NFL Week 8

[Butter]

National TV games:
Jacksonville v. Tennessee - Thursday night
Washington v. Cincinnati - Sunday morning, London
Green Bay v. Atlanta - Sunday late afternoon
Philadelphia v. Dallas - Sunday night
Minnesota v. Chicago - Monday night

6 teams with bye weeks this week, so only 13 total games.

[AlexB]

Andrew Hawkins: My Problem with the No Fun League | The MMQB with Peter King

100% agree with this.

I don't mind the player protection rules, even though they do reduce the excitement a little if we're being honest, but the attempts to turn players into automatons could kill the game quicker than lawsuits, at least in terms of TV figures, and therefore advertising revenue

It comes across as short sighted and petty, whereas they should be trying to appeal to a larger audience. Similar to the UFC with their Reebok deal, homogenisation leads to blandness, and blandness is boring.

[CrescentMoonie]

I haven't really watched the Bengals very closely before, but their defense is stunningly dirty. It's not just Burfict, they've got several guys whose primary purpose seems to be taking cheap shots.

[AlexB]

The Williams hit on Desean Jackson was the worst that I saw, worthy of being tossed from the game

Diving helmet first into the base of the neck of a defenceless receiver lying on the ground after giving himself up needs more than just a flag

[CrescentMoonie]

Cincy isn't getting called for anything other than late/dirty hits while DC is getting called for every little thing.

[CrescentMoonie]

The Redskins front 7 is hilariously bad at keeping gap integrity when rushing the QB.

[Thomkal]

QB injuries in the early games already. Alex Smith off for concussion tests and in a scary looking hit, Ryan Fitzpatrick while running for the sideline, was hit, and his helmet flew off, and mouthpiece flew about 10 yards past the tackle. Not taken out for concussion tests last I saw however.

[CrescentMoonie]

Offensive pass interference against Garcon on a play where he didn't even make contact with the DB. Josh Norman has been called for hands to the face of AJ Green 4 times, yet no penalty on Cincy for turning Crowder's helmet sideways while he was scoring a TD. DC should still be winning, but the officiating has been horribly slanted in favor of Cincy.

[Thomkal]

Back to back ties after Wash's kicker misses a FG, then the Redskins got the ball back on a Dalton fumble, but could not score. Meanwhile, looks like the Cards have a hangover after that tie and look bad early against Carolina. Fumble by Palmer returned for a TD, then a long drive for the Panthers for a TD, now ahead by 14.

[wustin]

Arizona has been nothing but disappointment this entire season.

[korme]

Originally Posted by CrescentMoonie

Offensive pass interference against Garcon on a play where he didn't even make contact with the DB. Josh Norman has been called for hands to the face of AJ Green 4 times, yet no penalty on Cincy for turning Crowder's helmet sideways while he was scoring a TD. DC should still be winning, but the officiating has been horribly slanted in favor of Cincy.

homer alert

[wustin]

What's the over/under of the amount of interceptions Brady throws this season?

[CrescentMoonie]

Originally Posted by korme

homer alert

15 penalties against DC, 7 against Cincy.

This wasn't flagged. Neither was this. Here's a still image of the first one.

It was a clearly one sided officiating job.

[tucker rocky]

How did someone sneak a dildo into the game if they have a clear bag policy 🤔 #NEvsBuf pic.twitter.com/cYrKTODA72

— FsuAtl (@FSU_ATL) October 30, 2016

[wustin]

Use your imagination. I bet it was a woman who threw it...or a man.

[miami_fan]

Congrats to the Raiders for setting a team record with 21 (and counting) penalties in the game today.

[Thomkal]

Raiders with 20 penalties today (and counting-they are in OT), and Janikowski has missed two long FG's late. Cards have been sacked 8 times today, and I hope they are burning the phone lines until the trade deadline to get some offensive line help. Pathetic loss to the Panthers.

[miami_fan]

Originally Posted by miami_fan

Congrats to the Raiders for setting a team record with 21 (and counting) penalties in the game today.

Congrats to the Raiders for setting a NFL record with 23 (and counting) penalties in the game today.

[Young Drachma]

Jets win, I'll take it.

[Jas_lov]

And the Raiders still might win if Janikowski can make the 3rd time the charm.

[CrescentMoonie]

Carr finishes with 513 yards passing. Total yards were 626-270.

