NFL 2018 Season Thread
 

Guess its time for this thread. :) Good luck to your team this season!

Very worried about the Giants. I get why they drafted Barkley, but I really think Eli is done. Could be another long year, and just my luck that they open the season playing my favorite AFC team

Go Falcons!

Yeah I agree with you on Eli, but then I have thought that for the past three seasons. :) I think they are a Eli/Barkley injury away from having a real horrible season (sorry Lathum :) )


As for my beloved Cards, they could be in for a long season too. Rams and 49ers look like they have the QB they need to become a powerhouse and Rams really built up in the off-season. Cards basically let all their receivers except Fitz go in the off-season, and who knows how long Bradford stays healthy, and we have to turn to Glennon and Rosen. Defense didn't resign Matthieu, and have a lot of unknowns there too, but they were pretty dominant in the preseason, and their head coach has a defensive background.



Luckily they play at home against a Kirk Cousins-less Washington in Week 1, so might be able to ease into the season at least.

Giants are my surprise good team this year.

I think that McAdoo was a horrible coach. Eli might still be good; we have no idea because the playcalling was so bad.

They have the most dynamic skill players in the league.

And I think that the Cowboys, Washington, and Eagles are all going to underperform.

I would take the Giants at +650 to win the division.

Eli might still be good, but he also might still be same old inconsistent Eli. As a lifelong Giants fan, Eli can have that great game and follow it up with the 4 INT effort. If someone they told me they thought Eli was never good, I could understand the argument. As someone who was in HS in the post Simms era, and saw the carousel of Dave Brown, Danny Kanell, Kent Graham which finally ended with Kerry Collins, I'm definitely scared of the same thing happening again.

They definitely have weapons to work with though, and if Eli can get back to 2014-15 form, then they have a chance.

Looks like the weather wasn't ready for football

This. So this.

People love to kill Eli and at times rightfully so. That being said there isn’t a fan out there who wouldnt sign up right now for 15 years of stability at the position and 2 titles. Plus a trip to the hall of fame at the end of it.

Lol Sark. Everyone in the stadium knew where those two plays were going. You take Julio out of the game on third down, like up all those big TE and FB and then split them all out and run an obvious pass play. Nice to see he didn't learn anything over the summer with how their season ended.

This game sux ballz.

Not if you bet the under

Yeah pretty abysmal so far. Great start to Thursday night football.

Funny thing is, that even with 4 preseason games, week 1 games really do just look like preseason games. I know the Steelers perennially suck week 1. Some teams just are not ready for the start of the season.

Both these offenses look disjointed as hell. You can kind of give the Eagles a pass with the SB hangover and without their starting QB and #1 WR, but I’m not sure it’s as easy to explain the Falcons.

I have no idea what my Jags'll do this season!

Falcons red zone offense with a caveat that you can only throw to Julio Jones.

Not to mention how horrendous their OL was last season. Solder isn't the player he used to be but still a massive improvement over Flowers, and he and Hernandez should make for a solid left side.

But as for last year...only a few QBs would look anything close to decent with that combo of poor OL play and skill position injuries.

Allow me

Sarkisian

Seriously. Kyle Shanahan would have had the Falcons put up 30+. Hell an average OC would have had the Falcons put up at least 20.

I think the biggest factor in the Giants offense being so impotent the last two years was Mike Sullivan as OC (with Ben McAdoo being a terrible head coach a close second). After he was run out of Tampa Bay after 2 years there, the common complaint was predicable game plans and simplistic play design. In 2016, when the Giants were winning off of their defense, I remember Chris Simms ripping the Giants apart because of how simple their play design and play calling were. It's clear to me now that Mike Sullivan can't game plan for shit, and after being given a good defense, McAdoo became way too conservative in his play calling.

It's still unbelievable to me how the Giants went from 6th in the league in points scored (2015) to 26th (2016), without any major injuries or roster turnover. That's how much damage McAdoo as HC and Sullivan as OC did, just in offensive production.

I'm cautiously optimistic about this year. Shurmur thinks Eli can make all of the throws his system calls for. I'm hoping he's right. I'm not sure what to make of Mike Shula as OC, though.

I wouldn't be surprised if the Giants finished with anything between 2 and 12 wins.

