2023 NFL Regular Season Thread

[sovereignstar v2]

Iowa 3, Iowa 0

[Ksyrup]

This game is a crime against humanity.

Dobbs has lost the Fitzmagic or whatever the hell possessed him the past few weeks.

[Carman Bulldog]

Originally Posted by miami_fan

So is this a "You told me to draft the Bryce Young guy You told me that you could make him the next Drew Brees. This is terrible." firing?

or

Is this a "I drafted the next Drew Brees and look what you did to him. This is terrible." firing?

My understanding is that it's the latter. By most accounts, Reich wanted Stroud and Tepper wanted Young. Reich has now been fired mid-season in back-to-back years by arguably two of the worst owners in the NFL (and that's saying a lot).

I think he gets another OC job at some point in the future and if he wants to get back into coaching right away, he probably has a special offensive assistant role available to him in Jacksonville. In Indy, in five seasons, he had a different starting QB every season and still went 40-33-1.

I just can't imagine that Panthers HC job being too enticing. I get there are only 32 of these jobs so anytime one comes open, there's always some interest. Worst roster in the league, no first round draft choice (and no 2nd next year), question marks around your "franchise" QB and a meddlesome owner. Just a mess.

[sovereignstar v2]

These quarterbacks are eerily similar

[Atocep]

Originally Posted by Ksyrup

This game is a crime against humanity.

Dobbs has lost the Fitzmagic or whatever the hell possessed him the past few weeks.

This is great defense. Not bad offenses at all. You just need to appreciate these 2 defensive behemoths going toe to toe and battling it out.

[Ksyrup]

I can't believe O'Connell gifted the Bears the ball at the 50 in a 3-3 game. It's like one of those "read the room" moments.

[Carman Bulldog]

Originally Posted by Coffee Warlord

Justin Fields presently averaging 0.8 yards per throw.

I assume you meant 0.8 air yards per attempt. Not Fields fault at all, given that Getsy has called about a dozen screen passes this game.

[Coffee Warlord]

And yeah, air yards. Getsy has taken the dink and dunk to new levels.

[sovereignstar v2]

Joshua Dobbs

[Ksyrup]

The bloom has officially been blowtorched off the rose.

[Atocep]

Gervon Dexter has had a monster game for the Bears. He's been disruptive up front all night.

[sovereignstar v2]

My eyes

[sovereignstar v2]

Dobbs has to have another pick or two in him tonight

[Coffee Warlord]

Nah. Vikings will score, Fields will have the ball with about 3-4 minutes left, and throw a pick or fumble.

[sovereignstar v2]

Don't you dare try to outnegative Nelly me, CW!

[sovereignstar v2]

Doshua Jobbs

[Coffee Warlord]

Okay, it's gonna be 5 minutes, not 4.

I promise you the Fields turnover is coming though!

[sovereignstar v2]

Lmao

[Ksyrup]

This is so bad it's good.

[Coffee Warlord]

I'm here all night.

[Atocep]

Fields is gonna Fields

With that said, I never expected to see an offense that makes John Shoop's Bears offense look aggressive.

[sovereignstar v2]

Great play by Metellus

[weegeebored]

Originally Posted by Atocep

Fields is gonna Fields

With that said, I never expected to see an offense that makes John Shoop's Bears offense look aggressive.

Can we finally end any discussion of how Fields is a franchise QB? And I swear the Bears are trying to tank without it looking like they are. Getsy is a joke. They must have set a record for the number of screen passes by one team in a game. Warren needs to clean house -- all of these idiots must go, including Poles.

[Coffee Warlord]

I'm feeling a pick six here.

[Ksyrup]

Dunce cap for the Vikes tonight.

[sovereignstar v2]

Game, set, and match

[Coffee Warlord]

Thank god that's over.

[Brian Swartz]

Maybe there should be a no contest rule like they used to have in boxing I think? If a game is bad enough, the league rules that both teams get a loss, a fine, and lose draft picks even if it's egregious.

[Atocep]

Originally Posted by Brian Swartz

Maybe there should be a no contest rule like they used to have in boxing I think? If a game is bad enough, the league rules that both teams get a loss, a fine, and lose draft picks even if it's egregious.

