NFL 2020 Season

[worstblogever]

6. Vic Fangio, Broncos : A reminder, Fangio declared that Covid-19 is showing "who the whiners are" around the NFL, which is one of the dumbest "fake tough guy" quotes I think I've seen in some time about a disease that's killed 270,000 people. This is in addition to his terrible opinions on police killings of African Americans in the off-season that were completely unnecessary for him to even opine about in the first place. If it were only "on the field" failings, I think Fangio would be in trouble, but that AND his mouth are making him a likely candidate for getting the boot at year's end.

On the field, though... “Mr. Covid Tough Guy” Fangio Denver just moved to 4-7 after trying to play a game with a practice squad WR, Kendall Hinton, who was a mediocre backup QB at Wake Forest for 3 years… that was who they were forced to put under center. He went 0-7 passing for 0 yards and an INT in the first half. Denver managed 37 yards of total offense on 22 plays in that half. The Saints hardly got a lot more out of Taysom Hill (125 total first half yards, but 17 points, 10 on Denver turnovers that set them up in scoring position), but New Orleans was running the ball far better. Seriously, this looked like a game from around the time the forward pass was created. Denver finally completed a pass to a TE in the second half so Hinton could finish with the line of 1/9 for 13 yards and 2 INTs. Denver had 113 yards of total offense in a 31-3 loss.

Next week, the Broncos have to go off to Kansas City. The final month goes an east-coast early game against Carolina, hosting the Bills, a trip to LA to play the Chargers, and ten closing out at home versus the playoff-contender Raiders. Translation: This feels like another 6-10 year in Denver, and that’s not good enough to have job security in Big D.


5. Mike McCarthy, Cowboys) Again, first year coaches don't usually get fired. But, given the preseason hype where the Cowboys were, I s*** you not, the NFC Super Bowl pick by Dan Patrick… and they're 3-8, that’s not good. They look far worse than that record. The offensive line that made them so threatening only a few seasons ago is already dilapidated due to injuries (they just got both tackles back and BOTH went down with injuries again on Thursday), and right now, it's second stringers across the board. That decline in talent across the O-Line wasn't glaring when Dallas had Dak Prescott keeping them in games with gaudy numbers through their first five this year (RIP Dak's ankle, I think it died of the 'Rona or something), and they’ve ended up starting four different guys at QB. They’re actually relieved they got ginger legend Andy Dalton back to manage the kind of mediocre output that has been the hallmark of his career.

So, on Thanksgiving, I’m watching the game with my dad while its close in the first half, and driving home as the first half winds down with Dallas trailing 17-13. I’m listening to a radio broadcast that normally is *********centric, with former Dallas QB Danny White calling the game… and he’s furious that neither team is playing like it even cares. And they’re supposed to be playing for first place in the division. And he’s more pissed off because Mike McCarthy and his infinite wisdom, went for it on 4th and 1 from his own 34 with the game tied in the second quarter and an additional personal foul when they blew on their play it gave the WFT the ball on their own 19.

This is Dallas’ broadcast losing it.

The second half… it got worse. WFT is only up 20-16, and Mike McCarthy called a completely dogs*** fake punt that had no chance of succeeding, again giving Washington a short field. It was never close after that, as overall in the second half, they were outscored 24-3. WFT only had 149 yards passing (he did get some yardage from the Cowboys’ secondary in penalties). This is because they realized Dallas’ defense is so s***ty that they should just run the ball on them, because the home team wanted to go home and eat some turkey. On one of RB Antonio Gibson’s three TDs against the Cowboys, he turned, looked back, and waved at the Dallas defense, mocking them as he went into the end zone (it could have been a taunting penalty in theory, but even the refs just wanted the game over by that point, it was sad). Late in the game, Dallas was down 41-16 (the pathetic final score) and was going for it on 4th down in a game where it was impossible for them to have any sort of comeback… they failed again, and turned it over on downs for the third time in the game.

Going forward, this team has dropped all its money into skill position players and no one is left who can block for Zeke, or buy enough time to throw to Amari Cooper. For the last three years he was in Green Bay, Mike McCarthy was considered to have been more of a hindrance to Aaron Rodgers from the point they won a Super Bowl going forward, and he doesn't seem like his return to coaching after a year away is going to prove Rodgers was the problem. Hell, after Thursday, he made it pretty clear that he wasted the prime of Rodgers’ career. Whether or not Jerrah and Son are dumb enough to stick by him in 2021 so he can make their franchise a laughing stock for a second year… we’ll have to see.

