Week #1 NFL game thread

SeoulSoxFan

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A Scud Away from Hell
I'm most interested in the Colts @ Bills contest:
  • Can Bills dominate iffy Colts OL?
  • Can Colts DL stop the run?
  • Is Tyrod Taylor for real?
  • Does Bills secondary have enough depth to limit Colts weapons?
  • Will Luck limit his mistakes under pressure?
  • Who'll mismanage the clock more, Rex or Pagano?
It's a win-win for Pats either way. Bills win, Colts are already a game behind in the AFC seeding. If Colts win, Bills are already a game behind in the AFCE standings. 
 

pokey_reese

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SeoulSoxFan said:
I'm most interested in the Colts @ Bills contest:
  • Can Bills dominate iffy Colts OL?
  • Can Colts DL stop the run?
  • Is Tyrod Taylor for real?
  • Does Bills secondary have enough depth to limit Colts weapons?
  • Will Luck limit his mistakes under pressure?
  • Who'll mismanage the clock more, Rex or Pagano?
It's a win-win for Pats either way. Bills win, Colts are already a game behind in the AFC seeding. If Colts win, a divisional rival is already a game behind in the AFC standings. 
Yeah, this is the game I am really curious about. It's nice to get a chance to scout two upcoming opponents at the same time, but given how many questions there are about the Bills coming into the year, and that the Pats have to travel there next week. Given our own problems, I think that the Colts OL struggles (if they come up), will signal some real problems for the Pats next week. I am hoping that Luck will try and get rid of the ball quickly rather than rolling out of the pocket or scrambling, just so we can see how successful Brady's likely approach will be. Also curious about Tyrod Taylor, since I have seen very little of him. We know that he is athletic and mobile, but does he have an accurate arm? Pocket presence? Decision making skills and the ability to read a defense at the line of scrimmage?
 
I'm wondering if the combination of Taylor and McCoy will lead to the Bills running something like a modified wildcat by default.
 

Cabin Mirror

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This looks to be the slate of games on air in the Boston market. I agree that the Colts/Bills are most interesting, but so is Ravens/Broncos from Pats fan perspective. Giants/Cowboys is usually a good matchup too.
 
 
1:00pm
NFL Football - Green Bay Packers at Chicago Bears
WFXT (FOX)
 
1:00pm
NFL Football - Indianapolis Colts at Buffalo Bills
WBZ (CBS)
 
4:25pm
NFL Football - Baltimore Ravens at Denver Broncos
WBZ (CBS)
 
 
8:20pm
NFL Football - New York Giants at Dallas Cowboys
WHDH (NBC)
 
 

MarcSullivaFan

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For this one week I can root for Rex and Co. I hope to enjoy watching the Bills expose the crap fest that is the Colts' O and D lines.

Bills D line is obviously a concern for next week regardless of what happens here. But I wouldn't read too much in to the Colts being dominated. I'm not sure they have a starting offensive lineman who would start for the Pats at their current position.
 

j44thor

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MarcSullivaFan said:
For this one week I can root for Rex and Co. I hope to enjoy watching the Bills expose the crap fest that is the Colts' O and D lines.

Bills D line is obviously a concern for next week regardless of what happens here. But I wouldn't read too much in to the Colts being denominated. I'm not sure they have an starting offensive lineman who would start for the Pats at their current position.
Too early in the season to worry about Indy. Winning the division is always job one. Mostly I'll be rooting for injuries but would prefer an Indy win.

Buf is going to be a tough out this season, esp if the same run d shows up next week from ne.
 

riboflav

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I can't believe I'm rooting for the Bills and Broncos in the same day but such is life in a (post) Deflategate world.
 

riboflav

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j44thor said:
Too early in the season to worry about Indy. Winning the division is always job one. Mostly I'll be rooting for injuries but would prefer an Indy win.

Buf is going to be a tough out this season, esp if the same run d shows up next week from ne.
 
Doubtful NE will have 3 safeties on the field trying to stop the pass vs. the Bills next week.
 

Deathofthebambino

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Folks, beware, be very, very aware of the kicking game in week one.  Particularly, these new 33 yard extra points.  I expect to see at least a half dozen extra points missed today, and also expect to see about that many attempted two point conversions.  I can't believe it hasn't gotten more play, but all pre-season long, guys were missing them left and right.  Not just rookies trying to make the team, but veteran kickers who think/thought their jobs were totally secure.  It's going to impact multiple games today.
 
