NFL - Discussion Thread

At halftime scores are tied 10-10 after NO came back with a TD. They picked off Matt Ryan with little time left, and then an o-line player committed a dumb penalty to wipe time off the clock to kick a FG. If they lose by 3 or have to go to overtime this will be where they lose it.

Atlanta will be slightly favoured now because Kamara is out with concussion and I'm not sure if he'll be back. I said the key was to stop NO's run game. They've already stopped half of it. That said, Brees is 14/17 for 154yrds, a TD, & 0INTs.

New Orleans were trailing 17-20 with 90 seconds and at ATL 11. They go on to throw a pick in the endzone instead of waiting it out and tying the game. Then Atlanta nearly screw up by fumbling and recovering it. But a penalty got them the win. If at the end of the first half they had been able to kick their FG, they would've been tied 20-20 and inside Atlanta's territory, and would've just ran and kicked their game-winning FG.

Matt Ryan threw 3 INTs. They lost the turnovers 3-0. They really didn't deserve that win. They should be 7-6 and on life support. That's now 4 games Atlanta have been lucky in (Chicago, Detroit, Seattle, New Orleans). If they were unlucky they could've been 3-10 right now.

Atlanta stopped the run. And it translated to a win. This game will absolutely come back to haunt New Orleans. 1st round bye chances are gone now, and they can still lose the division. They've now given every team the blueprint to stop New Orleans. Expect a massive revenge game in week 16.

« Last edited by Matt77 on Dec 7th 2017 »

Sloppy game, but a win no less for the Falcons. Confident in saying they will win out and win the division. No one will want to play them in the Post Season, far too dangerous.

Sticking to my guns with my Preseason Super Bowl Pick: New England vs Atlanta

I had a feeling Atlanta would somehow win this game, an ugly win but a win nevertheless. I think Warrior13 is probably right and the Falcons will draw strength on this and make it into the playoffs as a wildcard. I don?t think the Falcons will be able to do the double over the Saints in Week 16, I see them losing that game in New Orleans against a Saints team out for revenge. The Falcons though I think will secure their wild card spot with a win over Carolina in Week 17.

That leaves one more wild card place which I personally think will be Carolina who already have a two game advantage over Green Bay, Dallas, and Detroit. Seahawks are in a commanding position and could sneak in if they can close out the season with three wins out of four.

« Last edited by Sanzano on Dec 8th 2017 »

If only you watched it. Way worse than what everyone is saying. lol

It is clear that Atlanta are really improving as of late, and I agree if they make playoffs they could definitely make the NFC Championship game (I don't think they'll progress any further) but first they actually have to MAKE playoffs. They have (in no order) Tampa Bay, Carolina, New Orleans left. I'd say they'll go 2-1 and finish 10-6, which would get them in because of tiebreaker over Seattle, but that is assuming Seattle drop 2 games, & assuming they beat Carolina. They may also go 1-2 which would rule them out. Tampa Bay is a certain win & New Orleans will be angry about this result and beat them, so it;s really the Carolina game (@ Atlanta) that means everything. I see little chance that they go 3-0 and win the division though.

I think New Orleans will win out and win the division 12-4. This game was full of bad luck for New Orleans, and they had every right to win it. Their match when they host Atlanta should be a win by that logic (Kamara will be back, it will be at home, & they will have learned from their mistakes). Going through I think these will be the results of NFC playoff and close to playoff teams: (Green = Realistic chance of playoffs, Orange = Unlikely chance of playoffs, Red = Essentially eliminated, Blue = Safe)
#1 Seed - Minnesota: 13-3 (WWLW)
#2 Seed - Philly: 13-3 (LWWW)
#3 Seed - LA Rams: 12-4 (WLWW)
#4 Seed - New Orleans: 12-4 (WWW)
#5 Seed - Seattle: 11-5 (WWLW)
#6 Seed - Atlanta: 10-6 (WLW)
Carolina: 10-6 (LWWL)
Detroit: 9-7 (WWWL)
Green Bay: 9-7 (WLWW)
Dallas: 9-7 (WWWL)
Washington: 8-8 (LWWW)
What this says to me is that no matter what Washington are eliminated. If they win out they are still no-where near.
If Dallas win out, they are too gone because Atlanta beat them. However if Carolina beat Atlanta and Dallas win out, then Dallas still miss out because Carolina would be 11-5.
Green Bay can just make it, but they'd need the unlikely to happen and for them to beat Carolina in Rodgers' first game back from a broken collarbone, and then for Carolina to beat Atlanta. That would give Green Bay #6 seed due to head to head tiebreakers.
Detroit are screwed though, unless they beat Rodgers, and unless Carolina beat Atlanta while also losing to Green Bay. That would mean Detroit would beat Green Bay on head to head, and Carolina on conference record (Detroit are 5-4 and Carolina 4-4).
Carolina meanwhile just have to beat Atlanta in week 17 and they are in.
Seattle are safe, even if they get another loss for 10-6, because they have a better conference record than Carolina (6-3 > 4-4).
Atlanta are safe if my predictions are correct, as their division record is currently better than Carolina's (2-1 > 2-2).

