The Thanksgiving holiday brings us a trio of NFC playoff heavyweights doing battle with division rivals. It starts with Chicago traveling to Detroit to face the Lions, continues with Washington going to Dallas to play the Cowboys, and ends with New Orleans welcoming Atlanta to the Superdome. Use this thread to discuss them all.
Picuks
Lions 17, bears 13
Coqboys 23, Squirrels 17
Saings 38, Falcs 34
“Coqboys”
I LOL’ed.
Saints will win by 4 TD’s.
Re: Colt McCoy, I was at the 2014 game where he relieved a benched Kirk Cousins at halftime to lead the “squirrels” to a comeback win over the Titans. This morning I had to look up who Tennessee’s QB was—Charlie Whitehurst.
Coqboys?
I didn’t know Seattle was playing.
Picuks
Lions 13 bears 16
Coqboys 27, Squirrels 17
Saings 38, Falcs 27
Happy Thanksgiving everyone!
Bears starting Chase Daniel.
Lions without Kerryon Johnson and Marvin Jones.
As a Packer fan holding on to a sliver of hope, I will be cheering for the Lions. I mean, I'd cheer for the Lions over the Bears most weeks anyway, but more so today. Happy Thanksgiving, everyone. I'm at work. In Canada.
Pickus
Bears 14-Lions 13
Cowboys-21-Skins-3
Saints-infinity-Falc's-20,323 (they missed an XP)
Welcome to the "NCF" (new college football)
"Saints-infinity"
LOL
Did we switch to baseball-cricket rules where you get to keep scoring until the defence makes an out?
Not infinity—if only because the game only lasts sixty minutes. I could see Brees going for 8 TD passes though, to set a new single game record, as well as go ahead of Mahomes and help lock in MVP—unless he waits to do that against TB and avenge their only loss.
Picuks
Lions 21, bears 20
Coqboys 24, Squirrels 16
Saings 35, Falcs 28
Picuks
Lions 9, bears 3
(Chase Daniel only throws 3 passes and Will Allen has a second piece of pumpkin pie)
Coqboys 14, Squirrels 17
Saings 68, Falcs 28
I should explain the Lions Bears score: The Lions score a TD but doink the EP. There are 7 field goals attempted. All hit the uprights with two bank-shot through. The league launches an investigation of the goal posts in Detroit.
The networks run highlights of the game with Yakety Sacs accompaniment.
So far both quarterbacks are putting on an absolute clinic on failed completions.
Lions finally insert Zenner, get a decent run for once. Blount is a disaster.
One thing you can say about Zenner, he will at least give you what's blocked. Blount often takes a successfully blocked running play and make it fail due to lack of speed and/or dancing around.
And of course as I type that, Blount scores a nice second-effort touchdown run.
I have to revise my comment. It looks like Blount only runs hard near the goal line. Touchdown or nothing.
Picks ar ein
Chi 0 det 7
Squids 27 dalls 17
No 38 atl 17
Unless something changes drastically in the second half, this game is evidence that Trubisky is much more valuable to the Bears than Nagy is. I’m having flashbacks to so many bad Bears offenses.
Or it's evidence that Darius Slay, who missed the first game against the Bears, is very valuable to the Lions defense (as Romo already pointed out). All the CB's on the roster besides him are sub-replacement level.
I actually dont' think Daniel has played all that badly (he should have had his second career touchdown pass, but the receiver dropped it). Trubisky's running is probably being missed, though.
Oh, I don’t think Daniel has been bad necessarily. And obviously a big falloff from the starter to the backup is to be expected. But I'd hoped to see Nagy come up with something to make the Bears more effective than they’ve been. The defense has held the Lions to only 7 thus far, and if the Lions score fewer than 20 and the Bears still lose I’ll be supremely disappointed.
Looks like Nagy found the formula.
On a separate note, this is what, like the 5th touchdown in a row that the Bears have gone for two? Is Nagy just going to make that a thing now? If so, I would be very interested to see how it goes, and if other coaches start to emulate it.
I am encouraged by the way Mizzell got open on the TD, and how open Cohen was when Daniel overthrew him.
For all of my griping, I will certainly take a 2 point lead at the half and receiving the ball to start the 2nd half.
Funny you say that, because I think the Bears are still a much better team than the Lions, even with Daniel at quarterback, so I'm kind of surprised they're keeping it this close.
