2020 Miscellaneous NFL News

[jerichoholicninja]

Watched the last few minutes of OT in the Bengals/Eagles game. Never seen a game where both teams made no effort to try and win the game. Eagles line up for a 59 yard FG to win it with like 30 seconds left and false start or something. They could have gone for the 64 yard FG to win or even ran a play since it was only 4th and 7. Neither the 59 yarder, 64 yarder, or going for it were great options. Not converting any of those would have given Cincy the ball at midfield with about 20 seconds and no timeouts. Not a great situation for them either. So the Eagles punt. Cincy gets the ball and runs it up the middle and lets the clock run out. Totally pointless all around.

[adambr2]

Watched the last few minutes of OT in the Bengals/Eagles game. Never seen a game where both teams made no effort to try and win the game. Eagles line up for a 59 yard FG to win it with like 30 seconds left and false start or something. They could have gone for the 64 yard FG to win or even ran a play since it was only 4th and 7. Neither the 59 yarder, 64 yarder, or going for it were great options. Not converting any of those would have given Cincy the ball at midfield with about 20 seconds and no timeouts. Not a great situation for them either. So the Eagles punt. Cincy gets the ball and runs it up the middle and lets the clock run out. Totally pointless all around.

 

I'm still trying to figure out how the Eagles won a Super Bowl a couple years ago.

[pacopete4]

Watched the last few minutes of OT in the Bengals/Eagles game. Never seen a game where both teams made no effort to try and win the game. Eagles line up for a 59 yard FG to win it with like 30 seconds left and false start or something. They could have gone for the 64 yard FG to win or even ran a play since it was only 4th and 7. Neither the 59 yarder, 64 yarder, or going for it were great options. Not converting any of those would have given Cincy the ball at midfield with about 20 seconds and no timeouts. Not a great situation for them either. So the Eagles punt. Cincy gets the ball and runs it up the middle and lets the clock run out. Totally pointless all around.

 

I'm still trying to figure out how the Eagles won a Super Bowl a couple years ago.

 

Foles magic.

[nodakfan17]

With most SB-winning teams, you typically see an arc of competitiveness that spans many seasons with a team breaking through once or twice. The Eagles went:

 

2015: 7-9

2016: 7-9

2017: 13-3 (SB Champs)

2018: 9-7

2019: 9-7

[PinaMadness]

Watched the last few minutes of OT in the Bengals/Eagles game. Never seen a game where both teams made no effort to try and win the game. Eagles line up for a 59 yard FG to win it with like 30 seconds left and false start or something. They could have gone for the 64 yard FG to win or even ran a play since it was only 4th and 7. Neither the 59 yarder, 64 yarder, or going for it were great options. Not converting any of those would have given Cincy the ball at midfield with about 20 seconds and no timeouts. Not a great situation for them either. So the Eagles punt. Cincy gets the ball and runs it up the middle and lets the clock run out. Totally pointless all around.

 

I'm still trying to figure out how the Eagles won a Super Bowl a couple years ago.

 

Foles magic.

[PeaveyFury]

I'm increasingly convinced that you have like 8 NFL coaches that are truly great at their job, 10 or so that are the 'head coach for a couple of years then canned' guys, and the rest are the NFL retread-types that somehow keep getting jobs based on something they did well in their past. I think Pederson is one of the latter- he's an acceptable HC who was able to put everything together one year and win it all. And that'll punch his ticket to get another HC job after the Eagles can him eventually.....

[homer]

Titans had 3 players and 5 staffers test positive for Covid. Titans and Vikings suspend in person activities.

[Ron Robinsons Beard]

Titans had 3 players and 5 staffers test positive for Covid. Titans and Vikings suspend in person activities.

 

First big test for the NFL protocols. They knew this was coming, which is why roster and practice squad sizes were increased.

 

I also wonder how comfortable the Falcons are coming up to Green Bay for next Monday's game, given that Brown County is one of the biggest COVID hotspots in the country currently.

