Peter King: 11/19/18

[Prime Time]

Only Rams/Chiefs comments are posted here. To read the whole article click the link below.
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https://profootballtalk.nbcsports.c...rees-sean-payton-fmia-nfl-week-11-peter-king/

By Peter King

Chiefs-Rams Preview

Normally, the 9-1 Chiefs at the 9-1 Rams would be the game of the year—it probably still is—and we’d be celebrating it breathlessly. And we still may, in the hours before the game; I’ll help in a moment. But two things have overshadowed it.

Moving the game out of Mexico City makes the NFL look like a bunch of slightly progressive pikers. “Pikers” because how can the league take a game that we’ve all known would be hugely attractive since it was announced on Jan. 31—two defending division champs with brainy offensive minds—and not properly supervise field conditions in the weeks leading up to the game 10 months later?

It’s inexcusable. If the field was in trouble a month ago, which apparently it was, why didn’t the NFL throw its weight around then and insist on a new surface or tell officials there the game wouldn’t stay in Mexico?

“Slightly progressive” because they did the right thing after all and moved the game instead of trying to force the players to play there—which, I am told by a player leader from one of the teams, they would not have done. And what a scene that would have been, players boycotting the Game of the Year.

The Rams are playing for a wide swath of southern California. They will remember tonight the families of those murdered in the Nov. 7 massacre at the nightclub four miles from their facility in Thousand Oaks, Calif., and for the police officer murdered in that tragedy, and also the first responders and those impacted by the fires that got as close to three miles from their facility and forced 90 Rams employees and family to evacuate their homes.

Tonight, coaches and staff from both teams, instead of wearing Rams and Chiefs hats on the sidelines, will wear hats from local fire and rescue departments; all jerseys from the game, plus the hats, will be auctioned off to raise money for the victims. ESPN will show the anthem and the emotional pregame observances.

The Rams have given away about 4,000 tickets to public servants and victims of the tragedies, and their players have gone the extra mile. Andrew Whitworth of the Rams gave his suite to the game to first responders, one of several donations made by players to reach out.

It’s going to be emotional night at the Coliseum. And there will be fans. Because this game was not on the team’s home schedule, they began selling tickets late Tuesday night, and in just a few days, they sold about 71,000 tickets. So along with the 4,000 donated ones, there should be roughly the same crowd as attended the red-hot Packers-Rams game at the Coliseum three weeks ago (75,822).

Now for the game. This is just a hunch, because nothing will surprise me in this game, not even a little defense being played. But in a game of tremendous offensive weapons—for both teams at quarterback, for both teams at running back, for both teams at wide receiver—the one player who I think has the best chance to be the game-breaker is Tyreek Hill. There is simply no player like him in football right now.

I was in Kansas City last Sunday, and it took Hill (and Patrick Mahomes) 52 seconds to produce a touchdown against a secondary flailing to keep up with this freak of nature. Patrick Mahomes to Hill down the left side for 38 yards on the first play of the game.

Mahomes incomplete to Hill. Then Mahomes to Hill, who ran past his man and had the corner pointing at the late safety, for a 37-yard touchdown. By the end of this game, my gut feeling is Rams defensive coordinator Wade Phillips will really be missing Aqib Talib.

On Saturday, talking to Asshole Face during my time with the Saints, I mentioned to him that I’d been in Kansas City last Sunday, and I didn’t think there was a player like Hill in football. Payton smiled and nodded, and looked around to find Drew Brees.

“Hey Drew, tell Peter who’s the most dangerous player in football right now,” Payton said.

“Tyreek Hill,” Brees said.

Payton beamed and nodded.

It’s dangerous to predict which of the intergalactic talents will most influence this game. Todd Gurleyis such a touchdown machine that he could more than make up for the loss of Cooper Kupp in offensive production. Patrick Mahomes could get on fire, and with the way Andy Reid spreads the field (his widest-split receivers line up so close to the white-striped boundary that I swear one time they’re going to start a play with a foot out of bounds), an accurate Mahomes could strafe the Rams for 350 yards or more.

I’m just excited that it’s going to be a game played on a good field, on a 60-degreee evening with just a puff of wind, and we can judge two superb teams going head to head on fairly equal footing, with each missing a good receiver, Sammy Watkins (Chiefs) and Cooper Kupp (Rams). Bring on the spectacle, and the game.

Don’t miss the burgeoning Rams’ tradition, the lighting of the torch, at the Coliseum.

Kansas City 37, L.A. Rams 33. Think of this: One of the great NFL games in years was not scheduled for Los Angeles six mornings ago. And tonight, 70-something thousand people will be in the stands in the storied Los Angeles Coliseum watching it. Quite an invention by the Rams. Regarding the score: Chiefs have the ball last. That kind of game.
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MVP Watch

3. Todd Gurley, RB, L.A. Rams. Last week: 4. Easily could move up on this list. And by the way, you think he’s happy Sean McVay got the Rams job in 2017? In Gurley’s 25 games with McVay running the offense, the Rams runner is averaging 139.3 scrimmage yards a game, and he’s scored 39 touchdowns. Thirty-nine TDs, 25 games. That’s pretty good.
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Rams receiver Cooper Kupp had surgery in Los Angeles last week to repair a torn ACL. His surgeon was noted orthopedist Dr. Neal S. ElAttrache. Kupp, wife Anna and their son, displaced by the wildfire near the Rams practice facility in Thousand Oaks, Calif., needed a place to stay. Their new host, for a while: Dr. Neal S. ElAttrache, who has opened his home to the Kupps.

