NFL 2014 Week 3: The Struggle is Real

[Rockroi]

49ers had 16 penalties too. A full 1/3rd of Bears first downs came via penalties. Welcome to NFL football in 2014. Every play without an "illegal hands to the face" penalty is a small blessing.

Someone needs to a study of how many penalties (accepted or otherwise) were called per game today.

Chicago was also called for ten penalties; combined the two teams had 26 penalties for ~175 yards (which is only about twelve yards more than the Pats did all by themselves). And this does not include all the flags that were declined; all the penalties that off set or all the "There were two fouls on the play so one doesn't count..." There are a lot of penalties. And it makes watching the game a challenge.

[Kalbear]

God damn, Bears. Can't stop the run game for anything, the running offense looks horrible and Cutler is like a bigger, uglier version of the sex cannon. I'm so tired of the D being unable to tackle. I'm tired of the O being so inconsistent.

Wait, we won? Really? Um...JUST LIKE I PREDICTED

[SkynJay]

So, We had football this week. We sure did, Gary; we sure did....

This was an absolute treat to wake to this morning. I have read a few of your rants but damn this was perfect. Never has a post needed a mike drop worse. Better yet, I see this as a perfect Jim Rome call followed by an "I'm out, rack me."

Course, I am not sure if Rome is still around. Is Rome still around, doing his repeat a point twenty times thing?

On the game that I cared about. Manning gets the ball three times in the second half, once to kneel. Agonizing to watch. Broncos defense actually plays really well during that time...unless you count penalties against them. INT taken back by the good old free play infraction, roughing the passer, a few more free plays. Not one call controversial or worth arguing over. Someone tell me this is something a team can fix; for the most part I feel teams that take penalties continue to take them all season. Which will make this a LONG season.

[Maithanet]

I have never felt so ambivalent about a 41-10 victory as this week in Washington. Griffin is hurt, probably out for the season (best case scenario he could come back for the final 5 or so games). That makes me very sad, but at least I don't have to deal with the emotional roller coaster of expecting him to literally die on the field. Two of the four big free agents we signed this year also got hurt (Jackson and OG Lavauo). Injuries happen, but they are happening at a very alarming rate these first two weeks. But the team played great. The pass rush was better than I can remember since the Joe Gibbs 1 era. The special teams had zero miscues, and a couple of good returns. The offense established the run in the first half and had great balance throughout. To survive this horrible rash of early injuries, we look like a deeper team than we have in many many years.

At least I'm not a Jags fan, amiright? They just gave up 41 points to a team without their #1 QB, WR or TE. And it's not like their offense is picking up the slack. I know that a lot of people were clamoring to start Bortles instead of Henne, but with the O line as bad as it is, I don't see how you could possibly send out the rookie. Obviously the Jags don't care if Henne gets shellshocked, or else they wouldnt' be dialing up deep passing plays with 20 seconds left when they are down 31. Seriously, that was when we got our 10th sack. Anyways, if the Jags can't clear up these O line issues, Bortles is gonna get the full David Carr treatment. If you're thinking long term future, you might need to wait till next year before letting Bortles on the field.

[Jaime L]

I have never felt so ambivalent about a 41-10 victory as this week in Washington. Griffin is hurt, probably out for the season (best case scenario he could come back for the final 5 or so games). That makes me very sad, but at least I don't have to deal with the emotional roller coaster of expecting him to literally die on the field. Two of the four big free agents we signed this year also got hurt (Jackson and OG Lavauo). Injuries happen, but they are happening at a very alarming rate these first two weeks. But the team played great. The pass rush was better than I can remember since the Joe Gibbs 1 era. The special teams had zero miscues, and a couple of good returns. The offense established the run in the first half and had great balance throughout. To survive this horrible rash of early injuries, we look like a deeper team than we have in many many years.

At least I'm not a Jags fan, amiright? They just gave up 41 points to a team without their #1 QB, WR or TE. And it's not like their offense is picking up the slack. I know that a lot of people were clamoring to start Bortles instead of Henne, but with the O line as bad as it is, I don't see how you could possibly send out the rookie. Obviously the Jags don't care if Henne gets shellshocked, or else they wouldnt' be dialing up deep passing plays with 20 seconds left when they are down 31. Seriously, that was when we got our 10th sack. Anyways, if the Jags can't clear up these O line issues, Bortles is gonna get the full David Carr treatment. If you're thinking long term future, you might need to wait till next year before letting Bortles on the field.

