NFL Week 17: Playoffs for Some, Miniature Improvement in Draft Picks for Others!

[Sivin]

I don't think I've watched The Simpsons in about five or six years, not bad!

[DanteGabriel]

I'm looking forward to all the hot air being blown about the Giants' receivers and their party with Bieber. No, I don't think it actually affected anything, but I love that this bullshit is going to be the thing that haunts fuckface shitheel John Mara and his team of spoiled brats all offseason. We'll get some nice tantrums out of OBJ too. 

Thanks for driving the stake through this team, Green Bay.

[Manhole Eunuchsbane]

3 minutes ago, DanteGabriel said:

I'm looking forward to all the hot air being blown about the Giants' receivers and their party with Bieber. No, I don't think it actually affected anything, but I love that this bullshit is going to be the thing that haunts fuckface shitheel John Mara and his team of spoiled brats all offseason. We'll get some nice tantrums out of OBJ too. 

Thanks for driving the stake through this team, Green Bay.

They were with Bieber? Then they got what they deserved. 

[Guest]

I'm ashamed to hear and admit that I didn't know about the Bieber angle.  Who besides Odell was involved?  

[IamMe90]

4 minutes ago, DanteGabriel said:

I'm looking forward to all the hot air being blown about the Giants' receivers and their party with Bieber. No, I don't think it actually affected anything, but I love that this bullshit is going to be the thing that haunts fuckface shitheel John Mara and his team of spoiled brats all offseason. We'll get some nice tantrums out of OBJ too. 

Thanks for driving the stake through this team, Green Bay.

Any time.

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This was my first time experiencing a playoff victory since becoming a fan of the game recently (which, incidentally, was the GB loss against Arizona in overtime lol - that game turned me into an NFL fan). Gotta say, it's a prettyyy sweeeet taste. 

[DanteGabriel]

7 minutes ago, IamMe90 said:

Any time.

-----------------

This was my first time experiencing a playoff victory since becoming a fan of the game recently (which, incidentally, was the GB loss against Arizona in overtime lol - that game turned me into an NFL fan). Gotta say, it's a prettyyy sweeeet taste. 

Congratulations, by the way, for Rodgers finally topping Eli Manning for number of playoff victories at Lambeau.

As for the Bieber angle, it was OBJ, Cruz, Shepard, and one other guy. Oh, it seems Johnny Football was there too...

Quote

But TMZ reports the quartet was partying until sun-up at Miami Beach nightclub Liv, along with the likes of Justin Bieber, Lil Wayne, Trey Songz, Fabolous, 2 Chainz, Jamie Foxx, Tristan Thompson, Khloe Kardashian, Adrian Brody, and, uh, Johnny Manziel.

http://deadspin.com/giants-wrs-flew-to-miami-for-one-hell-of-a-party-1790692715

[Manhole Eunuchsbane]

^^^^^^

You hang out with no-talent asshats, you perform like no-talent asshats.

[Trebla]

40 minutes ago, WinterFox said:

I don't think I've watched The Simpsons in about five or six years, not bad!

I still had it on, too, and LOL'ed at the Japanese robot committing seppuku AND the New Bill O'Reilly book, "Killing Hannity". Good stuff.

Dal vs. GB is going to be a good one. Rodgers is playing his best, which he definitely wasn't when they played in Lambeau back in October. On the flipside, Dallas is getting back Morris Claiborne and all in all will be the healthiest they've been all season. The J. Nelson injury could be the deciding factor.

[unJon]

Dallas opened as a 4 point favorite. Expect that the come down but not cross the 3. 

Pats are -16 and you have to wonder if that's high enough. This is not going to be a good game to watch. 

KC opened as a pick 'em but it has been bid up to -1.5. I gotta say Pitt looked awesome today. KC is a solid team, but I don't think they can win if Pittsburgh offense is firing. Pitt absolutely mauled them during the season. 

Atlanta opened at -4 and that will probably drift higher. 

All in all a pretty good slate of games. Other than the Pats, they might be competitive and show once again how much better Divisional Round playoffs are vs Wildcard Weekend. 