4. Zac Taylor, Bengals: At least they didn’t get blown out this week. They still lost… to the Giants, who had Daniel Jones leave the game with a hamstring injury, and alas, Brandon Allen could not manage a comeback against the now 4-7 G-Men. This puts Cincinnatti’s record at 2-8-1, and oh yeah, Joe Mixon is also on IR with a foot injury for the next several weeks. Between this and the Joe Burrow injury... The lights are out, all hope is lost.

The story here of why Taylor might not get fired is "Mike Brown is a f***ing cheapskate." Remember all the years where people thought FOR SURE Marvin Lewis would get fired because he couldn't win a playoff game? And Cincinnatti kept him around? Well, the talk always was because Mike Brown couldn't find a cheaper, better option than that, and the skinflint would never spend money on a good coach. So I look at Zac Taylor, and think they're gonna give him at least until the end of the year and maybe longer because as bad as the Bengals look outside of Joe Burrow and as disgruntled as this locker room is... Zac Taylor still only makes between $400,000 and $600,000 a season. He is valued at roughly 1/20 of Bill Belichek, and maybe like 1/16 of an Andy Reid.

Still, Taylor has “no regerts” on having Joe Burrow out there until he got hurt, so… not the kind of sound bite a coach can have and hang on…

[worstblogever]

3. Doug Marrone, Jaguars: I honestly thought he got fired at the end of the 2019 season... but NOPE, he's still down in the swamps of Jacksonville. We're now going to three years removed from the Jaguars being up on the Patriots with 10 minutes to go in the AFC Championship Game, and the number of players from that 53-man squad still in Jacksonville is 7. They have had two Top 5 picks from recent drafts in Jalen Ramsey and Leonard Fournette flat-out escape this franchise. They've had two double-digit loss seasons coming intfo this one, and now having dropped to 1-10 after a loss to the Vikings (that’s ten losses in a row, for those keeping track)... They have locked in a third straight double-digit loss season (they’re not going 6-0 down the stretch). Gardner Minshew and his "cop in a porno flick" mustache was benched, and then he got a thumb that left the team in the capable hands of rookie Jake Luton (from University of Idaho) who threw 4 INTs yesterday against Pittsburgh and was replaced this week by athletic giraffe Mike Glennon.

Shad Khan is one of the more patient owners in the league (hell, he let Gus Bradley stick around to build the worst losing percentage in coaching history), and the team stuck by Marrone through the BYE week. While firing Marrone at any point to let OC Jay Gruden take over as the interim coach would make sense... it looks like Marrone will stick around through season's end in their quest to try and overtake the Jets to get Trevor Lawrence. They'll likely have to settle for Justin Fields from Ohio State, though. And we all know how well Buckeyes signal callers do in the pros...

2. Adam Gase, Jets: Stop me if you’ve heard this one… Sam Darnold is seeing more ghosts than a bunch of jackasses wandering around with hand-cams on a SyFy show. He’s seeing more ghosts that the little girl in Poltergeist. He’s seeing more ghosts than Pac-Man while he wonders where he might get traded to when the team inevitably drafts Trevor Lawrence. The Jets are now 0-11, and are losing by an average of about 16 points a game after their second loss to the Dolphins. It’s not just losing, but badly. The Jets have lost by 20 or more points eight times since the start of 2019. In one out of three games the J-E-T-S are blown out by three TDs with Ol' Bug Eyes as head coach over his 25 game tenure. He's also got his own defensive coordinator, Gregg Williams, taking potshots at him in front of the New York media, who are eating that s*** up with a spoon. Adam Gase should be fired after this game, when the Jets enter their BYE week, but he won’t, because as long as he’s bumblef***ing around the sidelines, this team won’t blow their chances of that #1 pick in the draft, and that Adam Gase picked his own GM, who ridiculously lied to the New York media that Gase was the best man for this job. At this point, even Joe Namath is coming out and predicting the Jets will have the #1 pick in the draft, and that Trevor Lawrence should threaten to go back to school for another year at Clemson if the Jets pick him or force a trade away from this disaster of a franchise.
The Jets have five games left to escape 0-16. If any of the coaches in those games manage to fall to this team, we have to instantly place them somewhere on the HOT SEAT list. We don’t care if Pete Carroll just signed a long-term extension in Seattle, if the Seahawks lose to the Jets, it wouldn’t be wrong of the team to fire him. The Las Vegas Raiders still have like 6 or 7 years left on Jon Gruden’s insane contract? DOESN’T MATTER. If Bill Belichek loses the Week 17 rematch of last week’s game against the Jets? Robert Kraft would be within his rights to kick the guy who won him six rings to the curb. It’s nothing personal… but DO NOT be the coach that flubs and gives this squad its win for 2020. Send them to the land of the winless with the Lions and Browns like they deserve.