You know it seemed like Cousins got way better protection than RGIII and I don't know if that's a ) that he sets his protections better and/or is decisive enough to know when he has to get rid of the ball or b ) the Jaguars factor. I'm so eager now to see how he plays against an actual NFL team. I've never seen a player so consistently overrated as Kirk Cousins but he did look pretty awesome on Sunday. PFF points out that his 12.2 yard average depth of his passes was the highest in the NFL on Sunday. That's not your typical 4th rounder dink-and-dunk skillset right there.

And yeah this team looks surprisingly way deeper than ever before. Especially at WR. It's actually fantastic that Santana Moss is a healthy scratch every week. Aldrick Robinson and Ryan Grant are legit.

As for the Jaguars, I don't think Bortles gets a start anytime soon for the reasons you note. With a line that terrible, I assume they keep throwing Henne out there to take the beatings to avoid Bortles getting David Carr syndrome. That said, Henne holding onto the ball was the reason for at least half of those sacks. It was fun late in the game to see that he wasn't even looking down the field anymore, his eyes were firmly pinned on the rush.

[Rockroi]

This was an absolute treat to wake to this morning. I have read a few of your rants but damn this was perfect. Never has a post needed a mike drop worse. Better yet, I see this as a perfect Jim Rome call followed by an "I'm out, rack me."

Course, I am not sure if Rome is still around. Is Rome still around, doing his repeat a point twenty times thing?

On the game that I cared about. Manning gets the ball three times in the second half, once to kneel. Agonizing to watch. Broncos defense actually plays really well during that time...unless you count penalties against them. INT taken back by the good old free play infraction, roughing the passer, a few more free plays. Not one call controversial or worth arguing over. Someone tell me this is something a team can fix; for the most part I feel teams that take penalties continue to take them all season. Which will make this a LONG season.

First of all, thank you for saying this; its appreciated.

Second, I couldn't tell if you were being sarcastic by comparing me to Jim Rome. I think that's funny. Either way.

Third,,, I can't believe I didn't remember to laugh at the Jets for that Mornhinweg Time Out Call. God. The Jets lost that game in the most Jets way possible. They go up 21 -3 and then fall behind (because Rex Ryan's defense is awesome) and then on 4th down... complete an incredible pass for a TD to tie.,.. just to have Mornhinweg call a TO the same way Rex did in the 2007 with the Ravens v. the Pats.

Glad you learned your lesson you fuckwit.

God the Jets are fucking awesome to mock because they are completely stupid.

[Rockroi]

Oh, and reports are that AP will play Sunday.

http://www.cbssports.com/nfl/eye-on-football/24710808/vikings-adrian-peterson-will-practice-fully-expected-to-play-week-3

Due Process. you fucking assholes

[Jabronius Maximus]

They failed as soon as they said "we take very seriously any matter that involves the welfare of a child. At this time, however..."

Just when I had respect for the Vikes and their no-nonsense approach...

[Howdyphillip]

Oh, and reports are that AP will play Sunday.

http://www.cbssports.com/nfl/eye-on-football/24710808/vikings-adrian-peterson-will-practice-fully-expected-to-play-week-3

Due Process. you fucking assholes

Wow... Goodell seems intent on breaking the shiniest and best toy on the planet.

I don't blame the Vikings at all for the decision. The league should have intervened.

[Jabronius Maximus]

Wow... Goodell seems intent on breaking the shiniest and best toy on the planet.

I don't blame the Vikings at all for the decision. The league should have intervened.

Maybe they still can? It did just happen.

[SkynJay]

Second, I couldn't tell if you were being sarcastic by comparing me to Jim Rome. I think that's funny. Either way.

Just to be clear your rant reminded me of some of the calls Rome used to take that made his show worth listening too once in a while. After that I kinda rambled because I hadn't thought about Jim Rome for about five years.

[Rockroi]

Maybe they still can? It did just happen.

