5 minutes ago, ManuManu said:

Really, really happy the Giants won. 

Yup. SF vs. Dallas is 2 (Sf) in dvoa vs. no. 6 in dvoa. Defensive dvoa San Fran and Dallas are 1 and 2. It’s gonna be a high energy and emotionally draining type of game. Plus if Dallas wins then they come here on their fifth consecutive road game. 

4 minutes ago, e-a-g-l-e-s eagles! said:

I know in the beginning of November their run defense was 19th in dvoa. And for a 5 week stretch was 29th. What did their run defense ultimately finish at? 

No idea. Looks like that is behind a paywall. 

1 minute ago, ManuManu said:

No idea. Looks like that is behind a paywall. 

Yeah but this is pretty telling 

 

3 minutes ago, e-a-g-l-e-s eagles! said:

Yeah but this is pretty telling 

 

I’m not disagreeing with any of that, but I believe they were really banged up down the stretch and were healthy for this game (minus Barrett). 

Ummm... ok? I guess his ligaments just regenerate on their own.

1 minute ago, Sack that QB said:

Ummm... ok? I guess his ligaments just regenerate on their own.

Partial tears, or his leg is spaghetti. 

I think the Niners will beat up on DAL just like last year.  The run was there for Tampa if they’d have just stuck with it.  White was getting 4-5 yards every carry, even in the first half.  SF will be a completely different type of opponent.  
 

As long as Purdy doesn’t give the ball away I like the Niners a lot.

2 minutes ago, Alphagrand said:

I think the Niners will beat up on DAL just like last year.  The run was there for Tampa if they’d have just stuck with it.  White was getting 4-5 yards every carry, even in the first half.  SF will be a completely different type of opponent.  
 

As long as Purdy doesn’t give the ball away I like the Niners a lot.

I’d take the niners at home cause i think Dallas can be run on and i think playing 4 road games in 4 weeks eventually is gonna take its toll on them. However the cowboys do have a chance to knock off the team that ended their season a year ago. I tend to think it winds up being a 27-23 type game. 

I’m too lazy to go back and check my picks from last week but I think the Vikings was the only game I picked wrong.  5-for-6 is a solid start.  This week’s games should be almost as easy:

Eagles (1) 29, Giants (6) 17

Niners (2) 28, Turds (5) 20

Chiefs (1) 34, Jaguars (4) 17

Bengals (3) 37, Bills (2) 31

 

Bills-Bengals is the only game I feel like I don’t have a good read on.  Both teams played below their abilities last week; it comes down to me trusting Burrow over Allen at this point 

1 minute ago, Alphagrand said:

I’m too lazy to go back and check my picks from last week but I think the Vikings was the only game I picked wrong.  5-for-6 is a solid start.  This week’s games should be almost as easy:

Eagles (1) 29, Giants (6) 17

Niners (2) 28, Turds (5) 20

Chiefs (1) 34, Jaguars (4) 17

Bengals (3) 37, Bills (2) 31

 

Bills-Bengals is the only game I feel like I don’t have a good read on.  Both teams played below their abilities last week; it comes down to me trusting Burrow over Allen at this point 

I’d have taken the bengals with more conviction if their oline wasn’t decimated tbh. I believe they are missing 3 of 5 starters along the oline. They weren’t very good to begin with so i imagine it’s worse now. 

Brady’s exit presser was exactly like the one he did after the titans playoff game before he left NE. Talked about how proud he was of playing for the Bucs organization and thanked the media members for going on this journey with him

 

1 hour ago, eagle45 said:

16 games with 6 playoff teams and 2 byes was perfect.

The demand for football will always outpace the number of weeks it’s played.  More weeks and more playoff teams are a money grab…captain obvious here…everyone knows this.

They had already settled in on the most elegant format.

I have a theory on this. I believe you only preferred it because it was what you were conditioned to expect, what you were used to.

When the schedule moved from 14 to 16 games there were people who were not happy about that either. And one day there will be people who’ll have grown up in a 17 games schedule and won’t accept it any other way.

why is 16 the magic number to be the elegant format and not 15 or 14 or 10 or 20? Because we’re used to 16, that’s all. 

4 minutes ago, Aerolithe_Lion said:

I have a theory on this. I believe you only preferred it because it was what you were conditioned to expect, what you were used to.

When the schedule moved from 14 to 16 games there were people who were not happy about that either. And one day there will be people who’ll have grown up in a 17 games schedule and won’t accept it any other way.

why is 16 the magic number to be the elegant format and not 15 or 14 or 10 or 20? Because we’re used to 16, that’s all. 

Bodies can only take so much before injuries start to pile up. 17 games and then 3-4 more in the playoffs has to be pushing the limits already. That's why OL have said they can't even get out of bed in the morning towards the end of the season. There is a magic number which balances money, a quality product on the field, and long-term health of the players. I think 16 or 17 is that number and going above it would have consequences.

