NFL 2021: The playoffs thread

I think Jacksonville is an appealing spot because Lawrence has shown potential as have others players on that roster.

Giants, although I am bias, is still appealing because they just got rid of Judge and I think it is safe to say that ownership will have more patience this time around with a GM and coach (that the GM has say on apparently) who can build a roster in their vision. They like stability and given that they canned 3 coaches in what, 6 years? has to nag at them to "get it right" this time. Sure the media is tough but it isn't overbearing as some make it out to be. Judge brought it on himself with clown talk and horrible play calls. Apparently Mara has a press conference at 1:15pm today so hoping they announce Schoen

Denver and Miami have talent on their roster so obviously are appealing from that perspective. Chicago and Fields may be challenging because they just spent essentially 2 first rounders on him so whoever comes in has immediate ties to him. Sure a good coach can work him up and its way early to call him a bust so I can see some appeal there too.

I don't follow MN as much to comment on their roster but they have QB's there that have shown the ability to win - with the right supporting cast.

Enix wrote:

PFF's final O-line grades and ranks are out.

Best five O-lines: 'Boys, Bucs, Niners, Eagles and Chiefs.

Trash fire O-lines: Raiders, Texans, Giants, Panthers and Dolphins.

No surprise that Carolina was next-to-last. That O-line was painful to watch.

What's disappointing is that Carolina played three of these teams and lost to two of them. They got four sacks against the Texans in Week 3 but only two each against the Giants (Week 7) and Dolphins (Week 12).

All the attention right now is being paid to Carolina's offense, and rightfully so. But there's a big red flag waving over the D. They started the season great (against some pretty bad teams), held in there OK through about Week 10 and then fell apart at the end of the year.

No one outside of you even knows who is on Carolina's defense because they're an afterthought franchise atm.

The Jags should be a desirable job.

Lawrence, another #1 overall pick, an extra 3rd, gobs of cap space to remake the roster however you want.

And most importantly, the next coach to have ANY success at all is going to earn themselves Tomlin-like job security. The owner so desperately wants to be able to turn his head away, and be the exact opposite of a Jerruh/Snyder/Davis. Coughlin as VP was supposed to provide that. Urban the CEO was supposed to provide that. The first "football guy" to not repeatedly shoot himself in the foot and simply run a normal, mediocre NFL franchise will basically be able to write their own contract extension.

If you can win more than 5 games in a season, the fanbase will canonize you.

But.... Baalke.

The Jags need to get to the post-Baalke rebuild phase. They need their version of the Shanahan/Lynch/Peters clean-up crew that picked up the pieces after Baalke in San Francisco. Except in Jacksonville you actually get to start that rebuild with a QB in place, instead of going out and signing Brian Hoyer.

The Jags job without Baalke around would be the closest thing possible to playing Madden franchise mode.

Well, that and you have to live in Jacksonville. And you can't even visit your restaurant/bar outside Columbus, Ohio in the ritzy subarb.

garion333 wrote:

No one outside of you even knows who is on Carolina's defense because they're an afterthought franchise atm.

You want me to name some? 'Cause I think I can list at least half of the starters and at least 75 percent of the team's 18 cornerbacks.

As for "afterthought," I'll take it! (Plus it happens to be true.) Better than laughingstock, which is where things are trending*.

* Don't say it, MMD. I know you're thinking it.

UpToIsomorphism wrote:

Well, that and you have to live in Jacksonville.

That's true. No state income tax though.

*Legion* wrote:
UpToIsomorphism wrote:

Well, that and you have to live in Jacksonville.

That's true. No state income tax though.

That would be a stronger argument except that there is a job in MIAMI that also is open.

UpToIsomorphism wrote:
*Legion* wrote:
UpToIsomorphism wrote:

Well, that and you have to live in Jacksonville.

That's true. No state income tax though.

That would be a stronger argument except that there is a job in MIAMI that also is open.

Yeah but you have to actually not get fired to get the untaxed income.

Does a HC really care where they live? They work like 100+ hs/week. Maybe their families do?

Enix wrote:

* Don't say it, MMD. I know you're thinking it.

28-3.

See? Carolina will never have to worry about being the laughingstock of the division.

Pink Stripes wrote:

Maybe their families do?

Happy wife, happy life.

garion333 wrote:

I think everyone agrees that working for the Raiders is clearly trash tier below everyone else simply due to the owner fans.

Fixed.

Pink Stripes wrote:

Does a HC really care where they live? They work like 100+ hs/week. Maybe their families do?

Did you ask this because you wanted to remind everyone of finger -> butt?

I still don't get the Flores firing. He's not going to be out of work long.

Still salty about this.

