The NFL Thread

[transformers2]

This season has been straight chaos-particularly in the AFC where even the "best" teams have embarrassing losses on their resume (Bills, Titans, Raiders) and/or display erratic play on a nearly weekly basis (Ravens, Chargers). I'm not even confident anyone is good enough to win the Super Bowl this year

[Buscemi2]

I'd bet on an NFC team to win too. Either the Buccaneers again or Arizona. I'd be surprised if the Packers let Rodgers near the team after he's been burning (more) bridges over the past week much like how Homer Simpson eats donuts. I think this is the end for him.

With the expanded schedule this year (I hope they return to 16 games soon), I could see an under .500 team winning a division if everyone in said division collectively shits the bed in crunch time.

[Shrykespeare]

I'm inclined to agree, Boosh.

I'm emboldened by the fact that the Cards were without Murray, Hopkins AND AJ Green and still won handily, while the Packers without Rodgers just looked BAD.

Granted, the Titans are miles better than the Niners, but the way the Pack played, I think more than half the teams in the league could have beaten them.

And also, Fuck Rodgers. Hope he gets every side effect from ivermectin that Joe Rogan isn't telling him about.

[Buscemi2]

The Titans are a toss-up for winning the AFC. Yes, they lost Henry but maybe it makes them better as they'll have to adapt their offense. The 2015 Chiefs lost Jamaal Charles to injury and went from a 1-5 team to a playoff team that broke one of the longest postseason losing streaks in the league as they had to get away from the run offenses they had been stuck in for so long.

Also, Mike Vrabel is a crazy man and will win at any cost.

[Buscemi2]

I have to imagine Antonio Brown just used up his last chance after today. He lost the trust of Belichick, he was too much for the Raiders, and now the Pro Bowler retirement home that is the Buccaneers have cut him. I can't imagine anyone would want him now as I can't think any other teams that love reclamation projects.

[Buscemi2]

I saw that the USFL is coming back. You'd think they would have learned from the AAF and the revived XFL not working that professional spring football is dead in the water. The only kind of minor league football that works is the NCAA.

[Buscemi2]

If you told someone back in October these would be the last four teams, I don't think that anyone would have believed them. But I guess that's why you play the game.

[transformers2]

The craziness of the regular season carried over to the playoffs and it's beautiful to see-especially since Rodgers and Brady both went home! Can't wait for Sunday's games.

[Buscemi2]

It will be interesting to see what happens to Rodgers and the Packers. LaFleur should have benched him after his COVID incident but I don't think that playoff push was enough to keep him around. I'm convinced the Packers go for Russell "Carlton Banks" Wilson as I feel Jordan Love is never going to get a chance in Green Bay.

As for Rodgers, I'm betting on Cleveland. Mayfield doesn't look to be the future (his stats are eerily similar to Jameis Winston, now Taysom Hill's second banana, and his first four years) and I feel they'll tolerate Joe Rogan's buddy. I've seen Pittsburgh as a landing spot but I think they'll go the draft route for a new quarterback.

Meanwhile, does Tampa Bay tear it up? That team is ancient and I'm not sure if the fans are prepared to sit through 5-10 more years of mediocrity before the owners buy another title.

[transformers2]

Rodgers is only going to leave Green Bay for the perfect situation and quite frankly, there isn't one out there. The Broncos, Steelers, Panthers, Football Team, and Giants are the only teams out with completely unsettled QB situations (I'm excluding the Browns and Colts for now since their plans for Mayfield and Wentz aren't clear as of now) at the moment and none of those teams are going to give him a better chance of winning a title than the current Packers team does. Retirement seems like a very realistic possibility for him.

Also how is Tampa's roster ancient? Most of their top contributors are well under 30 and the "old" guys they have save for Lavonte David, who literally just turned 32 and is still playing at a very high level-are rotational players (Suh, Jason Pierre-Paul, Steve McLendon) who aren't asked to make a ton of plays. Clearly, they'll have some major QB issues if Brady retires, but they'd be in good shape just about everywhere else.

[Buscemi2]

The Brady teams were more or less a mid-2010's Pro Bowl team. Nearly all of the high-profile guys that joined Brady were older players that came to win a Super Bowl (and remember that Gronk was retired due to concussion issues and trying to become a comedian before Brady signed). The wheels were starting to come off this season and if Brady leaves, the decline could be faster.

And I can't see Rodgers retiring yet. He seems too proud to do that.

[transformers2]

Look at their full roster, not exclusively Brady/Gronk/Suh/JPP/Sherman. Here are the ages of their starters/key reserves on their roster right now (*for a pending free agent)
Quarterback:
Tom Brady-44

Running Back:
Gio Bernard*-30
Leonard Fournette*-27 ​
Ronald Jones*-24
Ke'shawn Vaughn-24

Offensive Line:
Ryan Jensen*-30
Josh Wells*-30
Donovan Smith-28
Ali Marpet-28
Alex Cappa*-26
Tristian Wirfs-23

Wide Receiver:
Mike Evans-28
Chris Godwin*-25
Scotty Miller-24
Tyler Johnson-23

Tight End:
Rob Gronkowski*-32
Cameron Brate-30
O.J. Howard*-27

Front 7:
Steve McLendon*-36
Ndamukong Suh*-35
Jason Pierre-Paul*-33
Lavonte David-32
William Gholston*-30
Shaq Barrett-29
Rakeem Nunes-Roches-28
Vita Vea-26
Devin White-23
Joe Tryon-Shoyinka-22

Secondary:
Ross Cockrell-30
Carlton Davis*-25
Jamel Dean-25
Mike Edwards-25
Sean Murphy-Bunting-24
Jordan Whitehead*-24
Antonie Winfield Jr.-23

Special Teams:
Ryan Succop-35
Bradley Pinion-27
Jaelon Darden-23

So again, how is this team ancient?

[Buscemi2]

The Buccaneers had the third oldest team in the league in September 2021 and that was before Sherman and Le'Veon Bell joined. That September, they had the second most players over 30 with 15. This is the opposite of a youth movement. As they went all in on the Brady and company train to reverse the trend of mediocrity, the reward was immediate but the long term cost will be great unless Tampa Bay can draft well and make good trades or signings for young talent. I don't see it happening.

History is going to repeat itself for them. It happened after the first Super Bowl win and it's going to happen again unless they can reverse the aging of the lineup.

[Buscemi2]

Tom Brady has announced his retirement. Or has he?

[Shrykespeare]

I wish Rodgers would retire too. Then we he, Brady, and Ben Bocaburger can all go into the HoF together, prompting endless conversations over which one was the biggest asshole.