Official 2014-2015 NFL Thread

Patriots look very solid, their running game, passing game, defense, GRONK is playing awesome, it's hard to beat them unless Wilson and Lynch play perfect.

They do worry me as they are more balanced than Seattle and usually put up a lot of points. Although as I see it, Seattle has the edge in most categories:

QB - Even (Because of Wilson's scrambling ability)
Running Game - Seattle
Passing Game - New England
Defense - Seattle

I expect New England to do most of their damage using the short passing game to those quick receivers they have over there. Gronk will be contained because Seattle has LBs who can run with him, not to mention Chancellor to limit what that guy can do. The running game, for the most part will be stopped.

I think Seattle has to put up at least 3 TDs to win this thing.
 


Patriots look very solid, their running game, passing game, defense, GRONK is playing awesome, it's hard to beat them unless Wilson and Lynch play perfect.

Last year Denver steamrolled through the AFC, Seattle had to come from behind late to win and then stop SF from scoring on that Sherman tip play.

All the money was on Denver. They looked dominant. So do the Patriots. I think this game will be much closer than the last SB, probably one for the ages.

Short passing game is exactly what SEA wants NE to do tho, keep it front of them so they can come lay lumber. By the 4th quarter, those add up.

It's 100% on Wilson imo, he plays great, SEA wins easily. He plays good, they win. He plays like shit, they'll probably lose. Lynch will get his but NE run D is legit.
 
Wilson played terrible, but 2 of those picks were on Kearse, not Wilson. Well thrown balls that went off his hands.

Bottom line is that GB played too conservative all game. They took their foot off the pedal too early and went into conservative mode, giving us the chance to cash in and sneak back into that game.

Hawks probably didn't "deserve" to win - but neither did GB.

They won't play that badly again. Gotta respect them staying in it til the very end though. A lot of teams would have given up and quit, never getting the chance to come back.

Should be a great super bowl.
 
Can anyone here tell me why Wilson is considered a great Quarterback?

He has the benefit of playing with the #1 defense for his career. If any other QB throws 4 INT in a playoff game, the game is over.

2014 NFL Player Passing Stats - National Football League - ESPN

Wilson, in yards and TDs, is middle of the road. In 2014 he was below Cutler, Tannehill, and Flacco.

Wilson, like Trent Dilfer or Brad Johnson, benefits from having a great defense.

You swap Newton and Wilson.....and Wilson doesn't reach 1 SB with Carolina.
 
Can anyone here tell me why Wilson is considered a great Quarterback?

I don't think he's normally considered great, he's mostly considered to be like a tier 2 quarterback (good, not great). He doesn't normally make many mistakes and he's a smart runner, which most running quarterbacks aren't.

I'd put him in the same class as guys like Eli, Big Ben and Flacco. They are good enough to win, but not good enough to carry a team. He definitely isn't Rogers or Brady level though in my opinion. Then again, being good enough to win on the right team is better than having more talent but not being able to win (Romo, Rivers, Ryan etc etc etc).
 
Or if the DB that got the last pick with 5+ minutes to go in the game runs the ball back like he's been taught to do since he was 8 years old, instead of sliding like there was 30 seconds left in the game, Green Bay wins.

A lot of people are giving this guy a hard time. I dont believe it is warranted. It was cold and wet out. Would you rather him go down and put the ball into the best QB in the leagues hands or would you rather have the chance of a fumble? He had a very slim chance of actually scoring, he had a chance to pick up 10 yards but I rather have the offense worry about picking up the yards.

All the other mistakes are to blame, they played too relaxed.
 
Wilson, in yards and TDs, is middle of the road.

lol yards and TDs as a defining QB stat. That's the spamming aol chatrooms with sex bots equivalent to our industry.

Probably?

Do you really need this reminder that Belichick isn't McCarthy?

No. I just don't proofread. Probably doesn't deserve to be in that statement, but in my defense, a typical shitty Russ game is 1 turnover (Sunday was his 2nd multi INT game of the year) and only around 200 yards total offense. That's what I was thinking of, not the abomination we just watched.
 
Can anyone here tell me why Wilson is considered a great Quarterback?

He has the benefit of playing with the #1 defense for his career. If any other QB throws 4 INT in a playoff game, the game is over.

2014 NFL Player Passing Stats - National Football League - ESPN

Wilson, in yards and TDs, is middle of the road. In 2014 he was below Cutler, Tannehill, and Flacco.

Wilson, like Trent Dilfer or Brad Johnson, benefits from having a great defense.

You swap Newton and Wilson.....and Wilson doesn't reach 1 SB with Carolina.

There's so much wrong in your post.

1. They are a running team first, a passing team second.

2. Wilson has no #1 receiver to throw to. Doug Baldwin is a glorified #2 receiver that has taken over as the main target because they have no one else who's better.

If Wilson had an A.J. Green or Dez Bryant to throw to and Lynch's carries were cut down, Wilson would put up 300 yards nearly every week.

So to compare Wilson to someone like Trent Dilfer is just a joke. Russell is a top 5 QB in this league but plays on a team that for now can't maximize his talent. Maybe that will change when Lynch retires and the Hawks bolster the receiving corp.
 
If Wilson had an A.J. Green or Dez Bryant to throw to and Lynch's carries were cut down, Wilson would put up 300 yards nearly every week.

To be fair though, he did have Golden Tate to throw to, and when Tate came to Detroit he started putting up much better numbers even being a #2 behind Calvin.

I think you have to be blinded by fandom to think he's a top 5 QB in the league. Top 10 maybe. He's 12th in Total QBR but he's proven he can win which I think might bump him up a spot or two.
 
To be fair though, he did have Golden Tate to throw to, and when Tate came to Detroit he started putting up much better numbers even being a #2 behind Calvin.

