Randall Flagg

That would be cool, go for it!

I did this last year and had a lot of fun, so I'm doing it again. We'll start an alphabetical countdown to summarize where the other 31 teams are going into the season, recapping their performance last season, their roster changes, and a projected lineup (I'm going to try to get their fans' views from hfboards on this - I started a topic telling everyone to put their team's projected lineups down a few days ago). We can talk about how well we think the teams will do this year, or people can just poke their head in to see how many days are left. If I do one team per day, the last one will be complete the morning of the first NHL game-day, and we'll be ready to go! First up: Anaheim Ducks Record last season: 44-25-13, 101 points, 2nd in the Pacific Playoffs: Swept in Round 1 by the Sharks Coach: Randy Carlyle GM: Bob Murray Captain: Ryan Getzlaf GF: 231 (19th) GA: 209 (3rd) PP: 17.8% (23rd) PK: 83.2% (5th) Top 5G: 1.) Rickard Rakell (34) 2.) Ondrej Kase (20) 3.) Adam Henrique (20) 4.) Corey Perry (17) 5.) Jakob Silfverberg (17) Top 5A: 1.) Ryan Getzlaf (50) 2.) Rickard Rakell (35) 3.) Corey Perry (32) 4.) Josh Manson (30) 5.) Cam Fowler (24) Top 5 PTS: 1.) Rickard Rakell (69) 2.) Ryan Getzlaf (61) 3.) Corey Perry (49) 4.) Jakob Silfverberg (40) 5.) Ondrej Kase (38) Key Additions: Brian Gibbons (LW), Andrej Sustr (D), Carter Rowney (RW), Luke Schenn (D) Key Losses: Antoine Vermette (currently still UFA), Jason Chimera (currently still UFA), Derek Grant (C), JT Brown (RW), Jared Boll (RW) Projected Lineup: Rakell - Getzlaf - Eaves Cogliano - Kesler* - Silfverberg Ritchie - Henrique - Perry Jones - Steel - Kase *Kesler might be hurt a while? Lindholm - Manson Fowler - Montour Petterson - Schenn Larsson, Sbisa in the mix John Gibson Ryan Miller Top Prospects we might/might not see Sam Steel, center Troy Terry, IDK (I won't have more info on this section until my edition of THN comes in) Jacob Larsson My thoughts I think the Ducks' defense-and-goaltending group is top 3 in the entire league, and that can get you a long way. I think they'll be in contention for the Pacific Division all season long. But the clock is ticking on Getzlaf and is already just about done on Perry, who is still an ok middle-sixer, but who drives Ducks fans crazy like Okposo drives us crazy, whereas Getzlaf is still a low-tier 1C. Rakell is a helluva player and Kase is turning into a nice find as well. If father time did more damage to Kesler (I have no idea when/how much he's playing this year) and Getzlaf/Perry, then their defense might not be enough to keep them in contention for anything and they could slide out of the playoff picture. But if those three are strong and supplemented by good years from Henrique, Rakell, Cogliano, Silfverberg, Kase etc. then they could find themselves in the WCF again.

Right - we do have to remember that in preseason, it's simply our line going 1v1 with guys like Myles Garrett and the Cincy D-Line. Of course our issues will look exacerbated in that situation. But with actual blocking schemes and other technical crap I couldn't tell you the details of, I'm not saying our line will be close to good, but our offense will be more functional than it was in the first halves of all of those games.

You know they're starting 1-7 again and we'll have that same 3rd-week-of-October despair we had last year, knowing we're a year away from even having hope in a season again

I know everyone expects this team to win 3 games, but since the season hasn't started yet, I'd like to point out that wins in these first two weeks would be huuuuuge for wild card implications, if you have visions of us being in that situation at the end of the season.

Oh I'm just playing around too, I just wanted to look at it. And quite frankly, it's pretty funny how all-time great QBs have very obviously great QB names. But that begs the question - if Tim Couch, Alex Van Pelt, and Brian Brohm had illustrious HOF careers we'd probably be like "Wao gr8 QB name" even though it's easy to categorize them as bad names now with the comfort of their varying levels of mediocrity And they seem to actively enjoy employing Vlad Ducasse at the LG position, so his collapse on every play leading to already weak links in the line falling a part is on them.

I think it's a good move to start Nate over Josh, and I think it'll really help Josh pick up the playbook and a basic understanding of NFL defenses with less pressure. He's not in bad company, wrt QBs who didn't start their first year: Brady, Big Ben, Rodgers, Brees, Rivers, Eli

I guess there's a slight correlation.

