NFL 2018 Regular Season Thread

[DungeonmasterJim]

It wasn't boring for me.
I was very nervous and excited throughout the whole game.

New England Patriots is my favorite team since I wanted them to win the AFC Championship game against Pittsburgh Steelers 17 years ago.

I thought it was a good game. Not as exciting where no one plays defense and the score is 52-48 but then when I look at a game like that it reminds me of how the game has a billion rules to hamper the defense and hardly anything but holding on the offense and defense just looks like a total joke in the NFL.

[BeastieRunner]

The Browns were a dynasty back in the day.

Maybe all you guys that hate the Patriots so much can take solace in the fact that they'll probably turn into the Browns in the next decade or so.

[Surf]

The Browns were a dynasty back in the day.

Maybe all you guys that hate the Patriots so much can take solace in the fact that they'll probably turn into the Browns in the next decade or so.

Facts Kellerman. Sports has been cyclical for a lot longer time than any particular sports dynasty. I'm old enough to remember a time where a whole lot of Pats fans weren't even born when Dan Marino and Kelly used to kick the **** out of the Pats, Colts and Jets back in the old AFC East.


...and by Marino I mean that's really a shot at Mahomes.

[KNIGHT OF THE LAKE]

Some diehard football only fans might but this past 18 years starting with the Patriots has been a golden era in New England sports. The Red Sox have 3 WS championships, the Celtics and Bruins each added one. In addition, all franchises have had their down years but the Boston area has a lot of money and can get good players to the various teams. So if the Patriots falter, maybe even badly for years, there's all the other franchises that follow.

I would suggest it's harder for fans of that have fewer options like maybe a Green Bay. Is there even another franchise in that area or is it just Packers and maybe a big local college? Kansas has the Royals but because they are a small market team they have trouble competing against the payrolls of the Yankees and Red Sox.

People really don’t understand how big of a sports town Boston is. In baseball they have Ted Williams, Babe Ruth (whole curse of the Bambino) Yastrzemski, Clemens, Pedro, Ortiz. In hockey they have Orr whose probably the best player not named Gretzky. In basketball they have the winningest athlete in American history with Bill Russell, and Larry Bird who would be the best player in nearly any franchises history outside of the Bulls and maybe Lakers. Then in football they have Brady.

They have the best coach in the history of the NBA in Red Aurebech and the best coach in the history of the NFL in Bill Belichick.

They have the best team rivalries in all of sports with Celtics vs Lakers and Yankees vs Red Sox.

And they have the NBA’s best player rivalry in Bird vs Magic and the NFL’s best player rivalry in Brady vs Manning.

Then Celtics have the most NBA championships, the Patriots are tied for most Super Bowls, are tied for third in World Series wins, and are tied for 4th in Stanley Cups.

People really don’t get how big of sports town it is.

[DungeonmasterJim]

The Browns were a dynasty back in the day.

Maybe all you guys that hate the Patriots so much can take solace in the fact that they'll probably turn into the Browns in the next decade or so.

The thing about hating dynasties is not so much hating the team but hating the winning that keeps a fan's favorite team from winning. My first year of watching the Patriots came in 1985 when they got annihilated int eh Super Bowl by the Bears. I liked the 49ner's because of Montana so I got behind them but HATED the Aikman led Cowboys except for them beating the Bills. But I love the Patriot dynasty because they are my favorite team. Every fan wants their team to win in dynasty fashion. It's awesome and really fun as a fan. So for all the people that hate the Patriots what it really means is that their own team is not winning nearly as much as a dynasty.

[WestPhillyPunisher]

The Browns were a dynasty back in the day.

Maybe all you guys that hate the Patriots so much can take solace in the fact that they'll probably turn into the Browns in the next decade or so.

It's never been hatred for me, if anything, I admire the Pats for keeping it together for as long as they have. I my case, it's apathy at seeing the same team in the "Big Game" so damn much, it gets old and I lose interest. I want variety, I want to see up and coming teams with young studs and superstars make their mark in the history books, not the same old same old.

[KNIGHT OF THE LAKE]

The thing is, we are never going to see this level of sustained success for any team again. The next dynasty or great team will have everyone really hyped up, then they’ll show a graphic of he they compare to other great runs and.... they won’t be anywhere near the Patriots.

The last team to do anything like this was the 50’s Browns. They did it across two leagues, in the pre salary cap and free agency era, with far less competition. And that was when a title was basically a conference championship. They still didn’t go as long as the current Patriots. It took 50 years for a team to get a good enough owner, the greatest coach and greatest QB to pull this off. Most of us will not love long enough to see a dynasty like this one ever again. It’s so unprecedented..

