2020 NFL Season

[BBTV]

10 minutes ago, DG_ThenNowForever said:

The Patriots won 18 out of 20 division titles because the AFC East was garbage, and then they scooted directly to AFC CGs year over year. I'm very familiar with division imbalance. But I also know that for every season the Seahawks need to go 12-4 or 13-3 to win the division, they also backdoor themselves into hosting a 7-9 home playoff game.

 

If the NFL adds your rule, so be it. I'll still watch. But at the same time, I think it's an overcorrection based on a historically bad year for the NFC East. It's the first year of Ron RIveria, Dallas was decimated by injuries, Philly didn't realize who its QB should be until too late, and the Giants are in the midst of a ten-year tailspin. Not all of those conditions will repeat themselves next year.

 

You say that as if you'll still watch, but reluctantly.  My plan does absolutely nothing except incentivize all bad teams to play hard all through the end.  The on-field product can only be improved - or at worst, stay the same.  

 

It unquestionably makes things more fair.

[ninersdd]

This is a serious derp fest between Cowboys-Giants.

[Dalcowboyfan92]

You're supposed to learn from past mistakes, not repeat them.

[DG_ThenNowForever]

9 minutes ago, BBTV said:

 

You say that as if you'll still watch, but reluctantly.  My plan does absolutely nothing except incentivize all bad teams to play hard all through the end.  The on-field product can only be improved - or at worst, stay the same.  

 

It unquestionably makes things more fair.

 

Yeah, I see what you're saying. But I still think it's an overcorrection. And an extra-third round pick is way too high a gift for a team that, say, went 10-6 and lost out on the playoffs because of their division. Or, while you lock the draft standings after week 16, you put some teams in the position of determining whether it's better to win and get blown out in round one of the playoffs, or lose and get an extra draft pick.

[Lights Out]

All this talk of rules changes seems like a major overreaction. Divisions are going to suck sometimes, it is what it is.

 

The last time a division sucked this badly (the 2014 NFC South), its champion won a playoff game, then went 15-1 and made it to the Super Bowl the following year. When the NFC West sucked this badly in 2010, its champion also won a playoff game, and within two years, the NFC West was home to two of the best teams in football. The marginally less awful 2011 AFC West had a similar story - the division champion Broncos won a playoff game at 8-8, then signed Peyton and became perennial title contenders until he retired. The league didn't trip all over themselves to create convoluted new rules, they just let teams get better organically. There's no reason for them to overreact to the NFC East now.

 

People who always want to rewrite the rulebook whenever they don't like the outcome of a season should look at NASCAR to see a cautionary tale of what happens when a league changes its rules too many times.

[BBTV]

1 hour ago, DG_ThenNowForever said:

 

Yeah, I see what you're saying. But I still think it's an overcorrection. And an extra-third round pick is way too high a gift for a team that, say, went 10-6 and lost out on the playoffs because of their division. Or, while you lock the draft standings after week 16, you put some teams in the position of determining whether it's better to win and get blown out in round one of the playoffs, or lose and get an extra draft pick.

 

Its just the draft standings for non-playoff teams.  For playoff teams, it would remain the same as today - all games, including week 17 would count.  So the scenario of a team deciding to lose and get an extra draft pick would be extremely difficult.  A team would need to tank an elimination game in week 16 and know that they would win their week 17 game.  I can't imagine any team that's close to a playoff spot tanking a week 16 game.

 

 

1 hour ago, Lights Out said:

All this talk of rules changes seems like a major overreaction. Divisions are going to suck sometimes, it is what it is.

 

The last time a division sucked this badly (the 2014 NFC South), its champion won a playoff game, then went 15-1 and made it to the Super Bowl the following year. When the NFC West sucked this badly in 2010, its champion also won a playoff game, and within two years, the NFC West was home to two of the best teams in football. The marginally less awful 2011 AFC West had a similar story - the division champion Broncos won a playoff game at 8-8, then signed Peyton and became perennial title contenders until he retired. The league didn't trip all over themselves to create convoluted new rules, they just let teams get better organically. There's no reason for them to overreact to the NFC East now.

 

People who always want to rewrite the rulebook whenever they don't like the outcome of a season should look at NASCAR to see a cautionary tale of what happens when a league changes its rules too many times.

 

NASCAR is irrelevant, as is the relative strength of the division.

 

It'd be the same if going into this week, DAL was 10-5, NYG was 10-5 (each with tiebreakers over WFT), and WFT was 11-4.  WFT automatically gets that 12th win without really needing to play, so it rendered DAL's and NYG's effort moot, because WFT only really had to play 15 games vs their 16.  

 

Now, watch the Eagles 3rd string beat the WFT, because that's the worst case scenario for them so of course it'll happen.

[See Red]

7 hours ago, tBBP said:

 

I've mentioned this to several Jags fans down there: Trevor Lawrence ain't saving that franchise. No hotshot QB is going to save that franchise. In fact, this type of thinking needs to eradicate itself from the ranks of NFL team execs like now.

 

I think the last surefire first-round QB who actually managed to lead his team to some sustainable success was Andrew Luck...and that was coming off the heels of Peyton Manning. And we saw what happened to him, same as what just happened to promising young Joe Burrow, and its the same thing that's gonna keep happening to these bajillion-dollar hotshot investments until team brass figures out that the games are won in the trenches, and start valuing those trench positions more than they do, i.e. actually investing in their O-linemen, you know, to protect those bajillion-dollar hotshot investments. But what do I know...I'm just some random trucker dude who sees things from afar. 

