NFL (2024 Season)

[jgb191]

As gut-wrenching as it was seeing the last winless team win their first on Sunday, there was a bright note....it put the brakes on the Texans fans' talking about the playoffs this year, which serves as a jarring reminder that the Texans are still rebuilding, there will still be major hurdles to clear.  Let's not get ahead of ourselves; it's still too early to be talking playoffs for the Texans right now.  I don't want that kind of pressure on our players and coaches.  There is way too much competition for just those three wild card spots; forget our division spot, the Jaguars have that.

The Texans lost at Charlotte the same way they lost at Atlanta -- on a last-second field goal.  Sure one can make the argument that the Texans could have been five wins, two losses.  That may be a fair point, but that's why our young players will have to figure out how not to give up 4th Q leads....something they did many games last year.  It's going to be a learning and growing process....a long process.

[thspfc]

How long until he's back on staff in New England? 

How long is a flight from Vegas to Boston?

Does he have TSA?

No doubt, but that won't speed up the plane. 

The Patriots have their own charter plane so they don't go through TSA.

Did that joke go through TSA at the aiport before it flew over your head?

[thspfc]

Steelers
Chiefs
Falcons
Saints
Rams
Patriots
Ravens
Buccaneers
Browns
Colts
Raiders
Eagles
Bengals
Chargers

[tmoore952]

How long until he's back on staff in New England? 

How long is a flight from Vegas to Boston?

Does he have TSA?

No doubt, but that won't speed up the plane. 

The Patriots have their own charter plane so they don't go through TSA.

To comment on this -- I saw said plane sitting on the ground when landing at Providence RI airport in 2018. There are multiple Super Bowl trophies plastered on the side of it. (obviously not real ones)

[webny99]

The Week 9 schedule is looking prretty good. Can't ask for much better than Dolphins-Chiefs in Germany, the great Cowboys-Eagles rivalry, the suddenly division leading Seahawks vs. the should-be 8-0 Ravens, Falcons-Vikings for an important tiebreaker, Bills-Bengals in a playoff rematch on SNF, and oh by the way, MNF is Jets-Chargers for a tiebreaker that could well decide an AFC Wild Card. It's so great on paper that undoubtedly half of them will be duds.

[NWI_Irish96]

Forks: Patriots, Colts, Texans, Raiders, Commanders, Packers, Bucs, Cardinals

Bucs might cost me.

Add Bears, Broncos, Panthers, Giants

I'm going to resist adding anybody to the list right now.

[webny99]

I'll finally fork the Commanders. Looks like they're giving up via the trade market.

What a bizarre 48 hours for the Washington franchise. From having a 4th quarter lead against one of the best teams in the league (a game which, had they held on to win, would have put them firmly in the playoff picture until late in the season), to giving up three 4th quarter touchdowns, falling to 3-5, and promptly trading away two of the best defensive players on their roster. Wild times.

I think they're still too good to completely tank this season regardless of how the organization views it, but losing those two players is tough. I really thought the #7 seed would come down to Washington and loser of Saints-Falcons (with the Vikings briefly in the mix), so I certainly wasn't planning to fork them, but here I am on the clock with 48 hours to decide what to do. 

In typical fashion, I forgot to fork the Commanders. So, I'll be rooting for them the next few weeks (not that I needed any extra incentive this week ).

[ZLoth]

This is my very subjective ranking... and will invite disagreement.

NFC Teams which I'm rooting to go to the Super Bowl this season... ranked!

• Detroit Lions
• Dallas Cowboys
• San Francisco 49ers

NFC Teams which I'm hoping to miss the playoffs... ranked!

• Philadelphia Eagles (Naturally)
• Seattle Seahawks (Of course)
• Washington Commandos... or is it Washington Team Football
• Green Bay Packers

Sorry, no AFC version.

[mgk920]

This is my very subjective ranking... and will invite disagreement.

NFC Teams which I'm rooting to go to the Super Bowl this season... ranked!