You would wait until the Lions are 8-3 to throw that idea out there.

[albionmoonlight]

I had some stuff to do last night, so I missed the game completely. I woke up this morning and checked, and the headline I saw said that Santos's 4 field goals lead Bears to victory in light of Dobbs' 4 interceptions.

My condolences to all of you who watched that game.

[Bobble]

Originally Posted by miami_fan

They could probably bring in someone who could talk at an expert level that will teach the hardcore fan things. I for one would enjoy that.

This is what I was hoping the Manningcast was going to be. And, it is at times. It's just that they feel the need to cram in 4! guests and then talk to them about their current "project". You can practically see the Mannings just want to talk football but then they get reminded that the guest star is coming on so get your pregenerated list of questions ready.

[Bobble]

Too good to not share: Josh Dobbs, The Disastronaut....

[Atocep]

Originally Posted by weegeebored

Can we finally end any discussion of how Fields is a franchise QB? And I swear the Bears are trying to tank without it looking like they are. Getsy is a joke. They must have set a record for the number of screen passes by one team in a game. Warren needs to clean house -- all of these idiots must go, including Poles.

I don't see any reason to let Poles go. He inherited a mess and didn't get to pick his coach.

This draft class has been a success and last one was as well, to a lesser extent. They've landed multiple starters from both classes and 16% of all defensive snaps are by rookies this year. The defense is probably another pass rusher away from being solid.

Offensively the line play has improved massively. It's an above average pass blocking line and has graded out as one of the best run blocking units. He also acquired what's likely the best receiver in franchise history and has the team positioned to draft the top qb in this upcoming draft.

His big miss was on Claypool, but no GM hits on everything. Wright has graded out very strongly as a rookie, Dexter has been playing much better with Sweat coming in and taking on double teams, Stevenson has been as advertised. Going back to last class Kyler Gordon has been much better this year and looking more like a solid #2 corner.

[weegeebored]

I see things differently. Poles has missed on Claypool, Davis, V. Jones, Edmunds, Walker (PJ and DeMarcus), Tonyan, Scott, Ngakoue, and Pickens/Dexter instead of a C (select one, not both). Dexter has improved but jury is still out. And Pickens? The DBs are fine but not game-wreckers. I'm not sure about Stevenson, though. He's physical but his coverage skills and football IQ are lacking. Maybe moving to safety is an option. You can also make the argument that he missed on Stroud, but I give him a pass because I didn't like either of the top two QBs in that draft at #1.

And I know that no GM hits on everything, but to say his only miss is Claypool borders on seeing things through Bears-colored glasses. And as the story goes, Poles was given a list of three HC candidates. He chose Eberflus, who in turn hired Getsy and Williams. How's that working out?

I don't think that Warren will fire Poles but I think that it's a mistake to keep him.

[miami_fan]

Listening to some of the national podcasts talking about Frank Reich's firing and some of the stories have been hilarious. Allegedly, the plan was to bring Thomas Brown in to run his offensive system he learned while he was with the Rams and call the offensive plays. Then Frank Reich decided that they were going in a different direction and he was going to run his own system and call his own plays. Then Reich turned play calling of his system over to Brown during the season. Finally, Reich took the play calling back from Brown before he was fired. Now play calling will go back to Brown with some assistant from Jim Caldwell. Will they be running Reich's system or Brown's system?

What

[RainMaker]

Originally Posted by Atocep

I don't see any reason to let Poles go. He inherited a mess and didn't get to pick his coach.

He was a package deal with Eberflus. They both are clients of Trace Armstrong who essentially made the choice. I haven't seen anything that says Poles wanted a different coach.

His first draft was really bad. The recent one isn't exactly blowing anyone away although it is very early. The Claypool trade was inexcusable. I think passing on Jalen Carter is going to be looked back on as a huge mistake. And he's completely bombed out in free agency for 2 straight offseasons (weegeebored didn't mention the Schofield and Reiff signings which were horrendous too). Choosing Edmunds over Roquan is such an underrated bad move.

I think he's just in over his head. Maybe he'll make a great GM someday, but he's too young and inexperienced.

