I recently drove through the Chicago area and caught 4 hours of bears radio and they are calling for heads. I think they want to drop a nuke on the stadium and start over. Regarding Cutler, I'll say again that while he isn't Peyton Manning he's far from the worst QB in the league. The defense was the worst in the NFL this season. Nobody was taking that team to the playoffs. Some of the coverage break downs this year have been downright hysterical.
What the fuck is with Green Bay's offense? Jesus, you can't score on Tampa Bay now? I've never seen our receivers play so bad. They better get this shit worked out in a hurry.
If anyone needs me I'll be running around naked and drunk throwing footballs into my neighbors' windows in celebration.
There's an Eagles fan who comes in every day at work (his dogs are in daycare) and all week, he was talking shit about the Eggles taking back sole possession of Number 1. I really should offer him a consolation beer or something when I see him tomorrow.
I've always wondered at the people who hate Romo. Not because of any loyalty I have to him, but because of statistics.
I hate him because he is a Cowboy and I am a Giants fan. Also, he does choke in the postseason and in important games at the end of the season so that's why other people hate on him. I am just glad that the Giants have Odell Beckham. As bad as this season was, he makes me so happy.
You have my permission to beat me with a sack of nickels if I even suggest Seattle cut Marshawn Lynch. Seriously, who's going to stop Seattle?
Peterson didn't get blown up, he just overran the tackle. Rashad Johnson is the one who took a tumble and whose family is now shamed for a generation.
If Green Bay gets back in mid season form they could definitely beat them. Seattle's defense has been insane, but other than last night they haven't been putting up too many points. Also, Dallas already beat them at home so I could see that happening again, especially after what they did to the colts. In things not mattering this post season I'm curious to see how Russell Wilson will do later in his career. He's very good, but it certainly helps to have the best defense in the league and one of the top running games.
Dallas beat them at home without Bobby Wagner and an injury limited Kam Chancellor. They still needed a ridiculous catch to convert a 3rd and 20 to win. I'm not worried. Indianapolis already had the division locked up. I imagine they were more interested in keeping guys healthy than winning. Also, please stop perpetuating "Russell Wilson is only good because of his team's talent." narrative. He accounted for over 400 yards of total offense and 3 touchdowns last night. I would argue that Wilson and Lynch equals a top 3 RB and top 15 RB and top 5 QB in the same backfield.
That's not what I was saying. Obviously he's pretty good. I'm just thinking it will interesting to see how he does 6 years down the road when he will regularly need all of that performance last night to win. Seattle has given up less than 10 in 4 of the last 5 and only 14 in the over 10 game. Wilson has played well of course, but he hasn't needed to do a lot to win. It'll also be interesting to see how much of their team Seattle can hold together if they win the super bowl again.
Wilson reminds me of Roethlesberger, in this way: they both came into good situations with great tools and a great defense behind them, and the lack of pressure helped them develop and play better. Roethlesberger won a Super Bowl with some of the shittiest QB play ever, which is a testament to how good his defense was. Wilson has the same benefit, and I think the outcome will be the same. No one considers Roethlesberger an elite QB. Very good? Sure. Consistent and top half of the league on a yearly basis? Absolutely. Good enough to win Superbowls? Yes... IF the team around him is excellent. Long story short, Wilson will be a very good NFL QB, capable of winning games, but he won't be able to carry a team on his back to a Super Bowl like, say, a Manning, Brady, or Rodgers. He'll consistently be in the top half of the league, and most teams would kill to have him and his consistency, but he won't reach that level of those other guys. He'll need a strong defense or very good running game to help take some of the pressure off, and that is when he will look the best. I just have a suspicious feeling that if he was ever asked to shoulder the load with little running game and a bottom half of the league defense, his teams would finish in the 7-9 to 9-7 range, depending on schedule and luck. Certainly not bad, he'll win some games, but he's not going to carry them. Let me reiterate to make sure people understand: I am NOT shitting on Wilson. Very good. Not great.
And his performance in the following years really has more to do with Wilson's price more than anything else. Dude is making 6 figures I think, maybe 1-2 million at most. HE IS GOING TO GET PAID. Which means less money spent on all those elite defensive pieces. That's where shit is going to get interesting now they'll have to go and find key guys.
Could be less at running back, mostly, assuming they are serious about getting rid of Marshawn. Also, Okung and Unger are pretty well paid. I was actually surprised how few big defensive salaries they're currently carrying. It looks like only Earl and Sherman are locked up big for the long term.
Seattle has locked up Michael Bennett, Cliff Avril, K.J. Wright, Earl Thomas, Richard Sherman and Kam Chancellor to long term deals. After seeing the defense get right after Wagner returned from injury, I hope like hell that Wagner decides that he'd rather win than get paid a million or two more. Until Pete Carroll loses the ability to pull no name Pro Bowl caliber players out of end of the draft out of his butt, Seattle's defense is going to be set for at least the next 3-5 years. The issues I'm worried about are on the offensive side. The last time Seattle gave a RB an extension the age of 28 (Shaun Alexander for those paying attention), he promptly lost the ability to stay on the field and his production went into the shitter. It didn't help that Seattle let themselves get played with Steve Hutchinson's contract (fuck the Vikings for that, by the way), and the fact that he ran for nearly 1900 yards the previous year, but I digress. I have all the confidence in the world that our shirtless WWE title belt wearing GM can get a contract done for Wilson. I have zero confidence in Lynch's back staying healthy, his physical running style and nearly $8 million cap hit surviving next season. Robert Turbin and Christine Michael are nice, but Michael runs like a chicken with its head cut off, mostly in one direction. While Tom Cable is a hell of a coach, the fact remains that there really isn't a lot of talent on the offensive line. They can block the hell out of a running play, but as soon as they have to take a step backward to pass protect, they collectively fall on their asses. There won't be a lot of money left to spend on them. I'm not as worried about the receivers. Doug Baldwin reminds me of Bobby Engram, and Paul Richardson can take the top off the defense. Richardson is explosive. Once he's more comfortable in the offense, he'll be in essentially Harvin's old role. Yes, that explosive. And best of all, they're cheap. I think I can live with a team that relies on a team built around great defense, a smart, mobile, franchise QB that can mask a leaky offensive line, average receivers and a decent running back.
I didn't see that Wright and Avril had just signed new deals. Still, they have few onerous deals they can't get out of. Avril and Bennett are only guaranteed for two years, and Wright is only guaranteed for $16 million across three years. If they wanted to free up cash, they could.