Fear The Chorizo

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

I think the competitive balance luxury tax rules need to be re-evaluated. Specifically, the accounting side of what % of deferred contract values get counted against yearly payroll amounts that figure into what a team's luxury tax amount is during the years players with those deferred contract payments are actually on the field. With the current economic advantage that the Dodgers have over everyone else with their massive TV deal AND the accounting rules for the luxury tax, they can readily absorb deferred contract amounts and bounce back and forth around the luxury tax penalty while outbidding everyone else for players they either want to bring into the organization or retain in the organization. If Ohtani's ~$70M AAV for a 10-year playing contract would factor into the teams' competitive balance payroll for each of those 10 seasons instead of the ~$40M or so amount, they wouldn't be able to ever get their actual team payroll below those luxury tax thresholds and reset their penalty without completely gutting the rest of their MLB team a few years from now. The current luxury tax system is being skirted by the Dodgers due to their massive TV contract allowing them to essentially shift what their penalty would be to the league each of these next 10 years into deferrals to premium players after they also get the benefit of having them on the field now while other teams can't afford to even think about similar setups. So, still a luxury tax, but not one that actually evens out "competition" at all because the team with the best financial setup isn't impacted on the field by it at all.

Perhaps the novelty of watching a game played in conditions that are inhospitable to penguins tonight will get Peacock over the hump....

There is some stuff out there on Williams' game tape that should be concerning to NFL teams at the next level - his primary flaw is being a bit out of sync and not pulling the trigger on short to intermediate routes within the design of a play, even when it's his primary read and he's looking right at a gimme completion. His natural talent and ability to make plays all over the field with his arm talent is legit - but if there's issues with making reads within the framework of the offensive scheme in college that's a red flag to me that could limit his ceiling at the pro level.

yes

Is it just me, or does it seem like arby year 2 is the most common year when prominent players and teams can't reach terms and head to arbitration?

The contract amounts for different calibers of player playing different positions at different stages in arbitration have a very accurate scale on value - when you look at the players around the league who still haven't come to terms and may still go to arbitration, even the highest potential CVs are within 1-2 million dollars for players like Vlad Jr., and oftentimes the gap is far less than that. It's why the speculated arby amounts posted every offseason around october are frequently within 10% of what the player winds up receiving. For better or worse, Woodruff's unfortunate injury and subsequent release by the Brewers instead of offering him salary arbitration freed up around $13M of their 2024 payroll budget (even if it was hypothetical assuming they wouldn't trade anyone of significance) - using some of that savings to lock in their more expensive arbitration candidates a bit over what their arby projections were isn't exactly a horrible way to manage this part of the offseason. Could any of Adames/Williams/Burnes still be dealt before Opening Day and before the Brewers have to start cutting them paychecks based on the arby numbers they agreed to? Sure. That is far from a guarantee that they Brewers have to trade them, though.

Looks like he's feeling just fine

That's great AAV for a guy the Reds can easily slide into the rotation this season 🙃 Looking forward to watching him give up a few taters to Chourio and Contreras this season!

well, if his ankle isn't borderline 100% he becomes an undersized corner with average quickness....so he'd probably be better served not suiting up. Hoping he's able to play and be a positive factor for the defense, though.

Jones in the game plan is critical, but so is Love taking most snaps under center and really working the play action game off Jones as a running threat in the passing game. Love has been dynamic off play action, particularly under center, and that action opens up more intermediate gaps in coverage if it starts from the quarterback taking the snap from under center and selling that run fake to suck the LB's in longer than what a shotgun snap/mesh point fake does. Gotta get that Dallas D line playing run gaps instead of pinning their ears back at the snap, or I think Love will be running for his life most of the game. I think the only way GB wins is if the defense finds a way to generate a couple turnovers and the offense continues to play balanced football that winds up controlling time of possession and doesn't look like 3 yards and a cloud of dust every down.