Official NFL 2022-2023 Thread

[bill5]

On 11/15/2022 at 12:03 PM, ProfD said:

Raiders owner Mark Davis has already committed to McDaniels through 2023 season.🤣

 

The Commanders pulled it together in all phases of the game to knock off the undefeated Eagles. Our offense made too mistakes for my liking but it's a win. 

 

There is no secret to beating the Eagles.  Containing QB Jalen Hurts is a tall order especially for defensive coordinators who out-smart themselves

Yeah and really it's a reasonable decision on the Raider's part.

 

Re. the Eagles, they should have a nice bounce back game against the Colts.

 

 

Quote

The real question for the Commanders is how long should QB Taylor Heinicke get to play before bringing back QB Carson Wentz.

 

My vote would be to let QB Heinicke continue playing until QB Wentz is completely, ahem, *healthy*.😁😎

 

My vote would be as long as both are on the team. Heinicke isn't perfect, but at least there's still room to grow and he's already having more success than Wentz did. Wentz will never be the answer.

[GovernorSilver]

just realized Packers-Titans is on right now.

[bill5]

Watch TNF, watch re-runs of Gilligan's Island ....watch TNF, watch re-runs of Gilligan's Island...it's a tough choice

[GovernorSilver]

I still like watching Derrick Henry run and there's a slow motion train wreck kinda vibe about Rodgers' season (sorry Geoff)

[GovernorSilver]

Niners said the Chargers were so easy to defend because the offense was so predictable.

 

Would love to see creativity like what the Titans just showed with Derrick Henry's TD pass.

 

Rodgers missed a lot of passes that he routinely made in past seasons, though some of that was due to the WR running a different route than what he expected.

 

Credit to the Titans for out playing the Pack though.

[bill5]

Rodgers has been toast for at least a year now. Anyone who watched enough of him that long knows his MVP was a joke last year as his WRs routinely bailed him out with great catches of off-target throws. That's the kind of things stats don't show you and why "stats are for losers" as the saying goes. He doesn't have that now, so his flaws are glaring. I will be shocked if he doesn't retire at year's end. 

 

As for the Chargers, yeah really hard to defend a team without ANY WRs really, wow huge props SF (note the sarcasm). Bolts with a healthy Allen and Williams are a very different team. Although even then I would have said they needed a WR boost. Still just shocked they (and the Bears while we're at it) didn't snap up one of the top WRs in this WR-heavy draft this past April. 

[ProfD]

The Packers would benefit from relying on the game in a way similar to the Titans. At least until their HOF QB and WR corps get on the same page.

 

The Packers do not have a RB Derrick Henry but RBs Dillon and Jones are highly serviceable. Using them as runners and in the screen game would open up the  vertical offense.

 

As long as the Packers HC/playcaller wants to rely on his HOF QB throwing up prayers the team will struggle unnecessarily.

 

The 49ers are another example of excellent play-calling that mixes the run and pass well especially considering their QB talent. 

 

The Titans offense is consistently predictable but they win games. No big play WRs or TE. Game manager QB. Solid defense. No problem. They go out and play to their strengths.😎

[GovernorSilver]

The Titans are running team that occasionally uses play action pass to punish defense for loading up to stop Derrick Henry.   In that sense, defenses know what to expect when playing the Titans.  But the Titans have a good feel for when to change up with a pass play.

 

OTOH, the Chargers are painfully more predictable.  One Charger fansite logged Joe Lombardi's playcalling on first down for the entire 2nd half vs. the Niners.   5 running plays on first down, out of 9 total plays.  4 running plays on 4 first down plays in a row.   Now, this, my friends, is predictable play calling.

 

Herbert being stuck with WRs Anonymous hurts the offense, no question.  But don't tell me Andy Reid, Eric Bienemy, or even Titans OC Downing can't squeeze more performance out of this skeleten crew offense than Lombardi.

 

The Lions fired Lombardi when they finally realized opposing defenses were calling Lombardi's plays before the offense even snapped the ball.    

 

Lombardi lacks the creativity to be an effective offensive coordinator.  He can't adjust to what defenses are doing.  He's like a drummer I played with who stubbornly stuck to the same tempo instead of adjusting to the rest of the band..  He should go back to being a QB coach.

[ProfD]

1 hour ago, GovernorSilver said:

The Lions fired Lombardi when they finally realized opposing defenses were calling Lombardi's plays before the offense even snapped the ball.   

This is what makes recycling failed coaches and coordinators total nonsense.

 

Yet, OC Lombardi could switch up his predictable play-calling in a week to 1) save his job and 2) give the Chargers offense a better chance of being productive.  Nope.  Trust the system fellas.  Yeah right.😁😎

[Geoff Grace]

On 11/17/2022 at 6:40 PM, GovernorSilver said:

I still like watching Derrick Henry run and there's a slow motion train wreck kinda vibe about Rodgers' season (sorry Geoff)

No worries, brother Governor. The Packers have made the playoffs so many times in the last 30 years, I can’t be too unhappy with a disappointing season. Even if they have another long drought, like they did during the post-Lombardi era, I still have some pretty satisfying memories. 
 

