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 nels1031 wrote:

 Mysterio wrote:
Brutal 2 weeks for the Steelers - makes the AFC playoff picture a little chaotic, and, after talking to a big Stellers fan here, could potentially even see them missing the playoffs?!?

Wow!

Its possible, I think.

Next week will probably be a wash for the AFC North. Steelers play the Raiders(2-10) and the Ravens play the Chiefs(10-2).

After that, things may get tense up for the black and yellow. Pitt has Patriots, Saints, and a listless Bengals team with nothing to lose and looking to spoil it for a rival, like they did against the Ravens last year.

Ravens have Tampa Bay, Chargers, Browns. Although B-more lost to the Browns (lol?) one this season, I doubt it happens again and Tampa Bay should be a W, Chargers will give the Ravens some trouble, as they have pretty much split their 11 games against each other. I fully expect the Ravens to play down to their opponents level for 2/3rd of those final 3 games, and make it unnecessarily tense.

I can realistically see Balti going 3-1 in that stretch - only losing to the chiefs - most likely 2-2 though. Steelers should beat the raiders but the Bengals might actually be in the hunt so that won't be an easy win.

Look at the Bengals schedule.
Chargers/Raiders/Browns/Steelers.

If the Bengals beat the chargers. It's REALLY not looking good for the Steelers. Steelers are looking at 2 fat L's with the Pats and Saints up after the raiders. That tie game might end up costing them a playoff spot.

Looks like maybe the NFL been learning something about building drama from wrestling or something.

Look at the NFC East:
If Philadelphia wins tonight, they are one game behind Dallas for the Division.
Remaining games: Dallas, Rams, Houston, Washington.
Dallas remaining games: Eagles, Colts, Tampa Bay, Giants.
Washington remaining games: Giants, Jaguars, Titans, Eagles.

Scenarios exist for any two of them to make the playoffs.
Place yer bets.

 Xenomancers wrote:

 nels1031 wrote:

 Mysterio wrote:
Brutal 2 weeks for the Steelers - makes the AFC playoff picture a little chaotic, and, after talking to a big Stellers fan here, could potentially even see them missing the playoffs?!?

Wow!

Its possible, I think.

Next week will probably be a wash for the AFC North. Steelers play the Raiders(2-10) and the Ravens play the Chiefs(10-2).

After that, things may get tense up for the black and yellow. Pitt has Patriots, Saints, and a listless Bengals team with nothing to lose and looking to spoil it for a rival, like they did against the Ravens last year.

Ravens have Tampa Bay, Chargers, Browns. Although B-more lost to the Browns (lol?) one this season, I doubt it happens again and Tampa Bay should be a W, Chargers will give the Ravens some trouble, as they have pretty much split their 11 games against each other. I fully expect the Ravens to play down to their opponents level for 2/3rd of those final 3 games, and make it unnecessarily tense.

I can realistically see Balti going 3-1 in that stretch - only losing to the chiefs - most likely 2-2 though. Steelers should beat the raiders but the Bengals might actually be in the hunt so that won't be an easy win.

Look at the Bengals schedule.
Chargers/Raiders/Browns/Steelers.

If the Bengals beat the chargers. It's REALLY not looking good for the Steelers. Steelers are looking at 2 fat L's with the Pats and Saints up after the raiders. That tie game might end up costing them a playoff spot.

I suspect that the Steelers will be fine, so long as Conner is able to go in a couple weeks. The Saints didn't exactly look like world beaters against a Cowboys team that isn't a juggernaut either. And while anything can happen, the Bengals are about as 'done' as any team in the league, if you actually follow anything going on with them.

I feel a lot better about the Steelers than you must about the Jags. That must be deflating to see your team in such disarray and playing so poorly. But that's what not having a quality starting QB can do. Means you have to step up to the slot machine called the NFL draft and pray. If it's another Mahomes, great. If it's another Bortles, you're basically fethed with this group as it's currently built. Of course, there's always the retread route. I guess that worked out a couple times in the past 20 years.

 helgrenze wrote:
Looks like maybe the NFL been learning something about building drama from wrestling or something.

