NFL 2020 - 2021 Season

Against all odds, in spite of the pandemic, and with no preseason, the NFL season kicked off this past Thursday with the defending champion Kansas City Chiefs dominating the visiting Houston Texans.

After a historically unprecedented off-season, this year promises plenty of drama and great stories. As probably anybody reading this already knows, my beloved New Orleans Saints face off against the highly revamped Tampa Bay Buccaneers in Week 1 this year, as one of the ~ 4pm games today. It'll be the first time in NFL history that two quarterbacks who are both over 40 will be starters in the same regular season game, or so ESPN claimed they were told by Elias sports bureau. Hopefully it won't be the last, as these teams are divisional rivals.

We have a thread here now for any thoughts and/or discussions regarding the current season.

Nine passing TDs in two weeks. With a "suspect" offensive line. Anyone have another viable candidate to be leading the MVP chase early on?

i listened to games on the radio off and on while driving back to Ohio from Michigan. The Lions scored early but gave in the Green Bay juggernaut.

There was a discussion on some radio station about whether the Chiefs or the Ravens were likelier to lose. They all said the Ravens. Boy they were wrong. The Ravens were dominant. The Chiefs snuck out with the OT victory.

TBC wrote:

Nine passing TDs in two weeks. With a "suspect" offensive line. Anyone have another viable candidate to be leading the MVP chase early on?

Nine passing TDs and only 11 incompletions. I still like my team, but my B-I-L and I have agreed since the season started that Green Bay is only the third best NFC team this year.

NFC South was crazy this week. New Orleans loses to the Raiders of all teams, and Atlanta (in true Atlanta fashion) loses to Dallas (Hodge must have loved that onside kick that the Falcons were just too mesmerized by to react to). Great opening for Tampa, with Tom and Bill swapping wins/losses this week in the Who Was Better race.

The Saints need some kind of deep threat receiver who can stretch the field for opposing defenses. The good news is that Michael Thomas is only expected to miss 2 to 3 weeks, and could possibly even be cleared to return for the upcoming game against Green Bay.

Kamara is great catching passes out of the backfield, and Jared Cook has great hands for a TE, but neither of them has anything like the breakout speed needed for the deep threat role. Emmanuel Sanders is a nice Y or slot receiver, but also lacks the necessary speed to be a true X wideout.

Detroit finally won

Cleveland is 2-1 for the first time in forever

Buffalo wins thanks to a penalty although they did have pluck

Dallas lost another road game. They host Cleveland next week.

Minnesota can't win a game but Atlanta is simply cursed!

Green Bay 3-0. Chicago 3-0.

Can't imagine what it's like to be an Atlanta fan.

Buffalo is looking like a champion, even though they got a big break from that call.

Tampa looks better every week.

NE looks okay, but I don't think they take the division.

Detroit won, but not convincingly.

Time for Brees to call it a day.

Can't guess what's wrong with Minnesota.

Philly is another enigma--couldn't put it away against a very inferior Cincinnati team.

Jets, Giants and Football Team looking like the year's doormats.

Jets Giants and Football Team---hilarious.

No Detroit's win was not convincing. But winning is preferable to wilting under pressure.

Buccaneers should beat the Chargers on Sunday.

Pittsburgh 3-0 travels to Tennessee 3-0

under 5 minutes Chiefs 34 Ravens 20.

Browns destroying Cowboys 38-14. Although Cowboys just got screwed on a roughness call. Is it that the Browns look great?

Cowboys with two touchdowns and a quick in-between stop are making a comeback. Time may be against them though.

Beckham Jr. stops the bleeding with a great TD run. Then a very weird accidental 2 point conversion. Then a Browns interception to end the game at 49-38.

Peggy Sawyer, Drew Brees has been playing without the only true deep threat receiver on the team, and has still played acceptably anyway in those games; and i'd remind you that the Saints beat the Bucs in week 1.

If anybody in the NFC South should be hanging them up right now, it's Matt Ryan.

I appreciate your devotion to Brees and the Saints, Mo, and yes, they are doing well enough. But it's time to rebuild.

Both NO and Atlanta would do well to move on at both QB and head coach.

Cling to that victory over the Bucs while you can...the Saints will be looking at Tampa's taillights for the rest of the ride.

Browns win again. But had some second half woes. The team needs improvement there. Next week at Pittsburgh.

