"NFL Football is Back!" 2011 Season Thread

[SlowwHand]

You REALLY need a job of some kind. You have way too much time on your hands. I mean, REALLY.

[-Jrabbit]

I like the concept of expected points based on down/distance etc.

For instance, if your favorite team is playing at home and has a third-and-7 from its opponent's 45-yard line with 14:55 remaining in the fourth quarter, it will score, on average, 1.8 points. Suppose your team then gains 42 yards on its next play, giving it a first-and-goal at the 3-yard line with 14:30 left in the game. In that situation, teams average 5.6 points.

But without a corresponding adjustment for the opponent, it's perhaps more interesting than useful. I like the fact that QBR accounts for many more facets of play than does QB Rating. It's almost certainly an improvement on that, but hey, the bar was set pretty low.

I must say, I am distinctly NOT looking forward to all the ESPN yammering about how awesome QBR is, basically because they did it. But I guess you gotta take the bad with the good.

[MRT144]

I just see Eli's 25 INTs and am like, lolwut.

[-Jrabbit]

Yeah. Like it was Cutlers fault that the Bears O-line couldn't stop a snail. He also might be fumbling because he was getting sacked so much. This is just another bad QB rating system.

The fact that the O-line sucked and even the fairly mobile, pocket-aware Cutler got nailed a lot doesn't make him a lesser QB. In fact, a lesser QB would have been sacked/fumbled/pressured even more. But it's a bottom-line world, and the simple fact is that the Bears line play DID make him less effective. The fact that "it's not his fault" is irrelevant.

As Yoda said, "Do, or do not. There is no try."

[SlowwHand]

Changes keep coming.

Ricky Williams' NFL career is winding down. He hopes it does so after he wins championships with the Baltimore Ravens.

Williams signed a two-year deal with the Ravens, who released Willis McGahee two weeks ago and needed a backup to starting running back Ray Rice. ProFootballTalk.com cited a league source Monday in reporting that Williams' deal is worth up to $4 million.

Will Tebow go swimming with the Dolphins?
Now that Kyle Orton has been named the starter in Denver, will Miami go fishing for Tebow?

[MRT144]

LMAO, I'd almost die from laughter if Tebow went to Miami.

[-Jrabbit]

Never gonna happen.

[H Tower]

The QBR wasn't done until Trent Dilfer had Cutler ranked as low as he could get him, I don't know what Dilfer's beef with Cutler is, but that guy can't stop ragging on Cutler.

[snoopy369]

A Miami Dolphins team with Tim Tebow (QB) and Reggie Bush (RB) would be hilarious... a QB that's not a real NFL QB, and a RB that's not a real NFL RB. They'd just need to trade for Devin Hester and reacquire Ted Ginn Jr., and they'd be set.

[Al B. Sure!]

The QBR wasn't done until Trent Dilfer had Cutler ranked as low as he could get him, I don't know what Dilfer's beef with Cutler is, but that guy can't stop ragging on Cutler.

When Cutler was in Denver, ESPN was on Cutler's dick. They did a whole thing about the best young QB's and Cutler was #1 getting praise from all the ESPN analysts. Eli was practically destroyed by those analysts, ranked dead last among young starting QB's.

[-Jrabbit]

Well, to be fair, in their early years, Cutler significantly outplayed the higher-pedigreed Eli. In his first 4 seasons, Eli's highest QB rating was 77. Cutler was consistently in the upper 80s at the same stage of his career (until Chicago in his 4th year, 76.8).

I'm not saying Cutler was better; I'm saying it's easy to see how the stats would push the talking heads in that direction.

Who's QB rating do you think was higher last season?

[Al B. Sure!]

Well, to be fair, in their early years, Cutler significantly outplayed the higher-pedigreed Eli. In his first 4 seasons, Eli's highest QB rating was 77. Cutler was consistently in the upper 80s at the same stage of his career (until Chicago in his 4th year, 76.8).

I'm not saying Cutler was better; I'm saying it's easy to see how the stats would push the talking heads in that direction.

Who's QB rating do you think was higher last season?

Cutler's only slightly because Eli threw 25 INTs

[Demonbinder]

And in the latest news, Rex Grossman is reported to be #1 on the Redskins depth chart. :lol

[-Jrabbit]

Cutler's only slightly because Eli threw 25 INTs

"...only...25..."

[Al B. Sure!]

"...only...25..."

He threw 25 coming off a season where he only threw 14 and only 10 the year before that.