The Football Thread

Auspice · Dec 19, 2017, 5:55 AM

@seraphim73 said in The Football Thread:

@auspice Suck it, Goldilocks. Dirty ass player. Glad to see him clowned.

Cam's response was perfection.

ThatGuyThere · Dec 19, 2017, 4:34 PM

The best thing about the play is that no one covers the RB out of the backfield instead two players covered the TE. The assignments got messed up and McCaffrey would have scored with either route.

Seraphim73 · Dec 19, 2017, 10:35 PM

@thatguythere Yuuuuuuup. I almost wonder if Matthews was trying to psych Newton out from throwing to McCaffrey, and it just failed miserably. Because yeah, like you said, he was wide open.

Auspice · Jan 15, 2018, 1:15 AM

Saints/Vikings game totally made up for how lackluster yesterday felt.

Goddamn.

Seraphim73 · Jan 15, 2018, 3:37 AM

@auspice I'm really, really looking forward to watching it when I get home from work.

ThatGuyThere · Jan 16, 2018, 2:21 AM

@auspice said in The Football Thread:

Saints/Vikings game totally made up for how lackluster yesterday felt.

Goddamn.

Hells to the yeah, while I am certainly biased being a Vikings fan, that was the best ending to a game I have seen in years, 4 lead changes in the last 3:01, and a spectacular winning play. Games like that are why I watch football and my team winning only make it better. ... And I should admit between it happening live and all the TV replays then me watching it on you tube I have probably seen that last play a good 35 times.

Auspice · Jan 16, 2018, 2:32 AM

@thatguythere said in The Football Thread:

@auspice said in The Football Thread:

Saints/Vikings game totally made up for how lackluster yesterday felt.

Goddamn.

Hells to the yeah, while I am certainly biased being a Vikings fan, that was the best ending to a game I have seen in years, 4 lead changes in the last 3:01, and a spectacular winning play. Games like that are why I watch football and my team winning only make it better. ... And I should admit between it happening live and all the TV replays then me watching it on you tube I have probably seen that last play a good 35 times.

We had the game on at work (I work for a streaming service). None of us were doing a damn bit of work the last five minutes of that game. It was great.

ThatGuyThere · Jan 16, 2018, 2:37 AM

@auspice
I watched it in a sports bar, and since I oddly live in an area with a lot of ex-Minnesotans and a lot people who migrated up because of Katrina and stayed around the place was pretty full and roughly evenly split so the atmosphere for amazing given the mood swings of it.

Tempest · Jan 21, 2018, 4:07 PM

Anybody giving the Jags a chance today?

ThatGuyThere · Jan 21, 2018, 4:28 PM

@tempest
I give them about a 15 % chance I don't think they will win, I don't think it will be all that close, but Tom Coughlin and a strong defense both of which Jacksonville has have proven to be Patriots kryptonite in the past.
In gamer terms though they need one hell of a run a crits to pull it off.

Auspice · Jan 21, 2018, 4:32 PM

I think it's gonna depend on whether or not Brady's hand injury affects him. He's gonna play today, but if he pulls those stitches...

Ganymede · Jan 21, 2018, 5:37 PM

@thatguythere said in The Football Thread:

I give them about a 15 % chance I don't think they will win, I don't think it will be all that close, but Tom Coughlin and a strong defense both of which Jacksonville has have proven to be Patriots kryptonite in the past.

I give them far less.

Repeat after me: Blake Bortles sucks.

The Steelers aren't the same without Dick LeBeau. They couldn't contain the Jaguars the first time around, and failed the second time. Belichick is not going to make that mistake.

I really dislike New England, but I am not going to bet against them in Gillette Stadium in the winter. Bortles isn't Eli Manning.

ThugHeaven · Jan 21, 2018, 9:44 PM

Jacksonville is playing surprisingly well.

Ganymede · Jan 21, 2018, 11:20 PM

@thugheaven

Not well enough.

ThugHeaven · Jan 22, 2018, 12:12 AM

@ganymede True. They fell apart at the end. It was a good game though.

