NFL Week 4

Paully D

After a crazy week 3 it's time to look at week 4.

Fixtures below, times in GMT.

Thursday Night/Friday Morning

01:20am:

Browns @ Ravens (Sky Sports 2)

Sunday

6pm:

Panthers @ Falcons
Vikings @ Lions
Patriots @ Bills (Sky Sports 4)
Chargers @ Chiefs
49ers @ Jets
Seahawks @ Rams
Titans @ Texans

9:05pm-9:25pm:

Bengals @ Jaguars
Dolphins @ Cardinals
Raiders @ Broncos
Saints @ Packers (Sky Sports 4)
Redskins @ Buccs

Sunday Night/Monday Morning

01:20am:

Giants @ Eagles (Channel 4)

Monday Night/Tuesday Morning

01:30am:

Bears @ Cowboys (BBC)

eagle eye

Hopefully real officials for the Thursday night game too!

UnitedIrishman

Regardless of what officials are there Thursday, can only see it being a rout for the Ravens.

Chardee MacDennis

Special guest: this guy

Stev_o

It'll be like something out of the WWE. The stadium goes dark, the smoke starts rising. Then Ed chargers out onto the field blowing his whistle as the stadium goes nuts. First play of the game he ll call pass interfence and we ll all go back to moaning about these refs.

Paully D

Not a whole lot of games which get the excitement up this week, although there's still a couple of very interesting match-ups. Saints/Packers should be a cracker, same goes for Giants/Eagles. I'll be hoping my Ravens avoid a repeat of last years ''beat a top team and lose the next week to a far weaker team'' trick although it would be the shock of the week if they did lose to the Browns.

I like the look of a Patriots (-4), 49ers (-4) and under 38 points in the Seahawks/Rams game which returns odds of just under 6/1.

Leslie91

Real refs are back starting tonite.

HigginsJ

Browns @ Ravens (Sky Sports 2)
Panthers @ Falcons
Vikings @ Lions
Patriots @ Bills (Sky Sports 4)
Chargers @ Chiefs
49ers @ Jets
Seahawks @ Rams
Titans @ Texans
Bengals @ Jaguars
Dolphins @ Cardinals
Raiders @ Broncos
Saints @ Packers (Sky Sports 4)
Redskins @ Bucs
Giants @ Eagles (Channel 4)
Bears @ Cowboys (BBC)

Mr. Guappa

Big week in the AFC West. Can the Chiefs back-up last weeks win in New Orleans with a win over the Chargers? If they do then you'll have three teams on 2-2 with the other game being the 1-2 Raiders at the 1-2 Broncos. A loss for the Broncos would put early pressure on the Manning experiment. Four very inconsistent teams in this division.

helimachoptor

Sadly.. cant see anything other than a Texans win.. and probably by quite a large margin

Hulk Hands

Early fancy against the spread is the Bears +4 on Monday

spank_inferno

I'm hoping for a very motivated Packers team to beat the Saints.

Kylo Ren

Gonna have to skip this one. Better not be a good game. Hopefully a 7-0 or 10-3.

JaMarcus Hustle

Took a wild punt on Trent to plough his way to a Browns victory. Just a feeling.

kevohmsford

Great start from the Ravens defence

eagle eye

Cribbs is out too long already, I'm very worried for him.

Pudsy33

Ouch that's a tough hit. Players look worried. Hope it's not as bad as it looks.

kevohmsford

eagle eye wrote: »

Cribbs is out too long already, I'm very worried for him.

He got up thank god. That was some some hit he took.

eagle eye

Phew, thankfully he seems ok.

Son Of A Vidic

eagle eye wrote: »

Cribbs is out too long already, I'm very worried for him.

It was a real scary hit, I think for a few minutes we all got that sick feeling in our stomachs. I feared for the guys neck, quality of the clip here isn't great but seeing it in real time it looked very serious.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q9dY9uTWmeA

Nice to see all the players, especially the Raven players, kneeling around showing a lot of concern for their footballing brother.Thankfully he was eventually able get up after all the preliminary checks were done and walk off the pitch.

kitakyushu

Slightly related newbie question. When Cribbs got hit there his helmet went flying. I've been watching a few full NFL games on Ch4 since the season started and I've seen this happen at least once or twice per game.