Seattle was fortunate. KC not. Dallas loses QB but still wins. I hope somebody from the NFC East can squeeze out a winning record.

Meanwhile Covid has caused all sorts of scheduling shake ups. At what point in the future will Covid defeat scheduling flexibility?

The Browns are off to a Great start. Their first 4-1 start in 25+ years; Bill Belichick was the HC the last time they started this well. Yes, they got crushed by a divisional rival in week 1, but this is a season w/o a pre-season, so week 1 doesn't really mean that much, and yes i realize that admitting that weakens the case for my own team. However, wins against Cincinnati and Washington don't necessarily create a ton of optimism. But this week's win against Indy was a big one. I believe the Colts' defense was if not the very top, at least close to the top rated in the League.

As for scheduling. I think the NFL will do whatever they have to do not to lose regular season or playoff games. The take at the gate is significant for the NFL, but it's third rung as far as total revenues, with TV money being far and away the big cash cow for the league and presumably (it's impossible to know for sure, but it seems almost inevitable) merchandising second. Once we add concession sales to ticket sales, it gets closer, but most people who pay attention agree that the TV money is the biggest deal, and as long as the games are being played, merch sales will happen too.

That's why the NFL can afford to have games with no attendance, still pay their players in accordance to existing contacts, and show a profit. The take at the gate and their share of concession sales are all pure profit for the owners and the league.

Furthermore, there's literally not one NFL team that doesn't have its own stadium rights anymore. i didn't realize this had happened myself until i happened to catch a PTI segment about this very issue. So if/when an NFL team needs to make a scheduling alteration, they all have a pretty much free hand to do so as it pleases them.

The players and their league will not complain about games being postponed unless/until it starts eating badly into their off-season, and there is some latitude there because more rest during the regular season almost certainly means fewer injuries.

I think the NFL could push the Superbowl back by up to a month without suffering any significant blowback from any important constituencies. That gives them a TON of leverage to make scheduling changes when and where they need to. The pandemic would have to worsen to a point where people really wouldn't care about football anyway before it could stop the NFL from having a minimum of 17 weeks of regular season games and at least 4 weeks of playoff games, Superbowl included.

Peggy Sawyer wrote:

Cling to that victory over the Bucs while you can...the Saints will be looking at Tampa's taillights for the rest of the ride.

Wow that is a quick turnover from you talking shit to you eating crow. Did the crow taste at all like shit?

Three-way tie for first in the NFC South. Can't wait for the Saints-Bucs rematch Nov 8.

Meanwhile, the 0-5 Falcons finally let Dan Quinn go. He never got over that SB loss (28-3 classic) to the Pats.

BTW, am I the only one who thinks Dak Prescott's injury will improve the Cowboys' prospects? I always thought he was overrated, and Andy Dalton a much better fit.

The postponements have made this a tough season to gauge or to follow. But Buffalo apparently got pasted tonight, so a rested NE should gain some ground when they finally play again.

The Bucs have a tie-breaker over Carolina, and the Saints have a tie-breaker over Tampa. I'll freely admit that neither of those things mean much in the long run. Nobody's saying exactly why Michael Thomas was benched for disciplinary reasons, but the Saints aren't going anywhere but home for the postseason if he's not back on the field and productive again and soon.

I think Andy Dalton's a nice guy to have on your bench, but i don't think his abilities are anywhere near the abilities of Dak Prescott, who was leading the league in passing yards while on a losing team. Time will tell, though.

Totally agree that the scheduling irregularities this year have made prognostication much more difficult. There's really no better options as far as i know though.

I hope Le'Veon Bell comes up to NE or goes down to TB. He could make a big difference to any team that isn't the Jets.

Bell might still have something left in the tank; he's 28, which is getting long in the tooth for an NFL RB, but he also hasn't seen a lot of use since leading the league in rushes in 2017. The word i heard was that the Jets were trying to shop him around but nobody was making any offers and they'd have taken pretty much anything that didn't come with a big salary cap hit.

The Chiefs landed him. Where do they find the cap room?

I saw on ESPN that he had three or four options, and that the Chiefs and Bills were among the options. I guess nobody wanted to bother giving the Jets anything for somebody that they could pick up from the open market.   Oh gog the Jets suck.

