Board 8 > The 2022 NFL Season In Review [Sports]

(+) Yeah! (+)

I wanted to write some thoughts about the season and I didn't really have a where place so I thought I'd do it here. Feel free to disagree with me, I'm just one person but please keep it civil. I'd love to hear your thoughts as well

=Future Table of Contents
What was new in 2022
2022s Offseason
What Did and Didn't happen in 2022
Position Trends
Teams in Review
Terrible Predictions for Next Year

starting with Rule change in review in the am

Tom Brady needs a ring for every finger

Playoff predictions brought to you by the last-place finisher in Pick-em

Bills > Dolphins
Bengals > Ravens
Chargers > Jaguars

49ers > Seahawks
Giants > Vikings
Bucs > Cowboys

Chiefs > Chargers
Bills > Bengals
Eagles > Giants
49ers > Bucs

Bills > Chiefs
Eagles > 49ers

Bills > Eagles

I guess I should sneak that in before I start

Bills > Dolphins
Bengals > Ravens
Jaguars > Chargers

49ers > Seahawks
Vikings > Giants
Cowboys > Bucs

Bills > Bengals
Chiefs > Jags

49ers > Vikings
Eagles > Cowboys

Bills > Chiefs

49ers > Eagles

SB
Bills > 49ers

Honestly can't even begin to pick the NFC, except the Seahawks who aren't going anywhere. All of these teams feel extremely vulnerable, so yeah I could definitely see the niners doing damage even without a quarterback. To me it feels like whoever wins Cowboys/Bucs goes all the way.

AFC I think I'll join the consensus. It's probably destiny for the Bills to take the whole thing.

Bills > Phins
Bengals > Ravens
Chargers > Jags

Niners > Hawks
Vikings > Giants
Bucs > Cowboys
-
Chiefs > Chargers
Bills > Bengals

Eagles > Bucs
Niners > Vikings
-
Bills > Chiefs
Niners > Eagles

Bills > Niners

Reffing

Every year we hear this narrative week 1 or 2 about what the refs are cracking down on. Some years we are lucky and its helmet to helmet or a horse caller tackle. Other years they make us question what is a catch, and how soft you must sack a QB...but this year was a bunch of false start penalties that really slowed the game to a crawl in early weeks.

Overall many games still felt like it was a battle between Team A, Team B, and Team Zebra. It really was a coin flip if the ref on that particular play was patient enough to let a play fully play out during a fumble. The Eagles Commanders matchup was particularly questionable when the ref just let Dallas Goedert get his facemask yanked as he was also being poked in the eye.

I'll spare us from the Roughing the Passer calls this year, no they weren't better but I've long given up hope this will ever get fixed as it gets worse every year.

Rules

In the postseason only, both teams are assured of one possession in overtime, even if the first team with possession scores a touchdown. This change was made in response to several recent playoff games in which the first team to possess the ball in overtime scored a touchdown and the other team did not have a chance to respond.

Yea this one had to happen. As we enter the playoffs I don't think nfl fans would tolerate a repeat of last year. A quick but necessary fix

Made permanent a 2021 experimental rule change to limit the receiving team on kickoffs to no more than nine players in the "set-up zone" (the area between 10 and 25 yards from the kickoff spot).

Return TDs are down, we only had 6 this year and two were literally in the final week of the year. But injuries on returns are seemingly down. This is not a stat anyone can chase down but we went from hearing about the constant injury weariness of returns to well not hearing about them at all.

There were also changes to how rostering works and the Tua Concussion Crisis Protocol but I'm not getting into that. The latter is pretty yikes still with how its handled. We are getting closer to better regulation but not fast enough

Next up: Retirements

Tag

Bills > Dolphins
Bengals > Ravens
Jaguars > Chargers

49ers > Seahawks
Vikings > Giants
Cowboys > Bucs

Chiefs > Jaguars
Bills > Bengals
Eagles > Giants
49ers > Cowboys

Bills > Chiefs
49ers > Eagles

Bills > 49ers

dilateDChemist posted...

Vikings > Giants
Cowboys > Bucs

Chiefs > Jaguars
Bills > Bengals
Eagles > Giants

Only the Vikings could pull this off

Eagles > Vikings*

Probably should recheck cause the top seed plays higher seed, yadayada, but Im lazy.

My heart wants to say the Eagles
My gut is telling me the Chiefs
The Jaguars would be the coolest of the underdogs.
Tommy Boy...who knows. They have been winning when needed this year by his sheer voodoo black magic.

Retirements
People leave the game every year but some of these retirements really can rock a team for years. The Colts may never recover from Andrew Luck retiring at this rate for instance.

HB Frank Gore: Officially the Gore really retired a few years ago with one of those I could still come back but alas the Gore finally stopped running

TE Rob Gronkowski: I'm going to be honest i really thought Gronk would have come out of retirement randomly this season. His second retirement seems to be sticking though despite how 'bored' the Gronk is at home. He was on FOXs program for a bit but honestly haven't kept up if hes still on it. They were trying out him, Vick, and Sanchez at one point this year.

HB Todd Gurley: I still remember all the hype around Todd Gurley, we even had Gurley action figures at Gamestop. But he sputtered out fast with the Rams, did a 1 year stint with Atlanta then just faded away.

SS Malcolm Jenkins: Jenkins served on both the NO and PHI Superbowl teams and had a good career for both teams. Earlier this season Jenkins expressed interest in helping the Eagles when their safeties went down but hes under the Saints contract still and doesn't seem like he really wanted to help them out.

LB Clay Matthews III: Clay randomly declared his retirement after two years of uh being out of the league. He has come to regret his 1 year Ram stint and I imagine many one team players that do a fill in year elsewhere likely feel that

QB Ben Roethlisberger: Its hard to believe after losing to Green Bay the Steelers just spent a literal decade getting round 1 or 2 bounced from the playoffs. Whats even stranger is multiple times Ben looked cooked then came back looking better versus say an Eli Manning that once he fell off was just done.

Short commentaries for other retirees:
G Richie Incognito: Remember Bullygate?
LB Ryan Kerrigan: Longterm menace, stole final year
Jay Ajayi: Somehow the missing piece for the Eagles and never again relevant
Kiko Alonso: Dirty hitter
Danny Amendola: Concussions, Deep Catches, Kay Adams, Fox reality
Blake Bortles: One magical post season, one great sitcom joke
Brandon Brooks: Top player, legs of glass
Ha Ha Clinton Dix: Behind the Laughter a short career
Ryan Fitzpatrick: The magic ran out, the beard is forever, enjoyable commentator
Joe Haden: The AFC North remembers
Bilial Powell: Always a Jet, somehow 8th most yards
Emmanuel Sanders: Short, fast, and lasted a decade
Delanie Walker: the slowest TE I've ever seen
James White: Career high 400 yards, 3 time champ

Next time: Free Agency / Trades, a look back

Hhcd was around 7 seasons that's not that short