NFL 2018 Season
- Thread starter 137th Gebirg
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Great picture!He's a big teddy bear.
I'm 6'3", to give some perspective.
The Raiders' best unit, the one into which they have committed the highest dollar amount is the offensive line. Two years ago they looked like one of the best in the league. Last night they got beat worse than I've ever seen this group beaten over the course of a game. They were overwhelmed by the Rams' defensive line.
The Rams looked really good. Rest of the NFC should be worried. They appear to be strong in every area, with a powerful and versatile offense and defense that can pressure the quarterback, stuff the run, and cover.
As for the Raiders, it's pretty clear now that Gruden used the Mack trade as the first step in rebuilding the team. Only time will tell if this works out, but for now, the trade has negatively affected me worse than any other move by one of my teams.
). This is the reason he never won a Super Bowl.
Gruden built one Super Bowl team, then beat that team with another one that was pretty filled out when he took over. In their primes, I'd take Gruden over Bud Grant any day.
The Rams looked really good. Rest of the NFC should be worried. They appear to be strong in every area, with a powerful and versatile offense and defense that can pressure the quarterback, stuff the run, and cover.
As for the Raiders, it's pretty clear now that Gruden used the Mack trade as the first step in rebuilding the team. Only time will tell if this works out, but for now, the trade has negatively affected me worse than any other move by one of my teams.
Bud Grant will forever be remembered as the first coach to lose 4 Super Bowls. He had a penchant for building strong defenses that flourished against NFC teams whose offenses were as one dimensional and unimaginative as Bud's. Bud's philosophy was to stay close and hope the other team beats itself (and Chuck Knox was only too happy to oblige
). This is the reason he never won a Super Bowl.Gruden built one Super Bowl team, then beat that team with another one that was pretty filled out when he took over. In their primes, I'd take Gruden over Bud Grant any day.
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Yeah, but look at all the kind of PR it's getting.
I'm not worried about the Kaepernick thing, people'll get distracted soon enough. What it's going to have more trouble getting past is a sport whose mythology is based on toughness and classic masculinity colliding with everybody discovering that getting repeatedly hit on the head is a bad thing.
The next ten to twenty years will probably see a dramatic decrease in the talent pool, because fewer parents are letting their kids play, and as the NFL responds and makes it safer, it's going to lose the 'classic masculinity' that makes its most hardcore fans obsessed with it.
What it's got going for it is that Europeans will mock it, which will make Americans love it, and it's a sport designed for every play to have a decent chance of becoming a dramatic game changing moment. But I still see a long slow decline likely to happen.
And yetBud Grant will forever be remembered as the first coach to lose 4 Super Bowls. He had a penchant for building strong defenses that flourished against NFC teams whose offenses were as one dimensional and unimaginative as Bud's. Bud's philosophy was to stay close and hope the other team beats itself (and Chuck Knox was only too happy to oblige
And this was the entire team blueprint, which saw them to a tepid 12-4 record in what was one of the more historically undistinguished NFL seasons.
But the Raiders never actually got to the Super Bowl under Gruden. Their best season was another 12-4 in a terrible AFC West. In fact, the whole NFL was pretty terrible that year, as it was in a state of dynasty transition and the only thing available to fill the power vacuum was a whole lot of mediocrity. The Raiders were never that. They were a patchwork team that managed to win a few games in a shitty league.
The Bucs, however, were a great team. But they were conceived, crafted, staffed, and schemed by someone else. Gruden had very little to do with their success. He was just in the right place at the right time.
Of course, because Gruden sucks at being a person and couldn't get along with anyone, the team fell apart after that, only getting the playoffs twice more just to lose in the Wildcard.
Yes, Grant did form his teams around winning in the NFC. That was his job. There were only a couple of cross-conference games a season. A team's success was dependant on its in-conference W/L record. And win he did. Save for one season in the middle where they had an obscene number of injuries (and still finished 500), the Vikings face-rolled the NFC for almost an entire decade.
Indeed he did lose in four Superbowls ... To guys named Stram, Shula, Knoll, and Madden. But those guys made it a habit of making victims of the NFC. Hell, for almost two decades after the merger the AFC pretty routinely dominated the NFC. Grant just got the brunt of it for a few years. That's not to say he couldn't have done a better job, but let's have a little perspective.
I've seen worse sports-talk takes. But not many.
In related news, Brad Johnson is a better quarterback than Jim Kelly. amirite?
Well, now if you want to change the argument to Gruden vs Dungy, that's a discussion, a discussion in which Bud Grant does not belong. Both Gruden and Dungy were better coaches than Grant.
Neither did the Bucs under Dungy, though he does get credit for building the 2002 Super Bowl winners, just as Gruden gets cresit for building the 2002 Super Bowl runner ups. I mentioned this in my original post on this subject.
Yes, as were the Raiders, who Gruden had coached the year before. In the Super Bowl, Gruden was essentially scheming against himself which gave him a decided advantage, as well as pointing out the differences between him and his successor, Bill Callahan.
Maybe you've inadvertently hit on Grant's main problem; he thought his job was complete once he won the NFC. Maybe this is the reason his teams were always so out classed in the SB.
Grant's players looked great against an even less imaginative coach than he, in Chuck Knox. Knox's teams played "not to lose", the same way Grant's did. Grant's players looked great against look alike NFC teams, but after the routine spanking the Raiders gave the Vikings in the '76 SB, Gene Upshaw told a reporter that he (the reporter) was tougher than Alan Page. This was an indictment of the entire NFC because Page was considered one of the best defensive ends in the NFC.
Well, yeah, I don't think even his staunchest fans would place Grant in the same conversation with those great coaches. He proved beyond all reasonable doubt that his teams didn't belong on the same field. But, give Grant credit for being able to get over on coaching rubes like Chuck Knox.
How about this one; the biggest shock in the world to Bud Grant was that there was another game after the NFC championship.
Dungy? Possibly. Gruden? Not a chance.
He certainly got squashed.
Luck certainly appears to be back for the better, but he doesn't really have the talent around him for Indy to be a contender right now. Still, the Colts will be in a lot of games down to the wire in my opinion. That Bengals game was as heartening as a loss could be.
Poor Josh Allen is going to get mauled behind a tissue paper offensive line playing a very angry defense this Sunday.
Poor Josh Allen is going to get mauled behind a tissue paper offensive line playing a very angry defense this Sunday.
Zane Gonzalez will be unemployed tomorrow.
Yep
He's looking that way. Though I tend to wait at least a half of the season before claiming some one has arrived or not. Give co-ordinators a few games worth of tape to figure them out.
Though, he has a cannon for an arm.
https://www.profootballrumors.com/2...permitted-to-play-during-appeal-of-suspension
Martavius Bryant handed a one year suspension, will play during appeal. No idea why the Raiders even have him on the roster?
Martavius Bryant handed a one year suspension, will play during appeal. No idea why the Raiders even have him on the roster?
Why do the Vikings even keep kickers on their roster? Seriously. Just get rid of them. Extra spots for more o-linemen.
Zane Gonzalez will be unemployed tomorrow.
Daniel Carlson too.
The worst part is no one is going to remember Kirk's 22 fourth-quarter points.
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