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Re: Week Two of the 2019 NFL Playoffs: The Divisional Round

I want the colts to win. Honestly I have no clue what to expect. KC is a lot like the colts were when manning was there. A great offense and no defense. When it comes playoff time usually a team with a run game and good defense will beat that kind of team. The chiefs are 1-4 against playoff teams. The colts are 3-3. 

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Re: Week Two of the 2019 NFL Playoffs: The Divisional Round


@gardenman wrote:

Interesting. The Packers are hiring Matt LaFleur as their new head coach. He was the Titan's offensive coordinator and has never been a head coach at any level. He's mostly worked with quarterbacks through his career, so he has that going for him. He'll need to hire a really good defensive coordinator. He's a young guy, just four years older than Aaron Rodgers. I didn't see many Titans games this year, but I don't remember their offense being all that special. The good news is being the first team to hire a guy gives him the pick of assistants. 


@gardenman

 

Matt LaFleur is a strange hire.  So did Packer's Management get Aaron's blessing on this hire?

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Re: Week Two of the 2019 NFL Playoffs: The Divisional Round

Well it's starting already in LA....you can understand indifferance with my mediocre team and a much hated GM and owner, but come on LA--- the Rams are Divisional Winners and in the playoffs yet you can't find Ram fans to sell out your stadium.....

 

The Rams have issued a reminder that tickets to Saturday night’s game against the Cowboys at the L.A. Coliseuim are available to be purchased. And if Rams fans haven’t Cowboys fans definitely will.  (Oh oh, will the Cowboy fans takeover like Eagle fans did at Fed Ex?)

 

 

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Re: Week Two of the 2019 NFL Playoffs: The Divisional Round


@Spurt wrote:

@gardenman wrote:

Interesting. The Packers are hiring Matt LaFleur as their new head coach. He was the Titan's offensive coordinator and has never been a head coach at any level. He's mostly worked with quarterbacks through his career, so he has that going for him. He'll need to hire a really good defensive coordinator. He's a young guy, just four years older than Aaron Rodgers. I didn't see many Titans games this year, but I don't remember their offense being all that special. The good news is being the first team to hire a guy gives him the pick of assistants. 


@gardenman

 

Matt LaFleur is a strange hire.  So did Packer's Management get Aaron's blessing on this hire?


@Spurt

It surprised me. I thought they would go with a more experienced coach. How he co-exists with Aaron Rodgers will be interesting to watch. Maybe the Packers are looking to move on from Rodgers? Maybe next year when it'll be a quarterback heavy draft? I wasn't expecting them to hire a guy like him.

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Re: Week Two of the 2019 NFL Playoffs: The Divisional Round

Kudos to Clemson and Trevor Lawrence for the big win over Alabama. Expect to see a few NFL teams try to go 0-16 in two years when Lawrence becomes NFL eligible if he doesn't implode in some manner. The kid is special and teams will be desperate to get him. If he was eligible to come out in the NFL draft this year, he'd likely be a top five pick, if not the first overall pick. Not bad for a true freshman.

 

The Steelers sound like they're willing to take the $21 million cap hit to trade Antonio Brown. That's kind of an alarm to any team looking to acquire him. He'll be high priced in terms of draft picks, and salary, and the team that knows him best is willing to pay $21 million to get rid of him. Call me crazy, but I think he might not be a great locker room presence.

 

Kliff Kingsbury has now been cleared to interview with the Cards and Jets. I'm not sure why the two teams are so interested in a guy with a 35-40 record coaching his alma mater, but for some reason they seem to really want to interview him. Either he has a really good agent, or there's something else going on, but guys with that kind of college record aren't typically highly sought after at the pro level.

 

LaFleur going to the Packers was a surprise to me. It looks like the Packers want a young, energetic coach from the Sean McVay coaching tree, but how well he meshes with veteran players, and especially Aaron Rodgers, will likely determine how long he lasts. I didn't really see anything special from the Titans offense this year that he coached, but apparently he impressed the Packers. We'll have to see how that plays out.

 

Dwayne Haskins has formally declared himself for the NFL draft which has QB needy teams breathing a sigh of relief. At least one high end QB is now available. The problem is about eight teams need him and there's only one of him. Not a bad year to have that first overall pick. QB needy teams will be selling their souls to move up for Haskins as long as he doesn't do anything stupid. Next year's draft should see four or five higher end QB's available, so some teams may opt to tank a bit in 2019, to get one of them. If your team signs Mark Sanchez to be their starting QB in 2019, they're tanking and hoping for that first overall pick in 2020. 

 

I'm betting a few teams with older QB's (Steelers, Chargers, Giants, etc.) are watching Trevor Lawrence and plotting ways to lose enough games in 2020 to get him in the 2021 draft. Give their existing older guy a chance to win in 2019, then flush the 2020 season and hope they can lose enough games to get Lawrence. He's the kind of guy who can turn around a team in a heartbeat and keep them competitive for a decade or more. If you're the GM of one of those teams, you better be thinking about that scenario. That 2020 season could see multiple teams trying to go 0-16 to get Lawrence. You sure as heck don't want a division rival getting him.

