TBayXXXVII

Agreed. I've always said, the best teams that will yield the best results are the ones where the QB and HC/OC are all on the same page. If one isn't, you'll never maximize your potential. Have all 3, and lesser groupings will still succeed (see Tampa).

The #1 seed's at the 33% mark of the season are lead by Baker Mayfield and Daniel Jones. I'll bet 0 people had that on their bingo cards back in August.

I've always made that argument, but I don't think you can put Mahomes in there. He's been to 5 Super Bowls, won 3. Of those, he did make the Super Bowl 3 times (won twice), after getting paid. Rodgers never went back. Neither Allen or Jackson have ever been there. At least Burrow has made it once in his career (as compared to Allen and Jackson), but I think he has the ability to match Mahomes if they can get an OLine together. Honestly, had they spent the money on that, instead of Higgins, they'd be better off. I believe I read that Cincinnati had the 31st ranked OLine last year along with the 25th ranked defense. Despite that, they missed the playoffs by 1 game. If the Bengals were just 20th at both, they most likely make the playoffs... probably win at least 1 game too.

I think Allen is better than Jackson as well, but here's how I see both... neither are truly great quarterbacks. I think that if Lamar was forced to be even a scrambling QB, he'd only be "ok". He's only a great talent if he has the ability to run. I think Allen would be good, a tier above, but in the same boat. I don't think that you could put a better team around them and yield better results. In saying that, it's why I think both have a true ceiling, even right now when they're at their best. Their ceiling is a great regular season with continual post-season disappointment. At some point in the playoffs, they will always play against "team" that is better than who either Allen or Jackson can beat. Right now, they both have the "Well, we have to get past each other AND Mahomes", excuse. The thing is, IF (a big "if"), Cincinnati ever gets an NFL caliber offensive line together to keep Burrow on the field, the Bengals will be another obstacle for Allen and Jackson. Heck, I don't think either could beat Indy right now... and they have Daniel Jones.

That's correct. Where's the problem? Don't worry, you don't need to answer. It'll probably be dumb like everything else you type.

If I were a gambling man, I'd drop a Ulysses S. Grant on the Bucs to win the chip.

Hot take: Yes, Josh Allen is a great player, but I think in order for him to be at his best, the rest of the team suffers. They weren't better or worse with Diggs (at his peak), than they were last year with jags. Simply, I don't think he makes any player better nor do I think he maximizes his teammates' abilities. Double down... I think the same for Lamar Jackson.

This sounds right to me.

In my keeper league (2 QB's), where I started Bryce Young and Dillon Gabriel, I beat the guy who started Josh Allen & Justin Herbert. I'm 5-1, he's 1-5. In my friend's league (1 QB), the guy who has Josh Allen will be 2-4 after this week. In my office league (2 QB's), the guy with Josh Allen is going to be either 1-5 or 2-4.

Now, we all know GM's lie... but, assuming Jason Licht is telling the truth (and he has no reason to, because this doesn't make him look good), he claimed that he had Baker Mayfield as the #1 QB in that draft. That tells me that he had Mayfield rated higher than both Allen and Jackson... whom he could've drafted. That being said, if he did have Mayfield as the best QB in the 2018 draft, then he's probably signing him regardless of how he played in Carolina. It's not like Mayfield played all that great in LA. His metrics were in line with what he did in Cleveland and was 1-3. That's not a ringing endorsement. On top of that, it's not like Mayfield got a big deal. Apparently, other teams offered him more than what Tampa did ($4M), but he was told he'd be given a chance to compete for the starting job. According to Mayfield, other teams offered him more, to be the backup. So yeah, I think the Bucs try to sign him no matter what happened in LA.

Meh, it's soccer. This is like saying "Unreal, the Jets lost". I mean, it's expected, is it not?

So, this is interesting. I have been on of the mindset that despite the players campaigning for less offseason hitting because it leads to injuries, the flipside is worse. I think many are coming to this opinion. Now, I do think that still could be the case and the link I've posted somewhat backs that up. What I find interesting is "Table 1". It clearly shows that more injuries in Weeks 1 through 4 of the 2020 regular season was significantly higher than Weeks 1 through 4 of the 3 seasons they compared them to. That said, the total of each year though, reads something different. In 2016, a total 712 injuries occurred from the start of pre-season through Week 4, 931 in 2018, and 800 in 2019... but, since there was no preseason games, 582 were injured. Now, what I don't like is that they didn't compare the full seasons. That's information I'd have liked. Something that may seem like an interesting study though is... what if the preseason games were eliminated, but double the duration of training camp? I've done searches for this in the past, because the CBA in 2011 was the one that reduced the off-season hitting and practice. What I've never found, was a study that extended from 2011 to any year in the future and compared it to the 5 or so prior years. The COVID one, examining 2020 is the only one I've ever found. So, while the limited study seems to indicate that less injuries happened overall, between August and September, I'm still curious as why the NFLPA never did a study to say, "See, we were right". I think it's because they know they're wrong and they don't say anything because it was only about the money and never the players actually getting injured.

