The Everything NFL Thread - 2013-2014 Edition

[some hero]

That was 2012 romo. Hes back, for now(and hopefully the rest of the season). That was the funnest game this season. Still, broncos got a little scarier after this game. They were on the road against a team that hadnt lost at home, without the best pass rusher in the league, facing a top 7 qb who had the best game of his career and still dropped 50 and won. Jesus, when miller gets back, just give peyton the mvp. Why is it even a race still?

you can all go to hell, brb going to burn down a barn

Tony Romo is completing 70% with 1500 yards, 13 TD, 2 INT, and like ?1 fumble, and the Cowboys are 2-3 :( fucking passing league

Its crazy how average these stats look compared to peytons lol

 

[CPrime]

Schaub's first throw, really?

 

[Del Rio]

It's okay, Schaub just wanted to get the required pick six out of his system early on.

 

[Mercy]

Its an NFL record apparently. Four consecutive games with a pick-six. Congrats Schaub

 

[CaptKirby]

some hero, I am sure it is hard to mind too much with 2 super bowl wins in the last 5 years, but the Giants Eli/Coughlin era is getting ridiculously weird at this point - the Giants were one of 8 teams since 1989 (counting the 2013 Jaguars) to ever come into week 5 with as bad a net point total as they did, and will be one of 10 teams (counting the 2013 Jaguars) to ever come into week 6, again since 1989 sigh wish I had more data, with as bad a point total as they will.

 

[Shinryu]

Its an NFL record apparently. Four consecutive games with a pick-six. Congrats Schaub

Was pretty darn funny how they flashed that stat on how he was tied for the record right before he threw it too. Can't really time it better than that.

 

[Del Rio]

Well... at least it wasn't for a TD this time...?

 

[Mulligan]

I didn't expect Houston to actually beat SF....but that was a pathetic 1st half for the Texans. I expected more out of them. SF is clearly in their heads now, too. You could tell going into the half.

 

[Del Rio]

It's Tebow time for the Texans.

 

[-Tsunami-]

lol broncos are averaging 46 ppg through 5 games
its over...

 

[TheValkyries]

I think, as a Patriots fan, I'm allowed to say 'beware of castles in the sky' to the Denver Hype Train.

 

[CPrime]

Jesus that was bad, it seems like feeding Foster is the only way to keep the Texans offense afloat.

The 49ers are still decent, not good yet. Kaepernick is just too inconsistent.
Denver is still scary.
I hope the Cowboys don't play nearly this well on Thanksgiving.
The Colts look good.
The Patriots still gotta get it together; Gronk is gonna get a million targets.
Cam Newton started awesome, then reverted to his normal self.

That's all I got for now, let's go RAIDERS
EDIT: Just turned on the game to watch Rivers get picked off and Pryor throw a 44 yard TD on his first snap LET'S GO
EDIT2: Pryor is 8/8 with 130+ yards and 2 TDs as the 1st quarter is ending, this is looking wonderful so far

 

[CaptKirby]

Eh, great offenses prosper just fine...some of the time. In fact, extremely great offenses usually leads to at least one Super Bowl, just usually not dynasty level teams. The Broncos scoring pace indicates what the Patriots did last year - over an 80% chance that the Broncos win the Super Bowl, or that the team that beat them wins the Super Bowl (including if Broncos are in the Super Bowl itself).

A huge factor is that offense typically falters in the freezing cold, particularly when P. Manning is involved. The Super Bowl should be in the freezing cold, so good luck if you get there B. Manning.

 

[Del Rio]

With the Raiders picking off Rivers, the Steelers of all teams now remain the only team to not have gotten an interception yet this season.

Kaep still doesn't look like his former self.

 

[some hero]

some hero, I am sure it is hard to mind too much with 2 super bowl wins in the last 5 years, but the Giants Eli/Coughlin era is getting ridiculously weird at this point - the Giants were one of 8 teams since 1989 (counting the 2013 Jaguars) to ever come into week 5 with as bad a net point total as they did, and will be one of 10 teams (counting the 2013 Jaguars) to ever come into week 6, again since 1989 sigh wish I had more data, with as bad a point total as they will.

I'm just going to lol here a little. At the jaguars hehe. Thats depressing.

Well, i've been bragging about it and i'm just going to remind everyone here again how i correctly predicted the giants offense was going to completely collapse midway the 2012 season. I predicted this during the first egg game loss last season when the giants were actually pretty dominant. There were many signs everywhere but it all started with the OC and the scheme. Since i correctly predicted the collapse far before it happened, i do not blame eli for any of 2012 or this season. I was half expecting inefficiency(not all the tos though). And its happening. Eli will improve with a new OC and system. Just like Rivers. Its actually the exact same problem tbh.

Other than Eli the team is just suffering from too much success for too long. Every nfl team that doesnt embrace offense will go through it. After a while teams have to mostly ignore defense and become about offense completely. Defenses require way too many pieces to be good. So teams that are successful see their defenses become worse each year. Teams like the peyton colts and brady patriots realized this and became pre dominantly all about scoring lots of points. Offenses require less talent to be better so they can be consistent from year to year. In fact, the patriots success is basically all thanks to brady becoming really good and Belichick realizing this and making that switch. Instead of collapsing from the defenses' loss of talent the team started being carried by the offense.

