the Lions fan

Buck is the worst, if he didn't harmony well with Aikman he'd stick to baseball. He really drags Aikman down, he's not the best but I like him. He loves the game and it shows. Forgive me I'm a little drunk and wholly unwilling to google it but Johnston, Johnson? Emmits FB. He's my personal favorite, he tends to have the most insightful commentary. And also loves the game.

I voted other, accidentally. Drunk. Has to be Arians. Maintained and improved defense, did most with what he had. I'm excited about AZ.

I like Lacy, don't like it but he's a good back. Biggest difference maker.

Rapevan, seriously. Came across an old DHL delivery van and what was meant to be a cheap between vehicles vehicle, grew on me. Tons of room. I took out the horrible prior seating and installed a loveseat over the wheel wells. More seating and room. So much you can customize with a vans interior.

Dying on Mars is arguably a greater achievement than an average lifes work. I am not suprised people want to go. First dead people on Mars. Imagine it.

PBR for me.

They have a tough schedule, they don't match up well against the AFC South teams, and IMO couldn't be worse hosting the 2 titans while playing the Jags and Titans away. 4 wins... how's 5 sound? I actually have them at 5 wins in my imaginary season. Though they deserve 7. Check out their schedule, the 2 vs, OAK split w/KC, JAX and I figured they'd beat TEN or DAL but not both for other reasons, those are their wins in my imaginary season. The rest are very losable, HOU, PHIs home opener, they might have IND as they play them between SEA and DEN and could catch them unprepared/whatever. But I feel like SD doesn't have any signifigant edges that being caught offguard would penalize anyways... onto WSH at home, after your bye, he's not Norv but its still a tough trip after a bye. I suppose you could make a case against DEN late. But they'd have to be so far ahead with 3 games left. I think the AFC will be competetive enough with 3 powerhouses and 1 HFA. MIA is winnable, can't argue that, but CIN and NYG late in the year are tough. Your schedule is signifigantly more difficult this year than last. But who knows.

I'm going to be honest and say I have no idea what that response means. This is all the reply you get, if it warranted one. Crunchtime stats should be more than come from behind 4th quarter stuff. How are the first few drives not crunchtime? Or coming from behind in the 3rd quarter?

Part of the success comes because it tests the boundaries of the NFLs favorable QB rules. More often than on standard pitches the defense questions if they can hit the QB and not get flagged for it, especially if the QB is gifted with pumps, fakes, etc. And why shouldn't they, they occasionally get called for it. Rules will need to be changed or 'more clearly defined' to make this article right. I love testing boundaries when it comes to play calling. The rules overwhelmingly protect the QB position in the NFL so the more you can abuse that the better. Even if it is just to psuedoshield the RB from direction of pressure, which I feel is also an ignored element.

OAK doesn't have one player on espns new top 200 players... odds wise alone they should have 6.2.

Kuechly for the win. Wow.

What a run though. I've always had the utmost respect for the man. In my eyes he is a hall of famer for consistently high play, despite the play around him at times.

Those 4? I like Johnson, but you could make a case for Fluker and I've seen lots of film, but more on Johnson. He's faced tougher competition and is in the same boat performance wise. Flukers been good but even if he's great that won't fix their OL. Not even close. Hopefully they continue to address it. If your being objective, Longs the best of the bunch thus far. Look up some video, he attacks, should be a center IMO. Anyways, he wins the most impressive 2.2 weeks into the preseason for a rookie OL award this year. Sorry for 2x post, trouble copying and pasting on phone.

The Chiefs and Broncos have taken better steps forward in recent years. I like SD I do I grew up in the bay area and tend to side with CAL teams from a little homerism. But I look at this team and I see a shoddy OL, no depth, question marks everywhere, if this guy, if that guy, if we stay healthy, if Rivers rebounds, most teams face these questions, SD is in trouble, no answers. No pass rush, one dimensional offense, shoddy OL play, poor pass defense, poor special teams play and the ground game is an issue. In my eyes SD has tipped to being a middle of the pack team and it will begin/has been showing. Expectations are the only thing they've got going. Sorry Bolts fans, hope I'm wrong ill eat my words if I am. Literally.

Aarons per play stats justify the comeback desparity. He's already performing well that stat confuses me. Edit, figure I should add I understand it signifies a drop in per play production in comeback scenarios. Maybe they should separate comeback wins vs comeback losses. Idk. The stat confuses me because it should include all ends of games, not comeback scenarios favoring Elis and Andrews when we know this to also be one of those stats that fluxuates towards league average, year to year. Not that good QBs don't get comebacks, but if were saying you have to be down for it to be crunchtime. That's already a stat, playing from behind, if you're going to include a time scenario, record that as well so you have more control over your variables dog.

Felix Jones to the rescue.

