2018-2019 NFL Thread

[Blueobelisk]

It's about this: Spongebob and friends have a band and they end up playing during a football game half time show and then do this video's performance (2 min video): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k9iYm9PEAHg

It was teased before the Superbowl that Spongebob would be in it, but it turned out to only be a 5 sec introduction of one of the actual performers and not a rendition of Sweet Victory.

I would definitely be one of the people on Twitter whining about the false promises of the NFL . I'm a Spongebob fanboy.

[xskarma]

Oh, before I forget: The MMO-C Super Bowl Pick competion final:

All the picks as people made them this season: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets...img/edit#gid=0

Top scores:

1st: 120 points: xskarma
2nd: 90 points: @Vegas82, @Pendulous, @Vetali
3rd: 80 points: @Grube, @draynay


Thanks for playing everyone, next competition will start right after the Draft in a few months, so check back then!

[Brubear]

Oh, before I forget: The MMO-C Super Bowl Pick competion final:

All the picks as people made them this season: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets...img/edit#gid=0

Top scores:

1st: 120 points: xskarma
2nd: 90 points: @Vegas82, @Pendulous, @Vetali
3rd: 80 points: @Grube, @draynay


Thanks for playing everyone, next competition will start right after the Draft in a few months, so check back then!

Rigged! Just like the NFL! /s

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There is a lot of things that make me hate it. For example the talk of going to 18 games for more money and then turning around and talking about player safety. Ray Rice beating his wife on tape gets you two weeks and somehow Tom Brady, with zero evidence got 4 games for "deflating a football". It just goes on and on.

I'd have to dig up the article but there was a pretty interesting breakdown around the Patriots and Spygate/Deflategate. Basically, based on a lot of things (like the way the league handled it and destroyed all the evidence before anyone could really view it among other things), it seemed like Spygate was as bad if not worse than everyone thought, but Goodell didn't want it to destroy the league plus Kraft was a supporter of his, so he let them off rather easy compared to what happened with an expectation that Belichick wouldn't try and bend the rules so much and be good so to speak. When Deflategate happened the punishment was disproportionate to the offense because they didn't stay on the level like he wanted, so he came down hard to make an example of them.

Found it.

Not to derail this into a discussion about the whole ordeal, but Spygate really is the main reason they came down on them so hard after Deflategate (that and Brady's runaround with the whole phone thing).

[Crackleslap]

Actually kinda excited too see what happens in the off season. Especially with the Steelers!

Wonder how we're gonna handle things aka with Tevin Coleman, Grady Jarret paying Julio and who we draft. Some mocks have us getting Ed Oliver, which would be wonderful but I somehow doubt that lol. We need too beef up our dline and oline. Trade Vic maybe he's just not that good.

We've got Dan Quinn looking after the defence now and Dirk Koetter will be running the offence, so I'm wondering how that's gonna pan out. Also hired a coach for game management (Dan Quinns biggest flaw), and hopefully our STs are revamped. So a lot too be excited about next season. WE JUST GOTTA BE FUCKING HEALTHY.

[eschatological]

Man, xskarma snaking out the competition because he's the only one who picked the Pats. What a fanboy! The Pats looked average until the playoffs.


<grumblegrumblegrumble>

[xskarma]

Man, xskarma snaking out the competition because he's the only one who picked the Pats. What a fanboy! The Pats looked average until the playoffs.


<grumblegrumblegrumble>

Gotta believe bubs.

[Kyanion]

Gotta believe bubs.

I can't wait until the dynasty is over. Then you can go back to waiting for your team to be good again :P

[xskarma]

I can't wait until the dynasty is over. Then you can go back to waiting for your team to be good again :P

Well, this off season is going to be a hard one and it might legit be the start of some lean years again.

