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NFL 2016-17 Regular Season Discussion (1 Viewer)

Malcolm R

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It just shows how (not) serious the league is about player safety. They won't throw the book at a repeat offender, or even suspend/ban him, but they're quick to penalize and fine assorted touchdown celebrations.
 
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Winston T. Boogie

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Yes, the Patriots at Steelers game went from being a premium game with two teams that may meet in the AFC Championship to a game I will likely skip because I really have no interest in watching Landry Jones play QB. Hopefully Ben is back quick because I agree the Steelers are in trouble without him.
 

Scott Merryfield

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Yes, the Patriots at Steelers game went from being a premium game with two teams that may meet in the AFC Championship to a game I will likely skip because I really have no interest in watching Landry Jones play QB. Hopefully Ben is back quick because I agree the Steelers are in trouble without him.

We Steelers fans have no interest in watching Landry Jones play QB, either. ;)
 

Winston T. Boogie

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I was really excited to watch that game. I mean if you love football Patriots at Steelers was going to be a lot of fun. Now I will be focused on the Chargers at the Falcons...which features a great QB match-up but could leave me wanting to jump off a tall building the way the Chargers perform in the second half of games this year.

Some QB thoughts...

Aaron Rodgers is confusing a lot of people. For over a year now he has played like a truly mediocre QB...I mean he has been Jay Cutler like. I had a theory that the struggles of the Green Bay offense might have something to do with not having a quality tight end. I mean the way they run their offense it always works best with a good pass catching TE as part of the equation. They made the mistake of signing Jared Cook to fill this role and that was actually rated by a lot of football "experts" as one of the worst signings of the off season. Why? Because Cook is one of the worst under performers in the NFL. They rate the guy as a wasted roster spot. However, having closely watched the last two Packer games I have to say...Aaron Rodgers looked HORRIBLE against Dallas and also showed off his ability to miss a target by a mile in the Chicago game. He just looks ridiculously inconsistent. So, the issue is not a TE, it is that Rodgers has somehow turned into Jay Cutler for the last year or more. And even weirder and sadder...he looks like he does not care. Rodgers was one of the best QBs in the NFL. An exciting player to watch. Hopefully he will pull himself out of his rut. They beat the Bears, but the Bears don't look very good, and the Cowboys and Vikings so far look like the class of the NFC with the Falcons and Seahawks right there. The Packers look like they are limping to a possible Wild Card and with Cookie Belly out now they are without a running back. Not looking good for the Packers.

Obviously the Cowboys have found their next QB and their QB of right now with Dak Prescott. The thing that impresses me the most about him is he just never looks rattled. He handles everything thrown at him like a veteran. I will say this though, obviously his success relies heavily on Zeke Elliott. This kid is really the heart and soul of the Dallas offense. I mean I think if Romo was playing he would be having one of his best seasons because Zeke is a QB's best friend. I'm thinking at this point we might see a Cowboys vs Vikings NFC championship game...but we'll see how things progress.

I think the Jets should pull the plug on Ryan Fitzpatrick. Honestly, he gets the Peyton Manning award for QB's that have fallen off a cliff this season. He has killed the Jets this year and is absolutely awful and he does not have the 2015 Denver defense to rescue him. Carson Palmer would probably be his closest challenger for the Manning "I can't throw a football anymore!" award but Fitz has tanked so horribly that Palmer has a ways to go to catch up. I hope Palmer turns things around but Fitz looks done. Fitz is apparently furious about getting benched but come on...who does this guy think he is? Not only is he a below average QB but he is one with a bad attitude to boot.

In case anybody has missed it, Matt Stafford is the new "good" Aaron Rodgers as over the last year he has played flat out awesome. He seems even better without Megatron and has become a fired-up team leader. He is easily the best QB in the NFC North right now and has been playing like one of the best in the NFL. Give the guy some credit he has been playing great since last season.

Matt Ryan has been torching teams so far this season and that offense has been what has kept them in games because their defense gives up lots of points. I guess people could say Ryan is having the season he is because he has to throw a lot to win these games. Well, the next two could be offensive showdowns because the Falcons next two games will be against the Chargers and Packers. These have potential to be really high scoring affairs and push Ryan's stats even further into the stratosphere.

Andrew Luck needs out of Indy. I can't believe that moron Irsay did not just fire Ryan Grigson after he blamed the Colts struggles on Andrew Luck...the one guy that keeps the this horrendous team somewhat competitive. Grigson is first in line for A-hole of the year award in the NFL.

