The most confusing puzzle
Dec26
on December 26, 2013
at 12:01 am
The Playoff picture this coming weekend is incredibly convoluted. No team in the NFC has yet to clinch their own division. The only clinched seed in the entire playoffs is the Kansas City Chiefs at AFC #5. The AFC 6th seed is between something like 4 teams, and literally none of those teams control their own destiny, meaning no “Win and In”. They all need to win and have someone else lose. It’s amazing.
Moving divisional games into the later weeks is easily the only truly good move Roger Goodell has made.
On the one hand, the whole system of parity bugs me because it feels like it punishes teams that draft well(Green Bay, Giants, Baltimore, etc.) by making them unable to keep the players they found and groomed while letting teams like DC that trade away their entire draft class for one guy and Jacksonville that wouldn’t know what to do with the #1 pick if they were given it for free, get away with being stupid and wasting entire draft classes by grabbing these great players in free agency from the franchises that actually know what they’re doing. It also makes it impossible to keep a good team together when the cap is the same $123m it was in 2009 in spite of contracts continuing to get bigger and crazier – it’s not just Joe Flacco and quarterbacks who’re getting stupidly big deals, look at Darrelle Revis and his $96m contract.
But then on the other, you get weekends like this. There is going to be so much drama and tension in this sunday’s games that it will be unbelievable, all because parity has made a grand total of one of twelve playoff positions locked 16 weeks in. It’s delicious.
It also helps remembering a time when there was no cap just like baseball so teams like San Francisco could afford to have the best QB ever, the best WR ever, the best safety ever, and one of the most underrated RBs ever all on the same squad. Imagine Tom Brady, Megatron, Reggie Bush, and Eric Weddle all on the same team. That’s just unfair, yo.
I like the system because it rewards GM shrewdness and coaching over just who has the most money. It would get kind of boring if one team won every year. And I’m a yankee fan too… even that got boring and the league stagnated as a result. It just makes it that one team versus the rest of the league.
Yeah. Sure, teams that do well always get stripped of players when it’s payday but overall the parity in this league is one of the best parts about it.
I am so glad football has the Salary cap. It gives us some sad moments, but it keeps everyone in check.
Are you stating that Reggie Bush is the most underrated RB of all time and Eric Weddle is the best safety ever? Because Bronko Nagurski is the most underrated RB of all time and Eric Weddle isn’t even better than Earl Thomas.
Dear “The Clarificator,”
I guess you missed the part where Jacksonville got a new owner, GM, and head coach, who had an extremely successful first draft by all indications? To take a lazy shot at the Jaguars is pretty common and ingrained into the minds of most NFL fans, so I guess I can’t fault you entirely. You’re just a product of ESPN.
One year proves nothing. If the Jaguars are a contender in two-three years, I’ll eat my words. But there are five front offices in the NFL I give the benefit of the doubt to when it comes to personnel; Green Bay, New England, New York(Giants), San Francisco, and Baltimore. Jacksonville having one good draft class does not turn me into a believer; success in the NFL can’t be measured by one single year, you have to prove you can do it again and again consistently.
Also don’t call me a product of ESPN. That’s just a cheap shot, I’m not dumb enough to spout bullshit like the idea that Jacksonville has no fans(They actually outsold the oft-vaunted Steelers fanbase by 15,000+ tickets) or that. But this is the team that drafted players like Matt Jones and Derrick Harvey. It takes more than one great draft class to wipe that away.
You need to add Pittsburgh to the benefit of the doubt list.
Since Tomlin took over in 2007, not counting the 2013 draft class because rookie years can be very deceiving(Around half of ROTY honorees end up doing nothing the rest of their careers), the Steelers have drafted 53 players. Of those 53, 12(22%) are out of the NFL, seven(13%) being out of football altogether. It’s not like those are a bunch of late-rounders, either, that group includes two fourth-rounders, a third-rounder, and a second-rounder.
