NFL - Discussion Thread

Would've been a much interesting race if so many of these games didn't end in the craziness they have all year. Oh well. lol

Fair play LA Rams was a brave tip

Seriously Warrior, it isn't over. Three weeks ago I was 7 games ahead of Dennis. That lead is now just 2, and soon Dennis will regain the lead. You are 7 behind me right now. There are three more weeks to go.

It just wasn't your year. But for the 2020/21 season, it will be very interesting, because regardless of the result, we've all proven we're capable of winning an NFL tipping comp.

I'm now 2 behind, every game is crucial from now on in. After leading early on, having a disasterous week 9, 10, and 11 and falling 7 behind I'm back in the game with three weeks left. One point more each week than Matt now does it for now. I can't wait for next weeks games...

Warrior13, you need to start pulling horse shoes out of your ar%se to get back into this. It's not impossible. From a three week spell (Weeks 9- 11) I somehow managed to drop 9 points to Matt and am now only 2 behind, you're only 5 behind. Basically you need to get your Week 8 form where you picked 14 winners. I'd love to see you do it so everything comes down to the last week of the season.

I changed my Saints tip to the 49rs at the last second, I just get the feeling the 49rs are destined to win the Super Bowl this year. Also had a feeling the Chiefs would take down the Patriots at Foxboro because of an aging quarterback who has been mediocre this season and a lack of a deep threat, once they get behind the New England doesn't have the weapons to get back in the game. Basically what happened yesterday when the Chiefs came out the blocks fast.

Matt: I'll keep trying, but the world is telling me it isn't my year. This week continued to prove this. XD

Dennis: Is that your catch phrase or something? lol Keep being brave with your picks, but watch out. Most of your upsets in the last two weeks easily could've gone the other way. You're close enough to Matt now where you don't have to picks some many upsets and pray most of them land.

I can't believe, after being the hottest team in the NFL alongside Baltimore and San Francisco, that Tennessee are not in the playoff places. The disgraceful Pittsburgh Dogs are somehow 8-5 and take the 6th seed. They are on their 3rd-string QB ffs! Tannehill is in career-best form now that he is part of a talented team with a functioning o-line.

Tennessee: (Weeks 1-6)
2-4 record
Scores of 43, 17, 7, 24, 7, & 0 (16 PPG)
Beat Cleveland by 30 and Atlanta by 14.

Tannessee: (Weeks 7-now)
6-1 record
Scores of 23, 27, 20, 35, 42, 31, & 42 (31 PPG)
Beat LA Chargers by 3, Tampa Bay by 4, Kansas City by 3, Jacksonville by 22, Indy by 14, and Oakland by 21.

Weeks 15 and 17 are huge. Next week sees Houston @ Tennessee play out. Week 17 sees Tennessee @ Houston. Assuming the Dogs finish 9-7, Tennessee would need to split with Houston at minimum, and hope that their conference record matches Pittsburgh, while also having a better common games record. Houston should be fine if they split with Tennessee unless they lose out, since their conference record is better than Pittsburgh.

However, the Dogs are probably going to finish 10-6 with a narrow home victory against Buffalo, followed by another close win vs NY Jets.

« Last edited by Matt77 on Dec 9th 2019 »

Holy shoot. Philly are decimated by injuries, and now they've had 3 crucial injuries within this game. They're down 3-17 and are gone, surely. As bad as Wentz has been this season, he still needs WRs to throw to, given that their entire running game is injured.

It's hard. I want Philly to win so that Dallas's chances of playoffs decrease again. But I also want NY Giants to win to ensure that next week after they beat Miami, they will be 1 game and the tiebreaker ahead of us.

Also, can someone explain how Washington are the #3 pick and Miami the #4 pick? Washington beat Miami 17-16 therefore won the H2H matchup. Miami should be the #3 pick, correct?



And Philly come back from 3-17 down to win 23-17 in overtime!

« Last edited by Matt77 on Dec 10th 2019 »

I'm guessing because their strength of schedule is worse and yet they are the same record as us.

