so apparently espn's new sunday countdown show is just a bunch of these former players throwing out hot takes! here were some of the better ones I saw on twitter:
Charles woodson: he said Terrell prior will have an 1,800 yard season this year
Matt Hasselback: Said shaun hill was better than sam bradford
Trent Dilfer: said if the jets lose to the bengals on sunday he was crossing them off because they could not captilize on the pats being shorthanded for the first 4 weeks of the season.
dilfer also said tony romo played his last career game in a cowboys uniform because dak would take his job.
haha I guess espn has gone towards the skip bayless model and hopes their guys say enough stupid **** to get people on twitter talking!
I was watching inside the nfl the other night and man it is good to see JB back as the host. the nerdy guy they had on last season kind of annoyed me and I'm glad they brought back a real host. with that said, one of the comments on the show got me thinking a little, it was phil simms admitting he was wrong about moving back the extra point to make it longer. he at first hated it, but after seeing so many kicks being missed he now thinks it makes the game more exciting. for me, I'm still not sure how I feel about it, because I know the eagles lost a game by 1 point to the skins early last year that helped them lose the game and it's never fun when more rules are put in place to potentially have your team lose. but at the same time, nick you mentioned multiple times how exciting week 1 was and then it came out that this was the most 1 point victory weekend in awhile (maybe even ever) so the extra point rule obviously is playing a huge role in this. off the top of my head I can think of 2 games it really effected in the jets/bengals game (jets kicker missed an extra point, jets lose by 1) and the saints/raiders game going for 2 instead of risking missing the further extra point. and it makes sense, instead of swapping 7 points for TDs, teams are now trading 7 points for 6 points with a miss and guess what you now have a 1 point game!
so do you guys like the rule or wish it was never changed?
im being swayed a little. i still dont think teams should lose a game because of a missed extra point but love the fact it can make some coaches think about going for 2 instead. the jets also missed a FG (i think blocked) from even closer in than the extra point so they had some bad luck all around. if the NFL thought of the going for 2 stuff and even the additional close games because of it then they are geniuses, but i think they just wanted to make the individual play more difficult and "exciting".
what leads me to believe they arent that smart is the stupid touchback rule. there were less touchbacks this weekend then normal because teams are pooching it to the goalline instead of kicking it out of the endzone. their intention was to reduce returns because of head trauma but instead there are more because the kicking team suffers haha
watched redzone pretty much all day yesterday so obviously I saw all the scores of the games but didn't get a good flow for them. Should we be impressed that the giants held the saints to 10 points or unimpressed that their offense could only score 6 points vs them?
Defense seems to be pretty for real - Janoris Jenkins had a helluva game and Olivier Vernon is proving to be worth his contract so far
Odell dropped 2 balls that would have gone for TD's changed the image of the game a bit.
Offensive line could not run block to save it's life yesterday, that is very concerning.
I have a lot of faith in this team so far, a lot of room for improvement, but I think a lot of the right pieces and parts are in place for success this year.
How about Shepard? 8 catches on 8 targets for 100+ yards - Reuben Randle who? Future stud
Off topic: How about Stefon Diggs is a little better? Poor man's AB IMO
A report by Pro Football Talk after the Washington Redskins lost to the Dallas Cowboys Sunday afternoon states that some of Washington’s offensive players are turning on quarterback Kirk Cousins. The reports, citing players who have chosen to remain anonymous, are saying that players are upset with Cousins’ "lack of decisiveness, erratic play, and confusion." It goes on to say that they would prefer that back-up QB Colt McCoy replace Cousins as starter because “at least he’d play with poise.”
steelers coming to town, eagles riding high playing with nothing to lose. 430pm kickoff, it's gonna be rowdy and I'm ready to go! Ready for a challenge to see how this team stacks up vs the elite, CAN'T WAIT!
