NFL 2018 Regular Season Thread

[KNIGHT OF THE LAKE]

Curses aren't real.

But yes, Rams are good. But if I had to pick one right now, I'd pick Chiefs for Mahomes. Rams are one bad game from a locker-room revolt. And the stamina/red zone area is lacking. Chiefs can do it.

But who are we kidding?

It will be probably be Packers/Saints vs. Patriots/Steelers.

I think the Patriots showed that there are ways to limit Mahomes and take away Kelce. If you can do that and play mistake free football (the Patriots did in the first half and didn't in the second) you can limit that offense. And yes the Chiefs will get defensive pieces back but they are still going to be vulnerable to most decent offenses. The Rams are loaded to the point where you have to pretty much play perfect and get some breaks to beat them.

Mahomes has 8 starts under his belt. 7 are this year. This league has shown time and time again that you shouldn't take early success of a young QB as predicative. Tape matters and the good teams are going to start analyzing this kid.

Also Andy Reid still has no concept of clock management and he's not going to cake walk through the playoffs without some tough games and someone smarter than him will exploit that. He already showed it by scoring too early against the Patriots in a situation everyone in the world saw as the set up for a clock killing field goal winning drive.

I buy the Rams far more. Goff is more tenured and is showing more maturity. They have the dynamic weapons in Gurley and Cook. They have strength on defense. They are just on fire.

Don't think the Packers have a shot this year. My bet is Patriots vs Chiefs and Saints vs Rams.

[KNIGHT OF THE LAKE]

Seven games into the year, and the race for the worst record in the league and #1 draft pick looks to be shaking down to the following one-win or two-win teams sucking down the stretch:

• Arizona Cardinals (1-6): Steve Wilks and now fired OC Mike McCoy's malfeasance have left a roster with Josh Rosen, Christian Kirk, David Johnson, and Larry Fitzgerald on offense, and Chandler Jones, Deone Bucannon, and Patrick Peterson on its defense bizarrely under-achieving. Arizona wasn't supposed to be a playoff team, by any stretch, but this roster managed 8-8 last year while having nine games with either Drew Stanton and Blaine Gabbert under center. The coaching decisions have been mind-boggling, whether it's been using David Johnson almost exclusively between the tackles, keeping Bucannon, a border line Pro-Bowl talent on the bench, or changing from a 3-4, to pitching running a 4-3, but instead, running a bizarre 4-2-5 nickel defense that has turned a Top 5 defense into a bottom-tier one... Arizona is a mess right now, and looks like they'll be lucky if they win 4 games all year. Their remaining schedule of 9 games has two possible wins in it, at home against the fire-sale, Gruden-coached Raiders and at home versus the injury-plagued 49ers (their only win so far this year). However, they have to play on the road against Atlanta, Kansas City, Green Bay, San Diego, Seattle, and host the Rams and Lions. Those games against Oakland and San Francisco could well determine the #1 pick.
• San Francisco (1-6): Injuries. No Jimmy G, and no Jerrick McKinnon. Matt Breida and Marquis Goodwin have been out with injuries, and are only starting to get healthy. Richard Sherman is ailing, as well. They have Arizona this week, and their next three are against Tampa Bay, the Giants, and the Raiders. With that soft middle to their schedule, they might play themselves out of the "worst" spot, provided they take care of the football. For whatever their record says about them, the Niners can at least play defense against the run, and run the ball. They do need to work on forcing turnovers, though, as they've only picked off one pass over the first 7 games. If they start forcing turnovers, they could play themselves out of the top overall pick and just into the Top 5 or Top 10.
• Oakland Raiders (1-6): The Gruden fire sale has begun in Oakland, as they traded away young stud WR Amari Cooper to the Cowboys for only a single 1st round pick, the latest in a bizarre series of decisions since Gruden took over that are overshadowed perhaps by the Raiders moving Khalil Mack right before the start of the season, only to be befuddled why they can't sack an opposing QB any more. They just lost Marshawn Lynch for like a month, and their only offensive weapon looks to be Jared Cook. Their franchise QB, Derek Carr, meanwhile, has looked near tears while being scooped off the turf the past two weeks. Honestly, Oakland fans deserved better, and it almost looks like John Gruden just wants to draft a new Vegas team, and the Raiders look like they'll have three first round picks going into the April draft, their own high pick that could be #1 overall, and if it isn't, they can package the picks they got from Dallas and Chicago to move up and trade it with whoever does have it, if they fall in love with a player. Oakland's remaining schedule, as we stated, has both Arizona, and San Francisco on it, as well as a game against the Colts that could help.
• New York Giants (1-6): The Giants look like they'll be the only team with a god-awful record who explicitly are shopping for a QB in April. The consensus top QB isn't exactly going to be a big name, compared to this past year's draft. But Eli Manning is on his way out, and this defense is ancient. Still, the Giants have offensive weapons like OBJ, Saquon Barkley, Sterling Shepherd, and Evan Engram. They need line help, and should start rebuilding the defense. The Giants have perhaps the best talent of any of the 1-6 teams, and have the most potential for wins, given how mediocre that NFC East looks this year. They also get games against the Colts, Titans, Tampa Bay, and San Francisco on their schedule.
• Buffalo Bills (2-5): Buffalo has two wins already... but they also are looking at an offense without any weapons, and a rotating QB carousel of an injured rookie QB in Josh Allen, journeyman interception machine Derek Anderson, and the utter disaster that is Nathan Peterman. Their defensive front seven is their only bright spot. Their remaining nine games don't feature any of the other miserable teams on this list, and their only hope to avoid going 2-14 might be that they get to play the Dolphins and Jets twice, who are mediocre enough and have their own challenges that could let the Bills steal one or two games. They are going to be in the Bottom 5 at year's end.
• Indianapolis Colts (2-5): The Colts had double-digit draft picks this year, and Andrew Luck is starting to resemble the player he was before he missed a whole year. The Colts' Marlon Mack is also a young RB on the rise. If you look at the scores on their games this year... of their five losses, only one was by more than a single score, and that was against New England. The Colts are in better shape than most of the teams on this list, who aren't just losing, but are getting obliterated. Hell, the Colts just wrecked the Bills. Their remaining schedule is also very friendly, they still get the Titans twice, the "meh" Cowboys, the Giants, and dysfunctional Dolphins. They could play their way out of a bottom five placing when all is said and done.

