Doesn't get any easier......


Posted 1 hour ago

Nate BainDigital Media Manager@natebain
2017 Regular Season

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Login to view embedded media View: http://www.therams.com/news-and-events/article-1/Rams-2017-Opponents-Finalized/71827a8e-85ea-45e4-9bb6-6c119e4430d2

Full quote:

Jared Goff went around the room postgame. His message: "Just remember what his feels like. It's going to drive you through the offseason. It's going to drive you into next year. It's going to maybe even carry with you for the rest of your life."

http://www.espn.com/espn/now?nowId=21-0607415836205912797-4

full article: http://www.ocregister.com/articles/goff-740026-rams-season.html

Edit: Jared's Press Conference video Login to view embedded media View: http://www.therams.com/videos/videos/Jared-Goff-Postgame-Press-Conference---11/302d1d75-7164-44b4-b0cc-fe386f96a226?campaign=la:fanshare:facebook

Rams OL Rodger Saffold, on Jared Goff's development: "To me, after having this season, when he told everybody that he's going to do whatever it takes to change it, let's see how these next few months go, and we'll see if he does. We'll see if he does."

Wtf man, this is one of the numerous quotes he's had this year that give me the impression he's got some kind of grudge. I mean I want to like Saffold but seeing this kind of stuff leaves a bad taste in my mouth about him. It doesn't help that he's always getting hurt.

is it possible they go with a lesser known name or coordinator? take a big chance... if it goes well, they are winning by the time the new stadium opens...if not, they can fire them after 2 years and have a big name to open the stadium?

this assumes they cant get a big fish this year, or the one they want...

http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2017/01/01/rams-to-interview-john-fassel-on-monday/

Rams to interview John Fassel on Monday
Posted by Mike Florio on January 1, 2017

Getty Images

The season has ended for the Rams, and the process of searching for a new coach will heat up, quickly.

Per a source with knowledge of the situation, interim coach John Fassel will be interviewed on Monday.

The process thereafter will depend in large part on who is available to be interviewed and when, based on which candidates work for teams that are still playing. One candidate not previously linked to the Rams job is Bills offensive coordinator/interim coach Anthony Lynn.

The Rams also have been consistently linked to Saints coach Asshole Face. We’ll have more on that one later tonight.

2016 was a horrible year all around. It's finally over. I'm going to miss football. But we're onto bigger and better things. We're getting a new coaching staff and a 0-0 fresh start. I'm excited to see what happens in the days to come.

Guess what? 7-9. I've heard that somewhere before.

We need Shanahan so badly.

I thought Jerruh said they would go after the rushing title. Did they figure that 178 yards was unlikely, so it was better to rest Elliott? Or is he hurt? Or just butthurt after watching the OSU/Clemson game?

Congratulations on the highest completion percentage in NFL history.

C'mon Miami and Philly.. Just saying.

Just asking is all. With the losing streak I've been on I will need to hold some ROD $ back from today's NFL games to wager. lolol If not no biggie, as we appreciated all you do FLV.

It sounds like we might have our choices of these three if we want. Who would you take? Or would you take someone entirely different?

http://www.si.com/nfl/2016/12/29/nfl-predictions-2017-jeff-fisher-tom-brady-bill-belichick-tony-romo

Nine fearless NFL predictions for 2017
JONATHAN JONES

As far as NFL predictions for next year go, some are checkdown throws. It doesn’t take Miss Cleo (RIP) to know that two teams in Los Angeles will be a disaster, or that the Browns will miss the playoffs with a losing record and play at least three quarterbacks in 2017. Or that Robert Griffin III will find some new mini-controversy to get involved with.

But then again, sometimes the NFL surprises you. Who knew the Dallas Cowboys could be the NFC’s No. 1 seed with two rookies in the backfield? Or that Denver and Carolina, the mighty teams who squared off in Super Bowl 50, would regress so badly that they wouldn’t even be in playoff contention in the last week of the season? Or that a top-10 draft talent would tumble after a video of him smoking weed out of a gas mask would emerge just as the draft began?

Somewhere in the middle of the obvious and the shocking, I made nine fearless predictions about how the 2017 NFL season will unfold.

Jeff Fisher is coaching again

Jeff Fisher has been out of the NFL just one year (2011) since he joined the league as a player in 1981. He’s not going to make it two next year. The former Oilers/Titans/Rams coach, will return in a defensive coordinator role for the first time since 1994 in an attempt to rehabilitate his image and earn his third head coaching position by 2018.

