f13.net

I'm very happy that my Cowboys put an ass-whooping on the Browns. They were a god damned machine today. They only slowed down once they started handing the ball off to run out the clock. Once they went up 14-7, I didn't feel the game was ever in doubt.

On another note, St Louis is horrible.  :ye_gods:

Chris Berman looks like he's been seasoned with curry powder.

I don't think the rams even wanted to be playing football, it was one of the worst performances I have ever seen.  I truly feel sorry for any fans of theirs. 

* Steelers romped over Houston Oilers^H^H^H^H^H^HTitans^H^H^H^H^HTexans

* Who kidnapped Peyton Manning and replaced him with a stunt double? Though his receivers didn't help him out much.

* St. Louis sucks as does San Francisco.

* Mike Holmgrem should hang it up now instead of waiting until the end of the season.

* MVP Kurt Warner and Cardinals headed to Superbowl, baby!  :awesome_for_real:

* Reggie Bush got his grove back.

* Whose got Michael Turner in their Fantasy Football Leagues?

* How about Jet Favre!  :awesome_for_real:

Got Michael Tuner in the one league I participated in live draft, I knew he was gonna be a fantasy stud.  Too bad I auto-drafted on my f13 teams :(

He's still rusty from not playing all preseason because of his bum knee.

But the Niners look like they might suck a little less this year :awesome_for_real:

Rams fan right here!  :awesome_for_real:

 :ye_gods: :ye_gods: :ye_gods:

Rams blew but they did get Philly before McNabb gets hurt. Bad first game. However, giving Steven Jackson 14 carries total - epic fail. Yes, you're defense sucks but come on. The fucking LIONS scored more points and let in fewer points than you did. How bad are the Lions going to be this year that Matt Fucking Ryan tattooed them that bad? REAL BAD.

The Colts defense looked super shitty. They couldn't cover anybody and Forte ran all over them. Shit, they made ORTON look competent. Yes, Peyton was off, but they also never got the running game really going. With the Bears stacking the line like they did, Peyton should have burned them deep a lot more. It does put the NFC North in doubt now - we'll see how well Aaron Rodgers does tonight.

How can the Cleveland Browns be that bad at defense? Romeo Crennel should be ashamed. Yes, it's Dallas but come on. Way too many easy catches for those Cowboy receivers.

Saints are back, baby. Tough Bucs defense couldn't shut down Bush and Brees and yes, Martha, that Bucs offense will be as mediocre as I thought. Galloway and Garcia were totally not on the same page.

Favre is still Favre, but really, that's a much worse team than the Packers will be this year. As bad as Miami played (or as sloppy I should say) for that game to have come down to a pass interference call in the last seconds is silly. Miami looked much better than they are at times, and while Pennington remains poised, he really doesn't have the arm to do what needs to be done deep.

Chargers -  :ye_gods: Panthers -  :grin:

I know! I caught the end of the game and was stricken with fear that the football gods were going to allow Norv Turner to win a game.   

Well Tom Brady had a good run while it lasted.

Seahawks looked like utter crap on the East Coast. Again.

I still think it is bullshit that West Coast teams have to play in the morning their time when they travel to the East Coast. There are plenty of 4PM starts in the East- can't they just make any games involving West Coast teams 4PM starts to make things more equitable? It certainly doesn't excuse the performance from yesterday, but it is patently unfair (and I have been bitching about this for years).

Aaron Rodgers, if he's on the waiver wire, should be picked up at all costs.

Goddamn. He's pretty good.

One game.

Let him play somebody decent. This is way early.

Many believe that Minnesota is a top 10 defensive team.  I'd say that's facing someone decent.

Minnesota's run defense is very good, their pass defense is not that good. He did well. I'm not ready to anoint him savior of the franchise yet, but you have to figure he's going to bring them at least 10-12 wins this season with that much talent around him. He's got 2 games against Detroit, and 1 more against Minnesota, home games against Atlanta and Indy (Chicago was able to pass against them) and Houston. The toughest defenses they play are Chicago, Jacksonville and Tennessee. He's going to have some opportunities to make things happen.

With Brady out, the number of top tier QB's is really low. I'm sure Rodgers will be an upgrade for a number of folks.

I don't know where you are getting that idea, honestly. Statistically, Minnesota was ranked 20th last year in yards per game, and 12th in points per game. So far, in one game this year they are tied for 18th in yards, and 22nd in points given up. I don't think they are good at all on defense either last year or this year.

The next game for Rodgers is Detroit, who Atlanta gashed for 21 points in the first quarter. They royally suck. However, the next two games are the tests that I would refer to as "someone decent." Green Bay plays Dallas, who was top 10 in defense last season, and Tampa Bay, who was #1 in defense in the NFC. Should Rodgers perform well in those two games, which I hope he doesn't against my Cowboys, then you'll see some major respect from the league and fans.

Fair enough.  They were the best team against the run last year, were 14th in points allowed per game, and 7th in sacks.  I gave this information too much weight.  If you look purely at the passing numbers, they were a terrible defense with regard to passing yards and interceptions. 

I stand corrected.

Don't forget that Rodgers did well against the Cowboys when Favre got hurt in their game last year, and that was in Dallas. They play prime time in Green Bay this year, which means I don't expect Dallas's defense to shut him down.

They probably won't shut him down, but I expect them to take a few shots at him early with random blitz packages to try and knock him off his game. I fully expect that game to be a shootout, but we'll see.

I expect that Dallas game to follow last year's version almost to a T, only it'll be in Green Bay instead of Dallas. There really isn't a lot of difference between this year's and last year's version of the teams that played that day, since Favre was only there for about a quarter and Julius Jones sucked. Dallas will likely win again this year.

Great game between the Eagles and Cowboys on Monday night. I sat on the edge of my seat the entire second half. Wow.  :awesome_for_real:

I was playing poker in the Bellagio room which is right next to the sports book and people were going bonkers during that game.

Dallas/GB is the Sunday night game. Does it get much better than that?

I don't think it does.

So, who had Ronnie Brown on their fantasy team?  :drill:

Lets hope it gets better than that.  :-)

Another solid win. The only bigger threat than GB on the schedule is the Giants.

Yeah, they have two games with NY. Too bad there isn't an Indy matchup though.

[edit] Jesus...

Maybe it's just me, but is the league in even more piss poor shape than it was last year? I mean, now with Brady gone, there isn't even a 4th standout team really (the other three being NY, DAL, and IND). I'm not sure who it is.. GB? Pittsburgh? Carolina? Seattle? Hell, even the Colts don't qualify really yet.