[Sacred Knight]

I wouldn't completely count it out. Not as long as the league exists and goes on. Maybe it doesn't happen in our lifetimes, but as long as the league is around, who knows what transpires in the future. Maybe 50 years from now fans see something even better. Who the hell knows. Its why I don't even care to really get into that whole debate. Its the best dynasty of all time. Will another one ever happen? Don't know, and no one can know.

[BeastieRunner]

Mic'd up is gonna a clinic tonight.

The preview is with the coaches and they agreed to it prior to the SB to have been mic'd up.

[SUPERECWFAN1]

The Browns were a dynasty back in the day.

Maybe all you guys that hate the Patriots so much can take solace in the fact that they'll probably turn into the Browns in the next decade or so.

there

I said as much , nothing lasts forever. Its gonna eventually fall apart. Its just how well fans accept that. The 49ers fans had a hard fall from grace in 2000's as the team basically hit the wall there for a number of years.

Facts Kellerman. Sports has been cyclical for a lot longer time than any particular sports dynasty. I'm old enough to remember a time where a whole lot of Pats fans weren't even born when Dan Marino and Kelly used to kick the **** out of the Pats, Colts and Jets back in the old AFC East.


...and by Marino I mean that's really a shot at Mahomes.

Of course your comparison is kinda...silly to do right now as a dig at Mahomes really. Mahomes was just in his 1st season as a real starter. A closer comparison to Marino would be Phillip Rivers who has never beaten Brady in 8 career playoff games. That is your closest comparison. Then there is Andrew Luck who is 0-8 against Brady in regular season and playoffs as well. I mean one loss was so bad the then Colts GM tried to blame a deflated football on it comically.

[Surf]

Mahomes was just in his 1st season as a real starter.

Heaaa! Giggle out loud, ain't nobody said a fuckin' thing about no Brady. I said MARINO because I was drawing my dream parallel in MAHOMES- as in maybe quite possibly this is the furthest he ever gets in the playoffs, like MARINO did his actual full rookie season. Comprende? I mean I can dream can't I? I feel I can. Getting back to an AFC Championship games is really tough right? Ain't you the thread's version of NFL Wiki? Cause If not you sure dress like it.

[SUPERECWFAN1]

Heaaa! Giggle out loud, ain't nobody said a fuckin' thing about no Brady. I said MARINO because I was drawing my dream parallel in MAHOMES- as in maybe quite possibly this is the furthest he ever gets in the playoffs, like MARINO did his actual full rookie season. Comprende? I mean I can dream can't I? I feel I can. Getting back to an AFC Championship games is really tough right? Ain't you the thread's version of NFL Wiki? Cause If not you sure dress like it.

Marino went to a Super Bowl though once in his career. He just didn't make it to an AFC Championship game.Plus it was his 2nd or 3rd season as a starter. So again the dream comparison falls kinda off here. We don't know what Mahomes will do. A better comparison would be Rivers or Luck thus far against Brady. Both haven't been able to knock him off in playoffs.

[DungeonmasterJim]

Not sure if anyone else noticed but it seemed Patriots fans traveled well to the Super Bowl. The place got pretty loud when the Patriots did something positive and I recall hearing Brady's name chanted by the crowd during the game. Of course, the Rams have only been back in the LA area for three years so that may have had something to do with it plus I'm guessing travel expenses were probably more for Rams fans from the west coast.

[SUPERECWFAN1]

Not sure if anyone else noticed but it seemed Patriots fans traveled well to the Super Bowl. The place got pretty loud when the Patriots did something positive and I recall hearing Brady's name chanted by the crowd during the game. Of course, the Rams have only been back in the LA area for three years so that may have had something to do with it plus I'm guessing travel expenses were probably more for Rams fans from the west coast.

My personal theory is ...fans love greatness and that is Brady. He's a once in a lifetime great. I wouldn't be shocked if those fans realize ; he's 41 and this could be our last chance seeing him in the biggest game. Its like a Hogan vs Rock deal. Even though Hogan was the heel in that match ; fans remembered his greatness and got behind that. They saw Goff struggling all game long and pretty much got behind the old guy. Even if its Tom Brady.

[BeastieRunner]

My personal theory is ...fans love greatness and that is Brady. He's a once in a lifetime great. I wouldn't be shocked if those fans realize ; he's 41 and this could be our last chance seeing him in the biggest game. Its like a Hogan vs Rock deal. Even though Hogan was the heel in that match ; fans remembered his greatness and got behind that. They saw Goff struggling all game long and pretty much got behind the old guy. Even if its Tom Brady.

General baseball fans do that ... not so much football. The hardcore fans do (as evidence in this thread) but I haven't really seen that in my life from general football fans.

NE fans just have to hit the interstate to get to that game, so more of them showed up.