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NFL 2018

Bababooey

Horse-toothed Jackass
Veteran
Im going to have to try out smashburger, ive heard of them before but never been to one. They have a few locations in the burbs, ill stop by one when im out there. Any recommendations for what i should order besides the fried pickles?
Have you ever tried hodad's? I saw them once on diners drive-ins and dives, that patty they make by boiling a pot of bacon and then grilling up a bunch of strips on a flattop looks delish.

Is that malcolm brown or john kelly you were watching? They probably played both last game, 2nd and 3rd stringers each a half.

I think it's pretty smart of mcvay to not play his starters much in the preseason, seems like there's too much risk of injury for games that don't count, other than for preparation.
Yeah, looks like all preseason week 4 games are this thursday, and the regular season opens up the next thursday with falcons at eagles.
Bears host the bills in preseason week 4, not sure if josh allen will play, especially after getting knocked around by the bengals last game. Also, most starters dont tend to play week 4 anyway.
 

pop_rocks

In my empire of dirt
im a traditionalist when it comes to my burgers and usually stick with the basics; its all about good meat, cheese and a fresh bun for me
i like it when the burger is nicely dressed, lettuce, pickles, onions but thats about it
plus i think its a good way to evaluate a burger joint, if you like their plain hamburger/cheeseburger their other burgers should be good too
hodads is a good burger and has been around for a long time; good food and a funky beach vibe
it was the younger one i was most impressed with, john kelly
he had a good mix of speed and power and seemed to pick up those extra yards after contact
looking forward to the last week of the preseason, even tho we wont be seeing any starters these are the guys who are fighting for a spot on the team
the regular season is just around the corner and i cant wait for the real action to begin
/lets get arron donald signed and wreck
 

Bababooey

Horse-toothed Jackass
Veteran
I like fried eggs on top of most anything, Fishy, but at burgerfi i just like their regular double cheeseburger with all the fixings (LTO- lettuce tomato onion) and their special sauce, which is their version of a thousand island-like sauce, maybe more garlicky.
It's been a while since I've been there but i remember their fries being solid, but i really like their onion rings, which were huge fresh-cut rings. You can order a cry and fry, which is half fries, half rings.
Their closest west coast locations are a couple stores around phoenix, pop.

You guys ever make your own gourmet burgers? Get some 80/20 or 70/30 beef, cheese and buns, LTO, maybe make ur own special sauce? I tried making some shake-shack like burgers with their special sauce (found a copycast recipe online) and it worked out pretty decent, and was way cheaper than paying 7-8 bucks for a double cheeseburger there. Although some of these fancy places use a special beef blend for their patties that may be hard to reproduce at home.

I hear aaron donald and khalil mack are waiting for the other person to sign a contract first, so they can then sign a slightly bigger contract the next week.
Speaking of big contracts, odell beckham jr signed a record deal for a WR, 19M/year (antonio brown was 17/yr) with 13m/yr guaranteed. Hopefully he's able to keep healthy and productive for the giants, he's going to have to produce at a record-setting pace in order to justify that contract.
 

pop_rocks

In my empire of dirt
fresh made rings are the best, man!
im not picky about if they are batter dipped, breaded, etc, but whole ring onions are a good sign
half fries/half rings is the best of both worlds
overseas they put fried egg on top of a lot of things made of beef, next time you make a steak fry an egg and put it on top
its not something i do often but every now and then i go for it
it seems like the "secret" is out and most of the sauces are variations of thousand island dressing: mustard, ketchup and mayo with some relish and then season to taste ( i like garlic and onion powder)
i got a meat grinder for christmas one year and we made our own home made burgers
we used steak meat and bacon at like a 3:1 ratio; it was a lot of work but the burgers were really good
/a place called slaters 50/50 that uses a similar mix for their burgers

i dig what you are saying about holding out until the other signs, baba'
each wants to be the highest paid player but i can see this dragging out for a while,as each guy waits for the other to blink
maybe this is where the league needs to step in and enforce the fines or have a penalty for signing after a certain date
/i tihnk if you hold out long enough you loose a year accrued towards free agency or something like that buts its a relative slap on the wrist
lets get those guys signed and on the field; its tiem for some football
/and burgers! we are totally going to have burgers for dinner tomorrow night !
 