« Last edited by Matt77 on Dec 11th 2017 »

Basically the way I look at it Matt, the two key games are going to be the New Orleans vs Atlanta rematch on Week 16 and the Carolina vs Atlanta game in Week 17 which will decide who goes and who stays between those two teams. If Atlanta make it like I?m expecting them to I can see them upsetting Philadelphia if they meet in the divisional playoff stage. I don?t think they will advance past the Championship game where Minnesota or New Orleans will be waiting for them.

Too many implications this late in the season for Green Bay, Dallas, and Detroit to realistically get in, they basically need Atlanta or Carolina to fall apart overnight and for them to win all their existing games which is not going to happen.

So the long and short of the playoff picture as far as I am concerned revolves around Atlanta and Warrior13 is correct, they?re coming into form which makes them one the most dangerous teams in the league to face. I hope Warrior13 is wrong, I don?t want to watch a repeat of last years Super Bowl, I,m sick os seeing Brady in the big game and I have no confidence in Atlanta if the get to the big stage.

Just wondering, what are the chances of the Jacksonville Jaguars gatecrashing the AFC party? I?d rather see them instead of Pittsburgh or New England in the Super Bowl.

« Last edited by Sanzano on Dec 8th 2017 »

You've got it spot on with those games. A lot can happen in that division. Also watch for if Aaron Rodgers comes back when they play Carolina, cause that turns into a 50/50 matchup imo. If that happens it opens the door for a Green Bay @ Detroit pre-playoff game in week 17, with the winner getting the #6 seed, if Carolina beat Atlanta.

Although now that I think about it if the above scenario happens then GB & DET would be playing for the #5 seed, since they would both own a tiebreaker over Carolina. Don't forget to watch those 2 teams.

Atlanta won't make the Superbowl again. Teams very rarely make it in consecutive years anyway, and this Falcons team is inferior to last season. The defense has improved big time, but the offense is down, and Matt Ryan looks like a slightly above average QB this season. He's also lucky since 2 wins have come while including 3INTs. If he does that in playoffs they will get destroyed, something like 35-13.

Jacksonville very well could spoil the party and make the AFC Championship game, but I'm not very confident with them anymore. I originally thought they were an A-Grade team, but then they lost to Blaine Gabbert & Arizona, who had nothing to play for. If they repeat that they'll allow the dreadful Titans to advance if they meet on wildcard weekend. That said, if they draw Pittsburgh at any point they have a big chance to upset them and face New England in the AFC Championship match. They will get thrashed by NE in that scenario. Also if they get lucky & a team like LA Chargers knock NE out somehow, and Jacksonville meet Pittsburgh in the AFCC game, they could advance to the Superbowl. But it is very unlikely they make the Superbowl.

