2014-15 NFC North/NFL Thread

[Dish]

It's only Week 3, but Cincy is the best team in football.

[jesmu84]

Injuring yourself on a celebration? Classic Lions

[wadesworld]

Packers going up against a terrible secondary that, on top of that, is injured and musters a whopping 7 points while giving up 9 on offense. Lions didn't even need to send their offense out onto the field to win this one. 7 points. Combine that with a gameplan of cutting your offensive field in half because you are so scared of one defensive back in week 1 and these Mike McCarthy games are becoming very hard to watch.

[MUeng]

Packers going up against a terrible secondary that, on top of that, is injured and musters a whopping 7 points while giving up 9 on offense. Lions didn't even need to send their offense out onto the field to win this one. 7 points. Combine that with a gameplan of cutting your offensive field in half because you are so scared of one defensive back in week 1 and these Mike McCarthy games are becoming very hard to watch.

true. Mccarthy better start reevaluating his game plans or his pants are gonna get warm

[tower912]

Smoke and mirrors.   However,  that is the first time I can remember the Lions being able to run out the clock using that much time.

[Dish]

I'm not shocked the Packers lost, but they just look very average right now. Lions are going to be tough at home, brutal on the road. At this point, no idea who wins this division. For the Vikes, Patterson has to touch the ball more. Think he had five touches today, far too few. No clue which Bears team shows up tomorrow, no idea.

[jesmu84]

Who's excited about the Teddy Bridgewater era?

[tower912]

I'm not shocked the Packers lost, but they just look very average right now. Lions are going to be tough at home, brutal on the road. At this point, no idea who wins this division. For the Vikes, Patterson has to touch the ball more. Think he had five touches today, far too few. No clue which Bears team shows up tomorrow, no idea.

I still think Green Bay is the team to beat in the division, simply because of Rogers.   The Vikings are done without AP.   Chicago, Green Bay, and Detroit all have big holes, but somebody has to win it.  So....GB. 

[wadesworld]

I still think Green Bay is the team to beat in the division, simply because of Rogers.   The Vikings are done without AP.   Chicago, Green Bay, and Detroit all have big holes, but somebody has to win it.  So....GB. 

Depends on whether other teams in the division blow opportunities to take control of it.  McCarthy will certainly give them their opportunities until it's desperation time, and then he'll finally decide, "Hey, maybe I'll let Aaron Rodgers play a role in determining the outcome of this game."  Does it every year.  Good stuff.

[brandx]

Packers going up against a terrible secondary that, on top of that, is injured and musters a whopping 7 points while giving up 9 on offense. Lions didn't even need to send their offense out onto the field to win this one. 7 points. Combine that with a gameplan of cutting your offensive field in half because you are so scared of one defensive back in week 1 and these Mike McCarthy games are becoming very hard to watch.

You're right. That is two brutally awful game plans in 3 games.

Abandon 1/3 of the field and expect to beat Seattle?

Build your game plan around the running game against possibly the worst secondary in football?

I've always been a McCarthy fan, but can't take too much more of this. Now, against the Bears, the running game should be emphasized, so I won't be surprised if they throw 9 of the first 10 plays.

[jesmu84]

http://www.jsonline.com/sports/packers/personnel-expert-colors-2014-packers-an-8-8-team-b99354764z1-275906551.html

[Dish]

Hard to believe...but ultimately the man responsible for Goodell getting fired will be...

Ray Rice

The bizarre press conference rushed up to beat the OTL report was the official beginning of the end. The problem for Goodell is Rice beat his wife, but the bigger issue is Rice also told the truth, to Goodell, in June.

Not if, but when Rice gets Goodell under oath, Goodell is really screwed. Goodell's "hope is that "independent" report can gray the matter to make Goodell come off as just incompetent instead of a liar. The AP, OTL, and TMZ reporting shows Goodell has to be lying.

You can't hide behind The Shield under oath. The bell tolls for Goodell.

[mu03eng]

Hard to believe...but ultimately the man responsible for Goodell getting fired will be...

Ray Rice

The bizarre press conference rushed up to beat the OTL report was the official beginning of the end. The problem for Goodell is Rice beat his wife, but the bigger issue is Rice also told the truth, to Goodell, in June.

Not if, but when Rice gets Goodell under oath, Goodell is really screwed. Goodell's "hope is that "independent" report can gray the matter to make Goodell come off as just incompetent instead of a liar. The AP, OTL, and TMZ reporting shows Goodell has to be lying.

