2019/20 NFL Thread

[maccaisking]

Just short of half way through the year I thought I’d post some thoughts and predictions for the 2nd half of the season

AFC - East - The Patriots have a tough 2 months coming up after 8 weeks of warm up games and are short on offence, however this doesn’t matter as no one can score against them. If their defense stays healthy they should take another AFC Crown. Also what are the Bills on?

West - Mahoney injury awful for the league and makes it more likely they’ll be playing the AFC Championship match in New England this year. Also robbed him of another MVP. I love watching him play. The Raiders and Chargers have been surprise packets but for different reasons.

North - Ravens are lucky the rest of the teams are so bad and will be unchallenged until Wildcard weekend

South - The Colts have been surprisingly good, its a shame that Luck left. Could come down to week 17 matches but I’ve been surprised at the level of competition in this group

NFC - North - Should the Bears try and trade for Bridgewater or Kyle Allen? Would either of them be sent there? regardless I think this is my favourite division to watch

East - my least favourite division to watch - promises fairly little and delivers

South - I can’t wait to see how the Saints get their hearts broken this year, but if they don’t I also can’t wait to see Brees vs Brady in February

West - Still not sold on the 49ers, I think the Rams can steady and take the division but if they dont then it could come down to Seahawks 49ers in week 17.


As a Patriots fan and financial investor things are going well for me and I would love to see them steamroll to the SuperBowl, but I think they may be found out when they get there. Mahomes coming back fit will boost KC but they will probably need to travel (a lot) in January. If Brees hits the ground running the (no pun intended) the Saints look good, the tiebreaker rules against the Ppackers may be key to this

 

[drron]

Sorry but the team I am backing now is any team playing the Patriots.

 

[serfty]

That's a pretty bleak QB situation given that Dak hasn't performed well since his hot start. ...

of course, Dak in on a bye this week.

 

[maccaisking]

Good news for me, Patriots clinching AFC East last week paid out my Patriots/AFC East bet.

Bad news for me, Given the Miami game should be a formality I booked flights to Boston last week to see the Patriots divisional game. Still not quite sure how they lost but now reading up on USA carrier fare rules. They don’t look favourable to changes

 

[serfty]

Good news for me, Patriots clinching AFC East last week paid out my Patriots/AFC East bet.

Bad news for me, Given the Miami game should be a formality I booked flights to Boston last week to see the Patriots divisional game. Still not quite sure how they lost but now reading up on USA carrier fare rules. They don’t look favourable to changes

Ouch! USD200 standard change fee unless "Basic Economy". Note you may be able to upfare to a higher cabin with no change fee but you'd need to call.

As for the Patriots, without the Foxborough factor they might have been looking at one and done, however they went 6-2 at home, losing only to KC and Miami(!)/Fitzmagic. New England did win their first 8 games but that was against teams who in the same period went 14-37 (27% win); they then went 4-4 against teams who went 42-26 (62%). So, for them it's defeat the Titans and head to KC, win that and Ravens loose then it's back to Foxborough!

It is the season where there's a few more news articles about and a few Aussies seemingly becoming instant NFL experts – even this morning's newspaper devoted 3 inches of column to an article on Brady. Monday and Tuesday, there may be half a page each day.

I do have my next few nights planned – avoiding results will be most difficult Sunday and Monday evenings.

 

[maccaisking]

Ouch! USD200 standard change fee unless "Basic Economy". Note you may be able to upfare to a higher cabin with no change fee but you'd need to call.

As for the Patriots, without the Foxborough factor they might have been looking at one and done, however they went 6-2 at home, losing only to KC and Miami(!)/Fitzmagic. New England did win their first 8 games but that was against teams who in the same period went 14-37 (27% win); they then went 4-4 against teams who went 42-26 (62%). So, for them it's defeat the Titans and head to KC, win that and Ravens loose then it's back to Foxborough!

It is the season where there's a few more news articles about and a few Aussies seemingly becoming instant NFL experts – even this morning's newspaper devoted 3 inches of column to an article on Brady. Monday and Tuesday, there may be half a page each day.

I do have my next few nights planned – avoiding results will be most difficult Sunday and Monday evenings.

$200usd is correct. At least I was only out for one flight, my friend had booked two! We have changed plans to see 49ers instead in the divisional round and then decide where we go for a Conference match. I’d love the scenario you described but I expect that if the Pats win today KC will deal with them.

In happier news, I picked up a Virgin business reward seat yesterday (we leave a Thursday) so at least the trip will start well.

 

[serfty]

I’d love the scenario you described but I expect that if the Pats win today KC will deal with them.

... Let alone what the Ravens will likely do against Bills or Titans ...

Ok, a self imposed moratorium over NFL news for the next few days while I endeavor to watch Wildcard weekend on replay without knowing results ...

 

[maccaisking]

Beautiful day for some football.

 

[serfty]

Beautiful day for some football.

Seemed to be a nice early start on the West Coast ...

 

[serfty]

... Let alone what the Ravens will likely do against Bills or Titans ...

I forgot to consider what the Titans might do to the Ravens.

 

[serfty]

Well, just 12 hours before my self imposed news blackout begins.

Fascinating Superbowl matchup! My fantasy team on Flyertalk ran much of the year with Mahomes as QB and 49'ers as D.*

Will KC be able to stop Mosterdt and the run? Their D certainly stiffened up come December. Will Bosa be able to get to St. Pat?


* I did OK, reaching conference final before a late 'inactive' killed my chances (I'm not waking up at 4am on a Monday just to check who is playing).