I think the AFC will finish like this:
#1 Seed - New England: 14-2 (WWWW)
#2 Seed - Pittsburgh: 13-3 (WLWW)
#3 Seed - Jacksonville: 12-4 (WWWW)
#4 Seed - LA Chargers: 10-6 (WWWW)
#5 Seed - Tennessee: 10-6 (WWLL)
#6 Seed - Baltimore: 10-6 (LWWW)
Kansas City: 9-7 (WLWW)
Buffalo: 8-8 (WWLL)
Oakland: 6-10 (LLLL)
What this says is that despite Oakland being in a 3-way tie for the division, they have an extremely tough schedule and will be lucky to win 1 or 2 games. They are gone.
Buffalo are also in trouble, with a game against New England left, along with an away game against a Dolphins team that is much better at home. If they win out, they need to hope Baltimore drop a game, as Baltimore have the better conference record (5-3 > 4-4).
Kansas City are in with a very good shot of hanging on to the division, as long as their form improves now. They play LA Chargers at home, and if they win that match it's probably enough for the division win. They do have tricky matches against Oakland & Miami left though.

LA Chargers' destiny is in their own hands. While it is favourable they win out, all 4 games are tricky & any of them could be upset losses (WAS, @ KC, @ NYJ, OAK). If Los Angeles & Kansas City tie for 9-7 (unlikely), it may come down to record in common games, (currently LAC: 5-4, KC: 4-5), then assuming: (number inside brackets = how far down in the tiebreak list)
KC beats LAC again - KC win division on head-to head [1]
KC lose to LAC, while LAC lose to a division rival - KC win division on division record (4-2 > 3-3) [2]
KC lose to LAC, while LAC lose to a non-division rival other than Washington - KC win division on conference record (7-5 > 6-4) [4]
KC lose to LAC, while LAC lose to Washington - Someone wins it based on strength of victory [5] cause I can't be bothered going through and adding up records, and guess other matches' results.
Pretty much if LA Chargers and Kansas City end up tied at 9-7, KC are favoured unless LAC's loss is to Washington, and in that case it could be anyone; whoever's strength of victory is better.

Tennessee are guaranteed since they have 2 super easy games, and even if they somehow end up with 9-7, their conference record is better than LAC's and KC's (7-4 > 4-5 & 4-4). They get the #5 seed because they beat Baltimore head to head 23-20.
Baltimore are also guaranteed, since they also have 2 super easy games. They'd have to lose to either Cleveland or Indy, while also losing to Cincinnati. If they get to 9-7, just like Tennessee, their conference record is better (5-3 > 4-5 & 4-4).

« Last edited by Matt77 on Dec 8th 2017 »

My WAY TOO EARLY Predictions...

AFC:
1) Patriots
2) Steelers
3) Titans
4) Chiefs
5) Jaguars
6) Ravens

NFC:
1) Eagles (Unfortunately)
2) Vikings
3) Seattle
4) Atlanta
5) Rams
6) Saints

AFC Playoffs:
Ravens UPSET Titans
Chiefs BARELY DEFEAT Jaguars

Patriots DESTROY Ravens
Steelers HANDILY DEFEAT Chiefs

Patriots TAKE CARE OF Steelers

NFC Playoffs:
Seahawks BARELY DEFEAT Saints
Falcons BARELY OUTSCORES Rams

Falcons SHOWS WHAT A REAL TEAM LOOKS LIKE TO THE Eagles
Vikings WINS AN UGLY BRAWL AGAINST THE Seahawks

Falcons TAKE CARE OF Vikings

Super Bowl:
Falcons MAKE UP FOR LAST YEAR AGAINST Patriots

« Last edited by Warrior13 on Dec 8th 2017 »

Oh dear me. The holiday spirit has driven you up the wall xD

If Tennessee win their division it would be an absolute disgrace. They are awful. To be 8-4 is WAY TO GENEROUS for this team. 6-6 seems appropriate. They've had 2 impressive wins this season, and they were weeks 2 and 3 against Jacksonville & Seattle. Ever since they've been awful. Could've lost to Cleveland, Indy, & Cincinnati. And remember, Miami beat this Titans team. Baltimore beating Tennessee should've really be an upset even though TEN won this season. Baltimore have shutout 3 teams, while scoring 40+ twice.

