Fear The Chorizo

Losing Montgomery really hurts their offense - it means Gibbs shoulders alot more of the load than he probably is capable of down the stretch and risks him getting injured, too. And their defense is really thinning out...

There's not a team in the playoff field they can't beat regardless of where the game is played....but the NFC playoff field is a total crap shoot. Having to win 3x, mostly on the road, is a tough slog - but I would be hesitant to bet against them any given playoff round assuming their offense is healthy and their defense is continuing to gell. Also - pretty obvious assessment from last night's game that Cooper is going to be a stud, and it frees up Walker to utilize his freakish athleticism as a WILL

Wily had a really solid 2024 season - that being said, his July-August really bolstered his counting stats, and there were still extended stretches where he was a negative offensively, particularly from late May into early July. His M.O. has always been that he can get hot 3-4 times a season and carry a team for a few weeks, and then just as quickly go in the freezer and be a rally killer in the middle of the order. And losing the ~175 Ks a season Adames provides isn't necessarily going to make the Brewers collectively strike out a ton less, but it probably can't hurt either.

The Lions are the best team in the NFC right now...but honestly I think the NFC could see any one of 5 teams wind up in the Super Bowl and it wouldn't be a dramatic surprise (Det, Philly, GB, Vikes, Bucs). The top 3 NFC North teams have a total of 3 out-of-division losses between them 13 games in, and those close losses were to the Eagles in Brazil Week 1, @ Rams, and Bucs in Week 2. There is still a full month of the regular season for a few key injuries to happen on contending team rosters that could completely flip the playoff picture, too. If Love gets hot with a healthy receiving corps and Jacobs stays healthy, the Packers are as good as anyone else in the NFL and it doesn't matter where the game is played - even with an at-times shaky defense that struggles to generate a pass rush. That being said, the youth on the Packers roster and an ill-timed Love INT make them beatable for any potential playoff opponent.

The problem is the bucket of shared revenue is too damn small for small market teams for it to matter - it makes zero sense for small to mid market teams to offer middling free agents upwards of $10M per season when they can get the same onfield production at pre-arbitration prices...and more MLB teams are doing this more consistently because fewer of them can even go after the top tier free agents. Knowing the Brewers getting that shared revenue is what helps keep the team in Milwaukee and maybe marginally profitable (debatable) doesn't mean they get to start with a $110M check from MLB they can burn entirely on player payroll should be an indication the league's financial model is broken.

If Adames' 2024 season resembled his 2023 season, the Brewers wouldn't have even offered the QO to him. Wishing him luck after cashing in following a really good free agent contract year of production for the Brewers, a roster that currently has 2 better defensive shortstops than Wily making pre arbitration salaries. The Brewers got Wily's prime and are set up to move forward at the SS position very well while Adames cashes checks in SF at a much higher tax rate while his onfield production declines.

I'd say it's more like 7/8 at this point,,,and it is most definitely not sustainable as things are currently constructed financially across MLB.

This defense is pretty good against the run compared to some of the prior Packer D's that we'd all see get steamrolled by teams who were willing to keep running the ball

It's fun and exciting for a coach to constantly go for it in curious situations...then when it backfires in a pressure situation it's how you lose a huge 2nd half lead in a conference championship game, too. I still don't trust Goff in a big moment against a defense with a pass rush - so much of Detroit's offense is based on the quick hitter/screen game that their athletic Oline gets RBs and receivers out in space - if a defense can hold that in check and make Goff consistently throw to receivers downfield, he's going to make some decisions with the football that give a secondary interception opportunities. I don't really care what analytics say - with a 3 point lead in the 2nd half of a home game (in a building you've been dominating most opponents in), you punt the ball from your own 29 on 4th and short and make your opponent that had been struggling to sustain extended possessions drive the length of the field to tie or regain the lead instead of allowing the chance of a failed conversion totally flip the flow of the game. Also - that Lions defense is going to cost them in the playoffs, whether they play home or away...Packers struggled in the 1st half against constant blitzing, but they eventually figured out what they were doing and started carving them up. A balanced team like Philly with weapons outside and Barkley/Hurts dictating what the Lions could or couldn't do at the line of scrimmage is going to gash them. All that said, the Packers played the Lions tight, and made enough unnecessary mistakes to leave me optimistic about their playoff chances against anyone based on the talent on their roster. A healthy Dobbs last night would have made a difference - so would have a healthier secondary (not just Jaire, but Bullard and Williams both going down in the game left the middle of the field wide open for easy completions).