Are these guys actually wearing their helmets lose/unstrapped or is it the force of the impact that's causing the helmet to come loose like that?

Chardee MacDennis

kitakyushu wrote: »

Slightly related newbie question. When Cribbs got hit there his helmet went flying. I've been watching a few full NFL games on Ch4 since the season started and I've seen this happen at least once or twice per game.

Are these guys actually wearing their helmets lose/unstrapped or is it the force of the impact that's causing the helmet to come loose like that?

you cant wear the strap tight, if you do you'll break your neck when the helmet gets twisted.

Chardee MacDennis

By the way the play is instantly dead when a players helmet comes off right? So he still had possession when his helmet came off and even if he didn't have possession the Ravens certainly hadn't recovered it by the time his helmet was off.

Surely that should be the Browns' ball?

evil_seed

Play is not over once the helmet comes of as evidence by the below clip. AFAIK anyways

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IMAaZYD3meE

Justin10

evil_seed wrote: »

Play is not over once the helmet comes of as evidence by the below clip. AFAIK anyways

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IMAaZYD3meE

No there was a rule change in I think 09 or 10 not sure. But when a helmet comes off, the play is blown dead.

Son Of A Vidic

The Browns had no problem with the call, the fumble call wasn't even challenged. So one can only assume the call was correct.

Trojan

It was nice, but a bit concerning to see so many players of both teams taking a knee on the pitch like that.

The play is over once the ball carrier's helmet comes off - rule was brought in in 2010.

Son Of A Vidic

Trojan wrote: »

It was nice, but a bit concerning to see so many players of both teams taking a knee on the pitch like that.

The players were pretty shocked, I thought the guys neck was broken when I saw it happening live. At certain times a players health should always take precedence over rules. It all would have been pretty trivial if the guy was paralysed. The officials weren't bothered by it and rightly so.

Hazys

That hit is a shame and in a way, completely unnecessary.

The first raven tackled correctly, wrapped up around the thighs and waist and Cribbs was on his down.

The second Raven came in with no effort to wrap up (his arms were crossed and he was leading with his shoulder) and absolutely clocked him in the helmet and knocked him out cold.

The second Raven's tackle was completely within the rules but if they NFL is serious about player safety and limiting concussions, they may have to consider making it a rule to wrap up instead of allowing players shoulder charge and hoping they don't hit the player's helmet.

This type of tackling is one of the main reason why there are so many concussions in the NFL over Rugby (other is the fact that they wear helmets). In rugby, the play would have been over with the first tackle, no concussion. Even if a second player came to tackle, he would have had his arms out trying to wrap up and wouldn't be trying to land a shoulder.

I understand people like big hits, they cause turnovers and getting rid of them may make the game less exciting but on the other side of the arguement, no body wants to see that scene from last night where nobody was sure if Cribbs was dead or paralysed...its a catch22

GoldFour4

Hazys wrote: »

That hit is a shame and in a way, completely unnecessary.

The first raven tackled correctly, wrapped up around the thighs and waist and Cribbs was on his down.

The second Raven came in with no effort to wrap up (his arms were crossed and he was leading with his shoulder) and absolutely clocked him in the helmet and knocked him out cold.

The second Raven's tackle was completely within the rules but if they NFL is serious about player safety and limiting concussions, they may have to consider making it a rule to wrap up instead of allowing players shoulder charge and hoping they don't hit the player's helmet.

This type of tackling is one of the main reason why there are so many concussions in the NFL over Rugby (other is the fact that they wear helmets). In rugby, the play would have been over with the first tackle, no concussion. Even if a second player came to tackle, he would have had his arms out trying to wrap up and wouldn't be trying to land a shoulder.

I understand people like big hits, they cause turnovers and getting rid of them may make the game less exciting but on the other side of the arguement, no body wants to see that scene from last night where nobody was sure if Cribbs was dead or paralysed...its a catch22

Hit was perfectly fine with me. We've all seen enough plays where a returner breaks a tackle and is left to take it to the endzone untouched. The angle of the hit was just unfortunate. I don't think Cribbs would bear any grudge against the Raven, he was just playing the game like everyone else. Also the Ravens player was quite obviously distressed about making that hit. It's a one in a thousand (probably more) occurance so I don't think limiting tacking styles is the answer.

