We’re home from our off-the-grid woodsy retreat and once again ensconced in the comforts of modernity, including restroom facilities with hot and cold running water, dog be praised.
Football is kind of dead to me since the abominable experience I had last night: I emerged from the forest to gratefully sink into a divan with a cold beverage, rest my tired feet and scratch chiggers bites while watching the crappy Gators, who failed to produce a single offensive point (the only score was a safety) against the detestable ‘Noles.
So fuck that shit. But here are my crappy picks:
Probably missed kickoff, but it’s not like there’s money riding on this — just my reputation as someone who makes crappy picks. Open thread!
Corner Stone
TD Texans on opening sustained drive!
Corner Stone
Needless to say, I hope you are trying your patented reverse-reverse jinx on the Bucs v Colts pick. Still detest their QB Geordy but in self interest needs, have to have a Colts loss.
MattF
Interesting NYT article about ridiculous drug patents. Here’s a teaser:
Corner Stone
And I have to say, that guy doing the Match.com commercials continues to be a creepy AF bully.
redshirt
So the Pats are gonna win, Betty?
Amir Khalid
My football following for the week is over, having come to a satisfactory conclusion. After away wins in consecutive weeks over the English Premier League champions of 2013/14 and then of 2014/15, Liverpool come down to Earth a bit against Swansea and scrape a 1-0 win at home. No matter; three points is three points.
2liberal
Pats are gonna win, maybe. With a beat up OL and WR corps facing a very strong pass rushing defense in that thin polluted air. Ugh.
Steeplejack (tablet)
@Corner Stone:
Currently raging about the VW “Can the test drive be over?” ads. Anyone who has ever worked retail will be driven to homicidal fantasies.
WereBear
There are some things I REALLY don’t miss about the South :).
Germy
@Steeplejack (tablet): I’ve worked retail, and the ads enrage me. I know they’re supposed to be comedic, but it just comes off as infuriating.
The nissan ads are really pissing me off. The commercials glorify and justify aggressive, reckless driving. Father races son’s schoolbus to school. Woman challenges husband to race home. Father (with backseat full of kids) goes off the road and drives on the side of a mountain. Screeching tires, aggressive passing
We’ve got enough assholes on the road. Speeders, tailgaters, road-ragers. They see these commercials and internalize them.
Corner Stone
@Steeplejack (tablet): “What, you don’t want to meet my family?”
Corner Stone
MHP had the author of the book “The Jemima Code” on for a bit this AM. The idea is fascinating to me, but after reading a few reviews I am wondering if anyone at BJ has any insight into the book?
“To discover the true role of black women in the creation of American, and especially southern, cuisine, Toni Tipton-Martin has spent years amassing one of the world’s largest private collections of cookbooks published by African American authors, looking for evidence of their impact on American food, families, and communities and for ways we might use that knowledge to inspire community wellness of every kind.”
redshirt
@2liberal: I’m a big Pats fan but I doubt they can win. Not overwhelming odds against, but still. My prediction: Denver 20, Pats 17
There’s just too many injuries for the Pats to overcome the best defense in the league, at home.
Corner Stone
GD IT! I said, outloud, three times, “Throw it away, Hoyer.” Sonofa…
JPL
Wow.. GA parted ways with Richt… Who will lead the team prayer?
max
7-4 last week.
Chiefs over Bills. Dolphins over Jets. Vikings over Falcons. Texans over Saints. Washington over Giants. Fuck it: Raiders over Titans. Jacksonville over Chargers. Bengals over Rams. Bucs over Colts. Cards over 49’ers. Steelers over Seahawks. Pats over Broncos (if the Bills couldn’t get it done, the Broncos won’t either). Browns over Ravens.
max
[‘Boomer Sooner.’]
Betty Cracker
@redshirt: Nope. This time they lose to a clearly inferior team. Future metaphysical historians will conclude that the loss was due to karmic blowback inadvertently triggered by tipsy Pats fans on an obscure online politics and pets forum who prematurely danced on Peyton Manning’s grave.
JPL
@Betty Cracker: haha..
The team might lose because they lost another wide receiver?
PurpleGirl
@Germy: The auto ad that’s making me see red these days is the RAM truck ad which is a co-ad for the Hunger Games movie “Mockingjay II”. I don’t like the intro about backing a leader who is successful, or something like that. It grates on me.