I seem to recall talk that the Chiefs will have cap room to spare for the next several years. I guess it's because they have so many young players who're still on rookie contracts.

I thought the Bills would win. Maybe the Chiefs were irate.

But the more involved loss is the Cowboys to Arizona. That now convinces me that the NFC East will likely have no team that will even reach 500. Due in large part to the AFC Central. If no NFC east team reaches 500, why reward the so-called division winner?

I'm really surprised the Cowboys could flop so badly without Dak. Andy Dalton isn't a complete incompetent; in fact, I heard a few voices pushing for Dallas to make him the starter and save the big money Dak demanded, before the season. But Monday's debacle put that to rest. It's true that the NFC East may well be won by a team with a losing record this year, and with an additional team being added to the playoffs in each conference, there's going to be plenty of mediocrity being rewarded.

davidalan wrote:

I thought the Bills would win. Maybe the Chiefs were irate.

But the more involved loss is the Cowboys to Arizona. That now convinces me that the NFC East will likely have no team that will even reach 500. Due in large part to the AFC Central. If no NFC east team reaches 500, why reward the so-called division winner?

Peggy Sawyer wrote:

I'm really surprised the Cowboys could flop so badly without Dak. Andy Dalton isn't a complete incompetent; in fact, I heard a few voices pushing for Dallas to make him the starter and save the big money Dak demanded, before the season. But Monday's debacle put that to rest. It's true that the NFC East may well be won by a team with a losing record this year, and with an additional team being added to the playoffs in each conference, there's going to be plenty of mediocrity being rewarded.

I think divisional play still matters, in fact i think in a league this size it counts even more than it did before. It's not like each team can play every other team each season, so divisions are absolutely necessary. Sure, it might look silly to have a losing team win their division and make the playoffs, but at least it's something rare in football - basketball and hockey regularly send losing teams to the postseason, and it looks increasingly like baseball wants to start doing the same thing, even though they all have long enough seasons that it shouldn't be necessary. The big lure for expanded playoffs is the money.

I'd like to point out that Dak Prescott is still leading the league in passing yards. However, Dalton didn't seem synchronized with the offense yet, and cannot be given any share of the blame for Zeke giving up the rock like that. The Cowboys as a team may yet bounce back, especially as they start to get healthy at positions other than QB - Leighton Van Der Esch just got back on his feet, so the Defense should start playing better soon.

Peggy Sawyer wrote:

I hope Le'Veon Bell comes up to NE or goes down to TB. He could make a big difference to any team that isn't the Jets.

Nooooo!!!!

Glad he didn't come.

Weird season for sure, hope Cam can bounce back and help bring the Pats some W's, if not, tank that season and get a PICK!!!!

Weird gets weirder, Soup. Antonio Brown is signing with Tampa Bay. I for one am stoked, as I'm finding it much more interesting to watch Tom Brady's career play out than the stasis here in NE. All due respect to Coach BB, but he's not building a contender right now. In truth, I am not a huge fan of Bell's, but anything on offense would be enough to temporarily intrigue a Pats fan right now. I'm not on board with Newton, either, though I found him an intriguing signing. Shall I speak the unspeakable? Should have kept Brady, promoted McDaniels to head coach, and nudged Bill up the company ladder like Tom Coughlin in NYG. Since that obviously did not happen, I'll go with you and say, yes, get a pick, a high pick, and plan for the future.

Second straight game without a TD for the Pats, third straight loss. Meanwhile, Brady throws for four and rushes for one in a dominating win. Sorry, Bill, but you blew it.

Saints @ Bears was SO hard to watch. Seeing Drew Brees with no real Wideout is just painful to watch.

I'm picking Tampa to win next week. Even if both Saints WRs can play next week, Michael Thomas hasn't played since Week 1, and Emmanuel Sanders can't possibly be back to 100% by then. I don't think the Saints can beat a team at or above Tampa's level without at least one of those two players at 100%, and really they need more than just that.

BUT for now, Saints are back in first place for a few hours lol

Tampa hosting New Orleans will be a good game.

Meanwhile the Steelers won the two games on their three game road trip that I expected they'd lose. As for the Cowboys next weeks only half the Steelers need show up and it'll still be a Steelers victory. Thank goodness the Eagles won. I think they are the likeliest team (if any) to stumble out the NFC east into a winning record.