The mystery of Colin Kaepernick. OK, this guys career trajectory is a mess. He goes from one of the emerging superstars of the league under Jim Harbaugh to getting benched, becoming famous for being a back-up QB that kneels down before games, to being the guy that is being blamed for the NFL's TV ratings taking a tremendous nosedive. During this time period the 49ers have leaked that "Well, he just is not the same guy anymore." and that in practice he has looked horrendous. It is no secret that he and the team have been at odds and that Kaepernick has been a disgruntled employee since the departure of Harbaugh. It also is not a secret that he was totally uninterested in participating in 49ers preseason activities and wanted to be traded. This was made so obvious the 49ers could not make a deal for him that would net them any return. They danced with the Broncos but Elway was smart enough to know he had no need to offer them much for a player that did not want in any way to play for the 49ers. Blaine Gabbert was handed the starting QB job by new head coach Chip Kelly. Blaine Gabbert, seriously. Supposedly Colin was blasted several times for screwing around in meetings, joking, laughing, throwing things, and not paying attention. This put him on Kelly's crap list. The interesting thing was out of the two QBs he had to chose from Kaepernick seemed by far the best suited to run a Kelly style offense. Still, somehow Gabbert got the job. A lot of people, including me, were left scratching their heads on that one. Now, the rumors are that Colin had lost interest in football and that he just was not going to put any effort into playing for the 49ers. He only wants out of there was the idea. But as Gabbert tanked and Kelly wanted to try Kaepernick another story emerged. The 49ers front office did not want to play Kap because he had what they considered a dangerous contract for a player they felt they could not trust. Basically, if he got on the field and got injured the team would owe him guaranteed 20 million dollars they could not get out of paying. So, Kelly had supposedly been told "You can't play this guy!" and that's how Gabbert ended up with the starting job. The 49ers would not play him until Kaepernick reworked his contract...which they did prior to Kelly giving him his first start.

All of this led to Kaepernick becoming an intentional sideshow and now the whipping boy of the NFL. They are trying to blame people being angry at his "protest" for fans not watching the games this year. The NFL should actually look at their product. People want to see great QB match-ups but the league has a small number of good QBs and a bunch of people nobody wants to watch. Their Monday night games this season have been dreadful. The only reason to tune into Thursday night games is to check how crazy the uniforms are. And most Sunday games are awful and if you are not paying an outrageous amount for NFL Sunday ticket and can switch between games a lot of the time you end up turning the game off because it stinks and go and do something else.

Who wants to watch a three hour game featuring Ryan Fitzpatrick and Tyrod Taylor? Or Gabbert or Siemian, Hoyer, Cousins, Osweiler, Keenum, the godawful Tannehill, Winston, Alex Smith, just go down the list. These are not exciting players to watch and invest three hours of time in. Alex Smith wins games but he is probably the most boring QB on the planet. Then add to the equation that QBs that are supposed to be good - Rodgers, Newton, Palmer, Manning, Flacco - are just stinking it up this season and guess what?

People won't spend three hours watching crappy football. It's not Kaepernick kneeling during pregame ceremonies that is the issue...the issue is bad football...a lot of it.
 
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Scott Merryfield

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Reggie, the Jets already announced that Geno Smith will be starting at QB this week instead of Fitzpatrick. I'm not sure it will help that much, but it cannot hurt. If this fails, they are in real trouble, as 3rd round pick Hackenburg was a terrible selection and is nowhere near ready for an NFL defense. I wouldn't have wasted a 7th round pick on him, let alone a 3rd.

I do not recall the Packers ever relying on a tight end while Rodgers was the QB, so I doubt that's the issue. Having no running game, though, could be a big part of the problem. Green Bay relies on play action passes a lot, and no defense is respecting that running game right now.
 

Winston T. Boogie

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I agree that the issues with the Packer offense go well beyond a TE but I do think when you give QBs like Rodgers, Brady, and Rivers a pass catching TE to utilize it opens things up for the offense in a big way. This is why the Patriots are back to having two of them. Why the Chargers also made moves to have two. Rodgers now has to rely on his wideouts who are not what they once were. Nelson is a shadow of the player he once was. So, much so I would expect if this keeps up he's gone at the end of the season. Cobb is a complimentary player. He is better in the slot with good WRs on the outside so he can create mismatches. Yes, and Cookie Belly being hurt and not so great this season has not helped. Rodgers has stunk though as well. He has moments where he flashes the old Rodgers but not often.
 

