NFL Week 18

[Tryptamine]

1) I'm very happy for Derrick Henry who is going out like a boss. 147 yards on 10 carries in what seems like could be his last game.

2) Trevor Lawrence has been disappointing to put it mildly. As of now, he's sitting at 20 TD to 14 INT and looking like a guy who is never going to approach his draft hype.

 

[Brian707]

I heard Buffalo can be the #2 seed with a win and potentially out of playoffs with a loss

[soccer10k]

12 minutes ago, Brian707 said:

I heard Buffalo can be the #2 seed with a win and potentially out of playoffs with a loss

Correct. With a win they win the division. With a loss, they get in as the 7 seed (and would rematch Miami) if Tennessee beats Jacksonville and are out if Jacksonville wins that game.

Pittsburgh is in if either the Bills or Jags lose.

Edited January 7, 2024 by soccer10k

[Tryptamine]

Carolina shut out for the 2nd week in a row, Bryce Young went 11-18 and threw for 94 yards. He'll finish the season with 11 TD, 10 INT and 2877 yards. Carolina needs to be in full blown panic mode at this point. 

[Tryptamine]

Jacksonville completes their complete meltdown and is out of the playoffs.

[Irrelevant Dude]

Not that it matters, but Carolina was shut out again and Bryce Young threw for 94 yards.  What an absolute disaster.

[bukie]

3 minutes ago, Irrelevant Dude said:

Not that it matters, but Carolina was shut out again and Bryce Young threw for 94 yards.  What an absolute disaster.

Criticize Fields all you like, but I have to say the Bears did dodge that bullet in last year's draft. For sure I'd rather have Fields, Moore, Stevenson, Wright, and this year's #1 pick than Bryce Young.

[Irrelevant Dude]

1 minute ago, bukie said:

Criticize Fields all you like, but I have to say the Bears did dodge that bullet in last year's draft. For sure I'd rather have Fields, Moore, Stevenson, Wright, and this year's #1 pick than Bryce Young.

Would you rather have Wright than Bryce Young straight up?  I would say yes.  Everything else is gravy, and it's a LOT of gravy.

[bukie]

Cards about 2 minutes from getting the #4 pick if they lose, but they have the ball and are driving, which could bump them to 5th or 6th.

[bukie]

If you are the Cardinals head coach, do you hope this FG goes in so you lose 2 draft spots?

[bukie]

FG no good, Cards get 4th pick, Chargers 5th pick, likely one of those 2 gets MHJ.

[UMFan83]

Bored waiting for the Natty game and don't feel like creating my own thread for the playoffs so, here are my playoff predictions:

 

WC Round:

5 PHI over 4 TB 24-20 

6 LAR over 3 DET 21-18

2 DAL over 7 GB 34-21

5 CLE over 4 HOU 26-20

3 KC over 6 MIA 24-17

2 BUF over 7 PIT 19-13

The Stafford homecoming game to extend the Lions postseason winless streak story was too good to pass up.  I went back and forth on Philly/TB because Philly has sucked that badly down the stretch but ultimately they'll tush push their way to a win.  Also almost went with Miami over KC but they've faded in too many big games for me to pick them over KC.

 

DIV Round:

1 SF over 6 LAR 41-17

2 DAL over 5 PHI 24-21

5 CLE over 1 BAL 30-20

2 BUF over 3 KC 27-24 (OT)

 

CONF Finals:

1 SF over 2 DAL 17-13

5 CLE over 2 BUF 26-21

 

SB:

SF over CLE 31-20

 

Wanted to shake things up a bit, especially in the AFC where there really doesn't seem to be a dominant team.  KC is having a down year, Buffalo even in their surge late season hasn't looked as dominating as in the past.  I really like Cleveland even if I think the Flacco magic is a little bit flukey.  Defense can match up with Baltimores, they do a good job of controlling games and Lamar has a big game narrative he needs to overcome.  So why not in a wide open AFC have the Browns, who lost their starting QB and all-pro RB for the season, make it to the Super Bowl?

Despite their occasional lapses, SF seems like the most dominant team at their best.  A week of rest to heal up and I think they'll be at their best for the playoffs.

Edited January 8, 2024 by UMFan83

[Brian707]

I like Cleveland too

[We Got The Whole 9]

Would that be like the 10th time DAL and SF met in the conference title game?

[CubinNY]

This could be the year Dallas finally wins another one. I also like the Ravens. 

[BigSlick]

On 1/7/2024 at 3:06 PM, Irrelevant Dude said:

Would you rather have Wright than Bryce Young straight up?  I would say yes.  Everything else is gravy, and it's a LOT of gravy.

I would rather have any 53rd man on a roster than Bryce Young straight up. Young doesn't look like an NFL quality player. 

 

[jumbo]

On 1/8/2024 at 6:35 PM, BigSlick said:

I would rather have any 53rd man on a roster than Bryce Young straight up. Young doesn't look like an NFL quality player. 

 

I'm as happy with the Carolina trade down as anyone. That said:

                BY 2023__JF 2021__22__23

Passer Rating   73.7__73.2__85.2__86.3

QBR                   33.3__26.4__56.3__46.2

I don't understand these stats all that well, but given how universally everyone thinks Bryce sucks, Fields was somehow worse his rookie year.