Fisher spent all of this past season as a laughing stock across the league. His Hard Knocks rant was always going to come back to bite him and his feud with Eric Dickerson was bizarre. The Rams fired him just before he could become the losingest coach in NFL history (he’s tied with Dan Reeves at 165 losses).

As much as we all laughed at his expense, and as much as guys like Dickerson may dislike him, Fisher has a lot of friends in the NFL. When the requisite six-to-eight head coaching jobs open up and staffs shake up, Fisher will find himself as a top candidate for a defensive coordinator role.

The NFL, at least, properly enforces its domestic violence policy

Over the last three years, the most embarrassing mark for the country’s largest sports league has been its bungling of domestic violence issues. In 2017, the NFL will finally get it right.

In 2014, Ray Rice’s suspension for punching his then-fiancée shifted from two games to indefinite before being overturned in court. That same year Greg Hardy was allowed to play in one game following his domestic violence arrest before going on the commissioner’s bad list and drawing a 10-game suspension that was reduced to four.

And finally in 2016, Giants kicker Josh Brown received a one-game suspension for domestic violence against his wife but hasn’t kicked again this season. The NFL is still investigating Ezekiel Elliott for claims against him in the summer.

It’s been two years since the league introduced its revised domestic violence policy that suspends a player six games with no pay for a first offense. The league has had egg on its face since the Rice saga and hasn’t figured out how to properly implement a policy it spent so much time revising.

Let’s hope the NFL has learned from its mistakes of the past three seasons, and the next player who puts his hands on a woman gets his six-game suspension.

Patriots win the AFC East… again

Congratulations to Bill Belichick and Tom Brady on winning their eighth consecutive AFC East title this year, and an early congrats to them on winning a ninth-straight division title in 2017.

That duo—the greatest coach-quarterback tandem in NFL history—has won 13 of the past 14 division titles, and their only hiccup came when Brady was out with a torn ACL in 2008. The Bills will have a new coach next season, and the Jets may have one, too. Only the Dolphins can compete with the Patriots in the AFC East, but Adam Gase won’t be able to wrest away the division title from the Pats in his second year.

Matt Patricia may take a new job. Josh McDaniels might, as well. Who knows who the Pats’ receivers will be in 2017. It doesn’t matter.

As long as Brady and Belichick are together, the AFC East is theirs to lose.

Despite being full-time, officials still make bad calls

You’ll want to sit down for this one. Just because the league is planning to make 17 officials full-time doesn’t mean bad calls will cease to happen. In fact, the bad calls will now be magnified because it is in fact the officials’ only job to get right.

For years the NFL hasn’t made its officials full-time. But Troy Vincent said earlier this month the league plans to hire 17 officials in 2017. Good for them. But what’s it going to solve? We still won’t know what a catch is. Intentional grounding is still improperly officiated.

Defensive pass interference will keep granting offenses better field position. “Not enough video evidence to overturn the call” will remain the free space on your Sunday Bingo card.

As long as the officials remain human and as long as coaches can’t challenge more plays, bad calls will persist even though the guys in stripes are finally getting full vision and dental coverage.

Tony Romo is the starting quarterback of the Broncos

Sometimes the most obvious answer is the correct answer. In this case, Tony Romo to Denver in an offseason trade makes all the sense in the world.

Another Super Bowl run in 2016 for the Broncos was sabotaged by their offense, which is No. 27 overall and managed just 20.6 points per game this year. Maybe Trevor Siemian and Paxton Lynch will both become good quarterbacks down the road, but the Broncos are built to win now and can’t waste time. Denver has about $3 million in salary tied to the most important position on the field in 2017 and can afford to upgrade there.

Enter Romo, who knows as well as all of us that he will be in another uniform for the first time in his NFL career in 2017. Denver can trade some draft picks to Dallas and absorb Romo’s $24.7 million cap hit (with some massaging). With a veteran quarterback, a capable backup and a top defense, Denver will be ready to go to its third Super Bowl in five years.

Thursday Night Football gets re-upped

What Richard Sherman called a poopfest and what nearly NFL player loves to hate, Thursday Night Football is likely here to stay beyond 2017. The current contract with the NFL, CBS and NBC runs through 2017, so nothing was going to change for next season. But if the trend continues, the NFL will probably look to extend its deal for Thursday night games.