IMAGE(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FI8khIUWYAg9FdO?format=jpg&name=900x900)

Ravens most injury impacted team

The latest dispatch from the alternate football reality of Charlotte, NC:

IMAGE(https://i.imgur.com/M49rGGb.png)

(source)

To be fair, the draft consensus around Slater (picked by the Chargers five spots after Carolina took CB Jaycee Horn) was that he could play (and play well) anywhere on the O-line. Some folks thought he would make a great guard. Lots of other folks thought he'd be a great LT and, well, they were absolutely right about that.

Meanwhile, Rhule went on to say that he's not the one running the draft, never mind that the suggestion to draft RB Chuba Hubbard came from Rhule's wife.

Paleocon wrote:

Still salty about this.

IMAGE(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FI8khIUWYAg9FdO?format=jpg&name=900x900)

Ravens most injury impacted team

I think we all knew that would be the case during the preseason.

Enix wrote:

The latest dispatch from the alternate football reality of Charlotte, NC:

IMAGE(https://i.imgur.com/M49rGGb.png)

(source)

To be fair, the draft consensus around Slater (picked by the Chargers five spots after Carolina took CB Jaycee Horn) was that he could play (and play well) anywhere on the O-line. Some folks thought he would make a great guard. Lots of other folks thought he'd be a great LT and, well, they were absolutely right about that.

Meanwhile, Rhule went on to say that he's not the one running the draft, never mind that the suggestion to draft RB Chuba Hubbard came from Rhule's wife.

"We didn't make bad picks, we made tough strategic decisions."

Everything is someone else's fault, eh?

I'm just gonna put it out there that it is technically possible for the Patriots to beat the Raiders, Steelers, and Rams on their way to a Super Bowl. It's not gonna happen in a million years, but dreaming is free.

Mac Jones winning a Bowl in his rookie year would be quite the thing. The D will have to do a ton of heavy lifting though.

Pink Stripes wrote:

I'm just gonna put it out there that it is technically possible for the Patriots to beat the Raiders, Steelers, and Rams on their way to a Super Bowl. It's not gonna happen in a million years, but dreaming is free.

They're going to have to beat the Bills first, tho. Who the hell knows what's going to happen there.

Fun fact: The high temp on Saturday in Buffalo is supposed to be 11 degrees. (Fahrenheit, to be clear.) And this game kicks at 8:15p.

Enix wrote:

The latest dispatch from the alternate football reality of Charlotte, NC:

IMAGE(https://i.imgur.com/M49rGGb.png)

(source)

To be fair, the draft consensus around Slater (picked by the Chargers five spots after Carolina took CB Jaycee Horn) was that he could play (and play well) anywhere on the O-line. Some folks thought he would make a great guard. Lots of other folks thought he'd be a great LT and, well, they were absolutely right about that.

Anyone that watched Slater stonewall Chase Young when Northwestern took on Ohio State and thought he wasn't an NFL tackle is a certifiable idiot.

He added a little bit of weight (he was 304 in the pre-draft process, the Chargers list him at 315 now). His arms are still on the short side, and obviously there's no fixing that. But watching him 1-on-1 against a guy like Chase Young, a generational, long-bodied edge rusher who is the exact kind of guy a shorter, less-long offensive tackle is supposed to struggle with... there was no struggle to Slater's game.

"But his arms are short" is the laziest kind of offensive tackle evaluation.

By the way, that little "they have a mobile QB" comment is some serious bullsh*t that requires additional scorn. He's basically saying "yeah they have a guy who can run away from pressure when that short-armed tackle gets beat". Here's the reality: Justin Herbert was the 5th least pressured QB in the NFL this year, in terms of percentage of dropbacks that were pressured. (Cam and Darnold, meanwhile, were 5th and 9th most).

Slater had the 12th best Pass Blocking Efficiency (PFF metric) among offensive tackles.

Also, while I'm add it, 4 of the 5 guys that were pressured less often than Herbert had significantly faster time-to-throws. In other words, Herbert held the ball longer than any of them (except Qaaron), so Slater and the rest of the Chargers line had to hold their blocks even longer to maintain that low pressure rate.

Enix wrote:
Pink Stripes wrote:

I'm just gonna put it out there that it is technically possible for the Patriots to beat the Raiders, Steelers, and Rams on their way to a Super Bowl. It's not gonna happen in a million years, but dreaming is free.

They're going to have to beat the Bills first, tho. Who the hell knows what's going to happen there.

Fun fact: The high temp on Saturday in Buffalo is supposed to be 11 degrees. (Fahrenheit, to be clear.) And this game kicks at 8:15p.

Yeah, like I said. I am in no way pretending that this is a likely scenario.

Weather is probably going to be a factor on Saturday, though... What's the over/under on how many passes Mac throws?

*Legion* wrote:

"But his arms are short" is the laziest kind of offensive tackle evaluation.

You laugh, but the short-arms thing is a big ol' inside joke on Panthers Twitter.

