Nfl 2011

[R_of_G]

There's a reason things like "That's why they play the games" or "On any given Sunday" become cliches, because they're true.

Would the Packers beat the Chiefs nine times out of ten? Probably. Hell, they'd probably beat them 99 times out of 100, but there's always that 100th time and it's impossible to predict when it's coming.

I'm all for statistics and probability, but in the end, they only tell you what is most likely to happen, not what will actually happen. Once the clock starts running, the only thing that matters is execution.

Anyone who writes off any game as a "lock" is involved in self-deception.

If sports were truly that predictable they'd be unwatchable.

PS. I'm also glad the Colts have won a couple at the end here to further dampen the ridiculous notion that any professional sports team would intentionally tank a season in order to draft an unproven prospect. The Colts fans were booing at the end of the game last night because the Colts are no longer a lock for the #1 pick. Those "fans" are idiots.

 

[R_of_G]

One more thing...

When will ESPN begin talking at length about how great Dan Orlovsky is? I was under the impression that when a less-than-stellar QB comes in as a replacement and leads his team to multiple comeback wins that ESPN is supposed to talk about that QB non-stop as if he were the second coming of Johnny Unitas?

How about a little OrlovskyMania then or does it only apply to the extra-special guy in Denver that we're supposed to give all the credit to when his team wins but none of the blame when his team loses? At the very least, Orlovsky wins games with his arm like a QB is supposed to.

 

[R_of_G]

Firstly, congratuations to the Lions. That story is just good for football.

Not ready to talk about the Jets yet. If there was one bright spot, Revis looked phenomenal. He is fun to watch. The rest of them, they're not worthy of my time to talk about them.

The Bucs are a disaster. I liked Raheem Morris but he has to go and a LOT has to change.

 

[piebaldpython]

No thanks to the hapless Jets for ending the IGGLES playoff hopes. If the Giants had lost to the Jets.....after the Iggles beat the Cowboys again yesterday........the Iggles could have won the NFC East next week by beating the 'Skins.

 

[R_of_G]

No thanks to the hapless Jets for ending the IGGLES playoff hopes. If the Giants had lost to the Jets.....after the Iggles beat the Cowboys again yesterday........the Iggles could have won the NFC East next week by beating the 'Skins.

Direct all complaints to Mark Sanchez and Antonio Cromartie. Those two helped the Giants yesterday as much as anybody who suited up in a Giants' uniform. Sanchez's mishaps were more visible (2 fumbles lost, 2 INTs and a safety) but Cromartie managed to show once again why he is the most over-rated player on the Jets, if not in the entire league.

There were three plays on which a Giants' runner/receiver turned what should have been a short gain into massive gains because of missed tackles. On two of those plays (including Cruz's TD) the first person to miss the tackle was Cromartie. In both cases he half-heartedly dove at the runners legs and tried to arm tackle an ankle. Needless to say both Giants jumped right over him. Cromartie is 6'1" 190 lbs. There's no excuse for him not to wrap up a runner at the waist and drive him into the ground, or at least slow him up until help arrives.

It's the way he plays corner as well. He plays a good five yards off of his receiver and then when the guy catches it he "tries" to make a tackle. It stands in stark contrast to his co-worker on the other corner who put on a clinic yesterday.

If anyone still thinks that Revis is "one of" the best CBs in the game and not hands-down the best of them all they need to watch film of his game yesterday. The guy is just unreal. He robbed several Giants' WRs yesterday of passes Manning put right in their hands only to have Revis smack their hands down the second their fingertips touched the ball. His timing is almost supernatural and he runs routes backwards as well as most WRs run them forwards. No offense to guys like Nnamdi and others who are outstanding CBs but Revis is in a league all by himself.

 

[marnold]

The Lions are going to the playoffs! Excuse me while I have a Christmas coronary. *happy dance*

 

[Tig]

Direct all complaints to Mark Sanchez and Antonio Cromartie.

:flamemad:
I've selected the finest grade of fresh dog excrement from the back yard, and will be FedEx'ing the boxes to these two gentlemen overnight.
:bootyshake

 

[R_of_G]

I saw a report today on NFL.com that the Jets are questioning if Sanchez is the franchise QB going forward. I asked that last year but I also figured the Jets wouldn't even bring it up until next year so the early arrival of this story is a nice holiday present from the football gods.