Bababooey

Horse-toothed Jackass
Veteran
I love some good, crispy, salty fries with ketchup, but i love good onion rings almost as much. The soft onion inside, combined with a crispy, tasty fried batter outside, dipped in ketchup, hmmm. Perfect side dish to a burger.
An egg over easy is an inexpensive way to add a level of richness to a dish, when you cut into it you have that warm yolk running over the food, very nice.
Yeah, i think shake shack's secret sauce is made of mayo, ketchup, mustard, chopped pickles, onion and garlic powder, in order of percentage. It's like mixing up all of a typical burger sauces into one sauce.
I believe with food laws the restaurant has to tell u what is inside their secret sauce, right? Maybe not specific amounts but the basic ingredients?

That burger mix, with chopped up bacon inside, sounds awesome, Pop. But you dont often make your own mix, because of the work and cleanup involved? I guess you could just chop up some sliced bacon and mix that into some 80-20 or 90-10 and it'll come out almost the same without having to mess with grinders...
One time I made a mix of ground beef and ground pork for burger patties, came out really good, moist and juicy even when cooked through. Think i used a 3:1 ratio beef to pork as well...

Aaron donald is supposedly close to a deal but word is khalil mack might get traded. Dont know who would get him, it would be a 1 year rental unless they sign him to a gigantic deal next year. Not sure it's a good idea to sign any player to a record setting deal, unless you can surround them with a lot of talent on rookie deals or cheap contracts, but im sure someone will give khalil a whole bunch of money.

College football season starts Saturday, got alabama-louisville, washington-auburn, notre dame-michigan. I dont watch a bunch of college games but the big matchups i'll have on the tv while im doing other stuff. We used to have a separate college football thread here but i guess it's not popular enough to merit it's own thread. Anyone watch any college games or follow any teams?
 

pop_rocks

In my empire of dirt
i think you are right baba about resturants and how they have to tell you whats in anything they serve to the public
/mostly for allergy or dietary reasons
thats a good idea to fine chop some bacon and then add that to your fresh ground beef
if you freeze the bacon first it makes it easier to chop up
i like your idea of mixing different meats too,a friend of mine growing up had his grandma living with them and she made the best meatballs; her secret was to use beef, pork and veal
the meat grinder is kind of a pain to clean up so i dident really use it as much as i thought i would but i break it out every now and then
(if this chopped bacon works out like it should, that meat grinder is going to get pushed a little farther back in the cabinet)
i havent hear anything about the raiders shopping mack around, that would kind of change the whole look for their defense
hope your week is wrapping up nicely man and lets enjoy the last week of preseason football
 

Bababooey

Horse-toothed Jackass
Veteran
There's this food website, seriouseats, where the writer wanted to copy shake shack's sauce and just went up to the counter person and asked them the ingredients and they just straight up told him, and he was surprised they would reveal the ingredients, and was told it was because of laws so people with food allergies can know what to avoid.
I've tried to find a sauce recipe for in n out and there's a bunch on the web, again mostly a combination of sugar, ketchup, relish, sugar and vinegar. Some recipes add a bit of mustard, worchestershire, garlic and onion powder, paprika, etc. Still not an exact copy of the sauce because in n out uses some sort of binder or emulsifier to keep their sauce thick, especially once it goes on a warm burger, but most people say the taste is pretty much the same.
How often do you go to in n out, pop? It's been ages since i been to one...

I figured it's the clean up with the meat grinder that's a pain, all that meat and fat stuck to the inside, must take a while to thoroughly wash out. Can you use the grinder to make your own sausage? If so, spending a few hours to make a bunch of sausage and ground beef might be worth it. You'd have to freeze the meat you don't use in a few days, and it wont taste as good as fresh, but maybe not enough to notice.

The bacon-beef patties should be a hit, are you planning to make them thin patties and smash them flat to cook them through? Thats how steak n shake makes their steakburger patties, and it will probably work well to throughly crisp up the bacon bits inside the patty. Maybe even use a 90-10 ground beef to get that steakburger texture, the bacon should add enough fat and juiciness to the patty. Not sure if this would work on a grill though, cant really smash them flat...

Supposedly the raiders are willing to trade mack for two 1st round picks - that's a pretty steep price to pay especially considering the team that gets him will have to pay him 20M a year to keep him.