Aaron Silverman

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Obviously, Rodgers' issues are a result of the league now very carefully monitoring the pressure levels of footballs, so he can no longer over-inflate them the way he likes 'em.

It makes perfect sense, right? :dance:
 

Scott Merryfield

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The Michigan - Illinois game yesterday had an NFL flavor to it, with Ilini players Jeff George, Jr. and Hardy Nickerson and Wolverine Tyrone Wheatley, Jr. George had a rough day in his first NCAA start against the NCAA's top defense (and with dad in the stands watching). Nickerson also plays his dad's old position, and dad is the Illinois defensive coordinator. Wheatley (a tight end) scored his first touchdown, and his dad is the Michigan running backs coach.

Also, this is the first time ever that two former Super Bowl head coaches faced each other as head coaches in an NCAA game -- Lovie Smith is HC for Illinois, while Jim Harbaugh coaches Michigan. That's not surprising, as the only other NFL Super Bowl HC I can think of who coached in the NCAA afterwards is Bobby Ross at Army. Others like Jimmy Johnson, Pete Carrol and Barry Switzer coached in Super Bowls after coaching in the NCAA, but I cannot think of anyone else who did the opposite.
 

ponset

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The Vikings suffer their 1st lost of the season. It was a beat down from the Eagles. :eek:

Seahawks and Cardinals played to a 6-6 tie.
the 4th tie in the past 5 years.
I rather have a tie then a lost.
 

Scott Merryfield

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Speaking of bad football, is anyone out there actually watching the Thursday Night games? I flipped to the game briefly during the 2nd intermission of the Montreal - Tampa NHL game, saw it was 17-0 Tennessee, and quickly changed the channel to the NCAA game on ESPN. I had almost no desire to see those two horrible teams play before tuning in, and certainly wasn't interested after seeing the score.

I find myself watching less and less NFL football the past few years. I'm not sure if it's over-saturation on prime time, all the additional stoppages and commercials, or simply the lackluster games themselves. It's probably a combination of all three. During the Lions game early on Sunday, I worked around the house (when the Lions are at home, we do not get another viewing option), and I forgot completely about the morning game from London. On Sunday evening, I watched a movie with my wife. On Monday night, I only tuned in during intermission and after the Montreal - Philly NHL game was over, and went to bed at half time. This pattern is becoming more and more common for me. If I didn't play fantasy football, I would probably pay even less attention.
 

Robert Crawford

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I turned the Raiders game off as I couldn't stand watching them give this game away with their dumb penalties. They set a new NFL record in that regard and didn't deserve to win this game today. Flagged 23 times for 200 penalty yards. Just awful!
 
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Aaron Silverman

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Carr was only 41 yards shy of the all-time passing yards record. One or two fewer flags on offense, he might've had it!
 

Winston T. Boogie

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The Raiders are winning games on sheer talent. That idiot Del Rio, who looked like he won the Super Bowl after that horrible record setting penalty game against a very mediocre Tampa team, is totally responsible for how undisciplined his team is. Carr played his ass off, the team put up a ridiculous amount of offense (626 yards) but were penalized for 200 yards so had to go to overtime to beat a team they were basically dominating. You might get a win against a crappy Buccs team that way but if the Raiders were playing a good team they probably would have lost that game.

The sad thing for Raiders fans is while the team is winning and off to a 6-2 start and looking like they could win their division and easily make the playoffs...they need to fire Del Rio...which they likely won't do because he will finish the season with a winning record and make the playoffs.

Basically, I think with a good coach the Raiders would be a Super Bowl contender. With Del Rio they have the potential to blow any game. They have had some serious luck to get to 6-2 and could easily be 4-4 or worse.

I am looking forward to watching this Sunday night's game as I think Broncos at Raiders is the game of the week this week. The Broncos are a solid well coached team. It will be interesting to watch this Raiders team face them and see if Del Rio and his staff have done anything to clean up all the dumb mistakes. They won't get away with mistakes against the Broncos.
 
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Scott Merryfield

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I guess the Vikings are not so good as their 5-0 start made us think. Getting beat convincingly by a horrible Bears team really can take the luster off a fast start to the season .
 

Malcolm R

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There's such parity in the league that even the best teams are at risk of getting beat by the worst teams when they play. That's why there's been no undefeated teams in decades.

We'll have to see if the Cleveland Clow..., er, Browns, can manage to beat someone before the end of the season.
 

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