To summarize, the giants suck and will get better with a high draft pick. Eli sucks because his OC is terrible.

I think, as a Patriots fan, I'm allowed to say 'beware of castles in the sky' to the Denver Hype Train.

Stop kidding yourself. The broncos will only get better. They lost their two best defensive players during the game and didnt even have miller. The broncos are what? Just going to spontaneously combust during the middle of the season? That's the only way this team won't put up points. They are by far the most talented team in the league. It isn't fucking hype when a QB has 21 TDs, 1 INT 1700+ yds and his team is 5-0 without the most dominant pass rusher in the game. Guess what bro, their schedule gets even more ridiculously easier from here. You may try to pass it off as hype, but peyton manning just had the best 5 games to open a season by a QB EVER and is putting together the greatest season ever at the position. But if it helps you sleep at night go ahead and call it hype while he makes all other qbs in the league look like garbage.

I said "score points" because they probably lose a game. Football has too many parts. But theyll score every week.

 

[Del Rio]

This Bronco offense is more prolific than the 2007 Patriots offense. Brady had two elite weapons in Welker and Moss that year, but Manning has three elite weapons (four, you could even argue), and even though they don't have that "#1" RB (Knowshon is capable of being an every-down back, though), they have different running backs with different skill sets. Now, what made the 2007 Pats an elite team overall was their defense, allowing 17 ppg (4th best that season) despite blowing almost everybody out. The Broncos don't have that defense, obviously. Not even close, in fact, at this stage. But remember, this defense is without Champ Bailey and Von Miller, as well as other viable starters, and as they progressively get healthier, the Broncos will become even tougher to beat. Teams better get their shots at the Broncos while they can because they are legit, no question.

 

[Shinryu]

Anyone else find it rather comical that NFL Network is just using their normal Thursday Night Football logo on tonight's game? With a good few days notice, you'd think they could have at least cobbled together a correct logo instead of them looking rather stupid and thinking it's Thursday.

 

[DetroitLolcat]

Freeman to the Vikings!

This puzzles me, as Freeman isn't even the best QB on that team right now. Ponder's had a rough start to the year, but he's a decent game manager (look at the stats, not the Ponder-bashing morons on ESPN) and Freeman is definitely not an upgrade over him. Unless the Vikings' coaching staff can turn him into his 2010 self, I don't see this as much more than a $3 million waste of time. Either the Vikings start Ponder and spend $3 million on a backup when they already have Cassel (a decent enough backup), or they pay for a starter only marginally better than Ponder. It's a wishy-washy move IMO. If the Vikings believe in Ponder, why spend money on a backup QB when you already have one? If the Vikings don't believe in Ponder, why not just wait until the draft to get his replacement?

Oh, and before you write me off as "trolling" because I believe Ponder is a decent QB, keep in mind that last year he had a passer rating essentially equal to Cutler's and above Matthew Stafford's. His total QBR was 18th in the league, ahead of Cutler, Tannehill, Bradford, and Dalton. He also had fewer picks than Cutler on more attempts. Sure Ponder's yards per attempt was garbage, but what do you expect when you run a dink-and-dunk offense like the Vikings do? Only 17% of Ponder's throws traveled 15 or more yards. Ponder has been the 3rd-best quarterback in his division and has shown himself to be a starting-caliber QB over the past year-and-a-half.

Maybe the Vikings can turn Freeman into his 2010 self, but I don't get why they would go after a QB about as good as the current starter when the upcoming draft has younger, cheap quarterbacks that will end up better than both Ponder and Freeman. Is Josh Freeman really worth giving up on Bridgewater, Boyd, Johnny Football, or AJ McCarron?

 

[Del Rio]

Well, Freeman got the shaft playing under scumbag Schiano, and I think he'll have something to prove playing with the Vikings (when do they play the Bucs, btw?) and be able to rebound - maybe not to his 2010 form - but well enough and able to perform better than Ponder and Cassel and not just be a game manager.

I don't think the Vikings are ready to tank yet. They remain only a game and a half out in the NFC North, and don't forget they were knocking on the door of making the playoffs last season. They probably won't be able to recover from their poor start, but if you look at the scores for their losses, they've played all their opponents close (seriously, look at it).

Still think they're better off tanking for a high pick, tho.

 

[CaptKirby]

The Vikings are probably pretty upset about going from a playoff team --> 1-3, so that could be the motivation for pulling this. I agree that Freeman is a really odd choice for them because "top of my head" this should be the type of situation to undermine the confidence of both qbs in general with neither of them really appearing to be a solid option. Then again, for a team who has had so many up and down years, maybe they just hope to strike gold with a QB who had a great start to his career and is down on his luck as good QBs rarely change hands...if he gets back to form they made an amazing pickup.