[wustin]

More Oakland stats

Penalties: 23 - 200
Time of Possession: 44:12

[Jas_lov]

Lacy getting hurt finally forced McCarthy to abandon the run and let Rodgers throw. Stick with this game plan from now on.

[cuervo72]

Originally Posted by wustin

What's the over/under of the amount of interceptions Brady throws this season?

I dunno...5?

[tucker rocky]

This has to be a trending hashtag: #GPODAWUND pic.twitter.com/EwiXnDqEKT

— Mike Klauss (@thatmikeklauss) October 30, 2016

[AlexB]

Those wacky Browns

[CrescentMoonie]

1st and goal on the 2 with 3 minutes left and all 3 timeouts, Melvin Gordon over 100 yards rushing, and the Chargers throw 4 passes and turn the ball over. How do you not try to run at least 1 time?

[Thomkal]

Ya know Cam Newton, maybe you'd be taken more seriously if you didn't wear that outfit to your press conference...

Cam Newton says he plans to talk to Goodell about hits - NFL.com

[bhlloy]

Alex Smith wasn't knocked out or concussed the first time, no sir

[cuervo72]

Originally Posted by Thomkal

Ya know Cam Newton, maybe you'd be taken more seriously if you didn't wear that outfit to your press conference...

Cam Newton says he plans to talk to Goodell about hits - NFL.com

*shurg*

I couldn't pull it off, but I kinda like it.

(Even if the hat reminds me a little of Lowly Worm.)

[cuervo72]

Hands, Agholor!

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by Thomkal

Ya know Cam Newton, maybe you'd be taken more seriously if you didn't wear that outfit to your press conference...

Cam Newton says he plans to talk to Goodell about hits - NFL.com

Cam choosing his own clothing is on its way to becoming one of the better arguments against blows to the head in football.

[bhlloy]

America's team getting some of America's calls tonight

[cartman]

Nice comeback win in OT for the Cowboys. Was wondering how they would play when Prescott had one of the inevitable rookie off-nights.

[EagleFan]

Pederson blew that game. Some incredibly stupid calls. That one was painful.

[Suicane75]

I can't fathom why Pederson let the clock run out at the end of regulation. 3rd and 21 at their own 15 with 40 seconds left and you have 3 times out left. You've got to call time out and force them to run a 3rd down play.

[Chief Rum]

Originally Posted by Suicane75

I can't fathom why Pederson let the clock run out at the end of regulation. 3rd and 21 at their own 15 with 40 seconds left and you have 3 times out left. You've got to call time out and force them to run a 3rd down play.

Reminds me of last Sunday, too (or was it Monday?) with the ARI SEA tie. Arians stupidly allowed regulation to run out as well, instead of going for it. Makes no sense to me.

[Logan]

Pats trade Jamie Collins to the Browns for a compensatory 3rd round pick.

[Thomkal]

Right place:

The annual HoneyBadger injury:

Cards' Tyrann Mathieu (shoulder) to miss 3-6 weeks - NFL.com

And to add to the "trick or treet: LT Jared Valdeer goes to IR with a torn triceps. They are so torn up by injury Coach Arians said they will not practice during their bye week.

Andre Johnson retires after 14 years:

Andre Johnson retires after 14 seasons in NFL - NFL.com

turns out Alex Smith does not have a concyssion after all:

Injury roundup: Alex Smith did not suffer concussion - NFL.com

And apparently. Denver DE Derek Wolfe threatened to eat Phillip Rivers kids and wonders why their relationship has suffered since then...

Wolfe: Rivers relationship hurt by threat to eat his kids - NFL.com

[BishopMVP]

Originally Posted by Logan

Pats trade Jamie Collins to the Browns for a compensatory 3rd round pick.

Yeah, bit of an interesting day up this way. The national narrative is that this is another in the line of Belichick trading a star before they decline/get a big contract, but it's really him saying that 6th round rookie Elandon Roberts is better right now. (We likely would've gotten a compensatory pick of our own in 2018 when Collins was signed by another team, so this just moves it up a year.) Hard to argue too much, but even if Collins was getting passed on the depth chart I would prefer having him as injury insurance for the next 3 months for that little draft capital gain.

And of course, theoretically this means we'll be spending that cap $$$ on Hightower, Butler, & maybe Jabaal Sheard/Martellus Bennett/Logan Ryan, but I'm not even sure the Patriots are certain which ones they'll re-sign at this point.

