The New NFL Thread

[Young Wolf]

True...30 attempts at 90yds does suck

[davos]

[quote]True...30 attempts at 90yds does suck[/quote]

there are two problems here. One, the offensive line has not been as effective as last year, particularily on run blocking. So Grant has not had the opportunities to make things happen on a consistant basis like he had the second part of last season. Two, there have been holes available on a number of running plays if the back carrying the ball can make a quick cutback. Grant was extremely effective at this most of last season. This year he has not been able to make that kind of cut on a consistant basis which has taken away a whole dimension of his game as well as denied him the holes the o-line has been able to open. If the packers want to turn this into a respectable season, which is still possible given that they are 3-3, they need to solve the problems with the running game.

[Young Wolf]

Brandon Jackson is the answer. ;)

Or at least it would help my fantasy team tremendously.

YW

[davos]

[quote]Brandon Jackson is the answer.[/quote]

Actually I tend to agree. I think Jackson hits harder than Grant and could be more effective at using small holes to pound for 4 yards. I don't know if Jackson has the break away speed the Grant does but unless grant and the o-line can get in sync with eachother I think Jackson would at least get more consistant yardage even if he's not going to break for many big gains.

[Arakasi]

[url="http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=3640890"]http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=3640890[/url]

Apparently Romo might be out for a month with a broken pinkie finger. Maybe when he heals he'll learn how to not fumble. :P

[Kalbear]

[quote]Apparently Romo might be out for a month with a broken pinkie finger. Maybe when he heals he'll learn how to not fumble.[/quote]Damnit, Romo! You couldn't stop doing the shocker, could you?

[Jaime L]

[quote name='Arakasi' post='1554073' date='Oct 13 2008, 12.49'][url="http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=3640890"]http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=3640890[/url]

Apparently Romo might be out for a month with a broken pinkie finger. Maybe when he heals he'll learn how to not fumble. :P[/quote]

Who does that leave...Brad Johnson? Cowboys could be in a bit of trouble. Can't see 'em losing to the Rams next week (feisty as they may be), but Tampa in two weeks and the Giants in three? Not good times in Cowboy-land.

[davos]

[quote]Who does that leave...Brad Johnson? Cowboys could be in a bit of trouble. Can't see 'em losing to the Rams next week (feisty as they may be), but Tampa in two weeks and the Giants in three? Not good times in Cowboy-land.[/quote]

Three weeks ago Dallas was being talked about as the best team in the league. They were impressing in just about every area, especially their running game. Now they have fallen back to being just one team amoung a lot of good ones. With Romo out they may fall farther. They are in a brutal division and could quickly find themselves in a rather large hole if they don't take care of business.

A look at how some of the other divisions are shaping up.

NFC North-three teams tied at 3-3. I suspect that either MN or GB will gel as a team and cement themselves at the top. I tend to favor GB, not because I happen to be a packer fan, but because I think they are better coached than the vikings. The vikings have the talent but they have issues that talent just can not overcome. Even though they are part of that 3 way tie I just don't think the Bears have the horse to break away from the bunch. Detroit is of course one of the worst teams the league has ever had.

NFC South-Strong division with another 3 way tie at the top. This time though the bottom team is only one game off of the pace and has the talent to fight thier way back to the top. I tend to favor Tampa here though. They are the most discplined and fundamentally solid squad of the four. Atlanta is not as good as their record. this division is still wide open though.

NFC West-have to say that the cardinals are the class of the division. Given how poorly the other teams are showing if they continue their solid play they could easily be wrapping up the division crown early.

AFC East-Can't count out NE even without Brady. They are to well coached. Though yesterday's blowout tends to suggest that they might not be able to find a way to patch things together enough to contend. Buffalo is solid. The Jets are much improved. Any of these three could win the division. Miami is interesting but I tend to think that the wildcat is not a viable offensive system in the long term. Direct snaps will work on occasion but once coaches have enough film on it to come up with defensive counters they won't be able to make the hay with it that they have been so far.

AFC North-Pittsburgh is the class of the division. I don't see either of the other two squads that aren't cincinnati (which could do a clinic on how not to play football) giving having much of a chance of catching up.

AFC South-Tennessee is surprising. Haven't had a chance to watch them play yet and can't really comment on if they are worthy of their undefeated record. Indianapolis could still make a run at the crown though. Jacksonville has been disappointing so far but I wouldn't count them out of playoff contention. Houston is still Houston

AFC West-its a two team race here. Even though Denver has the lead San Diego seems to have found itself. This could turn into the most interesting division race in the league.

