January 27th, 2022 at 11:41 AM ^
The Broncos also hired a coach
https://www.foxnews.com/sports/broncos-hire-nathaniel-hackett-head-coach
Las Vegas and Minnesota youre on the clock!
January 27th, 2022 at 11:50 AM ^
Don't worry about Vegas, man. Worry about the bloody Vikings because of their new GM.
January 27th, 2022 at 11:54 AM ^
Vikings will have their new coach once the 49ers season ends.
January 27th, 2022 at 11:08 AM ^
EBERFLUUUUUUUUUUUUS
January 27th, 2022 at 11:15 AM ^
I thought it was a typo at first. Never heard of this guy before.
Surprised they went with a no-name DC for a team that has struggled with offense for years. Anyway, good for the Lions.
January 27th, 2022 at 11:39 AM ^
I live in Indy, Colts fans are not happy about this. They love Eberflus and not so much Reich.
January 27th, 2022 at 11:44 AM ^
I am still in Reich's corner, but man this sucks. Will be interesting to see who we go after. Even though we are built for cover two, I think our front is versitile enough to mix it up a bit. Really think only Okereke might struggle if we switch styles up front.
January 27th, 2022 at 11:49 AM ^
I'm fine with Eberflus going. I think Reich is a good coach, but he definitely needs to get a better QB and a WR1.
January 27th, 2022 at 12:03 PM ^
I guess I spoke to soon for all Colts fans. But the one's I know, older folks that watch every game at the American Legion, are not Reich fans. But they also hate Wentz.
January 27th, 2022 at 12:16 PM ^
I watch all the games, even used to be a season-ticket holder (had to give those up after the second kid though). It seemed like the defense played too soft at inopportune times and get carved up because of it.
Agree on Wentz. He makes some good throws, but also makes some bafflingly bad decisions with the ball that leads to way too many turnovers. He's an OK QB, but he's not going to be the one that gets the Colts to the next level.
January 27th, 2022 at 12:49 PM ^
I'm guessing that aging veterans are reflexively opposed to the Reich.
January 27th, 2022 at 11:47 AM ^
I believe it's German for "always cleaning between teeth".
January 27th, 2022 at 12:39 PM ^
Yeah...my German dentist once commanded "You vill eberflus."
January 27th, 2022 at 11:08 AM ^
Wow! Going with a defensive guy. Wasn’t expecting that. I guess going with an offensive guy last time (Nagy) didn’t work.
Not sure how I feel about this with regards to the Bears. But for Michigan, it guess it’s good to continue filling those positions.
January 27th, 2022 at 11:09 AM ^
Way OT and not at all worth its own thread, but with Ben Roethlisberger retiring at age 39, it's worth remembering that a significant number of us witnessed his first college game: he debuted as a freshman with Miami NTM in Michigan's home opener in 2001, an otherwise forgettable 31-13 win for the good guys.
January 27th, 2022 at 11:17 AM ^
I remember sneaking out of my cousin's wedding to watch a few minutes of that game. It was right before 9/11.
January 27th, 2022 at 11:19 AM ^
Yeah. The next Saturday Michigan played at Washington and lost in gut-punch fashion. Look it up, it was really bad. But we forgot three days later, and rightly so.
January 27th, 2022 at 5:37 PM ^
Washington scored more offensive TDs in the 2021 game than they did in the 2001 game! One of those games.
January 27th, 2022 at 11:19 AM ^
didn't big ben almost beat osu? not sure what year though.
January 27th, 2022 at 12:55 PM ^
Nope. Nice try, though.
January 27th, 2022 at 2:07 PM ^
27-16 the bad guys the year before Ben arrived though. That's pretty close, I guess.
January 27th, 2022 at 11:21 AM ^
I was at that game! Very forgettable, except for a few years later I had to look it up to see if Big Ben played once he was in the league. I was confident that day that I'd be watching a longtime NFL QB playing... just expected that it'd be Henson and not the guy that I couldn't pronounce playing for the MAC team on the other side of the ball.