Look at the NFC East:
If Philadelphia wins tonight, they are one game behind Dallas for the Division.
Remaining games: Dallas, Rams, Houston, Washington.
Dallas remaining games: Eagles, Colts, Tampa Bay, Giants.
Washington remaining games: Giants, Jaguars, Titans, Eagles.

Scenarios exist for any two of them to make the playoffs.
Place yer bets.

Cowboys, easy.

 gorgon wrote:
And while anything can happen, the Bengals are about as 'done' as any team in the league, if you actually follow anything going on with them.

Just saw AJ Green out for the season...

Like you said, anything can happen, but thats a dagger.

 helgrenze wrote:
Looks like maybe the NFL been learning something about building drama from wrestling or something.

Its not the only cue the NFL has taken from wrasslin' . . . During the Chargers game, the refs were conveniently looking away during a blatant false start and the chargers scored. . . Then, they missed quite a few off-sides penalties throughout the night. And, from what I saw of comments from friends who are fans of other teams who were making comments on FB, it seems that the Pitt/LAC game was not the only one with egregiously bad officiating

 nels1031 wrote:

 gorgon wrote:
And while anything can happen, the Bengals are about as 'done' as any team in the league, if you actually follow anything going on with them.

Just saw AJ Green out for the season...

Like you said, anything can happen, but thats a dagger.

No Dalton, no Green, and the coach will likely be a lame duck in the final game of the season with most of the players thinking about playing golf. Any given Sunday, sure, but talking up how tough the Bengals will be to beat just isn't very smart.

 Ensis Ferrae wrote:

 helgrenze wrote:
Looks like maybe the NFL been learning something about building drama from wrestling or something.

Its not the only cue the NFL has taken from wrasslin' . . . During the Chargers game, the refs were conveniently looking away during a blatant false start and the chargers scored. . . Then, they missed quite a few off-sides penalties throughout the night. And, from what I saw of comments from friends who are fans of other teams who were making comments on FB, it seems that the Pitt/LAC game was not the only one with egregiously bad officiating

It was horrendous on Sunday night, and I'm not one who likes to pile on the refs. That tackle had multiple false starts throughout the game that were never called. The offsides at the end was caused by the long snapper jerking the ball. That's illegal, but as Joe Schobert of the Bengals (who has no reason to be supportive of the Steelers) chimed in on Twitter:

Chargers long snapper is notorious for twitching and moving the ball before he snaps. Pointed it out to refs during our game and was told “he’s been doing it his whole career” it’s not gonna get called.

That's YOUR NFL officiating, folks!

And the league became pro wrasslin' a long time ago. Remember that Steelers-Bengals playoff game when Burfict went nuts and the Cincy crowd got so ugly?



The next season, the league put the Bengals home game against the Steelers in prime time so they'd have a liquored up crowd and another powderkeg of a game. So much for encouraging player safety and good fan behavior.

I still love NFL football, but the league office only cares about its TV ratings and couldn't give a gak about much else. They didn't care about Kareem Hunt or Ray Rice until the videos surfaced and the 'optics' got bad. Meanwhile, they blackball Colin K. -- who hasn't committed any crimes -- and spend time testing and suspending players for recreational drugs that are now legal in parts of the country. You know what the focus of the NHL (and I think NBA too) is when players test positive? Getting them HELP, not punishment and staking out some faux high moral ground.

The league has become completely craven. This was not always the case...not like this.

 gorgon wrote:

No Dalton, no Green, and the coach will likely be a lame duck in the final game of the season with most of the players thinking about playing golf. Any given Sunday, sure, but talking up how tough the Bengals will be to beat just isn't very smart.

Ya, I didn't know about Dalton either. I think I called it at the start of this thread, that the Bengals were going to start hot and do what they normally do under Marvin Lewis.

 gorgon wrote:

 Xenomancers wrote:

 nels1031 wrote:

 Mysterio wrote:
Brutal 2 weeks for the Steelers - makes the AFC playoff picture a little chaotic, and, after talking to a big Stellers fan here, could potentially even see them missing the playoffs?!?

Wow!

Its possible, I think.

Next week will probably be a wash for the AFC North. Steelers play the Raiders(2-10) and the Ravens play the Chiefs(10-2).

