2019-2020 NFL Thread

[Logwyn]

Looking more like the Eagles receivers than the Saints.

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I could watch Matt Ryan get knocked on his ass by that stiff arm for hours.

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This is a fun one for people who like seeing Matt Ryan get beat up and be terrible.

Is Matt Ryan really anything but terrible? He just gets tons of stats during garbage time.

[Brubear]

Man, that's two recoveries I'm a row

[draynay]

Saints are famous for recovering an onside kick, but now they're the worst ever at it.

[Kyanion]

Saints need to work on onside recoveries, gave up one earlier in the year too.

[Brubear]

Wow. Just, wow. That is insane.

[Kyanion]

The fuck are the Saints doing with these onside kicks!?

[Brubear]

Not going to lie, after the third recovery I was rooting for the Falcons.

[Kyanion]

More sacks to end the game, glad we won but the Saints got a lot of work to do with onside kicks and limiting penalties.

[cordrann]

Ahem.




Now all I need is for Houston to end Tom Brady's career on Sunday and it'll be the perfect weekend.

You must be confused, you guys play the Ravens NEXT Sunday, it was Dallas this week. Dallas might be second in yard/game but they are eighth in points. They are not even remotely close to Baltimore in terms of how successful their offense is.

[eschatological]

They were first in yards/game going into this game, and that's what the metric of #1 offense (as spouted on the broadcast) was.


I don't make these rules up, I just hear them and repeat them. I agree, it's not a particularly good metric of who the best offense is.

[Self Inflicted Wounds]

Its sad how bad Dallas' record is with how good of a roster they have.

Well, their first quarter looked good...

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They were first in yards/game going into this game, and that's what the metric of #1 offense (as spouted on the broadcast) was.


I don't make these rules up, I just hear them and repeat them. I agree, it's not a particularly good metric of who the best offense is.

I've never understood why yardage really matters all that much. I mean, it matters contextually when you're looking at why a team won or lost, but beyond that...

Like why are defenses in fantasy penalized for yardage? If they are making the stops when it really matters (in the red zone), that should be what counts.

[Fritters154]

I've never understood why yardage really matters all that much. I mean, it matters contextually when you're looking at why a team won or lost, but beyond that...

Like why are defenses in fantasy penalized for yardage? If they are making the stops when it really matters (in the red zone), that should be what counts.

Agreed, especially when you look at the disparity for a team like the Cowboys who are averaging 432.8 yards of offense/game but only 25.8 points/game. Compare that to the Ravens, who are averaging 433.3 yards of offense/game and 35.1 points/game. Clearly the Cowboys are not the best offense, because those numbers suggest they are getting yards but not finishing drives. One descriptor of that is the fact they are 2nd in yards but 20th in redzone efficiency (54.76%). Ravens are 1st in yards and points and 2nd in redzone efficiency (68.09%).

Yards don't mean shit when your coach is just on the sidelines clapping rather than calling good plays when you are in the redzone.

[draynay]

Clearly the Cowboys are not the best offense, because those numbers suggest they are getting yards but not finishing drives.

There's a lot more to it than that, which you get into with the redzone numbers, but defense and special teams also score points, or give the offense a shorter field. Interestingly Dallas is dead last in starting field position.

Yards don't tell the whole story, but there is nothing wrong with eschatological characterizing the Dallas offense as #1 when they were tops in yards, in any case it was quite the test for his team and they did very well.

[Pendulous]

Lane Johnson gettin paaaaaaaid.

[Fritters154]

There's a lot more to it than that, which you get into with the redzone numbers, but defense and special teams also score points, or give the offense a shorter field. Interestingly Dallas is dead last in starting field position.

Yards don't tell the whole story, but there is nothing wrong with eschatological characterizing the Dallas offense as #1 when they were tops in yards, in any case it was quite the test for his team and they did very well.

In a way though, an argument can then be made that their yards are a result of having longer possible drives than any other team, as they have opportunity for more yards with a longer field.

I guess i'll bring up the other aspect of redzone stats too: the Cowboys are 10th in redzone attempts and 20th in success. So despite those longer fields, they are still getting to the redzone at a decent rate then failing when they get there (hence lots of yards and not a lot of points).