January 27th, 2022 at 11:28 AM ^
If Henson had stayed on the team and thus played in that game, maybe he would have been.
As it was, we got John Navarre, who wasn't ready to be the starter for a top-level Big Ten team in 2001.
January 27th, 2022 at 11:25 AM ^
I remember that game very well. The reason I remember is because our family was camping outside of Pigeon Forge TN. My brother and I were watching the game on a small black and white TV sitting outside under the awning while it was drizzling out. The rest of the family went into town.
Long story short, this was the first time I met my new sister-in-law and she walked up to us after the game and saw the score and said "At least the score is a palindrome". My brother said "she's not much of a sports fan, but she is a numbers nerd".
January 27th, 2022 at 11:32 AM ^
That’s the game where my ticket was the last seat in the student section, where the row flowed right into the non-student section. Students stood all game and the douchebag non-student (Michigan fan I might add) one seat to my right) made condescending comments about me all game because I was standing and cheering.
January 27th, 2022 at 11:43 AM ^
That was right after he told you that you were sitting in his seat.
January 27th, 2022 at 12:14 PM ^
Man what a coincidence - I vividly remember that game too. I had the last alumni section seat right before the student started. This douchebag student (Michigan student I might add) one seat to my left was drunk as a skunk, kept falling into me whenever he jumped up (which seemed like every play) and wouldnt shut up - even during long commercial breaks.
January 27th, 2022 at 11:36 AM ^
I was at that game and remember thinking, "Who is this guy? He's pretty good."
January 27th, 2022 at 11:51 AM ^
Thank you for today's installment of "damn, i'm old".
IIRC, the rumor was that he didn't go to o$u because they spelled his name wrong on his visit. A) not surprising and B) how many ways can you screw up "Ben"?
January 27th, 2022 at 2:00 PM ^
The only reason I remember this game is because I had to listen to it on the radio. Was on vacation in northern MI with my family, and couldn't find it on tv at the place I was staying. I still remember, ABC (at least up north) had Saturday morning cartoons on. Noon rolls around, and the cartoons keep playing, so I had to scramble to find it on the radio.
I always figured it was the Traverse City ABC station screwing me over and deciding to show cartoons instead of M football. On Wikipedia though it says the game was on ESPN, which makes me wonder if the place I was staying didn't get ESPN at the time, or if I just didn't realize it and could have watched it all along...
January 27th, 2022 at 10:00 PM ^
LOL ..... yeah, ABC only had 3:30 (which would have been defending National Champ Oklahoma playing AT Air Force!) and 8:00 (Miami FLA @ Penn State, and let's not talk about that game, I was at that blowout) games that day. NTM vs Michigan was on ESPN!
January 27th, 2022 at 11:11 AM ^
"Never ending pain"
- Bears fan
January 27th, 2022 at 11:33 AM ^
Say what now?
-Lions fan
January 27th, 2022 at 12:30 PM ^
Ya, as a Bears fan, I always resent you guys for ruining our draft pick, by consistently sucking just slightly more than we do. If not for beating the Lions twice last year, we could have just picked Fields with our own first round pick. Instead we had to trade up and now the Giants have our top 10 pick...
But in all seriousness, I have far less hostile feelings towards the Lions than I do the Vikings or especially the Packers (which I feel is common among Bears fans). Is that reciprocal, or do you all hate us just as much as the Vikings (Of course everyone hates the Packers the most)?
January 27th, 2022 at 1:05 PM ^
Yeah that's something I've always wondered about the NFCN:
Obviously everyone hates the Packers, but has the hate metastasized enough to overwhelm the non-Packer rivalries? Like, I'm a Browns fan - I have no particular antipathy for the Bengals, but root against Pittsburgh in all but two games - I hate the Ravens with a loathing I can't articulate; they're basically an abomination against the football gods that shouldn't even exist.
January 27th, 2022 at 1:07 PM ^
You learn to hate management, not other teams. It’s not Chicago’s fault the lions haven’t won a title since Eisenhower was in office.
