NFL (2024 Season)

[Ted$8roadFan]

Tom Brady retires again, for good.


https://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2023/02/01/tom-brady-announces-his-retirement-for-good/amp/

Let's check back in in a month.

Although this announcement seems more genuine, I can't disagree. I even bought some of the retirement magazines that came out after last year's announcement. 

[ethanhopkin14]

Tom Brady retires again, for good.


https://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2023/02/01/tom-brady-announces-his-retirement-for-good/amp/

Let's check back in in a month.

Although this announcement seems more genuine, I can't disagree. I even bought some of the retirement magazines that came out after last year's announcement.

Interesting to note, after listening to the recording he made five times, I couldn't help but notice he said retiring.  He never said, "retiring from football" or "the NFL".  I know that's nitpicky, but he's corny enough to come back in a month and say, "I said I was retiring...I never said I was retiring from football...I was retiring from badminton." or something as cringy. 

[hotdogPi]

At least it's not baseball, where "retire" simply means you've been put out.

[mgk920]

Tom Brady retires again, for good.


https://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2023/02/01/tom-brady-announces-his-retirement-for-good/amp/

If his (ex) wife had just hung on for a couple of more years, she wouldn't have been able to use the 'he's never home!' excuse for leaving him.  It just goes to show that however 'hot' and 'desirable' a guy is, be worried if she ever starts taking Jiu Jitsu lessons.



Mike

[Henry]

Tom Brady retires again, for good.


https://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2023/02/01/tom-brady-announces-his-retirement-for-good/amp/

Let's check back in in a month.

Although this announcement seems more genuine, I can't disagree. I even bought some of the retirement magazines that came out after last year's announcement.

Interesting to note, after listening to the recording he made five times, I couldn't help but notice he said retiring.  He never said, "retiring from football" or "the NFL".  I know that's nitpicky, but he's corny enough to come back in a month and say, "I said I was retiring...I never said I was retiring from football...I was retiring from badminton." or something as cringy. 

We'll see when training camp begins next summer.

The NBA has gone through this as well (in fact, that's where it originated), with Michael Jordan and Magic Johnson coming out of extended retirements. Hell, Magic's return to the Lakers was basically a warmup act for Kobe Bryant's arrival, so to speak. (It would've been nice to see them on the floor together, but alas, I guess it was never meant to be.)

[triplemultiplex]

30 years ago, you'd have never thought Magic would outlive Kobe.  Life is weird.

I should try and be fair and give Brady a chance as a broadcaster, but I don't think I'll be able to let go of my dislike of him to do that.  I am going to latch onto the first annoying thing out of his mouth next season and write him off forever.
I have a prejudice against douchebags, what can I say.

[elsmere241]

I didn't like Troy Aikman as Cowboy.  I did like him as a broadcaster.  We'll have to see how Brady does as a broadcaster.

[thspfc]

Why does everyone care so much about broadcast teams? A few of them are great, most are average, and very few are bad. The only bad ones I've ever heard do college football.

[ethanhopkin14]

Why does everyone care so much about broadcast teams?

Speaking for myself here and not everyone, most grew up during a time when a) play by play personnel were legitimate journalists and were as much a part of your team as the players were and B) wouldn't change for decades.  I grew up listening to Harry Carray and Steve Stone.  I can today just hear Steve Stone's voice on a TV I am not even watching and decades of memories come flooding to me.  I grew up with Pat Summerall and John Madden.  Their voices were as much a part of the game I was watching as the game itself, maybe more.  I can still hear Pat Summerall telling me 60 minutes is up next in my head when I watch the end of the late afternoon game on CBS (likewise, even though it's been nearly 30 years that CBS has had the AFC, I still think it's weird).  The broadcast team used to mean a lot.  I don't know if it means as much as it used to, but I still have my favorites of the current ones. 

[thspfc]

Why does everyone care so much about broadcast teams?