Otherwise, I’m watching a TV show “The Curse of Tutanhkamun.” It has a good number of scenes at and references to Highclere Castle but no mention has been made that the Castle has been used as the location for Downton Abby. Two long-time passions of mine are Stonehenge and Ancient Egypt. I’ll watch and rewatch anything I can about them.
different-church-lady
@2liberal: Add in 1 to 3 inches of snow, and who the heck knows on this one?
Thing to watch for: while we were paying attention to the spate of offensive injuries, the Pats defense started to click in a serious way. In a bad-weather game that could be a defining factor.
JPL
@Betty Cracker: What do you think about Richt getting fired? What will the raven say?
redshirt
@different-church-lady: The Pat’s D is seriously underrated, and The Dark Lord has a documented history of owning rookie QB’s. That said, it’s in Denver and the Broncos have a solid run game and a stifling, opportunistic defense. They should be able to pressure Brady too. I want the Pats to win, of course, but I think they take their first loss.
Not that big of a deal since they should be able to win out and finish 15-1 with 1st round bye and home field throughout the playoffs.
redshirt
@Betty Cracker:
LOL.
Peyton’s dead, Betty. RIP pinkhead. May you live long in commercials till the end of time.
? Martin
@different-church-lady: The question is really – can the Pats pretty good defense hold off Denver without Peyton more than Denver’s very good defense hold off Brady without much to pass to? I think Pats still have an edge, but it’s a pretty thin one. Gronk isn’t going to lack of people to talk to out on the field, though.
? Martin
@redshirt: I agree. Manning is done.
redshirt
@? Martin: Denver is a far better team with Osweiller than Manning. Peyton’s contributed like 33% of the points against Denver due to pick 6’s. He was statistically one of the worst QB’s in the league. If Osweiller does nothing else but not turn the ball over, he’s an upgrade over Pey-Pey.
p.a.
@PurpleGirl: Remember the Hummer commercials using The Who’s Happy Jack? A vehicle named Hummer using a song about masturbation. I can envision the ad execs sitting around (think more Bewitched than Mad Men) joking “You think this will get by them?”
p.a.
@redshirt: If Brady survives. Too many more weeks like last week… AND the Broncos are just the type of D that’s able to hit him as much as Flubalo did. Fortunate DeWare is out.
Amir Khalid
More football-related news: The BBC reports that Russian football clubs are now forbidden to sign Turkish players in the coming January transfer window, by order of the sports ministry. Russian FCs have also been told to cancel any plans for winter training camp in Turkey. Yes, this is because of the Russian fighter plane that Turkey shot down. That’ll show’em!
But Turkish footballers already playing for Russian clubs can stay, Russian track and field athletes can still compete in Turkey, and Turkish companies now building football stadiums in Russia for the 2018 World Cup can keep building.
Germy
Andy Peebles is talking!
Germy
@p.a.: Bewitched was the original Mad Men
opiejeanne
Dying laughing at the Raiders’ game of Hot Potato just before the half.
rikyrah
Alycee @jazziz2
Top Ten differences between White Terrorists and Others http://www.juancole.com/2015/11/differences-between-terrorists.html …
12:55 PM – 29 Nov 2015
Corner Stone
Got him! JJ Schwatt!!
shell
@PurpleGirl: Yeah, that car ad is just plain bizarre.. Considering the time of year, at least they didn’t add a big red bow on top.
Betty Cracker
@JPL: Interested to hear Raven’s take. I don’t know what to think. Seems a bit hasty, but then again, they have lots of talent that hasn’t been used to best advantage, that seems clear. Who will they get to replace him?
@redshirt: Manning IS done, and I was never a Manning fan. That wasn’t the point.
Corner Stone
@Betty Cracker:
As Elway seems to have a “win it all right now mentality”, I have no idea why he would have let John Fox go (who had an offensive scheme geared to Peyton), and actually hire Kubiak (who has the exact opposite O scheme you would run if you had PM as QB).
The Broncos are going to slowly devolve over the next few years. They will not be able to hold that D together with free agency.
Corner Stone
Got him! 2nd sack of the day.
FlyingToaster
@p.a.: It depends on how good the kids from the practice squad are. They certainly surprised me last week, so if they can hold it together at 5K feet up (Foxborough is at 289), they can give the Broncos a run for their money.
