NFL Thread 2013 Week 14 - Jaguars vs. Texans - The Teddy Bridgewater Bowl

[Jaime L]

Less important games this week include:

Panthers at Saints - I'm predicting a Saints blowout for the same reason I predicted a Seahawks blowout last week. Brees is otherworldly at home in primetime games (10-0 33/4 TD/INT ratio)

Seahawks at 49ers - Close game that I think 49ers win.

Colts at Bengals - I think Luck gets knocked around here.

Lions at Eagles - Litmus test. Slight edge to Eagles.

Cowboys at Bears - If Bears lose, they're probably done. Slight edge Cowboys.

Titans at Broncos - Only important because it'll be fucking freezing with snow showers so another chance to see miserable-looking cold-weather Peyton. He's 3-7 in games below 32 degrees and this will be about 25 degrees colder than that.

Pretty good slate. But nothing compares to the sicker Thursday Nighter we get tonight.

[trickster]

Less important games this week include:

Panthers at Saints - I'm predicting a Saints blowout for the same reason I predicted a Seahawks blowout last week. Brees is otherworldly at home in primetime games (10-0 33/4 TD/INT ratio)

Seahawks at 49ers - Close game that I think 49ers win.

Colts at Bengals - I think Luck gets knocked around here.

Lions at Eagles - Litmus test. Slight edge to Eagles.

Cowboys at Bears - If Bears lose, they're probably done. Slight edge Cowboys.

Titans at Broncos - Only important because it'll be fucking freezing with snow showers so another chance to see miserable-looking cold-weather Peyton. He's 3-7 in games below 32 degrees and this will be about 25 degrees colder than that.

Pretty good slate. But nothing compares to the sicker Thursday Nighter we get tonight.

Imo, the Saints Panthers game will be a close one. The Panthers won @ NO last year. I know it's a different Saints team. But the Panthers are a vastly improved team also.

Niners-Seahawks will not be a close one. Either the Niners play as if this is their superbowl (ala Colts against the Broncos) and jumps all over the Seahawks or the Seahawks curb stomps the Niners.

I fear for Luck and my Colts. I predict a loss and getting KC in the playoffs as the number 4 seed.

No idea what's going to happen in the NFC North vs East showdowns. Nothing will surprise me.

Manning and the Broncos will try to annihilate the Titans. Titans are not good, Manning knows their D very well, Broncos offense will have Julius Thomas back. All this chatter about Manning in cold games. The will try to put a stop to that. If Manning struggles, it will be demoralizing for the Broncos. This is a Litmus test for the Broncos who will need to win 3 cold games to win the SB.

[Jace, Extat]

And the world holds its breath in anticipation of Houston at Jacksonville. This game has crazy playoff implications. If Houston loses, they're mathematically eliminated, but if Jacksonville loses they still have a chance at the #6 seed.

That is not a joke. Jacksonville is still in playoff 'contention' if they lose. Like I said, "crazy".

[Stark Revenge]

And the world holds its breath in anticipation of Houston at Jacksonville. This game has crazy playoff implications. If Houston loses, they're mathematically eliminated, but if Jacksonville loses they still have a chance at the #6 seed.

That is not a joke. Jacksonville is still in playoff 'contention' if they lose. Like I said, "crazy".

It's been a miserable year to be a Texans fan :( Ah well till next year!

[Biter]

I wonder what the race for the final AFC playoff spot will look like after this week. Hopefully the Ravens can take care of business against Peterson and the Vikings...

I think the Steelers need to win out and they're hosting the Dolphins. If the Dolphins win, they have a pretty good chance at making the playoffs.

The Titans, Chargers and Jets are also fairly competitive this season, despite being at 5-7...

[balefired-ed]

Damn, I really wanted Houston to win that one.

Looks like at least another year of football purgatory.

[Mexal]

Damn, I really wanted Houston to win that one.

Looks like at least another year of football purgatory.

Houston with Bridgewater ail be good...

[Rhom]

At this point after watching last night's game it really puts the lie to any sort of commentary on the quality of teams early in the season.

Remember when the Jags were supposed to be 0-16? Now they're 4-1 in their last 5 games and stand at 4-9 with a record better than preseason Super Bowl contenders Atlanta and Houston. :stunned:

Speaking of 0-16, just how much worse does that year by the Lions look when we have teams as bad as the Jags and the Bucs looked sitting with 3-4 wins?

[Prince of the North]

At this point after watching last night's game it really puts the lie to any sort of commentary on the quality of teams early in the season.