Those games turned in about 18 million people each week for the TV broadcast, which endured a dip in ratings pre-election before rebounding in November. The NBC/NFL Network collaboration was the second most-watched show on TV this fall behind NBC’s Sunday Night Football, according to NBC.

The NFL and its owners don’t want to give up the deal that reportedly pays about $45 million per game. The league can’t make up that kind of money anywhere else but in broadcast rights. One solution is to make the season longer and introduce a second bye week for Thursday night games, but that idea may not coexist with the NFL’s wishes to expand its international footprint and send teams overseas. Plus, a longer season could dilute a great product that saw its ratings dip, in part and in theory, due to dilution.

The players won’t like it, but Thursday Night Football is here to stay.

Aaron Rodgers struggles early, Brett Favre comments on it and Rodgers bounces back

For the third time in four years next season, Green Bay quarterback Aaron Rodgers is going to get off to a slow start. In 2014, Rodgers famously told fans to R-E-L-A-X when the Packers started 1–2, and in 2016 pundits had all but written off Green Bay when the team was 4–6; we also all learned that there may be more to Rodgers’ personal life than we knew.

One of the hottest teams in football right now, the Packers will again start slowly in 2017. And this will bring Favre, now in the Pro Football Hall of Fame and the Packers’ Ring of Honor, to a microphone to offer his thoughts on his successor.

The two aren’t exactly friends, and Favre will make some comment that riles up the Green Bay fan base and gets an eye-roll from Rodgers before he goes on to wipe the floor with the remaining competition and win the NFL MVP award.

Colin Kaepernick’s protest continues

Whether Kaepernick is the 49ers’ starter next season can be debated or predicted elsewhere. I believe Kap will be on an NFL roster at the start of the 2017 season, and that means that he will continue to take a knee during the national anthem.

This is the shortest limb I have to go out on when making these predictions, and earlier I said the Pats would win the AFC East again. He is not going to stand for a flag of “a country that oppresses black people and people of color,” and that oppression is highly unlikely to stop just because we’ve turned the calendar to 2017.

Disagree with Kaerpernick if you want on why or how he’s protesting, but there is no arguing that he’s not committed to his cause. It’s probable that Kaepernick will take a knee during the national anthem for the rest of his playing career.

Kirk Cousins becomes a top-five-paid quarterback

Cousins is not a top-five quarterback when it comes to skill. He’s not even a top-10 quarterback. But when it comes to money, Cousins is about to make more than most everyone in the league.

It’s possible that Cousins becomes the NFL’s first $25 million a year man. That’s tough to fathom, but with the salary cap ready to go up another $10 million (at least) in 2017, the price of a franchise quarterback will continue to increase.

Franchise tagged this season at $19.9 million, Cousins has done enough to earn a long-term deal in Washington whether he leads the squad to the playoffs a second-straight year or not. In terms of money per year, Cousins ranked No. 13 in 2016 among quarterbacks, and he’s about to rocket past guys like Tom Brady, Eli Manning and Cam Newton on the list.

Russell Wilson is fifth in money per year at $21.9 million, and Cousins is sure to get a raise of more than $2 million per year. Even though he doesn’t do anything particularly well, and even though he has a career record of 19-20-1, Cousins is a competent quarterback capable of starting and winning a team games. There aren’t 32 quarterbacks who can do that, and it’s arguable there are no more than 20–25 people in the world that can do that.

Don’t be surprised when you see those contract numbers in the offseason.

I just got a bleacher report notification that the Rams, Jags and Bills will interview Cardinals OC Harold Goodwin for HC. Any thoughts?

http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.co...win-expected-to-get-head-coaching-interviews/

There’s no sign that Cardinals head coach Bruce Arians will be moving on once the regular season comes to a close, but one of his top assistants is expected to talk to teams looking for a head coach of their own.

Adam Schefter of ESPN reports that Cardinals offensive coordinator Harold Goodwin is expected to be on the interview list for the Rams, Bills and Jaguars once he’s eligible to start talking to other clubs. Goodwin was on the NFL’s Career Development Advisory Panel’s list of recommended candidates for a top job.

Goodwin, who has been in his current job since 2013, interviewed with the Buccaneers last year before they hired Dirk Koetter. He has not been the play caller on offense in Arizona as Arians handles those duties, but handled the job in three of the team’s preseason games this year.

Goodwin is African-American, so interviewing him would satisfy the requirements of the Rooney Rule for all three teams and put them in position to make a hire whenever they settle on their choice.

