NFL 2020 Season

[worstblogever]

So, the Chiefs covered that humongous spread by a mile, the Steelers vs. Ravens game didn’t disappoint, and Miami pulled off the upset over the Rams.

A lot of folks will go, "TUA won the game for Miami!"

I want that kid to succeed, but the story is more, "Jared Goff had a s*** game and blew it for the Rams."

Tua just didn't f*** up as badly. But Miami had a return TD, and a big fumble return for a TD. That was half their points.

Dolphins come to Arizona next week. They'll be getting a playoff contender coming off their BYE week. Looking forward to seeing that matchup for the QB matchup, but Arizona's got more talent on offense.

[worstblogever]

Eagles 7, Cowboys 6 at the two minute warning. Typical for two teams from NFC Least, this game has been a dog with fleas as the offenses have been comically inept. But Carson Wentz has been driving me apeshit with turnovers, I just don’t know what’s going on with him.

Dallas looks to be afraid to throw the ball, and with the Eagles up 15-9 now...

I don't know if the Cowboys look like a team able to find the end zone. Barring a return TD or defensive TD (not from the Dallas defense), I think Philly's gonna be able to run the clock out through the 4th quarter.

[MRP]

Comical stat of the week from the KC/Jets game-Mahomes had more TD passes today (5) than the Jets have had all season (4).

And it looks like part of the Dolphins rationale for going with Tua now is to see what they actually have in him as a QB since they have 2 1st round and 2 2nd picks and a chance to have a top 5 pick with the Texans 1st rounder, so if Tua isn't the real deal they can use some of that draft capital on a QB, and if he is their QB of the future, they can then spend all that other draft capital addressing other needs for the future. With that in mind, the switch does make more sense.


-M

[WestPhillyPunisher]

So, the Eagles won, beating Dallas 23-9 last night, but it didn't feel all that much like a win. Case in point:

--Doug Pederson's playcalling was hideous, not taking advantage of Dallas' nightmarishly bad run defense. The fact our offense managed only 15 points was inexcusable

--Carson Wentz was absolutely horrendous, turning the ball over four times (2 INT's, 2 lost fumbles), fortunately, the Cowboys' much worse offense couldn't capitalize on those gifts

At 3-4-1, the Birds lead NFC Least, for whatever that's worth. Now we get to enjoy a bye while 2-6 Dallas limps home to await a curbstomp at the hands of unbeaten Pittsburgh.

[worstblogever]

So, the Eagles won, beating Dallas 23-9 last night, but it didn't feel all that much like a win. Case in point:

--Doug Pederson's playcalling was hideous, not taking advantage of Dallas' nightmarishly bad run defense. The fact our offense managed only 15 points was inexcusable

--Carson Wentz was absolutely horrendous, turning the ball over four times (2 INT's, 2 lost fumbles), fortunately, the Cowboys' much worse offense couldn't capitalize on those gifts

At 3-4-1, the Birds lead NFC Least, for whatever that's worth. Now we get to enjoy a bye while 2-6 Dallas limps home to await a curbstomp at the hands of unbeaten Pittsburgh.

Hopefully Philly can get healthier and save some face for the division going forward.

[Surf]

--Doug Pederson's playcalling was hideous, not taking advantage of Dallas' nightmarishly bad run defense. The fact our offense managed only 15 points was inexcusable

Again with this guy, I see Frank Reich left with the lions share of the playcalling acumen. Dallas statistically did better than Philly in several ways, TOP, penalties, total yards, except I guess most important in Dallas didn't score after halftime. One of the worst SNF games in a while, worse so there were some pretty good game earlier. I tried but I was back watching Prometheus before halftime.

New England's done. This year at least. I could easily see them bouncing back a little bit for something respectable. 7-9, 8-8. But this is their first non-contending year in a loooong time.

Cam is working in the wrong direction, gonna be his hardest year ever... We'll see what Bellicheat is made of for sure and that side of it is actually kind of interesting.

