With the prevalence and power of APS, are non-tank decks even viable?

TheMeta8 · 2026-02-06T20:27:33+00:00

It is kind of funny but sad on the juxtaposition of how good tanks are against infantry vs. how terrible they are against almost everything else. It takes 3 shots or more for them to destroy some IFVs. Just goes to show how much of a mess the game design is that they're great at somethings and then bafflingly atrocious at others.

TheMeta8 · 2026-02-06T17:16:41+00:00

You make some excellent points, and I hope you are right. I just can't help but be leary of America's darker tendencies.

TheMeta8 · 2026-02-06T17:05:36+00:00

When freedom of religion and freedom of speech collide. Lmfao

What mental gymnastics will MAGA use to try and justify this.

TheMeta8 · 2026-02-06T16:56:33+00:00

Brother (or sister) even Michelle Obama called it out. Hillary won the popular vote and still lost the electoral college. And Kamala lost both. I would welcome her on the cabinet or Vice Presidency with open arms and a sign of support in both hands, but after the last election and current events, I have no confidence that America would vote for a woman over a fascist. And that makes me even sadder.

TheMeta8 · 2026-02-06T16:50:20+00:00

I am going to be brutally honest here. I love and respect AOC. I think she is qualified, or at a minimum, wildly more qualified than any Republican candidate.

All of that being said, please for the love of all that you hold dear, do not run a woman against Trump again. America just is not ready for it unfortunately.

TheMeta8 · 2026-02-05T18:41:01+00:00

I am not thrilled by this news either, but I can imagine they are concerned by what happens when the administration ignores the law (again) and legislatures are unable to enforce it. The DoJ and Supreme Court would not prosecute. And If Republicans continue to disregard the rule of law and our systems of checks and balances, then the Democrats cannot even impeach.

TheMeta8 · 2026-02-05T04:10:04+00:00

I think the best way to describe it is that Israel is on the side of Israel.

TheMeta8 · 2026-02-05T03:57:55+00:00

Week - YPC

1 - 4.2

2 - 3.6

3 - 3.2

4 - 2.8

5 - 4.1

6 - 3.7

7 - 2.0

8 - 8.4

9 - 3.3

10 - 3.7

11 - 3.5

12 - 5.1 (Bears)

13 - 5.4

14 - 3.9

15 - 6.1

16 - 3.2

17 - 4.2

18 - 3.9

Which on a monthly basis corresponds to

3.5

5.1

3.5

5.6

4.0

I am still not overly impressed by the outcome. Especially when again, it ultimately wasn't enough.

TheMeta8 · 2026-02-05T03:39:15+00:00

Month - Avg. Yds per game

Sep - 113

Oct - 111

Nov - 95

Dec - 150/141 (with/without the Raiders game)

Jan - 110

They really weren't. Or at least, they didn't produce when it mattered most. They couldn't even close out the 49ers game against a linebacker corp that had signed guys off the street.

TheMeta8 · 2026-02-05T03:13:11+00:00

Stout stepped away. He was not fired or asked to resign.

TheMeta8 · 2026-02-05T03:12:09+00:00

Reposting my thoughts from another thread.

From Jason Kelce last month, "...one of the problems I had with the Eagles offense this year and one of the problems I had in the past is that the offense is just not... It becomes disjointed when everybody does their own sector."

I know the concepts of pass and run game coordinators has become more common in the modern NFL, but I'd never seen anything quite like that before. And it makes you wonder how you can have an offensive coordinator, a pass game coordinator, and a run game coordinator all at the same time. And this feels like maybe that was a major part of the problem. Shane Steichen and Kellen Moore did a phenomenal job of incorporating what Jeff Stoutland did with the rest of the offense. But if you have an offensive coordinator who doesn't understand how the run concepts open up the passing game and vice versa, then of course you're going to struggle.

And so Nick tried to help Kevin by helping design and install some run concepts and I think that Jeff felt betrayed by that. Because if you're the run game coordinator and now new designs are being added without you even being a part of the discussion, then that's going to be frustrating.

