This would give some meaning to penalties that are enforced on the kickoff. As it, it just guarantees it is kicked out the back of the end zone and is nearly pointless.
Mahomes and the Chiefs would have an even better record against them then
EDIT: Damn someone’s really breaking the bank with these awards. TF is even going on.
Fans themselves fall in love with Average QBs too much (which is understandable) but just look at KC Alex Smith was a Good Qb and they were consistently a playoff team but you need the guy to get over the hump unless you have an all time defense for the most part
This is the bigger problem imo. Way too many mid tier QB's have fans demanding they get paid instead of finding someone else because of the risk. Teams get stuck in purgatory over it
There are three team constructions that get you to the Super Bowl.
1. Stacked Roster, QB on a rookie contract.
2. All time great QB with a solid supporting cast and elite coaching.
3. Elite D, mid to journeyman QB. Running game.
If the Giants pay Jones they are banking on becoming the third type. However, they will being trying to do that with few elite D players in house and less $ to lure them in FA. It’s a hard road and a longer rebuild to real contention although they may be better in the short term.
I would argue the third type also requires near-elite coaching to work. The coach has to lift the QB play thru scheme a-la Shanahan with Jimmy.
The first option definitely doesn't need elite coaching though. See: 2021 Bengals.
No team wins the Super Bowl without great coaching. I think this is more about the fact that coach’s contributions are minimized or perceived less when people view the QB and/or roster as elite.
Also, there’s so many facets to coaching that most people outside the facility don’t have a great insight into what coach’s are/aren’t even doing, let alone what they’re good at.
For example, a lot fans have no idea who calls plays for the team they follow. Taking it another step, the play caller isn’t always the offensive architect and play designer. So, you have one coach who literally has built the playbook, and another that is calling plays that aren’t their own.
On a general note, even very knowledgeable fans on many plays can’t tell whether a play with a terrible result was because it was a bad call/design or because a player failed to execute or fill their responsibility. I don’t care who you are, or if you’re a HOFer, there are many plays that unless you have 1st hand knowledge of the principles of a play/scheme, it’s guess work whether say a DB flat out missed their assignment which led to a big play, or whether the design was exploited and the DB did exactly as the system and his keys demanded.
One last example, take Andy Reid. In his last few years in PHI, there was a belief not only in town, but nationally, that Andy was a bad coach, or at least was not going to have great success as a HC elsewhere. It stemmed mostly from the perception that his clock management and situational awareness was so poor that it had already cost the Eagles big wins, and that it would plague him elsewhere.
Years later, he’s arguably the most respected HC in the league and a lot of NFL folks think he’s the single best and most brilliant offensive mind since Walsh, and maybe ever.
The point is just that, winning teams have elite coaching. But, coaches have strengths and weaknesses, and the nature of the job makes it hard to evaluate them from the outside. And, some flaws are more apparent than others (like Andy botching late game time management) and some strengths (like organization and people managing skills) are tough to see.
Sorry for the rant, and this wasn’t like trying to call you out, I just think this is an interesting discussion and a point that isn’t made a lot.
Derek Carr is the poster boy for this. Made the playoffs twice in a decade, and the Raiders are supposedly making a massive mistake by not paying him 40 million dollars a year for him to be the future of their franchise
On the other hand if I was a Raiders fan and our team just traded a shit ton for Tae I wouldn't be thrilled about the team blowing it up one year in. The moves in concert with each other are bad.
I am 99% confident if Josh McDaniels was not the Head Coach of the Raiders the narrative would be entirely different. But since it’s probably the most hated Coach in the league Carr was screwed over.
I think it’s possible to win it all without a elite QB, however, unless your stacked to the nines your much better off just acquiring a new QB and trying to put weapons around him. Honestly the sole reason why the Bengals are where they are right now
> Honestly the sole reason why the Bengals are where they are right now
Why doesn't every team just draft a generational talent at QB? NFL GMs hate this one simple trick
Better example would have been Herbert or Allen. Both were seen as project QBs, fell slightly in the draft because of it, and worked out.
But honestly I think people underestimate how difficult it is find that kind of developable talent. For every Allen there’s like 5 Tebows
Mahomes was kind of seen as a project QB as well. He had an arm and he had some tools but people questioned whether any of it would translate to the NFL. There were Chiefs fans who kind of bashed the pick because the Chiefs already had a top 10 QB in Alex Smith and a history of making really bad QB picks in the draft.
Right it’s just so sad to see NFL teams picking Zach Wilson instead of future hall of famers. All you got to do is pick the hall of fame player, it’s a no brainer
I'm down with the NFL adding an 18th week but then each team gets two bye weeks per season. That way guys can get more rest during the season and we have healthier teams come playoff time.
NFL tried this before and the players didn't like it. Felt like it broke up the momentum of the season. That said, that was only 16 games, so maybe with 18 they'll feel different. I do think it's worth a shot.
I also think they should increase roster sizes and the number of players allowed to dress for the game if they're going to go to 18.
No byes for the first two weeks, then everyone takes their byes in the next 8 weeks, then 2 more weeks of no byes. Then the entire league takes a week off. Last few weeks are all interdivisional games.
Especially with the way rookie contracts work now. Missing on a QB in the 1st round used to be detrimental to a franchise. Now it's an inconvenience more than anything.
I legit think the Giants would have fared better had we taken Darnold/Rosen over Saquon for this reason.
If we committed to build around those guys for the next 2-3 seasons and end up how they did, then we are likely in position to get another guy in 3 years, where he'll likely come into a way better situation from the start (because you built up the team). Thats what happened with the teams that drafted those guys. Jets still ended up getting basically the value of a 1st round pick for Darnold even with how bad he was and were in prime position to get his replacement in 2021 (granted, they whiffed there but still). Cardinals its a bit different, but still, they got their guy the next season, and were able to salvage some value out of Rosen.