Will the Niners win the (incredibly crappy) NFC West? :awesome_for_real:

New England routed by Miami.

Kyle Orton played *awesome* (I know!) in the second half, Forte continues to be consistent and productive, and Brandon Lloyd decides the team should probably have at least one WR on the field... and the defense chokes away another double digit 2nd half lead.  This time at home to a team they held to 47 yards rushing.  CRAP!  God I hate the Bucs.

I had him on the JV team... and he sat on the bench, where any Miami running back should have sat against New England. FUCK. 43 MOTHER-FUCKING-POINTS.

Damn - It.

Both the Green Bay and Colts games were embarrassments. The Green Bay game wasn't as close as I was expecting, but apparently somewhere in the 2nd quarter Green Bay decided that they didn't need to run the ball. By the time they got the ball back, they were 3 scores down. Rodgers still looks decent, but hard to throw for much when you have blitzers in your face who aren't afraid you'll run the ball past them. Needed more screens.

The Colts defense is abysmal. Holy fuck, they just cannot stop the run against a team with a halfway decent QB. Constantly being behind the 8-ball does not help the offense. I really think the fact that Peyton missed all of the preseason has thrown off what the rhythm he would normally have had by now.

So how exactly am I doing better in the fantasy league where I lost Tom Brady?

Made my weekend! Well, along with the fact that the Huskies didn't lose (bye) and the Seahawks didn't lose either (near-bye v St Louis).

How shitty is St. Louis? For that matter, how shitty is the NFC West as a division? I really can't look at one team there and say any of them could win the division. All I know is that St. Louis might be lucky to win one game this year. I forsee they'll be looking for another coach come January.

How have we not covered Ben Rothlesburger? The man was a disaster this week, and he actually put up NEGATIVE points in our fantasy league. You don't see that very often.

Luckily he played for my opponent, so I squeaked by on a shitty week by my guys  :drill:

3-0!

Bob Sanders is their run defense. No Sanders no run D.


That can happen when you get sacked NINE TIMES. I didn't watch the game but you think after, say, the 6th sack they would keep the backs in, uh, back to help block or just run draw plays every down.

Short answer, you have the #1 Defense in the league. Your D alone is putting up better numbers than the #1 WR, and the top 5 RBs. It's almost uncanny.

In a just world, the Broncos would be 1-2.   :why_so_serious:

No kidding. I also think it is partially him though. He's not the most light on his feet QB nor does he have the quickest release. He's a big dude with a big arm. He reminds me of Bledsoe with more straight-line speed.

It was mostly shitty playcalling by the coaches and Ben not audibling out of it.
They really seemed to think Philly would get tired of all those sacks and stop blitzing on their own without doing some underneath routes/RB screens/SOMETHING to prevent it themselves.

Did I mention roughly half of my team is made of PIT players? Still 3-0 though 'cuz Delhomme and Ocho coughed it up for my opp.
But man, I have to do something come week 6- more than half my players are on bye then with the Bills, Titans and Steelers taking a break - and I really don't want to lose those BUF/TEN players either. Gotta love them ;)

Yeah, but what's worse is that even with him in the previous two weeks, they haven't been able to stop anybody running. Matt Forte ran all over them. Adrian Peterson ran over them until Brad Childress thought it was a good idea to make Tavaris Jackson throw the ball. Their run defense even with him has been pisspoor.

:ye_gods:

That is me watching Ben singlehandedly tank my team.  I somehow ended up with him as my starter in 2 of my leagues but luckily my running backs bailed me out of the other one.

Yes that's true but he had off season shoulder surgery. I don't think he was at his full potential before getting injured yet again. Also they cut after the first week their best tackling defensive lineman, Ed Johnson, after his arrest so that didn't help things either.

Maybe.  Our Run D is bad but the rest of our defense seems to be holding up pretty well.  We just have to believe in JTO (can't believe I just said that).

Fucking-A Dallas, beat D.C. at least.  :uhrr:

I've already seen at least one Redskins jersey in the office today.

Shit.. Oh well. We beat Philly, I guess. Probably our real "rival" these days more than Washington.

 :ye_gods: Favre  :ye_gods:

I'm sure Greenbay's slapping themselves, just like the rest of us who doubted the old fart.

Not really. I don't blame yesterday's loss on Aaron Rodgers. I mean... Tampa Fucking Bay. That team should not score 30 points.

More missed calls last night in MNF. Reggie Bush took as obvious facemask that caused a fumble, and they gave the ball to the Vikings! Once again, Ed Hochuly's crew blows the call on a drive that would have tied the game, but no.

Some awful playcalling.


But Reggie Bush  :drill: Wow.

Saints could have won that game, but let's be honest, they were shooting themselves in the foot repeatedly all night. How many penalty yards did they rack up? Yeesh.

Anyways...

I'm a Giants fan who is very very worried about our schedule. I guess it can go either way when you're playing easy games for the first half of the season. Less injuries, momentum, positive attitude, etc. But I'm a bit of a cynic and I think playing easy teams makes you weak and I think the second half of the season is going to hurt bad. I'm also very worried about Washington. It's not the same team we played that first week and Campbell is the real deal. Dallas can go either way and I think we'll crush Philly.

The Giants played one of their final games of last season against the Pats and nearly won. The confidence they earned in that game gave them the momentum they needed to win when it truly mattered. At the very least, they should be able to split their matchups against Dallas and Philly.

I am a Philly fan and I wouldn't be worried about playing the Eagles. They just cannot close the barn door, no matter how far ahead they get.

They also can't keep Westbrook healthy for more than 2 games in a row, which is the primary reason I draft around him every year.

The 4th quarter of that Atlanta/Bears game was unreal.

I'm still in shock. 6 seconds left, and somehow Matt Ryan completes a pass that somehow gives them a 48 yard FG shot. On top of that Elam missed one that could have iced the game earlier, but he was good from longer range.

The Cowboys game has been extremely sloppy early on from both sides. Neither offense seems to know what the hell they are doing, and fumblitis has taken over.

EDIT: Holy crap, after AZ running back the opening kick, possessions have gone: Dallas 3 and out, AZ 3 and out, Dallas 3 and out, Arizona Fumble, Dallas Fumble, AZ intercepted, Dallas punt. This is piss poor football. And with the 1st quarter over, both teams have COMBINED 48 yards total offense. UGH!