[nate82]

The Titans are shutdown until Saturday which puts the Sunday game against the Steelers as doubtful.

 

This could be the first canceled game.

[adambr2]

I'm curious to see how they approach making up an NFL game if it is indeed cancelled. It's not like you can push it to the end of the season or have a doubleheader. I guess you could maybe do a Wednesday mid week game but that is far from ideal especially if a team doesn't have a bye week on either side.

[Ron Robinsons Beard]

I'm curious to see how they approach making up an NFL game if it is indeed cancelled. It's not like you can push it to the end of the season or have a doubleheader. I guess you could maybe do a Wednesday mid week game but that is far from ideal especially if a team doesn't have a bye week on either side.

 

Could have the Titans and Steelers play Week 7, and move the Steelers/Ravens game originally scheduled for Week 7 to Week 8, where both teams have their bye. Ravens would have their bye Week 7 then. Titans and Steelers would effectively have their bye this week.

[adambr2]

I'm curious to see how they approach making up an NFL game if it is indeed cancelled. It's not like you can push it to the end of the season or have a doubleheader. I guess you could maybe do a Wednesday mid week game but that is far from ideal especially if a team doesn't have a bye week on either side.

 

Could have the Titans and Steelers play Week 7, and move the Steelers/Ravens game originally scheduled for Week 7 to Week 8, where both teams have their bye. Ravens would have their bye Week 7 then. Titans and Steelers would effectively have their bye this week.

 

Yeah that's probably the best way to do it. Not super fair to the Steelers, but that's how it goes these days.

[homer]

Sounds like they might move it to Monday night if it needs to move.

[nate82]

The Titans and Steelers game is officially postponed. Maybe played on Monday or Tuesday.

 

https://www.cbssports.com/nfl/news/steelers-titans-matchup-postponed-nfl-announces-to-be-played-on-either-monday-or-tuesday/

[HiAndTight]

I'm increasingly convinced that you have like 8 NFL coaches that are truly great at their job, 10 or so that are the 'head coach for a couple of years then canned' guys, and the rest are the NFL retread-types that somehow keep getting jobs based on something they did well in their past. I think Pederson is one of the latter- he's an acceptable HC who was able to put everything together one year and win it all. And that'll punch his ticket to get another HC job after the Eagles can him eventually.....

 

 

I'd be inclined to agree with you, but it's so hard for me to tell with some of them. Andy Reid looked very similar to Mike McCarthy at the end of his time in Philly...now with all the weapons he has, he's again viewed as one of the great offensive minds in the game.

 

I'd be curious who you'd put on that list.

 

Does Nagy or Zimmer make the list? I think they're both really good coaches.

 

BB,Reid, Tomlin, McDermott, Harbaugh, Carroll, McVay, Shannahan, Payton. Zimmer...not sure if he belongs in here, but he's done pretty damn well in Minny.

 

Vrabel, Matt LaFleur, Florres it might be too early to tell.

 

And there's a bunch of guys I can't figure out, Pederson among them. Nagy as well. One seems like he's constantly dealing with injuries while the other might be among the top of the list if his team doesn't needlessly trade up and draft Trubisky and instead grabs Mahomes or Watson.

 

 

I definitely think teams are wise to keep digging into that Shannahan tree though. I can't imagine what this team would look like with McCarthy as a head coach...and I thought he was a good coach, but he'd just been here too long. Seems pretty obvious that at least thus far, LaFleur's getting the absolute most out of the talent that he has.

[homer]

Titans had more positive tests. Game won't be played this week.

[adambr2]

Titans had more positive tests. Game won't be played this week.

 

Wouldn't it have been prudent to schedule an 18 week season with 2 bye weeks per team this year for more flexibility if this stuff came up?

 

In this case, moving Ravens/Steelers ahead a week should accommodate Titans/Steelers later. But this likely won't be the last incident.

