The NFL Thread

[tommo84]

The Denver offence is awful.

The Panthers everything is awful.

The Rams are running out of IR spots.

The Vikings are a lot better than many expected.

Malik Nabers is good.

These are my insights into the NFL after 2 weeks.

Seriously delighted by the Vikings win. That 14 play drive in the 4th quarter to make it a 2-score game again included some clutch throws from Darnold. The throw to Nailor to put us in FG range on 3rd down was as gutsy as it was technically excellent.

 

[cwy21]

I know everyone wants to go down the refs favor the Chiefs rabbit hole but that was clearly PI.

 

[felmani26]

The Denver offence is awful.

The Panthers everything is awful.

The Rams are running out of IR spots.

The Vikings are a lot better than many expected.

Malik Nabers is good.

These are my insights into the NFL after 2 weeks.

Seriously delighted by the Vikings win. That 14 play drive in the 4th quarter to make it a 2-score game again included some clutch throws from Darnold. The throw to Nailor to put us in FG range on 3rd down was as gutsy as it was technically excellent.

All fair points but let's be honest, there's no bigger takeaway from the first two weeks than the Saints and by extension Derek Carr - absolutely cooking right now along with Kamara!

OK granted, the Panthers are a sorry excuse for a football team right now and it's akin to kicking a puppy but comprehensively beating the Cowboys in Dallas is mightily impressive.

 

[Kingellesar]

Expected loss against Texans....not a good performance again. I know its going to take time but it's not been a great display in consecutive games by anyone on the offense now.

Colts, Rams, Panthers next 3, surely we can get 2 wins minimum....we really need to string together a run and get some confidence going in the team, once we get some confidence I think we will be ok. Doesn't help Allen was injured last night....got a feeling he will miss more than he will play.

 

[tommo84]

All fair points but let's be honest, there's no bigger takeaway from the first two weeks than the Saints and by extension Derek Carr - absolutely cooking right now along with Kamara!

OK granted, the Panthers are a sorry excuse for a football team right now and it's akin to kicking a puppy but comprehensively beating the Cowboys in Dallas is mightily impressive.

Yeah the resurgence of Carr and Kamara, together with the Buccs looking increasingly resilient and consistent, makes the NFC South more interesting than I expected it to be. If the Falcons don’t even compete for the division title then it will just make their offseason moves at QB look even more misguided.

I’m curious as to whether last night will be a one-off for the Cowboys defence. Zimmer threw everybody under the bus in his last 2 years in Minnesota but in truth his defensive scheme had stopped being effective.

 

[DFF]

RIP CMC + Pacheco owners.

 

[Kingellesar]

Another shock result last night, thought with Barkley in the team Eagles would've been one of the teams to have a chance of going undefeated.

A tasty match up next now, Saints vs Eagles

 

[LSUY]

2 games, 19 penalties, 1 TD and somehow undefeated.

 

[Kingellesar]

2 games, 19 penalties, 1 TD and somehow undefeated.

Fields....

Does Wilson come in do you think or is it Fields to lose now? Not much productivity on the passing game but its working at the minute...

 

[LSUY]

Fields....

Does Wilson come in do you think or is it Fields to lose now? Not much productivity on the passing game but its working at the minute...

Not much productivity in the passing game, but that's largely down to the penalties. Fields attacked downfield quite a bit - he had a 51 yd pass negated for holding and a TD to Pickens chalked off for pass interference. However, the problem with Fields has always been his Jekyll and Hyde act, and we saw that again. First half he was good, but second half he wilted. Tbf that was in part due to the O-line - at one point we had 3 penalties in one drive by the same player, but Fields was taking sacks he probably could've avoided, and we only put up 13 points and QBs will always get a large share of the blame for an underperforming offense. As it stands, I can see Wilson starting once he's healthy, as the narrative is we're winning because of our defense and kicker. But if next Sunday Fields manages to replicate his first half Denver performance across an entire game (and we win) then I don't see Tomlin taking the risk of benching him.

 

[felmani26]

Panthers benching Bryce Young for Dalton already - ouch!

 

[cwy21]

Can't remember a stranger week in recent memory.

 

[Finchyid]

Anyone see Bears game?
How the Refs missed Azeez Al-Shaair punching Roschon Johnson I don’t know! I thought it was only football refs that were incompetent

 

[Kingellesar]

Yeah not sure how the refs missed that.

But then...I'm not sure how the refs missed a lot of calls this weekend. It made the premier league referees look professional

 

[cwy21]

I think we've gotten an answer to the age old question of starting vs sitting your 1st round QB as a rookie. NFL defenses are too good and most rookie QBs are not prepared and end up getting thrown to the wolves. The Vikings, Pats, and Falcons will be better off in the long run for having their rookies be on the bench (and for the Vikings the injury might be a blessing in disguise).

 

[tommo84]

I think we've gotten an answer to the age old question of starting vs sitting your 1st round QB as a rookie. NFL defenses are too good and most rookie QBs are not prepared and end up getting thrown to the wolves. The Vikings, Pats, and Falcons will be better off in the long run for having their rookies be on the bench (and for the Vikings the injury might be a blessing in disguise).

I still think it depends on a lot of factors. The QB, the situation they’re walking into (good O-Line?, good receivers?, expectations for the team, coach under pressure?), the age of the QB…

Starting a rookie QB worked well for the Texans last year, while I can’t see what good a year on the bench would do Jayden Daniels given his extensive experience in college already. For this year’s draft class it always seemed the smart move to sit Maye and McCarthy, whereas if Williams wasn’t starting then there would be ridiculous pressure on the Bears to throw him in as soon as any veteran QB lost a game.

 

[Dirty Ewok]

I think we've gotten an answer to the age old question of starting vs sitting your 1st round QB as a rookie. NFL defenses are too good and most rookie QBs are not prepared and end up getting thrown to the wolves. The Vikings, Pats, and Falcons will be better off in the long run for having their rookies be on the bench (and for the Vikings the injury might be a blessing in disguise).

I think it comes down to the player and the team situation.

Stroud, Burrow, Herbert, Kyler, Tua (aside from the concussions), Baker, DeShaun Watson, LaMar (only 7 starts as a rookie) and even Mac did alright as rookies. Fields showed flashes.

Last year you had Bryce, Stroud, ARich and Levis go high. Stroud was obviously fantastic, Richardson showed a spark before getting injured, Levis showed a little something and Bryce was a nightmare.

Bryce Young is a physically limited (short, light and with a medium arm) QB who has gone into one of the worst situations any young QB can go into. His first season he was drafted into a team that gave him no receivers (including trading their best receiver to get him), no running game, the worst offensive line in football and a horrible coaching staff. His second season the team tried to address the oline and receiver issue (i think they overspent for what they got) and gave him another coaching staff. I get the impression that they are now trying to salvage his confidence so they can see if they have gotten anything or if he is going to join the backup brigade composed of broken QBs.

Richardson still looks very raw, Levis looks.....fucking careless if we are being honest.

This years crop is still too early to call. I will say that all the questions people had about Nix look like they are being realized through 2 games and Caleb, Jayden, Drake all have a chance to join JJ on the season long injury report based on OLine play.

 

[cwy21]

Matt LeFleur is everything a good coach is supposed to be. Instead of complaining about losing his QB he creates a simple but effective offense that looks to be getting him two wins by getting the absolute most out of what he has.

 

[cwy21]

Some solid scrum action to get the Colts a try.

 

[Bluto Blutarsky]