The NFL Thread

[Alan]

Agree on the 'Boys in the NFC East being nonsense, but the Panthers?? Where would you put them if not the South?

"Best" has multiple meanings; being the best over the course of the regular season is nice but you must also prove you can withstand the string of 1-off games in the playoffs, mentally and physically. The playoff format tests a different set of team characteristics than the round-robin regular season, but it's no less worth testing.

I'll have no playoff slander on my watch; the mostly geographical divisions are damn near the last bastion of pre-late-stage-capitalism we have left in our pro sports, before we started shipping games off to Brazil and London and Berlin and fuck knows where else.

Edit: I suppose I've just realized that you probably meant swapping the Cowboys to the South and the Panthers to the East, which... Doesn't sit well with my roots, but does fit better in terms of team proximity and whatnot. The Carolinas were Washington country back in the day (IE, pre-1995), so there's certainly room for a rivalry between the Cats and Commies.

 

[Tony Towner]

Agree on the 'Boys in the NFC East being nonsense, but the Panthers?? Where would you put them if not the South?

Carolina is the closest NFC side to the others ½ the difference of any of the North teams. Move the Cowboys and someone has to replace them and they are by far the clearest option

 

[Alan]

Indianapolis and Miami also have tough assignments, now that I'm thinking on it. Although with Miami there's barely anything to be done; getting from there to pretty much anywhere else is a hell of a trek (it's a 9 hour drive from Jax to Miami, 100% within Florida). Still pretty stupid on the face of it for divisions supposedly organized to minimize travel distances have teams in New York, Boston, and Buffalo going to and from Miami every year (and vice versa).

With Indy it's just that they're not Southern in any way (except that, you know, they love guns there).

 

[Dennisons Wrong Foot]

With Indy it's just that they're not Southern in any way (except that, you know, they love guns there).

They love their roses too. Guns'N'Roses are from Indiana I think (Axl definitely is). Pretty sure I've heard him describe himself as a southerner.

 

[Paddingtonwolf]

Izzy Stradlin is from Indiana

Duff was born in Seattle

 

[Alan]

They love their roses too. Guns'N'Roses are from Indiana I think (Axl definitely is). Pretty sure I've heard him describe himself as a southerner.

Yeah, but… when’s the last time we took Axl seriously about anything?

 

[Tony Towner]

Chiefs starting Wentz, Saquon not playing for Philly so the record won't be broken. The right decision but a shame.

 

[Alan]

Yeah, probably the right call; imagine getting injured with just that record on the line? Still, would have been a monumental achievement to cap a monumental season for Saquon.

Reminds me a bit of LaDainian Tomlinson, though hopefully minus the precipitous drop in form at the end.

 

[Dire Wolf]

Yeah, probably the right call; imagine getting injured with just that record on the line? Still, would have been a monumental achievement to cap a monumental season for Saquon.

Reminds me a bit of LaDainian Tomlinson, though hopefully minus the precipitous drop in form at the end.

OJ Simpson got over 2000 yards in 14 games. That's not something anyone is likely to repeat.

 

[Alan]

We do not claim that man.

(Point probably ain't wrong tho)

 

[Tony Towner]

Yeah, probably the right call; imagine getting injured with just that record on the line? Still, would have been a monumental achievement to cap a monumental season for Saquon.

Reminds me a bit of LaDainian Tomlinson, though hopefully minus the precipitous drop in form at the end.

I think if it's a WR record you are chasing or maybe a sacks one you might try and go for it, but with a RB that means you are also playing your starting OLine too, which in a dead game when the bye was in week 5 you just can't.

 

[Alan]

I think if it's a WR record you are chasing or maybe a sacks one you might try and go for it, but with a RB that means you are also playing your starting OLine too, which in a dead game when the bye was in week 5 you just can't.

Stellar point tbh, one I didn't consider but should have given how important I think that unit is to an offense.

 

[Tony Towner]

OJ Simpson got over 2000 yards in 14 games. That's not something anyone is likely to repeat.

Depends if you look at games or carries - personally I think the latter is better. Barry Sanders is the one with the best yds per carry from the 2000 club, Saquon only had 13 more in his 16 than OJ did in his 14.

 

[Tony Towner]

You've got to go some to pull this off and probably not make the play offs

https://twitter.com/x/status/1875766135842328930

 

[Alan]

Fuck, seeing Bryce look happy is making me care about the Panthers again

 

[Jack Regan]

The Bucs currently shitting the bed so open for the Falcons at the moment.

 

[Alan]

The Bucs currently shitting the bed so open for the Falcons at the moment.

Such a weird league sometimes; I wouldn’t have bet that Rattler would put up that kind of 1st half performance… maybe ever.

 

[Dire Wolf]

You've got to go some to pull this off and probably not make the play offs

https://twitter.com/x/status/1875766135842328930

It's incredible, but I'd maybe put a bit (slight one) of an asterisk next to it: their defense has been trash, so they've had to throw it a LOT to stay in games and their running game has been iffy so they've relied on their pass game even more.

 

[Alan]

Their offensive line has been terrible for a few seasons now; if Burrow didn’t get the ball out so quickly (I think he’s averaging ~1.7 seconds which is historically fast) I don’t know that Cincinnati have even half as many wins. He shouldn’t win MVP as an award, but by the strict definition of “MVP” I don’t think anyone else comes close.

 

[Jack Regan]

Burrow and Chase have practically put the team on their backs to give them a chance. Lamar has MVP sown up after last night though even more so with Allen not playing today.