2021-2022 NFL Thread

[eschatological]

But when those 2007 Patriots lost the Superbowl, all credit went to the defense of the Giants, and most media acknowledged that they were the reason the Giants won. But then the 2018 Superbowl happened, and it wasn't about the Patriots defense being amazing for stopping the Rams offense, no, the Rams choked and were incompetent.

And after that I became a supporter of good defense. Or sorry, "shill".

This is the problem, you've only been a fan during the greatest offensive expansion in the league. For those of us who were around in the defensive heydays of the 80s and 90s, until the Bills and Cowboys and 49ers quite literally reinvented the importance of offense, I much prefer this era of football. We once won an AFC Championship against Grube's Broncos 10-7 and it was literally boring as hell. I much preferred the 51-3 shellacking of the Raiders in the AFC Championship the year before. And that happened because the defenses were really good.

Hell, the '85 Bears had one of the best defenses ever, and they were boring as hell to watch. And still somehow, the only person who is remembered from that team on defense is Mike Singletary, a guy who literally defined the MLB position. Somehow Jim McMahon was a bigger celebrity though I doubt any fan under the age of 30 has any fucking idea who he is. I don't know if anyone could name any of the Purple People Eaters of the Vikings Super Bowl teams despite being an infamously good defense, but you've probably heard of Fran Tarkenton, their QB.

Defense is boring. And, here's the important part: analytics have shown: 1) defense does not, in fact, win championships, as a good defense is less predictive of getting to the playoffs, let alone the Super Bowl, if the other side of the ball is bad, 2) offense, on the other hand, can carry a bad defense to the Super Bowl and sometimes even win, and finally, 3) defense year-to-year is hard to replicate. Our defense sucked last year, and was #1 this year. We drafted two rookie DEs whose contribution was less than a 50% snap share for one of them. That's it. And the year before we sucked, we were great again. Denver's defense that won them the SB a couple years ago was almost instantly trash soon thereafter. Same with Seattle (though that has more to do with not paying any of them and them leaving). The Ravens managed to squeak one out in the early 00s with a killer defense, along with the Bucs with Warren Sapp. Guess what, those were two of the worst. Super. Bowls. Ever. The Bucs defense played a great SB again last year, but their offense was good too.

Thesis: A godly defense can win you a Super Bowl with a below average offense once every 10-15 years. It happened twice early in the 00s. But it's a flukey, streaky thing that can't be replicated. Meanwhile, offenses can build dynasties. They can be good for years on end once you've assembled it.

I'm lucky in this regard, because the football I like is also the proven formula for success. I know you hate analytics, but data doesn't lie. The people who really, truly believe defense wins championships are thinking with their feelings, and their guts, more than anything else.

[dwightyo39]

I miss defenses being able to do this. Note the badass attitude the wrs in this video have.
True Chads. https://youtu.be/4RcIJ2rLMUQ

I also HATE the qb slide rule. If you take off with the ball there should be consequences. This is coming from a guy who has a qb worth protecting.

[Kyanion]

I miss defenses being able to do this. Note the badass attitude the wrs in this video have.
True Chads. https://youtu.be/4RcIJ2rLMUQ

I also HATE the qb slide rule. If you take off with the ball there should be consequences. This is coming from a guy who has a qb worth protecting.

Ah yes the 'try to kill someone' and 'use your head/helmet as a fucking weapon' days. Yeah. Good fucking riddance.

And we wonder why there are such health related problems after players retire. Wonder why.

[dwightyo39]

Ah yes the 'try to kill someone' and 'use your head/helmet as a fucking weapon' days. Yeah. Good fucking riddance.

And we wonder why there are such health related problems after players retire. Wonder why.

Perhaps you would enjoy soccer more.

I will concede that helmet spearing into helmet is bad, but there is nothing wrong with decleating a wr with a solid, non spear hit, to prevent a catch.

[Crissi]

Perhaps you would enjoy soccer more.

I will concede that helmet spearing into helmet is bad, but there is nothing wrong with decleating a wr with a solid, non spear hit, to prevent a catch.

Depends on the hit. "hospital" hits where the WR is still in the air, and going after the legs are also no bueno given the extraordinary injury risk.

[muto]

I guess I'm going for the Bengals. I like Joe Burrow.

