I know there are some other sports fans on here, and I thought a discussion thread might be fun, and Monday is the natural day coming after the weekend football (both varieties) games and without a side thread scheduled. What's going on with your favorite teams/players/etc? What fun media controversies in the microcosm of sports can tell us something about the broader world? What culture war bullshit do you want to discuss in a sporting context?
FiveHourMarathon You can get anything here except red ink
1yr ago
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MONDAY MORNING MOTTErBack SPORTS THREAD
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I've been following football pretty heavily this year, primarily because my mother has been and I like to watch the games with her and my father. My team, the Eagles, have been way outperforming expectations, and it's what you want to see, but on a meta level I can't help but look ahead and predict that they're going to be massively overrated going into the late season. Look at this schedule, they don't play a single team in the top half of TheRinger power rankings until the Cardinals; and they only play two real contenders all season in the Packers and the Titans. Any given Sunday and all that, but the Eagles could easily have a 13-14 win season while losing all their games against teams that finish with winning records. It's remarkable how the Dak Prescott injury really throws the Eagles season into easy mode for now; they're strong favorites in the division and likely to get homefield for part of the playoffs as well.
So if you have some kind of opportunity to short the Eagles on a bet late season, do it, they're going to look much better in the regular season than in the playoffs, even if they are a legit team. I'm all aboard the Jalen Hurts and the three batmen train, but they're going to look great against bottom feeders all season and then run into a bunch of pros in the playoffs and have to learn to hit a higher level; much like they did with the Bucs last season.
I think a lot of these power rankings suffer from the same problem that college rankings do; namely, that they stick too closely to preseason rankings regardless of what happens on the field. So a team like the Giants that's showing promise is going to be ranked behind the Bengals regardless of what happens on the field because we just know that the Giants are terrible and that the Bengals Super Bowl appearance wasn't a fluke. Take a look around the NFC and take stock of what you're actually contending with:
NFC East
You've already heavily implied that the Eagles are the best team in this division, especially with Dak out, and only one of their three wins was against a team from this division. The Commanders suck and the Cowboys don't have a QB. The Giants are an interesting proposition. The media has completely written them off as being terrible for the foreseeable future but they're 2–0 due to wins against mediocre teams (but unexpected wins nonetheless), and if they beat the Cowboys tonight it doesn't tell us anything else. So there's no real playoff competition here that the Eagles won't see during the regular season.
NFC North
The Eagles already beat 2 teams from this division and a third, the Bears, shouldn't be a problem. The Packers are a different story but they don't have a passing game so while I'd definitely call them a contender, they aren't scary enough to come across as a team you have to watch out for.
NFC South
The Falcons, Saints, and Panthers aren't going anywhere. Their offense looked anemic yesterday but that probably has something to do with all their wide receivers being out (and Cole Beasley being in), so I wouldn't count them out just yet. That being said, Tom Brady hasn't played particularly great so far, and there are rumors that he's having personal problems. With Godwin and Evans back I think they'll be good, but not some kind of juggernaut.
NFC West
The Seahawks aren't going anywhere. The Niners might, but I wouldn't be too worried about them. The Cardinals get a lot of hype, but they haven't looked good since their mid-season meltdown last year, and they couldn't get anything going yesterday. That leaves the Rams, the reigning Super Bowl Champions. They looked good yesterday against the Cardinals but their performance against the Saints last week was questionable and the Bills had them completely figured out in the season opener. I wouldn't count them out, but the evidence so far this season isn't looking too good.
My point is that I don't think the NFC has the kind of juggernaut that is going to tear through the playoffs an embarrass a team that only made it in on an easy schedule. If the Eagles get torn apart, it won't be until the Super Bowl, and even then only if Buffalo and possibly Miami or Kansas City are the opponent.
Agreed, I'm fairly confident (and the sports books seem to agree right now ) that the Eagles are going to win the division and probably get good seeding in the playoffs, only possible downside risks are like Saquon goes off (local kid) or Dak comes back playing better than originally expected. They could easily end up the #1 seed in the NFC! But the team lacks a certain, idk, professionalism that was on display in their playoff loss last year to the Bucs. I'm not sure I'd bet on the Eagles against the Bucs rematch in the playoffs (flashback to the Warren Sapp days). So far it seems Hurts took a big step forward, thanks to having more targets he has less tendency to force a pass to Smith or run the ball all the time; but you get in there against a real veteran playoff team they aren't going to make easy mistakes and they aren't going to give away points, I'm not sure. Maybe that doesn't happen, like you said, until the super bowl. Regardless I'll be getting high and cheering for them, the analysis doesn't matter in the end.
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