gunnarthor

Taylor is a stud

Blackmon making some mistakes but also some solid tackles for Indy. Wish we had kept him.

Lamar's ability to run is scary and they have a good TE and King Henry. So, we probably won't shut them out. But, if the Vikings are as good as they think or want to be, this is the kind of game they have to win. With better QB play against Philly, they win and JJ should be better than Wentz so let's say they'll win.

Apparently, they are bringing him in https://www.dailynorseman.com/minnesota-vikings-2025-season/92492/minnesota-vikings-meet-asante-samuel-jr#comments

So Jets have gotten a first in the 2026 draft, a second in the 2026 draft, two firsts in the 2027 draft and two players - AD Mitchell (a 2024 second round pick) and Mazi Smith (a 2023 first round pick)? Both players have been a little underwhelming but, still, that's a lot.

Woolen would be a rental and has struggled this year. Samuel seems like a good fit but other teams might be able to outbid us.

For those interested and not having a lot of work on their desk, I thought this was an interesting breakdown of how JJ played, both the good and the bad. If nothing else, jump to 7min mark to hear how he missed a route and how he's learning.

Along with the gruesome Daniels injury - Packers all world TE Kraft out with ACL injury. Jags early pick Travis Hunter to IR with knee injury. CJ Stroud out w/concussion. So did Bears TE Kmet. Joe Alt carted off field with ankle injury, likely to miss at least a few games. This league is tough.

Yeah, McCarthy doesn't seem to lack confidence.

I looked up their possessions to see how - Fumble FG FG Missed FG Interception Turnover on Downs TD

So apparently the cuteness at the end of the game might not have been KOC's fault. On DN some of the commentators are saying that JJ audibled to the pass to Jefferson on second down and then screwed up the RPO on 3rd down and ran out of bounds. If that's right, that's more growing pains to overcome and hopefully he will have a better understanding of the importance of the clock going forward.

I think we will just have to agree to disagree.

We don't own much in bonds. Most of our money is in direct stocks (generally the "safe" ones like the big banks and big tech, and/or stocks that give good dividends) or in index funds. We also have a few savings accounts with pretty good interest rates - US Bank has something like 3.5% depending on how much is in the account.

Philly gives Miami a third for Jaelan Phillips. Phillips was probably a tier below the bigger pass-rushing names but still really good. Philly wants to repeat. https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/nfl/2025/11/03/nfl-trade-deadline-rumors-live-updates-news-tracker/87060708007/

According to pro-football reference, he had played 75% of the snaps going into yesterday, after yesterday, it's 68%. I know PFF, ESPN Analytics, and NextGen Stats all count defensive stats differently but most of them are behind a paywall but PFR has Turner second on the team in QB pressures and first in QB hurries. It also looks like Flores generally considers him a strong piece of his defense. You're the one saying he's heading into bust territory but nothing really supports that. Playing time yesterday was almost certainly based on situations and schemes. I suppose if it remains low we might worry but with a fully healthy defense, playing time will likely depend on match-ups and situation. So far he looks like a more-or-less average NFL starter and is doing the stuff his coaches ask him to do. There's a lot of daylight between that and bust.

Just saw the replay. That was gross. Good thing it's not his throwing arm but that looked like he was done for the year. Seriously, gross. Click the "watch on Youtube" link.

Were they? I dunno. I don't look for him every play but I thought I saw him make a few plays and was in on a some pressure. This seems comparable to Nick's "we're gonna be the Browns" comment. Like Turner has played 75% of the defenses snaps this season, weird that he's a bust. But JJ played well and KAM can't draft so I guess that'll be the narrative for a bit. My guess is he played less because Detroit was in passing formations and with Gink back and Wilson's play, they didn't need him as much. I guess we will see more in the coming weeks. But the player whose snaps really went down were Theo Jackson, (unless he was hurt and I missed it). Unrelated but I saw it when I was looking up snap counts - Redmond led the DL in snaps today.

Oh, I forgot. Hockinson looked bad, despite catching a TD. I'm sure I missed some good things he did but I don't think he'll be here next year.

This was a great win. My quick thoughts 1) JJ played a lot better than his stats. He doesn't have happy feet like Wentz. Some of his throws were off but that's to be expected after missing five weeks and his general lack of reps. He also seems to have real confidence, even swagger. Nice to see that from a Viking QB. He held the ball a bit too long on some plays and took hits he won't take with more experience but, generally, really impressive road win against what many thought was the best team in the NFC. If McCarthy stays healthy, this will be a playoff team. 2) Play calling was a lot better today - similar to the Browns game. Quick releases. Vikes only had 2 three-and-out drives. The early screen to Jones was a gem as was another big play to him. 3) Defense was great - five three-and-out drives. (Unlike Levi, I thought Turner played well - 4 tackles) and Redmond and Rodriguez really stepped up. 5 sacks. The Lions BS TD late should have been called offensive PI. Also nice to see Pace have a few nice plays, too. I thought he should have been credited with half a sack. 4) I think this is a really well coached football team. The ST were strong most of the game, Price was amazing. The team was physically better all game. Just really well prepared. Kudos to the coaching staff. Two road wins at Chicago and Detroit are huge. Lastly, KOC has to run Mason up the middle on short yardage situations. Jeepers, that was some horrible play-calling at the end.

What a win! 4-4, with two road wins in the north.

Very worried about today's game, we could be blown out badly. Praying that JJ is what we hope he is and we pull out a road win. Otherwise, things could be pretty dire.

Miami fires its GM. Probably the right move. https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/46792843/chris-grier-dolphins-gm-mike-mcdaniel-finish-season During Grier's tenure -- he has been with the organization since 2000, and general manager since 2016 -- the Dolphins recorded five winning seasons and three playoff appearances but failed to win a postseason game. Miami's 25-year playoff win drought is the longest active streak in the NFL.

Jared Allen made this team. Uff-da. https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/46757099/nfl-great-players-bad-teams-myles-garrett-browns-seasons-2000

I think Hargrave was out for a few games with an injury early but, yeah, he and Allen have really been disappointing. And Blackmon playing so well in Indy really hurts. Maybe it's a scheme thing. I dunno. But the players have to play better. I think we're also understating how much a healthy and good Cashman was to this defense last year. Flores defense might need that difference maker at LB and he was last year. This year, he's mostly been out and a non-factor in the few games. Too old? But it seems like the back 7 - coverage linebackers, safeties, and corners - are one person short. KOC called a really good game against Cleveland and Myles Garrett so let's hope he has something similar in store Sunday. I really want the Vikings to win but it'll be a tall order.

Stupid fun story. A long time ago when I was first learning to buy stocks through Wells Fargo, I bought 1000 dollars worth of a small pharmaceutical company, Insmed Technologies (INSM). It was a stupid buy. I didn't understand how small $1000 was back then. This was before on-line trading (at least for me) and my investment guy took $70 bucks out of the 1000, so I ended up with 70 shares at 13.28 ($930). I timed it well, the stock jumped within a month because of a potential break through so I could have sold it at something like 25/share but that would have got me 1750-another 70=1680xtax bill, and the reality was that even if I let it double, I was only making like $600 bucks. Stupid trade so I didn't do it. And so INSM has been this small holding in my portfolio for decades, not doing much. And I learned to buy stocks in bigger transactions so the costs and taxes weren't so overwhelming a problem. Anyhow, in May 2024, the company had some big successes and the stock has climbed a lot. It's now trading at 194/share. My $930 is now worth $13,600.