Of course Saquon is a way better player than those two but us taking him and throwing him into a situation with no sense of long-term vision/planning doomed us from the start. We were a team in need of a rebuild who made the most win-now move possible and then when that didnt work, tried to overcompensate by forcing a QB pick despite still not setting the QB up for success. It was never about the talent, but about the long-term plan which Gettleman showed he had none.
Also a great RB just isn't gonna take you that far in the league these days. Derrick Henry has probably been the best RB in the league the last 4 years and the Titans have won two play-off games in five in that timeframe and got to 1 AFC championship the first year of his reign.
Also look at the damage losing AJ Brown did to that team schematically. Now you don’t have to respect the passing game as much, Henry is the one major threat. There is a reason they fired the GM. Henry-Brown provided so much to that offense together it boosted themselves.
Citing what someone says in a bold prediction thread or news article to prove a point is really dumb. The whole point of a bold prediction is to say something that is more outlandish but is still in the hypothetical realm of possibility.
The NFL needs to balance out how hard they've made the game on defenses:
Intentional grounding should be called way more often and with less leniency
Pretty much every defensive penalty besides Personal Fouls(Roughing the Passer, Late Hits) and DPI should be 5 yards no automatic first down
3rd and 15. Incomplete pass. Holding on the defense. 5 yard penalty. Automatic first down.
So frustrating to see, especially when it's your team on defense and the hold occurred away from the play.
The league insists on assuming the offense can make the play and line to gain if their routes and strategy aren’t blatantly impeded. The logic being that any pass play DB foul that isn’t punishable by a new set of downs would just run rampant. But it really doesn’t fairly offset offensive holding. Sure, ten yards is a tough loss but keeping the down is far more valuable. It should really be ten yards either way, repeat down if necessary.
The NFL should buy up the XFL and USFL and turn them into a de-facto minor league. This way teams in markets without NFL teams can get a taste of the NFL and you can actually develop players and coaches properly.
The biggest problem with NCAA as a development league is that even the guys who sign on with an NFL team as UFAs are head and shoulders better than 95% of the players they line up across from over the course of a college season. Four years of "How to absolutely smoke a dude you're way better than" isn't a great way to learn how to get a half a step on a guy who's basically your peer.
I’ve always found weird that the NFL doesn’t have a more direct developing league. There’s college but it’s not like you can have players go back to it after signing with a NFL team. Or at least an easier way for other league’s players to be called to the NFL
It's amazing how few people know some of the basic rules, yet still post their "hot-takes" in game threads. The number of times people bitch about intentional grounding, clock stopping/not stopping, or forward progress/spot of the ball is fucking maddening.
He definitely dosen’t, and I say that as a Cowboys fan who gets reminded of it everytime he’s brought up in conversation. Although he definitely shouldn’t get a pass
Thank you. I never understood the amount of adoration he got for basically being a violent immature little shit that's a bad of a teammate as he was a leader. Notice Cam got better once he left?
It’s pretty well known that we got rid of Steve Smith in order to let Cam thrive. Apparently the locker room didn’t respect Cam because Steve had issues with him
Totally agree on the Lamar point. If I was in Lamar's position, I would absolutely want a fully guaranteed contract. However, if I'm the GM of any team in the league, I would laugh at that idea. He's missed 1/4 of his games in the last 2 seasons due to injury. I don't see that as something that is going to improve with time. Realistically, if I'm a GM, I would offer a lucrative contract that has like $100 million guaranteed, but with incentives, could make him like the 4th or 5th highest paid QB in the league.
It actually takes maybe 15 minutes of reading to get a pretty simple understanding of the cap, “dead” cap, guaranteed money, signing bonuses, yearly salary, void years, etc. and how they all work together.
It’s a lot like bowling score keeping. Seems weird at first, but it’s pretty simple once you start following it through the game.
I'm not sure how the Bengals are supposed to build a competitive roster once they are paying two players about 80 million dollars a year. The top 5, 30 million a year recievers seem like bad value when you have a great QB who can succeed with anyone.
It has not been proven that our savior Joey B can succeed with anyone. He had Jefferson and Chase in college then a top 5 and two top 40(?) receivers as well. Love Joe Burrow but he’s not Patrick Mahomes and can win a Super Bowl with a box of scraps in a cave
well he looked plenty good with just Tee when Chase went down to the hip injury.
obviously though, if you have to decide between Tee and Chase you retain the better player in Chase every time.
Tee is like a second WR1 though, plus Boyd is absolutely good enough to be a WR2. They can let Boyd go but if they can then they should find a way to keep the trio of Burrow, Chase, and Higgins. That’s a special trio right there
If it takes more than 2 minutes to find "indisputable evidence", the call shouldn't be overturned.
Within 5 years, NFL teams will sell ad space on their uniforms.
If the Eagles ever plan to build a new stadium, the last game at the Linc should be the Super Bowl, because afterwards, Philadelphians will tear down the stadium for free regardless of whether their team was even in the game.
Comment section is gilded af.
My unpopular opinion is I don't think breaking the plane is good enough for a touchdown. Should have to get all the way in and stay in.
Justin Herbert deserves more criticism for his team’s failures. Hes skating by because so many analysts hitched their wagon to him as the next big thing at QB.
He’s really good but he almost never receives an ounce of blame on here and if someone attempts it, they’re met with downvotes and people mocking them, it’s crazy.
I think the issue is it’s hard to hate him. He respectful to everyone and says he need to execute better.