peter king wrote an article about eagles vs steelers and he said the following:
And there’s the quarterback matchup: Roethlisberger, the 13-year pro, against Carson Wentz, playing his third game. Miami of Ohio versus North Dakota State. Physical passer/runner who has learned when to duck out of bounds versus physical passer/runner who hasn’t. (It’s a game we should have the privilege of seeing every year, but, well, I’ve been heard on that.) Wentz played so much like Big Ben on Monday night that I’m left to wonder: Did Roethlisberger watch the game Monday night, and did he see the abuse Wentz took, and did he watch Wentz keep getting up from the monster shots (particularly the second-quarter obliteration by Chicago linebacker Jerrell Freeman), and did the kid remind him of his younger self?
Didn't I text you the other day saying wentz reminded me of a young big ben?? guess I am not the only one who sees it!
with that said, do you have any concerns about a potential upset this sunday?
no concerns what so ever. you guys are speaking like the eagles somehow have an advantage at the QB position in this game. lets not forget ben has as many SB rings as wentz has starts. the eagles scored 3 FGs (9 points!) before i turned it off monday. gonna have to score more than FGs to beat the steelers.
I'll avoid the "who have you played so far" argument since youve heard it before but what exactly is the eagles strength?
its not at the skill positions.. while mathews, matthews and aghalor arent terrible the steelers have the edge with DWill, AB, Coates and Wheaton, including QB. eagles have a good OLine (although it hasnt looked it with the way wentz was getting killed on Monday) but the steelers are sporting two pro bowlers in the middle (good luck Cox) and two solid tackles. thats a wash.
the eagles play a 4-3 so their line may be better. heyward (pro bowl) and tuitt are great 3-4 DEs so along with Shazier, Timmons, DeBo and Jarvis I think the front 7 is also a wash. If anywhere its the secondary (do the eagles have a good secondary?) since the steelers are so young on the backend. but ill take Ben against the eagles secondary over wentz vs the steelers.
coaching is mike tomlin and todd haley all day!
i think they eagles are a good young team getting through the rebuilding year after moving on with that cancer chip kelly but i think youre gonna be pretty disappointing when you meet with a buzzsaw on sunday!!!
what do you guys think of dallas over chicago for survivor this week?
also, for the first time im in a money league for picking against the spread. ive never really taken it seriously since its never really been for a $2000+ pot. my goodness vegas is ****ing amazing at setting spreads. obviously the money sways the lines a bit but they are really accurate if you think about how hard it is to simply pick the winner of some games.
you're crazy if you are not concerned at all. I agree the steelers are the better team at the moment, but a football game isn't decided by which team has a better overall "group rating" vs another team. it is decided by how they match up against each other and who wants it more. its a 430pm kickoff and philly is going to be FIRED UP. this dline is something the steelers haven't faced all season with the skins having one of the worst and the bengals game being played in the rain/mud which limits a good pass rush and now here comes philly with 3-4 potential 10 sack guys and all the crowd noise behind them. while the eagles haven't played anyone "good" yet, I still think this game is going to be much closer than you think. the D has only given up 2 TDS all year, both being 1 yard td runs after 3rd down pass interference calls in the end zone put them at the 1. its obviously still early in the year, but the run D has been great giving up only 62 yards to the browns RB crowell (most were in garbage time) and 28 yards to Langford so deangelo Williams isn't going to run all over the eagles like he has the past 2 games. with the run being limited, big ben is going to have to throw a lot more than he is use to which will lead to more turnovers and sacks. steelers D is decent, but their secondary is average and wentz has proven he can throw the deep ball as well as take a few hits and stand tall in the pocket. the only thing I am worried about is the steelers taking an early lead and wentz having to play from behind which he has had to do yet, but if they can keep it close in the 1st half, contain the run and limit the big plays, I see this being a one score game.
Some other notes for you to consider:
- Steelers are 0-8 since 1965 vs the eagles IN PHILLY. that is over 50 years of history showing the steelers can't win there.
