NFL - Are You Ready For Some Football?! - Regular Season

[Ming]

Considering that both games were expected to be blow outs, not a bad night for football. Granted, the favorites both won, but both games went down to the wire. With NE, it was just a matter of Brady getting back up to speed. Buffalo played well, but once Brady got back in the flow... game over. San Diego won at the end, but really didn't look all that good. Oakland played far better than expected, but still, SD doesn't look like last years team.

[Blaupanzer]

Oakland's defense looked very good indeed. A really good defense can make a good offense look bad. I wasn't aware of it until last night, but something is going on with LT. He definitely did not look like the hero of every fantasy league with that play.

[Ben Kenobi]

With SD, it was just a matter of Rivers getting back up to speed. Oakland played well, but once Rivers got back in the flow... game over. Brady won at the end, but really didn't look all that good. Buffalo played far better than expected, but still, NE doesn't look like last years team.

Rivers earned his victory, Brady did not. Brady was gifted with a turnover in the last minute. No turnover, the Pats lose. The pats were 11-5 last year, and should have lost.

The Chargers on the other hand, outfought the Raiders. They were 8-8 last year, and looked about the same.

[flash9286]

Man, I should have started the Philadelphia defense . Watching the Car-Phil game with Carolina fans was painful, and I don't even like the Panthers. My Cowboys won though , and Romo had zero turnovers

[Imran Siddiqui]

Buffalo played far better than expected, but still, NE doesn't look like last years team.

I guess they should have lost 31-0

(if you miss the reference, the 2003 SuperBowl winning Patriots team lost to the Bills 31-0 in the first game of the season - The Pats never look impressive against the Bills in the first game of the year... each of the 3 times they've done it in the last 7 seasons - 03, 06, and now 09)

[Ben Kenobi]

(if you miss the reference, the 2003 SuperBowl winning Patriots team lost to the Bills 31-0 in the first game of the season - The Pats never look impressive against the Bills in the first game of the year... each of the 3 times they've done it in the last 7 seasons - 03, 06, and now 09)

I just was impressed with how accurate Ming's statement was when it was reversed. He's a brilliant man. I don't see how a .500 team that wins their first match out is not as good as they were the previous year. :hmm: Is Ming saying the Chargers were better than their record?

[-Jrabbit]

I took it to mean that the Chargers were huge underachievers last year. Which I guess would mean, yeah, they were better than their record.

[snoopy369]

More like, they had more talent than their record would indicate. See: 2009 White Sox.

Also, I'd suggest an 8-8 team should be able to beat the RAIDERS handily [at least, last year's variety].

[Imran Siddiqui]

Though (and this is a big segway), weren't the 2009 White Sox far more competitive before they decided the season was over and traded away folks (kind of the 2009 Rays, who had a very good season until they dropped 11 in a row)?

[Ming]

It's simple... the Chargers looked like crap against the Raiders. Last year, they beat Oakland twice. Once in a slaughter and the other by 10 points. Last night, they were lucky to sneak away with a 4 point win. So compared to how they did last year agains the Raiders, they were worse

And anybody that says that Brady didn't earn the victory with two 2 TD's in the closing minutes is a moron.

[snoopy369]

Though (and this is a big segway), weren't the 2009 White Sox far more competitive before they decided the season was over and traded away folks (kind of the 2009 Rays, who had a very good season until they dropped 11 in a row)?

Absolutely not. First off, they traded away Jose Contreras, who was not going to start another game for them anyway due to his suckiness, and Jim Thome, who wasn't performing particularly better than (select 1 of Pods/Quentin/Dye/Rios/Kotsay) anyhow.

Second off, they're currently no further back than they were then, if not slightly closer (they've been hanging around 6 back for a while now).