Possibly. However, if I am the owner of the Vikings, I would BE DAMNED CERTAIN that before I reactivated AP and take on all that PR nightmare, that the league was not planning on suspending AP anyway. If I were the owner, I would contact Goodell or whomever and ask if they were planning on taking action. And only after they said "no" would I act, and not before.

That makes the most sense.

Then again I never would have picked a 2-game suspension for Ray Rice, so WTF do I know?

[Howdyphillip]

Possibly. However, if I am the owner of the Vikings, I would BE DAMNED CERTAIN that before I reactivated AP and take on all that PR nightmare, that the league was not planning on suspending AP anyway. If I were the owner, I would contact Goodell or whomever and ask if they were planning on taking action. And only after they said "no" would I act, and not before.

That makes the most sense.

Then again I never would have picked a 2-game suspension for Ray Rice, so WTF do I know?

I also wouldn't post a banner about the decision across my website If I were the league office. This decision is obviously complicit with the league.

[sperry]

You know it seemed like Cousins got way better protection than RGIII and I don't know if that's a ) that he sets his protections better and/or is decisive enough to know when he has to get rid of the ball or b ) the Jaguars factor. I'm so eager now to see how he plays against an actual NFL team. I've never seen a player so consistently overrated as Kirk Cousins but he did look pretty awesome on Sunday. PFF points out that his 12.2 yard average depth of his passes was the highest in the NFL on Sunday. That's not your typical 4th rounder dink-and-dunk skillset right there.

And yeah this team looks surprisingly way deeper than ever before. Especially at WR. It's actually fantastic that Santana Moss is a healthy scratch every week. Aldrick Robinson and Ryan Grant are legit.

As for the Jaguars, I don't think Bortles gets a start anytime soon for the reasons you note. With a line that terrible, I assume they keep throwing Henne out there to take the beatings to avoid Bortles getting David Carr syndrome. That said, Henne holding onto the ball was the reason for at least half of those sacks. It was fun late in the game to see that he wasn't even looking down the field anymore, his eyes were firmly pinned on the rush.

In some of my random Bradford argument research I was looking up advanced metrics on quarterbacks, and by DVOA Kirk Cousins was the worst quarterback in the league with at least 100 passing attempts (in fairness, Gabbert threw less than 100 times. But Brandon Weeden did throw 100). And he was the worst by a pretty substantial margin.

[Maithanet]

You know it seemed like Cousins got way better protection than RGIII and I don't know if that's a ) that he sets his protections better and/or is decisive enough to know when he has to get rid of the ball or b ) the Jaguars factor. I'm so eager now to see how he plays against an actual NFL team. I've never seen a player so consistently overrated as Kirk Cousins but he did look pretty awesome on Sunday. PFF points out that his 12.2 yard average depth of his passes was the highest in the NFL on Sunday. That's not your typical 4th rounder dink-and-dunk skillset right there.

And yeah this team looks surprisingly way deeper than ever before. Especially at WR. It's actually fantastic that Santana Moss is a healthy scratch every week. Aldrick Robinson and Ryan Grant are legit.

As for the Jaguars, I don't think Bortles gets a start anytime soon for the reasons you note. With a line that terrible, I assume they keep throwing Henne out there to take the beatings to avoid Bortles getting David Carr syndrome. That said, Henne holding onto the ball was the reason for at least half of those sacks. It was fun late in the game to see that he wasn't even looking down the field anymore, his eyes were firmly pinned on the rush.

I am totally with you about Cousins being overrated. All the people who rave about him just seem to gloss over the fact that he is 1-3 as a starter and has 10 tds/10 ints. He has his moments, but he has some really poor plays as well. One weird thing is he always seems to play a lot better when teams have been game planning for Griffin instead. In his three starts last year with Griffin on the bench, he looked very mediocre. But I will say that if it weren't for Griffin being absolutely AWESOME in 2012, I would be a lot more excited to give Cousins a try. And now, whether we like it or not, Cousins is going to get a very extended tryout.

I will say I am excited about the Eagles game next week. It'll probably go really badly for us, but their O line was a mess against Jacksonville, and I think that will give us at least some chance.