Patriots just lost their defensive coordinator for the second year running as well as the guy that would have taken over for Josh McDaniels at OC had he left last year (current WR coach) as well as our assistant QB coach. All 3 are going to join the Dolphins, within the division. That's a pretty serious braindrain. Belichick will still be Belichick but it means new coaches and adjustment and things not going as coordinated as they have gone over the past few years on the coaching side. Belichick can't coach everything by himself, he needs people he can trust and delegate tasks too.

On top of that we have free agents at the 2 most important positions behind QB, Left Tackle and Defensive End/Edge. At current cap room we can;t re-sign both of them so unless Belichick pulls a rabbit out of his hat we are either facing a problem at protecting Brady or at getting after the QB efficiently.

And they are not the only free agents, we have 21 free agents in total. Most of our wide reciever group is a free agent. Our TE's are both over paid for what their influence in the game is and might be replaced (or in Gronk's case, retire). Our Defensive line has 2 free agents at DT and the aforementioned Trey Flowers as our top DE/edge. Our kicker and Punter are both free agents and will need to be resigned or replaced, leading either to even more costs or even less continuity.

And then there's the topic of retirement. Gronk is considering it. Devin McCourty has mentioned it. We don't know who else might take this opportunity, especially in our older secondary. We have several older coaches too that might take this opportunity to go out with a bang.


Now, having said that, I fully expect the Patriots to be in the playoffs again next year, but it;s going to take a lot of hard work and careful maneuvering and some difficult choices will have to be made about player's futures. This year already took quite some time for the team to get it going and to work out the kinks in their communication and ability to play together, it would not surprise me for it to be an even bigger challenge next year.

This off season reminds me most of the 2013 offseason, which had a similar problem in having to rebuild the passing game mostly from scratch. Tom Brady had a down year that year due to difficult communication and trust issues. The Patriots still made the AFC Championship game, but we got beaten soundly by the Broncos that year and it wasn't until some way into 2014 before the offense really got on track again.

We'll see how it goes, but expecting the Patriots to just continue on from here and easily repeat as champions is definitely not going to happen.

[draynay]

Well, this off season is going to be a hard one and it might legit be the start of some lean years again.

I don't know why you bother making posts like this, I'm not gonna read it, its why I can't take you seriously. Just gonna assume its more woe-is-me patriot fan delusion.

[eschatological]

I can't wait until the dynasty is over. Then you can go back to waiting for your team to be good again :P

He's already told me if the Pats ever become Browns-ian, he's abandoning ship. Shame! Shame! Shame!


I've lived through 20 years of mismanagement with my team! We fired Wade Phillips because he wasn't as good as our Hall of Fame coach, turns out he was the best coach we had in the past 25 years!

[Kyanion]

snip.

I couldn't even be bothered to finish reading that drivel. I'll be glad when Brady/Belichick are gone and your team can truly suck for a while. No one cares that your team lost some coordinators. Bill runs that defense and could run it with a piece of toast as his other defense coaches. Also you sound just like the full of shit whiny Pats fans going on all year about the dynasty was over and actually thought they were underdogs in the playoffs. Fuck right off with that kind of nonsense is what I'd say to any Pats fan spouting that shit. Pats fans sure haven't deserved this dynasty when you read stuff like that.

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He's already told me if the Pats ever become Browns-ian, he's abandoning ship. Shame! Shame! Shame!


I've lived through 20 years of mismanagement with my team! We fired Wade Phillips because he wasn't as good as our Hall of Fame coach, turns out he was the best coach we had in the past 25 years!

If that is true and his Pats suck for a long time and he abandons them then he isn't a true fan of his team in the first place. My team wore fucking bags on their heads for years because we sucked so bad. I appreciate ANY browns fans because you know why? They cheer for that damn team no matter how bad they are. They deserve a winner and maybe they'll get one some day.

[xskarma]

He's already told me if the Pats ever become Browns-ian, he's abandoning ship. Shame! Shame! Shame!

Well, I meant the kind of gross mismanagement that Browns have done, wasting draft picks, getting rid of players with potential for 2 cents on the dollar, hiring and sticking with utterly incompetent coaches and front offices and then as a result winning 1 game in 2 years.