Cards sign RB David Johnson to a contract extension-3 years for 39 million. After letting several young players walk last season, glad they got him taken care of.


https://www.azcardinals.com/news/dav...ract-extension


Now just hope he can stay healthy for most of it.

Same can be said about just about any NFL teams not led by Brady

And Hue Jackson

So the Fox graphics package indicates teal is still a Jags color, but...

(Also, would much rather have SF/MIN than JAX/NYG. Thanks, NFC East geography!)

Giants have run 3 offensive plays. Ereck Flowers has 2 penalties.

Anyone having issues with DraftKings?

First my total points kept jumping up and down almost randomly though my players totals weren't changing. Now when I click on a contest it doesn't show the lineups.

These personal fouls for hits are just game killers.

Oh and I've got RedZone for the first time ever this year, so I'm enjoying that today instead of just flipping between the Bengals and Vikings games.

Challenge makes no sense here for the Giants - either he’s down or it’s a TD.

Not sure Frank Gore ages

The Bills look they are going to be lolbad. You might as well throw in Allen and see if he can poop magic or something.

If he fumbled it before breaking the plane, it would have been Giants ball since the fumble went out of bounds in the endzone. That's what they were challenging.

So a Brown's first round pick is actually looking like a first round pick. 2 picks for Denzel Ward

Miami/Tenn suspended for lightning.

So a receiver with the ball and diving for the endzone is now a defenseless receiver?

If this game is any indication they are on the clock.

Remember when Sean McDermott was on the cusp of taking the Bills back to the playoffs and decided to bench Tyrod Taylor for Peterman who then threw five INTs in a half? Good times.

I’m not sure I can remember a QB quite as bad as Peterman. Not sure what photos he has of the coach, but geez.

Peterman is impressive. Josh Allen is 0-1 and has a higher rating than Peterman.

Of course, Peterman has a 0.0 rating.

I think following the Bills in my survivor pool sounds like a good idea.

I thought Jimmy G was supposed to be the next coming of Brady...

Playing that defense isn't easy

Blake Bortles has more rushing yards then all-World Saquon Barkley

LOL, literally right when you post that...

Are you still watching? :p

Off to get lotto tickets and put wrong numbers in.

Josh Gordon ain't too shabby.

And the Colts bungle the Bengal's game.

This Steelers defense is exactly the same, with the same holes, and same problems that last year's team had. It's unreal how they fail to address obvious issues.

Some good things to take away from the 49ers game - they were able to move the ball (albeit only in spurts) against a very good defense on the road. An 8-point loss when you are -3 in turnovers is pretty damned close. The defense was much, much better than anticipated.

Now to just take care of the ball a little better.

There just seem to be so many penalties today. So many personal fouls for hits. So many that look like there was nothing that the defender could have done.

The Dunlap sack on Luck was really hard to see how he could have done anything differently.

Yeah, that one especially.

Color me not impressed with the new look Cardinals so far this season. :(

Yup, just from watching RedZone I saw at least three of those landing on the QB penalties that were really soft. That’s going to cost a few teams games this year. Typical overreaction to a flagrant incident that injured a star player, the way the rule is written and they way they are calling it there is nothing these defensive players can do. Not sure how a 300lb defensive lineman is supposed to magically hold his weight off the QB when tackling him.

I could have bought a ticky-tack helmet to the chin call, but that part of the sack was okay.

is anyone else confused when the announcers dont talk about how beloved the cardinals are?

Just watched the highlights of the Browns-Steelers game. Talk about the most Browns-esque way to finish a game.

:D


Wasn't much to be beloved there today.

I guess the "have your big lineman line up as a receiver and run up the middle" play is pretty good.

Looks like my 'over' for this Bears/Packers game is shot to hell.

Bears up 10, Rodgers is in the medical tent, not a good start to the Packer's season.

I feel like the whole police/anthem/trump protests could be changed. It's gotten to the point, where people are over saturated with it. It might be more effective if football players, in every single interview, called out police brutality, the attacks of the president on the players, and the need for solutions, and do that, instead of talking about the game itself. I know they have a requirement to talk to the media, but it seems like it would be effective, and a way to keep the discussion pointed in the right direction.

The return of the butt fumble!!!

Or maybe football players can talk about something they're experienced with: football.

So Packers fans feeling worse than Cards fans now I guess?

Are the Raiders regretting the trade yet...

Khalil Mack, my goodness...

