NFL 2013 Season Thread

[SuperSneak]

I see them modeling the Ducks hurry up offense and hurting people with little jabs and pops, with the occasional long ball to Megatron thrown in to keep people honest. They're obviously banking on hitting the QB fast and taking their chances with the secondary. I see 2-3 TE sets. They're going to need a good pure RB or FB to bang it in as they can't rely on the android that Hanson was... Should be fun to watch, as usual.

[-Jrabbit]

Really, all Detroit needs to do to become playoff contenders is to get over their habit of falling behind by 2-3 touchdowns before getting their act together.

[Demonbinder]

Really, all Detroit needs to do to become playoff contenders is to get over their habit of falling behind by 2-3 touchdowns before getting their act together.

[-Jrabbit]

Dwight Freeney signs 2-year deal with San Diego...

[Sava]

He's old, bad, and slow.

[-Jrabbit]

Plus, what skills he still has are a better fit in a 4-3 than the 3-4 San Diego will run.

Perfect!

[Ben Kenobi]

Chargers have had terrible luck. Their number 1 OLB got hurt, and AJ's draft pick, English has been a terrible flop. That said, Freeney is 32, and he's not going to play every down.

As for the scheme.

The Chargers rarely play in their 3-4 base. I can see them running a 5-2 with Teo and Butler in coverage. 3-4 gives them that flexibility of having 3, 4, or 5 guys on the front. There's nothing stopping them from dropping an OLB in coverage and rushing 4 with Freeney on passing downs as I expect them to do.

Besides, Freeney's an upgrade over Phillips, who's the exact same age. The question here is the contract. Phillips was only 1 million while Freeney is a lot more. We'll see who's more productive next year. Like the signing - don't like the price. Should have kept Phillips, but the FO didn't anticipate Ingram (who's better than Phillips), going down.

The problem with Phillips is the efficiency. He rushed many, many, many downs and didn't get that many sacks or pressure for the plays. That's why Ingram replaced him. If it works and Freeney returns to form, this is a great deal that doesn't hurt the Chargers capwise. If it doesn't and Phillips plays well for Denver, that will be a strike against Tom Telasco.

[Ben Kenobi]

Elway is massively overrated. Montana >> Elway.

[Al B. Sure!]

Before Terrell Davis, Elway was basically Donovan McNabb.

[MRT144]

I feel bad for Tebow's agent. Last year at this point his player was being traded for two NFL draft picks. Now his only offer to be a quarterback is with the Omaha Beef.

I am dying over here.

[-Jrabbit]

Regarding Tebow, I do think it's a bit odd that a Heisman-winning read/option specialist who has a winning record in the NFL, and isn't that expensive, can't seem to get so much as a sniff at a roster spot, when the entire league seems to be all gaga over QBs running read/option -- Kaepernick, Wilson, RG3 and company.

I understand that Tebow has a "long" delivery and isn't especially accurate, but he is pretty strong in the W/L area. It's like he's been tagged a coach-killer, even though Fox is still coaching in Denver and Ryan is still destroying the Jets.

I'm not really a Tebow fan, but I can't help but wonder what he did to fall so far, so fast.

[Al B. Sure!]

The haters

[snoopy369]

W/L is irrelevant. Put me on an NFL team at QB, we'd win a few games (eventually). NBA, i'll give you W/L record. NFL, not relevant. Too much going on, too many of those wins were related to things other than quarterbacking. Like the CHI game.

The difference between Tebow and Kaepernick is that one of them is a competent passer, and the other is not. Read option works for K because he's also a very good passer. Even in college Tebow's game was mostly running; passing is a lot, lot harder in the NFL. He obviously doesn't cut it.

[-Jrabbit]

So snoop, your contention is that he was never worth an early draft pick in the first place?

I disagree that W/L is irrelevant in the NFL, though your point is valid. What I was trying to suggest (because he did win beyond predictions/expectations) is that Tebow seems to have leadership ability, which is something that elevates QBs beyond their core measurables.

So when I look at all the crap QBs holding down NFL jobs -- and there are plenty -- I'm a bit surprised that a guy who went 7-4 and won a playoff game just 2 years ago can't seem to get so much as a sniff. Just seems weird.

[snoopy369]

I don't think it was a bad draft pick, and I don't think it's unreasonable that he's out of the league now. Lots of guys have leadership ability. I don't know that his 'leadership ability' is what won those games in DEN. He did have a team, after all, that was solid on both sides of the ball other than at QB, and still lucked into a few things (like facing CHI missing half their offense).

Think back a few years to the Bulls' drafting of Joakim Noah. He was sort of similar to Tebow, right? Generally athletic but a lot of questions as to whether he would fit in the NBA; but the Bulls took a flier. A few years later their flier was proven right in spades, largely because he improved in skills he didn't have in college. Tebow was the same way - physically gifted but missing some skills. DEN took a flier on him figuring that if he did improve his passing to NFL caliber, he could be a top-flight QB - like Kaepernick has become (so far - still need a few more years of course). I don't think that was a bad idea. But he has clearly not improved, for whatever reason - either he just can't get better at it, or he's not found the right coach/situation/workout/etc. to improve.

A lot of success in the NFL is luck. Was Aaron Rodgers a far better QB than Alex Smith six years ago? Maybe. Or maybe Smith got placed in a lousy situation with coaches that weren't very good at bringing up QBs and receivers that weren't very good either, while Rodgers was placed into a situation where he could learn from one of the great QBs of our era and coached by one of the better QB developers.

I wonder, if Tebow had a better coach (say, drafted in the 3rd round by the Eagles) if he'd be in a better situation now. I don't know. But I don't think the draft choice was a bad idea. DEN was a fairly solid team just missing a few pieces; they didn't need a bunch of role players. Take that home run swing, and don't apologize if you miss.