Official NFL General Discussion Thread

[hammerhead johnson]

I think it's becoming more and more clear by the week that the NFC is just incredibly inferior to the AFC.  The AFC is pretty darn good, and the NFC is incredibly horrid.

 

Yeah, no kidding.

 

Pick 6 playoff teams from this pool:

 

Seattle

Chicago

Minnesota

Tampa Bay

Carolina

Atlanta

Tampa Bay

NY Giants

Dallas

San Diego

Denver

Kansas City

Pittsburgh

Cincinatti

Patriots

Indianapolis

Jacksonville

 

You could argue that 5 out of 6 would come from the AFC. You can't leave out Seattle, but let's suppose for a minute that they were in the AFC West. I seriously think they'd be about 9-5 right now.

[Palehosefan]

Steelers are 8-3 with Roethlisberger at the helm, 1-0 with Charlie Batch at the helm, and 0-2 with Tommy Maddox "leading" the way. There's no reason they should lose at Cleveland or home to the Lions. But then again they shouldn't have lost to the Ravens, even with Maddox starting.

[Heads22]

I don't know how you could say that...I mean that win keeps the Chargers in the playoff hunt. Since they're the only team to beat the Colts this year, in the dome on top of it, don't you think it means SOMETHING?

 

The Colts had a chance to probably knock out their biggest opposition in the AFC today and they blew it. So i guess in the long run, this means plenty seeing as though they may have to play the Chargers again on an even bigger stage.

 

 

FWIW, I think Denver is the biggest challenge in the AFC.

[Chisoxfn]

Dbaho...be very very quiet, the Boys got CLOBBERED. Wow what a whooping.

 

Now its time to get ready for the Bears game WOOT.

[Balta1701]

Dbaho...be very very quiet, the Boys got CLOBBERED.  Wow what a whooping. 

 

Now its time to get ready for the Bears game WOOT.

You think that those 2 years or so as Drew Bledsoe's coach up in Buffalo taught Greg Williams how to beat a team with Bledsoe as its QB? (Blitz blitz blitz blitz a few more people).

[Balta1701]

I was telling people I was getting nervous that it could happen this week.

 

But you know what?

 

Oh f***ing well.

 

If you've looked at my posts, I wasn't all that excited about the undefeated season.  I want the Super Bowl; hopefully people can stop talking about all that other stuff now.

You know what? I don't think we'll see an undefeated team in football until there's a season where the best team goes undefeated for the first 10 games or so but then has a team breathing right down its neck for homefield advantage. If you had a 1 loss Denver team right now, I just feel like the Colts would have shown up far more in the first half.

 

The Colts had no pressure on them today, and they played like it. I bet you there were a few people on that offensive line who were more focused on trying to avoid being hurt than they were on stopping Merriman.

 

Without someone breathing down their neck, there's just no reason for a team to push themselves so hard and stay focused on winning every single game. We've seen it enough times where just a little bit of missing focus (New England versus Miami last year anyone?) lets a very bad team beat a very good team just because the good team was either looking into the future or didn't have much to play for. The Colts just got caught with exactly that today.

 

It's going to take a 14-2 or a 15-1 team in the same conference for a team to go 16-0. Maybe 13-3 if some of those losses come late in the season & the undefeated team has an easy schedule those weeks.

[Heads22]

Stop Edge, stop the Colts.

[Balta1701]

Stop Edge, stop the Colts.

Stop Edge and pressure Manning...stop the Colts offense. (At least for now).

 

Peyton was shredding the Bolts without Edge...until the Chargers started dropping him. He made some absolutely jaw dropping throws in that 2nd half, but the thing that really killed them was that last sack when the score was 19-17 that took the Colts out of field goal range. Without that sack, and the pressure on that drive, stopping Edge wouldn't have done anything but make it a close game.

 

And none of that talks about the Colts Defense...which has to be beat by power IMO. The Chargers ran LT up the middle to win that game. It set up the pass, and Brees was good enough to take advantage. Then again, I still think the Colts in their hearts were torn about whether they really cared about this game, and that cost them too.

[greasywheels121]

You know what?  I don't think we'll see an undefeated team in football until there's a season where the best team goes undefeated for the first 10 games or so but then has a team breathing right down its neck for homefield advantage.  If you had a 1 loss Denver team right now, I just feel like the Colts would have shown up far more in the first half.

 

The Colts had no pressure on them today, and they played like it.  I bet you there were a few people on that offensive line who were more focused on trying to avoid being hurt than they were on stopping Merriman.

 

Without someone breathing down their neck, there's just no reason for a team to push themselves so hard and stay focused on winning every single game.  We've seen it enough times where just a little bit of missing focus (New England versus Miami last year anyone?) lets a very bad team beat a very good team just because the good team was either looking into the future or didn't have much to play for.  The Colts just got caught with exactly that today.

 

It's going to take a 14-2 or a 15-1 team in the same conference for a team to go 16-0.  Maybe 13-3 if some of those losses come late in the season & the undefeated team has an easy schedule those weeks.

 

I was thinking that a bit. I hate excuses. However, the commentators were saying the same thing in the first half.

 

The Colts were playing stupid football, but they looked like a team that was playing stupid ball because they were playing for nothing.

 

Pop the champagne '72 Dolphins; we're all dying to see it.

