National Football League Thread

[MidnightDragon]

Chiefs locked up the #1 spot in the AFC. That being said, not happy how the game went today. With the thin margins they’ve been winning by, I’m very nervous about the playoffs. Lots of good AFC teams this year. 

[djb5f]

18 minutes ago, Conker said:

Steelers comback from 24-7 down to seal the AFC North

 

Jets make it 2 in a row beating the depleted Bowns 23-16

 

Chiefs struggle but find a way to beat Falcons to clinch #1 seed in AFC

 

Ravens easily handle Giants to move back in playoffs for now

 

So next week Colts play Jags, Browns have Steelers and Ravens have Bengals, Browns have the hardest one, Could they miss yet again  

That would be so Cleveland.  Even in their “good” year and an extra playoff spot available, if they were to miss the playoffs because of too many dudes in a hot tub together and having no wideouts available and losing against the 1-13 Jets.

 

Bears now have the inside track for NFC spot #7 beating the 1-13 Jaguars. It will be interesting if Green Bay has anything to play for next week.  Bears might get a break with Packers playing backups.

 

17 minutes ago, MidnightDragon said:

Chiefs locked up the #1 spot in the AFC. That being said, not happy how the game went today. With the thin margins they’ve been winning by, I’m very nervous about the playoffs. Lots of good AFC teams this year. 

Agree in that most of the Chiefs wins are one-score games, and many against bad teams like the Panthers, Chargers, Broncos, Raiders, and Falcons.  Chiefs keep winning but things aren’t exactly rolling.

 

But locking up that #1 seed is huge.  Only 2 wins needed (everyone else would need 3) and both at home (not the normal home field advantage but still friendly confines and no travel needed).

 

Edited December 27, 2020 by djb5f

[skidmarkgn]

Not gonna lie, now that the Buccs are officially in the playoffs I'm terrified that "the powers that be" are going to find a way to make sure they're in the SB.  My lizard brain's preparing to hear about a lot of Buccs games that had some fishy officiating.

[grimydawg___]

If Cleveland was Baltimore, they'd have an extra day.  It was BS

[Conker]

So Carolina beat Washington and Cowboys beat Eagles, to make it a race between Washington, Cowboys and Giants for the NFC East

 

As for the last 2 NFC Wildcard Spots its between the Rams,Bears and Cardinals

 

And the #1 seed and only bye will also go to the last week of regular season between Packers,Saints and Seahawks

 

Seattle also clinched NFC West with win over LA Rams

[acasser]

1 hour ago, grimydawg___ said:

If Cleveland was Baltimore, they'd have an extra day.  It was BS

 

Yeah.  Probably.  The NFL certainly doesn't make themselves easy to defend from charges that they play favorites and this is another sterling example.

 

The officiating didn't do you any favors, either.  The entire game changed course when they ruled it an incomplete pass from Sam Darnold.  Had the referees swallowed their whistle and then called it a fumble on the field, it's a 13-10 game and Cleveland has momenum; instead, it stays a 13-3 game and the Browns never really threatened to win the game after that.

 

And now you have to hope for Cincinnati to beat Baltimore next Sunday?  Or for Indy to lose to Jacksonville?  Oy, that's not going to be a friendly scenario.

[grimydawg___]

1 hour ago, acasser said:

 

Yeah.  Probably.  The NFL certainly doesn't make themselves easy to defend from charges that they play favorites and this is another sterling example.

 

The officiating didn't do you any favors, either.  The entire game changed course when they ruled it an incomplete pass from Sam Darnold.  Had the referees swallowed their whistle and then called it a fumble on the field, it's a 13-10 game and Cleveland has momenum; instead, it stays a 13-3 game and the Browns never really threatened to win the game after that.

 

And now you have to hope for Cincinnati to beat Baltimore next Sunday?  Or for Indy to lose to Jacksonville?  Oy, that's not going to be a friendly scenario.