[Coniferous]

I think in the end this wasn't so much about Shanahan or McVay's offenses, but their DEFENSES. Rams defense just showed up in the clutch and the Niners let opportunities go to waste.

Same will be true in the Superbowl, most likely. Both Bengals and Rams defenses were what carried them in their respective second halves (and OT) that they used to get back in it and win.

It would please me greatly if we ended up with another super defensive Superbowl, just to take a shit on all the over the top "OMG OFFENSE" takes from around Bills-Chiefs. Just like happened in 2018 after the Rams-Chiefs game where defense was optional and the Pats-Rams Superbowl that followed it.

Let's see these defensive players get their flowers.



On another note: I'm hoping the Bengals win the Superbowl, but if the Rams win, I hope it's a sign to every overconfident team owner to URGE their teams to splurge and put their future on the line for just a chance at a Superbowl win. Let there be chaos and disasters and hubris and terrible contracts and player movement.

Let these teams stop being responsible and chase their billionaire big dick dreams and mortgage their futures just for it to all blow up in SPECTACULAR fashion. It will be great entertainment and lively up some of the offseasons that have been pretty pedestrian compared to for instance the NBA.

And I want this not just for the entertainment value, but also cause it only benefits the teams that continue to stick to a slow and steady approach, like the Patriots.

While so much praise gets heaped on Brady and it's deserved, I think the reason the Patriots tended to outperform the other teams with great qbs is they basically always had a better defense than opponents in the super bowls they won. The Patriots defense was routinely very, very solid in those years. Their "points allowed" rankings in their championship years were 6th, 1st, 2nd, 8th, 1st, and 7th, and they usually had high ranks in other years too.

The formula was: coach up the offensive line and Brady takes care of the offense, then Belichick does the defense. It wasn't just Brady. The best example was last year's super bowl when Brady just dropped straight back every play while Mahomes was running for his life. The Patriots had an incredibly stable infrastructure built around Brady (and they managed to always produce offense despite rarely investing much in WR and running back).

[draynay]

I thought things looked good in the Rams/49ers game, there were two hits that come to mind, the hit on OBJ where the defender lowers his head to spear him for an obvious penalty on a dangerous play, and the hit on Deebo where he took a shoulder to the chest and they picked up the flag. The shot Deebo took was a nice looking hit without as much danger as the flagged play, he was stunned and had the wind knocked out of him but I don't think he missed more than the one mandatory play. Just proves you can still have big exciting hits while eliminating the most dangerous of them.

- - - Updated - - -

Retirement news from Brady now official

[draynay]

And he basically gave NE and its fans a massive middle finger by entirely focusing his praise and thanks on Tampa and their fans. Tom Brady, exactly who we thought he was until the end.

I'm not one to defend Brady but I'm pretty sure he had his farewell message to Patriots fans two years ago.

[xskarma]

I'm not one to defend Brady but I'm pretty sure he had his farewell message to Patriots fans two years ago.

Yep AND he has a whole page about the players and coaches he's played with. He doesn;t specifically name the Patriots and Kraft in any of it, but I strongly doubt that has anything to do with bad feelings about anything. In fact stories around the time the Bucs and the Patriots played this year was that things had never been as bad as portrayed, as witnessed by Brady and BB hanging out in the Bucs lockerroom for nearly hafl an hour after the game.

Some fans will be touchy he didn't say "Patriots" somewhere, but eh. He'll have his whole rest of his life to represent the team and what he accomplished in NE. It's fine.

[Breccia]

Retirement news from Brady now official

I guess the earlier reports weren't...inflated?

For whatever reason, FOX Sports was about the only holdout. Everyone else accepted the weekend report on face value. While the earlier report turned out to be correct, it is interesting to see at least one source saying "let's wait until he says it himself".

[Darththeo]

I guess the earlier reports weren't...inflated?

For whatever reason, FOX Sports was about the only holdout. Everyone else accepted the weekend report on face value. While the earlier report turned out to be correct, it is interesting to see at least one source saying "let's wait until he says it himself".

Well, both Tom's father and agent had said that no official decision was made until it was. So, who are you going to believe?

It is going to be weird as Ben and Brady are both likely first ballot hall of famers in five years time. And likely I expect Gronk to announce his retirement shortly as well. Gronk has been rather on that the only QB he'll play with is Brady.

