NFL 2022 Regular Season Thread.

[MRP]

According to NFL.com only the LA Rams bid to get Baker Mayfield. The 49ers did not put in a claim for him.

I think the only people thinking SF was even considering Mayfield were sports media talking heads looking for clicks or views and the Monday Morning GMs who have an over-inflated opinion of their understanding of how the business of football actually works. The Niners said repeatedly there were not looking outside the building for QB help but everyone assumed they knew better and that the Niners were bluffing. At best Mayfield would have been a back up, and with Jimmy G possibly being ready for the playoffs, Baker wouldn't have mad ethe post-season roster, so why waste the money and roster spot on him? Maybe if he cleared waivers and they could sign him to a NFL minimum deal, but not claiming him at his full salary.



-M

[worstblogever]

I think the only people thinking SF was even considering Mayfield were sports media talking heads looking for clicks or views and the Monday Morning GMs who have an over-inflated opinion of their understanding of how the business of football actually works. The Niners said repeatedly there were not looking outside the building for QB help but everyone assumed they knew better and that the Niners were bluffing. At best Mayfield would have been a back up, and with Jimmy G possibly being ready for the playoffs, Baker wouldn't have mad ethe post-season roster, so why waste the money and roster spot on him? Maybe if he cleared waivers and they could sign him to a NFL minimum deal, but not claiming him at his full salary.



-M

Well, it seems they didn't want Purdy to live up to his "Mr. Irrelevant" title.

[WestPhillyPunisher]

Just saw that. I knew Stafford was done for the season, but it makes me wonder a bit about his future-with multiple head and neck traumas his health could be an issue moving forward and that might impact his post-football life. He's already got his ring, so does he have enough incentive to take the risk to come back after these injuries? Rams gave up a lot of draft capital to bring him in, so don't have the picks to try to get an heir apparent in the draft next year, so is claiming Mayfield a reach to try to find a bridge until they can find Stafford's successor whether or not he comes back next year?


-M

If they do, then it’ll be through free agency since the Rams traded most of their draft picks for their Super Bowl win.

[MRP]

If they do, then it’ll be through free agency since the Rams traded most of their draft picks for their Super Bowl win.

Hence the signing of Mayfield a sa bridge for the remainde rof this season and next until they have more draft capital to work with.

-M

[worstblogever]

If they do, then it’ll be through free agency since the Rams traded most of their draft picks for their Super Bowl win.

Hence the signing of Mayfield a sa bridge for the remainde rof this season and next until they have more draft capital to work with.

-M

Yeah, your instinct is, "oh, they're having a bad year, but they'll have a high enough pick to draft a new franchise QB in a draft with a few good options..."

Nope. Les Snead's strategy of trading them away for star players means Detroit will be picking high, and will have two picks early in the draft.

[worstblogever]

WEEK 14 "WHO'S COOKIN' ON THE HOTSEAT?/FIRE THIS COACH!" DISCUSSION
(ALREADY FIRED BEFORE WEEK 6): Matt Ruhle (Panthers), Frank Reich (Colts) FIRED! THEY’RE FIRED!


10. Josh McDaniels, Raiders: Oakland brought in 25 new players in free agency coming into this year, and were surprised McDaniels couldn’t coach them up during early season struggles. So far this year, Oakland is 5-7. They lost to Arizona in Week Two, where they were up 20-0 at halftime, and had the biggest blown lead in the history of the Raiders franchise, regardless of what city they’ve ever played in. In Week 5, they blew a 17 point lead against the Chiefs. In Week Eight, there was no blown lead, because they failed to score in a 24-0 shutout against the Saints. In Week Nine, they traveled east to play the hapless 2-6 Jags… and blew another 17 point lead to lose 27-20. They went scoreless from the point they got a FG with 4:05 left in the second quarter.

But lo and behold, the Raiders are on a three-game win streak after McDaniels locked horns with Nathaniel Hackett two weeks ago, and for once the Raiders didn’t blow it in the 4th quarter, and came from behind to beat the Broncos in overtime. They had another “come from behind and win in OT” victory Sunday against the Seahawks, as the 12s sat in the stands dumbstruck that their god-awful run defense could not stop a beastly Josh Jacobs as he ran up TWO HUNDRED TWENTY-NINE YARDS against them. He also had 79 yards receiving, putting up over three hundred all-purpose yards. This past week? They held on against a potential L.A. Chargers comeback, and damn they better have given how decimated by injury that team’s offensive line is right now.