[wustin]

Classic Jay Cutler and the Bears.

[jbergey22]

Embarrassing! Vikings offensive line is completely pathetic. The loss of AP is showing up now. He covers up for a crappy line by forcing the safetys up allowing for favorable matchups on the outside. Now with that gone and this line Bradford has no chance. Defense is going to have to win games.

[Galaril]

Originally Posted by BishopMVP

Yeah, bit of an interesting day up this way. The national narrative is that this is another in the line of Belichick trading a star before they decline/get a big contract, but it's really him saying that 6th round rookie Elandon Roberts is better right now. (We likely would've gotten a compensatory pick of our own in 2018 when Collins was signed by another team, so this just moves it up a year.) Hard to argue too much, but even if Collins was getting passed on the depth chart I would prefer having him as injury insurance for the next 3 months for that little draft capital gain.

And of course, theoretically this means we'll be spending that cap $$$ on Hightower, Butler, & maybe Jabaal Sheard/Martellus Bennett/Logan Ryan, but I'm not even sure the Patriots are certain which ones they'll re-sign at this point.

Really he was soon to be getting passed on the depth chart by a 6th rounder? Every one of my family in Massachusetts says he was one of the best LBs in the league along with Hightower? I hadn't watch much of thee Pats but that would be a pretty big drop off. Ben Violin a Boston writer said he and his agent turned down 11 million a year and he was asking for "Von Miller" type money? Not saying I don't believe what you are saying. It just seems odd he was being lapped by a 6th rounder.

[Thomkal]

Percy Harvin exits retirement, re-signs with Bills - NFL.com

[BishopMVP]

Originally Posted by Galaril

Really he was soon to be getting passed on the depth chart by a 6th rounder? Every one of my family in Massachusetts says he was one of the best LBs in the league along with Hightower? I hadn't watch much of thee Pats but that would be a pretty big drop off. Ben Violin a Boston writer said he and his agent turned down 11 million a year and he was asking for "Von Miller" type money? Not saying I don't believe what you are saying. It just seems odd he was being lapped by a 6th rounder.

Collins was still the best athlete on the defense, and when he was on (like the Colts playoff game he broke out in, or the Texans game earlier this year) he's awesome. But he was inconsistent and liked to freelance, which doesn't go over too well. Got benched vs Buffalo, may have been earlier in the season too (though he was also banged up so it may have been injury related), and Friend of Bill Mike Lombardi went in on him yesterday Transcript: Former Patriots exec Mike Lombardi explains why Bill Belichick traded LB Jamie Collins to the Browns - Pats Pulpit . Unlike the Red Sox and their owners who can't let a ball boy or the most beloved MLB manager in Francona leave without assassinating their character, you rarely see any bad mouthing of a player after they're gone - Belichick just doesn't care what fans think, and the Krafts follow his lead there.

Meanwhile Roberts is a very undersized guy who dropped due to it, but he's out there doing stuff like this to Joe Thomas and playing the right gap every time he's on the field. Malcolm Butler, Chris Harris Jr, Richard Sherman, Antonio Brown, Tom Brady, there's plenty of guys who show up 6th round or later who immediately show they can play. I don't have PFF, but I've heard they have him as one of the best LB's vs the run so far. And Hightower is definitely better than Collins (at least in our system).

I do agree that Roberts is not as good as Collins can be, but I could easily see a combo of Roberts on run downs & Mingo/Van Noy/Ninkovich/another DB on passing downs being as productive as Collins has been this year. I still would have preferred to have Collins as depth in case of an injury to Hightower for how little draft capital we picked up. (Though I've also seen an unconfirmed report that pick gets upgraded to Cleveland's 2nd if they re-sign Collins.)

[Logan]

PFF had him as the #9 LB in the league at the time of the trade. I know that isn't the end-all, be-all but between that and Lombardi also taking shots at other members of their front 7 for underperforming, it seems like there is likely something else going on there.

[Honolulu_Blue]

Originally Posted by BishopMVP

I do agree that Roberts is not as good as Collins can be, but I could easily see a combo of Roberts on run downs & Mingo/Van Noy/Ninkovich/another DB on passing downs being as productive as Collins has been this year.

If Kyle Van Noy is an acceptable substitute for Collins, then he was not very good. At all. Van Noy is a complete non-entity.