 

[99Balloons]

Tyreek Hill's top running speed is what 23 MPH? With his sudden change of direction, Rams DBs are going to have a disadvantage if the Mob Squad front four does smash Patrick Mahomes first.

 

[Mojo Ram]

Moving the game out of Mexico City makes the NFL look like a bunch of slightly progressive pikers. “Pikers” because how can the league take a game that we’ve all known would be hugely attractive since it was announced on Jan. 31—two defending division champs with brainy offensive minds—and not properly supervise field conditions in the weeks leading up to the game 10 months later?

It’s inexcusable. If the field was in trouble a month ago, which apparently it was, why didn’t the NFL throw its weight around then and insist on a new surface or tell officials there the game wouldn’t stay in Mexic

I believe there are two possibilities as to how or why this happened.

1. The NFL was incompetent in terms of supervising this thing.
2. The NFL wants out of the Mexico international thing in favor of the much more lucrative and politically lubricated Europe thing and now they have a chip to play.

I'll be very interested to see if and when the NFL goes back to Mexico City again.

From 2 yrs ago:

How NFL makes sense for Mexico on many levels, falls short on others
On Monday the NFL returns to Mexico for the first time in 11 years.

Since the last time the game was played in the country in October 2005, the league has focused on London, which has played host to 17 games since 2007. The London dividends have been huge crowds and television ratings, which have more than doubled.

As the league attempts to broaden its international appeal with a commitment to foreign markets, Mexico was a natural place to return, hoping to boost viewership, which has risen 28 percent in the past five years alone. NFL owners made a commitment in 2015 to play international regular-season games through 2025.

In the late 1960s, NFL games came to Mexico on TV and became popular about a decade later. That is why, after the Dallas Cowboys, who owe some fan affinity to proximity, the Oakland Raiders and the Pittsburgh Steelers -- franchises that dominated at that time -- are often listed as favorite teams among Mexicans.

Today, there's no shortage of places to watch the NFL. Mexicans get nine live games a week, which through a new deal with ESPN includes Sunday and Monday Night Football, and for the first time this season, the Red Zone channel. The Texans-Raiders game will be the first Monday Night Football game to be played outside the U.S. Another advantage: Mexico's time zones overlap those in the U.S.

To capitalize on the growing interest, the league has had an office in Mexico for 18 years and has sold 20 sponsorships to native companies, including the likes of Visa, Anheuser-Busch InBev and Papa John's.

London, by some, has been considered to have a real opportunity to have an NFL franchise in the future. Mexico has been discussed less, even though 15 teams are within a four-hour flight of Mexico City. Based on demographics and population density, FiveThirtyEight's Nate Silver estimated that only six NFL cities have more fans than Mexico City does -- New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Philadelphia, Dallas and Houston.

But NFL fans alone, all 28 million of them in Mexico and an estimated 1.49 million in Mexico City, don't make up good enough business reasons to consider it for a relocation or expansion market.

It would be cheaper to run a team in Mexico City than in the U.S., but there would also be obstacles. While the Monday Night Football game sold out in minutes, tickets could be had for face value of $27 at the lowest levels. Families have less disposable income than in many of NFL cities in the U.S.

Also, President-elect Donald Trump's foreign policy statements during the campaign focused on keeping jobs and manufacturing in the U.S., and specifically called out the North American Free Trade Agreement that eliminated many barriers to trade between the U.S. and Mexico. If he follows through, it could strain relations between the U.S. and Mexico.

While it's clear Mexico City will not have a permanent team in the next four years, the question remains whether what the league is doing can be damaged by the political environment as Trump takes over.

"The big question is whether people in Mexico feel comfortable to continue to support an American product like the NFL," said Chris Rogers of Panjiva, a global trade data company. "If Donald Trump doesn't like Mexico, do Mexicans like America?"

The complexities of going outside the U.S. are vast, but the rewards are also great. The NFL might be the No. 1 league in the U.S. by a wide margin, but as the world gets smaller, the benefits of being more global like the NBA are even greater.

Heading back to Mexico and adding to the hype by putting it on Monday Night Football is a start.
http://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/...se-mexico-many-levels-falls-short-others-2016

 

[SteveBrown]

I agree that T HIll decides the game....

Rams will try to control, and will, bu that doesn't mean Mahommes doesn't have 475 and 5 Ds, either.
Goff 385, Gurley 165.

Only 4 games since 1977 have existed like this before....(both 9-1+). I will be frustrated with a loss, but really think Rams can run the table to go 14-2....though Chicago, in Chicago is looking tough. Only worried about injuries tonight.

 

[Steve808]

We lost to the Saints because they scored off our turnover and we didn't score off theirs. I have a feeling this game may wind up being the same.