This is interesting because 4 of these teams absolutely will not draft a QB with the pick (Colts have Luck, Bills have Allen, 49'ers have Garopollo, Cardinals have Rosen). Oakland also will have several picks in the first round so they might be able to wait by loading up on talent and keeping Carr for one more year before they pull the trigger on a QB.

Giants pretty much need a QB. That's all there is to say. So they might actually get lucky in that they can finish anywhere in the top 5 or so and as long as their isn't a trade. That said, news is Herbert isn't declaring for the draft so the top QB prospect might actually not be there anyways.

[Kirby101]

This is interesting because 4 of these teams absolutely will not draft a QB with the pick (Colts have Luck, Bills have Allen, 49'ers have Garopollo, Cardinals have Rosen). Oakland also will have several picks in the first round so they might be able to wait by loading up on talent and keeping Carr for one more year before they pull the trigger on a QB.

Giants pretty much need a QB. That's all there is to say. So they might actually get lucky in that they can finish anywhere in the top 5 or so and as long as their isn't a trade. That said, news is Herbert isn't declaring for the draft so the top QB prospect might actually not be there anyways.

The Giants threw away the #2 pick in the most QB rich draft in a generation, cause they were going to "win now". What a train wreck.

[SUPERECWFAN1]

Here was the stupid thought process that Jon Gruden used to trade Cooper which is honestly so comical I laughed my ass off. He has dismantled a team that just needed a few pieces and now has a total rebuild project to do. Its amazing to see an idiot go to work and do this.


http://www.nfl.com/news/story/0ap300...r-from-raiders

"I hate to see good players go," Gruden said in a statement to ESPN's Chris Mortensen. "I was on the practice field when Reggie came to me and said Cowboys would do this for a No. 1 and I said let's do it. We now have five No. 1 picks in the next two years so I'm excited about that."

This is how much thought process Gruden used . No , lets go sit inside and discuss the draft and what players we could possibly get to replace Cooper. As a Chiefs fan I love how he dismantled a team that had went 12-4 , 2 seasons ago by trading away its stud players because he just wants to do that comically.

[Scott Taylor]

Yah I'm almost thinking Gruden is sabotaging the franchise at this point. He and Al Davis had a very rocky relationship that ended in a very ugly way. Maybe thats too conspiratorial of me.

[SUPERECWFAN1]

Yah I'm almost thinking Gruden is sabotaging the franchise at this point. He and Al Davis had a very rocky relationship that ended in a very ugly way. Maybe thats too conspiratorial of me.

I don't think its sabotage and more its just he's listening to his own inner circle inside the Raiders who believe they are better. But the proof is in the pudding that McKenzie is on a ticking clock. As GM his big pieces he drafted are now gone. His 2 big stud players on offense and defense was traded away. One NFL person in that article claimed the Raiders wasted the last 5 years of drafting with these moves.