What do these games over the past 5 years have in common:
2015: (5-11) Ravens 20 over (10-6) Steelers 17
2014: (4-12) Jets 20 over (11-5) Steelers 13
2014: (2-14) Bucs 27 over (11-5) Steelers 24
2013: (4-12) Raiders 21 over (8-8) Steelers 18
2012: (6-10) Titans 26 over (8-8) Steelers 23
2012: (4-12) Raiders 34 over (8-8) Steelers 31
2012: (5-11) Browns 20 over (8-8) Steelers 14
That's 5 years in a row of steelers losing to a below .500 team ON THE ROAD. Not saying eagles are going to be a below .500 team but year after year there is at least one game the steelers go on the road as big favorites and lose outright.
One more game note for you:
2015 Chiefs 23 over Steelers 13. Who was the OC of the chiefs last season? Oh that's right, our head coach Doug Pederson. Don't automatically give the steelers the head coaching advantage just like that. Sure if we are comparing careers i'll throw you a bone, but for this week:
ANY. GIVEN. SUNDAY
Eagles 21-16.
-- Edited by MFisH on Thursday 22nd of September 2016 11:03:53 PM
seriously. fun fact FOUR players from both teams combined played in the steelers eagles game 8 years ago. these historic facts are great and all but they have absolutely no impact on this weekends game. same thing about the eagles being "fired up." their fans, sure but every NFL team is fired up on sundays and I dont see how that gives the eagles any kind of advantage.
just last year the eagles lost AT HOME to the 4-12 cowboys, 6-10 Bucs, 6-10 Dolphins and 7-9 Lions (road). How does the steelers losing to less than twice that amount in 4 years mean anything for the eagles haha.
I can appreciate the research and you have made me think the eagles DLine may win some matchups in the trenches but the other stats dont mean ****. steelers have also given up only 2 TDs this year to two playoff teams from last season. only way the eagles win is the any given sunday wildcard.
josh i like it! eddie HATES wearing clothes so that might be the last pic I get of him with anything eagles related on SMH. any time you put something on him he just freezes up and refuses to move haha.
to address nicks points:
the 430pm kickoff is meant for the fans. tailgating will start at about 10am so with a 430pm game that is over 6 hours of drinking which will lead to more crowd noise and makes things difficult for big ben and the stillers offense.
the point of my previous games note was to point out that the steelers have a history of going on the road as heavy favorites and losing the game out right. of course every team losses games on the road every season, but in 5 straight years the steelers have been .500 or better every year yet have lost to a below .500 team which I'm willing to bet hasn't happened to any other team multiple times unless they were having a down year (such as GB losing Rodgers, etc). the fact that you said, "no concerns" about the steelers coming to philly just shouldn't be the case since the steelers have a history of losing to lesser teams on the road.
is carson wentz tom brady? of course not but lets do some more digging...
you're finally making sense. with that said, so what are your thoughts on brady vs manning now? manning gets hurt for the year, colts go 2-14 and get the #1 overall pick. brady gets hurt, team goes 11-5. brady gets suspended, team goes 3-0 with his back up and rookie 3rd stringer. interesting...
i attribute the Texans loss last night to two things
1)The three turnovers
2)Brock Osweiler sucking
The time of possession had to be ridiculously lopsided last night, Texans D had to be GASSED. Seriously though, if i saw Brock throw another check down last night i was gonna lose my ****, dude is a fraud and stole 36m guaranteed from the Texans.
i always liked manning over brady but its splitting hairs. wilbon was 100% right you can plug anyone into a bill belechick team and it will still win haha
one more pre-game note while I still can! an article on theringer.com:
Wentz is Pro Football Focus’s highest-rated quarterback through two weeks, and he’s reliably making throws that no rookie should be making. These aren’t fluke passes, and Wentz isn’t relying on ball control and defense like Sanchez was. He’s hanging in the pocket, getting drilled, and finding receivers in traffic.
