u/1stand11

I’ve been a football player, coach, and referee at relatively high levels over many decades. And I’ve watched the Premier League evolve over the decades. And to be blunt, you cannot convince me at all that VAR has actually improved the Premier League as a spectacle in the slightest. I genuinely think it is ruining the league. And I genuinely feel sorry for the younger generations who do not know the Premier League prior to VAR.

One of the reasons I fell in love with football is because of the spontaneous and free flowing nature of the sport. And something that I fundamentally accept is that players, coaches, and referees will make mistakes. What VAR has done is create this illusion of perfection and objectivity that simply doesn’t exist in football. The reality is football is a highly subjective sport. And the problem with VAR is it’s added another layer of subjectivity to the initial layer of subjectivity. At this point, you cannot convince me that VAR in its current format is actually worth it. Because the amount of contradictions we see each week between Premier League officiating crews has made it incredibly obvious that no ideologically consistent interpretation of the laws of the game actually exists. It’s a subjective crapshoot week to week.

Going forward, I’d much rather see VAR used strictly for goal line technology and offsides. I’d be open to keeping VAR for decisions inside the box. But otherwise, leave it to the onfield referee to make subjective calls. Particularly between the 18 yard boxes. In the end, I accept and am fine with referees not getting every single call correct. And I think VAR has created this pursuit of perfection with officiating that not only does not exist. But detracts from the spirit of the game itself.

As we gradually get closer and closer to next season, I’m becoming more and more optimistic about the roster Howie has assembled. The one area of the team that I’m primarily concerned about is the health and depth of our O-line. My hope is that Mannion’s blocking scheme will take much less of a toll on the guys up front. And Lane, in particular, can grind it out. Having said all that, I think Howie has assembled a ton of talent on both sides of the ball.

Which got me thinking. Which players do you expect to see have a breakout season in 2026? On offense, I’m really hoping Mannion can get Bigsby much more involved than Patullo did last season. And Saquon and Tank can be used as a two headed monster like Gibbs and Montgomery were for years in Detroit. The other player on offense who I think will benefit a lot from Mannion is Goedert. I understand the hype and buzz around Stowers. And I like the draft pick a lot both in the short and long term. But the reason why I think Goedert will benefit a lot from Mannion’s offense is because Hurts trusts him (significant with AJ leaving). And because all the movement and shifts in Mannion’s offense will allow an aging Goedert to find pockets of space to operate in with all the chaos around him.

On defense, the player I expect to really break out is Carter. Particularly if Howie doesn’t extend him before the season starts. We all saw what an extra motivated Davis looked like last season. And Carter, hoping and assuming his shoulders will be healed, will have all the incentive in the world to ball out. Judging by all his off-season posts he keeps putting up, it looks like he’s extra motivated. And the other player I will add is Woolen at corner. Like Carter, it’s a prove it year for him and I think he’s going to be a really good fit in Philly. Even if it only ends up being for one season.

So what say you all out there? Who are you keeping an eye on to be 2026 breakout players?

I spent all day offline so I wasn’t around to exchange opinions in the immediate aftermath of the Arsenal-West Ham match. So I hope we can all be a bit more rational with the emotions leveled off a bit. In my opinion, Raya was fouled. And in isolation I do not have a problem with the foul itself. But the problem is on the very same play Havertz fouled Soucek on the front post by tackling him to the ground. Which prevented the Czech from leaping to contest the header. And Rice fouled Mavropanos by putting him in some type of wrestling style hold. Which prevented the Greek from even jumping to contest the ball. Yet both the referee and VAR ignored those two fouls and chose to only focus on Raya being obstructed. The reality is all three are fouls, full stop. The response to that is the focus is on Raya because that’s where the ball end up being contested. Which ignores Mavropanos and Soucek could not contest the ball in the first place because they were both being fouled.

The bigger picture problem I have is the Premier League has allowed this type of rugby/wrestling style nonsense to become normalized in the game. Why this has been allowed to happen I have absolutely no idea. But it’s created a situation where a half dozen fouls routinely occur on each set piece. So how in the world is a referee supposed to decide which foul is more important than all the other fouls on the same play? It’s asinine and it’s making an absolute mockery of referees not being one bit consistent. And adding VAR as a review on top of it is just undermining the sport even further because there is no rhyme or reason to when, why, and how referees interpret these types of situations. They are just making it up as they go along. That’s really it. And to top it all off, it’s incredibly hard to take Premier League officials seriously when they are too lazy to enforce basic laws of the game like foul throws, the correct spot for throw ins and free kicks, walls consistently encroaching from 10 yards on free kicks, goalies routinely holding the ball for more than 8 seconds, etc.

