soccer10k

Even if you operate under the assumption that Brady now is better than Belichick now, it doesn’t mean it’s always been the case. The first three Super Bowls, Brady was good, but he wasn’t yet what he’d become. They won those more with defense than offense. Brady threw at least 12 picks each of his first 6 years. He’s done it 3 times in 13 years since. Three of his lowest 5 seasons by passing yards were the first three SB years. I could just as easily say that it’s impressive that Belichick went 7-9 with QBs who threw 10 TDs in 16 games. Jameis would have been an upgrade over Cam Newton this year. The Pats probably wouldn’t have made the playoffs with Winston but part of that was 9-7 or 10-6 wouldn’t have made it in the AFC. I don’t mean to take away from Brady. He’s one of the best couple QBs ever. We can debate where but if he’s not on your Mount Rushmore, you’re crazy. All I meant to say was let’s not go overboard and say Brady was more responsible for the Pats dynasty than Belichick because of this year. He might be more responsible. I just don’t think this year proves it.

Someone much smarter than me will write an article breaking down the "Belichick System" myth. This year showed us that Belichick - Brady = meh while meh team + Brady = contender I would say it shows us that going from Jameis throwing 30 picks to a competent QB turns you into a contender. Plus didn’t the Pats have a few key opt outs on defense this year also? Bray and Belichick are both great. If Brady stayed but Belichick retired, NE probably misses the playoffs also this year.

No you're absolutely right. The ship is sailed. The not having a portion apply to the cap is an interesting idea. They have the super max now, but I think the whole amount still counts towards cap/tax and it's hurt player retention in a few cases. I don't think it woild help the super team thing necessarily but it'd help in the few cases where supermax has been a negative affect on retention. At the end of the day, drafting a guy and then extending him typically gets you at least 6-8 years of control. If you haven't shown you can build around him in 6-8 years I guess he's gonna bolt and pair up on a super team. :dontknow: The difference is in this case Houston did everything Harden could have wanted. They made two conference finals and three conf semis in the last six years, the one year they didn't was when Harden showed up out of shape and they went 41-41. They were a Chris Paul hammy pull away from the finals (and maybe a title). They gave up a bunch of stuff for Chris Paul and then, when Harden couldn't work with him, traded more stuff for Westbrook because that's what Harden wanted. They let him score 35 ppg and shoot whenever he wanted. Then they slip all the way to the four seed twice and he wants out because it's too tough to compete against the Lakers. There's a decent chance with Kyrie there this blows up spectacularly and I'm definitely rooting for that outcome. That and Harden shooting 3-16 as his team loses in another elimination game.

College football is a simple game. 11 men attempt to move the ball against 11 other men for 60 minutes. And in the end, Alabama wins.

I can’t believe how little Fields has done tonight. I’m sure he’s still hurt from the semi but 9-18 for 138 isn’t good.

7-20 for 72 yards in 3 quarters is absolutely bad enough to be pulled. I know he ran for 2 TDs also but that line is horrid. Of course it’s not just Hurts’s play in a vacuum and, as you pointed out, you have to factor in the backup. If they brought Wentz in it would be a different story. I think what raw said is right. They didn’t go into the game trying to lose but they were losing after 3 and Hurts was playing poorly so they said screw it and made the switch.

The Wentz thing is definitely odd unless he was hurt and didn’t want to tell anyone. As for going for it on 4th down, aren’t the Eagles typically on the aggressive side in those situations. I’m guessing the math favors going for it from 4 yards out, especially in the 4th quarter. I’m guessing it’s a combo of them not necessarily caring if they won (as opposed to hoping they would lose) and Hurts being awful, like you said at end with the Eagles taking the loss if the opportunity was there. If Hurts was decent and they pull him, then it’s a terrible look. I would say they probably should have just left Hurts in. He was coming off two good games and the backup is not good either so it’s different from when the Dolphins benched Tua. I get why it’s in the news a bit, just seems like a bigger story than needs to be. Whatever. It makes NY fans angry which is always a good thing.

Can someone explain why exactly this Jalen Hurts getting pulled for Sudfeld is such a big story? I mean, I get that the Giants are annoyed because they could have made the playoffs and Philly jumped up a couple spots in the draft. But with the amount of attention it’s getting, you would have thought Hurts was playing well. But he was 7-20 for 72 yards. Sudfeld is obviously worse but it’s not like Hurts was a lock to lead the Eagles to a win.

Rondon Fan was one also.

I'm not going to spend time looking up the actual numbers but doesn't it seem like the Chargers lose 5+ games by 1 score every single year, with a couple of those coming because of missed kicks? It's like how the Raiders always were top of the league in penalties each year regardless of the coach. Losing 1-score games seems to be something the Chargers just do.

Wasn't it just sitting Roethlisberger? I don't know their defensive players but the offensive skill players for Pittsburgh played.

Score more points I guess? Ole Miss somehow scored 48 on them this year, so it’s possible. Seriously though, it’s demoralizing having Bama be Bama every single freaking year. Seriously. It’s bad for the sport. They’re about the only reason I could root for Dabo. CFB really needs another blue blood to rise. Michigan, Texas (puke), USC even Miami needs to become a power again to mAke it interesting. Personally I prefer Saban over Dabo. Was really happy last year when LSU pounded them in the title game.