The 2016 season of ROD Pick'em and Survivor is winding down. Thank you to all those that played and made this another fun and competitive season!

Here's where we stand down the stretch;

Pick'em
@DeaconJ 143
@SierraRam 142
@TK42-RAM 142
@Rambitious1 139
@LetsGoRams 138
@Selassie I 138
@Ramhusker 137
@Riverumbbq 137
@T-REX 137
@flv 136

Survivor (All with 1-Strike Remaining)
@bluecoconuts
@Curt760
@kurtfaulk
@Ramrocket
@RamsJunkie

We will likely take Survivor into the playoffs for a tie breakers.

Congratulations to all players!

ball:

I made this post in the Left Tackle solution thread, but I thought it warranted it's own thread (again, credit to Hacksaw on another Rams board for seeing this and creating these gifs):

jrry32 said:

I doubt Havenstein will be competing. He was our best OL this year. Somebody made an incredible point on another board. Havenstein limped off the field in the Saints game. Since that time, Havenstein has looked god awful. That person then posted gifs from the Atlanta game and the Seattle game. Those gifs made it clear that Havenstein wasn't putting weight on his right leg. Essentially, he was trying to block with one leg.

Havenstein shouldn't have been playing the last few weeks. IIRC, he's given up 4 or 5 of the 9 sacks he's allowed this year since the Saints game. When you see those gifs, it's clear that it's not a lack of talent. I'll go find them and post them. This is from a poster named Hacksaw on another Rams board:

He's not putting pressure on his right leg when he's setting. Which is why he has been a total turnstile in pass protection. And watch him when he runs, he's clearly hobbling.

Click to expand...

I went back and checked to see Havenstein's performance since the New Orleans injury. In those 5 games (NO, NE, ATL, SEA, and SF) since leaving the field with an ankle injury, Havenstein gave up 5.5 sacks. In his first 23 games in the NFL, Havenstein gave up 3.5 sacks.

It totally explains why Havenstein went from a guy who we considered an above average RT to the worst RT in football. Havenstein even left the SF game with an injury to that exact ankle after a 49er rolled up on it. I don't know why our coaches played Havenstein over the past few weeks. His ankle injury was far too severe for him to be anything but a liability. They did him and Goff a disservice.

Moving forward, I'm no longer concerned about Havenstein. A RT isn't going to look good when he can barely put pressure on his right leg (outside leg in pass set). He has no ability to defend the edge rush. Once his ankle heals, he should be back to his normal self.

Watching this OSU/Clemson game and it looks to me like they got it wrong again. THEY said, conference titles mattered. THEY said, head to head mattered. What they didn't say is 2 loss teams aren't considered even if they're among the hottest teams in the country the final 9 weeks of the season. I thought Michigan had an argument to be in the playoff but after losing, albeit to a very good Florida St. team, they lost 3 of their last 4 games. Hell they weren't even the 3rd best team in the Big 10. I wasn't sure Washington deserved to be there and after the first quarter of their bowl game, were they even a threat? I believed Penn St. was one of the hottest teams in the country after week 3 but they need a good showing vs. So. Cal. to make their point. I didn't believe for one second Ohio St. deserved the slot over Penn St.. IMHO, I would have had Alabama play Penn St. and Clemson play Washington. It probably still would have ended up Alabama/Clemson but that's not the point. They didn't even get the chance and I'd bet Alabama, Clemson and Washington are all glad they didn't have to face PSU. After losing big to Michigan in week 3 they beat two of the best teams in the Big 10 in Ohio St. and Wisconsin. If Penn St. beats USC, they will end up the #3 team in the country. And that may be where they should have been ranked going into the Bowl season.

http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2016/12/31/reports-chip-kelly-to-be-fired-by-49ers/

Reports: Chip Kelly to be fired by 49ers
Posted by Mike Florio on December 31, 2016, 8:54 PM EST
Getty Images
For the second straight year, the 49ers are expected to fire a coach after only one year on the job.

Per multiple reports, from ESPN and NFL Network, coach Chip Kelly is expected to be fired. He was hired a year ago, after being fired by the Eagles with one game left in the season.

A 49ers spokesman declined comment regarding the report.

ESPN and NFLN also report that the 49ers are expected to fire G.M. Trent Baalke. That move has previously been reported multiple times in multiple places.

