2020-2021 NFL Thread

[Pendulous]

There won't be a Pro Bowl this year for obvious reasons, but the rosters were announced https://www.nfl.com/news/nfl-reveals...-2021-pro-bowl

Weird to see so many Chiefs defenders. Younghoe Koo getting the nod is a nice redemption story. No idea how Evan Engram got it.

As far as today's game has gone, some really bad offenses going against each other. What the hell even happened to the Steelers anyway? It's not like they've played great teams the past few weeks.

[Brubear]

IDK, refs make mistakes. We had a bullshit OPI called against us Saturday.......but the Broncos had a bullshit DPI called against them too at some point as well.

Bad calls happen, and they usually even out. If we went to a VAR-like system for offsides/false starts I'd literally murder myself. And holding/PI will always be subjective. Turnovers and TDs are already subject to automatic review. You want to apply that to all catches? I don't.


I do agree with the better camera angles, maybe in the yard sticks and...hey, NFL, maybe spring for two more guys per game so yard sticks (with cameras) are on both sides of the field. Pylon cams have been super useful in this regard already, and I don't know how else they could be implemented on the actual field of play, where the yard-line to gain is always variable.

Chain gang on both sides. The chains have a laser/scanner that establishes the line to gain, with these also on both sides of the goal line (and even the uprights if you really want). Then put sensors in the ball (one on each tip, plus around the 4 sides, whatever you need tog et the best coverage of the entire ball). This track when the ball crosses to make it clear when exactly they break the plain. Combine this with camera reviews and now, even in a pile of bodies, they'll know when the ball crosses the goal line or YTG so now they just need to review whether the player was down or not.

It won't get rid of the issues with calling/not calling penalties, but at least scoring reviews and spotting the ball become a lot less controversial.

[Grube]

As far as today's game has gone, some really bad offenses going against each other. What the hell even happened to the Steelers anyway? It's not like they've played great teams the past few weeks.

It is the Steelers. They play to whatever level of football their opponents are capable of playing at.

[Ursus]

So I must have missed something. Can anyone explain to me how that was not a helmet-to-helmet hit on Smith-Schuster? The defender led with the crown of his helmet and made initial contact with Smith-Schuster's facemask.

[Slowpoke is a Gamer]

There won't be a Pro Bowl this year for obvious reasons, but the rosters were announced https://www.nfl.com/news/nfl-reveals...-2021-pro-bowl

Weird to see so many Chiefs defenders. Younghoe Koo getting the nod is a nice redemption story. No idea how Evan Engram got it.

As far as today's game has gone, some really bad offenses going against each other. What the hell even happened to the Steelers anyway? It's not like they've played great teams the past few weeks.

Their offense has been bad all year and the COVID game apparently broke their defense.

[Pendulous]

No Burrow, no Mixon. Gio Bernard is tearing up their defense, a rushing and receiving TD. Big Ben has NEGATIVE two yards and a pick. This isn't an 11-2 team no matter how easy their schedule. The Steelers are the team playing like they're on their third QB.

[Ursus]

This is one of the most disgusting performances I've ever seen by an offense in a single half. Among other things, Ben needs to stop throwing 50-50 balls 20 yards down the field when he has wide open receivers underneath.

[ProphetFlume]

They even screwed the Bills on a spot near the end of the game (and somehow didn't win the challenge?)

This is more the thing I’m talking about than real time mistakes. Like the amount of times a pretty clear thing happens and and doesn’t get reversed or called up to the booth if it’s last 2 minutes, with all the available angles and slow mo, is uncomfortable.

Take the chargers game for example, they scored that td at least twice but the previous play wasn’t ruled a td or even called up.

- - - Updated - - -

I mean, in most industries automating the process makes things cheaper, so I'm pretty sure automating things in the NFL would eventually lead to the same thing AND a better, more just process.

There would be a flag every play.

- - - Updated - - -

It is the Steelers. They play to whatever level of football their opponents are capable of playing at.

Yeah but even when bengals were a perennial playoff team and Steelers were kinda bad they stomped them. It’s the most big brother/little brother pair in the league.

[Vetali]

Pretty sure I recall somewhere that Big Ben is coming back next season... Tomlin might veto that decision after this stretch.

[Slowpoke is a Gamer]

Pretty sure I recall somewhere that Big Ben is coming back next season... Tomlin might veto that decision after this stretch.

He's better than their alternatives, they won't be in position to draft a high QB, their backups aren't great, and unless we get a surprise Stafford or Ryan on the market there won't be a solution in the market either. If they wanted to move on from him before the bottom falls out, last year would have been the year.

