2018 NFL Game Thread - Week 14

DanoooME

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Henry is a hell of a guy, basically demanding Lewis get the ball on those first two goal-to-go plays. Teammates have to love that attitude.
 

DanoooME

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Kessler may not want to finish this game. He's getting killed out there.

And that wasn't roughing the passer.
 

Hendu for Kutch

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Is this Jacksonville defense the least likable group in the NFL? I mean...holy frontrunners Batman. The Jags are pretty easily the biggest underachievers this season, and they're being crushed in this game, and they peacock like that after a meaningless late stop? And not just once, but several times? Jax simply can't lose enough to satisfy me, which is really rare for a non-rival team.
 

DanoooME

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That 4th down blitz by Tennessee was a thing of beauty. Stacked up 7 guys standing at the line of scrimmage, including an overload on the left side of the O-line and then only rush 4 with a safety blitz from the OTHER side. Fournette was looking for blitzers on the left and didn't see the safety until it was too late.
 

DeJesus Built My Hotrod

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I know nobody in the world gives a flying eff about anyone's fantasy football team but how could anyone start Derrick Henry this week unless they have virtually no other options. And yet...
 

Snedds

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I'm not sure who the analyst is on the Westwood One radio broadcast, but he's ripping the effort of the Jax defense: "Henry ran a 4.7 at the combine, and he's running away from the Jacksonville defenders tonight"
Once Henry gets going, he's incredibly fast
@AdamSchefter
When Titans’ RB Derrick Henry scored on his 54 yard touchdown run last night - after his record-setting 99-yard TD run - he reached 21.74 mph, the fastest speed by a ball-carrier on a TD run this season, per Next Gen Stats. So why is Henry not producing, and playing, more?
 

splendid splinter

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I'm not sure who the analyst is on the Westwood One radio broadcast, but he's ripping the effort of the Jax defense: "Henry ran a 4.7 at the combine, and he's running away from the Jacksonville defenders tonight"
The 40 seems like an especially imperfect tool to gauge game speed, since it’s basically a track sprint where starting technique can be the difference between a 4.7 and a 4.45. And you start from a position you never will in an actual game. Why not time RB by having them start 5 yards deep and take a handoff and timing their 40 from there? Or timing from the point they start to the point they get the ball to get a sense of how quickly they can “hit the hole” and then time them separately from there to get a read on their “open field speed”? No test is ever going to be a real approximation of game situations but when you have everybody going to track guys to train for their 40s it should be obvious that test isn’t any sort of useful approximation at all.
 

SMU_Sox

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Most of the draft analysts I listen to subscribe to the belief that RB athletic testing is somewhat worthless and to trust the tape. For other positions like say CB it does matter. YMMV. Personally I think the tape and traits are more important than a 40 time. I don’t think top end speed means much for an RB.
 

BaseballJones

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The 40 seems like an especially imperfect tool to gauge game speed, since it’s basically a track sprint where starting technique can be the difference between a 4.7 and a 4.45. And you start from a position you never will in an actual game. Why not time RB by having them start 5 yards deep and take a handoff and timing their 40 from there? Or timing from the point they start to the point they get the ball to get a sense of how quickly they can “hit the hole” and then time them separately from there to get a read on their “open field speed”? No test is ever going to be a real approximation of game situations but when you have everybody going to track guys to train for their 40s it should be obvious that test isn’t any sort of useful approximation at all.
I work with student athletes and I've had several of my guys get drafted in the NFL. One of them was a receiver and needed to improve his 40 time for the combine. I suggested that he spend a lot of time with the university's sprint coach, not a football coach, because the 40m dash is nothing like a football experience; rather, it's much more like the start of a 100m dash, and that's a sprinting experience. The sprint coach could help him with the start, which alone could improve one's time by a tenth of a second, which might be enough to move a guy up a few rounds in the draft.

Which is all completely crazy because none of that has anything to do with the kind of football player any of them happens to be. But, as I tell these players, it's a major part of what NFL scouts and front offices use, so you'd better get good at it if you want to play on Sundays.
 

joe dokes

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I work with student athletes and I've had several of my guys get drafted in the NFL. One of them was a receiver and needed to improve his 40 time for the combine. I suggested that he spend a lot of time with the university's sprint coach, not a football coach, because the 40m dash is nothing like a football experience; rather, it's much more like the start of a 100m dash, and that's a sprinting experience. The sprint coach could help him with the start, which alone could improve one's time by a tenth of a second, which might be enough to move a guy up a few rounds in the draft.

