Topic: 🏈🏈 The American Football Discussion Thread 🏈🏈 - page 251. (Read 57572 times)

Yes, I can't complain with two SB wins since I follow the NFL/Giants, but it feels like it's been ages since they have been relevant. It's annoying, when you're pumped up for the season, and after week 4 half of that is already gone, because your team is 0-4 and playing bad, with no signs of a turnaround.
And what makes it worse, the Giants have always been a well-run organisation, but in recent years, there was a lot of mismanagement and Gettleman doesn't seem to be the right person in charge. Jones isn't the answer at QB imo, the O-Line is still garbage, secondary full of scrubs, the new HC a rookie. But they are not the only ones struggling.....

Lol, I agree, bad football is better than no football.  Don't feel special for being a Giants fan, at least they've had a couple of championships along the way.  The 9ers have some good history, but they've mostly been pretty shitty for the last two and half decades...  The Chiefs won their first title this year, so think about that.  What's worse, you could be a Bills fan. 

I have no qualms with the Lambs fucking up their cap room, I just wish the SeaGulls were as poorly managed!   

The XFL is already history. It was fun and painful to watch at the same time, but kind of sad they (have to) shut it down after a few weeks. Bad football is still better than no football (says the Giants fan )

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After trading Hopkins to the Cardinals, the Texans sent a second round pick to the Rams and got Cooks and a fourth round pick. Lots of dead money for the Rams, not looking good for them overall, after they were supposed to be the next big thing not long ago:


Source: https://twitter.com/Jason_OTC/status/1248400525323718661

As you may guess I would like NE to keep winning and being as dominant as they were before but unless Stidham is the next Steve Young then NE will have to go through some transition period in which they are not going to be very good for 2 to 3 years and that is the best case scenario in my mind.

Since 2000 the formula that had the most success is to get a Hall of Fame QB on your team, with 16 SBs out of 20 won by QBs that are on their way to the Hall of Fame which includes Brady, Peyton and Eli Manning, Roethlisberger, Brees, Rodgers, Russell Wilson and Mahomes, NE seems to be built to follow a defensive approach to winning which is not as successful as it was in the past, Belichick obviously knows this so he should try to get his QB and protect him with his defence as he did with Brady at the beginning of his career but the question is can he get his QB in such a short time frame? That is what I do not know.

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Most likely they were greedy, there were many teams in need of a QB and they probably thought they could get something in return for Cam but no one was interested, Cam has been living out of his MVP season now for five years but that was an outlier, since then he has been injured all the time and taking into account the kind of football he plays which is very physical we can only guess his injuries are going to get worse with time unless he can change his game, which is not likely, last year there were reports he was trying to change his throwing mechanics, but trying to do this so late in his career is not only very difficult but also indicates there is something wrong with his arm.

Is the American Woman's League team still stuck in Honduras  I saw a tweet about them being unable to return home and were appealing to their fans for financial assistance in paying for their food & accommodation whist stuck there.

Here is a link to the news article.

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Just as a side note - who are the two Hotties in the photo?

I never liked Cam as a person with all his antics and this giving the balls away always looked a bit fake to me, but it was exciting to watch him play when he was on. He is most likely done now, but especially in his MVP season, he was a monster.


He never really striked me as a franchise QB. He was average with the Vikings and this injury sort of ruined his career. The numbers with the Saints from last season look good, but they are/were a well-oiled machine and Carolina is the complete opposite He is an ok-ish QB with the right pieces around him, but he can't carry a team imo, which is what franchise QB's are able to do.


Talking about the Bears, I found this tweet the other day:


Source: https://twitter.com/Pat_Thorman/status/1243226020569907202

Agree, their defense gonna struggle mightly without Kuechly in the lineup, think about it, they have to face Matt Ryan, TB12 and Brees twice (0-6 right there).
I don't know what Carolina plans for McCaffrey are, but if i were them id be willing to listen to trade offers and get something in return while they still can.
Panthers lost Olsen to the Seahawks and looking at their current offseason signings...who do they got - Robby Anderson, huh?!
McCaffrey's gonna be their only option on offense again, he will lead the team in receptions and carries, meaning too much workload for one guy might translate to injuries.