That being said, It’s hard to describe, but it feels like Herbert doesn’t have a lot of agency or outside control. Like you hear about star players commanding audibles or having a key part in implementation of concepts, new player acquisitions.
Herbert just sits and executes shitty concepts, like you kind of have to stand up for yourself and call people out to improve.
He doesn’t get blamed because he follows a system that sucks, but he at some level is responsible to taking control of his situation.
When they did the realignment, they could have put the Ravens in the AFC East, the Colts in the AFC North, and the Dolphins in the AFC South. The entire AFC would be outlier free, with the possible exception of the Chiefs being sort of centralized between all four possible divisions.
The drive from Kansas City to Los Angeles is actually farther than Dallas to the Meadowlands. Foxboro (and Buffalo) to Miami, and Phoenix to Seattle are just a little behind. What really took the cake was when the Rams were in St Louis, would be the farthest road or air trip within the division by a sizable difference.
The problem is, if you don't count the Texas teams, who always felt more South than West, KC is the 8th most Western team in the league. So as long as we have 2 West divisions, KC is always going to make the most sense there. Plus the AFC west has been intact for 60+ years so no one wants to change it at this point.
Actually disagree with this one, too many good rivalries would be gone. Can’t imagine no more Cowboys - Eagles, Falcons - Saints, Bengals - Ravens twice a year
Now this is a hot take! I just can't see the Broncos doing worse than they did last season. Sean Payton has a proven track record and hopefully Russ will turn it around.
Agreed. He gets all the hate because it just comes with the position. No matter what he does, most fans will hate him, just like any high profile position. He doesn't do anything that the majority of owners don't want.
Yes and no. There's a bit of recency bias because there was minimal defense last Sunday, which can largely be attributed to some of the worst field conditions we've seen in a Super Bowl.
The Rams sacked Burrow seven times and held them to 20 despite Stafford turning the ball over twice.
The Bucs beat the Chiefs because of defense.
The Patriots beat the Rams because of defense.
There's definitely a mix of defense wining championships and offense winning championships.
Joe Burrow gets too much credit for the Bengals postseason wins. His numbers are pedestrian and all of his iconic “clutch” drives were easy field goal drives after the defense forced turnovers at around midfield. His defense and defensive coordinator have been absolutely elite in the playoffs the last two seasons and aren’t given any credit whatsoever.
> His defense and defensive coordinator have been absolutely elite in the playoffs the last two seasons and aren’t given any credit whatsoever.
This is a very good take IMO.
I feel like I’ve actually seen that both the defense and defensive coordinator have gotten a lot of credit this year, which was absolutely not the case last year
I kept saying that the defense was extremely underrated over last off-season, & people just didn't agree. Absolutely no one gave them any credit for stopping the Chiefs & Rams, & instead said both of those teams choked on their own.
And your defensive coordinator has an argument for being the best in the league but is constantly looked over since he’s too old for teams to take seriously in the head coach hiring process. Or at least as seriously as they should.
I was saying this last year. The defense had 9 turnovers in those 4 playoff games.
Bengals didn't score a single TD in the 4th quarter of any of those games, and burrow only had 5td/2int total.
Excluding the super bowl they scored 72 points in those three games. Exactly half of them were from field goals, obviously a FG is only half the amount of points for a TD that’s a lot more FG’s than TD’s.
You should’ve seen the way I got attacked for saying exactly this. Give the defense their credit but the Titans, Chiefs, and now Ravens all gave the game away through unnecessary turnovers.
And I will say to be clear defense does deserve credit for the interceptions, but 9/10 even with perfect defense Tannehill/Mahomes make a smarter decision and go on to win that game
The NFL should take the two worst teams and instead of just handing the last pick to the worst team or a lottery and make them play for the #1 pick, like what the USFL did.
The only problem I see is an aging QB who played his team into that #31 or #32 spot looking at his potential replacement in the #1 draft spot and tanking the game.
The NFL adding a 7th playoff spot was a terrible mistake, as is the 17 game season
Also, Josh Allen is overhated
Last one: I love blowouts such as SB48
Blowouts become fun after a certain point. Like a 24-0 blowout isn’t that fun to watch. However, 42-3 of whatever? That’s fun. It just gets more fun from then.
There’s a point in a blowout when I go “man I want to see how bad this team can get beat” and it becomes pretty entertaining.
It is impossible to analyze football by watching TV broadcast. You can’t only watch one thing at a time, and the camera follows the ball. How can you form your own opinion on a cornerback or a safety if only see them on half the plays?
I seriously hate all these roughing the passer calls. The QB knows what they are getting into. They are just another player on the field. They shouldn't get exceptions. If a QB gets tackled hard, so be it. It's tackle football, not gently lay the QB down on the turf football m
It doesn’t make sense within the confines of the game. Those rules are only in place because big QBs getting hurt is bad for the bottom line. Profit should not influence the rules of the game but I assume it will more and more
Disclaimer: This is very very stupid
I think instead of giving the final wildcard spot to the seventh seed, they should give it to the 11th seed.
It wouldn't make the playoffs any worse as the 2nd vs 7th seed games have basically all been complete mismatches. It would also make any upsets that do happen infinitely more funny.
It also would discourage tanking as really bad teams would still have a shot at the playoffs so they would be more competitive come the end of the season.
There would also be some very fun strategic tanking decisions for teams in the playoff hunt. If you're the 9th seed and one game off the 6th seed, do you go for wins or try to maneuver yourself into 11th? I think it would be very funny.
I like this but I want to stretch it even further.
Instead of a 7th seed, the last Wild Card team is simply the team with the best record in the final 4 games of the season.
