NFL 2020: the TB (Tom Brady) Buccaneers

[nmrfox]

Everything Green Bay do to get ahead, the Rams have an answer. This could be a very tight game with the next score proving pivotal. 19-10 at the half to the Pack. But Goff looking good.

[nmrfox]

Aaron doing his thing. Jones not Rodgers. Get in GB.

[nmrfox]

Sorry to the happily snoozing dogs here, but get in Allan Lazard

[nmrfox]

Nice work from the much deserved defence. Great work.

[Hot Pepsi]

I went to college with the Bills coach, apparently, so I guess I’m pulling for them.

[San Bernardhinault]

In order of the remaining teams, I think I'm pulling for

Bills
Browns
Packers
Chiefs
Brees
Brady

Although the last two are pretty interchangeable

[nmrfox]

Cleveland giving KC a proper game now and exposing weaknesses including Mahomes now seemingly out for the game. This could be a good watch in the 4th quarter.

[Wouter D]

Interception. Eight minutes to go, Browns with possession, 17-22 down in score. They might actually pull it off.

[ursus arctos]

You are new to this

[Wouter D]

Definitely. I won't be betting money on it anytime soon.

[jason voorhees]

Quite a good game from the Browns. Very similar to the Bills winning their first then losing in this round last year, and the Chiefs losing against the Pats two years ago before winning it all last year. The Bills-Chiefs-Browns has the makings of the Saints-Niners-Seahawks of the past 10 years or the Giants-Niners-WFTs / Broncos-Fins-Raiders of the 80s.

The Saints are already covering the receivers and the O-line can't handle the Saints D again. They got 6 sacks on Brady last game (he had 21 the whole season,) and are already up to 1 and they can't tackle Harris on punt returns.

[jason voorhees]

2 f'n turnovers and the Bucs convert for 14 points. 20-20 tie.

[ursus arctos]

And that, boys and girls, is why offensive holding is penalised (sometimes)

[jason voorhees]

Methinks our chances of winning went from 50% to 5%.

Damn. F'n turnovers. No takeaways.

Credit to Todd Bowles.

Neat that Breesus's last game would be against someone he played against in college back in '99.

[jason voorhees]

4th MFn turnover.

.05%

[caja-dglh]

Brees might be better at long passes to Tampa Bay guys than Brady is.

[jason voorhees]

.000000000000000000000000000000000005% chance of winning now.

Old school NFC Central Battle of the Bays.

Irony of ironies...the Super Bowl is in Tampa Bay this year.

How bizarre if the first team to play in their own stadium would be during a quarantine.

As good as Green Bay is, this Tampa Bay only got better as the year went on and keeps getting better.

[jason voorhees]

Brees might be better at long passes to Tampa Bay guys than Brady is.

I'm laughing so I don't cry.

[caja-dglh]

I hadn't caught that Brees is expected to retire this year. That surprises me, though he is clearly playing in a limited way versus his prime.

Perdue shitbag.

[Hot Pepsi]

Purdue. Perdue are the chicken people

[caja-dglh]

Leaving it for posterity. My Indiana family will love my typo work.

[ursus arctos]

Hmmm

A locally owned co-op led by a shop steward against the Glazers and a MAGAhead

I wonder who OTF will be supporting in this one

[gavc23]

Maybe old news to many but away from the Bills result, the highlight of my weekend was deciding to Wikipedia Equanimeous St Brown during the Packers game because it’s such a tremendous name.

Even more delighted to see his middle name is Imhotep and has brothers called Osiris and Amon-Ra. Almost felt like apologising to my kids for not even considering them when it came to naming them.

[Flynnie]

Same topic.

In the nineties it seemed like the Seahawks, Chiefs and Broncos (not sure about San Diego) all considered the Raiders to be their number one rival. Is there a team in a similar position today? New England because of their success?

Hell, they all still do except for the Seahawks. The Chargers definitely do too.

The AFC West, which has the same membership as the old AFL West, and the NFC East, which also has four teams that have been in the same division for 60 years, are the divisions of feuds. The AFC East has the same membership as the old AFL East, but the team with the target on their back before New England would have been Miami.

[laverte]

Maybe old news to many but away from the Bills result, the highlight of my weekend was deciding to Wikipedia Equanimeous St Brown during the Packers game because it’s such a tremendous name.

Even more delighted to see his middle name is Imhotep and has brothers called Osiris and Amon-Ra. Almost felt like apologising to my kids for not even considering them when it came to naming them.

Their dad was called John Brown. My guess is that he found his own name a trifle generic.

Picking myself up:

One thing i like about the NFL being a cartel is that teams from smaller cities can do well*. This season is a particularly good example: New Orleans, Green Bay and Tampa** are the smallest tv markets in the NFC, Seattle (which lost at home last week) is the smallest market in its division, and all four remaining AFC teams are from small and/or unfashionable cities.

The remaining teams are in the markets ranked numbers 13, 34, 53 and 69 (that last would be 37 if we count Milwaukee as the Packers' main home market). They beat teams from markets 2, 19, 28 and 50.

Comparing with the UK is very imprecise, given the demographic differences, but to give a rough idea, the equivalent metropolitan areas for the four remaining teams might be Leicester, Ipswich, Gloucester and Torbay (or Northampton, if using Milwaukee). In the quarter-finals they would have eliminated representatives from Birmingham, Swansea, Southend and Doncaster.