Maybe Trubisky was the better choice of quarterback. With a O Line that is made of lint a quarter back that can at least scramble is the only way to survive.
SPORTS BALL!!! v2.0
- Thread starter Xprimentyl
- Start date
Looks like football is gonna survive the season just fine.
They probably should have bubbled all the teams into one place like the NBA did, especially since they cant really have an audience in person.
But whatever. Every football player that gets Covid and them comes back to playing the very next week or two, further makes the public believe that covid is not that big of a deal and thus continuing the pandemic drama.
Another governor over the weekend issued stay at home orders and no thanksgiving gatherings, but then was caught getting on a plane to go have a thanksgiving gathering.
They probably should have bubbled all the teams into one place like the NBA did, especially since they cant really have an audience in person.
But whatever. Every football player that gets Covid and them comes back to playing the very next week or two, further makes the public believe that covid is not that big of a deal and thus continuing the pandemic drama.
Another governor over the weekend issued stay at home orders and no thanksgiving gatherings, but then was caught getting on a plane to go have a thanksgiving gathering.
This is just one of a huge swath of players on the Covid list (or having actual Covid if you're James Connor or Lamar Jackson or a bunch of others).
Week 12 is looking like a fluster cuck of epic proportions. This doesn't even get into the issue like California banning contact sports for (at least) two weeks (so right now, the 49ers are not allowed to practice or have games in their stadium so the NFL is gonna have to figure out something quick).
Curious to see what The NFL will do here. As of now, the thinking seems to be "Sucks to be you" for teams that are getting decimated by Covid and are required to play anyway but there are a LOT of teams (and probably more importantly to The NFL, a lot of stars) who are currently out this week due to having Covid or having "high risk contact" and are out Sunday...
Governors are going crazy with these random decisions of covid restrictions. Like la county will have a stay at home order effective monday, because cases are rising but theyve been "rising" for 6 fucking months so why now are they trying to flex the lockdown dick again?
I dont get it. This stop/start bullshit isnt helping anyone because people cant keep randomly pausing their lives when shit starts ramping back up again.
As for the NFL they should have centrally located all the teams and bubbled everyone somewhere like Texas. The NBA did it and they played just fine. Fuck the players that protested it bunch whiny millionaires. Fuck em.
Word is my Niners might play "home" games in Arizona...
But yeah, between injuries due to lack of proper preparation and training, the lack of a preseason, the subsequent injuries that ravaged the league, and lastly, the direct impact of actual COVID infections, 2020, however it shakes out, is going down in the books with a LOT of asterisks. Like, can you even really call this a season? Can the ultimate 2020 Super Bowl champs really hoist the Lombardi with a sense of pride and accomplishment? Of course, they can, but winning a season that saw very few, if any, teams truly unimpacted by this pandemic in one way or the other seems cheap; it calls the integrity of the game into question. You could argue that the winning team will likely have been equally impacted by COVID, but you can't argue that the sport as it was meant to be played has NOT been played this year.
EDIT: My Niners ARE hosting “home” games in Arizona...
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One of the most horrific crashes in Formula 1 history occurred on Sunday. “Calamity Jane” Romain Grojean tried to avoid a potential incident on his left by crossing the track to his right, but didn’t notice Daniil Kvyat was there; he clipped Kvyat’s left-front tire, crashed into a barrier at about 140 mph. His car split in HALF, the front half going THROUGH the barrier with Grojean still in it; it burst into flames, and after about 18 seconds, he emerged from the flames with nothing but minor burns on his hands and ankles. It was incredible, a true testament to the engineering and design that has gone into making this sport as safe as possible. You don’t have to be a fan of the sport to watch this in awe; the man literally climbs out of an inferno. It's too soon, but but the requisite Talladega Nights "I'M ON FIRE!!" memes are forthcoming.
How amazing is Patrick Mahomes? He throws passes that get caught and the RECEIVER doesn't even realize it. I'd say the Chiefs were robbed that this wasn't properly reviewed as touchdown as it clearly was, but it's the Chiefs; "robbing" them is akin to stealing $5 from a billionaire.
