# NFL Week 15 **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Created:** [December 12, 2014, 6:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nfl-week-15/707002 "2014-12-12T06:33:31Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![Saint\_Cad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saint_cad/32/18907_2.png) [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2014, 5:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nfl-week-15/707002/81 "2014-12-17T05:08:48Z")
Looking at that scenarios page, it looks like half the country will be Redskins fans this week. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2014, 5:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nfl-week-15/707002/82 "2014-12-17T05:59:31Z")
> [@fiddlesticks](#): > > Orton is Kryptonite to Aaron Rodgers. Orton was the QB of the Chiefs in 2011 when they ruined the Packers hope for a 16-0 season in December. Similar game too, the defense of the Chiefs beat the Packers more than Orton’s play as QB. Way back in 2008 when Orton was the Bears starting QB he beat Rodgers in a close game at Soldier Field towards the end of the season despite a poor statistical performance. The Bills are Kryptonite to the Packers. At least when they’re playing at home. Green Bay’s record playing in Buffalo is 0-6. ---
**Author:** ![SenorBeef](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senorbeef/32/2220_2.png) [@SenorBeef](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SenorBeef)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2014, 6:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nfl-week-15/707002/83 "2014-12-17T06:36:46Z")
> [@Frank](#): > > You just a couple of weeks ago reeled off a list of reasons why the Browns were collapsing, admitted that those reasons had nothing to do with Hoyer, and still said that Manziel should start. Well, he’s started. What are you talking about? I went back over recent threads and searched for Hoyer. I said things like: > [@NFL Week 14](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nfl-week-14/706335/3): > > Hoyer is starting the game despite getting yanked last game for being awful. I want to like Hoyer - home town guy playing out his dream, career journeyman getting his chance, leader, guy the locker room loves, clutch, smart, good guy - it’s a great story - but he’s just played like ass ever since Alex Mack went down, the running game got derailed, and the offense became far more obvious and reliant on passes. > > I think he’s on an exceptionally short leash, and since he’s typically a slow starter, we’re probably going to see Johnny take over at some point during the game and probably not give it back. > [@NFL Week 14](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nfl-week-14/706335/16): > > Hoyer has thrown behind the receivers during the quick hitting routes quite a bit early in the season. The receivers overachieved out of their mind, and he’d make it up with crazy broken coverage plays where he just chucked a ball to a receiver open by 10 yards several times a game. He was definitely more accurate early in the season, but he’s been inconsistent the whole time, and a lot of his success was schematic (and predicated on a run game that mostly hasn’t been there since Mack went down) and surrpisingly great play from one of the least talented receiving corps in the league. > [@NFL Week 14](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nfl-week-14/706335/26): > > Hoyer missed another wide open for sure 80+ yard TD by overthrowing a guy. Are you saying that because Hoyer regressed after the Browns running game took a nosedive, that I’m saying Hoyer is great and saying that he hasn’t declined? I’ve been talking about Hoyer not being as good as it seems because of overachieving receivers are impressive playingcalling/scheme, and having the benefit of a great running game since early in the season. Nor have I praised Manziel at all on these boards as far as I can remember. As far as I can tell, the way you characterized me is wholly inaccurate. ---
**Author:** ![What\_the](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/f4b2a3/32.png) [@What\_the](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_the)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2014, 3:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nfl-week-15/707002/84 "2014-12-17T15:07:43Z")
> [@furt](#): > > 1. Fair catch > > 2. Punters do not practice kicking the ball 10-15 yards. Their mechanics, developed over years of practice, are all geared toward kicking the ball as far as they can. It’s not as easy a thing as you suppose to overcome that muscle memory and suddenly do it differently on cue. (Imagine trying to shoot a jumpshot with a junior-sized ball at a hoop set at only six feet high. In theory, it should be easier. But it’s not unless you practice that way.) Even if they could, the rest of the team does not practice it. How high will it be? Do we all go for the ball, or just some while the others block? do we try kicking it right at a defender and hope he bobbles it? > > Teams do in fact practice normal onside kicks from the tee. Coaches draw up schemes for it. They don’t practice punted onside kicks. 1. Fair catch (mentioned by many)…of course :smack: I hadn’t considered that since bouncing it high is one on-side kick technique but hitting the ground removes the fair catch possibility. 2. You must have been a punter at one time 😃 I think you are overstating the difficulty of pooching the ball a short distance relative to trying to get it to bounce high enough for multiple members of your side to be in position to recover it. ---
