Jakobi fkn meyers
Well that Ravens/Steelers game hurt to watch.
Credit where credit is due to the Steelers defense for making some plays, but Lamar needs to protect the damn football. When you run for over 250+ on the league's "best" defense, there should be no reason you lose. Anyone who watched this game understands just how dominant Baltimore was in the first half. After Lamar handed Pittsburgh 7 points in the first minute, the Steelers proceeded to pass for 27 yards in two quarters.
I was somewhat glad to see the offense resemble last year's, but the turnovers and sloppy play need to stop. Losing Stanley is a tough break, but Dobbins seems to be coming on strong. The mix of Greg Roman calling stupid plays and Lamar making equally stupid plays needs to be cleaned up ASAP unless we want to see another one and done year.
Credit where credit is due to the Steelers defense for making some plays, but Lamar needs to protect the damn football. When you run for over 250+ on the league's "best" defense, there should be no reason you lose. Anyone who watched this game understands just how dominant Baltimore was in the first half. After Lamar handed Pittsburgh 7 points in the first minute, the Steelers proceeded to pass for 27 yards in two quarters.
I was somewhat glad to see the offense resemble last year's, but the turnovers and sloppy play need to stop. Losing Stanley is a tough break, but Dobbins seems to be coming on strong. The mix of Greg Roman calling stupid plays and Lamar making equally stupid plays needs to be cleaned up ASAP unless we want to see another one and done year.
Maybe Brady needs to get some Lasik as well.
And yet they still beat you. In Baltimore.
I don't think that invalidates his observation.
Admittedly, the Ravens haven't looked so great the past few weeks either
Solid bounce-back win for the Ravens after an abysmal first half by the offense turned into a second half domination. The interception call was shaky at best, but with the way the Colts offense was playing otherwise, I'm not sure it really mattered all that much.
Need to see more of that second half offense on a weekly basis. Another point, the defense is REAL this season. The Ravens were top 3 in defensive DVOA entering week 9, and I suspect they will move up to two or one after the Bucs' performance on Monday night. It isn't smoke and mirrors either like it has been in the past.
I won't say that the Steelers "haven't beaten anyone" and invalidate their perfect start, and maybe my bias is talking here, but I don't see them as some unbeatable team. I'd say they are right up there with the best teams in the AFC, but not a cut above by any means. A few plays don't go their way and they have 4-5 losses to some pretty middling teams.
Need to see more of that second half offense on a weekly basis. Another point, the defense is REAL this season. The Ravens were top 3 in defensive DVOA entering week 9, and I suspect they will move up to two or one after the Bucs' performance on Monday night. It isn't smoke and mirrors either like it has been in the past.
I agree with Del Rio that he still has a point.
I won't say that the Steelers "haven't beaten anyone" and invalidate their perfect start, and maybe my bias is talking here, but I don't see them as some unbeatable team. I'd say they are right up there with the best teams in the AFC, but not a cut above by any means. A few plays don't go their way and they have 4-5 losses to some pretty middling teams.
With like 10k fans.
And with our QB having the worst game of his career, entirely self-inflicted.
And with the best LT in football suffering a season-ending injury early on.
And with us outplaying you in almost every facet of the game.
And with us getting robbed of 7-15 seconds of game time on that last drive, which would've been 2 chances at the end zone.
And finally, with a questionable no-call on Snead on that final throw of the game (I personally think it was borderline, but the fact they didn't look at it is awful).
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By no means did I say that Pittsburgh isn't a good team, because that's clearly not the case. I said that Pittsburgh aren't as good as their 8-0 record would have you believe, which when having watched a lot of their games this season, I'm pretty confident in stating. They should've lost to the Titans and they should have lost to us. Also, they should've lost to the near-league-worst Cowboys, but got bailed out big-time by a combination of a bad team choking and the worst refereeing I've seen in a game this year.
Also, Kansas City is definitely better than you in my opinion. I'd have you as second-best (so yes, you're very good), but when I say you're nowhere near as good as your record, I mean you've gotten quite lucky time and time again, on top of already being good.
