Cheese Curds - News Around The League 2021

[YoHoChecko]

There are 11 teams in the NFL allowing at least 4.5 yards per carry in the running game.

6-8 of those 11 will be in the playoffs (Packers, Chiefs, Colts, Patriots, Cowboys, Cardinals... Vikings, Chargers, Steelers in the hunt)

Atrocious to watch, but clearly one of the least predictive barometers of winning and losing in the NFL

[BF004]

There are 11 teams in the NFL allowing at least 4.5 yards per carry in the running game.

6-8 of those 11 will be in the playoffs (Packers, Chiefs, Colts, Patriots, Cowboys, Cardinals... Vikings, Chargers, Steelers in the hunt)

Atrocious to watch, but clearly one of the least predictive barometers of winning and losing in the NFL

Last week was brutal for us in the run game.

After week 15

image.png (512.98 KiB) Viewed 469 times

Including Last Week

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We are 14th in EPA per drop back, not horrible. It is the one that matters most, but what was an excelling defense for a while there, flat out is no longer a good defense. Back to below average.

[Yoop]

Dallas may not be the hottest team in the league, but from the looks of these grafs they sure aren't far off.

how does a player like Savage, who has been consistently very good, go to looking out of place, making poor decisions, or completely missing his assignments, and what is with all this soft cushion coverage? seems like Barry has made some adjustments and they are back firing on him.

I still think our pass rush has cooled some, add in the lack of containment and our DL has regressed as well, time to get back to what made this defense a top 7 unit.

[Captain_Ben]

Dallas may not be the hottest team in the league, but from the looks of these grafs they sure aren't far off.

how does a player like Savage, who has been consistently very good, go to looking out of place, making poor decisions, or completely missing his assignments, and what is with all this soft cushion coverage? seems like Barry has made some adjustments and they are back firing on him.

I still think our pass rush has cooled some, add in the lack of containment and our DL has regressed as well, time to get back to what made this defense a top 7 unit.

Might it have had something to do with Kenny Clark being out/hurt? Maybe Barry wanted Savage to pull more responsibility in the run game and it resulted in blown pass coverage. Really don't know, just hypothesizing.

[BF004]

Wow, Miami can still win that division and play the Patriots week 18, so they'd control their own destiny against them.

Although they would need the Bills to lose twice home against Falcons, then home against Jets, extremely unlikely.

[paco]

Carson Wentz on the Covid list. Get ready for the return of Philip Rivers.

[Raptorman]

So are we out of the woods now or do they still test tomorrow and guys could miss the game?

It's not this week you need to worry about, it's the next 3-4. Omicron is going to run rampant through the NFL the next few weeks. There is no stopping it. The only question is "Which players and teams will be most affected by it?"

Mod edit: this post, along with the following two posts, were moved from the GDT to this thread for general league conversation.

[TheSkeptic]

So are we out of the woods now or do they still test tomorrow and guys could miss the game?

It's not this week you need to worry about, it's the next 3-4. Omicron is going to run rampant through the NFL the next few weeks. There is no stopping it. The only question is "Which players and teams will be most affected by it?"

It is going to run rampant through society in general. My daughter had COVID in the spring. She was vaccinated in the summer, 2 jabs. She got Omicron last week and described it as a bad chest cold, although she was not hospitalized. The test was positive. She is mid 40's and a professor in the School of Dentistry at The Ohio State University in Columbus. It is rampant in the Universities now.

The stadiums are likely to be empty again.

[APB]

So are we out of the woods now or do they still test tomorrow and guys could miss the game?

It's not this week you need to worry about, it's the next 3-4. Omicron is going to run rampant through the NFL the next few weeks. There is no stopping it. The only question is "Which players and teams will be most affected by it?"

It is going to run rampant through society in general. My daughter had COVID in the spring. She was vaccinated in the summer, 2 jabs. She got Omicron last week and described it as a bad chest cold, although she was not hospitalized. The test was positive. She is mid 40's and a professor in the School of Dentistry at The Ohio State University in Columbus. It is rampant in the Universities now.

The stadiums are likely to be empty again.

I already discussed this in the Podium Covid discussion but I’ll mention it here since it’s being discussed.

I caught Covid following last year’s Christmas celebration (2020) and had relatively minor symptoms. Body aches, mild 1-day fever, and fatigue. Oh, and loss of taste/smell which still has not recovered fully to this day. After recovery and much reading/analysis of studies, I decided to forego vaccination in lieu of natural immunity.

