Saturday Football Thread: PIT@BAL & HOU@KC (no Bills stuff please)

[machine gun kelly]

8 hours ago, Bills!Win! said:

Having the bills rest the starters @ New England would be like having a 1st round bye, in a way, let’s do it 

McD won’t do it.  If he sees we are commandingly winning at the half, he’ll start pulling people.  Remember Dungy did this with the Colts under Manning, and they lost almost immediately.  NFL players are creatures of habit, and will want to play.  The really banged up guys may sit, but the majority of them will play at least a half.

 

I agree with the philosophy.  We probably won’t win the 1st seed, but it’s possible still if the Chiefs lose both.  They do play on Wed. Which is a short period of time.  The Steelers and Broncos are no slouches so I’ll hold out hope for now.  
 

The psyche of the team walking into the playoffs at 14-3 will prevail with these players.  I can see in all three games if we are blowing out our opponents for multiple players being pulled in the second half.  It’s a compromise meaning maybe in the 2nd half today we see Milano, Williams, and so on getting pulled for their backups.  Less wear and tear, yet still feeling in a rhythm.  I just don’t see the Cheats nor the Jests giving us much of a fight.  The only potential change in strategy may be instead of testing tactics in the first half and pouring it on in the 2nd half be flipped to pounding each opponent so that we are in a comfortable lead in the 2nd half of these games.  A heavy running approach in quarters 3 and 4, and the O Line love blocking in the run vs. pass.

[UKBillFan]

40 minutes ago, Casey D said:

Unless Bills win tomorrow and Ravens and Steelers lose Christmas Day.  Then #1 seed out and #2 seed locked.

 

I think I've already dismissed the Texans beating the Ravens!

[Casey D]

18 minutes ago, UKBillFan said:

 

I think I've already dismissed the Texans beating the Ravens!

Pretty sure that's right.  But it is in Houston!  Hope springs eternal!!😉

[Sierra Foothills]

20 hours ago, DapperCam said:

A reminder that some “best QB” lists from the offseason had Stroud in the top 5 and even above Allen.

 

Not only "some best QB lists"...

 

19 hours ago, julian said:

Mahomes 

Lamar

Stroud

Hurts

Dak

 

CJ’s top 5 QB list prior to the season, this isn’t the brightest bulb on the Christmas tree.

 

Yes, Stroud listed himself as the 3rd best QB in the league and did not have Josh Allen in his Top 5.

 

He later replaced Jalen Hurts with Josh Allen due to the obvious stupidity of his initial ranking.

 

Does anyone ever remember any NFL QB publicly stating how he ranks himself among his peers?

 

Ever?

 

Keep in mind that Stroud was a rookie last year.

 

 

19 hours ago, Big Blitz said:

Slowick is not getting a HC gig

 

Right? How things change in 2 months. Gotta love the "rush to judgement" tendency in our society. Too many are too eager to finalize their opinions. Too few keep an open mind.

 

19 hours ago, Watkins90 said:

I know. I just think it's funny that Stroud doesn't trust his O-Line at all. 

 

18 hours ago, Fan in Chicago said:

Camera angles don't show it but are Texans receivers all covered? Stroud looks skittish

 

17 hours ago, paulmm3 said:

Stroud not having a great game today

 

17 hours ago, JMM said:

Houston's horrible O line was the difference today. 

 

I see people here defending Stroud saying his O-line sucks. There's truth to that however a handful of QBs make their O-line look better than they are but most lack that ability.

 

Those that make their O-line look better tend to "climb the pocket" more than those that don't.

 

Stroud shoots a lot of fadeaway jumpers.

 

With his athleticism it seems he should be better at extending plays... but he's still young.

 

We're so spoiled having Josh Allen as our QB.

 

17 hours ago, Einstein said:

Dude, Stroud is stupid. 
 

Why would you step out of bounds instead of throw that away?

 

I'm sure Rob Johnson could explain it to us.

 

16 hours ago, Aussie Joe said:

Two fumbles and can’t recover either 😂

 

You could tell early on which way the ball was going to bounce.

 

16 hours ago, HappyDays said:

Dan Orlovsky nails it, as usual. Stroud may be a very accurate thrower and good on the move but he needs to learn how to make pre-snap reads and protection calls before he can talked about as one of the elite QBs.

 

Yeah CJ's got a ways to go...

 

15 hours ago, Johnnycage46 said:

I have never seen WRs open as much as they are every Ravens game. Crazy.

 

Their OC is Todd Monken. He's a former college quarterback and has been coaching forever. He's worked with/under Tom Beck, Mike Gundy, Dirk Koetter, Freddie Kitchens, and Kirby Smart.

 

15 hours ago, UKBillFan said:

Steelers looked fine until Wilson decided to hurdle instead of slide and fumbled the ball.

 

How about securing the ball with both hands? It's not like he didn't see the defender coming up on him. Russ made some dumb plays for a guy who was drafted the same year we took TJ Graham.

 

We're so spoiled having Josh Allen as our QB.

 

15 hours ago, BullBuchanan said:

"Relatively minor" in that he'll almost certainly completely recover from it, barring surgical complications of course. It's not like he's paralyzed, lost a limb, or even something like a  kidney. It seems like a fairly routine injury, not unlike the one Milano suffered. "Serious" in the football sense, but not in the real-life sense. I would be shocked if it was a "career ending" injury for a guy who's 25.

 

Are we talking about Tank Dell? Did you see the play and the aftermath?

 

For a guy who plays wide receiver I would definitely consider his injury career threatening.

 

For his sake I hope I'm wrong.

 

Edited 20 hours ago by Sierra Foothills

[May Day 10]

This may be career ruining for Dell, unfortunately.  Really bad timing for him where he stands on his rookie deal.  I'd be surprised if he plays in 2025.  Can't imagine he will get his speed back anytime soon.

 

 

Stroud looks very unimpressive this year.  

[Solomon Grundy]

Did the ball boy really call a timeout for the Chiefs?

[Sierra Foothills]

30 minutes ago, Casey D said:

Pretty sure that's right.  But it is in Houston!  Hope springs eternal!!😉

 

Yeah but  the game's on Christmas Day.

 

Maybe this loss is a learning experience for Houston but I have a hard time seeing them beating the Ravens.

[Simon]

32 minutes ago, Solomon Grundy said:

Did the ball boy really call a timeout for the Chiefs?

 

No.

He just told the ref that coach was coming toward him to call one.

He still probably should have kept his piehole shut though as that certainly is not part of his job description.