 

[Merlin]

Hill is what Tavon should have been, had there been better coaching along with player determination to maximize his talent. Dude is ridiculous and I agree the Rams have no answer for him in the secondary.

Our only hope to win this game is our DL dominating. Which is possible but unlikely given the way refs refuse to call holding.

Oh and lastly I love the way the media is getting all over the Saints' nuts now. Yes, media, crown the Saints. I prefer our Rams fly under the radar and hit the playoffs with a better-than-stats-indicate defense due to Talib's return.

 

[Farr Be It]

Moving the game out of Mexico City makes the NFL look like a bunch of slightly progressive pikers

How so? Is it “progressive” to set aside all discernment skills about what is wise, in order not to offend certain groups of people?

Part of actual human progress is being able to treat all people the same, regardless of skin tone, or ethnicity. Peter King is just being a weak stick, and doesn’t want to suffer blow-back from telling it like it is:

Mexico blew a great opportunity. The NFL can influence, and communicate with the host, and they probably did, but ultimately, Mexico, and the host stadium officials were responsible for babysitting that playing surface, and having it ready for what has turned into “the game of the year”.

Instead, they hired a bunch of tequila-soaked Shakira fans to hack it up two weeks before the game.

What could possibly go wrong?

Yeah, Pete, the NFL "stepping up it’s progressive thinking" could have prevented that whole debacle.

I say hello LA Colliseum! How cool that fate has it for this game our guys actually get to play a home game at home.

And for Mexico, I do hope they get another shot. Maybe we’ll see you next year! :cheers:

 

[Merlin]

Mexico blew a great opportunity. The NFL can influence, and communicate with the host, and they probably did, but ultimately, Mexico, and the host stadium officials were responsible for babysitting that playing surface, and having it ready for what has turned into “the game of the year”.

Agreed. Mexico took a huge black eye on this. I mean if they did harbor any hopes of proving they could handle the NFL expanding down there at some point in the future, this incident puts a big damper on that entire line of thinking.

 

[Mackeyser]

I agree that T HIll decides the game....

Rams will try to control, and will, bu that doesn't mean Mahommes doesn't have 475 and 5 Ds, either.
Goff 385, Gurley 165.

Only 4 games since 1977 have existed like this before....(both 9-1+). I will be frustrated with a loss, but really think Rams can run the table to go 14-2....though Chicago, in Chicago is looking tough. Only worried about injuries tonight.

The home team won all of the previous four as well.

Thought that was striking.

 

[Loyal]

The only thing that is sure, is that whoever wins tonight will actually still be considered less than the Saints.

 

[Farr Be It]

The only thing that is sure, is that whoever wins tonight will actually still be considered less than the Saints.

It’s amazing how far the Eagles have fallen this year. What a juggernaut they were considered last year. And Carson Wentz was the flavor of the month. This month the flavor is ketchup.

Time has a way of working out the truth. I think the Saints are doing great this year. But they just beat up on a team that is a shell of itself.

We may get another crack at them in our house.

 

[sjm1582002]

We got the better QB.

We got the better RB.

We got the better OL.

We got the better DL.

Normally that's enough for a win but with all the heart breaking recent events I'm even less sure than usual about how this game's gonna go.

 

[Prime Time]

https://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2018/11/20/not-everyone-is-thankful-for-higher-scoring-games/

Tuesday’s PFT Live simulcast began with Peter King providing his big takeaway from Monday night’s epic game between the Chiefs and Rams: “Football has changed.”

Indeed it has. Fueled by fairly recent rules that promote safety by protecting quarterbacks and defenseless receivers and decades of efforts to pump up the offense, points are being scored like never before. So the question becomes whether there’s too much scoring.

There isn’t. And there won’t be unless and until the NFL becomes like the NBA or the Arena Football League, with a presumption that each drive will end in points.

Even during last night’s dizzying array of 14 touchdowns, it never felt like either team was presumed to score, with a defensive stop becoming something that was unlikely and unexpected. Indeed, three of the touchdowns came via plays that resulted in six points for the defense.

While Peter seemed to be on the fence regarding whether changes are needed, he suggested that the Competition Committee should take up the question of whether something needs to be done to restore a better balance between offense and defense. He mentioned that Hall of Fame quarterback Dan Fouts, one of the first men to benefit from the initial wave of pro-offense rules in the ’70s, recently suggested that perhaps the defense should be given a 12th man.

That’s unlikely, for a variety of reasons. Most importantly, the owners — not the Competition Committee — ultimately determine the rules. And the owners see a bright-line connection from more points and higher ratings and more money.

Higher-scoring games not only attract more viewers but also hold more viewers, with folks less likely to stray to the hundreds of other things that can occupy our time at any given moment. Exciting games between teams with great offenses likewise make fans want the experience to last as long as possible, sparking few complaints when the total time of the game strays beyond three hours and 40 minutes.

Fans want games like that to last even longer. And while some may huff and puff about go-go games with pinball numbers, no one will blow the NFL’s house down over what was witnessed on Monday night. The more games like that, especially in prime time, the better off the NFL will be.