NFL Week 16 -- Football overload

[Batman]

This play by the Lions was brilliant, from the idea for it to the linemen yelling "FUMBLE! FUMBLE! FUMBLE!" while Goff and Gibbs are carrying out their fakes.



And then there's this — it might have been inspired by an actual broken play against the Bears from last season.

 

[DanOregon]

Maybe, Vikings QBs always seem kind of the same though - journeymanish - very much like Cousins. Good, not great. Good enough to keep the team from being in a position to draft a better replacement.

 

[BYH 2: Electric Boogaloo]

Darnold is having a great year, but every time I see him I get a strong Case Keenum vibe — a supposedly washed up QB on his third or fourth team, resurrects his career with an unexpectedly great season with the Vikings, signs a big free agent contract, and then immediately goes back to being washed up.

Come to think of it, the Vikings have a long history of guys like that. QBs who they pulled off the scrap heap, got one more good season out of, and then they immediately turned back into a pumpkin. You had Keenum, Sam Bradford, Favre, Jeff George, Warren Moon and Randall Cunningham. And then there were a few other guys they tried it with who couldn't find the magic.

Fran Tarkenton is the Vikings' all-time leader in passing yardage. He retired following the 1978 season and was succeeded by Tommy Kramer, who is the Vikings' no. 2 all-time passer. And after that it's 40 years of Some Guys:

https://www.pro-football-reference.com/teams/min/career-passing.htm

A team having two franchise QBs over a 15-year span and then not finding The Guy for four decades? THAT'S INCREDIBLE!

 

[Batman]

Maybe, they seemed kind of the same though - journeymanish - very much like Cousins. Good, not great. Good enough to keep the team from being in a position to draft a better replacement.

Oh, definitely. Gannon had his best years long after he left the Vikings, though. Culpepper and Teddy Bridgewater both had early success and then had bad injuries they never fully recovered from. I was thinking more of the guys that were already past their prime that the Vikings got one more good year out of before they completely hit the wall.

 

[Batman]

Cowboys literally ripped that win away from the Bucs — what would have been the game-winning touchdown earlier, and then the game-clinching strip. Two of the best defensive plays you'll see this season.

 

[BYH 2: Electric Boogaloo]

That gack job by the Bucs makes Commanders-Falcons a yuuuuuge game next week.

 

[DanOregon]

Seeing the way some of these playoff teams are staggering into the playoffs, not to mention the teams that gave up a week ago makes me think the NFL would be much better off adding two teams (which would add 17 games a year) than expanding to 18 games a season (which would add......16 games a season). The quality of play has already degraded to the point where adding two teams would probably hurt the product less than adding another week. You are already seeing players take a week off with injuries they would play through in the past for rest.

 

[swingline]

Fran Tarkenton is the Vikings' all-time leader in passing yardage. He retired following the 1978 season and was succeeded by Tommy Kramer, who is the Vikings' no. 2 all-time passer. And after that it's 40 years of Some Guys:

https://www.pro-football-reference.com/teams/min/career-passing.htm

A team having two franchise QBs over a 15-year span and then not finding The Guy for four decades? THAT'S INCREDIBLE!

Real People agree.

 

[User 149557]

Fran Tarkenton is the Vikings' all-time leader in passing yardage. He retired following the 1978 season and was succeeded by Tommy Kramer, who is the Vikings' no. 2 all-time passer. And after that it's 40 years of Some Guys:

https://www.pro-football-reference.com/teams/min/career-passing.htm

A team having two franchise QBs over a 15-year span and then not finding The Guy for four decades? THAT'S INCREDIBLE!

I was going to make a Browns joke after Otto Graham and Frank Ryan, but even they had Sipe and Kosar.

 

[dixiehack]

Seeing the way some of these playoff teams are staggering into the playoffs, not to mention the teams that gave up a week ago makes me think the NFL would be much better off adding two teams (which would add 17 games a year) than expanding to 18 games a season (which would add......16 games a season). The quality of play has already degraded to the point where adding two teams would probably hurt the product less than adding another week. You are already seeing players take a week off with injuries they would play through in the past for rest.

You will likely see both, with the promise of another 106 union jobs (not including taxi squad) as the carrot to get the players to agree to an 18th game.

