NFL 2016/17

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How's it going chaps? early season rust? On a flight home so I can't watch.

Also now that I'm a fantasy person, how is CJ Anderson doing?
 
Has anyone ever heard that it's easier to kick footballs in Denver? Fun fact. I'm sure they neglected to draw our attention to it in the broadcast.
 
Phil said:
Good guys won - woo
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Good guys:lol: I really hope you're joking. The Broncos are probably the dirtiest team in all of sports, let alone the NFL.

It's absolutely baffling how the Broncos can get away with blatantly hitting Cam Newton helmet-to-helmet three times in the game(plus one hand slap to helmet) with only one of them getting penalised - and that didn't even result in a real penalty. So much for the NFL's focus on the players' safety. Not to mention the low tackle on Benjamin's recently reconstructed knee, which could be defended as being a fair tackle, but IMO seemed very dubious.
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And they can also brag about having the most unsympathetic player in the league in Aqib Talib as one of their proclaimed leaders on defence.
I don't deny that he's a brilliant cornerback, here are a few of his recent actions:


It honestly surprises me that he hasn't received longer suspensions for these things.
 
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Chip said:
:lol: Fair point, although I must say they're dirty in different manner.

But Sergio Busquets wouldn't come in far behind Talib on my list of cnuts in sports.
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If they were still running Mike's offense which basically relied upon getting away with near cut-blocks along with oddities like Talib, then you'd have a stronger case.
 
Rado_N said:
Just watch them, it's pretty clear.
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Organic Potatoes said:
If they were still running Mike's offense which basically relied upon getting away with near cut-blocks along with oddities like Talib, then you'd have a stronger case.
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I'll admit that I'm probably overreacting a bit by calling the Broncos the dirtiest team etc, but I am honestly shocked by those three hits and especially by the fact that two of them weren't even called. Cam wasn't even running with the ball when the hits occurred. And I doubt that would've happened if the quarterback was Aaron Rodgers or Tom Brady

And they did all seem more or less intentional to me. I'm not saying it was a part of the Broncos' game plan to take cheap shots at Cam Newton á la the Bountygate Saints, but it didn't exactly seem like any of the three players did anything to avoid the hits. And that's pretty disgusting, as we all know the potential consequences of hits like that. I'll be surprised if Cam has avoided any form of concussion. Especially the last hit was nasty, and it reminded me of Burfict's hit on AB in the last play-offs.

But what are you takes on it? Was it just coincidental, occupational hazard or do you agree that it seems quite dirty?
 
To be honest I was just winding you up, but I certainly don't think we're a particularly stand out dirty team, aside from Talib who's a cnut and I've moaned about him loads on here.

That last hit does look pretty bad in fairness.

Suggesting some kind of officiating bias against Newton is ridiculous though.
 
Rado_N said:
To be honest I was just winding you up, but I certainly don't think we're a particularly stand out dirty team, aside from Talib who's a cnut and I've moaned about him loads on here.

That last hit does look pretty bad in fairness.

Suggesting some kind of officiating bias against Newton is ridiculous though.
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Well, I'm not suggesting that the officials have an agenda specifically targeting Cam Newton, but I do think that their calling might be affected by the fact that he's a 6'5" 250 pound running quarterback who is very physical and tough, which isn't fair, as he's still a quarterback and deserves just as much protection as a Drew Brees or Tom Brady.

And I recall an episode where Ed Hochuli told Newton that he wasn't "old enough to get that call" after Newton complained about a late hit/roughing the passer which wasn't called. At least that alludes to there being some sort of officiating bias.
 
Try timing those hits at full speed in the first game of the season against a tall QB when it looks like you're hitting him in the chest, and then he ducks down in an instant and you catch his helmet.
 
Rado_N said:
To be honest I was just winding you up, but I certainly don't think we're a particularly stand out dirty team, aside from Talib who's a cnut and I've moaned about him loads on here.

That last hit does look pretty bad in fairness.

Suggesting some kind of officiating bias against Newton is ridiculous though.
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I actually disagree with this. I don't necessarily think it's an intentional bias but because of his size and the way he plays, he doesn't get calls a lot of other QBs would. That's almost a fact and I can't find the article which showed it last year quite clearly.

