site banner
PaperclipPerfector  13d ago (text post)   2139 thread views

Friday Fun Thread for September 6, 2024

Be advised: this thread is not for serious in-depth discussion of weighty topics (we have a link for that), this thread is not for anything Culture War related. This thread is for Fun. You got jokes? Share 'em. You got silly questions? Ask 'em.

2
Top Bottom Old Controversial Comments
Jump in the discussion.

No email address required.

Last season they were the best team in the sport for half a season and the worst team in the sport for half a season.

Nitpick here - none of the advanced metrics liked them even with the strong W-L record. They kept showing up at like 10th in DVOA and Aaron Schatz had to keep explaining that they're just not all that good on a play-to-play basis. As a massive Bills homer, I will also note that they needed absolutely absurd officiating to fluke their way to that win. I'm not an unbiased source and remain very salty :-|

On the topic of my beloved Bills, they're pretty clearly talent depleted due to a combination of some bad injury luck and poor contract choices. After Josh Allen, the next three biggest cap hits this year are Stefon Diggs (no longer on the team), Matt Milano (torn bicep, out till December), and Von Miller (old, injured, washed). You're just not going to have a talented and deep roster when you screw up like that. Even so, I'm excited to watch the young offensive core - James Cook, Dalton Kincaid, Khalil Shakir, and Keon Coleman are all at least enticing players with upside. Curtis Samuel is probably going to be useful in a limited role. Some of the defensive losses are overblown in the media (Poyer and Hyde were old and didn't look great last year, Tre White only played 3 games anyway), but there are enough talent gaps to have real concerns about them staying above water. I did bet them to win the AFC East because I think the Jets hype is just plain stupid and I ultimately trust the McDermott/Allen alliance much more than any other team in the division. Realistically though, they're not going to be on the same level as the teams we watched last night.

I was at that Bills Eagles game. I picked it to see Allen play. The Eagles kept coming up with one desperate play when they needed it. After on SEPTA heading home a bills fan told me he just wanted the bills to WIN the game of the year for once. After that one every power ranking i followed had the Eagles at one, and it was all downhill from there.

I want to see Josh Allen win a super bowl so bad. Maybe more than I want to see the Eagles win another.

I was at that Bills Eagles game.

Oh man, that's pretty cool. Wild game to be at. I was visiting my family back home, in a bar with quite a few people that shared my displeasure!

But anyway - my inclination is to think the Eagles arrow tilts back up this year. I'm unclear why the Matt Patricia experience happened to yet another team, but simply moving forward with actual competent coordinators should be a tremendous difference. If I was going to be pessimistic, it would largely about Kelce, because I'm a long-time center enthusiast. Usually the huge problems there are from mid-season changes though, so I'll be surprised if there's actually a disaster. You're absolutely right that there needs to be some sort of consistent answer to blitzes, but I tend to think they'll sort out some sort of plausible counter.

Update: Eagles are going 0-17.

Least emotionally-unstable Birds fan.

Update: never mind, Jalen Hurts is bad at football

Listen the worst part about modern rechargeable electronics is the lack of batteries to throw.

That game was so rainy. My wife is hoping she'll finally go to a dry game this year.

What is this place?

This website is a place for people who want to move past shady thinking and test their ideas in a court of people who don't all share the same biases. Our goal is to optimize for light, not heat; this is a group effort, and all commentators are asked to do their part.

The weekly Culture War threads host the most controversial topics and are the most visible aspect of The Motte. However, many other topics are appropriate here. We encourage people to post anything related to science, politics, or philosophy; if in doubt, post!

Check out The Vault for an archive of old quality posts. You are encouraged to crosspost these elsewhere.


Why are you called The Motte?

A motte is a stone keep on a raised earthwork common in early medieval fortifications. More pertinently, it's an element in a rhetorical move called a "Motte-and-Bailey", originally identified by philosopher Nicholas Shackel. It describes the tendency in discourse for people to move from a controversial but high value claim to a defensible but less exciting one upon any resistance to the former. He likens this to the medieval fortification, where a desirable land (the bailey) is abandoned when in danger for the more easily defended motte. In Shackel's words, "The Motte represents the defensible but undesired propositions to which one retreats when hard pressed."

On The Motte, always attempt to remain inside your defensible territory, even if you are not being pressed.


New post guidelines

If you're posting something that isn't related to the culture war, we encourage you to post a thread for it. A submission statement is highly appreciated, but isn't necessary for text posts or links to largely-text posts such as blogs or news articles; if we're unsure of the value of your post, we might remove it until you add a submission statement. A submission statement is required for non-text sources (videos, podcasts, images).

Culture war posts go in the culture war thread; all links must either include a submission statement or significant commentary. Bare links without those will be removed.

If in doubt, please post it!


Rules


Recommended Posts And Communities

Recommended Realtime Chats