Billy from Stockton, CA
Vic, what kind of question do we need to ask in order for you to answer and post them on here?
Here's one that would work: Vic, what do you think of the $15,000 fine the league imposed on Clay Matthews? Thanks for asking, Billy. In my opinion, the fine the league imposed on Matthews for his late hit on Colin Kaepernick is relatively minor and fails to support Coach Harbaugh's harsh characterization of Matthews.
Brian from Hamilton, NJ
It's a rainy night, both starting QBs have completion percentages under 50 percent, WRs for both teams are dropping the ball left and right, in a very low-scoring game. So why are both teams throwing the ball over 35 times?
That's the contemporary game. It's about the quarterback. It's about the passing game because it's never been easier to pass the ball. Hey, Geno Smith threw for 214 yards. When Terry Bradshaw threw for 200 yards, it was a big day. I didn't think that was a very entertaining or well-played game last night. The crowd was listless for a reason. Again, it's my opinion that the lack of two-a-days in training camp and the obsession for avoiding injuries in the preseason has fundamentally moved the preseason into the regular season. I think it's a problem the league must address, and I think the players also have a stake in fixing this because they've done much to cause it.
Mike from West Bend, WI
Do you think the new CBA hinders the draft-and-develop philosophy? There is some horrible football being played.
I don't see anything hindering draft-and-develop football that isn't hindering sign-free-agents football. The problem is a lack of salary cap room and that's being caused by an explosion in quarterback contracts. Very simply, the increase in the cost of quarterbacks has outpaced the increase in leaguewide revenues, causing quarterbacks to eat up a greater chunk of teams' salary caps. As I've written in the past, the teams that will take the lead in the future will be the teams that find a way to devalue the quarterback position, and I can only think of one way to do it: Decrease the demand by increasing the supply. Is that what the move toward mobile, new-age quarterbacks is going to produce? Are we tapping into a larger resource? The colleges are full of them, and if injury causes you to have to replace them, they'll never get old enough in the game to hit the jackpot. I know that's way-out-there kind of thinking, but if quarterbacks continue to eat up bigger pieces of the pie, the supporting cast will have to cost less, and that's not good for the overall product.
Ryan from St. Louis, MO
Do you expect the Packers to dial up more pressure on Griffin or hold some back and make him win with his arm?
Make a guy in a comeback from knee reconstruction move? I would.
Will from West Allis, WI
Vic, I would love to see a game with no commentary and just game sounds and crowd noise. It would be great to sit with the surround sound on feeling like I was there.
NBC did it for a late-season Jets-Dolphins game in 1980. It was possibly the worst thing in TV history. It was dead air. It was horrible. It was laughable.
Josh from Kunming, China
Vic, Coach Shanahan and RG3's interviews were very enjoyable, compared to last week's. You're right, the QB is a reflection of the coach. Has it always been that way in the league?
Pretty much. RG3 gave us a wonderful rendition of coachspeak on Wednesday, and Coach Shanahan was complimentary of everything and very accommodating. Yuk! Give me Kaepernick and Harbaugh. I wanna feel some tenseness. I want sense some avoidance, so I know I've hit a nerve. Yeah, I wanna hit a nerve. Wednesday's interviews were too soft.
Bart from Sanibel, FL
I've never been the nerdy type, but I am, in fact, going to take the play-calling test for the Green Bay-Washington game this weekend. Game on, Vic Ketchman.
Go for it. So there's no confusion, this is a test for predicting the type of play that's run, not for predicting the result of the play. This is for people who think the play-calling is predictable. If you say run middle and the play, in fact, is run middle, you score 100 percent for that play. If you say run right and it's run middle, you score 50 percent for that play. By the way, run middle is between the tackles. Run right and run left are outside the tackles. I'll trust you. Enjoy the game, everyone.