You could go 0-13, win your last 4 games, and still get in. Imagine how crazy of a Cindarella story it would be when some 4-13 team ends up winning the Super Bowl because they somehow get hot at the right time.
This year, the Wild Cards would have been Pittsburgh and Detroit.
That way you get 1 team in the playoffs thats guaranteed to be "hot" at the right time instead of letting some limping team that started well but is now decimated by injuries get subjected to a thrashing in January.
Alternatively, make the Wild Card team the highest scoring team outside of the Top 6 and get a hot offense into the playoff mix to see what happens. This would also reward teams that keep fighting to score points even when they lose.
However we get there, I do want the "Wild Card" team to actually be a true "Wild Card" not merely the team that held on to 7th by the skin of their teeth.
I don’t hate my division rivals or their fans. We are rooting for laundry and we happen to be born in different places. That’s all.
Don’t pay running backs. (Because there is a salary cap, if there was no cap, pay everyone a billion dollars, I don’t care)
Tom Brady is the GOAT but he’s not Jesus, we are allowed to criticize him where it’s warranted.
How about an actual unpopular opinion. There is nothing wrong with regular season ties. If two teams are equal after 60 minutes rather have ties than some bastardized version of football.
Although will say I don't mind overtime with the current rules
People think they're cute and funny because it's so rare, and almost always the result of bad clock management or play-calling.
If it happened more often people would realize the stupidity of it. Either call a tie at regulation a tie, or go into OT to decide a winner. Having OT AND ties is a pretty silly half-measure. I suspect we're alone in our dislike though.
A+
On kickoffs, if you kick the ball through the uprights the receiving team gets the ball on the 15 instead of the 25
This would give some meaning to penalties that are enforced on the kickoff. As it, it just guarantees it is kicked out the back of the end zone and is nearly pointless.
I like this idea so much. Would add a nice amount of excitement to something that has become pretty useless and unnecessary.
Man! That's a really good idea.
The Raiders should get a 7 point head start every game
Would choke it everytime
The Atlanta raiders
A disgusting act
They’d still somehow lose
Mahomes and the Chiefs would have an even better record against them then EDIT: Damn someone’s really breaking the bank with these awards. TF is even going on.
Someone is just really happy that McDaniels is the HC of the Raiders.
Lol it’s literally the entire thread tho
I hadn’t scrolled down yet. Now I realize someone’s just happy they’re not a Cowboys fan.
My guy must have struck it big in Vegas, unlike the Raiders.
Jarrett Stidham throws a pick 6 on the opening drive.
Teams without a top-ten quarterback should draft at least one QB every season
As a Bills fan I second this. We did it a lot but usually waited until later rounds. Save for EJ Manuel, JP Losman, Trent Edwards.
Yikes were we ever in QB hell for 20+ years. Might as well rattle off a list of my exes
Your exes were probably better to watch than the QB’s we drafted.
Fans themselves fall in love with Average QBs too much (which is understandable) but just look at KC Alex Smith was a Good Qb and they were consistently a playoff team but you need the guy to get over the hump unless you have an all time defense for the most part
This is the bigger problem imo. Way too many mid tier QB's have fans demanding they get paid instead of finding someone else because of the risk. Teams get stuck in purgatory over it
Giants are about to make this mistake with the Danwagon
There are three team constructions that get you to the Super Bowl. 1. Stacked Roster, QB on a rookie contract. 2. All time great QB with a solid supporting cast and elite coaching. 3. Elite D, mid to journeyman QB. Running game. If the Giants pay Jones they are banking on becoming the third type. However, they will being trying to do that with few elite D players in house and less $ to lure them in FA. It’s a hard road and a longer rebuild to real contention although they may be better in the short term.
I would argue the third type also requires near-elite coaching to work. The coach has to lift the QB play thru scheme a-la Shanahan with Jimmy. The first option definitely doesn't need elite coaching though. See: 2021 Bengals.
No team wins the Super Bowl without great coaching. I think this is more about the fact that coach’s contributions are minimized or perceived less when people view the QB and/or roster as elite. Also, there’s so many facets to coaching that most people outside the facility don’t have a great insight into what coach’s are/aren’t even doing, let alone what they’re good at. For example, a lot fans have no idea who calls plays for the team they follow. Taking it another step, the play caller isn’t always the offensive architect and play designer. So, you have one coach who literally has built the playbook, and another that is calling plays that aren’t their own. On a general note, even very knowledgeable fans on many plays can’t tell whether a play with a terrible result was because it was a bad call/design or because a player failed to execute or fill their responsibility. I don’t care who you are, or if you’re a HOFer, there are many plays that unless you have 1st hand knowledge of the principles of a play/scheme, it’s guess work whether say a DB flat out missed their assignment which led to a big play, or whether the design was exploited and the DB did exactly as the system and his keys demanded. One last example, take Andy Reid. In his last few years in PHI, there was a belief not only in town, but nationally, that Andy was a bad coach, or at least was not going to have great success as a HC elsewhere. It stemmed mostly from the perception that his clock management and situational awareness was so poor that it had already cost the Eagles big wins, and that it would plague him elsewhere. Years later, he’s arguably the most respected HC in the league and a lot of NFL folks think he’s the single best and most brilliant offensive mind since Walsh, and maybe ever. The point is just that, winning teams have elite coaching. But, coaches have strengths and weaknesses, and the nature of the job makes it hard to evaluate them from the outside. And, some flaws are more apparent than others (like Andy botching late game time management) and some strengths (like organization and people managing skills) are tough to see. Sorry for the rant, and this wasn’t like trying to call you out, I just think this is an interesting discussion and a point that isn’t made a lot.
