SirAndrew

I’ve questioned Washington, but the more I look at Texas, they’ve gotten a lot of mileage out of the early season Bama win. The Longhorns had an easy schedule outside of Bama, and still managed a loss to Oklahoma. Texas is a good football team, but I don’t think they defeat Washington easily as many assume. The possibility of a big Bama win over Michigan is more likely.

Why can’t Kincaid and/or Shakir be that guy? This is where I have issues with the structure of this offense under both coordinations this season.

If the offense looks good in the playoffs, keep Brady. If we fall short with the offense still looking average, maybe it’s time for a fresh prospective. He’s done a lot of good things, but this offense struggles mightily without Diggs being elite every game. The Dallas game where Cook went crazy was the exception with someone unexpected stepping up. I don’t think you can replace the elite version of Diggs, but I’m not fully satisfied with how Brady makes use of the roster. I have yet to see Brady or Dorsey use Shakir and Kincaid the way they should be utilized. Allen is elite, we need to put him and his teammates in better positions to succeed.

I like that from a fan perspective. However, if we clinch a playoff spot before the game, I don’t trust us to play as well. It seems like Allen and this team are best with their backs against the wall. The number two seed is still important, and I don’t want them to play flat knowing they’re in.

To be fair, Tepper is the rabble. He just happens to have a decent bank account.

I don’t care what happens with the Steelers, I can’t believe how many people were/are calling for Tomlin to be fired. That’s a bad roster, and remaining mediocre is a small miracle.

Why have the Bengals corners always gotten away with so much? They don’t seem to draw many PI calls against them

Don’t hold your breath on accountability. ESPN has been busy making excuses since it happened.

Campbell’s post game presser is a mess 😆

This is right up there with the fail mary that everyone used to scapegoat the replacement refs years ago.

Right, I hear people talking about illegal formation, but the ref didn’t call it. So I don’t understand people saying “it was an illegal formation anyway”. That’s not what they called, so the play would have stood.

How does Joe Buck definitively know that Decker didn’t report from that replay? Maybe someone can explain something I don’t understand.

Goff is very consistent at going from looking brilliant to complete garbage on the same series.

Goff reminds me of Alex Smith.

This play calling leaves a lot to be desired for a guy considered the next big thing.

My eyes are apparently aging, because there’s something about the color scheme of these two uniforms that are blending together.

I know the Cowboys are known as pretenders, but every time I watch the Lions, I see a one and done playoff team.

Yes, for me it’s about the idea of playoff teams being determined on the playing field, not hypothetical scenarios of who’s better than who. You’re supposed to take care of business on the field, not get rewarded because you’re probably better. As an example, I think the Big Ten is overrated, and Michigan can’t legitimately win a national championship. That doesn’t mean an undefeated Wolverines team should be excluded, because I think they’d lose to several SEC teams with more losses. How many Super Bowl champions weren’t the best team in the NFL? I can think of quite a few. This is supposed to be football, not a sport with judges handing out scores.

Absolutely, I’d be surprised if this doesn’t end with Michigan getting embarrassed and Harbaugh running to the NFL.

I agree, but I also think Georgia might be the best team in the country, even with the Bama loss. Georgia had the potential to embarrass three out of the four playoff teams. Bama is familiar with Georgia, and matches up well against them. Georgia could have made the other three look bad, not as bad as FSU with backups, but bad nevertheless imo. I’m anxious to see what Michigan does, as the Big Ten looks like trash this bowl season.

I agree about Day, but the Big Ten had a major issue with substandard QB play this year, and I don’t think McCord was going to make Day look good going forward either. I’m watching the Peach Bowl right now, and Dart for Ole Miss is capable of playing the position, while Allar for PSU looks completely lost. That’s what I’ve seen comparing Big Ten games to other conferences all season. I think that conference as a whole could use an infusion of fresh coaching ideas.

You’re not wrong, there’s a lot of money and huge media markets in all of those major cities. The current economic structure of the NFL means money rolls in from cities like LA, Houston, and Nashville. My generalizations were based on TV viewership, and more speaking to the fact that many regions of the country don’t have rabid NFL fanbases in the same manner as the rust belt. The league makes a fortune in those other places anyway. It’s not that no one cares in other regions, it’s just not part of an entire culture like Buffalo fandom is. I’ve been around rust belt team fans quite a bit, and it’s a different breed imo. I’ve also known Giants fans who quit watching the team the moment they’re not in Super Bowl contention, only to return when they win. The people of Buffalo, Cleveland, and Pittsburgh discuss every win and loss at the water cooler every Monday, even if the team has been losing for years, but that’s not how the NFL makes money.

Guys like Gronk keep up their behavior because no one calls out this type of stuff anymore. He just gets to be a “funny” meathead, and no one will say a word.

True, but people always give the east coat props, and I’ve always seen the Red Sox and Yankees as being more meaningful to those areas. Absolutely, I guess I was including Pittsburgh in my idea of Midwest types though, although I suppose it’s not really the Midwest.

I’ve always seen the heart of NFL fandom being the Midwest. The west coast doesn’t care, the south is all about college ball, and the northeast has fair weather fans imo. I couldn’t agree more about the west coast, but I think sports just aren’t all that important in most of the larger cities.