• Hi all. We have had reports of member's signatures being edited to include malicious content. You can rest assured this wasn't done by staff and we can find no indication that the forums themselves have been compromised.

    However, remember to keep your passwords secure. If you use similar logins on multiple sites, people and even bots may be able to access your account.

    We always recommend using unique passwords and enable two-factor authentication if possible. Make sure you are secure.
  • Be sure to join the discussion on our discord at: Discord.gg/serebii
  • If you're still waiting for the e-mail, be sure to check your junk/spam e-mail folders

NFL/NCAAF Thread: We don't huddle anymore in our society.

SoHowAreYou

Well-Known Member
Same, I'm sick of both of them. Next year I want to see a team that isn't the Patriots or Chiefs represent the AFC in the Super Bowl for once. IDK what it is, but there is so much less parity in the AFC than the NFC, the NFC always seems to field a wide variety of teams and QBs and you can see a team go from a basement dweller to a Super Bowl team the next year whereas in the AFC, the same teams and same QBs tend to dominate for several years.

I mean yeah the Pats and Chiefs put a finger on the scale, but the NFC was pretty terrible this year, in terms of parity, there were only 5 teams with winning records. In terms of the AFC, I guess I can do some quick predictions

AFC North
Bengals: Until Mike Brown is gone I predict that they will be awful. We're going to waste Burrows's career, he's going to be the next Andrew Luck. Despite them being my hometown team I can't feel any excitement about them. 4th
Browns: Their new coach is good, and they did well this year. 1st
Ravens: Maybe they will do well next year, IDK I don't really follow them. 2nd
Steelers: If Ben does come back they will suck. Also way to go picking up Haskins, I'm sure he'll make a team with a notoriously awful culture better. 3rd

AFC East
Bills: If anyone can unseat the Chiefs it will be these guys, but that depends on whether or not they can still improve. 1st
Dolphins: If they can pick up Watson they might win the division, but right now they look really good, Flores might be the lone example of a Bellicheck subordinate going on to be succesful. 2nd
Jets: I still think they will be at the bottom of the division next year, but they will be competitive, 2022 is when I expect we can tell if Saleh was a good hire. Another team that might get Watson, which would improve their standing. 4th
Patriots: Turns out Brady was an important part of their success. I don't think Bellicheck is a bad coach who was propped up by Brady, but I think without him he's not as good. Also a pretty toxic dude by most accounts, without the high likelihood of a Superbowl appearance I think that the organization will fall apart. 3rd

AFC South
Colts: I hate them for what they did to Manning and Luck. Probably won't be worse than the Texans, but this seems like it might be a competitive division this year. Not confident about where I put them. 2nd
Jaguars: They will waste Lawrence's career. College coaches coming to the NFL do not have good track records. 3rd
Titans: I don't think putting your hopes and dreams on a running back is a good idea, but it seems to sort of be working out for them. 1st
Texans: Well apparently a character coach and chaplain is running the show over there. A character coach for the Patriots who gave us Aaron Hernandez. Please don't waste Watson's career, trade him to a better run team, please. Away from the NFL's version of Rasputin. 4th

AFC West
Broncos: I predict they will still be bad next year, maybe the new GM can rebuild them, but that's a multiyear process. 4th
Chargers: Assuming they don't screw up their QB's career and puncture his lung or something I can see them being good next year. 2nd
Chiefs: Assuming Mahomes doesn't become an injury magnet (which despite not wanting him to win the AFC every year from now on, I think would be a real tragedy) I think they will win the championship again. 1st
Raiders: Can't see them being better than the Chargers next year unless the Chargers really screwed up on the new Head Coach hire. Can't see them being worse than the Broncos. 3rd

So looking over anything I think that the only team that has any hope of unseating the Chiefs next year is the Bills, and even then I'm not too sure. Of course, injuries are a thing, and sometimes a team can surprise you, like the Giants beating the Patriots in the Superbowl twice.
 

Bolt the Cat

Bringing the Thunder
I mean yeah the Pats and Chiefs put a finger on the scale, but the NFC was pretty terrible this year, in terms of parity, there were only 5 teams with winning records. In terms of the AFC, I guess I can do some quick predictions

AFC North
Bengals: Until Mike Brown is gone I predict that they will be awful. We're going to waste Burrows's career, he's going to be the next Andrew Luck. Despite them being my hometown team I can't feel any excitement about them. 4th
Browns: Their new coach is good, and they did well this year. 1st
Ravens: Maybe they will do well next year, IDK I don't really follow them. 2nd
Steelers: If Ben does come back they will suck. Also way to go picking up Haskins, I'm sure he'll make a team with a notoriously awful culture better. 3rd