 

Fortunately the Vikings seem to not have been affected.

[Fear The Chorizo]

Wouldn't it have been prudent to schedule an 18 week season with 2 bye weeks per team this year for more flexibility if this stuff came up?

 

The NFL will need to adjust their overall season schedule in order to get through it - they can't do what baseball did because there are fewer games, each which carry a ton more weight for playoff seeding even among teams that aren't impacted by COVID at all. Plus the NFL has roughly 3-4X the number of players/coaches/staff/etc to monitor than even baseball does.

 

One option I thought would be a good idea instead of starting the year with the normal staggered bye weeks across the league - instead have 2-3 week breaks following week 8 and an optional one at the end of the regular season if teams need it before playoffs start. Doing something like this would allow COVID spread to effectively stop across the league and reset things, rather than string the schedule along until something happens around week 10 or 11 that forces the NFL to shut down a full month or two. Having that sort of lull mid-season across the league would also help players heal up a bit during a year that's likely to have a higher chance of minor injuries/ailments due to limited practice & training schedules. Games that need to get pushed back could also be made up during those breaks, if necessary. Now that the NFL is almost 1/4 of the way into the season, it's going to be tough to reset their schedule after the next team or teams have enough positive tests that lead to games getting postponed without having the bye week flexibility early season cancellations can bring.

 

I know the NFL started the year as it did with the pie in the sky hope its Super Bowl would happen on the day it's been on the calendar for years, with a bunch of corporate shill butts in the seats - but at this point I hope they know that's not happening...at least anywhere near what a typical Super Bowl weekend looks like.

[GAME05]

Two bye weeks would have been a great idea.

 

I even like the idea on a permanent basis. Players get so beat up and injured that an extra bye would help. Plus it extends the football season out another week which would boost NFL revenues.

[homer]

Two bye weeks would have been a great idea.

 

I even like the idea on a permanent basis. Players get so beat up and injured that an extra bye would help. Plus it extends the football season out another week which would boost NFL revenues.

 

They actually did that one year:

 

For the 1993 season, the league experimented with the schedule by adding a second bye week for each team, resulting in an 18-week regular season

[bjkrautk]

I'm guessing a second bye week wasn't on the table, since it would have meant starting the season a week earlier, which was a non-starter in COVID times.

[adambr2]

So cut the preseason from 4 games to 3, which they should do anyway. Training camp still starts at the same time, season still ends at the same time, just a week shorter on the preseason and a week longer on the regular season.

 

Teams get 2 bye weeks during the year for rest and recuperation, fans get an extra week of football, networks and advertisers get an extra week of regular season revenue. Seems like a win all around to me.

[tmwiese55]

I've had the 2 bye weeks idea for a few years and I've really never seen it mentioned in the conversation. We've all heard the NFL's push for 18 games, I thought a simple thing to offer in return on that would've been to add another bye week. And even if it doesn't lead to the 18 games it would still be a positive thing fro player safety while have the added benefit of another week of primetime games. Seems like a win win to me.

[HiAndTight]

I've had the 2 bye weeks idea for a few years and I've really never seen it mentioned in the conversation. We've all heard the NFL's push for 18 games, I thought a simple thing to offer in return on that would've been to add another bye week. And even if it doesn't lead to the 18 games it would still be a positive thing fro player safety while have the added benefit of another week of primetime games. Seems like a win win to me.

 

 

18 weeks seems inevitable. That added revenue could make up for the lost revenue due to Covid and the NFL has already implemented some steps that could help make it safer. The expanded roster, the practice squad....

 

I think 2 pre-season games, 18 regular season games...maybe even stick with the playoff schedule.

 

 

The NFLPA is going to want to see the cap adjusted upward more than it's projected to be this year and the owners have the 18 game season to dangle over their heads now...

 

If it doesn't happen after Covid, not sure it'll happen anytime.

[homer]

I wonder if they could just extend the season a week or two.