I'm good with it now. Eagles really impressed me (obviously), their mis direction plays (looked like Chips O!) had the steelers head spinning and their defense was up to the task on stopping an offense that was averaging 30. i think the bigger improvement, even moreso than wentz who played great, was the coaching. the eagles gameplan was perfect against the steelers who struggle to stop the screen passes and really any passes to RBs. not sure what schwarz (still a dbag of a person) did to slow down the O but ben played terribly even when he had time and guys open.
wentz played good for a rookie. a LOT of those completions and yards are short throws and runs after the catch. the sproles TD was the dagger. thats what you gotta do with a rookie qb. he didnt throw downfield a ton so id like to see how he does that. but all in all a pretty flawless game for what they asked him to do. hes real smart too.
the eagles were good but I really havent seen the steelers play that bad in years. 28 rushing yards probably had a lot to do with the eagles D but the missed throws, the drops (ughhhh) and missed tackles (ughhhhhh) and injuries (ughhhhhhhhhh) werent due to anything the eagles showed that they hadnt seen before. 9 times out of 10 those guys make most of those plays which changes the game especially early on.
so good win. it was an out of conference game so im not stressing the loss, not like anyone goes undefeated. i wish the jags would have pulled it off vs the ravens. that hurt too. we get bell back this week and it will be a whole different team come chiefs next sunday night.
i guarentee, thou, if these guys played again it would be a much different ball game.
feel free to gloat, im sure you have had a post saved up for hours haha.
i expected this to be a close game with the eagles hopefully having a chance to pull it out at the end, but in no way did I (or anyone) expect this outcome. through 3 games this is the best the eagles have looked since their 2004 super bowl run team. obviously everyone assumed the eagles were winning because they played the browns and the bears but still, the eagles were killing those teams which showed to me that this is a good team regardless of the opponent unlike a team like the ravens winning by 1 at the last second vs these scrub teams. now on to sunday...
the eagles game plan was flawless, they completely shut down the run which made the steelers one dimensional and then as I said last week this dline is really good so they were able to get pressure just by rushing the front 4 and allowing 7 guys in coverage to limit the big play which was the #1 thing I was concerned about. once the eagles got a 10 point lead that made the steelers even more 1 dimensional and then that 430pm crowd took over and the game got out of hand. I agree with a lot of what you said, while the eagles did play great it helped that the steelers, esp wheaton, had big drops, big ben missed the TE on a play that was wide open and probably would have scored, a blocked FG and even the injuries, etc all played a role in the score.
as you guys know I am/was a huge chip Kelly fan, but after seeing how they are playing now I think I have to admit I was wrong about chip. I still think with the right guys his offense can be really good (as a fact he had back to back top 5 offenses his first two seasons) but what kills them is that it wears down the D. eagles were dead last on D in plays played and time of possession and now they are 1st in both and it really shows. the D just gets too tired after to go out there every 2 minutes, and chip had way too many 3 and outs which takes off about 30 seconds and doesn't give them any time to rest. what Schwartz has done so far is amazing. eagles gave up almost 40 passing TDs last year which was their worst in their history and through 3 games they have given up ZERO passing tds. this is like the seattle/giants teams that won SB's, if you can get consistent pressure with your front 4 it allows you to drop 7 in coverage and its hard to move down the field like that. I also LOVE doug pedersons offense. he is creative with his play calls and is always finding ways to get guys in 1 on 1 matchups that favors them such as when DGB should have had a td as well that was dropped. but the key this game was the screens. the eagles expected the steelers to blitz wentz a lot so they had a lot of screens set up for this game, and it helped that they didn't run that many (if any) in the previous 2 weeks so the steelers had no film on how to defend it or signs it was coming.
through 3 games obviously I am extremely happy with how they are playing and am praying they can keep it up. so far no major injuries but the lane Johnson suspension is still coming. hopefully they can manage that and keep the D going as it has been. wentz is the real deal so as long as he can protect the ball, and more importantly himself, I see the eagles being good this season and competing for the division all the way to the last game of the season and we will see what happens from there!