HerrDoktor turned off the TV when the Jets picked from his ‘Fins. He’s snoring now.
Go Chiefs!
Felixmoronia
Betty Betty Betty, no. Brady goes to Denver and gives the “tall kid” a QB master-class. End of story.
Mnemosyne (tablet)
@Steeplejack (tablet):
Don’t be mad, but the one that ends with “Don’t you want to meet my family?” makes me laugh every time. Partly because G will do that little drumming thing when he’s frustrated but knows he can’t argue.
The car ads I found really creepy were (I think) for Toyota where you had a group of old ladies sexually harassing the sales guy. Not okay regardless of everyone’s respective ages.
Davebo
I’m torn because I love New Orleans but damn, they really do suck.
Mnemosyne (tablet)
Also, for the knitters, I’m making this DK-weight silk scarf out of bulky superwash wool. ‘Cause that’s just how I roll.
(It’s turning out really awesome, if I do say so myself. I just wish my carpal tunnels would stop flaring up.)
Steeplejack (tablet)
@Mnemosyne (tablet):
Yeah, the old ladies were awful too.
I’m still hoping for someone to punch that GEICO Peter Pan kid in the neck.
rikyrah
MALIA AND SASHA OBAMA AT THE TURKEY PARDONING IS THE BLACKEST THING THAT EVER HAPPENED THIS WEEK
Damon Young, 11/27/15
The youngest person at my family’s Thanksgiving dinner yesterday was my niece. She is the youngest child of my wife’s sister, and favors her (my wife) so much that people assume they’re mother and daughter when they’re out together. She is also either nine or 10 years old (I forget which), which means for as long as she can remember, the President of the United States of America has been Black.
While I’m sure she has enough wherewithal and enough of an understanding of history to know exactly how historically abnormal this is, this is all that she has experienced. There’s nothing revolutionary or shocking or mesmerizing to her about seeing the Black president’s Black daughters laugh at his corny jokes during the annual turkey pardoning. This is her normal. Me explaining to her why this is such a big deal is like, I don’t know, a great-grandparent explaining the difference in taste and texture of backyard well water and sink water to me.
………………………
Equally insane is how, to them, the experience of watching little Black girls named Malia and Sasha grow up in the White House — something that has been both the most delightful and even arguably the most radical part of the Obama presidency — is equally mundane. Old hat. All a little Black girl like my niece has known is little Black girls on the White House lawn with their mom and dad. And those little Black girls growing into less little Black teens. There are undoubtedly thousands of little Black girls taking their fashion cues today from what Malia and Sasha were wearing Wednesday. And thousands of little Black boys getting teased by their parents for blushing whenever either Malia and Sasha are on screen, the same way my parents would tease me about Rudy Huxtable and Ashley Banks. And the value of this — of these revolutionary existences existing as mundanities, as literally all that little Black kids like my niece have seen and known — can not be measured.
http://verysmartbrothas.com/malia-and-sasha-obama-at-the-turkey-pardoning-is-the-blackest-thing-that-ever-happened-this-week/
Mike J
@Davebo: Your love for them shouldn’t influence your prediction of the outcome and their suckitude shouldn’t influence who you cheer for.
BlueDWarrior
@Davebo: Brees looks fatigued, despite coming off a bye week, the Texans defense is T5 against the pass, and the Saints defense has structual issues beyond the Def. Coordinator.
It’s basically 2012 all over again for NOLA…
Corner Stone
C’mon you freakin’ lousy ass Bucs!
Corner Stone
BARBARA! HONK HONK!! WE WON!!
Gator90
I think Georgia made a big mistake in dismissing an established, successful head coach. Those don’t grow on trees. Makes about as much sense as Tennessee getting rid of Phil Fulmer, which I imagine UT has long regretted.
The Gators may be the worst 10-win team in the history of college football. But is that better than being the best 9-win team? (It’s definitely better than being whatever the Dolphins may fairly be described as…)
Mnemosyne (tablet)
@Steeplejack (tablet):
I suppose you can sort of defend the VW ads by saying that they’re clearly going to buy the car since they love it so much, so the guy’s time isn’t totally wasted. But, yes, some of them edge into you must cater to my every whim, retail slave!
Corner Stone
“Mr. LaForge, I am going to need more from the warp drive, now!”
