NFL 2017 Week 8 Thread

A team playing like complete garbage is to be expected on Thursday night. This is more normal TNF, the good games this year have been the unusual things.

This also happened last night:

IMAGE(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DNHTep5UIAAKEpn.jpg)

"I find your lack of faith disturbing..."

garion333 wrote:

This also happened last night:

IMAGE(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DNHTep5UIAAKEpn.jpg)

Yeah that caused a surprise hockey brawl.

I came in at about 4.5 minutes left of the third quarter and it was 20-0 Ravens.

In the time remaining the Ravens doubled that and Miami put nothing on the board.

I have no reason to root for either team but I felt really bad for the Dolphins.

ccesarano wrote:
garion333 wrote:

This also happened last night:

IMAGE(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DNHTep5UIAAKEpn.jpg)

Yeah that caused a surprise hockey brawl.

I came in at about 4.5 minutes left of the third quarter and it was 20-0 Ravens.

In the time remaining the Ravens doubled that and Miami put nothing on the board.

I have no reason to root for either team but I felt really bad for the Dolphins.

It's OK; Suh was defending himself.

So far, the top 5 of the 2016 Draft is looking tight, obv with the QBs still having to cement a legacy, but looking promising:

1. Jared Goff
2. Certis
3. Joey Bosa
4. Ezekiel Elliott
5. Jalen Ramsey

Holy crap that's one hell of a top 5 and it's all the players the Browns passed on other than Goff.

Robert Mays took a look at the Browns rebuild.

Second-year head coach Hue Jackson has benched his rookie quarterback more often than most people do their laundry.

Yikes! But true.

Jackson’s handling of Kizer to this point has been … puzzling, to say the least. Kizer has been undeniably atrocious, especially in high-leverage situations, as he has four red zone interceptions while no other quarterback has thrown more than one. ...

After naming Kizer as the starter prior to Week 1, Jackson waited four and a half games to yank him midway through a 17-14 loss to the Jets in Week 5. Following one game on the bench (and one disastrous showing by Kevin Hogan), Kizer was reinserted into the starting lineup going into last week’s matchup with the Titans—only to get the hook again, this time in favor of Cody Kessler. This week, after skewering Kizer for being out on Friday night, Jackson named the 21-year-old the starter for this Sunday’s game against the Vikings. Please explain how any of that makes sense.

The 52nd overall draft pick isn’t some throwaway asset, and after using it on a quarterback, the Browns have spent the first half of this season trying to Jedi-mind-trick a first-year starter into becoming the player they want, all while giving Kizer every reason to believe that he’ll be pulled the moment that he makes a mistake.

That said, maybe don't bring in raw QBs and put them in a West Coast system. Jeff Fisher is clearly a bad coach, but sitting Goff for most of the season instead of throwing him to the wolves, benching, wolves, benching, wolves, benching him was clearly the proper choice. Goff was always gonna fail last year because they were trying to fit a square peg in a round hole without taking the time to shave off the edges. Watson is succeeding in large part because Houston isn't asking him to do things he can't, they're tailoring their offense to his strengths, of which there are many, and avoiding his weaknesses (velocity):

Kizer has rarely gotten play-action looks that could simplify his decision-making (he ranks 27th in play-action usage at 16.3 percent, per Pro Football Focus; Watson is third at 28.2 percent).

Then there's the elephant in the room:

The coaching staff has also proved a poor fit to develop an extremely young roster. From the outset, the franchise’s choice to hire a retread like defensive coordinator Gregg Williams felt strange, and despite his solid work as the Bengals offensive coordinator, Jackson has once again stumbled as a head coach.

Ouch.

garion333 wrote:

This also happened last night:

IMAGE(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DNHTep5UIAAKEpn.jpg)

"If this is a counselor ship, where is the ambassador?"

garion333 wrote:

So Miami's horrible offense has only partially held their defense back as they rank 10th overall. Pregame was all about how good that defense must be since the offense is literally the worst in the league.

I keep thinking about how Miami handed out a bunch of contracts to their okay players to lock them down and got a lot of sh*t for it (from me). However, if their D is *legit* I wonder if part of it is cohesion. Around the league veterans are being dumped for cheap rookies, but Miami bucked that trend a little. Perhaps that is smart.

Last night I saw that Miami had won their 4 games by less than a touchdown, which is a bad sign, but our resident FO Guru and thread writer Dan failed to point out to me that FO already covered that:

IMAGE(https://i.imgur.com/J7nyXUq.jpg)

According to Football Outsiders, Miami is the second worst 4-2 team ever (well, back to 1980 something, as far back as their database currently goes). Last night it was pretty clear we got the very bad version of the Dolphins who were shut out by the Saints. Not much a good defense can do when your offense is looking like the Tolzein-led Colts from the first couple of weeks.

Speaking of the Saints, a note to everyone: Their defense no longer sucks and is instead league average. Also, Marshon Lattimore is a lock for DROY since he's, oh, been the best CB this season.

The Dolphins, man. Eff those guys. I'm not a Ravens fan by any stretch (though I grew up a Miami fan back in the Griese/Csonka/Warfield/No Name Defense days) but Miami deserved to lose by about 60 or so.

I know Alonso has come out hard with the there's-no-way-I-could-have-missed-him take. Problem is, he led with his shoulder. It wasn't an attempt to tackle. It was an attempt to separate Joe Flacco's head from his neck.

