NFL - Discussion Thread

Burrow seems like he can do no wrong in the eyes of the media and those around the league. As Mike said, he had basically the same (or even a little worse, stats as Tua, but Tua got bashed like crazy. I get the expectations with the Bengals are low considering they have been mediocre for decades, but what happens if he does not lead them to even the playoffs during his rookie contract with the North as deep as it is?

As far as the Bengals fans are concerned they have their franchise quarterback and any failure to make the playoffs will be blamed on management and the personnel decisions they make. The will forever be compared to Burrow and Herbert because all three were in the same draft.

The Bengals making the playoffs is a huge stretch at least this year. They're competing with the Ravens, Browns, Steelers, Dolphins, Bills, Titans, Colts, Chiefs, Chargers, and potentially the Patriots, Raiders, and Broncos (depending on Rodgers) for 7 spots. If they do get in it's basically guaranteed as a wildcard which is even tougher. Bengals fans are delusional if they have playoff hopes with a sophomore QB coming off a major injury with a bad coach and one of the strongest divisions in the NFL.

I also doubt that they can go that far this year, and I'm hesitant that they will even go that far in the next five years. If the Browns and Ravens just remain as good as they are now, that would mean the Bengals could only ever be a Wild Card. And that is going to be tough to claim with the Colts/Titans, Dolphins, Patriots, Steelers, and Chargers vying for the same spot.

One thing's for sure - the NFL throws in its fair share of surprises. Not that long ago Kansas City were a semi-rebuilding team who, before Mahomes' rookie season, were unlikely to even contend for playoffs, and had a coach with a history of choking. Now they are one of the top 2 teams in the NFL, and have made the AFC Championship game or the Superbowl in the past 3 seasons.

At the same time, teams we think will be up-and-coming, could flop. Look at Jacksonville. Not that long ago they lead 20-10 in the AFC Championship game, and now they went 1-15 (15 consecutive losses) last season.

To me, these are the teams I think are mediocre/won't contend for a while:
New England
NY Jets
Jacksonville
Cincy
LA Chargers
Las Vegas
Washington
NY Giants
Philly
Atlanta
New Orleans
Carolina
Detroit
Arizona

It seems very unlikely that one of these teams will be in a Conference Championship game in the next 3 years. But, in reality it's quite likely that it will happen.

That's a decent list, Matt, but I could probably make an argument that could have most of these teams at least competing for a playoff spot within the next 2-3 years. A couple good drafts and 1 or 2 key free agent signings is often enough to go from 5-6 wins to 9-10.

I agree with Matt to the extent of championships, but I also agree with you, Mike, in terms of reaching the playoffs. If Cam is just decent or if Mac Jones is a good game manager, the Pats could easily be a Wild Card team this year after all of their offensive upgrades.

In other news, Washington will not be called the Warriors. They say it is too closely related to Native Americans. Whaaaaaaaat?

« Last edited by Warrior13 on Jul 12th 2021 »

Yeah, my list was based on teams I don't see contending for a Superbowl (going deep in playoffs). Some of those teams should make the playoffs soon.

In that case I'd say there are really only 4 or 5 teams actually competing for the Super Bowl (Buccs, Chiefs, Packers with Rodgers, and Bills) with the Ravens a tier below. And even then I think the Packers and Bills are a clear cut below the Chiefs and Buccs.

Some guy went out a few years back and literally trademarked every possible combination of Washington name in the hopes what has happened happened. He now stands to make a fortune if Washington decide to choose one of the names he has.

Personally I'm quite liking the Washington Football Team as their official name. Do we really need to stuck a wolf or a plane on the side of the helmet. I'm actually liking just the number, it looks old-school and badass

As for teams making the playoffs, Washington could make it to the Championship game if Fitzpatrick plays well. He's never had this much talent around him. If he starts connecting with those recievers he has with 4.3 speed you are going to see some blowouts especially with that defense which is just mean and nasty.


« Last edited by Sanzano on Jul 13th 2021 »

Mike: I have Bucs and Chiefs Tier 1; Packers/Broncos (Rodgers) and Bills Tier Tier 2; Browns, Ravens, Colts, Niners, and Rams Tier 3; Titans, Steelers, Seahawks, Cardinals, and Cowboys Tier 4; Redskins, Dolphins, Patriots, Chargers, Saints, and Vikings Tier 5.

Dennis: I would like them to have name, but they could keep the uniforms the way they are.

That's a fair tier list.

I kind of like the Washington Football Team but I think they should have a name. Trouble is that a lot of names people come up with like Warriors, Governors, Senators, Renegades, etc all sound like high school or college teams and the more unique names like Red Tails or Redhawks while better have a weird token-y feeling like "Redskins was bad so to make up for it we have to have a positive native American name". Doesn't sit quite right with me.

But keeping it as Football team has started this annoying trend of wanting every new team to be [sport] team. The Cleveland Indians baseball team is rebranding and people are seriously campaigning for "Cleveland Baseball Team". It's like people seriously haven't had one original thought in their lives.

I hadn't heard about the Cleveland Indians rebranding. Their logo was way more offensive than the Redskins one. What makes me laugh with this whole Washington Redskins logo change is that it was actually designed by a native American who based it on his grandfather. I can understand the name change but can someone please explain to me what is wrong with the logo, that's what native Americans from the Wild West looked like. I just see a proud looking native from that era.

They'll still be the Redskins to me. When I say the Washington Redskins, I am not being racist or offensive. If I was calling someone a Redskin, I would be. Also I will always associate Washington to the logo you have in your avatar and sig image. It's one of the more unique logos. We don't need more logos with a single letter on them.

Completely agree. Come up with something or have fans submit if they cannot.

Yeah, the Indians actually got rid of Chief Wahoo a few years ago. He was such a caricature and so obviously racist and offensive that it was almost comical.

Dennis - I don't get it either. It seems like a respectful image to me. If he had a liquor bottle and some casino chips in his hand then I could see having an issue. There's a large chunk of modern society that when you think about it is really trying to bring about modern segregation. You aren't allowed to ingest any aspect of X culture if you aren't part of X group. Which is really ridiculous and completely antithetical to some basic ideals of this country. Anything that even depicts another race is now racist, and if you rightly point out that the depicted race had a large hand in it it's still racist because of power dynamics or something.

It's only a matter of time before all teams are just inoffensive animal mascots. The Steelers will be renamed because the steelworkers worked in terrible conditions. The Jets will be renamed because a small group of people associate it with 9/11. The Cowboys will be renamed because cowboys were racist. Some of these are silly but you get the idea.

What is happening to society, it's getting to the point it's becoming ridiculous. In England they're trying to get the Disney story Snow White banned because it may upset young Asian and black girls. It's beyond me how, but that's what they say.

Yeah man I don't get it. Things like that seem entirely overblown to me. What I think happens is a twitter account with a dozen followers tweets something like that, and then a slightly bigger Twitter account retweets it, which gets picked up by a small online news website with a headline like "People are finally exposing the racist/sexist/bigoted undertones of X". This article will be written in a way that makes it seem like tons of people have an issue. And then a bigger news outlet will pick it up and blow it up more and then it is national news. I really think the vast majority of silliness like this is started by a few dozen less than mentally healthy people and it just gets blown out of proportion and then people fall in line because they are terrified of having their livelihood threatened for saying something insensitive.

Yeah, things are too woke these days. Well, at least those that are tend to be so loud that it gives off that perception.

I like to think it's just a very small, very very vocal minority and the average person that isn't hyper online isn't bothered by things too much.