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Such a **** joke having these regular season games played in England. Pre-season is more than enough. Imagine Villa and Everton traveling to Houston to play a regular season game? Fans would NOT be having it. It's a total farce. The league needs to drop this European obsession and worry about getting a team set up in Los Angeles, FFS.

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I think the difference is NFL fans here will go to see any team.

I don't imagine there's many 'Premier League fans' over there. United/Liverpool/Arsenal/etc. yeah, but imagine us sending some of our worst teams over like the NFL has? I don't imagine Swansea or Wigan selling out 80k stadiums.

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I can't imagine the FA allowing any club to play a real match in the USA. Just won't happen. I think more and more clubs are keen to play pre-season games over here though, and it makes sense, from a marketing angle. If the NFL played one pre-season game in London every year, it would sell out, but scheduling real games there is a slap in the face of the fans who lose 1 of their 8 home games...

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I think again the difference is that the Premier League is already pretty big over there. The NFL didn't have a massive following and this was it's way of marketing it, the Premier League doens't need to send teams over there to do that.

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If the NFL played one pre-season game in London every year, it would sell out, but scheduling real games there is a slap in the face of the fans who lose 1 of their 8 home games...

I don't think a preseason game would sell out beause on the whole, they're shite. It would be a slap in the face for Foreskin/Packers fans who sell out their stadium every week but its not a big deal for joke franchises like the Jags to give up a home game given that their home games usually have 1 man and his dog at them. The problem is that the longer they leave it without moving a franchise to the UK the more time fans have to pick a team to follow. Then when a franchise moves to london its going to be hard for people to switch allegiances.

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The NFL is in a period of expansion. Soccer isn't as it's already global. American football is precisely that. American. It wants to be more and it's in the process of doing that. That doesn't mean I don't agree that it's pretty lousy on the home fans that lose a game. Of course it is. But to compare the 2 sports and where they currently are, is to ignore the actual reasons it's happening.

And as for having a team in L.A.. They've had 3. All scuppered by the Coliseum. So it's not like it has been tried before. They'll get another team; probably the Chargers ... again ... but it is possible to boil more than one egg at a time.

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The NFL did annual preseason games in London for about a decade, twenty, thirty years ago. They started off big and tailed off, partly because the people who got into the game realized how terrible preseason games are.

The same thing, at some level, doomed the Monarchs and the Claymores. You'd have 50,000 people each week watching NFL games on Channel Four or Sky and the Claymores and Monarchs struggled to draw more than 5k to games (the Monarchs last season, they played a game in Birmingham against the Claymores and drew less than 2k!). A whole lot of British fans weren't interested in the game if it wasn't the highest level.

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Then when a franchise moves to london its going to be hard for people to switch allegiances.

One question, Do people think it will be the London BulldogsTM or the England KnightsTM? My money is on them to use the city name as its significantly less shite than using the country. But if they do use the London name will people in other parts of England support them, (e.g. the notherners)...

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Superbowl odds check after week 8.

This is the highest odds (i.e. best for the gambler) that you can get.

6/1 Texans

6/1 Patriots

13/2 49ers

8/1 Falcons

17/2 Packers

9/1 Giants

10/1 Broncos

14/1 Bears

18/1 Ravens

25/1 Steelers

Everyone else is 66s and up. You can get 3,000/1 on the Jags :lol:

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Broncos move to #1 in DVOA

We have a surprising new number one in this week's DVOA ratings: Denver. The DVOA system believes that Denver's dominating victory over New Orleans (54.1% DVOA) was slightly dominating-er than San Francisco's dominating victory over Arizona (49.5% DVOA), and along with the continued expansion of our strength of schedule adjustments -- now at 80 percent -- that puts the Broncos slightly ahead of the 49ers.

Actually, New England's victory over St. Louis was the dominating-est victory of the week (76.7% DVOA), but the Patriots had more ground to make up on the 49ers, so they're still behind Denver and San Francisco in third place.

Both Denver and San Francisco now rank in the top five for both offense and defense, with roughly average special teams. We all know the Broncos' defense has improved this year, but top five is a bit of a shock. However, this is where the strength of schedule issue really comes in. The Broncos have played the toughest set of opposing offenses so far, including five games against teams in the top 10 of offensive DVOA. And things are about to get much, much easier for the Broncos. Denver has the easiest remaining schedule in the league by a huge margin. Their average opponent remaining has a DVOA of -17.7%. Oakland is next at -8.8%. The average offense left on the Denver schedule has a DVOA of -11.3% (ranked 32nd) and the average defense left has a DVOA of 6.8% (ranked 30th, ahead of only Miami and Houston). Denver's road back to the playoffs is now so obvious that Von Miller could even see it without his ironic horn-rimmed glasses.