1. Matt Patricia, Lions Detroit dropped to 4-7 after fulfilling their Thanksgiving tradition going back to 1934 of embarrassing themselves on the gridiron in the early Turkey Day game. The Lions went up 7-0, then got the ball back from the Texans and then had Matt Stafford forget J.J. Watt is a thing, and the exact kind of plays that made him a perennial DPOTY candidate. A pick-six there, followed by their fourth-string RB Jonathon Williams fumbling on their next offensive play to give the Texans a short field sucked whatever momentum Detroit had early. While Detroit finally got 100 yards rushing in a game (while trailing and you’d think they should be throwing the ball), that fumble and a fumble later by Kerryon Johnson wasted the effort. More importantly, “defensive genius” coach Matt Patricia had Deshuan Watson seem like he was barely breaking a sweat while throwing 4 TDs, give up HUGE plays, and late in the game, completely fooled the Lions’ defense on a flea flicker where the entire roster got amnesia and that Will Fuller exists and he casually strolled to the end zone while CBS’ Jim Nantz chuckled about it being a “Sandlot play”. It was a 41-25 drubbing where the Houston’s interim coach, the legendary ROMEO CRENNEL completely outcoached his counterpart from the Belichek coaching tree.

The stretch of “easy” games for Detroit is over. Their final five? Chicago. Green Bay. Tennessee. Tampa Bay. Minnesota (who have been trending in the right direction.) We should note also that three of their four wins this year are against the WFT, Jets and Jaguars, so this team is actually far worse than their record in reality. Arizona is the only team they’ve beat with a winning record (and they’re just 6-5). The Lions could end this season on a seven game losing streak.

This was finally enough to get both Matt Patricia (who probably shouldn't have been hired because of 1996 sexual assault indictment he had if this organization was actually smart enough to do a simple background check before hiring him) and GM Bob Quinn fired. And our only surprise is… it happened before Adam Gase got fired. And the best thing about it?

Every single player from the Detroit locker room from the past two and a half years spilled the tea on the Lions’ attempt to be the Patriots of the Midwest. How pathetic it was that Matt Patricia was trying to micro-manage grown men into not wearing jewelry or play music, or dance, or, y’know, be human beings. He not only sucked as a coach, but he was generally a control freak d***head who everyone hated. We’ll see if he gets rehired by Belichek to rebuild New England’s defense, but given his history of sexual assault and utter failure with the Lions, he’s unlikely to get a look as a head coach any time soon.

[BeastieRunner]

Apparently a wildcat strike has been submitted to the NFL for the Ravens.

They refuse to play citing not enough break time for injuries.

It is a developing story, just caught a blurb on the news.

Waiting to see if it is more than a rumor.

A wildcat strike would pretty much kill the season.

Unless the NFL gives the players what they want.

[WestPhillyPunisher]

Apparently a wildcat strike has been submitted to the NFL for the Ravens.

They refuse to play citing not enough break time for injuries.

It is a developing story, just caught a blurb on the news.

Waiting to see if it is more than a rumor.

A wildcat strike would pretty much kill the season.

Unless the NFL gives the players what they want.

Sweet Jesus! Seriously? If true, that's going to backfire on the players in the worst possible way. With something like a quarter million people having died from the virus, millions infected and unemployed and the economy struggling to keep afloat, the public, desperate for the sort of diversion sports provided from all this madness will NOT put up with millionaire athletes whining like spoiled children denied cookies before dinner.

[WestPhillyPunisher]

I don't follow the Eagles closely, so I don' know how reliable some of the team fan sites are, but a reporter/pundit (Adam Caplan) from Inside the Birds and the site Bleeding Green have both reported the order has come form owner Jeffrey Lurie himself that Hurts willplay if Wentz continues to struggle so have him ready to go if that happens.

Again, not sure how reliable they are, but they both seem to indicate it is part of a power struggle between Wentz and Pederson in the locker room and that this is Lurie putting his foot down to remind them all whose team it is, and that he wants better results or he will start making significant changes. Could all be hogwash, I don't know, butLurie can't be happy with the product they are putting out each week or his return on investment in Wentz right now.

