MichiganCardinal

Another guy I wouldn't be surprised to see get cut is Vaitai. Quinn signed him for starting tackle money ($45MM plus incentives over five years) and he's playing guard. Overall he did a decent job this year at guard, but at $9MM/year he's the 5th highest paid right guard in the NFL. I don't think he's worth that kind of money. As a post-June 1st cut, he would have $1.7MM associated dead cap to save $7MM. If he would rework his deal I would be interested in keeping him, just not as a top-five paid player as his position. If not, Evan Brown has shown his worth this year while in for Ragnow and depth can be found late in any draft (or Stenberg can be depth if he's ever healthy).

Ben Roethlisberger is 5/14 for 24 yards. Good for a 44.3 passer rating. ..... I think he's still got gas left in the tank, hope he keeps on going for another year or two.

I like the matchups, but you'd have three teams left in that format. How do you choose which two go on to the conference championship?

I don't think ̶M̶i̶k̶e̶ ̶M̶c̶C̶a̶r̶t̶h̶y̶ Kellen Mond should get off that easy. After just skipping down the field to that point, the play call didn't make a lot of sense. As much as I think McCarthy is a terrible coach, I suppose I should blame the play caller.

I'm not a fan of giving four teams bye weeks, but the 2/7 games need to be more competitive for me to 'like' having seven teams per conference. #2 seeds are 3-0 through three games, outscoring #7 seeds 79-48. Only one of the three was even competitive, last year's Bills/Colts game (which took a late comeback IIRC). The KC/Pittsburgh game tonight doesn't seem primed to change that trend. The talent difference between the 2nd-5th best teams in the NFL and the 13th-16th is just too large to make those games consistently worth playing as a playoff game.

San Francisco up 23-7 with about 20 minutes left in Jerry World. Always a fun tradition to watch Dallas be eliminated.

Tampa up 17-0 on the Iggles, looking to make it more. Wonder how long it will take for a 7-seed to beat a 2-seed.

Too bad he couldn’t make one of the greatest defensive play calls in history to get them out of that mess.

What a freaking idiot. What a romantic medium e-mail can be. 🙄 If this tells us anything, it’s that the number of degrees after a person’s name doesn’t speak anything as to whether they have an ounce of common sense.

Glad to see Cincinnati win a playoff game with Zac Taylor. I know comparing regimes can be apples and oranges, but I can’t help but compare Marvin Lewis with the Bengals to Jim Caldwell with the Lions. Good, but never great. Moving on from Lewis was good for the Bengals in the same way I still think moving on from Caldwell was good for the Lions (even as asinine as replacing him with Patricia was).

I think of Cincinnati more as a part of Kentucky than Ohio (the Cincy airport is already in Kentucky). Just like Toledo is more a part of Michigan than Ohio. It's the parts in between that could just be swallowed by a sinkhole without lost sleep.

I'm not ready to ask for, or expect, a near .500 showing of 8-9. They're definitely improving, but they're not there yet. If they can double their win total to 6, I would be content. At 8 wins, I would be happy. At 4 wins, I would be concerned. In 2023, I will expect tangible results and meaningful December football.

Wildcard Round AFC KC over Pittsburgh Buffalo over New England Cincinnati over Las Vegas NFC Tampa over Philly San Francisco over Dallas Arizona over LA Divisional Round AFC Cincinnati over Tennessee KC over Buffalo NFC Green Bay over San Francisco Tampa over Arizona Conference Championship AFC KC over Cincinnati NFC Tampa over Green Bay Super Bowl Tampa (34) over KC (26) Bleh. I'd love to see Tennessee, Buffalo, or Cincy make it so I don't have to root for the giant meteor to take out the Earth before KC and TB play again.

To be fair, I think the jury is still out on Levi. He is transitioning roles a bit in the NFL, but he still had some really good games (though was bullied in others). I am hopeful for what a full off-season will bring.

B+ and recency bias has me close to an A-. There was a large adjustment and learning curve for the coaching staff (maybe with the exception of Glenn). It took half the season for them to learn their roles, how their role works in the grand scheme of operations, and to begin excelling at them. That said, in the second half of the season, they looked like a halfway decent football team while putting out possibly the worst roster (on paper) in the NFL. For a team who people had 0-17 thoughts about to finish 3-13-1, and to have been potentially 7-10 if not for four field goals (Baltimore, Pittsburgh, Chicago, and Minnesota), is remarkable. Even more remarkable were the performances against playoff teams like the Cardinals and Rams. It wasn’t all sunshine and roses, Cincinnati and Philadelphia can tell you that. All in all though, I thought the good far outweighed the bad and I’m excited for what 2022, 2023, and beyond can bring.

I would be livid at this if I were a Dolphins fan. If Jim Harbaugh is available (not saying he is) and is the best candidate for the Dolphins, Ross is obligated to pursue him. He’s hurting the franchise he owns by putting the school he gives money to his priority.

If the Bears knock their coaching hire out of the park, and they are able to immediately turn around Fields’ performance, they have the potential to be ahead of Detroit. However, I would put the chances of that below 50%. It’s hard to plug-and-play success in the NFL, especially with the roster around Fields. And if he struggles again next year, the new regime won’t hesitate to cut loose of him, blame the old regime, and get “their guy”. The NFL is a dog-eat-dog world and the new coach and GM will ditch Fields in a heartbeat if it means they have a better chance of getting more time as a head coach and GM.

I had this same thought when I saw he was canned. I think he could be a good addition in an advisory role of some sort, as long as it isn’t creating a “too many cooks” situation.

Vikings and Bears will both be launching rebuilds that are behind the Lions. Green Bay is unlikely to go through a “rebuild” per se, even if Rodgers leaves, but I don’t know if they’ll be successful with Jordan Love at the helm. Detroit Lions your 2023 NFC North Champions?! *sips kool aid*

My way too early top five: 1. Jags: Evan Neal, OT, Alabama 2. Lions: Kayvon Thibodeaux, EDGE, Oregon 3. Texans: Kenny Pickett, QB, Pitt 4. NY Jets: Aidan Hutchinson, EDGE, Michigan 5. NY Giants: George Karlaftis, EDGE, Purdue

If we are talking first memories, mine would probably be Orlovsky running out the back of the end zone. I watched games before then, but no real core memories before that one.

I mean, my parents met in 1991 for what it’s worth. LOL.

As we sit here today, I think the Giants are a more likely trade partner than the Jets. If the Giants want to move on from Jones with whoever becomes the consensus #1 QB, they will likely need to jump the Texans to do so. I would still put the odds of a trade happening with the #2 pick at 10% or less.

Really helped his case by doing jumping jacks off the field.

He's also going to be 29 later this month, and I don't think we will be signing very many players this offseason to long-term deals. I think this will be another offseason of lots of one-year deals, with one or two two-year deals sprinkled in. I don't think it will be until the 2022-23 offseason when we make a splash with a star or two in positions that remain neglected through the two or three drafts at that point. I wouldn't be opposed if it falls into that plan, but he's not a guy I would deviate for. I think he's more likely to want a 3+ year deal for tens of millions, and I don't think that makes a lot of sense for where we are in the rebuild.