Has there been a single great move he's made in 2 years? Team is 7-24 since he took over and is not even close when playing quality teams. Very little improvement over last season despite a ton of picks and $100 million in cap space.

[Atocep]

Originally Posted by RainMaker

He was a package deal with Eberflus. They both are clients of Trace Armstrong who essentially made the choice. I haven't seen anything that says Poles wanted a different coach.

His first draft was really bad. The recent one isn't exactly blowing anyone away although it is very early. The Claypool trade was inexcusable. I think passing on Jalen Carter is going to be looked back on as a huge mistake. And he's completely bombed out in free agency for 2 straight offseasons (weegeebored didn't mention the Schofield and Reiff signings which were horrendous too). Choosing Edmunds over Roquan is such an underrated bad move.

I think he's just in over his head. Maybe he'll make a great GM someday, but he's too young and inexperienced.

Has there been a single great move he's made in 2 years? Team is 7-24 since he took over and is not even close when playing quality teams. Very little improvement over last season despite a ton of picks and $100 million in cap space.

The search committee (Polian) was underway before Poles was in place. They came back with 3 choices and he was allowed to pick from the 3 guys that Polian recommended.

Polian and George really wanted Caldwell and the rest of the decision makers wanted Dan Quinn. Poles got the green light to pick his guy and went with Eberflus. Polian is apparently still pissed that Caldwell wasn't selected because the entire reason he took part in the "committee" was to get his guy the job.

The last 2 drafts have pulled starters in: Wright, Stevenson, Gordon, Brisker, and Jones. Fringe starters/rotation players in Dexter, Roschon, Sewell, and Hicks. Wright has been outstanding for a rookie tackle, Gordon was awful last year, but has been solid this year. Brisker is solid. Jones was an absolute steal in the 5th.

That's 9 strong contributors in 2 draft classes. I don't know what you expect from draft classes if that's not enough. 2 starters out of a draft class is a success in the NFL when you look at the data.

Roquan didn't show consistently up for the Bears under 2 different coaching staffs the way he has in Baltimore. He wanted top LB play without playing at that level for even half of a season. He definitely flashed it, but he also just didn't show up at times. I had no problem not paying him.

Edmunds has been a miss so far, but he's still younger than Roquan so he has time to get back to playing at a level he's already played at. TJ Edwards is one of the best signings of the offseason.

Poles has plenty of cap space to work with this offeason and could easily clear significantly more with a couple of cuts. Nothing he's done in FA has hamstrung the team at all moving forward. Even the Sweat deal is heavily frontloaded to take advantage of the current space rather than being a burden in the future.

[Carman Bulldog]

I think the Vikings need to keep Josh Dobbs away from practice and watching or studying any tape. Basically, pay no attention to anything to do with football, just show up on Sunday and wing it.

I'm not ready to write Fields off entirely yet. I'd be interested to see how Fields and someone like Greg Roman would work together. I know Roman's offences have a shelf life, but I think he can get a lot out of good, young underdeveloped quarterbacks while they're still growing.

I'm not saying that Chicago should keep him, but if you are the Raiders, Titans, Giants, Commanders, Vikings, Falcons or Bucs, it might be worth considering adding Fields since you are not going to be in a position to draft a franchise QB nor do you have one on your roster for next season (Steelers TBD - let's see Pickett without Canada).

Given the talent at the skill positions, I just think something like Fields in Atlanta in a Greg Roman offence with an effective run game and simple passing attack could surprise a lot of people.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by Carman Bulldog

Given the talent at the skill positions, I just think something like Fields in Atlanta in a Greg Roman offence with an effective run game and simple passing attack could surprise a lot of people.

Atlanta already has a QB that doesn't know WTF to do with the football.

[SirFozzie]

The Patriots? The opposite of love isn't hate (although I hate how they're playing). It's not caring at all.

I watched 5 seconds of Patriots Football last weekend. That last FG. Otherwise, I didn't give a fuck. That says something about how unlikeable this team is.

[weegeebored]

Originally Posted by Atocep

The last 2 drafts have pulled starters in: Wright, Stevenson, Gordon, Brisker, and Jones. Fringe starters/rotation players in Dexter, Roschon, Sewell, and Hicks. Wright has been outstanding for a rookie tackle, Gordon was awful last year, but has been solid this year. Brisker is solid. Jones was an absolute steal in the 5th.