Again, tough seasons ahead for CAR. I'm also not sold on Bridgewater being a franchise QB but that's another topic.

I got to see a couple of his XFL games, he was always fun to watch.  I knew he would land a spot on a NFL team.  Carolina is sitting pretty with Teddy Bridgwater, he's is legit but he needs some weapons.  The Panthers finally cut Cam Newton, what the fuck took them so long?  I never liked that guy, and felt he was a fluke from the get go.  He had some great numbers over the years, but his attitude was shit, and his arrogance misplaced.  I would have cut him after that bitch-ass interview he had after losing the Super Bowl back in 2004.  



 
Where's the bleach?  I need to wash the eyeballs out of my skull!

The Rams and the 9ers have a long history, they've been at it since 1950.  Those early years were dominated by the Rams, luckily before my time.  Throughout the 80's and 90's the Niners had the Rams' number.  Even when the Rams were having a good year and 9ers sucked, it seems like we often found a way to beat them at their stadium.  We got in the habit of calling them the lambs.  The new logo (the legitimate one) with that big LA in the graphic seems to be goading us into using that nickname.  Okay, fine then, the LAmbs it is!



Going purely on football logo aesthetics, I have to hand the title to the Raiders.  Their's is by the far the best looking, but it has historic significance to the Bay Area, many aren't aware.  Jack London who is a famous author (especially in these parts) wrote about the rampant piracy in and around San Francisco Bay.  In the early days before Oakland was much of a city, the pirates hid out along shores and in the dock houses in what's now Alameda and Oakland.  Pretty fucking cool.

I find the Bears', the Colts', and the Browns' logos to be cool, just from the football history standpoint.

Well, this is of course photoshopped, in reality it doesn't look that obvious, but still hilarious


From the QB's I saw play in XFL, he was definitely by far the best, which is not that hard, if you saw the rest. The offenses weren't in sync and lots of players were rusty, but most of the time it was really awful to watch. As I said above, it will be a long season for the Panthers in the NFC South. I don't think Bridgewater will be able to make any noise with a very average roster and lets not forget, that they also lost their defensive captain and best player in Kuechly.

Panthers are signing QB PJ Walker to be the backup for Teddy Bridgewater in Carolina, PJ played for Houston Roughnecks in the XFL before it was shut down. I only had the chance to watch one quarter with him against LA Wildcats, they finished 5-0, best record in the XFL. Walker will play again for his former college coach Matt Rhule (Temple University).

Bunch of other XFL players are drawing interest and signing with NFL teams:

"Full list of XFL players signing with NFL teams"
source: https://dknation.draftkings.com/nfl/2020/3/25/21193199/xfl-players-nfl-free-agent-signings-2020-pj-walker-jordan-taamu-donald-parham

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On a side note, that Rams new logo is utter trash man!!! Rams' fans should be in total distress right now.
Can you see it? 

During these boring times, we can maybe have a look at all those logos:



Source: https://www.sportslogos.net/teams/list_by_league/7/National_Football_League/NFL/logos/

By far my #1 is the Cardinals, I just like that bird. Raiders is quite cool and I also like the Viking from MIN. Most boring is Chicago, and Jacksonville I never liked as well. Both New Yorks won't get any design award any time soon too.

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For me it's kind of weird thought to imagine Stidham/Hoyer being the starting QB for them this season. They have done quite well without Brady in 2008 (and 2016), but back then, it was just a matter of time, until Brady would return.
Not sure, if Belichick is the guy to tank and drafting a QB with a high pick in 2021 isn't a recipe for success too. If we expect Lawrence to need 1-2 seasons to adapt, you are looking at a 2-3 year span, where the Pats are in some vacuum. Now this is something that all teams have to go through every now and then (some teams even for ages ), but it will be strange to see the Pats maybe only being a middle of the pack team after so many years of domination.

