Jerry Shugart
Well-known member
They are up 1.5 games in their division.
There's about 24 teams who aren't leading their divisions.
The 2019 NFL Season is Finally Here!
- Thread starter Jerry Shugart
- Start date
They are up 1.5 games in their division.
There's about 24 teams who aren't leading their divisions.
Jerry Shugart
Well-known member
The Boys need someone like Tomlin to be their head coach!
Hey Jerry, remember when your Cowboys were 3-0, and my Steelers were 0-3?
Well guess what? They are both 5-4 now.
After losing Roethlisberger, Antonio Brown, and LeVeon Bell, the Steelers then lost starting running back James Conner......yet, they have won 4 of 5.
What is your excuse for the Cowboys?
drbrumley
Well-known member
True, but they still suck..
Jerry Shugart
Well-known member
The excuse is the coaching. Dallas has virtually no chance of making the playoffs now so thankfully Garrett will be fired at the end of the season. He should have been fired years ago.
drbrumley
Well-known member
Its always the coach
drbrumley
Well-known member
Docs Power Ranking for week ending 11/11/9
Comments
1. New England
the first of four straight opponents with winning records to face the defending champions. That's quite a change from the first half, when New England fattened up on some of the worst teams in football.
2. San Francisco
Chase McLaughlin makes his final kick, the 49ers are 9-0 and we're all talking about their bottomless well of resolve. But McLaughlin yacked it, and suddenly the Niners are in a dogfight with the Seahawks in the NFC West. San Francisco needs to get healthy on the offensive side of the ball: With
George Kittle(knee/ankle) sidelined and Emmanuel Sanders(ribs) knocked out of the game early, Jimmy Garoppolo was left with a dearth of trustworthy options ... and it showed. The 49ers still feel like the best team in the NFL through 10 weeks, but the Seahawks showed us the gap is minimal.
3. Green Bay
4. Seattle
Jason Myers got his season back on track with a game-winner in the final seconds of the extra period. Wilson's steady hand is irreplaceable in pressure cookers like this, but the game ball has to go to Jadeveon Clowney, who played like a superstar. Clowney lived in San Francisco's backfield, created turnovers, scored a touchdown and basically ensured he'll soon get a contract that makes him one of the highest-paid defenders in football. Nice day at the office for both player and team.
5. Baltimore
has changed the game. All the talk comparing the second-year star to Michael Vick has been selling Jackson short this entire time. Jackson is better than peak Vick ... and he's just getting started.
6. New Orleans
A head-scratching lossby the Saints, who were dominated in all phases by a downtrodden Falcons team that hadn't shown a pulse in weeks.
Drew Brees was sacked six times -- tied for the most ever in his career -- and was pressured 18 times by a relentless Atlanta front seven. How stunning was the defensive surge by the Falcons? They managed seven sacks all season before Sunday. The Saintswere well under 300 yards of total offense before they began accumulating first downs in a final garbage-time drive that still produced zero points. "Pick a situation, and there's a good chance they won that situation," Saints coach Sean Payton said after the game. It was ... well ... as weird an outcome as we've seen in this 2019 NFL season, and it begs the question: Is this a sign of trouble in New Orleans, or was it just a very bad day at the office?
7. Minnesota
Eric Kendricks' breakup of a pass intended for Ezekiel Elliott in the final minute that ended the Cowboys' final scoring chance. Kendricks has been one of the best cover linebackers in football this season ... Dak Prescott picked the wrong "mismatch."
8. Houston
9. Kansas City
Patrick Mahomes returned to action and looked close to himself, the most important thing that could come out of Sunday's matchup with the Titans.
10. Dallas
Comments
By Dan Hanzus of NFL.com
1. New England
We're coming off a harrowing week for the Patriots and their fans, who not only had to process their team's first loss of the season -- last Sunday night's lopsided defeat to the Ravens-- but also the painful reality that New England no longer holds the top spot in the NFL dot com Power Rankings. Yes, Patriot Way was shaken out of its Pleasantville-like existence, but let's all remember that hell hath no fury like Bill Belichick coming off a loss and a bye. New England is 14-5 in post-bye games during the Belichick Dynasty. The Eagles draw the tough assignment -- they're
the first of four straight opponents with winning records to face the defending champions. That's quite a change from the first half, when New England fattened up on some of the worst teams in football.