I see them as precisely like San Diego 2008. Theoretical talent greater than .500, but playing to around .500 due to a combination of (perhaps not a well designed team) + (playing down to/up to competition). The White Sox are a team designed around anti-sabermetrics [ie, little regard to OBP, 'big fly' focus, etc.]; the Chargers are a bit of a 'big play' offense as well, rather than a grind-out-4-yards-per-down-and-have-good-defense, or at least were last year [from my memory, not having watched too many games]. They suffered because they didn't get as many big plays last year on offense, and their secondary was terrible [and IIRC football sabermetrics says "have a good secondary, and run the ball consistently interspersed with mid-range passing" or something to that effect].

[Ben Kenobi]

The Bills had to fumble the ball away to give Brady a shot. Sure, Brady got them within 6, but the rest was all in the fumble.

So compared to how they did last year agains the Raiders, they were worse

1st OAK Sebastian Janikowski 22 yard field goal 0 3
OAK Safety, Philip Rivers tackled in the end zone by Gibril Wilson. 0 5
2nd OAK Zach Miller 63 yard pass from JaMarcus Russell (Sebastian Janikowski kick) 0 12
OAK Sebastian Janikowski 28 yard field goal 0 15
3rd SDG Nate Kaeding 28 yard field goal 3 15
4th SDG Antonio Gates 9 yard pass from Philip Rivers (Nate Kaeding kick) 10 15
SDG LaDainian Tomlinson 13 yard rush (Darren Sproles pass from Philip Rivers) 18 15
OAK Sebastian Janikowski 32 yard field goal 18 18
SDG Nate Kaeding 47 yard field goal 21 18
SDG LaDainian Tomlinson 41 yard rush (Nate Kaeding kick) 28 18

Going down 15-0 to the Raiders by halftime, and being down 15-3 by the end of the 3rd?

Yes, they destroyed the Raiders in a must-win game later in the season, but this was 4 games in and not their first game. I watched both games, and believe me as ugly as this win was, they looked much better than they did a year ago.

[Imran Siddiqui]

Slight nitpick, Thome had the highest OPS+ of any White Sox player this year .

On your last paragraph, so your impression is bad coaching has been what has ultimately doomed the Chargers? Of course a huge problem was LT running at only 3.8 yards per attempt. But perhaps that is offensive line issues as well.

[Ben Kenobi]

the Chargers are a bit of a 'big play' offense as well, rather than a grind-out-4-yards-per-down-and-have-good-defense, or at least were last year

A sabermetrics for football would be the west-coast offense. Short, high percentage passes. The other would be the old Marty Schottenheimer system, running the ball all the time. Norv runs the old Air Coryell offense, focussing on 15-20 yard passes. Rivers is actually an excellent 'sabermetrics' QB. Lots of TDs, high passing efficiency, high completion percentage. A low 'sabermetrics' QB would be Sweet Baby Cutler. Lots of yardage, many incompletions and INT/TD ratio around 1. LT is also a high 'sabermetrics' RB. He did just fine in the Marty system.

I guess part of the problem is that the Chargers are built to run the Marty system, (LT, Gates, Rivers, Kaeding), and built to run the Norv system (Jackson, Sproles). I don't believe that the most successful way to run the Chargers is based on the Norv system, Rivers is tailor made for Martyball.

[Ben Kenobi]

Of course a huge problem was LT running at only 3.8 yards per attempt. But perhaps that is offensive line issues as well.

No, the problem was a 31st ranked pass defense combined with the Coryell system. Not a good combo, which lead to shootouts where Rivers was always fighting to come back time, and time again.

When you are down 14, are you going to be running LT all the time? No.

My big concerns for the Chargers:

1. Can Ron Riviera shut down the Ravens rushing offense? Baltimore is like an upgraded Raiders team. Bolts gave up 148 here, which is unacceptable, although most of those were in the first quarter.

2. CBs look solid, but what is up with the Safties? Hart shouldn't be starting on any NFL team, period.

That's pretty much it. I'm not too worried about the Chargers offense against the Ravens.