2018 NFL Week 1 Thoughts

[TanksAndSpartans]

There was a thread where someone made a good argument for Jackie Smith, but I can't search for it because the words are too common.

I went to Pitt, people will be confused if its used to refer to the city or the Steelers.

[rhickok1109]

Some people refer to them as "the 'Burgh" or the Burghers. So, I decided to be weird too.

Being from Pittsburgh I have never heard anyone from there refer to "Pitt" as being anything other than the University of Pittsburgh.

And, while we're at it, having spent the vast majority of my life in the S.F. Bay Area I have never heard anyone from around here call San Francisco "Frisco."

It just isn't proper...
/endpetpeeve

Frisco is a terrible shortening of that name. For the lazy person trying to save syllables, "Cisco" would be acceptable to me. Personally, I always say "San Francisco".

I also always say "Philadelphia." I don't like saying "Philly."

But I bet you don't say "Philadelphia steak sandwich"

[JWL]

If it is a proper name of the sandwich or blunts, I would say "Philly" or "Phillies". I also call the baseball team the Philadelphia Phillies as opposed to Philadelphia Philadelphias or the Philly Phillies.

[rhickok1109]

He's a better receiver than Ditka and a better blocker than Mackey.

But is he a better receiver than Mackey or a better blocker than Ditka?

He has much better hands than Mackey; Gronk rarely drops a pass but Mackey dropped quite a few. Like Mackey, he has the speed to be split out and run deep routes, but he's also an excellent receiver in traffic and he holds onto the ball even when a couple of guys hit him as soon as the ball does. He also has the ability to turn a 5-yard pass into a 20-yard gain by knocking people over. Mackey was never much of a possession receiver.

Gronk certainly blocks at least as well as Ditka. Remember that Ditka was not a real big guy; he weighed less than Jim Brown, for example. He was terrific blocking LBs and DBs; Gronk can do that, but he can also be very effective against DLs, which was not Ditka's forte.