It's been a thing before for other coaches. Mike Tomlin used to go for two all the time but it didn't seem to catch on with anyone else.
Or in the second quarter
Jim Bob Cooter is calling this game like he's terrified of turning the ball over.
Why did the Bears go for 2? With only a 2-point lead and Chase Daniel under center?
If I remember correctly, they went for two multiple times against the Vikings. Maybe Nagy acquired a taste for it, and decided that's what he's going to do from now on.
They go for two routinely I think
He’s spoken about how he generally wants to go for 2, although it didn’t really start until Parkey had the awful game.
I think there is something to the idea that in general, if you’re going to go for 2 then you need to do it a lot to reap the benefits and balance out the times where it doesn’t work. The only thing is that I question if the chance of getting the conversion is high enough with Daniel as QB to make it smart to try in the first place.
I wonder if Mark Davis offered Bill Cower $100M to coach the Raiders for a decade first, or if he went straight to the wrong Gruden with that
Why are the Lions uniforms so ugly? They look like they could be the Lions on Madden '97.
Also, watching the Sky Sports crew (in the UK) serve and eat turkey live on set is cringey.
It's their 1950's throwback uniforms. I will say they are much better than their all-grey color rush abominations.
I would willingly pay five million pounds never to have to look at another colour rush uniform.
Other than the Saints color rush, of course.
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Sports talk radio and sports message boards are the killing fields of intellectual discourse.
i l;eik Saints and Rams color rush. Big fan of the all yellow Rams look
chargers color rush good too. jets also
Are those considered "Color Rush" uniforms? The Saints have worn them at least three times this year, aren't they just alternate uniforms now?
And yeah, those jerseys (gold numbers on white) are probably the finest in the league. Just gorgeous.
+1 to color rush sucking. It really hurts because so many teams have cool throwbacks and we have to see those ugly things.
Ah, thought that might be the case. Thanks!
I hate NFL uniforms that are all (shirt and trousers) one colour (so, basically, I hate all colour rush - except all white, which looks okay). They look like pyjamas and are not in the slightest bit flattering to the players.
But, an all-grey scheme is even worse. An all-grey uniform is probably the worst colour scheme in any sport, in my opinion. All-grey looks like a placeholder for a final colour scheme, but the artist got distracted before completing it and the players have to run out like unlocked characters in a video game.
I loved them.
Why is that? For nostalgic reasons, or for their aesthetics?
I don't know, I "feel" them better than the standard ones. Less usage of colors, neater design,
Don't understand why Patricia decided to go for two there, unless he's decided he's going to copy Nagy and just go for two all the time.
My guess is being up 4 is not a big difference than being up 5. And if they get it, then a 6 point lead is a lot different than a 5 point lead.
Well if you're up 5, the opposing team has to go for two if they score a TD late in the game (if they fail, you have an opportunity to win with an FG). I guess either call is defensible. I'm usually not in favor of going for two unless you either do it all the time, or it's 4th quarter.
And the next Bears touchdown shows why it was a bad decision. Now a FG can only tie at best.
Chase D is retroactively earning his paychecks today. He's taken some hits.
I was just about to type that, but you beat me to it.
Obviously the Bears offense has not been as good as it has with Trubisky, but the defense has looked like crap and they’re not even fully into their 4th quarter collapse yet. 2 sacks and no turnovers isn’t going to get the job done.
Apparently all I need to do is complain it into existence. Really timely pick-six by Jackson who looks like an all-pro this season.
Hated that cowardly short field goal.
Agreed. Especially considering you have LeGarette Blount, who is built for short yardage situations.
He's built for them, but surprisingly poor at actually doing them. Which is part of why he keeps needing to find a new team.
Pretty funny that 228 yards is enough to Chase Daniel's career high. He's in his ninth year! Actually, looking at his Wikipedia it would appear he only needs 21 more yards to set a career season high too.
Can't be too mad at Stafford for that pick-six, Eddie Jackson just made a hell of a hustle play.
Okay but that endzone INT was just....
I think the TE screwed up on that one. Looked like he was supposed to keep on going to the back corner, but instead stopped and the defender get behind him.
Other than Golladay, the receivers weren't much help. Riddick stepped up, Blount stepped up, even the defense played above expectation. I think the Lions missed Marvin Jones more than the Bears missed Trubitsky.