Michael JEEEEEENNNNKINNNS. 

Also, the tuck rule is bullshit. What an awful first half of the AZ/Dallas game.

The ending, however, was batshit insane. The Cowboys didn't deserve to win, and they didn't, but I'm happy to see a coach get totally pwned on the "timeout right before the kick" bullshit. He can eat a cock on that one.

Romo played like he smoked a joint before the game.  :?

Dating Jessica Simpson is making him stupid. He should've stuck with Carrie Underwood.

That was oversold by the commentators if you ask me. The whistle blew before he kicked the ball so he didn't even kick it properly. He basically skidded it into the line because he held up on the kick. I agree that it is a lame thing to do, but if he hadn't have done it, I don't think the kick happens the same way.

Coaches calling timeouts is crap, period.

Why they made that rule change is beyond me.

That's Don Nelson type of bullshit. It's weird to see in football.

Dallas' problem is that they don't have a strong hand at the helm. You can't have that many celebrities without it or you get what we saw yesterday, a complete lack of concentration and cohesiveness. Phillips just isn't capable of that role.

Yeah, I was yelling at the screen when he did that. That whole "icing the kicker" bullshit timeout just needs to go the fuck away. And the tuck rule is also bullshit. That was one of the wackiest, sloppiest games I've seen in a long damn time. Romo was terrible most of the game, but Arizona really controlled the line of scrimmage. They stopped Barber rushing, which was a success in and of itself. But damn, who put the player repellent on the ball today?

Tuck rule is fucking retarded.

Sorry, Cowgirls.

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2008/football/nfl/10/13/romo.ap/index.html

Oh SHIT.  :awesome_for_real:

Don't worry.  Brad Johnson will save them.   :why_so_serious:

SUPER BOWL QUARTERBACK BRAD JOHNSON!

Woo Browns.  Maybe this season isn't lost after all.  People forget, when they swooning about the Browns last year, that they were 3-3 at one point. 

Brad Johnson's really not so bad..

But uh, damn.  :sad:

Sigh. I had a sneaking suspicion that there would be an upset last night. Ah well. Better a loss now than later.

On a side note, I fucking hate ESPN's announcers. Hate. With a capital "Die in a fire, Tony" and a side of "STFU Jaws, you're not a fan, you're not a local team announcer, you're a national one."

Last night's game was frustrating enough without those incompetent assholes carrying on.

Did I mention that Tony should DIAF? Just making sure.

Shouldn't that be DIACF? 

The entire NFC East took a dump this weekend, except Philly who was already circling the bowl. The Cowboys losing Romo is large but not devastating given the bye week. They can lose 2 games and still be in contention. It forces them to rely more on the running game, which honestly is the best part of their offense. Marion Barber needs to be used more during this period. Also, defense and special teams will have to step up and make some major plays in order to turn the tide in those games.

I agree with the analysts that this could be a good thing for the Cowboys. I think they have become lazy and complacent again. They looked at the league and thought they could steamroll everyone, just like I did. Now, they will have to rally around the team as a whole and find new ways to scrap out a win. That could make them battle tested, or it could make them a gigantic failure. If they fail, heads will roll on the coaching staff. If they win, they will be ready to win in the playoffs finally.

I think it will overall help the cowboys, since the rest of the team has to step up. The big question in my mind is whether or not TO implodes before Romo gets back.

The Gints were just shit last night, good on the Browns. Anderson looked pretty good, Eli was  :ye_gods: and the defense just didn't show up.

Looks like Edwards is back, so the Bills might still have a season.

Kornhole really does need to just disappear. That motherfucker annoys me to no end. I don't mind Jaws, at least he is supremely knowledgeable about the game and passionate. He sometimes get a little exuberant, but he never annoys me. Theismann was terrible before him, a real douchebag.

That game was crazy. The last undefeated team goes down in their 5th game to a 1-3 team. Of course, the Browns are a better team than they've shown so far, but the Giants defense was inept. They forced no punts. They got no sacks. And Eli was the old Eli, the one who makes bad throws. Part of his problem last night seemed to be a lack of understanding with Burress, and some was just lazy eyes.

Still, gives me hope for my Packers! 3-3 ain't so bad in this environment.

True. He's knowledgable and normally not that annoying. His exuberance last night was just jumping up and down on my last nerve.


Titans (5-0). Unless you just meant the NFC.

Damn, I forgot the Titans. But then, I never expected them to be 5-0 with Kerry Fucking Collins as their QB.

He didn't used to be like this.  MNF turned him into a fucking cheerleader. They need to quit having him do hard sells of players and just get back to analyzing the action and providing insight.  If we want a dumb chimp, Theisman is always a call away.

QFT

Ummmm, oh fuck again.... buh-bye Pacman! (http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=3643240&campaign=rss&source=NFLHeadlines)

Damn, I'm going to bet Cowboys fans really don't want to know what else can go wrong. Their coverage was already pretty thin anyway, with injuries making them even less effective. Now they lose Pacman 'til at least week 11?  :ye_gods:  :awesome_for_real:

No, we lose Pacman forever. Jerry Jones won't take him back after this. He's done.

You can't make this shit up. I think the cheerleaders could play on offense now. It serves us right as I've said before; the football gods punish hubris.

According to that article, the NFL "assigned" him a bodyguard?  Is this standard procedure for all NFL players? 

Only the ones that are involved in triple-shootings.

No shock there, but what a waste of work and talent.

Well, the Cowboys got some good news on Tuesday. They traded the Lions a shitton of draft picks for Roy Williams. Hell, I didn't think their problem was lack of wide receivers getting open. That is one helluva one-two tandem in Owens and Williams - it may be almost as good as the old Taylor-Rice combo in the Montana days in San Fran. Of course, Brad Johnson is no Joe Montana. He's not even Tim Rattay at this point.

Pacman Jones is really just one dumb, Vick-level stupid sumbitch. He 'makes it rain' all right... by pissing all that money and talent right down the drain.

The funny part is that Pac-Man comes from a good background and a good high school in the Atlanta area. He's just a complete fuckup. This isn't about surrounding yourself with the wrong people, as some athletes make the mistake of doing. This is a story of a guy who loves getting out there and getting drunk, assaulting women, thinking that he is above the law, and getting into fights.

He's probable the most selfish player I've ever seen off the field.

Man, what has gotten into St. Louis? From doormat to beating two good NFC East teams (even the depleted Dallas should have put up a bit more than what it did).

