NFL 2014 - Official Thread

I agree. When the idea was fresh and the bodies were still fresh and everyone had bought into it, it worked like a charm. Now I think that
Chip needs to change up the pace a bit and that could be confusing to opposing defenses. When you consider that the Eag defense was on the field for 42 minutes yesterday, they didn't do a bad job at all. If they had been able to punch it in from the one or two yard line and win the game, it would have been an embarrassing victory.

Mongrel wrote:I agree. When the idea was fresh and the bodies were still fresh and everyone had bought into it, it worked like a charm. Now I think that
Chip needs to change up the pace a bit and that could be confusing to opposing defenses. When you consider that the Eag defense was on the field for 42 minutes yesterday, they didn't do a bad job at all. If they had been able to punch it in from the one or two yard line and win the game, it would have been an embarrassing victory.

I don't have any insight or local perspective, but it wouldn't surprise me if Kelly's act wears thin after a few seasons. Kind of like how people are getting Harbaugh fatigue out in San Fran.

I can't believe how bad the Patriots looked on Monday. This scares me a bit for their Sunday night game hosting the Bengals. They can't be that bad, and I certainly don't want the Bengals overconfident. I still hold the Bengals as mentally weak and I'm not sure they will bring the right focus if they start believing their own hype. Of course maybe I'm wrong about the Bengals. I can't imagine Marvin Lewis just became a genius motivator over one offseason.

I would welcome an end to the Patriots dynasty. That's one team I wouldn't want to play in the playoffs, regardless of current form. They'll still probably win their division since it's a dumpster fire of ineptness.

The Bengals have obviously failed in every playoff game since I was in high school, but they have an opportunity to do something they haven't done in awhile. Secure a first round bye. They probably could have in 2005, but they tried resting starters and lost the last couple games to stay at 11 wins. I want them playing hard for every game, regardless of the perceived level of importance at the end of the year, or to "rest starters." Momentum is real.

I watched some of that Patriots game. It looks like their O line is as ineffective as the Eagle's. You don't correct that situation in a couple of days so I think that the Bengals can beat them. I also watched the Ravens game and it looks like they got their offensive line together and they had no problem running the ball all game with their alternating RB's neither of whom is named "Rice". The Eagles got their soph RT back this week after a four game suspension so they should be a little better up front. I'll be betting on the Bengals this weekend.

The Patriots really haven't been that good a team for a number of years. Brady just isn't the guy that won Super Bowl's anymore, the line play is poor on both sides of the ball, they don't have receivers other then Gronkowski, so it isn't surprising Kansas City, with many second and third string players, could run over them in Kansas City. NE doesn't have the personnel. Their formula of letting good players go to free agency requires great compensating moves they've failed at for some time.

I don't really watch football but those are my thoughts. So it won't really test our Bengals except mentally and it will be interesting to see how they handle that. What's most important right now is that we don't have injuries pile up. There will be bumps in the road.

Lorenzzo wrote:The Patriots really haven't been that good a team for a number of years. Brady just isn't the guy that won Super Bowl's anymore, the line play is poor on both sides of the ball, they don't have receivers other then Gronkowski, so it isn't surprising Kansas City, with many second and third string players, could run over them in Kansas City. NE doesn't have the personnel. Their formula of letting good players go to free agency requires great compensating moves they've failed at for some time.

I don't really watch football but those are my thoughts.  So it won't really test our Bengals except mentally and it will be interesting to see how they handle that. What's most important right now is that we don't have injuries pile up. There will be bumps in the road.

Who do people in Utah generally root for? Niners? Cardinals?

Injuries are already piling up, but hopefully the bye week has everyone back 100%.

Maybe the Patriots will be like the Rams right after their Greatest Show on Turf years. The Rams went from being unstoppable to garbage in no time, and they haven't got it back since. It took Vegas a solid season and a half before they could accurately set the lines with St. Louis as underdogs.

Horseballs wrote:

Lorenzzo wrote:The Patriots really haven't been that good a team for a number of years. Brady just isn't the guy that won Super Bowl's anymore, the line play is poor on both sides of the ball, they don't have receivers other then Gronkowski, so it isn't surprising Kansas City, with many second and third string players, could run over them in Kansas City. NE doesn't have the personnel. Their formula of letting good players go to free agency requires great compensating moves they've failed at for some time.