QBs running with the ball will get tackled? This will revolutionize the sport. Running the ball regardless of position comes with an inherent increased injury factor. Run with QB more, QB gets injured more. There's a reason the option is catching on in the NFL and there's a reason strong pass rushes help you win games. The two obviously don't cancel eachother out. A year of preparation didn't kill the Wildcat, its strive for ingenuity led to this. Also, Madden didn't say football once. Anybody else find that disturbing?

Tom Brady had 9 possessions, 3 points, NE had 4 TOs all with 1st team offense. I know its preseason but it was a good night to be a lions fan. DL, Ziggy and Jones impressed in particular. And yes Kuechly, Star, CARs front 7 all looked nasty. Especially Kuechly.

My full season review has SEA beating NE in the superbowl. And DET 8-8... I'm hard on us. Edit to include 9-7 Colts, missing the playoffs to the AFC North (3 teams got in) It was a real shitty nailbiter WC loss to PIT in my guess season. Felt they deserved a mention in their topic.

Their point totals suggested a 7-9 record. Teams that overachieve in this statistic ALWAYS regress. No team that was +4 has ever improved or equaled their prior record. Pair that with a tougher schedule and I see them going 9-7. I'm optimistic but statistically (6/6x for +4 teams) they'll regress 2 wins and have a per point (offensive and defensive ppg scaled for the individual seasons) record closer to that of a 9-7 team as well. Bright future though, guys like Nevis and Hilton (ok, Fleener too if he can stay healthy) are very pivotal pieces to have. A solid all technique DL who IMO is primed for a break out year. And we all know the importance of field stretching TEs who can play slot and slot recievers that can do it all... I'm rambling, 9-7... leaning towards 8-8 over double digits.

Those fines are tax deductible because they go to charitys. They are slaps on the wrist, players technically don't actually have any of that money removed. No player outside of a few tax exempt scenarios has ever been fined a greater amount than his salary or bonus taxes wouldn't have covered since most professional sports began this practice in the late 70s anyways. Basically if I make 10 I pay 6, if you fine me 1 and it comes out of my 6 I don't lose anything. Especially considering this is a known hazard in their sports, most teams initially foot the bill and then get it from the player/coach. Bet you wish your job did that. ... I agree, the hit was clean. And he's a rookie, he didn't have trouble shedding blocks in college, he can learn.

Its not often the same ball. But never the less that ball needs to be removed or else someone could exploit the situation. Football does use multiple footballs, I used to know the exact number. My brains telling me 20 but I don't think its right, google it.

AZ, TB and CLE made huge strides in correcting long term problematic areas and are definitely capable of playoff caliber win totals, but TB has the most realistic chance of winning its division. They are built for beating the NFC South and have on paper turned their biggest weakness into a strength. AZ and yes CLE could suprise people but those divisions are already providing 5-6 playoff teams. That's ridiculous to consider but SF, SEA, CIN, PIT and BAL are all playoff-bound, arguably moreso than IND (statistically a 7-9 team, teams who's record is higher than their point totals indicate usually regress) SD or KC (DEN gets this right? Will they have higher win totals than AFC N compadres?) And MIA has a lot to prove and isn't doing it yet. Lots of hype, but we've seen this before. They may achieve success soon, not this year though. Hope I'm not forgetting anyone. But my dark horse is DET. Remember 2011 Lions? Scoring at will. Winning if they had the last possession. Making the playoffs then having an injury plagued rebound year (that officiating in NO was terrible, apparently TOs were illegal that game). We are not that far removed and arguably improved in every area except maybe LBs. Hope we stay healthy and shock the world again.

Recently I read an article pointing out what we already know, the offensive line is pivotal and throughout 16 games you're likely to hurt 2-3 of them. And recent successful teams have more than one capable back-up or have avoided injury. How many teams would be comfortable or remain competitive if they lost 3 OL? How many are 8-deep? So I thought about it, and came up with a potential 4, and they have either injury prone players or have been lucky and relatively untested in that area. Those teams are SF, BAL (coincidence???), MIN and PHI. TEN, SEA and CAR close with the 8-deep in mind. What's interesting to me is that about half have what you would call dominant OLs, but PHI and TEN are untested. KC, HOU, CLE and NE came to mind but I lack the insight to conclude anything... so don't be offended id I left them out, make a case instead. Now we know who I truly excluded. Anyways, your thoughts? Mine are maybe this number is too low, I think back 10 and 20 years and there does seem to be a trend developing... does this predict success for TEN and PHI? Maybe just an improvement, but both are bound to improve anyways...

Don't worry Ranga. It'll happen. Except it'll probably be under, outside or deep. I've seen their camp in person, I reside in AZ. He has all the tools. He's big, fast, strong and smart. He has been outrunning, muscling and jumping Fitz in practice and been equally as impressive on offense and special teams. The NFL will see lots of him this year. He's the twinkle in Arians eye, that's for sure. Edit - he's got 20 lbs on Deion, he might be capable where Deion wasn't, he can hit (no home run puns) and take a hit. While looking like a psuedo-Deion/Harvin type.