Of those 53, 12(22%) have been offensive line players, Pittsburgh’s biggest issue by-far for most of Tomlin’s tenure. More than half of them aren’t even Steelers anymore, and again, it’s not like the ones who’re gone are a bunch of seventh-rounders; half of those twelve were from the first four rounds, including two first-rounders and two second-rounders. That is a huge amount of investment for what is still Pittsburgh’s biggest issue. They’ve also drafted more linemen than any other position group(DB’s are second at 9/17%), so they still haven’t been able to nail any position other than Pouncey in spite of having the law of averages on their side for that position.
Of those still in the NFL(41/77%), not even half(20/48%) have been Steelers their entire careers. If you want to be generous, you can add Matt Spaeth and William Gay since they fizzled out in Chicago and Arizona, respectively, then came back. Still, 22/54% still isn’t that amazing, especially once you realize a five of them are from 2012’s draft class, so are players that the jury’s still out on.
This isn’t to say that they have drafted nobody but bums; Lawrence Timmons is a great all-around ILB and probably the best coverage linebacker this side of Willis-Bowman, Pouncey is one of the best centers in the league when healthy, Sanders and especially Brown I think are very underrated WRs, and Cortez Allen I have really liked this year. Still, even being generous and including Cameron Heyward continues improving and including Mike Wallace – which is stupid because as fast as he is even I have better hands – that’s eight(Timmons, Pouncey, Worilds, Sanders, Brown, Heyward, Allen, Wallace) of 53, or 15%.
Compare that to San Francisco, who over that same time period drafted Patrick Willis, Joe Staley, Dashon Goldson, Tarell Brown, Michael Crabtree – who appears to have outgrown the bust label – Anthony Davis, Mike Iupati, and NaVorro Bowman. That’s being conservative too and leaving off Aldon Smith because of off-field issues, Kaepernick because I’m not sure I trust him yet, and Culliver because of his ACL.
Comparing them to their division rival that showed up on my benefit of the doubt list, the Ravens in that time period have drafted Marshal Yanda, Ben Grubbs, Kelechi Osemele, Courtney Upshaw, Torrey Smith, Jimmy Smith, Arthur Jones, Dennis Pitta, Lardarius Webb, and Ray Rice. And again, that’s being conservative, leaving Paul Kruger and Joe Flacco – who I’ve had huge debates with people from both sides of the argument with about whether or not he’s any good – off of the list.
They’re not horrific or as bad as DC or Cleveland or anything, and the organization itself is an A+ franchise. But Tomlin is an inverse Andy Reid; he’s good at coaching, good at running the game, bad at building a team’s roster. Again, they’re not the dregs of the league, but I’m hardly going to put them next to Green Bay, New England, and the rest; the five teams I give the benefit of the doubt don’t just hit on more players, the players they hit on are better. I love him as a coach for a team that has talent, or a team like Baltimore or San Francisco that has a great GM who can handle the personnel moves for him. But as the Belichickian kind of guy that handles the coaching and the roster building, I don’t give Tomlin the benefit of the doubt.
Also Pittsburgh drafted a punter not named Ray Guy. That automatically makes me question your front office.
Holy shit that was about ten times longer than I meant it to be. To anyone unlucky enough to think reading through my rambling was worth their time, I apologize.
In regards to the AFC #6:
Miami needs to win and SD to win to get it. Baltimore needs to win and either Miami or SD to lose to get it. If SD wins and both Baltimore and Miami loses, SD gets it. If all 3 lose and Pittsburg wins, they get it.
If they all lose, Baltimore gets it!
I agree, It’s Amazing.
I find this picture helps.
http://i.imgur.com/g2UXSXM.png
“Cornyale” BHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHA
Can you do a pic of various Baltimore, Miami, San Diego and Pittsburgh personnel punching themselves in the head Matt Stafford-style?
I recommend Richie Incognito and Jeff Ireland, by the way, especially seeing as the latter is so fond of punching.
I’d also love to see something with Rivers dancing over keeping Ben out of the playoffs to keep the whole “2004 QBs comic” theme going.
Playoffs? You kidding me, playoffs? I just hope we can win a game. Another game.
Just Win Baby.
I disagree… it renders some week 16 games meaningless. if you’re a superior team, you should be in the playoffs by Christmas.