And with that, the NFL's regular season comes to a close. My Niners did about as well as they could have seeing as the majority of their Super Bowl roster spent most of the season in the ICU, but I'm happy the Saints are in for what's likely to be Drew Brees' last hoorah, and over the moon for the Browns! I don't know how far I can reasonably expect them to go in the postseason, but damn it, those guys were due! Good for them and their die-hard fanbase that have been faithful to the Browns' awful-to-mediocre-ness for decades!
Most satisfactory yesterday was the Cowboys LOSING! The entire NFC East was a fucking joke with no one team out of the four deserving to be in the postseason, but since SOMEBODY had to go, I'm glad it wasn't them.
Also, the outrage of Giants players is palpable! I still can’t think for the life of me why Doug Pederson pulled Jalen Hurts in the 4th quarter outside of simply dicking over a division rival by... losing to a division rival? Wield the weapon you have at hand? I guess it makes about as much sense as anything else the Eagles have done all season, letting Carson Wentz go out there and fail for weeks and weeks before moving to the QB they drafted in the 1st round last year.
Most satisfactory yesterday was the Cowboys LOSING! The entire NFC East was a fucking joke with no one team out of the four deserving to be in the postseason, but since SOMEBODY had to go, I'm glad it wasn't them.
Also, the outrage of Giants players is palpable! I still can’t think for the life of me why Doug Pederson pulled Jalen Hurts in the 4th quarter outside of simply dicking over a division rival by... losing to a division rival? Wield the weapon you have at hand? I guess it makes about as much sense as anything else the Eagles have done all season, letting Carson Wentz go out there and fail for weeks and weeks before moving to the QB they drafted in the 1st round last year.
I'm a little surprised The NFL pulled it off but I suppose when your stance is "You got Covid, sucks to be you!!!", it's a bit easier to just play the games.
Be interesting to see what they do with The Browns here though. The "Sucks to be you!!!!" stance makes a bit more sense in the regular season but it seems...kind of wrong to essentially knee-cap a team in an elimination style playoff like this. But I suppose we all kind of knew this was a possibility and The NFL seems keen on making it happen.
Though the NFL Conspiracy Theorist in me does wonder if they'd have done the same if this were Aaron Rodgers or Patrick Mahomes or one of the big markets...
Be interesting to see what they do with The Browns here though. The "Sucks to be you!!!!" stance makes a bit more sense in the regular season but it seems...kind of wrong to essentially knee-cap a team in an elimination style playoff like this. But I suppose we all kind of knew this was a possibility and The NFL seems keen on making it happen.
Though the NFL Conspiracy Theorist in me does wonder if they'd have done the same if this were Aaron Rodgers or Patrick Mahomes or one of the big markets...
They are reeeaallly trying to avoid their "nuclear option" of delaying a week (or more) worth of games... pushing back the Super Bowl. One of the owners has let slip that option exists, playing the Superbowl up to 4 weeks late if necessary. Scuttlebutt is that each weekend delay would cost the league tens of millions of dollars, maybe hundreds. So they have to weigh that vs player safety...
Ok, I'm back. Couldn't get through that sentence without laughing. They have to weigh that vs the loss of cash if they don't get a Mahomes vs Rogers Superbowl... or a game with 2 huge market teams involved... on time.
Makes total sense in "the year that shall not be named" that the Browns, of ALL teams, would find a way to be the exception that makes it to postseason and the exception that gets screwed out of it. At least the Browns fans have this moment, a nigh two decade playoff drought finally broken. In my heart of hearts, I want a Saints@Browns or Football Team@Browns Super Bowl, but I also want a million dollars in cash, so my expectations are tempered.
^This. I called the Packers@Chiefs Super Bowl WEEKS ago; I know that's not a hot take by any stretch, but now that the playoff pieces are in place, as far as the league's concerned, if it doesn't interfere with the "clash of the titans," fuck it. The Browns and Football Team have the lowest expectations, which is why that Super Bowl would be so damned gratifying and probably would rake in the highest viewership, IMHO, i.e.: everyone expects Mahomes vs Rodgers, but Mayfield vs Smith is SUCH a jucier, heart-warming story; underdog vs underdog??? Take my damn money!! My OSU Buckeyes made the National Championship having played only 5 [regular] games; I was the first to say we didn't deserve a playoff berth, but given the NCAA's loosey-goosey rankings process, they not only made it, they did so decisively against a favored team in Clemson, so despite not eating Wolverine like we love to do in November-December, we're proving our worthiness by [hopefully] riding the Tide; such a better story than the Clemson@'Bama game everyone expected.
