2021 NFL Season - Adults Arguing About Matt Stafford

[See Red]

9 minutes ago, Cujo said:

I did not have 'Brain Flores Fired' anywhere near my Black Monday prediction sheet. Perhaps the Dolphins already have a replacement in mind? Someone currently residing in the state in Michigan?

 

Anyhow, yet another Belichick assistant bites the dust

 

Darlington says they're not targeting Harbaugh. I also think Ross said he won't be the one to pull Harbaugh from Michigan. 

[infrared41]

38 minutes ago, See Red said:

I don't understand the criticism of the timeout.  It was with four seconds left on the playclock and less than 40 left on the game clock. It had zero impact on the actual clock situation.  The Raiders would have run a play with 34 or more seconds left on the clock regardless and, given the Chargers porous run defense, probably would have had the same result.  People are acting like the clock would have run down to zero if not for the timeout.

 

Letting the clock run down under 40 and taking a timeout was the obvious decision.

 

You're right. At that point, the Chargers were playing for the tie - which was their only viable option. They had to put their best run defense on the field to try to keep the Raiders from getting into better FG range. We criticized the decision because we wanted to watch the world burn. It's what this place does.

[Sport]

53 minutes ago, See Red said:

I don't understand the criticism of the timeout.  It was with four seconds left on the playclock and less than 40 left on the game clock. It had zero impact on the actual clock situation.  The Raiders would have run a play with 34 or more seconds left on the clock regardless and, given the Chargers porous run defense, probably would have had the same result.  People are acting like the clock would have run down to zero if not for the timeout.

 

Letting the clock run down under 40 and taking a timeout was the obvious decision.

 

Blame for me is 77% on the Chargers defense knowing full well the Raiders were going to run the ball on 3rd and 4 and still giving up 10 yards, but the other 23% is the timeout and my criticism with the TO is that the Raiders looked content to let it run down, Derek Carr basically confirmed as much after the game, and that felt obvious to me in the moment. The timeout gave the Raiders extra time to think about it, and then the Chargers blew their defense coming out with only 10 guys. I think Staley outsmarted himself because he wanted to be in control of the ball at the end, which is the Prisoner's Dilemma playing out right there on that one play. It was a matter of who was going to blink first. The Raiders looked like they were gonna help the Chargers until that point and then the Raiders said "alright, you wanna do that? We were gonna be cool, but we'll  take 10 yards here too. No skin off our d***s."

[tBBP]

Hey um, in light of the recent raging over the Tie That Should Have Been But Didn't, how about we redirect blame where it should lie--not on Brandon Staley or the Raiders but on John Harbaugh and the rest of his Ravens, for taking their collective foot off the [paper] tiger's neck and letting them win in overtime. They take care of business, we're not sitting here fuming over the Big Ben Swan Song playing another week.

[DG_ThenNowForever]

15 minutes ago, Sport said:

 

I think Staley outsmarted himself because he wanted to be in control of the ball at the end, which is the Prisoner's Dilemma playing out right there on that one play. It was a matter of who was going to blink first. The Raiders looked like they were gonna help the Chargers until that point and then the Raiders said "alright, you wanna do that? We were gonna be cool, but we'll  take 10 yards here too. No skin off our d***s."

 

I think that's exactly right. Staley went for the very low-percentage win, when the at-the-moment high-percentage tie would have worked out great for both teams. The Raiders were playing along, up until the Chargers didn't.

 

The smartest boy in the room outsmarted himself, and now his players hate him (presumably).

[Luigi74]

36 minutes ago, Sport said:

 

Blame for me is 77% on the Chargers defense knowing full well the Raiders were going to run the ball on 3rd and 4 and still giving up 10 yards, but the other 23% is the timeout and my criticism with the TO is that the Raiders looked content to let it run down, Derek Carr basically confirmed as much after the game, and that felt obvious to me in the moment. The timeout gave the Raiders extra time to think about it, and then the Chargers blew their defense coming out with only 10 guys. I think Staley outsmarted himself because he wanted to be in control of the ball at the end, which is the Prisoner's Dilemma playing out right there on that one play. It was a matter of who was going to blink first. The Raiders looked like they were gonna help the Chargers until that point and then the Raiders said "alright, you wanna do that? We were gonna be cool, but we'll  take 10 yards here too. No skin off our d***s."

I think Carr saying the Raiders were going to let the clock run down is just him and the Raiders sticking it to their division rival Chargers. They were in the shotgun so it's doubtful they'd risk a bad snap if Carr  was going to take a knee, he'd be under center if that was the plan. Had they not picked up a yard their FG attempt would be 56 yards, I bet the Raiders attempt that kick, their in a dome so it's highly unlikely the kick is short and returned, plus the fear of a block returned for a TD is pretty much the same at the distance they ended up kicking at.

[heavybass]

The Bears killed all the cancerous elements in the organisation... coach, gm and president

[DG_ThenNowForever]

Maybe some team can hire Flores, but only for the second half of seasons. He seems to be terrible at starting off, but excellent and working to dig his team out of a hole.