-M

It was hogwash. Hurts played all of two snaps in the second quarter last night (actually three, but one was wiped out by a penalty), then Wentz was right back in there and continued playing poorly, including a frustrating end zone interception that killed a promising drive and half a dozen sacks added to his league leading tally. With a $128 million dollar anchor of a contract, Wentz isn't going anywhere anytime soon, if at all, but GM Howie Roseman should be fired because his drafting has been borderline horrific, and Doug Pederson will be lucky to survive the season because his playcalling has been pathetic at times.

[worstblogever]

The Wentz contract is going to end up being a huge albatross. He already got a ring by setting up the playoff run that Nick Foles finished off. From there, he played hard, was always in or around MVP discussion and then got paid.

Since getting that payday, suffice to say, it looks like Wentz suddenly lost a step with all the INTs. It wouldn't be the first time in the history of the league a guy got paid and then regressed, but to the level we're seeing? I can't recall anybody who mailed it in this hard after a big contract since maybe... Albert Haynesworth?

[WestPhillyPunisher]

The Wentz contract is going to end up being a huge albatross. He already got a ring by setting up the playoff run that Nick Foles finished off. From there, he played hard, was always in or around MVP discussion and then got paid.

Since getting that payday, suffice to say, it looks like Wentz suddenly lost a step with all the INTs. It wouldn't be the first time in the history of the league a guy got paid and then regressed, but to the level we're seeing? I can't recall anybody who mailed it in this hard after a big contract since maybe... Albert Haynesworth?

Wentz was in the running for MVP only once, that being in 2017. To this day, it frustrates me to wonder what would've happened if he finished that season which would've netted him the honor, then continued his roll through the postseason. In my opinion, it was a mistake to have rewarded Wentz that soon, and now the Eagles are paying for it because he clearly hasn't been the same player her was in 2017. Fans and pundits say one explanation for his dramatic falloff was the loss of offensive coordinator Frank Reich who left for the head coaching gig Indianapolis after the Super Bowl, and no one's been able to properly tap Wentz's potential since then. Add in the lack of skill players (due to the incompetent drafting of GM Howie Roseman) and a slew of injuries that decimated the offensive line, and you have a quarterback who's a mere shell of himself. Can Wentz be reclamated? Perhaps, but that won't happen here, not with Doug Pederson who's clearly lost his touch as a playcaller, but again, disposing of Wentz and his onerous contract would be right up there with the twelve labors of Hercules.

[Deathstroke]

Sweeny is not leaving Clemson.
He makes $9 million a year now in a very secure job.

Also, he'd never leave a place that lets him run the program like it was an extension of his religious beliefs.

[Sacred Knight]

And yet with all that, if even 1 of the Denver QBs had followed protocol and worn their mask when they were supposed to, they would have had a QB for that day, but all 3 failed to do so. They weren't on the virus list because they tested positive like in the other situations, they were in quarantine because they broke virus protocols. Only Driskell tested positive, the other 3 were out because they chose not to wear a mask around him before he tested positive when they were required to do so. SO it's apples and oranges to the other teams who have games postponed because players are on the virus list with positive tests.

Also of note, this is the third time the team has been caught violating protocols, with Fangio getting fined once and the team itself a second time, so there is a pattern of behavior here, not just a random oops we made a mistake.

-M

The video Denver willingly submitted to the league earlier in the week apparently shows that they all wore masks and socially distanced in a separate room off campus, but removed their masks to eat lunch. Still a breach I suppose, but not the massive negligence that its being played up as to shill for the league's decision making processes. Indeed the NFL originally agreed with that sentiment, as they cleared the team of any issue as late as Thursday, saying everything was good to go. Then at the 11th hour on Saturday decided no, on second thought you guys screwed up, leaving the team in absolute no man's land to find someone to play the qb position. The organization isn't without blame obviously, they could have had an emergency quarantine QB but declined to do so for example; and they're an absolute dumpster fire of a mess in their own right, but the NFL gets no points here either.

[BeastieRunner]

Sweet Jesus! Seriously? If true, that's going to backfire on the players in the worst possible way. With something like a quarter million people having died from the virus, millions infected and unemployed and the economy struggling to keep afloat, the public, desperate for the sort of diversion sports provided from all this madness will NOT put up with millionaire athletes whining like spoiled children denied cookies before dinner.

Here's some more info on it.
https://profootballtalk.nbcsports.co...tuesday-night/
https://bleacherreport.com/articles/...-steelers-game

[SUPERECWFAN1]

We have to remember there was stories about Wentz and how he was acting behind the scenes in 2018 or 2019. That "sources" claimed Wentz was acting like he had accomplished a lot and was alienating players/coaches then. The Eagles and others quickly came to his defense after the story came out. But it planted seeds that things weren't exactly right there.