With most of your other AFC predictions they make sense. I can definitely see KC snagging that division somehow. But personally I don't see the playoff choke Chiefs beating Jacksonvile. Your NFC predictions are pretty spot on except Seattle winning their division. That looks unlikely, unless LA Rams choke. I have LA beating Philly, at home, this week too. Strangely though, I really can see Atlanta making the NFC Championship game after all, if they win the division. But Minnesota would beat Atlanta, since it would be @ Minnesota, and Minnesota won @ Atlanta 2 weeks ago. And then even if they get a miracle and get into the Superbowl, New England WILL murder them. Remember the 23-7 (23-0 before garbage time) result this season? Matt Ryan is nowhere near an MVP this season, and the offense isn't elite anymore.

My Week 14 Predictions: (This Season: 119-73 [62.0%]) (Last Week: 11-5) (This Week: 8-8)

New Orleans 31-28 over Atlanta
Buffalo 16-13 over Indianapolis
Dallas 27-13 over New York Giants
Detroit 27-24 over Tampa Bay in overtime
Kansas City 30-26 over Oakland
San Fransisco 27-17 over Houston
Cleveland 20-17 over Green Bay
Cincinnati 20-15 over Chicago
Minnesota 24-13 over Carolina
LA Chargers 28-27 over Washington
New York Jets 24-16 over Denver
Tennessee 21-17 over Arizona
LA Rams 34-30 over Philadelphia
Jacksonville 19-13 over Seattle
Pittsburgh 34-20 over Baltimore
New England 28-14 over Miami

Detroit need to win to stay alive, and I think can close out a close game (as they're very good at doing) against Tampa Bay. San Francisco should also get past Tom Savage & co. Changed my mind, and will tip Cleveland to get their first and only win of the season against Green Bay, sending Aaron Rodgers off to rest up and prepare for next season. Brett Hundley and Deshone Kizer are both awful so it comes down to Green Bay's better offense in general, compared to Cleveland's solid defense. Also it's a Cleveland home game, and they've just got a new GM from Kansas City who is supposedly good. Minnesota should easily account for the overrated Panthers, while LA Rams will upset Philly in a shootout and sent Philly to 1-3 versus quality opposition. Jacksonville should be able to just survive a Seattle comeback, since Seattle are playing away from home.

I'm +7 wins at this stage this season compared to last season (119 > 112). Warrior who has the most correct tips between you and me so far this season?

« Last edited by Matt77 on Dec 11th 2017 »

Way too early playoff predictions:

Wildcard Weekend:
Baltimore @ Jacksonville - Jacksonville by a small margin
Tennessee @ LA Chargers - LA Chargers comfortably
Atlanta @ LA Rams - Atlanta by a small margin (Upset)
Seattle @ New Orleans - New Orleans by a small margin

Divisional Round:
LA Chargers @ New England - New England comfortably
Jacksonville @ Pittsburgh - Jacksonville comfortably
Atlanta @ Minnesota - Minnesota by a small margin
New Orleans @ Philadelphia - New Orleans in overtime

Conference Championships:
Jacksonville @ New England - New England by a lot
New Orleans @ Minnesota - Minnesota by a small margin

Superbowl:
New England @ Minnesota - Minnesota by a small margin

We are both crazy tipping against New England. Dennis what do yo think will happen in the Superbowl?

« Last edited by Matt77 on Dec 9th 2017 »

I think New Orleans makes it to the big game and they defeat the Patriots in a high scoring Super Bowl that goes down to the wire. I personally think the Saints losing last week to Atlanta was the best thing that could have happened to them and they now stay focused until the job is done. Atlanta are going nowhere, if the Panthers manage to beat Minnesota which is a possibility they could prevent Atlanta getting to the post season.

I?m just not impressed with the Minnesota Quarterback, I don?t think he has the tools or experience to beat the top tier teams and I can see Philadelphia stumbling to a team with an experienced big game Quarterback like, Brees, Ryan, or Newton depending who wins their Week 17 clash and gets into the playoffs.

That?s made things interesting, Carolina have just beaten Minnesota so it?s put Philadelphia in the driving seat for home field advantage throughout the playoffs. I don?t think it will last though as I have a feeling the L.A. Rams are going to beat Philadelphia later tonight in California.

