NFL - Discussion Thread

Unfortunately for you and the Redskins it seems unlikely they'll make the playoffs. Philadelphia just look too good right now and I doubt a team from the NFC East can grab a wildcard spot. They have (in terms of points) the #1 ranked offense, #1 ranked defense, #1 ranked net points, and equal #1 ranked TDs scored. Mind you they have played 0 division games yet so who knows what can happen. Atlanta were 5-0 last season and finished with 8-8.

« Last edited by Matt77 on Sep 26th 2016 »

So it looks like Miami is going to just play at the level of their competition week to week... Not good...

So right now I'm 8-7 in my picks since Bengals and Jaguars fell through as my upsets... Another week of 9-7? We'll see. XD

This week I'm 7-8. Weeks 1 and 2 I was 10-6 so I was off the pace this time round. I'm still yet to correctly predict the scoreline of a game though.

And with Miami I'm not worried. They have the same record as Carolina, Cincinnati, & Arizona. And I believe they will defeat the primetime Bengals next week and make a big statement. In 2015-16 the Bengals were 1-4 in primetime games (including their playoff choke) and in 2014-15 they were also 1-4.

« Last edited by Matt77 on Sep 26th 2016 »

My Week 4 Predictions: (doing Thurs early cause I'm going away for a few days)

Miami 21-17 over Cincinnati

My prediction:

Cincinnati 31-20 over Miami

:/

I'll go 24-17 Cincinnati. I think Cincinnati's better passing game (currently 7th in the league) will be the difference.

I think Dolphins just aren't at the level yet. Huge gap between superstars and every other player, plus three different coaches in last 16 games is tough.

I thought that as well, the Dolphins have got a tough schedule. I always thought the schedule was worked out by the NFL so that apart from the divisional games the weaker teams played each other and the stronger teams played each other, that Dolphins schedule is tough for any team in the NFL. Who wants to play the Patriots twice a year every year.

Last week was a mess, well for my picks anyways. Believe I was under 500%, alot of the favorites in Vegas lost. As for Cincy vs Miami, cincy should easily win this game. Miami struggled with a young/struggling team the Browns

Matt77 said:

My Week 4 Predictions: (doing Thurs early cause I'm going away for a few days)

Miami 21-17 over Cincinnati

Please don't tell me you'll pick my Vikings to lose again. You're 0-3 so far. Then again maybe you're a reverse jinx. Don't pick them.

Vikings are destined to stumble now that Peterson is out. Carolina was overrated back to last year, and they might not even win their division this time around with those dirty birds having a good start.

Warrior13 said:

Vikings are destined to stumble now that Peterson is out. Carolina was overrated back to last year, and they might not even win their division this time around with those dirty birds having a good start.

They honestly don't need Peterson. The run blocking has been bad anyway and he was only averaging 1.6ypc in the two games before he was injured. He's a terrible pass blocker and isn't all that effective as a receiving threat either.

The Vikings will get by fine with McKinnon, Asiata and free agent pickup Hillman. The one big difference is that teams won't stack the box against the run as much with no Peterson.

Regardless, the role of the Vikings Offense is to not lose a game and score just enough points to win, the Vikings Defense is the real deal and the reason they can and probably will go far.

With regards to Carolina I think they will improve in the coming weeks. They are 1-2 now, but the two losses are to the top two (or two of the top five if you have your own personal preferences) defenses in the NFL (Broncos and Vikings).

« Last edited by TestVirus101 on Sep 29th 2016 »

Adrien Peterson is a nightmare to defend against, give him a bit of daylight and he'll kill you. From the games I have seen him play in I rate him as the best running back currently playing in the league. If he's only getting 1.6 yards a carry that tells me the defense is stacked against the run to stop him and they have no respect for Shaun Hill the Minnesota Quarterback who has a 77.3 rating this year which is not good at all. At least Sam Bradford at Quarterback is a step in the right direction, his Quarterback rating is 107.8, when is Peterson due back?

He's done for the year. Bradford has never had consistent play, on top on his inconsistent health. They'll be lucky to go .500, if that. Packers will reclaim the division, no doubt.

I agree, I don't think the Vikings will do anything this year either, especially without Adrian Peterson. The Vikings remind me of the 1970's Cicago Bears teams who relied too much on Walter Peyton.

Minnesota does not need AP to have a good rushing attack.

AP was out for the 2014 season, McKinnon (a 3rd round pick) and Asiata shared the RB duties that season and will share them this season.

2014 Rushing (rank 14th): 413 Attempts 1804 yards 4.4 avg yards per carry
2014 Passing (rank 28th): 517 Attempts 322 Completions 62.3% Completion 3244 yards 6.9 yards per throw
2014 Total (rank 27th): 5048 yards 315.5 yards/game 3244 passing yards 202.8 passing yards/game 1804 rushing yards 112.8 rushing yards/game 20.3 points per game

Vikings finished 7-9

2015 Rushing (rank 4th): 474 attempts 2211 yards 4.7 avg yards per carry
2015 Passing (rank 31st): 454 Attempts 294 Completions 64.8% Completion 2928 yards 7.2 yards per throw
2015 Total (rank 29th): 5139 yards 321.2 yards/game 2928 passing yards 183.0 passing yards/game 2211 rushing yards 138.2 rushing yards/game 22.8 points per game

Vikings finished 11-5


So to compare McKinnon/Asiata in 2014 (they are the starters now for 2016) to AP in 2015... It's dead even. The Vikings still had a low yardage and point scoring offense in both years, but of course there were more rushing attempts in 2015 with AP in the game, so rushing carries for the season increased by 61 and passing attempts decreased by... 63. In other words, having AP in 2015 meant the vikings gave up 63 passes for 61 rushes over the course of the season and finished with around 100 more yards total.