That's 9 strong contributors in 2 draft classes. I don't know what you expect from draft classes if that's not enough. 2 starters out of a draft class is a success in the NFL when you look at the data.

Starters on a team that is 7-22 since last year. Not really a ringing endorsement. You can blame it on bad coaching -- and that's partially true -- but that just circles back to the Eberflus hire. Poles won't be fired, but he should be. As Rainmaker said, he probably will be a good GM someday, but the Bears need to get rid of this losing culture pretty quickly. I'm not sure that Poles is savvy enough to change it. He'll get another offseason so we will have to see what happens. Should be interesting.

[CrimsonFox]

poor poor dobbs
some of those ints were not even his fault

[flere-imsaho]

I like the rumors that Tepper's going to "make a splash" by trading for Belichick, and as a Patriots fan I am all for this.

[albionmoonlight]

Originally Posted by flere-imsaho

I like the rumors that Tepper's going to "make a splash" by trading for Belichick, and as a Patriots fan I am all for this.

Any team with a young QB (like Carolina) who looks at what happened to Mac Jones over the last three years should be getting a restraining order against Belichick, not bringing him into their building.

[miami_fan]

I want the untold story about what happened to Mac Jones with the caveat that the kid from Liar Liar wishing that everyone involved cannot lie.

Guys, in the summer of 2022 active NFL players named Mac Jones one of the NFL Network's Top 100 players. The other QBs on that list in order?

Brady, Rodgers, Mahomes, Allen, Burrow, Stafford, Herbert, Prescott, Murray, Wilson, Carr, and AFTER Mac Jones was Kirk Cousins.

[thesloppy]

Andrew Whitworth: this dude is a retired Bengal tackle and has like 4 (bad) commercials currently running and a spot on at least one commentary team?? His agent should get some kind of medal (and also murdered).

[Atocep]

Can we get AI to mute Dak saying "here we go" every time he's under center? I can't take this anymore.

[Brian Swartz]

Originally Posted by miami_fan

Guys, in the summer of 2022 active NFL players named Mac Jones one of the NFL Network's Top 100 players. The other QBs on that list in order?

Brady, Rodgers, Mahomes, Allen, Burrow, Stafford, Herbert, Prescott, Murray, Wilson, Carr, and AFTER Mac Jones was Kirk Cousins.

I don't think I understand why this surprises you.

[miami_fan]

Originally Posted by Brian Swartz

I don't think I understand why this surprises you.

I find it surprising that that guy with that rookie season and on a list with those other QBs is no longer considered an NFL QB by a significant portion of fans and experts. This is not Zach Wilson or Josh Rosen whose immediate performance relegated them to non NFL QB level. Jones actually showed something early on. Showing something early on is usually something people are willing to lean on to give the player the benefit of the doubt.

Of course some people went overboard calling him being the next Brady but that does not mean that Jones was not good that year. Mac Jones is not even getting the benefit of a young Jared Goff or a young Carson Wentz (other guys that showed something early) that if paired with the right coach and surrounded by better players, he could thrive. Even Kyler Murray coming off injury and with questionable study habits seems to be seen in a better light than Mac Jones. Yeah that is surprising

[molson]

There was a pretty convincing post on the Patriots subreddit that tracked his decline to a Colts game Mac's rookie season. Teams adjusted their defenses to him by then and he was not much of a threat after that. He can't throw deep, he can't work the sidelines, he crumbles immediately at the first sign of adversity, he's emotionally fragile.

I think there have been other QBs who were decent at first and then fell off, or backup QBs who have a decent start until everyone learns how to play against them, or until other types of limitations are exposed. Vince Young was a rookie of the year and got less time than Mac as a starting QB.

Of course he'd have a better chance in a better situation, but, watching him is like watching a Pop Warner QB melting down over and over again, and even coming out of Alabama one of the knocks on him was that he throws off his back foot when pressured. It was notable how confident Zappe was, and how he stepped into his throws, and he stood taller in the pocket longer (though he also played poorly, though on the other other hand - he's been statistically better than Mac overall in his career. ).