Is anyone else out there zooming out? And seeing a truly comical nightmare narrative setting up for Arsenal? Arsenal genuinely better win the Premier League. Because if PSG beat them in the final and they don’t win a trophy this season…Emery winning the Europa League on top of it…With Spurs also possibly staying up…the ultimate vortex of generational banter would be thrown at Arsenal.

*To all the Arsenal supporters lashing out in the comments…all you are doing is reinforcing what I’m saying. You lot better hope this doesn’t happen.

Is anyone out there super excited for Jalen Hurts to prove a bunch of people wrong this coming season? As we gradually get closer and closer to next season, my optimism keeps growing for the entire team. But also particularly for Hurts. Primarily because I think our offense will be a lot more dynamic under Mannion. And with AJ (presumably) leaving, I genuinely think Hurts is going to be a lot more relaxed. Because he won’t have to constantly appease AJ and force him the ball. Hurts, Saquon, Bigsby, DeVonta, Lemon, Wicks, Hollywood, Goedert, Stowers, Mundt (beast blocking TE)…anyone else out there actually think our offense will actually be better without AJ? Because I’m actually very confident that it will be. And I think Hurts will end up being in a much better space to operate spreading the ball around to many different players. And he will look better than ever as a result. Thoughts from others?

Hey Mods-Just an idea to throw out there. Instead of constantly having AJ posts on the main page nearly every day, how about creating a separate AJ discussion thread at the top of the main page? That way this page isn’t constantly inundated with AJ, AJ, AJ day after day. Just an idea.

Gabriel is a very good CB. And arguably one of the best CB’s in the world right now. But something that has become incredibly obvious is he has zero sense of fair play or sportsmanship. One moment he’s grabbing, pulling, pinching, tackling, and generally manhandling opposing strikers. But the moment he gets touched he constantly dives, fakes injuries, and has zero shame doing so. My question to everybody is this…how do Premier League referees seriously allow him to constantly get away with these types of shenanigans? And virtually never punish him for it? They have to study film, be familiar with player’s tendencies, and not be that naive. But they constantly allow him to manhandle opponents and virtually always whistle in his favor when he dives. Why are Premier League referees so weak when it comes to allowing stuff like this and enabling it?

A lot of fans still might not realize this but Quez Watkins has been back with the Eagles since last September. Howie signed him to the practice squad after Week 3 and he spent all season there. And Howie signed him to a futures contract shortly after the offseason began. With AJ (still on the roster), DeVonta, Lemon, Wicks, Hollywood, Moore, Cooper, Wilson, Covey, and Gray all in the WR room, why do you think Howie still has Quez on the off-season roster? The reason I ask is because Quez wasn’t even called up off the practice squad for the final Week 18 game against the Commanders to get playing time. I’m sure Quez can see the writing on the wall at this point. Is Howie stashing him on the practice squad again? Is he just a body for drills this off-season? Because I’d think Quez would want to be on a team like the Jets or Panthers where he could really try and compete for a final roster spot to salvage his NFL career. Thoughts from others?

Sixers coming back from 3-1 down in the series to beat the Celtics and advance. And in the process breaking Boston hearts. Howie, half joking/half serious…do it again next month and don’t trade AJ to the Patriots. The Boston fans would go absolutely apoplectic…again.

You would think Jalen Hurts is the 2nd coming of Bobby Hoying based on all the persistent negative chatter around him this off-season. I understand that QB play is more than just passing TD’s and INT’s. But last season, Hurts had 25 passing TD’s and 6 INT’s. On top of that he also had 8 rushing TD’s. By comparison…

Josh Allen: 25 passing TD’s and 10 INT’s

Baker Mayfield: 26 passing TD’s and 11 INT’s

Sam Darnold: 25 passing TD’s and 14 INT’s

Bo Nix: 25 passing TD’s and 11 INT’s

Justin Herbert: 26 passing TD’s and 13 INT’s

Trevor Lawrence: 29 passing TD’s and 12 INT’s

Caleb Williams: 27 passing TD’s and 7 INT’s

Patrick Mahomes: 22 passing TD’s and 11 INT’s

Tua Tagovailoa: 20 passing TD’s and 15 INT’s

Brock Purdy: 20 passing TD’s and 10 INT’s

Personally, I think a lot of fans and pundits need to zoom out. I get it, there are aspects of Hurts’ game I’d like to see improve. But there is a borderline fixation on critiquing him that far too often doesn’t look at all the other QB’s in the league. Hurts is right in line with a lot of other QB’s in the league from 5th-15th. Depending on the game each week, all of these QB’s can look like Pro Bowlers and then drop down a level of two the next game. And that includes Hurts.