Showboat

I think this was a key in the two losses Patriots had to the Giants. The Giants were generally able to pressure Brady with 4. The difference being that the Pats D was able to keep it close and Brady made enough plays to win if not for miraculous helmet catches and such.

This may be a dent in Mahomes quest for GOAT. I don't think Brady ever got blown out in a Super Bowl. Mahomes now has this effort as well as the loss to the Bucs that was not really competitive.

I guess if you don't want a long term solution and plan to replace the head coach every year or two (which the Raiders seem to do), hiring a 74 year-old head coach is not a bad idea.

We'll find out if Johnson is just another good coordinator that can't make it as a head coach. It will also be interesting to see if this move has any real impact on the Lions O.

These playoffs are setting up nicely for a KC 3-peat - their toughest game will be against the BAL/BUF winner. Philly is like the anti-KC team: instead of making a critcal play, drive, etc. at crunch time, they usually have a critcal lapse at cruch time to keep their opponent in the game. Thus, I think WAS has a decent chance to get to the Super Bowl, but I don't see either NFC team beating the AFC champ (whoever that ends up being).

Just like '24 (well, if you exclude the Jets).

The real question is whether he'll keep Stevenson in the doghouse or see him as one of the better Patriot players who needs to get touches. His tenure with the Titans coincided with commiting to Henry as a true feature back. Seems like a promising development tor Stevenson (unless the Pats ultimately bring in someone else for that role).

Unless you are baking in another Monty injury, he is too low. He is a probably a late 1st/early 2nd rounder (and a Gibbs ACL away from being a top 5 back). Not sure Barkley should be number one overall - mostly because it is really tough to put together back-to-back great rushing years (and he is no spring chicken). Not sure who is better to go #1, but at this point I'd rather have a shot at Taylor or Kyren later in the first round than having to pick #1. I could see Chase Brown as a second rounder - there were doubters this preseason but he did all right and his arrow seems to be pointing upward (the primary risk limiting upside being Burrow's habit of throwing 2-yard TD passes).

The real question is how does their GM still have a job. The issue with the Giants is mostly personnel (particularly O-line and QB) rather than coaching. In 2022, when Daboll coaxed more out of the team than could be expected, it apparently fooled the GM into committing to Jones long term and thinking things were okay. I suppose Daboll bears some responsibility, if he was not lobbying to move on, but ultimately that should be the GM's decision/job. In most cases, the coaching churn because of a bad season record or two is not worth it. There are some cases where a coach is clearly out of his depth (Hackett with the 2022 Broncos and Mayo with the Patriots this year) and a one-and-done is justified, but other than that I think most teams would be wise to give a coach 4-5 seasons before pulling the plug.

A lot can happen between now and the beginning of next season, but there is no reason to think Henry can't put up another respectable, if not spectacular, season or two (even though the wheels tend to fall off quickly for RBs). Several backs have put up great numbers in their early 30s - Curtis Martin comes to mind. I can also see Henry taking on a Marcus Allen/Jerome Bettis role somewhere before he retires.

The Vikings? If they win tonight, you can count on them losing a home divisional round game as the #1 seed.

Not a lot of discussion here about whether he should go for the record with the Eagles locked into the #2 seed. I know it would go into the books as the single season record, but to me it would always have an asterisk with the extra game to get there. IMO O.J.’s 2003 yards in 14 games should still be recognized as the top but Dickerson’s three 1800+ yard seasons within a 4-year span is unprecedented. I could see going for the record if it was accomplished in the same number games. As it is, it seems that the record would be cheapened (especially if it was only exceeded by a few yards) and kind of reckless to go after in an essentially meaningless game.

This has come up several times this season - most notably when Josh Allen completed a pass an then received a lateral to score a TD. If the play includes a forward pass all TDs and yards gained go down as both passing and receiving yards (but there is only one completion and one reception). So, it is possible for a player to have no receptions but still have a receiving yards/TDs. If there is an actual fumble, receiving/passing yards stop and yards/TDs become part of the fumble recovery/return. In your example, there may need to be a distinction made between TD reception and receiving TD/yards - it seems appropriate that Williams would get credit for 40+ yard receiving TD (even though he didn't have a reception). If the Amon Ra had caught a 41 yard bomb and then lateraled to Williams who went 1 yard for the TD, the QB stats would be exactly the same but no receiver would have a 40+yard receiving TD.

I know - I think that should still be recognized as the single season record as I stated in my original post.

I know you are a bit biased in wanting Barkley to play for your fantasy team (and that's fine), but the fact remains that breaking a season record because you get to play an extra game cheapens the record and really makes it not worth going for in a meaningless game. If you want to play the ypc game, Barkley would have a hard time beating Peterson's 2097 yards in 348 attempts not to mention Jim Brown 6.4 ypc in with 1863 yards in only 291 carries. Any way you slice it, it seems like a bush-league and stupid move to use a extra meaningless game to attempt to "claim" a single-season record.

Exactly, why punish Dickerson by stripping his record when he was only allowed to play a 16 game schedule.

I think this is the biggest reason to not go for the record, especially in a meaningless game. How can anyone feel real proud of getting the single season rushing record, but requiring an extra game or three to do it in. It's like breaking Usain Bolt's 100m record, but only having to run 90m due to some rules-change technicality. The real issue is that the NFL should maintain season records from the 12, 14 and 16 game eras until someone beats them in the same number of games.

Should have started the waterboy over McLaurin. The problem with McLaurin (for fantasy) is that he is not enough of a selfish diva who will whine and moan when he doesn't get the ball.

FU to McLaurin, though in reality the FU should probably go to Daniels and the Washington coaches for ignoring their best receiver - great game plan for losing and missing the playoffs.

Yep, there's a reason the Bengals won't be in the playoffs.

The last time Gibson started, Stevenson had one of his better games this season. Still, it doesn't seem like a good move for the Pats to intentionally take their best player off the field - I woudn't be surprised if Mayo doesn't make it to year 2.

I'd go with Stafford. The Rams should be motivated to not take their foot off the gas and I think Tampa will play better and not let the game get away from them like they did a couple of weeks ago @CAR.

Unless Pollard is inactive, I think I'd go with White.

Thanks Guru - great insights!

Anyone get fantsy points for punts?