2018 NFL thread

[DropIt]

Hopefully this is the fitzmagic we see next week

[GirlySports]

Originally Posted by Senator Clay Davis

Well hitting the helmet has been roughing for a little bit longer, but it's still ridiculous that that "roughing" is a 15 yard penalty. Maybe they need to start having a 5 yard illegal touching of the QB penalty or something.

want to give ref more decision making? like the 5 yard face mask penalty before?

[Senator Clay Davis]

With how fast replay can be done, they should just have a sideline replay judge to call it or not. Worth taking 20 seconds if it's gonna be called 5 times a game now. This is pretty soft by the Bucs taking the FG, their defense is pathetic and they still need three scores, and that drive took half the quarter. If you trust your defense, let them stop them three and out inside the 10.

[Senator Clay Davis]

That was a horrific penalty to take to cost Desean the TD, but that was an impressive display of speed for a guy who is 31.

[GreenLantern2814]

Pat Mahomes has single-handedly gotten me back into football. He's good enough to overcome Andy Reid's personal shortcomings, and good enough to make me forget momentarily that every NFL owner would own slaves if the CBA said it was allowed.

[devo22]

Originally Posted by Senator Clay Davis

Ben should be thankful for all the Steelers melodrama, cause it's distracting people from the fact he's been terrible this year.

that comment aged well. He had a stinker in week 1, but he's been awesome those past two weeks ... that two-minute drill at the end of the first half was a thing of beauty. Ben is the least of Pittsburghs problems.

Defense remains a concern. Good to see same splash plays because in general they still give up yards for fun. If Fitz doesn't go through the motions in the second quarter, the Steelers still lose this one. Way too many dumb penalties too, they need to get more disciplined quickly. Boswell is a concern, too.

[Senator Clay Davis]

He was good after the interception, but it's worth remembering the last two weeks have been against the two worst defenses in football. Steelers, Chiefs and Bucs should all be fun to watch this year, high scoring offenses and really bad defenses. Every game will be in the 30's most likely.

[Erick Estrada]

Typically defenses are quicker out of the gates than offenses but I can't remember a season where I've seen so much poor defense. A lot of teams are moving the ball up and down the field like hot knife through butter.

[dino7c]

Originally Posted by Cheese

YOU BET! It took30-40 years of pure crap teams, worse than the Browns, to get to this point and I will forever ride this out!

Quite frankly, ANY fan of any team would do the same thing given the same circumstances!

Thought I stumbled into the Edmonton is no good thread for a second there

[Cowboy89]

Originally Posted by Cheese

YOU BET! It took30-40 years of pure crap teams, worse than the Browns, to get to this point and I will forever ride this out!

Quite frankly, ANY fan of any team would do the same thing given the same circumstances!

[Cheese]

Originally Posted by Cowboy89

Now now.. I'm not saying city of champions or anything.

[DropIt]

Originally Posted by Erick Estrada

Typically defenses are quicker out of the gates than offenses but I can't remember a season where I've seen so much poor defense. A lot of teams are moving the ball up and down the field like hot knife through butter.

Seems to happen when sneezing on a player will give the offense an automatic 1st down.

I'm shocked more teams don't run button hooks from every receiving player possible with the hope that a defensive player bumps into him trying to make a play on the ball...
I feel bad for defensive players.

[Sylvanfan]

Originally Posted by Erick Estrada

Typically defenses are quicker out of the gates than offenses but I can't remember a season where I've seen so much poor defense. A lot of teams are moving the ball up and down the field like hot knife through butter.

The rules are making it so that teams should throw the ball more. Teams used to shudder at the idea of letting a young QB drop back 35 teams a game and take all those hits. But now with how the QB is protected, it's less of a concern, and defensive backs are limited in what they can do against receivers.

It's starting to look a bit more like college style football.

[Erick Estrada]

Originally Posted by Sylvanfan

It's starting to look a bit more like college style football.

Which is not really a surprise seeing teams are investing heavily in young QB's and the quickest way to get them up to speed is to add college concepts to the offense. Here's a good article on how Reid every year has integrated more spread concepts into his offense;

http://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/2...copy-3-0-start

Over the ensuing five years, the Chiefs integrated more spread concepts into their offense for Alex Smith, who played in the spread under Urban Meyer at Utah. The spread and the read-option aren't the same thing, but read-option statistics are a useful proxy for a team's comfort with spread principles. According to ESPN Stats & Information, the Chiefs used the read-option on 28 rushing plays in 2013. That number rose to 41 in 2014, 64 in 2015, 74 in 2016, and 87 last season. Ault left to go coach in Europe after two seasons, and Childress followed former offensive coordinator Matt Nagy out the door to Chicago this past offseason, but the Chiefs are quite clearly comfortable employing what they've learned.

[devo22]

The Panthers are signing Eric Reid. It's a shame it took so long for him to find a new team, but better late than never I guess.

[rubecube]

What a terrible slate of games this week. It's pretty strange when the Thursday night game looks like the game of the week. Baltimore vs. Pittsburgh has lost a bit of its luster with all of the drama coming out of Pittsburgh and Baltimore quite possibly being the most boring team in the league.

[Senator Clay Davis]

New England-Miami is clearly bigger than either of those games. Patriots possibly going 3.5 games down in the division is a huge game.

[devo22]

Originally Posted by rubecube

What a terrible slate of games this week.

really? Completely the opposite for me. Vikings-Rams makes for an interesting TNF, Dolphins-Patriots on Sunday is interesting on a lot of levels and Patrick Mahomes vs. Von Miller on Monday could be great too.

[rubecube]

Originally Posted by devo22

really? Completely the opposite for me. Vikings-Rams makes for an interesting TNF, Dolphins-Patriots on Sunday is interesting on a lot of levels and Patrick Mahomes vs. Von Miller on Monday could be great too.

Actually, you know what? I take that back. Bucs/Bears is intriguing as well, as is Baker vs. the Black Hole.

[rubecube]

I seriously don't understand how Bill O'Brien got an extension last year.

https://twitter.com/user/status/1045330102324736000