Even if Baltimore loses, it won't matter.  Same with Miami.  Cleveland wins, and they're in.  If they lose, they'd need either Tennessee or Indianapolis to lose.  Tennessee looks like they're going to lose tonight.  Knowing Cleveland, some deranged lunatic might endanger Roger Goddell.  The NFL Draft is in Cleveland this year.  We'll see what happens with the pandemic.  Goodell will have the Art Modell treatment smh

Edited December 28, 2020 by grimydawg___

[DamagingRob]

5 hours ago, Conker said:

So Carolina beat Washington and Cowboys beat Eagles, to make it a race between Washington, Cowboys and Giants for the NFC East

Surprised the Cowboys even have a chance, but that's their division for you.. Still, Washington needs to lose again. And against the Eagles, who we just eliminated from playoff contention. Wouldn't be shocked if they let Washington win.

[acasser]

Even more fun:  It appears that they've flexed Washington-Philadelphia into primetime.  I understand it from the perspective that Washington is "win and you're in" and I don't see another game with such clarity, but a Sunday Night finale between two teams that are 10-19-1?  Yikes.

[Conker]

1 hour ago, acasser said:

Even more fun:  It appears that they've flexed Washington-Philadelphia into primetime.  I understand it from the perspective that Washington is "win and you're in" and I don't see another game with such clarity, but a Sunday Night finale between two teams that are 10-19-1?  Yikes.

Only other one they possibly could have picked was the Cardinals at Rams game

[johnclark12]

As a Dolphins fan, I have this eery feeling that they will be the ones left out. Sucks to rely on Pittsburgh winning next weekend.

[skidmarkgn]

2 hours ago, Conker said:

Only other one they possibly could have picked was the Cardinals at Rams game

 

I'll take it!!

[PerryToxteth]

3 hours ago, acasser said:

Even more fun:  It appears that they've flexed Washington-Philadelphia into primetime.  I understand it from the perspective that Washington is "win and you're in" and I don't see another game with such clarity, but a Sunday Night finale between two teams that are 10-19-1?  Yikes.

Look at the positives! You’ll probably get to see the last snaps Dwayne Haskins will take in the NFL. 

Edited December 28, 2020 by PerryToxteth

[johnclark12]

18 minutes ago, PerryToxteth said:

Look at the positives! You’ll probably get to see the last snaps Dwayne Haskins will take in the NFL. 

 

He was already released today ?

[Bluefalcon2210]

Can't say I'm surprised Haskins has been let go, he's not been poor for the WFT and if Rivera had benched him earlier yesterday they might have won that game.

[djb5f]

30 minutes ago, Bluefalcon2210 said:

Can't say I'm surprised Haskins has been let go, he's not been poor for the WFT and if Rivera had benched him earlier yesterday they might have won that game.

 
1st round draft picks get more chances as to not make the GM (and Owner in this case) look bad.  I would not be surprised if he gets another chance with a new team.

[PerryToxteth]

4 hours ago, johnclark12 said:

 

He was already released today 

LMAO, Ron Rivera beat my prediction by a week! 
 

3 hours ago, djb5f said:

 
1st round draft picks get more chances as to not make the GM (and Owner in this case) look bad.  I would not be surprised if he gets another chance with a new team.

 

  The way he went out (stripped of C bc of strip clubs) shows his immaturity. And he hasn’t done a thing on the field. Someone might give him a training camp shot next year, but I don’t think anybody will touch him anytime soon bc I think they have to take on some of his salary. 
  Frankly, I’m surprised he was a first-round pick. His game didn’t look like it would transfer well to the NFL and I think most OSU fans would agree that Troy Smith and JT Barrett we’re better Buckeye QBs. 

[grimydawg___]

7 hours ago, johnclark12 said:

As a Dolphins fan, I have this eery feeling that they will be the ones left out. Sucks to rely on Pittsburgh winning next weekend.

Naw we got screwed yesterday.  You guys are in.  

[djb5f]

39 minutes ago, PerryToxteth said:

LMAO, Ron Rivera beat my prediction by a week! 
 

