2025-26 NFL Thread

[Shaka Shart]

Love with a separated shoulder/AC joint sprain.  Maybe MLF was protecting his QB and going for a boring win.

Or he was establishing the run

[wadesworld]

Love with a separated shoulder/AC joint sprain.   Maybe MLF was protecting his QB and going for a boring win.

Probably shouldn't be playing, then. Especially when you have faith in your backup. And even more especially when you're playing against JJ McCarthy.

[JWags85]

Rams seem like the NFL's best team to me.

Pretty incredible that Stafford is the odds on favorite for MVP right now given the career and mileage he's had.  To be at that elite of a level right now its nuts.  Those new veneers are magic

[CreightonWarrior]

Pretty incredible that Stafford is the odds on favorite for MVP right now given the career and mileage he's had.  To be at that elite of a level right now its nuts.  Those new veneers are magic

its also objectively hilarious that he just got to .500 in his career this year.

[GB Warrior]

Probably shouldn't be playing, then. Especially when you have faith in your backup. And even more especially when you're playing against JJ McCarthy.

It worked, though. Probably the first game there were no new or worsened injuries.

[JWags85]

its also objectively hilarious that he just got to .500 in his career this year.

Everything about his career is kind of funny in ways.  I mean, he's top 10 in passing yards and TDs, will likely retire top 5 in yards and top 6 in TDs, has been good to very good his entire career...but he only has 2 Pro Bowls cause he's spent his entire career, outside of 2021, slinging the rock on mediocre to terrible teams...including some rebuilding teams in LA after the title.

His HoF monitor score is basically right in line with Kurt Warner and Dan Fouts (both in the Hall), but a big piece of the score is Pro Bowls and All Pros and team accomplishments, which he obviously trails heartily on.  Though if he wins MVP this year, he's probably a lock.  Though I think the 2021 SB plus a few more years of stat accumulation in LA would have got him in.

[tower912]

Stafford to Canton.  Been saying it for years.

[Jockey]

Two BIL mentions??? Scoop "Chicago Viper" Snoop???

And they both said, "Sir, these bears are the greatest of all time. If you combined the '68 Packers and the '85 Bears, this current Bears team would win by 25 points".

[CreightonWarrior]

Stafford is also on a pretty exclusive list of NFL QB's whose wife has gone onto a podcast to talk about sleeping with his college backup QB to make him jealous.

[Dish]

Colts have a really interesting schedule to end the season. They get the Texans and Jags each twice, and go to Seattle and host the Niners.

[MU82]

Too bad the Super Bowl can't be the Bears versus the Seahawks, two teams who have played nobody.

Yawn.

[Pakuni]

Pretty incredible that Stafford is the odds on favorite for MVP right now given the career and mileage he's had.  To be at that elite of a level right now its nuts.  Those new veneers are magic

He's been very good and can't argue with him as MVP, but he's also the beneficiary of an elite receiver group and the best offensive coach in the game.

[Scoop Snoop]

I apologize. That was a cheap shot on par with James Harrison

I've called them off, so don't worry about those big cars you saw parked outside of your house earlier.

[Pakuni]

The Raiders have fired Pete Carroll.

Correction: The Raiders have fired Chip Kelly.
(Not kidding, though)

[Dish]

Instead of firing Pete Carroll, the Raiders did indeed fire Chip Kelly.

[MU82]

Instead of firing Pete Carroll, the Raiders did indeed fire Chip Kelly.

Time to replace him with Brian Kelly, y'all.

[CreightonWarrior]

Time to replace him with Brian Kelly, y'all.

I can't wait to hear his Elvis impersonation.

[JWags85]

He's been very good and can't argue with him as MVP, but he's also the beneficiary of an elite receiver group and the best offensive coach in the game.

Oh for sure.  Even the best QBs look mediocre when their WRs can't catch or get open, but you still gotta execute at a high level.  He's got tons of miles and damage, can't make some of the escape artist/gritty plays he made in his younger years in Detroit, but he's become a sniper.  He's well above his career averages for completion percentage, on pace to be way above his best years for rating, and isnt turning the ball over at all.  Even great younger Stafford had bad with the good, part of his boom and bust style.  This version doesn't throw picks...2 INTs on nearly 400 pass attempts through 11 games, not dinking and dunking either, is crazy.