Jim Haslett. I mean, it isn't like the players changed, but something sure did, and that was Haslett.

I expected Dallas to be mediocre after losing Romo, the punter and Pacman. I didn't expect them to cough it up to one of the worst teams in football. Holy fuck. This was their EASY game.  :awesome_for_real:

Now, the Raider's TO right before the kick DID screw themselves.  Guy gives it a legit kick and doinks it off the upright that is undone and and then he nails it to send it to OT.

Still funny, and the coach should still be horsewhipped.

Kyle Orton - still awesome!  Should have had 3 TDs - Clark got stripped at the one, luckily R. Davis fell on it in the end zone. :drill:.  Booker also let two passes in the end zone bounce off his hands, leading to field goals.

The thing is, Orton is just making good reads and, with the notable exception of 40+ yard deep balls, really good throws.  Consistency from play to play the likes of which I never thought I'd see under center in a Bears uniform.  Considering he has now started 22 games, if teams are going to "figure him out" by watching tape, you'd think it would have happened already.

But the sad thing is that it probably doesn't matter.  What kind of team has a 48-31 lead in the fourth quarter and still has to pick a ball off with 40 seconds left to seal the win?  The good news - the two corners, the starting nickel, and the strong safety were all from the 06 draft class,.  The game winning pick was made by this years 5th round CB, active for the first time in his career.  This torrent of injuries led Childress to believe that throwing was going to be the easiest road to victory, in spite of how easy a time Peterson was having running.  Heh.

As usual, I blame any remaining Cowboy faults on Garrett.  :oh_i_see:

Giants didn't beat the 49'ers. They beat themselves. How many freakin penalties between the two teams? 23? I continue to worry about the Giants this season. They're not playing as well as they could. I'm seeing a slow decline into oblivion. Pessimist? Me? Naaaahhhh.

How about those Titans? I knew Fisher was a good coach, but he's making world beaters out of Kerry Fucking Collins and Nick Harper. That team beat the shit out of Indy last night. What's wrong with Indy? Inconsistency on the o-line, and the lack of Bob Sanders in the defensive backfield. The former has totally fucked their running game and pass coverage, and the latter has their pass coverage in a complete shambles while leaving the run defense exposed. Peyton's rhythm is just way off from missing all that early season practice. They are way behind in the wild card standings, they sure as hell aren't going to win the AFC North without a huge collapse by the Titans. And their next two games are against New England and Pittsburgh. Woof.

Indy's D isn't used to being on the field all the damn time. They are used to taking about 3-6 plays, getting a stop, and then watching Peyton work his magic down the field. Only problem with that plan is that they can't get off the field. Teams are driving them into 7-10 play territory, and they are making stupid mistakes. Peyton can't get as much going because the other defense is rested, watching their offense grind Indy's D-line down.

Just take a look at the time of possession differences. The Titans had the ball for over 34 minutes. When you have the ball for 9 more minutes than your opponent, it's almost impossible to lose.

(http://img185.imageshack.us/img185/4166/markslovesbrettzb2.jpg)

Hahahahahahaha. You could substitute Madden or even Peter King for Schlereth, although PK has had more Tom Brady/Patriot cock in his mouth the past 18 months IIRC. I finally quit reading him during training camp this year because I couldn't take another fucking Patriots column.

3 way tie for 2nd place in the nfc west!  :why_so_serious:

Jesus...what a clusterfuck.

What do you think about Singletary? I hope he gets a chance to coach for a year or two at least.

I like the way the players seem to be responding to him and the fact that he seems to have told Martz that we don't have the personnel to run his style of offense.  It'll be interesting to see what happens because I don't see Martz staying unless it is at head coach but Singletary really has control over the team.

The SF offense is substantially better this year under Martz than it was last year even with J.T. O'Sullivan as the QB. It's the defense that's sucking this year. I.e. the offense is one TD per game better than it was last year while the defense is about one TD per game worse. So it's a basically a wash and they are back at the bottom again.

SF is sucking in one of the worst divisions in the NFL. That's not saying a lot in previous years, but this year it's something. Change coaches. Change owners. Change players. Change it all. Whatever they do, they'll still be the whipping boy of the NFC in the playoffs. Steve Young and Joe Montana can't believe it. I remember a day when the Dallas Cowboys FEARED the 49ers. Now we just fear injuries and incompetent coaches.

God. Tony Romo is finally coming back. The Cowboys weren't exactly lighting it up when he was there, but they weren't the heaping bowl of suck they are now.

I look forward to the 2-3 weeks it'll take Romo to get back into playing form - it should be  :awesome_for_real:  :oh_i_see: :uhrr:

W T F is wrong with the officiating these days??

Did ANYONE happen to see the Chargers @ Steelers game?? You've got to be kidding me, aside from numerous "holding" calls on the steelers vs NOT called FUCKING OBVIOUS holding calls (I guess bringing down a DEFENDER by the FACEMASK from fucking BEHIND is not a penalty for these refs...) HOW IN THE WORLD WASN'T THAT LAST PLAY A FREAKIN TD BY POLAMALU?????

Fuck your apologies mr. ref, just be happy with the money you'll get from vegas for this...

Have you ever worked as a ref?  Here's a hint: IT'S A HARD FUCKING JOB!  Human error is part of the equation and you have to give the guys props for getting as many calls right as they do.  Imagine that every second of your job was scrutinized by millions of people with slow motion film.  It can't be easy.

I hate games being decided by a call as much as the next guy, but it's all part of the game.  The coaches all know this. 

They actually apologized for this last night.  It was a misinterpretation of the rules.  An illegal forward pass only stops the play dead if it touches the ground, which the first pass (the actual illegal pass never did).

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5i1GZ1rpRU_OWSdhg8OHJz3-QEEpwD94GDRUG0

200 yards, 70% completions, and a TD with 2 INTS. The important stat was the W. Take one of those picks away, and that's a pretty good start for a guy just coming back. I think if he can duplicate that kind of performance and have the running game average over 4 yards on the ground, and the Cowboys will be SF next week.

I don't complain too much about refs because of that. I'm playing a sport at a national level and even though I can get pretty upset by calls or non-calls, I'm cool with that afterall.
But they haven fuckin' INSTANT REPLAY in the NFL. And they even used it!

It's one thing that they don't SEE a foul- it's another thing if they don't know the RULES. Because that's what refs do- enforce them. And to do that, I excpect them to know them , too.
They didn't like to call a few holding penalties that were pretty obvious- ok, won't do too much on the outcome of the game or even the season.

