Fear The Chorizo

San Fran/Santa Clara forecast looks like its going to be rainy/soggy Saturday evening for the game with a decent amount of wind....that could factor into how this game is played. A slower/soggy field may actually help neutralize the rest advantage the 49ers have going into this game - but it also will put a premium on winning in the trenches at the line of scrimmage, where the 49ers are better. If this young team can avoid turning the ball over in wet weather conditions while forcing a turnover or two themselves and GB can still stretch the field in the passing game, they can absolutely win this game.

Isn't his contract up after this season, so it wouldnt necessarily be a firing, just not a rehiring? Maybe he'll get a head coaching gig out of that kind a postseason run and we won't have to worry about reupping!

I think that's the hope...but I will say both auto manufacturers and battery developers are growing pretty skeptical about getting there when the current emission standard milestones need them to be. To me, a smarter approach is to adjust those standards based on geography to phase them in at a later time where winter weather is a concern

I'm referring to the current 2032 fed emission standards that essentially will force auto manufacturers to produce a large percentage of EVs in order to meet it. Chicago/Illinois is in the United States, so the type of vehicles available for purchase in that area will be impacted.

Norway is the population of minnesota, and their EV rollout/subsidy program was heavily aided by the oil royalties that have basically given them an economy that makes everyone upper middle class. They intentionally made EVs cheaper than ICE vehicles and funded that incentive through selling oil. Sweden is not much different. Those two Scandinavian countries also have a limited driveable area, meaning they don't need to drive 100 miles+ routinely to get around developed parts of the country. Now that they're that heavily shifted to EVs, Norway has to figure out a way to pay for road upkeep now that their gas tax revenues have dried up and EVs are exempt from it. They'll figure it out by taxing people a little more and allowing more oil to be pumped out of their provable reserves, no doubt. Again, I'm not anti-ev....I'm an environmental consultant. But I am a realist.

I think Votto will make a fantastic bench coach, hitting coach, and/or manager someday if he wants a lifelong career in baseball....but I don't want him playing 1B for the Brewers in 2024

I don't think you'd be OK with the impact of that game plan on an annual basis in Chicago if there are 95x more EVs on the road than there are right now (many of which wouldnt be with owners who dont have a property with a garage they call home), but maybe you are. All I'm saying is the blanket mandates for EVs make no sense for a place with winter and they really need to be retooled/phased in much more gradually in cold weather climates...if people have the means, desire to own one, and are ok with the limitations they come with for the benefit of having your vehicle emissions blow out a power plant stack instead of a tailpipe in those areas now, well before the technology and infrastructure can actually support everyone having that type of car in those areas, more power to them.

So the solution is for everyone to have a private garage with a space heater that runs on energy primarily from fossil fuels to heat the space up enough for a battery to actually charge? Sounds pretty straightforward... When these mandates about 10 years off force anyone looking to purchase a new vehicle have it be an EV, is there also a mandate for everyone in cold climates to have an enclosed garage if they want to have a vehicle?

It's not about being anti-EV in my opinion...it's about being realistic in the face of some upcoming sweeping mandates that make zero practical sense in many parts of the US based on the combination of infrastructure, technology limitations, geography/climate, grid capacity, and cost.

The issue is, financially with the current TV deal landscape and limited revenue sharing, there are a select few "haves" and a whole bunch of "have nots" this offseason in terms of $$ to blow on premium free agents. When those "have" teams have their rosters largely completed (see Dodgers and Yankees, Phillies, Braves), there aren't a ton of other clubs looking to spend $200M+ on those FAs - meanwhile the mid-tier FAs want to wait until the more premium players at their positions ink fresh deals to also use them as comparables to bump up their contracts, too. Right now I think Boras is trying to sell all of his veteran FAs to the Cubs and Giants to sign, and they're looking at him like "we kind of want to just throw $100+ M to Hader if he'll sign with us instead and then be left alone at this point." 2/3 of the MLB organizations probably won't even answer a call from Boras based on how he tries to leverage all of them against each other, so we're firmly entrenched in the waiting game for no good reason.

The Packer D line will have to play their best game of the season to at least dampen the 49ers running game enough without having to put too many LBs and safeties in the box - If the Packers have to be too focused on stopping the run from killing them the 49ers are going to gouge them off play action and quick-hitting passes to huge holes in their coverage schemes. I'd rather they do whatever it takes to tighten up coverage across the middle of the field and force Purdy to beat them with throws to the perimeter. Really hoping Jaire is ok to suit up and play Saturday, otherwise San Fran will likely have more than one patsy in the Packer secondary to target with their quality weapons at each position grouping with plays giving Purdy short and easy throws to guys in space. If they make Purdy have to throw the ball downfield and to the outside, I think the defense can stay in the game well enough to give the Pack a chance to win. Offensively, I think there will need to be some more of the jet sweep/endaround action with Reed and Watson to help the running game against the 49er front 7. Misdirection coupled with some trap and power runs between the tackles....then you just hope the Oline can hold up well enough for Love to continue distributing the ball all over the field - Packers will need a shot play or two with Watson to win a one on one and huge games from the TE/slot receivers off play action. If the 49ers have some rust and don't dominate from the opening snap, this will be a tight game - however if the hit the ground dominating in the trenches it's going to be tough to keep the game within 10 points even if the Packer offense plays well.

