West Ham Online

"Free agency started last night and was pretty crazy some huge money being spent. Osweiler getting £18m a year for the Texans, leaving the Broncos without a QB, Giants have spent a fortune on good but not great players, Oliver Vernon has more guaranteed money than JJ Watt. lots more deals but cant be bothered to list them all."

"Alex Gray was a rugby 7s player who tried to make it as a TE through the international programme. He didn't make it, it's too steep a learning curve for most UK professionals to transition across. He disappeared a few years ago and I've just googled him, he's now Apollo in the new Gladiators lol"

"""I agree with your main point that both teams didn't have the toughest schedule, and both their records flatter to deceive"" eh? eagles had the toughest schedule in football. Doesn't negate how shit we were all year, but that's an outrageous statement"

"Sure it's being rather observant to what you said, but in the context of one 17 game season it's not ridiculous levels of pedantry. I agree with your main point that both teams didn't have the toughest schedule, and both their records flatter to deceive."

"El Scorchio OK, I've reread my original post. 100 out of 100 for pedantry though, which anyone would salute. I suppose that's what message boards are for though"

"Yeah, most NFL players have generally played at least two years of high-quality (in coaching terms) high school (American) football and three years of college football by the time they are Rees-Zammit's age. So he's at least five years (probably more) behind most Yanks even at the age of 22. He hasn't had a single day of NFL-style coaching in his life. Whereas these kids emerge from college as absolute units built and coached to play that sport - and, even then, most of them don't make it in the professional ranks. His chances are slim. But good luck to him. Different requirements for different sports, innit? Rugby is so much more about the combination of cardio and size/strength. NFL is not that at all. Most American footballers would be gasping for air if asked to run like a rugby player for more than a couple of minutes. It's all about seconds-long explosiveness, elite level reactions, memorising playbooks and the physicality (which both sports share). Similar sporting origins, but the NFL is the muscle-bound sprinter (give or take a fat lineman) to rugby's ""decathletes""."

"The only one I can think of playing now is Jordan Mailata who came from rugby league. Being 6'8"" and huge has helped. Jamie Gillan sort of but he played club and school rugby not professionally."

"yeah, tight end would have been a good fit for him"

"cough, he had the perfect build for a tight end. whether he could have learnt the plays is the question, but he would have been a mismatch for most defensive backs"

"Oh dear 4:31 Yup, Philly and the cowboys have benefited from two weak division rivals in the last few years and I wouldn't dispute that at all. But that's not what you said. You said they both got four wins against both others this season, which they didn't."

"sbb, didn't an NFL team (I think the Cowboys?) tried to get Jonah Lomu to sign for them? Fuck knows what position they had in line for him, he was fast enough to be a wide receiver and strong enough to be a linebacker?"

"southbankbornnbred 4:12 Exactly! There's fairly little like for like from rugby to NFL in terms of body shape/skill when you look at the individual positions in NFL. Best one I can think of is a fly half becoming a place kicker or punter. Even if he's got the body for a receiver, can he run routes well and digest the playbook? Can he run block effectively? As you say too tall and slender for a running back- the big ones like Brandon Jacobs or Derrick Henry are absolute units who both weigh(ed) 22 kilos more. He will get smashed as a tight end unless he seriously bulks up. No idea if he'd have the skillset to become a safety or a cornerback. Mildly inteesting too see what happens and good on him for giving it a go but these things so rarely amount to anything becase it's such a different sport and skillset"

El Scorchio Dallas have beaten NY 6 times on the bounce and Washington 5 of the last 6 Philly have beaten both NY and Washington 5 of the last 6. That's benefiting from soft schedules The Redskins have taken some proper thmpings too

"Rees-Zammit's girlfriend is a social media ""influencer"" - snigger! - so there's probably some idea that his ""journey"" from rugby to the NFL IPP will all be filmed, uploaded and product placed. Most likely there will be a Netflix documentary in it. I hate all that shit. But he'll probably do well out of it financially."

"I don't really see the point in that rugby-to-NFL (IPP) move. Christian Wade did it and, with all due respect to the fella, didn't really get too far with the Bills etc. There have been a couple of notable exceptions, of course, but generally it's late to start learning specialist NFL skills once you've had a long-ish stint in rugby and no college (American) football career. And vice-versa, I'm sure. Good luck to Rees-Zammit if that's what he wants to do. He's only 22, so he has some time on his side. But his chances of succeeding at a high level are slim. Just read that he's 6ft 3. He's a winger, isn't he? So I guess they're thinking he'll be either a wide receiver or tight end. But is he big enough to be a tight end (they're generally around 250lbs+). He's probably too big to be a running back, despite his straight line speed."

BBC*

Wales and Gloucester winger Louis Rees-Zammit is to leave rugby union with immediate effect to join the NFL international player pathway (IPP). No me neither

Oh dear 10:26 No they aren't. At least not Philly.

You can have Nate Hackett if you like..?!

"You did, Griff: good call, that. After you wrote that, I watched a couple of Eagles games and you could sense that things were falling apart. The offense does look quite confused and slow to react at times - which is never a good sign for the OC."

"been shit all year and said as much when we were 10-1, just about the worst 10-1 you'll ever see. New OC & DC needed, and wouldn't be surprised if Sirianni goes as well. Depending on whether Cox, Graham & Kelce fancy another crack, could be a big & long rebuild from here. Johnson is pushing 34 as well so will be losing big characters and performers over the next little while. Hard to argue that the 8 left aren't the best and most deserving teams, so will enjoy from here on out. Hoping for a Lions SB win, but frankly anyone who is left except the 9ers is good by me."

"Bizarre though it sounds, I thought the Buccs win against Philly was the most predictable of the play-off games over the weekend. The wheels fell off the Eagles' season weeks ago. Lost five out of their last six regular season games, whereas Baker Mayfield rallied the Buccs to five out of six wins. Mayfield is a decent NFL quarterback. Have said for years, even while he was bombing in Cleveland, that if you give him even half-decent targets and a line, he will give you a top-half (league-wise) performance. He's never going to be a top-three QB, but he's significantly better than people realised after the graveyard of Cleveland. He has good accuracy and a ""fuck you"" attitude - a resilient fucker. It's Mayfield v Goff in the divisional round. Quite a story behind that game."

"RBshorty 1:24 Tue Jan 16 I agree, I've been a closet Lions fan since mid-October I'm not surprised by Dallas or Philly flunking, their 12-5 and 11-6 records are bolstered by 4 gimme wins against the Redskins and Giants"

Who doesn't love seeing the Eagles blow it

Bills making hard work of it in the second half. Steelers getting themselves back into it...

Would love to see the Bills or Lions go all the way. Both have been a punching bag for league for far too long. Every dog needs to have its day.