Speaking for myself here and not everyone, most grew up during a time when a) play by play personnel were legitimate journalists and were as much a part of your team as the players were and B) wouldn't change for decades.  I grew up listening to Harry Carray and Steve Stone.  I can today just hear Steve Stone's voice on a TV I am not even watching and decades of memories come flooding to me.  I grew up with Pat Summerall and John Madden.  Their voices were as much a part of the game I was watching as the game itself, maybe more.  I can still hear Pat Summerall telling me 60 minutes is up next in my head when I watch the end of the late afternoon game on CBS (likewise, even though it's been nearly 30 years that CBS has had the AFC, I still think it's weird).  The broadcast team used to mean a lot.  I don't know if it means as much as it used to, but I still have my favorites of the current ones.

In 30 years today's broadcast teams are going to be just as nostalgic. That's how it works.

[webny99]

No Bills commentary from me until February if I can help it

Well, I had a meltdown after the Vikings game, but otherwise I intend to stick to my word here and save my commentary for, well, February. ... I'll check back in a few weeks if I've found anything worthwhile to say.

I apologize in advance for how long this post is. I realized as I went that I had quite a bit to say since I tried not to chirp about the Bills all year, so this turned into sort of a short story about their season. Anyways...




The 2022 Buffalo Bills are, to me, an important lesson in the weight of expectations. There was absolutely an emotional aspect to them being crowned Super Bowl favorites after the spectacular divisional loss last year, widely regarded as one of the greatest games in NFL history, yet an unfathomable blow for the losing franchise.

The follow up campaign started out in glamorous and fulfilling fashion. There was the beatdown over the defending Super Bowl champion, the 40-burger laid on the AFC's reigning #1 seed, the 17-point comeback against the Ravens, and the laugher against the Steelers, the most lopsided loss in the Mike Tomlin era. Then adversity struck, from one angle after another. There was the Ken Dorsey meltdown in an ugly loss to the Dolphins, the loss to the Zach Wilson Jets, and in early November, the loss to the Vikings in another heartbreaker dubbed "game of the year" . And that was just on the field. Dawson Knox tragically lost his brother, and back to back snowstorms forced two games in Detroit in a span of five days. The second, on Thanksgiving, was a turning point, when the Bills lost Von Miller, their "closer" , for the season, and from then on became the very definition of a team "finding a way to win" . There was the late game-winning drive against the Lions, a trio of grind-it-out divisional wins including a winter classic against Miami, and eventually a third straight division title, sealed up in less-than-impressive fashion against the Bears.

Then in the highly anticipated showdown against the Bengals, the unthinkable occurred when safety Damar Hamlin went into cardiac arrest on the field. The game was cancelled while players, staff and fans alike anxiously awaited an update, which finally came late in the week, and it was a fortunate one as Hamlin had regained consciousness and was making progress on what would be a long road to recovery. However, the emotions of the unprecedented situation carried over to the season finale a week later, encapsulated by a "storybook"  kickoff return touchdown on the very first play. Lost in the drama of a great sports moment was the fact that the Bills didn't play very well. They won by 12, but looked very much the Patriots' equal aside from the two kickoff returns. But "a win is a win" , and they had ended the Patriots' season and kept their winning streak alive.

The following week was perhaps even more concerning. Despite Miami starting their third string QB, Josh Allen's turnovers continued, the Dolphins scored on defense, and put a few drives together to keep it dangerously close. But amidst a sea of clock management issues for the Dolphins, the Bills held on for dear life and escaped with a win, ending the Dolphins' season, and extending their winning streak to eight games. Up next: the mighty Bengals in a rematch of the cancelled game. It was the "game we never got to see" ; the "game of the week" ; "impossible to pick" .

Impossible to pick indeed. In hindsight, the two sides of the coin are clear: On one side is the fact that the Bills hadn't lost in over two months, that their upside was so high because they were winning without playing very well, that they had become adept at "finding a way"  despite tremendous adversity, that there was nothing but themselves to stop them from riding this roller coaster all the way to the Super Bowl.

On the other side, though, is the fact that they hadn't looked like a great or even very good team in almost three months, that they hadn't had a dominant performance since early October, that winning a litany of close games had covered up for their mediocrity, that they would be without two of their best players on defense, that these underlying issues would be exposed by a better opponent.

