NFL - Discussion Thread

As far as I know, only the Ravens have come out and said that they will be resting their starters. No other team has said publicly. Bears/Vikings is tough because both could rest. Any game where both teams are out of the playoffs could rest their stars. The only teams we know that will definitely be playing their starters are the Chiefs, Colts, Patriots, Eagles, Packers, Cowboys, Saints, Steelers, Titans, Texans, 49ers, and Raiders. Every other team is a mystery until kickoff (outside of the Ravens, who have said to be resting since they are locked as the #1 Seed).

If I was you, Dennis, I would try to go for the tie if at all possible. Matt has said he'll continue it until the playoffs if you can, which will be way either to pick than this crapshoot week. Best of luck to you both though. I doubt I can catch up to even you, even with picking five home teams and eleven road teams. Honestly, I just picked the teams that I thought were starting their players or wanted to win more. That, obviously, hasn't done well for me this year.

I feel like if we had the teams from last year playing this year, all of us would've eclipsed 170 Wins by now. XD XD XD

Houston have said they are "playing to win", but since they play at 4:25 and Kansas City play at 1:00, they will know during the 1st quarter whether or not they are able to move up from the #4 seed. I doubt Houston will risk injuries to their starters, and will sit them at some point.

If I can score 13/16 this week, I can reach the magic 170. It's not beyond me. Dennis however, would have to score 16/16...

None of us are getting 170 then. XD

Maybe I'm wrong, but this week looks crazy.

I'm now going with 7 home teams and 9 road teams. The injury report to a WR in one of the games made me tip the away team.

You were just scared that I might catch up to you. jk XD :P

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!

I will be back later to review the games, and playoff places.



(this is not regarding the tipping competition. It is regarding...one match in the football competition)

« Last edited by Matt77 on Dec 29th 2019 »

Last week of the NFL season is always hard to predict and this year was no different. Who would have thought the Dolphins would have upset the Patriots, also the Bengals beating the Browns. Both of those teams were playing their starters and neither Brady or Mayfield played particularly well.

Well done Matt for winning the competition, you kept the pressure on from mid-season when you took the lead and kept it right up to the end. I'm still up for the mini-competition for the playoffs if you fellas are still in.

We will begin our Playoffs tipping mini-competition immediately. We will make our tips on the website, but I will compile a separate leaderboard on here.


Red circles indicate the best outright score in a round. Orange circles indicate the joint-best score in a round.

Dennis, you lead the way with 5 outright winning rounds. Well done! I came in next with 3 outright winning rounds, and Warrior had 2 outright winning rounds.

Dennis, you also had the most winning rounds, with 11! Very impressive indeed. I was next with 8, and then it was Warrior with 6.

Ultimately the competition was decided in Round 10. Dennis, you scored 3/13 for that round, while Warrior and I scored 6 and 7 respectively. Apart from that round, you were +1 in all other rounds.

Thanks both of you guys for doing the competition again. The SC forums are dead, but at least this one thread remains alive. This year has been enjoyable, because we now realise we are all good tippers and are all capable of winning the competition. Previously I thought Warrior would thrash us despite everyone being solid tippers, but I'm glad that's been disproved.

It was fitting that for the first time all season, we all scored the same during a round in Round 17.

« Last edited by Matt77 on Dec 30th 2019 »

Now, onto the NFL games. This is a double post in case you didn't see the above.

Pittsburgh got thrashed by the Baltimore B-Team 10-28, ending their playoff chances before Tennessee had even played. I'm so glad they got exposed. They've done ok this season considering injuries, but they were NEVER a playoff team.
The NY Jets starters narrowly beat the Buffalo B-Team in a low scoring slugfest 13-6.
New Orleans annihilated Carolina, 42-10. The score was at various stages, 35-0 and 42-3! They've got to be the strongest #3 seed in recent times.
Cleveland lost 23-33 to the previously 1-14 Bungles, despite leading 7-0. Awful. Freddie Kitchens got sacked, and probably deserved it. You've got to feel sorry for Cleveland. They finally looked like improving last season, but then layed an egg all of this season.
After keeping it relatively close, Dallas pulled away to thrash Washington 47-16. Dallas finished 5-1 vs the NFC East, 3-7 vs non-divisional opponents, and 2-6 vs teams with winning records.
Detroit threw away a 17-3 lead vs Green Bay, eventually losing 20-23. Green Bay are almost as overrated as Pittsburgh.
Tennessee thrashed the Houston B-Team 35-14, and Derrick Henry won the season rushing title. Tannehill's stats: 22TDs, 6INTs, 70% completion rate, 117.5 passer rating.
Gardner Minshew and co. came back from 16-20 down to win 38-20. He has had a remarkable rookie season, considering he was a 6th round pick.
Kansas City narrowly got past LA Chargers 31-21, picking up the #2 seed thanks to an eventful afternoon down on Foxborough
Chicago scraped past the Minnesota B-Team 21-19, and Trubisky threw for 0TDs.
Philly pulled away from a 17-17 deadlock to easily win 34-17, thus clinching the NFC East from Dallas. Backup RB Boston Scott scored 3TDs.
Jamieis Winston threw a pick-6, and his 30th season INT, on the first play of overtime, thus Tampa Bay lost 22-28 to Atlanta. Winston threw for over 5,000 yards, scored 32TDs, and threw 30INTs this season.
Oakland lost 15-16 to Denver, throwing an incompletion on the game-winning 2XP attempt.
LA Rams finished with the same record as NFC East winners Philly, yet miss out on the playoffs despite their 31-24 win over Arizona.
Seattle got robbed by the refs in a 21-26 loss to San Francisco. With barely any time left, they had a 1st and Goal @ SF 1. They got hit with a delay of game penalty for 5 yards, pushing them back to SF 6. Then the refs missed a PI which would've brought Seattle back to SF 1. As a result, they fall to the #5 seed, while San Francisco clinch homefield advantage throughout the playoffs.