**Author:** ![furt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/439d5e/32.png) [@furt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/furt)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2014, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nfl-week-15/707002/85 "2014-12-17T18:30:42Z")
> [@What\_the](#): > > I think you are overstating the difficulty of pooching the ball a short distance relative to trying to get it to bounce high enough for multiple members of your side to be in position to recover it. “pooching the ball a short distance” =/= “punting the ball as closely to 10 yards as you can, no more and no less, in coordination with your five teammates who are executing a designed recovery play.” Again: regular onside kicks are practiced plays. There is strategy and teamwork involved. The kickoff guy works on getting the ball to go exactly the minimum 10 yards, not 8, not 20 and the team works on recovering them. I’m not saying a punt couldn’t be done; it’s entirely possible that it might be more effective. That’s irrelevant, because in actuality, 1. the situation that would call for the play is so vanishingly rare as to be a poor use of practice time, and 2. It’s poor coaching to ask your players to do something they’ve never practiced, when something they have practiced is an alternative. Dvorak keyboards are demonstrably more efficient than Qwerty. But if I tell that you need to write a 5 page essay in the next hour or you will lose your job, I’m betting you pick the Qwerty. ---
**Author:** ![borschevsky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/97f17d/32.png) [@borschevsky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/borschevsky)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2014, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nfl-week-15/707002/86 "2014-12-17T20:05:48Z")
> [@Saint\_Cad](#): > > Looking at that scenarios page, it looks like half the country will be Redskins fans this week. Over at [538](http://fivethirtyeight.com/features/nfl-week-16-playoff-implications-when-things-start-to-shake-out/) they do a fun feature showing how each game affects the playoff chances of each team (in the 538 simulation). ---
**Author:** ![What\_the](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/f4b2a3/32.png) [@What\_the](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_the)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2014, 2:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nfl-week-15/707002/87 "2014-12-20T14:09:30Z")
> [@furt](#): > > “pooching the ball a short distance” =/= “punting the ball as closely to 10 yards as you can, no more and no less, in coordination with your five teammates who are executing a designed recovery play.” > > Again: regular onside kicks are practiced plays. There is strategy and teamwork involved. The kickoff guy works on getting the ball to go exactly the minimum 10 yards, not 8, not 20 and the team works on recovering them. I’m not saying a punt couldn’t be done; it’s entirely possible that it might be more effective. That’s irrelevant, because in actuality, > > 1. the situation that would call for the play is so vanishingly rare as to be a poor use of practice time, and > > 2. It’s poor coaching to ask your players to do something they’ve never practiced, when something they have practiced is an alternative. > > Dvorak keyboards are demonstrably more efficient than Qwerty. But if I tell that you need to write a 5 page essay in the next hour or you will lose your job, I’m betting you pick the Qwerty. Gotcha but (apart from the whole fair catch thing) there would be no reason to punt it exactly 10 yards no more no less. A 15 to 20 yard punt might be more effective as long as your team has enough time to get to it. Second, the surprise factor might help a little too. The receiving team has probably never practiced it either. We’ll probably never know. ---
**Author:** ![MonkeyMensch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/82dd89/32.png) [@MonkeyMensch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MonkeyMensch)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2014, 5:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nfl-week-15/707002/88 "2014-12-21T05:38:27Z")
> [@Mr\_Quatro](#): > > San Diego Chargers still have a chance for the playoffs just like last year when they had to not only win their last four (4) regular season games to be 8-8. > > … Actually the Chargers had to win their last four to be 9-7. And how about those Chargers! This is written minutes after a wild comeback against the 49ers. I’m a Charger fan and I have to say that these kind of games just make me so happy. Their murder on my life expectancy but I’m happy. ---
**Author:** ![What\_the](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/f4b2a3/32.png) [@What\_the](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_the)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2014, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nfl-week-15/707002/89 "2014-12-29T17:47:08Z")
> [@furt](#): > > “pooching the ball a short distance” =/= “punting the ball as closely to 10 yards as you can, no more and no less, in coordination with your five teammates who are executing a designed recovery play.” > > Again: regular onside kicks are practiced plays. There is strategy and teamwork involved. The kickoff guy works on getting the ball to go exactly the minimum 10 yards, not 8, not 20 and the team works on recovering them. I’m not saying a punt couldn’t be done; it’s entirely possible that it might be more effective. That’s irrelevant, because in actuality, > > 1. the situation that would call for the play is so vanishingly rare as to be a poor use of practice time, and > > 2. It’s poor coaching to ask your players to do something they’ve never practiced, when something they have practiced is an alternative. > > Dvorak keyboards are demonstrably more efficient than Qwerty. But if I tell that you need to write a 5 page essay in the next hour or you will lose your job, I’m betting you pick the Qwerty. Well whaddayaknow… the Lions coach took my advice. … and it worked! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nfl-week-15/707002.md?page=4)