Subject: Possible NFL contest.
Date: Mon Nov 27 08:40:19 2017
User: Snowguy
Message:Nobody went to sleep bored and early last night, second half of Sunday Night Football game. Not exactly a yawner. Nail-biter to the end.
(Will somebody lose already?) ;)
Date: Thu Nov 30 13:24:29 2017
User: poptart
Message:Raiders over Giants
Date: Thu Nov 30 16:46:23 2017
User: CubicSprock
Message:Chargers over Browns
Date: Thu Nov 30 21:25:10 2017
User: poptart
Message:I couldn't pick Chargers, since I used them before... Otherwise I would have.
Date: Sun Dec 3 19:22:22 2017
User: CubicSprock
Message:Well we both got by this week, though based on my list I don't think you've used the Chargers.
poptart:
Winners: Philly, Atlanta, Jacksonville, Carolina, Pittsburgh, Seattle, Oakland
Losers: Washington, New York Jets, Cincinnati, Miami, Tennessee, San Francisco, New York Giants
CS:
Winners: Minnesota, Philly, Jacksonville, LA Rams, New Orleans, Pittsburgh, LA Chargers
Losers: Baltimore, San Francisco, Cincinnati, Houston, Washington, Green Bay, Cleveland
Date: Mon Dec 4 23:49:07 2017
User: Snowguy
Message:I have to say that, having watched the AFC North and the East over the past couple decades, one thing is clear to me. Had the Patriots been playing in the meatgrinder of Ravens and Bengals (four games a year instead of Jets and Bill, they could not have survived the injuries and accumulate 5 Super Bowls.
4 Steelers/Ravens/Bengals games a year will decimate almost any team.
Just sayin'
Date: Mon Dec 4 23:51:51 2017
User: Snowguy
Message:BY the way, Ryan Shazier was very likely the worst defensive player to lose for the Steelers. I just hope he will be okay. Forget football. I just want him to be okay.
:(
Date: Tue Dec 5 00:05:34 2017
User: Snowguy
Message:Always try to get scheduled against a Ravens, Bengals or Steelers team the Sunday following a Monday night game. Best chance to win all year. (In this case, it's the Ravens (vs. Steelers) and Bears (vs. Bengals) that will benefit.
Date: Tue Dec 5 07:06:26 2017
User: poptart
Message:CS, I will look over my list and see what I have used so far.
Date: Tue Dec 5 12:18:47 2017
User: CubicSprock
Message:let's go Pats over Dolphins
Date: Tue Dec 5 16:00:06 2017
User: poptart
Message:CS, your list for me is correct. IDK why I thought otherwise.
I haven't looked at the match-ups yet.
Date: Wed Dec 6 09:05:01 2017
User: Snowguy
Message:Just as an aside. How can the league possibly equate Gronk throwing his entire weight, starting with his forearm, into the head, neck and shoulder of a player on the ground, after the play is over, with the two one-game suspensions Monday night?
Smith-Shuster, while trying to make a block during a play, hits a bit high, and Iloka hits helmet-to-helmet while trying to break up a game-winning pass. Both in the heat of the play, unlike Gronk's brutal hit on a defenseless, prone player.
Yes, Smith-Shuster taunted after the play, but taunts are handled with a penalty (as this one was) and often a fine. Not a one-game suspension. As was true of Iloka's hit during play.
Scratch together reasons to suspend both? The league has that right. But on a scale with some degree of predictability, Gronk is gone gone 2-4 games. If not the season.
Looks like Shazier will get use of his legs back. Man in his 20's, that's huge. Anybody, actually
Date: Wed Dec 6 11:38:23 2017
User: BuzzClik
Message:The Iloka suspension was ridiculous. There was nothing malicious about his hit. Yes, he hit a defenseless player with the crown of the helmet, and in the NFL that's a personal foul. It should have ended there.
Smith-Schuster deserved the suspension and possibly more. His block was wicked -- crown of the helmet to the face of Burfict who was blind to the hit. The suspension became unavoidable and fully justified when Smith-Schuster straddled Burfict's stunned and nearly motionless body while taunting him.
However, your point is still well taken -- the idiot Gronk should have been suspended for multiple games -- just as you said: 2-4 or the entire season. His clear intention was to injure. "I was frustrated that I wasn't getting the calls." Poor baby.