[sperry]

The Vikings should activate him. That way it forces the leagues hand, and they aren't sitting him out and then have a suspension handed down later, unless they get assurances from the league that Peterson will be credited with "time served."

As for the league, they're in a tough spot here, as this is a much more complicated issue than the Ray Rice thing. Clearly a suspension will be warranted, but they need more information before they can really dole out an appropriate punishment. However, in light of their complete botch of the Rice situaiton, they also don't want to be seen as sitting on their hands for this. I don't envy Goodell on this one.

[Jabronius Maximus]

Possibly. However, if I am the owner of the Vikings, I would BE DAMNED CERTAIN that before I reactivated AP and take on all that PR nightmare, that the league was not planning on suspending AP anyway. If I were the owner, I would contact Goodell or whomever and ask if they were planning on taking action. And only after they said "no" would I act, and not before.

That makes the most sense.

Then again I never would have picked a 2-game suspension for Ray Rice, so WTF do I know?

That's true, but I'm willing to bet the NFL will change it's mind in the face of backlash (if indeed they did speak to the Vikes before the activation). In any case, this is just a sleazy move, likely a result of yesterday's ass-kicking.

[Kalbear]

There is a bit of a problem in that the NFL cannot (by agreement with the NFLPA) deactivate a player for more than one game without league approval/reason, IIRC. So the Vikings are probably somewhat stuck.

[Question for TerraPrime]

It's time to start to accept that RG3 is going to be an injury bust. His inability to avoid injury is rather amazing. His bad injuries always come when he isn't touched really. Hell, he's lucky he didn't destroy his knee in the preseason with those slides of his.

It's really a shame. He is one of the most compelling athletes to watch, in any sport. Ask Bo, sometimes having too much talent can work against you.

[Jaime L]

In some of my random Bradford argument research I was looking up advanced metrics on quarterbacks, and by DVOA Kirk Cousins was the worst quarterback in the league with at least 100 passing attempts (in fairness, Gabbert threw less than 100 times. But Brandon Weeden did throw 100). And he was the worst by a pretty substantial margin.

Yeah, exactly. He played basically 5 total games before Sunday and his numbers simply were not good. And yet still there exists this groundswell of Cousins truthers who felt he should have started over RGIII from day one because he looked better from the pocket in preseason. These people have not actually watched the two play. Or they have but have been grading the two on some absurd 2nd overall pick vs. 4th round pick curve. Objectively, he has never been better than RGIII..not even hobbled, injured RGIII by any measure.

Now the flipside to all this is put up a 93.2 QBR on Sunday. Maybe this all flips on its head under Gruden? The template for him is Nick Foles who was pretty terrible in his first 7 starts too. But they changed coaches and suddenly he's a world beater. But honestly, we don't know. This extended tryout will be telling. If he plays like Sunday, even a healthy RGIII will not get his job back. If he plays like last year, now we know for sure what Cousins is.

I am totally with you about Cousins being overrated. All the people who rave about him just seem to gloss over the fact that he is 1-3 as a starter and has 10 tds/10 ints. He has his moments, but he has some really poor plays as well. One weird thing is he always seems to play a lot better when teams have been game planning for Griffin instead. In his three starts last year with Griffin on the bench, he looked very mediocre. But I will say that if it weren't for Griffin being absolutely AWESOME in 2012, I would be a lot more excited to give Cousins a try. And now, whether we like it or not, Cousins is going to get a very extended tryout.

I will say I am excited about the Eagles game next week. It'll probably go really badly for us, but their O line was a mess against Jacksonville, and I think that will give us at least some chance.

Hah, that's true about his skill as a relief QB. His closing out the final quarter of that Ravens game in 2012 was the classic Cousins performance. Maybe we just need to use him as a closer.

I'm also excited to see how this revamped D does against the Eagles. Honestly short of two typical Bacarri Rambo pursuit angle disasters (seriously, I hope he was benched on Sunday - maybe that's why Trenton Robinson got the pick late?), this defense has been lights out. And the pass rush has been awesome. But again, it's against two terrible offenses. I wanna see now if they're good enough to disrupt the Chip Kelly offense. Sunday is setting up to be such a moment of truth for both Cousins and the D.