Official NFL Thread

I guess I will root for the Jaguars I always tend to root for underdog or small market when my favorite teams aren't playing Not a Pats hater but they have won some already in recent years, so I probably would root for either the Vikings or the Eagles in the Super Bowl if the Jaguars lose to the Pats

 

Haha I can't remember too, now I guess I will root for the Vikings over the Eagles, would be kinda interesting to see them playing at home in the Super Bowl

 

I was once like you. Then like Pac Man, my rooting went so far to hate that it came around the other side, and became love. One of the greatest things I've ever done. Unless you're a Pats fan, you don't know the feeling of pissing everyone off and making them hate you one year, and knowing you'll be able to do the same next year.

I mean look at Deflategate. One of the subtexts to that game was the Pats ended up running the ball more than passing, lol. But the whole league still thought the Pats had to cheat to win. Nope, the Pats just cheat because they can find something that's never been done before and thus not in the rule book Got a genius head coach who no one seems to realize is a defensive-minded coach. Just overlook the defense because there's no name superstars.

My only wish, is that the Pats could win but The Great "TB12" Brady somehow lose. God I hate that guy, there's no way that's changing.

With Belichick and The Great Brady, I put my hate aside and just enjoy the show.

 

Current ESPN headline: The Patriots' Super Bowl path is the easiest in modern NFL history.

 

Patriots take a 20 point lead into halftime. Then show Atlanta how to step on someone's neck.

Seriously, if this happens fan interest in the NFL might never recover.

Speaking of stepping on necks, thank God that Joe Buck isn't doing this game.

 

Looks like Brady is about to win another Super Bowl...

 

Some big six figure bets coming in for the Eagles. Pats were -4.5, now giving 4.

 

I think 9 of the last 11 Vegas underdogs have won the big game.

 

So about CTE...

CTE is a "neurodegenerative brain disease [that] can befound in individuals who have been exposed to repeated head trauma. The disease is pathologically marked by a buildup of abnormal tau protein in the brain that can disable neuropathways and lead to a variety of clinical symptoms." (https://www.cnn.com/2017/07/25/health/cte-nfl-players-brains-study/index.html).

The key thing, did these football brain researchers just look for tau? Because tau may not be so bad....

http://www.sciencemag.org/news/2018/02/could-woodpeckers-teach-nfl-how-prevent-brain-injuries
"Woodpeckers repeatedly whack their heads against trees with a force 10 times that of a concussion-inducing football tackle, yet they seem no worse for the wear. But woodpeckers may not be immune to head trauma after all. A new study shows that a protein whose abnormal buildup is considered a sign of human brain damage also accumulates in woodpecker brains. That raises an intriguing question: Could the newly discovered “tangles” of this protein, tau, be protecting the woodpecker brain from injury?"

Quote: “I assumed that woodpeckers didn’t have tau accumulation in their brains, just like everybody in the research world had and the athletic equipment world had,” he says. But that doesn’t mean the woodpeckers are brain-damaged. “All tau roads in head impact do not lead to CTE,” says Douglas Smith, a neurotrauma researcher at the University of Pennsylvania. In fact, some tau is good because the protein, which exists inside of cells, helps stabilize neurons and keep their shape-retaining structures intact. But head trauma can dislodge the tau, creating deposits that clog up the brain.

...so are the two being confused? I should probably expect 99% of football players to have tau in their brains, but that does not mean they have CTE?