2. San Francisco
The worst thing about being on the wrong end of a Monday night classic? You know it will be resurfaced repeatedly on telecasts until the end of time. The Niners lost their first game of the season in crushing fashion: at home, in prime time, to a division rival, in the last second of overtime. If poor
Chase McLaughlin makes his final kick, the 49ers are 9-0 and we're all talking about their bottomless well of resolve. But McLaughlin yacked it, and suddenly the Niners are in a dogfight with the Seahawks in the NFC West. San Francisco needs to get healthy on the offensive side of the ball: With
George Kittle(knee/ankle) sidelined and Emmanuel Sanders(ribs) knocked out of the game early, Jimmy Garoppolo was left with a dearth of trustworthy options ... and it showed. The 49ers still feel like the best team in the NFL through 10 weeks, but the Seahawks showed us the gap is minimal.
3. Green Bay
If the Packers go on to win their first Super Bowl title in nearly a decade, a beefy segment of the eventual DVD season retrospective will be centered on how Sunday's game ended at snowy Lambeau Field. Christian McCaffrey, the NFL's best running back, was 2 yards from the goal line with the chance to put the Panthers in position to tie. And the Green Bay defense rose to the occasion to stuff the Carolina star and clinch a huge win.
The Packers' defense has been a problem for weeks: Since Week 4 and entering Sunday, Mike Pettine's unit ranked 31st in yards allowed per play, 30th in completions of 20 or more yards allowed and 30th in third-down defense, per The Athletic. The Pack D nearly collapsed on Sunday, as well: McCaffrey's final carry was the 18th play of an 88-yard Panthers drive. But Green Bay didn't break. It was a dramatic stand to build upon.
4. Seattle
After it was all over, Russell Wilson told ESPN he didn't think he'd "ever been part of a game that crazy." The Seahawks
knocked off the previously undefeated 49ers, 27-24 in OT, in a game that had more twists and turns than a daytime soap opera. You could write a book on the overtime period alone, as Wilson threw a crushing red-zone interception, the Niners missed a would-be game-winning field goal, then
Jason Myers got his season back on track with a game-winner in the final seconds of the extra period. Wilson's steady hand is irreplaceable in pressure cookers like this, but the game ball has to go to Jadeveon Clowney, who played like a superstar. Clowney lived in San Francisco's backfield, created turnovers, scored a touchdown and basically ensured he'll soon get a contract that makes him one of the highest-paid defenders in football. Nice day at the office for both player and team.
5. Baltimore
Sunday's matchup against the winless Bengals seemed unfair on paper, and it was even crueler in action.Lamar Jackson
robbed the Bengals of their agency during another incredible performance in which he finished with a perfect passer rating and delivered his greatest highlight-reel run yet in a 49-13 laugher. The Ravens are knocking on the door for the AFC's top seed, and it all starts with the 22-year-old under center. "You know how many little kids in this country are going to be wearing No. 8 playing quarterback for the next 20 years?" Ravens
coach John Harbaugh rhetorically asked Jackson on the sideline Sunday, after telling him: "You changed the game, man." Harbaugh's right: Jackson
has changed the game. All the talk comparing the second-year star to Michael Vick has been selling Jackson short this entire time. Jackson is better than peak Vick ... and he's just getting started.
6. New Orleans
A head-scratching lossby the Saints, who were dominated in all phases by a downtrodden Falcons team that hadn't shown a pulse in weeks.
Drew Brees was sacked six times -- tied for the most ever in his career -- and was pressured 18 times by a relentless Atlanta front seven. How stunning was the defensive surge by the Falcons? They managed seven sacks all season before Sunday. The Saintswere well under 300 yards of total offense before they began accumulating first downs in a final garbage-time drive that still produced zero points. "Pick a situation, and there's a good chance they won that situation," Saints coach Sean Payton said after the game. It was ... well ... as weird an outcome as we've seen in this 2019 NFL season, and it begs the question: Is this a sign of trouble in New Orleans, or was it just a very bad day at the office?
7. Minnesota
The big narrative headed into Sunday night's huge matchup against the Cowboys centered on Kirk Cousins and whether he could rise to the occasion in prime time against a quality opponent, the type of setting that has seemingly unnerved the quarterback in the past. But then the game started, Cousins played with a steady hand, and we were reminded who the true star of Minnesota's attack really is. Dalvin Cook
delivered another All-Pro performance in Dallas, finishing with 183 yards from scrimmage and a touchdown in a 28-24 win. Cook and Cousins didn't do it alone: The Vikings' defense was in bend-but-don't-break mode against a high-powered Dallas attack, typified by
Eric Kendricks' breakup of a pass intended for Ezekiel Elliott in the final minute that ended the Cowboys' final scoring chance. Kendricks has been one of the best cover linebackers in football this season ... Dak Prescott picked the wrong "mismatch."
