NFL 2022

I think the Dolphins might actually be able to compete with the Bills and Chiefs. Tyrek Hill leads the league in receptions, with something like all of them. The only reason they have 3 losses was the concussion to their QB. The Dolphins somehow managed to become a great team by surprise... it might be the previous 10 or so false predictions of their resurgence that led to that.

I don’t think there’s any question that they’re a legit threat. However, I want to see a little more out of their defense before I elevate them any higher

As for the Pats, they aren't in the 2nd tier. They belong in their own tier. Much better than Browns, nowhere near as good as Bengals. They lack offense and Mac Jones isn't clicking enough with the offense.

Fair enough. I have them in the lower 2nd tier/upper third tier. Bengals are clearly an upper 2nd tier.
 
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I don’t think there’s any question that they’re a legit threat. However, I want to see a little more out of their defense before I elevate them any higher
The way this season is turning out, I wouldn't even bother. I'll just wait for the playoffs. Predicting this season makes last year look simple. Brady could win the Super Bowl this year with an 8-9 team and that wouldn't be too crazy. Only something like the Browns or Raiders winning the Super Bowl would be a surprise now.
 
The way this season is turning out, I wouldn't even bother. I'll just wait for the playoffs. Predicting this season makes last year look simple. Brady could win the Super Bowl this year with an 8-9 team and that wouldn't be too crazy. Only something like the Browns or Raiders winning the Super Bowl would be a surprise now.

Even with Tom Brady, I would root against the Bucs in the playoffs if they went 8-9. I’ve always felt that a prerequisite for qualifying for the postseason is to have a .500 record at minimum. If they won the NFC South with a 9-8 record and then ran off 4 straight in the postseason? Sign me up for that. This would be a hypothetical path:

Wildcard- defeat the Cowboys at home
Divisional- defeat the Eagles in Philly
NFCCG- defeat the Vikings in Minnesota
Super Bowl- defeat the Bills or Chiefs

Very unlikely, but it would be quite the story to ride off into the sunset.
 
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Reich out as Indy head coach. Colts replace him with Jeff Saturday. Saturday is probably the first person in NFL history to be named a head coach without any coaching experience at either the NFL or college level.
 
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Reich out as Indy head coach. Colts replace him with Jeff Saturday. Saturday is probably the first person in NFL history to be named a head coach without any coaching experience at either the NFL or college level.

Damn it, I was going to call this last night (the Reich part, not the Saturday part). Although I think it’s very strange to give an NFL head coaching job to someone with zero experience, I can see Saturday eventually becoming a good HC. He has sort of a Mike Vrabel vibe about him.
 
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I also remember that when the Patriots fired Ron Meyer in the middle of the 1984 season, they hired Raymond Berry to be their head coach. At that time Berry was selling real estate in Massachusetts. Of course Berry had a ton of coaching experience in the NFL (including being the Pats receivers coach for several years), but he was never a head coach at the professional or college level.
 
I also remember that when the Patriots fired Ron Meyer in the middle of the 1984 season, they hired Raymond Berry to be their head coach. At that time Berry was selling real estate in Massachusetts. Of course Berry had a ton of coaching experience in the NFL (including being the Pats receivers coach for several years), but he was never a head coach at the professional or college level.
I was just getting into sports at that point, so it is all a blur. I didn't realize Berry had no head coach experience.

He'd take over, go 4-4, then 11-5 in consecutive years! The following two still having winning seasons, before the wheels fall off (after Kiam bought the team), he is gone and then it gets real dark until Parcells arrives. For me, it seemed like forever, as it was for most of my sports aware life at the time. But it was only three seasons, and something like 41 QBs.
 
I was just getting into sports at that point, so it is all a blur. I didn't realize Berry had no head coach experience.

He'd take over, go 4-4, then 11-5 in consecutive years! The following two still having winning seasons, before the wheels fall off (after Kiam bought the team), he is gone and then it gets real dark until Parcells arrives. For me, it seemed like forever, as it was for most of my sports aware life at the time. But it was only three seasons, and something like 41 QBs.

Real dark……and I mean REAL dark. That 1990 Patriots team was the absolute worst NFL team I have seen in my 46 years following the NFL. When Dick MacPherson took over in 1991 and 92 the Pats were so devoid of talent it was almost comical. But at least those teams tried. One of those years they went 6-10, but even that was a miracle.
 