Lot of words for saying "you're right, but I'll play word salad games to deflect."

Nope. I KNOW FOR A FACT, that the Democrat party is all for keeping illegal immigrants here, while acknowledging, preferring, and condoning them, getting paid less money than they should be.

I've met him. Before he was even the governor. Dude was such a dbag.

So, what I've learned from this thread is that the Democrat party is STILL pro-slavery, just that now, they just can't be black.

Not true. One of them is. @edjr notes that the "USA Olympic Hockey team won the Gold Medal when they beat the Russians". That's a misnomer. US beat Finland.

Is there federal protection for straight people being fired for being straight? Also, he was wrong. In 2020 (a year before his post), Trump's Supreme Court did say that they would qualify under the Civil Rights Act to protect the LGBTQ's from being fired.

Yeah, that was widely published. I believe she was the first female athlete to get a 7-figure NIL deal (I'm sure someone could verify that), when she first went to LSU for gymnastics. She is/(was- at the time), a big time "influencer", with a massive following. If I recall, she did modeling too... not positive (maybe fashion stuff), again, not positive because I don't really care about that crap. Anyway, she was worth a heck of a lot more money than Paul was, when they first started dating. I know he did get a $9M+ signing bonus, but I think she's still worth more money than him. Of course, that's going to come to an end in the near future if it hasn't already. I'm not up to speed on his non-baseball income. From what I recall, she was denied because shared the purchase on Instagram before the papers were signed. The board didn't want it to be over publicized (or something like that), on social media.

I used to think this way too, but was proven wrong. Yeah, along with endorsement deals, it's also about the union. The players union is always pushing players to look for record deals. IF the Pirates were to offer a 12/500 deal, rest assured a major market will offer 550. The Pirates' ONLY hope is to make an offer the union will almost force him to take. They'd have to give him Ohtani money... $70M AAV.

Truth. I think she's going to be a big reason why, even if the Pirates offer him a legit deal, he doesn't sign. They literally could offer him a 12 year, $500M deal tomorrow, and he'd turn it down. No way will she want to be locked in to the Pittsburgh market for 12 more years.

Skenes was 10-10 this year... I'm sure he'd have love to have been 13-6. Look at flipping Quinn Priester!! Dude was 13-3 this year. If he played on a better offense, he probably would've been something like 17-4. That said, somebody will pay it. He's better than what Snell and Burns were when they signed for 35+.

I know I'm jinxing him, but he's not like everyone else. Skenes has no where near the wear and tear that a bunch of other pitchers do. Prior pitching in minors/pros, he only pitched 240 innings. In high school, was mostly a catcher. I think I read that he only threw 41 innings in high school. He threw only 7 innings in travel ball. Prior to pitching for the Pirates MLB team, he had less than 300 innings pitched in his life.

I can't see the Cubs. They're already pushing close to $200M for 2026 and over that for 2027. Their payroll would be around $260M in Skubal's first year of his new deal. In order for any team to sign him to a 10 for 40 deal, they'd have to trade for him first. The Cubs aren't a good trade partner. If they want to get that payroll down, they're going to have to trade some better paid vets with about 3 years (or more on their deal), Imanaga is the only one that fits that bill. Otherwise, they'd need younger talent with years on their deal, like PCA & Busch. Imanaga, PCA, and Busch may get that deal started... but I don't think the Tigers need Busch when they have Torkelson. I'm less informed on Boston, but yeah, the Dodgers and Yankees don't care about giving up players or paying people, so they'll do whatever needs to be done.

Boras? Yeah, you're screwed. He's going to NY, LA, or SD. Melton did pretty well this year. I picked him up in my fantasy league in August, for depth. He did pretty well. I also followed him a little bit in the minors. Because I watch a lot of Pirates minor league ball, Erie is in the same division as Altoona and Toledo with Indy, I've seen him pitch against Pirates minor league teams. In the minors, his K:BB ration was great. In the major's though, it was half. Will be interesting to see if he can get it closer to 3.5 to 4:1. That will be a great sign.