NFL Week 8 Bungals King of the Jungles

[DanteGabriel]

This game reminds me of a Niners-Giants game in... 1990? Two 9-1 teams, Niners won 7-3, but Giants won in the NFC Championship game that year.

I admit, I am more interested in football this season than I have been in the last few seasons. Watching Belichick reconstruct the team (and finally hit on some draft picks after 4-5 lean years) with a rookie quarterback has been very compelling.

[briantw]

So, like, at some point does Bill Belichick's pact with Satan expire?

[Mr. Chatywin et al.]

13 minutes ago, briantw said:

So, like, at some point does Bill Belichick's pact with Satan expire?

Could say the same for Brady. At least A.A.Ron looks like a weathered old man. Brady looks younger than when he won his third SB.

[Mr. Chatywin et al.]

Mac Jones post-game looks higher than I think I've ever looked in my life, and I once did an ungodly combination of coke, shrooms, weed and booze at a music festival that really should have killed me.

Guess they have the good good shit in upstate New York...

[Inkdaub]

14 hours ago, DMC said:

Highlighting your team's .333 winning percentage is a strange way to talk trash.

Two wins against SF is pretty much all I have to work with this year. 

Spoiler

Seattle is going to finish last for the first time in decades.

 

[BigFatCoward]

As the climate is so much more varied in the US, do the teams that play in shite conditions have trouble attracting free agents?

Or do they follow the money and likelihood of success? I know I would take a lot less money to move to Florida instead of New England for example.

[Nictarion]

58 minutes ago, BigFatCoward said:

As the climate is so much more varied in the US, do the teams that play in shite conditions have trouble attracting free agents?

Or do they follow the money and likelihood of success? I know I would take a lot less money to move to Florida instead of New England for example.

Not really, no. My team for example (the midwestern based Cincinnati Bengals) have been able to almost completely rebuild their defense through free agency the last couple years. 

[DanteGabriel]

So did anyone catch that moment on the Manningcast last night where Peyton asked Joe Buck if he'd ever wished he could have a guest to interview during a blow-out, and Buck said, "Yeah, you know when I last thought of that? When you guys played Seattle in the Super Bowl."

Didn't think I'd laugh that much at something Joe Buck would say.

[briantw]

6 hours ago, BigFatCoward said:

As the climate is so much more varied in the US, do the teams that play in shite conditions have trouble attracting free agents?

Or do they follow the money and likelihood of success? I know I would take a lot less money to move to Florida instead of New England for example.

It doesn’t really impact the NFL too much because the hard cap means good players inevitably have to change teams sometimes and some off-seasons there aren’t a lot of teams with big money to throw around.

It’s much more of an issue in the MLB and NBA.

[Maithanet]

1 hour ago, briantw said:

It doesn’t really impact the NFL too much because the hard cap means good players inevitably have to change teams sometimes and some off-seasons there aren’t a lot of teams with big money to throw around.

It’s much more of an issue in the MLB and NBA.

Yes, and going further, teams are pretty reluctant to break the bank for any one player, with the exception of quarterbacks.  Even a great DE or OT (probably the next most valuable positions) will only have a few teams that are really in the running for their services.  Whereas in the NBA if you're a top 15 player, essentially every team wants you and you can take your pick of which team gets to pay you a max contract. 

It's possible that there are quarterbacks (particularly older guys) who will avoid signing free agent deals with bad weather teams.  Tom Brady definitely wanted to go somewhere warm, and I think it's a factor for Rodgers as well.  But Manning went from the dome to Denver, so it's hardly an ironclad rule. 

[briantw]

2 hours ago, Maithanet said:

Yes, and going further, teams are pretty reluctant to break the bank for any one player, with the exception of quarterbacks.  Even a great DE or OT (probably the next most valuable positions) will only have a few teams that are really in the running for their services.  Whereas in the NBA if you're a top 15 player, essentially every team wants you and you can take your pick of which team gets to pay you a max contract. 