Three of those aren’t likely to win. Bucs get the 4 seed with a win but drop with a loss and a Rams win. Titans need a win to win the division and get a playoff spot. Ravens need a win to get in also. That being said, even if you remove those three games and assume the favorites win, the fact that with one game to go the Giants could still pick as high as 6 but as low as 19 (barring a playoff win) is insane.

I’m starting to think that scoring one goal and then sitting back and defending the rest of the game isn’t exactly a good strategy. Spurs have given up 15 goals in 15 games in the league. 8 of those came after the 80th minute, including 4 after the 90th (though one was in a 5-1 game). So the other 7 caused them to drop 9 points, costing them four wins and a draw, with the four lost wins coming against teams 10th or lower in the table. Maybe, just maybe, they should act like a big club and attack a bit more.

Liberty-Coastal tied. Liberty has the ball 1st and goal at the 2 with about 1:30 left. Coastal with no timeouts. Livery runs a play where the RB stands there with the ball and takes a knee when Coastal gets close to him. Smart. Next play, the RB tries to get a couple yards but Coastal is trying to pull him into the end zone as he’s trying to stay out. He fumbles right before the end zone and Coastal recovers. I thought he got in but the play stood. Going to OT now. No idea why they didn’t just run the same play on 2nd that they ran on 1st. No need to even let a Coastal player near you.

Since you mentioned the Steelers, it's very realistic that they don't even win their division anymore. That they've gone from undefeated and the 1 seed to the 3 seed in the span of three weeks is impressive enough. Browns play the Jets next week while Steelers host Indy. If Cleveland wins and the Steelers lose, the two teams play for the division title in Cleveland the next week. If the Steelers win this week, they win the division because if they tie, the Steelers have the best division record. Steelers are the 12th team to start 11-0 or better. They'll be the first to not get the top seed in their conference (KC wins a 2 and 3 way tiebreaker at 13-3). They're the second to lose three games that same season (the 2009 Saints went 13-3) and would be the first to lose 4. All 11 of those teams that started 11-0 also won their division, which the Steelers only have a 3 in 4 chance to do per 538.

Yep a 10-6 team (possibly even 11-5) is going to miss the playoffs in a year 7 teams from each conference get in. Is that a sign the AFC is good, or bad? Every team in the NFC has as many wins as the bottom 3 of the AFC has combined. And only 6 of the 16 NFC teams will have a losing record in the inter-conference games when the Bears beat the Jags this weekend.....with 3 of those being NFC East teams. Kind of cherry picking there. There are also only 4 NFC teams with winning records against the AFC this year. One of those almost certainly won’t last (Atlanta plays KC) and the other might not (Green Bay plays Tennessee). Meanwhile 8 AFC teams have winning records against the NFC. AFC is also 33-26-1 against the NFC as a whole. Additionally, the good AFC teams across the board destroyed the NFC teams as those 8 good AFC teams are 26-3 against the NFC. I’d say the top of the AFC is definitively better than the top of the NFC while the bottom of the AFC is definitively worse than the bottom of the NFC.

Assuming they get #2, decent chance they trade down a couple spots if they’re not taking a QB right? Assuming someone wants to trade up for Fields.

LOL Rams and LOL Jets.

Florida had 1st and goal from the 1 or 2 with 1:20 left. The clock started to run after a review. For some reason, they snapped the ball with 20 seconds on the play clock rather than letting it run down to 2. They scored on the first play and gave Bama plenty of time to drive down for a TD before the half. Bama got their TD with 6 seconds left.

Wonder how much longer Arteta gets. I know you don’t want to keep firing managers but Arsenal sucks right now. Plus you’ve got guys getting reds every other game. They’ve had 7 in the league since he took over a year ago, next worst team (at least as of a week ago) was 3. And at least three of those were for violent conduct. They’re off to a worse start than Spurs last year when Poch got fired.

It’s all about the W-L record for Derwood. I definitely said that I mean, you’re the one asking what the difference is between the two yet you obviously didn’t even take the 2 minutes it would take to look up the scores for each team. Even that would give you an idea. So sorry for assuming you did nothing more than look at their records.

I know that OSU has a built in advantage by being OSU, but this year puts a fine point on how completely ratings-based these football rankings are. 6-0 Ohio State has a monumental advantage over 6-0 USC because reasons. They've also made it clear that a Group of Five team will NEVER make the playoff, as they keep dropping undefeated Cincinnati below one or two loss teams Clearly you haven’t watched USC play if you think they’re worthy of going to the playoff. It’s all about the W-L record for Derwood.

Bama could have lost the title game and still gotten into the playoffs IMO. They are clearly the best team in the country and it isn’t particularly close Oh they definitely could have anyway. Had Florida won today, Florida beats Bama close, OSU wins, ND wins and it’s Florida, Bama, ND, OSU. Or if Clemson hammers ND, Bama gets in over ND. It’s just that this seems to solidify it. I mean, I guess if they lose by 30 they could be left out but that isn’t going to happen.

That Florida loss locks Bama in to the playoff, right? Let's say Clemson beats ND and OSU wins, those three are probably in. You can't put aTm in over Bama. You're not putting a 2-loss Big 12 champ. USC would be 6-0 with at least three of those being close. You've got Cincinnati undefeated but the committee moved Iowa State above them last week so they'd need Iowa State to lose and even that probably wouldn't be enough. So it's probably Bama-Clemson-ND-OSU if Clemson wins and Bama-ND-OSU-aTm if Notre Dame wins (assuming OSU wins).