Which is all completely crazy because none of that has anything to do with the kind of football player any of them happens to be. But, as I tell these players, it's a major part of what NFL scouts and front offices use, so you'd better get good at it if you want to play on Sundays.
That's pretty interesting. I wonder how the more consistently successful front offices approach this. Does your work expose you to their thinking?

In some ways, it reminds me of the approach to drafting pitchers and their velocity.
 

Harry Hooper

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Upton Bell of all people used to tell a great story about him working in the Baltimore Colts' scouting department. They would bring players in for evaluation, and they would have to race against Upton, He had been a pretty good track athlete in his youth, and he often dusted guys. The GM would then rib the prospects about not being able to outrun the intern.
 
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BaseballJones

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That's pretty interesting. I wonder how the more consistently successful front offices approach this. Does your work expose you to their thinking?

In some ways, it reminds me of the approach to drafting pitchers and their velocity.
No, I wish!

I mean, what do I know about the NFL? But it seems to me that if you're investing all this money in PLAYERS, and not just ATHLETES, you'd want them performing in more football-related activities. Yes, they have pass-catching drills, etc. But instead of a straight-line 40, I think they should probably have a guy in his game pads with helmet, and have him not go when he's ready, but have him go at "hike". A 40 is fine, though honestly, players rarely (unless they're WR) run 40 yards in a straight line on any single play. Even if they're running a 9 route, they usually have to start with some sort of get-off-the-line move like a stutter step, a jab step, do some hand-fighting, whatever. Occasionally the defender will give a huge cushion but still...normally receivers don't just get a free release, straight-line, 40 yard dash.

So I don't understand why the NFL combine has the 40 yard dash in the form they have it. It's nothing like what football players actually do on the field. Having him in pads, lining up, and going at "hike" is a much much much more true test of their on-field athletic ability, because it measures speed AND reaction time (what good is it if you're fast but you're late getting off the snap?) in the kind of clothing he's actually going to wear in a game. But again, there has to be a reason why the NFL does this and they know a lot more about this than I do.

But my advice to the players is: because it's a thing - a very very important thing - you need to excel at it even though it's not a football thing. Get time with the school's sprint coach, because he'll be able to help you FAR more on THIS particular thing than your football coaches (even the WR coach) will.
 

luckiestman

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It’s going to be worth the Jets getting a new coach just so Skrine can get cut
 

BigMike

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Seriously, how does Mark Sanchez keep getting chances at the NFL level. He has been absolute garbage his whole career, and now all of a sudden post Smith Injury he is starting in Wash. And they signed the even more useless Josh Johnson to be the backup. Was there serious no young hungry 23 year old who hasn't failed a half dozen times before they could have brought in
 

soxhop411

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Who is this Drew Brees that is at QB the past two weeks?

He’s been terrible.
 

Dollar

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A Jets special teamer just blind sided Steven Hauschka after a blocked kick, and Hauschka looked to be very injured afterwards. The game went to halftime but I wouldn't be surprised if he's out for a while.
 

johnmd20

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A Jets special teamer just blind sided Steven Hauschka after a blocked kick, and Hauschka looked to be very injured afterwards. The game went to halftime but I wouldn't be surprised if he's out for a while.
That was an extremely cheap cheap shot.

I love watching the Redskins just completely give up. Horrendous management deserves failure.
 

DeadlySplitter

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BAL Just went for it on 4th & 2 from the 12, down 17-10, and scored a TD. 3 minutes left in 3rd. very aggressive, but have to do that to win in KC.
 

johnmd20

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Saints have goal to go and they give it twice to Ingram, who doesn't score, of course. Kamara just a decoy.
 

Dollar

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Cleveland accepting an offsides penalty on a completed extra point and kicking again, then missing, is the Brownsiest thing ever.
 

Dollar

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It's so hard to get used to the new shorter overtime period. I keep thinking "oh, there's plenty of time left to tie it up" and then it's the two minute warning.
 

TFisNEXT

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Dak misses a wide open TD by underthrowing Cooper. Interception instead.
 

TFisNEXT

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Cowboys totally pissing away this half. They have outgained philly by like 180 yrds but only lead 3-0. Missed FG and a goalline pick by Dak.