NFL (2024 Season)

[thspfc]

Some more irony: it was a week 15 Thursday night game in 2021 when Staley became perhaps the most polarizing coach in the league, with his 4th down decisions throughout the game against the Chiefs. As cliche as it is, that was the most Chargers game of all time - it should have worked, but it didn't, with a blown 4th-quarter lead to top it off.

You could also say that everything was pretty much downhill from that point forward. After starting 8-5 with a loaded roster and an elite offense in the wide open AFC, they had a chance to take full control of the division. Instead, they missed the playoffs in the most spectacular fashion, then had a mediocre season that wasn't even worse only because of an extremely weak schedule late in the year, blew a 27-point lead in their only playoff game of the Herbert/Staley "era", and finally crashed and burned this year.

Staley was a bad head coach, but he certainly left his mark on the game as the first HC to fully embrace analytics.

[NWI_Irish96]

I know this will never happen, but I'd love to see the NFL ditch the Thursday games, except opening week and Thanksgiving. It's been a lot of really bad football. Add a second Monday night game in its place.

[The Ghostbuster]

I'd like the Thursday Night Games to leave Amazon Prime and return to network TV. I liked it when Fox aired Thursday night games and I didn't need an Amazon Prime subscription to watch them.

[TheHighwayMan3561]

I'd like the Thursday Night Games to leave Amazon Prime and return to network TV. I liked it when Fox aired Thursday night games and I didn't need an Amazon Prime subscription to watch them.

All three current Sunday networks had a turn with the Thursday games and felt they weren't profitable (some of that was they had to split part of the package with NFL Network, which Amazon does not)

[webny99]

No one does less with more than Brandon Staley.

Indeed.

Worth pointing out, their roster was also very overrated. Herbert covered up for a lot of flaws. Clearly ownership thought so too since they also fired the GM. It takes a lot more than just bad coaching to lose by 42 points to a division rival coming off being shutout that already fired their HC this season.

[webny99]

I'm going to fork the Chargers now that they have 9 losses.

With 9 losses, the Chargers are guaranteed a losing record. Among teams that are mathematically alive, they're by far the safest fork in the AFC and second only to the Cardinals in the entire NFL.

[ZLoth]

I know this will never happen, but I'd love to see the NFL ditch the Thursday games, except opening week and Thanksgiving. It's been a lot of really bad football. Add a second Monday night game in its place.

The NFL initially did TNF because of the advertising dollars attached to Thursday night programming such as advertising for that weekends film openings. And, because Amazon paid $11 billion dollars for 11 seasons of Thursday Night Football, that means each game costs $67 million. Since the regular season runs from September until January, that covers a peak shopping season. Also, by NFL rules, games have to be broadcast OTA in the primary markets for the teams playing that week if they are on either cable (MNF, NFL Network specials) or streamed. It's the NFL that sets the schedules, and they tend to reserve the marque games for SNF now.

And, yes, I believe that TNF should be done away with. The short week between Sunday and Thursday isn't good for the players. And, the NFL setting some non-competitive match ups doesn't help. It may be great if your team is blowing out your opponent, but in my opinion, a close matchup makes for a more enjoyable and memorable viewing experience.

[epzik8]

Are the Colts a lock for the playoffs?

[Big John]

Are the Colts a lock for the playoffs?

Too many AFC teams have a record close to the Colts so it still could run many ways.

[thspfc]

Are the Colts a lock for the playoffs?

No. It's week 15, but it still feels like it's too early to be speculating about the AFC playoffs because of how many teams are jumbled up between the 3 and 11 seeds.

Why is nobody talking about how Jake Browning has been a top 5 quarterback over the last 3 weeks? Everything about him screams Joe Burrow, though he doesn't have that level of raw talent. Instead it's all Tommy DeVito, who isn't playing nearly as well as Browning, but admittedly has a much more intruiging story surrounding him with his mafia agent.

Browning probably isn't anything more than a "Linsanity run", as it's dubbed nowadays, but it's fun to watch, and fun to fantasize about what the Bengals would do if they won it all . . .

[ZLoth]

Are the Colts a lock for the playoffs?

See NFL Playoff Scenarios. IND cannot be knocked out of 1 seed contention this week. The scenarios were:

IND is knocked out of 1 seed contention with:
1) IND loss + BAL win/tie
OR 2) IND loss + MIA win/tie
OR 3) IND tie + BAL win
OR 4) IND tie + BAL tie + MIA win

Remember, going into this weekend, AFC seeds six through eleven all have a 7-6 record, resulting in multiple tiebreakers into play.