Believe it or not, McDaniels might coach his way off this list by next week, because the Raiders are going to L.A. where they’re sure to feel like the home team against the World Champion Rams, who just signed Baker Mayfield, and are as discombulated as any defending champion in recent memory entering December (more on that in a minute).

Just going to say… the Raiders are leaving me wondering if they aren’t this year’s Miami Dolphins, where they suck the whole first half of the season and then just go on a stupid win streak like they weren’t god-awful all through the fall.


9. Kevin Stefanski, Browns: Well, I’ll open by telling you why Stefanski might NOT be fired.

Cleveland’s front office traded for a serial sexual predator knowing full well that he would be suspended for at least part of the season, and then found out that it would be a total of 11 games, which averages out to less than two quarters of punishment per sexual assault committed by DeShaun Watson. The fanbase has leaned into this awful decision, thinking that if they can just stay around .500, maybe 5-6 or 4-7 until when Watson returns… they can go on a run in their final six games, make the playoffs, and finish hot to win a Super Bowl.

The moral implications of that devil’s bargain aside… Kevin Stefanski was 4-7 at the end of that stretch, and then won the DeShaun Watson “revenge game” in Houston last week, not because that QB proved to be a savior, but because the Texans are awful in all three phases and gave up two pick-sixes and a punt return to the Browns. Kev better have Watson’s head away from all things related to massage tables this week, though, as Cleveland travels to Cincinnatti to play a red hot Joe Burrow and the Bengals, who suffice to say, will provide a lot more challenge than the Texans.

We wish we could say that Stefanski’s job is secure for having broken the Factory of Sadness’ playoff drought two years ago, but with the Haslem family running this team as badly as they do, nothing is certain in Cleveland.


8. Arthur Smith, Falcons: All right, here’s one of our true hot seats on this list. Matt Ryan is, again, gone to Indianapolis. This team is led by Marcus Mariota, and has rookie QB Desmond Ridder waiting to step in mid-season to prove something. Their top WR is suspended for gambling for the whole year, and their best RB (when available) is actually a WR. They have virtually no one you’ve ever heard of on the defensive side of the ball, and their best player, currently, might be their kicker.

And while some were crediting Smith for coaching the Falcons to hover around .500 through the first half of the season and be in contention in a pathetic NFC South without a team over that mark…

This team his a stretch of games against mediocre opponents. The Chargers, Panthers, Bears, Commanders, Steelers, Saints, all in a row, and the only win they got was against Chicago by a FG. We have had Atlanta as a coaching hot seat, but come early December, this could be a team trying to swipe a playoff spot with that schedule. But they need someone with a pulse playing on the defensive side of the ball to make that happen.

They’re sitting at 5-8, and are one of the last teams to get a BYE week. Which, the bright side is on the other end of it, they get the 2022 Saints, who are playing like an ‘Aints team. The not-so-bright side is that game is in New Orleans, and that’s not a friendly place to play. But hey, after that, the Falcons get to finish out against a Ravens team without Lamar Jackson on Christmas Eve, an Arizona team that’s stepping on their d***s so much you’d think they have a fetish, and then a Buccaneers team that will likely by locked into the #4 seed in the playoffs and looking to rest Tom Brady at that point. Who knows? They could win out and finish back over .500. But I wouldn’t exactly go running to a ********** on that.


7. Sean McVay, Rams : I cannot believe I’m writing this entry, but here we are.

The coach of the defending champs. Sure, they’re 3-9, mostly because they let a lot of talent depart from the offensive line and didn’t replace it, as well as two Pro Bowlers in Von Miller and OBJ without doing much to replace them… and they’ve traded away all their high draft picks until like 2025 or something… so maybe their championship window slammed shut right after they pulled the Lombardi trophy through it. Can you blame Sean McVay for Les Snead’s plan for a title getting done, and then the consequences of how they did it coming this hard and fast?