Although the AFC now has two teams in the top three, the big gap between the conferences didn't go anywhere. The bottom nine teams are still all AFC teams. The top nine teams in the league form a nice solid group that includes three AFC and six NFC teams. Then there is a gap, then Miami ranked 10th, then another gap, and then you have the beginning of (relative) mediocrity with Baltimore, Pittsburgh, and Minnesota. Those are three teams going in very different directions. Pittsburgh is on its way up, especially because like Denver it has a very easy schedule remaining (30th in the NFL). Baltimore is headed down because of injuries, and Minnesota because it has the league's toughest remaining schedule (and, to make matters worse, opponents may have figured out whatever Christian Ponder was doing right earlier this year, but I believe we're leaving disection of that to Andy Benoit in Film Room on Thursday).

Eleven of the 12 toughest remaining schedules belong to NFC teams. That's what happens when one conference is so clearly better than the other. The AFC's gap between the top three and everyone else is so large that the top three most likely teams to win the Super Bowl according to FO playoff odds are all AFC teams: Houston, Denver, and New England, in that order. Those teams just have very little competition except for each other.

Someone asked me on Twitter why the FO stats still have Atlanta just ninth despite its 7-0 record. It's actually summarized pretty easily. First, close wins: four by a touchdown or less. Second, its schedule so far ranks 29th in the NFL. Third, the Falcons have recovered 75 percent of fumbles. (On the other hand, Denver has recovered just 24 percent of fumbles including none of its own offensive fumbles; Green Bay has recovered just 14 percent of fumbles.)

Some years, it seems like FO is not applying opponent adjustments strongly enough because the top teams all seem to be listed with very easy schedules, but that's not the case in 2012. In that top group of nine main Super Bowl contenders, only two teams have played schedules ranked lower than 20th: Chicago (28th) and Atlanta (29th).

1. Broncos (#2 offense, #5 defense, #7 schedule played, #32 schedule remaining)

2. 49ers (#5 offense, #4 defense, #8 schedule played, #7 schedule remaining)

3. Patriots (#1 offense, #18 defense, #19 schedule played, #14 schedule remaining)

4. Giants (#3 offense, #12 defense, #17 schedule played, #11 schedule remaining)

5. Bears (#25 offense, #1 defense, #28 schedule played, #4 schedule remaining)

6. Packers (#4 offense, #8 defense, #12 schedule played, #10 schedule remaining)

7. Texans (#9 offense, #2 defense, #15 schedule played, #28 schedule remaining)

8. Falcons (#7 offense, #10 defense, #29 schedule played, #21 schedule remaining)

9. Seahawks (#16 offense, #3 defense, #6 schedule played, #8 schedule remaining)

10. Dolphins (#20 offense, #7 defense, #23 schedule played, #16 schedule remaining)

11. Ravens (#12 offense, #24 defense, #21 schedule played, #13 schedule remaining)

12. Steelers (#10 offense, #20 defense, #26 schedule played, #30 schedule remaining)

13. Vikings (#21 offense, #15 defense, #32 schedule played, #1 schedule remaining)

14. Cowboys (#15 offense, #11 defense, #1 schedule played, #27 schedule remaining)

15. Lions (#6 offense, #23 defense, #9 schedule played, #6 schedule remaining)

16. Bucs (#13 offense, #14 defense, #22 schedule played, #12 schedule remaining)

17. Redskins (#11 offense, #22 defense, #13 schedule played, #20 schedule remaining)

18. Jets (#27 offense, #13 defense, #4 schedule played, #29 schedule remaining)

19. Eagles (#24 offense, #9 defense, #11 schedule played, #19 schedule remaining)

20. Cardinals (#30 offense, #6 defense, #5 schedule played, #2 schedule remaining)

21. Panthers (#22 offense, #16 defense, #3 schedule played, #24 schedule remaining)

22. Saints (#8 offense, #32 defense, #16 schedule played, #3 schedule remaining)

23. Rams (#23 offense, #17 defense, #2 schedule played, #5 schedule remaining)

24. Raiders (#18 offense, #21 defense, #18 schedule played, #31 schedule remaining)

25. Chargers (#26 offense, #19 defense, #30 schedule played, #25 schedule remaining)

26. Bengals (#19 offense, #28 defense, #31 schedule played, #15 schedule remaining)

27. Bills (#17 offense, #30 defense, #25 schedule played, #9 schedule remaining)

28. Browns (#29 offense, #25 defense, #27 schedule played, #18 schedule remaining)

29. Colts (#14 offense, #31 defense, #24 schedule played, #23 schedule remaining)

30. Jaguars (#31 offense, #26 defense, #10 schedule played, #26 schedule remaining)

31. Titans (#28 offense, #29 defense, #14 schedule played, #17 schedule remaining)

32. Chiefs (#32 offense, #27 defense, #20 schedule played, #22 schedule remaining)

The Eagles, though are the most consistent team in the NFL... :lol:

Total DVOAs by division

NFC North: +59.9%

NFC West: +34.6%

AFC East: +22.6%

NFC East: +18.5%

NFC South: -4.0%

AFC West: -31.2%

AFC North: -32.4%

AFC South: -71.9%

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Playoff, Super Bowl, and draft odds (rounded)

Falcons (12.9 wins): 99% playoffs, 99% division, 48% [conference] finalist, 24% [conference] champ, 12% win Super Bowl, 2% to go 16-0