And Suh? Jeebus. I hope his legs explode in the hot tub this afternoon.

Huh, that was pretty good. For part of it I was afraid it was a Goodell puff piece, which it might be, but it's always nice to hear Jerry Jones is on the downswing.

garion333 wrote:

Huh, that was pretty good. For part of it I was afraid it was a Goodell puff piece, which it might be, but it's always nice to hear Jerry Jones is on the downswing.

So's Texans owner Bob McNair. This sounds almost like when the Clippers players revolted against then-owner Donald Sterling.

Rat Boy wrote:
garion333 wrote:

Huh, that was pretty good. For part of it I was afraid it was a Goodell puff piece, which it might be, but it's always nice to hear Jerry Jones is on the downswing.

So's Texans owner Bob McNair. This sounds almost like when the Clippers players revolted against then-owner Donald Sterling.

Ugh, the comment section... (I know, I know)

Who is Certis in the context of the NFL?

Carson Wentz.

IMAGE(http://images.complex.com/complex/images/c_limit,w_680/fl_lossy,pg_1,q_auto/pu2dvebhnsbiwvbsvulx/carson-wentz-leaves-huge-tip-at-north-dakota-restaurant)

Obliged.

Just saw on a news ticker the Bills are trading Marcel Dareus to the Jaguars for a 6th rounder.

... Huh. One thing that I did not see the Jaguars looking to add is a defensive lineman.

Dareus's two Pro Bowl seasons were under Doug Marrone. I imagine he'll rotate at the nose with Abry Jones.

From this story...

[Jerry] Jones and [Dan] Snyder were angry with [Jed York] -- they felt that if he had forced Kaepernick to stand a year ago, this crisis could have been averted

I don't tend to state things this bluntly, but...

F*ck Jerry Jones.

F*ck Dan Snyder.

Also from that article:

[Bob] McNair, a multimillion-dollar Trump campaign contributor, spoke next, echoing many of the same business concerns. "We can't have the inmates running the prison," McNair said.

That statement stunned some in the room.

(...)

After the owners finished, Troy Vincent stood up. He was offended by McNair's characterization of the players as "inmates." Vincent said that in all his years of playing in the NFL -- during which, he said, he had been called every name in the book, including the N-word -- he never felt like an "inmate."

It was starting to get nasty. Vincent and [Jerry] Jones had a sharp but quick back-and-forth, with Jones finally reminding the room that rather than league office vice presidents, it was he and fellow owners who had helped build the NFL's $15 billion-a-year business, and they would ultimately decide what to do. McNair later pulled Vincent aside and apologized, saying that he felt horrible and that his words weren't meant to be taken literally, which Vincent appreciated.

F*ck Bob McNair a little, because while backing up off of that statement was good, that was an ugly sentiment towards the labor that people are paying the money to see.

And f*ck Jerry Jones a second time.

York and Jeffrey Lurie of the Eagles had emerged as thoughtful leaders. (...) Lurie had spoken up during the meeting, supporting the players' right to kneel.

Between this and Snyder and Jones, I am officially cheering for the Eagles to win the NFC East every season.

Alright, that ends my outburst on this topic.

MilkmanDanimal wrote:

Just saw on a news ticker the Bills are trading Marcel Dareus to the Jaguars for a 6th rounder.

Dareus hasn't been close the the player he was under Marrone. Some of that may be due to a change in DC's and schemes but he's been plagued by off the field issues as well. He's one failed test away from a year off and his salary is guaranteed regardless. He didn't start the opener this year and I don't think he's played 50% of the snaps on season.

Beane and McDermott have a plan in Buffalo and they're not shy about jettisoning anyone that doesn't fit or buy in to "the process".

*Legion* wrote:

A bunch of stuff but importantly:

f*ck Jerry Jones

Agree 100%, and I'm a Cowboys fan.

Jerry Jones trying to invoke rank at the meeting read like he was channeling Colonel Jessup or Captain Ramsey and just like Lieutenant Kaffee and Lieutenant Commander Hunter, respectively, the other owners weren't having any of that.

Rat Boy wrote:

Jerry Jones trying to invoke rank at the meeting read like he was channeling Colonel Jessup or Captain Ramsey and just like Lieutenant Kaffee and Lieutenant Commander Hunter, respectively, the other owners weren't having any of that.

Rat Boy wrote:

Jerry Jones trying to invoke rank at the meeting read like he was channeling Colonel Jessup or Captain Ramsey and just like Lieutenant Kaffee and Lieutenant Commander Hunter, respectively, the other owners weren't having any of that.

I appreciate just how frequently you reach for the mid-'90s for your references.

*Legion* wrote:
Rat Boy wrote:

Jerry Jones trying to invoke rank at the meeting read like he was channeling Colonel Jessup or Captain Ramsey and just like Lieutenant Kaffee and Lieutenant Commander Hunter, respectively, the other owners weren't having any of that.

I appreciate just how frequently you reach for the mid-'90s for your references.

My name is tboon and I have a problem: I am watching the London game this morning.

Also, Cleveland won a half for the first time this year!

Tampa's two best CBs are out today. This means their "best" CB might be second-year flop Vernon Hargreaves III, who has a target on him so big he could be mistaken for a nice Twin Cities suburb.

[spoiler]That's a quality dad joke; I regret nothing.[/spoiiler]