NFL 2018-2019 Thread (1 Viewer)

[Winston T. Boogie]

I guess the Patriots win so many Super Bowls because they are better coached than other teams. And the coaches (and players like Dee Ford) of other teams make more unforced errors.

This is the thing. It is funny because here in New England there is always a debate about who is more responsible for all the the Patriots success and the choice is always Brady or Belichick and the split seems to always lean toward Brady.

Personally, I don't think Brady would be what he is had he played for somebody other than Belichick. Belichick still would have been a highly successful coach though.

Would he have been as successful? Who can say.

The level of success now for the Patriots is just crazy. I mean 13 AFC Championship games including 8 straight plus 9 Super Bowl appearances...in an era of football that has been all about creating parity.

The horrible thing for the NFL is the parity thing has worked for the rest of the league. Teams fortunes rapidly change from season to season...but not the Patriots. No surprise people hate the Patriots...teams that win too much are always hated plus when every other team looks so inconsistent, it must be infuriating for people to see the Patriots be so consistent.

Yes, their division has been weak but so have many other divisions. Plus you have to wonder about Tom Brady's horrible record (7-10 I think) playing in Miami. Not only does he have a losing record there but he throws a lot of interceptions (15) in Miami.

There have been 26 coaches pass through the AFC East while Belichick has been coaching the Patriots. That is an ugly number.

I do feel that the league is plagued by a lack of good coaches. Basically, there are very few guys that can keep up with Belichick.

I think this season mostly the best coaches reached the playoffs. I also feel like Belichick did maybe his best job ever coaching this season's team.

I am very interested to see McVay face off against Belichick in the Super Bowl. I am not sure Belichick has faced a guy that will tear apart what he does the way he has always done to other teams coaches. McVay will and I think that makes this game interesting. This game should be the ultimate chess match.

I also think that makes the game unlikely to be a blow-out...which is good.

 

[Malcolm R]

I do feel that the league is plagued by a lack of good coaches. Basically, there are very few guys that can keep up with Belichick.

I think this season mostly the best coaches reached the playoffs. I also feel like Belichick did maybe his best job ever coaching this season's team.

There are several reports today that Belichick (or McDaniels) added 8 new plays to yesterday's game plan at the 11am team meeting. They ran through them in the hotel ballroom, but didn't actually practice them on the field. After the game, Brady said they ran 4 or 5 of them during the game and all were successful for positive yards.

Brand new plays. Only about 6 hours before game time. With no on-field practice.

That speaks not only to the coaching, but also to how well the team is prepared and how quickly they can adapt on the fly.

I was hoping the cameras would catch Roger Goodell (he was at Arrowhead) after the Patriots clinched another SB trip.

 

[Winston T. Boogie]

That speaks not only to the coaching, but also to how well the team is prepared and how quickly they can adapt on the fly.

Yes, when they talk about the "Patriot way" a lot of that is the willingness to do what it takes to be the most mentally prepared player you can be. So, if Bill throws something at you, you can both understand it and execute it.

Some players love this and thrive in this environment, others can't stand it.

 

[Malcolm R]

I was hoping the cameras would catch Roger Goodell (he was at Arrowhead) after the Patriots clinched another SB trip.

I suspect his expression was something like this:

 

[Carabimero]

was amazed that Andy Reid didn't run another play or two with 11 seconds

I was too, until I considered Reid was probably worried about either a pic in the end zone or a sack, which would end the game then and there.

My problem with the time management came on KC's penultimate drive in regulation, when they scored barely on this side of the two-minute warning. If nothing else, they could have milked the play clock more and tried to get NE to at least burn a time out. Or something. But they didn't do anything. Nance and Romo said nothing about all the time they left for Brady.

As far as the Saints having opportunities to win the game after the botched DPI and helmet-to-helmet call, my point is, they shouldn't have had to. There ought to be a fail-safe to prevent an egregious non-call like that.

I used to loathe The patriots for all the standard reasons, but mainly because I didn't want belichick to pass Landry on some great all-time records. But the fact is, over the years, as I've learned more about the intricacies of football, I can't help but respect not only what Belichick has accomplished, but what he continues to do every year in the face of limitations that leave other teams floundering.