 

Oh and, of course, to only further prove how Jville continues to spin its wheels and thus not go anywhere: Urban Meyer is apparently reported to be named as the next Jaguars coach.  Lots of Jaguars fans down in FL are pretty excited about this; I am not (nor am I in FL). I just don't see this working out long-term, if at all, probably because I remember the reasons he left both Florida and Ohio State...this is the NFL, it ain't college; there's a whole different level of pressure there. But who knows; maybe time away from the game has rejuvenated him for three or four more years. 

 

I'd guess the pressure to succeed at Florida and Ohio State is considerably greater than the pressure to coach the Jacksonville Jaguars.

[Sport]

You're still trying to solve a non problem. 

[GDAWG]

Buffalo Bills, Green Bay Packers and Kansas City Chiefs: "We have had QBs in our history to throw for 4,000 yards and this year adds to that."

 

Chicago Bears: "A 4,000 yard QB?  What's that?  Never heard of it!"

[DG_ThenNowForever]

21 minutes ago, BBTV said:

 

Its just the draft standings for non-playoff teams.  For playoff teams, it would remain the same as today - all games, including week 17 would count.  So the scenario of a team deciding to lose and get an extra draft pick would be extremely difficult.  A team would need to tank an elimination game in week 16 and know that they would win their week 17 game.  I can't imagine any team that's close to a playoff spot tanking a week 16 game.

 

But what would you do about teams like Miami today? They weren't a non-playoff team in week 16, but they are now. Do they get a bonus pick for losing? And even still, a third-round pick is a huge asset. Maybe you just force starters to site in week 15 instead of 16 because there's still the same motivation -- picking up an impact player might be better than getting blown out in the round 1.

[habsfan1]

 

 

[BBTV]

15 minutes ago, DG_ThenNowForever said:

 

But what would you do about teams like Miami today? They weren't a non-playoff team in week 16, but they are now. Do they get a bonus pick for losing? And even still, a third-round pick is a huge asset. Maybe you just force starters to site in week 15 instead of 16 because there's still the same motivation -- picking up an impact player might be better than getting blown out in the round 1.

 

Why would they get a bonus pick for losing?  Since their playoff spot was on the line, they had to win, and they didn't.  So their draft position reverts back to the week 16 (regardless of whether they were a playoff team at the time or not.  It's just the 'freeze' week.)  Basically, the neither the Jets nor Jags would have any incentive to lose this week (turned out neither did anyway), and the Eagles would be playing to win.

 

I think the nature of the NFL is such that every team wants to make the playoffs rather than not.  It's not like the NBA, where sub-500 teams with no real chance routinely make it as 8 seeds and get crushed in best of 7.  NFL is one-and-done, and I just don't think anyone would tank a week 15 game.

 

Your point of the 3rd-round pick being too much - maybe.  It's really a 4th round since the picks would be like the compensatory ones that go after the 3rd round is done, but it's debatable and just a number I threw out there.  It could be a 4th too.  I think it's fair to "help" non-playoff teams with an extra pick in addition to their better position.

[Ridleylash]

Good job Bears, you get the honor of being slaughtered in the playoffs and nothing changing as a result of making the postseason.

[AustinFromBoston]

Poor Bears, falling upwards so nothing gets fixed. 

 

That Tennessee - Houston game also reminded me that Deshaun Watson is probably the most egregious waste of talent since Andrew Luck. 

Nice to see Titans pull out the win for the division, But don't think they'll make it as far last year. Not with that defense. 

[habsfan1]

Almost like Cody Parkey.

 

Only this time, it went through where it should, so the kick was good. That was close.

 

 

[BBTV]

So the Eagles tank job tonight is for the difference between a #6 pick and #9.  I'm not sure if 3 spots is worth humiliating yourselves on national television for, but here we are.  Washington has been irrelevant for so long that I don't even consider them a rival, so I'm fine with helping them out if the alternative is the Giants.

;

[rams80]

9 hours ago, dont care said:

1st overall draft picks make less than 9 million a year. It’s fairly small when you see teams paying that much for their backups. It’s worth the risk to get some energy into a franchise and build the team around them in the time before they need to give him another contract. Also it’s not like they don’t have the draft capital or salary cap room to build a team around them.

 

Yeah, 1st Round QBs on rookie contracts are cheat codes.  The thing that more teams need to do though is that they should be treated as the league's version of the Putty Patrol and dumped the moment their contract expires (unless you blundered into a legit unicorn QB).

[rams80]

55 minutes ago, habsfan1 said:

Almost like Cody Parkey.

 

Only this time, it went through where it should, so the kick was good. That was close.

 

 

His first attempt this year bonked out on the uprights.

[BBTV]

3 minutes ago, rams80 said:

 

Yeah, 1st Round QBs on rookie contracts are cheat codes.  The thing that more teams need to do though is that they should be treated as the league's version of the Putty Patrol and dumped the moment their contract expires (unless you blundered into a legit unicorn QB).

 

Totally.  Unless you're sure your guy is THE GUY, just get another one.  You either have an elite QB or you don't, and if you don't, why pay for one?    The Eagles paid Wentz a year before they needed to because they thought at the time that he was elite and that they were smarter than everyone and would pay him before Dak and some other guys set the bar at a whole other higher level.   Then their unicorn became a donkey, and now he's actually going to write them a check to get rid of him.

[DCarp1231]

Yeah, Philadelphia sure is tanking this game, aren’t they?