NFL

nymr83
Dec 28 2018 08:55 PM

Congrats to Teddy Bridgewater, who will be starting for the Saints on Sunday (they locked up #1 seed and are resting Drew Brees) - I liked him when the Jets picked him up as a project and then flipped him in a smart deal after he showed he was healthy in camp. Nice to see him finally getting a chance to PLAY again after that sucky injury

whippoorwill
Dec 29 2018 08:55 AM
Re: NFL

Speaking of NFL, how are you Giants fans enjoying Barkley? He's a gem

vtmet7
Dec 29 2018 05:03 PM
Re: NFL

Since I have worked Sundays for most of my adult life, I stopped paying attention to football around the end of Emmett Smith and Troy Aikman's careers (yes, I was a Cowboys fan growing up)...

However, I think that it's pretty cool that former Mets pitcher Pat Mahomes had a kid that is now one of the brightest young stars of professional football...also named Pat Mahomes, starting QB of the KC Chiefs

nymr83
Dec 30 2018 07:00 PM
Re: NFL

Todd Bowles rightfully fired! But the architect of the shit roster hasn't been yet, so whats the point?

Fman99
Dec 31 2018 05:40 AM
Re: NFL

I won't miss Bowles. The play calling has been mostly baffling for several years and I believe that's on him.

Frayed Knot
Jan 02 2019 07:50 AM
Re: NFL - 2019

Astros fans (correctly) bitch about the fact that they're forever getting the shit starting times during post-season baseball except when, now that they're in the AL, they're matched up against the Yanx

or Sawx.

Well now shift over to the NFL where for the third consecutive year the early slot on Saturday -- long designated as the dumping ground for TV's least favorite starting time in football's 1st round of

playoffs -- is being assigned to the game the Houston Texans are hosting, in this case vs the Colts. And of course what makes it even more infuriating for Houstonians is that you know the league (the

NFL, not MLB) will go out of their way to give Dallas the best slot each time. It's enough to make one living in what I believe is somewhere around the 4th to 6th biggest market in the country more

than a bit paranoid.

Francesa used to talk about how the worst large cities in this country for pro sports were Atlanta, Miami, and Houston -- and I think he's probably right about that (blind squirrel, acorn, etc.)

and I'm sure also that the TV people have the numbers to back up that decision and we know that's what rules in every sport and particularly so in football.

seawolf17
Jan 02 2019 08:46 AM
Re: NFL

I named my fantasy football team "It's Still Baseball Season" and started 1-6. After the Series, I changed the team name to "It's Almost Baseball Season"... and went 7-1 the rest of the way and won the league championship.

You can't predict football, Susan.

Frayed Knot
Jan 06 2019 06:00 PM
Re: NFL

This weekend saw road teams win three of the four opening round games which pushes the home/road record in first round games over the past ten seasons to a whopping 21-19

Do you suppose that, even if they were made aware of this little factoid, that knowing it would stop the chattering class from telling us how all-out important garnering home field is?

Yeah, me neither.

ashie62
Jan 06 2019 06:20 PM
Re: NFL

What's pro football? Give me hoops

nymr83
Jan 06 2019 10:01 PM
Re: NFL

Frayed Knot wrote:

This weekend saw road teams win three of the four opening round games which pushes the home/road record in first round games over the past ten seasons to a whopping 21-19

Do you suppose that, even if they were made aware of this little factoid, that knowing it would stop the chattering class from telling us how all-out important garnering home field is?

Yeah, me neither.

this is in part because division winners get a home game even if they aren't as good as a wild card team that finished 2nd in a much tougher division.

batmagadanleadoff
Jan 07 2019 09:21 AM
Re: NFL

Aren't as good? Like anybody can discern anything when a 9 win team plays a 12 win team. Out of a 16 game season schedule. 16 games. That's two and a half weeks of a baseball season.

Nobody knows shit.

nymr83
Jan 07 2019 11:45 AM
Re: NFL

If that were true you'd expect essentially random records and yet there is strong correlation from year to year and the pre-season over/unders are far more accurate than a coin flip.

batmagadanleadoff
Jan 07 2019 11:54 AM
Re: NFL

=nymr83 post_id=769 time=1546886721 user_id=54]
If that were true you'd expect essentially random records and yet there is strong correlation from year to year and the pre-season over/unders are far more accurate than a coin flip.

I dont know what you mean by coin flips and random records. I'd be more comfortable picking the winner of a game between a 2-12 team and a 10-4 team. But playoff football between two good teams separated by two or three teams over barely more than a dozen games is a crapshoot. More so when these are one and dones. Perhaps the oddsmakers fare better overall, when you include the games between the bottom barrel teams and the elites.

Frayed Knot
Jan 07 2019 02:15 PM
Re: NFL

Edited 1 time(s), most recently on Jan 20 2019 08:22 PM

You're both pretty much right here.

The higher seeded division winner isn't always a better team than a particular WC and the whole concept of 'better' team is fluid anyway when it's based on nothing more than a game difference in the standings or sometimes just on a few arcane and essentially meaningless tie-breaking procedures.

The point I was trying to not-so-subtly make was that these winter sports leagues with their expanded playoffs, along with the networks in partnership with them, work very hard to convince us that gaining even one slot in the seeding process is of vital importance for the one extra home game it might get a team because otherwise they'd have to admit that many of the late season games they're in the process of selling you are actually of scant importance (or in the case of the NBA that the last three months are essentially window dressing).