After that, things may get tense up for the black and yellow. Pitt has Patriots, Saints, and a listless Bengals team with nothing to lose and looking to spoil it for a rival, like they did against the Ravens last year.

Ravens have Tampa Bay, Chargers, Browns. Although B-more lost to the Browns (lol?) one this season, I doubt it happens again and Tampa Bay should be a W, Chargers will give the Ravens some trouble, as they have pretty much split their 11 games against each other. I fully expect the Ravens to play down to their opponents level for 2/3rd of those final 3 games, and make it unnecessarily tense.

I can realistically see Balti going 3-1 in that stretch - only losing to the chiefs - most likely 2-2 though. Steelers should beat the raiders but the Bengals might actually be in the hunt so that won't be an easy win.

Look at the Bengals schedule.
Chargers/Raiders/Browns/Steelers.

If the Bengals beat the chargers. It's REALLY not looking good for the Steelers. Steelers are looking at 2 fat L's with the Pats and Saints up after the raiders. That tie game might end up costing them a playoff spot.

I suspect that the Steelers will be fine, so long as Conner is able to go in a couple weeks. The Saints didn't exactly look like world beaters against a Cowboys team that isn't a juggernaut either. And while anything can happen, the Bengals are about as 'done' as any team in the league, if you actually follow anything going on with them.

I feel a lot better about the Steelers than you must about the Jags. That must be deflating to see your team in such disarray and playing so poorly. But that's what not having a quality starting QB can do. Means you have to step up to the slot machine called the NFL draft and pray. If it's another Mahomes, great. If it's another Bortles, you're basically fethed with this group as it's currently built. Of course, there's always the retread route. I guess that worked out a couple times in the past 20 years.

I'm done with the jags. Poorest run organization in the history of the game. Nothing but heartbreak. They will be in London shortly so I'll have to go back to being a Pats fan (Whoa is me).


Automatically Appended Next Post:

 nels1031 wrote:

 gorgon wrote:
And while anything can happen, the Bengals are about as 'done' as any team in the league, if you actually follow anything going on with them.

Just saw AJ Green out for the season...

Like you said, anything can happen, but thats a dagger.

Yep that's a season Ender. Not stating QB now and Top 5 WR OFS? Jezz. That sure helps the Stellers.

With McCoy's Leg also Broken, maybe the 'Skins give Kaep a call? He can't be any worse than Sanchez and he might be a tad better....

Man, how did I not think of that? They totally should, imo - not sure how much more mediocrity the skins can take, and he'd be really motivated to prove he's still got it. Plus he probably wouldn't mind being in D.C.

 helgrenze wrote:
With McCoy's Leg also Broken, maybe the 'Skins give Kaep a call? He can't be any worse than Sanchez and he might be a tad better....

I'd put the chances of that at a decimal approaching zero.

The Skins would do anything to fill seats right now. The Stadium is dead most games and even season ticket holders usually don't show up.

They are not going to do anything with QB that courts controversy. The plan is probably to tank the rest of the season to improve draft picks. The word is Alex Smith is not coming back to football, so they are going to need some talent.

 techsoldaten wrote:

 helgrenze wrote:
With McCoy's Leg also Broken, maybe the 'Skins give Kaep a call? He can't be any worse than Sanchez and he might be a tad better....

I'd put the chances of that at a decimal approaching zero.

The Skins would do anything to fill seats right now. The Stadium is dead most games and even season ticket holders usually don't show up.

They are not going to do anything with QB that courts controversy. The plan is probably to tank the rest of the season to improve draft picks. The word is Alex Smith is not coming back to football, so they are going to need some talent.

Haters would buy tix just to boo him, especially in DC.

 helgrenze wrote:

 techsoldaten wrote:

 helgrenze wrote:
With McCoy's Leg also Broken, maybe the 'Skins give Kaep a call? He can't be any worse than Sanchez and he might be a tad better....

I'd put the chances of that at a decimal approaching zero.

The Skins would do anything to fill seats right now. The Stadium is dead most games and even season ticket holders usually don't show up.

They are not going to do anything with QB that courts controversy. The plan is probably to tank the rest of the season to improve draft picks. The word is Alex Smith is not coming back to football, so they are going to need some talent.

