NFL 2018 Regular Season Thread

[SUPERECWFAN1]

Really this is not true outside of the 2016 year, which was followed by a 6-10 year. The Raiders had talent but not cohesion and the talent positions were uneven. Reggie never quite put together a cohesive team that had a hope of making a real run. They weren't even moving the right direction, and had tons of continual holes. Especially on defense. But also with their O-Line, running game and play calling.

Reggie was 39-70 career there and in the one and only playoff game they got to, they all looked like a bunch of no-talent puds against a clearly inferior team led by none other than Brock Osweiler. Doh! Take away the 2016 season and you see who they really are and have been under Reggie's command. During most of their seasons, they were one step away from firing off cannons for field goals.

I hope he finds a job, he probably will. But I'm not so sure what he's going to put on his resume - maybe something like "I tried really hard!"

I'm gonna debate this one...


- The Raiders when McKenzie took over was in rebuild mode. In fact the team had went 8-8 but was in deep trouble due to salary cap issues and more when McKenzie took over in 2012. In fact the team was deep in salary cap hell due to stupid moves Al Davis had made. The team also didn't have a 1st-4th rd picks that 1st season McKenzie took the team over. Due to terrible trades.


- It took 2+ seasons of building through the draft and McKenzie will get massive props for drafting 1 once in a generation force in Khali Mack and drafting Amari Cooper. He also drafted Derek Carr and that was a 3rd star til Gruden wrecked him comically.


- This was a team that went 12-4 and was on the cusp before injuries derailed them with Carr. In fact ...people were like , all the Raiders need is to add players around their stars ...Carr , Cooper and Mack and they have IT. They can be a contender and go far. No one looks at a team that goes 12-4 , 2 seasons ago and thinks....TOTAL REBUILD NEEDED. No one does this...because the Raiders were a few players away from being there. Instead....they crippled the team .


- If we wanna examine real records...2018 is not Reggie McKenzie. None of this season is McKenzie. He didn't make those trades or build this **** team the Raiders fielded. This is Jon Gruden's team and the 3 wins and 10 losses....well lets take that off his resume. Since anyone in NFL would.


- Overall this is McKenzie's record ... -- 36-60 as GM. Half the time was spent rebuilding a team crippled by being way over the salary cap , terrible trades where his 1st season he had no draft picks that could make a difference and then rebuilding that team to a 12-4 record. Yeah on his resume...'I got fucked over by the Raiders...and I drafted a certain Hall of Fame talent who I didn't wanna trade !"

[Raiders]

Oakland Raiders’ instability continues

[Ghost Rider TheHellfireDemon]

It was glorious watching the Eagles choke vs the Cowboys including the final play since a Eagles player decided to unwisely run his mouth before the challenging road game vs a playing great team.


Also hilarious the Giants look like Super Bowl contenders and the 2007 Patriots since they steamrolled the Skins 40-16, and it was 34-0 at halftime. It continues to get worse for the Skins, and Sanchez a irrefutable bust had a awful game.



The final play Patriot Dolphins was a wonderful miraculous play, 1 of the greatest endings for a NFL game, and for a Dolphins Patriots game.
I would love for NFL conspiracy theorists to explain that 1 with the whole the NFL is fixed.

[BeastieRunner]

"It's the National Football League. Nobody died." -- Darth Hoodie on Sunday's loss.

Classic.

[WestPhillyPunisher]

Funny thing: When Jerry Jones traded a 2019 first round pick to Oakland for WR Amari Cooper some six or so weeks ago, the NFL world mocked him up one side and down the other and lambasted him for making what had been considered a foolish trade. Nearly two months later, it's Jones who's having the last laugh on everyone as it appears Cooper has helped revive what had been a dormant offense and not only saved the Cowboys season after they've now reeled off five straight wins, but saved Jason Garrett's job to boot. Sunday's win over my Eagles may have been Cooper's best performance for Dallas with 10 catches for 217 yards and three TD's, including that winning score in overtime on that tip drill play. At 8-5, Dallas appears to have NFC Least wrapped up, but, how far they go in the playoffs is anybody's guess.

[WestPhillyPunisher]

Vikings fire OC John DeFilippo a day after loss to Seahawks

Been listening to the local all-sports radio station here, and Eagles fans are clamoring for the team to bring DeFilippo back to the nest to work with Carson Wentz like he had last year when he was the Birds QB coach.

[Gray Lensman]

"It's the National Football League. Nobody died." -- Darth Hoodie on Sunday's loss.

Classic.

Sounds like him, but putting in Gronk to play defense was a mistake. For a hail mary throw I'd understand, but for what was already expected to be a lateral-fest you want your fastest and best tacklers, and Gronk isn't that even at 100%.