Back to the Steelers. Based on their upcoming schedule I think they have an outside chance for an undefeated regular season. Not that they should necessarily fixate on it but still... The only decent opposition (now that the Ravens and Browns can't keep up) is Buffalo which if i recall has been moved to Sunday night and rightly so. The Steelers don't play the Chiefs at all this season. Until the AFC championship game. That will be the game to watch.

As for the hometown Browns, well, you might say the weather got them, but I think some semblance of a Raiders team showed up while the Browns took 60 minutes to emerge from breakfast. The Raiders did beat KC on the road, so maybe they're a better road team? I think KC will wallop them in LV whenever that game is. The Browns meanwhile have a bye. They need to practice like mad and figure out a way to win. First thing: make an effort to show up.

davidalan wrote:

Tampa hosting New Orleans will be a good game. 

If the Saints have their only good deep threat receiver in Michael Thomas, and the only other receiver they have that's a good Y man, Emmanuel Sanders, it could be a great game. If they have either one, especially if it's Thomas, it could still be a very good game. If they have neither, i don't think they can give this Tampa team much of a challenge. I know Brees has shown that with this solid defense he has, he and Sean Payton can find ways to get ugly road wins, but they haven't beaten a team on Tampa's level that way and i don't think they can. Frankly, even if both of them come back for this upcoming game, i'm still not sure that's enough. I absolutely do believe that if both teams are fully healthy and firing on all cylinders, the Saints are the superior team, though not by much. But Thomas hasn't played since week 1, and it's virtually impossible for Sanders to be back at full speed this week, he's got an ankle sprain - speed guys need longer with those.

I think the Raiders are a sneaky good team this year, and you're right they've been winning on the road. There's no shame for the Browns in that loss, though i'm sure it stings nonetheless. I saw today that the Raiders's home town sportsbooks are today giving the Browns a 54% to make the playoffs.

The 5-3 Browns will come out of their bye week to host the 1-6 Texans, then they host the Eagles, then go one the road to Jacksonville and Tennessee. Those all look winnable right now, though if the Titans get better that could be a very good game. Then they host the Ravens, go on the road to both NYC teams, then host the Steelers. If they get confident, they could maybe win one of those last two home games. If they lose both of those and to Tennessee, they're still 10-6. So they have a very real chance of going 11-5, and could even go 12-4. Man i hope i'm right about this: 10-6 at least, which is undeniably respectable.

The Steelers are finally playing and winning like the team i've thought they've been for a couple of years now. I don't see them running the table but i also can't think of any AFC team that i'd pick to beat them except maybe KC.

If Thomas plays (and I think he will, in a limited capacity), I think the NO-TB game is decided by 3 points or under, slightly favoring the Bucs, who were looking past the Giants in anticipation of this game. AB will almost assuredly be on the field for Tampa, and he will draw coverage away from Mike Evans and others. If TB's defense is on (as it was NOT against NYG) the Saints are in for a long night. More likely, TB's defense will play opportunistically and make a pivotal play here or there to keep momentum going Tampa's way. I see Tampa taking it, but it should be a good, tough game with both teams giving it their all.

Steelers are 7-0!

Peggy, that looks like a pretty solid analysis. They were saying today on ESPN that AB will see live action of 18-mid 30's snaps. Drew Brees and Michael Thomas are both listed as Questionable and Emmauel Sanders is officially Doubtful, but the Saints's fan site is saying he won't be playing. The Vegas line on the game is TB - 5.5, which is home field (COVID-adjusted) plus a field goal, which i think is just a little light, i might set it at an even 6 or maybe 6.5, but anyway the O/E is 51.5, so the projected score is 23-28.5, which seems unlikely to say the least.

There are some other interesting matchups this week, with 6 matchups having a point spread of 4 or less and only 3 games with a spread of 7 or more. There are 14 games this week, with only 4 byes, and 5 home underdogs. It could be a wacky (whacky?) week over in pick'ems.

It's always a wacky week in the pick 'ems. For years, I noticed that heavy underdogs were the way to go in the first five weeks of the season, although picking that way is not instinctive. But seeing as a lack of fans would further decrease home-field advantage this year, I decided to finally go with the trend. What has happened is that the favorites have won consistently, and I have blown another pick 'ems season like the Patriots have blown the AFC East. Do I get a draft pick or something next year?