2017 NFL QBR rankings: 1.) Carson Wentz 2.) Case Keenum 3.) Tom Brady 4.) Dak Prescott 5.) Matt Ryan 6.) Ben Roethlisberger 7.) Matthew Stafford 8.) Alex Smith 9.) Drew Brees 10.)Russell Wilson 11.) Phillip Rivers 12.) Blake Bortles 13.) Marcus Mariota 14.) Tyrod Taylor 15.) Kirk Cousins 16.) Jared Goff 17.) Josh McCown 18.) Jameis Winston 19.) Cam Newton 20.) Derek Carr 21.) Carson Palmer 22.) Eli Manning 23.) Joe Flacco 24.) Brett Hundley 25.) Andy Dalton 26.) Jay Cutler 27.) Jacoby Brissett 28.) DeShone Kizer 29.) Mitch Trubisky 30.) Trevor Semian This obviously isn't a perfect list, but I don't think it correlates very strongly with "strength of QB names", which goes like Drew Brees, Carson Palmer, Tom Brady, Russell Wilson, Eli Manning, Phillip Rivers, Cam Newton, ..................... filler ................... Case Keenum, Blake Bortles, Jared Goff, Josh McCown, Brett Hundley, Trevor Semian.

If his name is Dryden, he's destined to be great. Seems fair to me!

On mobile for me that doesn't work. But thanks!

What's the trade? To buffalo for a first and B prospects?

I think Mitts will stick, but I don't think Dahlin will have a nickname. And we aren't going to call him Rasmus, either, because that's confusing. He's just going to be Dahlin.

I think the most consistent thing about my takes on sports over the years is how I incorporate/look at stats

We got smoked by NJ last year, I remember that.

Those guys can pass from a pocket. When I say running qb, I mean a qb that can't pass from the pocket at a high level but plays because he can do things with his feet. Like TT, or Johnny Manziel from that bills Browns game, or Kaep. I don't mind mobile passing QBs at all, of course. But you have to be able to throw a football and Kaep's recent display of that was ugly as all hell. I'd seriously recommend looking for tape.

Does it? Because I always thought he was graceful about the whole kneeling thing, an issue that I in general side with him on. But thanks for the shot at my character. Stats gave moulson another shot last year he didn't deserve. Stats say the best QBs in bills history to play 10 games or more are TT, then Orton, then Holcomb. I watched most of Colin's last 10 or so games, because i was interested in him because of all that attention, and the dude was not a capable thrower of the football and it wasn't even close.

Yeah I was interested in Keenun but so was everyone else, so that happened. I basically just don't ever want a running qb again Which is fun because there's a decent chance Allen becomes a bad qb who can run

He was good until teams figured him out. Id bet TT had the best passer rating in bills history. the last 5-10 games I've seen of Collin he was so lost, couldn't read a field, and only made plays with his feet. I'm not saying there are loads of guys on the street better than him or that he, in a vacuum, wouldn't be on an NFL roster, but the dude blows chunks now.

Bills cut Schmidt - sign a guy I've never heard of Schmidt seemed like he was struggling to kick a ball 35 yards and wasn't very good last year so that makes sense, if we win games this year they will largely be field-position-victories

Yeah, ignoring the reason why it won't happen, I still don't want Karpernick anywhere near my qb position - the last few games I saw of him were simply dreadful

:O

It's not to learn the ropes from Peterman. It's to learn plays, and how defenses work at an NFL level. In Allen's most recent appearances he's still getting full plays talked to him into his headset and having to call timeouts on 2nd and 5 at his own 38 in the first quarter because of it. Time on the bench isn't to watch Nate, it's to study, keep working on footwork, and learn everything you can about NFL offenses and defenses so that stuff can become as second-nature as the narrower stance and hip-stuff he's trying to implement. Then, when it's time to play, he can focus on execution and thinking the game up here, instead of down here, trying to remember which receiver goes where and all the other crap that takes time to process. It's going to be a while yet before he has the playbook down, much less a functional understanding of what he's looking at every time he faces a new DC trying to fool him. That's why some of us want him to sit. It's a bonus point for this view that the situation is otherwise suboptimal for his development as well - namely, piss-poor receivers and a piss-poor line. Getting himself killed while having no clue what's going on would be an early confidence blow and just a messy situation, IMO.

We have 2 QBs, one has played a single half of NFL football & threw 5 interceptions in that half (he might have played some of the Colts game too? maybe NE/NO? I don't remember), and the other has zero NFL experience and played in the Mountain West conference in college. Nice.

I'm pretty sad for Rod Streater, and think he should have made it over a couple of the WRs they kept, especially Foster, what is he doing there And I simply can't believe that Ducasse is going to start for us again, the dude is the worst guard I've ever seen, Teller is already better I also have this hunch that they're just going to throw Allen out their right away anyway, so that could be it too. Which is something I don't want