Week 7 in the books, almost, what have we learned?
- Thread starter B.A.R.
- Start date
booksbestfriend
On Johnny's Shitlist
I see Miami dogged on Thurs. if Cutler is ruled out, they should be in better shape. Matt Moore is fully capable to run this team. The skill position on the phins is an embarrassment of riches.
Johnnyonthespot
CTG Regular
Steve Sarkisian is terrible. His apologists got him the OC job in atlanta. He is not a sharp dude. Team is in big trouble.
Johnnyonthespot
CTG Regular
Its cool to watch the 0-7 49ers protest.
booksbestfriend
On Johnny's Shitlist
The ball is getting force fed to him.
ksimpsc
Pretty much a regular
Guess they are trying to figure it out but he is at something like 2.5ypc. OL has not been good either
KJ
Bump. Set. Shuma!
They have the wrong coaching staff for a player like him, an offensive mind would absolutely figure out how to get him the ball in space...not Riverboat.
Gandolf
Leader of the Van Buren Boys
NFL rushing has never been worse, and it is killing the product. There were 17 rushing TDs this week in 14 games. 1 rush TD per game. Out of those 17, QBs scored 6. So there were 9 RBs that toted the rock into the endzone. NINE, on 28 teams.
The yardage numbers are worse. Looks at these productions:
Ajayi, 23 for 51
Howard, 21 for 65
Martin 20 for 49
Murray 18 for 59
Gordon 18 for 38
Ivory 17 for 47
Crowell 17 for 35
Stewart 14 for 48
McKinnon 14 for 47
Henry 13 for 13
AP 11 for 21
Lacy/Rawls 22 for 70
There were 15 RBs with at least 17 totes. Guys are getting their touches. The problem is half aren't producing. That's leading to a ton of possessions with teams behind the sticks. And that's a big part of what's killing scoring. 38 points per game this week, worse than weeks 1 and 2.
The yardage numbers are worse. Looks at these productions:
Ajayi, 23 for 51
Howard, 21 for 65
Martin 20 for 49
Murray 18 for 59
Gordon 18 for 38
Ivory 17 for 47
Crowell 17 for 35
Stewart 14 for 48
McKinnon 14 for 47
Henry 13 for 13
AP 11 for 21
Lacy/Rawls 22 for 70
There were 15 RBs with at least 17 totes. Guys are getting their touches. The problem is half aren't producing. That's leading to a ton of possessions with teams behind the sticks. And that's a big part of what's killing scoring. 38 points per game this week, worse than weeks 1 and 2.
BJPLAYER
Pretty much a regular
Pats were not as good as the score indicated although their D did improve. But it had nowhere to go but up. A closer look at the game showed Matty Ice having more of a bad day than the Pats D having a good one. He came out of the red zone 3 times with 0 points and missed wide open receivers regularly. Teams have missed 5 of the last 6 FG against the Pats, that will not continue. Brady was Brady mainly because the birds could not get an effective pass rush established. One of the pleasant surprises was the run game, 166 yards rushing for a season high while Lewis is his old self and Burkhead coming off an injury to run very well. I thought the Pats would pass more than they did and they are showing a bigger commitment to the run these days so the total may be inflated in the upcoming games. The Pats run D was very good and I expect that to continue. They used Gronk as a blocker (he's a really good blocker) and a decoy all game allowing White out of the backfield to have a really good game. The birds ignored him the entire game, poor adjustment on the birds part.
brewers888
Chicken Little
I mentioned this a couple of weeks ago but going from Shanahan to Sarkisian is a ridiculous downgrade. Sarkisian wasn't even a good college coach and it just made no sense for him to land that job in Atlanta.
Gandolf
Leader of the Van Buren Boys
The run, play defense and special teams, hide your QB strategy. It still works!