You can't hide behind The Shield under oath. The bell tolls for Goodell.

"favorite" part of the presser (this is too depressing to really enjoy, but still) was when the TMZ reporter(who knew they go to pressers) asked how come the NFL couldn't get the tape when they have an entire legal department while TMZ made one phone call......Goodell's response?  I can't speak to how it was you got the tape!!!  This should have been an absolutely canned answered, after 8 days you HAD to know that question was coming and he didn't have a built in response....mind boggling!!

If I have a product issue, and I have to step in front of the customer 8 days after my product really screwed up their process I'm sure as heck going to be able to explain how it got screwed up or how we are going to determine the screw up.  And I'm not paid $44 million dollars!

[mu03eng]

Hard to believe...but ultimately the man responsible for Goodell getting fired will be...

Ray Rice

The bizarre press conference rushed up to beat the OTL report was the official beginning of the end. The problem for Goodell is Rice beat his wife, but the bigger issue is Rice also told the truth, to Goodell, in June.

Not if, but when Rice gets Goodell under oath, Goodell is really screwed. Goodell's "hope is that "independent" report can gray the matter to make Goodell come off as just incompetent instead of a liar. The AP, OTL, and TMZ reporting shows Goodell has to be lying.

You can't hide behind The Shield under oath. The bell tolls for Goodell.

The bell also tolls for the Ravens organization as well.  Goodell can't throw them under the bus as they are one of his bosses but their is no way to cover his ass and the Ravens ass too

[CTWarrior]

The bell also tolls for the Ravens organization as well.  Goodell can't throw them under the bus as they are one of his bosses but their is no way to cover his ass and the Ravens ass too

It shouldn't be the Ravens job to discipline their own player for off the field issues that are not related to a player's preparedness for play.  The league, which should be neutral, should assess penalties for behavioral issues such as this, as leaving it to the teams will necessarily result in different penalties for the same infraction.

[CTWarrior]

"favorite" part of the presser (this is too depressing to really enjoy, but still) was when the TMZ reporter(who knew they go to pressers) asked how come the NFL couldn't get the tape when they have an entire legal department while TMZ made one phone call......Goodell's response?  I can't speak to how it was you got the tape!!!  This should have been an absolutely canned answered, after 8 days you HAD to know that question was coming and he didn't have a built in response....mind boggling!!

If I have a product issue, and I have to step in front of the customer 8 days after my product really screwed up their process I'm sure as heck going to be able to explain how it got screwed up or how we are going to determine the screw up.  And I'm not paid $44 million dollars!

AS question from Bill Simmons' mailbag, "During Bountygate, Sean Payton stated that he was not aware of an "injure-for-cash" bounty system in place. In levying the one-year suspension on Payton, Roger Goodell claimed that, "Ignorance is not an excuse." Roger now says he "never saw the video" (of Rice). Well, Mr. Commissioner... according to you, "Ignorance is not an excuse," right?" 

If he really didn't see the video, which I doubt, he has no good excuse for not seeing it.  What is also troubling is that what Hardy did sounds much worse than Rice to me, but because there is no taped evidence, he is not as scrutinized.

[GGGG]

New week, same story.  Packers just killing themselves.  9 points allowed, 0 by the defense.  Will give up 7 here, but that's bound to happen when you have to punt from the 20 following a safety.

McCarthy can keep talking the talk.  Until something changes, you can call me a pessimist or whatever.  He develops offensive players and creates a great offensive playbook, but he has no idea how to call it coming out of the gates.  When is the last time the Packers have come out strong to start a game with McCarthy as the coach, particularly against a team who has any sort of pulse as a team?  I truly cannot remember the last time it's happened.  The only time the offense starts to look good is when McCarthy finally decides, "Alright, well, a balanced offense isn't working, so Aaron, just take this game over."  Is that good coaching, or is that just finally realizing, "Hey, my gameplan once again is failing, so let me finally decide the best player in the NFL should get the ball?"  I think he is the most overrated (not worst, just saying all this praise he gets, I just don't get it) coach in the NFL.

I said it last year, but I think Joe Philbin meant a lot more to the Packers' offense than people realize.

What boggles my mind, and I think accounts for the slow starts, is this obsession with "establishing the run" early in the game.  It hasn't worked for three games now.  You have one of the best QBs in football...USE HIM!

