NFL 2019: Week 14

Pages

* At what point do we have to acknowledge Ryan Tannehill? He's thrown 12 TDs to 4 INTs, completed 72% of his passes, and leads the league in both yards per attempt (9.1) and passer rating (113.9). He is, however, still in possession of one of his biggest problems: he takes sacks. His 12% sack rate is very high, though it is only second to the previous Titans QB Marcus Mariota, so it's an open question how much is the QB and how much is the rest of the Titans offense. Still, Tannehill has taken so many sacks over his career that it seems characteristic of him.

* I bet Mike McCarthy ends up coach in Cleveland, reuniting with John Dorsey.

* The Raiders offense has now been MIA two weeks in a row. Right when the praise started rolling in, collapse.

* Jerry Jones all but fired Jason Garrett in comments to reporters following their last few games. There seems to be zero chance Garrett lasts beyond the end of the season. When you dive into the numbers, one thing that jumps out is the bad special teams. The expected points contributed by special teams has been in the negatives all but one game in the season. Football Outsiders has them dead last in their special teams metrics. They're like a mini 2010 Chargers:

* Colts claim Chase McLaughlin off of waivers, after he did a decent job with the 49ers (game losing miss against Seattle notwithstanding). Adam Vinatieri's claiming a knee injury which has supposedly dogged him all season. I'm skeptical of this injury. If he really was struggling from injury, Indianapolis has been absurdly foolish to just let things go as they have been. They've talked about Vinatieri like the misses were just flukes, not rooted in injury struggles. Either the Colts badly mismanaged a kicker injury to the point of jeopardizing their season, or the injury is an excuse to let Vinatieri not play anymore without the embarrassment of being benched for poor play.

* Gardner Minshew nearly dug the Jaguars out of the hole Nick Foles put them in against Tampa. With a little over 6 minutes to go, Minshew threw what should have been a touchdown pass, but Dede Westbrook let it bounce right off his hands and into the clutches of a defender for an interception. If Westbrook catches that ball, it's a 25-18 game, and the Jaguars don't have to play like they're 2 scores behind when they get the ball back.

* Not a bad start to the Drew Lock era in Denver. He's got another 4 games to try and prove to the team that they don't need to spend a 1st round pick on a QB. (They should totally trade for 6-foot-6 Nick Foles in the offseason though)

* If I was a betting man, I would place my money on Tua Tagovailoa not entering the draft this year. Even if not for his injury, the emergence of LSU's Joe Burrow would likely have pushed Tua out of #1 pick contention, and with the injury, he seems likely to slide further if he were to enter the draft.

* Eli Manning on Monday Night Football. Can't wait.

Game day in New Orleans! Checking stadium 5/32 off my list today with a game that’s going to be pretty hard to top in terms of quality (49ers vs. Saints).

Tonnes of 49ers fans in the city this weekend and it’s been an absolute blast exploring New Orleans with my dad this weekend. Hoping for an all time classic game!

Happy Baltimore is on TV again today.

Please tell me NFL Network has an extended cut of this chat between George Kittle and Brian Urlacher.

White sleeve and white glove on Lamar Jackson

Paleocon wrote:

White sleeve and white glove on Lamar Jackson

That is awesome.

What game are Buck/Aikman doing that they're not on SF/NO?

Top_Shelf wrote:

What game are Buck/Aikman doing that they're not on SF/NO?

None today, they did Thursday's game.

Ian Rapoport says the Panthers will look to trade Cam Newton in the offseason.

Niners Texans looking to get beat down today.

*Legion* wrote:

Ian Rapoport says the Panthers will look to trade Cam Newton in the offseason.

Schefter was saying as early as this morning on air that CAR saw value in keeping him at $18mm for one more year.

Top_Shelf wrote:
*Legion* wrote:

Ian Rapoport says the Panthers will look to trade Cam Newton in the offseason.

Schefter was saying as early as this morning on air that CAR saw value in keeping him at $18mm for one more year.

Sounds like someone feeding Schefty some info to keep Cam's value high.

Freddie Kitchens gonna be fired if they lose to the Bengals.

*Legion* wrote:
Top_Shelf wrote:

What game are Buck/Aikman doing that they're not on SF/NO?

None today, they did Thursday's game.

I guess that makes sense. I have no context for the value of/ratings for THU games vs a premier Sun (early) game. I could see where a company is contractually obligated to put Team 1 on the primetime game regardless of matchup.

As I've gotten older, I find myself enjoying Buck/Aikman just because they've been around for so long now they're "football voice" for me, kind of how Summerall/Madden were when I was a kid ("Coming up, 60 Minutes, followed by Murder, She Wrote, except on the West Coast."). The insight is MUCH better with the younger teams or Kevin Harlan (esp on radio). But if I'm just watching straight football to zone out and enjoy some veg time...I like their very calm (sleepy?) delivery. It's sports comfort food, like Mac/cheese.

ALSO: I am old.

8 total drives in SF vs NO, 7 total touchdowns.

OBJ is telling other teams he wants out of Cleveland.

Jay Glazer of FOX Sports reports that Beckham has approached opposing players and coaches before and even during games this season and told them, “come get me.”

I just love how two teams enacted a trade for one of the best players in the league, and it was a terrible, terrible trade for both of them.

How are the Niners leading at halftime after how this game started?

Rat Boy wrote:

Niners Texans looking to get beat down today.

Glad you fixed that

Wtf was that penalty?

Guess they couldn't flex Niners-Saints to SNF because the league is determined to promote football in LA?

Stuck with Carolina on Fox over here. After they fired the coach, shouldn't they forfeit showing the local games for the rest of the year too? Throwing in the towel should be in all phases.

Did no one tell Sean Payton that in that situation the gunner's a receiver?

They should maybe hire some one that knows the rules to do the Red Zone channel.

How is the Internet not drowning in Bourne franchise jokes?

Rat Boy wrote:

Did no one tell Sean Payton that in that situation the gunner's a receiver?

He also seemed confused about a defender hitting a receiver in the head as a penalty, particularly when the receiver is just going to the ground and you only need to touch him.

Packers play to their competition besides the 49ers game.

You can tell Washington is mediocre and the pack refuse to blow them out.

I thought Bills were a bye week? 2 crazy games on right now.

MilkmanDanimal wrote:

OBJ is telling other teams he wants out of Cleveland.

Jay Glazer of FOX Sports reports that Beckham has approached opposing players and coaches before and even during games this season and told them, “come get me.”

I just love how two teams enacted a trade for one of the best players in the league, and it was a terrible, terrible trade for both of them.

Wonder if he was telling Bungals players come get me today....

Kittle was going to fight the whole damn defense by himself.

43 should be ejected for that face mask. It’s one thing to grab it and let go. He repeatedly tried to remove his helmet.

Kittle!!!

Pages