2022 NFL season - Regular Season Thread - Picks etc.

Loads of people have gotten 100% of a round right in the playoff rounds (not you though), just never in regular season.

3 - 1 which brings me to 182 - 100 overall

You could tell from the kick-off that the Bengals wanted it more against the Bills who went out with a whimper after showing so much promise this year....

Cincinnati v 49ers SuperBowl for me.

I don't think KC's defence can stop the Bengals, and while Mahomes is superhuman, Burrow will give him too much work to do. Mahomes deserves another SuperBowl for his genius, but he'll be let down by his D.

the 49ers are a nailed on SuperBowl team bar the QB position - even though Purty has made them better than Jimmy G had them. there's nothing that they don't do well. and Shanahan is the best play caller in the business.

Josh Allen, even though his O-line was poor enough yesterday, continues to show why he's not really *that guy* yet. He has monster potential, and does things nobody else can, but he simply makes too many bad choices in big moments. he needs to iron that out, because he will get left behind by Mahomes and Burrow consistently if he doesn't.

I don't think they're as good as the 49ers. Their record is ever so slightly misleading I think.

they gave up a ton of points to Mahomes, and Hurts ain't Mahomes.

it'll be close. i just personally think the 49ers are slightly more rounded, and the Philly team are being overblown a smidge.

i could be embarrassingly wrong though, but that's my gut. i honestly have no dog in the fight.

30 plus points. they put up over 260 yards on the ground against the giants who a week before held cook to 60 yards. i think there oline are the best in the business and its in philly and say you hold them to 130 yards on the ground, they still have smyth and aj brown on the perimeter and the 49ers corners are giving after giving up 100 yards games to Adams, Metcalf and lamb.

Yeah, for the most part Giants have pretty poor personnel on both sides of the ball - Daboll and his team did coaching miracles to get them as far as they did.

They're night and day from what the Eagles will be facing with the 49ers. For example, Hurts likes to target short to intermediate and he'll be going from facing one of the worst LB group in the NFL with the Giants to the best with SF.

There is an argument to be made that the Eagles haven't played a good team from outside their division all year so it is hard to gauge them. Sometimes those teams continue to steamroll the opposition even when there is a step up in quality while others get punched in the mouth for first time and don't know what to do and get bullied.

49ers got that punch to the face yesterday and found a way to win despite playing far from their best and Shanahan struggling with what Quinn was scheming. That will stand to them more than if they had another easy game, presuming none of the knocks end up being too serious.

A reason why Dak was slow was due to what the 49ers were doing on defense. Ryans went away from a lot of the tendencies they had in the regular season. They were pressuring him mentally in the secondary while him also knowing their DL was always a threat.

Agree on coverage and I'll add that at times it isn't even just the rush and coverage on a given play, it is about the defense changing what the QB expects and then makes them second guess themselves and having players who can then take advantage of it. That's a big part of the difference between Dak's performance against the Bucs and the 49ers, with the Bucs it looked like Dak had the call of the defense for most snaps. Dak wasn't seeing stuff like the below against the Bucs:

With Purdy, if it was any other poster I'd be surprised by the level of obvious inconsistency of opinion. Normally they champion QB efficiency, game management, protecting the ball, and doing whatever is needed to win even, if it isn't pretty, but not in this case. I don't see anyone claiming Purdy had an amazing game, he did however play well enough to win and once again as a rookie faced a new challenge and passed it. He should learn from the experience and though the Eagles overall probably have a better DL, they don't have a freak like Parsons who likely made the 49ers play more safe. Against the Cowboys the 49ers asked and got what they needed from Purdy, against the Eagles they'll probably need and ask him to do more.

On the 49ers strength of schedule, yes they didn't face a tough one either. I'd argue tougher than anything the Eagles faced were the red hot 8-4 Dolphins prior to Tua going out injured and the Cowboys in the play-offs, who were looking for revenge and likely having analysed every bit of their playoff loss.

Even if there is disagreement there, the strength of schedule discussion also goes back into last season. I can't see one win by the Eagles against a very good team, whereas the vast majority of this same 49ers group came up against and won against the Super Bowl champions Rams twice (narrowly losing the 3rd), the Super Bowl finalist Bengals, and also both the 12 win Cowboys and 13 win Packers on the road in the playoffs.

I fully accept the Eagles have improved a lot more since last year but I can't see any evidence that they are battle tested as a group anywhere close to the 49ers.