Aaron rodgers signed an extension paying him 33M a year, topping matt ryan's 30M a year deal from just a couple months ago. Rodgers is imo the best player in the league, but maybe im biased because he rips my bears a new a-hole every time we play him.
 

MrBungle

Active member
I'd cook the bacon first before mixing it in with the ground meat then you'll know for sure its cooked when you grill the patties


One last meaningless pre-season game as far as fans are concerned.... The Browns released Mychal Kendricks yesterday due to his involvement with some sort of insider trading scandal...go figure.... he was set to be one of our rising stars in defense... looks like he is going to be behind bars for a long time :/
 

shithawk420

Well-known member
Veteran
Yeah well,I think the Bears might beat ARod at the start of the season.and I really think he's gonna have a bad injury sometime this season.hey,don't get me wrong.he might be a Packer but I still kinda like the guy.lol
 

pop_rocks

In my empire of dirt
cant be mad at you for liking arod, hawk
hes a generational talent and we are lucky to have been able to watch him,brady and peyton work their magic all these years
no matter how you feel about the packers, you have to admit rodgers can sling em with the best
so along those lines, if "your" team needs a score, with less than a minute remaining in regulation, who do you want under center?
i would say joe montana, but there are a few others i could see getting things done too
/i grew up on a steady diet of minute rice and 49'er super bowls

im going to check out that site baba'
we love the copy cat recipies my man
/i have a really good sence of taste and can often deconstruct things when i am eating them, but its nice to ahve the ingedients listed for you
the mrs know the url of a site like that, i will have to ask her about it when she gets home (its a paid site but they have a bunch of freebies too)
if im making sliders i tend to go with the thicker patty and then smash them after i flip the burger; but when i make regular burgers i like to go with thinner portions of meat
i will double the patty if im looking for more meat but i learned that sometimes two smaller patties gives you a different taste than a large hamburger
we probably have in n out a couple times a month i guess
right now fudruckers has this deal for 1/4lb burgers, fries and a drink for like $7 so that been our go to; last night they had a bogo for the bacon cheese burger (its like almost $15 for the combo but then you get the 2nd one free)
cant beat those prices man, especially for the quality
i was looking into the raiders/ mack thing and it looks like this is a total shit storm coming from both sides
the raiders hold all the cards if you really look at it; mack can sit this entire year (and have to pay some heavy fines for missing games) and still be property of the raiders
they also have the option of franchise tagging him next season so he wont be able to get away that easily
after all the money they spent bringing chucky out of the booth you would think they would be willing to spend some dough on their best defensive player
if mack dosent sign soon i think it changes the whole afc west picture

that might be a good idea mrB, to cook the bacon at least a little bit
if you fry it crispy, you still get the richness from the bacon in the burger, plus some little crunchies in the patty
im going to try that next time we make some burgers and i will get back to you guys with the results

hope everyone is ready for the season to start; i have the feeling this season will be especially good
its going to be ON! this year! guys!
 

Bababooey

Horse-toothed Jackass
Veteran
I think Mychal Kendricks can expect to be sentenced to 8-12 months if he's convicted of insider trading. It's funny, he used code words like cheesesteak when discussing their trades.
Browns still have Collins, kirksey and schobert at LB, plus potential stars at DL and DB. You think theyll be a top 10 defense this year, Bungles?

If my team needed a score with a minute left, I'd pick Jim McMahon as my punky QB. I'm kidding. I'd pick Peyton. Sure he's had some big choke jobs in critical moments, but he's also pulled off some gutsy comebacks.
What's Montana up to anyway? Still endorsing various products on the home shopping network? Does he have a restaurant, or a winery? He could probably get some type of management job in the NFL or college if he wanted, but maybe he doesn't want to get back to the daily grind. Just enjoy life, surf and smoke doobs on the cali beach...

My sense of smell and taste arent that good, for some reason, maybe just genetics. Do you ever drink wine, Pop? Having a refined palate would be helpful in really enjoying wine, i think. I can tell if a wine is smooth, or not spoiled, but mostly im just there for the alcohol content. Mad dog 20-20, it is!

