2017 NFL Playoffs - Super Bowl LI Confirmed! Atlanta Falcons vs New England Patriots!

[Anacybele]

The Steelers cut another draft pick (Doran Grant). QUIT WASTING DRAFT PICKS THEN. ESPECIALLY DEFENSIVE ONES. Ugh. :( Though, I doubt there aren't other teams that have done this...

But I wonder why Cody Wallace isn't going to fill in for Pouncey like we all thought. Doug Legursky is going to get in there instead. I guess he's better than Wallace?

Edited September 7, 2015 by Anacybele

[Esau of Isaac]

Would any of you guys be willing to help me out with this? My uncle recently expressed interested in starting up a fantasy league. I thought it would be pretty fun, I'm a numbers guy and I'd always wanted something to get me into the game more. I know the basics of the game, but none of the intricacies, and none of the players outside of the biggest elites. Adding to that, I know nothing about fantasy football either. I didn't know the game apparently runs around very strong emphasis on RBs and WRs, so my team ended up looking like this:

I thought I was doing alright by concentrating on getting Rodgers and Beckham Jr. early. The only mistake I thought I made was picking a kicker early, but that was an accident on my part since I hadn't meant to in the first place. Is there a way I can still salvage the team? Or am I boned?

[Lord Raven]

It's acutally really stupid how much of an emphasis on WRs and RBs it has [EDIT: fantasy football, not your team; stats aren't the end-all, be-all of football], but I can look at your team. Also, you guys don't have a defense in your league?

So your QB - Aaron Rodgers - is the best Quarterback in the game. Colin Kaepernick, however, is on a team with a brand new head coach that is very very VERY unproven and a lot of his teammates (RBs and WRs) are unproven guys too. He'll have two good targets in Boldin and Davis and an ok one in Torrey Smith, but I think he'll be a solid QB for a bye week. He'll get you a bunch of rushing touchdowns.

Your WR depth is really odd and I don't know what to think of it. Odell Beckham Jr. is actually really good based on his first season but god knows how good he'll be his sophomore season. Every one of his fantasy owners - and Giants fans - hopes he repeats, but he's a freak of nature. Eli Manning is also a good QB but he is rather inconsistent - Beckham will probably make him better, especially since their new offensive system works very well according to last year. Jordan Matthews is also a very good WR and regardless of his QB he'll put up good numbers, because Sanchez is one of the best backups out there and Bradford is a damn good QB.

Allen Robinson I am hesitant on because Blake Bortles is still pretty raw and his second season may not be that great either. The Jaguars in general are a pretty bad team and Cynthia can shed more light on him, but I think Eric Decker is a safer choice every week than Allen Robinson because Decker is big and fast, although the QB situation in New York is worse than Jacksonville. I still think the gap between Decker and Robinson is large enough to compensate for the game between Fitzpatrick/magic/tragic and Blake Bortles, but I'm waiting for Cynthia's opinion here.

Greg Olsen is a very good Tight End, but I'd look for another on the waivers just in case because Tight End isn't a very consistent position when you get below the Top 5 or so. Crockett Gillmore is a good sleeper, but that could just be me as a hopeful Ravens fan.

Your RB depth is kind of iffy to me but I'm not good with RBs. Vereen is a third down back primarily so he won't be running the ball that often, but the Giants don't have good RB depth so he might not be a bad choice to start. I have no fucking clue who TJ Yeldon or Devonta Freeman are. Giovani Bernard may not get you very much either for the same reasons as Vereen but the difference is that Jeremy Hill starts over Bernard usually. Bernard will get a bunch of receptions though, so if you're in a points per reception league then he may not be a bad choice, but be warned that your RB depth is really questionable (as are most people's, so don't worry).

Joseph Randle is the primary back in Dallas, and Dallas' OL was top 3 last season so they may be good again.

In all honesty, I'm basing a lot of these on last season and I haven't looked at the teams they're playing. None of them are playing Denver so I have another few days to talk about the teams, but at the same time nobody knows shit about what happens this season. The first game also has a bunch of wonky and weird shit all the time, so in reality not even the most knowledgeable people of the NFL (and I am nowhere close to 1% as knowledgeable as the most knowledgeable guys) know what the hell's gonna happen over the next 5-6 weeks.)

