NFL 2024 NFL - Week 18

[balmainforever]

SUNDAY, JANUARY 5 @ 8:30 AM
Cleveland at Baltimore LIVE

SUNDAY, JANUARY 5 @ 12:00 PM
Cincinnati at Pittsburgh LIVE

MONDAY, JANUARY 6 @ 5:00 AM
Buffalo at New England
Carolina at Atlanta LIVE
Chicago at Green Bay
Houston at Tennessee
Jacksonville at Indianapolis
New Orleans at Tampa Bay LIVE
New York Giants at Philadelphia LIVE
Washington at Dallas

MONDAY, JANUARY 6 @ 8:25 AM
Kansas City at Denver LIVE
Los Angeles Chargers at Las Vegas
Miami at New York Jets
San Francisco at Arizona
Seattle at Los Angeles Rams LIVE

MONDAY, JANUARY 6 @ 12:20 PM
Minnesota at Detroit LIVE

AUSTRALIAN T.V. GAMES
LIVE ON ESPN/KAYO AT 8.25 AM ON 5/1: Cleveland at Baltimore
LIVE ON ESPN/KAYO AT 12.00 PM ON 5/1: Cincinnati at Pittsburgh
LIVE ON ESPN/KAYO AT 5.00 AM ON 6/1: New Orleans at Tampa Bay
LIVE ON ESPN2/KAYO AT 5.00 AM ON 6/1: New York Giants at Philadelphia
LIVE ON 7MATE AT 5.00 AM ON 6/1: Carolina at Atlanta
LIVE ON ESPN/KAYO AT 8.25 AM ON 6/1: Kansas City at Denver
LIVE ON 7MATE AT 8.25 AM ON 6/1: Seattle at Los Angeles Rams
LIVE ON ESPN/KAYO AT 12.20 PM ON 6/1: Minnesota at Detroit

LIVE ON watchESPN AT 5:00 AM on 6/1: NFL RedZone

All Games live on TAB app

NB: VIC, NSW, TAS times
less 30 mins SA
less 1 hour QLD
less 1.5 hours NT
less 3 hours WA

 

[Exe Gesis]

Maybe the issue with McCarthy that has the Vikings bothered is playbook/film related. Had the whole season to learn and has struggled ?? And/or problems recovering from two knee surgeries. Just hypothesizing because it can't be performance related.

 

[Exe Gesis]

 

[Exe Gesis]

They love rubbing it in their face...

 

[revo333]

No brainer for the Vikings to continue with Darnold I would have thought.

 

[Johnny Bananas]

The money reasons are just the logical balancing. There's no financial gain to shipping him

There may not be a financial gain, but there might be a talent gain. If someone is desperate enough to trade a top 10 pick for him, that could become the DT or CB they need to have a truly elite defense, or the interior offensive lineman they need to level up their running game. There's an opportunity cost to keeping both quarterbacks.

and your better off having a QB ready to go over scrambling and shutting down your season

Are they trying to win the Super Bowl next season, or settling for a divisional round loss? SBs aren't just handed out, you need every possible advantage to reliably beat the Lions, Eagles and Chiefs/Bills. That means going all in to put the best possible team on the field, not losing out on talent and hoping to win it all with a backup QB. The Nick Foles experience doesn't happen often.

 

[samFFC]

Vikings won't move on from McCarthy (unless they know something we don't). You're always a snap away from a QB injury, or the clock striking midnight and them turning into a pumpkin.

His cap number is $5m, pretty much what you'd pay a decent back up.

The only way I could see it happen would be for a pick similar to what they used, but even with that I'd still think they'll keep him.

Very good point.

 

[Constantgin]

But you have to resign or tag Darnold to keep him which would cost 41 mil on tag or 35 mil+ on long term deal. Is that smart business since vikings only have 78 mil cap space. Gilmore, Murphy, Smith are all out of contract so likely need to replace both starting Corners and a safety. Plus Aaron Jones aswell. Throw in Flores likely leaving for head coaching job that defense could use the Darnold money to improve itself.

 

[AJ_2000]

There may not be a financial gain, but there might be a talent gain. If someone is desperate enough to trade a top 10 pick for him, that could become the DT or CB they need to have a truly elite defense, or the interior offensive lineman they need to level up their running game. There's an opportunity cost to keeping both quarterbacks.


Are they trying to win the Super Bowl next season, or settling for a divisional round loss? SBs aren't just handed out, you need every possible advantage to reliably beat the Lions, Eagles and Chiefs/Bills. That means going all in to put the best possible team on the field, not losing out on talent and hoping to win it all with a backup QB. The Nick Foles experience doesn't happen often.

I guess it depends on their stratergy, are they a win now or bust Superbowl team where you're pushing your chips in and all team decisions are based on making a run? Or do you want to want to have an eye to future seasons with the most valuable position on the team.

 

[AJ_2000]

I love the fact this is even a consideration, after Darnold's struggles in poor teams its been great to see him play and have this type of year (35 Td 12 Int 4k yards). He's absolutely flourishing in the system and right now the smart decision would be to sign him, but like the Packers its great to have the next guy in the wings.

Keeping Darnold can be done with a Franchise Tag, or long-term will cost more cap space (similar to Jordan Love money).


Either way, id still be shocked if they moved JJ, a guy whos 21, and someone they've moved up the draft board to get (4th & 5th - got back a 6th).

 

[Exe Gesis]

Meanwhile.... it's speculated the Falcons will release Cousins before his 2025 bonuses kick in, earning the team $10m cap space....and that a team like the Browns would be interested.

Possible FA vet QBs could be Darnold, Rodgers, Cousins, Fields R.Wilson....

Teams like Browns, Steelers, Titans, Jets are also QB needy teams.