Haters would buy tix just to boo him, especially in DC.

I seem to recall Dan Snyder being specifically asked about Kap, and he basically shut it down immediately. . . I guess he recognizes the occasional controversy in his team name (not that I'm trying to start *that* argument again), and has recently brought controversy by signing a dude who can't/wont play because the league is investigating him, and they probably are thinking that Kap would be one controversy too many??

Tho, I do agree the move would bring arses to the seats, if nothing else than to boo the guy.

You know what fills seats? Winning. You know what helps with winning? Not starting Buttfumble Sanchez as your QB. Fortunately for my team's playoff chances you have a racist for an owner and will continue to blacklist the best available player for the position.

Gruden apparently ruled it out as a "football decision" based on wanting a QB that fits the current scheme rather than rewriting the offense for a different skill set this late in the season. Whatever.
I'm an Eagles Fan. I expect the 'Skins to lose to the Giants this weekend which both hurts Washington's playoff chances and ruins NYG's draft by moving them (hopefully) out of the top 10.
Plus I get to laugh at the other Gruden's increasingly bad decisions as his own draft picks (first round, Dallas and Chicago to name two) he traded for get worse and worse.

 Peregrine wrote:
Not starting Buttfumble Sanchez as your QB.

He had a Buttrecovery this week, so.. redemption, I guess?

 Ensis Ferrae wrote:
I seem to recall Dan Snyder being specifically asked about Kap, and he basically shut it down immediately. . . I guess he recognizes the occasional controversy in his team name (not that I'm trying to start *that* argument again), and has recently brought controversy by signing a dude who can't/wont play because the league is investigating him, and they probably are thinking that Kap would be one controversy too many??

Tho, I do agree the move would bring arses to the seats, if nothing else than to boo the guy.

Again, the NFL leadership is completely craven. People blame Goodell, and while I agree he's a cymbal monkey, he doesn't do anything that owners don't want him to do. The owners will gladly sign domestic abusers -- and try to cover their incidents up -- but are afraid to sign a dude who's done nothing wrong other than protesting in what he thought was a respectful way.

But y'know, maybe the whole thing just illustrates where we are as a people. Hypocritical and vile. *shrug*

Kap and Tebow have a lot in common. People want/wanted them on their team for non football reasons.

In his career he scored 72 touchdowns with 30 interceptions in 69 games with an average of 178 yards per game.

Blake Bortles (who is utter garbage) in 73 games scored 103 TD's with 70 interceptions and a 240 YPG average.

Both players ran a lot too - Bortles running numbers actually more impressive.

Bortles is probably the worst QB to ever start this many games. (this is hyperbole but you catch my drift). Why would anyone bring in a primadonna like Kap to touch the ball every play whose actually worse than Bortles? LOL

Seriously guys. Kap is a garbage QB. In most cases - your backup in better than him.

Mark Sanchez: 78 games, 86 Tds, 87 INTs, 196 YPG, 6.6 YPA.

That's a rather dishonest comparison. Bortles, for all his flaws, is not a free agent and not available to sign. The more accurate comparison is Kap vs. Sanchez, and vs. the other free agent QBs available. So let's see:

Sanchez: 196 YPG, 87 TD, 86 INT, effectively zero rushing yards. Lower yards per game (once you add Kap's ~30 ypg rushing), and an awful TD/INT ratio.

But what about the players Gruden mentioned bringing in behind Sanchez?

EJ Manuel: 125 YPG (+11 rushing), 20 TD, 16 INT. Awful.

TJ Yates: 93 YPG, 10 TD, 11 INT. Somehow even more awful.

Josh Johnson: a guy who hasn't played in 7 seasons, and has such limited stats that it isn't worth quoting them.

Yeah, I'm definitely buying the idea that not signing Kaepernick is 100% about football reasons and not his protests, and that the other options the Racists are going with are clearly more likely to win games. Definitely better choices than a guy with better stats who took his team to a super bowl, nearly won it, and came one great play by Richard Sherman away from two consecutive super bowls.

You also need to look at who they are replacing, Alex Smith, the guy the Offense was built around.

