The Weird, Wacky and Awesome World of the NFL - General Banter thread V3

You know Gamepass has been great when you get the warning from the Sky box that it’s about to turn off because you haven’t touched the remote in a few hours.

raze_them_all_ wrote: »

Teams need to rebuild or make a push. You don't often get stars for trade. Packers should go right in and figure out a way. Get an actual running back for the running back position

He's my favourite RB in the league, maybe my favourite since I started watching in 2002 after LT... and I hope GB go nowhere near him. We've already got Williams, Jones and Monty who make up a solid combo and have much bigger needs elsewhere.

Last night those three combined for 87 yards on just 15 carries, 5.8 per attempt - and picked up 69 more yards on 9 receptions. Monty was OK running but doing more catching passes (shame he can't pass block or he'd be one of the best 3rd down backs in the league), Williams looked like what he is which is a solid, well rounded back without the next level explosiveness but who can carry inside (and out, a bit), pass catches and block, and Aaron Jones showed exactly why I wrote that long thread about him in the Packers game - the guy is more dangerous with the ball in hand than anyone Rodgers has ever had in his career. Only Jones has real star potential there, but it's a very solid and well rounded trio that has worked well for many teams over the years.

The problem isn't the talent back there (and personally I would not have got rid of Ripkowski either) but the lack of chances they are given which has been a problem for years and years at this point so long as Rodgers is healthy. At this stage it's fair to say that Mike McCarthy doesn't know how to establish a run game, or really even have much interest in it. In the first half we had 64 yards rushing on 11 carries, and so in the second we just decided to completely abandon it with 4 carries out of 40 plays (yes, 10% of the time!) for 10 yards, completely destroying the decent momentum we had there.

Running pass plays *73% of the time (141 pass plays vs 53 running plays this season) is ridiculous no matter what the circumstances are, yet this seems to be the order of the day since 2011 if Rodgers is fit, regardless of anything and everything else. It's no different to 2016 when we had passed 71% of the time (725 pass plays vs 294 running plays) - it doesn't matter who you have back there if you refuse to give them the ball. Look at the Patriots for an example of how to balance better - last year they only passed 60% of the time, the same in 2016 and this year they are passing just 59% of the time. That type of balance is much healthier than what we are seeing in GB, and I'm not even seeing a tonne to help me believe McCarthy has any remote interest in changing that.

RedZone is good to have to switch over to during ads etc, and with just 2-3 games on at the same time it can be OK too as they tend to spend long periods with each one. But with 5-6 games on I just can't keep any focus on it at all beyond it being background TV if I'm doing something else at the same time.

Shedite27 wrote: »

Heck of a rap sheet that Josh Gordon has.

Hope he gets his head straight and sorts himself out. You'd have to imagine if football can't sort his life out nothing will. Very sad story

This is at least pretty reassuring to read that he is fully aware of, and something he surely won't have in NE under Belichick: “I’ve been enabled most of my life honestly,” Gordon said. “I’ve been enabled by coaches, teachers, professors — everybody pretty much gave me a second chance just because of my ability.”

The guy got 87 catches for 1,650 yards and 9 TDs with Weeden and Jason Campbell throwing him the ball, and did it in only 14 games (extrapolated to 16 it would be 1,881 - second most in league history). He might take a small bit to bed in, but I've a feeling Brady is going to link up with him similar to Moss, and in 6-7 months time (is it a 1 year deal?) there is going to be an absolutely mad scramble to sign him for big money from a number of WR hungry teams.

Niles Crane wrote: »

Redzone is a much better way to enjoy the first 8 or 9 weeks of the season as at that stage the games have less importance and context at that stage of th season.

Also considering the amount of stoppages in American football it avoids that part of the sport which has always turned people off it.

Gamepass had an excellent setup last year that allowed four games at once which was great for the ads issue (you might only get 2-3 combined minutes over a whole series of games where all were at break). I'm not on it this year, but they've apparently decided to get rid of it for seemingly no reason whatsoever.