I suspect a draft laden with QB prospects has them thinking of bringing in a kid to challenge Sanchez in camp or outright replace him. I would also like to see Greg McElroy, who they drafted this year, get a shot to challenge in camp as well. He looked good in camp then suffered a season-ending injury in the pre-season. He sure won a lot of games and a title with Alabama. I was told by ESPN that if you win a title as an SEC QB you are extra-special. I also remember the last Alabama QB to lead the Jets. His name was Joe.

 

[sunvalleylaw]

Watched the Pack v. the Bears tonight. Green Bay has one fine quarterback!

 

[R_of_G]

Green Bay has one fine quarterback!

Best in the game right now. Probably for several years to come.

 

[Beerman]

Whoooo hoooooo, the Saints put a whopping on the Falcons! Really surprised me. And, Matt Ryan threw for more than Brees did to break his record. That was fun but we likely have to meet them again in 2 weeks. Can the Saints beat the Falcons 3 times in 1 year? That's the game that counts as last night only means we play at home.
Can't wait for Sunday night to see the Dallas/Giants game. Should be a good one. And NBA started this weekend. What a great time of year to be a sports fan.

 

[R_of_G]

Can the Saints beat the Falcons 3 times in 1 year? That's the game that counts as last night only means we play at home.

If Atlanta's coaches forget they have Michael Turner on their roster like they did last night it can definitely happen. I didn't care because I was rooting for the Saints, but I was confused by Atlanta's game plan. It's as if they just conceded from the start that the game would be a shoot-out. Unfortunately for them, they didn't bring enough bullets and Brees tore them to shreds.

I was glad to see Brees break the record particularly as I don't care much for Dan Marino. People can compare and contrast the two achievements as much as they'd like as the two played in different eras but to me there's no downplaying what Brees has accomplished. He won't win the MVP because Rodgers is throwing more TDs and the Packers are the media darlings this season, but I am sticking to my pre-season prediction that in the end, it will be Brees and the Saints that win it all this year.

Headed into next week with no cares about my two teams. The Jets aren't mathematically eliminated yet but there are so many variables that all have to play out the right way for them to sneak in the back door of the playoffs. Even if they did make it, I can't imagine this Jets team can win a playoff game at New England. I love my team and all, but that ain't happening.

My main interests this week are the Dallas/Giants game because I'd like to see Jason Pierre-Paul toss Romo around like a rag-doll and the KC/Denver game because of the possibility for Kyle Orton to rub it in the Denver organization (and fans') faces that they cut him in favor of Tebow.

Interesting how little the folks at ESPN have had to say about Tebow these last few days. It was one thing when they wrote off his loss to the Patriots because they were the mighty Patriots (despite having statistically the worst defense in NFL history). It's another entirely to ignore his 4 INTs and abysmal performance against Buffalo, a team that has virtually no secondary whatsoever.

The Tebow phenomenon was this year's Miami Wild Cat. It worked for a few weeks when they first broke it out because teams weren't ready for it. Once teams saw a few weeks worth of film they were able to figure out how to shut it down. It may have been fun for the fans for a few weeks, but it's not sustainable and given all of the hype I've had to listen to about it, I am not the least bit ashamed to say I will be rooting hard for Kyle Orton and the Chiefs to put it to rest for the season.

 

[piebaldpython]

Well the NFL playoffs started and the Giants manhandled the Falcons and looked TOUGH....the Saints came back after a slow start and knocked off the Lions......Texans beat the Bengals..........and in a thriller; the Broncos beat the Steelers in OT.

Tebow Time yet again and he manages to win another big game with maybe the ugliest/most strain producing throwing motion to be seen in recent memory. lol Quite frankly, his throwing motion and follow-through looks more like a southpaw on a pitching mound than an NFL QB.

How soon before somebody in Denver remakes the Clapton tune "Tulsa Time" into "Tebow Time"?? :thumbsup

 

[Jipes]

Tebow Time yet again and he manages to win another big game with maybe the ugliest/most strain producing throwing motion to be seen in recent memory. lol Quite frankly, his throwing motion and follow-through looks more like a southpaw on a pitching mound than an NFL QB.

How soon before somebody in Denver remakes the Clapton tune "Tulsa Time" into "Tebow Time"?? :thumbsup

Well it might look ugly but it's damn efficient, 4 passes of more than 40 yards against the Steelers defense that's not bad even if he played at home. Now they will face another type of challenge on the road against the Pats. the last meeting didn't turn out too nice for Tebow :drool

 

[R_of_G]

The Giants looked looked very good. For all of the talk prior to the season about how Eli Manning wasn't an "elite" QB, he sure has continued to look damn good this season.