/Capt Picard
BlueDWarrior
@Gator90: LSU almost got rid of their established, averaging-10-wins-a-season coach themselves. When you have a Saban in your league, it will make you do crazy things trying to beat him from a coaching standpoint.
Corner Stone
Freaking LameAss Winston.
redshirt
@Corner Stone: You must be so proud.
Betty Cracker
@Steeplejack (tablet): Gyad, yes, that annoying Peter Pan! I keep hoping someone will drown him in the chocolate fountain.
@BlueDWarrior: Glad LSU kept Miles — it was nuts to consider getting rid of him. Getting rid of Richt is less obviously dumb, but yeah, like you said, established coaches don’t grow on trees. Will they get someone better?
Corner Stone
@Betty Cracker:
Area real estate agents report a significant drop in calls from interested property buyers located in the PHI area code.
p.a.
KC & Alex ‘Anything Over 21 Pts is an EXCELLENT Day*’ Smith put 30 on Sexy Rexy. KC ball 2mins left.
Wash over Gints. WTF Eli/Coughlin!? Wash leads NFC East.
* esp if it’s not via 7 field goals.
Steeplejack (phone)
@Mnemosyne (tablet):
They just take the “chained to the job” thing way too far. The guy can’t even get mad and walk out, because he’s apparently stuck at the Huxtables’ Christmas party. Or, even worse, in the other ad, deliberately abandoned in the snowy woods.
Ha-ha. Yes, I’d love to buy a goddamn Volkswagen, thank you very much.
Phylllis
@Gator90: Yep. And it’s taken the Vols how many years to come out of the wilderness since 86-ing Fulmer for no good reason that I could determine.
p.a.
@p.a.: Ahh… Evil Eli day: 2TD, 3 Int. Why can’t the fucker have a day like that in the SuperBowl.
redshirt
As usual, can someone tell Corner Stone he’s a loser for me? Thanks.
Tissue Thin Pseudonym
I’m back at work. Again. Seven hours after finishing a 12 hour shift. Oh, and a third guard just quit with no notice, so who knows when the fuck I’ll stop working. I’m not cancelling my trip to Madison next weekend, no matter how badly they need me.
On a brighter note, I just got a positive review back of Becoming Phoebe from the established author I asked for an endorsement.
Corner Stone
And Atlanta does it again. I am completely confused at what to expect from the Falcons this season. Are they a bad-good team? Over achievers? Placeholders?
Who knows.
Gator90
@BlueDWarrior: Folks need to realize that whoever they might hire is very unlikely to equal Saban, whose only peer (in my opinion) is at Ohio State. The best an SEC fan can reasonably hope for is a consistent winner like Richt or Miles.
I wonder if Richt, who played at Miami, will now return there. UM could do a lot worse.
Schlemazel
@Tissue Thin Pseudonym:
GOOD NEWS!
We discussed the book at the post game feed Saturday & I think I have sold a couple more copies for you.
Schlemazel
@Corner Stone:
They gave the game away to a pretty lame Vikings team, their faces should be as red as their uniforms. I assum they are just not very good but who knows
redshirt
@Tissue Thin Pseudonym: What kind of guard work do you do?
Corner Stone
“Will no one rid me of these meddlesome Colts?”
johnnybuck
@Gator90: It most certainly was a mistake. There is the idea that defensive coordinator Kirby Smart of Alabama will take his place and that will fix everything…
losing to Florida the past two years (actually, not losing as much as not competing in the games) and thus losing the SEC east was, I suppose, the final straw. He is a good man, and I’m sure there are many schools that would love to have 10 win seasons and high character, clean programs, so he’ll be fine. As for Georgia? We’ll see.
FlyingToaster
Betty’s batting about as well as flipping a coin, now. Which is pretty much how I feel about the NFL, these days.
Corner Stone
Made a couple jars of fridge pickles yesterday. Loaded with peppercorns, dill, garlic, hot peppers and cucumber wedges. Can’t wait to see how that turns out. Probably going to make a version of kimchi this week and some home made mustard.
redshirt
@Corner Stone: Who are you talking to? The many people you have pied?
FlipYrWhig
I fee like everyone sucks this year.
scav
Travelling to Thanksgiving, I somehow ended up in an ‘L carriage where every available inch of the interior space had been covered with a mosaic of advertising for a brand of jeans. Was about as sophisticated and persuasive as a troll in a thread POSTING EVERY OTHER COMMENT IN ALL CAPS.