But putting 6 points off the board because they didn't know (misinterpreted my ass...) what happened and how to react to that can change the outcome of a game and even a season. Ask the Chargers, I think they can tell you a story or two about that...

The Eagles-Bengals game was so embarassing to watch as an NFL fan that my testicles shriveled a little bit.

The refs didn't just fuck up the Steelers game. The Cowboys game had some shit reffing too. That punt that resulted in a touchback after the refs looked at it on the replay? Bullshit call or bullshit explanation, one of the two. When the player touched the ball on the 1-yard line, ball should be dead. If the ball isn't dead until the player stops moving, SAY THAT IN THE EXPLANATION. Otherwise, it makes you look like you don't know the rules. Maybe the call was right, but if so, the explanation did not make that clear.

The call was right. The explanation sucked. It has to be in his possession. He was still rolling towards the endzone when he had it in his arms, he attempted to throw it back into play knowing that he wasn't stopped yet, but his teammates kicked the ball into his ass.

From the NFL Rulebook:


http://www.nfl.com/rulebook/kicksfromscrimmage

The Cowboys look like a totally different team with Romo back. He still doesn't look 100%, but you can't really argue with 300+ yards and 3 TDs. He's a machine even with a bum finger.

Good thing they were playing San Francisco.  :awesome_for_real: I think I could pass for 300 yards against the Niners.

Also, what the fuck happened to the Packers' defense last night? Holy shit, I had to stop watching in the 3rd, it was just too painful.

I think the Titans just scored again.

Goddamnit, could we have had any LESS competitive games yesterday? The only matchup that wasn't a complete fuckup from the get go was the Eagles/Cardinals game, and it ended up being a fucking blowout anyway. The football just plain sucked ass yesterday. I think we can stop the tradition of letting Detroit get the Thanksgiving game until they can learn how to field a team more competitive than the Ford Street Elementary JV.

I watched maybe 10 minutes of football total yesterday. Seriously crappy games. Although I was surprised to read this morning that the Eagles demolished the Cardinals. I wasn't expecting that.

I like watching my Cowboys on Thanksgiving. On paper, you could look at the Cowboys v. Seahawks matchup at the beginning of the season, and everyone expected them to be leading their respective divisions. Things just didn't pan out that way. Detroit has run out of excuses though. The lions haven't won their division in 15 years. They haven't been NFL champions in over 50 years. They suck. Newer NFL fans can't recall a time when they were competative.

Speaking of not competative, I'm going to be really pissed off when 2 or 3 division winners have worse records than the wild card teams this year.

That happens regularly.

It hasn't happened in the last 5 years that both wild card winners had better records than a division winner. One may have, but not both. With the shittiness of the NFC North and West, that's a very real possibility this year.

Oh, you meant 2 division winners in the same conference. Yes that's more rare.

Plax being Plax might have real consequences this time- some commentators are saying mandatory three year sentence for this kind of firearms offense.  No doubt the "accidental shooting of himself" will morph into "buddy accidentally shot him," with said buddy receiving a million or two for doing the time. 

Ok, wait. I'm just hearing this Plax story.

So he carries an unlicensed weapon into a fucking night club. He then proceeds to shoot himself in the thigh with it. New York doesn't recognize out-of-state gun licenses, so he's looking at a felony charge of carrying an unlicensed firearm. The man makes MILLIONS. He can't just hire a fucking bodyguard to carry a weapon instead of having to have one on himself? He can't afford to hire someone to remind him when to register his gats?

How... fucking... stupid... are... you?

Injury time, definitely suspension time AND possible jail time just carry a heater in da club?

Fucking clownshoes. BUH-BYE.

You can't fix stupid.

The Packers season is probably over. 2 games behind Minnesota with no more games left against them, a game behind the Bears and completely out of the wild card picture. Either Minnesota and Chicago have to completely shit the bed AND the Pack run the table, or they just aren't going to make it. Their run defense has been crap this season.

FUCK the Chargers!  s'all I'm sayin.

(This was supposed to be THE SEASON, ya know?)

With Norv Turner as the coach? :headscratch:

I just don't fucking understand the infatuation with retreads.  People in Baltimore were clamoring for Turner or the like instead of Harbaugh.  It's like, DID YOU FUCKHEADS NOT WATCH TURNER & SCHOTTENHEIMER in Washington?   

Too early to say that LT's career is over?  Don't know if it's the line's fault, but the guy's averaging 3.7 yards per carry and has a whopping 6 TDs.  On closer inspection, he's almost 30.  Yep, he's done. Too bad, seems like a decent guy if a bit petulant at times during the predictable San Diego playoff exits.


Their defense is 100% terrible this year.  No use singling any aspect out. For shutdown, Pro Bowl corners, Harris and Woodson sure are giving up a lot of game breaking plays.  Nothing quite like getting beat to jump balls by a guy shorter than I am.

I think LT's suffering from not having Turner as his change of pace back anymore. Sproles is fast, but a completely different type of runner. Turner could take those punishing up the gut runs and do almost as well as LT. Sproles can't. Not to mention I don't think he's quite healed from that toe injury.

Agreed about Green Bay's defense. I think part of it is that Cullen Jenkins has been missing from the line all year, but really, the whole defense has suffered.

I'm shocked that the two wild cards in the NFC could come from the South division  :ye_gods:

Things sure have changed here on Walton's Mountain.

At this point of the season, I think it's safe to quote myself


Pats sucking when playing real teams-check
Pats making it to the POs- ok I begin to doubt that but still in the picture
Steelers vs Browns not even close- check
Steelers D not as good as in the past- omg shame on me
Big Surprise Titans- check check check
Big Surprise Bucs- 9-3 anyone?

 :drill:

I'm switching from Broughden to you as my investment adviser  :awesome_for_real:

Wow. You nailed it. The Titans I could kind of see, but the Bucs? They have been so inept on offense for so long, I figured they'd pull another 8-8 or something. I was most definitely wrong there.

Oh and Cowboys vs Steelers. That's going to be a game right there. The Cowboys can't do worse than 3-1 in the next 4 and even hope of making the playoffs in the NFC this year. If they were going to lose one, they better do it against the AFC as well or their conference record would take another hit and I doubt they would win any tiebreakers save for the head-to-heads with a couple of the teams.