That was just the most low key .... "okay, I'll be taking the ball now. Thanks."

Mack: "Dear Packers QB, may I have football?"
Packer QB: "Sure, I wasn't really doing anything with it anyways"
Mack: "K, thanks!"

Mack: "I enjoyed having the ball, can I have it again?"
Packer QB: "I don't see why not"

That guy is a freaking beast out there.

Days like today give ammo to Drew Brees detractors and fans.

If you are a detractor, you point out that the guy is always in shootouts, which gives him opportunities to put up yards that other QBs don't have.

If you are a fan, you point out that if he had an average defense for his whole career, he'd average 12+ wins a season.

All of which is really just an intellectual exercise because Ryan Fitzpatrick is clearly the best QB in NFL history.

We've got a game.

10 more points, need 10 more points!!!

Stupid play to throw the ball there. Leave Rodgers more time. Is there any doubt whats about to happen?

Nice.

Would be okay with a Bears winning FG. Just glad they reached 47 points.

Boneheaded play by Matthews.

Horrific play calling by the Bears there that last series. Two time outs and you only need a field goal and they throw all long passes. They have 4 downs to work with to get about 20 yards. How about a screen pass or a run to mix it up? Terrible ending.

Yeah, that made no sense.

When Rogers came back in, Fangio should have blitzed every down. Nope. All this talk about Nagy's offense and all of the weapons...ha! Nagy clearly needs more seasoning. His play calling in the 2nd half was atrocious. Meaningless dink passes to the outside; playing not to lose. Guess what? Losing teams figure out a way to lose and winning teams win. Simple.

Yep, combined with too conservative an approach in third quarter and all kinds of struggles with third-and-short all night, and it was not a great debut for the new coach/playcaller in Chicago.

Chicago plays like I do in Madden.

Can you go back and look at what the lines were at the books that have betting throughout the game? What was the Packers' money line at the end of the first half?

I looked at one point on FanDuel and it was +600. Almost took it. Story of my gambling life.

Starts at the top. Pace is another in a long line of frauds who swindled the moron McCaskeys.

HT line was a Pk, which I took when they said ARog was playing


I need some more outs that have the ML youre talking about though.

The +17 was a real feel good safety blankee.

Welp, 2 mins left and I need to score, time to call Four Verticals every possession.

Rodgers was 2 for 2 for 126 yards and a TD when the Bears blitzed.

Blitzing Rodgers never seems to work. Bears were just gassed in the 4th. Nagy's light training camp didn't seem to get the team conditioned for real football games.

Clearly not blitzing didn't work either. Agree about the conditioning -- all the more reason to blitz and try to get pressure on him. Rodgers just looked too comfortable back there for a guy taken off on a cart. That should never have happened.

Also agree with you about Pace, but this is what the Bears are under the McCaskey ownership. Mismanagement and poor football decisions are what they do.

For the Lions, the concern, at the moment, is the opposite. Apparently, Patricia's training camp was very, very hard. The hardest for any Lions team in a long time. There has been a lot written and discussed about the Lions poor performance in the pre-season due to the players being too worn down from the harsh training camp.

It will be interested to see how they look tonight. I will say, if things don't go well against the Jets and Darnold, things could be very, very ugly for this new regime quite quickly.

I expect Tuesday morning's story to be whether Sam Darnold has wrapped up the Rookie of the Year already.

Lots of talk today about the Saints D having communications issues yesterday, leading to blown coverages and big plays.

I think maybe the preseason pendulum has swung too far in favor of not playing starters. I get injury concerns, but guys need time to play together outside of comfortable practice situations.

The Lions faced Matt Ryan in his rookie debut. While Ryan didn't have a huge day number-wise, the Falcons did jump out to a 21-0 nothing first quarter lead and ended up winning 34-21. Auspicious beginnings!

Did the Saints have any joint practices this preseason like they had a few times in the past with the Patriots? Those always seemed like they helped more than the actual preseason games.


Also, what was the rationale behind the NFL changing regular season OT to 10 minutes? Did they claim it was for player safety?

Yes, player safety. It started last year.

I think that they did with the Texans and Chargers.

Maybe they needed to hook up with the Pats again, because yesterday was an embarrassment.

Which if they had eyes they could see that clearly wasn't the case. :)

Orrrrrrrrrr not? :D