[Trebla]

[quote name='Jaime L' post='1554135' date='Oct 13 2008, 12.43']Who does that leave...Brad Johnson? Cowboys could be in a bit of trouble. Can't see 'em losing to the Rams next week (feisty as they may be), but Tampa in two weeks and the Giants in three? Not good times in Cowboy-land.[/quote]

yupppp. crap. locker room is in shambles, too. and it seems like they are actually turning on Wade for not being HARD enough on them. Guys like Patrick Crayton and Greg Ellis are indicating something is wrong with the team, they are not playing like they should and *someone* should be doing something about it. Wade has been looking like a jellyfish on the sidelines and in press conferences.

Congrats. Jerry. You wanted the opposite of Hard Ass Bill. Now when times are tough, we have Soft Ass Wade. :rolleyes:

[Space Bandito]

They should have cancelled the season when Brady went down. ;) ;)

Serioulsy though. What a fucked up year injury wise. It is still early. Not to sound like Peter King, but I think this kills the crowd that wanted a longer season. This season has just seemed rough. The Patriots last night matched their sacked total for the entire 2008 season. They have not faced Jason Taylor or Shawn Merriman.

[Commodore]

I love [url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jlXRengzZoc"]this new Nike commercial[/url], it's a great concept, and the song was so familiar, took me a minute to realize it's from the [url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GdNh9f2Wwm0"]finale[/url] of [i]The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly[/i] (an awesome scene in it's own right).

The commercial Nike did with the Last of the Mohicans theme is great as well.

[Week]

Haha, great performance by Eli after Kornheiser moistened his balls before the game by basically declaring Eli the best QB in the NFL at the moment.

[Gold Storm]

:D :thumbsup: :D The Browns are playing their best game since last season. :cheers: ESPN will be mad they were all over the Giants nuts before the game. If you did not know who was playing you would have thought that they were playing some unknown team.

[Jaime L]

A cameo appearance by pre Superbowl champ Eli tonight. Think I saw the return of the Eli Manning face.

[quote name='Commodore' post='1554566' date='Oct 13 2008, 23.14']I love [url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jlXRengzZoc"]this new Nike commercial[/url], it's a great concept, and the song was so familiar, took me a minute to realize it's from the [url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GdNh9f2Wwm0"]finale[/url] of [i]The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly[/i] (an awesome scene in it's own right).

The commercial Nike did with the Last of the Mohicans theme is great as well.[/quote]

I had a lengthy post in the last thread talking about this exact song and comparing it to the Last of Mohicans one. Like I said there, it's the best commercial I've seen since Nike's string of "My better is better than your better" Nike spots back in the spring. What gets me about it, beyond the seamless execution and perfect music (as always), is that it works on multiple levels.

[Rockroi]

I think the biggest question this week has to be... who the Christ dresses TO? Is it a blind leper or does he keep losing bets with fellow teammates? A bow tie WITH the Charlie-Brown-Yellow sweater.

The Patriots lost their vs San Deigo game in the first quarter ... of week one... as bad as their D is... Brady scores on the 1. Period. That was a GIGANTIC swing that if we were not the most injury depleted team in the NFL (because of basically ONE injury) we'd win. I'm not bitter or anything, its just that I can taste the bile as it comes up from my stomach and hist my throat causing me to feel the sting of failure and resentment... but I am not bitter.

Ryan is a stud. Amazing guy with all the tools to be amazing for the next 10 years. That last play was tremendous.

Even the RAMS could not screw up their win... and they tried.

Watching the Cowboys self-implode just makes me respect the Patriots more and more- you can have ALL the talent in the world, be the hands-down favorite to win everything, but you can STILL be your own worst enemy. Yeah, the Pats blow this season and I am having some serious coaching questions, but there is something happening in Big-D that makes me thing that no matter HOW they finish this season, they are a walking doomsday scenario.

Indianapolis is the class of the AFC and I had to have a surrogate type that sentence. I truly want to light myself on fire because its testament that if you have a great QB you are always competitive.

Chicago- don't blame your tenuous QB situation for your losing. Orton was a monster, but he doesn't play DB.

I loved what the Detroit coach said after the Vikes won their game: "I hope we at least get an apology." Classic. I still think Bob Kraft has the appology from the NFL that cost the Past the 2006 AFC Championship framed next to the Superbowl trophies... its ALMOST as good. (again, not bitter).

God I hate Brett Favre.

[Space Bandito]

After the Super Bowl and last night's heartless performance by the Patriots it was nice to see the Giants get pounded. Oh and I have Braylon Edwards on my fantasy team.

As for the commercials. Now I want to go watch The Good, The Bad and the Ugly.

I want to see some better beer commercials. They have been unimpressive this year. They could do better than Jim Mora grunting.