10k fans is still plenty enough to make noise, and you didn't have to travel for the game.
Lamar had an awful game last time he played Pittsburgh too. Maybe there's something schematically they're doing that is causing him to make poor decisions? Also they were far from entirely self inflicted, as the Pittsburgh defender jumped the route on the pick 6 and the defenders knocked the ball loose on both fumbles. The only self inflicted turnover was the second INT, which was a terrible throw but the defender still had to make an athletic move to catch. You're completely disregarding the Pittsburgh defense's influence here to make it sound like they just stood there and let y'all give the ball to them, which isn't what happened and you know it.
This injury didn't even affect the rest of the game. Bud Dupree made no more impact against the new LT than he did against Stanley. Pittsburgh was missing their best run defender too (Alualu) but I'm not blaming things on that, am I?
The Ravens outplayed the Steelers in running and run defense. The Steelers won the turnover battle and did a better job generating pressure, so they were better there, as well as passing offense (although Pittsburgh only did marginally better there).
Romo was incorrect here. Pittsburgh would not have been required to call timeout until right before the Ravens snap the ball, which would have been around 8 seconds left, exactly where it ended up being. Why should the Ravens get extra time there? and even if they did, the odds of them getting a touchdown were still slim given where they were on the field.
Referees don't review for possible penalties. I'm sure we could both sit here and cherry pick bad calls that went against our teams all day, but we both know that's a waste of time.
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This is completely subjective. What precisely does an 8-0 record "have us believe"? And don't even bother trying to use the 2007 Patriots as a comparison, that would be asinine.
How? Please explain how you reached this conclusion, because this is the worst take I've seen.
This has more merit, but this happens all the time in the NFL. Your team committed four turnovers and failed to capitalize on enough opportunities to win. "Should have" is just a way to make yourself feel better. And yes, I have been guilty of doing this too, so I am a hypocrite. Doesn't mean I'm wrong, though.
Again, please explain how they "Should have lost"? It sounds like you're assuming the Cowboys were actually a better team, rather than seeing that they overperformed for the first half relative to the rest of the season. Pittsburgh's offense got going at the end of the first half, and continued to be better in the second half while the defense adjusted. Football is 60 minutes, and just because the game was close doesn't mean Dallas should have won. The refereeing might have been bad, but it went both ways. Trying to suggest otherwise is, again, cherry picking examples to suit your narrative.
I believe I said this already, and it in no way discounts Pittsburgh's record as Kansas City is an incredible team.
Lol get out of here bro. You know perfectly well that for any team to win the NFL, some shit has to go your way. Singling out the Steelers and discounting them for it whilst giving other teams a pass is just your bias as a Ravens fan.
Now, let's have a look at the most recent 8-0 teams in the NFL to see how they compare:
2018 Rams - four of their wins were by one score or less. Three of those were by 3 points or less. Lost Super Bowl (probably should have lost the NFCCG but whatever)
2019 Patriots - played the Jets twice, the Dolphins, Redskins, Giants, Browns, and Steelers. The only decent team they played was the Bills, and that game finished 16-10. Lost in WC round.
2019 49ers - beat the Mason Rudolph-led Steelers by a whopping 4 points, at home. Scored 9 points against the Redskins. Beat the Cardinals by 3. Lost Super Bowl.
2015 Panthers - 5 of their first 8 games were one score games, including an overtime. They went on to be 14-0. Lost Super Bowl in embarrassing fashion.
2013 Chiefs - started 9-0, finished 11-5 and lost in the WC round.
I could go back further but I think you get the point. Very few 8-0 teams are truly blowing the doors off everyone, they're more often just winning games in a variety of ways, some close, some not. Want more fun stats? In the last 30 years, 16 teams have started 8-0 or better. Want to know how many won the Super Bowl? 4. This just shows that 8-0 is not a guarantee of success, such is life in the NFL.