Earlier however, was hilarious. I was literally laughing when I saw the score this morning. Firstly, with that win, Miami's draft position remained unchanged. Secondly, dubbed the worst team in NFL history, Miami have won FIVE GAMES!!! Thirdly, NEW ENGLAND CHOKED, AT HOME, AND THREW AWAY THEIR 1ST WEEK BYE! Coach Brian Flores is getting the best out of his players. Fitz had his best career game last week, Devante Parker complied 1,200 yards, and Mike Gesicki had had a breakout half-season, among others. Coach. Of. The. Year.

Congrats on the W, Matt. In a horrible season of football where 8-8 Teams ended up 2-14 & 3-13, your wise upsets choices saw you gain an untouchable lead. Let's hope next season the sixteen or so teams that had no identity this year can find one next season so our tournament is a tad more competitive.

Wild Card Round seems... A little too easy...

I'm rooting for the Bills just so our Houston Draft Pick is better. Philly/Seattle most interesting matchup considering they played earlier in the year and the Seahawks only won by a TD. Philly, as always, will either be extremely dangerous like the past couple of seasons or the pedestrian team we saw for most of the year. Since the Pats lost to the Phins, I'm seeing the Chiefs make it all the way for the AFC. NFC is tough since each team can beat any other team, and at the time lose to the Cardinals or Falcons. At this moment, I'm leaning towards the 49ers since they have homefield advantage and will avoid both the Packers/Saints until the NFC Championship. We'll see.

As for the draft, well, the Lions are the obvious Wild Card. Will they move on from Stafford and draft Herbert/Tua? Or will they bolster that HORRIBLE Defense? Will any team attempt to move to #1 to draft Chase Young? Will the Redskins do a no-no and not draft him, thus making things interesting? Will any team try to trade with the Giants to jump the Dolphins in order to draft Tua? Or will it go Burrow, Young, Brown/Okudah, Thomas/Brown/Okudah, Tua as most expect? Why I love the draft.

At this point, I'm actually hoping the Dolphins trade out the #5 Slot because I don't want an injured Tua being our Franchise QB. Perhaps the Jags could trade us #9 & #20 for it, or maybe the Raiders could trade us #12 & #19 for the same. We have Fitzpatrick and Rosen under contract for next year, so why not keep both, TANK PROPERLY, and then draft Lawrence? This draft is pretty deep, and we could have four first rounders to actually build our roster. LT Thomas could be available at #9 (From Jags in this scenario). DE Epenesa could be available at #18 (Mia via Pit). RB Swift could be available at #20 (From Jags). And RT Wirfs could be available at wherever the Mia via Hou Pick comes in. We could add a pass rusher to team with Taco and Wilkins, a RB to help Lawrence a year from now, and two O-Lineman to start the rebuilding processing of our Line.

My wildcard weekend tips are in. I have tipped 2 home teams and 2 road teams, with 1 upset pick.

I still feel that Baltimore's 14-game winning streak will be their downfall. They've had it pretty easy apart from the 20-17 win against San Francisco. Kansas City had to battle, firstly at one stage to win their division, then to get the #3 seed, and finally the miracle of clinching the #2 seed. I know it was at home, but Kansas City did beat Baltimore 33-28 this season also. New England are a different team in the playoffs, but the fact they are playing in the wildcard round for the first time in 10 years will be too much to handle.

San Francisco are as inexperienced as Baltimore in playoffs (actually, worse). Had they not been lucky against Seattle, they would've been the #5 seeds and out of SB contention. They have no defense against good sides. Green Bay are frauds, who at one stage were losing 3-17 to the tanking Lions. New Orleans are the team to watch. They have plenty of playoff experience, and have slowly been getting further and further. Being the #3 seed hurts, but I think they can thrash Green Bay in the divisional round and give San Francisco a strong rematch in a game they lost 46-48.

