The first six or so weeks of the regular season are often like extended pre-season as lines gel, coordinators figure things out and rule changes get set, so I don't want to read too much into anything here long term, but in a vacuum I am pretty scared right now by how good the Chiefs looked in that game, Worthy seems a legit weapon for big plays, Pacheko remains a solid back and it seems like Kelce still got the juice when needed to be called upon.
On the flipside, things seem more complicated to me. The Ravens came out of the gate well, Henry looks like he still got juice, but then I dunno what happened, either the Chiefs D is clicking already, or the Ravens have some legit problems, cause I feel like it sort of collapsed for them after the first quarter.
It felt like they were asking Jackson to drop back and pass from the pocket a lot in this game and it felt like his line collapsed almost immediately on every play, so he was never able to get these plays off. Mahomes can twirl around like a ballerina and then launch a missile at the end like some sort of tactical Beyblade, and I trust Jackson to make those kinds of throws too, but he just wasn't finding people on the end of them like Mahomes was, so it felt like he was having to resort to a lot of runs. I know this is what people wanted from Jackson, but the dude gets hurt it feels like every season and seeming him run into defensive lineman over and over again after dropping all that weight gives me the fear.
Again, it may as well be pre-season so I don't think a Ravens fan should panic here. This could absolutely get better as chemistry is built etc and it may say more about just how good the Chiefs defence is, but I just thought it was something to keep an eye on if in late October we are watching Jackson bailing on the drop backs earlier and earlier, and taking harder and harder hits in the process.
@Pizzamorg they alluded to the fact they just don't have an O line at all, so that is why all that happened, I guess. I wasn't sure when they said they had three replacements on the offensive line if they meant replacments for the team this season, or injury replacements, though.
Obviously either way it will take time to form a cohesive line, but if it is injuries it should be remedied in the season better than if it is just worse players trying to replace better ones from a season before.
I've seen a lot of people say a lot of things about football, but a good offensive line will make everyone in the most important positions better and more efficient and is probably more important to a championship than a great defense.
A bad one though will, for example, make Henry look like he is running blind into a wall over and over and over. If there's no hole straight ahead then any change in direction he has to make and he basically stops, which is the one negative for being such a big back. It happened time and again at Tennessee, and they need to get him involved in some screens and toss plays so he can get some momentum if the O line is not going to be very good. If they sort the O line, no one will be able to stop both Henry and Jackson, so it will be strange if they have skimped on those positions
Very true @Ravix linemen are like unsung heroes of the NFL in a lot of ways. Like tonight with the Eagles, seeing how they do the tushpush without Kelce is gonna be fascinating to watch. Think about how many points Eagles got off of that one play that now could potentially be cut off from them entirely if their new centre can't do the same. Like it is no joke to say that is potentially season tanking.
Same with Harbaugh taking over the Chargers, when people criticised the Alt pick he said linemen are a weapon. Herbert hasn't been able to play to his full potential for several seasons cause he is getting hurt all the time. What is the point of drafting one of those WRs in the first round if Herbert isn't able to throw the ball.
Hell, even Mahomes and that disastrous Super Bowl appearance a few years back, they basically replaced the entire line and haven't looked back.
So we can agree the Brazil experiment was a failure, yeah? All the stuff surrounding this and going into this wouldn't have mattered if it resulted in a great game without incident. But not only was it an awful game, the pitch was also a death trap and is potentially going to tank the Packer's entire season if both their starting centre and their franchise QB lose significant time to whatever injuries they suffered at the end. If they try this again next year there is no way any franchise will agree to this or go quietly.
@Pizzamorg I was listening to the radio earlier (feels kind of old fashioned now), and they were saying they want 16 games overseas sooner rather than later, so every team plays outside of the nation.
It kinda seems like there is no good deal for any team who has to play international games, but I feel like the last few years of international games in places like London, Germany, Mexico etc all got off without nearly as much incident. And also didn't feature the players skeeting across the awful playing surface, threating to tear their ACL on every play. In fact, I think the worst thing that happened amongst those games, was when one of the Jaguars players allegedly SA'd someone while in London. So that wasn't to the team, that was by someone in it.