AFC Notes division by division:
AFC East - Dolphins finally have the right QB on the field in Moore. Tough matchup at Baltimore this week though, Ravens seem to own them. Jets are going to be in games as long as McCown plays, the dude is servicable and the weapons around him (Powell, Forte, ASJ, Kearse, Anderson and Kerley) are lightly thought of but underrated. Buffalo acquired Deonte Thompson from that WR factory known as the Chicago Bears (?!), and he immediately becomes their leading receiver!! New England is figuring things out, and they have the kind of schedule and a competitive division that will force them to stay sharp. One more home game, a bye, then five out of six on the road, closing with @ Pitt. Pick your spots post bye with them.
AFC North - Steelers look sharp but that game was still in doubt into the 4th qtr. The teams has flaws, mainly: 1) Their best short yardage play is changing snap cadence. 2) They're getting no production behind Bell and Brown, and there are teams (not many, but they exist) good enough to limit both. Discontent is growing with Martavis. 3) Ben is still not right, 14/24 on a day where play action was available to open up routes all day. 4) Tomlin still has a bully's mentality in games (4th qtr fake punt), which will invariably bites him a couple of times a year. The difference between the Steelers and the Bengals is pretty simple: the Steelers are trying to win games, the Bengals are trying to play football. Why give Hill the start every half ahead of Mixon? Why does Bernard get the 2nd series of the 2nd half instead of Mixon? Mixon gets zero carries after going 7 for 48 in the first half? AJ Green gets an off target slant and the 4th down throwaway as his only official targets in the 2nd half? What were the Bengals trying to accomplish? Because they certainly weren't trying to win. The sad thing with this division is Cincy is still the 2nd best team in it. The Ravens are just decimated at the skill spots. When Michael Campanero is your top WR you've got NOTHING. That said, they probably come out and throttle Miami on Thursday, it's that kind of league. And then there are the Browns. They're a sneak play at home these days, 0-4 but 3 three point losses. On the road you can forget it. Their D can play a little bit, they're a good running game for being the Bears, which wasn't a compliment a month ago, but suddenly is.
AFC South - This is a fun division. Deshaun Watson, I missed him this week. The Jags D alternates between blasting teams and getting run over. Next five games are all extremely winnable (Cin, LAC, @Cle, @Ari, Ind) before Seattle comes to town in what should be a 3-0 game. Could NBC flex into that and push out Pittsburgh/Baltimore? Wouldn't think so but....Lenny and Russell could draw eyeballs. Tennessee is a different animal on offense when Mariota is mobile. I still think they're the team to beat in the division but it'll be a three way dogfight. Indy has gotten to be very much a regular bet against. They beat the Niners and Browns, and are 1-4 ATS otherwise. I don't see another winnable game on the sheet for them as long as Luck is out.
AFC West - Topsy turvy. First its Chiefs/Broncos, now its Raiders/Chargers. Very hard to pick spots with these teams too. No confidence with any of them, even though the Chiefs are not far away from being 7-0. Denver shouldn't be shutout material, yet they have 3 points in 8 quarters. Raiders rode a Thursday wave to victory, but the run game is a mess and Amari is still Amari. Chargers seem like the perfect 8-8 team. Never as bad as they look in losing, never as good as they look in winning.
AFC Notes division by division:
AFC East - Dolphins finally have the right QB on the field in Moore. Tough matchup at Baltimore this week though, Ravens seem to own them. Jets are going to be in games as long as McCown plays, the dude is servicable and the weapons around him (Powell, Forte, ASJ, Kearse, Anderson and Kerley) are lightly thought of but underrated. Buffalo acquired Deonte Thompson from that WR factory known as the Chicago Bears (?!), and he immediately becomes their leading receiver!! New England is figuring things out, and they have the kind of schedule and a competitive division that will force them to stay sharp. One more home game, a bye, then five out of six on the road, closing with @ Pitt. Pick your spots post bye with them.
