NFC North / NFL Thread 2018-19

[MU82]

The Patriots went into Tennessee on a 6-game winning streak but then got crushed by the mediocre Titans.

Makes me feel a lot less worse about my Panthers' loss to a Steelers team that at least is a legit Super Bowl contender.

Also ...

Browns went into their game against Atlanta having lost 4 straight while the Falcons seemed to have turned their season around with 3 straight wins. Browns ended up winning fairly easily.

Eagles lost at home to a bad Dallas team.

Bengals are theoretically "contenders," but they have set a record by allowing 3 straight opponents to gain 500+ yards. (And the game before that they allowed 481.)

The Bears are 6-3 and the Eagles are 4-5. Whodathunkit?

[Dish]

The Eagles aren't good. I don't know what's going on there, but that's a flat, uninspired football team, and has been all year.

[GB Warrior]

Hue Jackson has some amazing blackmail on Marvin Lewis.

[Lennys Tap]

How does a team gain 507 yards and score 3 points - until Tampa Bay did it I would have said "Impossible!"

[TSmith34, Inc.]

How does a team gain 507 yards and score 3 points - until Tampa Bay did it I would have said "Impossible!"

4 turnovers and 2 missed FGs.  Brutal.

[Jockey]

The Patriots went into Tennessee on a 6-game winning streak but then got crushed by the mediocre Titans.

Interesting.

Rams play GB and get crushed the next week.
NE plays GB and gets crushed the next week.

[dgies9156]

How does a team gain 507 yards and score 3 points - until Tampa Bay did it I would have said "Impossible!"

Same way a team gains 191 yards and scores 41 points!

[JWags85]

Hue Jackson has some amazing blackmail on Marvin Lewis.

Nah, he was an assistant under Marvin Lewis for 7 years in a variety of roles. And Marvin realizes that whatever he has been doing has made him impervious to firing, against all odds. So might as well get the band back together and play the old hits.

Mike Brown can't even stay awake in the box during games, why would he fire anyone?

[MU B2002]

Hue Jackson has some amazing blackmail on Marvin Lewis.

Or the Bengals still have 2 games left vs the Browns, and are desperate.

[cheebs09]

I think Hue Jackson is regarded highly as a coordinator. He has coached some good offenses.

[barfolomew]

Makes me feel a lot less worse about my Panthers' loss

You mean better?

( Now I'm just screwing with you, 82)

[Vander Blue Man Group]

The Bears having to play Thursday morning after playing Sunday night is pretty brutal.

[Babybluejeans]

So Le'Veon Bell didn't show up and it's now certain he won't play a down this season. Thoughts?

My take: if it's purely about maximizing guaranteed dollars, he made a mistake (or more likely, got poor advice). $14 million guaranteed this year + guaranteed bonuses in free agency next year would have ensured him tens of millions of guaranteed dollars. I don't buy the "risk of injury" angle: if he wanted to protect against missing out on a big payday due to career-threatening injury, he could have purchased an awfully large insurance policy with a small fraction of the $14 mil guaranteed to him this year.

BUT. If it's about maximizing the potential for long-term dollars, that changes things a bit. He's preserved his body a year, which is a big deal for someone who took such a beating every season, and accomplishes at least two things:
(1) he's a lot more valuable in free agency having preserved himself this year rather than having gotten his body smashed 400+ times over the course of the season; and
(2) he's theoretically extended the length of time he'll be effective while playing on his second contract, meaning he's more likely to collect his NON-GUARANTEED yearly pay into years 3 and 4 of his second deal, and all the while position himself for a third deal.

Having said that, it seems like one of his purposes was to prove the free agency market should be governed player rather than position. And well, given Conner's breakout, that one didn't work the way he thought. 

[MU82]

I was going to say something like "Here's a crazy story," but unfortunately it's not very unusual any more ...

Former Detroit Lions Hall of Famer Lem Barney and his wife are suing a Detroit-area pizza chain for racial discrimination after being refused service.

The lawsuit filed Monday says when Lem and Jacqueline Barney tried to order at Happy's Pizza in Commerce Township, the manager told them to go to Happy's Southfield location because "they would be more at home there."

The Barneys are black. Southfield has a majority black population, and Commerce Township is mostly white.

What year is this again?

There are about a half-dozen articles like this every week now. In October in the Charlotte area alone, there were 4 separate incidents of white folks calling the cops on black people just because the people had the nerve to be black.

No need to wear hoods any more. Very fine people, and all.

[Jay Bee]

I was going to say something like "Here's a crazy story," but unfortunately it's not very unusual any more ...

Former Detroit Lions Hall of Famer Lem Barney and his wife are suing a Detroit-area pizza chain for racial discrimination after being refused service.

The lawsuit filed Monday says when Lem and Jacqueline Barney tried to order at Happy's Pizza in Commerce Township, the manager told them to go to Happy's Southfield location because "they would be more at home there."

The Barneys are black. Southfield has a majority black population, and Commerce Township is mostly white.

What year is this again?

There are about a half-dozen articles like this every week now. In October in the Charlotte area alone, there were 4 separate incidents of white folks calling the cops on black people just because the people had the nerve to be black.

No need to wear hoods any more. Very fine people, and all.

He has a history of illegal drug use (including coke) and has filed discrimination lawsuits in the past.. if what he claims happened is true, that's awful... but, filing a lawsuit does not make something true. #RespectTheProcess

[WarriorDad]

I was going to say something like "Here's a crazy story," but unfortunately it's not very unusual any more ...

Former Detroit Lions Hall of Famer Lem Barney and his wife are suing a Detroit-area pizza chain for racial discrimination after being refused service.

The lawsuit filed Monday says when Lem and Jacqueline Barney tried to order at Happy's Pizza in Commerce Township, the manager told them to go to Happy's Southfield location because "they would be more at home there."

The Barneys are black. Southfield has a majority black population, and Commerce Township is mostly white.

What year is this again?

There are about a half-dozen articles like this every week now. In October in the Charlotte area alone, there were 4 separate incidents of white folks calling the cops on black people just because the people had the nerve to be black.

No need to wear hoods any more. Very fine people, and all.

That's awful, if true.  That's what we have courts and investigations for to attempt to provide evidence of guilt or innocence. 

[4everwarriors]

O boi, da NFC thread iz well on itz wey ta lockdom hell, aina?

[MU82]

That's awful, if true.  That's what we have courts and investigations for to attempt to provide evidence of guilt or innocence.

Well naturally, we don't know if this Lem Barney thing is true or not yet, but given what we do know -- "hate crimes" surged by 17% last year -- it would not be surprising at all.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2018/11/13/fbi-hate-crimes-surge-2017-jump-anti-semitic-attacks/1987305002/

And based on anecdotal evidence, those numbers will only increase in 2018.

#nohoodsneeded