2015 NFL Season Thread

[troutman]

This is life as a Cleveland Browns fan in one 30-second video

The Factory of Sadness found a new way to churn the soul of poor Browns fans.


http://www.foxsports.com/buzzer/stor...d-video-120115



http://www.foxsports.com/buzzer/stor...diagram-090915

[Flabbibulin]

Ya ya, time to get over it, but this is pretty funny- Brock Osweiler on the cover of SI with that looks like a non-call hold in the background. The play in the pic was D. Thomas' only catch of the game.

[Senator Clay Davis]

The Osweiler hype train is already pretty absurd. Already seen suggestions the Broncos need to give him a 5-6 year, $100 million deal, or franchise him after the season because he's a FA. All this after two games. With an incredible defense shielding him. And after a game they would have lost if the Pats handled a punt. I mean he's looked OK, but that fact there's suggestions about franchising and long term deals sort of shows where QB contracts are at. Any average QB basically costs at least $15 million a year. Ridiculous.

[Pagal4321]

I'll agree that they hype machine is working overtime for him but credit where credit is due. He has looked pretty good the past two games and anyone that can orchestrate a comeback against the Patriots deserves a ton of credit.

[ResAlien]

Originally Posted by Senator Clay Davis

The Osweiler hype train is already pretty absurd. Already seen suggestions the Broncos need to give him a 5-6 year, $100 million deal, or franchise him after the season because he's a FA. All this after two games. With an incredible defense shielding him. And after a game they would have lost if the Pats handled a punt. I mean he's looked OK, but that fact there's suggestions about franchising and long term deals sort of shows where QB contracts are at. Any average QB basically costs at least $15 million a year. Ridiculous.

Really? Where'd you hear that? All the local media here are talking a shorter term show me deal for around 7 or 8 mil a year. I've not heard anything about franchise or long term.

[Displaced Flames fan]

Originally Posted by Senator Clay Davis

The Osweiler hype train is already pretty absurd. Already seen suggestions the Broncos need to give him a 5-6 year, $100 million deal, or franchise him after the season because he's a FA. All this after two games. With an incredible defense shielding him. And after a game they would have lost if the Pats handled a punt. I mean he's looked OK, but that fact there's suggestions about franchising and long term deals sort of shows where QB contracts are at. Any average QB basically costs at least $15 million a year. Ridiculous.

Interesting. Clearly I'm the biggest Osweiler fan here since he's from my hometown. I've been digesting tons of information over the last few days.

I haven't seen any of that.

I've seen predictions of a multi-year deal for 10-12 per with $20M guaranteed. I've seen predictions that Manning plays when healthy no matter what Osweiler does.

He's looked better than OK. No matter how they got to the point in the game, he was asked to go win the game in the 4th quarter and he did with three pretty great throws. (yes I know that drive didn't actually win the game, but the point stands). He's poised, tough and has all the physical tools. Those first two are HUGE though. That's what is missing from most QB's who fail in this league. Poise under pressure and toughness.

[Displaced Flames fan]

Originally Posted by Pagal4321

I'll agree that they hype machine is working overtime for him but credit where credit is due. He has looked pretty good the past two games and anyone that can orchestrate a comeback against the Patriots deserves a ton of credit.

A good portion of the hype is simply due to who he's replacing too.

If he had come in for an injured Tim Tebow (and the last 4 years of my football life had been a living hell) there wouldn't be this much attention being paid to his success.

I think the media just really wants to see what happens when/if Manning is healthy.

[Senator Clay Davis]

Originally Posted by Displaced Flames fan

Interesting. Clearly I'm the biggest Osweiler fan here since he's from my hometown. I've been digesting tons of information over the last few days.

I haven't seen any of that.

I've seen predictions of a multi-year deal for 10-12 per with $20M guaranteed. I've seen predictions that Manning plays when healthy no matter what Osweiler does.

He's looked better than OK. No matter how they got to the point in the game, he was asked to go win the game in the 4th quarter and he did with three pretty great throws. (yes I know that drive didn't actually win the game, but the point stands). He's poised, tough and has all the physical tools. Those first two are HUGE though. That's what is missing from most QB's who fail in this league. Poise under pressure and toughness.

It's just been suggested in the usual opinion columns (PFT, SI etc..). Certainly they'll have to franchise him as he is a FA, and since he's started an NFL game and his arm is live, he's going to get what market says. And maybe that's my point, that the market is totally ridiculous. Remember Matt Flynn got $9 million a season off 1 start. And the going rate has gone up since then.

Yeah, he made plays but he still hasn't accomplished anything, nor has he looked like a top QB yet. He's been asked to game manage so far, and he has. But being a game manager now means $15 million a season. Alex Smith makes that, so does Ryan Tannehill. The Redskins will probably be forced to give that to Kirk Cousins too. If he has even 2 great games down the stretch he'll be at $20 million a season. Kaepernick got $60 million guaranteed off 3 games against the Packers. Market is just absurd.

[Sylvanfan]

I do think one has to differentiate a bit though. Alex Smith was a bit more proven when he got his 15 million a season. He'd lead two teams to the playoffs, he had proven he was pretty durable, and strong enough mentally to come out of a pretty adverse situation that San Francisco had been. I think most would have pegged him as a guy who wasn't exactly JaMarcus Russell mentally. As a result he got more guaranteed money in his deal, the Chiefs are pretty much saddled to him for the next 3 years. Which isn't great, but it's not awful because he is a guy who can win in the league, and get you 3 sold out home games in December to appease a fan base who's happy to make the playoffs.