[Rockroi]

29 minutes ago, Jaime L said:

Man, did not expect a blowout in this one. Who woulda thought OBJ would be 5th on the Giants in receiving yards despite 11 targets? Yeah, it's a bad look. 

I imagine Dallas went from being happy to see the Giants eliminated to concerned at how good the Packers look. If the Football Gods want to make up for this shitty weekend, a 35-32 Packers-Cowboys game feels like proper penance. 

The home teams went 4-0 which, IIRC, is a rarity.  (I also went 4-0 which is all but unheard of).  Wild card weekend was anything but wild with 4 blowouts and only one of those games was really competitive at least for one half (Giants @ GB).  

But I also feel like we just saw four mirages.  Well, not entirely; I think the Seahawks are improving and GB is the hottest team in the NFL.  But their opponents seemed overwhelmed to downright bad.  All that's left in the playoffs are the division winners; the teams that lost were all the lower DVOA teams with the sole exception of Oakland which is, basically, a completely different team without Carr.  

Rodgers is a good example; he had the game of the week-end with 4 TDs, no picks and utterly dominated.  But he's done this before.  

2015: Rodgers throws 2 TDs and gets a 90+ Rating in the wild card round against Washington, only to fall the next week to the Cards;

2014: Rodgers has an all-time game versus the Cowboys in the Div round: 300+ yards, 3TDs and a 125+ Rating... he then is victim to an all-time GB collapse as Rodgers cannot even break the 200 yard plateau and throws 2 picks, with a rating of 55, less than half it had been the previous week. 

2013 (one and done, not applicable) 

2012: v. Minn 1TD, no picks, 100+ Rat; next week, v. SF, INT, 90 Rating.  

I'm not saying that Rodgers is "hit or miss" in the playoffs. Not at all.  What I am saying is that a good week 1 in the playoffs is not necessarily indicative of a second great week in the playoffs.  To be fair, in that SB season (2010), Rodgers had 3 great weeks in the playoffs (and one disaster against the Bears), but I think that the Packers MAY have been the beneficiary of a pretty easy opponent. 

That, to me, is what happened with Pitt as they were playing a weak opponent in Miami; Miami was 17th in DVOA and 26th in Weighted DVOA and Offense; they were a very weak team.  And good teams SHOULD dominate weak teams.  To some degree, I feel that was true for every game this week: the better team should have won by a lot and, in every case, they did.  Uts not necessarily indicative of what that team will do as the playoffs unfold.  

 

[Manhole Eunuchsbane]

26 minutes ago, unJon said:

Dallas opened as a 4 point favorite. Expect that the come down but not cross the 3. 

Pats are -16 and you have to wonder if that's high enough. This is not going to be a good game to watch. 

KC opened as a pick 'em but it has been bid up to -1.5. I gotta say Pitt looked awesome today. KC is a solid team, but I don't think they can win if Pittsburgh offense is firing. Pitt absolutely mauled them during the season. 

Atlanta opened at -4 and that will probably drift higher. 

All in all a pretty good slate of games. Other than the Pats, they might be competitive and show once again how much better Divisional Round playoffs are vs Wildcard Weekend. 

Sea +4 looks pretty juicy. Not sure about the Dallas/GB line, but I'd be inclined to take the points. Kinda like KC at home as a pick 'em. Would stay away from Pats/Texans just because of the points. That said, they probably cover.

[Jaime L]

30 minutes ago, Rockroi said:

I'm not saying that Rodgers is "hit or miss" in the playoffs. Not at all.  What I am saying is that a good week 1 in the playoffs is not necessarily indicative of a second great week in the playoffs. 

Definitely, though I'd say in each of those cases when he advanced in the playoffs he moved up a weight class in terms of the defense he faced. This year he gets an easier task in the divisional round.

His playoff performances definitely seem to track with what type of defense he's facing. This is the first time he's lit up a really good defense in the playoffs since 2010. Considering that and the way he finished up the season, I'd be shocked if he takes a step back now. 

[Guest]

Would you guys like to say anything else about Rodgers and what certain people saw in 2008/2009?*

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

***

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

**Yes, I hate myself a little bit

[Manhole Eunuchsbane]

^^^^^^

Loves me some A.A. Ron, but I was always more of a Swordless Mimetown guy.