The fans of teams in this thread so far as I know are

- Baltimore Ravens - me

- New England Patriots - chococoke, Assassin Tempest, sorta Alucard

- Detroit Lions - Alucard

- ShittsburghPittsburgh Steelers - Anacybele

- Jacksonville Jaguars (JAX lol) - Cynthia

- Green Bay Packers - bullwine

- St. Louis Rams/San Francisco 49ers - Phoenix Wright

- San Diego Chargers - Jiac/Summer/etc

- Cleveland Browns - Baltimore[/b]ClevelandSteve

- Arizona Cardinals - Jedi

(Let me know if I miss anyone)

So I guess they can answer specific player questions. None of those guys have been on my team but I know a fair bit about close to half of them. The rest of the thread can fill in the blanks.

Also, please ask questions. I feel like I might've said too much and not enough at the same time.

EDIT: and I know I'm wrong about a few of these, on the grounds that I didn't keep up with as many depth charts as I should've. My fantasy team probably won't do so hot either, if it's of any consolation, because of how out of it I've been with the NFL this offseason.

Edited September 9, 2015 by Lord Raven

[-Cynthia-]

I'd probably agree that while Robinson is the Jaguars best WR, he probably isn't going to put up great #s considering the Jags having offensive deficiencies in general. They're also playing the Panthers- not a great defense but not Swiss Cheese either. I guess I'd go with Decker, although the Browns defense isn't terrible either and the Jets have offensive issues too. They might be close enough to swap out based on opponent (the Jags play the Bucs, Falcons, and Saints who all had very poor defenses last year for instance).

Olsen was a good pickup IMO, he was basically tied for the number one pass catcher last year with Benjamin and Benjamin is out. The Panthers can't really run the ball and their WRs are considered pretty terrible so he's one of Cam's only targets.

[Jiac]

The fans of teams in this thread so far as I know are

- Baltimore Ravens - me

- New England Patriots - chococoke, Assassin Tempest, sorta Alucard

- Detroit Lions - Alucard

- ShitburghPittsburgh Steelers - Anacybele

- Jacksonville Jaguars (JAX lol) - Cynthia

- Green Bay Packers - bullwine

- St. Louis Rams/San Francisco 49ers - Phoenix Wright

(Let me know if I miss anyone)

- San Diego Chargers - Jiac/Summer/Vermilia/Whatever (bolded = more commonly known as)

[chococoke]

Woah LR, don't act like u know me son. I'm no Pats fan, I'm a fan of THE SHIELD.

Also I actually like Robinson this year. He's the top pass catcher on a team that will probably be trailing in many games (read: throwing the ball in garbage time) which can only help him improve his stats

[Anacybele]

Lord Raven, not very funny... Or maybe I should start putting "Ratbirds" or "Failtimore" in strikethrough? ;P And if you're going to insult my team and/or home town, do it properly, anyway. It's "Shittsburgh" with two T's. :P

But yeah, Raven's got it covered on who's a fan of what team in here. Oh, but he did miss Jedi, who's a Cardinals fan. He doesn't come in here a lot though. And ClevelandSteve, who cheers for the Browns. This thread has the whole AFC North covered except the Bengals. lol Oh yeah, I cheer for the Panthers too, you know!

Oh, so tomorrow is GAME DAY. My only huge concern here besides our missing offensive guys is Gronk. Ugh, Gronk. ._. Our defense was worst when it came to covering TEs, how will they ever slow down this guy?

Edited September 10, 2015 by Anacybele

[chococoke]

Welp, starting center Bryan Stork is now on IR/return due to his concussion. Soooo the Patriots interior O-line is once again in complete flux, and will be starting 2 rookies out of 3 spots. This may not be a big deal against a team with a relatively weak defense like Poopsburgh, but it's going to be a complete fucking mess against the Dolphins and just about every other AFC team.

Cock

Edited September 9, 2015 by chococoke

[-Cynthia-]

Yeah the Dolphins, Jets. and Bills were probably all top 10 in terms of pass rush last year and they all seem to have made improvements or at least stayed the same- other teams like the Ravens and Chiefs were strong here as well(also the Jaguars because I get to plug the Jaguars as being good at something for once).

[Anacybele]

Hey, I wouldn't count our front seven out just yet. Our secondary was bad, but if the front seven can play like they did vs the Colts, Ravens (in week 9), and Chiefs last season, Brady's going to have a hard time throwing to even Gronk. Remember, the Steelers' guys shut down Jamaal Charles. JAMAAL CHARLES. And no, it wasn't only because of James Harrison. In fact, wanna know who forced the only fumble in the Steelers vs Chiefs game? Stephon Tuitt, who was a rookie LB for the Steelers at the time.

Oh yeah, and we'll actually have a healthy front seven this time too, instead of an injured Ryan Shazier and Jarvis Jones.

This isn't saying I think our front seven will play this way for sure though. They weren't exactly really consistent last season... They gotta show up here though, with the offensive losses we've got.