I’m gonna be clear. Sean McVay is a coach who’s owned his division the past several years. He coached Jared Goff into being at least a respectable QB after being miserable when he arrived. He’s got an eidetic memory, and knows every play call he’s ever made in every situation like you are I are just reciting our phone numbers. Injuries and front office management have made this year be even more than he can handle, and I haven’t even gotten into Matt Stafford exploding into a thousand injury-pieces at the same time after finally getting a ring…

But I think Sean McVay is going to be done in Los Angeles after this season. Not because he sucks, or he’s getting fired… I just think he’s going to “pull a Madden” and take that steel trap of a mind to a broadcast booth while he’s young, and get paid stupid amounts of money with infinitely less stress in his gig.

Plus, y’know, he’s a year removed from a title, and it would be weird to FIRE FIRE FIRE a guy that soon after. But then again, Stan Kroenke is kinda awful, so I wouldn’t put it past him.

6. Jeff Saturday, Colts : The Colts have been underachieving this year, and hired former Colts center and current ESPN commentator Jeff Saturday as the interim coach to replace Frank Reich. This had to be a shock that Irsay didn’t trust anyone on Reich’s staff to fill in, and that Saturday’s only coaching experience is at a Georgia high school. He was apparently asking fellow commentators at ESPN for weeks about “what scheme would you use if you were running a team?” for the past several weeks, a sure sign he might be in over his head. Saturday already deked everybody by claiming he would continue to start Sam Ehlinger the rest of the year, but immediately went back to Matt Ryan.

But he won his first game in spite of all that chaos, because the Colts were lucky enough to be in Las Vegas to play, at the time, the hapless Las Vegas Raiders and their terrible defense, and got a 25-20 win. In his second game, narrowly came up short against the 9-1 Philadelphia Eagles. We were also wondering if maybe we were too hasty in thinking Saturday was too inexperienced to do the job, and maybe he might actually be okay…

Then he forgot time-outs were a thing against a struggling Steelers team on Monday Night Football, and wasted almost a minute of time with all three time-outs left. He should know better. Matt Ryan should know better. He doubled-down on this obvious f***up postgame, completely rewriting the story that he had us wanting to believe after his first two outings.

Six days later, the Colts were in primetime again, and within a FG of taking the lead against a Cowboys team that looks like one of the better teams in the NFC going into the 4th quarter, and everyone is thinking… is Jeff Saturday ready for this?

33 consecutive points by Dallas later… and uh… maybe not, no. That is an implosion that you almost never see. 33 points in a quarter? There are teams in the league that haven’t scored that much in a game this year. How on earth is that even possible outside of a game of Madden?

It won’t get easier, as this week Indy travels to Minnesota to play the Vikings, who yes, are another one of those top-tier NFC teams.

[worstblogever]

5. Kliff Kingsbury, Cardinals: Kliff Kingsbury has convinced GM Keim to spend most of the Cardinals’ salary cap on the offensive side of the ball, and yet, they got all the way to Week 9 before they scored a first quarter touchdown, by far the last team to do so. They have done so twice in their first twelve games.

Kingsbury is coaching Kyler Murray, got James Connor, Ertz, Nuke, Hollywood, Rondale Moore, A.J. Green, and Robbie Anderson, and he’s doing f*** all with all that talent. Kyler Murray isn’t throwing for 300 yards in a game, partially because he only throws the ball 5 yards or less when he does drop back. AND ALWAYS IN SHOTGUN. Kingsbury does not push his QB to take snaps under center, either. His forte is offense, and it’s a complete disaster.

His coaching staff has been a trainwreck, with the original RB coach fired for domestic battery, his replacement just “dismissed” for mystery reasons, and a O-Line coach fired on the team’s trip to Mexico City for sexually assaulting a woman in a bar so they gave him a pink slip literally hours before kickoff against the division leading 49ers. They never had a true Offensive Coordinator, and Kliff is calling all the plays (badly).

The Cardinals franchise is run by Bill Bidwill, and he’s a boob like his father. He already resigned GM Steve Keim and Kingsbury to contracts this offseason to keep them in AZ until 2027… so no matter how bad the Cardinals fall on their face this year, it seemed like both those morons are safe. Because the Bidwill family are some of the biggest skinflints in the league, they’re not paying coaches to stay home. GM Steve Keim traded away several late round draft picks for Trayvon Mullen and Robbie Anderson, the latter of whom didn’t play because of a freak deep fryer accident, and the latter who has two catches for 13 yards in his first six games with the team… so you can’t say he did nothing to help the coach mid-season.