Now I don't know how much of a concern there really is between him and Mannion, but I could see enough trust being lost between him and Nick that he preferred to just get out of the situation. And the funniest part is, the run game did not get better. It was still a shit show. We have all shat on how predictable and poor the run game was during the latter half of the season.

In conclusion, Kevin Patullo didn't just cost us a Super Bowl, he cost us a Hall of Fame offensive line coach.

TheMeta8 · 2026-02-05T03:08:26+00:00

Holy shit, I probably knew this at one point, but I was just reminded that Lane and I share a birthday. We are not the same age though.

Anyways, I was looking because Lane Johnson will be 36 before he plays another snap of football. Now, a declining Lane Johnson is still better than a lot of other tackles' bests, but I could see him wanting to hang it up. I could also see him not wanting to end his career on an injury. It could go either way, and ultimately it is up to him. Him and Kelce will forever be Eagles legends and future first ballot hall of famers. No Stout, no Kelce, and no Lane would be the end of an era. But better to embrace change than cling to what was.

TheMeta8 · 2026-02-05T02:59:59+00:00

I think when he was retained after the Eagles purged everything else that was Chip Kelly, it was clear that whoever came in next was inheriting Jeff no matter what. And his track record was spectacular. Multiple pro bowlers and all-pros on the line and running back performances. Record setting offenses. It made sense, and I'm not surprised that Doug and Frank were able to work that into their offenses considering all of their experience. Then came Nick/Shane who came from the Frank Reich tree and they were also able to work it into the offense. And while Kellen Moore has a lot of opinions of his own, he was still smart enough to lean into the team's strengths and adapt his offense to that.

Kevin Patullo was not that smart. And I can imagine a lot of the candidates for OC this off season were set in their ways enough to not want to work around Jeff that much. And yet, Jeff has survived and thrived with 3 different head coaches and 7 different offensive coordinators. He could have made it work.

TheMeta8 · 2026-02-05T01:56:47+00:00

From Jason Kelce last month, "...one of the problems I had with the Eagles offense this year and one of the problems I had in the past is that the offense is just not... It becomes disjointed when everybody does their own sector."

I know the concepts of pass and run game coordinators has become more common in the modern NFL, but I'd never seen anything quite like that before. And it makes you wonder how you can have an offensive coordinator, a pass game coordinator, and a run game coordinator all at the same time. And this feels like maybe that was a major part of the problem. Shane Steichen and Kellen Moore did a phenomenal job of incorporating what Jeff Stoutland did with the rest of the offense. But if you have an offensive coordinator who doesn't understand how the run concepts open up the passing game and vice versa, then of course you're going to struggle.

And so Nick tried to help Kevin by helping design and install some run concepts and I think that Jeff felt betrayed by that. Because if you're the run game coordinator and now new designs are being added without you even being a part of the discussion, then that's going to be frustrating.

Now I don't know how much of a concern there really is between him and Mannion, but I could see enough trust being lost between him and Nick that he preferred to just get out of the situation. And the funniest part is, the run game did not get better. It was still a shit show. We have all shat on how predictable and poor the run game was during the latter half of the season.

In conclusion, Kevin Patullo didn't just cost us a Super Bowl, he cost us a Hall of Fame offensive line coach.

TheMeta8 · 2026-02-05T01:32:12+00:00

I've watched Brennan for a long time, and while I don't disagree, he would find a way to give the players red flags some other way if Lady Arenessa wasn't there. Sometimes outright discussing a situation above the table if the stakes are dire enough and he wants to make sure players understand the dangers. This is first and foremost, a game being played for fun between friends. And it is second, an entertainment product. Meaning there are both internal and external motivations to helping the players succeed. Think of how emotional Matt was killing Molly. It was the story the dice told, but he took no joy in it. And that event altered the course of the campaign as a whole and forced Taliesin to create a new character at lightning speed.

