NFL 2022 Season

TheBigIguana · January 30, 2023

Tree13 said:
I know the Broncos D has some strong points. I specifically referred to the fetid latrine that passes for an offense in Denver.

For them to somehow get from their current position to a middle-of-the-pack offensive unit would require an A+ draft, a strong FA window and some sort of coaching adjustment. Not impossible that they pull it off in one year... But far more likely to take two years.

I don't think it is nearly that bad. The receivers are fine, Williams is good, Melvin Gordon is finely gone and the line is passable. If Russ can be the 20th best QB and the OC can be better than Hackett they have a shot at being average or even a bit better than that.

I don't know that I believe it'll happen though.

Tree13 · January 30, 2023

Rook said:
Burrow was decent. No pass protection, Taylor for some reason just abandoned the run even tho the run blocking was OK. Boyd, hurt so they just doubled Higgins/Chase (both made plays but need more work time which cincy rarely had). Cincy's offense is slow developing down the field plays and coaching never really adjusted.

Coaching really thought they'd be able to get big passing plays and constantly hit Mahomes. Neither happened. The only one to ever lay a finger on Mahomes was Ossai, he ended up penalised because he was doubled on that play while the rest of cincy DL didn't come close. Cincy DL is good too, they the chokers.

The one constant of brady's rare losses in the playoffs/SBs in the 10s was the OL getting overrun. With no pass protection it ruins everything.

Agree with 99% of this.

The one thing I'd offer is that whilst I think the Cincinnati DL is pretty good, it's clear that the Kansas OL is better!

Moomin · January 30, 2023

Eagles will beat the Chiefs.

#TeamNFC

Kev The Rat · January 30, 2023

Eagles currently 2 point favourites. I actually feel more confident than before the Bengals game.

Hurts looks to me like he’s got a quite serious shoulder problem which is why the Eagles are asking him to do next to nothing in the playoffs.

The Eagles feasted on rubbish like the Vikings and Giants during the season in fact the whole NFC is trash compared to the AFC.

The only issue is the Eagles pass rush which I do have respect for

Tree13 · January 30, 2023

Interesting article on pff.com, recognising the best performers (according to pff's grading system) in every position across the two Championship games:

https://www.pff.com/news/nfl-conference-championship-team-of-the-week-player-awards

Kev The Rat · January 31, 2023

What are we waiting for ?

Prevenger17 · January 31, 2023

Kev The Rat said:
What are we waiting for ?

We're waiting for him to make it to/win a few Superbowls. It's easy to feel like Mahomes will be like this forever and put up these stats consistently for the next 10 years, but he still has a loooong ways to go to even enter the same stratosphere as the GOAT

Kev The Rat · January 31, 2023

MrPerfectNot said:
While I was driving to a meeting, local (Denver area) sports talk idiots speculating as to the top level coach they think Denver is going to land. Harbaugh & Payton have said no. And there are apparently no other names in the hopper.....

One said the Donkeys just a good QB coach away from competing with the Chiefs......at which time I just shut it off.....

It's sad to see what is a proud franchise flailing around for answers. As a Chiefs fan obviously its beneficial for us, but the people in charge just have no clue, and the frustration that has built up over years means they arent prepared to go slow and rebuild from the ground up.

Kev The Rat · January 31, 2023

Prevenger17 said:
We're waiting for him to make it to/win a few Superbowls. It's easy to feel like Mahomes will be like this forever and put up these stats consistently for the next 10 years, but he still has a loooong ways to go to even enter the same stratosphere as the GOAT

Clearly, Brady has longevity and the fortune of situation, but can't do half of what Mahomes does every week

Prevenger17 · January 31, 2023

Kev The Rat said:
Clearly, Brady has longevity and the fortune of situation, but can't do half of what Mahomes does every week

Time will tell Kev. It's historically incredibly hard to maintain the level of someone like Mahomes' over a long career. I think he's absolutely brilliant, but if he wants to get into the GOAT conversation, Brady has set a marker that is still some distance away.