It's not due to user error

I get it, but theres a big reliability difference between an ICE engine with a half tank of gas and an EV with a 50% charge...that half tank is a half tank whether it's 40 degrees or minus 10 and will get you basically the same distance regardless of temp...and refilling takes 5 minutes. A 50 percent charge that becomes 25 percent the next morning and an uncertain range sucks, and then it takes hours to recharge. If your ICE car battery dies, it takes 5 minutes to replace that battery - with an EV, not so much.

Lost on the offensive explosion in Dallas Sunday was how well the D line and Quay Walker played defensively before the game was 48-16 in the 4th quarter. The D line did a really good job stalemating what is still a solid Cowboy offensive line at the point of attack. Also there's game tape floating around on the interwebs showing how dynamic Walker can be when he diagnoses the play and uses his athleticism to beat lineman to the point of attack on running plays, and if he knows what route concepts are coming into his zone on pass plays he can cover a TON of area for a MLB. That 3rd and medium play on the Cowboys' 1st drive that resulted in an incomplete pass off Lamb's fingertips was entirely because Walker jumped that slant route and forced Dak to lead Lamb too much - had he thrown to Lamb on that play Walker probably picks it off or at minimum knocks the ball down. Getting Dallas off the field there without scoring was huge in preventing the game from turning into a potential track meet and really put the Cowboys in panic mode after the Packers scored another TD to go up 14-bagel.

Can't help but think some of the recent issues EV owners in Chicago and many of the other northern cities are having with the recent cold snap killing their car batteries and turning their days into white knuckle waits at charging stations that don't work well when it's zero have them second guessing their purchases for where they live. People are frustrated at Tesla for not having much of any comment or solution to this issue, to which I'd say that they probably wouldn't want to hear the reason Tesla is quiet is there isn't a solution in very cold weather besides not driving your EV at all and just leaving it inside your garage on a trickle charger until it warms up outside. Widespread EVs for personal use have a purpose in the near future...just not everywhere and definitely not for everyone.

If plow drivers would have to do this and not angle their blade every time they got to a driveway while making sure to not push snow into the other lane (and into oncoming traffic), then it would take them so long to get roads done people would have to drive on unplowed roads constantly. If plows don't get fresh snow off roads quickly before too much traffic gets on it, particularly on side streets, driving becomes a nightmare. My home here in MN is on a hill, so I have to keep my steep driveway clear as much as possible if I have any hope to get my minivan or small SUV up it and into the garage each trip. So, during bigger snows I try to do what I can initially to make my driveway usable to get cars in the garage for the night, then I put the shovel away and wait until I hear the plow roll through early the next morning - and quickly get down to where they push my driveway shut to clear that out before the slush/disturbed snow solidifies. If you let that stuff sit even for an hour, it's like concrete - especially in really cold temps. My advice would be to try and time it as best you could to leave the bottom of the driveway untouched until the plows roll through, so you only have to shovel it once - and do it quickly. Or, make friends with a retired guy on your block with a shiny new snowblower and he'll bail you out a time or two!

yep...but it's the home team doing the curb-stomping to a team that doesn't look interested in being there. no TJ Watt means they had no shot

Sucks for Kingsley because that probably costs him most all of the 2024 season, too. He's a solid rotational OLB.

Going to be a quiet dance floor, no doubt!

It makes too much sense for Frisco to be the Saturday night game since that will be the only playoff game played on the west coast regardless of what happens the rest of the 1st round. I would think any noon start would be on sunday with an east coast team - Baltimore?

Defense played great today, too when it was still sort of a game. Letting off the gas to the extent they did was more about trying to skate through the end of the game without more injuries after jaire went down again than anything, IMO. Team took foot off gas too early, but when you're up 30+ with a couple mins left I'd rather they do it this way than keep starters in playing like the game was tied and see a key player get injured that impacts next week.

So, Dallas laid a complete egg defensively....but at what point does the rest of the NFL start freaking out about what is brewing in GB?

I tend to disagree, as I think the Texans were viewed by most as being the bigger trainwreck of a franchise devoid of talent headed into the 2023 draft and were projected to win in the 5-6 game range by many preseason prognosticators while Carolina was in that 6-8 win range. I'm not saying the Panthers underperformed based on their own respective talent level...but I think had they picked Stroud instead of Young they'd be in much better shape, because I thought Stroud was going to be a better NFL quarterback than Young. Stroud has actually far exceeded my expectations in year 1, as I wasn't sure how much of what he did at OSU was due to the fact he was throwing to a bunch of 1st round WRs....but with that said headed into the draft I liked him alot better than Young. Stroud just looks like an NFL quarterback, and Young looks like he's got a long ways to go even with better receiver talent around him to turn into a quality NFL quarterback, and the concerns over his size and arm talent are going to hound him.

460M does not equal 700M. Yelichs contract extension that has small deferred payments is still reported as the total amount he is eventually getting paid, so just because Ohtani is getting almost all of his actual dollars paid out to him after the playing years of the contract are over with doesn't mean he would have signed a $470m deal that pays him all upfront instead..he is still going to make $700m on this contract. One question that just popped into my head - will Ohtani's contract count $24m against the dodgers' luxury tax accounting payroll during each of his deferred years? If not, it's total garbage.

Panther fans have got to be crying watching this....they picked the wrong guy and gave up drafting 1 overall this next year on top of it