nfl 2021-2022

[Keyrock]

@Bartimaeus

[the_dog_days]

It's time for my annual Jets prediction. Last year I said 3-13 with New England backing into division champ with a 9-7 record. Jets might've been 3-13 if it wasn't for a cover zero blitz as the final play against the Raiders (somehow the Jets finished with a better record in a tougher division, with a worse roaster than the Jags), and the Pats finished 7-9 and nowhere close to division Champs. This year I'm saying the Jets go 8-9 and finish 3rd in the division over the Pats and under Miami and Buffalo.

[Gromnir]

HA! Good Fun!

[Bartimaeus]

Just waiting for news that Rodgers isn't vaccinated... He runs with some pretty wacky people and is pretty independently minded, really wouldn't surprise me. Hope not, though...

(e): Apparently, Packers are making non-vaccinated players wear their masks during practice and pressers, and he hasn't, ergo I guess I can assume he is vaccinated. Hooray!

Edited August 2, 2021 by Bartimaeus

[Gromnir]

the human animal is not hardwired to take remote dangers serious, which is why long-term implications o' debt or climate change do not create the necessary fear to inspire changes in behaviour.

am suspecting this ain't yet real for more than a few players. the first game which results in a forfeit and lost pay for both teams will likely result in a sudden uptick in vaccinations, but until then, this situation just ain't real enough.

particular for football players, give in now and get vaccinated would be seen as capitulation and weakness, and no doubt these guys fear looking weak more than they fear covid-19. fools.

HA! Good Fun!

[Bartimaeus]

8 minutes ago, Gromnir said:

the human animal is not hardwired to take remote dangers serious, which is why long-term implications o' debt or climate change do not create the necessary fear to inspire changes in behaviour.

am suspecting this ain't yet real for more than a few players. the first game which results in a forfeit and lost pay for both teams will likely result in a sudden uptick in vaccinations, but until then, this situation just ain't real enough.

particular for football players, give in now and get vaccinated would be seen as capitulation and weakness, and no doubt these guys fear looking weak more than they fear covid-19. fools.

HA! Good Fun!

"It's not real until it affects me." -Collective humanity 2021, seconds before Chicxulub-class asteroid ends humanity

(P.S. Last I heard, the league was sitting at around 85% vaccination? Really not too terrible, and it's been going up...could be worse, and it of course could be even better.)

Edited August 2, 2021 by Bartimaeus

[Gromnir]

2 hours ago, Bartimaeus said:

"It's not real until it affects me." -Collective humanity 2021, seconds before Chicxulub-class asteroid ends humanity

(P.S. Last I heard, the league was sitting at around 85% vaccination? Really not too terrible, and it's been going up...could be worse, and it of course could be even better.)

the problem with the nfl % rate is it ignores teams. is kinda like mccarthy pointing out +80% o' the house of representatives is vaccinated while ignoring the fact 100% o' democrats is vaccinated.

there is a handful o' teams with slacker rates o' vaccination. ron rivera, coach for washington, a cancer survivor and a person who is likely not getting the full benefits o' the vaccine, lamented how his team is doing relative poor for vaccination rates. am all too aware o' the "me and mine" attitude which precludes any genuine concern for the health and well being o' others. still, is tough to visualize unvaccinated washington players explaining to ron rivera that they still have concerns 'bout the vaccine 'cause some l00n on the arse end o' the internet said something insane w/o the imagined scenario seeming surreal. nevertheless, it must be happening. 

similar, try and imagine the howls o' fury if a team with 100% vaccination rate loses a game check (or even two given division schedules) due to forfeit  'cause Indianapolis has an outbreak. 

HA! Good Fun!

 

Edited August 2, 2021 by Gromnir

[rjshae]

90 of 91 Seahawk players are vaccinated.

[ShadySands]

I bet that last 1 is the 12th man

[Gromnir]

12 minutes ago, rjshae said:

90 of 91 Seahawk players are vaccinated.

on the downside, you lost the covid-19 schedule lottery--two games against the cardinals as well as meetings with the chargers, colts and washington.

HA! Good Fun!

ps the chargers game is pre season, so am thinking that one doesn't count towards any game check loss.

 

Edited August 2, 2021 by Gromnir

[Bartimaeus]

https://www.si.com/nfl/vikings/news/geography-red-flags-character-vikings-risk-jeff-gladney

"I always think it’s interesting to look into why teams take risks. Which brings me to the second of the Vikings’ first-round picks, Jeff Gladney. The Vikings were able to pick up an extra fourth-rounder to move down from 25 to 31, which better positioned them to roll the dice on Gladney, who’d had some issues (failed drug tests were part of it) at TCU.

