NFL 2015 Week 10: Down on your Luck

[Joe Pesci]

Deadspin's article on the reinstatement hearing for Greg Hardy. Recommended read.

Whew. Down the NFL rabbit hole we go.

[Manhole Eunuchsbane]

 Looks like that Raiders/Chargers sharing a stadium deal is going to get done...

http://www.cbssports.com/nfl/writer/jason-la-canfora/25369834/disney-ceo-agrees-to-lead-la-stadium-project-for-raiders-and-chargers

 

/The Mouse does not fuck around.

 

 

 

[Jaime L]

I'm not going to say this made me feel bad for Johnny Manziel, but man, "boom! roasted" doesn't even come close to describing this article:

 

http://www.sbnation.com/2015/11/10/9689988/johnny-manziel-browns-film-breakdown-not-ready-to-start

That's pretty devastating. Definitely feels like he, idiotically, wants to be a hero on every play. Not even looking at his first read if it's a glory-less 8 yard completion to the flat. His skill position guys must all hate him. 

And yet they should keep playing him for the same reason they should have played him before.

They're 2-7. Even with Josh McCown playing well above expectations they're out of the playoff race...as completely expected with their schedule. If he's not ready, it's clear sitting on the bench hasn't helped him get any closer. Give him an opportunity to learn from his mistakes now instead of 4 weeks later during the next inevitable McCown injury. And if he doesn't - and make no mistake, he almost certainly won't - the continued losing puts the Browns in position to get a top notch replacement (instead of whichever QB fell to #22...for inevitably very good reasons). 

Or trade him to the Cowboys now. You have Jerry Jones still convinced he's going to be a star just like he's convinced Greg Hardy is a leader. If you can get Jerry on the phone while Stephen Jones is taking a dump or something you might still be able to get scrap value out of the first round pick you never play. 

 

 

 

[DanteGabriel]

Really strong episode of Inside the NFL this week. Mike Zimmer miked up and complaining to the refs loudly, and often, about the Rams' tactics -- "They're cheap shotting my quarterback!" "These guys are dirty!" Chandler Jones miked up and endearing in the Washington game. A segment on Greg Hardy and reasonably frank talk about Hardy and the Cowboys. And last and maybe best, something during the 49ers-Falcons segment, which I'll only call... "Blaine Runner."

[SkynJay]

 

Or trade him to the Cowboys now.

 

I like this.  Who needs 'progressions' and 'reads?'  Just chuck it up to Dez a dozen times a game.  Instant stat machine and everyone is talking Cowboys again.

[Manhole Eunuchsbane]

 And last and maybe best, something during the 49ers-Falcons segment, which I'll only call... "Blaine Runner."

Tomsula: I'm impressed. How many plays does it usually take to spot them?

Geep Chryst: Twenty, thirty, cross-referenced.

Tomsula: It took more than 100 for Blaine, didn't it?

Geep Chryst: He doesn't know.

Tomsula: He's beginning to suspect, I think.

 

 

  

[Mexal]

That moment you realize that all the remaining undefeated teams are named after big cats.

[Joe Pesci]

That moment you realize that all the remaining undefeated teams are named after big cats.

That shit made my day.

[Jace, Extat]

That moment you realize that all the remaining undefeated teams are named after big cats.

Well played.

ETA:

Saw an interview of Edgerrin James talking about the Colts, now that he's all growed up and took that shit out of his mouth I could actually understand what the fuck he was saying. Guy looks good and seems like he's doing well these days.

[trickster]

That moment you realize that all the remaining undefeated teams are named after big cats.

 

[Joe Pesci]

Really strong episode of Inside the NFL this week. Mike Zimmer miked up and complaining to the refs loudly, and often, about the Rams' tactics -- "They're cheap shotting my quarterback!" "These guys are dirty!" Chandler Jones miked up and endearing in the Washington game. A segment on Greg Hardy and reasonably frank talk about Hardy and the Cowboys. And last and maybe best, something during the 49ers-Falcons segment, which I'll only call... "Blaine Runner."

How can this show have a segment about Greg Hardy and have Shannon Sharpe in it? I believe he's had two instances of accused assault against women himself. I forgot how much I don't miss his mumbling on the CBS pregame show.

[DanteGabriel]

How can this show have a segment about Greg Hardy and have Shannon Sharpe in it? I believe he's had two instances of accused assault against women himself. I forgot how much I don't miss his mumbling on the CBS pregame show.

I had been unfamiliar with the allegations against Shannon Sharpe. I always thought he was hard to listen to, but then Ray Lewis showed me how much worse it can get.

Ostensibly Sharpe was there on short notice to replace Michael Irvin, who was dealing with his mom's death. Then again, Irvin's been the subject of similar allegations in the past too. At least they didn't bring on Sapp, I guess? Maybe they need to try harder to find former NFL players to go into broadcasting, who haven't been involved in sexual assault or domestic violence cases. The pool can't be that thin, can it?

As for Sharpe's actual comments on the show, he managed to make some cogent points about the tricky territory one gets into when employers level punishments on employees who have been cleared by the courts. I don't remember him addressing Hardy's conduct much, specifically, and maybe that's wise for him given his own past.