[Buck87]

Houston Texans @ Houston Oilers

I want to say Tennessee has done one of these throwbacks before, possibly against Houston as well, but dang that's kinda jarring to see and must be tough for older Houston fans to see.

[epzik8]

Wonder how the Browns feel now about giving away Baker Mayfield for Deshaun Watson???

[thspfc]

Houston Texans @ Houston Oilers

I want to say Tennessee has done one of these throwbacks before, possibly against Houston as well, but dang that's kinda jarring to see and must be tough for older Houston fans to see.

Those uniforms are incredibly ugly, I don't understand why everyone likes them. Same can be said of Tampa's creamsicles.

Wonder how the Browns feel now about giving away Baker Mayfield for Deshaun Watson???

Letting Baker go was not a bad decision; replacing him with Watson was.

The Browns are a charmed team this year apparently. Darnell Mooney had that ball in his stomach. But lucky or not, it's quite impressive to be 9-5 despite having to start four different QBs over the course of the season. Speaks to the strength of the rest of the roster and the coaching staff.

[thspfc]

Dolphins next two games: DAL, @ BAL
Bills next two games: @ LAC, NE

Incredibly, those two teams will be playing for a division title in week 18.

This was a good week for my forks, just about everything went right. 

[jgb191]

I know this will never happen, but I'd love to see the NFL ditch the Thursday games, except opening week and Thanksgiving. It's been a lot of really bad football. Add a second Monday night game in its place.

I agree with no Thursday Night.  Either replace it with a Tuesday Night game, or a double-header on Monday Night played consecutively and NOT concurrently.....one Eastern game 7 pm Eastern time and then one Western game 7 pm Pacific Time.

And talk about Rock-Paper-Scissor:  Jets beat the Texans, Dolphins beat the Jets, Titans beat the Dolphins, and the Texans beat the Titans.  Is there any detailed explanation for this other than the cliched "Any Given Sunday"?

And one more thing I don't understand:  A receiver must make both feet contact the endzone in order for a TD to count as valid, but if a rusher extends only his arm over the line even with both feet not in the endzone, the TD also counts.  So which is it?  Don't both feet need to be in the endzone or not whether it's receiving or rushing?

[Big John]

And one more thing I don't understand:  A receiver must make both feet contact the endzone in order for a TD to count as valid, but if a rusher extends only his arm over the line even with both feet not in the endzone, the TD also counts.  So which is it?  Don't both feet need to be in the endzone or not whether it's receiving or rushing?

A receiver must have both feet in bounds to make any catch.  He may catch the ball on the 1-yard line and stretch the ball over the goal line and it will count as a TD.

[webny99]

Dolphins next two games: DAL, @ BAL
Bills next two games: @ LAC, NE

Incredibly, those two teams will be playing for a division title in week 18.

So, Bills-Dolphins is not a quite a lock for the season finale yet because the Bills are still two games back. They must pick up at least one game to force a division title game. If the Dolphins beat both the Cowboys and Ravens, they will clinch the division. If they lose one or both and the Bills hold serve, Week 18 decides the AFC East.

But either way, Week 18 will be meaningful for both teams. If the Dolphins have clinched the division, they will be playing for the #1 seed. If the Bills are eliminated from division contention, they will likely still a need a win to lock up a playoff spot because they lose almost every tiebreaker.

Quite the stakes for the Dolphins the next 3 weeks:

• Beat Cowboys: Clinch Playoffs
• Beat Ravens: Clinch Division
• Beat Bills: Clinch #1 seed

[jeffandnicole]

And one more thing I don't understand:  A receiver must make both feet contact the endzone in order for a TD to count as valid, but if a rusher extends only his arm over the line even with both feet not in the endzone, the TD also counts.  So which is it?  Don't both feet need to be in the endzone or not whether it's receiving or rushing?

Both feet must be inbounds to make a catch anywhere on the playing field.  If this occurs in the end zone, then it's a TD.  If the catch is made prior to the endzone, then the receiver can advance the ball until a knee or other body part hits the ground, or he runs out of bounds, at which point the ball is spotted where the ball was located when the play ends.  If the ball is over the plane of the goal line, regardless if the player is being tackled or runs it in, then it's a TD.


It should also be noted that the goal line extends "around the world".  If a receiver or rusher holds the ball over the sideline but enters the endzone inbounds, it's a TD.

[thspfc]

Dolphins next two games: DAL, @ BAL
Bills next two games: @ LAC, NE

Incredibly, those two teams will be playing for a division title in week 18.

