2025-2026 NFL Season Thread

[R3P0]

Originally Posted by BizCat

And yet they barely lose to Dallas.

Please, just let the games happen. Ugh.

We must be watching very different games lol

[BizCat]

Originally Posted by Batman1980

MVP goes to QBs, McCaffrey and Cook have almost no shot.

I agree it almost always goes to QBs, but that crap has to stop.

[BeastCreatureTrapper]

Originally Posted by ChadFL

Can anyone explain why Cousins is left out of virtually every top-5 MVP list? He has the #2 passer rating in the NFL (behind only Wilson), >70% completion rate, 21-3 TD-Int ratio, Vikings vastly over-performing at 8-3. Only reason I can think of is his career thus far being very solid, but never great, so people think this season is a one-off. It may be a one-off, but I'd put him #3 in the MVP race, after Wilson and Jackson, just ahead of Mahomes and Watson.

People don't trust him. They are waiting for him to be the "Cousins" they knew he was all along. It's human nature, and it's insidious, because nearly everyone eventually falls on their face at some point, so the cynics will ultimately be right.

My hunch is that the Vikings might even make the Super Bowl, to be this year's sacrificial upstart lamb to the Patriots altar.

[ChadFL]

Originally Posted by BizCat

I agree it almost always goes to QBs, but that crap has to stop.

Why? The gap between QB and every other position in importance is at an all-time high. I would vote for a RB or WR OPOY (rarely), but not MVP. Passing now accounts for >2x rushing yardage, with about 2x as many passing TD as rushing TD. Even in terms of rushing the QB's are making up a larger share of yardage.

Care to guess when the last Super Bowl winner with an All-Pro RB was? The 1999 Rams with Marshall Faulk, who was as much a receiver as RB. Since 2003 only three Super Bowl champs have had so much as a Pro Bowl RB - Pats (Dillon), Ravens (Ray Rice), Seahawks (Lynch). There's practically an inverse relationship between having a great RB and Super Bowl success. That's why they win OPOY but almost never MVP.

I'm not trying to trash RB's who take a beating, and tend to have unfortunately short careers as a result, but with the direction the NFL has gone they're just not remotely as relevant as they once were.

[BeastCreatureTrapper]

Theoretical question coming, from a devil's advocate....

What if a kicker won nearly every game for his playoff-bound team at the horn, with many of the kicks being 50-yard bombs? Let's say that he had twelve game winners, directly off of his foot.

Could he possibly be a league MVP?

(I would love the outrage!)

[ChadFL]

Originally Posted by BeastCreatureTrapper

People don't trust him. They are waiting for him to be the "Cousins" they knew he was all along. It's human nature, and it's insidious, because nearly everyone eventually falls on their face at some point, so the cynics will ultimately be right.

My hunch is that the Vikings might even make the Super Bowl, to be this year's sacrificial upstart lamb to the Patriots altar.

Funny thing is you could argue Cousins has had a better career statistically than Cam Newton, yet Newton won the MVP in his one standout season. Cousins's numbers have been far more consistent in terms of QB rating and completion rate. And yet most would automatically claim Newton has been better because of his one MVP season, which culminated in a Super Bowl disaster.

We don't really know how Cousins will perform in the postseason as he's played his whole career poor Washington teams until last year.

[ChadFL]

Originally Posted by BeastCreatureTrapper

Theoretical question coming, from a devil's advocate....

What if a kicker won nearly every game for his playoff-bound team at the horn, with many of the kicks being 50-yard bombs? Let's say that he had twelve game winners, directly off of his foot.

Could he possibly be a league MVP?

(I would love the outrage!)

Closest comparison would be in 1982. Strike shortened season where nobody on offense put up great numbers and Mark Moseley of Washington won MVP. Crazy thing is he had zero 50+ yard FG attempts all year.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_Moseley

FWIW, Dan Fouts really should have won MVP that year. He lost to Moseley by 2 votes.

[imsounoriginal]

Originally Posted by ChadFL

Funny thing is you could argue Cousins has had a better career statistically than Cam Newton, yet Newton won the MVP in his one standout season. Cousins's numbers have been far more consistent in terms of QB rating and completion rate. And yet most would automatically claim Newton has been better because of his one MVP season, which culminated in a Super Bowl disaster.