 

[Cosmo]

The Cowboys had a brutal two-game stretch right after Dak went down but they've been surprisingly plucky since then. Parsons is Parsons, and the secondary looks like it did at times last year. Rush has been steady. The McCarthy pitchfork crowd has quieted significantly, because it's clear those guys like playing for him. As a Washington fan, I want absolutely no part of a Week 18 at Dallas game that has real meaning, because those guys aren't rolling over for anyone right now. Commanders better act like they have to beat Atlanta to get in, because the Bucs get Carolina and the Saints at home to close and win the wild-card tiebreaker with Washington if both finish 10-7.

 

[2muchcoffeeman]

Seeing the way some of these playoff teams are staggering into the playoffs, not to mention the teams that gave up a week ago makes me think the NFL would be much better off adding two teams (which would add 17 games a year) than expanding to 18 games a season (which would add......16 games a season).

 

[tapintoamerica]

You will likely see both, with the promise of another 106 union jobs (not including taxi squad) as the carrot to get the players to agree to an 18th game.

Perfect symmetry of 32 teams and 16 games lasted far longer than I thought it would.
Is it better to go to 36 teams and 18 games per season per team? Or is that too much expansion at once?
Domestic markets are tapped out. Mexico City? Kicker paradise. It’s 40% higher in altitude than Denver.

 

[BYH 2: Electric Boogaloo]

Perfect symmetry of 32 teams and 16 games lasted far longer than I thought it would.
Is it better to go to 36 teams and 18 games per season per team? Or is that too much expansion at once?
Domestic markets are tapped out. Mexico City? Kicker paradise. It’s 40% higher in altitude than Denver.

The player market--especially the QB market--is tapped out. My goodness can you imagine what Cooper Rush would get next spring if he had four extra teams vying for his services? There's not enough players for 36 teams. So expansion to 36 teams is absolutely coming.

 

[Baron Scicluna]

Fran Tarkenton is the Vikings' all-time leader in passing yardage. He retired following the 1978 season and was succeeded by Tommy Kramer, who is the Vikings' no. 2 all-time passer. And after that it's 40 years of Some Guys:

Minnesota Vikings Career Passing Leaders | Pro-Football-Reference.com

A team having two franchise QBs over a 15-year span and then not finding The Guy for four decades? THAT'S INCREDIBLE!

Sid Luckman is still No. 2 for the Bears all-time passing yards … and he died 26 years ago.

 

[HappyCurmudgeon]

The winning TD to Jefferson is all I need to see that Darnold is the Vikes' guy. They're good.

But QBs these days get hurt every 4th play so no need to move JJ. He's a kid. He can hold a clipboard and learn awhile.

Darnold will absoutely be the next Garappolo for someone. Maybe one of the last two teams Jimmy G was on.

 

[Starman]

Sid Luckman is still No. 2 for the Bears all-time passing yards … and he died 26 years ago.

And he last played almost 75 years ago.

 

[Baron Scicluna]

And he last played almost 75 years ago.

So you’re saying there’s no hope of a comeback?

 

[BYH 2: Electric Boogaloo]

Sid Luckman is still No. 2 for the Bears all-time passing yards … and he died 26 years ago.

I would argue--and I'd probably find agreement with Bears fans like @QYFW and @Regan MacNeil and, well, just about everyone--that it's even more depressing that the no. 1 Bears passer is Jay Cutler. BY A LOT. A Bears QB is probably gonna need six seasons to surpass Cutler's yardage (23,443). Is that gonna happen anytime before 2040?

 

[da man]

The Cowboys had a brutal two-game stretch right after Dak went down but they've been surprisingly plucky since then. Parsons is Parsons, and the secondary looks like it did at times last year. Rush has been steady. The McCarthy pitchfork crowd has quieted significantly, because it's clear those guys like playing for him. As a Washington fan, I want absolutely no part of a Week 18 at Dallas game that has real meaning, because those guys aren't rolling over for anyone right now. Commanders better act like they have to beat Atlanta to get in, because the Bucs get Carolina and the Saints at home to close and win the wild-card tiebreaker with Washington if both finish 10-7.

Carolina is no longer a guaranteed win.