 

[Joe Pesci]

No talk on here of Leon Hall leading with the crown of his helmet on Jordy Nelson? That illegal hit could have serious playoff implications if Nelson can't go next week against the Cowboys. Must be how he was taught to tackle in Cincy...

Oh and Joey Porter got arrested a little while ago at a bar after an altercation with a cop. Maybe he can meet up with Pacman Jones on the unemployment line where they belong. Knuckleheads never learn.

2 hours ago, DanteGabriel said:

We'll get some nice tantrums out of OBJ too. 

I've got sportscenter on and after his post game interview, he apparently punched a hole in a wall and was seen banging his head off of a door, according to reports. Didn't take too long.

[White Walker Texas Ranger]

2 hours ago, Manhole Eunuchsbane said:

^^^^^^

You hang out with no-talent asshats, you perform like no-talent asshats.

Jamie Foxx?

And Lil Wayne? I'm not a fan, but I can't deny that he's talented.

 

Also, if the Patriots lose next week, then Belichick, Brady, Kraft,etc. should be required to commit ritual seppuku.

[Manhole Eunuchsbane]

6 minutes ago, White Walker Texas Ranger said:

Jamie Foxx?

And Lil Wayne? I'm not a fan, but I can't deny that he's talented.

 

Also, if the Patriots lose next week, then Belichick, Brady, Kraft,etc. should be required to commit ritual seppuku.

Jamie Foxx and Tristan Thompson don't belong on the list. Never got Lil Wayne, and I love the hippity-hop.

[IamMe90]

1 hour ago, Trebla said:

I still had it on, too, and LOL'ed at the Japanese robot committing seppuku AND the New Bill O'Reilly book, "Killing Hannity". Good stuff.

Dal vs. GB is going to be a good one. Rodgers is playing his best, which he definitely wasn't when they played in Lambeau back in October. On the flipside, Dallas is getting back Morris Claiborne and all in all will be the healthiest they've been all season. The J. Nelson injury could be the deciding factor.

I think people kind of tend to forget about the other receivers on GB because of Nelson's solid, consistent performances, but tonight demonstrates that there is more to our offense than Nelson. I mean, we put up 38 points against one of, if not the best defense in the league. Rodgers has potent weapons in Adams, Cobb, and Cook, too. And, of course, as you mentioned: Rogders is on fire. 

One thing that worries me though is what seems to be Rodger's "slow start syndrome" this year. Even during these last seven games, on most of the wins it's taken a while for him to get going. Given Dallas' outstanding and multifaceted offense, I'd rather not give the Boys 30 minutes to dig us into a hole we can't climb out of. 

[Altherion]

18 minutes ago, Joe Pesci said:

No talk on here of Leon Hall leading with the crown of his helmet on Jordy Nelson? That illegal hit could have serious playoff implications if Nelson can't go next week against the Cowboys.

It's weird that there wasn't any call on that. They say it's some sort of rib injury which makes it rather doubtful that he'll be back next week. The first link that comes up on Google seems pretty trustworthy and says that broken or bruised ribs take 3-6 weeks to get better. Maybe it wasn't serious and they decided to keep him out of the game out of precaution (i.e. they took him to do testing and by the time they were done, the game was either over or the Packers were up by so much that it made no sense to put him back in), but that hit looked pretty brutal.

[Rockroi]

1 hour ago, Jaime L said:

Definitely, though I'd say in each of those cases when he advanced in the playoffs he moved up a weight class in terms of the defense he faced. This year he gets an easier task in the divisional round.

His playoff performances definitely seem to track with what type of defense he's facing. This is the first time he's lit up a really good defense in the playoffs since 2010. Considering that and the way he finished up the season, I'd be shocked if he takes a step back now. 

True, but I thin playing on the road may be a thing here; the Cowboys are going to be hard to beat at Dallas.  Earlier this season, Dallas gave Rodgers trouble at GB and Rodgers looked okay, but not great.  And given what Dallas will be throwing at GB on O, Rodgers is going to need to be great.  

With that said I like Green Bay's chances; there is a legit chance that the 2016 Cowboys are like the 2010 Pats or 2008 Titans -- classic team that looks super-strong in the reg season and then "One and Done" after a bye-week.