Or the qb falling over at the snap and not being able to make the handoff

If they actually snap this ball, this is why Detroit won't win a Super Bowl I don't care that they converted, I'm convinced Campbell will prevent the Lions from a title by being too aggressive

When your receiver can get away with pushing off at the top of his route to get open, why not?

Refs have added 30 minutes to this game because they have a cup of coffee at every flag and play stoppage

Packers just bullied them down the field

Officials take 10 minutes to sort out and obvious PI...wake up zebras!

Apparently only packer d lineman can get flagged for lining up in the neutral zone....Detroit interior lineman are offsides every other snap amd no flags

I think the big difference with Cubs and Houston is those are considered large market ballclubs...so they went through a ton of losing to get young talent they knew they could extend at market costs (if those players were open to it), plus spend wildly in free agency at times as need be. With the Orioles, they seemed to try the Royals approach with trying to trade from a loaded farm system at the peak of their contention window to get an Ace and add other veteran talent instead of free agency....and they came up empty last season.

how do you think they got the young talent on the roster they currently have in place to be capable of winning 101 games in the AL East two seasons ago? Their market size is much more comparable to Milwaukee than New York, so they're better off trying to extend homegrown talent rather than spending in free agency. It's not always about overspending on guys headed past their prime to fill out a competitive MLB roster. When it comes to free agency, sometimes it's best to not spend much at all if you're taking care of your own players internally with extensions and maximizing the talent return you get using other options (i.e. trades, international minor league signings, draft, veteran minor league non-roster invitees to spring training, etc. If you're a small fish trying to spend with the big boys in your division, you're going to always lose out on the players you truly want, and end up with less resources to pay your own talent. If anything, that chart shows there are multiple ways to make the postseason, and it isn't all about spending the most money in free agency. Of course, it also shows just how disgusting the Dodgers have made things for the rest of MLB from a financial standpoint...spending $500M MORE than the Yankees just in free agency over this period is insane.

What could be better for the NFL? getting another pre-30 year old season of on-field football performance as an NFL player while still having college programs try to throw together rosters and recruit the blue chip talent that are obviously good enough to start playing in the NFL a year younger than they can enter the draft already. I think the advancements in player development/quality of play at the college level has limited questions about players being physically ready to play in the NFL as a 20/21 year old compared to being 21/22. The NFL would keep its free development league with college football - it would just be even more watered down/chaotic with roster turnovers when the very best players can get drafted after 2 years of games (and one less season of injury risk).

Major College football is now nothing but an extended combine workout for the NFL - just watch what happens when the NFL adjusts their draft rule to allow players younger than 3 yrs removed from H.S. to enter the draft. Even shifting that from 3 to 2 years would turn this whole thing on its ear even more.

The Vikings have a fantastic coaching staff that squeeze the most out of their roster - and agreed a good portion of the Vikings success is just not making game changing mistakes. I see them losing their last 3 games of the regular season (@ Seattle, GB, @ Det) and then bow out of the playoffs in short order the next weekend. They've been skating through a charmin-soft part of their schedule since that road Rams loss, yet with the exception of the Titans game they could (and at times should) have lost each of their other 4 games against teams nowhere near playoff contention. I just think GB is a much more talented and deep roster, and that will show down the stretch.

To be fair, college football in general is dissolving into irrelevancy

Every year they have a season like this, it's obvious they have a 0.500ish roster that catches all the breaks - until they get in the playoffs and get trounced by a team unwilling to implode on itself. Most viking fans already know this.

Older players, even if Uber talented, eventually wear down and break...and they are typically expensive, too. That is the 49ers in 2024....long in the tooth, and still without a qb on a longterm contract they can build around.

nope...unless you wanted a much worse team on the field over the past 7-8 seasons - which you very well could want, apparently. The contract extension is also totally unrelated to the trade happening at the time.