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Re: Week Two of the 2019 NFL Playoffs: The Divisional Round

The Titans' offense hasn't been great; their best player the last few games is rb Derrick Henry. They have a star in TE Delanie Walker, who was one of Mariota's favorite targets, but he was injured early and was on IR all season. It will be interesting how LeFleur works out with the Packers. 

 

The Rams' stadium will probably be filled with Cowboy fans. Did the team have a large fanbase when they were in St. Louis? Maybe fans were upset when they went to L.A. and quit following the team. 

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Re: Week Two of the 2019 NFL Playoffs: The Divisional Round

@gardenman, Tate left Seattle to come to Detroit, so he has gone from a winning program to the bottom of the barrell!!  The reason we traded him was completely a financial one.  He was a big hit in Detroit with the fans and the press as well.

 

When the Lions got "Snacks" Harrison, Tate had his new locker loaded with Skittles, Doritos and other of Snacks' favs upon his arrival.

 

I always like GT, and I will follow his career wherever he ends up (as long as it is not in the NFC Central!!!)

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Re: Week Two of the 2019 NFL Playoffs: The Divisional Round


@redwingsgal wrote:

@gardenman, Tate left Seattle to come to Detroit, so he has gone from a winning program to the bottom of the barrell!!  The reason we traded him was completely a financial one.  He was a big hit in Detroit with the fans and the press as well.

 

When the Lions got "Snacks" Harrison, Tate had his new locker loaded with Skittles, Doritos and other of Snacks' favs upon his arrival.

 

I always like GT, and I will follow his career wherever he ends up (as long as it is not in the NFC Central!!!)


Yeah, it'll be interesting to see if he wants to go back to a noncontender for more money, moves to another contender, or stays in Philly. The Eagles have him and Nelson Agholor as free agents after this season. Will they resign one, both, or neither? Reports indicate the Eagles will be about $10-$20 million over the cap, but Joe Banner, former Eagles and Browns GM, says the Eagles will have $30 million free for free agents, so if he's right they could sign both of them. I'm not sure how things will work out, but Tate seems very happy here in Philly.

 

They say in the NFL you play on your rookie deal to get big money in your second deal, then you play for the ring on your third deal, and money's less important. In some cases that's true. Some guys still want the money in that third deal though. We'll have to see how it all works out. He could end up getting his ring on the tail end of his second deal if things work out right.

 

Guys who leave the Eagles typically do so after their rookie deal for more money elsewhere. Guys who have already made their money (Darren Sproles for example) tend to hang around. He's playing on a contract of around $1.4 million this year and he's worth a lot more than that. Had he tested the market he could have gotten a $3-$7 million deal somewhere, but he took the $1.4 to stay with the Eagles. He may even be back again next year at the same general pay rate.

 

Once you get to a certain point financially, you're pretty much set for life and money becomes less of an issue. Tate's last contract was for $31 million. Even after taxes and agent fees and the like, he should have cleared a good $15 million. With an average return on investment of 10% he'd be making $1.5 million a year for the foreseeable future. Most of us could live nicely on $1.5 million a year. That frees up a player to play where he wants to play rather than chase the money. Some still chase the money though.

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Re: Week Two of the 2019 NFL Playoffs: The Divisional Round

[ Edited ]

@teganslaw wrote:

The Titans' offense hasn't been great; their best player the last few games is rb Derrick Henry. They have a star in TE Delanie Walker, who was one of Mariota's favorite targets, but he was injured early and was on IR all season. It will be interesting how LeFleur works out with the Packers. 

 

The Rams' stadium will probably be filled with Cowboy fans. Did the team have a large fanbase when they were in St. Louis? Maybe fans were upset when they went to L.A. and quit following the team. 


@teganslaw

 

 

The NFL made it seem like LA was football starved, and wanted a NFL team back in LA ---  Truth be told the NFL was missing the cash from the #2 TV market....(St.Louis is the 21st TV market).....

 

FLASHBACK!!!--LA didnt seem to care when the Rams left California for St. Louis the first time---afterall there's so much to do and see in California animated-smileys-rolleyes-10.gifand interest in the Rams was wanning anyway (attendance capacity 67%)....so they headed off to St. Louis, but years passed, new owner, and St. Louis didnt want to fit the bill for a new stadium...... so owner sent them back to LA and the big TV market the NFL was missing..........

 

Rams LA home attendance capacity is at 77%  I dont know what % of attendee's are long time Ram fans who retained their loyalty in LA even after they moved to St. Louis and returned when Rams returned to LA. In St Louis they were at 87% before they moved (Redskins are at 74% worst in the NFL--thank you opponents for purchasing tickets or it would have been much worse, Colts are at 94%, Eagles 100.1%)

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Re: Week Two of the 2019 NFL Playoffs: The Divisional Round

An issue being discussed on forums: suppose Foles take the Eagles to another Superbowl and wins? The odds are against this happening, but it's a scenario to be considered. What would the Eagles do about Foles? Would they trade their Superbowl winning QB and keep Wentz, who is very good but seems to be injury prone? They have a good back up in Sudfeld, so who would the Eagles back : Wentz or Foles? I'm only mentioning this in case Foles takes them to another Superbowl. 

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