AFC North - Steelers look sharp but that game was still in doubt into the 4th qtr. The teams has flaws, mainly: 1) Their best short yardage play is changing snap cadence. 2) They're getting no production behind Bell and Brown, and there are teams (not many, but they exist) good enough to limit both. Discontent is growing with Martavis. 3) Ben is still not right, 14/24 on a day where play action was available to open up routes all day. 4) Tomlin still has a bully's mentality in games (4th qtr fake punt), which will invariably bites him a couple of times a year. The difference between the Steelers and the Bengals is pretty simple: the Steelers are trying to win games, the Bengals are trying to play football. Why give Hill the start every half ahead of Mixon? Why does Bernard get the 2nd series of the 2nd half instead of Mixon? Mixon gets zero carries after going 7 for 48 in the first half? AJ Green gets an off target slant and the 4th down throwaway as his only official targets in the 2nd half? What were the Bengals trying to accomplish? Because they certainly weren't trying to win. The sad thing with this division is Cincy is still the 2nd best team in it. The Ravens are just decimated at the skill spots. When Michael Campanero is your top WR you've got NOTHING. That said, they probably come out and throttle Miami on Thursday, it's that kind of league. And then there are the Browns. They're a sneak play at home these days, 0-4 but 3 three point losses. On the road you can forget it. Their D can play a little bit, they're a good running game for being the Bears, which wasn't a compliment a month ago, but suddenly is.
AFC South - This is a fun division. Deshaun Watson, I missed him this week. The Jags D alternates between blasting teams and getting run over. Next five games are all extremely winnable (Cin, LAC, @Cle, @Ari, Ind) before Seattle comes to town in what should be a 3-0 game. Could NBC flex into that and push out Pittsburgh/Baltimore? Wouldn't think so but....Lenny and Russell could draw eyeballs. Tennessee is a different animal on offense when Mariota is mobile. I still think they're the team to beat in the division but it'll be a three way dogfight. Indy has gotten to be very much a regular bet against. They beat the Niners and Browns, and are 1-4 ATS otherwise. I don't see another winnable game on the sheet for them as long as Luck is out.
AFC West - Topsy turvy. First its Chiefs/Broncos, now its Raiders/Chargers. Very hard to pick spots with these teams too. No confidence with any of them, even though the Chiefs are not far away from being 7-0. Denver shouldn't be shutout material, yet they have 3 points in 8 quarters. Raiders rode a Thursday wave to victory, but the run game is a mess and Amari is still Amari. Chargers seem like the perfect 8-8 team. Never as bad as they look in losing, never as good as they look in winning.
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Zeke
Big Dick and Average Size Boat
Join the club man, my buddy & I are in the same boat. I went 1-7 in NFL. I was happy to get a push on Buffalo, sad.
Johnnyonthespot
CTG Regular
You were ahead of the curve, never liked him, he has more business yakking it up with KJ then being OC of SB runner up. Dimittroff is hipster clown. Must have figured that he looked similar to Shanahan so he probably just as good of a coach
wiseplayer
Pretty much a regular
Rams are playing the best football after 7 weeks and I'm not sure it's that close. We'll see Philly tonight but are they playing all 3 aspects as well as the Rams are?
I'm not saying they're going to win the Super Bowl but I will say this. Their Oline has figured it out. No more reaching, no more guessing, no more missed blocks, no more repeated penalties to negate positive plays. Combine this with a defense that has finally figured out the 3-4. Their Special Teams has always been a strength. Goff is starting to command the offense and Gurley is playing like a Pro Bowler again all because of the Oline.
Their HC and DC have righted the ship. This team baring major injuries which they have yet to suffer, should get to 10 wins.
I'm not saying they're going to win the Super Bowl but I will say this. Their Oline has figured it out. No more reaching, no more guessing, no more missed blocks, no more repeated penalties to negate positive plays. Combine this with a defense that has finally figured out the 3-4. Their Special Teams has always been a strength. Goff is starting to command the offense and Gurley is playing like a Pro Bowler again all because of the Oline.
Their HC and DC have righted the ship. This team baring major injuries which they have yet to suffer, should get to 10 wins.