I heard a Cowboys fan once lament not signing Belichick as coach. Hell, Belichick, or any coach worth their salt (besides Parcells, who got autonomy) wouldn't last long playing under Jerry Jones. So as long as he's alive, we're never going to get a great coach.

 

[TonyD]

Here’s a thought about why the Chiefs were able to score so quickly.
Once they got to the 40 of NE.
Brlichik let them score.
He wanted the ball with about 2 minutes left and in Brady’s hands.

 

[Chip_HT]

My problem with the time management came on KC's penultimate drive in regulation, when they scored barely on this side of the two-minute warning. If nothing else, they could have milked the play clock more and tried to get NE to at least burn a time out.

The problem is that KC had a first and goal from the 2 yard line and the play clock was going to expire before the two minute warning. They had to run a play. Because they were so close to the goal line, it was hard to run a play that wouldn't get the TD, but also not stop the clock.

Even if they did mange to run on first down and not get the TD, the clock would stop at 2 minutes.

Maybe 2nd down would be another run and not score. Third down would be a TD attempt. Fourth down would be a tying FG. I think NE still had 2 or 3 timeouts, so they would have been stopping the clock after each down.

KC would have preferred to score after the two minute warning, but it wouldn't have eaten that much more off the clock.

 

[Carabimero]

Brlichik let them score.

I think you're right, at least on the play they scored on. Before that, I think the Pats were trying to stop them.

P.S. I've learned so much about football the last couple of years from listening and watching Tony Romo call games. Lots of Cowboys doing analysis but none as good IMO as Romo: Troy, Moose, and sadly, Jason Witten. But MNF is hard to watch with the volume up. Hopefully the Cowboys will hire Witten to help in some phase of their offense and we can get someone articulate on MNF.

 

[Jeffrey D]

Goodell vs. the Patriots- I thought Goodell suspending Brady for possible involvement in deflating footballs was too harsh a punishment- a fine would have sufficed. I was happy when the Patriots came back to beat the Falcons 2 years ago- it was a good little screw you back at Goodell. I’ll be rooting for Brady to get his 6th ring, then I want to see them go away.

 

[Jeffrey D]

Did anybody hear about the Saints ticket holders trying to sue the league into having the game replayed at the point of the missed call? Zero chance this happens- the plaintiffs would have to prove intent to deprive the Saints of the victory, or prove the league could have changed the call by rule, and the league chose not to. Neither applies in this situation. A poster board for too many lawyers roaming the earth.

 

[Johnny Angell]

Did anybody hear about the Saints ticket holders trying to sue the league into having the game replayed at the point of the missed call? Zero chance this happens- the plaintiffs would have to prove intent to deprive the Saints of the victory, or prove the league could have changed the call by rule, and the league chose not to. Neither applies in this situation. A poster board for too many lawyers roaming the earth.

You’re right of course. However, if I were a diehard Saints fan, that non-call would have given me a brain aneurysm. Sheesh!

I can think of a playoff game in which league officials ordered a completed game to be replayed in its entirety. If happened to the San Diego (of course) Soccers of the MISL in the past century. The soccers were the dominant NY Yankees in the MISL. The won it all more than when the Yankees were at their peek.

So the officials made a mistake, I forget what or how important it was. Soccers won. Game replayed, Soccers won. I’ve never heard of another game being replayed in any sport.

 

[Carabimero]

I have seen every Pro Bowl since I was young. I think that was the last one I will ever watch. It wasn't even flag football. The refs were blowing whistles BEFORE contact.

They should just give the awards without playing the game, or have them play flag football. I honestly think that would be more fun to watch.

On the officiating: If the league can contact a team on Monday or Tuesday and admit they blew a call, why can't they just admit it during the game on Sunday while there's still a chance to fix it?

 

[Scott Merryfield]

I have seen every Pro Bowl since I was young. I think that was the last one I will ever watch. It wasn't even flag football. The refs were blowing whistles BEFORE contact.