I don't really watch football but those are my thoughts.  So it won't really test our Bengals except mentally and it will be interesting to see how they handle that. What's most important right now is that we don't have injuries pile up. There will be bumps in the road.

Who do people in Utah generally root for?  Niners?  Cardinals?  

Injuries are already piling up, but hopefully the bye week has everyone back 100%.  

Never run into a Cardinal fan anywhere, ever, including back when I had some business in Goodyear, AZ near the stadium.

There are Denver and Seattle fans in Park City, which is a melting pot, with some Niner fans mixed in. The natives are more into U of Utah particularly since their entrance into the PAC 12.

But by and large there's little allegiance, the folks are more into their own sports. Although it is a sad day here with the news of two ski gods dying yesterday on Mt San Lorenzo. Coincidence...not joking.

Lorenzzo wrote:

Horseballs wrote:

Lorenzzo wrote:The Patriots really haven't been that good a team for a number of years. Brady just isn't the guy that won Super Bowl's anymore, the line play is poor on both sides of the ball, they don't have receivers other then Gronkowski, so it isn't surprising Kansas City, with many second and third string players, could run over them in Kansas City. NE doesn't have the personnel. Their formula of letting good players go to free agency requires great compensating moves they've failed at for some time.

I don't really watch football but those are my thoughts.  So it won't really test our Bengals except mentally and it will be interesting to see how they handle that. What's most important right now is that we don't have injuries pile up. There will be bumps in the road.

Who do people in Utah generally root for?  Niners?  Cardinals?  

Injuries are already piling up, but hopefully the bye week has everyone back 100%.  

Never run into a Cardinal fan anywhere, ever, including back when I had some business in Goodyear, AZ near the stadium.

There are Denver and Seattle fans in Park City, which is a melting pot, with some Niner fans mixed in. The natives are more into U of Utah particularly since their entrance into the PAC 12.

But by and large there's little allegiance, the folks are more into their own sports. Although it is a sad day here with the news of two ski gods dying yesterday on Mt San Lorenzo. Coincidence...not joking.

Right, Denver makes the most sense.
College sports seem to be more about where you attended than where you live. Pro sports seem to be more about where you live. I know tons of people in Cincinnati who grew up elsewhere, and the majority have adopted the local pro teams, but nobody roots for UC, OSU, Xavier, etc. unless they attended.

The exception is Kentucky. Every slack-jawed yokel is in head to toe blue even though they can't read and intrinsically hate people with anything more than a high school education.

Horseballs wrote:

Lorenzzo wrote:

Horseballs wrote:

Lorenzzo wrote:The Patriots really haven't been that good a team for a number of years. Brady just isn't the guy that won Super Bowl's anymore, the line play is poor on both sides of the ball, they don't have receivers other then Gronkowski, so it isn't surprising Kansas City, with many second and third string players, could run over them in Kansas City. NE doesn't have the personnel. Their formula of letting good players go to free agency requires great compensating moves they've failed at for some time.

I don't really watch football but those are my thoughts.  So it won't really test our Bengals except mentally and it will be interesting to see how they handle that. What's most important right now is that we don't have injuries pile up. There will be bumps in the road.

Who do people in Utah generally root for?  Niners?  Cardinals?  

Injuries are already piling up, but hopefully the bye week has everyone back 100%.  

Never run into a Cardinal fan anywhere, ever, including back when I had some business in Goodyear, AZ near the stadium.

There are Denver and Seattle fans in Park City, which is a melting pot, with some Niner fans mixed in. The natives are more into U of Utah particularly since their entrance into the PAC 12.

But by and large there's little allegiance, the folks are more into their own sports. Although it is a sad day here with the news of two ski gods dying yesterday on Mt San Lorenzo. Coincidence...not joking.

Right, Denver makes the most sense.  
College sports seem to be more about where you attended than where you live.  Pro sports seem to be more about where you live.  I know tons of people in Cincinnati who grew up elsewhere, and the majority have adopted the local pro teams, but nobody roots for UC, OSU, Xavier, etc. unless they attended.  