Best,

 

Geoff

[Stokely]

Don't worry, they'll end up with another HOF-level quarterback before the Vikings ever actually draft one.  I don't count Daunte (as much as I was rooting for him, being from Orlando and him being a UCF alum) and I sure as heck don't count the ghost of Favre in '09 or current quarterback Cousins*.  One of these decades we'd like to get us some of that franchise quarterback stuff I've heard so much about...scrambling Fran was a LONG time ago.

 

*Cousins is not by any means a weak link on the team, but he's also not an "elevate the team" force like Mahomes, Rodgers (previously at least), etc.

[ProfD]

The Packers were lucky to have consecutive HOF QBs.

 

IMO, neither the Packers nor Vikings will draft a future HOFer any time soon.

 

Vikings QB Kirk Cousins definitely isn't the weakest link on the team. He's a very good QB.

 

The Packers are in transition as a result of being handcuffed to a future HOF QB. Da Bears are rebuilding with a young QB. The Lions are the same team they've always been for decades now.

 

The Vikings just need to add a few more pieces on both sides of the ball in order to dominate the NFC North. 😎

[Stokely]

After almost 50 years as a fan (not counting my earliest years when the indoctrination was doubtlessly just seeping in), I fatalistically will accept success when it comes, but I try my best not to have expectations or hope (I have to disagree with Andy Dufresne on that one...) 

Ironically all the true kicks in the nuts have been in trying to get to the Bowl (Drew Pearson in '76, Morten Anderson, Favre's interception--and whatever happened in the 80s Washington playoff game, I was too busy playing music in college then to pay attention).  In the actual super bowls they got stomped by some all-time great teams, those were not close games.

[GovernorSilver]

Late 90s Vikings with Randall Cunningham tossing bombs to Randy Moss, and Robert Smith running the ball were fun to watch.

 

Shame they missed the FG attempt that should have sent them to the Super Bowl to face the Broncos.  Instead we were stuck watching a boring Falcons team get demolished by Elway and Co.

[bill5]

On 11/19/2022 at 10:04 AM, ProfD said:

The Lions are the same team they've always been for decades now.

Note true. They were easily better than their record last year and similar this year. They aren't good for sure, but IMO Campbell is a good coach and on his way to building a legit team.

 

Meanwhile I am watching the Colts beat the Eagles. wth?? Maybe Saturday is legit after all.

[Stokely]

The Jets offense (today at least) is among the worst I've ever seen.  Wilson is awful.  They are somewhere around 100 yards for the entire game.  Two yards of offense in the 2nd half. They obviously won't let him throw in the middle at all, and if it's obvious to me it's more than obvious to the Pats.  And as I type this, the Patriots run back a punt with five seconds left in the game to break a 3-3 tie.  Just punt the damn thing out of bounds, it's not like the Pats were doing much with the ball.

[bill5]

Yeah I think the Wilson experiment can officially be called a failure. Man they cannot pick a QB to save their life lol

 

Meanwhile Lions are on a 3-game win streak and winning their way out of the QB lotto next year doh!

[ProfD]

1 hour ago, bill5 said:

Note true. They were easily better than their record last year and similar this year. They aren't good for sure, but IMO Campbell is a good coach and on his way to building a legit team.

You're 100% correct. The Lions are playing very well under HC Dan Campbell. 

 

Still, despite their current winning streak, the Lions aren't a team I expect to threaten for a wild card spot.😁

 

Commanders won the game I thought they should when I saw the schedule. The team played well on both sides of the ball.

 

QB Wentz can get comfy on the bench while his finger heals. 

 

QB Heinicke is not the best decision-maker on the field but he's serviceable gamer and he can scramble well enough to avoid the rush and extend plays. 😎

[bill5]

51 minutes ago, ProfD said:

You're 100% correct. The Lions are playing very well under HC Dan Campbell. 

 

Still, despite their current winning streak, the Lions aren't a team I expect to threaten for a wild card spot.😁

Well of course not let's not go crazy lol 

 

Cowboys handling the Vikings so far. Pollard is a great RB. 

 

 

[ProfD]

Vikings are getting beat up by the Cowbums so badly that CBS has switched to a more competitive game...Bengals vs Steelers.😁😎

[bill5]

lol - and that was a good game as it turned out. Announcers are so lame now days - I know odds are against getting an onsides kick, but Pitt was deep in Cincy territory for the TD to go down one score and they were acting like it was over. 

[GovernorSilver]

Every time I watch the Chiefs play the Chargers in prime time, the Chiefs win.

 

 

The most painful thing about watching the Chargers play the Chiefs is being reminded how much better the coaching is on the other side.  Front office too.

 

If not for Sean Payton allegedly knocking on the door I'd give Staley more time to grow into the head coaching role.  But Payton is not going to wait forever for the Chargers to let him have the job, and Staley hasn't proven that he's the better choice than Payton.

