2022 NFL Thread (Chiefs win Super Bowl 57)

[Dream Team]

Crazy stat after last night’s game, Mahomes is 14-0 in division ROAD games.

Agreed with the above takes about Wilson - in fact, most great QBs after a game in which their D holds the opposition to TWENTY points or less, let alone 3, will say “yeah it’s on me, the D did its job”.

[King Postwhore]

Saleh was late 1& 1/2 hours for his press conference.   Late night he said demonstrative, that Wilson is the QB going forward. Today after being late, he said that Wilson is not guaranteed to start.

I think the players had a meeting with him. The kid messed up and lost his D last night.

[TAC]

Good for him. Wilson is not a hill to die on for any coach.

[KevShmev]

I can't speak for anyone else, but when the Chargers took the lead last night late, I thought, "you just know Mahomes is going to drive them down for the win."  And he did. That is what I used to think about Montana, and Elway, and Peyton, and Brady.  He is in that rarified air of guys who get the ball late and you just know they are going to find a way to get it done most of the time.

[King Postwhore]

He's definitely building a case for sure. You can't deny his early years are better than all of them. He just needs the longevity now and a ring or 2 more to stay in that group.

[Cool Chris]

Trending on Seattle sports talk radio today... Russell Wilson could finish the season with fewer TD passes (he currently has 7) than bathrooms he has in his house (12).

[TAC]

Trending on Seattle sports talk radio today... Russell Wilson could finish the season with fewer TD passes (he currently has 7) than bathrooms he has in his house (12).

Wow, that's shitty. Sure to be pissed.



OK, I'm done.

[bosk1]

I honesty don't get the love for Mahomes at all.  Luckiest player ever.  I wish someone would just separate his legs from his body and shut him up for good.

[bosk1]

My way too early playoff seeding predictions:

AFC:
1.  Buffalo (14-3)
2.  Tenn.  (14-3)
3.  Balt. (14-3)
4.  KC  (14-3)
5.  Miami (13-4)
6.  LAC (10-7)
7.  NYJ (10-7)

NFC:
1.  Dallas (13-4)
2.  Minn.  (13-4)
3.  SF (12-5)
4.  Tampa (10-7)
5.  Phil. (13-4)
6.  NYG  (11-6)
7.  Seattle (10-7)

[lonestar]

Niners looked really solid tonight, hope that's a sign of things to come. Arriba Mexico!!

[bosk1]

They looked good.  But aside from these two INT's, they were really getting picked apart in the passing game on defense.  They couldn't stop the passing game to save their lives.  But thankfully, even though they gave up a ton of passing yards, they managed to get stops at key times.  But if they can clean up just a few things and stay healthy, I don't see anyone stopping them.  I think they end up winning a close super bowl against the Titans. 

[jammindude]

I think your emotions are effecting your objectivity.

As a loyal Seahawks fan since 1976, I’ve never been overly hopeful about their chances. But maybe I’m so used to disappointment that it keeps me pleasantly surprised when they catch a break.  Even the year we won…ya, I really was routing for them. I was hoping for a tight win. I would have never imagined the blow out we got. (It did feel good) 

Short version…never let the love of your team overly blind you to the reality.

The Niners will be fortunate if they win the division, and if they do, they will make a quick exit in the playoffs. But considering the way the West was projected to go at the beginning of the season, I would consider that scenario to be a HUGE moral victory if I were a Niners fan.

[Stadler]

I honesty don't get the love for Mahomes at all.  Luckiest player ever.  I wish someone would just separate his legs from his body and shut him up for good.

I don't know about "lucky"; the truth is somewhere in between that and DreamTeam's fanboy obsession.  But at a MINIMUM, he needs to do some level of this without Kelce.   Kelce doesn't even have to make the challenging catches like Gronk did; there are crucial plays where he is open by five, six yards.  How do you plan a defense that needs a stop and yet allows the best tight end in the game right now to get five yards open?   