The exception is Kentucky.  Every slack-jawed yokel is in head to toe blue even though they can't read and intrinsically hate people with anything more than a high school education.      

You have the toothless here involved as well. To Utah's credit success is actually admired contrary to our national culture where we're supposed to apologize and be victimized for it.

I think it has something to do with not having pro sports teams.

Embarrassing performance by the Bengals under the bright lights. I expected NE to have some pride and play a great game, possibly even win, but I had pushed my chips all in on the Bengals. That was a character-defining game and the Bengals proved they are still the team that gets rolled when the stage is big. The good news is that I didn't stay up late to watch the inevitable conclusion. If you've watched as many Bengals games as I have, you can get a good feel as to how the game is going to end up after a couple possessions.
They played scared on defense, and even borderline stupid. They refused to rush more than 4 guys and had LBs covering Gronk for the entire first half at least. Probably the whole game, but I didn't stay up. Everyone knows the blueprint to beating the Patriots. Get to Brady early and he can lose confidence. The Bengals chose to let him sit back in a perfect pocket and throw darts. Interesting strategy.
Dalton once again overthrew many passes, and there were a few critical drops early. I hope this Bengals team can exhibit some of the pride that NE did and destroy the Panthers next week.

Horseballs wrote:Embarrassing performance by the Bengals under the bright lights.  I expected NE to have some pride and play a great game, possibly even win, but I had pushed my chips all in on the Bengals.  That was a character-defining game and the Bengals proved they are still the team that gets rolled when the stage is big.  The good news is that I didn't stay up late to watch the inevitable conclusion.  If you've watched as many Bengals games as I have, you can get a good feel as to how the game is going to end up after a couple possessions.  
They played scared on defense, and even borderline stupid.  They refused to rush more than 4 guys and had LBs covering Gronk for the entire first half at least.  Probably the whole game, but I didn't stay up.  Everyone knows the blueprint to beating the Patriots.  Get to Brady early and he can lose confidence.  The Bengals chose to let him sit back in a perfect pocket and throw darts.  Interesting strategy.  
Dalton once again overthrew many passes, and there were a few critical drops early.  I hope this Bengals team can exhibit some of the pride that NE did and destroy the Panthers next week.  

I would tend to discount last night's game, seems like every team in the league has had that kind of performance for at least one game so far. NE solved some things for the first time this season, particularly their O line. That makes them hard to play at home after an embarassing loss. But you do take pause as to the big game issue, particularly the coaching and D line. I haven't seen a run defense get beaten on the corners so much in like 20 years.

Dalton is maturing, he didn't play that badly with everyone around him having a bad game. Marvin Lewis seems like one of those guys top coaches love to play. NE had a short week to prepare. My only real reservations are coaching and the defense. They do have a key guy coming back and every team has weaknesses so it's coaching. The other weaknesses can be overcome.

You get the feelin Carroll, Belichick, Gruden and others would kick ass with our team.

Lorenzzo wrote:

Horseballs wrote:Embarrassing performance by the Bengals under the bright lights.  I expected NE to have some pride and play a great game, possibly even win, but I had pushed my chips all in on the Bengals.  That was a character-defining game and the Bengals proved they are still the team that gets rolled when the stage is big.  The good news is that I didn't stay up late to watch the inevitable conclusion.  If you've watched as many Bengals games as I have, you can get a good feel as to how the game is going to end up after a couple possessions.  
They played scared on defense, and even borderline stupid.  They refused to rush more than 4 guys and had LBs covering Gronk for the entire first half at least.  Probably the whole game, but I didn't stay up.  Everyone knows the blueprint to beating the Patriots.  Get to Brady early and he can lose confidence.  The Bengals chose to let him sit back in a perfect pocket and throw darts.  Interesting strategy.  
Dalton once again overthrew many passes, and there were a few critical drops early.  I hope this Bengals team can exhibit some of the pride that NE did and destroy the Panthers next week.  