The rumor going around that Monte Kiffen is going to Tennessee to coach with his son makes me a  :sad_panda:

Gah yah, this is not good news for the Bucs.

Nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

I found this elsewhere but felt obligated to share it-

(http://kissingsuzykolber.uproxx.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/12/burressbullet.gif)

The Dallas coaching staff looks like they are auditioning for the Michelin Man.

This is like watching 1960's football come to life. 3-3 after a half, and it's freezing cold.

SUCK IT ROMO!!!!!!!

Go Ravens!

On this, we agree(!).  Watching the Cowboys get beaten (w/ that fraud Romo- seriously, who the fuck anointed him the next big thing?  average QB at best) ranks surprisingly high on my list of pleasures in life. 

I'm so looking forward to the Steelers-Ravens Game on Sunday. Should be one of the best games this season for guys like me who like to watch some aggresive defense.

The funny part is that I think he's a decent QB. He's got some "gunslinger" type skills, a good arm and he does know how to make some plays purely on ability. I think he's above average. I just hate the Cowboys, and hate the fact that 99% of the commentators spend most Cowboy games fellating the great Tony Romo despite the fact he's pretty much blown all the big games in his career. Come back to me when he wins a playoff game, plzkthx. When you fellate Favre, you have a reason. When you fellate Manning or Brady, you have a reason even before Manning won the Super Bowl. Romo has barely accomplished more than Matt Ryan at this point in time (i.e. he's made it into the playoffs).

It doesn't hurt that he's also had a good O-Line, Terrell Owens, Terry Glenn, Jason Witten and now Roy Williams catching his passes.

Wow.  Did Monte Kiffen already leave?  :sad_panda:

Tony is a good quarterback. He has that "playmaker" ability to make something out of nothing, like on that TD to TO where he's running around in back buying time until he found TO in the back of the end zone. But sometimes there really is nothing there and he'll still try to force things or whatnot (I don't count the INT since Witten fell down so it's not clear how off target Romo actually was on that throw). So he's kind of like a young Brett Favre and you get the good and the bad from his ability to improvise on the field.

While he's a good qb, he'll never be a great one (as in winning a SB) as long as he keeps folding under pressure.

Ben Roethlisberger is exactly the same kind of QB as Romo, trying to make something out of nothing and while he had his share of fuck-ups this season, he is a far more consistent quarterback- which is why he has a ring and Romo has not.

The last time the Steelers won the Super Bowl their passing game was one of the worst in the league in terms of yards per game. They won on their rushing game and D, as is the usual Steelers formula. This year, however, has been different so we'll see if Ben can carry his team through the playoffs which he didn't have to do for the 2005 season.

Even though I agree that the Steelers usually don't ask too much out of their QBs, you can hardly win anything when you don't have someone under-center who is able to deliver when asked for. Ben did everything it took him to do to get to the Superbowl. And don't be mistaken on the Cowboys- they have an excellent Running Gameand and very good and aggressive Defense, too.

Still, it's the trademark of any beeter-than-good QB to be able to take a game in his hands and get out of a hole. This is what Peyton Manning excells in, and it's something Ben is very capable of (I'm especially looking at the AFC Wildcard game last year). I yet have to see Romo being able to do just that.

That's like saying Trent Dilfer is a better QB than Romo cause the Ravens won the Super Bowl with him. The bar for being a Super Bowl QB is very very low.

And that's like saying the Cowboys aren't as good of a team as the Ravens were. I don't think the Ravens had the luxury of 13 Pro-Bowlers on their Roster when they won the Superbowl.
As I said, the Cowboys have 2 elite WRs, the best overall TE, an OL full of behemoths, the most violent runner at RB and a backup RB who just ran for more yards against the #1 run defense than any other RB this season. They also have a top 10 Defense that leads the league in sacks.

Trent Dilfer was a better QB than Romo is now in that he did what he was asked to do and delivered. While Romo continues to choke when it counts the most. Oh, and literally laughing the #1 defense in the face because they called a timeout, right before he throws the game ending INT just made me pity the boys even more.

Ben had a terrible Super Bowl, but in that Super Bowl season, he kept them in games by not fucking up. Sometimes that counts a shitton more than the spectacular play. And he made a few spectacular plays that season to keep them in games, whereas Romo as often as not throws an INT. Though in that game this weekend, Romo's last INT looked like Witten wasn't even looking for the ball when Romo threw it.

I'm not a Steelers fan, but I certainly give Big Ben credit for being one of the most beat up QBs out there that just doesn't give up and keeps playing. He's like the John McClane of football. Seriously, how injured is that guy and how many times has he been sacked? But he keeps playing. Tough guy and deserves a lot of credit.

:( :( :( :(

Hell yeah.  Has everyone forgotten that tackle he mad when Bettis fumbled against the Colts in the playoffs?  Saved the game, saved the season. 

/bitter Seahawks fan'ed

I've never seen the Buc's defense shredded the way they were last night.  That 90 yard, 4 rushing play drive was just sick.

Yeah, that was a fun one to watch.


Unless you're a Bucs fan. Even then the one-handed snatch was pretty amazing.

This is true though. Up until the 4th I went from screaming obscenities to cheering to screaming obscenities over and over. It was like a vulgar teeter-totter. That catch by Bryant was SICK, and the interception by Jermaine Phillips was very Polamalu-esque.

Welcome to the Big-time, Tashard Choice. Wow, what a game.

No kidding man. He really came through again.

And Romo really gutted it out tonight. He was obviously in pain, but played through it and played really well. I'm happy for him. He bounced back nicely from last weeks disaster.

Don't think that last TD was correctly overturned, but I'll take it.  Time for the Steelers to get healthy for the playoffs.  Finding their missing offense would be nice, too.

Yah. It was bullshit, but I think the general sentiment around here is you don't put the game into the hands of the officials if you want to win.  It was the type of game that basically was going to be lost by the first team to blink, and letting Roethlisberger get a 92 yd series in your house isn't a good way to win a clutch game. 

Anyone see the Buffalo-Jets game? You might think J.P. Losman lost that game, but he didn't. The offensive coordinator lost that game. You're ahead by 4, Marshawn Lynch has been running pretty damn well the whole game, and you're playing your backup QB whose got something to prove. 2:06 left to go, RUN THE FUCKING BALL ALL 3 DOWNS. Run it, make them spend timeouts and make them come down and score a TD on you. You do not send Losman out on a fucking bootleg pass - you just don't do it. Even if he doesn't get sacked and cough up a TD or throw an INT, even if he just throws an incompletion, you're giving the Jets a free down and maybe even an extra clock stoppage if it falls incomplete before the two-minute warning. I cannot fathom what the OC was thinking when he dialed up that play.