And as it turned out, not just a better opponent, but also an angry, locked-in, us-against-the-world opponent, fueled by being disrespected by the NFL, disregarded by NFL media, and most of all, excluded from the first-ever neutral-site championship game, a glamourous storyline that completely overlooked the present, one that meant absolutely nothing if they were better than the Bills for a mere three hours on a snowy January afternoon.

Unfortunately for the Bills, they could not afford to overlook anything against the Bengals if they hoped to continue their journey to Atlanta and beyond. That became a stunning reality within minutes of kickoff: they were down 14-0 almost immediately, outgained 165 yards to 8 in the first quarter, completely overwhelmed on both lines, and completely outschemed and confused by both Bengals coordinators. On the scoreboard, it was a situation they hadn't been in since September in Baltimore - but that might as well have been centuries ago. Now, everything was on the line, and the Bills — seemingly all of them — had been stunned into a malaise. As Burrow calmly hit open recievers, the snow on the ground hampered the Bills' already limited pass rush, and the snow in the air made the scene even more surreal. The Bills regained composure to pull within one score, only to give up another touchdown — fortuitously called back upon review — their ensuing drive stalled past midfield, and settling for a 10-point deficit at halftime felt like a win. A field goal drive after the half had the crowd back into the game — just one stop here, and they would have a game. Instead, Burrow was surgical, leading the Bengals on a touchdown drive that sucked away all of that energy and momentum.

Down 17 late, the Bills opted to go for a 4th down in easy field goal range instead of cutting the deficit to two scores. It was an aggressive call, but an understandable one. The result, though, was deflating. The Bengals got the stop, and it felt like that was when the Bills gave up. The weight of an extremely long and challenging season had become too much, the hope of Super Bowl glory had come crashing down in less than three hours before the eyes of thousands of fans who, for the first time in almost two seasons, started heading to the exits before the game was over.

Players were blunt in the aftermath: They just didn't have it. They lacked energy. They never really got into the game. For the second straight year, "disappointing"  didn't feel strong enough to describe the result. And yet, what I found most interesting was the juxtaposition with last year. Last year's game was an absolute thriller. Watching two QB's at the peak of their powers put up 25 points in the final two minutes was nothing short of unbelievable. And it was almost impossible to take in what happened after the go-ahead touchdown with 13 seconds left. From the absolute peak of the mountaintop — the franchise high water mark of the century - to one of the most painful, unspeakable, gut-wrenching losses imaginable. Those 13 seconds quite literally lived in Bills' fans heads for weeks, even months — and that's to say nothing of the players and coaches.

This year's loss couldn't have been more different. There was no real drama, no swinging pendulum of win probability, no spectacular fourth quarter plays, no coverage breakdowns or any one player or coach to assign credit or blame for the result — just wire to wire domination by a mentally and physically superior team and a better coaching staff. In many ways, this seemed like a more surprising result, but a closer analysis would have pointed to underlying potential for a major letdown. The Bills, in one of the most challenging regular seasons I can remember, had found a way to win 13 games to get to this point and just didn't have the fortitude or the talent to show up one more time against a great opponent when it mattered most. Painful, yes. Deflating, absolutely. But not agonizing, nor gut-wrenching, nor unspeakable. This time around, the message is clear, and it's for the front office as much as the players: You weren't good enough when it mattered, so learn from it and go get better this offseason. And that's a thousand times easier to bear than those 13 seconds.

[webny99]

Alright, I couldn't resist any longer. I'm diving in headfirst here. Trust me that this is the concise version...

If you need more evidence that the relentless mocking of the Cowboys today is more emotion-based than it is football-based, look at the difference in treatment between the Cowboys and the Bills.

I'm not sure what you mean by emotion-based. To me, the mocking of the Cowboys has to do with two things: reputation for losing in the playoffs, and predictability of when and how it will occur. The Cowboys losing in the first two rounds of the playoffs, usually in high-profile and dramatic fashion, has been a regular occurrence for almost 30 years at this point.

