NFL 2016 Season

[Keyrock]

The Dak vs Romo "problem" is a pretty good problem to have.  A lot of teams out there don't have a legitimate starter on their team and are trying to decide which backup quality QB gives them the best chance to win.  The Boys are trying to decide which starter quality QB to play.  This seems like the kind of problem that will work itself out over time.

[Keyrock]

The Boys are now 7-1.  Beating the Browns is not a big deal, though I was a bit nervous as this was the perfect setup for a trap game (coming off a big win, facing a vastly inferior opponent).  One thing I really like about this team is that they do not play to the level of their opponent (like so many Cowboys teams have in the near past).  When they face an inferior team they ****ing stomp them, like they should.

 

Anyway, as promised, here's your weekly helping of Uncle Jerry:

 

[Bartimaeus]

Packers' coaching is pretty retarded. Enough said.

 

Actually, I take it back: why move away from the short, timing-based passing game that worked wonderfully for two weeks...back to forcing long throws to receivers on isolation routes that has not worked for the last season and a half? Why? What in the world makes you think that trying to force these throws is a good idea? Then we go back to short timing-based throws in the 4th quarter...and we get touchdowns immediately. I don't understand what our coaching just doesn't understand here. We simply do not have the personnel for the highly efficient long passing game as we did in years prior: get with the program, coaching staff. It doesn't have to mean we have to play poorly for 2-3 quarters of every game if you actually try to adapt to it.

 

And on the defensive side...euck, what an even worse embarrassment. Blitzing near every darn play when, outside of a handful of plays throughout the game, all it does is lead to their offense getting huge gains when we inevitably fail to get to the passer. It doesn't work consistently...not even close...except at letting decent QBs with just even okay offensive lines get a ton of easy throws, if they're experienced enough to deal with the pressure. Please, coaching staff...adapt and use the personnel you have, not the personnel you wish you had.

Edited November 7, 2016 by Bartimaeus

[Keyrock]

Green Bay lacks an identity.  It's like they don't know who they want to be.

[ManifestedISO]

What would be cool, some day, is an AI personal assistant programmed with historical and statistical sports data, like some sort of algorithmic multi-informational graphical overlay, in holographic 3D, and you could be like, hey, AMIGO, when was the last time the AFC West, or any one division in the league, reached mid-season with all four teams at 7-2, 6-2, 6-3, and 4-5? 

[Bartimaeus]

Why are the refs so bad? Sweet moses.

[ManifestedISO]

Measure C is being rejected by two-thirds. No new stadium. 

[Bartimaeus]

Wow, the Packers are really bad.

[Volourn]

"Measure C is being rejected by two-thirds. No new stadium. "

 

Good. Taxes shouldn't be wasted on building stadiums for rich sports teams owners. That's evil.

[Keyrock]

The Boys win a thriller in Pittsburgh to grab their 8th straight win.  Dak and Dez were great; Zeke was spectacular, racking up 209 total yards and 3 TDs.  It's pretty hard to argue against Dallas being the best team in the NFC right now.  At 8-1 we sit atop the NFC and only Seattle seems to be poised to challenge us for the #1 seed.  A first round bye looks fairly probable, granted there are a lot of games left to be played.

 

Here's your weekly helping of Jerry:

 

 

HOW 'BOUT DEM COWBOYS?

Edited November 14, 2016 by Keyrock

[Keyrock]

At this point 3 teams have separated themselves from the pack: The Boys, C-Hox, and Pats. I think it's safe to pencil those 3 into the playoffs. On the other end of the spectrum you can safely cross out the Browns, Niners, Jags, Jets, and Bears. That leaves the remaining teams fighting it out over 9 playoff spots.

Edited November 14, 2016 by Keyrock

[Volourn]

'The Boys' couldn't even beat the G-MEN in DALLAS.

 

HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!

 

And, we all know what happesn when the Giants face the Pats in the SB.

 

Seahawks are the only real threat.

Edited November 14, 2016 by Volourn

[ManifestedISO]

Safe to say you can put a nut on the Bolts season, too. Third-time so far a different team captain is out for the season with injury, and that's just the defense. 

 

Plus, Philip threw four INTs in thirteen pass attempts in the fourth quarter v. Miami. 

[Bartimaeus]

Pretty close to winning that game, too. Such is life...

