Deja Vu

[SWC75]

I've always liked the broncos since Floyd Little was their star. So I tune into tonight's game and they are leading 23-13. Patrick Mahones has been held in check but now he starts making miracle plays, first down throws as he's being tackled, especially to that big tight end, Kelsey. The drive down and score. The Bronco's offense can't move the ball and they punt. Mahones again drives his team to a touchdown and they take the lead. Unlike our game, the broncos are able to move down the field in the final minute. Keenum air-mails a shot down the sideline to a wide-open receiver and then a Chiefs linebacker blows up a hook and lateral play and the broncos lose by the same score we did: 23-27.

Enough of this, please.

 

[Townie72]

That game last night was similar to Saturday's in the way it played out.

But that's not an uncommon script on football. When you have to resort to flea flickers, you are pretty much on the ropes.

We've been conditioned to expect miracle comebacks after watching Aaron Rodgers and Tom Brady do it repeatedly. But Eric Dungey is not Joe Flacco (at least not yet.)

Now when it doesn't happen, we are almost surprised by it. It's just one of the reasons my lifelong, 50+ year love affair with the NFL has cooled. It's the predictability of the games. When New England is behind by 1 and gets the ball at their own 35 with under two minutes to play, I KNOW what is going to happen. There's no suspense except maybe how Brady is going to do it this time.

 

[orangecuse]

I've always liked the broncos since Floyd Little was their star. So I tune into tonight's game and they are leading 23-13. Patrick Mahones has been held in check but now he starts making miracle plays, first down throws as he's being tackled, especially to that big tight end, Kelsey. The drive down and score. The Bronco's offense can't move the ball and they punt. Mahones again drives his team to a touchdown and they take the lead. Unlike our game, the broncos are able to move down the field in the final minute. Keenum air-mails a shot down the sideline to a wide-open receiver and then a Chiefs linebacker blows up a hook and lateral play and the broncos lose by the same score we did: 23-27.

Enough of this, please.

As a lifer Browns fan, I thought your title may refer to how Browns fans continue to endure new ways of losing games they had/should've won. People here thought the officiating was bad in the Clemson game, well, the officiating in Browns game made those refs in the Clemson game look frigging stupendous.

 

[dollarbill44]

The NFL has kind of morphed into a version of the NBA, where all you need to do is watch the 4th quarter. Games change so dramatically in the 4th quarter, it seems. Teams with the lead become suddenly conservative and inept on offense and the trailing team seems to be able to move the ball at will in very little time. I don't recall defenses giving up such huge chunks on passing plays at the end of games when defenses were simpler (15+ years ago). Take Denver's final possession last night where they had no timeouts. They cruised downfield and had a fair amount of time to score at the end if not for some inopportune ineptitude (say that 10 times).
Or, take the Cleveland @ New Orleans game in week 2 where neither team could do anything until the final 5 minutes of the game when both teams decided they were going to get into a track meet and put up 2/3 scores each.
These types of games are becoming the norm instead of the exception.
Maybe the complexity of defense has led to more confusion and errors in coverages? Maybe there is so much more athletic ability at every position on offense that defenses can't contain everyone? I don't know, but the game has definitely changed a lot since I fell in love with it (late 70s) and I'm not sure how I feel about it.

 

[Cusefan0307]

Teams play too soft of coverage at the end of games. Look at the 4th and 17 the Titans converted against Philly the other day. Why play 20 yards off in coverage while rushing 3 guys. The QB can sit there all day and survey the field.

 

[texascpa]

I've always liked the broncos since Floyd Little was their star. So I tune into tonight's game and they are leading 23-13. Patrick Mahones has been held in check but now he starts making miracle plays, first down throws as he's being tackled, especially to that big tight end, Kelsey. The drive down and score. The Bronco's offense can't move the ball and they punt. Mahones again drives his team to a touchdown and they take the lead. Unlike our game, the broncos are able to move down the field in the final minute. Keenum air-mails a shot down the sideline to a wide-open receiver and then a Chiefs linebacker blows up a hook and lateral play and the broncos lose by the same score we did: 23-27.

Enough of this, please.

Yep, my two favorite teams lost by the exact same score with similar end-game results to two of their biggest adversaries. It wasn't a good extended weekend for me football-wise.

 

[ForCuseSake]

That game last night was similar to Saturday's in the way it played out.

But that's not an uncommon script on football. When you have to resort to flea flickers, you are pretty much on the ropes.

We've been conditioned to expect miracle comebacks after watching Aaron Rodgers and Tom Brady do it repeatedly. But Eric Dungey is not Joe Flacco (at least not yet.)

Now when it doesn't happen, we are almost surprised by it. It's just one of the reasons my lifelong, 50+ year love affair with the NFL has cooled. It's the predictability of the games. When New England is behind by 1 and gets the ball at their own 35 with under two minutes to play, I KNOW what is going to happen. There's no suspense except maybe how Brady is going to do it this time.

While I don't have a 50+ year tenure watching NFL (I'm in my early 40s) I've experienced the same diminished excitement in the last 5 years of NFL viewing. Mine is one part predictability, as you describe above, and two parts stoppages (primarily rampant replay reviews and penalty flags).

The NFL tries too hard to legislate behavior on the field to the point it's become a boring set of referee interpretations, video replays with a handful of elite QBs.

I applaud their effort to increase player safety but at some point you have to just call it what it is - an extremely violent game played by massive humans who frequently get injured.

 

[Townie72]

While I don't have a 50+ year tenure watching NFL (I'm in my early 40s) I've experienced the same diminished excitement in the last 5 years of NFL viewing. Mine is one part predictability, as you describe above, and two parts stoppages (primarily rampant replay reviews and penalty flags).

The NFL tries too hard to legislate behavior on the field to the point it's become a boring set of referee interpretations, video replays with a handful of elite QBs.

I applaud their effort to increase player safety but at some point you have to just call it what it is - an extremely violent game played by massive humans who frequently get injured.

I spent a lot of time in Ireland this summer and watched many Hurling and Gaelic football games. There are no time outs and a running clock in these games, as in soccer. But, as opposed to soccer, there is plenty of scoring. It was a completely refreshing experience.

These NFL games take three or three and a half hours to play. But the game time is still 60 minutes. That means you are watching 2 1/2 hours of commercials and blather. It's becoming painful to me. I thought as you got older you developed more patience, not less.

 

[OrangeFoo]

My main takeaway from last night is that Mahomes is a super star in the making... athletic, accurate, and a cannon for an arm. I think we have found Aaron Rodgers successor. And I think we have the next Brady/Brees in Baker Mayfield.

Trying to think of historical comps for Josh Allen (Elway?) and Darnold (Marino maybe?). Not saying any of these dudes are anywhere as good as their historical comps, but I think Darnold and Mayfield could get there... Allen and Darnold are a long long long long way away and most probably will never get anywhere near the level of Elway or Marino.