I don't have anything against the Bills, I actually really like what they are doing this season so I'm not trying to bash on them. I'm just trying to convey that calling a team a #1 offense on yards/game isn't using a good descriptive metric. I dislike that stat being used to designate a top offense because it not only fails to tell the whole story, it actually misconstrues the facts of what a team is doing on the field.

Yards at best should be considered a byproduct of a successful offense, not an indicator of one.

[ProphetFlume]

With the kind of stats they toss around (most points scored when behind in the last 2 minutes of the third quarter in the past 3 and a quarter years) most are exaggerated or so gerrymandered that it doesn't matter. They're just trying to build up hype.

[dwightyo39]

Well, their first quarter looked good...

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Like why are defenses in fantasy penalized for yardage? If they are making the stops when it really matters (in the red zone), that should be what counts.

Because fantasy football is the antichrist. A bunch of nerds asked "how can we turn nfl fandom into DnD?" Oddly enough it became popular to the point where NFL execs decided to change up the rules of a once perfect product, the nfl from the 80s-90s, to make games more high scoring. All in the name of generating lots of flashy fantasy football stats.

[Blueobelisk]

I just happened to look at NFL standings because I wanted to add a few games to watch on my calendar and KEKW Bengals are 0-11 LOLS.

Hmmmm I can't figure out any objectively good games that I should watch for the sake of seeing a good match in the sport of football. If anyone has any recommendations let me know so I can add it to my calendar. Otherwise I guess I'm chilling until the last week of the regular season or until playoffs start in January.

[Pendulous]

You're gonna want to watch the Niners and Ravens tomorrow, and the Vikings and Seahawks Monday.

Terrelle Pryor was stabbed, in critical condition but expected to recover, from what I've read.

[Brubear]

I just happened to look at NFL standings because I wanted to add a few games to watch on my calendar and KEKW Bengals are 0-11 LOLS.

Hmmmm I can't figure out any objectively good games that I should watch for the sake of seeing a good match in the sport of football. If anyone has any recommendations let me know so I can add it to my calendar. Otherwise I guess I'm chilling until the last week of the regular season or until playoffs start in January.

The Niners Ravens one will be good. Niners are playing to keep their lead in a really tight NFC playoff race (if they lose I believe they go from being the #1 seed to the #5 seed if the Seahawks win Monday) and Baltimore is trying to keep pace with the Patriots (if they lose then they likely lose their shot at the #1 seed, win and they have a chance if NE drops a game). It'll also be a match-up of arguably the best offense and the best defense in the league, and a potential Super Bowl match-up. It's also a toss-up as the Niners are undefeated on the road whereas the Ravens lost to the Browns at home.

I'm not sure if the Vikings-Seahawks game will be worth watching. While I would love nothing more than the Vikings to win, Russell Wilson hasn't lost a December MNF game in his career, they're playing at Seattle where Vikings haven't won since 2006 (which is also the last time they beat the Seahawks having lost 6 straight to them since), and Cousins and the Vikings have a tendency to choke in Prime Time games or games with major implications. I would not be surprised if the Seahawks thrash the Vikings, though a Vikings win could potentially knock the Seahawks out of the race for the NFC West crown.

There are a lot of games that could really shake up the playoff picture tomorrow though. Titans/Colts, Patriots/Texans, and Raiders/Chiefs could really shake things up, especially paired with the Niners/Ravens outcome.

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I was playing around with ESPNs playoff machine and noticed something crazy. Assuming zero upsets (ie the team that is currently favored, with the better record, or the home team if their records are the same and there's no projected winner yet, win every game), with the exception of the Vikings beating the Seahawks Monday and Green Bay in week 16, then the Vikings could actually end up with the #2 seed. Not only that, if the Ravens and Seahawks beat the Niners (Ravens are currently favored and the Seahawks would be the home team with a tied record) then the Vikings actually end up with the #1 seed.

Now, I really really doubt that will happen because I have both zero faith the Vikings win out, as well as I really doubt that all teams will close out the season with no upsets.