They should just give the awards without playing the game, or have them play flag football. I honestly think that would be more fun to watch.

On the officiating: If the league can contact a team on Monday or Tuesday and admit they blew a call, why can't they just admit it during the game on Sunday while there's still a chance to fix it?

That's a slippery slope for judgement calls like pass interference, holding, etc. While the missed call in the Saints game was obvious, just how egregious does the call have to be before it gets overturned? If they start reviewing every penalty, games that already drag on too long will become even more unwatchable.

I still do not understand how not one official on the field threw a flag the pass interference. The call was so obvious, that even if the official closest to the play failed to throw a flag, another official should have tossed a hanky.

As for the Pro Bowl, it's been a long time since I watched the game. I find all the pro All-Star games unwatchable -- I would rather stare at a blank wall than watch any of them. The MLB game may still be watchable, but I stopped following the sport completely about 25 years ago so I am certainly not going to watch their All Star game. The NHL game resembles an over 30 no checking beer league game -- it's awful.

 

[Carabimero]

Why can't there be some secret guy in NY in a private room watching PLAYOFF GAMES ONLY, and when a call like that is missed, he can contact the head official immediately and directly and say, privately in his ear, "You missed it. Throw a flag." Or, "You got it wrong. Pick the flag up." It's not rocket science, there's no long wait, and where egregious calls are concerned, it would help prevent this very problem.

 

[Malcolm R]

That's part of the frustration, as the technology already exists and is in use during the game ... to look for concussions. There's (supposedly) someone reviewing all the plays in real-time, looking for hard contact with a player's head and they can immediately buzz down to the referee to stop the game and take the player out for evaluation. Why a similar option cannot be used for egregious oversights in officiating is perplexing.

 

[Scott Merryfield]

The problem with the "secret guy in NY" is with all the marginal calls -- where do you draw the line on what gets reviewed?. We already have a situation where the viewers do not always agree with final decision from replay reviews for those types of plays that are covered (I know I don't always agree), and now you are going to add subjective penalty calls like pass interference, holding, etc. to the equation? You cannot have a single guy in a booth making a final decision by himself with no input from the field -- that's why the officials on the field look at the replay now. The games drag on too much as it is right now due to replay reviews, and it's questionable whether they get the call right all the time with those reviews. Honestly, I enjoyed the game more before the review process was added. Human error is part of the game.

 

[Winston T. Boogie]

I still do not understand how not one official on the field threw a flag the pass interference. The call was so obvious, that even if the official closest to the play failed to throw a flag, another official should have tossed a hanky.

So, the conspiracy theory is that the league really wanted the Rams in the Super Bowl as they want to build the lackluster LA market into a "football town" when everybody knows it is not. The Rams left LA because the town was not a football town and the Raiders have always been the most popular team there. However, it is a major city and the league wants a presence there.

So, do people believe that the refs were told to lay off making calls on the Rams?

 

[RolandL]

Should be the Saints and the Chiefs in the Superbowl. Both had bad or no calls that shouldn't or should of happened.

I will always hate the Patriots. They planned to move the team to Connecticut. But that was just to make Massachusetts pay for a new stadium.

But I did enjoy the Giants beating them in both Superbowl's that they met.

 

[Malcolm R]

Human error is part of the game.

You sound like a baseball fan. Another sport hopelessly stuck in the past and shunning the ability of today's technology to actually get it right, rather than "close enough."

I still like Bill Belichick's suggestion to make absolutely everything reviewable. Every play, every call. Coaches only get a limited number of challenges, but they can be used on absolutely anything. No more of "this is not reviewable," or "that is not reviewable."

 

[Scott Merryfield]

So, the conspiracy theory is that the league really wanted the Rams in the Super Bowl as they want to build the lackluster LA market into a "football town" when everybody knows it is not. The Rams left LA because the town was not a football town and the Raiders have always been the most popular team there. However, it is a major city and the league wants a presence there.

So, do people believe that the refs were told to lay off making calls on the Rams?

Sorry, but I don't wear a tin foil hat. It was just a horrendously bad missed call. Nothing more.