NFL Playoffs Divisional Round: Bring a good QB or get bounced

[Reny of Storms End]

It wasn't just luck -- it takes skill to tank a team the way they did to get Luck. It took vision and foresight to employ Manning's caddies as his backup for years, and to go into the season with Curtis Painter as your backup, and then to hurriedly sign Kerry Collins and pretend you're really trying to fill the QB position. It takes a lot of skill to convince everyone that Jim Caldwell is alive, so that people don't get suspicious about his perpetual thousand-yard stare while the team is shitting itself week to week. It is a harder than expected thing to lose consistently enough to lock up the top pick when there is a surefire talent waiting at the top of the draft. Fuck, look at the Jaguars and how many first overall picks they've blown with monster talents waiting for them, just by getting frisky late in the season. The Colts were so prescient about that, it makes me think Irsay must have seen the future in one of his peyote weekends to set that up.

I think Luck's name helps people forget what a fantastically orchestrated tank job that was. You see his name and think, "Gosh, the Colts sure were Lucky to get him in the one year they sucked." But imagine how people would think of the whole thing if his last name was, say, Shamlessdrunktanker or something.

It is kinda ridiculous when you look at the Colts records going back two years before the draft. With Manning a playoff team, lose him barely win a game or two, then with Luck back in the playoffs.

[BormonReborn]

I keep reading that the Patriots are going to put Revis on Steve Smith and Browner on Torrey Smith. I don't get that. To me it makes more sense to do it the other way around. Torrey needs tight coverage while I think Steve needs to have the bigger and more physical corner on him to get him off his route.

[awesome possum]

It is kinda ridiculous when you look at the Colts records going back two years before the draft. With Manning a playoff team, lose him barely win a game or two, then with Luck back in the playoffs.

I've lost all respect for that organization after the Suck for Luck bullshit. They used to be my AFC team, having lived within an hour of Indy for the last 12 years but now... fuck the Colts. I find myself irrationally disliking Andrew Luck and wanting him to fail miserably.

[DanteGabriel]

I keep reading that the Patriots are going to put Revis on Steve Smith and Browner on Torrey Smith. I don't get that. To me it makes more sense to do it the other way around. Torrey needs tight coverage while I think Steve needs to have the bigger and more physical corner on him to get him off his route.

Steve Smith has drawn something like 11 pass interference penalties this year. I do not want Brandon "Two Flags a Game" Browner guarding him. As far as I've heard, the plan is to mix coverages, but I would certainly prefer a plan that puts Revis on Steve Smith and Browner and a safety on Torrey Smith for most of the game.

[BormonReborn]

Steve Smith has drawn something like 11 pass interference penalties this year. I do not want Brandon "Two Flags a Game" Browner guarding him. As far as I've heard, the plan is to mix coverages, but I would certainly prefer a plan that puts Revis on Steve Smith and Browner and a safety on Torrey Smith for most of the game.

Torrey Smith has the league high of 12 PI calls drawn... which was another reason I was hoping that Browner would be covering Steve Smith.

[DanteGabriel]

Torrey Smith has the league high of 12 PI calls drawn... which was another reason I was hoping that Browner would be covering Steve Smith.

Huh, didn't know that about Torrey Smith. Or maybe I misheard before and the stat I reported was actually about him and not Steve? Either way, the Ravens have been really good at drawing PI calls for years (partially because Flacco is so good at deep throws), which makes me terrified of what Browner's going to do. Refs have shown that they're not shy about calling PI and Defensive Holding in the playoffs this season (whatthefuckery in Dallas notwithstanding).

I'd still rather have the superior technique guy on Steve Smith. Browner's too slow to keep up with either of them, but Steve Smith is shiftier and may be even tougher for Browner to cover than Torrey. And this is probably why the plan is to mix coverages.

I also wish that the AFC East had played NFC South this year so that Steve Smith would have signed with the Pats in his quest to eviscerate the Panthers, and I wouldn't have to worry about covering Steve Smith with Brandon Browner and I could just talk about one Ravens receiver named Smith.