The Packers can't stop the Vikings and Cooke, and have penalized themselves into a loss.

Gonna watch the replay today. Devonte Adams and Dalvin Cooke are my favorite players in the league right now. NFC North seems about the same as it usually does but last seasons drubbing of the Pack doesn't leave me real hopeful. I had them in the SB last season, they actually are probably better this season and there won't be no 9er's to stomp them out this year.

[WestPhillyPunisher]

Well, the Giants certainly aren’t playing like a 1-6 team, leading Tom Brady and the Bucs 14-6 at the half.

[BeastieRunner]

Well, the Giants certainly aren’t playing like a 1-6 team, leading Tom Brady and the Bucs 14-6 at the half.

Giants have always had Brady's number.

Judge did coach Brady for a few years, too.

[Albert1981]

Look, I'm as big a Tom Brady fan as can be. Him and Al Bundy are the two main reasons why I got into the NFL in the first place. And I'm happy the Bucs are doing great this year. However, I do feel the G-Men and their fans have a right to be confused and upset. I have a question: Can anybody here tell me what actually constitutes as pass interference from year to year? Because I've been watching football for a long time, and I STILL don't know what qualifies as pass interference! Please help me!

[MRP]

Giants have always had Brady's number.

Judge did coach Brady for a few years, too.

And Brady still manages the comeback win in the second half.

-M

[worstblogever]

Week 9 "WHO'S COOKIN' ON THE HOTSEAT?/FIRE THIS COACH!" Watch

ALREADY FIRED BEFORE WEEK 8: Bill O'Brien (Texans) , Dan Quinn (Falcons)

10. Vic Fangio, Broncos (LUKEWARM SEAT): 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 220,000 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... Denver just moved to 3-4 after coming back from a 24-3 deficit against the Chargers, winning 31-30 in a frantic comeback that saw Drew Lock driving his team to a 21 point fourth quarter. Looking at the team's schedule, there still look to be some winnable games for the Broncos, and Fangio could get to 6-8 wins by the end of the year... but this is not a franchise whose ownership or fanbase accept mediocrity. Unless they start to look like at least a playoff contender, we won't declare him safe out there. Even after this comeback win we have to also point out... Fangio, supposedly a defensive mind, gave up 450+ yards of offense to a Chargers team led by a rookie QB. That's... not inspiring.

9. Anthony Lynn, Chargers: It's Anthony Lynn's first appearance on this list, and it's not just because his team dropped to 2-5. It's HOW. Blowing a 24 point lead and giving up 28 points to a Broncos offense in a quarter and a half, 21 points in the fourth quarter... a Denver offense that on its best day, is considered "mediocre"... that’s embarrassing. And Lynn knows it. The post-game interview saw Lynn make the kinds of quotes that you know the writing is starting to show on the wall, saying, “I’m sorry. I feel bad. That game we had it completely under control. We lost it and I take responsibility for it. It’s totally unacceptable.” This isn't the first big 4th quarter team San Diego's blown, and whatever hype Justin Herbert might have for them, it's going to be outweighed by losses like this. Lynn's in his fourth season as Chargers head coach, he just got his contract extended through 2021 in February... but after going 5-11 last year, if he doesn't improve on that, he might not get that fifth.

8. Ron Rivera, WFT (LUKEWARM SEAT): The WFT were on their BYE week, after handling Dallas last week in a 25-3 win where their defense mauled Andy Dalton and left Dallas playing most of the 2nd half with a rookie QB they drafted in the 7th round. Kyle Allen had a safe start for the WFT, making their fustercluck situation at QB seem a little less like the carousel was spinning out of control. Again, why Rivera is even on this list... I want to be clear, here... I don't think Ron Rivera is a bad coach. I think this roster is hot garbage outside of an impressive defensive front, but Rivera didn't build it. Their QB and skill positions are woeful, and I wouldn't put it on him. It's bad practice for a franchise to fire coaches after only one year. Also, if this wasn't obvious... it would be really f***ed up if the team fired a guy who's trying to coach THROUGH CANCER TREATMENTS. So, based on everything I know about team owner Daniel Snyder being a colossal ***hole... he could absolutely still fire Ron Rivera and then try to spin it in the media that he was doing him a favor because of said cancer at the end of the year. I hope that isn't what happens, but if this team doesn't squeak out some more wins, it could happen. Luckily for Rivera, he's in the NFC (L)East and at 2-5, has this team in second place in the division. He can probably get some wins in 6 divisional matchups but this squad will be lucky to get to six total by year's end.