The closest the lions have come to a super bowl was hosting it
January 27th, 2022 at 1:59 PM ^
Nobody ruined the bears drafts but the GMS and people who have run it. Remember when the bears moved up one draft pick and wasted other draft picks to get Mitch, over watson and Maholmes. That was awesome
January 27th, 2022 at 11:13 AM ^
See everyone, everything is going to be fine with Harbaugh. I don't even remember what all the Eberfuss was about...
January 27th, 2022 at 11:14 AM ^
is that a real last name or a prank gone viral?
January 27th, 2022 at 11:26 AM ^
His last name used to be Eberfluffaluffagus, but they changed it at Ellis Island...
January 27th, 2022 at 1:02 PM ^
It's a real last name of a guy who graduated from my HS two years ahead of me. Walked-on at Toledo and was 2-time All-MAC linebacker.
January 27th, 2022 at 1:33 PM ^
my question was not serious. you've all lost your marbles.
and good for him (genuinely), is a cool story bro.
how've you been chuck?
January 27th, 2022 at 11:15 AM ^
I personally like the hire depending on the offensive staff. Bears defense still has a lot of talent. But they need to develop Fields into something better than this
January 27th, 2022 at 11:21 AM ^
Fields is an OSU qb. They enter the league undeveloped and are often broken by year 2 or 3.
Winning with superior talent at skill positions allows OSU qb’s to flourish in college (keep it simple), but once drafted they are behind their peers at the pro level. Fields has tremendous talent but is just learning to go through progressions and read defenses pre-snap. Uphill battle for another OSU qb entering the league unprepared.
January 27th, 2022 at 11:54 AM ^
It can’t just be about superior teammate talent in college, though. Burrow had that. So did Watson. Kyler Murray had two first-rounders to throw to (Lamb and Hollywood Brown). That didn’t stunt their development; they all played at a high level almost immediately in the NFL.
This may be an unsatisfying answer, but it may simply be that only a handful of guys can both process at NFL game speed and consistently throw accurately—and that there’s no way to really know until they’ve tried.
January 27th, 2022 at 2:08 PM ^
It can’t just be about superior teammate talent in college, though. Burrow had that. So did Watson. Kyler Murray had two first-rounders to throw to (Lamb and Hollywood Brown). That didn’t stunt their development; they all played at a high level almost immediately in the NFL.
That's not what he said. The problem isn't the superior talent, the problem is that OSU QBs come into the league undeveloped. What the superior talent does is mask that lack of development. These QBs look like world beaters in college, but when they get to the NFL you realize that the talent around them gave them easy jobs to do (stand in a clean pocket and throw to wide open receivers), and that once they no longer have the huge relative talent advantage surrounding them they can't make the tougher plays.
This may be an unsatisfying answer, but it may simply be that only a handful of guys can both process at NFL game speed and consistently throw accurately—and that there’s no way to really know until they’ve tried.
This is probably pretty accurate. Or at least NFL teams need to use a more discerning eye when looking at performances. Do the QBs look good because they're making hard plays, or do they look good because they're making easy plays? It's no different for recruits from talent-poor areas (the Kevin Grady's of the world). Are the players actually good, or are they just dominating bad competition in a way they won't be able to in college?
January 27th, 2022 at 5:46 PM ^
"This may be an unsatisfying answer, but it may simply be that only a handful of guys can both process at NFL game speed and consistently throw accurately—and that there’s no way to really know until they’ve tried."
Bingo.
The only QB draft picks that don't bust more than 50% of the time are #1 picks.
First round QBs as a whole have about a 60% bust rate.
Once you get past round 3 the bust rate is in the mid 90's
January 27th, 2022 at 11:17 AM ^
I’m betting it wasn’t a deal for 10 years at 10 million a year.
January 27th, 2022 at 11:53 AM ^
I remain happy but Eberflustered at the lack of NFL interest in Jim Harbaugh. These NFL people truly think that they have a better idea and know everything. It works out for us but continues to fail for them.