166 games, 193 TDs, 101 INTs, 6.9 Y/A, 205 Y/G, 15.7 RY/G.
Ave QBR 87.3. Only had a QBR over 100 twice in his career.

Not saying they shouldn't give Kaep a shot, but this late in the season, finding a guy with a skill set similar to Smith/McCoy and teaching him the Offense is probably easier than trying to fit someone with Kaep's skillset into that same Offense. Or changing the Offense to fit his play style.

 helgrenze wrote:
Not saying they shouldn't give Kaep a shot, but this late in the season, finding a guy with a skill set similar to Smith/McCoy and teaching him the Offense is probably easier than trying to fit someone with Kaep's skillset into that same Offense. Or changing the Offense to fit his play style.

Sure, of course finding someone with a similar skill set and such is a great thing, but who is out there with both similar skills and enough general QB talent to win games? I mean, we're talking about Buttfumble Sanchez as the starter and TJ Yates potentially having an NFL contract to get paid to play football. Just putting Kaepernick in the standard offense and letting him decide to keep the ball if he feels like running is almost certainly going to work out better than going anywhere near the garbage heap of bad QBs who couldn't even stay employed as a backup, but clearly this is not about his protests.

They are also not looking at anyone's practice squads, guys they could hire without issue from other teams. These are developmental guys that have most of the skills but need refinement. Beside, They'd just be back ups for Sanchez right now anyway.
Heck, they could look at their own squad.
Nic Shimonek don't look so bad.... 253 Y/G, 8.4 Y/A, 32 TDs, 8 INT, NOT a great runner.

 helgrenze wrote:
Nic Shimonek don't look so bad.... 253 Y/G, 8.4 Y/A, 32 TDs, 8 INT, NOT a great runner.

College stats I take it? Since he doesn't appear to have played in the NFL at all?

And no, they aren't looking at practice squads because practice squads are composed of players who were too lacking in skills to get a real contract and developmental players are worthless when you need a QB to win games now. I'm not sure what your point there is. We don't need to speculate about who they're interested in instead of Kaepernick, we know the list of names. We know that Sanchez, a player with worse stats and a reputation for being a failure, is their starter. We know that their backups are awful players who are much worse than Kaepernick. There is no way this is a move to sign the best player available who gives the best chance of winning games. They are clearly favoring weaker players over someone with better skills at football because of the better player's political activism.

Currently, the 'Skins have no chance of winning the division and a very outside chance of making the playoffs. If they lose to NYG this weekend, that is gone as well.
Even if they win, they would need help getting the wildcard. Vikings would need to lose to Seattle, Eagles would have to lose to Dallas, and Carolina would need to lose to Browns to give them a chance.
If any of those teams win, especially Philly or Minn, the playoffs are mostly locked on the NFC side. Seattle drops to second wildcard over Dallas if they both lose and Eagles take the NFCE on Div record with on Div game left.


So.... what would you do?

.....But Kaep would make the President angry!

Peregrine..... I would never in a million years guess you were a Redskins fan. For some reason, this blows my simple mind!


Edit: I just ran across this oddly enough.....

https://slate.com/culture/2018/12/colin-kaepernick-mark-sanchez-jay-gruden-washington.html

and here too:

https://ftw.usatoday.com/2018/12/nfl-redskins-colin-kaepernick-jay-gruden-offense-fit

Double Edit:
It is sort of like how punter Chris Kluwe has never been able to get back into the league after some high-profile protests. What exactly is the player's union doing about any of this? I honestly do not know?

Triple Edit:
I keep reading about how hiring Kaep would scare away $$$. If I recall, that did not happen for Nike.... at all. What is the basis of this argument?

 Easy E wrote:
Peregrine..... I would never in a million years guess you were a Redskins fan. For some reason, this blows my simple mind!

no. Seahawks fan, I have some standard of decency.

(And let's be clear, I'm enjoying watching the Racists screw up like this, it's made very sure that they're out of the wild card race in a year my team isn't going to win the division.)

Even if the Seahawks lose on Monday, a Dallas loss still gets the 'boys locked out since Seattle beat them.

Sweet Vindication from ma boys.