I think you have to be blinded by fandom to think he's a top 5 QB in the league. Top 10 maybe. He's 12th in Total QBR but he's proven he can win which I think might bump him up a spot or two.

The Lions are a passing team though so Tate is going to see more targets. In fact, he was averaging 9 targets a game this year. He didn't get that many in Seattle. Also, his numbers inflated when Megatron went down with an injury.

Honestly, Wilson has the worst bunch of receivers to throw to. Baldwin is a legit #2 but he's playing as a #1. Even Kearse with his ability to make the big plays is more of a #3 guy. He doesn't get open very often.

You can't tell me that a QB as accurate as Wilson wouldn't have much better numbers with a legit #1 to throw to along with the same amount of attempts as an Andrew Luck. Ok, he may not be top 5, but he is easily a top 10 QB.
 
To be fair though, he did have Golden Tate to throw to, and when Tate came to Detroit he started putting up much better numbers even being a #2 behind Calvin.

I think you have to be blinded by fandom to think he's a top 5 QB in the league. Top 10 maybe. He's 12th in Total QBR but he's proven he can win which I think might bump him up a spot or two.


To be fair, Russ threw it 407 times last year with Tate. 98 of those targets went to Tate.

Tate got 144 targets playing with Staff this year, and playing 2nd fiddle isn't exactly accurate as Calvin missed time/spent some days a partially injured decoy where Tate feasted with him on the field. This is an apples to oranges discussion point.

Ask yourself this: What NFL team would swap WR/TE squads with the Seahawks? Is there one? Maybe the Titans?

You might not think he's top 5 but is there anybody who does more with less?

And then there's this. Just getting warmed up...

01.21.2015-07.31.10.png
 
To be fair, Russ threw it 407 times last year with Tate. 98 of those targets went to Tate.

Tate got 144 targets playing with Staff this year, and playing 2nd fiddle isn't exactly accurate as Calvin missed time/spent some days a partially injured decoy where Tate feasted with him on the field. This is an apples to oranges discussion point.

Ask yourself this: What NFL team would swap WR/TE squads with the Seahawks? Is there one? Maybe the Titans?

All fair points. I like him, I just don't think he's top 5 in the league. Do you?
 
Guys I'd rather have running my team: Rodgers. Stafford if he ever gets "it". Russ already has "it". It being the ability to stay composed and make huge plays with games on the line.

Peyton is approaching done. Brady without Gronk looked done earlier this year. Seattle doesn't have a Gronk. Brees is fading. Age sucks like that. Wilson is already who everyone wants Luck to be, minus 200 passing attempts per year. Romo played his ass off this year but his weapons >>> Russ weapons by immeasurable multiples. Matt Ryan & Roeth have far superior supporting casts but I can see the argument there.

I'm probably forgetting someone but yeah, he's top 5 for me. Bias and all that. Ask yourself this: Swap Wilson for Stafford, did the Lions win home field advantage and are they still playing? I'd say odds are high.
 
Ask yourself this: Swap Wilson for Stafford, did the Lions win home field advantage and are they still playing? I'd say odds are high.

I'd say no, because a lot of what hurt Stafford and helped Wilson is that Seattle has the #1 rushing offense in the league, whereas Detroit was near the bottom. Even if you take away all of Wilson's yards and adjust for what a less mobile QB would run for, they'd still be top #5 in rushing.

If you put Wilson on Detroit, he has to throw the ball and defenses know he has to throw the ball. Running game makes a huge difference for a quarterback.

So another way to look at it would be how many quarterbacks could you put on Seattle with the #1 defense and #1 running game, and would outperform Wilson?
I don't know the answer to that, but I suspect there are more than a few. But with back to back Super Bowl appearances, it's probably a moot point because he is definitely good enough, I don't think anyone would argue that.
 
He (and some trick plays on special teams + 6 games of Percy) played a large part of that #1 running game. RB only rushing yards were 1791, or 6 more than the 14th ranked Broncos rushing attack.

If you watch their games and follow the team, 1) the offensive line isn't very good at pass blocking completely healthy & 2) they're always banged up. Non mobile quarterbacks would end up the Carson Palmer/Drew Stanton route behind that line.

Rodgers and Luck would be fine, but throwing to Angry Doug and Kearse + Double L is a huge step down from Jordy/Cobb/Davante & TY/Wayne/Nicks/Fleener/Allen.

There's probably no right answer to this debate, his current and previous success is tied to that great defense, his lack of better numbers is tied to the scheme + game flow + lack of offensive weapons in the receiving game.
 
I just feel that Wilson plays on a team with an elite defense and great running back. Seattle's defense gives up about 15 PPG the last few seasons. That means that Wilson never needs to come from behind.
Romo was a MVP candidate this season. Many of his stats were actually down this season, but the fact that his defense & running game were improved he was simply winning more games and not playing catchup.

I just have a feeling if Newton, Kaep, or RG3 threw 4 INT in a playoff game they would be shredded by the media. But the fact that Seattle's defense allowed only 6 points off 5 turnovers allowed Wilson to stay in the game.
 
What do you guys think about the hysteria on deflated balls? Seriously, they won the game because of that? The Media is enjoying making this all about the Patriots.
 
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Can anyone here tell me why Wilson is considered a great Quarterback?

He has the benefit of playing with the #1 defense for his career. If any other QB throws 4 INT in a playoff game, the game is over.

2014 NFL Player Passing Stats - National Football League - ESPN

Wilson, in yards and TDs, is middle of the road. In 2014 he was below Cutler, Tannehill, and Flacco.

Wilson, like Trent Dilfer or Brad Johnson, benefits from having a great defense.

You swap Newton and Wilson.....and Wilson doesn't reach 1 SB with Carolina.