Real dark……and I mean REAL dark. That 1990 Patriots team was the absolute worst NFL team I have seen in my 46 years following the NFL. When Dick MacPherson took over in 1991 and 92 the Pats were so devoid of talent it was almost comical. But at least those teams tried. One of those years they went 6-10, but even that was a miracle.
'91 they went 6-10. I only know that because I just looked it up a bit ago. '93 would be the rebirth, but it was a rough season. If not for the foot of Scott Sisson (just over 50% FG conversion rate), they might have made the playoffs. They'd draft Bledsoe that year in the first round and Troy Brown in the last... Sisson in the middle.
 
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'91 they went 6-10. I only know that because I just looked it up a bit ago. '93 would be the rebirth, but it was a rough season. If not for the foot of Scott Sisson (just over 50% FG conversion rate), they might have made the playoffs. They'd draft Bledsoe that year in the first round and Troy Brown in the last... Sisson in the middle.

Oh yeah, Scott Missin’ Sisson, I forgot about him. The Pats started 1-11 in 1993 and then won their last 4 games to finish 5-11. And as far as Troy Brown goes, Parcells nearly cut him. It wasn’t until Pete Carroll took over that Brown eventually took off.
 
Oh man, if the Raiders find a way to lose this one...

I admittedly have not seen much of the Raiders this year, but I can’t imagine them losing to that train wreck I saw on Sunday. That’s not even considering them handing over the reins to someone with zero coaching experience, and traveling from Indy to Boston and back, and then from Indy to Vegas in an 8 day span.
 
Week 11's Kansas City Chiefs at Los Angeles Chargers matchup on Nov. 20 will now be featured on Sunday Night Football (NBC; 8:20 p.m. ET).

Easy decision considering CBS already has Cowboys-Vikings entrenched as the main doubleheader game that week. Chiefs-Chargers would have been wasted going to a very small portion of the country. Now they can just slide in Bengals-Steelers as the secondary doubleheader game.

I also expect for Patriots-Raiders to get flexed out of SNF on Dec. 18. I don’t think the Bill Belichick-Josh McDaniels angle is a strong enough one to keep it there ( I would personally be fine with that because that would be the 4th consecutive prime time game for the Patriots).
 
Week 11's Kansas City Chiefs at Los Angeles Chargers matchup on Nov. 20 will now be featured on Sunday Night Football (NBC; 8:20 p.m. ET).
Odd choice, IMHO. The penciled in game was Bengals @ Steelers. Yes, the Bengals have been inconsistent and the Steelers are garbage, but Pittsburgh won the first game; Burrow is still a draw, and the Steelers are probably second to the Cowboys in number of geographically illogical fans.

This puts the Bengals - Chiefs game off limits for flexing, as Kansas City will now at the limit under the Fox/CBS contracts for games played at night.
 
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This is how I would rank the AFC right now-

1. Bills
2. Chiefs
Huge drop off

3. Dolphins
4. Ravens
5. Bengals
6. Titans
7. Chargers
8. Jets
9. Patriots
Huge drop off

10. Browns
11. Broncos
12. Jaguars
13. Raiders
14. Steelers
15. Colts
16. Texans

* I agree that the Dolphins are a team to watch

* Don’t sleep on either the Ravens or Bengals

* Titans will beat the living bleep out of anyone, but I can’t consider them a legit playoff threat with their QB situation

* The top and middle of the AFC is light years ahead of the NFC…..the bottom not so much
I agree with alot of what your saying here ...
I'm wondering if the Titans O Line is much like some others in the league, They can Run Block but not pass block ... they couldn't pass, to save thier lives the other night.
The Bears are that way, they run block pretty good, but Pass block is always a hit and miss .

Steelers O Line can't do either ...
 
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I think the Dolphins might actually be able to compete with the Bills and Chiefs. Tyrek Hill leads the league in receptions, with something like all of them. The only reason they have 3 losses was the concussion to their QB. The Dolphins somehow managed to become a great team by surprise... it might be the previous 10 or so false predictions of their resurgence that led to that.

As for the Pats, they aren't in the 2nd tier. They belong in their own tier. Much better than Browns, nowhere near as good as Bengals. They lack offense and Mac Jones isn't clicking enough with the offense. The Titans surprised me because I don't watch any of their games, so apparently ignorant gut feelings aren't very reliable.
I think I would put it pretty close to what Bill has, I don't think the Dolphins are in that Top group, yet.

Also, the Jets are a long ways from being Great, but getting to the Better/Good area.

Shockingly, I think the Bears are actually getting better, with the GM hadn't traded away all his Defense though.