Jake from State Farm can call the plays! Rodgers and Mahomes have been looking for ways to thank him for the Rodgers Rate and the Patrick Price so what better way than this?!?!
Seriously, if the SB ends up being Rodgers and Mahomes, Jake basically HAS to be there in some capacity. This is brilliant. At the very least, Jake should do the coin toss. I'm officially more excited about THAT than the actual game, its outcome or any teams playing in it.
I live and work in Chiefs country. And I'm in media and have an increasing sports media role recently here locally. And I can't badmouth a Mahomes vs Rodgers Super Bowl in 2020... scoreboard, they are just the best teams in each league.
But no question would I like to see Cleveland overcome the odds and make a run. COVID handed them a giant kick in the balls at the worst time. That's a great underdog story. And Smith... who in their right mind could cheer against Smith. That isn't just comeback of the year, that's epic comeback, maybe one of the best ever. And the Team making a run the same year they ditch their name, symbolically the timing couldn't be any better.
Anyone catch Nickelodeon’s first broadcast of an NFL playoff game last weekend, Chicago Bears vs. New Orleans Saints? It was basically a normal broadcast with professional commentators, but with the added flare of a couple of teenaged kids (I’m assuming they’re Nickelodeon famous) peppering in kid-focused commentary both from the booth and the sidelines. A graphic showed the end zones getting “slimed” whenever a touchdown was made. Also, whenever the talk got to technical, the commentators would explain in simplified language what was going on, i.e.: when Mitch Trubisky was benched, they compared it to being “grounded,” or a graphic of Little Sheldon popping up to explain what a holding penalty was.
At the end of the game, they awarded their own “NVP” (Nick’s [most] Valuable Player) award; kids voted online and awarded it to Trubisky; goes to show how far you can trust a kid. It was cute enough for a gimmick, but thankfully, it was also broadcast normally on other channels. I doubt it’ll happen, but if Nickelodeon ever gets exclusivity to a game, they’ll be [more] riots in the streets by serious football fans.
That said, it ultimately felt highly unnecessary and condescending. Given the existence of pee-wee leagues, children of Nickelodeon age are already involved in sports; this effectively “dumbing down” of a thing some children already understand felt really cheap. I suppose it could rope in kids who aren’t into sports yet, but that’s a lot of money invested for what’s likely to be little return; bagging NFL rights has to be to the tune of millions…
At the end of the game, they awarded their own “NVP” (Nick’s [most] Valuable Player) award; kids voted online and awarded it to Trubisky; goes to show how far you can trust a kid. It was cute enough for a gimmick, but thankfully, it was also broadcast normally on other channels. I doubt it’ll happen, but if Nickelodeon ever gets exclusivity to a game, they’ll be [more] riots in the streets by serious football fans.
That said, it ultimately felt highly unnecessary and condescending. Given the existence of pee-wee leagues, children of Nickelodeon age are already involved in sports; this effectively “dumbing down” of a thing some children already understand felt really cheap. I suppose it could rope in kids who aren’t into sports yet, but that’s a lot of money invested for what’s likely to be little return; bagging NFL rights has to be to the tune of millions…
I wouldn't be surprised if Nick (especially since it wasn't an exclusive broadcast) didn't get a pretty good bargain out of the NFL on the deal. And probably made decent bank, NFL football ad availability basically sells itself out. Every game at every broadcast level, hell I'm in radio and there's businesses in a waiting list to be local advertisers of NFL broadcasts. The account executive (salesman) who handles our NFL broadcasts hardest job is telling potential customers we don't have any more availability for sponsorship and we'll get back to them if any advertisers drop out.
And what would the NFL get, I'm guessing they are looking at some trends. Talk of CTE's and concussions has parents pulling kids out of peewee leagues in droves. The panic is dying down, but then COVID hit... there's gonna be some lean recruiting years on the horizon. And when the talent pool is drier, the product on the field can suffer.