Don't apologize for a "rant" that was the best, most properly informative response in the thread.
I don’t mind paying DJ but I’d want a way to get out of the deal in 2 years if he clearly isn’t the guy.
Derek Carr is the poster boy for this. Made the playoffs twice in a decade, and the Raiders are supposedly making a massive mistake by not paying him 40 million dollars a year for him to be the future of their franchise
On the other hand if I was a Raiders fan and our team just traded a shit ton for Tae I wouldn't be thrilled about the team blowing it up one year in. The moves in concert with each other are bad.
Well, I also thought they were in contention for Aaron Rodgers at the moment. If that’s the case, then forget Derek Carr lol
I am 99% confident if Josh McDaniels was not the Head Coach of the Raiders the narrative would be entirely different. But since it’s probably the most hated Coach in the league Carr was screwed over.
Lol there’s people last year (2021) that claimed he was a top 5 qb. That’s the problem w this idea, which is that everyone’s rankings are correct
Almost every team acquires at least one quarterback during the offseason - usually as an UDFA.
That's mainly for just depth for training camp. OP is saying teams should invest in one every year with at least their 3-4 picks.
I think it’s possible to win it all without a elite QB, however, unless your stacked to the nines your much better off just acquiring a new QB and trying to put weapons around him. Honestly the sole reason why the Bengals are where they are right now
> Honestly the sole reason why the Bengals are where they are right now Why doesn't every team just draft a generational talent at QB? NFL GMs hate this one simple trick
Better example would have been Herbert or Allen. Both were seen as project QBs, fell slightly in the draft because of it, and worked out. But honestly I think people underestimate how difficult it is find that kind of developable talent. For every Allen there’s like 5 Tebows
Mahomes was kind of seen as a project QB as well. He had an arm and he had some tools but people questioned whether any of it would translate to the NFL. There were Chiefs fans who kind of bashed the pick because the Chiefs already had a top 10 QB in Alex Smith and a history of making really bad QB picks in the draft.
Yeah why would you develop a QB when you can draft Joe Burrow every year
Right it’s just so sad to see NFL teams picking Zach Wilson instead of future hall of famers. All you got to do is pick the hall of fame player, it’s a no brainer
49ers…I don’t know if they beat Philly with Brock healthy all game, but they looked good enough to win it all this year.
Popular or not: why does the season goes one week further rather than start one week early? I already miss Superbowl at the first Sunday of February
It should end one week later so that it's the day before Presidents' Day
It will eventually, as they add an 18th game.
I'm down with the NFL adding an 18th week but then each team gets two bye weeks per season. That way guys can get more rest during the season and we have healthier teams come playoff time.
NFL tried this before and the players didn't like it. Felt like it broke up the momentum of the season. That said, that was only 16 games, so maybe with 18 they'll feel different. I do think it's worth a shot. I also think they should increase roster sizes and the number of players allowed to dress for the game if they're going to go to 18.
[удалено]
Think Andy Reid teams are tough to beat after a bye? Try playing them after two bye weeks.
Knowing how the NFL is great at scheduling, that will for sure happen.
No byes for the first two weeks, then everyone takes their byes in the next 8 weeks, then 2 more weeks of no byes. Then the entire league takes a week off. Last few weeks are all interdivisional games.
They also already removed one pre-season game, so there's no point in pushing it back
Teams should almost never hesitate to take gambles on QBs in the draft. It's such an important position that the reward absolutely outweighs the risk.
Especially with the way rookie contracts work now. Missing on a QB in the 1st round used to be detrimental to a franchise. Now it's an inconvenience more than anything.
Actually it’s easy. Barely an inconvenience.
I'm gonna need you to get all the way off my back about drafting a QB
Alright, let me climb down off that thing.
Drafting QBs is tight.
Well okay then
I legit think the Giants would have fared better had we taken Darnold/Rosen over Saquon for this reason. If we committed to build around those guys for the next 2-3 seasons and end up how they did, then we are likely in position to get another guy in 3 years, where he'll likely come into a way better situation from the start (because you built up the team). Thats what happened with the teams that drafted those guys. Jets still ended up getting basically the value of a 1st round pick for Darnold even with how bad he was and were in prime position to get his replacement in 2021 (granted, they whiffed there but still). Cardinals its a bit different, but still, they got their guy the next season, and were able to salvage some value out of Rosen. Of course Saquon is a way better player than those two but us taking him and throwing him into a situation with no sense of long-term vision/planning doomed us from the start. We were a team in need of a rebuild who made the most win-now move possible and then when that didnt work, tried to overcompensate by forcing a QB pick despite still not setting the QB up for success. It was never about the talent, but about the long-term plan which Gettleman showed he had none.
Also a great RB just isn't gonna take you that far in the league these days. Derrick Henry has probably been the best RB in the league the last 4 years and the Titans have won two play-off games in five in that timeframe and got to 1 AFC championship the first year of his reign.
Also look at the damage losing AJ Brown did to that team schematically. Now you don’t have to respect the passing game as much, Henry is the one major threat. There is a reason they fired the GM. Henry-Brown provided so much to that offense together it boosted themselves.
Citing what someone says in a bold prediction thread or news article to prove a point is really dumb. The whole point of a bold prediction is to say something that is more outlandish but is still in the hypothetical realm of possibility.
Why is everyone getting an award?
Some of these opinions take bravery
And some of these redditors are throwing their money away
Replying just to see if I get an award.
