2017 NFL Regular Season Thread

[Serutan]

Oh yes, break out the butter & jam for Carson Palmer too. I get the Cards rolling the dice on him given this year's QB crop and the
price they would have had to pay to get at one of them, but they have no choice next year.

Well yes. Indy is definitely worse this year but also consider the possibility that the Rams have just plain improved.

I have. But Indy looked so bad that while it's likely the Rams have improved, how much they've improved is still anyone's guess..

 

[onejayhawk]

I had the Pats D in my fantasy league, I have never been so happy to end up with -4 points

This is the Alex Smith I've said before is there but is held back by Andy Reid. If he's going to call plays like this the rest of the year then they are going to be really dangerous.

The Pats D was not that bad. BB put them on the spot with some 4th down nonconversions, but mostly they were a bit flat and stayed on the field too much. By the 4th quarter they were gasping for air.

Ike Taylor had a good take on Alex Smith. He credits PM 2 (Mahomes) with pushing Smith to throw downfield by doing it himself. Heaven knows, there is a ton of speed to throw the ball to. That said, K Hunt is not one of them. He was a 3rd round pick because he lacks straight line speed. Nothing wrong with his hands or balance though.

Oakland is legit. I promise. I didn't watch the Texans or Bengals game but judging by the scoreboard you are correct.

The AFC West is a monster this season. Denver, 2 years off a championship, is possibly 4th. Chiefs vs Raiders will be old school epic.

J

 

[Sommerswerd]

@caketastydelish Must be the stadium, amirite

In re: Alex Smith

Ol' Alex has 1 or 2 games like that in him per season. The rest of the season will be same old typical mediocre Alex Smith we know and love. 30 for 40 with 200ish yds and 1ish TD. He has proven this year after year. Andy Reid will be Andy Reid... also proven year after year.

As Tim alluded to earlier... The Seahawks have had their 15 minutes. They seem to be, over the course of the last few seasons, settling back into their role as a 3rd tier team, that at best, makes the playoffs.

For reference, 1st tier to me is a dynasty status team... right now that's really only the Pats. 2nd tier is a legit Superbowl contender. 3rd tier is a legit playoff hopeful. 4th tier is a .500 hopeful and 5th tier is "rebuilding"/dumpster-fire (ie 49ers)

 

[Light Cleric]

The Pats D was not that bad. BB put them on the spot with some 4th down nonconversions, but mostly they were a bit flat and stayed on the field too much. By the 4th quarter they were gasping for air.

Yeah the Chiefs had the ball 28 seconds longer in the game than the Pats did, I'm sure that was exhausting for the Pats' D.

They were really put on the spot when the Pats went for it on 4th down on the Chief's 10 and put them in worse field position than if it had been a touchback and then gave up a 90 yard drive.

Stephon Gilmore literally stopped running while Tyreek Hill didn't because the coverage was blown.

Alex Smith had absolutely no pressure on him while the Patriots tried to cover Kareem Hunt on a deep ball with a defensive end.

This was the most yards a Belichick team has ever surrendered, along with a tie for the most points ever. Maybe they "weren't that bad" if your measuring stick is the 2012 Saints, but otherwise I'm not sure what game you watched because it sure wasn't this one.

 

[Timsup2nothin]

Yeah the Chiefs had the ball 28 seconds longer in the game than the Pats did, I'm sure that was exhausting for the Pats' D.

They were really put on the spot when the Pats went for it on 4th down on the Chief's 10 and put them in worse field position than if it had been a touchback and then gave up a 90 yard drive.

Stephon Gilmore literally stopped running while Tyreek Hill didn't because the coverage was blown.

Alex Smith had absolutely no pressure on him while the Patriots tried to cover Kareem Hunt on a deep ball with a defensive end.

This was the most yards a Belichick team has ever surrendered, along with a tie for the most points ever. Maybe they "weren't that bad" if your measuring stick is the 2012 Saints, but otherwise I'm not sure what game you watched because it sure wasn't this one.

You were a lot gentler about the ludicrous "Pats D was not that bad" comment. But keep in mind that J makes posts that are completely dissociated from reality just to get a rise out of other posters on most subjects, so no reason to expect football to be exempt.

Meanwhile, the Pats D was terrible, but there is a simple and potentially fixable problem there. For the first time in a long time attrition and turnover brought them down to having just one guy that fully understands the complexities of Billy Bellyaches system that could call the plays, and as Murphy's Law would have it Hightower got hurt. Seeing how they fell into a series of blown coverages, line stunts that seemed like they confused the linebackers more than they confused the blockers, and guys standing immobile with that "what's the play" look when the ball snapped was amusing, but I wouldn't expect them to be caught so short again.

 

[Light Cleric]

Whoops, I thought I mentioned that in there, but yeah, you're right. Once Hightower went down and the Chiefs decided to start taking advantage of it, the Pats looked completely lost on D. "Next man up" has worked well in New England for a long time but losing a linebacker like that is just devastating(by that same token, look at the Cowboys with/without Sean Lee on the field).

Unfortunately, after we made Sam Bradford look like an All-Pro QB and our offense looked slow, I've got a bad feeling the Pats are going to take it out on the Saints.

