nicksaviking

Obviously we're still bidding our time until we find a long-term QB solution, but this Murray/Wentz situation should make things pretty easy. If Murray stinks, you go to Wentz, if Wentz stinks, you go back to Murray. There shouldn't be any consternation the team has when there is a young QB as an option. When that happens, they always have to take into consideration the idea that a young guy needs to be given time to learn the ropes. "Is he ready?!?!?" "How much leash does he get?!?!?" And I'm not just talking about McCarthy, we had those discussions with Christian Ponder, Tarvaris Jackson and even Jaren Hall.

Yeah, I don't know how they whiffed so bad on both O-Line free agents last year.

Yeah, the Jets roster looks a lot like the Giants. I think people forget all the top end talent they've been piling up the last five years or so. The Giants just had awful coaching and the Jets have had awful meddling ownership. And probably also awful coaching because of the meddling ownership. Any competent offensive coach should be able to make the Jets offense respectable. And Harbaugh is almost certainly going to make the Giants take a giant leap forward.

I've got an old friend like that, so we've been doing this awful dance for decades now. I remember him gushing about Jeff Garcia. Ugh, that franchise can go back in the tank any day now.

I've had season tickets for almost 30 years now, and that was one of my favorite fan experiences. Not because I have any illusions about how good this team is, but because the Green Bay game always brings out the most insufferably cocky fans, and to see them go from the height of their arrogance to not uttering a word and steaming for the last 45 minutes of the game was one of the most cathartically rewarding group settings I've sat in. My other thoughts; Why did they keep running the Kyler Murray plays when Wentz came in? I guess it worked, but continuing to run the ball against a brick wall when the QB run wasn't a legit threat to run, and rolling to the left for the dink and dunk passes were CLEARLY the game plan for Kyler Murray. Seems like when you have a backup QB that is the polar opposite of the starter, your advantage comes from switching the gameplan mid-game. Like what always happened with Malik Willis and Jordan Love the last two years, or what has worked for Tyrod Taylor the last 15 years. I guess it worked, but it really looked like the tall, slow Wentz was trying to impersonate Kyler Murray. We've also seen the defense do this before too, where they look outclassed all game long until the very end where they just pile on the QB and stop the game dead in it's tracks. Is it that the defense is finally wearing down the offensive line? Because now I'm wondering if it's more like Rocky, where Mickey made the left-handed Rocky old back his left crosses until the end knowing Apollo wasn't going to be ready for them when it mattered most. And the difference between the 20th best QB in the league and the 50th best QB in the league is probably smaller than the difference between the 20th best QB in the league and the 10th best QB in the league. Whether your QB is Murray, or Wentz, or Brissett, or Mariota or Jordan Love, your projected win total probably shouldn't change by more than one game or so. See the Vikings 2025 9-8 record with what was probably the 60th best QB in the league last year.

What I found funny was that people kept saying he 'took points off the board'. Which is accurate, but also a euphemism that in and of itself sounds a bit condescending as it sounds like a boneheaded thing to do in most cases. And when the official announced the penalty and the decision, he himself said Green Bay has elected to 'take the points off the board'. Seemed like even the official was passive aggressively telling him that he's an idiot.

I think this draft class is just as bad as the prior recent drafts, but it was mostly defensive players, and I get the impression Flores would eat a bag full of broken glass before he'd start a rookie.

Brock Bowers is going to miss a few weeks due to having a 'meniscus trim'. JJ McCarthy missed a full season because he had his meniscus repaired. At the time, it was widely accepted that doing the repair was the proper thing to do as it was better for the knee, and the player's, long term health and activity. Maybe this is a different procedure than I'm thinking of, but it sure seems like one of the worst teams in the league, that is clearly in rebuild mode, has instead decided to let one of the league's top young stars take the quick fix in what is almost certainly a meaningless season, and risking shortening his career. And after-football health.

Dallas should fill the void, but because they always disappoint (lol) is a why I'm going with the Giants.

Yeah, they look like they give absolutely zero care about the offense anymore. Which is surprising after that first season with Ryans as head coach. Stroud took a step back and they immediately fired the hot-shot OC Bobby Slowik. But most QBs that have a big rookie season, DO take a step back year two. It's like they just said, screw it, just focus on the defense.

Yeah, I knew we were signing up for a boom or bust player at the time, so no regrets for me. I really dislike that KOC is trying to hide from it, because I WANT to give everyone credit for being decisive about this instead of being one of those teams that desperately tries to make it work. Two years, then try again, that's what the plan should have been all along. I'm more annoyed with the local media that is pretending that they were promised McCarthy was going to be the next Tom Brady. Dan Cole is absolutely intolerable about it (I guess he's on when I jump in the car to pick up kids from school). Failure, failure, failure. And with his typically pessimistic take on everything, I'm 100% confident he was in the same boat with me from the start. But have to put on a show for the listeners and play dumb acting like promises were broken and he was blindsided by this.

I pretty much despise every team in that division actually! But the Giants seem to have so much talent on defense and my guess is that Harbaugh is going to know how to use it way better than Dabol did. And fingers crossed this is the year the Eagles fall off the cliff. I think bringing in Sean Mannion to do Green Bay's offense is a bad fit for Jalen Hurts. Seems Jordan Love ran a game-manager offense spreading the ball around per the play-callers wishes, with a different top target every week to keep the opponents guessing. Hurts improvises with his feet, has barely taken snaps under center, and likes to focus on one target. And he's not very accurate. I'm hopeful Hurts isn't able to make the required throws, never gets comfortable under center, then starts to disregard play calls and drama erupts that the Eagles can't recover from.

