NFL 2016 Championship Week Three Rebels and the Empire

[DanteGabriel]

52 minutes ago, SkynJay said:

I have a question for Patriots fans.  Local show today was having a discussion about if Denver fans still see the Raiders as the rival or if the Patriots are.  Lot of people think the Patriots but only because of the PFM-Brady thing.  Do the Patriot fans have a rival?  It seems that 'whatever team Manning is on' is the closest I see, but who do the fans really hate?

I think there is a special flavor of hate reserved for the Jets, as much due to Belichick's history as to the historical team and city rivalries.

As for non-divisional rivalries, I suppose "whatever team Manning is on" is probably the closest, but there has to be an element of competitiveness too. I didn't mind the Broncos that much until they got Manning. Then again, for the most part they haven't been good enough to be considered a threat in the AFC, Brady's dismal record at Mile High notwithstanding. There's still the Colts rivalry, of course, which was founded on Manning and got a fresh infusion of bad blood through Ballghazi. And then there's a rivalry with other teams that have been AFC contenders in the last few years, so the Steelers and the Ravens are on the list.

Personally, the team I hate the most, outside of how competitive they are at the moment, is the Ravens. Besides contending for championships at the same time, they had the attempt to cover for Ray Rice, their habit of whining and crying about losses, the sanctification of a bloody-handed wannabe preacher like Ray Lewis, and their own involvement in the lead-up to Ballghazi. Though I have to admit, the Tomlin era Steelers are really starting to give them a run for their money.

[Swordfish]

Weather looks to be pretty mild in Denver Sunday.  Gotta be happy about that if you're a broncos fan.

I'm taking denver and Arizona.

[White Walker Texas Ranger]

1 hour ago, SkynJay said:

Crying mostly.  National Meeting has us flying on Sunday.  I promise I didn't plan this out.

I have a question for Patriots fans.  Local show today was having a discussion about if Denver fans still see the Raiders as the rival or if the Patriots are.  Lot of people think the Patriots but only because of the PFM-Brady thing.  Do the Patriot fans have a rival?  It seems that 'whatever team Manning is on' is the closest I see, but who do the fans really hate?

It's gotta be the Ravens. Sure the Mike Tomlin Steelers are asshats, but what was the last big game the Patriot's played the Steelers in? the 2004 AFC Championship?

[trickster]

4 hours ago, Pony Queen Jace said:

I can live with that

So nobody is giving Denver a chance, which makes sense. But... I can't shake this feeling. I'm wary of it, of course, because I actually thought the Colts had a shot in NE at this time last year. But I didn't see as bad a performance from Manning as everyone else seemed to witness, and I think that if the running game can be relevant at all (3.5 ypc would be a fucking improvement at this point) this could be a contest.

I actually think it's more likely that Carolina-Arizona is a complete blowout than Denver-NE. Just because both Cards and Panthers have shown tendencies to run hot or cold while NE and Denver are (in my eyes) more consistent.

As I said many times. I have watched every NFL game PFM has played in and I was adamant last year that he was done. His movements and mechanics failed my eyeball test. But against the Steelers, he looked better than how he looked even in the latter half of last season and definitely better than this season's version. He looked "decent", not great. But I think physically this is the best he has been in the last year and half. It was cold and quite windy in Denver and his ducks were floating OK. His receivers dropped too many passes and every single one of them were catchable and pretty much on the money. If I remember correctly, all 6 drops during the first half would have resulted in first downs. Those drops and not PFM's lack of skills/bad throws/bad decisions stalled the drives.

The Bronco's gameplan for the divisional round was ultra conservative. Some of that was to accommodate PFM's diminished physical skills. Also we need to remember that Manning did not play or practice with the first team for about eight weeks. You expect him to be rusty and out of sync.  So they were right to be conservative.The Steelers were really banged up. The Broncos and most of us kind of knew that the Broncos could grind out a win if they did not turn the ball over. 

NE are justifiably the favorites. But I too think that this not a done deal.

[Manhole Eunuchsbane]

Oh yeah, good call on the Ratbirds. That divisional round game last season was amazing, and they have quite a bit of recent history.  