But goddamn, I sit in awe on Sundays of how s***ty a coach Kliff Kingsbury is, and cannot believe he was thrown enough money to own a mansion in the hills when he has so much talent and can do f*** all with it. This team was 2-4 without DeAndre Hopkins, and has gone 2-4 since his return to sit at 4-8, as well as being 1-4 in NFC West Divisional games. They’re 30th in the league in penalties. They’ve finally come to their BYE week, and Kingsbury already had a reported mid-season rift with Kyler Murray (including Kyler screaming at his coach to “CALM THE F*** DOWN!” in a game until Hopkins pulled him away), but hey, at least he did a real thinking man’s move by avoiding yet another a late season collapse by stepping on his d*** in the first half this season, so at least his team will consistently suck all year long.


I have admitted to everyone on this forum I’m a masochist, just by saying I root for the Cardinals, and at this point, I’m hoping the Kingsbury curse about losing after Nov. 1st continues to Michael Bidwill gets angry enough to at least fire him after the season (and considering he's got team employees filtering through the footage that HBO records for Hard Knocks, he's aware of ALLLLLLL the goings-in during the KK regime), since Arizona didn’t axe him at the BYE, they'll drop him at year's end and then can hire Sean Payton, who’s making noise through the rumor mill he wants to “unretire” to coach Kyler Murray.


When Arizona gets back from their BYE, they’ll be playing the New England Patriots on Monday Night Football this week. (Wanna bet Darth Hoodie outcoaches Kliff that night?) Kingsbury is 1-6 coaching in primetime games, so it’s not like he has a tendency to blow it under a national spotlight.

[worstblogever]

4. Matt LaFleur, Packers: Green Bay has lost six of their past eight, because Aaron Rodgers and the offense for Green Bay have a problem with a lot of young receivers who are not in synch with the back-to-back MVP. The main mystery right now is why they’re still playing Aaron Rodgers when he’s nursing an injury, and not trying to see if Jordan Love really is his heir apparent. They’re all but mathematically eliminated from playoff contention in the NFC right now.

They failed to convert even a single third down against the Commanders, got absolutely handled by the Buffalo Bills... and lonely put up 9 points in a loss to the Detroit Lions, which in any season for Green Bay practically ever, would be a “get right game”… Were it not for Mike McCarthy blundering away a game when the Packers played Dallas, the losing streak would be at 8. They got handled by the Titans, and the Eagles again showed their dominance on Sunday Night Football this past week.

Green Bay was lucky enough to get Chicago this past week, and Justin Fields was too dinged up to be at full potential, throwing two picks in the Packers’ first double-digit win. No matter how s***ty things might be going for this team, and no matter how bad of a coaching job through this year LaFleur might be doing, rest assured, some things in football are guaranteed, like Rodgers owns the Bears.


3. Dennis Allen, Saints : You took over for the guy who brought a Super Bowl to New Orleans. The first rule is, “Never be the guy, who follows THE guy.” Then, you took a job where Jameis Winston was your initial QB. Your first job was, obviously, “Minimize his mistakes. His stupid, stupid mistakes.” You failed at that, and now have turned your team over to the Red Rifle, Andy Dalton, whose best years in the league were about taking a Wild Card team to the playoffs to immediately get sent home. The outlook is not even as bright of that now, in the “veteran journeyman” stage of Dalton’s career.

We were thinking New Orleans would take a step back this year, but this… yikes.

Dennis Allen has gotten the Saints off to a 4-9 start, in spite of all their talent at the skill positions and on defense. Their battery of offensive weapons are all on the shelf with injuries, and their 2023 draft prospects are irrelevant to any attempts at tanking… the Eagles own their first round pick because of the Saints trading up for WR Chris Olave… so it doesn’t look like they’re solving their hole at QB unless there’s a free agent they can snag… which isn’t traditionally the Saints’ forte.

Coming off a shut out by the 49ers, the first time they had been held scoreless in a game since 2001... New Orleans headed to Tampa Bay where they seemed to forget NFL games are 60 minutes long and not 55, choking in front of a national audience and making Tom Brady again look at GOAT-Y as he ever has.