I started feeling “off” early this past week and called around to local urgent care to see about getting tested, just out of curiosity. Unfortunately there were no local test kits available so I more or less blew it off since my natural immunity had carried me through thus far and I wasn’t terribly concerned with severity of symptoms even if I had suffered a reinfection. On Wednesday this past week I was gonna make the 1.5 hr drive to help my daughter move when my wife suggested I stop by her family practice work office which was on the way and she could get me tested, just to be safe. I did and it came back positive. At least it got me out of the move labor!

This time around it feels much more like a head cold. Sinuses clogged, occasional mostly dry cough, runny nose, and sinus headaches. It’s been almost a week and only mild sinus symptoms persist but it’s pretty much passed.

All that to say it doesn’t appear like this omicron variant much cares about your vaccination status or any prior infection. It’s breaking through on both fronts within the general public and throughout the league although naturally immune individuals do appear to be less affected at this point. It also appears the symptoms are relatively mild. Had I never heard of Covid I would have simply assumed I caught a seasonal cold. It was nothing more than that in my case and apparently many, many more.

The NFL has already significantly lowered the standard for infected players to return to the locker room. This follows multiple recent guideline changes from the CDC. If those changes are any indication, I get the sense the league intends to keep the stands filled this time around and reap the fan and financial reward of playoff football. That’s just my guess, though. I guess we’ll see very soon.

[RingoCStarrQB]

So are we out of the woods now or do they still test tomorrow and guys could miss the game?

It's not this week you need to worry about, it's the next 3-4. Omicron is going to run rampant through the NFL the next few weeks. There is no stopping it. The only question is "Which players and teams will be most affected by it?"

It is going to run rampant through society in general. My daughter had COVID in the spring. She was vaccinated in the summer, 2 jabs. She got Omicron last week and described it as a bad chest cold, although she was not hospitalized. The test was positive. She is mid 40's and a professor in the School of Dentistry at The Ohio State University in Columbus. It is rampant in the Universities now.

The stadiums are likely to be empty again.

They are (whoever "they" is) are now talking about upping your mask game to the 95s. https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-con ... t-20485449
PLEASE STAY SAFE.

[lake shark]

Looks like Antonio Brown will be a free agent again.

[wallyuwl]

So are we out of the woods now or do they still test tomorrow and guys could miss the game?

It's not this week you need to worry about, it's the next 3-4. Omicron is going to run rampant through the NFL the next few weeks. There is no stopping it. The only question is "Which players and teams will be most affected by it?"

It is going to run rampant through society in general. My daughter had COVID in the spring. She was vaccinated in the summer, 2 jabs. She got Omicron last week and described it as a bad chest cold, although she was not hospitalized. The test was positive. She is mid 40's and a professor in the School of Dentistry at The Ohio State University in Columbus. It is rampant in the Universities now.

The stadiums are likely to be empty again.

Come on now, you could have just said @ Ohio State.

[salmar80]

[YoHoChecko]

Peter King on the Antonio Brown saga:

Now there’s no turning back for either man. It’d be stunning if Brown, barring a major turnaround in his life, got another chance in the league after blowing this golden one and his previous three with the Steelers, Raiders and Patriots. And Arians will be forever known as the man who drew his line in the sand, then changed his mind on Brown, and got burned by Sunday’s insubordination.

“It’s a shame,” said Arians. “I feel bad for him. He just can’t help himself.”

Brown may need professional help, but it’s impossible to project that from the outside. What he did Sunday was irrational and almost scary.

This is what happened on a strange afternoon in New Jersey:

With about 3:30 left in the third quarter, the Bucs driving and the Jets leading 24-10, Arians said he asked Brown to go back in the game. According to Arians, Brown said, “Nope. I’m not going in.” The Athletic reported Brown’s ankle was sore, and that’s the reason why he wouldn’t go in. Whatever the reason, Arians told me he was “very” angry with Brown, who went to the bench area and began taking off his jersey and pads. At first, vet receiver Mike Evans tried to stop Brown, but, according to Arians, “he had that look in his eye that I haven’t seen for a long time.” Evans couldn’t stop Brown, who took his jersey, pads and black T-shirt off, tossing the shirt into the stands. He left the field, giving the peace sign to fans as he went up the end zone tunnel.

Meanwhile, Brady marched the undermanned Bucs receivers downfield, and two minutes later finished a TD drive with a four-yard pass to Cam Brate. When I asked Arians what Brady thought of the scene, he said, “I don’t think Tom knew. I knew and Mike Evans knew, but if anyone else did, I don’t know that. We kept playing the game.”