 

...Glad the Packers in the NFCN, where the entire division has imploded so there's still a chance they can win it.

[Keyrock]

I didn't expect the Bengals to beat the G-Men, but it would have been nice and opened up some cushion in the division.  Oh well.  The Boys have an important stretch of games coming up playing the AFC North leading Ravens, then a division game against the surprisingly not terrible Redskins, than a trip to Minny to face the quickly sinking Vikes, then at the Giants for the game that will likely decide which team wins the division and which team goes in as a wild card.  After that, Tampa, Detroit, then (possibly a meaningless game against) the Eagles.

[Bartimaeus]

"which team goes in as a wild card"? You mean which teams?

[Keyrock]

"which team goes in as a wild card"? You mean which teams?

No, I didn't. The Giants are the only team I can see realistically taking the division crown from the Boys, since they're only 2 games back and currently hold the head to head over us. The Skins are 2 1/2 back and we hold the head to head over them. The Eagles are 3 back and are in the worst tiebreaker scenario possible since they've lost every divisional game so far. They pretty much have to sweep their remaining divisional games to have any chance in tiebreaker scenarios. I'd estimate that there is a 95% probability of either the Boys or the G-Men taking the division. It is entirely possible that the NFC East produces 2 WC teams, but I think it's too early to try to predict such things with 3 divisional games left for each team. My point was that the G-Men are the only team I can see denying the Boys the divisional crown.

 

Plus, I can still somehow see the Pack getting its **** together and making a late season run to sneak into the playoffs as the second wild card. My faith is probably misplaced given their recent performance.

Edited November 15, 2016 by Keyrock

[Bartimaeus]

My only point was that the NFC East likely produces two wild card teams, not just one. Have you seen the state of the NFC North? If the Packers are going to the playoffs, I feel very strongly that it will have to be as a division champion, not as a wild card. It's very unlikely to be anyone from the NFC South, the Giants currently have one game over anybody else for a spot, and the Redskins have another half game (tie) over anybody else as well...and then the Eagles are tied for the only other 5-4 team, the Vikings. So basically, you're looking at somebody from the NFC North or the Cardinals to get the second wildcard spot, and the chances of that are...not great, especially given that the NFC East has been mostly wrecking the NFC North.

[Keyrock]

It's definitely possible the NFC East puts 3 teams in the playoffs, but with 3 games against the other divisional teams left each and very little separation between the teams not named Cowboys in the division, I can see the teams knocking each other out of playoff contention, especially if both NY and Dallas go 2-1 or better in the division the rest of the way. Lots of games left still, though, so who knows?

[Bartimaeus]

Yeah, that's true. And on the AFC side, it looks pretty similar there, too, with three teams from the AFCW being .700 or better, and literally only the Patriots in the entirety of the rest of the AFC being that,

[Bartimaeus]

In regards to the Packers, I think it really comes down to how stubborn McCarthy is. It's really frustrating to see him come up with excellent gameplans that work wonderfully for a couple of weeks, suited for the teams we're playing against and the players that we currently have, whether as a result of injuries or how people are playing...and then see him switch back to the vanilla gameplan that we've been trying to force for the past two seasons that has not worked one bit. Our offense is capable of playing well, but it's not capable of playing well in the same way it did in years past, and McCarthy seems to think that trying to force it to do exactly that will work, when it very patently has not for the last two years.

[Keyrock]

If the Packers don't turn it around and make the playoffs McCarthy is almost certainly getting ****canned, right?

[Gfted1]

Tony Romo: Dak Prescott's earned right to be QB.

 

Classy. I cant help but feel bad for the guy and I respect that hes taking it like a boss.

[Bartimaeus]

If the Packers don't turn it around and make the playoffs McCarthy is almost certainly getting ****canned, right?

 

I don't think so, sadly. The Packers' organization has been loyal to a fault: I think it will take at least one more year of underperformance, if not two, before they seriously consider it.

[ManifestedISO]

What the ... Josh Norman, corner for Washington--Green Bay's next opponent--compared Aaron Rodgers to a wizard. Not just any wizard. Gandalf. Not just any Gandalf. Gandalf the White. The Gandalf who resurrects and reinvents himself following a ferocious protracted battle.

 

Two things I thought would never intersect, NFL and LOTR.