EDIT: Oh yeah, these guys shut down Arian Foster too when they played the Texans. Heck, they even forced him to fumble and that guy didn't fumble much from what I heard!

Edited September 9, 2015 by Anacybele

[chococoke]

I guess the relatively weak I was referring to was more relative to the rest of the AFC; don't get me wrong, I could totally see the interior O-line imploding tomorrow night in spectacular fashion. Let's hope that isn't the case

[Anacybele]

Ah, okay. That makes more sense to me. Compared to the rest of the AFC, our defense as a whole probably isn't that spectacular.

[Lord Raven]

As shown by last season's Baltimore game, you can be up against the best pass rush (or close to the best) but if your secondary can't defend you'll get torched

:(

[chococoke]

I guess it's all really game dependent. If said pass rush is coming from either edge, a good QB can step up in the pocket to buy himself time. An interior pass rush is most devastating since the QB sees big ma fuckas in his face and also cannot merely step up in the pocket to avoid them.

Unrelated note, your sig has been asking me to add you on FB for a while now so... I did

[Lord Raven]

Well we had pressure coming from all sides, still couldn't defend on the outside worth a damn

[Team Alucard]

Lol. Didn't the Pats have like 5 rushing yards total against the Ravens? Brady was ridiculous that game.

[Lord Raven]

yes

they ran it like once in the second half unless you count brady's kneeldowns, especially since they fumbled twice and recovered it.

if you told me that Baltimore and New England would have a shootout like two years ago I'd laugh at you

[chococoke]

That was easily one of Brady's best games, would've been one of his greatest ever if it weren't for an absolutely terrible pick he threw in the first half. Still, that frozen rope he threw to LaFell for the go-ahead score was actually my favorite play from last year's playoffs (well, we'll call it 1a...)

EDIT: Aren't Pats-Ravens games generally pretty high scoring? I mean, the Cundiff AFC Championship was like 24-21 but every other game I can remember had at least one team scoring 30+ (and the Pats getting shit on)

Edited September 10, 2015 by chococoke

[Lord Raven]

In the harbaugh era it tends to be around 40-45 total points scored which is typical for any other nfl game. This is the only one that was a proper shootout, especially since both QBs combined for something like 600 yards and 90 pass attempts, and a total of 66 points between both teams.

Edited September 10, 2015 by Lord Raven

[Anacybele]

As shown by last season's Baltimore game, you can be up against the best pass rush (or close to the best) but if your secondary can't defend you'll get torched

:(

Your Ravens gave up a freaking 14 point lead though, and lost. I don't see the Steelers getting into that situation with the offense they've got unless the consistency issues they had come back and that really shouldn't be happening. Besides, the one time they DID give up that big of a lead last season, they still won. lol

[Lord Raven]

We gave up two 14 point leads. We also scored 31 points - 28 through the air - against the best pass defense in the nfl last season.

Granted, McCourty is a great FS and their CB depth has been shot, but it's not like our offense was ever deficient. Owen Daniels doesn't drop that pass in the endzone and we may have seen a 38-35 game in the Ravens' favor or an overtime game, and our offense was in New England territory when Flacco threw the last pick - which was more Torrey Smith's fault than Flacco's.

I'm pretty sure our offense outplayed their offense, given that we had some 100-150 rushing yards and 300 passing yards on top of 31 points scored. Let's not pretend that our offense blew that game.

Edited September 10, 2015 by Lord Raven

[Anacybele]

Wow, that's crazy, I've definitely never seen any team give up TWO big leads in one game. And yeah, crucial dropped passes just suck...

The Steelers offense also scored a rushing TD against the defense that had only allowed two of those at all the whole season (the Chiefs). Courtesy of Le'Veon Bell.

Rookie Kelvin Benjamin beat two of the best CBs in the NFL...at the SAME TIME. He caught a bomb from Cam Newton with Richard Sherman and Cam Chancellor (I think it was them. I know Sherman was one of them) all over him. Even the best will have moments where they're beat. :P Somehow though, Panthers vs Seahawks games are always close.

Edited September 10, 2015 by Anacybele

[chococoke]

Wow, so with Ryan Wendell sitting tonight the Patriots might run out 3 rookies at all interior O-line spots. This should be exciting

[Anacybele]

Oh wow, didn't expect that. o.O

But still, game time! I've got my Antonio Brown jersey (bought one while I was in Pittsburgh for my brother's funeral) and my ponytail holder, so I'm set! GO STEELERS!!

Edited September 11, 2015 by Anacybele

[chococoke]

This game is a shit show. Todd Haley and Josh Scobee ftw