The Weird, Wacky and Awesome World of the NFL - General Banter thread V3

If McDaniels goes back to the Pats - or any other team - they can pay him the league minimum (which they would) and the Raiders are still on the hook for the difference.

The Broncos weren't a 'disastrous franchise' when McDisaster got the job. They had a strong roster with a good QB, good receivers and TEs and strong OL a decent DL, good LBs and a star CB in Champ Bailey.

Mike Shanahan was sacked because Pat Bowlen was suffering from dementia and had given de-facto control of the team of Joe Ellis. Ellis hated Shanahan and his first act was to sack him - which he did during a period when Bowlen was very ill.

What did McDaniels do - he gutted a good roster and brought in a bunch of yes men - including dumping Jay Cutler (a perfect QB for Shanahan's WCO - even if he was an a**hole) and replacing him with Kyle Orton (after first attempting to trade Cutler for that franchise QB Matt Cassell - and he ended up working for another Patriot Way guy in KC - Scott Pioli, who was another disaster). He dumped Brandon Marshall, sent Payton Hillis to the Browns because he thought his wife fancied Hillis, and within weeks had alienated the entire roster apart from his yes-men. Indeed the one move that kicked everything off was his decision to kick out LS Mick Leach, one of the best in the business and a team captain who everyone at Dove Valley respected and replace him with another Pats yes-man, Lonie Paxton. He also dumped Bret Kern as punter, who went on to have a pro-bowl career and brought in a guy who bounced around a dozen teams before Denver (mostly on the practice squad) and never played again after Denver. He behaved like a spoilt child, having temper tantrums on the sideline and constantly throwing his toys out of the pram when he anyone dared to ask a question.

And let's not forget that he also followed that other Patriot trait of cheating - or the fact that this idiot spent a first round draft pick on Tim Tebow.

McDaniels was finally sacked - not by Ellis - but by Pat Bowlen when he was going through a lucid period - after a massive blow-up with Champ Bailey and DJ Williams on the practice field when the two team captains challenged him about the fact that the players were fed up of the nonsense he was making them do during practice.

It took years for the Broncos to clean up the mess from McDaniels.

The Raiders should have known better - because McDisaster cannot be anything other than a disaster and cannot change - he is still a spoilt little brat who throws temper tantrums when anyone dares question him.

But you do have to love the way Antonio Pierce shafted McDaniels at that team meeting when McDisaster thought that Pierce would defend him - payback is a b*tch when you alienate everyone around you.

I'm not here to defend McDaniels coaching.

I mentioned how you have a nickname for him but not for any of the other crap coaches that you've had.

It's just funny how you rave about the roster he had when he came in, a roster that did nothing for the two years before McDaniels got there. In fact I remember when McDaniels got the job that everybody in the media said that a big clear out was needed in Denver and not only suggesting bad players but a bad locker room.

As for your cheating comments, have you forgotten about salary cap gate, slimegate and the big one Pedsgate?

Nothing that happened in Denver had anything to do with the Patriots, you were a franchise full of cheating for years before he got there and after he left.

There is a nickname for McDaniels because the guy is not just incompetent - he is an arrogant petulant child who treats other adults with contempt.

Since I became a Broncos fan the team has been fortunate to have good coaches - Dan Reeves, Mike Shanahan, John Fox, Gary Kubiak and now potentially Sean Payton. There was a hiccup with Wade Phillips before the McDisaster - but it has been since 2016 that the wheels came off, almost exclusively thanks to Ellis.

It is rubbish to say that a big clearout was needed - the only people touting that scenario were the McDisaster mouthpieces (the same people who were denigrating Derek Carr and others last season). You suggest that the Broncos 'did nothing' for the two years prior to McDisaster - but you are clearly not aware that the Broncos community were going through a difficult time after the shooting of Darrent Williams, who died in the arms of teammate Javon Walker, and the subsequent death of Damien Nash during a basketball game. These deaths, particularly that of Williams, had a deep impact on the Broncos team that took a long time to get over the tragedies.