And agree on McVay, he's evolved even more and made his offense even better.  I never in a million years saw him becoming this good and consistent over a 8+ seasons.  Not when he was hired, and certainly not when I told him to "oh unnatural carnal knowledge off Sean" when he tried to big time our mutual friend to impress a girl when we were 19 

[tower912]

Stafford put up a lot of numbers running for his life and throwing mediocre receivers open in Detroit.  As bad as his winning percentage was for the Lions, he had as many fourth quarter comebacks as Favre.   Because his team was always losing.   

It is nice to see him appreciated.

[MU82]

J.J. McCarthy now ranks 851th out of 852 in EPA per Dropback among qualified passers since 2000, per Tru Media. The only player below McCarthy is JaMarcus Russell.

Oh, and BTW ... Stafford is a first-ballot Hall of Famer. He's already top 10 in yards, TDs and completions, and he has a ring. No-brainer.

[The Sultan]

J.J. McCarthy now ranks 851th out of 852 in EPA per Dropback among qualified passers since 2000, per Tru Media. The only player below McCarthy is JaMarcus Russell.

Oh, and BTW ... Stafford is a first-ballot Hall of Famer. He's already top 10 in yards, TDs and completions, and he has a ring. No-brainer.

Poor JJ. Jamarcus still got more money guaranteed at signing than he did.

[tower912]

Should have kept up with the Joneses with a darn old QB

[MU82]

Darnold has been real interesting to watch game-in and game-out. He is tremendously talented. If another QB throws a more accurate, more catchable deep ball than he does, I don't know who it is. He has the arm strength to squeeze accurate passes through very tight windows. He regularly throws perfect passes when rolling left - something many right-handed QBs struggle with. The QB experts on ESPN and the networks rave about his footwork.

Yet a couple times a game (or more, in the case of last week's Rams game), he makes catastrophic, inexplicable passes and or decisions.

I obviously want him to be great all the time, because if he is the Seahawks have enough talent to win the Super Bowl. But until I see him be great several times in the clutch against good teams, I'll have my doubts about whether he can deliver.

That being said, thank goodness he's not J.J. McCarthy. Skol!

[MU82]

Here's what three NFL writers at The Athletic had to say about MLF within a larger question about the NFC North race:

Mike Jones: A balanced offense with a sharp and creative, detail-oriented coach.

Michael Silver: For all the public questioning of Matt LaFleur's job security, he has a penchant for getting hot as a play caller and staying in that zone for an extended period.

Ted Nguyen: The offense is going to struggle all year with its offensive line injuries, but I trust LaFleur to find a way.

[JWags85]

J.J. McCarthy now ranks 851th out of 852 in EPA per Dropback among qualified passers since 2000, per Tru Media. The only player below McCarthy is JaMarcus Russell.

Oh, and BTW ... Stafford is a first-ballot Hall of Famer. He's already top 10 in yards, TDs and completions, and he has a ring. No-brainer.

Actually the perfect counter for what Pakuni said about Stafford.  McCarthy also has a very good offensive mind as a HC and elite receivers (Jefferson is the best of the bunch, but Adams and Nacua combined probably top Jetta and Addison.  Though Hockenson easily clears the Rams TEs).  But even with that McCarthy is totally hopeless.  Not every QB could do what Stafford is doing even with that, but it takes a special kind of terrible to be as bad as he has been.

I commented a few weeks ago that he was awful but had a drive a game where he'd look great...appears that was fleeting and gone too.  He could be serviceable in a system like SF (I don't think he and Purdy are all that dissimilar, Purdy just played on decent ISU teams, didn't manage a national championship winning offense)

Correction: The Raiders have fired Chip Kelly.
(Not kidding, though)

Much like MLF, Chip Kelly was a brilliant offensive mind (more brilliant and innovative than MLF in his prime, IMO) that hasn't evolved as the league caught up and adopted/adapted much of what he did.  Which is a shame cause he's seemingly a good dude and entertaining/frank personality for the league.  I hope he goes back to college cause I still think he can be a good CFB OC (though its not hard to be a good OC with the studs OSU has).