 

[aussiedude]

Should be noted that this is from Deitsch's bold prediction column where its guesses with no real knowledge

 

[Johnny Bananas]

Plus Aaron Jones aswell.

RBs that aren't going to the HOF are a dime a dozen. Jones is not Saquon or King Henry, and he's 30 and will start to decline. If he becomes a cap casualty, no big deal, there are plenty of free agent RBs, or they can draft one in the 3rd round

Throw in Flores likely leaving for head coaching job that defense could use the Darnold money to improve itself.

Remember Flores is still suing the league. Does a team want that kind of distraction around their HC? Offensive HCs are all the rage too, and I wonder if Aaron Glenn and Mike Vrabel are ahead of Flores on the desirability rankings.

I guess it depends on their stratergy, are they a win now or bust Superbowl team where you're pushing your chips in and all team decisions are based on making a run? Or do you want to want to have an eye to future seasons with the most valuable position on the team.

They're at 14-15 wins this season, they need to strike while the iron is hot. Nobody remembers the teams who lost in the divisional round or conference championships. Plus a top 10 draft pick can stick around for a while. I'm not saying they should trade it for a veteran RB or something.

I love the fact this is even a consideration, after Darnold's struggles in poor teams its been great to see him play and have this type of year (35 Td 12 Int 4k yards). He's absolutely flourishing in the system and right now the smart decision would be to sign him, but like the Packers its great to have the next guy in the wings.

Darnold is indeed a great comeback story after Adam Gase ruined his career earlier. But how many Super Bowls did the Packers win with both Favre and Rodgers, or Rodgers and Love on the team? Zero. Love has them getting to the playoffs now (though they'll likely be out in the wild card round), but if they'd drafted Tee Higgins or Michael Pittman instead, maybe they'd have won another SB with Rodgers.

 

[aussiedude]

Darnold is indeed a great comeback story after Adam Gase ruined his career earlier. But how many Super Bowls did the Packers win with both Favre and Rodgers, or Rodgers and Love on the team? Zero. Love has them getting to the playoffs now (though they'll likely be out in the wild card round), but if they'd drafted Tee Higgins or Michael Pittman instead, maybe they'd have won another SB with Rodgers.

Packers would of won in 2020 if Bakhtiari didn't do his ACL in practice on the eve of the playoffs. He was the best tackle in the league at the time. And the Bucs were getting heat on the left in the NFCCG.

If we took a WR we wouldn't have a QB right now or be paying Rodgers $70M for nothing.

 

[Johnny Bananas]

If we took a WR we wouldn't have a QB right now or be paying Rodgers $70M for nothing.

Or, you draft a QB later or sign one in free agency.

 

[aussiedude]

Or, you draft a QB later or sign one in free agency.

Or if we never drafted Love Rodgers continued his 2019 form slump because he didn't have that f**k you point to prove that lit a fire under him to have back to back MVP seasons.

 

[Exe Gesis]

 

[drd23]

That's the minimum I'd want if I was Ben Johnson and Chicago was chasing me

 

[TheGreatBarryB]

Seems unlikely when the CEO said as recently as 3-4 weeks ago that Poles will stay and lead coach search. A rookie HC demanding GM to go? Doubt it

 

[AJ_2000]

Clearly this is the solution to all of the recent kicking problems

 

[bangbang]

Also another thing to think about with the Vikings and McCarthy situation is I heard the Vikings have not many draft picks which like you’ve all mentioned regarding paying darnold which there silly to not franchise him. They’re going to need to have draft picks there paying nothing. If they get 2-3 picks for McCarthy then could be another motive

 

[samFFC]

Seems unlikely when the CEO said as recently as 3-4 weeks ago that Poles will stay and lead coach search. A rookie HC demanding GM to go? Doubt it

I would wait then if I was Johnson.

Trash franchises will make you into trash too, unless they can properly clear house and sort things out.

Daboll
Saleh
Flores
Bradley etc etc

The Bears themselves have wrecked the legacies of Fox (two time SB coach), Nagy (actually good offensive coach), Eberflus half decent defensive coach.
Same could easily happen to Johnson.

Why not wait for Patriots job? Or even Dallas?
Going to places with better squads, pieces to work with, quarterbacks for the future, owners that aren’t shit.
You would want to move Jones from GM at Dallas, though.

 

[A11dAtP0w3R]

Seems unlikely when the CEO said as recently as 3-4 weeks ago that Poles will stay and lead coach search. A rookie HC demanding GM to go? Doubt it

Would be such a Bears thing to do to side with the GM who is 14-36 over the hottest coaching candidate in years.

 

[samFFC]

Also another thing to think about with the Vikings and McCarthy situation is I heard the Vikings have not many draft picks which like you’ve all mentioned regarding paying darnold which there silly to not franchise him. They’re going to need to have draft picks there paying nothing. If they get 2-3 picks for McCarthy then could be another motive

They might be better to do the same but with non-QB players, then Try to
draft players for the OL and DL / secondary.

More likely to hit success on these picks than a non-McCarthy backup.

 

[TheGreatBarryB]

Would be such a Bears thing to do to side with the GM who is 14-36 over the hottest coaching candidate in years.

Ryan Pace left a big mess. To give Poles just three drafts is a bit tough. He hasn’t been that bad. Williams had a shocking OL (that was mainly Pace’s fault as had zero depth) that got worse with injuries

 

[TheGreatBarryB]

They might be better to do the same but with non-QB players, then Try to
draft players for the OL and DL / secondary.

More likely to hit success on these picks than a non-McCarthy backup.

If O’Connell can do suck a good job with Darnold maybe he could do similar with Daniel Jones (don’t laugh) as a backup.