I would tend to discount last night's game, seems like every team in the league has had that kind of performance for at least one game so far.  NE solved some things for the first time this season, particularly their O line.  That makes them hard to play at home after an embarassing loss.  But you do take pause as to the big game issue, particularly the coaching and D line.  I haven't seen a run defense get beaten on the corners so much in like 20 years.

Dalton is maturing, he didn't play that badly with everyone around him having a bad game.  Marvin Lewis seems like one of those guys top coaches love to play.  NE had a short week to prepare.  My only real reservations are coaching and the defense.  They do have a key guy coming back and every team has weaknesses so it's coaching.  The other weaknesses can be overcome.

You get the feelin Carroll, Belichick, Gruden and others would kick ass with our team.

You're dead on about Marvin Lewis. I've actually heard he is an excellent talent evaluator, and the last half dozen or so drafts have been pretty good. I'd like to see him get a front office job and get the hell off the sideline forever.
I think John Gruden would be perfect. He seems like a bit of a Phil Jackson. Give him a loaded underperforming team and he will win. Same as he did in Tampa, taking over for the predecessor for Marvin Lewis in uninspiring, underachieving head coaches - Tony Dungy.
Dalton played better than he has in either the playoffs or other primetime games, but they still lost by several touchdowns.
The Patriots played the type of game I wish the Bengals were capable of playing. Defending their house and breaking the spirit of the other team with dominance across all phases. The Bengals need to wreck either Pittsburgh or Baltimore at home in embarrassing fashion. They've been on the receiving end of these beatdowns forever.

I find it hard to tell whether or not Canelo Dalton is wearing his helmet.

Given that hair color, he would be popular in Baltimore if he played baseball.

I lost money on the Bengals last night. I kind of figured that the Pats would conjure up a real ass-reamer and they sure did. No other team could have beat them last night.

Horseballs wrote:

Lorenzzo wrote:

Horseballs wrote:Embarrassing performance by the Bengals under the bright lights.  I expected NE to have some pride and play a great game, possibly even win, but I had pushed my chips all in on the Bengals.  That was a character-defining game and the Bengals proved they are still the team that gets rolled when the stage is big.  The good news is that I didn't stay up late to watch the inevitable conclusion.  If you've watched as many Bengals games as I have, you can get a good feel as to how the game is going to end up after a couple possessions.  
They played scared on defense, and even borderline stupid.  They refused to rush more than 4 guys and had LBs covering Gronk for the entire first half at least.  Probably the whole game, but I didn't stay up.  Everyone knows the blueprint to beating the Patriots.  Get to Brady early and he can lose confidence.  The Bengals chose to let him sit back in a perfect pocket and throw darts.  Interesting strategy.  
Dalton once again overthrew many passes, and there were a few critical drops early.  I hope this Bengals team can exhibit some of the pride that NE did and destroy the Panthers next week.  

I would tend to discount last night's game, seems like every team in the league has had that kind of performance for at least one game so far.  NE solved some things for the first time this season, particularly their O line.  That makes them hard to play at home after an embarassing loss.  But you do take pause as to the big game issue, particularly the coaching and D line.  I haven't seen a run defense get beaten on the corners so much in like 20 years.

Dalton is maturing, he didn't play that badly with everyone around him having a bad game.  Marvin Lewis seems like one of those guys top coaches love to play.  NE had a short week to prepare.  My only real reservations are coaching and the defense.  They do have a key guy coming back and every team has weaknesses so it's coaching.  The other weaknesses can be overcome.

You get the feelin Carroll, Belichick, Gruden and others would kick ass with our team.

You're dead on about Marvin Lewis.  I've actually heard he is an excellent talent evaluator, and the last half dozen or so drafts have been pretty good.  I'd like to see him get a front office job and get the hell off the sideline forever.  
I think John Gruden would be perfect.  He seems like a bit of a Phil Jackson.  Give him a loaded underperforming team and he will win.  Same as he did in Tampa, taking over for the predecessor for Marvin Lewis in uninspiring, underachieving head coaches - Tony Dungy.  
Dalton played better than he has in either the playoffs or other primetime games, but they still lost by several touchdowns.  
The Patriots played the type of game I wish the Bengals were capable of playing.  Defending their house and breaking the spirit of the other team with dominance across all phases.  The Bengals need to wreck either Pittsburgh or Baltimore at home in embarrassing fashion.  They've been on the receiving end of these beatdowns forever.  

