2020-2021 NFL Thread

[ProphetFlume]

These uniforms and this field, nothing else has made me feel like I'm playing a 2001 playstation/n64 game like this one.

[Darth Belichick]

I'm a Pats fan, clearly. Bill is pretty good at drafting some positions, and he's been better in the secondary as of late (didn't pick Gilmore, but targeted him and signed him which is something no one saw coming).

However, that man cannot draft a good wide receiver to save his life.

[ProphetFlume]

Did we ever find out for sure what happened to Gurley during the SB? All I could find were articles from that month.

[Pendulous]

This week's fun stat: https://twitter.com/pff_natejahnke/s...616478208?s=21

Falcons WRs today
Calvin Ridley - 12 targets, 9 catches, 100+ yards
Julio Jones - 12 targets, 9 catches, 100+ yards
Russell Gage - 12 targets, 9 catches, 100+ yards

[xskarma]

This week's fun stat: https://twitter.com/pff_natejahnke/s...616478208?s=21

AND 70+ rushing yards too, so at least somewhat balanced. Falcons might be better than I had them pegged.

[draynay]

AND 70+ rushing yards too, so at least somewhat balanced. Falcons might be better than I had them pegged.

I was waiting for some bogus take on the Falcons, they were so bad. Their defense made a couple plays against the run but did nothing in the passing game and this is before they have their inevitable multiple season ending injuries.

They looked like the same team we've seen the last two years that couldn't get anything done until it was too late.

[Espo]

I was waiting for some bogus take on the Falcons, they were so bad. Their defense made a couple plays against the run but did nothing in the passing game and this is before they have their inevitable multiple season ending injuries.

They looked like the same team we've seen the last two years that couldn't get anything done until it was too late.

I'll wait a few more games to pass judgement, but I'm leaning with you on this one. That was all garbage time stats. I'm sure people who started Ridley and Julio in fantasy loved it, but I'm not sure there's optimism for Falcon fans. They got dunked on when it really counted.

We all know Wilson is beyond elite, but the man completed near 90% of his passes--the Falcons had no hope at all.

[draynay]

I'll wait a few more games to pass judgement, but I'm leaning with you on this one. That was all garbage time stats. I'm sure people who started Ridley and Julio in fantasy loved it, but I'm not sure there's optimism for Falcon fans. They got dunked on when it really counted.

We all know Wilson is beyond elite, but the man completed near 90% of his passes--the Falcons had no hope at all.

Of course there is still time to reverse the narrative, just nothing happened yesterday to do it, we will know more in the coming weeks.

[eschatological]

Who IS a great drafter then? who has been a better drafter, consistently, since Bill took over the Patriots?

I'm guessing you are going to trot out the tired cliche of him not having drafted probowlers, when the pro bowl voting has largely been a popularity contest and the Patriots are rarely popular.

I think drafting is also just 1 part of what is the greater football field of Talent Evaluation. And Bill knows how to evaluate talent like few others.

The core of the Patriots Superbowl winning teams of the past 6 years have pretty much all been drafted by Belichick. How is that not being a good drafter?

And more to the point of talent evaluation, BB has gotten talented players from EVERYWHERE. He drafted them, traded for them, signed them as free agents. He clearly knows how to find players that fit his system. So if his talent evaluation is that on point, then how does it make sense that he apparently loses that when looking at players in the draft? It doesn't. Bill is a great talent evaluator, and that's true in all fields of talent aquisition, including drafting.

I think McDermott and Beane have actually been really good drafters, on the defensive side of the ball. Our starting LB (who got hurt this week, but still) is a 5th rounder from my alma mater Boston College. Our two RBs are mid-round steals. We got Gabe Davis in the 4th or 5th this year and he had the 5th highest snap total for a rookie WR in week 1 in a year when WRs were flying off the board. They picked Tre White up, obviously. Their two DT picks so far (1st rounder Ed Oliver and 3rd rounder Harrison Phillips) are shaping up to be good players (potentially great for Oliver). They have drafted a franchise LT who we just signed this offseason, and a franchise RT/RG the season after, both in the 2nd/3rd round. We have another rookie WR Isaiah Hodgins on IR who looked really good in what we saw. We drafted Tremaine Edmunds who looks like the better LB in his class over Vander Esch and Roquan Smith, and so on, and so forth.

The only real misses are Zay Jones, a WR in the 2nd round, a LB we drafted in the 5th last year who we released this year, and Nathan Peterman in the 6th, which is a throwaway pick. I imagine Fromm will be one of these too. Now that I think about it, their talent evaluation on QBs is suspect at best. Allen will probably work out for them, but jeez.