 

  The way he went out (stripped of C bc of strip clubs) shows his immaturity. And he hasn’t done a thing on the field. Someone might give him a training camp shot next year, but I don’t think anybody will touch him anytime soon bc I think they have to take on some of his salary. 
  Frankly, I’m surprised he was a first-round pick. His game didn’t look like it would transfer well to the NFL and I think most OSU fans would agree that Troy Smith and JT Barrett we’re better Buckeye QBs. 

Yeah, it was a huge reach to take him in the first round but Dan Snyder pushed for him as he was enamored with him.  
 

22 minutes ago, grimydawg___ said:

Naw we got screwed yesterday.  You guys are in.  

Browns got the same treatment as the Broncos the week they lost their QBs.  As I understand the NFL’s treatment, missing out on a position group does not warrant a postponement.  
 

Baltimore’s was a unique situation and was moved because they had new active cases each day in their HQ (not contained) and they were trying to protect their opponent (Pittsburgh) from playing against possibly infected guys.

 

No good way to do these especially so late in the season.  They aren’t pushing the playoffs back so it is full circuits go and not really fair to make teams play Week 17 or Wild Card round on a short week.

 

 

[grimydawg___]

30 minutes ago, djb5f said:

Yeah, it was a huge reach to take him in the first round but Dan Snyder pushed for him as he was enamored with him.  
 

Browns got the same treatment as the Broncos the week they lost their QBs.  As I understand the NFL’s treatment, missing out on a position group does not warrant a postponement.  
 

Baltimore’s was a unique situation and was moved because they had new active cases each day in their HQ (not contained) and they were trying to protect their opponent (Pittsburgh) from playing against possibly infected guys.

 

No good way to do these especially so late in the season.  They aren’t pushing the playoffs back so it is full circuits go and not really fair to make teams play Week 17 or Wild Card round on a short week.

 

 

It was Baltimore fault.  FOH with that.  There's a reason they got fined $250k. 

[djb5f]

28 minutes ago, grimydawg___ said:

I know it was Baltimore’s fault (hence the fine), not arguing it wasn’t so... odd response.  Theirs was a worse case and an active situation, therefore the postponement to protect their opponent.

 

Cleveland and Denver did not properly isolate position groups themselves but were not an active situation.
 

Please don’t be one of THOSE Brown fans who think everyone is out to get them. If the game was moved to Mon/Tues, and the Jets still won, Browns fans would be complaining about how unfair it was that they got a short week for the Steelers in Week 17 and a near must-win game!

 

 

Edited December 29, 2020 by djb5f

[grimydawg___]

If it was a team like Baltimore, Green Bay or Chiefs, the game would have been pushed back.  We'll see what happens this week.

[acasser]

The League Office and the Commissioner have been stunningly inconsistent when it comes to how they handle games, with some of them delayed or postponed and some of them played "as is" with teams placed at a serious competitive disadvantage.  And that's a problem, because it opens the entire process up to accusations of favoritism when there doesn't seem to be one single rule that covers everything; rather, it seems everything is being invented as we go along.

[djb5f]

15 hours ago, grimydawg___ said:

If it was a team like Baltimore, Green Bay or Chiefs, the game would have been pushed back.  We'll see what happens this week.

Big break for the Browns, grimy.  Steelers announced they are resting Big Ben Sunday and playing Mason Rudolph.  Yes that Mason Rudolph who Myles Garrett ripped off his helmet and swung it upside his head, connecting.  This could get interesting.  Browns SHOULD be a shoe-in to the playoffs now.

[johnclark12]

31 minutes ago, djb5f said:

Big break for the Browns, grimy.  Steelers announced they are resting Big Ben Sunday and playing Mason Rudolph.  Yes that Mason Rudolph who Myles Garrett ripped off his helmet and swung it upside his head, connecting.  This could get interesting.  Browns SHOULD be a shoe-in to the playoffs now.

 

Agree. Miami is the most in jeopardy at this point until if/when Buffalo announces they will rest starters. At that point, Indy is the most in trouble.