Just looked at the Falcons last two games; New Orleans and Carolina. They need to win both games now to be safe. I can see them dropping at least one of those games, probably New Orleans, Carolina have already beaten Atlanta at home so they will be confident they can do it again and make sure they get in if it?s all tied at the end of the season. I can?t see Warrior13?s prediction of Atlanta winning the Super Bowl happening, it would be a Cinderella season for them if it did happen though and forever remove the mantle of ?chokers? from their resume.

I just can?t see Minnesota in the Super Bowl either, a great defense can only take you so far and having a mediocre Quarterback running your offense is the worst place a team can have an archillis heel.

I?m sticking with New Orleans against the New England Patriots. The joker in the pack is definitely the Panthers who are more than capable of causing an upset on any given game day and I think it will be them that takes down Philadelphia if they meet.

Washington are tanking it against the Rams losing 23-0 in the second quarter, they,re after a high draft position now for sure. Cousins is gone. Just realised, it?s not even the Rams the ? deadskins? are losing to but the old San Diego Chargers who moved to L.A.


« Last edited by Sanzano on Dec 10th 2017 »

Carson Wentz likely has ruptured his ACL and will miss 12 months of football. Philly have the #1 seed after beating LA Rams 43-35, but they will be one and done and their season is over, just like Oakland last season.

Buffalo keep their tiny chances alive with a 13-7 OT win against Indy where no QB reached 70 yards passing.

Sadly Dallas saved their season with a 20-point 4th quarter after scores were tied. Dak Prescott proved he's not a complete bust with a very solid game.

Detroit also saved theirs with a late FG to win by 3. It's still very unlikely since Carolina got an upset win.

KC are back on the board too, with a 26-15 (was 26-0 at 3QT) against a totally awful Raiders team. Season over for Oakland.

Cleveland did a huge choke job after leading 21-7 at 3QT, losing 21-27 (OT) and keeping Green Bay's season alive. I hate it when I pick an upset win, and that team chokes and loses in overtime.

Minnesota clearly aren't AS good as I thought. I still think Carolina are overrated, but it seems they suddenly have a running game now, and an above average one...

LA Chargers kept pace with KC too, with a 30-13 (30-6 before the LAC backup QB threw a pick-6) thrashing. Season 100% over for Washington.

So glad the massively overrated Titans finally lost a close match to awful opposition. 7-12 (were leading 7-0) to Arizona. Awful. Tennessee slip to 2nd in their division now, and since they lost one of their guaranteed wins, there's now a tiny chance they miss out on playoffs. Very tiny, since they have a very good 7-4 conference record.

Clearly Philly and LA Rams are contenders after their high-quality match. I predicted the shootout, but not the Philly win. They did well to score even with Wentz off the field.

Seattle mounted 2 late comebacks but Jacksonville proved they can beat the good teams. Those awful performances of Blake Bortles are becoming rarer and rarer. Seattle should still easily make playoffs; I expected this loss.

Pittsburgh's luck may have ran out. After starting hot and leading 14-0 over Baltimore, they have been dominated 6-31 to now trail 20-31. If anyone is going to hold on against Pittsburgh, it's Baltimore.

...but no. The dogs will come back surely. A FG and now Baltimore's awful offense has returned.

And yep, they won 39-38 with ANOTHER late FG. Dogs. 11-2 and the #1 seed.

« Last edited by Matt77 on Dec 11th 2017 »

I'm beginning to wonder if its destined that Pittsburgh will get home field advantage throughout the playoffs and beat the New England Patriots in the Championship game at Hienz stadium. The team keeps on pulling games out of the hat they should have lost.

Whoever gets Philadelphia now in the playoffs will probably beat them, they aren't going to be the same team without Wentz. L.A. Rams are better than I thought, they could be going places now if they can get past New Orleans in the playoffs. I don't think Minnesota despite their record will do much in post season, I see them being one and out in the Divisional games.

Dallas and Green Bay need Atlanta and Carolina to slip up a couple of times and for them to win their remaining matches to realistically get a wild card spot, I can't see it happening, their seasons are over, you'll find out soon enough if Green Bay start Rogers in a couple of weeks to see if they have given up the season or not. Dak Prescott is just playing for his reputation after some pitiful performances, the Cowboys sesason is over.