Total record over the last 10 seasons ... Division titles ... Playoff berths ... Playoff record

I don't understand this comparison. A decade ago, the Bills were amidst the longest playoff drought in professional sports. Since then, they've made the playoffs in 5 of 6 seasons. But if you want to cherry-pick, look at five years. Advantage Bills in all four categories. Now look at 20 years. The Bills have as many playoff wins as the Cowboys (4) despite a much worse winning percentage AND missing the playoffs for the first 14 years. That is a pretty stunning indictment of the Cowboys franchise. But I wonder who is going to be more heavily criticized for being good and then losing in the playoffs...

If the narrative is that the Cowboys always overperform in the regular season and underperform in the playoffs, why isn't Buffalo getting the same treatment? They're getting some heat from what I've heard, but not nearly to the extent Dallas is.

I've underlined the key word here: the Cowboys extended their own record this season for most playoff appearances without a championship appearance. And it extends far beyond one coach or one quarterback... it's an organizational thing at this point.

Meanwhile, the Bills were irrelevant for decades and are still relatively new on the playoff scene. Yes, they've lost 4 years in a row: they've also made it to the playoffs 4 years in a row which is more than can be said of any Cowboys team since the "˜90's. Their playoff losing streak hasn't extended through multiple regimes, and is not even close to reaching the Cowboys level of predictability. And yes, Buffalo was dominated by Cincinnati and is absolutely getting criticized (including by me — see post above). But it's more disappointment than mockery, and that's precisely because it was a beatdown and there was no dramatic or comedic ending. Five straight Cowboys playoff losses have been within one score at the end and they've been right there with a chance to win but unable to close it out. The last two years in particular have been a brutal comedy of errors at the end. There is absolutely an organizational aspect to that, and a psychological aspect if you ask me. At least the Bills have mixed it up the last few years with a championship run, two lopsided losses, and two heartbreakers.

OK. I think 10 years is a fair definition of "recent" when it comes to sports. And in those 10 years, Dallas and Buffalo have been basically the same franchise. Buffalo made it one game further one time. That's the only difference. And they benefited from a Lamar Jackson injury in that divisional game they won in 2020.

Well, the Bills and Cowboys are about as different as possible as far as NFL franchises go. But even setting that aside, the lack of context is just glaring. The Cowboys have been the same story for the last decade plus: good enough to get to the playoffs some years, but ultimately lose when they get there. Meanwhile, the Bills have undergone a notable transformation, from irrelevant in the 2000's and most of the 2010's, to relevant in 2019-2020, to title contender now. At no point during the past 10 years have they been "basically the same" .

And miss me with the Lamar injury unless you also want to asterisk the 2022 Bengals for the same reason, right down to the 14-point swing play (which was a Lamar interception in the Bills game, by the way). The Ravens scored 3 points (+2 missed FG's) in that game despite Lamar playing for three quarters, and it still wasn't as close as Ravens-Bengals.

[Roadgeekteen]

What are everyone's favorite and least favorite announcers? I don't have a strong preference, but many people hate specific commentators.

[Ted$8roadFan]

What are everyone's favorite and least favorite announcers? I don't have a strong preference, but many people hate specific commentators.

My favorites are Gus Johnson and Kevin Harlan, as well as Al Michaels and Jim Nantz. As for analysts, I liked Tony Romo at one point, but I'm pleasantly surprised by Greg Olsen.

[jakeroot]

Have not been able to watch hardly any live games being abroad. But my family back home has made a point of telling me how I should be glad, as I don't have to listen to Romo and his awful takes. Doubt he'll have a job for much longer.

[NWI_Irish96]

This weekend was the Pebble Beach Golf Pro-Am, in which several NFL players generally compete. Due to weather delays, the pro-am portion of the event was shortened from four rounds to three. Aaron Rodgers' team ended up winning.

If they only played 3/4 of some NFC Championship games, Aaron would have been a lot more successful.

[JayhawkCO]

Have not been able to watch hardly any live games being abroad. But my family back home has made a point of telling me how I should be glad, as I don't have to listen to Romo and his awful takes. Doubt he'll have a job for much longer.