• Detroit Lions
• Dallas Cowboys
• San Francisco 49ers

NFC Teams which I'm hoping to miss the playoffs... ranked!

• Philadelphia Eagles (Naturally)
• Seattle Seahawks (Of course)
• Washington Commandos... or is it Washington Team Football

I still think of them as being the 'Washington Football Team', or even more ideally the 'Washington Redskins'.

• Green Bay Packers

Sorry, no AFC version.

[thspfc]

This is my very subjective ranking... and will invite disagreement.

NFC Teams which I'm rooting to go to the Super Bowl this season... ranked!

• Detroit Lions
• Dallas Cowboys
• San Francisco 49ers

NFC Teams which I'm hoping to miss the playoffs... ranked!

• Philadelphia Eagles (Naturally)
• Seattle Seahawks (Of course)
• Washington Commandos... or is it Washington Team Football

I still think of them as being the 'Washington Football Team', or even more ideally the 'Washington Redskins'.

For me it's usually just "Washington". Occasionally Football Team, never Redskins anymore. For relocated teams, I still say Oakland and San Diego sometimes, but never St. Louis. Make it make sense.

It pleases me that the Cowboys blew out both the Redskins and the Football Team in the last and third-to-last games, respectively, of the existence of those monikers.

[tmoore952]

This is my very subjective ranking... and will invite disagreement.

NFC Teams which I'm hoping to miss the playoffs... ranked!

• Philadelphia Eagles (Naturally)
• Seattle Seahawks (Of course)
• Washington Commandos... or is it Washington Team Football
• Green Bay Packers

Eagles fan in DC area, lived in Philly area for a long time, moved to DC area for work reasons in 2000.

I doubt you will get your Eagles wish this season.

Having lived in both Philly and DC areas, over the decades I've heard both cities claim that they have the best rivalry with the Cowboys. I also lived near NYC for about a year and don't remember hearing that from them (but then again it was only the one year 1996). I can see DC in the 70s-80s when they were good, and the Eagles for the most part weren't. Maybe it depends on who's good when?

[Ted$8roadFan]

I guess we can fork the Patriots.

[epzik8]

I officially declare both C.J. Stroud and Anthony Richardson better than Bryce Young.

[thspfc]

What a heartbreaker for the Cowboys. Things seem to be shaping up similarly to last year. Probably get the 5 seed, play the South champion in the wild card, then either the 1 or 2 seed in the divisional. This year's Saints would likely be a tougher matchup than last year's Bucs, but Dallas should still win such a game.

Upcoming for the Cowboys are the Giants, Panthers, and Commanders. Sounds like 8-3 entering a massive stretch of games: SEA, PHI, @BUF, @MIA, DET. Vs. Seahawks looks to be a battle for the 5 seed, vs. Eagles looks to be Dallas' last crack at the division. Of course, it's early to be saying all of this. Still gotta win the next three games.

I officially declare both C.J. Stroud and Anthony Richardson better than Bryce Young.

Richardson hasn't played enough yet, but Stroud looks great. That 3-1 start is long gone for Tampa.

[ZLoth]

I doubt you will get your Eagles wish this season.

What I wish for and what actually happens are in two different universes. Since I moved from NorCal, I have some affinity towards the 49ers, but thanks to my next-door neighbor, I'm also a Cowboys fan. It gets interesting whenever the 49ers and Cowboys meet, but that rivalry is intensified when the Cowboys play the Eagles.

And, it should be noted, the 2020 season was a funky season where the number 5-7 seed all had better records than the NFC East.

[webny99]

The Week 9 schedule is looking prretty good. Can't ask for much better than Dolphins-Chiefs in Germany, the great Cowboys-Eagles rivalry, the suddenly division leading Seahawks vs. the should-be 8-0 Ravens, Falcons-Vikings for an important tiebreaker, Bills-Bengals in a playoff rematch on SNF, and oh by the way, MNF is Jets-Chargers for a tiebreaker that could well decide an AFC Wild Card. It's so great on paper that undoubtedly half of them will be duds.