The only thing now that needs to be decided I think is whether its going to be Atlanta or Carolina that get the final wild card. I'd say Atlanta are the better team but those last two games on their schedule are going to be tough and I can see them dropping one of them and lettin in Carolina.

I had Atlanta edging Carolina out 10-6 to 10-6, but with a better divisional record. With Carolina's upset win, that puts them at 11-5 and at #6, below Seattle based on conference record. Atlanta need an upset win (@ New Orleans) or Carolina need an upset loss (Green Bay, Tampa Bay). It looks dire for Atlanta since Carolina's games are both at home, while Atlanta's is away. Also my predictions take into account a week 17 Atlanta win against Carolina, and that could easily swing the other way.

There is however the more than unlikely scenario now, that New Orleans, Carolina, & Atlanta all finish 11-5. I'm no expert with 3-way ties, but I'd assume that Carolina would win the division based on their 1-1 record against Atlanta, while New Orleans were 2-0 against Carolina, but 0-2 against Atlanta. Then again I don't know since Atlanta also split with Carolina. I'm not sure if New Orleans would miss playoffs altogether since they were 0-2 against a team, but they were also 2-0 against a team. Atlanta and Carolina swept nobody. It may come down to divisional record, I'm not sure. If it did, then: (exactly as Warrior predicted)
Atlanta would win the division with a 5-1 divisional record
New Orleans would get the #6 seed based on their 2-0 record against Carolina

So pretty much, no NFC South team is guaranteed a spot in the playoffs.

Ben (whatever his last name is) threw for 503 yards! So much for him being in decline. Baltimore hadn't let any QB pass for 300 yards, let alone 500. Just goes to show that teams have a nasty habit of choking really hard when they play Pittsburgh (Detroit converted 7 red-zone trips into 5/7FGs & 0TDs, Indy 17-3 up, Green Bay 14-6 & 21-14, Cincy 17-0, Baltimore 31-20) and lose. New England shouldn't do a choke job hopefully. It would be an absolute disgrace if Pittsburgh won the #1 seed. Realistically they should be 2-3 out of that lot, since Green Bay surrendered the lead in the 3rd quarter and were playing catchup, & Baltimore were massively favoured by the refs. 8-5 is appropriate for Pittsburgh.

Interesting about the three way tie between New Orleans, Atlanta, and Carolina. It looks to me like New Orleans are in the driving seat and the title is theirs to lose while Carolina should clinch a wild card after their upset win of Minnesota. I still think Atlanta are on the outside looking in and need the other two teams to slip up once in their final three games to have a realistic chance of sneaking in on a divisional record tie breaker.

Pittsburgh Quarterback, Ben Rothinsburger or whatever he calls himself threw for over 500 yards? That's only been done about 20 times in NFL history and if memory serves me correct that's the fourth time he's done it.

New Orleans are definitely favourites, but before the Atlanta game I feared if their running game died then they'd return to 7-9 form, and when Kamara got concussed and Ingram was smothered, that old team heavily-reliant on Brees returned. If the running game is stopped they have no chance in playoffs since Washington won't be there to choke. Atlanta will simply do the same thing in week 16 and if they stop the run they will win. NO could've tied the game but since they had no effective RBs they passed and got picked off.

I remember last season when Derek Carr achieved the feat. It's very rare. He passed for 513 yards at 68% for 4TDs & 0INTs. Bizarrely they won the game in overtime 30-24 since Oakland faced 200 yards of penalties. Ben overcame similar troubles; the refs were horrible I must say. It seems it's only possible if penalties occur and there are more opportunities to pass. Also these days QBs will be taken out of the game if their team is up something like 42-0 at 3QT so they only get 3 quarters if they're dominating.

Speaking of Derek Carr and Oakland, what the hell happened? While they were very overrated in the off-season, I still predicted them to easily feature in the divisional round of playoffs. After starting 2-0, with wins against Tennessee (8-5) and a thrashing of NY Jets (usually a competitive team), I definitely thought they were destined for great things. Now they are 6-7, with playoffs 100% ruled out, and some of those wins were lucky. Carr's completion rate is identical to last season, but his TD:INT ratio is way down (18:10 < 28:6). Even 2 years ago it was better (32:13). He's passing for 17 yards less per game and his passer rating is down from 96.7 last season to 88.8 this season. It too is also down from 2 years ago. It's crazy that last season he was an MVP candidate (and truly the most valuable player to a team) but now he's a mediocre QB. The Oakland defense has had no improvement, and when your offense struggles alongside it you have no chance. It took Oakland 3 months to intercept a quarterback.