[Red Comet]

2 hours ago, tBBP said:

 

Now let's see if they actually do anything with it. Even with King Henry coming back, I just don't know how much faith I have in them, especially after yesterday--and considering, provided I read the bracket right, they play the winner between KC & Pittsburgh (ugh) in the second round, I don't know. The Snatit match up well with KC, but I don't know what it is with them against Pittsburgh; they just seem to fold up and roll over. (Actually, I think I do know what it is, but that's a separate post.)

 

 

Actually, the team with the lowest remaining seed who advances to the divisional round determines your opponent. The only teams you would not possibly face in the first round are Kansas City and Buffalo. Aside from that, all bets are off. 
 

[See Red]

1 hour ago, DG_ThenNowForever said:

 

I think that's exactly right. Staley went for the very low-percentage win, when the at-the-moment high-percentage tie would have worked out great for both teams. The Raiders were playing along, up until the Chargers didn't.

 

The smartest boy in the room outsmarted himself, and now his players hate him (presumably).

 

The Chargers didn't not play along, though. They let the clock run down to where LV could still run the clock down after the third down play. They called a timeout a few seconds before the Raiders would've had to snap the ball.

 

The Chargers only chance at that point was a tie, so they called a timeout to put themselves in the best position to stop the Raiders on the next play.  It didn't work. 

 

Do you think if Chargers didn't call a timeout and the Raiders snapped the ball two seconds later and still picked up ten yards that the Raiders wouldn't have kicked the FG?

 

No offense to the Bengals since they're who I want to win the SB, but the difference between a tie and win for the Raiders is playing the Chiefs (tie) or the Bengals (win). The Raiders were always going to conservatively go for the win. 

[FiddySicks]

1 hour ago, DG_ThenNowForever said:

Maybe some team can hire Flores, but only for the second half of seasons. He seems to be terrible at starting off, but excellent and working to dig his team out of a hole.

His overall record was 24-25, just a game under .500. His record in games played after Halloween? 20-8. That’s rather astonishing. 

[CaliforniaGlowin]

NFCW vs AFCW next season!!!! OMG

 

Seahawks play in LA twice!!!

 

 

 

[LMU]

Claiming you needed a timeout to get your best run defenders on the field, somehow being completely caught flat footed in a situation where it was blatantly obvious that a run was coming and when your only hope was bleeding clock, is next level Galaxy brain.

[DG_ThenNowForever]

7 minutes ago, FiddySicks said:

His overall record was 24-25, just a game under .500. His record in games played after Halloween? 20-8. That’s rather astonishing. 

 

I didn't realize the #s were the stark. There's something to be said about being a second-half coach. There's also something to be said about consistently slow starts. I wonder if it's Flores' coaching style, coincidence, or something else.

[See Red]

The Dolphins were 9-1 8-1 after the trade deadline, I believe, which is when any talk of trading for Deshaun Watson ended.  I don't know where Flores stood on Watson but that's a big distraction hanging over the team.

 

I hope the Broncos go after him. The NFL coaching carousel tends to be pretty depressing with all the retreads and unproven guys but I'd actually be excited for that move. 

[Rockstar Matt]

7 hours ago, BBTV said:

So basically the teams that win by the most points are really good.  Great work.

 

Yes, but I wanted to illustrate that having a good record does not mean you'll have a good point differential either and vice versa. Teams with the best point differential aren't always the teams with the best record or playoff seeding. Sometimes teams with really good PD don't make the playoffs at all (2010 Chargers +119 and 2019 Cowboys +113) and sometimes teams with poor PD win the Super Bowl (2011 Giants).

 

However, more importantly, I wanted to show how point differential is a better indicator of who's going to make it and win a Super Bowl as compared to win-loss standings and playoff seeding, which is inherently random. 

[infrared41]

Fun fact. The Chargers have had the following QBs.

• Dan Fouts - Hall of Famer
• Drew Brees - Going to be a Hall of Famer
• Phillip Rivers - Probably a Hall of Famer
• Justin Herbert - The jury is still out, but he sure looks like he's going to be really good.

The QB that led them to their one Super Bowl appearance? The immortal Stan Humphries. I don't know what that says about the franchise, but I'm pretty sure it says something.

[Rockstar Matt]

6 hours ago, oldschoolvikings said:

 

I can say with complete certainty that the Superbowl will not be Dallas over Green Bay.

 

That's what I deserve for changing my pick last minute from Buffalo to Dallas while being exhausted.

 

Quote

Hey, does point differential still count if all your points come against the NFC east? I have also done a ton of research, and I've discovered that the Cowboys' coach is, in fact, Mike McCarthy, so...

 

Yes, point differential does not care who the opponent was. Also, the last time a McCarthy-coached team had a PD this good, they won a Super Bowl and went 15-1 the following year..

 

It's still the Cowboys, the perennial over-hyped playoff chokers, so I'm half expecting them to lose the Niners because that's the kind of thing they do. 

[OnWis97]

Packers vs. the Field. I'll take the Packers.

[Alex Houston]

I'm usually not this partisan but I'm so annoyed the Steelers backed into the playoffs and everyone is lauding Big Ben as this talented, righteous dude where we forget about his dicey past. I'm usually not this crass but man, I hope the Chiefs just whip his bloated corpse up and down the field Sunday night.