Yea without Marvin Jones, TJ Lang, or Kerryon Johnson, Bears Defense vs Lions Offense was a big mismatch. I feel like coaching was a mismatch too.
I wonder if the Lions would go for two again if they score a TD here. As a quasi-neutral who would rather see OT, I hope not, but it might be the right call.
We'll never know because Stafford threw it to the wrong team again.
We won't find out if there is going to be a 2 point play because Stafford got picked.
This win by the Bears is how the Jaguars would like to play games, but the problem is that Blake Bortles is much worse than Chase Daniels.
+1 brohole
The Bears defense is better than the Jags defense.
Debatable, if we're talking about the theoretical units at full strength under equal circumstances. The Bears D has the huge advantage of being un-Bortled.
Why is it always the lions and cowboys hosting on thanksgiving? Is there an actual reason or did it just become a tradition?
I'm not sure how reliable this is, but dozens of media outlets tell the same story: https://www.thrillist.com/entertainment/nation/detroit-lions-dallas-cowb...
It just became tradition. At one point Lamar Hunt made noise that it should be rotated amongst different teams, but the other owners never showed any interest in it.
Thanks. Yeah was wondering more why it never really rotated but if the other owners just arent bothered about it then fair enough.
The Lions were doing this game before the Chiefs or Cowboys existed.
That doesn't mean Hunt couldn't have suggested changing it to rotate among all the teams.
Since the 1990's ended, the Lions have ruined my Thanksgiving more often than not, so I would not mind it at all if they lost their spot.
The first time NFL network did thanksgiving Thursday night, I believe they had the chiefs host it for this reason.
Why does Dan Snyder always look like he's cringing from everyone, like he's afraid everybody is always about to attack him, even (especially?) Jerry Jones? I mean, I totally understand the urge to attack Snyder on sight and I would try to attack him too if given half a chance. But isn't he rich enough to pay robots or something to enforce a physical distance between himself and every other human at all times?
He's probably rich enough to have a robot stand-in for him in public. And yes, I do believe that not many people actually like him. From what I've heard, he alienates not just fans but also his neighbors.
Snyder alienates me just by appearing. Which is a totally ridiculous bias on my part that I can't explain or defend.
Jerry Jones, on the other hand, alienates me by talking, which is a bias I therefore consider fully justified.
I was thinking nobody would notice a robot Dan Snyder, then realized the robot wouldn't be noticed because it would be less offensive than the real Dan Snyder
Wow AP looks old and slow
Redskins take a timeout before 2nd & 6, then come out and run a bubble screen for -2 yards.
Dunbar is having a bad game. Looks like he's not fully healthy yet.
If you had been wondering why the Packers traded Clinton-Dix to the Squirrels, this quarter should have answered that question.
Terrible safety play by Clinton-Dix on the 90-yard TD play. And all Fox can do is praise Amari Cooper. HaHa completely overran the guy that he's supposed to contain.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turducken
I think the gooducken sounds better
That really should be a holding call on that last interception. Dallas got a defensive holding flag called on the Skins on a play with exactly as much/little holding.
Obvious head to head ignored by refs.
No flags on Cowboys today.
Just FYI, your reaction here is how everyone else perceives Pats games.
I know making up an 11-point deficit is unlikely, but they aren't even trying...
Is Reed going into concussion protocol after that illegal hit or what?
NBC flashes graphic showing Brees's 26/1 TD:INT ratio, including fact that he's got most TD's ever for a QB with only 1 INT. The very next play is an interception.
I wonder if Sean Payton is trying to work that fumbled-snap handoff to Ingram into the playbook.
Tony Dungy is good in the booth. Calm and insightful. I suppose he lacks the flashy, shouty approach the networks are typically looking for.
I *wish* that's what the networks were looking for! They seem to like the somnolent Aikman-types. Dungy is sufficiently low-energy, but he totally differs from Aikman in content.
True, although I'm not sure Aikman is necessarily typical; he just coasts by due to name-recognition. For example, when I think of the ESPN Monday night crew, a lot of vacuous noise comes to mind.
The Disney Corp has always been special in terms of picking announcers. No one else tried Dennis Miller or Tony Kornheiser.
Julio-copter coughs up the ball.