And of course, the Patriots were ahead of the curve.  They know they have the best kicker in football, the rules were changing to make it more important than ever to have a great kicker, and they went out and made sure Ghost wasn't going anywhere.  Guess that must have been because they had  other teams playbooks, or something.  
 

johnmd20

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Deathofthebambino said:
Folks, beware, be very, very aware of the kicking game in week one.  Particularly, these new 33 yard extra points.  I expect to see at least a half dozen extra points missed today, and also expect to see about that many attempted two point conversions.  I can't believe it hasn't gotten more play, but all pre-season long, guys were missing them left and right.  Not just rookies trying to make the team, but veteran kickers who think/thought their jobs were totally secure.  It's going to impact multiple games today.
 
And of course, the Patriots were ahead of the curve.  They know they have the best kicker in football, the rules were changing to make it more important than ever to have a great kicker, and they went out and made sure Ghost wasn't going anywhere.  Guess that must have been because they had  other teams playbooks, or something.  
 
6 XP misses today seems extreme.
 

singaporesoxfan

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Deathofthebambino said:
Folks, beware, be very, very aware of the kicking game in week one.  Particularly, these new 33 yard extra points.  I expect to see at least a half dozen extra points missed today, and also expect to see about that many attempted two point conversions.  I can't believe it hasn't gotten more play, but all pre-season long, guys were missing them left and right.  Not just rookies trying to make the team, but veteran kickers who think/thought their jobs were totally secure.  It's going to impact multiple games today.
 
And of course, the Patriots were ahead of the curve.  They know they have the best kicker in football, the rules were changing to make it more important than ever to have a great kicker, and they went out and made sure Ghost wasn't going anywhere.  Guess that must have been because they had  other teams playbooks, or something.  
I thought the rule change was weird. Football purists don't like having kickers decide games, and the NFL decides to make changes that make kickers more, not less, important. Though if it leads to more 2-point conversion attempts I would love to see that.
 

johnmd20

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singaporesoxfan said:
I thought the rule change was weird. Football purists don't like having kickers decide games, and the NFL decides to make changes that make kickers more, not less, important. Though if it leads to more 2-point conversion attempts I would love to see that.
 
The XP in previous years was nearly a guarantee. It was the worst, a useless play. Now, it's more of a question. I think the rule change was great, it is going to add a lot more drama.
 

johnmd20

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lostjumper said:
So with all the talk about the d-line for the bills, this secondary looks severely overmatched so far.
 
1) Against the Colts, a premiere passing team.
2) 3 minutes into the season
 

singaporesoxfan

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johnmd20 said:
 
The XP in previous years was nearly a guarantee. It was the worst, a useless play. Now, it's more of a question. I think the rule change was great, it is going to add a lot more drama.
Yeah but it's adding a lot more drama by adding variance to XP conversions, which I find aesthetically unsatisfying. Not a fan of a 21-20 result because one kicker missed an XP and one didn't. Would have preferred the "XP is automatic, no need to kick if you just want one point, but if you want to go for two then you can do so" solution.

That said it all depends on the result. If the rule change leads to a lot more aggressiveness with 2-point conversions, which I love, I'll change my mind.
 

johnmd20

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singaporesoxfan said:
Yeah but it's adding a lot more drama by adding variance to XP conversions, which I find aesthetically unsatisfying. Not a fan of a 21-20 result because one kicker missed an XP and one didn't. Would have preferred the "XP is automatic, no need to kick if you just want one point, but if you want to go for two then you can do so" solution.

That said it all depends on the result. If the rule change leads to a lot more aggressiveness with 2-point conversions, which I love, I'll change my mind.
 
How is that much different than a team losing by two on a missed FG? Kickers are part of the game.
 

dbn

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Vince jumped offsides on his first snap as a non-Patriot. He's getting good push into the backfield, though.
 

crystalline

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singaporesoxfan said:
Yeah but it's adding a lot more drama by adding variance to XP conversions, which I find aesthetically unsatisfying. Not a fan of a 21-20 result because one kicker missed an XP and one didn't. Would have preferred the "XP is automatic, no need to kick if you just want one point, but if you want to go for two then you can do so" solution.

That said it all depends on the result. If the rule change leads to a lot more aggressiveness with 2-point conversions, which I love, I'll change my mind.
Yeah agreed it makes kickers more important
But the goal is to increase importance of the 2P conversion- I.e. not the kicking game.
There's only two ways to do that: make the XP worth less or the 2P conversion worth more. They're not going to go to an XP worth fractions of a point so the only way to make it worth less is to reduce conversion pct.

I suppose they could have made the 2P conversion worth 3 points but that might have been more disruptive.

Also adjusting XP distance is a fine adjustmentl knob.. Adjusting conversion distance or points is very coarse.