And while of course I'd rather my team have the home field than not, I'm of the opinion that HFA is the single most over-rated sports topic of the 21st century.

When the home team wins the location is credited--sometimes to the exclusion of all other factors--as the reason why but at the same time it's ignored if and when they lose.

I doubt most of the talking heads even know about the virtually 50/50 H/R split and I strongly suspect they'd not only ignore it if they did but will continue to go on touting iHF as a major factor because it in their interest to do so.

I suspect (though didn't look it up) that the next round of games would favor the HT more often over the same time period than this near-even (52.5%) split for Round one because now you bring in the teams which often are demonstrably superior into the mix AND you give them the home field AND they're given an extra week of rest. And obviously gaining the better slot to get your team into either the 1st or 2nd seed IS of vital importance because it gives you that Bye into the next round. It's the differences in those other four that are dubious at best.

nymr83
Jan 07 2019 03:05 PM
Re: NFL

538 answers the question of the value of homefield

[url]https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/a-home-playoff-game-is-a-big-advantage-unless-you-play-hockey/

HOME TEAM Win %

Regular Season:

NFL 57.1%

NBA 59.9%

MLB 54.0%

NHL 55.1%

PLAYOFFS

NFL 64.7 %

NBA 64.5 %

MLB 54.2 %

NHL 55.3%

Frayed Knot
Jan 09 2019 07:05 AM
Re: NFL

The other thing about home field advantage is that the frequency of sell-outs and/or the decibel level of the stadium is presumed to provide most in not all of the edge the team gets from playing at home.

In the NFL this means that Seattle and Kansas City are often cited as the toughest places to visit based the noise (actual or perceived) provided by the home crowd. That the Chiefs last won a home playoff

game 25 years ago yesterday and are 0-6 at home since then doesn't keep this mantra from being touted to this day as an extra edge that they get by securing the home field.

Frayed Knot
Jan 21 2019 02:02 PM
Re: NFL

And speaking of Super Bowl III (we were just recently in some thread or another) that was the last time that the SB teams represented the same cities as the recently completed WS.

Those cities were, of course, NYC & Baltimore (NYC 2 - Balmer 0)

And now the Patriots will take on the Rams just three months after the Red Sox and Dodgers met.

At least I think the Rams play in LA these days (tough to keep track sometimes) and their new stadium is going to at least be in the LA area while the Pats play sorta, kinda near Boston.

kcmets
Jan 21 2019 02:20 PM
Re: NFL

That NYC/Baltimore thing is a fun fact.

As for yesterday, I still have a case of red ass over that blatant non call

of pass interference in the Saints' loss.

Who cares I guess, so long as my Super Bowl boxes produce.

Frayed Knot
Jan 21 2019 02:53 PM
Re: NFL

=kcmets post_id=1496 time=1548105639 user_id=53]
That NYC/Baltimore thing is a fun fact.

And then, just three months after the Jets/Colts Soup Bone, the Knicks were knocking off the Baltimore Bullets in the playoffs (4-3) although that was merely in the 1st round so not quite the same thing.

Don't think the Ranger Puckers met up against the Skipjacks that year but I'll have to do more research and get back to you. on that one.
As for yesterday, I still have a case of red ass over that blatant non call of pass interference in the Saints' loss.

Kind of ruined what were otherwise two pretty good games.

The league is already talking about heads rolling over this, not just refs themselves but higher ups also.

And this will lead to more calls for P.I. replay reviews which crosses a dangerous line into judgement call reviews essentially with no limits.

Who cares I guess, so long as my Super Bowl boxes produce.

As always.

stevejrogers
Jan 22 2019 11:07 AM
Re: NFL

Frayed Knot wrote:

And speaking of Super Bowl III (we were just recently in some thread or another) that was the last time that the SB teams represented the same cities as the recently completed WS.

Those cities were, of course, NYC & Baltimore (NYC 2 - Balmer 0)

Except 1969 was reversed. Super Bowl III was on Janurary 12th, of course Mets-O's were that October.

Frayed Knot
Jan 22 2019 01:21 PM
Re: NFL

I often get confused by the winter sports and their seasons split across two calendar years. I can never remember if it was the '69 season or the SB which was in '69

Back to the game the other day, a New Orleans attorney has filed a suit against the NFL over the non-call and therefore the result of the NOS/LAR game.

Yeah, good luck with that one.

ashie62
Feb 07 2019 09:16 PM
Re: NFL

NFL? Just don't watch

Lefty Specialist
Feb 08 2019 06:02 AM
Re: NFL

Glad it's over so I can focus on baseball.

nymr83
Feb 10 2019 07:45 PM
Re: NFL

The Alliance of American Football started playing games this weekend, our old friend Christian Hackenberg was there... going 10 for 27 for 87 yards with a pick. ouch.

https://www.si.com/nfl/2019/02/10/christian-hackenberg-former-jets-qb-aaf-debut

Vic Sage
Feb 11 2019 03:11 PM
Re: NFL

he even sucks in a semi-pro league!

way to go, Macagnan! [CROSSOUT]Everybody[/CROSSOUT] Nobody saw that coming!