Falca reallt pathetic offense int hsi game.
Wasnt likelt to win this week anyway but having j. Howard, c. Ridley and T. Coleman in fsntasy startinf lineup? Brutal. This was gonna be Howard's last stand on my team. Juust doesnt fit what M. Nagy want sto do. I almost drioped Howard weeks ago but didnt and then whhen Trubisky was out , figured c bears migth go heavy with running. I sohuld go heavy with rumming
Also some jerkface blocked me on Twitter becuase I correctly andwered his trivia question
Strangest thinf i ever encountered on twitter. Made me decide to leave Twitter for rest of day.
Name six padsers who threw for more tjan 4000 yards in a seaspn frpm 1983-86. I logged on and saw Marino and Dickey already correctly andwred. I tjen added Phil Simms, Neil Lomax, and Bill Kenney. Had to think on final guy for few minutes but then named Jay Schroeder in '86 with Squirrels.
Guy wasnt giving me a like or comment that i had the answers but he was responding to everyone else. "Sorry bro, you were 0 for 5."
"Marino is right, the rest are wrong." On and on.
20 minutes later I am seeing mt Twitter people still tryinf to come up witj answers. I nicely let two of tjem know I revealed the answrrs if they wanted to look. If not, just keep guessing I guess.
Then i was respondinf ti the random people who continuued to guess. Meanwhiel the trivia starter is continuing to tell everyone they are wrong and I am being ignored.
There was nothing on yhe line. No money to ve won. Jusr write, "It is over. Raiderjoe got the last four."
Nope. Instead he blocked me. Freakin' turkey that guy is
You should have just linked the relevant seasons on profootball reference.com. It would have been plain for everyone to see.
Why is it Sunday night football on Thanksgiving night? Is the SNF brand so fundamental to NBC's coverage?
Yes.
Also, I think that by calling it Sunday Night Football, they can include it in the ratings for that show.
Not football related. But I really love the phone commercial with the Queen Flash Gordon song where the flash blinds everyone including Dracula.
Saints look great seemingly every week. It's crazy the one game they've lost is to the Bucs. It wasn't even that close of a game (Saints made the scoreline more respectable late).
Yeah. Funny. Picked Ssints to win the NFC before sesson started. They also caused me to be dead in my survival league on first Sundsy of the season. Luckily, no money ob line. Just a free group on Yahoo
Fitzmagic was like Bruce Banner in Avengers Infinity War. He hulked out in the beginning, then his powers failed him and refused to come back the rest of the season.
He was definitely his best in those first few games but he's still had good games more recently. He's 6th in DVOA. Now that I'm thinking about, it must be almost unprecedented for a QB to be ranked that high and still be getting cycled in and out of the lineup. While I think it probably does make more sense for the Bucs to see if Winston is their QB for the future, I still wish they had stuck with Fitz all year. He would probably have broken the single season passing record and might have gone over 6000 yards (Jameis + Fitz are still almost on pace for that as it is). That would've been something to see.
Taking a high variability performer and then pulling him on the down cycle makes absolutely no sense.
Either don't play him at all, or let him try to gunsling his way out of a deficit.
I mean, what does Koetter think? That because he threw 3 picks, he can't complete 3 TD bombs in the next 15 minutes? It's as stupid as pinch hitting for a home run hitter because he struck out the last 3 times at bat.
I agree with the above poster that it was crucial for the Bucs to use this season to evaluate Winston, before his 5th year option/contract renewal. The fact that Fitzpatrick had a couple of good games whilst Winston was suspended confused matters, but they did the right thing by bringing Winston at the first sign of Fitzpatrick regressing towards his mean level of play.
What then didn't make sense to me was benching Winston again. Perhaps the evaluation is complete. Still, in an obvious lost cause of a season, I would be using every last opportunity to put more Winston play on tape, to make absolutely sure the correct decision is made regarding his future. There is certainly nothing new to learn about Fitzpatrick.
It's not even as if the Bucs are expected to be in the playoff race.
I agree with that.
My point was more that, having moved Winston to QB2 behind Fitzpatrick, don't bother pulling Fitzpatrick in the second half of every game where he struggles early. If you're going to do that, just don't start Fitzpatrick at all.
It's time for The Sanchize.
Comments
109 comments, Last at 24 Nov 2018, 9:25pm