AFC East
Bills: If anyone can unseat the Chiefs it will be these guys, but that depends on whether or not they can still improve. 1st
Dolphins: If they can pick up Watson they might win the division, but right now they look really good, Flores might be the lone example of a Bellicheck subordinate going on to be succesful. 2nd
Jets: I still think they will be at the bottom of the division next year, but they will be competitive, 2022 is when I expect we can tell if Saleh was a good hire. Another team that might get Watson, which would improve their standing. 4th
Patriots: Turns out Brady was an important part of their success. I don't think Bellicheck is a bad coach who was propped up by Brady, but I think without him he's not as good. Also a pretty toxic dude by most accounts, without the high likelihood of a Superbowl appearance I think that the organization will fall apart. 3rd

AFC South
Colts: I hate them for what they did to Manning and Luck. Probably won't be worse than the Texans, but this seems like it might be a competitive division this year. Not confident about where I put them. 2nd
Jaguars: They will waste Lawrence's career. College coaches coming to the NFL do not have good track records. 3rd
Titans: I don't think putting your hopes and dreams on a running back is a good idea, but it seems to sort of be working out for them. 1st
Texans: Well apparently a character coach and chaplain is running the show over there. A character coach for the Patriots who gave us Aaron Hernandez. Please don't waste Watson's career, trade him to a better run team, please. Away from the NFL's version of Rasputin. 4th

AFC West
Broncos: I predict they will still be bad next year, maybe the new GM can rebuild them, but that's a multiyear process. 4th
Chargers: Assuming they don't screw up their QB's career and puncture his lung or something I can see them being good next year. 2nd
Chiefs: Assuming Mahomes doesn't become an injury magnet (which despite not wanting him to win the AFC every year from now on, I think would be a real tragedy) I think they will win the championship again. 1st
Raiders: Can't see them being better than the Chargers next year unless the Chargers really screwed up on the new Head Coach hire. Can't see them being worse than the Broncos. 3rd

So looking over anything I think that the only team that has any hope of unseating the Chiefs next year is the Bills, and even then I'm not too sure. Of course, injuries are a thing, and sometimes a team can surprise you, like the Giants beating the Patriots in the Superbowl twice.

I mean over time, not just this year. The NFC has different teams winning almost every year. I mean look what teams have made the Super Bowl in the last 5 years:

AFC:
Patriots
Patriots
Patriots
Chiefs
Chiefs

NFC:
Falcons
Eagles
Rams
49ers
Buccaneers

See the difference? No matter how good one team in the NFC is one year, the next year they fall off and someone else looks better. Not the case with the AFC for whatever reason.

As for who could unseat the Chiefs, the Bills are probably the most likely candidates right now, and the Ravens could as well if they make the right moves. The Ravens are close, they mainly just need to improve their passing game so they can remain efficient against teams that can shut down the run and outproduce them on offense.
 

SoHowAreYou

Well-Known Member
I mean over time, not just this year. The NFC has different teams winning almost every year. I mean look what teams have made the Super Bowl in the last 5 years:

AFC:
Patriots
Patriots
Patriots
Chiefs
Chiefs

NFC:
Falcons
Eagles
Rams
49ers
Buccaneers

See the difference? No matter how good one team in the NFC is one year, the next year they fall off and someone else looks better. Not the case with the AFC for whatever reason.

As for who could unseat the Chiefs, the Bills are probably the most likely candidates right now, and the Ravens could as well if they make the right moves. The Ravens are close, they mainly just need to improve their passing game so they can remain efficient against teams that can shut down the run and outproduce them on offense.

True historically the AFC has been less competitive (at least for most of my life) but on the other hand that seems to be mostly down singular dominant teams, which might be the case in the NFC going forward until Brady decides to retire, looking at Tampa versus KC. Also a big part of the 49ers collapse this year was due to injuries, the rest of them I agree is due to being a more internally competitive Conference. And I am going to hold out some hope that at least some teams in the AFC will be able to learn how to beat KC's offence, Tampa managed to mostly shut them out. Though I wonder how much of that is down to Mahomes being injured. Oh well, there's always baseball.
 

Bolt the Cat

Bringing the Thunder
True historically the AFC has been less competitive (at least for most of my life) but on the other hand that seems to be mostly down singular dominant teams, which might be the case in the NFC going forward until Brady decides to retire, looking at Tampa versus KC. Also a big part of the 49ers collapse this year was due to injuries, the rest of them I agree is due to being a more internally competitive Conference. And I am going to hold out some hope that at least some teams in the AFC will be able to learn how to beat KC's offence, Tampa managed to mostly shut them out. Though I wonder how much of that is down to Mahomes being injured.

Ugh, I hope not. The only thing worse than seeing KC making the next 3 SBs would be TB making the next 3 as well.

Oh well, there's always baseball.

