2020 NFL Season Thread

[Sainters7]

That game was awesome.

Agreed on scoring too fast, thought he shouldn't have reached out like that (but I get why he did)

[Jason14h]

That safety covers the spread

[TheScorpion]

That's the first 47-42 game in NFL history.

[Senator Clay Davis]

This has been an all-time year for both backdoor covers and Scorigami's. Seems like we're getting one of them every week.

[troutman]

It’s really nice to see the Browns relevant again, but at some point they have to prove they can beat the Ravens and Steelers.

Big play in the game - McSorley completed a lame duck third down pass with good coverage. If that didn’t happen, Cleveland wins.

[Sylvanfan]

Fun game. Baltimore is still dangerous like KC was last year. It wasn't quite a must win, but it's a game that pretty much puts them in the playoffs. If Cleveland plays two more like this they should get to 11 wins too.

[Johnny Makarov]

I knew the Browns were going to lose when Hunt scored that last TD too quickly.

He really should have kneeled on the 1 yard line and killed another 40-50 seconds off that clock.

[Sylvanfan]

When it was 42-41, I was thinking Cleveland should go for 2 because with 1:04 left and all three time outs, if they didn't make the convert it might goad Baltimore to get conservative and run the ball, and get a chance to get the ball back with 40 seconds left. When you have Justin Tucker on the other side and the weather isn't awful, all the other team needs to do is get to your 45 yard line and you're dead. 30 yards in a minute with one timeout is pretty easy.

[CorsiHockeyLeague]

Originally Posted by TheScorpion

That's the first 47-42 game in NFL history.

Confirmed!

https://twitter.com/user/status/1338708170970107904

https://twitter.com/user/status/1338708199021686786

[savemedrzaius]

Originally Posted by rubecube

Is no one going to talk about what an absolute travesty Collinsworth was on commentary tonight? Sounded like a coked up hick.

Really? I really liked him. I'm more of a casual NFL fan and only watch the Bills games but while I was watching the game I was chuckling at quite a few things he said. His comments seemed to be pretty insightful too and he had great chemistry with the other guy. Probably the best broadcasting team I've heard as a Bills fan this season.

[GirlySports]

Originally Posted by Jason14h

That safety covers the spread

Profile ties got screwed!

[Muffins]

Originally Posted by savemedrzaius

Really? I really liked him. I'm more of a casual NFL fan and only watch the Bills games but while I was watching the game I was chuckling at quite a few things he said. His comments seemed to be pretty insightful too and he had great chemistry with the other guy. Probably the best broadcasting team I've heard as a Bills fan this season.

Now here's a guy who hasn't listened to Collinsworth enough

[CaptainCrunch]

Originally Posted by Sainters7

That game was awesome.

Agreed on scoring too fast, thought he shouldn't have reached out like that (but I get why he did)

I don't know man, I guess as a coach, I have a philosphy of score where you can. You never know, the guy runs out at the one or two. You line up, he fumbles or your QB throws a pick, or gives up a sack. Football is too unpredictable in terms of time management in holding scores to the clock.


You score points with a minute left, you have to put it in the hands of your defense. Now everyone and their dog knew that Baltimore was going to go after the mid range outs and crossing routes, because conventional wisdom with a lead is to keep everything underneath. That's where the coaching process is wrong. I think with a slim lead like that, defensively you have to almost be aggressive. Unless you have a blazing fast secondary, or a real aggressive attack based cover lber core, letting the completions happen underneath and then attacking the tackle is a fools game.



But the only time, I ever told a team not to score, was when I was up by 30 at the start of the fourth quarter and was telling my guys to give up the tackle or get out of bounds because we didn't want to put 70 up on those kids.

[Senator Clay Davis]

The thing is offense has never been better and the rules have never been more favorable to offense then right now. It was kinda crazy seeing the Browns have an 80% GWC when Baltimore got the ball back with a minute left with the score tied. That seemed obscenely high, I think most of us figured Baltimore was 60-40 to get into FG range, and then another 75-25 for Tucker to make it from 55+. Of course as soon as the Ravens got into Cleveland territory their GWC went up to 70%, but GWC does still need some situational tweaking to consider who the offense/defense/FG kicker is.

I think that the old school way of thinking is fading out a lot because of how offenses do. It would have been risky of course to tell Hunt to not score, especially since if you are going to do that you probably have to burn another play and take a knee to force the clock down as low as possible. But we're getting there where it's not so much about not trusting your defense, but just understanding that even an average offense can go 40 yards in 60 seconds with relative ease. Having control of the game is vital, and when you score quickly you remove that control.

I overall really liked how Stefanski coached it last night with his 4th down calls and the going for 2 early. The scoring at the end is a lot trickier, but eventually (probably against the Chiefs because you can't leave Mahomes even 1 second) I do think we'll see a coach instruct his team to kneel inside the 5 yard line to kill the clock if they can run it down and leave no time left.

[Erick Estrada]

IMO prevent defense has a lot to do with teams being able to move down the field and score quickly in a lot of games. Still one of the poorest used strategies in football. It's fine in the 4th quarter when up by several scores and letting opponents milking the clock on longs scoring drives but in close games should only be used until the last downs of the game (looking at you Gregg Williams) not the last minutes. Any mediocre QB can complete underneath passes to wide open receivers all the way down the field while spiking the ball, running out of bounds, and using time outs in a timely manner. QB's and receivers are so good now that it's pressure and tight coverage that makes life difficult for offenses and the prevent defense takes that all away making things way too easy.

[Jason14h]

Prevent works against poor QBs and teams who can’t manage the clock

It doesn’t work again good Qbs and/or coaches that knew what they are doing

Teams are amazing at running the hurry up now prevent D is horrid

[troutman]

Originally Posted by Muffins

Now here's a guy who hasn't listened to Collinsworth enough

Chris has 16 Sports Emmy awards. Only Costas has more.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sports_Emmy_Award

[Sylvanfan]

1 minute with one time out, and only really needing to go 35 yards is a pretty big ask for a lot of defenses these days. Especially when you have a guy like Jackson who's such a good runner. You can maul Andrews and plug the middle of the field to try and force him to make throws to the side line..but he's likely going to run for 10 yards and get out of bounds, or still has time to get the offence set and spike it. So those plays with the spike take 18 seconds off the the clock and the the play using a timeout maybe burns 6. So you have time to make 4 runs like that and he's easily in Tuckers range with time left to try the Field goal.

For me one reason that I think Mahomes has been so good is that he's often got the ball back with 4 minutes left and either run out the clock or got his team in range to make the game a two score game when they have the lead. At this point there are not many defenses left who can hold a one score lead against one of the top 10 offences if they have over a minute and at least one time out.

[Senator Clay Davis]

Even something as simple as spiking the ball has gotten much better, used to be you'd need 15 seconds to line up and spike, now teams are doing it in 10 seconds. Offense has never been more efficient. It's a big ask to even an elite defense to hold a team needing a FG with a minute left, playing prevent or not.

[Erick Estrada]

Originally Posted by Senator Clay Davis

It's a big ask to even an elite defense to hold a team needing a FG with a minute left, playing prevent or not.

The problem is that we have seen over and over where a defense keeps an offense in check all game and at the end runs a prevent defense which in turn gives the offense a free pass to move down the field. I feel if you have been getting pressure with your 4 man rush and running a lot of man coverage with success all game it's foolish to rush 3 and drop into a deep zone coverage yet a lot of teams do this.