Now let's look at the real factors for the Vikings success.



Mike Zimmer started coaching the Vikings in 2014

2013 Total (Ranked 31st in yards, 32nd in points per game): 397.6 yards per game allowed 30.0 points per game allowed
2014 Total (Ranked 14th in yards, 11th in points per game): 344.7 yards per game allowed 21.4 points per game allowed
2015 Total (Ranked 13th in yards, 5th in points per game): 344.2 yards per game allowed 18.9 points per game allowed
2016 Total after week 3 (Ranked 6th in yards, 3rd in points per game ) 295.0 yards per game allowed 13.3 points per game allowed

The key to the Vikings having a successful season does to a degree depend on the Offense. Hopefully Bradford will stay healthy, but the Vikings have had bad luck as a passing unit for many years because rushing was effective and because they had no good QB or good receivers. Kyle Rudolph is playing well again finally this season and Stefon Diggs, a rookie from last year has become the #1 receiver over the past two years and is 2nd in the NFL in total receiving yards at the moment. Hopefully rookie 1st round pick Treadwell can get better and join the offense soon too.
The real question mark is not AP (who could be back towards the end of the season with his freakish recovery times) because the Vikings have good backups. The worst part of the Vikings is their OL who used to be good at rush blocking but now can't even do that, hence why the Vikings have such bad rushing for the first 3 games.

The Defense is the key for the Vikings. They have playmakers on every level and depth at many positions too.

Up front: DE's Brian Robison, Everson Griffen and backup Danielle Hunter
DT's Shariff Floyd (out injured for a few weeks possibly), Linval Joseph and backups Shamar Stephen and Tom Johnson

Linebackers: Anthony Barr, Eric Kendricks with support from veteran Greenway and some draft and FA acquisitions this season

Secondary, Vikings are 5-deep at CB: Xavier Rhodes(1st round pick), Terrance Newman, Trae Waynes(1st round pick), Slot corner Captain Munnerlyn and rookie backup mackensie alexander(2nd round pick)

Safety Harrison Smith is the best player on the team, but unfortunately the other safety Sendejo isn't too good, and his backup is a rookie 7th rounder who has looked promising but isn't ready yet.



« Last edited by TestVirus101 on Sep 29th 2016 »

Looks like the problem is Quarterback then, coming in 28th and 31st in 2104 and 2015. As for the defense, they're no 'Purple People Eaters'.

Peterson had done nothing for the first three games, and they are 3-0, having defeated Green Bay and Carolina in that time. I think they'll do fine and I hope they find a way to win the division again. I hate Green Bay.

Really disappointed with Miami's result. This was their chance to make a statement and get their record back to .500. Their minimal playoffs chance looks to be gone if they can't take a scalp soon.

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This week New Orleans will get their first win. I have tipped them to win in their previous games and they are 0-3. New York Jets will show that Seattle has a serious problem and win through a late FG. Carolina will be stunned by the high-scoring Atlanta offense, coming off scores of 24, 35, and 45. Baltimore will somehow be 4-0 at the end of the week despite not looking convincing. An extra point gamble will pay off late and lift them to victory. Pittsburgh will respond to their drubbing , defeating Kansas City in a low-scoring scrap. Minnesota will win, despite me tipping against them in all their games and having them win all three.

My Week 4 Predictions: (Week 3: 7-9) (This Week: 8-7)

Miami 21-17 over Cincinnati
Indianapolis 31-24 over Jacksonville
Houston 23-20 over Tennessee
Washington 24-14 over Cleveland
New York Jets 20-17 over Seattle
New England 28-21 over Buffalo
Atlanta 34-24 over Carolina
Baltimore 25-24 over Oakland
Detroit 38-14 over Chicago
Denver 27-17 over Tampa Bay
Arizona 31-24 over Los Angeles
New Orleans 40-34 over San Diego in overtime
Dallas 28-15 over San Francisco
Pittsburgh 20-13 over Kansas City
Minnesota 27-21 over New York Giants

And if the bye teams played each other at a neutral venue, I believe the result would be...
Philadelphia 24-21 over Green Bay

« Last edited by Matt77 on Oct 3rd 2016 »

Sanzano said:

Looks like the problem is Quarterback then, coming in 28th and 31st in 2104 and 2015. As for the defense, they're no 'Purple People Eaters'.

Well it's not fair to compare them to two hall of famers and 1 arguable hall of famer.

However through the first 3 weeks of the season the Vikings are ranked 2nd in takeaways (5 Interceptions, 4 fumbles) and have 15 team sacks.

15 team sacks in 3 games puts them ahead of the pace of the 1984 Chicago Bears who have the most sacks in a season (72). I don't think they will take down this record, but to compare them to the purple people eaters:

DE Everson Griffen - 4 sacks
Backup DE Danielle Hunter - 3 sacks
DE Brian Robison - 2 sacks
DT Linval Joseph - 3 sacks
Backup DT Tom Johnson(sharing starting duties because Shariff Floyd is injured) - 1 sack

So the D-Line has 13 of those 15 Vikings sacks. At least in terms of getting to the quarterback, this team stacks up to those purple people eaters who combined for 40 sacks in 1968 and 50 in 1969. But it's silly to compare different eras of football.

Regardless, it's a really well built Defense with a great coach leading it.


« Last edited by TestVirus101 on Sep 30th 2016 »

You're obviously a Minnesota fan, how do you feel about that 1998 Minnesota Vikings team that was a Gary Anderson kick away from the Super Bowl. That Minnesota team was superb, they were putting points up every game and went 15-1. It was bad enough losing four Super Bowls during the 70' but that season must of been heartbreaking for a Minnesota Vikings fan as they were easily the best team in the league.