Well, only one dud of the four played so far, but that one was a whopper. 37-3 for the Ravens over the Seahawks after they similarly pasted the Lions a few weeks ago. Looking at the overall body of work, the Ravens and Eagles are pretty clearly the best team in their respective conferences so far.

[thspfc]

The Week 9 schedule is looking prretty good. Can't ask for much better than Dolphins-Chiefs in Germany, the great Cowboys-Eagles rivalry, the suddenly division leading Seahawks vs. the should-be 8-0 Ravens, Falcons-Vikings for an important tiebreaker, Bills-Bengals in a playoff rematch on SNF, and oh by the way, MNF is Jets-Chargers for a tiebreaker that could well decide an AFC Wild Card. It's so great on paper that undoubtedly half of them will be duds.

Well, only one dud of the four played so far, but that one was a whopper. 37-3 for the Ravens over the Seahawks after they similarly pasted the Lions a few weeks ago. Looking at the overall body of work, the Ravens and Eagles are pretty clearly the best team in their respective conferences so far.

I think you have to throw the Chiefs up there with them just because of recent history. The AFC goes through Kansas City until proven otherwise. That's the clear top 3, order can be argued.

Jumping the gun a bit, with how things are going in Cincy right now, here's the rest of my top 10:

4. Bengals
5. Jaguars
6. Lions
7/8/9/10: Cowboys, 49ers, Seahawks, Bills, any order

Miami has shut down every time they've played a good team. The only team on that list without a +.500 win is Dallas, who gave Philly all they could handle down to the yard today.

[webny99]

I think you have to throw the Chiefs up there with them just because of recent history. The AFC goes through Kansas City until proven otherwise. That's the clear top 3, order can be argued.

Jumping the gun a bit, with how things are going in Cincy right now, here's the rest of my top 10:

4. Bengals
5. Jaguars
6. Lions
7/8/9/10: Cowboys, 49ers, Seahawks, Bills, any order

Miami has shut down every time they've played a good team. The only team on that list without a +.500 win is Dallas, who gave Philly all they could handle down to the yard today.

Midseason is where it gets tricky to decipher between "right now" and "this season so far".

For the Chiefs, I think losing to the Broncos by double digits counts for something. They looked great against the Bears and Chargers, but haven't looked great in any other games. Yet I can't confidently put anyone ahead of them at #3. I'd certainly have the Bengals ahead right now, but not for the season as a whole (but the early season Bengals were a very different team with an injured Burrow)

I'd bump the Lions down into a 6-10 tier with your 7-10 teams. They're good, but I can't justify separating them above the rest after getting completely blown out against the Ravens. Dolphins are probably 11th, and that rounds out the likely playoff teams if you figure someone has to win the NFC South and the final wild card in each conference is up for grabs.

The Bills wouldn't even be sniffing the top 10 if not for weeks 2-4. Part of it is a bunch of major injuries on defense, but that can't be used as an excuse. They've looked exceedingly average, sometimes closer to bad, for weeks on end. And I'd be OK with just accepting that they're average and just enjoying each week as a new adventure, if expectations weren't so high. The 2019 and 2020 Bills were fun. Falling short of expectations for the third straight year is just wearing.. and I say that as a casual observer. I can't even imagine what it's like for the team, and if it continues there will be some well-deserved questions surrounding this coaching staff. I saw a comment somewhere that McDermott is the type of coach that could take the 2017 Bills to the wild card round... but also take the 2023 Bills to the wild card round. I thought that was well-put. He may have just maxed out his potential as an NFL head coach, and that's unfortunately not enough.

