Strafford

Can't believe I forgot my tips...doh Not many games left to choose from, but here goes. Seahawks Panthers Cowboys

Isn't it just. I'm already second guessing myself...

Bad news for those searching for a QB in the upcoming draft, with Mariota deciding to finish his degree. Due to injuries and a loss of form by a few guys this QB class isn't looking quite as strong anymore. Johnny "Football" Manziel is the fascinating one. To me he is the classic boom or bust guy. He just continues to make plays, but and there are a number of buts. He isn't very big, although he does have the big hands you would prefer your QB to have. Due to his style of play, will he get smashed in the NFL? He is a party boy and he will attract a media circus, much the same as Tebow did/does, but for different reasons. A lot of his success actually comes from broken plays, so does he have the discipline to knuckle down and live and breathe a playbook? That is the beauty of Wilson who is a smaller QB, he just works so hard in the film room and also has a better arm. Manziel comes from a fairly rich family and has been very good at any sport he has tried his hand at, things have been pretty easy for him. Will he cope with the hardships the NFL will throw at him? He probably also needs a system that uses the read option a bit. I think someone like a Chip Kelly would give him his best chance to succeed. Having said all that. He can play and some of the greatest players in sport have had their heads so far up their proverbial that they honestly believed that their own, expletive deleted, didn't stink. Sometimes that cast iron, even slightly delusional belief in your own abilities can work for some guys.

The same things to be true when week 17 is completed. Until then I will do my best chicken little impersonation.

Ha...as if being a Jets fan wasn't bad enough, then you sit next to this guy

The pressure. I'm not sure I can cope....eeeek

Sorry Jack, I'm with Gorgoroth...the Niners are evil.

The Seahawks are the one team that I have seen that I just can't see the Bengals beating. I'm not suggesting Seattle are unbeatable, as other teams are a better matchup than Cinncy, but man they are pretty good, especially at home. The top teams in the NFC seem to be a bit better balanced than those in the AFC, who at this stage have major flaws.

Although he did give a detailed explanation post game, it could be as simple as under the stress of the moment he went back to what he was used to calling in Canada. They play three downs, rather than the four that the NFL do, so in that situation in Canada you would call on the field goal unit. They will be tough decisions. If the Bears are considering a scheme change on defence, now is probably the time if you are having a changing of the guard. Although any scheme change is always fraught with danger, because some guys are just more suited to one or another of the main schemes.

We aren't playing playing well enough to think of anything but one week at a time Hopefully Gates having a fumble and being intercepted,will discourage what I think is our major weakness in pass coverage. That is tightends over the middle. Our linebackers just aren't great in pass coverage and you can't always get your dime and nickel packages on to the field.

The Bears coach has made some strange calls this season. Still a good win for your guys

Short answer...no. Not unless Andy really picks it up. He has only had two games this season where he hasn't thrown an interception. Even when he was hot and won the AFC offensive player of the month he still threw picks in all but one of those games. At some stage a good team is going to exploit the weakness in our pass coverage and Andy isn't playing well enough at the moment to pass us to a win. Unfortunately with Andy right now we are losing because of him and winning despite him. Our likely matchups, if we make the playoffs, (still not a certainty) all have decent defences, and a good secondary will eat him alive. He struggled, especially early today, against a poor chargers secondary. Just on the touchdown, I'm not sure it was lucky as such, although it did end up a very easy throw. It was a nicely designed play that totally confused the Chargers, which was made possible by how well we were running the ball, ss they still had to cover that possibility. You really don't want a linebacker covering AJ, but they all bit on Greshams route anyway, which led to the easy touchdown.

Hee hee... I couldn't resist and was constantly checking scores, work may have suffered I have also ruined any suspense when I sit down to watch the Bengals game later. I must say I wasn't conflicted with the Patriots, Texans game...for me Texans all the way, unfortunately didn't happen. Big win for the Bengals, but looking at the stats Andy struggled again and it sounds like he had another really bad interception. Another season ending injury for us, this time offensive line...sigh, but happy about the win.

Patriots Bengals Broncos

Funnily enough in all four of our losses this season we have targeted AJ between 13 or 19 times. Generally if we throw it his way under ten times and share the love between our receivers we win. The teams completion percentage to the other receivers as a whole, is actually much higher than it is to AJ. Distorting this a bit is that AJ is generally the target of Andy's longer throws, which he struggles with, but being so AJ centric certainly hurts us. AJ is a bit different to most of the tall receivers, as he relies on speed and agility a bit more than others and lacks a bit of strength, Megatron probably has 15 kg's on him. Thus db's can knock him off his routes a little easier. This season there is a fair bit of similarity to the interceptions thrown his way. Generally they have been about ten yard throws down the sideline. Laying blame is the tricky bit, because is it because AJ zigged when he should have zagged? There seems to be a bit of miscommunication going on, because these are generally timing routes where the QB is throwing to a spot expecting the receiver to be there. As half the Bengals fanbase has already decided that Andy sucks and most of the others, like me, are on the fence we tend to blame Andy as a default position. As a fan I just want someone to blame...none of this ambiguity

Poor Christian. Andy is starting to become like that for us, with AJ Green being the golden child and over half of Dalton's interceptions coming when throwing to AJ...who are we going to blame?

Ha... Yep the like button has encouraged a certain slackness, rather than actually replying to posts. I know I have been guilty of using the like button in that way.

That is the beauty of having someone else's draft picks, it isn't either or. You actually can have your cake and eat it too

Could have been a lot worse mate, as it didn't look good for them during the game. I think we have half a dozen on the defensive side gone for the season now. Our offence should hang their collective heads in shame and just look at what the defence has done despite all the injuries.

What....splutters to oneself Draft pick man, draft pick. Don't you guys have the skins first rounder for the next draft? I would have thought that you would have a number of voodoo dolls dressed up in Washington Redskins uniforms stuck with as many pins as possible.

I think that one of the injuries isn't too bad mate, so hopefully they aren't out for too long. It is tough to adjust to key injuries during a game mate, but hopefully with a bit of time to prepare your defence can adjust for upcoming games. With my Bengals we have a number of injuries on defence, including our best two players, yet are still ticking along. Our problems are on offence, which has been relatively injury free, no excuses for them.

Don't forget the Skins are imploding mate. Another positive

Very tricksy Dave.

Saints Panthers Niners.

Sometimes you watch Brees and you just go to yourself, how did he do that? With Brady, Rodgers and Peyton, one of the four truly elite QB's of the NFL.