Plus the injuries didn't help Wentz as the 2+ seasons went along. One year in 2017 he got hurt , then 2018 he got hurt again. Those are setbacks for a young player. Plus combined with a supporting cast that isn't good have hurt Wentz. The Eagles are likely like the Bears looking at how Andy Reid has built a Chiefs offense that is blessed with talent and speed , questioning exactly how they did this so well. Yet the WR's and TE's they have aren't doing and the QB's aren't doing it. (Chicago has tried this the most but Nagy is watching the QB they chose just sink it)

I really have to wonder what they can really do here . If they aren't gonna win a playoff spot the final week or 2 ....start Hurts. See what you have in him. See if he ignites that offense enough. If he can't then you need to seriously approach 2021 with drafting offensive skill players on offensive line to WR for Wentz. To see if you can give him just 1 more season.

[Scott Taylor]

Lots of room for the Browns to blow it still.

Thats kind of like the Browns version of the Super Bowl each year - what creative way will they find to completely blow it. Lots of times its just plain old incompetence or lack of skill. This year, though, its actually going to be more of a challenge!

[csmith25]

Ravens couldn't field a team, so that's not really the applicable comparison. It is however worth noting that earlier in the year they postponed the Denver/NE game for the Patriots with extremely limited spread. Believe at the time it was just two players. So yeah, there's definitely a double standard going on when looked at from the context of the standard the NFL had set themselves over the course of the year. This is probably because being later into the season the Broncos are bad and not in the playoff mix. So it didn't matter throwing them completely to the wolves as they're irrelevant to the rest of the season. I still consider it a bit of a bitch move though as it wouldn't have been hard to postpone the game for Tuesday, like they've done literally every other team with issues this season, then punished the team appropriately afterward if negligence of protocol was the main cause. The NFL seems to just have wanted to flex their muscle, virtue signal that they've navigated this year right (they haven't), and used a bottom dweller team to send that stronger message. Also worth noting that right now Denver has no owner, so they certainly had not the strongest of voices in their corner to plead their case. In the end that's really the root of all the Broncos' problems in their 5 year dive into obscurity.

See, my issue becomes that the NFL STILL could have postponed the game if necessary. My opinion is that, from what I remember, is that the NFL will not delay or postpone games due to missing players, but moreso for health risk. Buffalo had to wait to play Tennessee, because they had too many players pop positive. Yet a couple weeks later, Buffalo had to play their scheduled game (no postponements) with 1 TE on the roster, who was only exempt because his wife gave birth that week and was not at the facility when the whole TE group had position practice.
Even that situation is better than what Denver had to deal with, and yet certain teams continue to be allowed to postpone games. The NFL cant promote "parity" in the league and "any given sunday, any team can beat the other" when the decks start getting a little stacked. JMO

[Surf]

I see nothing but dark days ahead as what’s left of the 2017 core is on its last legs and most of the replacements haven’t cut the mustard so far, right now, trying to win this sham of a division would be a terrible joke.

Maaann The Fanatic is melting down the likes I haven't heard since the end of Andy Reid's days. On the outside, Jeffrey Laurie just won a Superbowl, a recent memory one, on the inside the anger is directed past Wentz, past Pederson through Boseman and up to Laurie. None of this is salvageable if this group comes back next year, not sure how their draft position will look but this isn't a 1 season fix. Lol, I heard Ray Rhodes mentioned on Mizzanelli's show, yikes.

[WestPhillyPunisher]

Maaann The Fanatic is melting down the likes I haven't heard since the end of Andy Reid's days. On the outside, Jeffrey Laurie just won a Superbowl, a recent memory one, on the inside the anger is directed past Wentz, past Pederson through Boseman and up to Laurie. None of this is salvageable if this group comes back next year, not sure how their draft position will look but this isn't a 1 season fix. Lol, I heard Ray Rhodes mentioned on Mizzanelli's show, yikes.

Someone will have to go, one thing’s for certain, it won’t be Wentz as I read somewhere he would count around $50 million in dead cap money if cut in 2021. Whatever good coaching juju Pederson had seems to have left with Frank Reich when he took the Indy gig after the Super Bowl, still, he might, heavy emphasis on MIGHT get a reprieve for next season, though I suspect Doug would be on a short leash. That leaves Roseman who’s abysmal drafting left the team barren at the skill positions and on the offensive line while fat contracts doled out to aging veterans hamstrung the team, I think Lurie will can him after the season. Meanwhile, I fear it might soon be time to blow up the roster and start over.