[eschatological]

Bills clinch AFC East: check
Patriots lose, eliminating them from the playoffs: check
Jets win, and potentially lose Trevor Lawrence: check
Steelers lose, and give us the 2nd seed for now, while having a much tougher schedule: check
....
....
....
....
....
Hockey's coming back in January: check


Pretty fucking good weekend, by my standard. Pittsburgh has a much harder schedule than us remaining, and we have the head to head tiebreaker. We have Patriots and home against Miami.

Hell, we even have a shot at #1 seed, if KC somehow loses out and there's a threeway 13-3 tie at the top with the Steelers, cause then the seeding goes by Strength of Schedule (Bills currently the only playoff-positioned team with a SoS above .500).

[Vetali]

He's better than their alternatives, they won't be in position to draft a high QB, their backups aren't great, and unless we get a surprise Stafford or Ryan on the market there won't be a solution in the market either. If they wanted to move on from him before the bottom falls out, last year would have been the year.

Or

Wentz

I am not certain about Stafford leaving. Ryan either. I'd see Wentz as the most Steeler-esque candidate, but I do think they'd rather stick with Ben then trade for that contract.

[Logwyn]

Or

Wentz

I am not certain about Stafford leaving. Ryan either. I'd see Wentz as the most Steeler-esque candidate, but I do think they'd rather stick with Ben then trade for that contract.

I do not see how Ryan leaves Atlanta after this season. Too much dead money. Julio Jones either same situation. The Offense has troubles but the issue is the OC, play calling, and scheme. One of the falcon's fansite has a running joke about how many times they run on second and long. Almost an automatic play call. I think a change of OC fixes some of the Offensive issues.

The defense is the dumpster fire. There are some good pieces and then other crap pieces. I'm always beef up the line and fix that on both sides of the ball as the solution.

[ProphetFlume]

Wentz or Stafford with niners is more interesting. I can’t see Ryan or wentz being tough enough for pittsburgh locker room. Stafford maybe but him being there just sounds weird, and I don’t see any as a big improvement, if at all, over roeth.

The browns need to win out and have the Steelers lose out to win the north, which is both possible and amazing. Imagine the browns and bills winning their divisions the same season. Patriots decline has made the afc so much more fun.

[draynay]

Only about half the league has their QB situation set for 2021, and covid may force some financial decisions if the cap is stagnant or drops. I usually expect the QB market to be pretty boring, but there could be some real movement this time.

[Grube]

I've been hoping Elway trades for Stafford instead of going after bad QBs again. The amount of teams that will want to go after him (assuming the talk that he wants out of Detroit are legit) makes that very unlikely though. They have the cap space to do it if they don't sign Justin Simmons and get rid of Bouye, but Elway will do something dumb instead.

[xskarma]

I'd love to see Stafford in a properly coached team environment for a season or 2. He'd probably shock some casual viewers with how good he can be.

Only issue might be injury. He's tough, but he does get nicked up a lot.

I should probably say that I'd love Stafford in NE, but I'm honestly just very curious what BB will do this offseason. So I'm not really hoping for anything in particular, just hoping BB shows he's still got it in the personnel department and turns the team around again.



Sidenote: It's actually quite interesting, but I just remembered that one of my main concerns this year coming into it was the turnover at the coaching positions. That's surprisingly not been that huge of an issue though. It's all been about the people on the field just not being good enough players and not executing.

[Slowpoke is a Gamer]

Only about half the league has their QB situation set for 2021, and covid may force some financial decisions if the cap is stagnant or drops. I usually expect the QB market to be pretty boring, but there could be some real movement this time.

Well only about half have it 100% locked in but I expect probably only 1/4 at best to actually make a change. We're back to QB Demand outstripping QB Supply, and we still haven't hit the 04/05 retirement apocalypse.

Honestly though even if the cap stays stagnant the only QB I realistically see hitting the market other than potential retread backups (See: Dalton, Andy) is Wentz.

Though if it drops, that could turn Dak Prescott into a wild card.

[ProphetFlume]

Apparently shanahan has a history of praising cousins and the Vikings trading or him leaving with 1 year left isn’t that unreasonable.

https://www.nfl.com/news/debrief-pre...2021-qb-market

[Slowpoke is a Gamer]

Apparently shanahan has a history of praising cousins and the Vikings trading or him leaving with 1 year left isn’t that unreasonable.

https://www.nfl.com/news/debrief-pre...2021-qb-market

Shanahan would have been in Washington when Cousins was drafted.

Dots!