If the Bengals are short on emotion, as it's seemed when I've watched them, it isn't surprising as they aren't gonna get it from Marvin. Maybe this will light a fire? Do they have someone in the Ray Lewis genre?

Lorenzzo wrote:

Horseballs wrote:

Lorenzzo wrote:

Horseballs wrote:Embarrassing performance by the Bengals under the bright lights.  I expected NE to have some pride and play a great game, possibly even win, but I had pushed my chips all in on the Bengals.  That was a character-defining game and the Bengals proved they are still the team that gets rolled when the stage is big.  The good news is that I didn't stay up late to watch the inevitable conclusion.  If you've watched as many Bengals games as I have, you can get a good feel as to how the game is going to end up after a couple possessions.  
They played scared on defense, and even borderline stupid.  They refused to rush more than 4 guys and had LBs covering Gronk for the entire first half at least.  Probably the whole game, but I didn't stay up.  Everyone knows the blueprint to beating the Patriots.  Get to Brady early and he can lose confidence.  The Bengals chose to let him sit back in a perfect pocket and throw darts.  Interesting strategy.  
Dalton once again overthrew many passes, and there were a few critical drops early.  I hope this Bengals team can exhibit some of the pride that NE did and destroy the Panthers next week.  

I would tend to discount last night's game, seems like every team in the league has had that kind of performance for at least one game so far.  NE solved some things for the first time this season, particularly their O line.  That makes them hard to play at home after an embarassing loss.  But you do take pause as to the big game issue, particularly the coaching and D line.  I haven't seen a run defense get beaten on the corners so much in like 20 years.

Dalton is maturing, he didn't play that badly with everyone around him having a bad game.  Marvin Lewis seems like one of those guys top coaches love to play.  NE had a short week to prepare.  My only real reservations are coaching and the defense.  They do have a key guy coming back and every team has weaknesses so it's coaching.  The other weaknesses can be overcome.

You get the feelin Carroll, Belichick, Gruden and others would kick ass with our team.

You're dead on about Marvin Lewis.  I've actually heard he is an excellent talent evaluator, and the last half dozen or so drafts have been pretty good.  I'd like to see him get a front office job and get the hell off the sideline forever.  
I think John Gruden would be perfect.  He seems like a bit of a Phil Jackson.  Give him a loaded underperforming team and he will win.  Same as he did in Tampa, taking over for the predecessor for Marvin Lewis in uninspiring, underachieving head coaches - Tony Dungy.  
Dalton played better than he has in either the playoffs or other primetime games, but they still lost by several touchdowns.  
The Patriots played the type of game I wish the Bengals were capable of playing.  Defending their house and breaking the spirit of the other team with dominance across all phases.  The Bengals need to wreck either Pittsburgh or Baltimore at home in embarrassing fashion.  They've been on the receiving end of these beatdowns forever.  

If the Bengals are short on emotion, as it's seemed when I've watched them, it isn't surprising as they aren't gonna get it from Marvin. Maybe this will light a fire? Do they have someone in the Ray Lewis genre?

Yes, Vontaze Burfict is Ray Lewis minus the murdering. He was inactive last night.

Horseballs wrote:

Lorenzzo wrote:

Horseballs wrote:

Lorenzzo wrote:

Horseballs wrote:Embarrassing performance by the Bengals under the bright lights.  I expected NE to have some pride and play a great game, possibly even win, but I had pushed my chips all in on the Bengals.  That was a character-defining game and the Bengals proved they are still the team that gets rolled when the stage is big.  The good news is that I didn't stay up late to watch the inevitable conclusion.  If you've watched as many Bengals games as I have, you can get a good feel as to how the game is going to end up after a couple possessions.  
They played scared on defense, and even borderline stupid.  They refused to rush more than 4 guys and had LBs covering Gronk for the entire first half at least.  Probably the whole game, but I didn't stay up.  Everyone knows the blueprint to beating the Patriots.  Get to Brady early and he can lose confidence.  The Bengals chose to let him sit back in a perfect pocket and throw darts.  Interesting strategy.  
Dalton once again overthrew many passes, and there were a few critical drops early.  I hope this Bengals team can exhibit some of the pride that NE did and destroy the Panthers next week.  