And Xprimentyl, you're from Texas. The peewee football leagues are very much "a thing" there, that they aren't in a lot of other places. Btw, that's not a knock at Texas, you do football right. Here in Kansas for example my little suburban hometown still doesn't have organized youth football until you hit middle school. A few towns over they started one up years ago. The coaches use drills designed by the middle and high school coaches and use a playbook that teaches them the system the middle and high school coaches use, something they learned from studying a system in use in Texas. The result... they destroy us. They are in the hunt for state championships every year. But it doesn't just make them better, it makes them more disciplined and even safer and less apt to injure others. And that's measurable; they have a large team compared to their neighbors, and almost every year have fewer injuries.
And in a way, that's what stuff like this Nickelodeon experiment is probably meant to try and preserve. I don't see things changing in Texas, and agree that probably it was talking down to kids there. But in a lot of other places concussion, CTE, then COVID has really hurt efforts to start up peewee football. And in some instances, it has hurt or destroyed peewee teams and leagues already in place. Maybe for once the NFL was looking to try something to see if it would help in the long term. Ultimately I don't think their bottom line is in any danger anytime soon, but doing something now could help much further down the line.
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That actually makes a LOT of sense; I never for a second thought about the impacts of COVID and the recent CTE scare on youth leagues and how this stunt might have been an effort by the NFL to mitigate their impact on future talent/interest. Now that I think on it, I could see some helicopter moms being reassured that their precious little angel could play football when their kid’s favorite Nick stars and Nate Burleson’s dulcet tones are playfully talking about how long it took them to get slime out of their hair while 22 men are trying to kill each other on the screen. (A part of me REALLY wanted to see how they’d react if on-field mics picked up some of the more “colorful” speech we’ve caught during normal broadcasts since the absence of crowd noise! XD)
And for the record, I’m from Ohio; only moved to Texas in 2010. But you are correct; my perception of the proliferation of football is largely tainted by its proliferation in my own life. I grew up in Columbus, an OSU Buckeye fan living about an hour southwest of the Football Hall of Fame and bookended by two pro teams in the Browns and Bengals. Transplanted to Texas where even daycares have football teams, high schools have stadiums that rival some colleges and if you manage to go a day without hearing SOMEONE rattle on about how “great” the Cowboys are, you must have been in a coma. What’s “obviously everywhere” for me isn’t the case for all.
So yeah, I guess I’m on board. Nickelodeon’s version of the game was largely inoffensive and has its merits as you’ve shown me. As long as the “real” options stay available elsewhere, hell, why stop at Nick?
Oxygen: Have all female commentators; they can talk about “feelings,” players’ butts in those tight pants and their own menstrual cycles.
History Channel: broadcast classic games whilst someone from NPR makes play-by-play parallels between the game and WWII.
Food Network: broadcast from the concession stand with color commentary in the bathroom.
MTV:… No, I have SOME dignity.
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That Cleveland v Kansas City ending gave me half a chub...
I'd have loved to see The Browns break through but man, what an ending!
I'd have loved to see The Browns break through but man, what an ending!
What would have given me a chub would have been the refs calling that blatant targeting penalty when the Chiefs' Sorensen clearly led with the crown of his helmet to initiate that desperate goal line stop against the Browns' Higgins who subsequently fumbled the ball into the end zone. Even my girlfriend watched the replay and asked: "can you do that? Hit a guy in the head, helmet first?" She literally watched this one play and saw everything that defines the targeting rule she didn't know even existed, yet the professional refs at the game somehow didn't see it; they were too boned up to call an antiquated and rarely used touchback penalty. Had the Chiefs won by 25 or 30, I'd say fine, one blown call in a blow out, but given they only won by fucking FIVE, I think missing a call that would've given the Browns a 1st and goal and game momentum definitely changed the outcome. It was unfair; brought an undue end to the Browns well-deserved, well-fought season; that it was in favor of the Chiefs of all teams just makes it that much more bitter. The refs have all season to figure out their jobs; I'm tired of them making it all the way to the post season to fuck it up royally.
Also the Saints lost, Drew Brees is likely retiring and I am sad. Not a good weekend of football for me. All that's left are a bunch of teams I either am indifferent to or don't like.
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Huh, that's why the Patriots have a team rule to not extend the ball into the endzone.