Corner Stone
@FlipYrWhig: Parity, baby! Smell the excitement!
Tissue Thin Pseudonym
@redshirt: At my main account, which I really like, I sit in an office and monitor alarms from around Minnesota and North Dakota. I deal with them as they come up, and most of the time it’s something innocuous and all I really need to do is document what happened and my response. (We’ve got an facility just north of Duluth that is sending out phantom motion alarms every time the wind picks up, which is getting really annoying.) There are two locations that connect directly to the national energy grid and the DOE audits every alarm that takes place in them and will issues tens of thousands of dollars in fines if we screw up the response or documentation, even if the underlying alarm was not a threat.
The place I’ve been putting in all the extra hours is at a facility where the client is a disaster. Among other things, they recently took away our ability to rewind the video from the security cameras, so if we think we see something suspicious, we have no way to go back and check it. My relief has been more than an hour late twice in the last ten days. And, unlike my usual post, I can’t use my laptop here and I’m not supposed to be using the computer to surf the internet, like I’m doing right now. But, hey, what’s the worst that could happen? They could refuse to schedule me here anymore.
FlipYrWhig
@Corner Stone: it doesn’t seem mathematically possible for all 32 teams to be 5-6 and yet…
WaterGirl
@Tissue Thin Pseudonym: “On a brighter note, I just got a positive review back of Becoming Phoebe from the established author I asked for an endorsement.”
That is truly great news! Do you ever pinch yourself to make sure it’s all real?
redshirt
@Tissue Thin Pseudonym: What’s the business you’re securing?
Tissue Thin Pseudonym
@Schlemazel: Thanks. This is the full review I got:
Davebo
@redshirt: This has just gotten embarrassing. Seriously, you need to move on.
Tissue Thin Pseudonym
@redshirt: The one I like is Great River Energy, which is a regional electricity co-op. I’ll decline to name the place that’s a shit hole.
WaterGirl
@scav: “Was about as sophisticated and persuasive as a troll in a thread POSTING EVERY OTHER COMMENT IN ALL CAPS.”
That’s how I am beginning to feel about all the Star Wars advertisements everywhere for everything. Too much is too much. And I am a Star Wars fan who is looking forward to seeing the movie.
The very first Star Wars movie was a big deal here, in a special theater, and it was my first date with an old boyfriend. I wonder if his wife would mind if I called him up and talked about the new Star Wars movie and the nice memory?
Mnemosyne (tablet)
@Tissue Thin Pseudonym:
Check your state labor laws. Some states (like California) have a minimum amount of rest time required between shifts. IIRC, out here it’s 8 or 10 hours.
Corner Stone
@FlipYrWhig: It doesn’t seem that way, but arguably the NFC Norse is the strongest division right now with MIN at 8-3 and GB at 7-4.
Other “competitive” divisions are tied at 5-6 or 6-5 between the top two teams.
Davebo
@WaterGirl: It took two years for the original Star Wars movie to come to the tiny theater in my home town but I remember how excited I was to see it.
(Our theatre still had “self segregated” seating with a balcony for African Americans. I watched Star Wars from the balcony much to the dismay of some of my friends.)
redshirt
Right Livelihood is important.
Corner Stone
{announcer voice}
CSI: Cyber! Don’t miss a new episode tonight after The Good Wife!
{end}
Eh, no thank you, CBS. No thank you.
WaterGirl
@Tissue Thin Pseudonym: Nice!
I have to confess to not keeping up with my email these past few months, so this may be in some update from you… but I can’t recall whether I contributed at a level where I will get a hard copy of the book or just the ebook. (Will I be able to read the ebook in iBooks?)
Also, I have a niece who just turned 13 – would that be a good age for this book, or too young? She likes hockey but she plays soccer pretty seriously, if that helps in your answer.
redshirt
@Tissue Thin Pseudonym: Cool. I hope you get more money from the employer you have over a barrel.
Davebo
@redshirt: May I mombo dogface to the banana patch?
redshirt
@Davebo: Have you passed on my message to internet bully Corner Stone?
Davebo
@redshirt: Find another 8th grader to pass notes to.
redshirt
@Davebo: LOL. A Corner Stone defender. Noted.