Chardee MacDennis

evil_seed wrote: »

Play is not over once the helmet comes of as evidence by the below clip. AFAIK anyways

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IMAaZYD3meE

Corvus Maximus wrote: »

The Browns had no problem with the call, the fumble call wasn't even challenged. So one can only assume the call was correct.

Pretty sure they changed the rule at the start of the year

from the rule book:

Dead Ball Declared. An official shall declare the ball dead and the down ended:
(r) when a runner’s helmet comes completely off.

http://static.nfl.com/static/content/public/image/rulebook/pdfs/10_Rule7_BallInPlay_DeadBall_Scrimm.pdf

Hazys

malachyscott wrote: »

Hit was perfectly fine with me. We've all seen enough plays where a returner breaks a tackle and is left to take it to the endzone untouched. The angle of the hit was just unfortunate. I don't think Cribbs would bear any grudge against the Raven, he was just playing the game like everyone else. Also the Ravens player was quite obviously distressed about making that hit. It's a one in a thousand (probably more) occurance so I don't think limiting tacking styles is the answer.

I didn't say it was illegal or wrong by NFL standards.

In this instance, Cribbs was clearly on his way to the ground from the first tackle and 2nd hit was from the opposite direction to where he ended up.

Even if Cribbs was to break the tackle, why wouldnt the second tackle if he wrapped up be enough to take him down?

One in a thousand? it seems to happen on multiple occasions a week.

Leading with your helmet is already banned, i'm starting to think leading with your shoulder should be too. It clearly makes tackling way more dangerous in comparion to tackling with your arms out and wrapping up.

Chucky the tree

If they keep watering down rules they will basically be playing a different style of rugby and helmets/pads wont be needed.

mayordenis

Chucky the tree wrote: »

If they keep watering down rules they will basically be playing a different style of rugby and helmets/pads wont be needed.

Not at all.

In all seriousness if a guys helmet comes off and a tackle came in helmet to head it would mess the guy up. Nothing related to watering down.

Masked Man

Vollmer, Mankins, and Gronk all listed as questionable. Good luck Tom, hope you make it to week 5.

JaMarcus Hustle

Hard to believe that after today, either the Packers will be 1-3 or the Saints will be 0-4.

RGIII

JaMarcus Hustle wrote: »

Hard to believe that after today, either the Packers will be 1-3 or the Saints will be 0-4.

Parity reigns in the NFL.

Masked Man

Bookies are seriously underrating the pats this weeks. -4!

Chucky the tree

mayordenis wrote: »

Not at all.

In all seriousness if a guys helmet comes off and a tackle came in helmet to head it would mess the guy up. Nothing related to watering down.

I was referring to a rule about having to wrap up to make a tackle.

Paully D

Masked Man wrote: »

Bookies are seriously underrating the pats this weeks. -4!

The 49ers too, IMO.

davyjose

Masked Man wrote: »

Bookies are seriously underrating the pats this weeks. -4!

If Spiller was 100% I'd have buffalo as favourites tbh. As it is, it'll be close.

rolltide

buffalo has no chance. Tom brady will rack up the points and easily win this

spiralism

Off topic but just watching the Ryder cup until kickoff and only noticed that Ian Poulter is actually a dead ringer for Sean Payton

rolltide

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=hqylOzUG0Tk

Paully D

Going to give Red Zone a proper go this week rather than just picking one game and watching that in full.

nightowlzaphod

Looking for some good commentary for the games this evening..

Help ?

rolltide

you should check out the new betdaq nfl site they have some american dude broadcasting from america talking about all the games and giving updates, Ive watched it the last two weeks and found that he actually knows what hes talking about. hes pretty funny too.

here's the link
http://www.betdaqnfl.com/live-stream/

nightowlzaphod

well that is different... cheers

davyjose

rolltide wrote: »

buffalo has no chance. Tom brady will rack up the points and easily win this

Banged up O-line, Brady's number 2 target still banged up, number 1 target hurting. Mediocre defense. Yeah, this'll be a cinch.

davyjose

Harvin 105 yard TD!!!

JaMarcus Hustle

I seem to recall Buffalo not having a chance last year too

Thank God for Chandler Jones