There's also the video of the ref which would suggest something more sinister then that too.

On the match though, what a great one. Just caught it in game pass. Broncos did well to win, perhaps a dark horse?
 
Organic Potatoes said:
Try timing those hits at full speed in the first game of the season against a tall QB when it looks like you're hitting him in the chest, and then he ducks down in an instant and you catch his helmet.
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To be honest, I don't see him ducking very much in any of the three situations. And if you think that little movement justifies the hits, you could apply the same logic to all other helmet-to-helmet hits. For example, Antonio Brown was clearly ducking/moving, even more so than Cam Newton did today, when he got hit by Vontaze Burfict(who got suspended for three games). Do you think that "the difficulty of tackling a moving target" excuses Burfict's hit?

The way I see it, it's clearly the tackling defender's responsibility to make a safe tackle/avoid injuring the offensive player rather than it's the offensive player's responsibility to avoid making a move which could potentially put him in harm's way.

Regardless of whether it was intentional or not, don't you think the referees should've called the penalties for the hits?
 
Oooh looked to be a very good game to start the season. Need to watch the highlights. Football is back :drool:
 
I guess the idea of his size going against him is reasonable. Fair enough.

I only managed to stay awake for the first 1/4 last night unfortunately, so will be watching the extended highlights tonight for sure. Good win the start the season against a tough team who I believe are the favourites for the Super Bowl.

From what I saw I was impressed with Siemian, looks very calm and confident and moved us down the field well. The pick was unfortunate but very good Defensive work in fairness.
 
Organic Potatoes said:
Try timing those hits at full speed in the first game of the season against a tall QB when it looks like you're hitting him in the chest, and then he ducks down in an instant and you catch his helmet.
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Exactly. This is the key flaw in how, from the NFL down to Youth level, they are teaching tackling fundamentals now. The runner is still allowed to lower his pad level and lead with his helmet, which leads to either helmet to helmet contact, or the tackler taking the crown of the runner's helmet directly to the sternum.
Chip said:
The way I see it, it's clearly the tackling defender's responsibility to make a safe tackle/avoid injuring the offensive player
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There is no way, and no reason, why the entire responsibility should be placed on the defender (for the reasons stated above). If they want to "take the helmet out of the tackle" and eliminate as much helmet to helmet contact as possible, then the runner who lowers his level and initiates the helmet to helmet contact should be ejected from the game the same as the tackler who raises his level to to initiate it.
 
Rado_N said:
I guess the idea of his size going against him is reasonable. Fair enough.

I only managed to stay awake for the first 1/4 last night unfortunately, so will be watching the extended highlights tonight for sure. Good win the start the season against a tough team who I believe are the favourites for the Super Bowl.

From what I saw I was impressed with Siemian, looks very calm and confident and moved us down the field well. The pick was unfortunate but very good Defensive work in fairness.
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Siemian played a heck of a 2nd half and the defense buckled down and responded well to being down at the half. Was good to see them answer the challenge like that this early in the season.
 
Carolina Red said:
Siemian played a heck of a 2nd half and the defense buckled down and responded well to being down at the half. Was good to see them answer the challenge like that this early in the season.
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I'm looking forward to the highlights later :drool:
 
Liked what I saw from Siemian. Threw it short for the second INT and had two on the night but take into account this was against a damn good Panthers defense who were pressuring him all night long, this was one of the toughest games he could have started with. Made some good decisions under extreme pressure and threw the ball well for the most part.

Although I probably should have been rooting against the Broncos here I found myself rooting for them instead. Listened to quite a few writing them off going into this game, was quite nice to see Siemian go out there and get the win.
 
Yes, Trevor Siemian was quite actually quite impressive in his debut, and if he can keep up that standard he isn't really a downgrade to what they had at QB last year, which makes me think about the money the Texans paid Osweiler...

Overall think the AFC West is going to be one the closest and most interesting of all the divisions. The Raiders and Chiefs seem very good, and I think the Chargers are going to be back in or around the Wild Cards after a freak year where everything possible went wrong.
 
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