My takeaway from the Deadspin article that Mexal linked is that, after reading those excerpts and the Ballghazi stuff, I've come to realize the NFL must employ some of the stupidest and most vile lawyers on the planet.

The issue here isn’t so much the vileness of the insinuations—Are you really going to take the word of these gold-digging tramps?—as the fact that they go unchallenged in the office of a company apparently focused on “getting it right” on domestic violence.

[Fez]

Bills-Jets tonight. I really hate Thursday night football. I'd say the Jets should be reasonably big favorites, but they've played pretty bad their past 3 games, so who knows. Really important game though. They win, they're 6-3 with 1+ game lead on everyone else in the wildcard race and a soft enough remaining schedule that hitting 10+ wins should be easy. They lose though, and they're 5-4, down a tie-breaker to the Bills, only having the second wildcard due to a tie-breaker over the Steelers, and the Raiders looming at 4-4 with their tiebreaker should it come to that.

Its not a make or break game, there's a lot of season left, but its pretty close to it. 

[Jace, Extat]

Not sure why the Jets should be favorites at all, as you said they've played like dog shit for 2 weeks in a row. The defense gives less than a single actual fuck in the secondary, and Chris Ivory is plummeting past the T-Rich/Feastmode zone into a whole new level of offensive futility (26 yards on 23 carries last week!!! That doesn't seem physically possible!) you guys all laughed me out of the thread when I told you about Fitzmagic in the offseason, but he's basically the only thing that's keeping this team propped up right now and he has a fucked up thumb.

The Benjamin's, meanwhile, are finally approaching the mystical state of being known as 'healthy' and have the real deal in Tyrod Taylor (or Greg Roman is a fucking wizard, but E.J. Manuel casts doubt on that theory) and their running game should be better with a 'healthy' (fucked up his shoulder last week) Shady McCoy and that rookie who's name I don't care enough about to look up.

This is a coinflip game in my mind, but it ultimately doesn't matter. Both of these teams are irrelevant and do not matter. We might as well be getting Browns-Oilers.

[Mexal]

Bills are a pretty good team with Tyrod Taylor as their QB. Think this will be a close, fun game. Looking forward to it surprisingly.

[Fez]

Not sure why the Jets should be favorites at all, as you said they've played like dog shit for 2 weeks in a row. The defense gives less than a single actual fuck in the secondary, and Chris Ivory is plummeting past the T-Rich/Feastmode zone into a whole new level of offensive futility (26 yards on 23 carries last week!!! That doesn't seem physically possible!) you guys all laughed me out of the thread when I told you about Fitzmagic in the offseason, but he's basically the only thing that's keeping this team propped up right now and he has a fucked up thumb.

The Benjamin's, meanwhile, are finally approaching the mystical state of being known as 'healthy' and have the real deal in Tyrod Taylor (or Greg Roman is a fucking wizard, but E.J. Manuel casts doubt on that theory) and their running game should be better with a 'healthy' (fucked up his shoulder last week) Shady McCoy and that rookie who's name I don't care enough about to look up.

This is a coinflip game in my mind, but it ultimately doesn't matter. Both of these teams are irrelevant and do not matter. We might as well be getting Browns-Oilers.

Thursday night games are generally slop fests already, and Rex is an extra sloppy (though often very good) coach, so I'm expecting a Bills team that is basically not ready to play.

Also, considering how often upsets and unexpected runs happen in the playoffs, you really shouldn't discount any game that has playoff implications like this. Sticking with the Jets, how many people expected them to beat Peyton Manning and Tom Brady in back-to-back weeks in the 2010 playoffs? But that's exactly what they did.

[DanteGabriel]

This is a coinflip game in my mind, but it ultimately doesn't matter. Both of these teams are irrelevant and do not matter. We might as well be getting Browns-Oilers.

Both teams are perfectly capable of coming to Indianapolis in the wild card round and beating the playoffs-by-default Colts.

[Jace, Extat]

Both teams are perfectly capable of coming to Indianapolis in the wild card round and beating the playoffs-by-default Colts.

Whoop de fuckin' doo. When they can not be completely fucking useless and even threaten to win their own division, I might consider revoking the insignificant tag on one of them.

And yes, before you ask, the Colts are insignificant as well because they will never beat Tom Brady's Patriots.

[DanteGabriel]

Whoop de fuckin' doo. When they can not be completely fucking useless and even threaten to win their own division, I might consider revoking the insignificant tag on one of them.

And yes, before you ask, the Colts are insignificant as well because they will never beat Tom Brady's Patriots.

You were less grouchy when you were a Patriots fan. 

[Fez]

Whoop de fuckin' doo. When they can not be completely fucking useless and even threaten to win their own division, I might consider revoking the insignificant tag on one of them.

And yes, before you ask, the Colts are insignificant as well because they will never beat Tom Brady's Patriots.

Any team could beat the Patriots. The odds are pretty low for most of them, but its any given Sunday/Monday/Thursday/Saturday for a reason. All that matters is getting that chance in the playoffs.