I think the Saints offense is finally headed in the right direction and I had them winning the NFC South until last week. But now I keep reading about offensive line rankings and everyone is saying the Buccaneers have one of, if not the best line, so I'm going back to them.

NFC: West: LA Rams North: Detroit Lions East: New York Giants South: Tampa Bay Buccaneers WC: Minnesota Vikings WC: Dallas Cowboys WC: Seattle Seahawks AFC: West: LA Chargers North: Cincinnati Bengals East: Buffalo Bills South: Jacksonville Jaguars WC: Houston Texans WC: Kansas City Chiefs WC: Denver Broncos

I'd also guess the expansion teams will be the ownership groups who offer the most for expansion fees. Last I heard it was 2 billion (insane), and now it's listed as 2.5 billion. So, it doesn't sound like a set price, but more like a negotiating tool. And looking at the candidates, thus far while there are lots of cities with plans, only Salt Lake and North Carolina actually have ownership figured out, so I'd put my money on those two cities. Portland third. I get Mike's concerns about Portland (and Salt Lake), but Portland already has an 800M stadium funding pledge from the mayor, while the other contenders do not have. MLB is moving the A's to Vegas, which was already a dumb idea. Unlike football, very few people plan a vacation around going to see their favorite MLB team play. So I don't think the league cares so much about what happens after; the other 30 owners just want their money up front. Edit: More proof that they don't care what happens to these clubs after they pay their expansion fee: Another Florida team is an option?!?!?! Are they all out of their minds? How did an Orlando group not get laughed off of the phone?

Twins in the AL West? 9PM start times most of the year and the worst travel in the league. Hell no, why would we accept that? I'm not in favor of any format where the Twins are the team that is screwed the most. Twins with the other Midwest teams, or MLB can go figure something else out. Which they will, because as others have mentioned, MLB won't be going back to four divisions. Not that I like small divisions, but it keeps teams in the playoff chase longer which keeps fans engaged longer. I don't see the league changing that.

I think the Twins are going to make a point to use the exclusive negotiating window to extend (re-sign at that point?) Jeffers. I know a lot of fans who think paying a catcher that much is insane won't like it, but I think once everyone sees how much the other free agents go for this year, that sentiment will simmer down. I mean Jazz Chisolm is on EVERY top ten free agent list, often as the top hitter on the board. He's worse than the much maligned Brooks Lee and he's probably going to get closer to 40M per year than 30M. The Twins can't base a Jeffers decision on positional historical precedence, they have to base it off of where they'd rank him as a free agent, where he and other free agents would fit on the roster and how likely (unlikely in most cases) the Twins will be in getting any of the free agents they may prefer over Jeffers.

We've seen that hitting approach for years and I agree with it. Sometimes it seems odd that they change their approach at the plate in year two with varying results, but it does make sense because these are still very young people who are leaving college or even high school for their first job in a new city. I'm sure for some guys there's no issue, but for plenty, the anxiety and insecurity of 'OK, I guess I'm a grown up now!' could easily get in their way. You want these guys to hit their peak someday, so I'm all for giving them a soft landing into the real world, where they aren't overwhelmed and immediately told that everything they knew about baseball was wrong and now they need to change x, y and z.

Maybe Coors helps, but so far in his career, he only plays well when the clubhouse thinks they are headed for the post season.

Keaschell, then Lewis. But IF the Twins make unexpected big moves this winter to the point were outsiders are even saying they are a legit team, then I might go Lewis. If you chart Lewis' highs and lows, it's pretty much an exact match to when the team has highs and lows. Do you really want a guy who only plays well when the team plays well, and goes in the tank as soon as the team hits a cold spell? Not ideally, but if the team is projected to be good next year, then you probably wouldn't say no to a player who peaks when the team his amped up on playoff hype and energy. On a related note, if Lewis is traded, best to do it to the Rockies, Angels or Royals and not the Dodgers, Rays or Brewers.

I thought the illness was not being in football shape yet. Not trying to be flippant, that just seemed to be what the unspoken narrative was.

I’ll take him back, but aren’t the eagles paying Greenard 25M, while the Vikings five months ago couldn’t afford to pay him 20M?

Yeah, I have hardly any interest in free agency. I'd be looking to make a big splash for a big player with a big contract via trade. And no, they wouldn't have to trade Jenkins to get someone as good as Lopez. Arraez had value, but nowhere close to the value Jenkins has. Less than half the value.

Where is that study? Was it done in 1976 with pitchers throwing 85 MPH? And it's not like this is a typical rookie situation, we're talking about a guy with major injury issues in his very recent past, barely pitching at all in 2022, 2023 and 2024. 140 innings this year vs 83 innings last year is something this team has rarely done with young pitchers, let alone pitchers with a history of arm issues. No, limiting his pitches won't be any value to this sub .500 team, but one would think the goal is for him to be of value by responsibly building up his arm next year and seasons after.

I'm looking at the Vikings draft class once again. It's just as unfathomable now as ever, that KAM got fired because of his bad drafting, and they let the three guys who were most influential in his drafts (or secretly running it all along), do the job. They were NEVER qualified for that job. Did the Wilfs ever rationalize why they couldn't hire a new GM in February? What was the Teasley interview like? KOC: "Nolan, tell me about your draft strategy." Teasley: "It's the exact opposite of what you guys have been doing up here for half a decade."