[Castlerock]

Originally Posted by BishopMVP

Yeah, bit of an interesting day up this way. The national narrative is that this is another in the line of Belichick trading a star before they decline/get a big contract, but it's really him saying that 6th round rookie Elandon Roberts is better right now. (We likely would've gotten a compensatory pick of our own in 2018 when Collins was signed by another team, so this just moves it up a year.) Hard to argue too much, but even if Collins was getting passed on the depth chart I would prefer having him as injury insurance for the next 3 months for that little draft capital gain.

And of course, theoretically this means we'll be spending that cap $$$ on Hightower, Butler, & maybe Jabaal Sheard/Martellus Bennett/Logan Ryan, but I'm not even sure the Patriots are certain which ones they'll re-sign at this point.

Originally Posted by Galaril

Really he was soon to be getting passed on the depth chart by a 6th rounder? Every one of my family in Massachusetts says he was one of the best LBs in the league along with Hightower? I hadn't watch much of thee Pats but that would be a pretty big drop off. Ben Violin a Boston writer said he and his agent turned down 11 million a year and he was asking for "Von Miller" type money? Not saying I don't believe what you are saying. It just seems odd he was being lapped by a 6th rounder.

Collins is an amazing athlete. There have been stories (before yesterday) about his undisciplined play but even those stories admit that the guy is a VERY good football player. If the contract offer is correct (~11 mil per year), does that sound like an offer to a player who is about to get passed on the depth chart by ANYONE?

My only explanation is that something happened off the field. It is the only thing that seems to make sense. Collins is too good a football player to just give him away for literally nothing. I am dumbfounded.

[BishopMVP]

Originally Posted by Castlerock

Collins is an amazing athlete. There have been stories (before yesterday) about his undisciplined play but even those stories admit that the guy is a VERY good football player. If the contract offer is correct (~11 mil per year), does that sound like an offer to a player who is about to get passed on the depth chart by ANYONE?

My only explanation is that something happened off the field. It is the only thing that seems to make sense. Collins is too good a football player to just give him away for literally nothing. I am dumbfounded.

Jamie Collins is a very good player, and I would not have made this trade. But he hasn't been the best LB on the Patriots the last 2 years - that's Hightower. And Roberts - who I really think this trade doesn't happen without - has only made his presence felt in the last month. Due to injuries in the first place, but he was getting the reps over Collins on 1st/2nd down by mid-game vs Buffalo. That isn't normal - we're notorious for playing our edge players 100% of the snaps unless they're hurt. I don't doubt the $11m/year offer to Collins at all, but I'm curious when it was made - I'd guess in training camp.

I disagree anything specific had to happen off the field (like Jones with the Spice incident). I do agree with Logan a small part of this is a message to all the other players looking for big contracts, but Hightower, Butler, Sheard, Alan Branch, Logan Ryan - there are plenty of upcoming FA's in line for raises on the defense, and the difference is that Collins has a replacement on the roster, just like when everyone was freaking out about Revis/Browner leaving and Belichick was confident Malcolm Butler could take over 90% of the production in that role for less than 10% of the cap hit. (We did also bring in a Ryan replacement in Eric Rowe that I think signals Ryan will be gone in FA, but you still need 3+ CB's in the NFL.)

(Although they do seem low, the picks we're getting also aren't "nothing", especially if the later rumors are true and there's a chance we get Cleveland's 2nd if Collins re-signs, or 2 4th round comp picks if Alex Mack doesn't play enough to get a 3rd round comp pick. Especially because while a comp pick for Collins was likely, it isn't guaranteed. Either because we did cut into his playing time, or in the more likely scenario we sign some FA's this offseason with the NFL's weird formula.)

Originally Posted by Honolulu_Blue

If Kyle Van Noy is an acceptable substitute for Collins, then he was not very good. At all. Van Noy is a complete non-entity.

Can he at least get after the QB on 3rd & long? That's really what we need. Though yes, Van Noy would be a very long shot to be the replacement and I mostly included him because we traded for him last week. It's likely Roberts on run downs & old reliable Rob Ninkovich on 3rd down passing situations.

[SirFozzie]

Rumor has it the reason they made the trade was they knew the Browns would franchise him once or twice, so they wouldn't see him again for the "revenge game" in two years (and also "Hey, if you don't shape up, you're not going to get that big free agent payday, we're going to send you to siberia (or cleveland), where sure, you'll get paid big money for a season, but you don't get to choose where you go")