Brady led a 93-yard drive in the closing minute and threw a perfect 33-yard scoring pass to the inexperienced Cyril Grayson, who will probably be taking some of Brown’s playing time now. That won the game with 15 seconds left. Fifteen seconds is how long Tampa led the spunky Jets on this strange day.

“It’s all a credit to Tom,” Arians said. “Give the Jets credit. They played their asses off, but Tom never blinked. He’s the MVP of this league.”

Arians said the team, post-game, was excited, and he loves the young receivers that remain. But prime wideout Chris Godwin, out for the year with a knee injury, and now Brown, are two of Brady’s favorites—and maybe THE favorites. Without them, look for Brady to work long hours with Grayson, Jaelon Darden and Tyler Johnson to be sure they’re ready when the postseason begins.

For now, Brady sounded loyal to Brown, and urged those who might demonize him not to rush to judgment. “I think everyone should be very compassionate and empathetic toward some very difficult things that are happening,” Brady said, not being specific.

“I hope he can get fixed,” said Arians.

[APB]

It'll be interesting to hear how Brown interpreted the events. I'm not saying I trust his version more, just really curious what he perceived and responded to that caused him to go full-AB like that.

In other news, the Cowboys are, once again, complaining about officiating. This is the second ref crew they've openly blamed for contributing to a loss. I empathize in that officiating has not been great but c'mon. If the the refs have been anything, they've been consistently inconsistent WITH EVERY TEAM. Nobody is getting over, at least to the extent the Cowpokes are crying over.

[Yoop]

With about 3:30 left in the third quarter, the Bucs driving and the Jets leading 24-10, Arians said he asked Brown to go back in the game. According to Arians, Brown said, “Nope. I’m not going in.” The Athletic reported Brown’s ankle was sore, and that’s the reason why he wouldn’t go in.

not so sore though that it limited Brown from doing jumping jacks across the end zone heading to the tunnel.

I can't relate to some of these over paid jerks like Brown, knowing his team is short handed at receiver, knowing he is Brady's main guy now that Godwin is out, he refuses to help the team win, the help this clown needs is a good ass whipping out back of the barn, instead Brady continues to soft speak the guy, I think Ariens has gotten past defending this spoiled brat, finally.

[YoHoChecko]

This is the sorta scary part of the quote for me:

At first, vet receiver Mike Evans tried to stop Brown, but, according to Arians, “he had that look in his eye that I haven’t seen for a long time."

[Drj820]

It'll be interesting to hear how Brown interpreted the events. I'm not saying I trust his version more, just really curious what he perceived and responded to that caused him to go full-AB like that.

In other news, the Cowboys are, once again, complaining about officiating. This is the second ref crew they've openly blamed for contributing to a loss. I empathize in that officiating has not been great but c'mon. If the the refs have been anything, they've been consistently inconsistent WITH EVERY TEAM. Nobody is getting over, at least to the extent the Cowpokes are crying over.

I actually thought the Cowboys were getting favorable calls for much of the game. Their first TD drive was kept alive pretty much solely due to PI calls, a few of which I thought were suspect. Not a good look to whine when you get outplayed.

[Drj820]

This is the sorta scary part of the quote for me:

At first, vet receiver Mike Evans tried to stop Brown, but, according to Arians, “he had that look in his eye that I haven’t seen for a long time."

Arians kept the talented viper in his bedroom because he wanted the vipers talent, and is now acting all surprised the snake did what snakes do and bit him. All that quote shows me is that he had seen AB have a cookoo tantrum before and he covered it up because he wanted his talent on Sunday’s. Arians should be ashamed of himself.

[APB]

I actually thought the Cowboys were getting favorable calls for much of the game. Their first TD drive was kept alive pretty much solely due to PI calls, a few of which I thought were suspect. Not a good look to whine when you get outplayed.

I agree. The ticky-tack holding calls they're whining about were no more egregious than the ticky-tack PI calls they were benefitting from.

And yes, what it comes down to is they got out-played. That last AZ drive encapsulates the game. When Dallas scored to close the deficit to 3, AZ got the ball with just under 5 minutes remaining (if memory serves) and needed a drive to seal it. They got it, basically running it right down that vaunted defense's throat. There were a few timely passes sprinkled in but, for the most part, that makeshift AZ o-line imparted their will on the Dallas front and got it done.

Quit your whining, Cowpokes. Had you manned-up at crunch time you'd have given yourselves a chance. You didn't. Focus on that.