2021 Miscellaneous NFL News

[CheezWizHed]

If draft was tomorrow...

 

Giants would have 5th(Fields) and 6th picks

 

Jets would have 4th and 7th(Adams) picks

 

I'm sure their fanbases were annoyed at those trades at the time but picks like that can turn around a team quickly.

 

You realize that one of those teams mentioned are the Jets, right?

[OldSchoolSnapper]

A MNF I actually want to see. That's like a Packers punt coverage team forcing a fair catch.

[CheezWizHed]

A MNF I actually want to see. That's like a Packers punt coverage team catching the ball.

 

Fixed it for you. Fair catch or not...doesn't matter if he can't catch it.

[Joseph Zarr]

It's amazing the crap that Tampa DBs get away with.

 

Right? Every time. They get away with the extremely physical play AT the catch point on key key plays. They get away with all the jersey holds at KEY points of the route to get to the catch point. It's uncanny. Forking uncanny. Both of these occurred in successive drives to end regulation and to begin OT. There is no way TB doesn't get those calls with the call-getter Tom Brady at the helm. Nauseating.

[PinaMadness]

Higbee and Ramsey out for the Rams tonight. Not good news.

[OldSchoolSnapper]

I must be crazy, but there is something about Murray for me that just doesn't pass the eye test. I keep being told he's really good but every time I watch I'm super unimpressed.

[Fear The Chorizo]

I must be crazy, but there is something about Murray for me that just doesn't pass the eye test. I keep being told he's really good but every time I watch I'm super unimpressed.

 

Same...when a defense makes him stay in the pocket and actually progress beyond option #1 of a passing play, his size and accuracy limitations show up in a big way and he's inconsistent. He was never going to be the dynamic playmaker with his feet longterm like he was in college because he would get injured, and he can't create as much by dancing in the pocket as Russ Wilson because his hand size limits what he can doing throwing on the run.

 

Against poor defensive scheme that lets his great WR's on the outside win 1 on 1s for fear of him running the ball, he can make plenty of plays. If I'm a d coordinator I play coverage and let him run and get beat up so he's not close to 100 percent down the stretch of a season, and then he's a short pocket qb with a good arm that isn't extremely accurate.

 

He's good, not great...

[stalton]

Currently with the new playoff format, WFT with a record of 6-7 are in the playoffs.

[jerichoholicninja]

The NHL and NBA have been getting hit hard by COVID the last few weeks and it looks like the NFL is starting to get it. You have to wonder if any games will be postponed at some point.

[nodakfan17]

The NHL and NBA have been getting hit hard by COVID the last few weeks and it looks like the NFL is starting to get it. You have to wonder if any games will be postponed at some point.

That’s possible, but there is far less travel in the NFL vs. the NBA and NHL. Their ‘bubble’ may be tighter. In the NFL, teams travel once every two weeks. In the NBA and NHL, travel is constant.

[Fear The Chorizo]

The NHL and NBA have been getting hit hard by COVID the last few weeks and it looks like the NFL is starting to get it. You have to wonder if any games will be postponed at some point.

That’s possible, but there is far less travel in the NFL vs. the NBA and NHL. Their ‘bubble’ may be tighter. In the NFL, teams travel once every two weeks. In the NBA and NHL, travel is constant.

 

Their "bubble" includes around 90 people between players, coaches, and staff - and that doesn't even factor in family/friends they live with. Travel has very limited influence on spreading COVID when COVID is everywhere and has been for well over a year.

 

NBA and to a lesser extent NHL teams have far fewer players/coaches to worry about, and I'd argue their more frequent travel schedule actually helps them isolate within their own pods a bit better if they so choose because they don't have as much daily interactions at home/in their home city for the full week between every game that NFL personnel do.

 

Not that it really makes any difference at the moment - they're all dealing with increasing COVID issues.