[Surf]

Funny thing: When Jerry Jones traded a 2019 first round pick to Oakland for WR Amari Cooper some six or so weeks ago, the NFL world mocked him up one side and down the other and lambasted him for making what had been considered a foolish trade.

Ehhhhh, I don't like giving Jerruh that much glow. The pick would have been a heavily utilized receiver anydamnway. The one caveat I remember was even considering the bullshit viability out of Gruden's mouth regarding the players he's released. All of which are headed to the playoffs if I recall and Cooper DOES have a history of concussions. The solid Oakland team that Del Rio had did have a serious dip after Carr came back. A lot of that has always been on Del Rio putting the players in the best position possible. He got by and succeeded on raw talent.

Also this Maddenized opinionated landscape is a false God, one in which I can only hope falls on Gruden's head in Las Vegas. THE DRAFT IS THE END ALL BE ALL OF NOBODY, it's just that- young, players. They fall out of the league, get hurt, some say ****-it and some can't jive with the team that drafted them and some are used in the wrong way. Attrition is more real in the NFL than anywhere else. It's not like Jones picked up a kicker to go with already near the top of the league RB and Defense and still solid O-Line and a scooch more than serviceable QB. Cole Beasley can not be your leading receiver. Picking up Cooper was like finding 50 bucks in the street.

[SUPERECWFAN1]

Funny thing: When Jerry Jones traded a 2019 first round pick to Oakland for WR Amari Cooper some six or so weeks ago, the NFL world mocked him up one side and down the other and lambasted him for making what had been considered a foolish trade. Nearly two months later, it's Jones who's having the last laugh on everyone as it appears Cooper has helped revive what had been a dormant offense and not only saved the Cowboys season after they've now reeled off five straight wins, but saved Jason Garrett's job to boot. Sunday's win over my Eagles may have been Cooper's best performance for Dallas with 10 catches for 217 yards and three TD's, including that winning score in overtime on that tip drill play. At 8-5, Dallas appears to have NFC Least wrapped up, but, how far they go in the playoffs is anybody's guess.

Ehhhhh, I don't like giving Jerruh that much glow. The pick would have been a heavily utilized receiver anydamnway. The one caveat I remember was even considering the bullshit viability out of Gruden's mouth regarding the players he's released. All of which are headed to the playoffs if I recall and Cooper DOES have a history of concussions. The solid Oakland team that Del Rio had did have a serious dip after Carr came back. A lot of that has always been on Del Rio putting the players in the best position possible. He got by and succeeded on raw talent.

Also this Maddenized opinionated landscape is a false God, one in which I can only hope falls on Gruden's head in Las Vegas. THE DRAFT IS THE END ALL BE ALL OF NOBODY, it's just that- young, players. They fall out of the league, get hurt, some say ****-it and some can't jive with the team that drafted them and some are used in the wrong way. Attrition is more real in the NFL than anywhere else. It's not like Jones picked up a kicker to go with already near the top of the league RB and Defense and still solid O-Line and a scooch more than serviceable QB. Cole Beasley can not be your leading receiver. Picking up Cooper was like finding 50 bucks in the street.

Cooper was struggling in Gruden's system and the insane situation there. Its a case where a coach came in , didn't see the value in a WR who had some great success early (2 straight 1,000+ yard seasons , had an injury plagued 2017 which hurt the Raiders like Carr's return from injury did). So they saw this WR who they felt was on decline. Not realizing he didn't fit what they were doing now and when healthy he's a force.

He's had 2 monster games. He's opened that team up passing wise and Jones got him for a song really. Because as Aikman detailed a couple weeks ago , they felt this WR core could all be service type players and go from there. That they could get by. But the WR's weren't working and trying to make Austin work was changing up what they ran. So the trade was one they realized...they needed a pure #1 guy for Prescott .

[WestPhillyPunisher]

Sounds like him, but putting in Gronk to play defense was a mistake. For a hail mary throw I'd understand, but for what was already expected to be a lateral-fest you want your fastest and best tacklers, and Gronk isn't that even at 100%.

Hell, I would've questioned putting Gronk out there for a Hail Mary play. I mean, can the dude even jump? It's amazing Darth Hoodie failed to anticipate the Fish going into lateral mode and didn't put the proper personnel on the field, but I'm guessing the beat reporters didn't grill him about that in his postgame presser. Probably out of fear.

[SUPERECWFAN1]

Vikings fire OC John DeFilippo a day after loss to Seahawks

Been listening to the local all-sports radio station here, and Eagles fans are clamoring for the team to bring DeFilippo back to the nest to work with Carson Wentz like he had last year when he was the Birds QB coach.

This was something brewing from the start as Zimmer demanded that DeFilippo run the ball more but doesn't seem to realize a couple things.