 

[caketastydelish]

I'd be lying to say I keep up with the Saints much at all but looking on their depth chart they had quite a few injured defensive players going into that game. Were those players important and will they come back? If the answer to both is yes then anything can happen, especially since they're playing in New Orleans.

 

[Timsup2nothin]

Whoops, I thought I mentioned that in there, but yeah, you're right. Once Hightower went down and the Chiefs decided to start taking advantage of it, the Pats looked completely lost on D. "Next man up" has worked well in New England for a long time but losing a linebacker like that is just devastating(by that same token, look at the Cowboys with/without Sean Lee on the field).

Unfortunately, after we made Sam Bradford look like an All-Pro QB and our offense looked slow, I've got a bad feeling the Pats are going to take it out on the Saints.

They always had a couple long term Patriot veterans at either linebacker or strong safety, so they had someone to be 'next man up' calling the plays. I think the guy who came in for Hightower was adequate as a replacement linebacker, but they just didn't have any replacement as a playcaller. I think Ninkovich retiring caught them off guard. Again, they replaced him with a guy who is probably a better linebacker physically, but if they had been able to plug Ninkovich in when Hightower went down I doubt they would have fallen apart like that.

As to your Saints...guess what, Sam Bradford probably is an all pro quarterback. Other than being so often injured I don't think that he would have failed to live up to being the number one pick in the draft. The Saints won't be the last team that gets torn up by the Vikings this year.

 

[caketastydelish]

That brings up an interesting possibility. If/when Bridgewater comes back, what will they do? Put him back as the starter? Keep up as a backup, as well as healthy competition at the QB position? Trade him for someone else and/or draft picks? If this is to be believed we could expect him back in the 2018 season.

Edit: One other possibility to consider is the Vikings new stadium is supposedly a better home field advantage than the old one. The crowd is much louder, for one thing. The weather conditions in the winter time are quite unique as well. They also have a defensive coordinator who clearly knows what they're doing. I'd say the Vikings have a bright future.

Question: Are the color of the Vikings uniform purple because Prince comes from Minneapolis and he sang purple rain? Or is there another reason? Somehow I doubt the actual historic Vikings would have preferred the color purple, though you never know.

 

[Timsup2nothin]

The Vikings were already wearing purple when Prince was born. I don't know what the Minnesota sports team connection to purple is, but the Lakers purple and gold goes back to their days in Minneapolis.

 

[caketastydelish]

The Vikings were already wearing purple when Prince was born.

But they kept it for so long...

So maybe Prince was singing about the Vikings?

Spoiler :

Sorry for not apparently making it obvious enough, but that question as well as this one were intended to be jokes.

 

[Timsup2nothin]

So maybe Prince was singing about the Vikings?

Spoiler :

Sorry for not apparently making it obvious enough, but that question as well as this one were intended to be jokes.

That would have made the song Purple Reign.

 

[caketastydelish]

Are you sure about that? They've never won a Super Bowl. Perhaps the purple rain is still accurate, as the rain could be the tears of the fans.

 

[Sommerswerd]

In a coat of violet in a coat of gold a Viking still has flaws...

And so he spoke and so he spoke...

 

[Timsup2nothin]

Are you sure about that? They've never won a Super Bowl. Perhaps the purple rain is still accurate, as the rain could be the tears of the fans.

When I was a youngster and Bud Grant was their coaching the Purple People Eaters they may not have won super bowls but the NFC was definitely their kingdom.

 

[Serutan]

That would have made the song Purple Reign.

If memory serves, that was used as a headline for one of the Lakers' championships in the 80s.

The best thing about Bud Grant was his "Cold? What cold?" attitude for those late season games in Metropolitan Stadium.

And in the "Miracles Never Cease" department, Bill O'Brien went a whole game without a quarterback change.

 

[Timsup2nothin]

And in the "Miracles Never Cease" department, Bill O'Brien went a whole game without a quarterback change.

Rumor has it they gave him two little quarterback action figures to go in his pockets so he can switch them around at halftime.

 

[Serutan]

That make sense.

 

[Light Cleric]

It's a lot easier when you have a quarterback that can move around and survive behind the corpses you've wheeled out as an offensive line, putting aside that one play where Geno Atkins almost murdered him.

Almost as bad as JJ Watt slamming a 325 pound lineman to the ground at the end.

 

[Timsup2nothin]

It's a lot easier when you have a quarterback that can move around and survive behind the corpses you've wheeled out as an offensive line, putting aside that one play where Geno Atkins almost murdered him.

Almost as bad as JJ Watt slamming a 325 pound lineman to the ground at the end.

Okay, no limit on props to Watson; having the wisdom to not force out that throw, and the physicality to hang onto the ball through getting hit by a freight train. That's the kind of play that doesn't show well on the stat sheet (after all, it was a sack) but makes a huge positive difference in the game.

JJ Watt's final tackle there was like hitting a hanging curve ball. Yes, the guy was big, but if you give any defensive player a stationary target standing straight up to make a catch they are gonna level them. You could see Watt settling in like he was in a tackling drill at practice. Perfect form, perfect hit, pancake.