WOW Bulletin Board predictions by ALL the ESPN football writers

[JMC00]

He owns 10% of the raiders

His share is 5%, the other 5% is Tom Wagner's

 

[Grogan14]

His share is 5%, the other 5% is Tom Wagner's

i stand corrected

 

[50-yard-line]

No game is. But the Seahawks are favorites and rightfully so. Does not mean NE cannot pull off the huge upset. But it will take elite performances from three phases of the game.

It would be an upset, but it wouldn't be a "huge" upset.

Had it not been for four calls that could have gone either way - but all went one way! - in the last Bills' game, the Pats would be 18-0 since week 3. And the only team in the league with a higher scoring differential than them are the Seahawks. The Pats aren't there by luck. They can win in any type of game.

 

[SVN]

Brady also picked Stafford for 2025 MVP.

He does not like that the Pats are having this kind of success so soon. His worst nightmare is for Maye to lead the Pats to victory.

 

[JoeSixPat]

First things first

Who's going to win tonight's Pro Bowl?

Only a few more hours to kickoff! Whoo hoo!

AFC is 1.5 point underdogs. That's an insult.

I've got my money on the "under" as I'm expecting a very low scoring game with a big emphasis on Defense tonight.

OK so I was a little off on my predictions for a low score, defensive oriented game with the NFC winning 66-52.

The commercials were great though.

 

[SVN]

 

[XLIX]

Holding on to aging talent and not planning for the future is malpractice.

The problem with the above is they didn’t plan for the future. They let Brady go with absolutely no plan in place.

 

[NFL Mystique]

IF Maye won the SB, an early conversation can be had on if he is the second greatest Patriot ever. Surpassing Brady? Never in a million years. Impossible.

Brady is probably not jealous.

 

[NFL Mystique]

The problem with the above is they didn’t plan for the future. They let Brady go with absolutely no plan in place.

This.

 

[TommyD4207]

The problem with the above is they didn’t plan for the future. They let Brady go with absolutely no plan in place.

They did. Kraft forced Belichick to trade the plan.

 

[WhatJustHappened]

No game is. But the Seahawks are favorites and rightfully so. Does not mean NE cannot pull off the huge upset. But it will take elite performances from three phases of the game.

Huge upset?

 

[XLIX]

They did. Kraft forced Belichick to trade the plan.

No. Just no.

 

[Jim Plunkett]

IF Maye won the SB, an early conversation can be had on if he is the second greatest Patriot ever. Surpassing Brady? Never in a million years. Impossible.

Brady is probably not jealous.

The second Greatest Patriot is Gronk, Moss or Hannah

 

[TommyD4207]

No. Just no.

Ah, throwing that in the memoryhole?
Ok. So much for reasonable discussion.

And just for the record, I don't know that Kraft was wrong, it did win 2 more Super Bowls, so there's that.

Garroppolo was the plan for the future, and Brady got *****y about it and went to Kraft, and they traded Jimmy G as a result. If we're just going to pretend that's not exactly what happened, then there's no reason to discuss it anymore.

 

[Jim Plunkett]

Ah, throwing that in the memoryhole?
Ok. So much for reasonable discussion.

And just for the record, I don't know that Kraft was wrong, it did win 2 more Super Bowls, so there's that.

Garroppolo was the plan for the future, and Brady got *****y about it and went to Kraft, and they traded Jimmy G as a result. If we're just going to pretend that's not exactly what happened, then there's no reason to discuss it anymore.

Just because media said that's what happened, doesn't mean thats what happened. He *****ed about it ? They took their sweet time replacing Garoppolo. Jimmy got two rings on the bench. So they weren't really listening to Brady in the first place. The truth is no jock, no matter how good, has any influence on management. No billionaire listens to any jock about any decisions. No matter what you read in media. There might be a teensy but of consideration. But ultimately, all the jocks are just meat and The owner is the butcher

 

[TommyD4207]

Just because media said that's what happened, doesn't mean thats what happened. He *****ed about it ? They took their sweet time replacing Garoppolo. Jimmy got two rings on the bench. So they weren't really listening to Brady in the first place. The truth is no jock, no matter how good, has any influence on management. No billionaire listens to any jock about any decisions. No matter what you read in media. There might be a teensy but of consideration. But ultimately, all the jocks are just meat and The owner is the butcher

Not just because. Although the fact that lots of media got it (it wasn't just Curran reporting what Mayo told him, for example), means to me that it's probably accurate.
And it confirmed what I was told by non-media sources. It's what happened.