[King Postwhore]

I honesty don't get the love for Mahomes at all.  Luckiest player ever.  I wish someone would just separate his legs from his body and shut him up for good.

I don't know about "lucky"; the truth is somewhere in between that and DreamTeam's fanboy obsession.  But at a MINIMUM, he needs to do some level of this without Kelce.   Kelce doesn't even have to make the challenging catches like Gronk did; there are crucial plays where he is open by five, six yards.  How do you plan a defense that needs a stop and yet allows the best tight end in the game right now to get five yards open?

I'm going to play devil's advocate here.  Maybe Mahomes is setting up Kelce better or Kelce gets open easier than Gronk.

[Stadler]

I honesty don't get the love for Mahomes at all.  Luckiest player ever.  I wish someone would just separate his legs from his body and shut him up for good.

I don't know about "lucky"; the truth is somewhere in between that and DreamTeam's fanboy obsession.  But at a MINIMUM, he needs to do some level of this without Kelce.   Kelce doesn't even have to make the challenging catches like Gronk did; there are crucial plays where he is open by five, six yards.  How do you plan a defense that needs a stop and yet allows the best tight end in the game right now to get five yards open?

I'm going to play devil's advocate here.  Maybe Mahomes is setting up Kelce better or Kelce gets open easier than Gronk.

Of course; it's a combination of things.   It's never "one piece" like many fans want to believe.   But it's also like testing an electrical circuit; you don't change 1000 things all at once and try to find out what works; you remove one variable at a time to see what makes what impact.   I'm saying that at this point it's premature to elevate Mahomes into the stratosphere when you haven't eliminated any of the variables from the equation.   You take out EVERY COMPONENT that's ever been around Brady - Belichick, McDaniel, Gronk, Moss, New England (the geography), Viniateri, Giselle, whatever - and he's won. The only variables taken from Mahomes so far is Hill and he's not won anything yet in that scenario.

[King Postwhore]

Well that's why that combo won 6 rings.  I'll give Mahomes time.  His start is better than any QB I've seen.  Can he continue and get better over the years with different OC's, different teammates?  That's the question.

[Skeever]

I honesty don't get the love for Mahomes at all.  Luckiest player ever.  I wish someone would just separate his legs from his body and shut him up for good.

I don't know about "lucky"; the truth is somewhere in between that and DreamTeam's fanboy obsession.  But at a MINIMUM, he needs to do some level of this without Kelce.   Kelce doesn't even have to make the challenging catches like Gronk did; there are crucial plays where he is open by five, six yards.  How do you plan a defense that needs a stop and yet allows the best tight end in the game right now to get five yards open?

Oh come on, last year it was that he had to do it without Hill.
What's next? Can he do it with with only 4 guys on his OL?

[Stadler]

I honesty don't get the love for Mahomes at all.  Luckiest player ever.  I wish someone would just separate his legs from his body and shut him up for good.

I don't know about "lucky"; the truth is somewhere in between that and DreamTeam's fanboy obsession.  But at a MINIMUM, he needs to do some level of this without Kelce.   Kelce doesn't even have to make the challenging catches like Gronk did; there are crucial plays where he is open by five, six yards.  How do you plan a defense that needs a stop and yet allows the best tight end in the game right now to get five yards open?

Oh come on, last year it was that he had to do it without Hill.
What's next? Can he do it with with only 4 guys on his OL?

That's the point, though; he didn't do anything.  The Bengals (who got there after an overtime interception thrown by Mahomes) and Rams did. He didn't do anything the year before, either, if you want to put a fine point on it.  31-9 they got blown out by Brady and his squad.   Point proven.

[hefdaddy42]

FFS Stadler

You mean like Montana did without Rice all those times?

[Dream Team]

I'm in the twilight zone. According to this logic, Brady choked 9 years in a row from 2005-2013. It's the only way you can explain it, right?