Wouldn't a higher SOS mean a team should be placed lower in the draft? If Washington have had an easier SOS, why should they be rewarded? I get what the tiebreaker rules are, but it defies logic.

I just checked, and SOS is definitely the #1 tiebreaker, followed by tiebreaker procedures for playoffs. That's an awful rule! And no-one must understand it, because this year I've read things saying that one team beating the other will have serious consequences come the draft, because they'll have the H2H tiebreaker?! Like when Washington beat Miami. I read several times that it was a big loss for Miami because it ensured Washington would have the H2H. It's extremely unlikely 2 teams close in the draft will have the same SOS.

A team with a higher SOS should have the better draft position, because they've had to deal with a tougher schedule.


« Last edited by Matt77 on Dec 10th 2019 »

They have a worse strength of schedule right now than the Dolphins, meaning they have faced worse teams than us. And yet, they only have the same record as us, technically making them worse then the Dolphins because they have faced crummier teams and still only have the same number of victories as us. Seems logical since the worse pick first in the NFL.

Don't worry, we have the Giants and Bengals coming up. If we can lose to both somehow, there's no way we don't win the SOS tiebreaker. lol


« Last edited by Warrior13 on Dec 10th 2019 »

Thank goodness we played the NFC East this year lol.

Then again, NY Giants and Washington get to play each othet twice this season...

« Last edited by Matt77 on Dec 10th 2019 »

Hmmmm. So years ago a former Patriots assistant coach comes out and says NE cheated by filming the opposition. He also says NE gave these 'crew members' excuses, such as saying they were filming for a team show. In present day, NE come out and, in rebuttal to accusations of cheating, say they were filming for a team show.





« Last edited by Matt77 on Dec 10th 2019 »

Funny enough Matt I was watching a sports show on Youtube about that last night. Shannon Sharpe the former Broncos Hall of Famer explained it very clearly and basically the Patriots have been cheating for years getting 'rogue' contractors in to film the opponents walkthroughs before a game. They've been caught red handed twice now along with deflategate. Each time Belichick says he know's nothing about it yet everybody knows nothing gets past that guy, he has complete control of the football team. Shannon Sharpe is calling for Belichick to be kicked out of the game, I make him right. He needs to be made an example of.

It will be interesting to see what happens when the NFL's Centenary team is announced in a couple of weeks time as to who gets selected as Tom Brady and Belichick have are both covered in dirt. Any other year both make the team on the strength of their Super Bowl appearances but now with this I wouldn't be surprised if both get conveniently overlooked and Vince Lombardi and Joe Montana get the nod instead.

Just seen Belichick has already been selected, Tom Brady has to wait until December 23rd. Luckily for both their are several positions available so they would be impossible to ignore both of them.


« Last edited by Sanzano on Dec 11th 2019 »

Sadly from what I've been reading, no-one even cares about this latest blunder.
1 - They say Cleveland allowed the filming to occur in the stadium, therefore there is no issue and no breach. But they forget that New England were filming Cincinnati, not Cleveland. Cleveland didn't give permission for NE to film Cincy, and neither did Cincy.
2 - Then these same people say there is no issue because NE released a statement explaining what the film was used for. But they ignore the fact NE admitted in their statement to breaching NFL rules. And who knows how truthful NE are being.
3 - Then they say that is doesn't matter, because why would NE spy on the 1-12 Bengals. But they forget that in 2007, NY Jets finished 4-12, yet it didn't stop them spying on them there.

Last time this happened in the 2007 Spygate, the league fined NE $250,000, Belichick $500,000, and stripped them of their 1st round pick. The pessimist in me says NE will receive no punishment. But the realist in me says the league will come down hard on NE. After all, the 2007 Spygate punishment was extreme in my opinion, and then Brady was banned for 4 matches after some rumours about Deflategate.

I think Belichick should be the coach nominated for the team. Sure, they've done some shady things, but you can't win 6 Superbowls with one team just by filming opposition teams' hand signals. Brady is obviously one of the all time greats, but I think he's been made to be very good thanks to the coaching staff and elite o-line. Another QB should get the nod.