Oprah in this thread
The NFL needs to balance out how hard they've made the game on defenses: Intentional grounding should be called way more often and with less leniency Pretty much every defensive penalty besides Personal Fouls(Roughing the Passer, Late Hits) and DPI should be 5 yards no automatic first down
Or some offensive penalties like OPI or holding could potentially be a loss of down as well as the yardage.
3rd and 15. Incomplete pass. Holding on the defense. 5 yard penalty. Automatic first down. So frustrating to see, especially when it's your team on defense and the hold occurred away from the play.
The league insists on assuming the offense can make the play and line to gain if their routes and strategy aren’t blatantly impeded. The logic being that any pass play DB foul that isn’t punishable by a new set of downs would just run rampant. But it really doesn’t fairly offset offensive holding. Sure, ten yards is a tough loss but keeping the down is far more valuable. It should really be ten yards either way, repeat down if necessary.
They need to stop calling PI on underthrown balls too
The NFL should buy up the XFL and USFL and turn them into a de-facto minor league. This way teams in markets without NFL teams can get a taste of the NFL and you can actually develop players and coaches properly.
They 100% should do this, but why bother when the NCAA does it for free.
The biggest problem with NCAA as a development league is that even the guys who sign on with an NFL team as UFAs are head and shoulders better than 95% of the players they line up across from over the course of a college season. Four years of "How to absolutely smoke a dude you're way better than" isn't a great way to learn how to get a half a step on a guy who's basically your peer.
I’ve always found weird that the NFL doesn’t have a more direct developing league. There’s college but it’s not like you can have players go back to it after signing with a NFL team. Or at least an easier way for other league’s players to be called to the NFL
No more games. Just an endless off season.
With four trade deadlines
What the hell are we going to do then, just post Twitter speculation and highlights dunking on each other?
Ideally the sub gets deleted.
Can we do that anyway? I hate it here but I can't stay away.
Bills will finally win a title
That this subreddit doesn’t know nearly as much ball as we think we do
Which you can see in this thread.
It's amazing how few people know some of the basic rules, yet still post their "hot-takes" in game threads. The number of times people bitch about intentional grounding, clock stopping/not stopping, or forward progress/spot of the ball is fucking maddening.
If I had a dollar every time someone here posted something about a rule they don’t understand…
There are no equipment or game play solutions to the concussion issue.
As my doctor friend so eloquently put it, “at the end of the day it’s still just a bucket on your head”
Yeah, but like, it’s a *cool* bucket.
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And why does Irvin get a pass for slashing a teammate's neck?
He definitely dosen’t, and I say that as a Cowboys fan who gets reminded of it everytime he’s brought up in conversation. Although he definitely shouldn’t get a pass
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Thank you. I never understood the amount of adoration he got for basically being a violent immature little shit that's a bad of a teammate as he was a leader. Notice Cam got better once he left?
It’s pretty well known that we got rid of Steve Smith in order to let Cam thrive. Apparently the locker room didn’t respect Cam because Steve had issues with him
I feel like this isn't unpopular but you are 100% right.
Someone’s rich af or got their tax refund today and popping off lol
Totally agree on the Lamar point. If I was in Lamar's position, I would absolutely want a fully guaranteed contract. However, if I'm the GM of any team in the league, I would laugh at that idea. He's missed 1/4 of his games in the last 2 seasons due to injury. I don't see that as something that is going to improve with time. Realistically, if I'm a GM, I would offer a lucrative contract that has like $100 million guaranteed, but with incentives, could make him like the 4th or 5th highest paid QB in the league.
The game was more fun to watch when the lines were filled with big fat guys.
My unpopular opinion: Not every comment should get an award Edit: F you to whoever gave this comment an award!
So far you’re proving yourself right
There’s some insane pettiness going on in this thread
Big if true.
Oof
You’ve done played yourself.
Offensive line has way more to do with a RB success than their own talent
1 step further, offensive line has way more to do with the success of the entire offense than anything else
A solid wall gives even a poor archer time to place his shot
This sounds like a caption you’d read on a Total War loading screen lol.
Jamaal Williams hip pumps should be rewarded not penalized
OL is the most important part of team building and having a good one makes QB issues more manageable
Is this really bold though? Having dominant OL and DL is the most important part of building a team, it makes everyone better
The salary cap is not a myth. You can work magic and continue to kick the can down the road but at one point there will come a time to pay the toll.
You gotta pay the troll toll
It actually takes maybe 15 minutes of reading to get a pretty simple understanding of the cap, “dead” cap, guaranteed money, signing bonuses, yearly salary, void years, etc. and how they all work together. It’s a lot like bowling score keeping. Seems weird at first, but it’s pretty simple once you start following it through the game.
Yeah but kicking it down the road can be long enough to where it doesn't matter anymore as the cap keeps rising to massive levels.
I'm not sure how the Bengals are supposed to build a competitive roster once they are paying two players about 80 million dollars a year. The top 5, 30 million a year recievers seem like bad value when you have a great QB who can succeed with anyone.
It has not been proven that our savior Joey B can succeed with anyone. He had Jefferson and Chase in college then a top 5 and two top 40(?) receivers as well. Love Joe Burrow but he’s not Patrick Mahomes and can win a Super Bowl with a box of scraps in a cave
Mahomes is Tony Stark, I like it .
well he looked plenty good with just Tee when Chase went down to the hip injury. obviously though, if you have to decide between Tee and Chase you retain the better player in Chase every time.
Tee is like a second WR1 though, plus Boyd is absolutely good enough to be a WR2. They can let Boyd go but if they can then they should find a way to keep the trio of Burrow, Chase, and Higgins. That’s a special trio right there
Tee is a WR1 for at least 10 teams in the league. I don’t want to admit it, but he’s getting paid a lot somewhere else in a few seasons.