2 minutes ago, Diehardfan said:

Bodies can only take so much before injuries start to pile up. 17 games and then 3-4 more in the playoffs has to be pushing the limits already. That's why OL have said they can't even get out of bed in the morning towards the end of the season. There is a magic number which balances money, a quality product on the field, and long-term health of the players. I think 16 or 17 is that number and going above it would have consequences.

Again, I think that’s only because we’re accustomed to those numbers. Why isn’t the number 12, and everything after it is detrimental? Because it’s too foreign for us to fathom. Maybe we can go to 18, 19, 20 games, we just don’t know yet. Rams & Bengals had to play 17 last year and then 4 playoff games, and they were about as fine as any team that had a first round bye on a 16 game schedule previously. 

 

F josh Harris 

 

5 hours ago, FranklinFldEBUpper said:

As quasi Bucs fans this year (since we were rooting like hell that the Saints don’t win the division while knowing the Falcons and Panthers were likely incapable), we had more than a casual interest in their games. Wasn’t it obvious all along that they were a seriously flawed team? The offense was inept for large stretches. Brady was wildly inaccurate at times, missing routine throws all over the damn yard. They couldn’t run the ball. Their offensive line wasn’t good. seriously, did any of us actually expect them to win tonight? I was rooting for it, but I wasn’t getting my hopes up.

On the other hand, I think the Cowboys have been better than most of our fans have been willing to admit. They can win next week. If they do, I hope it’s us they’re playing (well duh, Captain Obvious) because I don’t think the Giants can beat them.

I had thought Tampa had little to no chance to win for the exact reasons you said. They were terrible all season. I think their only solid game was the opener in Dallas, and even then, 19 points is not what you expect from a Brady led offense. 
 

I can absolutely see Dallas giving the Niners a scare, or even pulling the upset next week. 

6 hours ago, eagle45 said:

16 games with 6 playoff teams and 2 byes was perfect.

The demand for football will always outpace the number of weeks it’s played.  More weeks and more playoff teams are a money grab…captain obvious here…everyone knows this.

They had already settled in on the most elegant format.

Thing is, even with the old format, the Bucs still make the playoffs.

4 hours ago, Aerolithe_Lion said:

I have a theory on this. I believe you only preferred it because it was what you were conditioned to expect, what you were used to.

When the schedule moved from 14 to 16 games there were people who were not happy about that either. And one day there will be people who’ll have grown up in a 17 games schedule and won’t accept it any other way.

why is 16 the magic number to be the elegant format and not 15 or 14 or 10 or 20? Because we’re used to 16, that’s all. 

6 division games, 4 against another division in conference, 4 against another division out of conference and last 2 against last year's same seed in the other two divisions in conference.  8 home games. 8 away games.  

No need to push the regular season regularly into January and the Super Bowl was a week sooner.

Two teams getting a bye means two very well rested teams, likely facing each other for the conference championship after beating up the two teams to survive the gauntlet without the bye week to recuperate.  

4 hours ago, Aerolithe_Lion said:

Again, I think that’s only because we’re accustomed to those numbers. Why isn’t the number 12, and everything after it is detrimental? Because it’s too foreign for us to fathom. Maybe we can go to 18, 19, 20 games, we just don’t know yet. Rams & Bengals had to play 17 last year and then 4 playoff games, and they were about as fine as any team that had a first round bye on a 16 game schedule previously. 

The number likely should be 12 or 14, but that cat is out of the bag and never going back.  Neither is 17.  Just grabbing for more money.

14 games with a couple extra byes would go a long way to helping people believe the league might actually be interested in player safety.

Early line is giving the Cowboys 4 points against the Niners which will presumably shrink to 3(?) over the course of the week. That’s a Cowboys line IMO and a strong hint that the unthinkable is about to happen (Cowboys may be going to the NFCCG).

Worst part: they looked awesome last night.

38 minutes ago, Thrive said:

Early line is giving the Cowboys 4 points against the Niners which will presumably shrink to 3(?) over the course of the week. That’s a Cowboys line IMO and a strong hint that the unthinkable is about to happen (Cowboys may be going to the NFCCG).

Worst part: they looked awesome last night.

A lot of times a team will look great in the WC game... and then the next week, the luster is gone.

SF / DAL game feels like a toss up....my guess, Purdy comes down to earth playing a real defense and DAL wins a close one.

7 hours ago, eagle45 said:

16 games with 6 playoff teams and 2 byes was perfect.

The demand for football will always outpace the number of weeks it’s played.  More weeks and more playoff teams are a money grab…captain obvious here…everyone knows this.

They had already settled in on the most elegant format.

Agree with this. Not a big fan of the extra game or the extra playoff team.