But I also think the OL isn't all that good and there is a serious depth issue at receiver right now.

[Canned Goods n Ammo]

I said it last year, but I think Joe Philbin meant a lot more to the Packers' offense than people realize.

What boggles my mind, and I think accounts for the slow starts, is this obsession with "establishing the run" early in the game.  It hasn't worked for three games now.  You have one of the best QBs in football...USE HIM!

But I also think the OL isn't all that good and there is a serious depth issue at receiver right now.

Lack of OL might be why they are constantly trying to "establish the run".

If they have Rodgers drop back 45 times per game, he's going to get hit.

I assume they are trying to balance risk/reward.

[mu03eng]

It shouldn't be the Ravens job to discipline their own player for off the field issues that are not related to a player's preparedness for play.  The league, which should be neutral, should assess penalties for behavioral issues such as this, as leaving it to the teams will necessarily result in different penalties for the same infraction.

Based on the OTL report, the Ravens knew within hours of the incident the exact details of what happened.  At that point, I'd argue they had a moral obligation to take action, which they did not.  At a minimum they should have reported that to Goodell, which according to his story they did not.

[wadesworld]

I said it last year, but I think Joe Philbin meant a lot more to the Packers' offense than people realize.

What boggles my mind, and I think accounts for the slow starts, is this obsession with "establishing the run" early in the game.  It hasn't worked for three games now.  You have one of the best QBs in football...USE HIM!

But I also think the OL isn't all that good and there is a serious depth issue at receiver right now.

I couldn't agree more with all of this.

[brandx]

AS question from Bill Simmons' mailbag, "During Bountygate, Sean Payton stated that he was not aware of an "injure-for-cash" bounty system in place. In levying the one-year suspension on Payton, Roger Goodell claimed that, "Ignorance is not an excuse." Roger now says he "never saw the video" (of Rice). Well, Mr. Commissioner... according to you, "Ignorance is not an excuse," right?" 

If he really didn't see the video, which I doubt, he has no good excuse for not seeing it.  What is also troubling is that what Hardy did sounds much worse than Rice to me, but because there is no taped evidence, he is not as scrutinized.

John Oliver on Roger Goodell:

http://crooksandliars.com/cltv/2014/09/john-oliver-lampoons-roger-goodellnfl

[brandx]

I said it last year, but I think Joe Philbin meant a lot more to the Packers' offense than people realize.

What boggles my mind, and I think accounts for the slow starts, is this obsession with "establishing the run" early in the game.  It hasn't worked for three games now.  You have one of the best QBs in football...USE HIM!

But I also think the OL isn't all that good and there is a serious depth issue at receiver right now.

Hence, my frustration with McCarthy. These were three teams whose strength is stopping the run. They should have been throwing the ball all over the field.

Sunday, against the Bears, is when you pound the run.

[NavinRJohnson]

Hence, my frustration with McCarthy. These were three teams whose strength is stopping the run. They should have been throwing the ball all over the field.

The sad reality is they simply do not have the receivers to do this. No speed, TEs are nonexistent (they desperately miss Finley), and the RBs aren't really pass catchers. Offense line does not appear to be capable of providing adequate protection to go totally pass heavy. They are just a terribly flawed team.

[Dish]

The sad reality is they simply do not have the receivers to do this. No speed, TEs are nonexistent (they desperately miss Finley), and the RBs aren't really pass catchers. Offense line does not appear to be capable of providing adequate protection to go totally pass heavy. They are just a terribly flawed team.

I think this is dead on, I think they desperately miss Finley too. At his best, Finley was a match up monster (god knows the Bears could never stop him). I think that's what the Packers offense misses, either a freak athletic TE or a shifty RB who's a good pass catcher (in his prime Ryan Grant as an example). When I look back at previous Pack offenses, they really clicked with that matchup weapon for Rodgers.

[mu03eng]

The sad reality is they simply do not have the receivers to do this. No speed, TEs are nonexistent (they desperately miss Finley), and the RBs aren't really pass catchers. Offense line does not appear to be capable of providing adequate protection to go totally pass heavy. They are just a terribly flawed team.

While I agree with this, I think there are a lot of flaws in the play calling.  Screens have seemingly disappeared from McCarthy's playbook.  Rodgers throwing a quick bubble pass out of a running formation doesn't count.