The level-headed, non-crazy take at this moment is we don't have any idea how many Super Bowls Mahomes will have been in until his career is over. The only data-based info we have at the moment is his playing is far above anyone else in the league, especially when you look at advanced stats like points per drive or per dropback which are the only things a QB can control. But it's not necessary for me to go to this trouble, just go to any NFL show that features capable analysts like ex-players or ex-coaches (such as Sean Payton this week) and you'll hear the same things. I'm not doing revolutionary work here  .

And everyone knows that in the Super Bowl against the Bucs the O-Line was in shambles, he was playing on a foot that required surgery, and his teammates dropped 2 TD passes. But sure that proves a point I guess, I'm just not sure which one.

The take on Mahomes being "lucky", I don't even know where to begin . . . the 2020 Bucs got to play a 7-9 team the first round, then had Drew Brees gift them 3 interceptions the next game, then the D stepped up and bailed Brady out of 3 second-half interceptions against Green Bay. Talk about a string of luck.

[KevShmev]

I honesty don't get the love for Mahomes at all.  Luckiest player ever.  I wish someone would just separate his legs from his body and shut him up for good.

I don't know about "lucky"; the truth is somewhere in between that and DreamTeam's fanboy obsession.  But at a MINIMUM, he needs to do some level of this without Kelce.   Kelce doesn't even have to make the challenging catches like Gronk did; there are crucial plays where he is open by five, six yards.  How do you plan a defense that needs a stop and yet allows the best tight end in the game right now to get five yards open?

With all due respect, Bill, his fanboy obsession with Mahomes is no worse than yours with Brady.

Using the standards you are setting here today, because they won zero rings together, the Tom Brady/Randy Moss combo was an utter and total failure.  Correct?

[Skeever]

Big Ben was bad in the game where he got his ring.

Peyton Manning was bad in his first SB run and quite honestly most of the year of his 2nd SB run/SB MVP win.

I guess both of them are bad QBs who "did nothing" too.

[lonestar]

I think your emotions are effecting your objectivity.

As a loyal Seahawks fan since 1976, I’ve never been overly hopeful about their chances. But maybe I’m so used to disappointment that it keeps me pleasantly surprised when they catch a break.  Even the year we won…ya, I really was routing for them. I was hoping for a tight win. I would have never imagined the blow out we got. (It did feel good) 

Short version…never let the love of your team overly blind you to the reality.

The Niners will be fortunate if they win the division, and if they do, they will make a quick exit in the playoffs. But considering the way the West was projected to go at the beginning of the season, I would consider that scenario to be a HUGE moral victory if I were a Niners fan.

Yeah...It's bosk though...he has these moments every year.

They looked good.  But aside from these two INT's, they were really getting picked apart in the passing game on defense.  They couldn't stop the passing game to save their lives.  But thankfully, even though they gave up a ton of passing yards, they managed to get stops at key times.  But if they can clean up just a few things and stay healthy, I don't see anyone stopping them.  I think they end up winning a close super bowl against the Titans. 

True, the connection between McCoy and Hopkins was just too easy, too often. I missed a good deal of the second half for a meeting, and when I returned McCoy was on the sidelines with a green jersey, so it seemed the figured something out 

[Stadler]

I honesty don't get the love for Mahomes at all.  Luckiest player ever.  I wish someone would just separate his legs from his body and shut him up for good.

I don't know about "lucky"; the truth is somewhere in between that and DreamTeam's fanboy obsession.  But at a MINIMUM, he needs to do some level of this without Kelce.   Kelce doesn't even have to make the challenging catches like Gronk did; there are crucial plays where he is open by five, six yards.  How do you plan a defense that needs a stop and yet allows the best tight end in the game right now to get five yards open?

With all due respect, Bill, his fanboy obsession with Mahomes is no worse than yours with Brady.

Nah, not really.  Other than DeflateGate, which I thought was a sham and a joke, I'm under no illusions about Brady.  Now Belichick, that's a different story....   

Using the standards you are setting here today, because they won zero rings together, the Tom Brady/Randy Moss combo was an utter and total failure.  Correct?