I think pre-cooking the bacon is good if you're going to make some thick burger patties, where you leave a little pink inside. And who doesn't like a little pink on the inside, amiright?
:biggrin:
I guess how much you pre-cook it depends on how thoroughly you'll cook the patty. With a pink inside you might want to cook the bacon almost all the way, with a smashed flat patty cooked through then probably no need to pre cook.
You ever make a really thick, juicy burger, like an inch thick or more? If you make and season it right, puts fast food burgers to shame.
I tend to use just salt and pepper once they go on the skillet or grill, but you guys ever season the meat beforehand? Little worchestershire, little garlic and onion powder, S+P, maybe some chili powder for a kick? I tend not to season it beforehand, because then you have to work it into the ground beef, and i try to handle it as little as possible. Not for germ reasons, mostly for texture. Once you start kneading it and molding it, it acquires a texture that makes it seem like a fast food patty, like it's been heavily processed. IMO.

I looked up that fuddrucker's deal and yeah, burger fries and drink for $7-9, available all day m-th, till 4pm on Fri. Think i'm going to go to fuddrucker's soon, hehehe...

Anyway, back to foos-ball. College games kick off this weekend, and then next thursday we have atlanta-philly, we'll see if carson wentz starts week 1, coming off that knee injury. It's only been 9 months since his acl tear, but he's been practicing in full, so maybe we'll see him out there. Nick foles has looked pretty bad so far this preseason, fwiw.

Bears at packers on the following sunday night, we'll see if the bears are legit. What do you think, Hawk, they got a 50/50 chance of winning? I'm thinking 40% at best, and im obviously biased.

Monday night football we have 2 games, jets at lions and then rams at raiders. Aaron donald just signed a monster deal with the rams, and khalil, well, he may not be on the team by then.
Maybe khalil is getting the shaft from the raiders but it's hard for me to feel really sorry for someone who at worst stands to make more this season than most people make in their entire life, and that's being vastly underpaid for a player of his caliber. Still, i get where he's coming from, this is a sport (and it's true of any sport to a degree) where one bad injury means your career is over. In 10 seconds you can go from 'yeah im awesome' to 'omigod is that my bone?!?'
 

shithawk420

Well-known member
Veteran
Honestly I was just buzzed and listening to all the guys who think the Bears are gonna be somebody.i don't fucking care anymore and except Chicago will never be anything in my lifetime.but I digress.

Far as bacon burgers the BBQ Pit Boys on YouTube have a good recipe I think.they have a good channel if you guys haven't checked them out.

And it depends how you cook them Baba.if you're using a cast iron skillet put salt on the pan and the burger.it will make a nice sear.if your using a grill your right.dont finger fuck your food.
 

MrBungle

Active member
Bears appear to be picking up Khalil Mack.... That might help out your situation a lil bit Shithawk
 

Bababooey

Horse-toothed Jackass
Veteran
I saw that BBQ pit boys video on youtube, looked pretty good.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HoaKb7yijrw

They use a 50/50 mix of bacon to ground sirloin, and half cooked (smoked) the bacon before mixing it with the beef. They didnt use their hands to mix it either, they chopped it and mixed it with 2 small cleavers hibachi style. They only time they used their fingers was when shaping the patties. And they used indirect heat on the grill to cook them, i guess when you use high heat even though you get a nice sear the patties tend to fall apart unless you cook them slow. I might have to watch more of their videos, they seem to have some pretty good ideas/techniques.


Jacksonville's Defense is not just on the rise, Thermal, theyre probably the best dang unit in the whole league. And bortles isnt elite but he matched roethlisberger throw for throw in their playoff matchup last year, and since then he's had surgery on his throwing wrist to correct a nagging injury. So he might indeed be above average this year; losing marqise lee to an acl doesn't help though. Keelan cole and dede westbrook are potential stars, though, donte moncrief if healthy can take the top off a defense, and dj chark is a promising rookie out of LSU, so they should still be set at WR.

Bears traded two 1st-round draft picks, plus a 6th and a 3rd, for Khalil Mack and the raider's 2nd round pick. Then they signed Mack to a 6 year contract worth an average of 23.5M/yr, beating out aaron donald's 22.5M/yr contract from a couple days ago.

