1of10Charnatives

FIFY.

I think everyone is overlooking how much non football factors play into this, things like size of media market, hobnobbing with big names and celebrities at parties, proximity to coast or highly desirable vacation areas. Not just the players themselves, but those around them, wives, agents, gf's family, in their ear about this or that. If we as fans are perfectly aware of the small market/large market media bias, how do we not think players are just as aware? Don't underestimate a guy's desire to see his highlights talked about on national TV, and knowing that's more likely to happen if he plays certain places than others. Having said that, football wise I don't know that we're super attractive as a destination to anyone except maybe pass rushers and linebackers, position groups where a player could join a high performing unit that is likely to help his stats go up before his next contract, or a position group that is a bit thin and there is opportunity. Would you want to come here as a QB? CB? OL? (yeah I'd love to join a unit where unit cohesion is key to us all not looking like fools, and the existing unit mostly looks like fools.) Maybe you'd like to try to supplant CMC at RB, or beat out our existing WR corps for playing time to catch passes from the legend that is whoever we've got under center this week.

Probably. Unlikely given our D will have to be out there all day. Because we'll have to win with PJ at QB, which means we very likely won't consistently move the ball, but will definitely turn it over multiple times and leave our D in a bad situation. If we can't run on them like we ran on the Falcons, our D will be out there all day.

I'm mad he wants to be like a franchise that has been caught cheating and never owned up to it multiple times, including while narrowly defeating US in a SB game. Yes, I am mad he wants to be like the team that cheated us out of a SB victory. Game won on last second FG, Patriots later found to have been illegally recording opponents practices to gain unfair advantage over an extended period of time, including during their SB win against us. Goodell orders all tapes destroyed. Why would he, AS THE INVESTIGATING PARTY, do that unless the tapes showed something really damaging to the league? Like clear evidence the outcome of a Super Bowl was tainted? Yeah I'm mad our HC wants us to be like that team.

With *this* offensive line, I don't see why we should limit ourselves to blaming just one guy for getting the QB hurt.

It amazes me how many people would live their whole lives around other people and not realize the vast majority of them do not consider a lack of expertise any reason to withhold sharing their opinion about anything and everything with the world.

I refuse to give up 3 future first rounders for almost anybody, but I fear Tepper will do it, despite everything I've told him at brunch. He doesn't listen to me anymore. Titans are the ONLY team whose offense is built around an elite back, yes they are good, but they are the exception, not the rule. I think you are looking at Hubbard's stat line and saying that was a poor day, without actually watching the game and seeing what he did on the field, under what conditions, and where there is room for improvement in his game. He's only a rookie, yet he's pretty obviously already superior to any rookie later round back we've ever drafted. When I have a QB that can make us competitive and an offense line that lets him do so with solid pass protection, then I *might* start to worry about whether our RB is good enough to put up stats that will make fantasy owners like him. But it's more likely I'd just work on our pass rush even more.

According to ESPN's box score for the game, Matt Ryan was 20/27 today with 2 INT's. That leaves 5 non intercepted, non completed passing attempts. According to that same box score, our defense managed to defense 6 pass attempts. Either ESPN is bad at math (likely) or somehow two of our players defensed the same thrown ball on the same play. All jokes aside, I know this is only a single game, but consider this: Matt Ryan is a veteran QB who is widely regarded as good but not great. Veteran NFL QB's have become so proficient that unless the defense makes a great play, they complete almost all of their passes.

Yet somehow their losing control of the ball after those two steps is considered immaterial while a player falling out of bounds after catching the ball is somehow an entirely different case governed by a different, more complex, hard to pin down or sum up rule, for reasons known only to Roger Goodell and his butt buddies. Brought to you by the people who would have you believe that Cam Newton and Tom Brady get treated just the same by the zebras. Riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiight. Sell that poo somewhere else cause I ain't buyin. "But he made a football move and the other guy didn't." "Define the term "football move" clearly in a single sentence that allows it to be objectively evaluated by all parties involved or I will drop Jerome Boger into a vat of bees covered in acid. And COVID."

Well the good news is, we're no longer coached by John Fox or Ron Rivera, so in theory it's allowable to actually change the game plan from week to week, or even *gasp* at halftime RIGHT IN THE MIDDLE OF THE GAME! Crazy, right?

Bah! @#$% the NFL and their "way it is" They suck. Their rules suck. Their officials suck. Roger Goodell is a world class wanker. And Jerome Boger is an incompetent stooge. Also fug Ed Hochuli. You know why.

That's just crazy talk.

This seems fair.

When you've just lost 4 in a row including to Philly and the Giants, perhaps you should.