We don't really know how Cousins will perform in the postseason as he's played his whole career poor Washington teams until last year.

Isn't Cousins like historically terrible against winning teams?

And yeah, MVP's become a Best QB award because they have Offensive Player of the Year to give to a skill position. I think it'll go Lamar/McCaffrey at this rate.

[BeastCreatureTrapper]

Originally Posted by ChadFL

Funny thing is you could argue Cousins has had a better career statistically than Cam Newton, yet Newton won the MVP in his one standout season. Cousins's numbers have been far more consistent in terms of QB rating and completion rate. And yet most would automatically claim Newton has been better because of his one MVP season, which culminated in a Super Bowl disaster.

We don't really know how Cousins will perform in the postseason as he's played his whole career poor Washington teams until last year.

Well, for starters, and not directed towards yourself, but to anyone not aware: The NFL MVP is voted on after the regular season, and before the playoffs. Playoff performance means nothing.

Comparing Newton and Cousins is a fool's errand, because Newton has been playing injured for the past few seasons. The few moments when Newton has been healthy, he's been, statistically, one of the best QBs in the league. Even last year, through the first 5-6 games of the year, Newton had the best stats of all the quarterbacks in the league. Then his chronic shoulder issue kept getting worse and he tailed off (when he should have not been playing, period), to the point where they had to bring the back-up in for Hail Mary plays which were out of Newton's range by that point.

I haven't compared Newton's MVP year stats to Cousins...and I'm not going down that rabbit hole, because then you start comparing what each QB had to work with, team strangth, blah blah blah. I will say that Newton earned his MVP. I mean, his stats were off the charts and he wasn't throwing to all-star wide receivers either.

And, a "Super Bowl disaster"? That's the narrative one could take, I guess, depending upon their agenda. At the end of the day, it was a game that still went down to the final minutes to decide a winner.

As an example, objectively and subjectively, Super Bowl XLVIII was a disaster (for the Broncos).

[Moviefan1203]

Obviously a lot can change over the next several weeks, but Wilson would get my vote at this point.

[BeastCreatureTrapper]

Originally Posted by imsounoriginal

Isn't Cousins like historically terrible against winning teams?

And yeah, MVP's become a Best QB award because they have Offensive Player of the Year to give to a skill position. I think it'll go Lamar/McCaffrey at this rate.

Unless the Panthers win out, which they essentially have to do just to sniff the playoffs, McCaffrey won't even be in the discussion.

And, even then, he's not winning it. It's just not meant to be.

At this point, it's Lamar's to lose.

Originally Posted by Moviefan1203

Obviously a lot can change over the next several weeks, but Wilson would get my vote at this point.

Agreed.

[BeastCreatureTrapper]

Originally Posted by ChadFL

Closest comparison would be in 1982. Strike shortened season where nobody on offense put up great numbers and Mark Moseley of Washington won MVP. Crazy thing is he had zero 50+ yard FG attempts all year.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_Moseley

FWIW, Dan Fouts really should have won MVP that year. He lost to Moseley by 2 votes.

I agree, Fouts should have won, but this is still kinda cool...if just because I can feel all the diehards cringing at its very existence.

[imsounoriginal]

Originally Posted by BeastCreatureTrapper

Unless the Panthers win out, which they essentially have to do just to sniff the playoffs, McCaffrey won't even be in the discussion.

And, even then, he's not winning it. It's just not meant to be.

At this point, it's Lamar's to lose.

I meant McCaffrey for Offensive Player.

Lamar has MVP, barring a collapse or injury down the stretch.

[BeastCreatureTrapper]

Originally Posted by imsounoriginal

I meant McCaffrey for Offensive Player.

Lamar has MVP, barring a collapse or injury down the stretch.

Gotcha!

And I agree, on all counts.

[BizCat]

Wilson is more deserving than Lamar.

But there’s no reason McCaffrey shouldn’t be a serious contender with everything he has done.

[Waboman]

Let’s go Chargers!

[Moviefan1203]

This field is...less than ideal.

[Batman1980]

That's putting it mildly.

[BizCat]

Good job Phillip

[BizCat]

Originally Posted by Moviefan1203

This field is...less than ideal.

The NFL will never learn to stay in USA.