The NFL thread #8

[BLU-RAY]

Wow, surprising you'd go for it there rather than kick. Kind of anticlimactic.

[Jaime L]

Wow, surprising you'd go for it there rather than kick. Kind of anticlimactic.

Yeah a surprising ending to such a well played game. Flacco was impressively standing in there under immense pressure all night, wouldn't expect him to bounce a throw to a wide open receiver on 4th and 2.

But the guy who won the game was Polamalu. The man is unreal. There was no way this beaten up Steelers team was driving 60 yards for a TD against the Ravens. They needed it to be given to them by the defense and on one of the last possible plays Polamalu delivered just that. Even getting the ball at the 10 wasn't at all sure they'd be able to get into the end zone against Suggs, Ngata and company. Took a heroic run after the catch by Redman to get there.

Some amazing plays in this game.

[Rockroi]

You can say what you want about Big Ben, but he earned a whole lot tonight (but, yeah, uhm... could you, like... not talk.. like ever). I can't wait to see how the Ravens blame the loss on the refs. Should be interesting.

Saints won a game that the Bengals did all they could to lose.

Bears sweep the Lions on their "All Bullshit" calls this season; while the call on Suh was not nearly as stupefying as the one during the season opener, it was a far worse call. Yeah, it was only second down and all, but to go from 2nd and 2 to 1st and goal (from the seven), but its called a game of inches for a reason. The Bears would have tied, yadda-yadda-yadda... would have liked to have seen the Lions not get dicked with again.

Randy Moss is 2-6 since being traded by the Pats. 18 for 233 yards and 2 TDs. And the Titans are done.

If I commit a crime, you won't make me watch the Broncos-Chiefs or the Browns-Dolphins game, will you? Will you?

Okay, so, Brett Favre has already been named the starter next week if he is healthy. Which is great because that way Brett can keep the spotlight right where he likes it- on his junk. Anyway, its fine because THERE WAS A REASON TAVARIS JACKSON WAS THE BACKUP! After that first drive, his rating was like 130; by contrast, Fitzpatrick's was 30. I shit you not. By the END of the game- Jackson had thrown 3 INTs, and Fitz's QB rating was 75.1; Jackson's 85. But Adrian Peterson didn't die so the Vikings won ... against the Bills... at home.

Giants took care of business.

Raiders-Chargers was a roller-coaster of emotions. On the one hand, I hate the Chargers; on the other hand, I want the Raiders to lose because the Pats have their #1 draft pick. On the other hand, I hate the Chargers for all the PATHETIC and completely transparent media coverage they get EVERY. SINGLE. SEASON. (THEY ARE AWESOME!!!! No, wait they suck. No, wait, they are putting together a drive late. WATCH OUT FOR THE CHARGERS! THEY ARE GONNA SHOCK PEOPLE!!!! No, wait they just loss in the playoffs and Tomlinson is complaining about a mythical injury that somehow did not need surgery of any kind... wait until next year... ). But the Raiders are lead by the Crypt-Keeper. Anyway, a blimp did not crash into the stadium so... Chargers lost, in incredible fashion and I hope I don't need to look at them again as a legit team. Go Chiefs.

Peyton Manning has thrown 9 TDs v. 13 INTs over the last 5 games; 4 of those INTs have been returned for a TD; these numbers are "bad" or what some have called "MVP-like numbers." Okay, when can we give this all up and say this season has been a disaster and manning has, at times, look horrible? Like, when am I allowed to opine on all this? Or do we all have to pretend he is still getting the job done and without him the Colts would not be in the playof- Anyway, they just loss at home to the Cowboys.

I am really happy for the Rams, an organization I have respected since the Dick Vermile days (with a brief hiatus during a certain Super-Bowl). But the good news is that Anderson (7-20, 93 yards, 0 Tds, 1 INT) did not laugh out-loud at all this and watched a lot of game file afterwords. he found none of this funny.

Falcons prove they can win in all sorts of ways in all sorts of places. A legit team.

Now, if you will excuse me I am going to be curled in a fetal ball for the next 24 hours. Maybe 24 hours and 15 minutes, depending on whether or not the game goes to OT.