One team that is mentioned in that article is that they nearly traded Cooper away to the Eagles who offered a 2nd round pick. But Dallas stepped in (as i posted they have needed WR help BADLY) and now have a big #3 again. They have Prescott at QB , Elliott at RB and now him on the outside. This is a nice deal for them.

[Raiders]

WTF, I have nothing more to say.

[worstblogever]

This is interesting because 4 of these teams absolutely will not draft a QB with the pick (Colts have Luck, Bills have Allen, 49'ers have Garopollo, Cardinals have Rosen). Oakland also will have several picks in the first round so they might be able to wait by loading up on talent and keeping Carr for one more year before they pull the trigger on a QB.

Giants pretty much need a QB. That's all there is to say. So they might actually get lucky in that they can finish anywhere in the top 5 or so and as long as their isn't a trade. That said, news is Herbert isn't declaring for the draft so the top QB prospect might actually not be there anyways.

Some team might be crazy enough to trade UP or a QB, that's somewhere in picks 6-15. But it's more unlikely to happen because this year's QB class is so weak. The Giants might want to move up a few spots to make sure they get Eli's replacement, if another team scares them into thinking someone's going to jump ahead of them and get the best of this year's class.

This is, of course, six months down the line, but it's still already starting to take shape.

[KNIGHT OF THE LAKE]

Some team might be crazy enough to trade UP or a QB, that's somewhere in picks 6-15. But it's more unlikely to happen because this year's QB class is so weak. The Giants might want to move up a few spots to make sure they get Eli's replacement, if another team scares them into thinking someone's going to jump ahead of them and get the best of this year's class.

This is, of course, six months down the line, but it's still already starting to take shape.

Well this isn’t a stacked QB draft and right now the guy everyone thought was going to be the star of the class decided to not declare

[Hiromi]

Second time in two weeks Dan Quinn goes for a gutsy long field goal late game and it pays off big

[The Big G]

[SUPERECWFAN1]

Some team might be crazy enough to trade UP or a QB, that's somewhere in picks 6-15. But it's more unlikely to happen because this year's QB class is so weak. The Giants might want to move up a few spots to make sure they get Eli's replacement, if another team scares them into thinking someone's going to jump ahead of them and get the best of this year's class.

This is, of course, six months down the line, but it's still already starting to take shape.

Well this isn’t a stacked QB draft and right now the guy everyone thought was going to be the star of the class decided to not declare

Also even if its not a strong QB class per say , there can be a guy who emerges as a franchise QB to possibly take. For example in 2017 that draft wasn't considered a strong QB class if anyone remembers. There was 1 QB ranked as a top guy and it was Trubisky and he was considered the best QB. Mahomes was considered a wild card due to his Brett Farve style play (for every OMG moment with his arm , he'd do a wild throw) and Watson was someone folks debated if he'd translate to the NFL. Those 3 went in the 1st round.

2018 was considered "the QB draft" as 3 guys were debated at #1 guys and we saw 4 QB's go within 10 picks and 5 overall that 1st round.

The Giants could find their QB there. Of course tonight showed that their defense is full of issues and offensive line continues to be a nightmare as well.

Second time in two weeks Dan Quinn goes for a gutsy long field goal late game and it pays off big

Quinn realized his defense was like the Giants. Just terrible to watch and expect to hold Eli. It hadn't stopped him from throwing for nearly 400 yards and we saw how quick they went down the field.

But that was terrible clock management by Shurmer. I mean the one guy was blaming Eli for doing that QB sneak. But when the coordinator does that twice with clock running down and you have 40 seconds and not enough time for onside kick...its on them. Eli was doing what they called. But even Romo was like , call a fade route , slant or even clock it. Don't do that.

[Raiders]

Will Derek Carr finish the season as a Raiders?

[Scott Taylor]

Everyone's speculating that Carr will go.

Its so weird. They are getting rid of the entire, proven core so they can draft an entirely new, unproven core. Gruden is a real dick.

[WestPhillyPunisher]

Everyone's speculating that Carr will go.

Its so weird. They are getting rid of the entire, proven core so they can draft an entirely new, unproven core. Gruden is a real dick.

That’s the thing, it’s not Gruden’s entire, proven core. With his ego, Chucky wants to win with players HE brings in and grooms, not with someone else’s players, no matter how good they are, not even if they were Pro Bowlers. That’s what I suspect is going on with the Raiders, and I get the feeling this is going end badly.