1 - The offensive line is not good at this and struggled all season running the ball. A fact on MNF was fully illustrated at how bad they are at running.

2 - They don't have that RB that really is good. In fact Cook hasn't lived up to expectations as a 2nd round pick at RB after injury wiped out his promising rookie season. He's getting 4+ yards a carry but is splitting time with Murray.

3 - The strength of this team is its stud WR's and your telling the coordinator , hey go away from that and run the ball more.


I get what Zimmer wants to do. But he doesn't have the OL or RB's to make this work and the real studs of his offense is the WR's Diggs and Theilan.

[Raiders]

Cooper was struggling in Gruden's system and the insane situation there. Its a case where a coach came in , didn't see the value in a WR who had some great success early (2 straight 1,000+ yard seasons , had an injury plagued 2017 which hurt the Raiders like Carr's return from injury did). So they saw this WR who they felt was on decline. Not realizing he didn't fit what they were doing now and when healthy he's a force.

He's had 2 monster games. He's opened that team up passing wise and Jones got him for a song really. Because as Aikman detailed a couple weeks ago , they felt this WR core could all be service type players and go from there. That they could get by. But the WR's weren't working and trying to make Austin work was changing up what they ran. So the trade was one they realized...they needed a pure #1 guy for Prescott .

Gruden didn’t know how to use Cooper, his game plan is to make the RB’s and TE’s the main targets.

[SUPERECWFAN1]

Gruden didn’t know how to use Cooper, his game plan is to make the RB’s and TE’s the main targets.

Well Gruden runs a west coast offense type system which does include passes to TE's and RB's. But as we saw the 49ers with Jerry Rice and in Oakland in his 1st stint (Gruden) he used him as well that way. Rice was considered the #1 guy in system. Cooper likely was having issues with this system and his concussion early seemed to make Gruden believe...well he's on the decline and missed 2017. So I can move him for some WR that fits my system.

I'm not defending Gruden here at all. And unless he nails all 5 draft picks or what he does trade wise with players. He's gonna be considered the idiot who traded away Mack and Cooper in 1 season.


Also another story is coming out from reports on youtube (some sports channels) that Mark Davis is in a big spot right now. He signed the Vegas move because he's the poorest owner in the league (only worth half a billion dollars) and a big reason he allowed the trades of Mack and Cooper was due to him not having the resources to pay those players. Due to what he's paying Jon Gruden now ($100 million in 10 seasons , piece of ownership). The Vegas move will actually make him a lot of money and give him that money ahead in 2020.

[Gray Lensman]

Hell, I would've questioned putting Gronk out there for a Hail Mary play. I mean, can the dude even jump? It's amazing Darth Hoodie failed to anticipate the Fish going into lateral mode and didn't put the proper personnel on the field, but I'm guessing the beat reporters didn't grill him about that in his postgame presser. Probably out of fear.

He already has a foot plus on most receivers. But in a hail Mary situation the defense often puts out what is called the 'hands team' where nearly everyone is a threat to come down with the ball. It's the same grouping that would be used for an onside kick. The single most important thing is to get the ball.

But that wasn't the situation the Pats faced. For the lateral fest you need different players, even if some of them might have the skills to be on both specialty formations.

[Raiders]

Well Gruden runs a west coast offense type system which does include passes to TE's and RB's. But as we saw the 49ers with Jerry Rice and in Oakland in his 1st stint (Gruden) he used him as well that way. Rice was considered the #1 guy in system. Cooper likely was having issues with this system and his concussion early seemed to make Gruden believe...well he's on the decline and missed 2017. So I can move him for some WR that fits my system.

I'm not defending Gruden here at all. And unless he nails all 5 draft picks or what he does trade wise with players. He's gonna be considered the idiot who traded away Mack and Cooper in 1 season.


Also another story is coming out from reports on youtube (some sports channels) that Mark Davis is in a big spot right now. He signed the Vegas move because he's the poorest owner in the league (only worth half a billion dollars) and a big reason he allowed the trades of Mack and Cooper was due to him not having the resources to pay those players. Due to what he's paying Jon Gruden now ($100 million in 10 seasons , piece of ownership). The Vegas move will actually make him a lot of money and give him that money ahead in 2020.

Gruden’s 2018 west coast offense is more conservative than Gruden 2001 west coast offense.
In 2001, he had Tim Brown and Jerry Rice as WR. 70-80% of the plays were passing plays, and a lot of them was over 15 yards.
In 2018, the first eleven game, >15 yards passes were rare and almost nonexistent.

OC Greg Olson has been calling the plays the last two games, now Carr is getting the ball down field and the Raiders are now scoring more points. Gruden play calling was too conservative and he ignored Cooper abilities.