Seahawks fan checking in. Ifedi has started 76 of a possible 80 games in his career, so calling him injury-prone is not exactly accurate. Now, if he had committed a half dozen false starts during the preseason…
My prediction: Goff and Stafford will be essentially interchangeable. They’ll both show flashes of brilliance mixed with instances of just not getting it done. Take their stats through the first four games, and you won’t be able to tell who is who.
And of course the Lions will suck, but that’s not really a prediction. That’s just a fundamental truth.
Yeah, Ifedi is almost always available whether you want him to be or not,
Nice write-up on the Bears. As a Giants fan I’m going to have an unhealthy interest in rooting against the Bears this year. I imagine that getting to play the Lions twice means that they’ll probably be mediocre.
I don’t know, I always felt like Stafford could have done a lot more with a better front line, and maybe some better weapons to work with on offense (he’s had some excellent receivers at times, but the Lions haven’t had a really great RB since Barry Sanders). I think even Brady would look like a mediocre QB if he played for the Lions.
Oh man this is going to be an ugly ‘rebuilding’ year (The Lions: Rebuilding Since 1957). New QB and a new coach who makes Jesse Ventura sound lke a wise statesman in comparison when he talks. The first time he was interviewed by the press after being named the new Lions coach he kept talking about biting off kneecaps-- WTF?
I see this as the one potential bright spot this season. The on-field product quality will be terrible, but I expect some good quotes and presser highlights. When the starting point is biting off kneecaps, the mind boggles on where things will go from there.
Maybe if it’s some other team’s coach you hear saying crazy stuff on the presser highlights, you can laugh it off and be entertained by it. But as a long (long, loooong) suffering Lions fan, I think it’s just going to be embarrasing. I mean, I know it’s the NFL and you want to project toughness, but when you’re talking about biting off kneecaps and the season hasn’t even begun yet, that’s some cartoonish WWE bad guy shit.
Whatever evil specter that inhabited the 49ers locker room last season must have moved to Maryland. Here the Ravens’ injuries even before the season starts:
Marcus Peters - ACL tear
JK Dobbins - ACL tear
Gus Edwards - ACL tear
Justice Hill - Achilles tear
LJ Fort - ACL tear
They also have a rookie on short- term IR.
As a Cowboys fan who was just starting to really follow football in the late 80s and early 90s, I can assure you that this is incorrect. The correct year is 1992. The 1991 Lions were a very good team. To this day I can clearly recall the NFC divisional playoff game from the 1991 season where they destroyed a Cowboys team that was just getting its dynasty started.
That may be, but the Lions’ last championship was in 1957, hence @solost’s quote. They’ve never been to the Super Bowl (much less won it), and that 1991 team is the only Lions team to even make it as far as the NFC Championship game (in which Washington thumped them).
And we’re off. Tom Brady looks like he’s still just as good as ever. The Cowboys offense looks better than I thought they would. I thought Dak would be rustier than he is.
Interesting first half. Brady, despite 2 Int’s (one not his fault and the other a Hail Mary) looks good picking apart the Dallas defense. Dak looks great one second, a bit off the next, and terrified with happy feet the next.
I vaguely remember this thing called a “running game”. But neither team seems very interested in it.
Cowboys only still in this thanks to turnovers. Should be an interesting second hslf.
Holy shit the Brady nostalgia pieces are getting tiresome. We fucking get it alright?!
It sure was! Fun game to watch, especially for a Thursday night opener. Both QBs looked more or less in mid-season form (Brady in mid-career form!). Mostly only the receivers looked rusty- lot of flubbed catches and fumbles, several leading to turnovers.
Also, felt bad for the Cowboy’s kicker. He missed that 31 yard attempt by a mile late in the first half (or early in the second?). And then they try for a 60 later in the game? Which falls sadly short. Hope he gets over the yips. Being the kicker has to be the most unforgiving position in pro football-- even if he’s automatic,he’s 2/3 the size of the other players and get razzed for not being a ‘real’ football player. Many times his FG attempt is the difference between a win or a loss-- all eyes are on him. If he makes it he’s a hero for a minute. If he misses he’s the most hated guy on the team. Pity the lonesome kicker…
And let’s not forget the missed extra point.
Well, he did punch it through with under 2 minutes left to take the lead, so maybe that helped his confidence.
Yeah, I wasn’t really rooting for Dallas, but I was crossing my fingers he was going to make that, for his sake.
Plus, I wanted to see what Brady would do with two points down and less than 2 minutes left!
Zuerlein has regularly struggled with consistency. The guy has a very strong leg – he has made two 60+ yard field goals in his career – but modern NFL kickers are expected to be successful on 80+% percent of their field goal attempts (and more like 90+% inside of 50 yards); Zuerlein has had two seasons (2015 and 2019) where he fell significantly short of that benchmark, and both times, it cost him his job.
882 yards of offense.
770 yards passing.
54 first downs.
60 points.
2 bullshit ticky-tack DPI calls.
0 OPI calls.
Yep, the modern NFL is back.
A grand total of one practice and Curtis Samuel is headed to the IR