MichiganCardinal

If the Chiefs, 49ers, and Vikings win, nothing changes in terms of the playoff picture.

For the record, even if they lose, as looks likely, that doesn’t make them SOL. They’ve won 6/7 with one of the hardest schedules in the NFL. Expecting them to win 9/10 and 6 straight to finish was and is unrealistic. Nice if it happens, but still a lofty lofty goal. If you want to be mad about a game it remains the first Vikings game IMO

Carolina is not a good team. You can see it. They’ve played as the better team today so far. Not holding my breath on this one. It’s a young team and they were bound for a step back. Frustrating as hell though.

That was pitiful. No one was even over the center.

Not going to be surprised at all if the 3-7 points lost on the giveaway is the difference in this game. Just can’t happen.

He’s fucking Sam Darnold.

That’s how you lose games on the road in December

Blame the turf if you wish but those holes are the size of Dallas

tough choice at the local watering hole today between the Detroit Lions, an NFL Christmas Eve slate, …. Or Despicable Me 2?

TJ who??

Does Goff normally wear a glove in the cold weather? I don’t remember seeing one last week.

Not a good sign when you know what they’re going to do, they do exactly that, and they have immense success. Not a single throw on that drive.

So here’s a thought. Never do that again.

Boo

Lions 26 Panthers 20 OT

I’ve got a similar feeling about this game as I did the Jets game. Expectations are rising at perhaps an unfair rate. This is a very young team that was never expected to win 7/8 games in a given stretch this season. Yet, I feel like the “expectation” is that they win this game - even go 3-0 to finish - and people will be very upset if they lose. I will be disappointed if they lose, because I think it’s a game that they can win, but I’m also being realistic that this is an impressive stretch that may come with bumps in the road. Road games are hard to win in late December. This is practically playoff football for both of these teams. I do think we match up fairly well against Carolina in that we should be able to shut down their run game. I worry that Carolina is going to be ready to go to the pass game quickly though, and that Darnold will torch them just by making the quick simple throws that Wilson missed. Likewise, I worry we will struggle to move the ball in the air. If we can move it on the ground, we will be in business. But we scored 13 offensive points against the Jets, and 7 of those came on one 50+ yard play. Not going to predict this one yet. But I’m not as confident as I was when we played Jacksonville or Minnesota at home.

Whatever the over/under on how many of those words he actually wrote vs. people at OU wrote for him is… take the under. I’ve seen immature high school writing before, and that ain’t it. On the bright side for him, general douchery will fit right in no matter which school he chose from those options!

Never heard of the guy. Never meet the heroes you didn’t know exist I suppose.

While I’m sure this will not be fan-friendly in terms of price, I would anticipate it being much more conducive than whatever Direct TV was doing. Depending on the price point I’ll certainly consider it. Never would have considered Direct TV.

I'd like to see them just get him the ball more. He'll be lethal once him and Goff get on the same page, but that is going to take time - like, probably more time than we have left in this season. A whole offseason of working together will give those two some good chemistry, and I would expect Goff to make the throw he under-threw once they both get down the timing of a practical go route like that. They don't have to wait that long to see what he can do though. Give him the ball on an end-around, or on a screen. I want to see what he can do in space. He hasn't even been tackled yet that I can remember.

Speaking of Michigan 5* QBs.... Stumbled upon this on my timeline and it made me chuckle.

I think there is definitely something to this. He really leans into the whole "meat head" persona that's painted of him sometimes, whether it's on McAfee joking about being distracted by the wave or in press conferences wearing a helmet or saying he wants a pet lion in Ford Field... I think he's a very smart dude when it comes to football IQ, and I think Ben Johnson is taking a lot of credit for an offense that has a lot of Dan Campbell in it too. He's made some moves with his timeouts and 4th down elections that I probably wouldn't have, but he's not made any moves that have made me go "WTF ARE YOU DOING" like Schwartz when he threw the challenge flag illegally and cost us a TD against the Texans, or Caldwell when he guarded the sidelines against Aaron Rodgers on the Hail Mary, or Patricia anytime he opened his mouth.

Worrying to see Ragnow's foot re-appear yet again on that injury report. We are already so short of guys on the interior line. Have been since Big V went down in the preseason.

I think the Vikings are frauds. How many one-possession wins do you get before the NFL Gods order you to go 2-15 next season? Not to count chickens before they are hatched, but I would want to play them just because I think we are simply better than them. Doesn't mean we would win a road game in a playoff environment, but I think playing the Vikings would give us the best shot at getting that 30-year playoff win drought monkey off our back. From that point on, if they do advance, who cares? That's some serious house money. I'm not sure we are better than any of the 49ers, Cowboys, or Eagles, but any given Sunday; to be the best ya gotta beat the best; cut me, Mick; so on and so forth.

As the resident Switzerland of the board, I do feel compelled to stick up for TPFan a bit. Me and him got into it last year during one of our ass kickings after he was super negative. Afterwards we talked via PM and he’s a great guy who I’m sure would be an awesome beer buddy to catch a game with. These threads just get a little intense sometimes for all of us. 😅