Date: Wed Dec 6 12:08:36 2017
User: Snowguy
Message:Not sure I agree with you on that, Buzz. Burfict was a defensive player, a linebacker, going the ball carrier. That calls for a block. I don't see how he can be called a "defenseless player." A clip follows.
Smith-Shuster blew him up, which is what blockers do, in the heat of the play. Yes, he hit him a bit high. That standing over was stupid, and taunts usually are fined. Not ejected or suspended. Same with high hits, which are called unnecessary roughness, given 15 yards and a warning which could lead to an ejection if repeated. But recall that the hit was a block on a defensive, not defenseless, player trying to make a play on a ball carrier.
Unnecessary roughness and taunting? Two separate kinds of infractions. Not necessarily connected.
(But as you say, Gronk? Totally out of bounds, in at least two ways. (Clobbering a defenseless guy, and of course doing it out of bounds.)
As a further aside, Burfict has put LeVeon Bell out of action, Antonio Brown, Roethlisberer, etc. These hits have led to Steelers losses in playoff games. As Brown said later, Karma. (Earlier this season, when the two teams played, Burfict kicked Roosevelt Nix in the head after play had stopped. No repercussions.)
Link: How do they compare? They don't.
Date: Wed Dec 6 15:20:56 2017
User: BuzzClik
Message:Snowy --
The angle of the Smith-Shuster hit in your clip was one I had not seen. This angle shows Smith-Shuster making contact with his shoulder pads at the same time as his helmet. The only angle I had seen previously was a wider shot and rotated about 45 degrees, and it looked like all helmet-to-helmet. Not as devastating in your clop. However, your 0.5 second slow-mo clip does not show Smith-Shuster sprinting across the field to take out Burfict. On balance, maybe the one-games suspension was adequate or maybe (maybe) too much for a first time offender.
The context of the play cannot be ignored. Bengals/Steelers is a blood rivalry, and there was no shortage of "chippiness" all game long. And, Burfict, not unlike James Harrison, is a notorious head hunter; Burfict has been suspended for exactly the kind of hit the Smith-Shuster laid on him.
I think we can agree on two things:
a) Burfict is a filthy player and getting drilled by a kid was karma.
b) Gronk is a neanderthal. Hope he enjoys his bench time.
Date: Wed Dec 6 21:03:57 2017
User: poptart
Message:CIN over CHI
Date: Sun Dec 10 09:40:14 2017
User: Snowguy
Message:Well, tonight is Steelers Round Two with the Ravens, which means it will be a brutal contest filled with lots of hard hitting, and some penalties. But the difference will be that they respect this opponent. Not so with the Bengals these days. (Bengals had 173 yards of penalties last week, which is pretty typical for them.) They could win more games with cleaner play, as was demonstrated in the wild card game when Burfict almost decapitated Antonio, and then PacMan created another stupid penalty that enabled the field goal that lost the game for them.
And, once again, the Pats will be the beneficiaries, playing the Steelers the week following two AFC bloodbaths.
Likely scenario: with both Shazier and his primary replacement out, and of course no JuJu, the Ravens win. Pats go one up by winning next week, and the Ravens are on their way to securing a playoff spot, if not getting the AFC North, which is still possible.
Just give the Pats two years playing the Bengals, Ravens, and maybe even the Steelers in their division. Not exactly Jets, Bills and Dolphins...
Date: Sun Dec 10 10:51:57 2017
User: TNmountainman
Message:We're on pins and needles waiting on your 49ers vs. Texans analysis....
Date: Sun Dec 10 15:22:30 2017
User: CubicSprock
Message:Go Bears!!
Date: Sun Dec 10 17:45:17 2017
User: Snowguy
Message:Looks like pop is hanging by a tread. (Bears rout the Bengals.) And, ironically, it's her own Pats that will likely cut that thread, Monday night.
Ironic.
Date: Sun Dec 10 20:39:38 2017
User: joeygray
Message:Steelers did lose Sazier, but Ravens lost Jimmy Smith, achilles injury, and he was the only guy they had who could even half stay with AB. I'd say the Steelers deserve to be heavily favored.
Date: Sun Dec 10 21:20:29 2017
User: Snowguy
Message:Except their #2 receiver isn't playing. His hit was seen as equal to Gronk's crush of a guy lying on the sideline. JuJu will be really hard to replace, no matter the defense.