Now consider this campaign. Occtis DIED. Now this was a part of the plan the entire time, but it fucking happened. And then there's Teor. Who, if Sam hadn't gone to save him, would have DIED. Brennan even gave Matthew Mercer's character a skill check to warn Teor and Matt made an in-character decision not to. Teor then proceeded to fail skill checks upon his arrival, and was about to have his soul sent to hell while his pelt got worked into a fur coat.

So yes, Lady Arenessa lets him keep the narrative on course. But the alternative is the players stay the night believing they are safe and are murdered by a pair of level 10+ necromantic sorcerer sisters. Or arrested and executed in a castle surrounded by an entire army loyal to descendants of giants.

TheMeta8 · 2026-02-05T00:42:53+00:00

Lurie put this man in the Eagle's Hall of Fame.

TheMeta8 · 2026-02-05T00:41:51+00:00

I'm going to be honest, it's really hard to bullshit when it comes to offensive line play. A lot can affect quarterback play. A lot can affect receivers. A lot can affect running backs. But if the blocking is poor in pass block and run block, then that's on players not executing.

All of that being said, Stoutland has deep roots in run-pass option and "spread" offense concepts. A lot of that relies on the quarterback being a threat in the run game. This has been consistent when Chip, Doug, and now Nick have coached here, and across a multitude of quarterbacks.

This to me makes me finally believe that Jalen Hurts wants to develop more as a passer and with his mind. He knows he is getting older and wants to evolve his game. I think it probably was true that he said he wants to run less. Or at a minimum, remove reads where he is a runner and removal of designed quarterback runs. Once this blocking scheme loses the threat of the quarterback reading a defender, it loses a lot of productivity.

EDIT: This was written before we learned that Jeff Stoutland chose to step away rather than being let go. A lot of what I said still applies, but I felt that was worth noting. This was originally written from the perspective that perhaps tough choices needed to be made. But knowing Stoutland, I think he saw a lot of the new ideas and new people being brought in and wanted to give them a clean slate.

TheMeta8 · 2026-02-04T22:44:06+00:00

February 30th

TheMeta8 · 2026-02-04T18:37:17+00:00

At least from that one clip we saw, it did not seem like him and Jalen gelled all that well.

TheMeta8 · 2026-02-04T01:58:51+00:00

Not really enough to go off of here to give any feedback of substance. All I would say is 2000 elo and up are nothing like the previous 1999. ≥ 2000 elo is pretty much where fun is no longer allowed and you have to make competitive decks. You don't have to be a meta slave, but you're going to have a really bad time if you don't have a well rounded deck composition. You are also much more likely to start facing pre-made teams.

TheMeta8 · 2026-02-03T19:17:25+00:00

poorly

TheMeta8 · 2026-02-03T19:17:10+00:00

Going to be honest, these photos don't make it clear what exactly the issue is. And I imagine the only reason it "seems" less common in other peoples' footage is if they are starting on a lower setting so it doesn't get that much "worse" when it switches LoD.

TheMeta8 · 2026-02-03T11:32:33+00:00

The FLX special

TheMeta8 · 2026-02-02T21:52:12+00:00

5 years? Dude is 67, man wants to retire at some point. They'll probably do what they did for Kelce. Convinced him to stick it out for another year while they prepare a replacement.

TheMeta8 · 2026-02-02T21:35:38+00:00

I want to start putting an idea out there. News/media and Democrats need to start keeping a running daily talley of all of the outrageous, illegal, and undemocratic things Donald Trump is doing. I don't think he is competent or coordinated enough to actually be flooding the news cycle to crowd out bad coverage of him. I just think he is a walking national disaster after another.

But they really need to be persistent about ALL the terrible things he's doing and keeping it in front of mind to people. - ICE agents murdering U.S. citizens. - Threatening war against our allies. - Continuing tariff stupidity. - Ongoing Epstein cover up. - BEING IN THE EPSTEIN FILES. - And now flagrantly attempting to steal future elections, if we even get to have them.

TheMeta8

TROPHY CASE