[Fear The Chorizo]

Add Mayfield and a couple coaches, including Stefanski, to the Browns' COVID reserve list - which now includes roughly 20% of their typical gameday roster. Stefanski is an interesting case because he missed last year's playoff game against the Steelers after testing positive, then got fully vaccinated, then got boosted, and then got COVID again.

 

Biggest scheduling problem the NFL has heading down the stretch is its protocols for this season were set up to have the ability to decree forfeitures and fines for teams if COVID case outbreaks could be readily traced back to unvaccinated players or breaches in mitigation measures inside team facilities in effort to avoid having to reschedule games late in the year after bye weeks leave the schedule....but these current teamwide outbreaks are largely occurring across vaccinated staff and players and they are chasing testing results because those people are not tested daily until it's frankly too late to limit close contacts and spread. It's apparent that both the Browns and Rams played their last game with players who likely had asymptomatic COVID over the weekend but didn't start getting test results back until 1-3 days after their games Sunday/Monday night.

 

It hasn't gotten to the same level as some teams in the NBA or NHL, who are close to the point of having to pull anyone off the street and give them a jersey provided they test negative to get through some of their games while half or more of their regular roster is out due to COVID infections, but it's tougher to deal with in the NFL since there are fewer regular season games that carry far more value for playoff positioning than leagues like the NBA and NHL.

 

I think the NFL would be wise to adjust its playoff schedule by giving all playoff teams a week off before the postseason starts and get those rosters as COVID-free as possible. Just push all the rounds back a week except the Super Bowl and don't play the Pro Bowl - there'd just be 1 week off between the conference championship games and Super Bowl, but that's probably for the best anyways.

[homer]

these current teamwide outbreaks are largely occurring across vaccinated staff and players

 

This is to be expected. If a team is 100% vaccinated for example, then 100% of cases will be vaccinated players and staff

[adambr2]

I know many will disagree, but I think we'll reach a point in the COVID sports world perhaps as soon as 2022 (particularly if Omicron and other future variants do indeed prove to be more mild strains of the virus), where we are just going to have to say, "Are you up to date on your vaccinations? Are you feeling fine? Then we are going to assume you're fine and we're not going to keep testing you regardless of who you've seen or where you've been. If you're feeling sick, we're going to test and treat just like we would for any other sick person or illness."

[Fear The Chorizo]

these current teamwide outbreaks are largely occurring across vaccinated staff and players

 

This is to be expected. If a team is 100% vaccinated for example, then 100% of cases will be vaccinated players and staff

 

Yep - but for some reason the NFL didn't consider the possibility of a large number of COVID cases among vaccinated personnel impacting the league schedule in its protocols if the focus remains monitoring positive tests/case counts. When they came up with this policy in the early summer it was in the timeframe when COVID rates were seasonally plummeting regardless of how many people were vaccinated across the country, and well before any concerns of waning efficacy over time were going to surface - IMO it was blind optimism on their part assuming as long as most of their players and all coaches got the shots by the start of the 2021 training camp that there wouldn't be the same issues they had in late fall 2020.

 

The current league-wide case outbreak is far worse than anything they saw during the 2020 season that led to multiple scheduling delays for games. Up to this point they've been able to avoid pushing games back this season and screwing with ticket/gameday revenues of sold-out stadiums, but their luck may be running out - particularly now that we're past the point of the schedule where teams have bye weeks.

 

I'll add the fact that if well over 90% of the league and all staff/coaches are indeed fully vaccinated, that's great - at some point then the protocols need to be adjusted for COVID across the league to focus more on keeping symptomatic illness out of team facilities and off the field (similar to how teams addressed seasonal flu or other symptomatic viral outbreaks prior to 2020 without chasing down whether players had gotten their flu shot or not), or we are stuck in this cycle indefinitely. From what I'm reading most all of these recent cases among vaccinated personnel are either entirely asymptomatic or with extremely minor symptoms where they feel kind of off for a day or two and then are fine - which has always been the point and value of getting this vaccine. It's time to stop thinking getting jabbed at appropriate intervals means you won't ever get COVID or that vaccinated people getting infected at some point means the vaccine isn't effective - I just hate the term "breakthrough infection" when it comes to this.