Tissue Thin Pseudonym
@WaterGirl: I have you at the level of an ebook and mention in the acknowledgements. I plan to make it available in as many ebook formats as possible, but I have no idea what it’s like to work with the iBooks platform; Apple has a reputation for making things more difficult than they need to be, but I guess I’ll find out.
Thirteen might be a bit young, though that certainly won’t be true for all 13-year olds. My advice would be to read it yourself first.
WaterGirl
@Davebo: Wow, segregated seating in 1977. I started college in 1972 and there were self-segregating lounges in the dorm. The white lounge was filled with people being all quiet and whisper-y, how the hell was a person to study in there? So I hung out in black lounge where they played music and people were more rowdy. Now that’s an environment I can study in!
Davebo
@redshirt: I’m not defending anyone. I just don’t want to get into your little shitstorm.
WaterGirl
@Corner Stone: I can’t believe CSI:Cyber is still on! I was good for an episode and a half, I believe, and then I had to bail. Truly awful and mock worthy. How does that stay on the air and good shows get cancelled???
redshirt
@Davebo: Then don’t defend the shirtbird Corner Stone.
Can someone tell Corner Stone I called him a “shitbird”? TIA.
Davebo
@WaterGirl:
It wasn’t something that was enforced. It just seemed to work out that way.
Davebo
@redshirt: I haven’t defended anyone.
And seriously, get a life.
Corner Stone
@WaterGirl: I love PatArq but just the promo bits were so cringe worthy.
“I work the dark net.”
Oooookkkayyy then.
***Shutters***
redshirt
@Davebo: Sure thing. Don’t mess with Texas, etc….
WaterGirl
@Davebo: Yeah, the black lounge / white lounge wasn’t enforced either, but I think I might have been the only crossover. I still live in the same town, I think I’ll stop by that dorm one of these days and see if the two lounges are mostly segregated.
WaterGirl
@Corner Stone: She is truly awful. Laughing about shutters. Makes me think of the olden days on balloon juice.
opiejeanne
@Tissue Thin Pseudonym: I’d like to buy a copy. Is it already released?
Tissue Thin Pseudonym
@opiejeanne: Not yet. We were targeting Dec 28 as the date for sending it to press, but I wanted a Kirkus review to possibly have a blurb on the cover, and the due date for them getting it back to me is Jan 4. So, throw on a bit of time to finalize the cover, it should go to press by the second week of January, and then available for purchase shortly thereafter. I’ll make sure to let people know when it happens.
Heliopause
For those of you wondering what’s wrong with the Legion of Boom, the answer is nothing. Even Ryan Leaf could complete passes against anybody if he had 8-10 seconds of clean pocket on every dropback.
opiejeanne
@redshirt: There’s been a pie-ing by CS?
redshirt
@opiejeanne: Noted hated troll Corner Stone has at least 33% of the members of this site on Cleek’s pie. Maybe more.
It’s ironic, is it not?
Omnes Omnibus
@opiejeanne: redshirt rather obsessively insists that it is so.
Omnes Omnibus
@redshirt: You are deranged.
redshirt
@Omnes Omnibus: How so?
Omnes Omnibus
@redshirt: The obsession with CS and how many people he may or may not have pied. Nutso.
redshirt
@Omnes Omnibus: Perhaps.
Heliopause
Here is my Slatey take on Jimmy Graham getting injured, probably for the year from the looks of it; this will help Russell Wilson because it forces him to look at other options.
redshirt
@Omnes Omnibus: Does he have you pied? I bet he does.
Corner Stone
@Heliopause:
He was already looking at every option other than JG. But, you’re right, that is a true Slatey take on that hot mess.
No idea why they wanted JG on the Seahawks. He doesn’t excel at anything they need a TE to do.
redshirt
@Corner Stone: See how he has no idea what anyone is talking about?
Mnemosyne (tablet)
@redshirt:
Just pie him in return. The site was 1000% improved for me once I did that.
Mike J
Gov Inslee needs to get some agricultural subsidies, because the Seahawks are in a barn burner.
Heliopause
@Corner Stone:
One of the few weaknesses was a lack of a consistent downfield receiving threat. Graham was doing a reasonably good job of providing that, now he’s hurt.
The team downfalls this year have been elsewhere for the most part.