No.  That's a black and white standard.  There are no absolutes here; it's not like there's only two choices:  GREATEST OF ALL TIME!! or UTTER AND TOTAL FAILURE!!   Is Brady/Moss the greatest tandem of all time? NO; they did it one year, put up silly numbers, but went home in February like everyone else except for one team: losing their last game.   All I'm saying, all I've EVER said, is stop annointing Mahomes.  Why this obsession that he be recalled as the greatest of all time?  What does it matter?  Brady - and several others, Montana, Manning, etc. - did great things REGARDLESS of who was around them.  Let Mahomes be Mahomes. Let him cycle through a generation (which in the NFL is, what, five years, more or less) of players around him. A generation of coaches that are targeting him.

He's very good; he's one of the two or three best QBs in the league, and probably the guy you'd pick RIGHT NOW to build your team around. No question.  But that's enough for now.   The obsession isn't with "Brady" or "Mahomes", it's our culture's obsession with these absolute and unattainable standards.  Everything has to be "Greatest" this or "Extreme" that.  Let it play out.   

[bosk1]

The Niners will be fortunate if they win the division, and if they do, they will make a quick exit in the playoffs. But considering the way the West was projected to go at the beginning of the season, I would consider that scenario to be a HUGE moral victory if I were a Niners fan.

  I have no idea where you are coming from on that take.  I mean, nobody can say how far a team is ultimately going to go in the playoffs, regardless of the odds.  Last season's Cowboys are a great example of that.  But the 49ers being "fortunate" to win the division?    That makes zero sense.  They are the odds on favorite by a landslide.  And it doesn't take much imagination to see how that is true.  They are currently in first place and have a VERY favorable schedule for the remainder of the season, in terms of the strength of the teams they face, the fact that 5/7 of those games are at home, and in terms of ALL of them being in the same time zone.  They VERY realistically win at least 5 of those games and could very easily run the table and rattle of 7 in a row.  But even in the worst case scenario, who wins more games than them and takes the division?  The Rams?    The Cardinals?    The Seahawks?    The 49ers have already beaten all of those teams soundly.  And all of them have harder schedules.  Yeah, anything can happen.  But viewing the 49ers as anything but the favorites to win their division and saying they would be "fortunate" to do so is just ignoring the standings and the remaining schedules of the NFC west.  The ONLY team with a halfway realistic shot at challenging them for the division is Seattle, and the standings and remaining schedules (let alone the gap between the two rosters) make them a longshot.  Not an extreme long shot.  But a long shot by a decent margin.

[TheCountOfNYC]

The 49ers had no business making it to the NFC title game last year either but it happened. If a team does enough at the beginning of the season to stay in the playoff race they always have a chance to make a deep playoff run. We saw it last year with both the 49ers and Bengals, the Buccaneers in 2020, the Titans in 2019, the Jaguars in 2017, the Broncos in 2015, the Giants in 2011, the Packers in 2010, the Jets in both 2009 and 2010, the Cardinals in 2008…you guys get the point. There’s no reason that the 49ers can’t make a run again, especially in the overall weaker NFC.

[bosk1]

Yeah.  But I again come back to current standings and remaining schedule.  The 49ers are clearly the best team in the NFC west, and I don't know anyone who would dispute that.  They currently hold the division lead.  Their remaining games are as follows:
-NOLA
-Miami
-Tampa
-@Seattle
-Washington
-@ Vegas
-Arizona

Pretty easy schedule.  I see challenging games against Miami and maybe Tampa.  Who else on that schedule even challenges them?

Seattle's remaining schedule is:
-Vegas
-@LAR
-Carolina
-SF
-@KC
-Jets
-LAR

They probably beat the Raiders and Panthers, and probably split the two games against the Rams.  What other games on that schedule do they have a prayer of winning? 

I'm not even going to bother with the Rams and Cardinals, because I doubt either of those teams will break .500 at season's end.  Unless either has a massive unexpected turnaround, they are both effectively out of contention. 

Again, just not seeing Jammin's point at all.