Also, the Giants really need Plax and Brandon Jacobs. The O-Line doing some pass blocking would help too.

They were ahead by 3, actually.  The excuse given was that they figured it was a 'free play' since the clock would stop at 2 minutes anyway, so why not catch the Jets by surprise and throw it?  I think they now have the answer to that question.  :awesome_for_real:

It's all good, though.  It just means the big winner-takes-all final game between the 'Fins and the Jets is still on track.  If there are any Football Gods at all, the end of that game will see Favre sitting dejectedly on the sidelines while Dolphin players carry Pennington off on their shoulders as Jets fans fling themselves off the top of Giants Stadium.  Elsewhere later that night, Bill Belichick will be going over his contract with Mephistopheles wondering how he missed the playoffs this year.  Miami will then get crushed the following week in the playoffs, but that's ok because they will still have won the division and it will be GLORIOUS!   :drill:

This just in....Buffalo chokes. See also: Buffalo every season.

A yes, another yes and a wtf happened to my o-line yes.

Uhm, no. The NFL officially backed the call up.
Also, the ruling was "possesion with 2 feet inbounds- TD" just the same thing when a receiver catches a ball on the sides of the endzone, where the ball itself never really was INSIDE the EZ. Add to this, that the ball also broke the plane when the receiver had possesion.

The NFL has absolutely no motive whatsoever in backing up the ref's call, especially not in a season with such spectacular officiating.

That call could have really gone either way.  That's not how replay is supposed to function.  Instead of a really awesome 4th down gut check, we got a anticlimatic, under the booth, judgment call. YAY!

So you'd rather have a TD taken away from a team than have the officials being able to look at it closer?

I think that call right there was EXACTLY why replay is in force and why they have people in a booth. Because the lineref obviously didn't know the rule (2 feet in the endzone with possesion of the ball = TD) and so they had to get it straight. I really fail to get your point.

Edit for the sake of it:

According to the NFL Digest of rules:

"A receiver is deemed to be in possession of a catch when both feet touch down in bounds while the receiver demonstrates control of the football. Should a receiver make a legal catch of the ball with both feet in bounds in the end zone, a touchdown shall be awarded even if no part of the ball was deemed to break the plane of the goal line while in possession of the receiving player."

The "breaking the plane" rule is for a runner, or once a receiver becomes a runner. That is why the ref emphasized the fact that both of Holmes' feet were down.

I wrote stuff here

Edit: If that really is the rule, it's fucking retarded and most of the NFL writers I read, the post game, and Sports Center didn't get it right after the fact.

I thought the ball had to break the plane in addition to 2 feet down and possession.  The breaking the plane part I didn't see indisputable proof of. 

Edit #2: How can you do a replay to clarify a rule? Do you put the rule book under the booth?

If the refs on the field aren't aware of a rule, it can very well be that

a) the replay official educates the headref during the review
b) the vice president for officiating (Mike Pereira) calls in from his super office and lets the replay official know that he should challenge it because of X and tells him to do a)

So did Coleman, which is why he said after the game  that the ball crossed the plane and that the feet being down was simply a matter of establishing possession. 

Sadly though, he was right in spite of himself unless this particular rule got changed (which I don't believe it did)

From the actual 2006 rulebook (couldn't find the 2008)  Found the 2008 rulebook.


Rule 11 Scoring
Article 1 It is a touchdown (3-38):
(a) the ball is on, above, or behind the plane of the opponent’s goal line and is in possession
of a runner who has advanced from the field of play; or
(b) a ball in possession of an airborne runner is on, above, or behind the plane of the
goal line, and some part of the ball was passed over or inside the pylon; or
(c) a ball in player possession touches the pylon, provided that no part of the player’s
body, except his hands or feet, struck the ground before the ball touched the pylon; or
(d) Any player who is legally inbounds catches or recovers a loose ball (3-2-3) on or behind
the opponent’s goal line; or
(e) The Referee awards a touchdown to a team that has been denied one by a palpably
unfair act.
SUPPLEMENTAL NOTES

The ref said clearly, during the call, that the player was in the end zone and had two feet on the ground and was in possession of the ball so it was a touch down.

I distinctly remember the booth announcers going about how that didn't make a difference it was the location of the ball and etc...

HAY, guess wat?   The booth announcers got it wrong.

And the various writers and TV personalities continue to be wrong.  Just an odd rule.

In other news, Peyton Manning is a good football player.

Why yes, yes he is.  Switching to him from Big Ben turned my season around.

The Cowboys proceed to rip my guts out again this year. What a disappointing season. I mean, they still have a shot at the playoffs, but they sure as hell don't deserve it.

The offense plays like baked ass for 3 quarters and the defense does alright. Then in the 4th quarter, the offense comes to life and the defense folds in back to back 75+ yard TD run plays.

I'm going to puke.  :ye_gods:

The defense lost that game for the Cowboys. Romo played like shit early for sure, but he redeemed himself in the second half while the rest of the defense continued to suck. 5 Forced fumbles and they recover ONE? If you recover just two fumbles there, the Cowboys win. If you don't let up TWO long rushing TDs when you absolutely had to stop them, the Cowboys win. If you don't completely fall over in the last 5 minutes as a defense, THE COWBOYS WIN.

Morons.

On the upside, we get to hear about Romo choking in the big game now for yet another off season.     :why_so_serious:


Also - the running plays were brutal and will surely be on Sportscenter all week, but you have to give a nod to Mason who was unstoppable last night.  I actually even got a bit choked up him making play after play with a dislocated shoulder. After every tackle, he was in obvious agony, and he'd get helped up and run back to the huddle, craddling his arm. 

 He literally beat the Cowboys secondary with one arm, and it was amazing to see.

There is just something wrong in Cowboys land. Somewhere, they aren't getting something that allows them to finish games against good opponents who are playing well, either on offense or defense. Their secondary was never that good, but their front 7 is too damn good to allow the 2 long TD runs late that they did. Of course, if the offense hadn't played like refried ass the first 3 quarters of the game, they might have done better in the fourth.

I will absolutely plotz if they miss the playoffs and the Eagles get by beating them.

Two words of what's wrong with the Cowboys:

Wade Phillips.