[Zadok]

Brutal loss for the Ravens. Flacco single-handedley loses the game, although I guess you have to give an assist to the clueless coaching staff, letting him throw the ball in that situation. As noted there was zero chance of the Steelers driving down the length of the field for a TD. Stunning lack of awareness on that play as well on Flacco's part. Polamalu is obviously coming on an all out blitz and no one even looks in his direction.

[Swordfish]

Ike Taylor is usually pretty solid isn't he?

What are you going to drink? Steel Reserve?

Taylor is solid, although he has terrible hands. I thought he had a decent game.

McFadden is generally passable, but he sucked tonight. Big time. They were saying before the game that he had a hamstring problem.

The rest of that secondary is terrible against the pass.

Huge win for us, but I think we're toast.

Sepulveda has a torn ACL, Miller will likely be out at least a couple weeks, and who knows about Flozell.

That might have been our superbowl.

ETA: It will be interesting to see how much Harrison gets fined for the hit that broke White Mambas nose.

[Darkostar]

ETA: It will be interesting to see how much Harrison gets fined for the hit that broke White Mambas nose.

Man, he really IS in trouble if he's hitting his own QB.

[Crazydog7]

Will someone please remind me how much money the Washington Redskins are paid to not catch footballs?

[Mexal]

Saints won a game that the Bengals did all they could to lose.

That's what we do best. I can count on more than one hand the number of times we've done something stupid to blow a game. Today was an offsides on 4th down with 30 seconds left when there was no way in hell Brees was going to actually run the play. In the past, it's been a Benson fumble or a Palmer pick or a RTP call on 3rd and 25. No matter who we play, if the game is in any doubt at the end, we will find some way to lose. It's really quite impressive.

[Inkdaub]

My Seahawks are still in the running to be the least worst in the NFC West.

[Darkostar]

Anyway, its fine because THERE WAS A REASON TAVARIS JACKSON WAS THE BACKUP! After that first drive, his rating was like 130; by contrast, Fitzpatrick's was 30.

I maintain that T-Jax's decline over the course of the game had to do with his inexperience, but it was exacerbated by the fact that we had two O-linemen out, including Hutch, and we started a rookie in place of him. He had a solid game, and if he can work on his desire to force the ball, he'll be fine.

[Lord O' Bones]

My Seahawks are still in the running to be the least worst in the NFC West.

Technically, so are the Cardinals. In any case, the only way the NFC West rep is anything but embarassing is to go deep in the playoffs.

:lmao:

[Maithanet]

Technically, so are the Cardinals. In any case, the only way the NFC West rep is anything but embarassing is to go deep in the playoffs.

:lmao:

Yeah, but seriously, what are the odds of that? The Seahawks have the best homefield advantage of the four West teams, and they got absolutely housed at home by the Giants, who they may have to play again in the same place.

4 weeks to go!

NFC playoff picture

Getting exciting, because the haves and the have nots are getting some distance between one another. It really looks like outside of the NFC West, there are six teams competing for five spots. I believe in the Falcons this year, although the Saints look like they are heating up. The Eagles have fewer injury problems than the Giants, so I would pick them. I think the Packers/Bears series will be decided in the final week matchup. Who loses out of the Giants/Saints/Northloser shuffle? The Packers and Bears both have a brutal schedule in the final 4 weeks, so I suspect that whoever doesn't win the division will find themselves losing out on the wildcard too. If I had to pick a winner now, I would take the Packers, but the Bears are very hard to predict, and its tough not to like that defense in December.

Sidenote: The Falcons final games are ridiculously easy. Two gimmies against Carolina, @ Seattle and home against the Saints. It's possible that even if they lose to the Saints they would still get the #1 seed with a 13-3 record.

I'll make an AFC post later.

[Lord O' Bones]

Yeah, but seriously, what are the odds of that?

Exactly.

[awesome possum]

Bears sweep the Lions on their "All Bullshit" calls this season; while the call on Suh was not nearly as stupefying as the one during the season opener, it was a far worse call. Yeah, it was only second down and all, but to go from 2nd and 2 to 1st and goal (from the seven), but its called a game of inches for a reason. The Bears would have tied, yadda-yadda-yadda... would have liked to have seen the Lions not get dicked with again.

How exactly is it a bullshit call or one that was worse than the call that caused the Lions to actually lose Week 1? Even though Suh didn't use his forearm, as Ed Hochuli explained after the game:

''I felt it was an unnecessary football act,'' explained referee Ed Hochuli after the game. ''A blow to the back of the runner's helmet in the process of him going down.''