That logo is a big mistake, if you take a look at some of the NFL team logos that have a similar theme you will see striking differences to avoid any confusion among the fans, I am surprised they have chosen almost the same colors as the chargers and while they tried to incorporate the horn of a ram there it looks very similar in shape to the logo of the chargers, if I was the charges I will change my logo immediately, personally I always felt they could create a very cool logo if they actually used realistic lightning in their helmet and their uniforms but that is just me.


Cam got released, Carolina tried to trade him but there were no takers and it is easy to understand why, if you were a team interested in Cam you could afford to wait since it was clear Carolina could not keep Terry and Cam at the same time.


There are reports that say that Hoyer will have a chance to compete for the starting job against Stidham so there are several paths NE can take now, they could decide they are settled at QB but I find that unlikely, they could draft a QB on the first-round, cut the third QB and let the three of them compete for the job, the final option could be to trade their first-round pick of this year for another first-round the next year and maybe even trade one of their good players for another first-round pick on the next year draft and get a total of three first-round picks and then tank this year to get Trevor Lawrence, this may seem weird but from what I have heard Lawrence and other QBs that will be available next year seem to be even better than the current class so Belichick could take some criticism this year for letting Brady go but he will make sure to get his QB during the next draft.


I find that very unlikely, this is the last year of his contract but since he was selected on the first-round he can be extended for an additional year and he could be tagged twice in a similar way to what happened to Kirk Cousins, so while he may have the desire to play for NE now at the earliest that could happen until 2024 and by then NE could had found their QB already or if they have not then they will be an average team and he could find a better place for him to play.

The Rams have revealed their new logo:


Source: https://twitter.com/NFL/status/1242165775647023105

I liked that old logo with that big horned sheep way better. I actually bought Rams gear some years ago because of that logo and the blue/gold colour combination, lol. That new logo reminds me a bit of the Chargers logo and now these teams even happen to play in the same city, weird.

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There are lots of trades happening, but nothing really worth mentioning. Cowboys C Frederick will retire. Probably one of the best centers in the league, but it's not that hard to find good centers and they are rather cheap. The Panthers are doing some QB stunts and I can only scratch my head, what they are doing. They still want to get rid of Cam, traded Allen to the Redskins for a pick, signed Bridgewater, the best QB from XFL and still have Grier on their roster. Being in a division with Matty Ice, Brees and Brady, Carolina looks like a train wreck.

Patriots have signed Hoyer. Stumbled across this tweet, which suggests Hoyer being or having been an important piece for them/Brady:


Source: https://twitter.com/ezlazar/status/1241814291034050564

And this article speculates about Watson being the next longterm QB for NE.

@tyKiwanuka. There were articles that were saying that a Superbowl winning quarter back would be joining the Bears. I was shaking my head asking myself how many Superbowls, 6? Tom Brady went to the Bucaneers hehehe.

The case of Nick Foles is interesting, in my opinion he is just a better Ryan Fitzmagic with the difference that he plays the best on the post season which makes him more valuable, he has been in 5 teams if we include Chicago and most of his success came with Philadelphia on the two different times he was with the team, Philadelphia tried to keep him but he could get out of his contract by paying 2 millions back to the team, this was done by him because as we know there is a shortage of good QBs and if you are a backup that won a SB then you will get a starting job elsewhere.

Jacksonville traded him because not only they found a cheaper alternative on Gardner Minshew but he is also way more marketable as he became a sensation on Jacksonville during the last season.

Jaguars are banking on Minshew to lead them to glory They probably just wanted to get rid of Foles and his huge contract at any cost and found the Bears, who were willing to trade for him. I am a bit surprised, that the Bears are already kind of giving up on Trubisky, but then again he wasn't really helping the Bears. Word is, that both are competing to be the starting QB, but if Foles is healthy, he should get the job easily.