It's possible that there are quarterbacks (particularly older guys) who will avoid signing free agent deals with bad weather teams.  Tom Brady definitely wanted to go somewhere warm, and I think it's a factor for Rodgers as well.  But Manning went from the dome to Denver, so it's hardly an ironclad rule. 

Tom Brady also spent twenty years taking less money to play outside in New England, so he’s probably not the best example.

[Trebla]

8 hours ago, briantw said:

It doesn’t really impact the NFL too much because the hard cap means good players inevitably have to change teams sometimes and some off-seasons there aren’t a lot of teams with big money to throw around.

It’s much more of an issue in the MLB and NBA.

I think a lot of players would look at which state the team is in, like does it have a state income tax, rather than what kind of weather the team had. If my memory is correct, the first real big free agent was Reggie White who went from cold Philly to frigid Green Bay.

[DMC]

20 minutes ago, Trebla said:

like does it have a state income tax, rather than what kind of weather the team had.

Yeah teams from both Florida and Texas - across all sports - benefit far more from having no state income tax than because they have warm weather.  I really don't think differences in weather is much of a significant consideration for the vast majority.

[Mr. Chatywin et al.]

21 minutes ago, DMC said:

Yeah teams from both Florida and Texas - across all sports - benefit far more from having no state income tax than because they have warm weather.  I really don't think differences in weather is much of a significant consideration for the vast majority.

Regarding state income tax, my understanding is that it's overstated how important that is. IIRC, individual game checks are taxed based on the laws of the city and state the game is played in, not the location of the actual team you work for, and that smart accountants and tax lawyers can use residency gimmicks to greatly reduce the tax burden for players in high tax areas. You're still going to end up paying more in taxes overall if you play for the Giants than the Dolphins, but I believe the differences isn't as much as some make it out to be. 

And beyond tax concerns, there are other financial incentives that can guide why a player decides to pick a certain city or state to play in. Obviously endorsement opportunities play a huge part. For example, I doubt Eli is in all those Citizen watch commercials if he played for the Titans, though I guess Baker serves as a counter to that line of thinking. Another interesting example is KD wanting to go to the Warriors in part because he wanted to heavily invest in the tech sector and said playing out there would open doors that he'd never get through if he was still in OKC. It's debatable if that was actually true, but I can understand the logic behind it. 

All in all, weather plays a part for some players, but most probably want to just maximize their earnings potential and/or opportunity to win a championship while balancing that with their overall quality of life, however they define that. 

[DMC]

36 minutes ago, Tywin et al. said:

Regarding state income tax, my understanding is that it's overstated how important that is.

I don't think it's that significant of a factor either, but I'd say the difference is it is still a significant factor while weather is not.

[DireWolfSpirit]

Regarding whether F.A.'s will sign with cold weather teams.

A star athlete can afford multiple homes in multiple states usually, so it's not like they are tethered to a cold region. Also a pro athlete is usually traveling large chunks of the year, so again not like your going to be trapped in Siberia.

[Inkdaub]

2 hours ago, DireWolfSpirit said:

traveling

This is what you hear sometimes about the Seahawks.  I think they have the longest flights in the NFL.

[Lord Patrek]

23 hours ago, Maithanet said:

But Manning went from the dome to Denver, so it's hardly an ironclad rule. 

Manning went to a Super Bowl contender. He was reaching the end of his career and elected to go where he felt he had the best odds of winning. A decade before, I'm not sure he would have made the same decision.

[Cas Stark]

ProFootballTalk ranking week 14.

2. Patriots (9-4, No. 2):  Whatever it takes. Wherever it happens. Whoever is available. Whichever way the wind is blowing.

 

[Mr. Chatywin et al.]

I'll never understand why a coach burns a challenge (and TO) early in the 1st on a dicey call to try and pick up a few yards when it's already going to be second or third and super long. Feel like I see this at least once a week and it's the dumbest shit ever.