Your attempt to try and smear the Broncos is pathetic -

1. salary cap - the Broncos got zero salary cap benefit from the decision by John Elway and Terrell Davis to defer some of their salary. Unlike Kraft who is a billionaire - Pat Bowlen had no other outside financial interests than the Broncos. At the time the Broncos were building a new stadium and had cashflow issues. Bowlen asked Elway and Davis to defer some of their salary to when cash flow improved. It has zero impact on the cap which was based on the players actual contracts - indeed they would have significantly benefited the Broncos in cap terms if they had made it official. This was nothing more than sour grapes from Al Davis.
2. So called slimegate - every single OL and DL player has, and most still do, use silicone spray on their jerseys. Every receiver uses additives to make it easier to catch the ball and every RB uses similar to keep hold of the ball. This has been going on for ages and will continue as long as the NFL continues. Furthermore, the NFL does allow the use of vaseline in certain conditions, namely extreme cold, and that game was in the top ten coldest games in Broncos history.
3. Pedsgate is a joke - players get suspended for PEDs all the time. Here is the difference - Invariably after getting suspended for PEDs the Broncos released the player involved - DJ Williams, Ryan McBean, Orson Mobley, Matt Prater, Carlos Henderson, Dale Carter, Lee Flowers, Todd Sauerbrun, - all gone. The only two prominent Broncos to escape the chop were Virgil Green and Derek Wolfe, both of whom took medication before they received sanction from the NFL to take the medicine. Several Patriots players have also been suspended for PEDs - the difference is that BB has no problem welcoming cheats back with open arms (including signing Todd Sauerbrun after he was cut by the Broncos).

Now - the Broncos did engage in outright cheating in 2010 when they secretly filmed a 49ers walk-through practice - during McDisaster's tenure and carried out by another ex-Pats yes-man that McDaniels brought with him. The cameraman was sacked on the spot and McDisaster was sacked within a week.

You say 'Nothing to do with the Patriots' - McDaniels learned from the master of the Patriot Way. The Patriots have their own PEDsgate - Spygate - cheating with the IR list - Snowploughgate - IR gate a second time - Deflategate - BB is the master at cheating in the NFL and teaches all his underlings in the Patriot Way.

There you go defending all the big gates that the Broncos had but then you go and say that spygate was serious when many coaches came out and said that everybody did it. Deflategate is the biggest joke of all time with science proving the balls would deflate that much in one half of football in that weather. Nobody has ever disputed the scientific findings.

So you are a complete joke, a hypocrite.

And IR gate was nothing. One disgruntled ex-player saying they put him on IR without an injury. They credited Aqib Taking with backing it up but he said they put him down with a hip injury when it was a quad injury which finished his season. He was genuinely injured.

6 starting QBs out for the season now, I can't remember that before.

Shaq Leonard released by the Colts is a big surprise to someone like me who hasn't followed them all that closely.

But Colts fans appear to be united in the opinion that his back injury has resulted in him going from being one of the best LBs in the league, to one of the slowest and underperforming on their team.

A real shame.

Anyone watch American Underdog? I just finished it, loved it but I've a big soft spot for football movies and I'm a big fan of Kurt Warner.

Anyone know of a legal way to stream the Superbowl in 4K from Ireland? I don't think NowTV offer 4K

Have you tried the new Virgin Media player yet to see how it looks? VM2 will have the ITV coverage I think, based on past live games.

Stupid question but will the broadcast be 4k?

Gamepass would be your best bet I'd imagine

Here is full hall of fame class for 2024. Five modern day and two senior members

Antonio gates not getting in is the only issue I’d have.

It's a weak sauce case for him being MVP historically, not to mention against peers this season. It was Brady's worst season by outcome, given the Bucs finished 8-9. The fact that Jackson got 49 votes is absolutely absurd.

I originally wrote a post pushing back against this but you're right. The problem is the whole thing is just a debate over who was the best QB. I've never understood why they call it mvp instead of player of the year or something. Mvp more or less always has to be a QB by definition. But the best player of the year could be in any position. As if quarterbacks don't get enough attention as it is.

I'd agree, either have more specific awards for QBs (the Brady or Manning award?) or recognize that the concept of most valuable doesn't equate to best.

It has become the award for which QB is on a winning team, that's playing well in the last quarter of the season. Like in 2021, when Rodgers won it over Brady, despite have significantly less yards and tds, and Brady having to make way more throw. Rodgers got crushed by the Saints early in the season, while Brady had a stinker late on. Purdy and Allen were both better than Jackson this year imo, and CMC was better than everyone.

I used to love Myles Dungan, he did the NFL highlights show on RTE. He did other sports as well and was excellent.

Reuters and other news outlets have gone with similar $20B+ figures.

'Records will be set': Americans bet big on Super Bowl 58 | Reuters

It may be partly the way figures are calculated, especially in the era of betting exchanges.

Like lets say you put $1 on Pacheco to be MVP at 10/1, I put $1 on Purdy at 2/1 and the poster above us Eagle Eye puts $1 on RunCMC at 5/1.

If we do it in a bookies, then I think most people would agree that a total of $3 has been bet.

But on an exchange it would consider that (1+10) + (1+2) + (1+5) = $19 has been 'matched', and that would be their headline figure for bets struck.

Oh and Armani, I just went through all the season awards and saw that Flacco got comeback player of year.

Hoping it's better than the Man in the Arena