Patriots Cake Schedule / NFL Decline in Quality

[ScottishPatriots]

Hell even Andrew Luck might not suck eventually.

Has better numbers than Big Ben this year, been 3rd best QB in the AFC.

I think there's bigger problems than quarterbacking in the NFL, Scar coming back and instantly fixing the offensive line shows how big a problem coaching is in the NFL.

Some of the offensive line play around the league is laughably bad.

Teams have done a really terrible job, either teams have no quarterback and ones that do have done a terrible job at building around them and their coaching is mindblowing.

Just in the past week you got Rex Ryan punting with 4 minutes to go in OT in a must win game and Chuck Pagano running fake field goal runs with the punter at 0-0 in a must win game on 4th and 4.

 

[TheOutsider]

Anything could happen. They could easily lose a playoff game, no question.

Any given sunday I guess, but it would be shocking

 

[mosslost]

Any given sunday I guess, but it would be shocking

it always is.. see 2007, 2010... 2012 and 2015 both shocked me. 2013 I thought we had zero chance

 

[TheOutsider]

it always is.. see 2007, 2010... 2012 and 2015 both shocked me. 2013 I thought we had zero chance

That's true 13 was the one year I really thought They were not going to win.

 

[mosslost]

That's true 13 was the one year I really thought They were not going to win.

For whatever reason I really thought they were going to win in Denver last year, really did not think they were going to lose but I was just stupid on that one.

 

[Wax Frog]

We're on to German Chocolate.

 

[ForThoseAboutToRock]

Coaching and offensive line play is brutal, there's so many teams who should be a lot better but their coaching is just flat out horrible.

Interesting you say that, given how much attention the Cowboys offensive line has gotten this year.

 

[Wax Frog]

Unfortunately, it is arguable if I was even a zygote in 1972

You've won the Internet for the day

 

[TheOutsider]

For whatever reason I really thought they were going to win in Denver last year, really did not think they were going to lose but I was just stupid on that one.

That Denver D played outta their mind that game!

 

[PatsFanSince74]

Problem is Pats are a pro team playing in a college league, c'mon are there really any doubts they are going to the SB this year and most likely winning it?It was a much different league when you had the Elway's,Montana's,Marino's,Aikman's,Kelly's and much better teams and coaches overall.Would have been interesting to see how these Pats of today would fair back then.

If the NFL had the luxury of best of five or even best of three Playoff Series' I'd agree, but then they'd be playing the Super Bowl in April or May. The problem is that any team that makes the playoffs is capable of beating any other team that makes the playoffs in any one game...virtually at random.

 

[tasmlab]

The decline in quality teams has a number of factors. For one, ownership is very quick nowadays to move on from a previous coaching/front office change which means players that are there, particularly players on offense, have to learn and adapt to new schemes on the fly. This happening can ****** a young quarterback's growth. Lack of quality prospects coming out of college in another issue that is beginning to crop up. We've only seen the tip of the iceberg with the concussion blowback and more and more guys are going to retire early or simply choose to end their careers before coming to the NFL.

I was thinking this too. 10 years ago I could name every head coach in the league because there seemed to be more consistency from year to year. I'd be lucky to name 10 now.

BB, in a rare criticism of another team, talked about how it took several years to install a program. This was referring to the Chip Kelley firing by the Eagles.

Plus, how long does it take to build a roster that matches a new coaches strategy. Luckily BB didn't get fired after 5-11 2000.

 

[Tony2046]

SOS is what it has always been which is one of many measuring sticks used to gauge the quality of a team. What it doesn't include, and never has, is the circumstance for each individual game. The Bills get the same SOS boost for beating a thumbless Brissett led Pats as they did for losing to a Brady led Pats.

The deterioration of the game seems to be multifaceted:

1. The league has gone from 26 to 32 teams. Does that dilute talent? How many elite players, coaches and owners can there possibly be?

2. The league has gone from 14 to 16 games and possibly will go to 18. This is more of an injury issue but does affect what we see on the field. A healthy mediocre team has a better chance to beat a good team dealing with injuries at key positions. (The league needs to start thinking about two bye weeks and if they go to 18 games they need to think about eliminating two preseason games. Two bye weeks one of them taken the week before a TNF game.)

3. The Salary cap. Meant to induce parity but I believe it also added to the divide between good coaching and bad coaching. Teams can no longer spend on quality back up or depth so coaches are left to teach rookies or aging veterans.

4. Over saturation- Football is now on Monday, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday. Thursday games are the worst. (Again, giving each team a bye week before a TNF game would help)

5a. CTE - I'm seeing more kids playing soccer and less kids playing football. Will that affect the quality of the game in the future?

5b. Roger Goodell- Whether it's a 'gate' scandal, CTE cover ups or his ridiculous magic 8 ball punishment system Roger and his 32 kings have tarnished the game.

Would have been interesting to see how these Pats of today would fair back then.

Geez. BB without salary cap limitations would be something to see.

 

[BlueThunder]

We're on to German Chocolate.

Did Lt. Gen. Jörg Vollmer, the German Army chief of staff send Bill the chocolate????

 

[Deus Irae]

1 - What contributed to this decline in quality?

Lesser incoming QBs + college level schemes that don't work in the NFL
Aging "elite" QBs
Injuries
Coaching decline
Goodell/NFL

2 - Considering this decline in quality, do you think the strength of schedule metric is becoming more and more moot?

No

 

[Jlaff]

Hopefully franchises are getting the idea that to win you need a good coach, to SEE how good of a coach they are, you need a good coaching staff, to have a good coaching staff you have to get everyone on the same team philosophy, to execute said philosophy you need to construct a team of largely 1-3 year players on low contracts (successive drafts) that are willing to buy in, you then need to groom said players who may not look all that great at the start (Cannon, Edelman).

Thank F*** we have a owner who is down for that.

Football, especially at a professional level, is not a quick turnaround league - it takes a good amount of time to rebuild a team, period.

I'm not sure how hard it would be for an owner to leave Belichick to do his thing when he's demonstrated continual unprecedented success over the last how many years.

 

[SHOWTIME15]

I doubt the players think it was a "cake" schedule.

 

[luuked]

I am not sure I would call it a general decline in quality, but rather the gap between the top and the average & bottom teams increasing further and further. And the main culprit for this is media, the NFL rules commitee and fantasy football that played a huge role in changing the rules to this game to emphasize the passing game over everything else.

The ruleset before Polian & co. started to put their ****ing fingers on it was the great equalizer because while having a true franchise QB was great you were still able to play hard defense against teams and be successful that way. But ever since they started to gut defensive plays and decreased the number of practices/TC days (via CBA) the rich have generally just become richer and the talent poor teams have not moved from their spot no matter how many top5 picks they had because you simply need a good QB.

In short, what you are seeing is just the consequence that rule changes in the past 15-20 years have put an even bigger premium on having a good QB. And once you have that QB it's difficult for other teams that lack that to compete against you because of al the favorable rules for the offense.

 

[ctpatsfan77]

Why are QB's being groomed in college a completely different way than a pro-style offense works? That seems to be a big trend as well.

Because college teams need to defeat other college teams for coaches to keep their jobs.

 

[50-yard-line]

Teams had to spend near the cap suddenly, so the truly terrible beefed up (Oakland,f or example).

Isn't mediocrity just another word for parity?

 

[Flash]

The quality of the AFC really declined this year somehow. A lot of the top teams simply isn't very good this year. It's funny because even with a stripped first round pick handicap, we are still the cream of the crop while the rest of the AFC kind of just rolled over. Any given Sunday ofc, but I expect to see us in the Super Bowl.