Remember when the Jags were supposed to be 0-16? Now they're 4-1 in their last 5 games and stand at 4-9 with a record better than preseason Super Bowl contenders Atlanta and Houston. :stunned:

Speaking of 0-16, just how much worse does that year by the Lions look when we have teams as bad as the Jags and the Bucs looked sitting with 3-4 wins?

Yeah, I think one has to actively try to go 0-16. That doesn't just happen by accident! :P

[Kalbear]

This seemed topical: Under Pressure today talks about why QBs get sacked.

Seattle is a bit higher than average on coverage sacks, but not so much that it's because of Wilson scrambling around; compare that to Pryor in Oakland for what a scrambling QB's profile looks like. Almost all of Indy's sacks are because the line failed, however, which points to the folks who were saying how bad Indy's line is; when Luck gets sacked it's almost always because someone done fucked up, and almost never because he held it too long.

Jacksonville has the most confused sacks. San Diego and Denver have none, which is interesting. Also interesting, as the article notes, is the superhuman play clock Manning has. 15 sacks and only one is a coverage. His line is being beaten at the same rate as Seattle's porous line and he is utterly collected about it. Phenomenal.

[Mexal]

Almost all of Indy's sacks are because the line failed, however, which points to the folks who were saying how bad Indy's line is; when Luck gets sacked it's almost always because someone done fucked up, and almost never because he held it too long.

Thank god FO wrote that article. That argument was painful.

[Kalbear]

Yeah, they wrote it because they couldn't stand reading me either.

Also, the Miami Dolphins are the huge winner of worst line ever, having a total of 41 sacks that are failures because of blocking or confusion. This is 10 sacks more than the next worst team. Shocking, that.

[Mexal]

Yeah, they wrote it because they couldn't stand reading me either.

Also, the Miami Dolphins are the huge winner of worst line ever, having a total of 41 sacks that are failures because of blocking or confusion. This is 10 sacks more than the next worst team. Shocking, that.

That is horrendously bad.

Also, look at Denver. The Manning effect is in full force. Not only does he set up his protections perfectly, but almost none of the sacks are on him. He's truly incredible when it comes to that.

[Rhom]

Since it hasn't been brought up yet we have our first coaching casualty of the NFL season.

Seems like too much of a knee jerk reaction to me and rarely do I ever see benefit in firing a coach mid-season. Even if you turn it around to win a couple games down the stretch, what are you really accomplishing? Missing out on the top pick?

Ah well... so it begins.

[DanteGabriel]

This seemed topical: Under Pressure today talks about why QBs get sacked.

Oh man, that gif of the Falcons giving up a 1.4 second sack on a two-man rush was awesome.

[Mexal]

Since it hasn't been brought up yet we have our first coaching casualty of the NFL season.

Seems like too much of a knee jerk reaction to me and rarely do I ever see benefit in firing a coach mid-season. Even if you turn it around to win a couple games down the stretch, what are you really accomplishing? Missing out on the top pick?

Ah well... so it begins.

It's more about being able to do a thorough vetting of coaches over the next few weeks, including college coaches, not necessarily turning it around.

[Kalbear]

Oh man, that gif of the Falcons giving up a 1.4 second sack on a two-man rush was awesome.

I know! I mean...how do you do that? Well, you do that by totally fucking up and thinking you're blocking a guy inside who ends up going into coverage. It's a pretty smart defensive scheme. But wow. Just...wow.

[Frog Eater]

In watching the game last night (the portion I could stand) Kubiak had no control of the team. They didn't respect him. I saw the portion where Swearenger got the taunting penalty then followed it up with a holding penalty on consecutive plays. Kubiak should have sat his down, but instead acted afraid to say anything.

I said right then that Kubiak should be fired.

[trickster]

Yeah, they wrote it because they couldn't stand reading me either.

Also, the Miami Dolphins are the huge winner of worst line ever, having a total of 41 sacks that are failures because of blocking or confusion. This is 10 sacks more than the next worst team. Shocking, that.

May be having a leader like Incognito is not that good an idea?

Great article by the way, thanks for posting the link.

Interesting article:

http://sports.yahoo.com/news/why-washington-redskins-must-trade-kirk-cousins-offseason-153000481--nfl.html

Apparently RG3 came back too early as he was worried about loosing his job to Kirk Cousins.

WTF?

[Rhom]

May be having a leader like Incognito is not that good an idea?

Interesting article:

http://sports.yahoo.com/news/why-washington-redskins-must-trade-kirk-cousins-offseason-153000481--nfl.html

Apparently RG3 came back too early as he was worried about loosing his job to Kirk Cousins.

WTF?

That's a failure of communication on the team right there if so. They should have let him know in no uncertain terms that he was the future, and then promptly had him sit half the season or so while Cousins went out there and built up trade value so they can move back into the draft.