7. Mike Zimmer, Vikings (LUKEWARM SEAT): The Vikings were supposedly "just a QB away" from winning a Super Bowl with the impeccable defense they had, and they spent BIG for Kirk Cousins. Then they traded away Stephon Diggs, and their defense officially "got a case of the olds" going into 2020. Minnesota is 2-5 and looking WAY, WAY up at both the Bears and Packers in this division. Hell, right now they're even looking up at the Lions, who are 3-4. Zimmer moves to the LUKEWARM SEAT category because his team came out of the BYE week and upset their division rival, the Packers. And that will ALWAYS buy a coach time in Minnesota. He should send Dalvin Cook some flowers for going off for 4 TDs in the effort. I'll note, however, that Green Bay almost came down by two scores in the final six minutes. Aaron Rodgers was driving, and had 41 yards to go and a minute on the clock when the Vikes got a strip sack to hang on. Had Minnesota dropped to 1-6 and lost a game in that kind of comeback, we'd already guaranteed a pink slip for Zimmer at year's end. Glancing at the Vikings' second half schedule, they have 2 games against Detroit left, two against Chicago (who are trending the wrong direction right now), and they still play Dallas and Jacksonville. This doesn't look like a squad that's going to manage a playoff run this season, but with a light schedule, they bear a chance of getting back to .500 if things go right.

6. Zac Taylor, Bengals (LUKEWARM SEAT): 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. He's a bargain bin option, and the Bengals will say no matter how bad they look on the field at 2-6), they're in a transition season with a rookie QB to blame it on (even though Burrow has the goods). A smart organization would go with consistency to help with Burrow's development... and Taylor worked under Rams coach Sean McVay, therefore he's THE FUTURE OF THE NFL COACHING RANKS (LOL, sure). While they Bengals are having a fire sale before the trade deadline, Taylor’s job looks to be safe until the end of the year, at least.

[worstblogever]

5. Matt Patricia, Lions Detroit is now 3-4 after getting blown out by the Colts yesterday 41-21. While there current slate of upcoming games looks friendly, Detroit cannot win on Matt Stafford's arm alone (he threw a pick-six yesterday, because Indy knew he was throwing the ball). They cannot run the ball, whatsoever, only managing 29 yards yesterday. The Lions are also winless at home, because of course they're just going to perform worse in front of their own fans. We should note also that two of their three wins are against the Jets and Jaguars, so while only one game under .500, this team is actually far worse than that in reality. Oh, and don't forget, Matt Patricia 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.


4. Mike McCarthy, Cowboys Again, first year coaches don't usually get fired. The Cowboys were, I s*** you not, the NFC Super Bowl pick by Dan Patrick, and they're 2-6 now. They look far worse than that record the past three weeks. The offensive line that made them so threatening only a few seasons ago is already dilapidated due to injuries, 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 (RIP Dak's ankle, I think it died of the 'Rona or something), but what was always obvious was the defense was atrocious. Dallas' defense is on pace for a historically bad year, and after starting to trade starters and bench veterans, lucked out to play an Eagles team decimated by injuries on Sunday night football and "hold them" to 23 points. But as I started saying, the O-Line fell apart, and they had to start playing Andy Dalton at QB, which... he looked awful in his first start and got a concussion. Thus, Dallas' offense played Philly with Ben DeNucci under center, a 7th round pick and rookie QB. DeNucci at least didn't throw a pick, but went 21/40 for only 180 yards and led the Cowboys to 9 points on three FGs. Their longest play from scrimmage was an end-around by CeeDee Lamb for 19 yards. They didn't have a completion further than 15 yards.