[Nick]

Great game last night, was fun to see the Niners really run up a game, which I feel does not happen very often at all. But they've been far too inconsistent for me to be talking about a super bowl. This is the same team that found ways to lose to Chicago and Denver and neither should have happened. They win those, maybe lose to a better team, but show strength game in and game out on both sides of the ball I'd be much more excited. All it takes is one half of the team to have a bad half of football in the playoffs and they are out.

[bosk1]

^Yup.  Agreed with all of that.  But the things I will say that have me looking at them as a real contended despite those "shoulda won" losses (as well as getting SOUNDLY beaten by KC) are: (1) those early losses were with an inexperienced QB that hadn't yet started in the regular season, (2) they did not have anywhere near a healthy roster on either side of the ball, and (3) McCaffrey.  And on #3, I don't want to look at a single player as a gamechanger for a team's ultimate fortunes.  But he is one of few players in the league that defenses cannot afford to ignore.  And that factor alone opens up so many more opportunities for the offense.  Even when plays aren't going to him, the attention he commands opens things up for Kittle, Aiuk, Samuel, Mitchell, etc.  They all benefit from having less attention and more space, and that's often all it takes for a big play.  But those 3 factors as a whole allow me to look at those losses earlier in the season as cautionary tales while still having confidence that this team should still be a very legit contender.

[Nick]

The rest of the season will be very telling on the offensive side of the ball. Because frankly even with Lance and without McCaffery I feel like they were underperforming. I think it's far past time for Shanahan to prove he's the genius that the pundits seem to always credit him with being. It's been awhile since we've seen regular evidence of that.

[hunnus2000]

I think it's important to remember that SF was flaky with their QB situation this off season. Jimmy G did NOT get any participation OTA's much less training camp. He was thrust into action when Tery Lance went down and I think he's done an admirable job but their schedule is not that favorable.

BTW - look out for Washington.

Ron Rivera to me at this point is Head Coach of the Year!

[bosk1]

I think it's important to remember that SF was flaky with their QB situation this off season. Jimmy G did NOT get any participation OTA's much less training camp.

He didn't get any participation because (1) he was recovering from shoulder surgery initially and (2) was supposed to have been traded and not on the roster.  They were expecting the trade right up until the season started.  That isn't "flaky"--that's the reality of the situation he was in.

He was thrust into action when Tery Lance went down

Yes.  That's how being a backup works.

...but their schedule is not that favorable.

It isn't?  How so?  There is one team on their remaining schedule that has more than 1 game above .500.  How is that not a favorable schedule?

[King Postwhore]

Hunnus means he wasn't really participating with the team in the off season.  They had him on the other field while the team practiced.  Only after he signed that one year deal did he work with his teammates.

[bosk1]

Hunnus means he wasn't really participating with the team in the off season.  They had him on the other field while the team practiced.  Only after he signed that one year deal did he work with his teammates.

Yes, but as I said, that isn't "flaky."  There were legitimate reasons for that.

[Stadler]

^Yup.  Agreed with all of that.  But the things I will say that have me looking at them as a real contended despite those "shoulda won" losses (as well as getting SOUNDLY beaten by KC) are: (1) those early losses were with an inexperienced QB that hadn't yet started in the regular season, (2) they did not have anywhere near a healthy roster on either side of the ball, and (3) McCaffrey.  And on #3, I don't want to look at a single player as a gamechanger for a team's ultimate fortunes.  But he is one of few players in the league that defenses cannot afford to ignore.  And that factor alone opens up so many more opportunities for the offense.  Even when plays aren't going to him, the attention he commands opens things up for Kittle, Aiuk, Samuel, Mitchell, etc.  They all benefit from having less attention and more space, and that's often all it takes for a big play.  But those 3 factors as a whole allow me to look at those losses earlier in the season as cautionary tales while still having confidence that this team should still be a very legit contender.

They are STACKED on the offensive side of the ball.  I'm a fan of Jimmy G. too (I was one of the few that would have loved him to come back to New England) so while I'm not invested in the Niners, I'm not taking them for granted either.