Jake

My fantasy week in one league was basically decided by the fact my opponent had NE DEF and I had KC DEF

QUOTE (shysocks @ Sep 29, 2014 -> 03:18 PM) AL 1. Orioles 2. A's 3. Angels 4. Royals 5. Tigers NL 1. Pirates 2. Nationals 3. Giants 4. Cardinals 5. Dodgers If we're talking about rooting to win it all, put the first four AL teams 1-4, then all the NL teams, then the Tigers at 10. This, verbatim, short of the last bit. I think I'd like to see Pirates win.

QUOTE (gatnom @ Sep 29, 2014 -> 11:05 AM) How do they account for mistakes and bad play? For example, if a team is generally a bad running team and the defense "plays well" against the run, do defenders still get a lot of positive credit for their performance? Generally speaking, yes. It isn't like WAR, which tries to give you a value that allows you to compare players across contexts. PFF is outcome-oriented. For instance, in their write-up about yesterday's game, they mentioned that Michael Ola went from worst game of his season to best game of his season/career in part because the GB DL isn't nearly as good

QUOTE (LDF @ Sep 29, 2014 -> 09:29 AM) I got a HUGE b**** about ESPN this morning. I was watching the top 10 plays and the play that the 3b of the Pirates came in 8. there is no freaking way that should came in 8th. It should have been the top 2 with the hole in 1 golf shot being #1. The entire process is shrouded in secrecy. The anchors are always openly questioning the order and stuff. It's a little silly

QUOTE (KyYlE23 @ Sep 29, 2014 -> 09:54 AM) everytime you post this stuff, it makes me feel like these numbers are total bulls***. Bostic and Briggs graded positively? Alshon negatively? I read that Bostic, Briggs and Williams got a combined 9 tackles yesterday. Its like they watch a different game and apply grades however they want It's about how multiple raters grade the impact of each player on each and every play. So each rater watches each player for each down and assigns a numeric value to what they did that play - most plays, a player gets 0. If there is disagreement on a given play, they have to work it out. The reason Alshon's grade is low, now that I'm looking, is because he fumbled. Marshall gets a poor grade for having a drop and Cutler's general lack of success passing to him. Grading defense is going to involve fewer concrete numbers, but they still use concrete criteria. Run D is going to involve doing things that affect the run game - did Bostic and Briggs read the play better than expected, fill the gap quickly and force the play to a different gap, blow up the lead blocker, etc. We did really well against their run game, you have to expect that somebody will be responsible in terms of being given credit. One thing that PFF is willing to say is up for debate is the overall grade. So, Marshall and Jeffery were so fantastic grade-wise last year due in part to the fact that they were both in their own world in terms of run blocking as WR. You might not think run blocking is that important for a WR so you won't think their overall grade is as indicative of their ability as their pass game grade. You might think a nose tackle should have no influence on the pass rush whatsoever so you won't factor in his pass rush grade. Etc.

Performances of note yesterday per PFF: Top O: Martellus Bennett (+6.4 overall, +4.0 pass) Michael Ola (+5.2 overall, +3.5 run block) Eben Britton (+1.8 overall, +1.6 run block) Worst O: Jay Cutler (-2.2 overall, -3.4 pass) Alshon Jeffery (-1.6 overall, -1.2 rushing) Brandon Marshall (-1.0 overall, -1.5 pass) Alshon's rushing grade is a little bit of a head scratcher. I don't actually remember his rushes, but maybe I've just blocked it all out. Top D: Jon Bostic (+2.7 overall, +1.9 run defense) Lance Briggs (+2.2 overall, +2.4 run defense) Worst D: Chris Conte (-2.7 overall, -3.0 pass coverage) LaMarr Houston (-2.6 overall, -2.5 pass rush) Stephen Paea (-1.3 overall, -0.9 pass rush) Season leaders: Best O: Brian De La Puente (+7.4 overall, +5.6 run block) Martellus Bennett (+7.1 overall, +6.2 pass) Michael Ola Kyle Long Jermon Bushrod Worst O: Jordan Mills (-5.0 overall, -3.2 pass block) Jay Cutler (-3.2 overall, -5.0 pass) Santonio Holmes (-2.6 overall, -2.4 pass) Top D: Jay Ratliff (+5.3 overall, +3.7 run D) Kyle Fuller (+4.9 overall, +4.6 pass coverage) Jon Bostic (+3.1 overall, +3.0 run D) Worst D: DJ Williams (-4.9 overall, -2.1 run D) Chris Conte (-2.7 overall, -1.8 run D) Ego Ferguson (-2.6 overall, -1.0 run D) Isaiah Frey (-2.3 overall, -2.9 pass coverage) Positional notables around the league: Top QB: Rodgers Top WR: Jordy Nelson Top RB: DeMarco Murray Top TE: Larry Donnell (4. Martellus Bennett) Top OT: William Beatty (LT) Joe Barksdale (RT) Top OG: Michael Yanda (6. Michael Ola 8. Kyle Long) Top C: Nick Mangold (2. Brian De La Puente) Top 4-3 DE: Cameron Wake Top 4-3 OLB: Jelani Jenkins Top 3-4 DE: JJ Watt (he consistently gets scores so absurd that it makes all players look worthless by comparison) Top 3-4 OLB: Terrell Suggs (5. Julius Peppers) Top DT/NT: Kyle Williams (Buffalo) Top ILB: Donta Hightower (12. Manti Te'o) Top CB: Brandon Flowers (6. Kyle Fuller T22. Richard Sherman) Top S: Antoine Bethea