We started the season tanking for Tua, and now he should be available at pick 5. We need to draft a QB while we are this low in the draft. Flores will never tank. Next season, we are going to improve dramatically and challenge for the playoffs. Think of all the cap space, and all of the players coming off injury reserve. We are 5-4 in the past 9 weeks (with the 'worst roster in NFL history'), and had we held onto leads in earlier games, we could've finished 9-7. We need to draft Tua at #5, and start Fitz/Rosen in 2020/21 (or how long Tua needs to recover from injury and adjust to NFL life).

I must admit the playoffs this year look pretty straight forward, I can't see no other outcome than a Baltimore Vs New Orleans Super Bowl. I'll be surprised if another team gets there. What makes this matchup interesting is I have no idea who would win it. Probably lean towards New Orleans if pushed at this point...

Just keeping my fingers crossed now that the Redskins take Chase Long in the draft. Doing so will instantly make Washington a force to be reckoned with as the pressure he will bring will make things interesting.

Jonathen Allen
Ryan Kerrigan
Da'Ron Payne
Matt Ioannidis
Rueben Foster
Montell Sweat
Chase Long

No way that lot cannot be one of the best defensive units in the NFL when healthy.

Getting interesting on offense too. Bruce Allen and a few other top head office people have been sacked by the Redskins and Trent Williams has come out with some encouraging remarks about rejoining the team now that they are gone. Add a healthy Jordan Reed and Derius Guice and all of a sudden things look promising. Just need to get another decent wide reciever after taking Chase Long with their first pick.

What's the latest with the Dolphins, do you fellas think they will take a chance with an inujured Tua?

Hope you two fellas have a Happy New Year.


« Last edited by Sanzano on Dec 31st 2019 »

I think the complete opposite in regards to the playoffs. Various teams could represent their conference in the SB. There could be some really close matchups: (29 realistic and possible playoff matches, in fact)

Tennessee @ New England
Seattle @ Philly
Tennessee @ Baltimore
New England @ Kansas City
Seattle @ San Francisco
New Orleans @ Green Bay
Kansas City @ Baltimore
New England @ Baltimore
Tennessee @ Kansas City
New Orleans @ San Fransisco
Green Bay @ San Francisco
Seattle @ Green Bay
Seattle @ New Orleans
Baltimore vs San Francisco
Baltimore vs Green Bay
Baltimore vs New Orleans
Baltimore vs Seattle
Kansas City vs San Francisco
Kansas City vs Green Bay
Kansas City vs New Orleans
Kansas City vs Seattle
New England vs San Francisco
New England vs Green Bay
New England vs New Orleans
New England vs Seattle
Tennessee vs San Fransisco
Tennessee vs Green Bay
Tennessee vs New Orleans
Tennessee vs Seattle

I am ruling out Houston, Buffalo, Philly, and Minnesota from SB contention.

You beat me to it. I was about to let you know about Bruce Allen. In my entire time following NFL, there has been constant replies/posts/messages online with #FireBruceAllen in them from Washington fans. I'm not sure why, but they hate him with a passion. Washington fans are rejoicing today. They feel this is the beginning of a new chapter for the club. Trent Williams is a goner still, but things are looking up for Washington. They are near certainties to take Chase Young, who many analysts think, is better than Joey and Nick Bosa.
EDIT - Washington have hired Ron Rivera!

I have no idea what Miami are going to do. I've said I think they should draft Tua, but they may trade down to stockpile even more picks. Don't be surprised if they throw away their pick 18 to move up to Detroit's draft spot (as pointless as when Chicago moved from #3 to #2).

« Last edited by Matt77 on Dec 31st 2019 »

Matt: We could easily tank next year. Just save the cap until next year, especially since this free agency is pretty weak. Then trade out of #5. Simple enough. lol

Dennis: I can't see the Saints making the Super Bowl. Their path would (most Likely) be VS Minnesota, AT Green Bay, and then AT San Francisco. That's tough. Main reason why I don't see the Pats making it either, since they would have VS Tennessee, AT Kansas City, and then AT Baltimore. The #3 Seeds have it rough this year. More than previous years, the teams that have a first round bye week will have an advantage.

Did I call Rivera to the Redskins after he was fired? ;)

Not surprised Marrone, Shermur, Kitchens, Gruden, and Rivera got chopped. Waiting to see what happens with Tomlin, Garrett, and O'Brian. If Bills win, I expect O'Brian to be fired. Garrett should also be fired. Have a feeling Tomlin will keep his job now due to the injuries they faced this year, especially since the Redskins (who wanted Tomlin) already signed Rivera.