You would rather have there be no hard salary cap and have even more dominance thanks to the richest markets pricing the smaller ones out of competition? Yeeeaaahh, let's not pretend that baseball would be a preferable alternative to what's going on in football.
 

SoHowAreYou

Well-Known Member
You would rather have there be no hard salary cap and have even more dominance thanks to the richest markets pricing the smaller ones out of competition? Yeeeaaahh, let's not pretend that baseball would be a preferable alternative to what's going on in football.

I mean at least the Reds sometimes have winning seasons, and I can delude myself into thinking they'll win a playoff game sometime in my lifetime.

Though back on topic here's a horrifying thought: Tom Brady will play until after Mahomes retires. Honestly, that might come true, I remember how everyone thought he was done last year. I hate all the talk about how great he is but honestly until he actually retires I'm going to assume he'll keep appearing in the Superbowl every year. Though I am interested to see the new talent coming up this year. Maybe Trevor Lawrence will actually be football jesus. Maybe some of the really poorly run teams will be sold to more competent ownership. Or maybe one of those new coaching hires will solve the AFC or beat Brady. I don't think Mahomes is actually the next Brady, I think it won't be a case where KC keeps going to the Super Bowl for the next two decades. We can hold out hope for the future, but yeah next year I expect that either Tampa Bay or KC will be in the Super Bowl again, though I think it's unlikely that both of them would make back-to-back appearances.
 

Bolt the Cat

Bringing the Thunder
I mean at least the Reds sometimes have winning seasons, and I can delude myself into thinking they'll win a playoff game sometime in my lifetime.

Though back on topic here's a horrifying thought: Tom Brady will play until after Mahomes retires. Honestly, that might come true, I remember how everyone thought he was done last year. I hate all the talk about how great he is but honestly until he actually retires I'm going to assume he'll keep appearing in the Superbowl every year. Though I am interested to see the new talent coming up this year. Maybe Trevor Lawrence will actually be football jesus. Maybe some of the really poorly run teams will be sold to more competent ownership. Or maybe one of those new coaching hires will solve the AFC or beat Brady. I don't think Mahomes is actually the next Brady, I think it won't be a case where KC keeps going to the Super Bowl for the next two decades. We can hold out hope for the future, but yeah next year I expect that either Tampa Bay or KC will be in the Super Bowl again, though I think it's unlikely that both of them would make back-to-back appearances.
Maybe for the poorly run football teams and/or richer baseball markets, but in general your football team is probably going to have more of a chance to make the playoffs or win a championship than your baseball team. In my case, the Ravens are frequent playoff contenders whereas the Orioles have almost no shot of getting anywhere because the Yankees and Red Socks outspend them and dominate the AL East.
 

Diarkia124

Well-Known Member
I mean at least the Reds sometimes have winning seasons, and I can delude myself into thinking they'll win a playoff game sometime in my lifetime.
I still can't believe they lost to the Giants 3 times in a row at home in 2012. That entire postseason was probably the most unexpected run outside of Bumgarner carrying the whole team against KC.

As far as CFB goes, my alma matter is usually among the worst teams in FBS, even losing to some FCS school. This season was different though, we took SEC quarterback we humiliated the previous season and won the conference against a team we never beat before.
 

bobjr

You ask too many questions
Staff member
Moderator

SoHowAreYou

Well-Known Member
I'm upset about that one, hopefully, the NFL decides to kick him out if and honestly when the allegations are substantiated, and not you know just let him hang around like certain other players.
 

Det. Viper

That’s Detective Viper to you
The Minnesota Vikings completely revamped their defensive line this year. Look at the key players and reserves: Danielle Hunter, Dalvin Tomlinson, Michael Pierce, DJ Wonnom, Sheldon Richardson, Stephen Weatherly and Everson Griffen. On paper this looks like a nightmare for opposing QBs and RBs. Hopefully this group lives up to the hype.
 

Hunter Zolomon

Into the Shadows
Staff member
Moderator
The Lions lost, but showed a lot of grit at the end of the game. The 49ers are a good team when healthy, so I can't even count this as a bad loss. I'm just glad that the Lions didn't give up. They would have given up under the old regime.

Also, Stafford looks so comfortable as a Ram. He had a great debut. The Bears have a good defense, so I was impressed by Staffords numbers. So many Lion fans dogged on Stafford which I never liked. Stafford isn't the sole issue of the Lions. The Lions were terrible well before Stafford. Stafford never had much to work with outside of Calvin Johnson.

It's hard to do anything behind a terrible offensive line. Stafford is in a way better situation with the Rams. Good for him.
 

SoHowAreYou

Well-Known Member
So that was an... Interesting week. Gruden resigned, which was good but considering all of this stuff came from an investigation of Washington I wonder what the NFL is hiding on that group because it seems like they're protecting Snyder.