The Saints come out of their BYE to face the Falcons, with both teams playing at this point for pride and/or draft position. Allen is likely coaching for his job.






2. Nathaniel Hackett, Broncos : The Broncos simply cannot put points on the board with the dessicated husk of Russell Wilson under center. Their three wins have underwhelmed, with one against the lowly Texans. They are averaging only 13.8 points per game, dead last in the league, and have only scored over twenty twice in their first eleven games. If they’d poached Eric Bienemy from the Chiefs, they wouldn’t be having this problem right now. Instead, they have a coaching staff with a first time head coach, first time OC, first time DC, and first time Special Teams coach, and all the inexperience is showing, what with them leading the league in penalties. Nathaniel Hackett’s situational awareness seems like he’s coaching from the moon, thus he had to hire an assistant to help him with game management before the first half of the season was even over.

Russell Wilson was brought in for a king’s ransom and underwhelmed from the jump. The front office already signed Wilson to a 5 year extension that will put them in salary cap hell even if he retires or they cut him. Russ’ antics for trying to show he’s a “try hard” legend haven’t fooled anyone, and defensive players have started screaming at him on the sideline, and it’s easy to understand why, considering the Broncos still have a Top 3 defense that is taking all these “L”s because Wilson can’t get them any points.

The fact that Hackett coached the Broncos to a divided locker room, and dropped to 3-10 after the defense again played lights-out and held the Ravens to 10 points, finally giving up a TD to Tyler Huntley late in the contest after being exhausted from being on the field way more than they should have been. How many points did Hackett get while calling plays for Wilson? NINE. NINE GODDAMNED POINTS. Against a Ravens defense who have been letting people score late on them all year. They were 2-12 on Third down.

Nathaniel Hackett’s middle name is “can’t”. He should be one-and-done, especially given the expectations in Denver were he’d lure Aaron Rodgers to town (he didn’t), and even with Russell Wilson, this team was supposed to be an AFC favorite.



1. Lovie Smith, Texans: We respect Lovie Smith, but we also know that the owners of the Houston Texans wanted Josh McCown to be their next coach, and it’s only because of Brian Flores’ lawsuit that the f***sticks in their front office got caught potentially skirting the Rooney Rule and backpedaled to hire Lovie to cover their asses from any league punishments that could have come.

The best news for Lovie is that Jack Easterby got FIRED FIRED this season, so there’s no longer a guy trying to elevate Josh McCown to replace him. IN THEORY.

Lovie is regarded as the architect of the Bears’ highly touted defenses of the mid-oughts, but is in charge of a team so devoid of talent that they are currently dead last in the league in yards of offense, and dead last in rushing defense. They’re in the bottom five in the NFL in most team stats. Somehow, don’t ask us how, people can definitively say they look much better in 2022 than they did last year, and try and credit Smith with coaching his guys to not quit.

Three weeks ago, they played the Washington Commanders and the Texans were held to just 148 total yards of offense, including but 21 rushing yards on 16 attempts while Houston’s defense also had zero sacks, and forced zero turnovers as Washington just played it safe, went into halftime up 20-0, and took no chances with a Texans team that is not a threat to any team in the league right now.

Two weeks ago? More of the same, but worse. They were down 30-0 at halftime to the Miami Dolphins, and were 2-13 on third down. They failed on two different two-point conversion attempts and made the final 30-15, but the Dolphins seemingly took it easy on them to not embarrass them. How could this get any worse?

Cleveland came to town for the DeShaun Watson “Revenge of the Sexual Predator” game, and the Texans had two pick-sixes and gave up a punt return for a TD. At least their defense didn’t let Watson light them up… but this was their Super Bowl, and they got wrecked. Lovie’s coached them to an underwhelming, even for Houston… 1-10-1. They almost are guaranteed to have the top pick in the draft, and every college QB must be sweating bullets for fear they end up having to play for this travesty of a franchise. Probably not for Lovie, though.

[MRP]

I'm not surprised to see Campbell of the Lions off your list. They still have talent issues, especially in the secondary, but they've put together a decent streak as some of their skill players have gotten healthier but even more importantly the guys have been playing hard and not giving up. They are still not a good team and need an infusion of talent, but effort and scheme, things coaches are accountable for, are not at the core of their problems.