[TheHouseHB]

I like Dallas over Green Bay this weekend for some reason. I like it because Dallas on the road is undefeated plus Rodgers is not 100 percent healthy. Also, I think Carolina and Seattle will be closer than people think because I feel Carolina is being disrespected though Seattle will win. For AFC I like Indy over Denver and New England over Baltimore in a close game.

[Jaime L]

It wasn't just luck -- it takes skill to tank a team the way they did to get Luck.

Oh for sure. They were 76ers level shady in 2011. And maybe they were in 1997 too. I didn't follow the league as closely back then.But I do know they were a playoff team in 1995 and 1996 with Captain Comeback Jim Harbaugh leading them to a play away from the Superbowl one year.

So how absurd is it that twice this constant playoff team bottoms out exactly in time to draft the can't-miss passer of a generation? And they drafted Elway (though they were at least consistently awful back then and up to a different kind of extreme shadiness). The Raiders are forever bottoming out except they only get the #1 pick when JaMarcus Russell comes out and they have their best season in years when it's Luck.

So either the Colts are evil geniuses thinking 5 moves in advance and the Raiders are dumb as fuck (wait, don't answer that) or the Colts are both unscrupulous and lucky as all hell and the Raiders are dumb and cursed. I think we know...

[Jaime L]

Also in other news, here's Michael Bennett describing how similar the Panthers are to the Seahawks:

“It’s so much alike, man. It’s like you look at a girl who looks like you, and you find out it’s your cousin, so you can’t go on a date with her even though you’d like to, because she looks like you,” Bennett said. “But then you see her friend, and her friend’s really hot, and you’re like, ‘that’s not my cousin,’ so it’s good.”

Uh, what?

I....the thing is.....uh, what?

[DanteGabriel]

So how absurd is it that twice this constant playoff team bottoms out exactly in time to draft the can't-miss passer of a generation? And they drafted Elway (though they were at least consistently awful back then and up to a different kind of extreme shadiness). The Raiders are forever bottoming out except they only get the #1 pick when JaMarcus Russell comes out and they have their best season in years when it's Luck.

There was one year in recent memory when the Raiders had a middle-of-the-road record... 2010. And their 2011 draft pick belonged to the Pats in the annual Bill Belichick Veteran Whacking (Richard Seymour that year). That year, armed with the 17th pick based on the Raiders' 8-8 record, they picked Nate Solder, who's regressing just in time to have to protect Tom Brady against Terrell Suggs!

If the Raiders had been their usual selves that year, the Pats would have had a crack at Tyron Smith. Other guys who went at the top of the draft that year? Von Miller, Marcel Dareus, Patrick Peterson... JJ Watt.

So either the Colts are evil geniuses thinking 5 moves in advance and the Raiders are dumb as fuck (wait, don't answer that) or the Colts are both unscrupulous and lucky as all hell and the Raiders are dumb and cursed. I think we know...

For all their quarterbacking Luck, however, it's gotten them one Super Bowl victory, during a postseason when their once-in-a-lifetime QB threw three TDs and seven picks and was carried by their defense. So it's a twisted kind of karma.

At this point I am hoping Andrew Luck turns into the Friendly Jay Cutler.

[Reny of Storms End]

For all their quarterbacking Luck, however, it's gotten them one Super Bowl victory, during a postseason when their once-in-a-lifetime QB threw three TDs and seven picks and was carried by their defense. So it's a twisted kind of karma.

At this point I am hoping Andrew Luck turns into the Friendly Jay Cutler.

I bet you there are more than half the teams in the league who would take that twisted kind of karma in a second.

ETA: I mean isn't there only like 11-12 QBs all time with more than one ring?

[Jace, Extat]

For all their quarterbacking Luck, however, it's gotten them one Super Bowl victory, during a postseason when their once-in-a-lifetime QB threw three TDs and seven picks and was carried by their defense. So it's a twisted kind of karma.

At this point I am hoping Andrew Luck turns into the Friendly Jay Cutler.