The Panthers' third-round pick this year was Brady Christiansen, who was a pretty good LT at BYU. Rhule refused to play him at LT until the end of the season ... because of his tiny T-rex arms.

Anyway, the TL,DR takeaway from Rhule's radio appearance is that he's an extremely poor talent evaluator (as if everyone hasn't figured it out already with his malpractice with the QB position). That's kind of a problem in the NFL when everyone, including the bad players, are good.

Pink Stripes wrote:

I'm just gonna put it out there that it is technically possible for the Patriots to beat the Raiders, Steelers, and Rams on their way to a Super Bowl. It's not gonna happen in a million years, but dreaming is free.

I mean they could definitely beat the Rams if they take away McVay's one trick and he isn't able to come up with another trick.

You know, like last time...

Enix wrote:

You laugh, but the short-arms thing is a big ol' inside joke on Panthers Twitter.

The Panthers' third-round pick this year was Brady Christiansen, who was a pretty good LT at BYU. Rhule refused to play him at LT until the end of the season ... because of his tiny T-rex arms.

Anyway, the TL,DR takeaway from Rhule's radio appearance is that he's a poor talent evaluator. That's kind of a problem in the NFL when everyone, including the bad players, are good.

The bias against shorter-armed tackles even when their performance deserves higher acclaim is one of those things that gets me angry.

Kelvin Beachum and Jared Veldheer were two of the biggest bargains in the NFL over the last 10 years. Offensive tackles who can actually pass protect are rare, and these guys can pass protect, but oh no short arms, gotta sign them on 1 or 2 year deals and then replace them as fast as possible. Jacksonville had Beachum in 2016 and they haven't had left tackle play like that since.

Neither guy is Pro Bowl caliber or anything, but both are quality starting-level pass blocking tackles in a league where 64 of those guys don't exist. Yet they're still treated like replacement-level players. These guys should be football "Moneyball" kind of players, especially for pass-heavy teams (Beachum in Arizona is a perfect fit, and he's providing insane value for a guy with a $1.575m cap figure)

Veldheer played well up until retirement, then he un-retired for some emergency spot duty a couple of times.

But you know who was Pro Bowl, nay, Hall of Fame caliber? Joe Staley and his 33 1/2" arms. AKA the guy I compared Slater to in my draft thread.

Argh... DON'T get me started on the "arm length or GTFO" offensive tackle mindset...

Here's Cam Erving and his 34+-inch arms completely whiffing on a rusher, then looking around for Chuba Hubbard, who's blocking absolutely no one.

Erving was a Day 1 FA signing, too. (Panthers signed Pat Elflein the next day.) It's not like Carolina looked around and said, Welp, we gotta have someone playing LT. It was more like, HOT DAMN CAM ERVING'S AVAILABLE LET'S GET 'EM.

Can't wait to see what the Panthers talk themselves out of this year with the No. 6 pick.

garion333 wrote:

Mac Jones winning a Bowl in his rookie year would be quite the thing. The D will have to do a ton of heavy lifting though.

The Patriots D line has been getting pushed around like crazy since the bi-week. Maybe they should do some heavy eating vs lifting because out muscling aint working for them!

Dolphins, a team that wasn't supposed to be able to run, put up 195 rushing!

Pink Stripes wrote:

Weather is probably going to be a factor on Saturday, though... What's the over/under on how many passes Mac throws?

I think that is the only hope. Allen has had much lower passer ratings in the cold and when asked about playing in the extreme cold he said his toes and fingers get numb. Maybe Mac's dad bod will give him some natural resistance!

Or they could just man-up and be less flaccid in the cold.

Enix wrote:

Here's Cam Erving and his 34+-inch arms completely whiffing on a rusher, then looking around for Chuba Hubbard, who's blocking absolutely no one.

Erving was a Day 1 FA signing, too. (Panthers signed Pat Elflein the next day.) It's not like Carolina looked around and said, Welp, we gotta have someone playing LT. It was more like, HOT DAMN CAM ERVING'S AVAILABLE LET'S GET 'EM.

Can't wait to see what the Panthers talk themselves out of this year with the No. 6 pick.

Who on earth decided Cam Erving was a tackle? He was drafted as a center. Didn’t he slide out to tackle in Kansas City because guys were hurt and they had no better option?

Hmm… yep looks like that was pretty much it. He was a guard in Kansas City until Eric Fisher was hurt, and they moved him outside to fill in. Then the Cowboys signed him to a 1-year deal to be a utility backup at guard and tackle.

Then I guess Carolina came swooping in like “THAT LOOKS LIKE A TACKLE TO ME!”, and here we are.

EvilDead wrote:

The Patriots D line has been getting pushed around like crazy since the bi-week.

Bi-week? Is that when they, uhm, play both sides? Like ironman football?