Corner Stone
@Heliopause: He was brought on to block for red zone run plays (NOPE) and be a receiving threat inside 10 yards of the goal line (YEP if targeted). He had an avg of 12 yds per catch, with 3 games of catches of 30 yds or more. He was not a deep threat for SEA. Or much of a threat in any situation.
Steeplejack (phone)
@Corner Stone:
I haven’t looked back since about episode 3. Ugh.
Suezboo
Why did no one tell me my beloved Packers lost to the Bears on Friday night? This is dreadful news. I had convinced myself they were invincible and were going to win the Super Bowl. Now I’m no longer so sure; my faith is undermined.
different-church-lady
This is already looking like a loooooooooong night for Denver…
Heliopause
@Corner Stone:
He was brought in to be a consistent downfield threat, I don’t see how that’s an even arguable statement. You can argue whether he was providing it; 48 receptions for a 12.6 avg through 11 games is a downfield threat by Seahawk standards, I would say, but YMMV.
Corner Stone
@Heliopause: His career stats don’t really MV but I guess we can disagree on what SEA expected out of him.
With 2 TD in 11 games, whatever they expected, they most likely were not getting. For whatever reason.
redshirt
@Mnemosyne (tablet):
I don’t think anyone should pie anyone on a discussion board. Isn’t the entire point of a discussion board to discuss?
opiejeanne
@Tissue Thin Pseudonym: Thanks. I’m hit or miss here recently, although I can tell I need to spend more time here than on Facebook for the sake of my sanity. I will keep a lookout for it.
redshirt
Well, I didn’t think the Pats would do this well so far.
Heliopause
@Corner Stone:
Projected to 16 games his numbers would be comparable to the best year a WR has put up in the Russell Wilson era.
opiejeanne
@Omnes Omnibus: I am a bit surprised by his insistence. I must have forgotten who was doing battle with CS as well as missing some largish event a couple of weeks ago that someone (Redshirt?) mentored, insisting CS was banned.
Corner Stone
@Heliopause:
Ok, I have to admit. I have no idea what you’re arguing WRT JG any longer. Was he a deep threat? A red zone threat? A scoring threat?
Any of these things for SEA? Because projecting out 12 yds a catch and 2 TDs through 11 games, and then saying that’s the best offensive WR/TE weapon SEA can do under RW. That may be a true statement, I honestly do not know. But compared to JG in a wide open offense?
And that was my kind of argument. Why did they bring JG in to SEA? They clearly had no plan to unleash him, to capture his offensive outbursts and scoring. He has 2 TDs in 11 games. I have almost caught up to his level of output.
Heliopause
@Corner Stone:
How about the words I used, is that simple enough?
“consistent downfield threat.”
Basically, there are only about three reasons you might acquire a TE.
1. To block and catch the odd pass or two. Obviously not why they acquired Graham.
2. To catch 50-100 five yard hitch patterns. Since there are about 50 TEs in the NFL capable of doing that, including several already on the Seahawks’ roster, again, obviously not why they acquired him.
3. To make some plays downfield. That’s why they brought him in. Inarguably.
Regarding point 3, was he accomplishing as much? You wondered this up at 124 above. I pointed out that his numbers were comparable to what any receiver has done for the Seahawks for many years. Whether that amounts to a “consistent downfield threat” is a matter of interpretation, I suppose.
When was that even a question? You asked why the Seahawks acquired him, and I told you why.
[sigh] Once again, they most certainly did “unleash him” by Seahawk standards. He was on a pace for the most receptions by a TE in Seahawk history, by a mile. His pace would have been the most receptions, period, by any Seahawk in the Carroll era, except Doug Baldwin is now ahead of that pace thanks to his big game today.
That Graham didn’t live up to your personal expectations is a shame, but irrelevant to the original question.
Corner Stone
@Heliopause: Come the fuck on, friend. Jimmy Graham is a special exemplar of the TE/ersatz WR.
The SEA had no reasonable expectation nor plan to bring his talents to South Beach…err WAS.
You are answering an argument that makes no sense. He simply has no business being there. Answer Rodney Harrison’s critique tonight if you can. You can’t. There is simply no reason JG is on this team. Period.
different-church-lady
Well, at least that’s one for Betty.
Betty Cracker
Did y’all see Belichick’s post-game press conference? Christ on a crumpet.