So, Bills-Dolphins is not a quite a lock for the season finale yet because the Bills are still two games back. They must pick up at least one game to force a division title game. If the Dolphins beat both the Cowboys and Ravens, they will clinch the division. If they lose one or both and the Bills hold serve, Week 18 decides the AFC East.

But either way, Week 18 will be meaningful for both teams. If the Dolphins have clinched the division, they will be playing for the #1 seed. If the Bills are eliminated from division contention, they will likely still a need a win to lock up a playoff spot because they lose almost every tiebreaker.

Quite the stakes for the Dolphins the next 3 weeks:

• Beat Cowboys: Clinch Playoffs
• Beat Ravens: Clinch Division
• Beat Bills: Clinch #1 seed

I know it's not guaranteed, I was just making a bold prediction. It's really not that bold though, as the Bills will be overwhelming favorites in their next two while the Dolphins might be underdogs in both.

With two 8-6 teams out of playoff position in the AFC, this might be the first time a 10-win team misses the playoffs in the 17-game era.

[webny99]

With two 8-6 teams out of playoff position in the AFC, this might be the first time a 10-win team misses the playoffs in the 17-game era.

It could absolutely happen. However, a lot of these teams don't feel primed for a playoff run even if they win 10 games, and most of them are starting backup QB's. For that reason, the Bills feel a bit like that clown in the army meme, with their record being what makes them the clown. They should not be sweating it out with the Colts, Texans, and Bengals for a playoff spot, but that's the result of six one score losses including three epic chokes. Which is to say... a 10 (or 11!) win team missing the playoffs would be disappointing, but aside from the Bills, it would likely be a "happy to be here" team anyways and not one with real Super Bowl aspirations.

[Alps]

Dolphins next two games: DAL, @ BAL
Bills next two games: @ LAC, NE

Incredibly, those two teams will be playing for a division title in week 18.

So, Bills-Dolphins is not a quite a lock for the season finale yet because the Bills are still two games back. They must pick up at least one game to force a division title game. If the Dolphins beat both the Cowboys and Ravens, they will clinch the division. If they lose one or both and the Bills hold serve, Week 18 decides the AFC East.

But either way, Week 18 will be meaningful for both teams. If the Dolphins have clinched the division, they will be playing for the #1 seed. If the Bills are eliminated from division contention, they will likely still a need a win to lock up a playoff spot because they lose almost every tiebreaker.

Quite the stakes for the Dolphins the next 3 weeks:

• Beat Cowboys: Clinch Playoffs
• Beat Ravens: Clinch Division
• Beat Bills: Clinch #1 seed

I know it's not guaranteed, I was just making a bold prediction. It's really not that bold though, as the Bills will be overwhelming favorites in their next two while the Dolphins might be underdogs in both.

With two 8-6 teams out of playoff position in the AFC, this might be the first time a 10-win team misses the playoffs in the 17-game era.

I'm a Jets fan. 10-6 is a better record than 10-7 and we missed the playoffs with Fitzmagic.

[webny99]

...
With two 8-6 teams out of playoff position in the AFC, this might be the first time a 10-win team misses the playoffs in the 17-game era.

I'm a Jets fan. 10-6 is a better record than 10-7 and we missed the playoffs with Fitzmagic.

It makes more sense to look at it since the expansion to 14 playoff teams, but in 2020 (the lone season with 16 games and 14 playoff teams), the 10-6 Dolphins missed out. When the 17th game was added in 2021, it actually became more likely that a 10-win team would miss out, it just hasn't happened yet.

[webny99]

Dolphins next two games: DAL, @ BAL
Bills next two games: @ LAC, NE

Incredibly, those two teams will be playing for a division title in week 18.

So, Bills-Dolphins is not a quite a lock for the season finale yet
...

I know it's not guaranteed, I was just making a bold prediction. It's really not that bold though, as the Bills will be overwhelming favorites in their next two while the Dolphins might be underdogs in both.
...

I would give Bills-Dolphins a ~50% chance of being the regular season finale (and a nearly 100% chance if it is a division title game), but here are some other potential options. As of right now, Jets-Patriots is the only Week 18 matchup with no playoff or seeding implications.

• Browns-Bengals, could be a win and in for both teams
• Colts-Texans, could be a win and in for both teams
• Rams-49ers, could be a win and in for the Rams + win to clinch #1 seed for the 49ers

[webny99]

Saw this and it was simply too insane not to share. Falcons = biggest disappointment of 2023, even accounting for some tough competition (Chargers, Jets)