The problem may well have been that Hester had to get let go before he'd change his work habits (whatever they were) to get better on O. We know he seemed to be limited on which plays he knew and always seemed to struggle to balance preparation for kick returns and offense

Moto 360 users reporting that recent software update has more than doubled battery life, especially when in heavy use. One user had the backlight turned on for over 24 hours straight before battery died. With normal use, people are now reporting 48 hours

I'm going to go ahead and tune into the White Sox. The Bears are perpetually disappointing

I don't know what Cutler could do to give me any faith in him. Love that we're attached to him for the next 3 seasons

The refs have consistently f***ed our defense. This is at least two TDs gifted to GB by officials.

Cutler has consistently had INT due to he and receiver not being in sync. It was always about bad coaching or dumb WR. Have to start thinking it's him at some point.

Awaiting the anger at the defense for not stopping GB with a short field

Cutler steps in to remind us which team has the better QB

My NFL Sunday Ticket stream is less reliable than the Bears

Cutler has been very good so far today

The call against Peppers was mystifying on the Bears first drive but they've been victimized by the refs several times since

Remember defense is missing its best DT, their starting DE, and their best CB. Starting safety is also gimpy

Reviews that talk about battery life that don't use some sort of standardized test do often understate the battery life. Not because the reviewer is necessarily biased, but because they were constantly using the thing to test it. When there is a standardized battery test, I find that it usually overstates the battery life.

If he was a White Sox player he wouldn't have received the attention that annoys so many people. He's not better than Frank Thomas, who was greatly unappreciated for much of his career. Big Frank only got attention when he was actually doing something better than everyone else (like winning the MVP on the strength of his bat). I think a secondary thing that annoys people about the Jeter mythos is that he was never a good SS. He played his entire career out of position. There's a decent enough chance that he would have been a far more valuable player as a 2B.

QUOTE (scs787 @ Sep 26, 2014 -> 02:46 PM) Damn, 2 weeks in a row. He was very good the first 2 weeks. Guess I'm just glad all it is a concussion and not something worse. Well a concussion could very well be worse, it just isn't automatically so by definition. The longer a guy is out with a concussion, the more I worry that he'll never be the same. A not noteworthy concussion usually doesn't take 3+ weeks to recover from. Even worse for a lineman who will bang his head against the guy across from him every single down.

They were very good deals. Hector has been quite valuable this season and very well could improve next year as he spends the offseason training as a starter. I think there is still a fair amount of untapped potential in him - reminds me of Javy Vasquez in some ways, at least in terms of having pretty damn good stuff but not getting everything out of it. I don't know what we have in Moises. I recognize some of the tools. He's pretty fast, has a great arm, some natural fielding ability, and I think there's raw power there. From what I've seen this year and his past in MiLB, I'm not sure if he's all that good at hitting or will ever be. Bench piece is probably what he is - but is he better than Jordan Danks? He and Tank will probably be up against one another for a roster spot as well. Tank has the "we see so much hitting potential in you" advantage, but Moises is more useful in every other way.

Only Yankees fans could help make a HoF player into one of the most overrated players in history. In reality, he's a fringy HoF guy who is put over the top into "definite HoF" territory for being an excellent playoff performer.

In some regards, I see the expansion of renewable energy as great in that it cripples Russia. On the other hand, I have to wonder what a crippled Russia might do

QUOTE (StrangeSox @ Sep 26, 2014 -> 01:15 PM) What that Pew poll that Jake posted in the "Religion in America" found is that an awful lot of white people simply don't believe that sort of discrimination still exists, or at least that it has meaningful impact. There is a certain subset, at least, that sees black folks as no particular victim of discrimination. That same subset thinks they themselves are the most persecuted group of people