Texans (12.1): 100% playoffs, 99% division, 62% finalist, 33% champ, 15% Super Bowl

Giants (11.4): 96% playoffs, 90% division, 41% finalist, 22% champ, 12% Super Bowl

Bears (11.4): 92% playoffs, 58% division, 34% finalist, 17% champ, 9% Super Bowl

49ers (11.1): 95% playoffs, 88% division, 38% finalist, 20% champ, 11% Super Bowl

Broncos (11.0): 98% playoffs, 97% division, 48% finalist, 27% champ, 15% Super Bowl

Patriots (10.7): 96% playoffs, 78% division, 46% finalist, 24% champ, 13% Super Bowl

Packers (10.4): 82% playoffs, 37% division, 23% finalist, 11% champ, 6% Super Bowl

Ravens (9.6): 80% playoffs, 52% division, 16% finalist, 6% champ, 2% Super Bowl

Steelers (9.5): 76% playoffs, 46% division, 11% finalist, 4% champ, 1% Super Bowl

Dolphins (9.4): 77% playoffs, 21% division, 14% finalist, 6% champ, 2% Super Bowl

Seahawks (9.3): 60% playoffs, 12% division, 10% finalist, 4% champ, 2% Super Bowl

Vikings (8.1): 22% playoffs, 4% division, 2% finalist, 1% champ

Cowboys (7.9): 19% playoffs, 5% division, 2% finalist, 1% champ

Raiders (7.4): 19% playoffs, 2% division, 1% finalist

Bucs (7.2): 8% playoffs, 1% division, 1% finalist

Redskins (7.1): 10% playoffs, 2% division, 1% finalist

Chargers (7.0): 16% playoffs, 2% division, 1% finalist, 1% first pick

Lions (7.0): 7% playoffs, 1% division, 1% finalist

Eagles (7.0): 6% playoffs, 2% division, 1% first pick

Colts (7.0): 10% playoffs, 1% division, 1% first pick

Jets (6.9): 12% playoffs, 1% division, 1% finalist

Bills (6.8): 8% playoffs, 1% division, 1% first pick

Bengals (6.7): 7% playoffs, 1% division, 1% first pick

Cardinals (6.5): 3% playoffs

Rams (5.7): 1% playoffs, 3% first pick

Titans (5.6): 1% playoffs, 4% first pick

Saints (5.4): 1% playoffs, 6% first pick

Browns (5.0): 1% playoffs, 10% first pick

Panthers (4.8): 0% playoffs, 17% first pick

Jaguars (4.2): 0% playoffs, 25% first pick

Chiefs (4.1): 0% playoffs, 29% first pick

Looking at the playoff seedings from the odds (only teams with greater than 10% shots of being a given seed listed) (bold: most likely seeding for that team if they qualify)

AFC1. Texans/Patriots/Broncos

AFC2. Broncos/Patriots/Texans/Ravens

AFC3. Broncos/Patriots/Ravens/Texans/Steelers

AFC4. Steelers/Broncos/Ravens/Patriots

AFC5. Dolphins/Steelers/Ravens/Patriots

AFC6. Dolphins/Steelers/Ravens/Raiders

NFC1. Falcons/Giants/Bears/49ers

NFC2. Giants/Falcons/49ers/Bears

NFC3. Giants/49ers/Falcons/Bears/Packers

NFC4. 49ers/Giants/Packers/Falcons

NFC5. Packers/Bears/Seahawks

NFC6. Seahawks/Vikings/Cowboys

And some Super Bowl matchups:

Matt Schaub's Revenge (Texans-Falcons): 8%

XXXIII rematch (Broncos-Falcons): 6%

Manning Bowl (Broncos-Giants): 6%

XXIV rematch (Broncos-49ers): 5%

Brady-Manning III (Patriots-Giants): 5%

Randy Moss Reunion (Patriots-49ers): 5%

XX rematch (Patriots-Bears): 4%

XXXII rematch (Broncos-Packers): 3%

XXXI rematch (Patriots-Packers): 3%

XXXV rematch (Ravens-Giants): 1%

XIX rematch (Dolphins-49ers): 1%

Harbaugh Bowl (Ravens-49ers): 1%

Pete Carroll Reunion (Patriots-Seahawks): 1%

XLV rematch (Steelers-Packers): 1%

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Sean Peyton to the Cowboys in the offseason? His contract has been void by the NFL making him a free agent after his suspension. With his previous links to Dallas and his record in New Orleans, I imagine Jerry Jones will throw the cash at hime - Jerry is hardly the type to be put off by the bountygate stuff either.

I really hope he doesn't go there. :(

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Don't suppose New Orleans is an option then?

Eagles and Cowboys aren't two bad teams to have fighting over you. Money being no object to either of them and both sets of fans starved of success (recent success in Dallas' case) meaning you'll be a hero as soon as you arrive. The big difference is that the Cowboys will interfere with his day job whereas the Eagles won't.

Personally I'd rather have a good Cowboys than a good Eagles in the NFL. Not that that's saying much. I don't like either of them. I just see the Eagles as one of the; if not the; most irrelevant franchise(s) in the league.

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