« Last edited by Matt77 on Dec 11th 2019 »

Lets be real. Its professional sports. Everyone taping everyone. Only bad if you get caught.

Been going on since sports became such a huge business.

No big deal.

But how many times have NE been caught, compared to the other 31 teams? I'm not sure it can be overlooked.

I nearly forgot to do my tips. It would've been fatal because Baltimore are going to slaughter NY Jets. I tipped 9 home teams and 7 road teams. I'm not happy with my tips, again.

Have you heard the rumours that Cam Newton will be the starting quarterback at New England next year?
Apparently the Patriots are ready to move on from Tom Brady who has declined. You have to feel for the guy, the Patriots have given him no support.

The Jets are 15 points favourites at home. Baltimore should win without too many problems, not sure they will cover the spread to be honest. That's two Touchdowns and a field goal. It's a short week, Baltimore have probably been celebrating winning having just won the division and they are away from home. Plus if Darnold gets hot he's going to put some points up and the Jets run defense isn't that bad.

Ugh, the dynasty continues if that rumour is true. All I know is that it's almost a certainty that Carolina will look to offload Newton. He's inconsistent, but the NE coaching staff will transform him - possibly back to MVP form.

Dennis, NY Jets are possibly the worst team in the NFL. On paper they're an 8-8 team, but in practice they are god awful. Especially the fact that they are keeping Adam Gase as coach. He is totally inept. Lets not forget that NY Jets lost by 16 points to at the time the winless Bungles. Also they lost to Miami once, and the second time allowed them 7 scores and should've lost the game if the league didn't essentially allow NY Jets to use one of their zero remaining challenges (not a typo).

I tipped Baltimore by 21, but it could be more. Baltimore tend to either win games by roughly one score, or 20+ points. And I don't see it being close.

Strange things happen in these nationally televised games. I still expect the Ravens to win convincingly, I just don't think we will be seeing Lamar Jackson running too much. I'm going 21-9.

That's all the NFL needs, Cam Newton leading the Patriots with Tom Brady his mentor on the sidelines. This is Joe Montana passing the torch to Steve Young all over again if it happens.

I heard another rumour that the Dolphins are looking to get Trubishky of the bears while the new quarterback rookie they draft gets groomed.

Actually your point on Jackson reminds me of his injury. He's banged up from last week and it likely, but not certain to play. Perhaps Baltimore will take it easy as long as they constantly have a 14-point lead.

Blech, no thanks. Trubisky's accuracy is shocking at times. I admit he's played well in the past 2 weeks, but even from watching highlights of his very first game back when he debuted, I've never been sold with him. I don't like his style of play where he runs out the opposite way from the pocket and turns back the right way while on the run, then throwing the ball. Almost like a U-shape. Personally I'd like Fitz to stay as the backup QB, and next season he can start a few games if necessary so that the rookie QB isn't rushed in.

I mention my theory about giving rookie QBs time to develop and adjust to NFL life a lot. And another example has proven my point. I am not over-exaggerating at all when I say this, but only a few weeks ago I was reading that Denver were going to write Drew Lock off as a lost cause and draft a QB in the 2020 draft. Now he's been given a chance, and after 2 games his stats are:
221 YPG, 8.1 YPP, 73% completion rate, 5TDs, 2INTs, 111.4 passer rating
Denver brought in Flacco to fill in while Lock got used to the NFL environment and experience, and he's looking good. He had 3 months to wait, and wasn't rushed in. Meanwhile Haskins is probably going to be a bust, and Jones is a lost fumble machine.

I remember Charley Casserly the respected NFL scout who put together the great Redskins teams of the mid 80's and 90's before before becoming senior vice president for the Houston Texans from 2000 to 2006 raving about Drew Lock when he was at college. I always remembered the TV documentary where he said 'Watch this kid, he's going to be something special'. I wonder if he was right?

Trubishky and Mayfield will both be out of the NFL in the next couple of years, too many talented quarterbacks coming through and they've had their chance.