Mahomes really helped himself the other night, playing a crucial game on one leg and winning against a truly good team is the sort of story that usually elevates a player when it comes to a retrospective. But he will still need quite a few rings. Not 7, but multiple. That's not my perspective, it's just a fact of how people evaluate players after all the smoke has cleared

Tree13 · January 31, 2023

Prevenger17 said:
Time will tell Kev. It's historically incredibly hard to maintain the level of someone like Mahomes' over a long career. I think he's absolutely brilliant, but if he wants to get into the GOAT conversation, Brady has set a marker that is still some distance away.

Mahomes really helped himself the other night, playing a crucial game on one leg and winning against a truly good team is the sort of story that usually elevates a player when it comes to a retrospective. But he will still need quite a few rings. Not 7, but multiple. That's not my perspective, it's just a fact of how people evaluate players after all the smoke has cleared

All of this, with one exception: Mahomes wasn't playing on one leg.

He missed one drive in the Jags game. One. He then trained all week as normal, with the rest of the team. There was plenty of video footage showing him running and throwing.

He did media appearances in the week running up to the AFC championship game - no protective boot, no cast, nothing.

Tony Pollard (Cowboys RB) suffered a high ankle sprain in the same weekend, just before halftime during the Cowboys' loss to the 49ers: he missed the rest of the game. But we're supposed to believe Mahomes had the same injury? Maybe Tony Pollard just didn't want to play in the playoffs as much as Mahomes does ???

Mahomes was jumping around and celebrating on the sideline after every decent play by the Chiefs D - and there were PLENTY of them. He broke outside contain and outsprinted the cover LB on the one play where the Bengals got any pressure on him - and half way back to the sideline, as the kicking team came out to seal the win, he remembered to limp a bit because the cameras were on him.

He wasn't injured. Just the same as Travis Kelce wasn't injured either.

Great win by KC, all earned on the back of a dominant display in the trenches and some excellent coaching adjustments. I don't see why Mahomes fans can't credit their OL and DL for the game-winning performances when the rest of the NFL can.

Prevenger17 · January 31, 2023

Tree13 said:
He wasn't injured. Just the same as Travis Kelce wasn't injured either.

I don't agree. He clearly wasn't moving the same, and a high ankle sprain has far different implications for a running back than it does a quarterback. People can walk, run and move on a sprain, but they probably aren't going to be able to walk, run and move into a wall of 300 pound human fridges whose sole task is to smash their bones into dust. It was a risk playing Mahomes, but the magnitude of the game and Mahomes' own desire to play meant they took a risk they probably wouldn't have taken mid-season

To the rest of your point: While I applaud Mahomes' courage, I defo credit their win more to the defence and OL who were outstanding all game, particularly Chris Jones who was my MVP on the day. An absolute wrecking machine

Pittsburgh Footy · January 31, 2023

I still can't believe a conference championship game featured a team that needed a quarterback to go the equivalent of the 6th through 9th innings with a pitcher needing Tommy John surgery

Incredible

Paris · January 31, 2023

It’s difficult to predict who is going to win this one as the outcome of the Super Bowl is determined by various factors and is subject to change.

Pittsburgh Footy · January 31, 2023

Prevenger17 said:
I don't agree. He clearly wasn't moving the same, and a high ankle sprain has far different implications for a running back than it does a quarterback. People can walk, run and move on a sprain, but they probably aren't going to be able to walk, run and move into a wall of 300 pound human fridges whose sole task is to smash their bones into dust. It was a risk playing Mahomes, but the magnitude of the game and Mahomes' own desire to play meant they took a risk they probably wouldn't have taken mid-season

Back in the old days, guys had simply ankle sprains.

I think that's what Mahomes had/has. Still painful, and still something that could knock you out of a game, still something where you're not at 100%

And while i get your point that a high ankle sprain is more debilitating to a running back than a QB, I can't imagine Mahomes actually had a severe high ankle sprain - no way you could play a week following that