It doesn't matter who the players is (unless he's a Steeler, that is), if you intentionally hit someone that hard in the back of the head, it's a foul. And it would not have affected the outcome of the game. The Bears were driving and considering how the Lions have learned to perfect the epic fourth quarter fail this season, would have likely scored no matter what.

[Quoth]

That hit on Miller was almost sickening. Obviously it should have been flagged, but I'm sure there will be fines if not a suspension...

And it was nice to see Heath Miller walk off the field.

Indeed on both posts. It's really scary when the opposing player jumps up and immediately starts signaling for aid.

That aside, what a game! I didn't really have a rooting interest, but could not turn it off.

[arrowfan]

How exactly is it a bullshit call or one that was worse than the call that caused the Lions to actually lose Week 1? Even though Suh didn't use his forearm, as Ed Hochuli explained after the game:

Yea, I agree - the BS call that gave Bears the win in week 1 was really outrageous. The forearm call, when I first saw it I it looked like an accurate penalty, then another cam angle and you can see it was bad call - but not a total BS call like in week 1.

Anyway Rockroi, enjoyed your rant post : )

[Rockroi]

How exactly is it a bullshit call or one that was worse than the call that caused the Lions to actually lose Week 1? Even though Suh didn't use his forearm, as Ed Hochuli explained after the game:

My point with this call being worse than the Week 1 call was that the Week 1 call was, technically, correct - even if it was counter-intuitive. This call was just wrong, Hochuli's weak explanation notwithstanding (what the FUCK is an "unnecessary football act" - do we now decide what's a necessary football act and what is not?). And it DID effect the outcome of the game - even if you are correct in that the Bears were going to tie the game. The call helped them win the game (but it did not actually WIN the game itself).

Anyway Rockroi, enjoyed your rant post : )

I'm glad because tomorrow's post may seem far more suicidal or obnoxious depending on Mark Sanchez. And yes, that's what I meant to say. The pats, RIGHT NOW, are either the best team in the NFL OR... traveling to Jacksonville in week one of the playoffs. The winner of this game is the defacto favorite to win home-field throughout the playoffs and represent the AFC in the Superbowl. How the HELL did it come to this? I mean, not about the Pats being tied with the Jets- I can see that. I mean ... the Jets looked HORRID after week one and the Pats were penciled in by many as an "also ran" in the AFC East. Now? Its literally the most important regular season game this entire season. You cannot overhype it. And I have a nagging, nagging suspition that the Jets D can stop our offense more times than people think (remember how puke-tacular the Pats looked in the first half against the Lions?) and potentially one more time than the Pats can stop the Jets O. The Jets don't need to be great on offense; they just need to be good on third down. Pats? Worst. Third. Down. D. In. The. NFL. That's not going to change.

With all that said, Brady is playing lights-out at home (and pretty well on the road as well), he is making great decisions and we have a running game that can keep the Jets honest (for a while, but not the whole game). Our TEs are a great natch-up against the Jets D that struggles between the numbers; the Jets are down their defensive leader (on audibles etc). Sanchez is due for a stinker...

Pats 28 Jets 20. And I do not feel good about that. At all.

[arrowfan]

My point with this call being worse than the Week 1 call was that the Week 1 call was, technically, correct - even if it was counter-intuitive.

Not looking for a flame war. But that week 1 call was technically one of the worst I've ever seen. He caught the ball and had two feet in bounds, TD. Just watch the vid: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3k_IoFaIAR8

If that's not a TD then spiking the ball after a TD catch is not either.

No question Pats are hot. I personally think the Jets are a bit over-rated. Pats 31 Jets 16. Would like to see a Jets win though.

Best 2 teams in NFL, regardless of conference: Falcons and Pats.

[Trebla]

Rock's point is that BY RULE the week 1 call was correct. It wasn't a bad call, it is a BAD RULE.

Yesterday's call was just a bad call. Since when is knocking a running player with the ball down to the ground an unnecessary football act? Oh yeah, since he is a QB. Like I said yesterday, somewhere Andy Reid is laughing.

[Greywolf2375]

Dandy Don, dead at 72.

Don Meredith

sorry for the weird linky...work PC messes them up and I can't fix it yet. the one I found is on CBSSports