Romo is arguably the most popular commentator out there right now.

[jeffandnicole]

Have not been able to watch hardly any live games being abroad. But my family back home has made a point of telling me how I should be glad, as I don't have to listen to Romo and his awful takes. Doubt he'll have a job for much longer.

Romo is arguably the most popular commentator out there right now.

He's only broadcasting one game a week. How does that make the entire NFL unwatchable?

[DenverBrian]

What are everyone's favorite and least favorite announcers? I don't have a strong preference, but many people hate specific commentators.

My favorites are Gus Johnson and Kevin Harlan, as well as Al Michaels and Jim Nantz. As for analysts, I liked Tony Romo at one point, but I'm pleasantly surprised by Greg Olsen.

I also like Vern Lundqui -- er, Kevin Harlan.

(I swear their vocal tone is eerily similar.)

[NWI_Irish96]

My rankings:

Nantz/Romo
Davis/Johnston
Michaels/Herbstreit
Tirico/Collinsworth
Eagle/Davis
Amin/Schlereth
Brukhardt/Olsen
Harlan/Green
Gumbel/Archuleta
Albert/Vilma
Dedes/Feeley
Buck/Aikman

[Henry]

Let's change the subject for a bit: We just had the first-ever revamped Pro Bowl Games, with the new events including Kick-Tac-Toe, Best Catch, Move the Chains and three flag football games with two 10-minute halves. I was unsure of what to make of the new format which may sound too much like the NBA All-Star Weekend, but I was pleasantly surprised by how good it was, especially when compared to the last few games in the old incarnation. And while Eli may not be on Peyton's level, we have to give him his props for winning the games that matter the most, because he beat Tom Brady in two Super Bowls, and now he has bragging rights over his older brother with a comeback win in the last game for the NFC. I'm hoping this new format sticks around because everyone seems to like it, especially the players.

[Roadgeekteen]

Let's change the subject for a bit: We just had the first-ever revamped Pro Bowl Games, with the new events including Kick-Tac-Toe, Best Catch, Move the Chains and three flag football games with two 10-minute halves. I was unsure of what to make of the new format which may sound too much like the NBA All-Star Weekend, but I was pleasantly surprised by how good it was, especially when compared to the last few games in the old incarnation. And while Eli may not be on Peyton's level, we have to give him his props for winning the games that matter the most, because he beat Tom Brady in two Super Bowls, and now he has bragging rights over his older brother with a comeback win in the last game for the NFC. I'm hoping this new format sticks around because everyone seems to like it, especially the players.

Can't believe that the refs managed to mess up the pro bowl as well.

[ethanhopkin14]

Let's change the subject for a bit: We just had the first-ever revamped Pro Bowl Games, with the new events including Kick-Tac-Toe, Best Catch, Move the Chains and three flag football games with two 10-minute halves. I was unsure of what to make of the new format which may sound too much like the NBA All-Star Weekend, but I was pleasantly surprised by how good it was, especially when compared to the last few games in the old incarnation. And while Eli may not be on Peyton's level, we have to give him his props for winning the games that matter the most, because he beat Tom Brady in two Super Bowls, and now he has bragging rights over his older brother with a comeback win in the last game for the NFC. I'm hoping this new format sticks around because everyone seems to like it, especially the players.

Can't believe that the refs managed to mess up the pro bowl as well.

The flag football game wasn't officiated by NFL Officials.  Me thinks it was officiated by a local small college chapter in the Las Vegas area.  Saying the officials messed up the Pro Bowl in relation to the rest of the season is akin to buying a Chevrolet and it breaks down on you and then you buy a Honda Accord that also breaks down on you and you curse and blame Chevrolet for the last breakdown as well.  They are both cars yes but made by completely different organizations.  They may be officials, but they are governed by completely different factions and don't deserve to take on the sins of others as well. 

[Ted$8roadFan]

It was a little interesting to see the NFL follow the other major pro sports leagues in adding a skills competition.

[webny99]

Best Pro Bowl fun fact: Tyler Huntley threw 2 more touchdowns at the Pro Bowl than he did in the regular season.