 

If striving to limit COVID infections remains the goal, then the NFLPA has it right in terms of wanting daily testing for EVERYONE inside the team facility, regardless of vaccination status.

https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/32876158/nflpa-again-pushes-nfl-reinstitute-daily-testing-covid-19

[nodakfan17]

[sarcasm]If the NFL has to cancel the season, the Packers are the champs, right?[/sarcasm]

[OldSchoolSnapper]

I know many will disagree, but I think we'll reach a point in the COVID sports world perhaps as soon as 2022 (particularly if Omicron and other future variants do indeed prove to be more mild strains of the virus), where we are just going to have to say, "Are you up to date on your vaccinations? Are you feeling fine? Then we are going to assume you're fine and we're not going to keep testing you regardless of who you've seen or where you've been. If you're feeling sick, we're going to test and treat just like we would for any other sick person or illness."

 

We should already be doing this.

[PeaveyFury]

Preemptive reminder of allowable COVID discussion vs. what isn't:

 

Allowable: Aaron Rodgers is out with COVID. Or, the NFL has implemented a new testing policy.

Generally allowable, if in-bounds: Because of the spike in cases, I think the NFL should change their testing policy, etc.

Not allowable: I can't believe there are unvaccinated players, jerks. Or, vaccines don't work. Etc.

 

Thanks for keeping all on topic.

[PinaMadness]

Deandre Hopkins expected to miss the rest of the regular season. I think this pretty much cements the Packers and Bucs as the top two seeds, and the Cowboys might even surpass Arizona for #3 and probably will as they play each other week 17. Of the four teams, Arizona has the toughest schedule by a significant amount.

[OldSchoolSnapper]

I dunno that I see AZ just falling to pieces because one WR is out. He was having a pretty crappy, hurt season anyway. That said, I thought AZ was the weakest of the top 4 anyway. I was, and am, hoping the chips fall so we end up playing them.

 

Tampa is the best team in my eyes. The defense is the difference for me, while not statistically very good this year, it's the rush that will give GB problems. And I just don't trust the Packers to win a conference until they do. They could be 13-pt favorites over Tampa with Brady on the Covid list and I'd still be thinking they're gonna lose.

[nodakfan17]

The Jaguars have fired Urban Meyer:

 

https://www.cbssports.com/nfl/news/urban-meyer-fired-by-jaguars-in-midnight-move-after-less-than-one-season-on-job/

[PinaMadness]

The Jaguars have fired Urban Meyer:

 

https://www.cbssports.com/nfl/news/urban-meyer-fired-by-jaguars-in-midnight-move-after-less-than-one-season-on-job/

Good riddance. What a mistake that was from the beginning. If he had stayed on he would've ruined a generational talent in Lawrence. I hope for his sake the Jags get the next hire right, although history is not on their side.

[nodakfan17]

Meyer is reportedly still owed $60 million through 2025:

 

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.sportingnews.com/us/amp/nfl/news/why-wont-the-jaguars-fire-urban-meyer/1pxhi2qzqk5zl1619p9x1mvxj0

[SeaBass]

Meyer is reportedly still owed $60 million through 2025:

 

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.sportingnews.com/us/amp/nfl/news/why-wont-the-jaguars-fire-urban-meyer/1pxhi2qzqk5zl1619p9x1mvxj0

I saw this clip on SportsCenter shortly after he was fired where Adam Schefter commented he had heard from sources around the league that the team likely had sufficient evidence to have fired Meyer for cause. Said it will be up to the lawyers to figure things out going forward regarding his contract.

 

[PeaveyFury]

Sounds like Badger great Darrell Bevell will be interim HC.