[Leofric]

I think for simple traditional hate rivalry it's the Patriots - Jets, which is tied to all things New York stemming from the Red Sox - Yankees rivalry.

Other than that it's the Peyton rivalry transferring from the Colts to Broncos

 

[Jaime L]

I like this acerbic take from 538 on NFL coaches continuing to hurt their teams because they fail at understanding basic math.

It's funny, we've gotten to the point in baseball where managers get reamed for making the marginally lower percentage play. And yet it happens all the time in football and we're generally cool with it. I get football is a more complex game and yet "go for 2" probabilities are based on a big sample size just like lefty/righty matchups. Feels weird and reactionary not to trust the math. And yet that's what 98% of coaches do. 

5 hours ago, Red Tiger said:

"I miss the days of Game of Thrones having funboobs, now it's all bloody rapey-rape"

 

 

 

This guy's awesome. 

[Manhole Eunuchsbane]

2 hours ago, trickster said:

NE are justifiably the favorites. But I too think that this not a done deal.

Classic Bill Burr rant regarding PFM. It is a done deal. 

 

 

[Fez]

3 hours ago, SkynJay said:

Do the Patriot fans have a rival?  It seems that 'whatever team Manning is on' is the closest I see, but who do the fans really hate?

The Jets would be the easy answer, if they won more often. Problem is, the Patriots are 23-11 against the Jets since Belicheck took over 2000 (including the postseason) and 22-7 in games Brady played in. So there's just not the on-the-field history. Pretty much all the Jets have to hang their hats on is the 2010/11 postseason win at Gillette, which was really nice and all, but not nearly enough. The Patriots just dominate the Jets far too often, even if the games usually are pretty close.

On the other hand though, the teams have one of the longer and more tortured off-the-field histories around, one that has resulted in multiple draft pick compensation awards for violating league rules. And it ties directly into the Red Sox-Yankees rivalry, which is really a city-to-city rivalry that stretches back centuries. Its the same reason why having the Giants be the team to beat the Patriots twice in the Super Bowl was the worst possible option for fans (I would guess that if Jets beat the Patriots twice in the AFCCG would've been worse, although Super Bowl losses do usually loom larger).

[Jace, Extat]

Way to go, Rex.

[DanteGabriel]

10 hours ago, Fez said:

On the other hand though, the teams have one of the longer and more tortured off-the-field histories around, one that has resulted in multiple draft pick compensation awards for violating league rules.

Yeah, it's hard to overstate the twisted history, especially of the last 20 years. Custody battles over Parcells and Belichick, particularly Belichick's priceless "I resign as HC of the NYJ" on a napkin after being the coach for a day. Mo Lewis of the Jets being the one to injure Bledsoe and make way for Brady. Curtis Martin following Parcells to New York. Mangini's acrimonious departure and subsequent sparking of Spygate. Rex Ryan's obsession with Brady and Belichick. Darrelle Revis.

 

Quote

And it ties directly into the Red Sox-Yankees rivalry, which is really a city-to-city rivalry that stretches back centuries. Its the same reason why having the Giants be the team to beat the Patriots twice in the Super Bowl was the worst possible option for fans (I would guess that if Jets beat the Patriots twice in the AFCCG would've been worse, although Super Bowl losses do usually loom larger).

Certainly I've said a few times, "There's nothing better than hearing a stadium full of New York sports fans shut the fuck up" after a Patriots (or Red Sox) win. But the loss to the Giants in Super Bowl 42 hurt so bad because it was the destruction of the perfect season and because it happened with such dumbfounding plays, I'm not sure I had any room for "and it was to a fucking New York team!" sentiment. It was a shitty, heartbreaking loss and I don't know that it would have been any better losing to, say, the Eagles or Packers. The loss four years later also felt a little differently because I was kind of expecting it, and it hurt because it was the same team that ruined the perfect season, not especially because it was a New York team. 