Brady *****ed, Kraft meddled, Belichick relented. That's how it went. This was not the first or last time Bob Kraft allowed his personal feelings toward a quarterback influence his decision-making - precisely because he's a fan of the team.

Your "no jock has influence" statement was true 20 years ago. It's just not anymore, considering their net worth is a lot closer to an owner's than a coach's is. I mean, look at Josh Allen in Buffalo literally a week ago. Lebron James for 15 years or so. That worm has turned, and it's probably not a great thing for the sport.

Your meat/butcher line is accurate, and always will be, but the days of the top 1% of players being herded around with the rest is no longer correct.

 

[upstater1]

The problem with the above is they didn’t plan for the future. They let Brady go with absolutely no plan in place.

Oh my. Seriously? Did you watch the Dynasty?

Kraft reamed Belichick for putting a plan n place. You think Belichick wanted to go through that again?

I take you to the post Deflategate drafts when the team was running on fumes and had picks taken away. They were offensive centric.

Look at the effort to bring in WRs for 2019: Demaryious Thomas, Antonio Brown, Mohammed Sanu, N'Keal Harry, Josh Gordon, Phillip Dorsett, Ben Watson, Austin Seferian-Jenkins.

They tried to bring in an arsenal for the passing game. They failed for a variety of reasons, but they used multiple draft picks to do it, they also got desperate when they gave AB the heave-ho and expended a 2nd for Sanu.

After everything Kraft has told us, and given the evidence of bringing in vets for the here and now, it's pretty obvious that the team was a short-term team. I mean, Kraft killed Belichick for even presenting him with a plan!

 

[Tunescribe]

Kraft really blew it by not getting Brady involved in Pats ownership.

I'm so tired of hearing this. Just because weirdo Mark Davis sells off bits of his franchise for splashy PR doesn't obligate people like Kraft to do the same. Bob and Jonathan own the team and manage its affairs as they see fit, there's no need to give an ex-player -- inexperienced in such things -- a seat at their table for appearance's sake. Whatever Tom contributes to the Raiders might be overestimated, judging by how they fared this season and the fact he has another job.

Although he pays lip service to the organization which has a statue of him outside the stadium and has honored him several times he really seems to have divorced himself from the organization.
20 years playing for Kraft and in Foxboro and he does not root for the team at all?
Sad.

Its not a great look for the organization

The Patriots' only mistake with Brady was not having a crystal ball to forecast his longevity; in hindsight, he definitely should've retired in New England. Otherwise they have gone above and beyond honoring his legacy.

The rest is on him. Tom seems like a lost soul seeking purpose. Broadcasting? Doing commercials for Pizza Hut? That stuff seems beneath him. But his indifference toward the Patriots and their fans is palpable and more than a bit disappointing.

 

[ScottishPatriots]

Isn't the objective of the gambling industry to get the money evenly split? If so, then the consensus of the people placing bets matters very much. But I still agree that what ESPN people, who are often chosen for the way they look or sound, think doesn't matter.

The object of the gambling industry is the opening line is purely based on a power rating which they have for every team all season the opening line has nothing to do with trying to even the bets or what the public thinks, they will move it based on bets but it won't move more than a 1.5 or 2 points for a Super Bowl no matter how much money comes on Seattle, the line isn't suddenly going to jump to -7 even if 90% of the money comes in on Seattle.

They will just take 90% Seattle money and trust their power rating is accurate with a 1.5pt or 2pt edge on their side, it will be right more than it's wrong over the course of the season.

That's the biggest myth about gambling that they set a line trying to balance money, the opening line is purely based on what their algorithms/power rating say nothing to do with anything else.

Vegas was well ahead of everyone nationally with the Patriots they had a 4 win team with an over/under of 8.5 and favored in 11 games, now everyone wants to bring up the schedule like we didn't see that favored in 11 games thing in the pre season.

 

[TommyD4207]

Vegas was well ahead of everyone nationally with the Patriots they had a 4 win team with an over/under of 8.5 and favored in 11 games, now everyone wants to bring up the schedule like we didn't see that favored in 11 games thing in the pre season.

After being favored in...*checks notes*...ZERO games last year.