[Breccia]

Well, both Tom's father and agent had said that no official decision was made until it was. So, who are you going to believe?

Well that's my point. Everyone else seemed really certain. So either he retired but waited 72 hours to tell the public...honestly that doesn't sound all that bad...and FOX Sports was just waiting for confirmation, or he hadn't decided yet and FOX Sports was right to hold back the announcement.

I just thought it was odd that one and only one source was saying "we're waiting until he says something public".

[ProphetFlume]

I thought things looked good in the Rams/49ers game, there were two hits that come to mind, the hit on OBJ where the defender lowers his head to spear him for an obvious penalty on a dangerous play, and the hit on Deebo where he took a shoulder to the chest and they picked up the flag. The shot Deebo took was a nice looking hit without as much danger as the flagged play, he was stunned and had the wind knocked out of him but I don't think he missed more than the one mandatory play. Just proves you can still have big exciting hits while eliminating the most dangerous of them.

Speaking of helmet to helmet, the most blatant blindside headbutt on stafford well after the play in the beginning of the game. I’ll give refs the benefit of the doubt but that was some dirty shit.

- - - Updated - - -

Well that's my point. Everyone else seemed really certain. So either he retired but waited 72 hours to tell the public...honestly that doesn't sound all that bad...and FOX Sports was just waiting for confirmation, or he hadn't decided yet and FOX Sports was right to hold back the announcement.

I just thought it was odd that one and only one source was saying "we're waiting until he says something public".

I personally was waiting so I can’t blame them, but ithink it would be funnier if the reason is because they have 0 inside sources of their own.

[Slowpoke is a Gamer]

Yep AND he has a whole page about the players and coaches he's played with. He doesn;t specifically name the Patriots and Kraft in any of it, but I strongly doubt that has anything to do with bad feelings about anything. In fact stories around the time the Bucs and the Patriots played this year was that things had never been as bad as portrayed, as witnessed by Brady and BB hanging out in the Bucs lockerroom for nearly hafl an hour after the game.

Some fans will be touchy he didn't say "Patriots" somewhere, but eh. He'll have his whole rest of his life to represent the team and what he accomplished in NE. It's fine.

He's also signing a one day contract to retire as a Patriot apparently sooooo

[PhaelixWW]

He's also signing a one day contract to retire as a Patriot apparently sooooo

That's unconfirmed, so far.

And considering that he didn't mention it himself...

[Darththeo]

He's also signing a one day contract to retire as a Patriot apparently sooooo

He would need to be released from his Tampa contract first. (Which I can't see why Tampa wouldn't release the contract.)

[xskarma]

He's also signing a one day contract to retire as a Patriot apparently sooooo

That was one of the most stupid and easily detectable fakes I have ever seen and COUNTLESS well known journalists fell for it hook line and sinker and spread it like they had heard it too.

The account that started it had "Double major, journalism and female anatomy." in it's twitter bio for fuck's sake. Incredible that ANYONE fell for it.

[PhaelixWW]

That was one of the most stupid and easily detectable fakes I have ever seen and COUNTLESS well known journalists fell for it hook line and sinker and spread it like they had heard it too.

The account that started it had "Double major, journalism and female anatomy." in it's twitter bio for fuck's sake. Incredible that ANYONE fell for it.

No, the original source, as far as I can tell, is this tweet from 3 days ago:

G.T Bobby Thompson
@BThomps81

When Tom Brady retires, which reports say it is closer than we all think, will sign a one day contract with the #Patriots to retire with the team per source. This was always the plan after he was done playing.

That account seems legit, though the information may still be incorrect, seeing as it's an unconfirmed report from days before Brady issued his formal announcement with no mention of the Patriots.

[xskarma]

No, the original source, as far as I can tell, is this tweet from 3 days ago:

That account seems legit, though the information may still be incorrect, seeing as it's an unconfirmed report from days before Brady issued his formal announcement with no mention of the Patriots.

No, there's a current one, which was made today about how Brady was going to retire as a Patriot tomorrow and give a speech at One Patriot Plaza. That's the one that's doing the rounds right now, not this old one.

Or maybe people are quoting both now as proof of the other, idk. Social media is the best and the worst, at the same time. lol