I'd have thought Dick Lebeau would have had enough confidence in Pittsburgh's run defense that he wouldn't need to put 9 guys in the box on almost every run formation. I know Tebow is the QB one need least fear beating you with his arm, but consider the repercussions. Even a 30% passer is going to hit three out of ten throws and if his WR has only one man to beat, all three of those plays will be big plays. Credit where it's due, I criticized Tim Tebow all season, and while I stand by all of it, he made several very good throws yesterday when his team needed them. I'm not sure how he made his defense come up huge on Pittsburgh's final drive of the 4th quarter to prevent the Steelers from winning with a last second field goal attempt, but he had a great game.

One other thing about that Pittsburgh/Denver game, I was kind of appalled though not the least bit surprised to see the inconsistency of the "helmet-to-helmet" and "illegal hit on defenseless receiver" calls we've discussed before. I think there can no longer be any argument that those calls are made more predominantly against the Steelers than other teams.

Yesterday I witnessed a Broncos DB (Carter) hit a Steelers WR (I think it was Sanders but not positive) helmet-to-helmet just as he caught the ball. There were no flags. While CBS was showing the slow motion replay it was clearly an illegal hit by the standards which Goodell has demanded of the Steelers. During the replay, Phil Simms is commending Carter for the "aggressive hit." Would a flag have been thrown if James Harrison made the exact same hit?

Speaking of which, Roger Goodell owes Eric Decker an apology, or at least a Get Well Soon card. His fines levied against Harrison have the LB so concerned about not hitting high he nearly destroyed Decker's knee on a hit instead.

 

[Tig]

The first round of playoffs certainly had some great plays and entertaining games, as well as a few WTF moments (officials and players' mistakes). I was happy to see my Texans pull off a convincing victory without a few starters.

Next week's games look to be fairly exciting as well, especially the Saints vs the 49'ers.

 

[R_of_G]

I was happy to see my Texans pull off a convincing victory without a few starters.

TJ Yates looked pretty good. It helps that he has Johnson to throw to and a RB like foster to set up the passing game, but still Yates seems to understand the Kubiak/Shanahan system and is making good throws at the right time. It's not like Baltimore is looking for a shootout either. A lot of that game should come down to Arian Foster and Ray Rice and which defense can make plays.

 

[marnold]

Still a little ticked about things like the refs giving a bonus yard on 3rd and short and blowing the Brees fumble dead. I don't know if those plays would have changed the outcome, but it would have been nice to find out. Nevertheless, the Lions have officially come back from 0-16. I used the free points from my recently-acquired NFL/Lions credit card to get a Suh jersey. I'm sure the good folks in Green Bay will appreciate that.

Martin Mayhew for exec of the year?

Now to re-sign Avril and Tulloch and snag a couple of CBs. Maybe revisit the Cromartie-for-picks trade that fell through at the beginning of the year?

 

[Beerman]

So anyone ready to pick who's going to the Super Bowl yet? It's the NFL, anything can happen.

 

[Tig]

Matthew Stafford is at the top of the new crop of promising QB's. I'm sure we'll see an even more from him for years to come.

 

[R_of_G]

So anyone ready to pick who's going to the Super Bowl yet? It's the NFL, anything can happen.

Picked the Saints before the season started, sticking to that. Had the Chargers on the other side. Obviously that ain't happening. I'll take New England on the AFC side at this point.

 

[Beerman]

I picked Green Bay vs. Chargers at the beginning of the season. I was wrong. I hope the Saints get there but am doubtful. Brees is due a bad day and I fear it will come soon. However, my wife can tell you, I'm wrong about everything so I hope I'm wrong about this.
I still think GB will get in (barring an injury to you know who) and am thinking the Ravens with their defense can make a play. Really can't see Texas or Denver though it sure would be good to see 2 teams not in for awhile such as Texas and SF. But, if it has to be the Saints, I guess I will find the time and money to party with the Lombardi one more time.

Yesssss, Stafford is quite a treat and the NFL has lots to look forward to. He, Newton, and the new guys could bring some fun to the NFL. (if you like offense)

 

[R_of_G]

Brees is due a bad day and I fear it will come soon. However, my wife can tell you, I'm wrong about everything so I hope I'm wrong about this.

Then get ready to be happy because you're assuredly wrong on that one. As far as probability goes, there's no validity to the "due theory."

 

[Beerman]

Then get ready to be happy because you're assuredly wrong on that one. As far as probability goes, there's no validity to the "due theory."