Anyways that Bengals Packers game was a complete farce, and I feel like the Lions may get their first win next week. Also, speaking of 0-5 teams, do people think Urban Meyer will be gone before the end of the season, at the end of the season, or do you think he will be around next year?
 

bobjr

You ask too many questions
Staff member
Moderator
Urban basically lost all respect from the team already, the only thing keeping him around is that he still gets paid regardless
 

Hunter Zolomon

Into the Shadows
Staff member
Moderator
Michigan football needs to fire Jim Harbaugh. This dude has been a complete bust and utter disappointment. He's had 7 years to fix this team and he has never won a big game yet during his tenure. Ohio State is going to wax the floor with Michigan like usual. Michigan had Michigan State beat today, but shot themselves in the foot, and the coaching was SO conservative. Looks like another mediocre 3 or 4 loss season incoming for the Wolverines. What a shame. Especially with the talent that Harbaugh pulls in. This guy stinks at coaching talent and winning big games. I was never a fan of the hire in the first place. Michigan always starts the season strong or undefeated, but then chokes in big games. It's a tiring trend.....
 

SoHowAreYou

Well-Known Member
Michigan football needs to fire Jim Harbaugh. This dude has been a complete bust and utter disappointment. He's had 7 years to fix this team and he has never won a big game yet during his tenure. Ohio State is going to wax the floor with Michigan like usual. Michigan had Michigan State beat today, but shot themselves in the foot, and the coaching was SO conservative. Looks like another mediocre 3 or 4 loss season incoming for the Wolverines. What a shame. Especially with the talent that Harbaugh pulls in. This guy stinks at coaching talent and winning big games. I was never a fan of the hire in the first place. Michigan always starts the season strong or undefeated, but then chokes in big games. It's a tiring trend.....

Out of curiosity assuming UoM actually fires Harbaugh, who would you want to replace him?

Also congrats the Lions won't be 0-17 this year.
 

Hunter Zolomon

Into the Shadows
Staff member
Moderator
My last post in here about firing Harbaugh didn't age well at all as Michigan dominated Ohio State today. Harbaugh outcoached Ryan Day. Michigan played their most complete game all season. I couldn't have been more wrong. Now they will play Iowa in the Big 10 Championship game. It's nice to see Michigan finally beat the Buckeyes. I couldn't have been more wrong and I deserve to eat crow. Heck of a win for Michigan.
 

SoHowAreYou

Well-Known Member
Well football is making my kind of bad week better:

Michigan beat OSU
The Bengals beat the Steelers like a drum
The Ravens and Browns do not look good
More people know how awful Brian Kelly is
And Luke Fickell is almost certainly going to be UC's head coach next year.
 

Bolt the Cat

Bringing the Thunder
The Ravens and Browns do not look good

The Ravens have looked bad all season but they keep winning. And that's in spite of being gutted by injuries (lost their starting LT, their ENTIRE RB ROOM, their CB2 and primary ballhawk, one of their starting Safeties, one of their starting ILBs, one of their starting DLs, starting OL keep getting injured throughout the season, only 2 or 3 healthy CBs RN, one of their 1st round picks missed the first 6 week), the Ravens have just been resilient enough to overcome all of that to win. They're not winning pretty, but they are winning, and that's what matters. The Ravens feel like a team that could win or lose any given game all the way up to the Super Bowl. Will they go that far? I can't really say that, but count them out at your own risk. They're the #1 seed and they're 8-3. You don't just get that by accident.
 

SoHowAreYou

Well-Known Member
The Ravens have looked bad all season but they keep winning. And that's in spite of being gutted by injuries (lost their starting LT, their ENTIRE RB ROOM, their CB2 and primary ballhawk, one of their starting Safeties, one of their starting ILBs, one of their starting DLs, starting OL keep getting injured throughout the season, only 2 or 3 healthy CBs RN, one of their 1st round picks missed the first 6 week), the Ravens have just been resilient enough to overcome all of that to win. They're not winning pretty, but they are winning, and that's what matters. The Ravens feel like a team that could win or lose any given game all the way up to the Super Bowl. Will they go that far? I can't really say that, but count them out at your own risk. They're the #1 seed and they're 8-3. You don't just get that by accident.

Yes, the Ravens are pulling off wins, John Harbaugh is probably the best coach in the division and Lamar is really good. I didn't get to watch the game against the Browns, but from what I read afterwards it was not the offences best performance. Honestly, all the teams in the AFC North have tough remaining schedules and the Ravens making it to the playoffs wouldn't really surprise me but if they crashed and burned I also wouldn't be surprised. I'm just really glad that the Bengals have a shot at the playoffs again.
 
Top