"SB Nation's Thomas George reports Odell Beckham "could be suspended by the team for at least one game, maybe two" if he has "another meltdown" in Week 5."
im tired of it, all honestly. Personally I love the passion, it's not about "Get me the ball" or any of that nonsense it's just pure drive and emotion from the game. The locker room loves him, keep on keepin on odell im all for it.
I'm sure you guys have heard rating for the nfl have been dropping for the first time in forever. obviously football is not going to go away anytime soon, but should we be concerned about this at all? I have heard theories like its an election year and people are into that, the games haven't been good, and even things like the whole kapernick/nation anthem issue has turned people away.
cord cutters (ppl getting rid of cable) + terrible refereeing + little parity + getting fined for celebrating + the dislike for goodell = low ratings. its not rocket science, the nfl has the worse product its had in a long time, maybe ever. i would never stop watching but the rule changes and the serious disconsideration for what the fans actually want, like making the offense earn its points rather than bailing them out with weak penalties, its obviously making people care less.
i love my steelers more than ever but i really havent cared a lick for fantasy this year. honeslty i dont want to watch blaine gabbert vs. drew stanton on a thursday night because i have a fantasy player going. i watched like one quarter last night.
and thats another problem. do we really need games thursday night, sunday morning (london), sunday at 1, sunday at 4, sunday night and monday night? its too much. id much rather watch key plays from two additional 1/4 PM games on redzone than suffer thru that garbage last night.
mark cuban was so right, the NFL is getting too big for itself. they dont give a **** about the fans they only care about maximizing revenue at their expense. ppl are starting to realize that.
I agree with most of it, esp the too much football part. that was what made football so great, your team played 1 game per week and that's what you looked forward to. now its these weak ass Thursday night games which are almost always terrible and then sunday from 1-730pm with an hour break and then the night game. by sunday night I'm usually not even in the mood to watch anymore and I've barley watched any of the night game this year.
as you said again, I also think people are sick of goodell messing with all the rules. safety issues are one thing and I get they needed to change it with the hits to the head, but too much celebrating? COME ON NOW. you have twitter which is built for a quick 15 second celebration to go viral and yet the nfl cant decide if it wants to promote it or get rid of it because they are doing both.
football will always be a great game to watch and one that Ive watched for over 20 years and plan on another 20, so my only hope is that Goodell goes away somehow and they bring in a more fan friendly commish (like adam silver did for the NBA) and they stop over saturating the market (like with the 930am time slot/ 2 more games/ more playoff spots, etc) and doing things to stop making the nfl fun and what the fans like about it.
michael rappaport and bill simmons had a great convo about this. football is entertainment. its a PRODUCTION. they are taking away a lot of things fans enjoy about the game. entertaining things. and replacing them with more watered down, repetitive mush. on the samre show doug baldwin treaded around some of the issues that players feel in the NFL. of course hes not gonna air them out but he was clear that the players, along with the fans, have a lot of issues with the NFL right now.
goodell is the biggest problem. i think the owners are quietly pulling the strings to increase their revenue and are a large part of it as well. as long as its making money things arent gonna change.
im not saying they would fix todays NFL and the ratings but chad johnson, Randy moss, TO, guys like that were good for the game. players arent allowed to be like that anymore. even AB cant do harmless things like wear cleats with his kids painted on them or twerk when he scores a Td.
man Mondays suck after a loss! I don't want to go on espn.com, don't want to talk to anyone at work, can't talk sh*t SMH, what am I supposed to do all day, actually work?!? gonna be a rough day. with that said...