I'm somewhat conflicted about this deal. The bears did need an edge rusher, but giving up two 1st rounders and signing a market-setting deal for a DE can really limit the talent they can keep on the team around their stars. Also, the last time they gave up two 1st round picks for a Free Agent was Cutler in 2009, and that turned out more bad than good. And the last time they gave a market setting deal to a defensive player, julius peppers in 2010, im not sure it was worth it. He played well for the bears, no doubt, but had less then 40 sacks in 4 years before the bears tried to trade him, and finding no takers, cut him. If anything, he's given more value with the packers and panthers since then because he hasnt been paid more than 8M a year, about half of what he was making with the bears.

Still, a lot of packers, vikings and lions fans werent happy about this move, so that makes me glad. And if the bears do well, those 1st rounders will be in the 20's, not top 10. And who knows, even if the bears kept the picks and the money, it's no guarantee that whoever they draft and sign with the picks and extra cap room would turn out to be good players. Plenty of 1st round picks are busts, plenty of FA signings are busts.

So we'll see how it goes. I'm projecting no less than... 13 wins this season. How about it, Hawk, that sounds pretty reasonable, right?
 

pop_rocks

In my empire of dirt
$$$$$must be a good day to be a pass rusher$$$$$
that deal with mack going to chitown is huge and changes the look of both teams
13wins?!?thats a pretty conservative outlook there baba', but it acounts for the young quarterback and gives you guys room to improve next year
macks good for a few big plays a game and his presence will lift the players around him as well
depending on how the rookie roquan smith comes along the bears could have a solid unit up front
plus its like the raiders have given grudena blank slate to work with, so we will see how he builds out the team in his own image

totally agree with baba' that sacksonville ( i like that name!) is a top tier D;they have play makers at all levels and a few superstars on both sides of the ball
/not to be nosey, but ever been to socal? that looks like the tpgp

im not really into wine,baba'; more a fan of mixed drinks and beers
the mrs like to drink reds, but they tend to give me a headache so i just stay away
i keep my burger seasoning really basic, just the salt and pepper for the most part
a friend was talking about a burger they have up north called a juicy lucy, where you put cheese in the hamburger patty then cook it
that sound really good
 

Bababooey

Horse-toothed Jackass
Veteran
Yeah, I think the previous records for defensive players was 17M/yr for oliver vernon with the giants, and maybe around 17M for darrell revis when he used to be good. Paying donald and mack low 20's is a huge jump for defensive player contracts, but it's still less than the jump in QB contracts over the last year. Derek Carr and Andrew Luck set the market at 25M a year for QB's just a year ago, now Matt Ryan and Aaron Rodgers are getting 30M/yr and up.

We'll see how good the bears defense is. They finished like #9/10 in yards per game and points given up in 2017, now they have a talented rookie MLB and one of the best DL in the league. If leonard floyd can stay healthy and aaron lynch has something left, maybe a top 5 defense is not out of the question.

I havent watched much of mack, pop, maybe youve seen him play more than i have if you watch a lot of AFCW games. Im hoping he's worth the hype and the cost to get him.

Ive been to LA once, like 15 years ago. I didnt make it to san diego or tijuana though.
The BBQ pit boys i think are in a rural part of connecticut. I like the narration of their videos, this old guy with a growly voice, sounds like he lives on a diet of pepper bacon and marlboro's, talking about how to prepare meat dishes that look delicious but i can feel my arteries closing up just watching them.
He even had a video about cheese stuffed burgers. They're called juicy lucy's in the midwest, think they originated in minnesota. I dont think theyre too popular in IL but ive had them, and i think once or twice made some, years ago. Theyre alright, but seems needlessly complicated over just putting the cheese on top of the burger. But y'know, could be a nice novelty, have this big fat burger patty and you bite into it and release all this melted cheese. If you like brie, this recipe looks good https://www.ruled.me/baked-brie-juicy-lucy/

Atlanta at philly in a couple days. The eagles are probably going to start nick foles the first week or two, carson wentz is moving around well but is not cleared for contact. Atlanta made the playoffs last year but is looking to regain their form from 2016, when they made it to the superbowl. I drafted the atlanta defense in one of my leagues because i wasnt able to get one of the elite defenses (jags, ravens, vikings, rams, even the bears were gone). Im hoping the falcons defense can keep their momentum going this year; during the playoffs they held the rams to 13pts and the eagles to 15pts.
 

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