I don't think losing to the Jets in an AFC Championship Game would approach anything near the SB 42 loss, but maybe it'd be worse than the SB 46 loss. Not sure it could hurt as much as losing the AFC Championship Game in 2006 when the Pats coughed up the big halftime lead and the Colts went on to beat the fucking Chicago Grossmans in the Super Bowl. That would have been a third straight Super Bowl win for the Pats, which no one's ever done. But I suppose that would be affected by how the game itself played out. Maybe a blown lead and turning on a stupidly unlikely play would hurt as much.

 

[Jaime L]

12 hours ago, Manhole Eunuchsbane said:

Classic Bill Burr rant regarding PFM. It is a done deal. 

 

 

A dude from Boston thinks Peyton Manning is overrated? Say it ain't so. 

I do love me some Bill Burr though. There's a radio station here that plays bits of standup and his shit is consistently awesome. I also love that he's randomly appeared in like the two best shows of the last 20 years: Breaking Bad and Chappelle Show. 

[Reny of Storms End]

1 hour ago, DanteGabriel said:

Yeah, it's hard to overstate the twisted history, especially of the last 20 years. Custody battles over Parcells and Belichick, particularly Belichick's priceless "I resign as HC of the NYJ" on a napkin after being the coach for a day. Mo Lewis of the Jets being the one to injure Bledsoe and make way for Brady. Curtis Martin following Parcells to New York. Mangini's acrimonious departure and subsequent sparking of Spygate. Rex Ryan's obsession with Brady and Belichick. Darrelle Revis.

 

Certainly I've said a few times, "There's nothing better than hearing a stadium full of New York sports fans shut the fuck up" after a Patriots (or Red Sox) win. But the loss to the Giants in Super Bowl 42 hurt so bad because it was the destruction of the perfect season and because it happened with such dumbfounding plays, I'm not sure I had any room for "and it was to a fucking New York team!" sentiment. It was a shitty, heartbreaking loss and I don't know that it would have been any better losing to, say, the Eagles or Packers. The loss four years later also felt a little differently because I was kind of expecting it, and it hurt because it was the same team that ruined the perfect season, not especially because it was a New York team. 

I don't think losing to the Jets in an AFC Championship Game would approach anything near the SB 42 loss, but maybe it'd be worse than the SB 46 loss. Not sure it could hurt as much as losing the AFC Championship Game in 2006 when the Pats coughed up the big halftime lead and the Colts went on to beat the fucking Chicago Grossmans in the Super Bowl. That would have been a third straight Super Bowl win for the Pats, which no one's ever done. But I suppose that would be affected by how the game itself played out. Maybe a blown lead and turning on a stupidly unlikely play would hurt as much.

 

Well that Colts game shouldn't hurt to much when you remember the Steelers had won the Super Bowl the year before. So it didn't prevent them from a shot at a 3peat. 

[DanteGabriel]

6 minutes ago, Reny of Storms End said:

Well that Colts game shouldn't hurt to much when you remember the Steelers had won the Super Bowl the year before. So it didn't prevent them from a shot at a 3peat. 

Huh. I had to go and look that back up to verify. Memory does funny things.

Whatever year it happened, that was still the most painful non-Super Bowl loss.

[Reny of Storms End]

11 minutes ago, DanteGabriel said:

Huh. I had to go and look that back up to verify. Memory does funny things.

Whatever year it happened, that was still the most painful non-Super Bowl loss.

Yeah I usually get the Super Bowls from early 2000s mixed up myself. I always mess up when the Pats won back to back, thinking it was there first two instead of 2nd and 3rd. 

[Manhole Eunuchsbane]

49 minutes ago, Jaime L said:

A dude from Boston thinks Peyton Manning is overrated? Say it ain't so. 

I do love me some Bill Burr though. There's a radio station here that plays bits of standup and his shit is consistently awesome. I also love that he's randomly appeared in like the two best shows of the last 20 years: Breaking Bad and Chappelle Show. 

Yeah probably the one aspect of his podcast that occasionally annoys me is his Pats homerism, but at least he cops to it, unlike Simmons. If you enjoy his standup I highly recommend his podcast. The one that this bit came from is a classic from start to finish.