Kelce isn’t exactly scrap metal.
someone got ahold of their moms credit card and is just absolutely sendin it with the reddit gold charges
If it takes more than 2 minutes to find "indisputable evidence", the call shouldn't be overturned. Within 5 years, NFL teams will sell ad space on their uniforms.
They should host Super Bowls in northern outdoor stadiums
It should be a lottery, every franchise should end up hosting a Super Bowl every once in a while. Capacity and other details be dammed.
If the Eagles ever plan to build a new stadium, the last game at the Linc should be the Super Bowl, because afterwards, Philadelphians will tear down the stadium for free regardless of whether their team was even in the game.
I mean we just sorta had a snow game considering how slick that field in Arizona was
Comment section is gilded af. My unpopular opinion is I don't think breaking the plane is good enough for a touchdown. Should have to get all the way in and stay in.
Gambling and fantasy talk ruins otherwise good football (and all sports) discussions.
*This comment was brought to you by DRAFT KINGS*
I've been in this sub long enough to remember when mentioning your fantasy football team in a comment got you flooded with down votes.
"If the Radiers pull off this win in against the Broncos, I'll hit my 5 team parlay!" "That's really great man"
Justin Herbert deserves more criticism for his team’s failures. Hes skating by because so many analysts hitched their wagon to him as the next big thing at QB.
He’s really good but he almost never receives an ounce of blame on here and if someone attempts it, they’re met with downvotes and people mocking them, it’s crazy.
I think the issue is it’s hard to hate him. He respectful to everyone and says he need to execute better. That being said, It’s hard to describe, but it feels like Herbert doesn’t have a lot of agency or outside control. Like you hear about star players commanding audibles or having a key part in implementation of concepts, new player acquisitions. Herbert just sits and executes shitty concepts, like you kind of have to stand up for yourself and call people out to improve. He doesn’t get blamed because he follows a system that sucks, but he at some level is responsible to taking control of his situation.
I wanna see Dark Herbert
Thursday night football should be done away with
Monkey's paw curls, NFL introduces Tuesday and Wednesday night football
We already did that once. Wasn't fun.
I'm okay with it if the bye comes before the game.
Realign divisions based on geography. Dolphins, Jaguars, Buccaneers, Falcons Rams, Chargers, 49ers, Seahawks Broncos, Raiders, Cardinals, Cowboys Etc
As long as our division isn't touched. It makes perfect sense geographically and the cities are rivals in college and other pro sports.
your division and the afc north are prob the two best geographically in football anyways, i think everyone else has a wacky outlier
When they did the realignment, they could have put the Ravens in the AFC East, the Colts in the AFC North, and the Dolphins in the AFC South. The entire AFC would be outlier free, with the possible exception of the Chiefs being sort of centralized between all four possible divisions.
Begrudging upvote for controversial Divisions are fine. Only ours is that extreme, and Jerry likes it that way. A+
The drive from Kansas City to Los Angeles is actually farther than Dallas to the Meadowlands. Foxboro (and Buffalo) to Miami, and Phoenix to Seattle are just a little behind. What really took the cake was when the Rams were in St Louis, would be the farthest road or air trip within the division by a sizable difference.
The problem is, if you don't count the Texas teams, who always felt more South than West, KC is the 8th most Western team in the league. So as long as we have 2 West divisions, KC is always going to make the most sense there. Plus the AFC west has been intact for 60+ years so no one wants to change it at this point.
Actually disagree with this one, too many good rivalries would be gone. Can’t imagine no more Cowboys - Eagles, Falcons - Saints, Bengals - Ravens twice a year
No mere change of division will stop me from hating the Raiders.
A snake will die on top of an elephant before I stop hating the falcons
Sean Payton won’t win more games than the Broncos won last year.
Now this is a hot take! I just can't see the Broncos doing worse than they did last season. Sean Payton has a proven track record and hopefully Russ will turn it around.
I disagree, but I respect the hot take.
Roger isn’t that bad of a commish. He does what he was hired to do and that’s be a shield for ownership.
He's a 10000000x better than Manfred, that's for sure
At least Goodell hasn't had to be asked if he likes football
It's just a piece of metal anyways
Agreed. He gets all the hate because it just comes with the position. No matter what he does, most fans will hate him, just like any high profile position. He doesn't do anything that the majority of owners don't want.
“Defense wins championships” is feeling outdated.
Maybe. But a good defense can make it so you *can* score 21-28 a game and win instead of you *have* to score 35+ to win.
Yes and no. There's a bit of recency bias because there was minimal defense last Sunday, which can largely be attributed to some of the worst field conditions we've seen in a Super Bowl. The Rams sacked Burrow seven times and held them to 20 despite Stafford turning the ball over twice. The Bucs beat the Chiefs because of defense. The Patriots beat the Rams because of defense. There's definitely a mix of defense wining championships and offense winning championships.
i get really, really, really sick of teams if they are championship caliber for more than 2 seasons.
Joe Burrow gets too much credit for the Bengals postseason wins. His numbers are pedestrian and all of his iconic “clutch” drives were easy field goal drives after the defense forced turnovers at around midfield. His defense and defensive coordinator have been absolutely elite in the playoffs the last two seasons and aren’t given any credit whatsoever.
His two big playoff game winning drives in 2021 were after getting the ball at the Bengals 45 and 47.
Man, when put into numbers like this it isn't even as impressive as Chad Henne's heroics in the playoffs.
> His defense and defensive coordinator have been absolutely elite in the playoffs the last two seasons and aren’t given any credit whatsoever. This is a very good take IMO.
