2026-2027 NFL Week 9

After the Bears game, I’m pretty close to giving up on the Seahawks. Or, I find watching them–specifically, the offense–too painful. I’m pretty convinced Brian Fleury is not a good OC, and that’s really caused me to distance myself from the team. I did watch them against the Cardinals, but I haven’t really changed my mind. I will say that the run game is pretty physical, and if the offense can get first downs, the run game has the potential to really wear down defenses. But the passing game seems really bad, and I tend to think this goes back to Fleury. Players seem rarely wide-open, and many of the passes seem to be require pinpoint passes to make completions.

Raiders@49ers

I actually started this thread to complain about the Raiders. Kubiak and his coaching staff really seemed to be turning the team around, even when they lost. No so yesterday, as the Raiders played like the team I’ve been long familiar with–namely a defense that is sieve, and boneheaded plays. Two stand out that I want to mention: 1) the defense intercepts Purdy, putting the Raiders in good scoring position. A few plays later the Raiders fumble and give it back to the 49ers. 2) I think on the next possession, the Raiders stop the 49ers 4th down conversion, and, again, put the Raiders offense in scoring position. Once again, the Raiders fumble, this time at the goal line.

I didn’t and don’t expect them to beat a team like the 49ers, but these type of mistakes are inexcusable. The Raiders turned the ball over five times. For perennial losing teams, I believe in the adage that before such a team starts winning, they have to stop doing things that cause them to lose. Going by this game, the Raiders haven’t done that yet.

When the Hawai’i Restaurant Scene was at its Strongest

If an out-of-towner asked me for restaurant recommendations now, I think I would struggle to provide good answers. That wasn’t always the case–or at least I would feel more confident in my ability to provide recommendations. I think two things have changed for me in the last ten years or so–1) many of the restaurants I really liked have closed, and 2) I really haven’t tried many new restaurants. Having said that, I’ve been mostly unimpressed or even disappointed by the ones I have tried–so much so that I tend to think the Hawai’i food scene has significantly declined. Do you guys agree with that or not?

In any event, this brings me to the point of the post–namely, in our lifetime, what time period did we have the most quality restaurants? I’m interested in hearing your answers, but here’s mine. For me, I would say the late 90s and early 2000s featured the best, or at least my favorite, restaurants. Here’s a list, off the top of my head:

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2026-2027 NFL Week 6

Seahawks@Broncos

I would call those two scoring drives by Denver a masterclass in play calling, and I would say Payton outcoached McDonald. Yes, the Seahawks shutdown the Bronco offense after that, but I feel like part of that was a more conservative approach by Payton–i.e., protecting the football at all costs was the primary objective.

The play calling on those two drives stands in stark contrast to the Seahawk play caller and pretty much any of their drives. The former shows an example of great playcalling and its impact. The latter is an example of mediocre play calling and its impact. The thing is, Nix and the Denver offense has not looked good–similar to the Seahawks. And yet if you only those two Denver scoring drives, you’d think they were a good offense–or at least not a bad one. Fleury just doesn’t have the capacity to do the same for his offense, and right now I’d say the offense, and Sam Darnold, are broken.

Trump Has Politicized the Department of Justice, Destroying Their Independence and Reputation

While the Department of Justice (DOJ) falls under the POTUS, with the POTUS choosing the U.S. Attorney General to oversee the DOJ, previous presidents have tried to create a wall between the White House and DOJ, allowing the DOJ to act with independence. This wall allowed the DOJ to do their jobs based on the law, and helped prevent the POTUS from using the DOJ to go after political enemies or protect himself, family members, or political allies. A U.S. President doing any of these things would be a blatant abuse of power and would deserve being impeached and removed from office.

This thread will provide multiple examples that he’s doing these things. (Note: I posted articles about this in the Trump, 2nd Term thread, prior to 10/10/2026. Also, this thread is not meant to be comprehensive. There are a lot of articles/stories I did not include in this thread.)

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2026-2027 NFL Week 4

Cowboys make a big trade for Joey Porter Jr. Do you like the move, Don?

So far it seems like Kubiak has turned the Raiders around. It’s not just being 3-0, but the way the team has played, especially on offense. They’re executing, playing clean, and have reduced boneheaded mistakes. They look way better on ST as well. The defense has looked OK, but I feel like they will be exposed, especially against the run.

Having said that, if they can contain the Chiefs run game, I think they have a legitimate shot to beat the Chiefs. The Chiefs aren’t and haven’t been a team that will dominate a lot of opponents. On the contrary, I think a lot of teams can play the Chiefs close. The Raiders could be one of those teams tomorrow.

The Chargers have looked awful, but their defense did generate 5 turnovers against the Bills offense. If the defensive improvement is real, this might be more of a game than I first assumed. The Chargers really have to turn things around on offense, though, and while that’s possible, it would be kind of surprising. (I think they should lean heavily on the run game, instead of leaning on Herbert.)