 

[Killah]

D

Stop kidding yourself. The broncos will only get better. They lost their two best defensive players during the game and didnt even have miller. The broncos are what? Just going to spontaneously combust during the middle of the season? That's the only way this team won't put up points. They are by far the most talented team in the league. It isn't fucking hype when a QB has 21 TDs, 1 INT 1700+ yds and his team is 5-0 without the most dominant pass rusher in the game. Guess what bro, their schedule gets even more ridiculously easier from here. You may try to pass it off as hype, but peyton manning just had the best 5 games to open a season by a QB EVER and is putting together the greatest season ever at the position. But if it helps you sleep at night go ahead and call it hype while he makes all other qbs in the league look like garbage.

it isn't games 1-16 that are the issue

it's games 17-19 that are most important

Oh, and before you write me off as "trolling" because I believe Ponder is a decent QB, keep in mind that last year he had a passer rating essentially equal to Cutler's and above Matthew Stafford's. His total QBR was 18th in the league, ahead of Cutler, Tannehill, Bradford, and Dalton. He also had fewer picks than Cutler on more attempts. Sure Ponder's yards per attempt was garbage, but what do you expect when you run a dink-and-dunk offense like the Vikings do? Only 17% of Ponder's throws traveled 15 or more yards. Ponder has been the 3rd-best quarterback in his division and has shown himself to be a starting-caliber QB over the past year-and-a-half.

remember that Ponder was 18th in QBR (a fairly worthless stat) behind possibly a top 3 RB season ever and a top 10 offensive line, and he was still on the bad side of mediocre. Cutler was limited by his offensive line, and Dalton was limited by his lack of weapons outside AJ Green, but both are still average at best and not very favorable comparisons. Ponder has literally done nothing to prove he is more than a game manager, and he's not even a very good one. Dalton and Cutler have at least shown flashes of success in their careers. Can you name a single time Ponder has had to come from behind to win a game? Has had to put up 300+ passing yards to win a game? I don't watch many Vikings games, but I don't think I've ever seen Ponder play a game that's left me impressed in 2+ years.

as far as Freeman goes - why wouldn't they give him a chance? I'm not sure if there's any personal issues involved or not, but if a team has the cap space (the Vikings did) and has the money (lol it's the NFL they're all loaded) why wouldn't they try to sign him? Freeman has a higher ceiling than Ponder by far, as he showed during his rather impressive 2010 season. If Ponder ends up missing a few games, Freeman will have the chance to show the Vikings what he can do. And there's a lot he can do for that offense: Be an actual deep threat that prevents the defense from stuffing the box on AP. Hint: Ponder can't do that, as his "17% of throws travel 15 or more yards" stat can attest.

none of this is even mentioning the fact that Ponder's current injury is life threatening if he plays again soon, which means a month missed at best to try and get him healed. Cassel will not make this team a playoff contender, and they're only 1.5 games behind the division lead. Freeman gives them the best chance to win immediately after he gets caught up with the playbook.

 

[TheValkyries]

To clarify, I'm on the Broncos hype train, and I think they literally have a shot to run the fucking table. I'm just saying, don't go walking around expecting it to be gifted to them, because it's fucking hard as fuck to do that no matter how good the team is.

 

[Mulligan]

Anyone else find it rather comical that NFL Network is just using their normal Thursday Night Football logo on tonight's game? With a good few days notice, you'd think they could have at least cobbled together a correct logo instead of them looking rather stupid and thinking it's Thursday.

This is not the first time it has happened this year either. I can't exactly remember when (might've been preseason), but the Monday Night Football logo was used on a night that wasn't Monday.

Ponder has been the 3rd-best quarterback in his division and has shown himself to be a starting-caliber QB over the past year-and-a-half.

Maybe I'm crazy (I probably am), but isn't this...not really a good thing? Since a division only has four teams, that makes Ponder only better than one starting QB. I know we have 2nd and 3rd strings etc etc., but I feel like this is nothing to write home about. But if not, then I will open mouth > insert foot.

As far as I'm concerned, Peyton can do whatever he wants. Because we all know what happens in the postseason :/.

Other than Eli the team is just suffering from too much success for too long.

 

[Killah]

also, since it was such a source of discussion last week, I wanted to point out that Bill Belichick (a much smarter coach than Mike Smith) elected to kick a field goal late while down by 10 from 4th and short.

there was much more time left than in the Falcons game (2.5 vs 6.5 minutes), but there's little doubt in my mind that both were the right calls despite each team losing.

This is not the first time it has happened this year either. I can't exactly remember when (might've been preseason), but the Monday Night Football logo was used on a night that wasn't Monday.

the Sunday Night Football crew does the opening game of the year (which is usually on thursday), and the MNF crew did a tuesday night game (due to snow) back in 2010, but I can't think of any other exceptions. no sense in making a new logo anyway, that'd just be silly.

 

[CaptKirby]

Why was it the right call? He was down by 10, if you have 4th and short it is a better chance than you will assumably have the next time down. Bill Belichick is generally a genius coach, but he has faced more outrage for going for it on 4th and failing than any other coach, which is probably what makes even him reluctant to go for it on 4th and short nearly as much as he should.