When Flacco got his money, he had a pretty good track record of starting a lot of consecutive games, winning them, and playing well in the playoffs.

Osweiller potentially is more of a Matt Flynn, Scott Mitchell, Matt Cassel story where he is a long time back up, get's to see the field with some decent pieces around him and has some success over a short period of time. So he likely won't be getting 15 million, I suspect more in the 8-9 range until he proves himself one way or another. Even with Kaepernick and Daulton, the dollars were high but the guarantee's not so much even with extended viewing time on them. San Francisco can walk away from Kapernick easily enough after this season and Cincinatti could do the same with Daulton.

[browna]

Matt Flynn comparisons come to mind given the attention he's been getting for a real, real small sample size.

His best bet, IMO, is to have Manning come back ASAP, and some desperate NFL team will pay him based on the last two games (and maybe the upcoming one) more than Denver will. But a call goes the other way and he's 1-1 right now.

[DropIt]

Originally Posted by Senator Clay Davis

It's just been suggested in the usual opinion columns (PFT, SI etc..). Certainly they'll have to franchise him as he is a FA, and since he's started an NFL game and his arm is live, he's going to get what market says. And maybe that's my point, that the market is totally ridiculous. Remember Matt Flynn got $9 million a season off 1 start. And the going rate has gone up since then.

Yeah, he made plays but he still hasn't accomplished anything, nor has he looked like a top QB yet. He's been asked to game manage so far, and he has. But being a game manager now means $15 million a season. Alex Smith makes that, so does Ryan Tannehill. The Redskins will probably be forced to give that to Kirk Cousins too. If he has even 2 great games down the stretch he'll be at $20 million a season. Kaepernick got $60 million guaranteed off 3 games against the Packers. Market is just absurd.

Kaepernick also made it to the Superbowl with a pretty average offense to work with. At one point he earned that contact.

[DropIt]

Originally Posted by browna

Matt Flynn comparisons come to mind given the attention he's been getting for a real, real small sample size.

His best bet, IMO, is to have Manning come back ASAP, and some desperate NFL team will pay him based on the last two games (and maybe the upcoming one) more than Denver will. But a call goes the other way and he's 1-1 right now.

He was also one 2 point convert away from going to overtime against Chicago. He looked alright in that game as well, but I wouldnt feel much more comfortable with him behind center than they would be with Manning

[Displaced Flames fan]

Multiple sources reporting this morning that Osweiler will start the rest of the season for the Broncos....

And now the Broncos say no decision has been made beyond this week. Translation....We haven't told Peyton yet!

[Senator Clay Davis]

I think the thing with Osweiler is he is a FA after the season. So with Peyton finished, the Broncos have to either give Osweiler the long term deal, franchise him, or go with another QB via trade or draft. Considering the tag for QBs will be $25 million next year, and the Broncos have many FAs, the tag seems highly unlikely. But in the QB starved NFL, teams like St. Louis or Cleveland or Houston could easily offer him a deal like Kaepernick where it is a lot of guaranteed money, but there are many outs in it so it won't hamstring the team long term.

We will have to see, Osweiler could of course play poorly down the stretch and its a moot point. But if he puts up solid numbers, it'll make for an interesting offseason for the Broncos. Remember the NFL is so QB starved Cardale Jones was being talked about as a potential 1st round pick after playing 3 games in college last year.

[dirk diggler]

Originally Posted by DropIt

Kaepernick also made it to the Superbowl with a pretty average offense to work with. At one point he earned that contact.

True, looking at Kaepernick now, it is easy to forget how good he looked those first few years and not just running the ball, he looked like a superstar in the making. not sure i have seen a QB regress that quickly

[Flacker]

Originally Posted by dirk diggler

True, looking at Kaepernick now, it is easy to forget how good he looked those first few years and not just running the ball, he looked like a superstar in the making. not sure i have seen a QB regress that quickly

RG Knee?

[dirk diggler]

Originally Posted by Flacker

RG Knee?

true, RG3 looked good for 1 year, Kaepernick looked good for a couple but pretty much the same regression

[Blaster86]

Kaepernick looked good until the NFC Championship.

[Sylvanfan]

Originally Posted by dirk diggler

True, looking at Kaepernick now, it is easy to forget how good he looked those first few years and not just running the ball, he looked like a superstar in the making. not sure i have seen a QB regress that quickly

The thing is Kaepernick, Russel Wilson, RG3 all hit the league at the same time as read option running quarterbacks. Defence's struggled trying to come up with a way to stop this style of QB as they really hadn't seen it since Michael Vick went to the big house. Even Tim Teebow despite his awful throwing motion half ways caught the league by surprise for half a season.

Flash in the pan gimmicks come and go, but I think it's pretty proven that unless you can adapt to the pro style offence, coaches will figure out game plans to neutralize a QB who's too much of a one trick pony. These guys study tape for 350 days a year, once they have something to go on, it's tough to trick them. Once the threat to run for Kaepernick and RG3 was neutralized, they proved to be pretty ineffective at finding receivers down the field, and recognizing when to take off and get some yardage or moving around in the pocket to extend plays.

[dirk diggler]

Ron Jaworski certainly doesnt come across as too sharp by saying Kaepernick might turn out to be the best ever.. clearly caught up in the hype.