[jazzpiano88]

I had to turn off the San Diego / Chiefs game after the announcers drove me away.  
 

 

[bill5]

Poor SF. They're winning, but clearly a weaker team with Jimmy G at the helm. You have to wonder what they'd do with a truly great QB. How good of shape is Montana in these days   

[GovernorSilver]

31-10 tho

[GovernorSilver]

Make that 38-10.

 

My heart bleeds for the Niners.  😂

 

They did try to replace Jimmy G with Trey Lance, but tonight that doesn't mean a  thing.

 

Not everybody has the luxury of having Josh Allen or Patrick Mahommes as their starter.  The Niners are not unique in this regard.  Just the other week my cousin was hatin on Cousins for exactly the same reason Jimmy G gets hate here, lol.

[ProfD]

QBs Jimmy G (49ers) and Ryan Tannehill (Titans) get the *game manager* tag but their respective teams *win*. 

 

At this point, I can imagine several teams (Commanders, Jets, Colts, Panthers, Texans, Falcons, Saints) would rather have QB Jimmy G instead of their incumbent QB.

 

To be clear, neither Jimmy G nor Tannehill are lighting up the league.  But, they're clearly playing better than Wentz, Ryan, Wilson, Trubisky, Mills, Mariota, Dalton and others.

 

The 49ers were willing to turn the reigns over to QB Trey Lance.  An injury derailed their plans. 

 

Due to shoulder surgery and game manager stigma, no other team made a trade for Jimmy G this season. 

 

  Regardless of how far the 49ers go into playoffs or not, a few teams will be inquiring about Jimmy G this off-season. 😎

[bill5]

Jimmy G is not a bad QB. At times in fact he's a good QB. But as you pointed out, not one of the other 31 teams, including all the teams you mentioned, made a move for Jimmy G, so I disagree that they would suddenly want him now. Why would they? Everyone knows his ceiling, and it's not that high. And SF clearly isn't a believer either, given their draft of Lance. There's a reason for that. "Not the worst QB in the NFL" is not enough reason to want someone as your starting QB. Frankly I'd rather have a bad QB, suck, get a high draft pick, and try for my QB of the future in the draft vs have an OKish or erratic QB who keeps the team mired in .500 purgatory.

 

Anyway, onto Thanksgiving games. Thanksgiving...a time of tradition...turkey, stuffing, and watching the Lions lose lol. But I have this weird feeling they're going to beat the Bills. The Lions really aren't that bad...remember this is a team who barely lost to the Eagles, Vikings, and Seahawks, and just stomped the Giants. 

[GovernorSilver]

Ah yes, the argument about should you even bother to try competing if you don't have a franchise QB right now.

 

My friends are of the opinion that the answer is no, because we'll never see another Superbowl winner like the Ravens, who won 2 Superbowls with QBs tagged as "game managers" - Trent Dilfer and Joe Flacco.  I don't buy that, because I'm not in the predicting business and I don't know anyone who is good at predicting the future.

 

If you don't have a franchise QB, but do have a competent one, then your team's fans will expect you to stock the team with enough pieces to win - like the Ravens, the Bucs (with Brad Johnson, not Tom Brady), etc.  That historically means loading up on defense, offensive line, running backs, and clutch receivers who are good enough to make up for the QB being "ordinary" by NFL standards - not a magician on the level of Mahommes/Allen, but a QB who can be trusted to take care of the ball, and make the clutch passes off of play action.  

 

The obvious disadvantage of a team built like that is if they fall behind by a big deficit early, they can't mount a comeback.  OTOH, they tend to have a favorable W-L record overall.

 

"Tank to draft high" doesn't work unless you have a proven GM btw.  Because, if you tank the season and your GM sucks, he'll draft a Joey Harrington, Akili Smith, Ryan Leaf, Jamarcus Russell, or one of the prospective franchise QBs who are still kind of questionable like Daniel Jones or Zach Wilson.  One wrong choice for a top 10 QB draft pick, and your team is back to square one.

[bill5]

12 hours ago, GovernorSilver said:

Ah yes, the argument about should you even bother to try competing if you don't have a franchise QB right now.

 

My friends are of the opinion that the answer is no, because we'll never see another Superbowl winner like the Ravens, who won 2 Superbowls with QBs tagged as "game managers" - Trent Dilfer and Joe Flacco.  I don't buy that, because I'm not in the predicting business and I don't know anyone who is good at predicting the future.

I don't buy "never," but it is the exception. If you think of SB winners, esp in recent years, almost all had a franchise, upper-tier QB. 

 

As for tanking, I suspect rarely if ever a team tanks. At least, players and coaches don't. I could see an owner and/or GM sticking with a lesser QB who is perhaps an unknown because it's win/win. If the guy pans out, great. If not, you get that high draft pick for someone else. But overall their mentality is win, always. And as you said a QB drafted high is no guarantee of an elite QB. Zach Wilson seems to be the latest example.....