[DanteGabriel]

Slipped to page 2!

Patriots are bringing Ty Law with them to Denver as an honorary captain. Love it. I'll be wearing my Law jersey.

[White Walker Texas Ranger]

15 minutes ago, DanteGabriel said:

Slipped to page 2!

Patriots are bringing Ty Law with them to Denver as an honorary captain. Love it. I'll be wearing my Law jersey.

Maybe Ty Law will catch some errant Manning passes from the sidelines. For old times sake.

[Jaime L]

ESPN has an interesting longread on Brady. 

Two interesting parts to me:

Quote

 

"There's nobody like this guy in the league," Ryan once said of Manning. "Nobody studies like him. I know Brady thinks he does. I think there's probably a little more help with [Bill] Belichick with Brady than there is with Peyton Manning."

Told another time by reporters that Brady attended a Broadway show instead of watching the Jets-Colts playoff game that would determine New England's next opponent, Ryan quipped, "Peyton Manning would have been watching our game."

Rex Ryan is such a troll. Somehow didn't remember him saying this. Probably need to stop needling the guy kicking your ass every year, big guy.

Quote

 

In 2012, when JPMorgan Chase lost $6.2 billion through a series of bad investments, Vanity Fair reported that the bank's CEO, Jamie Dimon, received a surprise phone call from Brady, with the quarterback telling him to "hang in there" and that even Super Bowl champs have bad days. The two had never met.

WTF? Maybe it's just cause I'm re-reading the Big Short right now, but it's profoundly weird to offer moral support to Jamie freaking Dimon, one of the CEOs who presided over the scam of and collapse of the U.S. economy. Ties into the Donald Trump friendship thing. Why are these the people you relate to? 

The guy is generally a closed book, but we get more and more of these little windows of the deep and enduring strangeness of Tom Brady. I don't know if it's always been there and that the way he's wired is key to his greatness or if it's just the isolating effects of extreme wealth, fame and a supermodel icon wife.

Dude is a an absolute new age hippie when it comes to nutrition and doesn't believe in Western Medicine.  I felt like I was reading about Gwenyth Paltrow. And yet maybe he's right? He's been remarkably durable throughout his career...he's playing at an insanely high level at age 38. Hell, maybe he's right and will be able to play to 45. Tom Brady is an alien to me. Like Russell Wilson, but in a different way. I'm sure PFM is too..but he's better at faking the everyman schtick. But feel like I can't doubt what I don't understand. 

[Manhole Eunuchsbane]

12 minutes ago, Jaime L said:

WTF? Maybe it's just cause I'm re-reading the Big Short right now, but it's profoundly weird to offer moral support to Jamie freaking Dimon, one of the CEOs who presided over the scam of and collapse of the U.S. economy. Ties into the Donald Trump friendship thing. Why are these the people you relate to? 

The guy is generally a closed book, but we get more and more of these little windows of the deep and enduring strangeness of Tom Brady. I don't know if it's always been there and that the way he's wired is key to his greatness or if it's just the isolating effects of extreme wealth, fame and a supermodel icon wife.

Dude is a an absolute new age hippie when it comes to nutrition and doesn't believe in Western Medicine.  I felt like I was reading about Gwenyth Paltrow. And yet maybe he's right? He's been remarkably durable throughout his career...he's playing at an insanely high level at age 38. Hell, maybe he's right and will be able to play to 45. Tom Brady is an alien to me. Like Russell Wilson, but in a different way. I'm sure PFM is too..but he's better at faking the everyman schtick. But feel like I can't doubt what I don't understand. 

 That is bizarre to me as well. The architects of the last economic meltdown are villains of the first order. I guess maybe it's not so weird for Brady given that his chief role model is often compared to Emperor Palpatine.

 To the second bit, I have to say that after working in the Healthcare industry for the better part of 13 years, I've become a big believer in the power of the placebo. If the patient is thoroughly convinced that what they are doing/taking is helping them, it probably is, at least in terms of positive mental attitude and the like. This is assuming that what they are doing/taking is not actually harmful in a relevant sense. So shit, you can't argue with results.