-M

[Scott Taylor]

McVay could be gone after this season. There have been rumors. The Rams were able to get the most out of him. But due to his youth I can't see him retire yet or go into the broadcast booth and his contract is good until 2026.

An interesting article I just read suggested that the Rams could trade McVay and get lots of draft capital for a full rebuild. Kind of a bold and uncommon move to trade a coach. But if he really wants to make his mark as a great coach, he'd be enticed by a team that has many of the pieces but just needs that proven coach that can connect with the younger players.

[WestPhillyPunisher]

McVay could be gone after this season. There have been rumors. The Rams were able to get the most out of him. But due to his youth I can't see him retire yet or go into the broadcast booth and his contract is good until 2026.

An interesting article I just read suggested that the Rams could trade McVay and get lots of draft capital for a full rebuild. Kind of a bold and uncommon move to trade a coach. But if he really wants to make his mark as a great coach, he'd be enticed by a team that has many of the pieces but just needs that proven coach that can connect with the younger players.

I find it hard to believe the Rams would cut McVey loose, despite this season's implosion, still, anything is possible.

[worstblogever]

I'm not surprised to see Campbell of the Lions off your list. They still have talent issues, especially in the secondary, but they've put together a decent streak as some of their skill players have gotten healthier but even more importantly the guys have been playing hard and not giving up. They are still not a good team and need an infusion of talent, but effort and scheme, things coaches are accountable for, are not at the core of their problems.

-M

They keep snagging wins. If there's an indicator you're turning it around, it's that. And he's doing it with that busted up secondary giving up tons of points. As much as I always enjoy, "LOL. LIONS..." they're trending up right now. I can't pretend they're not.

Detroit's remaining schedule is:
Vikings
Jets
Panthers
Bears
Packers

I don't like their odds against the Vikes this Sunday. I could see them knock off the Jets. But those last three? They could finish really strong and end up staying in 2nd in the NFC North. Hard to think that isn't worthy of Campbell getting another year.

[BeastieRunner]

On the Rams ... Want this expected to happen sooner or later?

I can't tell you how many football heads said this will happen because they kept trading all their draft capitol to "win now" and damn the consequences later.

[SUPERECWFAN1]

On the Rams ... Want this expected to happen sooner or later?

I can't tell you how many football heads said this will happen because they kept trading all their draft capitol to "win now" and damn the consequences later.

This same situation hit the Rams and Washington in the 1960's and 1970's. George Allen was famous for trading draft picks like candy for older veterans. And while he had success short term as we saw Washington go to a Super Bowl 1 season , it would hit the team hard awhile. It took Washington under Bobby Beathard like 3+ seasons to draft talent and rebuild the team ahead. But it was a process to get the team back.

And there is no guarantee how draft picks will work out anyhow. So even if the Rams did trade McVay for a load of draft picks to a team like Tampa Bay or New Orleans , its no guarantee they can draft well. Because the GM has literally spent time trading away or cutting his 1st rd picks he did keep. Les Snead has missed BIG on a number of players like Tavon Austin , Greg Robinson , and a couple others. His 1st rd picks that played awhile were cut and traded like Jared Goff and Todd Gurley.

Of the Rams 1st rd picks since Snead took over in 2012 , only Aaron Donald is left. That is it basically and the rest were either busts , traded or cut later. So its not a rising endorsement Snead can draft and build a team. Which he seems to realize he can't as he went ALL IN on trying to trade picks for McCaffrey earlier and his deals since the 2016 season.

But the ownership and lack of draft capitol to move is now hitting the LA Rams.

[Surf]

6. Jeff Saturday, Colts :
It wonÂ’t get easier, as this week Indy travels to Minnesota to play the Vikings, who yes, are another one of those top-tier NFC teams.

The Colts are on the bye this week- THANK YOU VERY MUCH, we need the break.


SIGH, so Tankathon time
If the Draft were today.

1-Houston
2-Chicago
3-Seattle via Denver
4********* via LA Rams
5-Philly (!?!) via New Orleans
6-Carolina
7-Jacksonville
8-Zona
9-and rising hopefully Colts
10-Atlanta

Umm, not sure why Detroit got caught in the net but they would pick 4th