Game Thread: NFL Thanksgiving football

[TideEngineer08]

Anyone watching? Houston leads Detroit 20-14, nearing halftime and the Texans are threatening to score. Well they settle for a FG so it’s now 23-14.

The Lions are in their throwback uniforms as they usually are on Thanksgiving Day. That got me to thinking; when the Cleveland franchise moved to Baltimore, Cleveland kept the team history and Baltimore was essentially an expansion team. Did the same happen when the Oilers left Houston? Or did the Oiler team history travel to Nashville with the Titans? I assume the later because the were the Tennessee Oilers for a season or two.

To the point: I would love to see the old Oiler uniforms pulled out of the wardrobe again. They were one of my favorites. It would be icing on the cake if the team ran the run and shoot for the game.

 

[B1GTide]

Yep - good game so far.

 

[TideEngineer08]

That’s a catch in reality. Not sure it will be according to the NFL’s definition.

 

[TideEngineer08]

Well Detroit has lost the plot. 41-17, Houston now.

 

[TideEngineer08]

Dallas is a clown show.

 

[TideEngineer08]

Is Andy Dalton not a veteran QB? These play calls are like he's a rookie that was drafted in the 5th round.

 

[TideEngineer08]

Phantom ghost causes Ezekiel Elliot to fumble the ball away and our guy Jonathon Allen recovers for Washington.

 

[TideEngineer08]

Dallas is woeful. Just dreadful.

 

[DzynKingRTR]

Dallas is woeful. Just dreadful.

I did not watch but what the hell has happened to Zeke Elliot? The guy cannot hold on to the ball anymore. and Dallas would have to start playing better just to approach dreadful or woeful. They are something even worse than that. The whole NFC East is just awful.

 

[TideEngineer08]

I did not watch but what the hell has happened to Zeke Elliot? The guy cannot hold on to the ball anymore. and Dallas would have to start playing better just to approach dreadful or woeful. They are something even worse than that. The whole NFC East is just awful.

The NFC East is the worst division in sports history and Dallas is going to manage to finish last in it.

That fumble by Elliott was bizarre. It was completely unforced. No one even touched the ball or his arm at all, yet it looked like someone punched it out.

 

[B1GTide]

The NFC East is the worst division in sports history and Dallas is going to manage to finish last in it.

That fumble by Elliott was bizarre. It was completely unforced. No one even touched the ball or his arm at all, yet it looked like someone punched it out.

The weird thing - all 4 of those teams are close to being good, but remain terrible. They all have talent all over the field, but something is missing.

Take Dallas - the have Dalton at QB - not great, but still very capable. They have a great RB, 3 great receivers, 2 very good TEs. What they lack is an offensive line because they have injury after injury across that group. Their defense is good enough to keep them in games, but injuries along the o-line undermines all of the other talent on that side of the ball.

Each of these teams has a similar story - great talent, and then holes which undermine that great talent. What they all need - a better GM to help them fill those holes.

 

[gamersfuel]

I did not watch but what the hell has happened to Zeke Elliot? The guy cannot hold on to the ball anymore. and Dallas would have to start playing better just to approach dreadful or woeful. They are something even worse than that. The whole NFC East is just awful.

been downhill since he got the big payday.. sometimes it's not even intentional. probably tough to put it all on the line knowing you have your huge contract. and thats not to say he's not trying or putting in the work. Just a different mentality when you are trying to prove yourself. it takes a special breed to go above and beyond year in and year out. That is why i respect athletes such as Lebron, Julio, Kobe, etc

 

[TideEngineer08]

The weird thing - all 4 of those teams are close to being good, but remain terrible. They all have talent all over the field, but something is missing.

Take Dallas - the have Dalton at QB - not great, but still very capable. They have a great RB, 3 great receivers, 2 very good TEs. What they lack is an offensive line because they have injury after injury across that group. Their defense is good enough to keep them in games, but injuries along the o-line undermines all of the other talent on that side of the ball.

Each of these teams has a similar story - great talent, and then holes which undermine that great talent. What they all need - a better GM to help them fill those holes.

Dallas has been in need of better management since Jimmy Johnson left. It's sad, really, if you're a Cowboys fan at all. Jerry Jones just doesn't have it, except that he can certainly raise money, make money, etc. But he can't hire good football people. I was very skeptical of the McCarthy hire, despite his Super Bowl win at Green Bay. I've just never liked him. I don't think he's going to get Dallas over the hump and now this season has been such a disaster on the injury front.

You are right though; each team has great pieces in place. But management, in any endeavor, is so key. All of them are suffering there.

 

[81usaf92]

Dallas has been in need of better management since Jimmy Johnson left. It's sad, really, if you're a Cowboys fan at all. Jerry Jones just doesn't have it, except that he can certainly raise money, make money, etc. But he can't hire good football people. I was very skeptical of the McCarthy hire, despite his Super Bowl win at Green Bay. I've just never liked him. I don't think he's going to get Dallas over the hump and now this season has been such a disaster on the injury front.

You are right though; each team has great pieces in place. But management, in any endeavor, is so key. All of them are suffering there.

Mccarthy’s SB win was mostly luck. Overall he has been a subpar coach that was blessed with a good team and a great qb

 

[TideEngineer08]

Mccarthy’s SB win was mostly luck. Overall he has been a subpar coach that was blessed with a good team and a great qb

It certainly helps to have Aaron Rogers in his prime and the fleet of WRs that team had. Yet they still finished the regular season 10-6 and the 6th seed. I agree it was luck, in so much as they got on a hot streak in those playoffs.

 

[81usaf92]

It certainly helps to have Aaron Rogers in his prime and the fleet of WRs that team had. Yet they still finished the regular season 10-6 and the 6th seed. I agree it was luck, in so much as they got on a hot streak in those playoffs.

I’ll admit that I am still bitter from that SB run for obvious reasons and less obvious ones. But it was pure luck. They were playing with fire their last 6 games going 3-3 and really had a favorable pool of teams in the playoffs. Really they won the SB because of one bad pass by Ben Roethlisberger and Rashad mendenhal being RM and fumbling in a go ahead situation. They were outplayed by the Steelers for the majority of the game and it really was decided on a bad sequence of plays back to back. But something that is overlooked is that the Steelers were also lucky to be there. Had the Jets not upset the Pats then it’s very likely that the Pats would’ve been there instead. The Packers would’ve never beaten them with that team.

There are SB steals and SB XLV was one for the Packers. Since 40 I can count XL, XLII, XLV, XLVI, and XLVII. It seems to have happened a lot in SBs in which 40 was in the title.