Jerry Jones interested in Mike Zimmer

[Mothman]

Now PFT reporting Browns and Panthers will interview Stefanski

This is the most Browns thing the Browns could do.

[CharVike]

Here’s a fact about strength of schedule that very few people consider.

If you are a last-place team, you’re always going to appear to have a tougher schedule.

Take Arizona. They played six games against SF, Seattle and LA. That’s six games against winning teams before they get out of their own division. Then they play against every team from divisions in both conferences. That’s a minimum of two more winning teams.

Contrast that to the Vikings. Green Bay is the only other winning team in the division. That’s 2 games. They played the NFC East (1 winning team) and the AFC West (1 winning team). That’s a total of four.

Take any playoff team, and you’ll find the same scenario. Look at New England most years. They normally play no games within the division against winning teams.

If you look at every team in the NFL, you’ll see this pattern. The bottom teams all have cumulative SOSs of above .500. The playoff teams all have cumulative SOSs of below .500.

In other words, part of the reason teams like the Vikings appear to have weak schedules is that they don’t lose to inferior teams. For the most part, Zimmer’s teams have done that.

That being said, the VERY BEST teams also win some games against winning teams. We’ve definitely fallen short on that mark, especially this year. Coming into this season, Zimm was 13-28 against winning teams, which seems pretty bad. But how bad is it? Aaron Rodgers was 17-26-1 coming into 2019. In fact, the only QBs with records above .500 against winning teams were Brady and Wilson. I know those are quarterbacks, but it’s the best I can find right now. But in 2017, we were really good against winning teams. Not a surprise, given our 13-3 record.

Point being, the first measuring stick for a coach or QB is whether they beat the teams they’re supposed to beat. Zimmer does that, for the most part. To regularly beat winning teams is a much rarer feat.

This is neither an endorsement nor an indictment of Mike Zimmer on my part. It’s just perspective.

You did some nice work on this piece. Zim has made our team very competitive. It's a hard deal to make the playoffs. But as you posted the top teams find a way to beat some good teams. That's why they are on top. That QB record is also very telling. I thought Rodgers would be better than that. I don't even know if he was 500 this year. Hopefully we play solid today. On a side note it was good to see the Pats get dumped. Makes for a much more interesting playoff deal. That Titian team was impressive. I'm a firm believer in winning at the LOS and that team was punching huge holes for their back. But I think that QB they have will hold them back eventually. But that team hits big time as Brady found out. He didn't look to comfy back there at times. Glad to see it. Finally a team put some heat on in the playoffs.

[J. Kapp 11]

Here’s a fact about strength of schedule that very few people consider.

If you are a last-place team, you’re always going to appear to have a tougher schedule.

Take Arizona. They played six games against SF, Seattle and LA. That’s six games against winning teams before they get out of their own division. Then they play against every team from divisions in both conferences. That’s a minimum of two more winning teams.

Contrast that to the Vikings. Green Bay is the only other winning team in the division. That’s 2 games. They played the NFC East (1 winning team) and the AFC West (1 winning team). That’s a total of four.

Take any playoff team, and you’ll find the same scenario. Look at New England most years. They normally play no games within the division against winning teams.

If you look at every team in the NFL, you’ll see this pattern. The bottom teams all have cumulative SOSs of above .500. The playoff teams all have cumulative SOSs of below .500.

In other words, part of the reason teams like the Vikings appear to have weak schedules is that they don’t lose to inferior teams. For the most part, Zimmer’s teams have done that.

That being said, the VERY BEST teams also win some games against winning teams. We’ve definitely fallen short on that mark, especially this year. Coming into this season, Zimm was 13-28 against winning teams, which seems pretty bad. But how bad is it? Aaron Rodgers was 17-26-1 coming into 2019. In fact, the only QBs with records above .500 against winning teams were Brady and Wilson. I know those are quarterbacks, but it’s the best I can find right now. But in 2017, we were really good against winning teams. Not a surprise, given our 13-3 record.

Point being, the first measuring stick for a coach or QB is whether they beat the teams they’re supposed to beat. Zimmer does that, for the most part. To regularly beat winning teams is a much rarer feat.

This is neither an endorsement nor an indictment of Mike Zimmer on my part. It’s just perspective.

You did some nice work on this piece. Zim has made our team very competitive. It's a hard deal to make the playoffs. But as you posted the top teams find a way to beat some good teams. That's why they are on top. That QB record is also very telling. I thought Rodgers would be better than that. I don't even know if he was 500 this year. Hopefully we play solid today. On a side note it was good to see the Pats get dumped. Makes for a much more interesting playoff deal. That Titian team was impressive. I'm a firm believer in winning at the LOS and that team was punching huge holes for their back. But I think that QB they have will hold them back eventually. But that team hits big time as Brady found out. He didn't look to comfy back there at times. Glad to see it. Finally a team put some heat on in the playoffs.

Thanks!

And ... we won a BIG ONE!!!!

[CharVike]

You did some nice work on this piece. Zim has made our team very competitive. It's a hard deal to make the playoffs. But as you posted the top teams find a way to beat some good teams. That's why they are on top. That QB record is also very telling. I thought Rodgers would be better than that. I don't even know if he was 500 this year. Hopefully we play solid today. On a side note it was good to see the Pats get dumped. Makes for a much more interesting playoff deal. That Titian team was impressive. I'm a firm believer in winning at the LOS and that team was punching huge holes for their back. But I think that QB they have will hold them back eventually. But that team hits big time as Brady found out. He didn't look to comfy back there at times. Glad to see it. Finally a team put some heat on in the playoffs.

Thanks!

And ... we won a BIG ONE!!!!

I give the entire team credit. If they keep bringing the pressure we can hang with these teams. I was impressed. Cook is the key guy on O. He's a dam good back. Lighting in a bottle. I rag Zim. But boy did he out coach that team. Plus his secondary is thin as hell. This Rhodes showed some game also. He was bringing it. Seemed like he wanted it big time. Didn't think I'd see this. Great win.