One reason they felt OK? Geography. The hope is that getting Gladney (who they believe is a good kid) out of Texas and bringing him to Minneapolis will force him to grow up a little bit, the same way such a move from Florida led Dalvin Cook getting past some of the trouble around him at Florida State. Will it work? We’ll see. But it’s clear the Vikings believe they can create the right kind of environment for guys like Gladney."

...

"Jeff Gladney was indicted by a Texas grand jury and charged with domestic violence by impeding breathing, for “intentionally, knowingly, and recklessly“ causing bodily injury and applying pressure to a woman’s neck and throat. If convicted, he could serve up to 10 years in prison"

"The #Vikings have released Jeff Gladney following his indictment."

The hits just keep on coming for the Vikings, who were also just announced to have the worst vaccination percentage in the league with head coach Zimmer being absolutely apoplectic about it and the dummies setting his team back. Their vaccination percentage is lower than the general adult population of Minnesota somehow.

Edited August 3, 2021 by Bartimaeus

[Guard Dog]

So Tim Tebow has been shown the door by the Jaguars. What he was trying to do was virtually impossible so the outcome shouldn’t have come as a surprise. A 34-year-old guy who has not played a down a football in five years trying to make it in a position he had never played before. The thing that puzzles me is why does his failure seem to make everybody so happy? I really have never understood the animus against that guy. 

[Bartimaeus]

It's mostly a media-fueled issue. He sucks. He's always sucked. At no point during his NFL career has he not sucked. No biggie, there are a lot of players who suck who never have a word of hate directed their way. Nevertheless, in the late 2000s (and even for some time afterwards), there was such an absolute cacophony of Tebow-related insanity thanks to absolute garbage media outlets like ESPN. The incredibly punchable face along with being such an obnoxiously loud-and-proud Christian that has had his cultists constantly flock to him and whine and scream that he was never given a fair shot and that actually he's good doesn't help any matters. He himself...is not so bad personally from everything I've ever heard, but it's everything that's ever been around him publicly that drives so much hatred his way - much the same way I despise "the Vikings", what I really actually hate are most Vikings fans, but the two get conflated with one another over time...a similar mechanism exists with Tebow and his media presence, I think.

Edited August 19, 2021 by Bartimaeus

[Hurlshort]

52 minutes ago, Guard Dog said:

So Tim Tebow has been shown the door by the Jaguars. What he was trying to do was virtually impossible so the outcome shouldn’t have come as a surprise. A 34-year-old guy who has not played a down a football in five years trying to make it in a position he had never played before. The thing that puzzles me is why does his failure seem to make everybody so happy? I really have never understood the animus against that guy. 

He had such a bizarre career trajectory. I disagree with Bart about him sucking, but he was not a good fit for the QB position. Against all odds though, he ended up a starter, and then had a few magical 4th quarters. Tebow Time became a movement. I think the animus against comes from that tremendous popularity despite not passing the eye test or really having the skillset. I don't think the evangelical Christian stuff caused the animus, but it fed the flame. 

John Elway, one of the greatest QB's ever, was in a weird spot dealing with Tebow. He knew the guy lacked the abilities to be an NFL QB. How many late game magical runs did he really have in him? But he was hugely popular. He had to go find a hall of famer to replace him, which is pretty crazy for a guy who won 1 playoff game. Hence the Peyton Manning signing.

Then Tebow went and played baseball, and he filled the stands. It is pretty amazing that he was able to compete at the minor league level. That means he didn't suck. But yeah, he didn't deserve the positive or negative coverage as he worked his way through the bush leagues. So yeah, the guy has always had a strange microscope on his career.   

[Guard Dog]

I guess now he can go back to being a sports broadcaster, which I thought he was pretty good at, and being a full-time philanthropist, motivational speaker, and entrepreneur. To say nothing of the fact he’s married to miss universe so whatever happens next I don’t think his life will suck. I’ve got nothing against the guy. I can’t say I was terribly invested in his success though. If he made it good for him if not well good try.

I wonder, if his devout Christianity would’ve been received with such open hostility if he was a devout Muslim? I suspect everybody who was down on him for it  would’ve been kissing his ass then. I guess some things it’s just cool to hate. It sounds stupid because it is stupid. But people are stupid. 

Edited August 19, 2021 by Guard Dog

[Keyrock]

1 hour ago, Guard Dog said:

I really have never understood the animus against that guy. 

I imagine the green-eyed monster has at least something to do with it.

[Guard Dog]

1 minute ago, Keyrock said:

I imagine the green-eyed monster has at least something to do with it.

There is that.

[Bartimaeus]

53 minutes ago, Guard Dog said:

I wonder, if his devout Christianity would’ve been received with such open hostility if he was a devout Muslim? I suspect everybody who was down on him for it  would’ve been kissing his ass then.