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The Chargers are finally strengthening their trenches, should have done that, while Rivers was still in his prime:

Source: http://www.nfl.com/news/story/0ap3000001106399/article/2020-nfl-free-agency-tracker-teambyteam-signings-and-trades

Everything is pointing to them drafting a QB now. Burrow is a lock to get chosen #1 by the Bengals and then you have Herbert/Tagovailoa for Dolphins/Chargers. If the Chargers are sold on either Herbert or Tagovailoa, they will consider trading up and that should result in some (future) extra picks for the Redskins/Lions/Giants.

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I always liked the NFC South. Now with Brady joining the Bucs, it even got better. Two games Brady vs. Brees guaranteed, mouth-watering. Now we just need the Falcons to get back to where they were some years ago and this will be one hell of a divison Out of curiosity I checked the odds for NFC South winner:


Source: https://www.betonline.ag/sportsbook/futures-and-props/nfl-futures

Nick Foles went to the Chicago Bears. Is he a good player? He won a Superbowl and a Superbowl MVP award from playing for the Philadelphia Eagles. However, why was he transferred to the Jaguars from the Eagles and then to the Bears from the Jaguars?

I am sorry for not addressing this post yesterday but I was too upset about the whole Brady situation.

Even if we exclude Brady this free agency has been crazy, Houston basically gave away Hopkins to Arizona for a second-round pick, while Minnesota got a great compensation for a problematic player with 4 picks including a first-round pick, Rivers to Indianapolis seemed like an obvious landing spot for him, Bridgewater signed a decent deal with Carolina, but I cannot understand how Tannehill and Cousins got such huge deals when Tannehill is a one-hit wonder and the other is a decent QB but that is all.

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I do not really know which one is harder, to see your QB playing for someone else or seeing him being benched, but both are hard.

Most likely Brady is going to win this one on the short term since NE only has 3 millions in cap space thanks to 18 millions on dead cap space courtesy of TB and AB and they will need those 3 millions to sign the rookies so they do not have too much room for improvement on any position unless they begin to cut players.

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Belichick may not have any other option, with 3 millions on cap space it is going to be impossible to sign a veteran QB, another option could be to draft a QB with their first-round pick and let Stidham and the rookie compete for the starting job.

And he will go to the Colts. One year, $25mln guaranteed. Not bad, lets see how he will do there. Jags seem to be in rebuild mode (again ), but with the Titans and Texans this division is not easy, though wide open.


I read they do actually plan with Stidham, but I wouldn't be shocked, if Belichick comes up with someone completely different and surprising. I just don't know who it might be.

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On another note, I was really surprised to see Jason Witten being signed by the Raiders. Dude played for the Cowboys all of his life and already retired in 2018 to work for ESPN. Then came out of retirement to play for another year in Dallas and now he still continues to play - but left the Cowboys. Glad he is out of the NFC East, but it's a strange move somehow.

It's official; the Patriots are not re-signing Brady.  Wow, it's the end of a NFL era!  20 years of Dominating the league, and setting so many records, Brady is the greatest of all time.  I say this as a life-long 49ers fan, who grew up watching Joe Montana dominate during his time.  I'm not a Patriots fan, but I do consider myself a Tom Brady fan.  I wish him a long and healthy continuation of his great career.

The news of him going to Tampa seems fairly solid.  I think it's a good move for Brady and the Bucks.  Of course nothing is official until the contract is signed, so we'll see.  Part of me wanted to see #12 wearing the 9er's Red and Gold.  Not because I think it would make the team better (which it might have,) but I think Brady really wanted it.  He grew up a 9er's fan, and his Dad is still a big fan of the team.  He also has family ties in the area, so he would essentially be coming home.  And it would have been pretty cool to have the best quarterback ever wearing our colors.  Again.  

Belichick must have a plan, but who will be starting for the Pats this season?  Jarrett Stidham is probably still too green for the Pats' offense.  But who would have thought any different about Brady back in 2001?  I read a report that suggested back in 2017 Belichick anticipated Brady would want to go to the 9ers and there would be a chance to get Garoppolo back.  The report claimed that's why Belichick didn't shop Jimmy G around, and just suddenly traded him to SF.  And, it almost happened.  Belichick is a scheming football guru, who seems to "know" things, but did he actually plan that?