2017 NFL Season

[jlhoots]

Forgetting about Edelman, the NFL seems to go pretty light on PED use. How about 8 game suspension & no post-season play?

[paul secor]

Who cares? A lot of these guys will be half brain dead in 30 years - their choice.

[Dan Gould]

Do PEDs make receivers extra slippery and impossible to cover one on one?  Because, you know, that's basically Edelman's skill set right? 

[Brad]

  On 2/5/2019 at 7:12 PM, jlhoots said:

Forgetting about Edelman, the NFL seems to go pretty light on PED use. How about 8 game suspension & no post-season play?

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I agree. I think it’s ridiculous that he received the MVP award. However, Paul is probably right as well.  There was a story in this weekend’s Times about a player who killed himself because he thought he had CTE.  https://www.nytimes.com/2019/01/31/sports/cte-football-hairston-super-bowl.html

I was glad to see the president say he might not encourage his son to play football.  

[Scott Dolan]

Jason McCourty or Stephon Gilmore should have been the MVP. Or even co-MVPs. 

But as we've seen in this thread, defense is meaningless in the minds of most in this modern age. 

  On 2/5/2019 at 7:19 PM, paul secor said:

Who cares? A lot of these guys will be half brain dead in 30 years - their choice.

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???

So because they made a conscious decision to both follow their passion, and entertain millions, FOR millions, we shouldn't care about their long-term health? Surely you can't be serious? 

  On 2/5/2019 at 8:04 PM, Dan Gould said:

Do PEDs make receivers extra slippery and impossible to cover one on one?  Because, you know, that's basically Edelman's skill set right? 

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This. 

Though I suppose a fair counter-argument would be "recovery time", which actually is a legitimate argument. 

But, yeah. Your point is valid. He wasn't running free in the secondary because he tested positive for PEDs a year ago... 

  On 2/5/2019 at 7:09 PM, JSngry said:

I think of them as cheaters, sure ("almost nonexistent", exactly. Pro jobs, both!). But I also look at them as an organization that refuses to be out-prepared by an opponent, to not take advantage of every non-overt opportunity to secure a competitive edge outside of their clearly superior legit skill sets, individually and organizationally.

So, do I like them? Hell no. But do I respect the hell out of them? Hell yeah. It's professional sports, I'd be a sap to expect that everything and everybody was totally on the up-and-up every time, no different than any other aspect of American (and beyond) life.

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Exactly. Every word of that. 

It's akin to disparaging hitters in baseball for PEDs. Yeah, because NONE of the pitchers they faced were using, right? 

Spit, Vasoline, nail files, etc. So hey, why not add a little juice...

 

[paul secor]

  On 2/5/2019 at 10:09 PM, Scott Dolan said:

 

So because they made a conscious decision to both follow their passion, and entertain millions, FOR millions, we shouldn't care about their long-term health? Surely you can't be serious? 

 

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I stated a fact. If the players aren't concerned about their long term health, and the fans aren't either, why should I be concerned?
And I am serious.
 

[Scott Dolan]

  On 2/5/2019 at 10:15 PM, paul secor said:

I stated a fact. If the players aren't concerned about their long term health, and the fans aren't either, why should I be concerned?
And I am serious.
 

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Let’s agree to this term if we can:

”A lot” is unquantifiable, as is “half brain dead”. 

That said, I have to wonder how your comment pertains to the discussion at hand. I mean, I get exactly what you mean rhetorically, but why? What part of this conversation shouldn’t you care about? 

For example: if a skydiver’s parachute doesn’t open and they die, so what? That’s it? No room for common human empathy? 

 

[Dave James]

  On 2/5/2019 at 3:34 PM, Scott Dolan said:

Basically what you’re saying is what anyone unfamiliar with the game would say. You don’t understand defense and game planning, so therefore if the offense doesn’t score, it’s 100% on the offense, which is laughable nonsense. 

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When you suggest that I'm unfamiliar with the game, I'll just say that you don't want to go there.

[Scott Dolan]

  On 2/6/2019 at 12:08 AM, Dave James said:

When you suggest that I'm unfamiliar with the game, I'll just say that you don't want to go there.

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It’s the difference between a casual fan and a hardcore fan. Simple as that. 

Enjoy your Tagliabue/Goodell-driven offense only league. 

I’ll stick with game planning on both sides of the ball. 

But, if you want to dive into tactics, feel free. I’m certainly game to breaking down what happened on Sunday. 

Best wishes.

[Soulstation1]

Scott D is ALWAYS in confrontation mode 

and he’s always right 

😴

 

[Scott Dolan]

And SS1 is ALWAYS in whine like a little bitch about Scott D/only post when the Browns win mode. 

[jlhoots]

  On 2/6/2019 at 1:31 AM, Soulstation1 said:

Scott D is ALWAYS in confrontation mode 

and he’s always right 

😴

 

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ignore function works!!

[Tom 1960]

  On 2/6/2019 at 1:31 AM, Soulstation1 said:

Scott D is ALWAYS in confrontation mode 

and he’s always right 

😴

 

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Geez and I thought I was the only one who thought that. 

[Scott Dolan]

[T.D.]

  On 2/6/2019 at 1:44 AM, jlhoots said:

ignore function works!!

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Thank goodness. Some wits on Usenet used to say that "killfiles are for p***ies", but I disagree.