If Baalke is out, it makes sense to fire Kelly, too. Forcing a new G.M. to keep a coach he wouldn’t have hired makes a dysfunctional situation even worse. The new G.M. should be able to hire his own coach.

Two years ago, the 49ers ended the season and promptly announced a “mutual parting” with coach Jim Harbaugh. Then-defensive line coach Jim Tomsula widely was expected to get the job, and he did. After a 5-11 season, Tomsula was fired.

The 49ers hired Kelly, who had emerged as a surprise candidate for the job. A season-opening win over the Rams was followed by 13 straight losses. Last week’s second win of the year (also over the Rams) apparently came too late to matter.

Back when Kelly was repeatedly denying any interest to leave the 49ers for a college job, PFT pointed out that this topic obscures the more important question of whether the 49ers want him to return. Apparently, the 49ers don’t.

We have all seen the body of work from his first 6 regular season starts.

There has been a few flashes and plenty of crashes to observe. Regardless of why he's posted these numbers, does anyone have a guesstimate prediction of what his numbers might look like in his final start of the season?

I would appreciate if many of you will take a crack at it for purposes of fun. Someone will be pretty damn close with their prediction.


JG STATS for his first 6 starts

WK 11.. 17/31 for 134 Yds.. 54.8 Comp %.. 4.3 YPC.. 0 TD.. 0 INT
WK 12.. 20/32 for 214 Yds.. 62.5 Comp %.. 6.7 YPC.. 3 TD.. 1 INT

WK 13.. 14/32 for 161 Yds.. 43.8 Comp %.. 5.0 YPC.. 1 TD.. 2 INT
WK 14.. 24/41 for 235 Yds.. 58.5 Comp %.. 5.7 YPC.. 0 TD.. 2 INT

WK 15.. 13/25 for 135 Yds.. 52.0 Comp %.. 5.4 YPC.. 0 TD.. 0 INT
WK 16.. 11/24 for...90 Yds.. 45.8 Comp %.. 3.8 YPC.. 1 TD.. 2 INT

JG has one more game to put on film for the new HC and he's coming off his worst start/performance last week vs the 49ers.

What will Goff's final game statistics be vs the Arizona Cardinals tomorrow?

WK 17?... /.......... Please post your predictions if you have the time to make an educated estimation..

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https://www.engadget.com/2016/12/29/2016-apple-fans-lose/

Tim Cook and the rest of Apple's leadership will probably not look back fondly on 2016. iPhone sales declined for the first time, and Apple's profits followed suit. There are still bright spots, like the company's growing services business, and the company is still making insane amounts of money. Even so, the stalled growth has to be concerning to both the company and its investors.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not here to pity Apple. I'm here to commiserate with its fans, the ones who Apple shafted this year. Particularly those of us who waited all year long for a substantial update to the Mac lineup only to be offered a pair of intriguing but compromised new laptops. Or those of us who bought an iPhone 7 and can't use the headphones included with it in our new MacBook Pro, or even those of us trying to figure out which iPad to buy.

Across the board, Apple has confusing product lineups with weird and unnecessary compromises. And if you believe the wailing of aggrieved fans across the internet, it seems like plenty of loyal Apple supporters might be contemplating life outside the company's ecosystem. How did we get here?

The product that most exemplifies Apple's difficulty in 2016 is the Mac. The Mac may only compose a small part of Apple's overall business, but that doesn't excuse the neglect it's endured recently. For 10 full months, the only update was a processor refresh on the 12-inch MacBook. (OK, you can also buy it in pink now. Thanks, Apple.) The company's main three machines -- the MacBook Air, MacBook Pro and iMac -- went untouched. That's still the case for the iMac and MacBook Air; it's hard to recommend that anyone buy them right now. And we all know what happened when the MacBook Pro was finally updated: A portal to the dongleverse was opened.I'm not here to pity Apple. I'm here to commiserate with its fans, the ones who Apple shafted this year.

Yes, Apple had already released the 12-inch MacBook with just a single USB-C port. But that computer was designed with extreme portability in mind; it was a laptop inspired by the iPad. It'll likely take the aging MacBook Air's place in the lineup as the company's entry-level Apple laptop. That was fine when the MacBook Pro and its many ports existed, but Apple has now made it clear it's not interested in keeping any legacy I/O around, even for its "pro" customers. That's an aggressive move, and one that has been met with widespread displeasure.