Call me predictable, but I went 3 Home and 1 Road this week. Guessing Matt went Pats, Bills, Seahawks, and Saints. He loves underdogs like the Bills. XD

« Last edited by Warrior13 on Dec 31st 2019 »

OMG. Browns let go of GM Dorsey. They are fools. If Redskins add him to Rivera, they will be dangerous moving forward.

No Warrior. The Miami Dolphins organisation attempted to tank, but Flores lead us to 5 wins (could've been NINE) with the 'worst roster in NFL history'. He will make sure the team is out there to win, as he's said multiple times that he plays to win. With our new OC coming in having worked with Fitz before, this points to us drafting Tua/Herbert, and starting Fitz next season. I can't see us not improving next season. Give up on the tank; it cannot and will not happen, even if it is what is best for us.

Doug Marrone has not been fired. I'm surprised, but Jacksonville kept EVERY MEMBER OF STAFF ON. Tomlin took a mediocre team with an awful offense, from 1-4 to 8-5. Had they started the capable Mason Rudolph, they would've finished AT LEAST 9-7 and been in the playoffs. I thinm O-Brian is an ok coach, but if thy lose at home to Buffalo, he deserves to go lol. Garrett HAS to go, but they still haven't said whether he'll get another contract. It's simple, he has a supremely talented roster which finish 5-8 in their last 13 games.

Like you say, letting Dorsey go is suicide for Cleveland. He turned them from laughing stock one season, to a beam of hope the next. This season's performance is on the players an coaches.

And you're wrong Warrior ;)

Houston by 10
Tennessee
New Orleans
Seattle

If we don't draft a QB, we can easily tank. We already made the boneheaded mistake of letting go of Chad O'Shea as our OC - someone who worked wonders with the worst roster in all the NFL - for OLD Chan Gailey who has been out of football after FAILING with the Jets (as of most recently). Under O'Shea, Fitz was 20TD-13INT, last under Gailey he went like 12TD-17INT. Fitz could EASILY revert, thus allowing us to tank.

Can it be done? Yes. Will it? We'll have to see if they draft a QB first.

Redskins are making all the right moves. Rivera as Head Coach. Del Rio as Defensive Coordinator. If they can keep/extend McConnell (young, bright mind) as their Offensive Coordinator and somehow sign Dorsey as their GM/President, they will be in a good place moving forward.

You don't get it. There is a zero percent chance that Miami will tank in the 2020/21 season. If the Miami Dolphins organisation doesn't want to tank, there will be no tank. If they want to tank, there still will be no tank. This season was the perfect opportunity to, and it was clear that the organisation wanted the #1 pick, but Flores insisted the team was playing to win, and that's what he did. Flores doesn't believe in tanking.

Maybe we'll have a bad season in 2020/21, but it won't be from tanking. It will be from underperforming, like most other teams.

Personally I'd be a fan of trading down and drafting some quality o-linemen, and having a bad season, in preparation for drafting Lawrence. But it's not going to happen. At least not the second part, unless we trade up in 2020/21.

« Last edited by Matt77 on Jan 1st 2020 »

You don't get it. You can't believe ANYTHING Coaches/GM say publicly. lol Miami could easily tank next year, which could've been the plan all along since they got so many draft picks this year. I personally believe Miami got heat from Goodell after the first few weeks where we were blown out, and after stockpiling draft picks and later the injury for Tua, the Phins realized they really didn't need to tank. Either they knew they could get Tua in the Top 5, which was guaranteed after like Week 8 for us and his injury, or they've wanted Lawrence all along and really didn't care how many games they won after cementing the Top 5 selection.

All I'm saying is let's wait until the draft to find out. If we don't get a QB, there is a very high chance that we'll do our best to tank next year. Will it be harder to do since we'll most likely be better? Of course. But don't be surprised - that's all I'm saying.

Shoot, if I was the Redskins, I'd also move down to stockpile picks and rebuild the weaknesses in their team. Many teams will most likely be interested in trading up for Chase Young or Herbert/Tua, and the Redskins could get loads of picks for #2. They don't even have to trade back all that many selections to do so, ensuring they will also get quality player like Ceedee Lamb, Jerry Judy, Andrew Thomas, or a Top Defensive Player.

Me: You don't get it.

You: No, you don't get it!

Me: No, YOU don't get it!

You: No, YOU DON'T get it!!!

xD

We'll have to see what Miami do. If we don't draft a QB, we'll learn whether Flores is willing to tank. It'll be like the Brady thing between you and Dennis

I'm not sure anyone will be in a position to be able to move up to get Young, unless they give a fortune. Detroit may decide to move up 1 spot, but that seems about it to me. NY Giants need an o-lineman and can't afford not to draft one at #4. We need a QB, and moving up would take away one of our picks. After that, the teams have other needs. Young is a player that could change a franchise. It's up to Washington essentially, and they shouldn't pass on him.

Listen to your new Football Master, Lonely God Jk