NFL Week 8 -- Primetime blues

I prefer real grass as well. Just thought blaming Rodgers' injury for it was stupid since Achilles tendons are so fickle. A lot of guys, like Cousins, blow them out on non-contact situations.

 

I hope someone can send Kirk some G-rated dolphin videos for his rehab.

Seriously, as a (the?) board's resident Packers fan, it's just depressing. They're just bad across the board. Even when they don't make mistakes, they're just regularly ineffective. Love is not a complete disaster. He made a really nice throw for a first down while in the grasp of a defender today. Some of the picks have been bad, but a lot of them are plays where his wide receivers lose a one-on-one battle and don't fight for the ball. The big one today was in the Packers receiver's hands and got ripped out by Josh Metellus. Last week against Denver, if the Packers guy comes back to the underthrown ball, the Broncos DB has no choice but to contact him and it's DPI and a chip shot field goal for the win. Raiders game ended in similar fashion. And none of this would be a problem if anyone on the offense showed up by 1:30 p.m. CT.

I think going in, the hope was that there'd be some good games and some stinkers and they might be able to eke out enough breaks to win eight or nine games and be in the playoff conversation after Thanksgiving, but that's just not going to happen. They still have the Giants, Bears and Panthers, so they might get to 6-7 wins, but there's just not much there. There are a few aces in there: Jones, Gary, etc., but Elgton Jenkins and Jaire Alexander in particular have been shells of their former selves (probably because they aren't healthy), and there are truck-sized holes all over the roster, the kind you just can't fix in a year or two, though I'm sure they'll draft half the Georgia defense again this April to try. I'd like them to hold Gutekunst responsible for the state of that roster, but I kind of think this was the plan all along. If you've got a first-year QB, why waste a decent roster with that and vice-versa. At least we're not watching Rodgers bitch at these guys.

 

That’s what they told Trent Dilfer!

 

Are you saying that Roethlisberger got too many calls? That is laughable.

Johnson is an idiot, but the call that wiped out a field goal right before halftime was horrible. The referee claimed it was obvious after the game, but video and stills show it wasn’t.

https://x.com/dlolley_pgh/status/1718762805916991967?s=46&t=4-HiQ60IZK6vjy4DLprI6A

 

Probably Nick Foles and Jeff Hostetler too, I suppose. Maybe if Minshew takes over for a playoff-bound team in Week 15, or Mayfield hooks up with an all-time great defense, I'll have to eat those words.

 

Mayfield is on Fitzpatrick's exact career arc, only with a better start. He'll wind up playing 15 years, then get a job with a major network, where he can use his quick wit, which out-classes his physical skills. He'll bank $100 mil in the process.

 

Something really seems to have changed with the NFL - don't know if its the Thursday night games or the 17th game, but teams REALLY seem to view the season as a marathon now and look like they pace themselves. Every team has at least one clunker of a game where nothing goes right, also seems every team can count on at least one starter to be lost for the year early on. I doubt we will see an undefeated team going in to Thanksgiving week ever again.
Its interesting the most wins to start the season since adding the 17th game is 8 - two years ago by the Eagles. You had 12 teams get to double figures in the 16-game season (42 years), and six in the 14-game era going back to 1960 (to 1977)

 

I think the season is too long and there are too many teams in the playoffs.

Then again, I am old and crotchety, so what the hell do I know.

 

Are the Seahawks good again?

 

I agree with much of this, with one caveat. Even back in the Dark Ages when I was an NFL beat writer, just about every team turned in one complete horrorshow performance each season.
I would also note that the long season has led to some teams (hi! you Bengals) treating September as an extension of the exhibition season. Breeds early "upsets."

 

I’d love to think the Steelers at 4-3 are pacing themselves. But more likely they just suck and Kenny Pickett is not a franchise QB.