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The offensive play-calling was abysmal for the Colts. Frank Reich just completely took Jonathon Taylor out of the game after his fumble...even though his touchdown in the first quarter was the only offense all day. He's a rookie running back that didn't have a fumble until Week 9. Why does one fumble get him benched? I'm not gonna make excuses for how badly the offense played but damn we got no help from the coaching
From what I've seen Taylor has just not been very good this season. I think losing Mack really hurt you guys. I'm sure Taylor will improve as he gets more NFL experience, but to my knowledge, he has been subpar.
I won't reply to the rest as these messages are getting way too long, but
If it was a player on the offensive team within two minutes, the defense can elect for a ten-second run-off but it doesn't work the other way round.
We attempted to snap the ball with a Steelers player in the backfield, so if you think that the above rule doesn't apply in this case, then we should've gotten an offside penalty for Heyward being 40 yards behind the line of scrimmage lol (which yes, is as stupid as it sounds). The rule literally exists to prevent teams from doing just that, you can't pick and choose when it's enforced.
So yeah, I'd trust Romo's interpretation of the rule, because it's correct.
Also, I'd trust former official Terry McAuley.
Article explaining it.
EDIT:
Not true at all. An injury timeout needs to occur AS SOON AS THE OFFICIALS SPOT AN INJURED PLAYER. That's how injury timeouts work in the NFL. It wasn't a regular timeout - you just happened to get charged one.
If it was a player on the offensive team within two minutes, the defense can elect for a ten-second run-off but it doesn't work the other way round.
We attempted to snap the ball with a Steelers player in the backfield, so if you think that the above rule doesn't apply in this case, then we should've gotten an offside penalty for Heyward being 40 yards behind the line of scrimmage lol (which yes, is as stupid as it sounds). The rule literally exists to prevent teams from doing just that, you can't pick and choose when it's enforced.
So yeah, I'd trust Romo's interpretation of the rule, because it's correct.
Also, I'd trust former official Terry McAuley.
Article explaining it.
EDIT:
I don't disagree that they're in the same tier as a lot of the above teams (although personally, I think last year's Niners and the 2018 Rams were both quite a bit better). But I keep seeing "can the Steelers go 16-0?" articles floating around, which is what triggered my initial comment in the first place.
Thank you for the info, looks like I did not fully understand the rule. The Ravens were correct to be frustrated about that aspect, however I still don't think it ultimately would have changed the outcome, given the distance from the end zone and how poorly Lamar had been throwing all game. Lots of scenarios there though, who knows what really would have happened, can't go back and do it now.
I think it's fair to look at their remaining schedule and debate "can they?" seeing as how they only have three games left against opponents with winning records (Browns don't count because they're the Browns), but it would be silly to definitively conclude that they WILL go 16-0, as they are highly unlikely to. They aren't THAT much better than the next teams in the AFC.
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We did get close to scoring on that last play that Fitzpatrick made a good play on, and for as bad as Lamar was that game, he's always deadly when approaching the red zone, so two more bites of the cherry would've been nice and I can't help but think "what if".
But it's in the past now like you said. If anything, it's made me even more excited for Thanksgiving than I'd normally be! I'm thinking of taking the day off and watching the game at a pub with my Steelers-fan friend, because it's actually on at a reasonable time in Australia!
Here's hoping there are 700% less injuries this time around. We both need to be healthy for our third meeting in the AFC Championship game.
Why is it that the dolphins randomly look good? That defense actually looks somewhat good now, and their offense isn't that bad either. Honestly, with the 7 team playoff thing, I wouldn't be surprised if they take that 7th seen in the AFC.
Also, anyone think that the Vikings have a shot at getting that number 7 based solely on how Dalvin Cook has played the past two weeks? Of course it's the Lions and Packers, who have no run defense whatsoever, but who knows?
Also, anyone think that the Vikings have a shot at getting that number 7 based solely on how Dalvin Cook has played the past two weeks? Of course it's the Lions and Packers, who have no run defense whatsoever, but who knows?
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