I would have thought a Patriots fan wouldn't mind shady practices. Have fun with Jimmy Garrappololio.

[Reny of Storms End]

It used to matter to me, but anymore I can't understand why it is that if you like Brady you hate Manning and visa-versa.

[DanteGabriel]

I would have thought a Patriots fan wouldn't mind shady practices. Have fun with Jimmy Garrappololio.

I didn't like Belichick getting caught filming after the league asked them to stop, but I have never questioned Belichick's desire and comptency to win.

Hey, if Belichick offered Jimmy Garoppolo to the Colts for Trent Richardson, would you want them to take it?

It used to matter to me, but anymore I can't understand why it is that if you like Brady you hate Manning and visa-versa.

The irresistible pull of primitive tribalism mixed with the fear and loathing of one's most serious competitor, I guess.

[Fez]

I bet you there are more than half the teams in the league who would take that twisted kind of karma in a second.

ETA: I mean isn't there only like 11-12 QBs all time with more than one ring?

Yeah, there's only 11 (and the Elite Manning brother is one of them).

As a Jets fan, I'd absolutely take that kind of karma. Hell, I'd probably settle for even appearing in a Super Bowl again.

[Jaime L]

ETA: I mean isn't there only like 11-12 QBs all time with more than one ring?

Hmm lemme see. Starr, Bradshaw, Plunkett, Staubach, Montana, Simms, Aikman, Elway, Brady, Roethlisberger, E. Manning.

Yeah, you nailed it.

[Jaxom 1974]

I didn't like Belichick getting caught filming after the league asked them to stop, but I have never questioned Belichick's desire and comptency to win.

Hey, if Belichick offered Jimmy Garoppolo to the Colts for Trent Richardson, would you want them to take it?

She'd likely make a deal like that regardless. The Bears could offer David Fales (he of the worst preordained third string QB name ever) for Richardson...

Not that I'm gonna speak for her...but c'mon...

[Jace, Extat]

I didn't like Belichick getting caught filming after the league asked them to stop, but I have never questioned Belichick's desire and comptency to win.

Hey, if Belichick offered Jimmy Garoppolo to the Colts for Trent Richardson, would you want them to take it?

She'd likely make a deal like that regardless. The Bears could offer David Fales (he of the worst preordained third string QB name ever) for Richardson...

Not that I'm gonna speak for her...but c'mon...

Yeah, Jaxom's got the right of it. I'd accept any trade that sent Richardson (and only Richardson) out the door. Literally any trade. I wrote a rant a few weeks ago about how the Colts have to either pay a 3.6 million dollar cap penalty or go into next season with a 52 man roster because of Richardson. I didn't post it because it was just too much.

[DanteGabriel]

Yeah, Jaxom's got the right of it. I'd accept any trade that sent Richardson (and only Richardson) out the door. Literally any trade. I wrote a rant a few weeks ago about how the Colts have to either pay a 3.6 million dollar cap penalty or go into next season with a 52 man roster because of Richardson. I didn't post it because it was just too much.

I figured, I just wanted to give you shit about Richardson again. :P

[Jaime L]

There was one year in recent memory when the Raiders had a middle-of-the-road record... 2010. And their 2011 draft pick belonged to the Pats in the annual Bill Belichick Veteran Whacking (Richard Seymour that year). That year, armed with the 17th pick based on the Raiders' 8-8 record, they picked Nate Solder, who's regressing just in time to have to protect Tom Brady against Terrell Suggs!

If the Raiders had been their usual selves that year, the Pats would have had a crack at Tyron Smith. Other guys who went at the top of the draft that year? Von Miller, Marcel Dareus, Patrick Peterson... JJ Watt.

Guess the only thing left that motivates the Raiders is the Tuck Rule game.

Even more brutal is that pick the Patriots got from the Raiders, #17, was the first pick after all the multiple probowl type players got drafted. In retrospect that draft went 13 deep of elite players (with the 3 terrible QBs thrown in). #17 is where the steep drop off in talent began...