8. Houston
For the second consecutive year, and for the third time in the last four seasons, the Texans have started the season at 6-3. It's a nice spot to be in, and a big part of Houston's success can be found in the trenches. The Texans' offensive line, led by key late-summer acquisition Laremy Tunsil, has done a much better job of protecting Deshaun Watson. And the unit's opening up holes for a running game that's been one of the most productive in football. The Carlos Hyde- Duke Johnson tandem has piled up nearly 1,000 yards, averaging 4.9 per carry. The absence of J.J. Watt will likely become more pronounced as the season progresses, but Houston's front seven did fine work in shutting down Leonard Fournette and Gardner Minshewin Week 9. Houston entered Week 10 having allowed the third-fewest rushing yards per game (84.1) in football.
9. Kansas City
Patrick Mahomes returned to action and looked close to himself, the most important thing that could come out of Sunday's matchup with the Titans.
But ... what a disastrous finish to a game that the Chiefs controlled for the majority of four quarters. A quick rundown of the setbacks starting at the 1:36 mark in the fourth quarter: 1) A failure to convert on a third-and-short followed by 2) a botched snap on a field-goal try, which led to 3) an intentional grounding call on the holder, which set the stage for 4) a defense-wide collapse on the Titans' four play, 61-yard go-ahead touchdown drive, which was followed by 5) a blocked field-goal attempt to end it. Titans win, 35-32. If the Chiefs end up missing out on a bye or find themselves in a dogfight with the Raiders in the AFC West, remember what happened in Nashville.
10. Dallas
If the Cowboys aimed to show the world on Sunday night they should be viewed as legit Super Bowl contenders, they didn't do a very good job of it. Lapses in judgment and failures in execution killed Dallas in a 28-24 loss to the Vikings, which dropped the Cowboys into a tie with the Eagles atop a weak NFC East. Advanced analytics tell us that Jason Garrett's team is one of the best in football, but there's always been truth to that ol' Parcellism: You are what your record says you are. The Cowboys are 5-4, a little better than mediocre. Tavon Austin's fair-catch call on a Vikings punt in the final minute is emblematic of Dallas' struggles. He told reporters after the game he was instructed to call for a fair catch to save seconds on the clock. Fortune favors the bold ... and that ain't the Cowboys
.
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The Cowboys have Dak, Zeke, and Amari......I could coach that team, and win at least 11 games.
It makes no sense.
Steelers vs. Browns tonight.
Since 1969:
Steelers: 3 head coaches (least in the NFL)
Browns: 19 head coaches (most in the NFL)
Since 1969:
Steelers: 3 head coaches (least in the NFL)
Browns: 19 head coaches (most in the NFL)
Jerry Shugart
Well-known member
If Tomlin was the coach they would win the Super Bowl this year.
Idolater
"Matthew 16:18-19" Dispensationalist (Catholic) χρ
Good luck on Sunday Jerry. I don't know the spread yet but I'm hearing anything from a Pats two-touchdown win, to a very tight game in these parts. The Pats offense is very vulnerable right now. But NE hasn't lost in Foxboro since 2017.
Jerry Shugart
Well-known member
I don't know if luck will be enough for the Cowboys to win because the coaching staff really sucks!
It does look like they're determined to treat the last half of the season like the first half of their last Super Bowl...unfortunately, they treated the first half of it like the second half of that game...go figure. :L.
The Berean
Well-known member
The 49ers have a really tough stretch of three games against Green Bay, at Baltimore, and at New Orleans. Each team is 8-2.
Jerry Shugart
Well-known member
Yes, and we will see what Garoppolo is made of. He don't impress me much so far!
Jerry Shugart
Well-known member
NEWSFLASH!
PITTSBURGH — The on-field fight between Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Mason Rudolph and Cleveland Browns defensive end Myles Garrett has turned into a war of words off it, with Rudolph denying an anonymous report alleging he used a racial slur shortly before their now infamous confrontation last week. ESPN, citing anonymous sources, reported Garrett told the NFL during the appeal of his indefinite suspension Rudolph used a racial slur just before a confrontation between the two players that included Garrett ripping off Rudolph’s helmet and then hitting the quarterback in the head with it.NFL spokesman Brian McCarthy said the league investigated Garrett’s claim and “found no such evidence” of the slur. The NFL upheld Garrett’s indefinite suspension on Thursday, though the accusation added another complex layer to an already emotionally charged rivalry, with members of both clubs rising to the defense of their teammates.