At best, it would've just been switched: the people who currently love and praise him now would utterly abhor and revile him if he were an equally loud-and-proud Muslim instead. I'm not sure if there would've been enough of an up-swell of support from the other side to have supported his notoriety this long, but I guess I don't know for sure. By all accounts, he's a fine enough human being...but gosh, I could do without ever hearing him tiredly mentioned again, particularly from friends and family.

1 hour ago, Hurlsnot said:

I disagree with Bart about him sucking, but he was not a good fit for the QB position.

What I said was specifically in the context of his NFL career, which, well yeah, has kind of sucked. Some exciting 4th quarter finishes, sure, but that's about it. I thought I remembered hearing talk years back of teams wanting to try him out as a receiver on account of his athleticism, but he only wanted to be the guy at the time. A little late to be making a conversion at age 34 after many years out of football. At least the Jaguars got an absolute boatload of jersey sales out of it?

Edited August 19, 2021 by Bartimaeus

[Guard Dog]

2 minutes ago, Bartimaeus said:

At best, it would've just been switched: the people who currently love and praise him now would utterly abhor and revile him if he were an equally loud-and-proud Muslim instead. I'm not sure if there would've been enough of an up-swell of support from the other side to have supported his notoriety this long, but I guess I don't know for sure. By all accounts, he's a fine enough human being...but gosh, I could do without ever hearing him tiredly mentioned again, particularly from friends and family.

What I said was specifically in the context of his NFL career, which, well yeah, has kind of sucked. Some exciting 4th quarter finishes, sure, but that's about it. I thought I remembered hearing talk years back of teams wanting to try him out as a receiver on account of his athleticism, but he only wanted to be the guy at the time. A little late to be making a conversion at age 34 after many years out of football. At least the Jaguars got an absolute boatload of jersey sales out of it?

You’re probably right about that first part 

[Gromnir]

Can More Information, FDA Approval Sway Prominent Vikings Towards COVID Vaccine?

Mike Zimmer and the Vikings aren't giving up in their efforts to improve the team's poor vaccination rate. They brought in Dr. Michael Osterholm, a "renowned epidemiologist and infectious disease expert," to speak to the team on Monday morning, as first reported by NFL Network's Tom Pelissero.

Dr. Osterholm is the director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota and a member of President Joe Biden's COVID-19 Advisory Board. He's "one of the top specialists in the world," to use Zimmer's words.

...

fast forward to today

so, am thinking kirk cousins is a fan o' mr. rogers.

Spoiler

HA! Good Fun!

[Keyrock]

Division Winners:

AFC East: Bills

AFC South: Titans

AFC North: Browns

AFC West: Chiefs

NFC East: Cowboys

NFC South: Bucs

NFC North: Packers

NFC West: Rams

 

[Bartimaeus]

1 hour ago, Keyrock said:

Division Winners:

AFC East: Bills

AFC South: Titans

AFC North: Browns

AFC West: Chiefs

NFC East: Cowboys

NFC South: Bucs

NFC North: Packers

NFC West: Rams

Those are just about all the "correct" picks (besides the NFC West, who are surely the most difficult to predict with an absolute murder show between the Rams, Seahawks, Cardinals, and 49ers all being fairly easy to see winning that division without it being surprising)...but there are always surprises. Some teams will not do nearly as well as they seemingly should, at least a couple of teams will come out of nowhere, a few teams will get the injury bug bad...so I'd guess probably 4-5 of those will be correct. Which ones is a lot more difficult to say...and what ones will instead replace the ones that don't make it is just about impossible, .

Edited September 7, 2021 by Bartimaeus

[Keyrock]

10 minutes ago, Bartimaeus said:

...besides the NFC West, who are surely the most difficult to predict with an absolute murder show between the Rams, Seahawks, Cardinals, and 49ers all being fairly easy to see winning that division without it being surprising...

I think the Rams will be much improved now that they have a halfway decent QB in Matt Stafford. Jared Goff was an albatross around their necks. I think they are the second best team in the NFC. I fear we are getting a repeat in the Superbowl Big Game, but I'm hoping we get Browns vs Rams. I mean, of course I'm hoping muh Boys can get to the Big Game, but I'm trying to be somewhat realistic here. 

Edited September 7, 2021 by Keyrock

[ShadySands]

20 hours ago, Keyrock said:

Division Winners:

AFC East: Bills

AFC South: Titans

AFC North: Browns

AFC West: Chiefs

NFC East: Cowboys

NFC South: Bucs

NFC North: Packers

NFC West: Rams

 

I think you just jinxed your 'Boys

[Keyrock]

Just now, ShadySands said:

I think you just jinxed your 'Boys

Have you watched this team? I can't do anything to them they haven't already done to themselves.