[Jaime L]

Well the NFC East got knocked back to earth pretty thoroughly. Wasn't unhappy to see it considering the manner in which the Skins lost. Reinforces the lesson we learn every year and have to relearn again is that teams are never as good as they look, never as bad either. No such thing as a gimme game in this league, and [i]every[/i] win is meaningful. Also reinforces that there is no dominant team this year. Cowboys had the best chance of becoming that, between their talent and pedigree...but they've gone sideways and now have actually been bitten by the injury bug for the first time in years. Giants were being thought of that way, but they'd run to 4-0 not having played, really anyone. They beat the Skins, true...but that was a different Skins team, I think.

Now everyone's going to hop on the Titans bandwagon as the last undefeated. But they're still a seriously flawed team that got lucky in a win over Baltimore and isn't good enough on offense to dominate. Like most contenders, they're great on one side of the ball and mediocre on the other.

Not that being a great team in October means all that much. Got to thinking about this last night, watching everyone's #1 power ranked team get smacked silly. The dominant team in the league has had it stolen away in the playoffs all decade long. Why should we expect differently? I mean look at the results since 2000:

2000: Best Team: Titans, SB Champs: Ravens - People forget this but the Titans were dominant that year. Even in the playoff game where they racked up something like 3 times the yardage of Baltimore but lost due to some badly timed turnovers.
2001: Best Team: Rams, SB Champs: Patriots - We all know this one.
2002: Best Team: Eagles, SB Champs: Bucs - Although no-one was that dominant. This year will probably be most like '02.
2003: Best Team: Patriots, SB Champs: Patriots
2004: Best Team: Patriots, SB Champs: Patriots - Although you could make a case the Steelers were the best team for most of that season. 15-1 speaks for itself. Just turned out Roethlisberger wasn't read, heck he was only a rookie. But the team around him was the best Steelers team this decade, IMO.
2005: Best Team: Colts, SB Champs: Steelers - Best Colts team of the decade, and all for nothing.
2006: Best Team: Chargers, SB Champs: Colts - The worst Colts team since probably '03, but [i]this[/i] is the one that finally brings home the title. '04, '05 and '07 were all much better teams by almost any measure. They just didn't catch fire like this one.
2007: Best Team: Patriots, SB Champs: Giants - Best Patriots team this decade, maybe best team ever. But will people remember this?
2008: Best Team: ?????, SB Champs: ????? - But judging by the last few years, the two probably won't be the same.

In this decade, only the Patriots have taken home a title as overdog, but as last year showed they clearly aren't immune. The NFL just ain't fair, [i]especially[/i] recently. Colts shoulda won their title in '05, Steelers in '04, Patriots in '07. Those teams all got their titles eventually, but only when they weren't expecting to. Just proof that the NFL is the most consistently surprising sport. So much is just emotion from week to week, teams wanting/needing a game more than their opponent.

[quote name='Rockroi' post='1554584' date='Oct 13 2008, 23.48']I loved what the Detroit coach said after the Vikes won their game: "I hope we at least get an apology." Classic. I still think Bob Kraft has the appology from the NFL that cost the Past the 2006 AFC Championship framed next to the Superbowl trophies... its ALMOST as good. (again, not bitter).[/quote]

An apology...for what? Shouldn't Marinelli be apologizing for drafting a QB who runs out of the back of the end zone despite there being no actual pressure? I mean that was embarrassing (and hilarious), even by Detroit Lions standards. He was as blissfully unaware as a toddler chasing a balloon

[Kalbear]

[quote]Ryan is a stud. Amazing guy with all the tools to be amazing for the next 10 years. That last play was tremendous.[/quote]That last play was open because the Bears are simply dumb and their corners were out of position. Seriously, the only way the bears can lose is if they throw a deep out or they throw a hail mary and get lucky. That's it. Anything else and they win. So the corner bites on the move to go inside? And the safety is already inside instead of out? What the hell, Bears? You can't even do a prevent defense right.

Bah.

[Jacen]

Could the NFL be any better this year?!!

So many great games with dramatic conclusions. A great deal of parity between the good teams with no clear dominance in sight. The season has been fantastic so far and I have absolutely no idea where any of its going.

All of which is awesome.

[Swordfish]

[quote name='Jaime L' post='1555416' date='Oct 14 2008, 11.24']Well the NFC East got knocked back to earth pretty thoroughly. Wasn't unhappy to see it considering the manner in which the Skins lost. Reinforces the lesson we learn every year and have to relearn again is that teams are never as good as they look, never as bad either. No such thing as a gimme game in this league, and [i]every[/i] win is meaningful. Also reinforces that there is no dominant team this year. Cowboys had the best chance of becoming that, between their talent and pedigree...[/quote]

I never really understood the hype about the cowboys to begin with. And pedigree? how long has it been since they've won a playoff game?

On the other hand, I'm not quite prepared to completely write them off either.