NFL - NEWS & NOTES

I’ll take a great defense over a potent offense any day of the week.

I want a team that can do both well...but defense will always be more entertaining to me.

Watching Mack and Hicks and the rest of the Bears defense harass the Rams and see how visibly shook Goff was....I can’t even put a price on that. It was awesome.

It was like a couple weeks ago when watching the Cowboys defense completely own the Saints...outside of any Bears game I’ve seen this year that was my favorite game to watch.

 

They've been a / the top defense all year. Stop it.

You don't wanna see the Bears? That's fine. Your reasons don't make sense, and you're not giving them their due credit. Did anyone here say they'd make it to the Super Bowl? That was never the discussion.

 

Bears D was absolutely in Goff's head. By the time the 4th quarter rolled around, he looked like he just wanted to get the eff outta Dodge.

That first half against the Saints - 21 plays run, just 59 yards of offense - was a thing of beauty.

 

When you can get a grizzled vet like Andrew Whitworth to false start twice...it’s not just Goff who was rattled out there.

IMO Mack and Cooper doing what they’re doing elsewhere is why Jon Gruden should get fired two seasons into a 10 year deal. Not the horrible record he’s posting (that should just make it easy to sell the fans). If he can’t muster 7+ wins in year two I say admit your mistake, can ‘em

 

P.S. definitely glad my final preseason fantasy move was adding the Bears D after I heard about the Mack trade

 

If Arizona and San Fran end tied won't the 49ers get the number 1 based the cards beating them twice?

 

The first thing they use to decide is strength of schedule. So if it’s deemed that SF played a weaker pile of teams throughout the year, they would get #1.
But if AZ played weaker teams (based on win-loss) they’ll get it

 

Seahawks defense dominates in 21-7 win...

The Seahawks got a little offense, a little special teams and a lot of defense.

Frank Clark, Tedric Thompson, Bobby Wagner, Bradley McDougald, Jacob Martin, Justin Coleman, Shaquill Griffin, Tre Flowers and company starred for the Seahawks by dominating the Vikings.

The Seahawks pitched a shutout until 1:10 remained, winning 21-7.

Seattle (8-5) remains as the top wild-card team in the NFC, and despite the loss, the Vikings (6-6-1) retain the best record in the battle for the second wild card.

The Vikings had 276 yards but 70 came on a final drive with the outcome no longer in doubt. Kirk Cousins went 20-of-33 for 208 yards and a touchdown, and Dalvin Cook rushed for 55 yards on 13 carries.

The Seahawks defense won the day.

They stuffed the Vikings on four plays inside the 5-yard line in the fourth quarter, including a third-down run by Cook on a tackle by Clark and an fourth-down incomplete pass on a defensed pass by McDougald. Wagner and Clark combined for a tackle of Latavius Murray on a fourth-and-one try in the third quarter, too.

Wagner blocked a 47-yard Dan Bailey field goal attempt by leaping over the line in the fourth quarter, though he appeared illegally to use other players for leverage.

Martin had a sack-fumble of Cousins, with Coleman returning it 29 yards for a touchdown. It’s the fourth defensive touchdown the Vikings have allowed this season, including the third since Week Eight.

The Seahawks needed every bit of their defensive and special teams effort since their offense wasn’t much better than the Vikings, finishing with 2 fewer yards than Minnesota after a kneel down at the end of the game. Seattle had 60 net passing yards and scored only 13 points on four red-zone possessions.

Russell Wilson threw an interception at the end of the first half after the Seahawks reached the Minnesota 1-yard line with 16 seconds left. He finished 10-of-20 for 72 yards and an interception for a passer rating of 37.9. It was his fewest passing yards and lowest passer rating of any game in his career. (PFT)

 

That non-call on the blocked field goal was just bizarre, and it truly changed the game.

Does the head of officiating still try to explain some of the week's controversial plays on Wednesdays? Between that and the opening kickoff of the Dallas-Philly game, this week's segment would be really, really interesting.

 

One thing that makes this season so utterly crazy is the number of teams that are still in the hunt for the postseason but also potential "winners" of the first overall draft pick.

 

There were a few non-calls that had me shaking my head and for the life of me I couldn't figure out what the officials were looking at or thinking. Bizarre is a good word for it. Seems to me, the past few seasons, the officiating has been questionable at best and getting more and more controversial. I really wish the NFL would spend more time, effort and money on the officiating crews than their apparent concern over whats a catch or a head shot. They really need to get a handle on this. Too many game changing scenarios are taking place due to poor officiating.

 

Parody? The majority is all boxed up together. Only a few are elite or definite bottom dwellers, the rest, the vast majority in the middle, cant decide if their winners or losers, lol.

 

I think they just diverted the blame for that to Reggie McKenzie, whom I am positive had 0% blame for those moves...Hell, he brought both of those players in. I will never understand the Mack deal. Cooper, I'll be honest, I thought they committed robbery when Dallas gave up a first...damn was I wrong!

 

At this moment in time it's really hard to foresee John Gruden's second go around with the Raiders ending well. That could change obviously based on how they draft...but it's hard to feel optimistic about what is currently going on with that team.

Derek Carr is certainly a very capable QB but that HC/QB relationship doesn't seem healthy at the moment. And the rest of the team is just kinda a mess.

 

I think the possibility is increasing that Gruden takes a quarterback in this draft if he can find a suitor for a deal with Carr.

They appear to be all in on a major overhaul for the Vegas move.

 

Yeah I can totally see this happening.

I kinda understood the Cooper deal because he really under performed at times...but if they did trade Carr...they then need to find a QB, a #1 WR, a #1 RB because they don't have that guy, and some pass rushing. Not to mention the other holes that exist on the team...which are plenty.

And you're putting your faith in Gruden to be the guy that finds all of that. Yeah, Gruden won a SB...but he basically won that SB with someone else's team.

I just don't see the logic there.

 

I really think the Raiders thought they were going to get a much higher return on both Mack and Cooper. They gambled that those teams would struggle, and they lost that bet.

There is also some discussion that Davis has a personal issue with the agent for both Amari and Khalil and that had a big part in their being dealt. If that is grounded in even the smallest of truth, then we have to rethink where to place the blame in Oakland and just how much power Gruden actually has.

He had a solid first draft but will need to continue being above average in talent evaluation just to refill the cupboard.

Right now, I'm back to reserving judgement on Gruden's first year until there is more detail revealed about the trades made. It could be that Davis handicapped Gruden with a ball bat to the knees in 2018.

 

Makes sense.

 

well you got that this past Sunday BWW. The 18 Bears are like the 85 Bears without the shuffle.

Funny how the Raiders traded away Mack and Cooper and they are both doing very well elsewhere. I know they got top picks back for them and cap relief, but man, they are 2 damn good players to trade away !