NFL 2024

[Pathetic Shark]

They tried making pass interference challengable a few years back. Nearly every single one was "call stands" - PI is subjective just like receptions, fouls, handballs and all manner of other sporting interpretations. The experiment was junked after one year.
You could call holding on pretty much every play if you really wanted to. But what sort of game would you have? Hence you have NFL officials who are the very best at what they do, all with at least a decade of experience, calling the games.
It is just the world is now full of social media "experts" (read morons) who think they know more or can produce snapshot images that proves the apparent point they are making for the benefit of their team.

OK time to get off my soap box on this one

 

[Arthur Wedge]

Just seen that Netflix are streaming some games on Xmas Day

After the issues they had with a recent boxing match i hope they have sorted out the bugs

 

[Captainron]

Hear a punter placed a $3M bet on the Eagles to beat the Jaguars (actually the Panthers) They’re losing at the moment…

That would be some loss for the guy

 

[Beezerk]

Hear a punter placed a $3M bet on the eagles to beat the Jaguars. They’re losing at the moment…

That would be some loss for the guy

That wll take some doing, the Eagles are currently playing the Panthers

 

[Captainron]

That wll take some doing, the Eagles are currently playing the Panthers

I meant that.

 

[Captainron]

getting a delay of game in a situation like that is just unacceptable.

 

[Springveldt]

Thankfully the Jets are the Jets and totally mismanaged the clock at the end of the game to give the Dolphins a chance.

Horrible defense yet again by Miami, you would think they would have some pride after the horror showing at Thanksgiving with PFF having them at 23 missed tackles. But nope, they allowed the awful Jets offense to march up and down the field.

Still, a win is a win. Expecting a collapse next week at Houston to officially kill the season.

 

[Pathetic Shark]

A few thoughts from yesterday.
The Bucs are so decimated at linebacker and safety that I was fifth on the depth chart by the end. Thankfully the Raydurs had no-one on or off the field who could really take advantage. They are the worst team in the NFL now.
Bills and Rams - game of the season.
The Chiefs get up and down from a plugged downhill lie in the bunker again. 10 single-score victories in their 12-1 record.
Three great teams in the NFC, Detroit, Green Bay and Philadelphia - all could beat each other on any given day.
Sam Darnold on the way to comeback player of the year. Dave Canales doing miracles with what he has to work with in Carolina. Mike Tomlin proving again what a great coach he is.
And this week's favourite in the NFC West are your Seattle Seahawks. Next week the Rams and then the Niners again.
Miami? If you can only beat the Jets in overtime ....

 

[Pathetic Shark]

Oh and apparently Jacksonville beat Tennessee 10-6 and the Saints won 14-11 over the Giants. In the same vein as a tree that fell over in a forest did actually make a noise.

 

[Springveldt]

A few thoughts from yesterday.
The Bucs are so decimated at linebacker and safety that I was fifth on the depth chart by the end. Thankfully the Raydurs had no-one on or off the field who could really take advantage. They are the worst team in the NFL now.
Bills and Rams - game of the season.
The Chiefs get up and down from a plugged downhill lie in the bunker again. 10 single-score victories in their 12-1 record.
Three great teams in the NFC, Detroit, Green Bay and Philadelphia - all could beat each other on any given day.
Sam Darnold on the way to comeback player of the year. Dave Canales doing miracles with what he has to work with in Carolina. Mike Tomlin proving again what a great coach he is.
And this week's favourite in the NFC West are your Seattle Seahawks. Next week the Rams and then the Niners again.
Miami? If you can only beat the Jets in overtime ....

Dolphins will lose next week in Houston. Miami will need the offense to be perfect to have any chance but the Texans defense is actually pretty good, think they are second in points per drive. So I expect them to lose and have the Miami boards/subreddit all arguing about how Tua shouldn't have missed that single pass that could have swung the game momentum while ignoring the defense giving up points on 80% of possessions.

Yes, that was a thing on the Miami boards after the Packers game that if Tua didn't miss 2 throws before the half the Dolphins could have won. Bare in mind that the score was 21-3 at the time and Tua had completed 14 of 16 passes yet people somehow managed to blame him.

Oh, and if you see Chris Simms, ask him for me why he hates Tua so much. Is it because he's a lefty who is much better than Simms ever was?

 

[Pathetic Shark]

Chris got the ball out on time. Unlike Tua who is on a mission to get all his receivers killed on passes over the middle

 

[Aztecs27]

Nice to see Seattle grinding out another win against Division opponent.

Couldn't count on the Bills to do us a favour though

 

[Springveldt]

Chris got the ball out on time. Unlike Tua who is on a mission to get all his receivers killed on passes over the middle

That's one of Tua's best traits, getting the ball out on time. If he doesn't then he gets killed due to the offensive line being so offensive. Average time to throw is 2.3 seconds and he often throws way before the receiver even makes his cut. Some of his interceptions look stupid because of it though.

 

[Springveldt]

Bizarre ending to the game last night, Bengals punt on 4th and forever (maybe 29?), Dallas blocks the punt but then one of their guys tries to catch it on the bounce, it hits him and the Bengals recover it. They then march down the field to win the game, that's got to sting if you are a Cowboys fan. Or maybe it's something you wanted to get a better draft pick.

