NFL Wild Card weekend (and Black Monday) thread

By the way, if you were ever looking for a controlled experiment in which to conduct "how much does a QB's skill position talent effect him?", then Brady 2019 vs. Brady 2020 is a good start, since he went from one decent WR to three plus a pair of TEs. A handy graphic from The Ringer:



If you want to do it in reverse - With largely the same crew in Tampa, minus Gronk, Winston had 33 TD, 30 INT, 60.7 completion percent. He had 626 attempts and 5,109 yards, likely because he had to pass more because his INTs meant they trailed more.

 

I haven't had to spin anything. The schedule disruptions were a disadvantage. If the outbreak on the Browns leads to another schedule change, that would be a disadvantage for whichever team advances. If you want to make yourself look like an idiot by arguing otherwise, be my guest.

 

Just drafting off your usual "Woe is the Steelers" rhetorical habit. They're essentially going to have a bye week in the wildcard round. Enjoy it. Unless, of course, they have their own outbreak. I mean, someone was lined up 2 feet from Bitonio for three hours on Sunday.

 

Both teams had positive tests last week, so they could certainly both have more positive tests coming.

It is a bye week because the Browns are missing their left guard and their fourth-string receiver? You're funny.

The Browns might still be without Ward. The Steelers will definitely be without Haden.

The Browns just lost their second-best pass rusher to injury. The Steelers have been without their second-best pass rusher since Dupree blew out his knee.

Yes, Ward is a better player than Haden. Dupree is a better player than Vernon. I believe the Browns are also missing their middle linebacker, though I'm not sure about his status for Sunday. The Steelers are missing Devin Bush and his replacement, Robert Spillane, on the inside.

The Browns missing their head coach makes it a bye? Sounds like "Woe is the Browns" nonsense to me. It certainly hurts that Stefanski won't be in the stadium Sunday, but it's no, it's not a bye.

 

It's only Tuesday. You think this is the last of this? For either team? Contact tracing is likely to wipe out a few more players/coaches.
And yeah, not having your head coach, I would say, is a pretty big deal in any case. On a team whose coach is responsible for the team's second winning season in two decades, that deal gets a little bigger. You, a fanboi of a team that has had three head coaches in 50 years, are going to downplay the importance of a head coach? Ok.
Given that the Browns could barely beat the Steelers' JV team this past weekend, I wasn't expecting much regardless. But the ability to give it their best shot, or close to it, would have been nice. And yeah, I know the Steelers are missing some guys. Blah blah blah. They're missing because of football injuries. That's somehow easier to take. They got hurt playing the game, not because of some once-a-century plague. You don't hear me bitching about OBJ being out. And Vernon is unfortunate, but that happens. He got hurt on the field. But since we're talking about that, you keep tossing out Ward, like he's the one guy who might be back. It would be nice to have him. But if they don't, the Browns will be minus seven defensive starters (one DL, 2 LB and all four DBs), and that does not include a guy who would have been a starting DT but opted out. So it's not just Ward. And their defense sucks when they have those guys. What do you think the rapist and co. will do to them if they're all gone?
But I'm good with whatever. A playoff loss after 18 years of no playoff appearances is still a remarkable year. I'll take it.

 

I expect Browns/Steelers to be a pretty good one.

The Steelers' offense is better with Big Ben, but it's not different than it would have been with Rudolph. They do the same things. The run game won't change much. It's Ben throwing short to WRs, or long to them for jump balls.

First team to 24 wins.

 

Mayfield and Chubb are going to tear 'em a new one. Browns score at least 42.

 

I'd love to see this, because it would be Something Fun, but I suspect the actual result will be like, a 17-14 Steelers win that will leave no one happy.

 

Now re-read my post. I didn't write that losing Stefanski didn't matter. I wrote that it doesn't turn the game into a bye, because it doesn't.

No, I don't think this is done for either team. The NFL has gotten more and more reckless with this thing as the season progressed and it is starting to show at the worst possible time.

How many of those defensive starters for the Browns are COVID-related? I know Goodson tested positive in December, as did Ward last week. Is it okay to complain about guys being out due to football injuries or not? I can't tell from your post. The simple truth is that you are doing exactly what you complain about me doing.

I do get your frustration. I was there the last time the Browns played in a playoff game. My wife was pregnant with my daughter, who just got an acceptance letter from her top college choice today. I imagine that day holds no fond memories for you.

 

Actually, it does look different with Rudolph, but you would have to watch the team closely to see it. They went empty a lot less. They had the quarterback under center more. Both of those things improved the running game, which still wasn't very good.

Roethlisberger will throw more down the field if his knee is better. Maybe they need to give him another shot of whatever it was they gave him at halftime against the Colts. I'm only half kidding. He didn't just throw better. His mechanics looked better. He was stepping into his throws for the first time in weeks. The Steelers need that version of Roethlisberger to show up.

That said, maybe Alex Van Pelt will have the sense to give Chubb the ball more on Sunday.

 

Is Jalen Hurts really "the future" at Philadelphia? I understand he may have given the Eagles a better shot than an untested third stringer - but a sub-80 Passer Rating doesn't really scream "Franchise QB" and his career PR is only .3 better than Sudfeld. Hurts was having a bad night - why not try someone else?

 

Were you even watching the game?