Jerry Shugart
Well-known member
[h=1]Cowboys-Patriots: The rivalry we deserved but never got[/h] The Patriots play the Cowboys this weekend in the marquee afternoon slot, getting the full Fox national-coverage, Buck-and-Aikman treatment. The only opposing game on the schedule: the Thursday-night-special of Jacksonville at Tennessee, as close to a total broadcast surrender as you can get.
Everybody who’s not literally on the field for Jags-Titans is going to be watching Cowboys-Pats.
And yet, you can’t help but think this game should be so much bigger. This game ought to be LeBron-MJ, Alabama-Clemson and Scorsese-Marvel all wrapped in one, a rivalry where everyone’s got a loud opinion. But Cowboys-Patriots falls into the category of “fun every-four-years matchup,” not “Super Bowl blood feud.”
That’s a damn shame because the NFL needs good honest rivalries — ones based on trash talk, bad takes and weird costumes, not bodily assault and accusations of racism — now more than ever. Dallas-New England could have been the best of them all.
Imagine Dallas throwing around New England in the Super Bowl with outright whuppings, not just the miracle victories of the New York Giants. Imagine Cowboys fans and Patriots fans hammering each other in a cacophony of sweat, rage, body spray and bad accents, bandwagons colliding like 18-wheelers on an interstate. Oh, what could have been. [h=2]Bandwagons going separate directions[/h]
Think of the NFL’s greatest rivalries, and an outsized number of them run through Dallas: Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, the New York Giants, San Francisco and Washington could all consider Dallas their greatest, or at least ancestral, rival. Meanwhile, nobody really considers the Patriots a rival, for the main reason that the Patriots obliterate anyone who dares to challenge them. The “rivalry” between the Patriots and the AFC East is the “rivalry” between a dog and a steak.
Both teams have bandwagons the size of battleships; an Emory University study this past summer ranked the Cowboys and Patriots as the strongest fan bases in the league, the same as every year it has done the study. You’ll see Romo and Brady jerseys all over the NFL; sure, those jerseys often share closet space with Duke, Lakers and Yankees jerseys, but even so: these two teams dominate the sports landscape.
But the Cowboys and Patriots exist in almost completely separate orbits. In the Jerry Jones-Robert Kraft era, they’ve met only six times, four of those in the 2000s. Dallas has a 1-5 record against New England in that span; the Cowboys haven’t beaten the Patriots since 1996 … nearly a quarter of a century. That’s not anything even close to a rivalry.
[h=2]The Cowboys are at fault[/h]
It’s obvious where the blame lies here. The Cowboys haven’t held up their end of the deal in two decades, not since the Patriots ascended to the mountaintop. Dallas was the last real dynasty before the Patriots stepped up, but by the time the Brady-Belichick Death Star was fully operational, the Cowboys of Aikman-Smith-Irvin were nothing more than banners and memories.
Jerry Jones is a masterful owner, one of the architects of the NFL’s ascendant world-conquering strategy, for better and worse. But as a general manager and team builder, well … he’s a masterful owner. Ego clashes — Jimmy Johnson would have won three more Super Bowls with Dallas, guaranteed, had he not been forced out — poor draft picks and sloppy roster construction have all combined to keep Dallas all but irrelevant.
Since the Patriots began their run in 2001, the Cowboys have reached the playoffs seven times and have won exactly three games … the same number the Patriots won last year alone. Since the mid-’90s, the Cowboys haven’t reached the NFC championship game even once. [h=2]Dallas still draws the big ratings[/h]
And yet, the Cowboys remain a huge draw. There’s a reason why you’ll see Dallas and New England on prime time all year long: According to Fox, between the two of them, the Patriots and Cowboys account for the 10 most-watched regular-season games of this century.
Not that you should ever worry about what makes broadcast executives happy, but a Cowboys-Patriots Super Bowl would likely break ratings records. Who wouldn’t want to see the final showdown between the Evil Empire and America’s Team?
Man, think of the storylines we’d see if these two teams met in the biggest game of the year. This week gave us a tiny preview:
Everybody who’s not literally on the field for Jags-Titans is going to be watching Cowboys-Pats.
And yet, you can’t help but think this game should be so much bigger. This game ought to be LeBron-MJ, Alabama-Clemson and Scorsese-Marvel all wrapped in one, a rivalry where everyone’s got a loud opinion. But Cowboys-Patriots falls into the category of “fun every-four-years matchup,” not “Super Bowl blood feud.”
That’s a damn shame because the NFL needs good honest rivalries — ones based on trash talk, bad takes and weird costumes, not bodily assault and accusations of racism — now more than ever. Dallas-New England could have been the best of them all.