So you may be right, these games may not be going anywhere, but I would be surprised if they go to Brazil again, and if they do, I don't think teams will be two hours away from the stadium and playing on a sheet of Vaseline. Or you would have to hope.
Then again, it seems kinda inevitable that a game will eventually be played Saudi Arabia because they have unlimited money, and that is worth more to the NFL than their public image, and when that game eventually happens, the controversy around the Brazil game will probably suddenly disappear from all coverage if they both happen in the same season.
I also jinxed Stonehouse because they got a punt blocked too 😛 still going to be the best punter in the known universe, for whatever that is worth hahaha. Okonkwo caught a weird TD pass though, so my tip paid off if you wanted a, I assume, cheap tight end in fantasy lol.
When it seems you're out of luck.
There's just one man who gives a f*************ck
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@Ravix Not into the fantasy FB thing lately, but that’s a good tip. In my opinion the tight end position is key on a fantasy team. And the elite TE’s go really early in the draft. So you either have to reach and waste an early pick, or get lucky.
“We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.”
Anyone wanting to save a few pennies that already subs to NBA League Pass remember to "cancel" your sub before it restarts this month for a nice little discount.
It has to be the best value sub going, regardless, but they have increased the price a small amount this season 🏀🏀
Back to NFL. Any good televised games this week. I'm now using the forum as the best way to plan if I watch any 😁
Also, how is Tua, I know he got another concussion on Thursday, although it was almost as if he had one going in the way he was playing, the timing was off with his recievers, for sure 😬 but that is just speculation, and more likely the receivers faults.
When it seems you're out of luck.
There's just one man who gives a f*************ck
⚔️🛡🐎
Yeah of all the ones mentioned already I think Bengals going to KC would be the one I was most interested in. Also think the later game with The Bears @ Texans could be fun.
“We are what we pretend to be, so we must be careful about what we pretend to be.”
@Th3solution oh wow, that bad 😬 was he trialing the new helmet at all this season? I've only seen it mentioned in passing, so not sure how much it helps anyway.
When it seems you're out of luck.
There's just one man who gives a f*************ck
⚔️🛡🐎
I'm honestly so grateful for Redzone, especially early on when there is still hope around teams that will probably vanish from the conversation in a few weeks. I tend to Redzone live and then rewatch games through the week that hold interest. Like I'm currently watching Bucs / Commanders. I also rewatched Jets / Niners and Lions / Rams already.
However, if you want to focus on individual games and are mostly a casual fan (not meaning that in a derogatory sense, just in the sense that you are n't salivating at the prospect of Darnold going against Shanahan in a game which outside of narrative might not be very good), you can't really go wrong with Bucs Lions which will probably be a fun shootout. Chiefs Bengals should be good if its true that Burrow really isn't hurt and Texans / Bears is fun because we watching potentially the defining two QBs of the league in the decade to come going at it.
Some pretty surprising upsets this week, think I could have made some serious money betting on the Lions, Niners and Cowboys to all lose! However the biggest shocker, for me, is how many points the Saints have scored in the first two games... Did anybody see that coming!?
“We are what we pretend to be, so we must be careful about what we pretend to be.”
@sorteddan Oh yeah, it was a weird week. The parity in the NFL makes for some surprises, indeed.
I’m not really a true believer in the Lions or the Cowboys, but I am surprised that San Fran faltered already. My other NFC preseason prediction was the Eagles to do well, so we’ll see tonight if they fall apart also.
The Saints are really a surprise. Carr and Kamara are both playing at a really high level. I’m not sure it will hold up through the year once defenses start to have some tape on Kubiak’s schemes.
“We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.”
I am pretty sure the Niners lost both CMC and Kittle by the end of that game, with each piece lost the Niners get worse since Purdy is basically just a marionette on Shanahan's strings. Deebo seems to lose time every season to an injury as well, so its possibly only going to get worse for the Niners. I guess bad news for everyone else is if they get everyone back and healthy by like mid October, and assuming they haven't lost every game between now and then, they may end up making the playoffs anyway cause the NFC is just kinda shallow overall.
So the Eagles go down to the Falcons and I forgot to mention the Raiders beating Ravens in my other post it was certainly a gameweek for the underdogs.
At least we can always rely on Carolina being rubbish.
“We are what we pretend to be, so we must be careful about what we pretend to be.”
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