Thurman#1

Really interesting article, I thought. https://www.si.com/nfl/2019/10/02/nfl-interception-rate-decline And it made me wonder who has the record for most INTs in a year in the last ten years and it's what I thought: ... a five-way tie with nine INTs between 2012 Tim Jennings and four guys in 2009, Asante Samuel, Darren Sharper, Charles Woodson, and the legendary Jairus Byrd. One of the most interesting bits is that the career INT leader is a record that may never be broken, it's the DiMaggio's 56 hits record of football. And who holds it? (No spoilers, please, guesses only.)

Equally, though ... why? Your expectation is actually a guess. And a very optimistic one. Nothing wrong with that, except confusing guesses with something that should happen. It could happen. The odds are well against it. Yeah, a much more reasonable guess.

He's always pretty classy. I don't see this particularly as classy. Normal and positive, really. And for that matter, Zay was classy too, this year and generally, outside of his breakdown.

Duke was less "open" there than he was nicely boxing out the DB, IMO. That guy was right up against his back, and there was little separation. It was a nice route, but I didn't see a lot of space there. Again, hope I'm wrong about this, which certainly could be. Hang on, which side of this vicious little OSU contretemps do you come down on? Because there is only one correct side. ;- ) Was there really a case about that? I always thought the ESPN announcers came up with that massive stress on the article. Did OSUers themselves start it?

Yes, that's what I meant, and I couldn't agree more about your suggestion of a nickname. D'haquille "The Duke" Williams would be great, and I withdraw my original objection and support your nickname here wholeheartedly. You'd have to say "D'haquille," and nobody seems to do that ... seems like Duke is a contraction of the first syllable, but the way you wrote it here works. And as you say, nobody called him "The Elvis" Presley or "The George" Steele.

10%? No reason to think so. Five of the 32 1st rounders drafted in 2018 have already made a Pro Bowl. Seven from 2017. Seven from 2016, ten from 2015, seventeen from 2014, twelve from 2013, thirteen from 2012, and I could go on. More like a 30 - 40% chance each of those two years. Not to mention that they also get a 4th rounder. Great trade for Jax for a very unhappy player. Yeah, but in fairness, he said that before the 2018 season.

They got two 1sts and a 4th for him? Wow! Good deal for the Jags.

"The" Duke? Yuk. Unless he starts to refer to himself this way, this is like calling a guy, "The Bob," or "The Ted," or "The Alexander." I like the guy, though. Everytime I hear about him it's impressive. I'm just afraid he won't be much more than a tough guy who can make contested catches but can't find open space. Hope I'm wrong about that.

The Bills themselves are their biggest challenge. If they're good enough to challenge the best in the conference, they'll make the playoffs. If they're not good enough, it won't matter if they make the playoffs.

This. Tannehill's worse, and a lot of the problem with Mariota is really a problem with the OL and the surrounding talent.

I don't think he's blackballed. It's less complicated and less nefarious than that. He's just a living walking distraction, and coaches don't want that. I support his political stance totally but I don't want him on the Bills both because he's a distraction and because he's not good enough to help the team out enough to overcome the problems brought by the distractions. Agreed he's absolutely a top 64 guy, but if I were a coach I'd pick a different top 64 guy as my backup, because like McDermott and most (not all but by far most of them) NFL coaches, I think distractions degrade team performance.

No, Stafford has never won a Super Bowl. But neither has Tom Brady. Brady has been on a Super Bowl-winning team. But he didn't win a Super Bowl. That was the entire roster of the New England Patriots and the coaching staff besides. Wins are a team stat. All a QB can do is play QB at a very high level. He can't control how well the defense plays or how often the kicker misses FGs in crucial situations. Or much of anything else. Having said all that, I'm not sure if I'd accept a Stafford-like career. I haven't really watched enough of him consistently to know him well enough. My feeling is that if I really did the research I'd probably say yes. But I can't be bothered to put in the work. Too hypothetical. From what I have seen he's been a top ten guy most years, and if that's so, then yeah, I'd be happy. Not sure if my perception is true, though.

Me too, but that isn't Matt Stafford, it's the Lions. Wins is a team stat.

No, if fans look ahead it could affect how many nutsy, wacky, incorrect predictions they make.

Because nobody corrects all the incompetent coaches and players. If fans could correct bad playcalls, poor game management and player mistakes, the games would go on for weeks. The refs do a damn good job, for human beings at ground level.