what a bad way to lose, I do see some positives but first let me complain. I am not one to bitch at the refs and say they cost the eagles the game but jesus that was the most one sided called game I have seen in awhile. eagles had 14 penalties for about 120 yards vs the lions 2 for 20 yards. I'm not saying the eagles were perfect but come on, there should never be a game where one team has over 10 less penalties and 100 less yards, and coming into the game the lions were one of the most penalized teams in the NFL so what did they have a perfect game all of a sudden? there was even a stat that since 2000 only .5% of the games (20 out of over 4,000) had a penalty differential of 12 or more. so glad we are on the losing end of something that happens .5% of the time SMH. even with that happened, THE EAGLES STILL SHOULD HAVE WON. they had the damn ball at the 40 something and running out the clock and here comes ryan Mathews to cough the game away. so frustrating to lose like that, but every team in the nfl loses and stupid **** happens so hopefully this doesn't come back to bite us.
now the good news. wentz once again looked great. I know he made a horrible decision at the end to throw that deep ball which was picked off, but the whole game he was great and was the #1 reason why we even had a chance at the end to win. the eagles started running a bit of the read option which led to a few decent plays and first downs and that is going to add to the playbook even more. this was the first time wentz was down double digits (or at all) and he came back multiples times to take the lead which shows to me the eagles are always going to be in the game with him under center. the defense was horrible in the 1st half but great in the 2nd and once again no major injuries as of yet (although the lane Johnson potential suspension could be huge). luckily this was a non division game, but with the skins coming up it is going to be a huge game esp considering that dallas is a lot better than I thought so the division race is going to be tight. hopefully they bounce back next week cuz I cant take another sunday/Monday like this!
didnt watch any of the eagles game so cant comment on the calls. its not like they were going undefeated so dont stress too much about one loss. i didnt and look at the steelers now, 4-1 and firing on all cylinders. in fact, i think the eagles beatdown was exactly what they needed to avoid those kinds of let downs in division or conference games.
we get the phins this weekend then what might be the game of the year so far 5-1 steelers vs 5-1 patriots.
on a side note, the steelers bar quickly turned their attention to the skins-ravens game. my goodness the ravens are bad. they had a 20 point comeback on the browns then BARELY beat the jags before losing to oak (good team) and the skins. no way they should be 3-2 but even so they dont look like theyre going anywhere. not surprised at all they fired trestman.
i watched the debate last night so didnt see much of the night game but i saw ODB kissed and made up with the kicking net haha
yeah the ravens are not good. I thought they would be better this year because they had so many close losses and a ton of injuries and they are normally a very tough team to beat esp at home but they have not been impressive. they barley beat the bills when the bills were really struggling and like you said the browns/jags wins were nothing special. their running game is getting better with west but still nothing special and what do you know flacco is not an elite qb so they aren't putting up good numbers at all. they will be a 7-9 or 8-8 team this year.
fish how confident are you about the iggles this weekend?
i wish i used pats over the browns in survivor last week so i could do steelers > phins this week. most of the games are real tough this week. other options:
I'm going Steelers > Phins myself this week, after that..... Ugh, I wouldnt touch the titans browns game, i feel like the browns are due for a win, same with the Jets actually, bengals might be out for blood after getting pooted on by the Cowboys..... So, ugh, Bills it is
if Jordan reed is out then I am very confident in philly this week. I think they are the better team however the skins have beaten us 3 in a row and it is wentz's first division game, but I like what I have seen from him and cousins does not scare me esp without reed.
here we go again, big ben breaking his own injury news from his bedroom while in recovery! once again, can't let the team handle it, he's gotta broaden the recover time (4-6 weeks) only to come back in probably 2 and make it seem like he rushed back early to save his team! happens every year...
no idea what you are talking about. yesterday there was news that he cut his finger cooking dinner or making soup or something like that but he's fine. is that what you're referring to?
yeah "cut his finger cutting carrots" *air quotes* like brandon marshall "slipped on a mcdonalds bag" or darren mcfadden "dropped his phone and broke his arm"
lets go knile davis!! the fantasy comeback starts this week