I would definitely stop supporting the team at that point till they get their shit together. And I mean supporting in the sense of giving them money and attention. Let a shitty owner feel it in his pockets.


But I also said that that is very unlikely to happen, given the current owner and the fact he has his son deeply involved in the organization and it's running and decision making. So I'm not that worried about succession even if it means the ridiculous success of the current years won't sustain.

[Northern Goblin]

Yeah no, I'm not buying the "this is gonna suck" from Patriots fans till they lose Belichick. This 6th ring solidified my belief that Bill can do this without Tom, Tom can't do this without Bill.

Belichick is to the NFL what Sir Alex was to the Premier League, he can rebuild teams time and time again and make winning teams out of often average players (no really, look at that roster, so many of those guys would suck elsewhere)

The day he no longer runs/carries the Patriots organisation is when they're going to suck.

[xskarma]

Former NFL QB TJ Yates has joined the Texans staff as an offensive assistant. Not long after Kellen Moore took over as the Cowboys playcaller. It's the rise of the back up QB's. Just think that one of these dudes might be the next Doug Pederson in a few years. Pretty wild.

[Grube]

As long as the Pats have Belichick, they will consistently win the AFCE and compete for 1st round byes. I can't remember the last time they did not have good special teams or scoring defense, which are the most important things for winning as much as they do. Not to mention that offensive system is really good at getting anyone they want open.

The solid career backup QBs usually stick around because they understand what they are supposed to do really well, they just can't execute it for whatever reason. Makes sense why they end up coaching when they are done playing.

[xskarma]

Makes sense why they end up coaching when they are done playing.

They must really REALLY fucking love football as well, cause coaches, especially early on in their career, keep ridiculous hours for almost no pay. I know several players who have said that being a player in the league that they saw up close what coaches go through and that they want no part of it. Career in broadcasting is then usually a far more attractive option.

Though, Bruce Arians was so put off by the long hours and preparation and travel he had to do in broadcasting that he felt a return to coaching was better suited for him. So it might still not be for everyone. xD

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Speaking of back-up Quarterbacks and broadcasting: Dan Orlovsky has come on strong this season and is among my favourite twitter follows these days. Here he breaks down the Goff to Cooks almost-TD that McCourty broke up and how it wasn't as easy as it looked to make that throw on time: https://twitter.com/danorlovsky7/sta...53019971063808

[Kyanion]

Speaking of back-up Quarterbacks and broadcasting: Dan Orlovsky has come on strong this season and is among my favourite twitter follows these days. Here he breaks down the Goff to Cooks almost-TD that McCourty broke up and how it wasn't as easy as it looked to make that throw on time: https://twitter.com/danorlovsky7/sta...53019971063808

You mean Mr. Self-Safety himself? breaks something down? Couldn't pay me to listen to anything he says.

[xskarma]

You mean Mr. Self-Safety himself? breaks something down? Couldn't pay me to listen to anything he says.

Together with Josh McCown actually, which probably makes you scoff all the harder. Your loss though. You can be good at a particular thing while not being good at a different thing. Orlovsky is a good broadcaster and X's and O's guy even if he couldn't actually do it all succesfully in a game.

[Kyanion]

I rarely listen to talking heads anymore when it comes to football, for how many 'experts' there are they are wrong way too often about the game. Sure they can make educated guesses but that is all they are really doing.

[xskarma]

I rarely listen to talking heads anymore when it comes to football, for how many 'experts' there are they are wrong way too often about the game. Sure they can make educated guesses but that is all they are really doing.

Yeah "broadcaster" is a broad term that covers everything from colour commentators to people on pre- and post-game shows to hot take artists like Shannon Sharpe and guys breaking down film. I have little respect for anyone but the film breakdown guys. The rest is as you say, educated guesses.

It's funny cause usually the film breakdown guys that are the most reserved in their opinions, coming out more with the facts of what they saw than opinions about what they saw.