[Soulstation1]

  On 2/6/2019 at 1:34 AM, Scott Dolan said:

And SS1 is ALWAYS in whine like a little bitch about Scott D/only post when the Browns win mode. 

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Your right again 

thanks for pointing it out 

[Scott Dolan]

  On 2/6/2019 at 3:18 AM, Soulstation1 said:

Your right again 

thanks for pointing it out 

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Gotta love the fact that I made no personal attacks here, then you intentionally make it personal against me, only to have your little childish friends pop out of the woodwork to join in the demonization! 

 

[Scott Dolan]

So how about this. Since I could post nothing more than "I like pie" and you'd fly into a fit of rage, why not we just both avoid each other and leave each other the fuck alone? 

Fair enough? 

[Kevin Bresnahan]

I know that this will be as useful as pissing in the wind, but whatever...

"Spygate" was not about cheating. It was about filming the defense from the wrong location. Period. Anyone and everyone could and still does use tape to study opponents. the act of taping is NOT AGAINST THE RULES AND IS NOT CHEATING. You could then and still can film the defense from the proper location. Furthermore, that new restriction is still NOT in the rulebook and was only put into place the year that the Patriots got screwed over for it by NY Jet fan Roger Goodell.

"Deflategate" had nothing to do with cheating and certainly nothing to do with Tom Brady. It was a pure witch hunt concocted by former New York Jets employees Mike Kensil & Roger Goodell, who knew nothing about science, simply to hurt the Patriots. Every single football used during any cold-weather game is below the league's mandated minimum. Every single one of them is below the league minimum in a cold-weather game. There is also the simple fact that an overinflated football goes a lot further in the air than an underinflated one, but no one seems to understand this.

Last point - Brady's suspension for Deflategate was not upheld in court because the judges found that he was involved in some scheme to deflate footballs. In fact, the lower court ruled that it was totally bogus. Brady's suspension was upheld by the courts because they ruled that Article 42 of NFL Players' Union contract with the league granted absolute power to Roger Goodell for all discipline. The upper court never even talked about football inflation. They simply ruled on the contract's language. Brady dropped the appeal because his mother was undergoing chemo and not doing well. He was done with the drama and just wanted to put it behind him.

[JSngry]

Ok, football season's over. If the pissing contests continue, the thread will be closed. If any of the over-capacity bladders have some useful analysis with which to water the turd (like James v. Dolan debating actual game tape reviews), that would be value-added and much appreciated.

[jlhoots]

Bring back Moms.

[Brad]

  On 2/6/2019 at 12:54 PM, JSngry said:

Ok, football season's over. If the pissing contests continue, the thread will be closed. If any of the over-capacity bladders have some useful analysis with which to water the turd (like James v. Dolan debating actual game tape reviews), that would be value-added and much appreciated.

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The voice of sanity.  At some point, relitigating old issues becomes counter productive.  

Edited February 6, 2019 by Brad

[JSngry]

Well, shit. I typed "turd" instead of "turf". My bad. Water the turf.

[Scott Dolan]

Kevin, that was an excellent analysis, but I have to add that only one ball in that game was below the minimum inflation. 

Now, every ball in a cold weather game CAN be below the mandated PSI for scientific reasons, but in that case 11 of 12 were fine. 

That said, you are absolutely correct in pointing out exactly why a QB using an under-inflated ball would actually be counterproductive. Something most casual fans dutifully ignored. 

  On 2/6/2019 at 1:52 PM, JSngry said:

Well, shit. I typed "turd" instead of "turf". My bad. Water the turf.

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A potentially correct Freudian slip. 

And BTW, something interesting I noted during the game was that even though the Patriots blitzed, a LOT, they seemed to be employing a scheme that was made popular by Tom Landry and the Doomsday Defense. 

They were not bull rushing to get to the QB as much as they were blitzing to set up in the passing windows so that Goff couldn’t spot his receivers. I thought that was pretty genius! 

Blind QB + confusing zone defense = bad day. 

Edited February 6, 2019 by Scott Dolan

[Kevin Bresnahan]

I keep reading all of these doomsday predictions for Goff, like he is somehow incapable of learning from his past performances. The defense at the line of scrmmage that the Patriots used against Goff was very close to what the New York Giants used against Brady in 2007. Pressure up through the middle of the line to force the QB to make bad throws or throw it before he wants to. They added another twist by going to a zone defense in their secondary - the first time they went zone all year. Goff was confused and the coaching staff didn't have an adjustment ready for it. They started to figure it out in the second half but by then, the Patriots had shifted another way.

If Brady could figure out how to beat this D in later games, Goff can too. He's still young (24) and has a lot of football left in him.

BTW - the biggest game time adjustment was when the Patriots went to their 22 personnel package (2 TEs, 2 RBs & 1 WR) in the 4th quarter. It forced the Rams into their base D, which is designed to stop the expected run. So the Patriots emptied the backfield and threw out of this formation and got LBs on the "receivers" (TEs & RBs) instead of DBs that would be there if they had their nickel D. They ran the exact same play 3 times in a row and connected with 3 different receivers. It worked every time and resulted in the only TD of the game. Excellent write up here: https://www.patspulpit.com/2019/2/5/18211298/new-england-patriots-uunorthodox-personnel-formation-los-angeles-rams-super-bowl-rob-gronkowski

Edited February 6, 2019 by Kevin Bresnahan