Imagine Dallas throwing around New England in the Super Bowl with outright whuppings, not just the miracle victories of the New York Giants. Imagine Cowboys fans and Patriots fans hammering each other in a cacophony of sweat, rage, body spray and bad accents, bandwagons colliding like 18-wheelers on an interstate. Oh, what could have been. [h=2]Bandwagons going separate directions[/h]
Think of the NFL’s greatest rivalries, and an outsized number of them run through Dallas: Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, the New York Giants, San Francisco and Washington could all consider Dallas their greatest, or at least ancestral, rival. Meanwhile, nobody really considers the Patriots a rival, for the main reason that the Patriots obliterate anyone who dares to challenge them. The “rivalry” between the Patriots and the AFC East is the “rivalry” between a dog and a steak.
Both teams have bandwagons the size of battleships; an Emory University study this past summer ranked the Cowboys and Patriots as the strongest fan bases in the league, the same as every year it has done the study. You’ll see Romo and Brady jerseys all over the NFL; sure, those jerseys often share closet space with Duke, Lakers and Yankees jerseys, but even so: these two teams dominate the sports landscape.
But the Cowboys and Patriots exist in almost completely separate orbits. In the Jerry Jones-Robert Kraft era, they’ve met only six times, four of those in the 2000s. Dallas has a 1-5 record against New England in that span; the Cowboys haven’t beaten the Patriots since 1996 … nearly a quarter of a century. That’s not anything even close to a rivalry.
It’s obvious where the blame lies here. The Cowboys haven’t held up their end of the deal in two decades, not since the Patriots ascended to the mountaintop. Dallas was the last real dynasty before the Patriots stepped up, but by the time the Brady-Belichick Death Star was fully operational, the Cowboys of Aikman-Smith-Irvin were nothing more than banners and memories.
Jerry Jones is a masterful owner, one of the architects of the NFL’s ascendant world-conquering strategy, for better and worse. But as a general manager and team builder, well … he’s a masterful owner. Ego clashes — Jimmy Johnson would have won three more Super Bowls with Dallas, guaranteed, had he not been forced out — poor draft picks and sloppy roster construction have all combined to keep Dallas all but irrelevant.
Since the Patriots began their run in 2001, the Cowboys have reached the playoffs seven times and have won exactly three games … the same number the Patriots won last year alone. Since the mid-’90s, the Cowboys haven’t reached the NFC championship game even once. [h=2]Dallas still draws the big ratings[/h]
And yet, the Cowboys remain a huge draw. There’s a reason why you’ll see Dallas and New England on prime time all year long: According to Fox, between the two of them, the Patriots and Cowboys account for the 10 most-watched regular-season games of this century.
Not that you should ever worry about what makes broadcast executives happy, but a Cowboys-Patriots Super Bowl would likely break ratings records. Who wouldn’t want to see the final showdown between the Evil Empire and America’s Team?
Man, think of the storylines we’d see if these two teams met in the biggest game of the year. This week gave us a tiny preview:
- Tom Brady said he hasn’t liked the Cowboys “since coming out of the womb,” which might be the first Brady opinion that even non-Patriots fans can endorse. Of course, being Brady, he slathered a layer of bland icing over that mildly spicy quote — “I've got a lot of respect for those guys. They've had a great winning organization, and a lot of great players in their history” — but hey, you take what you can get out of Captain Cliché.
- Jerry Jones revealed this week that Bill Belichick approached him about a job with the Cowboys after getting fired from Cleveland. In true Belichickian fashion, he bumped into Jones in a ski rental line and told Jerry to keep him in mind. “I’ve thought about that many times,” Jones noted. Of course, there’s no way on earth Belichick would have had this kind of success under the meddlesome Jones, but it’s a fascinating what-if nonetheless.
- That doesn’t even count the football X’s and O’s here: Is New England’s once-vaunted defense up to the challenge of a suddenly surging Dak Prescott/Ezekiel Elliott offense? Can Dallas exploit an increasingly vulnerable Tom Brady? Will there be more TV shots of Jones or Kraft in the owners’ boxes?
Idolater
"Matthew 16:18-19" Dispensationalist (Catholic) χρ
Very interesting take Jerry. I'm surprised at the six-and-a-half point spread, it feels more like three-and-a-half would be right for this one. So I guess I'm saying I don't think the Pats cover. But of course they still might, and I wouldn't be surprised if Dallas wins outright either. The Pats are vulnerable right now, as I've been saying. Good luck Jerry!