[TheHighwayMan3561]

As ridiculous as it is I don't know if I've ever been prouder of a Vikings effort in today's win over the Falcons. A long and emotional week, going on the road to a decent but not great Falcons team that is right in the thick of its dividion race and had a lot to play for today. We lost 4 key players to injuries over the weekend. Dobbs who has been here less than a week is forced to play basically a full game and understandably he was awful on his first 2-3 drives. We had to play from behind most of the game, and then it looked like the Falcons had made the knockout blow late before Dobbs somehow, some way, made some unbelievable plays to pull out the win.

[webny99]

Well, I'm not happy that the Steelers have a better record than the Bills at midseason, but this insane stat at least gives me a micron of solace: https://twitter.com/LedyardNFLDraft/status/1721300185156903292

[thspfc]

Well, I'm not happy that the Steelers have a better record than the Bills at midseason, but this insane stat at least gives me a micron of solace: https://twitter.com/LedyardNFLDraft/status/1721300185156903292

Pittsburgh's 5-3 record is a joke. Here are the total offensive yardage numbers for each team in Steelers games this season:

Texans (vs. Steelers) - 451
Browns - 408
49ers - 391
Jaguars - 377
Raiders - 362
Rams - 354
Titans - 340
Ravens - 335
Steelers - 333
Steelers - 326
Steelers - 300
Steelers - 289
Steelers - 261
Steelers - 255
Steelers - 239
Steelers - 225

Not only have they been outgained every single time, their highest yardage total of the season is lower than their opponents' lowest yardage total against them. It's one thing to win games with a good defense carrying a bad offense, but I don't think their defense is even that good. The whole team stinks. This cannot continue for the rest of the year.

[mgk920]

I still remember Johnny Carson self-deprecating over the Rams, especially after their games at the Packers.



Mike

[mgk920]

Man, talk about a battle of the behemoths - Thursday night the 1-7 Panthers at the 2-7 Bears!



Still gonna have the first TWO picks in the 2024 draft?

Mike

[webny99]

Pittsburgh's 5-3 record is a joke. Here are the total offensive yardage numbers for each team in Steelers games this season:
...
Not only have they been outgained every single time, their highest yardage total of the season is lower than their opponents' lowest yardage total against them. It's one thing to win games with a good defense carrying a bad offense, but I don't think their defense is even that good. The whole team stinks. This cannot continue for the rest of the year.

Wow. It's no fun to agree, but on this I couldn't possibly agree more.

Their 5 wins have all been one-score while the 3 losses have all been multi-score. So if you do the "flip the results in one score games" thing, they'd be 0-8. And they've certainly looked more like an 0-8 team than a 5-3 one, but we're somehow stuck with 5-3 in the standings.

[jgb191]

I officially declare both C.J. Stroud and Anthony Richardson better than Bryce Young.

Richardson hasn't played enough yet, but Stroud looks great.

Please don't jinx it for CJ!  While he has looked phenomenal since the first two games, I'm still worried for him about two things: 

1) back in 2017, the injury bug hit Deshaun Watson midway into his rookie year and our promising season derailed the rest of that year.  Can CJ's career survive should he be unfortunately hit with injury as well?  He's already taken 19 sacks so far his rookie year, with eleven of them in his first two games.  I do feel better that we have a worthy back-up QB Case Keenum to take over.  I'm not too worried about this season since Case is a good safety net and that we have nothing to play for this fall, but I hope CJ's health can hold up over the next several years.

2) not very many rookies in NFL history have blown away initial expectations the way CJ has; my big worry is the possibility of that infamous "second-year slump" stage.  How will he respond once HCs and DCs of other teams have studied him and figured him out.  Can CJ hold up to greater expectation loads after his successful rookie year?  The answer to that question remains to be seen.


Shifting gears, our next game is at Cincinnati.  The Texans haven't lost there since 2003, which was our team's second year.  The Bengals will look to snap what is either four or five straight losses at Paul Jones when the Texans come knocking.  As always, the Texans are the underdogs at Paul Jones Stadium, as had been the case every time the Texans visit there; can they upset the home team yet again???  Stay tuned!