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. They have fallen a game and a half behind the Eagles, who lead the division at 3-4-1. 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.

3. Joe Judge, Giants The Giants are 1-7 after putting up more of a fight than anyone expected against Tom Brady and the Bucs on MNF, but hey, New York never makes it easy on Tom Brady. Those two Super Bowl losses are in his head for life. Daniel Jones is still trying to shake the "draft bust" label, and now also the embarrassing clip of him tripping and falling flat on his face on the 11 yard line against the Eagles in Week 8. Back to the rest of this squad... they're also in "fire sale" mode going into the trade deadline, having sent Markus Golden back to Arizona. They're without Saquon Barkley for the rest of the year. The only upside is... they're still nowhere near eliminated in hunt in their division, because it's utter shite. Still, they’re a in last place, and have a murderer’s row of opponents left on their schedule.

Joe Judge is probably not a name you've heard, in general, as New York's coach. You will be for the rest of the year. He was formerly New England's assistant special teams coach. How he got elevated to his first HC gig... lord only knows. How the Giants have not paid attention to how everything on the Belichek coaching tree has died on the vine through the past 20 years... yeah... don't know. What we do know is, Joe Judge made his players run sprints when he wasn't happy with them prior to this season, and the only thing that will save his ass to get a second season will be if he blames Daniel Jones, GM Dave Gettleman, or injuries for his woes. But it's gonna be a long year for the G-Men.

2. 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, and as they start trading going into the trade deadline, that could get lower. For now, though, they only have seven guys left from their franchise high point. 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 into this one, and now having dropped to 1-6 after a loss to the LA Chargers... who were fielding rookie QB Justin Herbert... look like they'll have a third straight double-digit loss season. Gardner Minshew and his "cop in a porno flick" mustache was benched, and now he's got a thumb injury going into next week's matchup against the Titans that will leave the team in the capable hands of Mike "the Giraffe" 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.

1. Adam Gase, Jets: After getting shut out 24-0 by the Dolphins two weeks ago. Adam Gase gave up play-calling duties, and all of a sudden, the Jets went up 10-0 on Buffalo last week, only to do absolutely nothing for the last 40 minutes of the game, save let Buffalo win the contest on 18 unanswered points on 6 FGs. This week, they played Kansas City, and at one point earlier in the week, New York was a 21.5 point underdog against Kansas City, per the sports books.

THE CHIEFS COVERED THE SPREAD. Like, it was one of the Top 5 spreads in modern NFL history. In the Top 13 point spreads in NFL history going into that game, only three times did the favorite cover the three score spread out of 13. The Jets made it 4 of 14.

The Jets are now 0-8, and are losing by an average of about 18 points a game. The Jets have lost by 20 or more points eight times since the start of 2019. Next week, inexplicably, they will play a 2-5 Patriots team in one of the s***tiest Monday Night Football matchups in years. Sam Darnold is still seeing more ghosts than Pac-Man. 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 22 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 is a likely candidate to get fired after this game, when the Jets enter their BYE week. He deserved to be fired before Bill O'Brien and Dan Quinn. The only reason he doesn't is the Jets want to go 0-16 and make sure they're eligible to get Trevor Lawrence in the 2021 Draft. Assuming of course, Lawrence doesn't stay at Clemson to wisely avoid the Jets like the f***ing plague.

[WestPhillyPunisher]

And Brady still manages the comeback win in the second half.

-M

Astonishing. In the second half, the Giants showed why they only have one win on the season.

[WestPhillyPunisher]

Oh, yeah, I do believe the draft deadline is 4 pm today.

[Deathstroke]

Oh, yeah, I do believe the draft deadline is 4 pm today.

You mean the trade deadline? Yes, it is.