2022 NFL season - Regular Season Thread - Picks etc.

If you accept that the "Pro" of the pass play is to potentially preserve a timeout, you also have to accept that the "Con" of the pass play is the increased risk of turnover / sack / holding penalty / loss of yardage etc. You can't just look at the timeout issue in isolation. You also can't ignore the distance to goal and the fact that Beast Mode is right there.

I can understand a team assessing that increased risk and decide based on the situation and resources / options available to them that it's perfectly acceptable and as such the right call to make. I believe Seattle should have looked at that situation and said, hang on a minute lads, we're on the 1-yard line and there's Marshawn Lynch standing there, let's give him the ball.

Utilising the pass play to preserve the timeout can be the right call in many situations, sure. It's my opinion that it absolutely wasn't in that situation. They didn't need to roll the dice against Bellicheck with the options they had available. They could have smashed it in and there likely wouldn't have been a thing he could have done about it. Instead they provided the opportunity for his meticulous preparation to pay off and it did.

The reason you never hear anything about the PI is because that's only a byproduct of the play call. The problem is the fact that there was ever an opportunity for Butler to do anything in the first place, penalty or no penalty. There was never a need to put Seattle in that situation, but the coaches took the higher risk option thinking about a timeout, instead of thinking about the defensive genius on the other sideline who had prepared for that exact scenario.

Talking about the interception and the PI etc. is just talking about the execution of the play, either great by Butler or poor by Wilson / Lockette / The Refs. That was never the issue at hand and that's not what fed the reaction. The reaction was driven by the decision to ever let that sequence of events come to pass which came from Carroll / Bevell. That's why they got the brunt of the outcry and rightfully so in my opinion.

They had prepared to stop the run literally the play before and still gave up 5 yards. Seattle had a significant edge there, which again is part of the logic behind my opinion and playing what's in front of your face instead of being cute about preserving timeouts and playing for fourth down from the 1 yard line with Marshawn Lynch in the backfield.

You started this conversation stating your opinion as fact, correct "whatever way you look at it" and so on. Now you're putting out hypothetical scenarios for alternative outcomes which has been my point all along. There is no right answer here, only someone's opinion. No one has the right to denigrate anyone else's thought's on the subject, referring to it as "nonsense" or "stupid" as you did mine.

I've extensively outlined the logic behind my stance and tried as best as I can to rebut the elements of yours that I disagree with. You've just repeated yours ad nauseum without offering any real counter argument to what I've said. Like I said, I read the same articles as you probably did at the time about the logic of passing on second down. I can respect the opinion without agreeing with it.

I love talking about football and enjoy being part of the community here, even if I'm not anything like as active as yourself or some of the other long time contributors. If you're serious about welcoming new comers and encouraging more participation here, maybe ease off on jumping on a light-hearted comment and trying to paint someone as somehow less knowledgeable for having an opinion that disagrees with yours.

Once again, your post equates to nothing more than you're right and I'm wrong with no substantial counter to the arguments I've put forth. The logic and math you refer to only considers clock management. Clock management can't be the only consideration in determining this play call, ignoring all of the other elements of the situation I've outlined. If clock management was the be all and end all for coaches then Bellicheck would have called timeout on this exact play. He factored in the all the other elements of the situation and made a call which played out to be the correct one. Carroll didn't.

The light hearted nature of my post was more about suggesting Hackett's call between two tough options in game 1 of the season was the worst call of all time. Off the top of my head I tried to reference what is widely regarded as the worst call in the history of the NFL as a humorous counter. My opinion is that it is certainly down there with the worst I've seen. I'm not a big user of emojis.

Apology accepted. Enjoy the games man. Can't wait for 6pm myself.

wow talk about a game of 2 halves! Raiders could do no wrong in the first half and didnt do a single thing well in the 2nd. Credit the cardinals for the fight back - they deserved that win.

10 - 6 takes me to 21 - 11 overall.

Tough week for picks with the Ravens and Browns blowing big leads late on. Some phenomenal play from Tua and Hill in that last quarter though, absolutely amazing stuff. What a start to head coaching for Mike McDaniels, taking out Bellicheck and Harbaugh in his first two games.

Kyler Murray answering the offseason critics with another amazing comeback in LV. I know he's not without his faults but my God his skillset is unique and extraordinary at times. That 2-point conversion will live long in the memory.

As disappointing as the Colts start to life with Matt Ryan has been, it must be a worrying time to be a Bengals fan. I know it's only week 2 and no time for over-reaction but the more you see the more it makes last seasons fairytale look like just that. No sign as yet that their efforts to shore up the O-Line have had any meaningful impact at all.

2 awesome performances from the Bills and the Eagles on MNF. Haven't had much time to digest but the Eagles dominating the Vikings like that is really impressive and reinforces a lot of the early season optimism around them. As for the Bills, they look like an unstoppable force at the minute. The only fear is that it's very early in the season to be peaking and it's not often a team can sustain that level of performance right the way through.

9-7 last week. 13-19 overall.

Week 3

Thursday Night 1.20am

Steelers @ Browns

Sunday 6pm

Ravens @ Patriots

Texans @ Bears

Raiders @ Titans

Chiefs @ Colts

Bills @ Dolphins

Lions @ Vikings

Bengals @ Jets

Eagles @ Commanders

Saints @ Panthers

Sunday 9.25pm

Jaguars @ Chargers (9.05pm)

Rams @ Cardinals

Falcons @ Seahawks

Packers @ Buccaneers

Sunday Night 1.20am

49ers @ Broncos

Monday Night 1.15am

Cowboys @ Giants

21 - 11 coming in:

Steelers @ Browns

Ravens @ Patriots

Texans @ Bears

Raiders @ Titans

Chiefs @ Colts

Bills @ Dolphins

Lions @ Vikings

Bengals @ Jets

Eagles @ Commanders

Saints @ Panthers

Jaguars @ Chargers

Rams @ Cardinals

Falcons @ Seahawks

Packers @ Buccaneers

49ers @ Broncos

Cowboys @ Giants