Who ya got in the next game?

Tempest · Jan 22, 2018, 1:14 AM

Strange to say, but I don't really blame Blake Bortles for that. He's a scrub, and he sucks, and they should've gotten rid of him before this season.

But he's not why we lost that game. The Jag defense just...disappeared in the 4th quarter. Big penalties, no pressure on Brady, Bouye and Ramsey getting burned.

...And all that with Gronk out of the game.

So yeah, that was all on the defense, in my book.

Ganymede · Jan 22, 2018, 2:51 AM

@tempest said in The Football Thread:

But he's not why we lost that game. The Jag defense just...disappeared in the 4th quarter. Big penalties, no pressure on Brady, Bouye and Ramsey getting burned.

It's fatigue.

The Jags held the line for, what, three quarters? Ten points? That's damn fine against Brady and the Patriots.

But the Jags couldn't score worth a damn, and that's always been the story. They had the Steelers' number, but had nothing for the Patriots. And they might have lost to the Steelers, but for some of Tomlin's questionable calls.

Next game? It's Tom's to lose. The Eagles outlasted the Vikings' defense, but they are up against the QB with the most rings and the coach with the most wins.

ThatGuyThere · Jan 23, 2018, 8:22 PM

Yeah I hat to say it but I think the Superbowl is a foregone conclusion, at least as much as it can be in.
I thought that as soon as the Pats won the AFC championship, Belichek and Patricia with two weeks to prepare will eat Foles alive, I think the Eagles D will keep the score from getting out of hand though.
Should be a good game to watch while drinking and not caring really who wins. (If forced to cheer I will cheer for the Pats just because their win would annoy more people.)

Ganymede · Jan 23, 2018, 10:22 PM

@thatguythere said in The Football Thread:

I thought that as soon as the Pats won the AFC championship, Belichek and Patricia with two weeks to prepare will eat Foles alive, I think the Eagles D will keep the score from getting out of hand though.

Here's some food for thought:

The Vikings had the best total defense during the regular season at 275.9 YPG. Foles made almost 80% of his passes against them. Philly had the 4th best total defense at 306.5 YPG; New England had the 29th rated defense at 366.0 YPG.

New England had the best total offense during the regular season at 394.2 YPG. Philly had the 7th with 365.8 YPG.

Looking closely at their offenses, Philly averaged 4.5 Yds/A on the ground to New England's 4.2 Yds/A. Philly averaged 132.2 Yds/G on the ground to New England's 118.1 Yds/G. New England creams Philly in the air, though, with 7.9 Yds/A and 276 Yds/G against 7.0 Yds/A and 234 Yds/G. But their PPG are the same, at 28.6.

Look closely at their defenses, Philly had more passes defended and more interceptions. New England had more sacks.

In the post season, Philly is 3rd and 2nd in total offense and defense, respectively. New England is 4th and 3rd, with a 4.0 and 12.5 YPG difference in each category.

So, it's not so clean and easy. The Patriots are thin at linebacker and their secondary. They allowed 39% of 3rd Down Attempts to convert (20th), whereas the Eagles allowed 32% (3rd). They are a tad worse at Pts./G than the Eagles, but not significantly.

But where things break down is in Yards/Play, where the Patriots are giving up an astounding 5.7 Yds/P, and the Eagles are only giving up 5.0 Yds/P. That means, for every three downs, the Patriots are giving up an extra 2.1 yards.

It's a bit more of a toss-up, I'd say. Your stats edge goes to Philly, but New England's still pretty solid.

ThatGuyThere · Jan 23, 2018, 10:42 PM

@ganymede said in The Football Thread:

@th Philly had the 4th best total defense at 306.5 YPG; New England had the 29th rated defense at 366.0 YPG.

While Pats were a poor defense for yards they were also 5th in Points given up, which is the more important measure.
If the game was after only one week I would gives Philly a lot more of a chance but I think the extra week off is a big edge for the Pats.