In a vacuum, there are plenty of things to like about the new MacBook Pro. The screen is excellent, the reductions in size and weight are welcome improvements, performance and audio quality are both improved, and even the controversial Touch Bar has potential. Other things, such as the redesigned keyboard, are a matter of personal preference, not a definitive drawback. But reduced battery life, the loss of physical function keys and only one type of port mean that many of the professionals Apple is targeting will need to change their workflow.

And that's not even mentioning the price increases: It'll cost you at least $1,799 to get a MacBook Pro with a Touch Bar. History suggests that prices of the new MacBook Pro will eventually drop as the old models are phased out, but there's still some significant sticker shock here.

This confusing middle ground between old and new makes it hard to decide which MacBook Pro is the best for a given shopper. Is your $1,499 better spent on the previous-generation model or the new one? If you opt for the new model, you get a piddly two ports and no Touch Bar, while opting for last year's computer gets you all the ports you could want but in a heavier package with an older processor and worse screen. My guess is that lots of people will decide not to make a purchase instead of being forced to compromise one way or another. The new entry-level MacBook Pro would be a great step up from the MacBook Air for a lot of users -- but the $500 separating the two computers is a difficult gap to close.

The most frustrating thing about all of this is that Apple could have silenced its critics by simply including a USB 3 port and not removing the SD reader. Space may be at a premium on this new device, but I'd be willing to bet that many potential buyers would be happy to give up two of the four USB-C ports in exchange for those legacy connections. But that wouldn't be a "courageous" move now, would it? Hell, Apple could even throw us the smallest of bones by including a USB 3 to USB-C dongle in the box so users can charge their iPhones without any further hassle.

Speaking of the iPhone, let's go over that headphone situation one more time. Putting aside Schiller's ridiculous "courage" line, it's not unreasonable to wonder if we can evolve beyond the headphone jack. No other port has been immune to the march of time, and Apple probably has the data to show that most iPhone buyers use the included headphones. In theory, switching to the included Lightning headphones wouldn't be a big deal, and there's a dongle in there if you have a nice pair you want to keep using. What's the harm?

Just as with the MacBook Pro, the problem is making consumers change their routines without a clear benefit. Apple executives gave a few rare interviews about the headphone jack decision when the iPhone 7 first came out, but the rationale mostly came down to using the limited space inside the iPhone for more useful technology, such as water resistance, a bigger battery and better cameras. Those are indeed great features to add to the iPhone. But they're also table stakes at this point. It's easy to forget that before the Galaxy Note 7 started exploding, Samsung had closed basically all the hardware gaps between its offerings and the iPhone, which means these updates were necessary, not revolutionary. And without also presenting an improved headphone solution, it's hard to not feel like something was lost in this move.

Adding insult to injury, Apple did come up with an improved wireless-headphone experience: AirPods are much simpler to use than your average Bluetooth headset. But the price and mediocre audio quality make them a tough sell, and Apple didn't even manage to have the headphones out on time. They only just hit the Apple Store a few weeks ago, and they'll be in short supply for a good long time. They should have been ready to go alongside the iPhone 7, but Apple's latest handset has been on the market for nearly three months without its companion wireless earphones. That's a major tactical blunder.

Many of Apple's more fervent supporters have scoffed at the notion that Apple is floundering a bit. After all, the company's bottom line grew for 15 years: It clearly knows how to build products that resonate. But there's been a growing chorus of unhappy fans who say that Apple doesn't have the same eye for detail as it used to. Some point to the goofy charging experiences for the new Apple Mouse and Pencil as design decisions that Steve Jobs never would have allowed.

For me, it's this new world of dongles that I'd have to use to make a new MacBook Pro work the way I need it to. Something isn't right when the MacBook Air, which hasn't substantially changed in design for five years, is still better for my needs than the brand-new MacBook Pro. I'd happily open my wallet and pay $1,799 for that new computer if it had an SD slot and a full-sized USB port. Part of me feels like those are tiny things to quibble over when weighed against the improvements -- I'm dying for a better display at this point -- but we all have to draw the line somewhere.

For others, that line might be the missing headphone jack, the late AirPods, the lack of substantial Mac updates (the Mac Pro hasn't been touched for three years), the confusing iPad lineup, the lackluster Apple Watch reception or any other chink in Apple's armor. Apple fans were sold on the promise that "it just works." When that stops being the case, it's much easier to start looking at competitors like Microsoft and Google. And that won't help Apple make 2017 a better year.