I know there are some other sports fans on here, and I thought a discussion thread might be fun, and Monday is the natural day coming after the weekend football (both varieties) games and without a side thread scheduled. What's going on with your favorite teams/players/etc? What fun media controversies in the microcosm of sports can tell us something about the broader world? What culture war bullshit do you want to discuss in a sporting context?
FiveHourMarathon Listen to Pierre
2yr ago
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MONDAY MORNING MOTTErBack SPORTS THREAD
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Notes -
So I was 100% wrong on virtually every point. I expected the division to be a breeze, in reality the NFCE wound up having zero losing teams. Where I was wrong:
-- I underestimated the Eagles, but I also overestimated the rest of the league. This was a historic season of teams that should have been good failing. I did not think this would be the year that Brady, Rodgers, Stafford, Carr, Murray, and Wilson would all suddenly suck. There's a good chance if those guys all replicated their past seasons, the playoff picture is likely very different. Throw in that the 49ers were on their third, and then their fourth, and then out of, quarterbacks; along with injuries to NFC starting quarterbacks in NOLA and Arizona. If you had told me at the time of writing that post that the most accomplished quarterback in the NFC Divisional Round was Dak Prescott, I would have reassessed my view of the Eagles chances. Hell, consider if Garropolo had been the starter for SF Sunday night, then Purdy would have been the backup, that game would have been a hell of a lot harder. My assumptions about the Eagles running into a team like last year's Bucs relied on a team like last year's Bucs existing! You have to go back years to see a Divisional round with a QB group this "bad" in terms of past accomplishments. You always had to get through some mix of Brady, Rodgers, Brees, Wilson to get to the Super Bowl. I'm using QB as a simple proxy for teams, but it works pretty well: you just didn't see well organized veteran teams this year, which I think is the Eagles' weakness.
-- Right now the line on the big game seems to be bouncing between small advantage either side and even money. If Mahomes was 100% healthy, I think the Chiefs are favorites by at least 3 points. This is a straight bet on Mahomes' ankle health. Mahomes isn't 100% healthy, and the Eagles happen to have a demonstrably destructive pass rush. Matchups make fights. Travis Kelce is a hell of a Tight End, but he's a bad-mediocre blocker when he is even asked to block, who is gonna stop Reddick and Sweat? The Eagles weakness has been teams running on them. Can Pacheco carry the Chiefs? There's a good chance that the Eagles win this game against a visibly hobbled Mahomes (if not from the kickoff, he very well might be slow to get up after getting buried under Cox, Reddick, and Sweat in the first half, the Chiefs have a worse O-Line than SF and the Eagles got hits on half the drop-backs on Sunday); afterward there's a reasonable argument that no Super Bowl win has ever been cheaper. But flags fly forever. After a very well-earned win with Foles, a cheap one would be funny just to watch the Seethe.
-- I didn't realize that the Eagles had essentially invented a new play, almost certain to be banned next year based on a lot of complaints from other teams, the QB sneak/tank where they just SHOVE the QB into the endzone. No one does it quite like Philly, with the pro-bowl O-Line and a quarterback that squats 600. It really allows for reliable fourth down conversions other teams don't get. The Eagles were 4th in 4th down conversion percentage, but they had double the attempts that the other top-5 teams had. Being able to reliably gain 1-2 yards might not seem like much, but it meant that the team could play 4 down football aggressively. Getting 3 yard carries on 1st-3rd down put them in position for a quick sneak; this is great clock control. It allowed for shots downfield on 3rd and 1, which lead to some touchdowns. It generally intimidated the other team, which is good for everything.
-- Turns out Jalen Hurts is a national treasure, and a Super Bowl between Hurts and Mahomes represents significant moral and racial progress for the United States as a country from the days of Brady throwing to Aaron Hernandez. I really think that the leadership he showed, along with Kelce, helped drive this team. Tra Thomas talked about it on his podcast; when you see your QB willing to go out there and take a big hit for a few yards, it inspires the whole team to go to war for him.
The upshot of all this is, I'm just bad at predictions, my arrogance is showing. Even if the Eagles lose on Sunday to a team with the best Quarterback-Coach combo in the league, it's still hard to say they were overrated.
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