It's obviously only a 3 year sample size, and things get towards the average in a career like Bill's, but still.

Also, it's easy to sign FAs and trade for players who want to play with the GOAT QB. How do you think you got Gilmore from us? We offered him practically the same money, he walked to be in the New England spotlight. And guess what - he played at pretty much the same level as he did in Buffalo, he was a lockdown corner.....but he only rose to national prominence in NE. So he made the right choice for his career.

[Slowpoke is a Gamer]

I was waiting for some bogus take on the Falcons, they were so bad. Their defense made a couple plays against the run but did nothing in the passing game and this is before they have their inevitable multiple season ending injuries.

They looked like the same team we've seen the last two years that couldn't get anything done until it was too late.

Falcons D being their weakest link sounds about right for the Dan Quinn era. They'll be able to win in shootouts with bad teams but lose shootouts to good teams like Seattle.

[draynay]

Cody Parker has a job again, with Cleveland, uprights beware, the doinks will resume.

[Crissi]

What sound do Bears make?

Doink Doink

[Slowpoke is a Gamer]

What sound do Bears make?

Doink Doink

I thought it was caching.

You know, for paying Nick Foles instead of Cam Newton

[draynay]

If you are down two tds late in the game, going for two early increases your odds of winning. Here’s how:

You’re down by 14 and you score. Now you’re down 8.

If you go for 1 you end up down 7, then you score again it’s a tie 100% of time (assuming for simplicity that you make xp)

Alternatively, say you go for two. With a 50% chance of getting it, your scenarios are:

50% of time, down 6
50% of time, down 8.

Now you score a second touchdown. If you were down 6, you go for 1 and win by 1. If you were down 8, you go for two and half the time it’s tied up again. So results are:

50% win by 1
25% tied
25% lose by 2

So basically, going for two early means you can increase your chances of winning slightly by accepting a slightly bigger loss. The weighted average outcome is still a tie but since you don’t care about margin of victory you can use the -2 scenario to get twice as many +1 outcomes.

They have a 50% chance of winning either way, using your assumption that the conversion has a 50% rate of success.

And we weren't talking about a 14 point deficit, but a 17 point deficit. Two-point tries aren't going to shrink that from a 3-score deficit. If you close a 17 point gap to ten points, you need a TD and FG to tie. If your defense can hold them to a FG on their possession its a 13 point deficit and two TDs can win it for you. Shrinking the deficit to 9 points has no realistic value, certainly not compared to the detriment of letting it be an 11 point deficit after a failed two-point try which takes the previous victory scenario off the table.

[draynay]

This game is real ugly.

[Logwyn]

This week's fun stat: https://twitter.com/pff_natejahnke/s...616478208?s=21

Meh. Garbage stats during garbage time. I'm a Falcons fan.

I'd have they have half those stats, a defense, and wins.

- - - Updated - - -

I was waiting for some bogus take on the Falcons, they were so bad. Their defense made a couple plays against the run but did nothing in the passing game and this is before they have their inevitable multiple season ending injuries.

They looked like the same team we've seen the last two years that couldn't get anything done until it was too late.

The stats that the Falcons put up is what is being talked about as some positive. Only thing I can think of is that might be the case is that the Falcons are really good both Offense and Defense wise. But Seattle is just leaps and bounds better and Wilson is on track to be the GOAT and SuperBowl bound.

But many of the plays looked like like we were watching "Groundhog Day" from last season. The DL did look better. I'm still holding out for a a couple more games to play out before I cash in the season.

[draynay]

Wilson is real good, but 4 TDs and only 4 incompletions is pretty gruesome. Its not getting any easier for them next week, but at least they can thank the Lions for keeping Trubisky as the Bears starter come week 3.

Awesome effort from Washington getting in for that TD, best play of the game so far.


Argh its halftime and Booger is back.

- - - Updated - - -

Steelers offense looks better without Conner.

[Vetali]

I was waiting for some bogus take on the Falcons, they were so bad. Their defense made a couple plays against the run but did nothing in the passing game and this is before they have their inevitable multiple season ending injuries.

They looked like the same team we've seen the last two years that couldn't get anything done until it was too late.

I agree. Seattle was playing a lot of zone and they were very sloppy aside from tackling. Jamal Adams and Bobby Wagner carried that defense hard.

[Northern Goblin]

I know what that 4th down play was suppose to be, but I wouldn't recognise it from what was executed.

[eschatological]

I hear this Titans team is supposed to go to the Super Bowl.