Date: Mon Dec 11 09:41:00 2017
User: Snowguy
Message:Shazier has a freakish athleticism. His backup, Matakevich, is a solid tackler. Both were sorely missed. Middle-linebacker-by-committee sucked. The Pats could just have a field day.
Date: Mon Dec 11 11:23:32 2017
User: Snowguy
Message:Sean Spence, who started in place of Shazier, was unemployed six days ago. I knew they had picked him up, but I hadn't realized he wasn't on any team's practice squad. The Ravens attacked the heck out of the area Shazier protects.
Date: Tue Dec 12 21:32:02 2017
User: CubicSprock
Message:well we both went down the same week. good thing we added some tiebreakers!
Date: Mon Dec 18 20:46:54 2017
User: BuzzClik
Message:Snowy did a good job of putting me on the fence about Smith-Schuster's hit on Burfict. His end zone celebration yesterday? His true character was on display. Case closed.
Date: Mon Jan 1 09:47:12 2018
User: Snowguy
Message:As an aside, I was at a museum instead, so I didn't watch this play live, only in re-runs. This NFL-youngest rookie hits hyper drive at the 25 yard line,, then stiff-arms two players on his way to the end zone. Basically the best run-back of a kickoff I have ever seen. He did it all. Moves, speed, and two stiff-arms. Wow. He set some nice Steelers season and game rookie records, too. (265 yards total, this game, and 2 TD's) I've seen quick runners leave guys in the dust with brilliant moves, but JuJu puts two pursuers on the ground.
Link: Run-back for TD
Date: Mon Jan 1 09:50:44 2018
User: Snowguy
Message:It's always nice to see special-teamers get to celebrate a score. Special teams TD celebrations are really few and far between. :)
Date: Mon Jan 1 11:29:09 2018
User: BuzzClik
Message:... but this was THE highlight/celebration from week 17. Defensive tackle Kyle Williams is handed the ball for a short TD run, and 2000 pounds of humanity join in the fun:
Link: Bills' fatties splash down
Date: Mon Jan 1 11:50:04 2018
User: Snowguy
Message:Reminds me of "The Replacements" when the sumo Offensive lineman get a deflected ball, and rumbles for a score, finally carrying some of the opponents on his back. Another couple O-linemen lead the way.
John Madden, as an announcer, blurts that "I love to see a fat guy score." (Why?) "Because then you see a fat guy spike the ball, and then you see fat guys celebrate."
And, of course they did.
Good movie. Far from realistic, but fun to watch. (Here. I found it.)
Link: Fat guy Scores
Date: Mon Jan 1 11:56:46 2018
User: Snowguy
Message:The following clip is of the Washington Sentinels group of pick-up cheerleaders. (All exotic dancers who answered the call.) Most of the time they do much less outrageous "cheers. But this is a cool scene.
"Make her stop shaking her ass for just two minutes!"
Date: Sat Jan 6 18:26:07 2018
User: BuzzClik
Message:Alex Smith and the Chiefs just put on a clinic to close the first half of the AFC Wildcard game. Yikes.
Date: Sat Jan 6 22:18:55 2018
User: Snowguy
Message:And Marcus Mariotta and the Titans put on a clinic to finish out the game, Yikes.
Mariotta even completed a touchdown pass to himself!
Date: Sun Jan 7 00:00:14 2018
User: BuzzClik
Message:It was as if the teams switched uniforms at half time.
Tennessee is waiting to see who will be the team to finish their season.
Date: Sun Jan 7 02:14:12 2018
User: TNmountainman
Message:Uh, wasn't that supposed to be the Rams? Just kidding, and no I'm not really a Titans fan (altho I'm not anti-Titans, either). Hopefully, they'll break someone else's hearts, too - hopefully people in Steel City or Beantown. Just because they've both already had enough wins for a few decades, as established earlier in these discussions. But realistically, not likely...
Date: Fri Jan 19 12:58:48 2018
User: BuzzClik
Message:So Brady missed the past two practices because of an undefined injury to his throwing hand. (It appears to be his thumb.)
Something? Nothing? Drama and a smokescreen from the Patriots?
Date: Sat Jan 20 14:47:59 2018
User: Snowguy
Message:Confusion sowed by Bellichik would not surprise me here. Gets the Jags hopes up, and then Brady's throwing hand "improves." (But that could also be seen as tampering with gambling lines, which could lead to a real problems for Brady.)
Post follow-up