Guess it's just my 40 years of Saints history that has become part of my DNA. It is more likely that the team would suck before Brees would. He is human.
My concern really should be for the running game against the 49ers. Not the outdoors concern but the turf vs. grass concern. Our backs are so use to turf and I think that was the problem in Tampa that cost the Saints a win. I hope they practice alot on grass this week.

 

[R_of_G]

Guess it's just my 40 years of Saints history that has become part of my DNA.

Trust me, as a Jets/Bucs fan, I understand that mindset.

My concern really should be for the running game against the 49ers. Not the outdoors concern but the turf vs. grass concern. Our backs are so use to turf and I think that was the problem in Tampa that cost the Saints a win. I hope they practice alot on grass this week.

If Ivory can get going in important yardage run situations they should be alright. Grass shouldn't be an issue for Sproles. He played on it plenty in San Diego and before that at Kansas State. What I want to see is if the Saints can stop the 49ers running attack. That will be crucial for a Saints victory. Alex Smith is having a better year than people expected from him but the Saints' chances have to be better if they force him to win with his arm rather than allowing Frank Gore to slash them up them all day long.

On a Saints/guitar note... we had people over for a party saturday night. Towards the end of the fourth quarter some of us went into the music room and started jamming. The instructional book on my piano was open to "When the Saints Go Marching In" so my friend began learning to play that. I know how to play it on the guitar so I quickly taught it to my friend who was playing bass. By the time the score was a final we had a nice little jam on the song going in honor of Brees and company. Also, I was drunk, which is another New Orleans tradition, right?

 

[Beerman]

On a Saints/guitar note... we had people over for a party saturday night. Towards the end of the fourth quarter some of us went into the music room and started jamming. The instructional book on my piano was open to "When the Saints Go Marching In" so my friend began learning to play that. I know how to play it on the guitar so I quickly taught it to my friend who was playing bass. By the time the score was a final we had a nice little jam on the song going in honor of Brees and company. Also, I was drunk, which is another New Orleans tradition, right?

Well, it's hard to answer that actually.Not that we don't drink alot here but just like the French drink wine with meals, we do sort of have to have some alcohol for every event. However, tourists come here and carry that a bit too far. Just like the 'show your ****s for beer', that's not locals, that's the 'foreigners' who do that.
Our little jam group does a jazzy version of that song and I have a friend who plays the 'man trumpet' which is just actually sounds he makes with his mouth that sound a little like a trumpet. Stupid actually but sounds rather nice.

 

[Jipes]

Trust me, as a Jets/Bucs fan, I understand that mindset.



If Ivory can get going in important yardage run situations they should be alright. Grass shouldn't be an issue for Sproles. He played on it plenty in San Diego and before that at Kansas State. What I want to see is if the Saints can stop the 49ers running attack. That will be crucial for a Saints victory. Alex Smith is having a better year than people expected from him but the Saints' chances have to be better if they force him to win with his arm rather than allowing Frank Gore to slash them up them all day long.

On a Saints/guitar note... we had people over for a party saturday night. Towards the end of the fourth quarter some of us went into the music room and started jamming. The instructional book on my piano was open to "When the Saints Go Marching In" so my friend began learning to play that. I know how to play it on the guitar so I quickly taught it to my friend who was playing bass. By the time the score was a final we had a nice little jam on the song going in honor of Brees and company. Also, I was drunk, which is another New Orleans tradition, right?

I agree with your analysis, Ingram being out everything will be on Ivory and Sproles as for the running. However Brees is still able to throw very well even in the outdoor situation let's hope he and Graham/Colston will be on the same page !

Great to hear that you celebrate the win by a great jam, next time try Iko. Iko from Sugarboy Crawford which is a real Mardi Gras standard in New Orleans !

 

[R_of_G]

Great to hear that you celebrate the win by a great jam, next time try Iko. Iko from Sugarboy Crawford which is a real Mardi Gras standard in New Orleans !

Oh I've played Iko Iko as well on other occasions, but the friend that I usually play that one with couldn't come, otherwise I probably would have thrown it in there as well.

 

[sunvalleylaw]

Seems like it might be a more interesting Superbowl to me this year. Anyone know who is set to entertain? (Besides the teams). I'm pulling for the Saints and the Packers, slightly, but really just want good games with a little D thrown in. A strong Saints showing against SF and the running game would be good.

 

[Beerman]

Madonna is the halftime show. Supposedly to push her upcoming (or current) tour.
Why don't they try someone different and not so mainstream? (Yeah, Madonna is now mainstream)

I'm not sure yet if any of the AFC teams can beat the NFC teams left standing. You never know because it's the NFL!