[Heads22]

Coach Saban, start Sage the final two games and see if you've got anything for the future in him.

[Dam8610]

I think the Chargers match up well with the Colts.  A healthy Steelers team does as well, as does Jacksonville (with Leftwich).  Cinncy could make it interesting in the playoffs as well, but there defense is bad and Rudi isn't LT.

 

If you didn't notice, the Colts have beaten all those team except the Chargers, and they had absolutely nothing to play for today, and they showed it. I'd say they beat each of the teams that they have beaten that you listed rather convincingly, as only the Jags really had a chance after the Colts' opening drive (and that was in the first matchup). Beating the Colts at home when it counts is extremely difficult. I don't know if there is a team in the NFL that could.

[DBAHO]

Dbaho...be very very quiet, the Boys got CLOBBERED.  Wow what a whooping. 

 

Now its time to get ready for the Bears game WOOT.

Yeah we were absolutely freakin terrible today, no excuses at all.

 

It all starts at the line of scrimmage. If we can't protect Drew Bledsoe and opening up holes for the running game, or we can't stop the run on defense, we're just not going to win, period.

 

The defense has really fallen back to earth, which is a worrying sign. Probably guys like DeMarcus Ware are starting to get a bit tired possibly.

[GoodAsGould]

If you didn't notice, the Colts have beaten all those team except the Chargers, and they had absolutely nothing to play for today, and they showed it. I'd say they beat each of the teams that they have beaten that you listed rather convincingly, as only the Jags really had a chance after the Colts' opening drive (and that was in the first matchup). Beating the Colts at home when it counts is extremely difficult. I don't know if there is a team in the NFL that could.

 

The Browns almost beat them

[Balta1701]

The Browns almost beat them 

Almost doesn't cut it. Against every team this season in every game that mattered, the Colts stepped up and did what they needed to do to win. When teams were dropping 8 guys into coverage, Manning just handed the ball to James every play. That led to some low scoring games, but it also won those games by keeping their defense off the field.

[Jordan4life_2007]

Packers making Kyle Boller look like Dan Marino in his prime. They're not ready for Rex.

[CWSGuy406]

Sorry to bring a Bears topic into the NFL discussion thread, but...

 

What did everybody think about Leon (is that his name?) Joe last night? I thought he looked really, really good in his short time out there. Athletic, made a couple nice plays (or, maybe I'm letting that one where he stood up the FB and made the tackle cloud my memory).

 

Hillenmyer seems like a good guy, but if you were to give a 'weak link' of the defense (when healthy), you'd probably point to him (or Chris Harris).

 

Thoughts? I know Angelo thinks highly of him, as he drafted him, released him, and then resigned him again (after pretty much saying Joe was the one player he regretted letting go).

[WHarris1]

Sorry to bring a Bears topic into the NFL discussion thread, but...

 

What did everybody think about Leon (is that his name?) Joe last night?  I thought he looked really, really good in his short time out there.  Athletic, made a couple nice plays (or, maybe I'm letting that one where he stood up the FB and made the tackle cloud my memory). 

 

Hillenmyer seems like a good guy, but if you were to give a 'weak link' of the defense (when healthy), you'd probably point to him (or Chris Harris). 

 

Thoughts?  I know Angelo thinks highly of him, as he drafted him, released him, and then resigned him again (after pretty much saying Joe was the one player he regretted letting go).

He looked great out there, real real fast guy. I like Hillenmeyer and he's a nice player but it can't hurt to have 2 solid OLB's battling for playing time.

 

As you said, Angelo really likes him. Really I would be fine seeing them split snaps when Hunter comes back see who performs better.

 

Another kid I really like is McGowan he has looked real solid filling in at safety.

[GoodAsGould]

at the begining of the season I thought Hillenmeyer would be one of our biggest weaknesses on defense but he actually has been pretty good. Id say our CB's are the biggest holes on our defense right now and if it wasnt for our D-Line being so good and pressuring the QB they would both be torn apart.

[greasywheels121]

Colts got 7 going to Hawaii..

 

Peyton, Marvin, Edge, Freeney, Jeff Saturday, Bob Sanders, and Cato June.

[Heads22]

No Tarik?

[greasywheels121]

No Tarik?

 

http://www.indystar.com/apps/pbcs.dll/arti...SPORTS/51221030

 

The NFL initially informed the Colts early today that offensive tackle Tarik Glenn had been selected for a second straight trip to Honolulu, where the game will be held Feb. 12. However, league officials discovered a computer error that resulted in Glenn instead being a first alternate.

[Heads22]

Boo.

[knightni]

Gotta love those Texans fans.

 

[Chisoxfn]

Giants are looking flat, although they had a big interception on defense for a TD. Tiki has yet to get rolling.

[Chisoxfn]

Man, quite the game going on in Washington. What are the playoff implications here from the Bears perspective? Anyone know. Would a Washington loss help the Bears more?

 

I realize the Giants losing would give the Bears a little more breathing room in terms of gaining a bye, but Washington obviously holds the tiebreaker over the Bears (due to there regular season win over us) if for some horrific reason the Bears were to lose each of the next two games.

 

Basically what I'm getting at (simply because I'm curious) is are there any other ways the Bears can clinch a playoff spot this week (aside from a Bears win or Minnesota loss). I happen to think both of those will happen (Bears win and a Minny loss).