2018 NFL Game Thread - Week 13

DJnVa

Dorito Dawg
SoSH Member
Dec 16, 2010
54,050
Apparently the Steelers covered Keenan Allen with a linebacker on a majority of the snaps the other day.

Every time I see something like this it makes me more thankful for what we have. Good lord. Could you imagine one of our LBs chasing Keenan Allen around? Not just on a play or 2, but all the damn time?
 

InstaFace

The Ultimate One
SoSH Member
Sep 27, 2016
22,144
Pittsburgh, PA
Rookie-contract Jerod Mayo, or early-career Bruschi, maybe. It'd still be bad, but not ugly. Post-injury Hightower or Roberts, and ugly is the best case scenario.
 

Super Nomario

Member
SoSH Member
Nov 5, 2000
14,015
Mansfield MA
Wentz has regressed. Don’t know if it’s due to the injury or what, but he’s not playing nearly as well as he did last season.
The funny thing is his statistics are pretty similar, even better in a lot of ways, aside from TD / INT ratio (which is pretty volatile). He is completing 69.6% of his passes this year vs 60.2% in 2017, for 7.7 Y/A vs 7.5. NY/A is virtually identical - 6.66 vs 6.70. Sacks and INTs are up a little and he's throwing shorter, but the biggest difference is his TD rate, which is down from 7.5% to 4.9%. I'm bullish on Wentz and his future, but at least part of the story here is that his 2017 was a little overrated.
 

dcmissle

Deflatigator
Lifetime Member
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Aug 4, 2005
28,269
Yeah, I don't think it's so much that he's regressed, that he rushed back probably a bit too soon. He got hurt almost what, one year ago to the day today? What made him really good last year was his pocket mobility, and ability to improvise and throw on the run. I think he's probably tentative on the knee, afraid of blowing it out again, so he's probably more conscious of anyone or anything around his legs.

For comparison, take a look at Brady in 2009, when he came back from the injury. It was probably his worst season (besides 2013, which had it's own set of problems) going back to 2006. He was getting rid of the ball so quickly that year because of the fear of getting hit that he only got sacked 16 times (his previous low was 21 times in 2007, but before that, it was 26), and then in the years after that, he was sacked 25,32, 27 and 40 times over the next 4 years. He threw more picks in 2009 than in any season from 2005 until now.

I think that's all it is with Wentz. I think he's gotten better even as this season has gone on, and if he stays healthy and comes back strong next year, he'll be right back to where he was.

But you're definitely right, there's only one AP. What was the year he blew out his knee late in the season (the first time?) and made it back in time to start opening day the following season?
Tore ACL and MCL in left knee on Christmas Eve, 2011.

2012 season — 2100 rushing yards on about 350 carries, 40 pass receptions for about another 220 yards. Oh — and 16 games.