P Riv

Charlie the Butcher!

The best wings in Buffalo is the worst reason to miss Beef on Weck. You can get wings anywhere in the country and beyond, but true blue Buffalo Beef on Weck??? Tell out of town people before they get average wings somewhere and miss the good stuff. Jus sayin.

I like when their LB body slams Jim Mcmahon, otherwise not interested. I used to like when they played TB back in the day and Pete Axthelm called it the "Bay of Pigs" game. lol

Not ignoring your point, its just that I went and watched a lot of the games in question on Youtube last night just for fun. I'm going with what my eyes told me and not empty stats from some guy on a forum. NE shut down the run, tried mostly successfully to take away the deep ball and appeared to double Kelce. The last 5 out of 6 times they played KC they've shut them down in the first half like no other team, that's called a trend. It was pointed out during one of the games by Jim Nantz actually. An article that lays it out nicely: https://www.kansascity.com/sports/nfl/kansas-city-chiefs/article246149130.html Linked the wrong article: " Luckily for the Chiefs, that was enough to get the victory, but that doesn’t change the fact that New England’s defense played about as well as anybody previously had against Mahomes. Only five times with Mahomes as starting quarterback, the Chiefs have gone an entire half without scoring a touchdown. After Monday night, three of those instances have come against the Patriots. That makes it fair to ask how exactly New England was able to play that well against the Chiefs offense. The answer is really a mixture of talent and scheme, as well as Bill Belichick’s familiarity with Andy Reid." https://slantroute.substack.com/p/how-new-england-slowed-down-patrick

Exactly, its a somewhat delicate situation when you get all of the right people in the right scheme and reach a certain balance of talent. There's a dynamic that develops when you get all the right chess pieces. I think if the run game develops we'll see a drop if the passing game too, buts that's actually a good thing.

Fair points, but I still thinks its scheme. NE almost completely shut down the run, took away the deep ball in the first half, held the Chiefs to 9 pts in the 1st half and built themselves a lead. KC stayed in it with a few big plays, otherwise NE's defense held them down pretty well. KC got a 97 yard kick return to set up a 3 yd drive for a TD, then there was a 67yd pass/run to a RB and a 75 yard pass to Hill. Aside from 2 big plays, KC went the whole game with 300 yards of offense. I watched a few minutes on Youtube, it looks like the Chiefs were on the ropes most of the time against that defensive scheme.

You left out the number of pass attempts vs. run attempts. The production wasn't as bad as you portray it, but it was bad and Brady could not possibly have willed them into the playoffs (which I think is why he left actually). Had he stayed and sucked it up for a year, I think they'd be contenders this year. I'd say he did ok though...

I checked 2021 O-line ranks and I didn't realize that Pittsburgh was ranked near the bottom. No wonder Big Ben got leaner and "faster", he may be running for his life. Maybe that 11-0 start last year was a mirage.

Ya, what's his name, Ernie something... He was replaced by failed HC Patricia. Maybe he sucks at Intel too.

Fair enough, I see your point.

A sloppy game for sure, NE had 4 turnovers and were within one score early in the 4th. Whenever they play Mahomes they are able to hold the Chiefs down better than anyone else (aside from TB obviously). So what's the deal with that? Its obviously scheme, so why can't we template it? They don't need to be smash mouth, just balanced. Injuries derailed their momentum last year and we're getting them week one, so I expect they will be healthy and pretty potent offensively. Thus the tough test on opening day comment.

What changed? The Steelers have been talking about getting back to the run game, balance, etc. all offseason. Then they drafted Najee Harris with pick 24, 6'2' 230lbs, 4.45 sec 40. type of guy. I'd say their planning to run it, a lot. There's that and also the fact that they don't lack talent and were averaging over 30 points a game before injuries, etc. caught up to them after starting 11-0.

The whole Defense concerns me, personnel, scheme, all of it. We have a championship caliber offense and special teams, but the D is our handicap. This article is telling: https://www.si.com/nfl/talkoffame/nfl/scoring-defense-the-key-stat-for-super-bowl-contention The severely overmatched Patriots held Mahomes and Co. to 17 points last year and probably would have won with even decent QB play. All because of how they played the Chiefs offense from a scheme standpoint. Why can't we crack that code???? https://www.cbssports.com/nfl/gametracker/recap/NFL_20201005_NE@KC/ That and they ran the ball all over them...

Considering how little we did to improve the D overall that's pretty concerning.

True, I was more or less thinking about the shoot out scenario.

Striking fear into opponents:

We're not built for smash mouth teams, but we are built to slow or stop the best passing offenses in the league (KC, TB, etc.). If we ever find ourselves behind a smash mouth type of team, we might be SOL (Titans come to mind). We'll get a tough test right out of the gate in week 1.

He looks like he dieted weight off without working out. He has that skinny fat look. He might play himself into shape, but he doesn't even look like an athlete in that pic. I read an article that said he's worked hard to diet and lose weight this offseason, but I'm curious how much working out was involved.

Before the salary cap era, most of the teams that were perennial playoff contenders also had the highest payroll. SF back in the day bought championships and kept trying it when the cap era started (they got busted). I'm pretty sure Miami was up there in payroll when Shula was there.

Shula had Unitas, Griese and Marino. Like thats a handicap. I hope Hoodie ties him so neither has bragging rights.

Saw this today while on the treadmill:

Disclosing a lower body injury is actually a big deal because it directly relates to mobility. If a CB has a hamstring issue? I think the relevance is obvious. If its a RB, then you game plan to plug up the middle and make him bounce it outside and test that leg/knee. In the case of Brady, teams would try to push him outside the pocket or just get him off his spot. Whether they can do it effectively is another thing, but with that knowledge someone would have tried. Seems to me this was obvious rule breaking.

Thats pretty hopeful considering they won 7 last year with bottom feeder talent and upgraded every position grouping, some substantially (LB, TE). They will likely have a top 5 defense, top 5 O-line and running game and only require a game manager at QB. They can't win a shoot out or even compete in one, but my guess is they won't have many of those. My guess is they start fast at like 6-2, then fade down the stretch and win 9 or 10 when its all done. Just enough to threaten playoffs and get a middling draft position. Hoodie needs 36 more wins to tie Shula, so my guess is he gets 10 this year and sticks around. If Jones develops they'll be a threat next year, if not they will be where we were for all those years (not bad, not good).

I always thought the opposite was true personally. Hoodie beat the Tuna in the playoffs. That and Tuna never won anything without Hoodie as his DC/ass't HC. You're probably right about 9-8, they are projected to win 9.5 games by the odds makers. So its 9-8 or 10-7, no threat this year. We're projected to win 11, so not really sure how it all works. That's Leaguewide, maybe even in every sport.... lol Homerism, we have our share too.

We've always had a great rivalry with the Patriots, my favorite one actually. Many great battles in the 80's, always looked forward but kinda hated playing them in the 90's too. I knew we would win, but at what cost was always the question. Tough physical games, great to watch. Doplhins... meh. Jests? Meh...