The NFL Thread 2022: Casual Edition... or perhaps not?

[PAOerfulone]

Chrkeller said:

PAOerfulone said:

Mahomes is injured and his defense is trash. The Jaguars had many chances to win that game, but didn't cash in. As expected from a team making their first playoff appearance.

The 49ers had a bunch of players on defense injured or hobbled/not 100% in that game, Jimmy G was still the QB, and that was CMC's first game on just 4 days notice, he was nowhere near as familiar with the playbook as he is now. Now, they're as healthy as they've ever been, Purdy is playing far better than Jimmy ever did, and CMC is rolling. 

The Eagles, are the one team in the league who have a better OL than the Chiefs, while also having a FAR better DL (they have 4 players with at least 10 sacks and led the league by a country mile in that department) and defense in general. They're absolutely stacked on both sides of the ball and Hurts is an MVP candidate, so it's not like the drop-off from Mahomes to him is all that drastic.

Mahomes injury' changes things dramatically. A high ankle sprain is a major issue. That's normally a 6-8 week injury. The Super Bowl is in 3 weeks. He's not going to be the same Patrick Mahomes, physically, we're used to seeing. That's a MAJOR problem for the Chiefs. 

Besides, I'm not so sure the Chiefs should be favored the Bengals given Mahomes' injury plus for some reason the Bengals are the one team that the Chiefs can't seem to beat.

Speaking of the Bengals, if it wasn't for that dumb call at the goal-line last week, they'd be sitting at home right now. The Ravens gave that game away while playing with their backup QB. So don't blame me if I'm not all that sold or impressed with the Bengals.

They were there last year. Burrow was and is a much better QB than Stafford. But the Rams had the better team and Cooper Kupp and Aaron Donald sealed the deal for them. If they do get back there again, it's going to be the same deal but worse. They'll be up against a superior roster w/ a DL than can absolutely dominate the line of scrimmage against the Bengals' inferior OL. They couldn't block Aaron Donald or Von Miller last year. How the Hell are they supposed to block Nick Bosa, Arik Armstead, and Charles Omenihu? Or Haason Reddick, Brandon Graham, Javon Hargrave, Josh Sweat, and Fletcher Cox? Burrow will either have to get the ball out as quick as possible and hope Jamar Chase and Tee Higgins can avoid getting drilled by Fred Warner, Dre Greenlaw, Jimmie Ward, or Talanoa Hufanga. Or TJ Edwards, CJ Gardner-Johnson, Darius Slay, or James Bradberry. Either that, or Burrow will be running for his life the whole game or handing the ball off to Joe Mixon 25-30 times. That last one might get some results against the Eagles. But the 49ers? Who have the #1 Run Defense in all of football? No chance.

The 49ers and Eagles are both getting great play from their cheap QBs, one of whom is an MVP candidate, and they have betters supporting casts around them on BOTH sides of the ball, not just one.

Weak argument.  If Dak wasn't a turnover machine the 49ers would be sitting at home.   Argument goes both ways.

“Difference is: Cowboys-49ers was supposed to be a juggernaut with the game coming down to turnover battle. Ravens-Bengals should never have been a contest and the fact that it was that close and the Ravens had a chance w/ their backup QB is an embarrassment for the Bengals.”

Bengals have an entire new o-line that is much better than last year.  And by the by, the Bengals play really good defense.  6th in the league for points allowed.  

“Are they really that much better? They still gave up 44 sacks this year, which is 11th most in the league and the most out of the 4 teams left. This was after they were 3rd in the league last year w/ 55 sacks allowed. Yeah, not impressed w/ that OL whatsoever. The 49ers or Eagles’ DL is going to rip them to shreds. Assuming they make it past the Chiefs.”

Bills have a great defense.  Burrow was going to run for his life, no way they could run the ball......  27-10

“Not since Von Miller went down for the year. That’s a pretty big player to lose on your defense. As a player AND a leader. They weren’t the same after that.”

Sometimes I wonder if you even watch sports.

The reality is all four remaining teams are very good and any one of them could take the title.  Going to be some good football.

*slight side note, I'm not sold on a rookie 6th round QB winning the title, if Purdy does that will be quite impressive