I would tend to discount last night's game, seems like every team in the league has had that kind of performance for at least one game so far.  NE solved some things for the first time this season, particularly their O line.  That makes them hard to play at home after an embarassing loss.  But you do take pause as to the big game issue, particularly the coaching and D line.  I haven't seen a run defense get beaten on the corners so much in like 20 years.

Dalton is maturing, he didn't play that badly with everyone around him having a bad game.  Marvin Lewis seems like one of those guys top coaches love to play.  NE had a short week to prepare.  My only real reservations are coaching and the defense.  They do have a key guy coming back and every team has weaknesses so it's coaching.  The other weaknesses can be overcome.

You get the feelin Carroll, Belichick, Gruden and others would kick ass with our team.

You're dead on about Marvin Lewis.  I've actually heard he is an excellent talent evaluator, and the last half dozen or so drafts have been pretty good.  I'd like to see him get a front office job and get the hell off the sideline forever.  
I think John Gruden would be perfect.  He seems like a bit of a Phil Jackson.  Give him a loaded underperforming team and he will win.  Same as he did in Tampa, taking over for the predecessor for Marvin Lewis in uninspiring, underachieving head coaches - Tony Dungy.  
Dalton played better than he has in either the playoffs or other primetime games, but they still lost by several touchdowns.  
The Patriots played the type of game I wish the Bengals were capable of playing.  Defending their house and breaking the spirit of the other team with dominance across all phases.  The Bengals need to wreck either Pittsburgh or Baltimore at home in embarrassing fashion.  They've been on the receiving end of these beatdowns forever.  

If the Bengals are short on emotion, as it's seemed when I've watched them, it isn't surprising as they aren't gonna get it from Marvin. Maybe this will light a fire? Do they have someone in the Ray Lewis genre?

Yes, Vontaze Burfict is Ray Lewis minus the murdering.  He was inactive last night.  

Well...he's an NFL player. There should be plenty of opportunities to commit murder in the coming weeks. There's some valuable NFL cred in that.

Burfict can come back and ignite the team. Things may be turning out perfict.

See what I did there?

The Bengals are going down this weekend. Prepare for another embarrassing loss. I say that with absolutely zero confidence.

Homeslice wrote:The Bengals are going down this weekend. Prepare for another embarrassing loss. I say that with absolutely zero confidence.

The Bengals may have choked pretty bad last week, but the Panthers have been gagging since January. I really feel bad for what is about to happen to your team. Dr. Hibbert (Marvin Lewis) is going to put on his angry sweater and chuckle his way to dominance.

PS
I will be shocked if I don't see Marvin Lewis playing golf at the SPCC on Saturday. Part of his home game ritual is to waste valuable hours the day before a game by playing golf.

You gotta be kidding me...

One of my bets today was on the Bengals. At least I didn't lose. In 2008 when they played the Eagles, I didn't lose either. After that game six years ago, the then Eagles QB and current TV NFL personality Donovan McNabb said that he didn't realize that you could have a tie game in the NFL. That goodness that this rocket scientist is no longer the captain of my team's offense.

Sure am glad I decided against becoming a Bengals fan. Not quite like kissing your sister for someone from Cincinnati, more like tonguing her in the ass.

What an incredible waste of time. I have a feeling the Bengals are going to lose by multiple TD's next week at Indy.

Eagles with jerry-rigged offensive line beat the Colts in their hut coupla weeks ago. Bengals can do it too.

Eagles kicked Giant ass last night.

I find it difficult to understand the way professional athletes wear their emotions on their respective sleeves. When I see grown men emoting wildly as they do, I find it disturbing.

It wasn't always thus. The star athletes of yesteryear maintained a level of decorum that seems to be lost today. I doubt that I'm the only one who misses it.