And catching their balance is a thing that can be clearly determined by an official in real time in a reasonably objective and accurate basis? Or clearly determined on such a basis when reviewing in slow motion? The rule is simply too subjective and vague. To me, the standard that makes far more sense is, a player in the endzone has both feet down inbounds and control over the ball for any period of time whatsoever? Touchdown. This notion of possession maintained through to the ground winds up being heavily subjective, along with a bunch of absurd nonsense where we all watch slow mo reviews and try to tell ourselves we're being objective and have any hope of being accurate over whether the most minute movement of a ball in a player's grasp represents a loss of control or simply a guy moving an object around his body to improve his grasp of it while falling down at the same time. It leaves far too much up to the discretion of the officiating crew, and I think I've already demonstrated in previous posts that there is sufficient evidence to call into question the impartiality of the NFL's officials.

What I'm saying is that if you think having an elite rb is necessary to winning in the NFL, then tell 1986 I said hello. Elite RB's are vastly overrated in the NFL as the difference between their production and a run of the mill back rarely tends to make the difference in winning. Outside of the TItans being built around Henry, name a current winning team built around an elite RB. Given what an elite RB costs, and the hard reality of the cap, RB is not where I would prefer to spend my team's precious salary cap space. Yes, I am the fan who likes CMC just fine, but would happily trade him to acquire an elite QB. Tell me which combo you think has a better chance of winning a SB: Darnold and CMC, or Watson and Chubba Hubbard? We do need to be better to win against the better teams in this league, but in 2021, it's far more critical to be better at positions crucial to the passing game, than the run game, hence Hubbard's play at RB will do for me, since I'm far more focused on getting our OL and QB situations fixed, and not at all concerned about your perceived need for elite RB play.

I think an underappreciated aspect of a QB's job is making checks at the line to get his team into the right play etc. While Darnold wasn't asked to throw much today (for obvious reasons), and his receivers didn't always help him out, he did run effectively and with heart, and based on the results it seems he did a more than adequete job of managing the offense pre snap at the line of scrimmage. I am still dubious based on the past month that he is likely to evolve into a proficient passer, but it's not impossible and meanwhile he did contribute to today's win.

As a guy who grew up following the NBA before the NFL, I've always gut level hated the way NFL teams cut perfectly good players instead of trading them. The longer I followed the game and learned the intricacies of the salary cap and it's differences from the NBA's the more it made it at least some sense, but it still sticks in my craw, this frequent giving up a quality player for nothing in return.

My god! The free rushers at times were mind boggling. I counted multiple plays where a defender ran unblocked at Darnold while at least one lineman stood like topiary, blocking no one, seemingly contemplating the nature and meaning of his paycheck and whether it's complete lack of being earned made it any less spendable.

FIFY I just hate Boger in particular and want him to die. Alone. Screaming. As something cooks and eats him at the same time. In the rain.

but I would have to prioritize OL spending. but I would have to prioritize OL spending. but I would have to prioritize OL spending. but I would have to prioritize OL spending. but I would have to prioritize OL spending. but I would have to prioritize OL spending. but I would have to prioritize OL spending. but I would have to prioritize OL spending. but I would have to prioritize OL spending. I just wanted to repeat that part because it sounded vaguely important.

3.4 in the second half when it's obvious your team is declining the throw the ball unless they have to is nothing to sneeze at. As bad as our interior OL has been this year, they opened holes for the RB's all day today. Even when it was obvious we were running the ball and the box was stacked. That's not nothing. I've been a harsh critic of the OL play, so I have to give credit where due. Both OL and the RB's played well today, don't get fooled by numbers, see what your eyes actually tell you watching the game.

Winston is a weird dude, and kind of easy to make fun of, but he was playing at a high level today when this happened, and I wish him no ill will. I hope he is able to recover and regain the form he was showing today. For someone else. In another division. If he sucks I hope he stays with the Saints.

That's my point. The discrepancy between Cam and Brady/Rogers etc. is so obvious, it undermines the notion the refs are seeking to be fair, since it's obvious that in at least some cases they are not. If they are not seeking to be fair in every case, they should not be extended the benefit of the doubt automatically in other cases. Any rule involving the term "football move" when the term is poorly defined gives biased refs too much cover and allows the league to point and shrug and say the officials are just enforcing the rules. The TD rule that applies when a player crosses the plane of the endzone is the most simple and objective, and should apply in all cases. A player leaving the endzone who catches the ball inbounds and has control of it for even an instant before moving out of bounds should be considered to have scored a touchdown. Period. Anything else is unnecessary and highly suspect mumbo jumbo.

People still watch hockey? Who knew.