What's funny is that IWBL just keeps winning, whatever the conditions may be.

Anyway, I do think TB takes your team on Sunday in an entertaining, competitive game, and I think that even the Pats can beat the Jets Monday night. Seahawks-Bills could be good, and maybe Baltimore-Indianapolis. I do know that I'm picking by common sense (assuming I have any) the rest of the way.

Kathi is pretty incredible, and her Steelers are looking like a championship-calibre team again, too.

Here's a list of games this week that i think could be competitive, other than Saints/Bucs, Seahawks/Bills, and Ravens/Colts: Denver @ Atlanta; Bears @ Titans; Lions @ Vikings; Giants @ DC; Raiders @ Chargers; Miami @ Arizona.

Zero weeks this year have been dominated by underdogs, definitely a departure from the early parts of recent seasons.

Peggy Sawyer wrote:

Anyway, I do think TB takes your team on Sunday in an entertaining, competitive game.

Allow me to rephrase that.

It looks like Sean Payton took a page from Bill Belichick yet again and played a little bait-and-switch with the Injury Report. These Saints were firing on all cylinders.

I have to admit that even if i'd known that the Saints were all healthy, i never would've predicted what the Late Great John Madden would've referred to as, "A Woodshed Game," where one team drags the other behind the woodshed and does whatever the heck they want.

There could be some talk now about whether the Saints are the best team in the NFC when fully healthy, and no doubt i think the Saints belong in that convo, but the Seahawks loss to Buffalo will likely make Seattle more dangerous if anything, Green Bay is still dominating, and i'm not counting the Bucs as down-and-out after this loss. There have been many teams in NFL history that would be heartbroken after that kind of trouncing, and lose self-confidence, but i don't see that happening in Tampa, at least not yet.

Pittsburgh and Dallas was closer than I ever thought it would be. Meanwhile New Orleans and Tampa was not.

Looking forward to Pittsburgh vs Buffalo in several weeks.

Way to go Steelers! 8-0 for 1st time in franchise history! Wasn't pretty, but teams that win in the playoffs tend to find ways to win games.  

No Ravens and Steelers tonight. Trouble is that was only game of the three worth watching.

Browns leapfrogged over the Ravens for second place in the AFC North. The Steelers just beat the Jaguars. Can the Browns do the same?

Dallas v Washington is at least for first place in that division. Imagine if they tie, though...

His Royal Dorkness wrote:

Dallas v Washington is at least for first place in that division. Imagine if they tie, though...

We'd conceivably have three 3-7-1 teams by the end of Sunday. Four, if the Giants tied. That would make the whole season worthwhile, if you ask me.

Oooh, the Giants are playing the Bengals, which are the same team that tied the Eagles. Cincinnati could wind up 2-7-2. Clearly we don't deserve it, though Dallas definitely deserved to be embarrassed on national TV yesterday.

Browns overcome Jaguars and themselves. Can't make those mistakes next week at Tennessee. Meanwhile Atlanta defeats Vegas. very helpful.

So happy the Pats pulled that game out today. Outside of that 49er fiasco, have been in every game.

NFC East is hilarious.

Hilarious is one word.

Here's a question? Do you all think there's any chance that during the rest of the season the NFL will simply postpose one entire weekend if Covid is just too rampant?

Sure, that's possible. I don't think it's very likely though. They can push the Superbowl back by over a month if they need to, but they'll fight doing so as hard as they can.

Browns had a near perfect first half and a near comical second half. Made a 38-7 lead shrink to a 41-35 win. Still the Browns are 9-3 with Baltimore at home then the Giants and Jets on the road and then the Steelers at home at the end of the season. If the Browns can keep hold of the first wild card spot their likely play off opponent would be either the Colts or the Titans.

Meanwhile the Lions sneak out of Chicago with a win. Pay back for opening day.

The Bills or Dolphins could also potentially wind up hosting the top WC seed in the first round.

The Saints keep holding on to the NFC's top seed, and this week Taysom Hill's pocket passing abilities really were featured by the NO offense, and then Kamara and the Defense were able to close very effectively. The Falcons had been on the upswing before this game, particularly their offense. I think the Saints Defense is being underappreciated this season.

Chiefs at Saints in two weeks should be moved to Sunday Night. They may be Super Bowl opponents.