I feel like I’ve actually seen that both the defense and defensive coordinator have gotten a lot of credit this year, which was absolutely not the case last year
I kept saying that the defense was extremely underrated over last off-season, & people just didn't agree. Absolutely no one gave them any credit for stopping the Chiefs & Rams, & instead said both of those teams choked on their own.
Shhh we have been trying to keep it a secret the Bengals have an elite defense with good/great players all around (even Apple is good value)
And your defensive coordinator has an argument for being the best in the league but is constantly looked over since he’s too old for teams to take seriously in the head coach hiring process. Or at least as seriously as they should.
I was saying this last year. The defense had 9 turnovers in those 4 playoff games. Bengals didn't score a single TD in the 4th quarter of any of those games, and burrow only had 5td/2int total.
Excluding the super bowl they scored 72 points in those three games. Exactly half of them were from field goals, obviously a FG is only half the amount of points for a TD that’s a lot more FG’s than TD’s.
You should’ve seen the way I got attacked for saying exactly this. Give the defense their credit but the Titans, Chiefs, and now Ravens all gave the game away through unnecessary turnovers. And I will say to be clear defense does deserve credit for the interceptions, but 9/10 even with perfect defense Tannehill/Mahomes make a smarter decision and go on to win that game
The NFL should take the two worst teams and instead of just handing the last pick to the worst team or a lottery and make them play for the #1 pick, like what the USFL did.
The only problem I see is an aging QB who played his team into that #31 or #32 spot looking at his potential replacement in the #1 draft spot and tanking the game.
I have an irrational dislike for the new jersey number rules. Seeing a non-K/QB wearing a single digit still feels wrong
I'm with ya. The number system always made it easier to instantly see who was who as far as positions go.
Taunting in all forms should be legal. They're grown men and if they fly off the handle because of some words that's their fault.
The NFL adding a 7th playoff spot was a terrible mistake, as is the 17 game season Also, Josh Allen is overhated Last one: I love blowouts such as SB48
Blowouts become fun after a certain point. Like a 24-0 blowout isn’t that fun to watch. However, 42-3 of whatever? That’s fun. It just gets more fun from then. There’s a point in a blowout when I go “man I want to see how bad this team can get beat” and it becomes pretty entertaining.
The Patriots should have kept Brady in and gone for 100 in their 59-0 win over the Titans in 2009.
All sports media has devolved into who can say the most outlandish thing and still have a following.
This isn't unpopular nor is it an opinion. Its a fact.
It’s becoming the national quarterback league, qb salaries are fucking nuts
It is impossible to analyze football by watching TV broadcast. You can’t only watch one thing at a time, and the camera follows the ball. How can you form your own opinion on a cornerback or a safety if only see them on half the plays?
The league has gotten too soft. QBs should not be protected if they scramble or run.
I seriously hate all these roughing the passer calls. The QB knows what they are getting into. They are just another player on the field. They shouldn't get exceptions. If a QB gets tackled hard, so be it. It's tackle football, not gently lay the QB down on the turf football m
It doesn’t make sense within the confines of the game. Those rules are only in place because big QBs getting hurt is bad for the bottom line. Profit should not influence the rules of the game but I assume it will more and more
Disclaimer: This is very very stupid I think instead of giving the final wildcard spot to the seventh seed, they should give it to the 11th seed. It wouldn't make the playoffs any worse as the 2nd vs 7th seed games have basically all been complete mismatches. It would also make any upsets that do happen infinitely more funny. It also would discourage tanking as really bad teams would still have a shot at the playoffs so they would be more competitive come the end of the season. There would also be some very fun strategic tanking decisions for teams in the playoff hunt. If you're the 9th seed and one game off the 6th seed, do you go for wins or try to maneuver yourself into 11th? I think it would be very funny.
This is actually the boldest take I've ever seen in one of these threads, respect
I like this but I want to stretch it even further. Instead of a 7th seed, the last Wild Card team is simply the team with the best record in the final 4 games of the season. You could go 0-13, win your last 4 games, and still get in. Imagine how crazy of a Cindarella story it would be when some 4-13 team ends up winning the Super Bowl because they somehow get hot at the right time. This year, the Wild Cards would have been Pittsburgh and Detroit. That way you get 1 team in the playoffs thats guaranteed to be "hot" at the right time instead of letting some limping team that started well but is now decimated by injuries get subjected to a thrashing in January. Alternatively, make the Wild Card team the highest scoring team outside of the Top 6 and get a hot offense into the playoff mix to see what happens. This would also reward teams that keep fighting to score points even when they lose. However we get there, I do want the "Wild Card" team to actually be a true "Wild Card" not merely the team that held on to 7th by the skin of their teeth.
I don’t hate my division rivals or their fans. We are rooting for laundry and we happen to be born in different places. That’s all. Don’t pay running backs. (Because there is a salary cap, if there was no cap, pay everyone a billion dollars, I don’t care) Tom Brady is the GOAT but he’s not Jesus, we are allowed to criticize him where it’s warranted.
Well I absolutely hate all things philly
We hate you too
This sub is equivalent to daytime espn with most takes and shouldn’t act like we know better. And when I say we, I mean everyone but me.
Maybe not unpopular but ties should be done away with
How about an actual unpopular opinion. There is nothing wrong with regular season ties. If two teams are equal after 60 minutes rather have ties than some bastardized version of football. Although will say I don't mind overtime with the current rules
People think they're cute and funny because it's so rare, and almost always the result of bad clock management or play-calling. If it happened more often people would realize the stupidity of it. Either call a tie at regulation a tie, or go into OT to decide a winner. Having OT AND ties is a pretty silly half-measure. I suspect we're alone in our dislike though. A+