I have no idea why Oakland suddenly declined from a team that looked on the verge of becoming a serious Super Bowl contender in 2017. At the end of last season I predicted an Oakland vs Dallas Super Bowl for the 2017 season. Both teams to be honest have been disappointing and not lived up to my expectations. What happened to Kansas City this year, another team that suddenly regressed over night. What makes a team suddenly fall apart? I can't believe losing one man has that effect unless it's the quarterback.

Years ago you knew pretty much at the start of the season who was going to be in the playoffs, the way things are now with free agency and the salary cap anything can happen. No doubt about it the 80's were the golden era of NFL football, teams were the same year in and year out and players had colourful names and personalities. With the exception of a couple of players the NFL employees have become boring robots. I also wonder if social media is killing the game, there doesn't seem to be any mystique attached to players and teams any more.

Kansas City declined because firstly Kareem Hunt was stopped for weeks and weeks, giving Alex Smith no support. Smith also stopped going for the long passes he was going for, and making in the first 5 weeks. No idea why he stopped, but he did, and he returned to his ordinary just above average self. Their defense has always been awful in terms of yardage but it suddenly translated into points against. The final play against Oakland (not this week's matchup) ended in Derek Carr throwing a game-winning TD with 0 seconds left and winning by 1, and I think that heartbreaking loss (KC were leading by about 10 late) sucked the life out of them.

Perhaps, and it's just a suggestion, but maybe Carr struggled coming back from his broken leg that ended his 2016/17 season. He also had a back injury which was supposed to last 2-6 weeks, but he came back after just 1 week, and I reckon he wasn't completely ready. He had to come back though cause Oakland are a 3-13 team without Carr. Or, maybe Oakland were just really overrated. I only go on stats, comments, & articles. I never actually watched them play more than 5 minutes once before school.

I think free agency and trade is alright, but I'm not a fan at all of mid-season trades, or even worse, players being waved and then ending up on a team at any given time in any given week. Here in Aus with the AFL we have free agency and trade, but there is only a specific trade period in the off-season where they can happen. No trades can happen after that, and definitely not during the season, so once you see the players on all the teams you know that's final unless injuries happen. Our other major sport code however is even more unfaithful than the NFL. I'm a big fan of players in any sport who are loyal to a team even when they are in an awful team and have been offered contracts by successful teams. If your team is ungrateful and don't care if you go then fair enough walk (like Cousins), but it blows my mind how some players can go their whole careers and play with 4 or 5 teams.

But when it comes to salary caps, you DO NOT want them to disappear. If they did, teams like Dallas, Pittsburgh, Green Bay, New England etc (ie successful, rich teams) would ALWAYS win their division due to being able to offer literally hundreds of millions of dollars to the star players. Lets say hypothetically Miami were the richest and had a whole stack of money. They decide to offer 200 million dollars a year to Carson Wentz, Zeke Elliot, Leonard Fournette, Julio Jones, Antonio Brown, Justin Tucker etc (the elite players or very promising young talent). Most of them if not all would take that offer, cause if lets say they play for 10 more years, that's a career of 2 billion dollars. The English Premier League has no salary cap, and lower teams constantly lose their best players to the 'Big 5' + one team that somehow became reasonably successful despite the flawed system. Those 6 teams are pretty much always either in the top 6 spots, or in the top 7 or 8. There are 20 teams, yet 98% of the time one of the 'Big 5' will always win it.

I get what you say about players with no personality, but sometimes it's good to have some normal players who don't start dancing and carrying on after a TD, or even worse start playing Duck Duck Goose ON A FOOTBALL FIELD, DURING A GAME, WITH GROWN MEN. I think there's a fine line between no personality and too much.

« Last edited by Matt77 on Dec 11th 2017 »