 

[Pathetic Shark]

It's Dallas. It's just funny. Sign of a badly coached team - every special teams coach goes through this kind of thing. If a punt is blocked, everyone on the sideline screams "BLOCK BLOCK BLOCK" warning the returning players to stay away from it.
It was enough to make Jerry Jones' face crack.

This time of year, there are always stories of teams tanking to get a better draft pick. In 40+ years of covering the NFL, the ONLY time I have ever seen it happen is the season finale in 2014 when both the Bucs and Titans were in line for the No.1 overall pick and in the second half of their games, players were being "rested" and the play calling went back to "run up the middle" and "pass to the sidelines". Didn't turn out well as the first two picks were Winston and Mariota. But from knowing some of the Bucs' front office people, I know this was happening. But no player anywhere on any team eases up. Every play is on film and any player dogging it will get called out and known around the NFL.

 

[Springveldt]

It's Dallas. It's just funny. Sign of a badly coached team - every special teams coach goes through this kind of thing. If a punt is blocked, everyone on the sideline screams "BLOCK BLOCK BLOCK" warning the returning players to stay away from it.
It was enough to make Jerry Jones' face crack.

This time of year, there are always stories of teams tanking to get a better draft pick. In 40+ years of covering the NFL, the ONLY time I have ever seen it happen is the season finale in 2014 when both the Bucs and Titans were in line for the No.1 overall pick and in the second half of their games, players were being "rested" and the play calling went back to "run up the middle" and "pass to the sidelines". Didn't turn out well as the first two picks were Winston and Mariota. But from knowing some of the Bucs' front office people, I know this was happening. But no player anywhere on any team eases up. Every play is on film and any player dogging it will get called out and known around the NFL.

Pretty sure the Colts tanked for Luck, they played most of the season with some crap QB I can't even remember the name of that season.

Dolphins tried to but Flores refused and instead dropped Ross in it when he got sacked for being the biggest a-hole on the planet.

As for players dogging it, I'm pretty sure Jevon Holland is doing that right now for the Dolphins and costing himself a lot of money. He didn't get an extension this season and he's going out of his way just now to avoid contact and tackles. There was a screen play on Sunday were he takes himself completely out of the play by engaging in a block rather than tackling the ball carrier, was a WTF moment watching it live. Maybe I'm being cynical and he's nursing an injury or something but his play has dropped off so much this year.

 

[Pathetic Shark]

Rumours abound about Belichick going to coach at North Carolina next year. 72-year old taking on a lower tier college program - yeah that's really going to work. It was getting ripped apart by Sam Acho and Desmond Howard on College Football Live. His only choice in the NFL would probably be Jacksonville once Coach Middle Seat Pederson gets canned. Jags owner Shahid Khan is the only one stupid enough to believe Belichick could turn around a team now.

And the NFL has announced another International game in 2025, this one in Berlin. Biggest news about the Americans going to that city since 1945.

 

[Pathetic Shark]

As for players dogging it, I'm pretty sure Jevon Holland is doing that right now for the Dolphins and costing himself a lot of money. He didn't get an extension this season and he's going out of his way just now to avoid contact and tackles. There was a screen play on Sunday were he takes himself completely out of the play by engaging in a block rather than tackling the ball carrier, was a WTF moment watching it live. Maybe I'm being cynical and he's nursing an injury or something but his play has dropped off so much this year.

You may see players pull out of the odd tackle but none of them are that stupid enough to do it consistently. No other team would touch them with a barge pole.

Miami's problem as Michael Lombardi talks about on the GM Shuffle podcast is they are just soft. "Sponsored by Charmin" as he puts it, same as Cincinnati. Flores got run out of town because he was tough on the players and they didn't like it. Now they have the DJ on the sideline and his country club attitude has permeated through the team.

 

[Springveldt]

You may see players pull out of the odd tackle but none of them are that stupid enough to do it consistently. No other team would touch them with a barge pole.

Miami's problem as Michael Lombardi talks about on the GM Shuffle podcast is they are just soft. "Sponsored by Charmin" as he puts it, same as Cincinnati. Flores got run out of town because he was tough on the players and they didn't like it. Now they have the DJ on the sideline and his country club attitude has permeated through the team.

Flores was also run out of town because he is a huge a-hole. He couldn't hire an offensive coordinator as no one would work with him so he ended up promoting 2 guys and making them co-cordinators (is that even a word?) and they were both first timers at the job. The offense also had what PFF called "the worst offensive line we have ever graded" that allowed 50 more pressures than the 2nd worse that year and that was with Tua getting the ball our sharpish.

Totally agree the Dolphins are soft but that's not a new thing, they have been for my whole time supporting them. Even with Marino they weren't great in cold weather games and the defense always folds when it's needed most.

 

[Pathetic Shark]

Couple of unreal stories overnight.

The 49ers LB who refused to go into the game in the fourth quarter of their loss to the Rams - decided he didn't feel like playing. By tomorrow, he is gone from the NFL for good.

And the biggest a-hole ever to play for the Bucs, Keyshawn Johnson, now on one of the shouty head FOX/ESPN shows. Tells Bill Belichick, the new North Carolina head coach (!) that he had better hire some black coaches. Just reverse the roles and imagine a white analyst telling a legendary coloured head coach that he needs to hire some white coaches. He lasts even less time than a 49ers linebacker. As usual the race card is played only in one direction.

At least I had the pleasure of watching the Lightning beat Calgary 8-3 first thing this morning to get me down off my soap box.