The freakshow that is Terrell Owens and choke artist that is Tony Romo can't help.

Why hello there, AFC East champion Dolphins!  :heart:

Oh, and here's a special message to the 11-5 Patriots:  :raspberry:  Enjoy your off season!

And an 8 - 8 team will be going instead :awesome_for_real: (assuming Denver doesn't score 31 points in 1 minute)

San Diego looked really good. They have my boy Eric Weddle on there so I semi-root for them.

I don't give you credit often, because you are a dirty Bama fan. However...indeed.

I watched the Eagles-Cowboys game in between the Ravens making the Jags their bitch.  Good god - that game was flat out awful.  Cowboys weren't even trying after the first quarter.

lol Broncos, way to fuck up.

/me does an Eagles jig!

I know it won't last. McNabb is fat on free Campbell's soup.

Bears need to
 
- Change their defensive philosophy, draft the largest DT they can find with skills to play beside Tommie Harris and in front of Urlacher, someone who requires a double team to free up Ogunleye and Brown to get more pressure on the edges, and more importantly give Harris more chances to play in the backfield.

That will probably not happen, so maybe they should:

- Draft a stud MLB and make Urlacher the highest paid SLB in football.

Also drafting a stud CB would help a lot, as would finding a replacement for both the FS and Leadership skills of Mike Brown.  I'm sure all of this will happen this offseason!

ARGH.

/gratz to the Lions for their perfect season… …and they were long overdue to dump the coach, it should have been done after 0-9 or 0-10… …not all his fault, but if they shook it up then, they might have nabbed a win… …as it is, they go into record books as worst team ever, and I don't think they're the worst team of 2008, they played hard and competitive in most games… …I'd wager they'd stomp all over Cleveland or Kansas City or a few other teams that mailed it in week 14…

NFL needs to expand playoffs to 8 teams. It's an absurdity that an 8-8 team gets a home playoff game but an 11-5 time sits. Yeah, nobody is going to cry for Belicheck and NE, but I wish they would open it up to 8 teams, maybe give all the playoff teams a week bye or end the season on Saturday. I think the last few years have shown that having #1 or #2 seed and first week off really doesn't compare to the momentum of playing successive weeks (look at last 3 Super Bowl winners - NYG, IND, PIT all capped late season rhythm and extra round profited them). Plus, more teams that make playoffs means more happy fans who in week 16 and 17 can see their team playing for something meaningful other than to impress next year's head coach. Even if they go bye bye in first round.

If you open it up to 8 teams it's more likely more 8-8 or 7-9 teams could make it.  6 is perfect.

Twice since the realignment in 2002 we'd have had 7-9 teams get into the playoffs if there were 8 postseason teams per conference (ie: half the league).  For all the gnashing of teeth about an 11-5 team missing the playoffs, that same team lost by 20 points to the 8-8 team that did make it.

If you make the playoffs 8-8, the NFL regular season becomes almost as useless as hockey or the NBA where 50% of the teams make it in.

I like the division-based system. There clearly are easy and hard divisions. NE skated to their 11-5. Fuck 'em.

Um, wasn't it just before this streak that very few teams had ever won (or even gotten too) the superbowl without having had a first week bye?  The preponderance of evidence still seems to point to the bye week being a good thing.

fake edit:  There have been 6 teams to win the superbowl without having also won the division title.  So, um, yeah.

    * 1969 Kansas City Chiefs-Super Bowl IV (played in 1970)
    * 1980 Oakland Raiders-Super Bowl XV (played in 1981)
    * 1997 Denver Broncos-Super Bowl XXXII (played in 1998)
    * 2000 Baltimore Ravens-Super Bowl XXXV (played in 2001)
    * 2005 Pittsburgh Steelers-Super Bowl XL (played in 2006)
    * 2007 New York Giants-Super Bowl XLII (played in 2008)

Not all division winners get a bye in first round. 

SB winners (should have checked runner up, may tilt numbers even more) with those receiving bye denoted with '*':

2007 NYG
2006 IND
2005 PIT
2004 NE *
2003 NE *
2002 TB *
2001 NE *
2000 BAL
1999 STL *
1998 DEN *
1997 DEN
1996 GB *
1995 DAL *
1994 SF *
1993 DAL *
1992 DAL *
1991 WAS *
1990 NYG *

Seems like it used to be so, that teams w/bye went to big dance, but not anymore.

Forget the bye, consider homefield for at least one game, which is all the division winners.

I would just like to say that watching the Cowboys absolutely self-destruct in slow motion was LOVELY. Fuck you, Terrell Owens, fuck you, Pacman Jones and fuck you, Jerry Jones. Also, fuck you sports media for annointing Tony Romo the next Brett Favre before he ever won a playoff game. Give him a better coach and less media fellatio and he might be a big-time QB in 3 years. Right now, he's just a talented guy on a talented team that hasn't found a way to put a full season together.

Also, Chargers looked really strong. That game with Indy is going to be good.

Seeing Atlanta, Miami, Carolina and Arizona make the playoffs is lovely. While the NFL season has gotten way wacky every year with the parity situation, at least we get some new playoff blood.

The defining moment of this season will be Tom Brady's knee injury. It was the shocking start to a total shakeup of the NFL status quo.

Who's thinking this other than Pat fans?

Actually he may be on to something. Of course, even if Brady never plays another down, the Pats will be back in the playoffs next year with either Brady or Cassel at QB. So maybe not. But it has been a strange trending year, especially at QB.

Baltimore and Atlanta BOTH have decent years out of rookie QB's. Fuck, KYLE NECKBEARD ORTON had what can be easily described as a good season. Manning and Rivers spent much of the year being barely capable. The Packers miss the playoffs with someone other than Favre, and Favre misses the playoffs period. The heir apparent in Tennessee gets benched and they make the playoffs as the #1 seed. Eli and not Peyton is the Manning whose team gets #1 seed in their division.

Strange strange year.

Ahh yes, Week 17 could have easily been called Week Shadenfreude or Week Karma-Bitch for me. I can't be upset with any of the

-NY Bretts fail to make the playoffs.  Favre has a dismal end of the season and although the Packers had a dismal year, both teams are in the same place except the Packers know they have a quarterback going forward.
-Cowboys impode in embarrassing fashion.  Thank god. I do not like seeing TO teams do well. 
-Broncos implode in embarrassing fashion. .  The Broncos making the playoffs would have been a tragedy considering their bullshit wins early this season.
-Pats watch the playoffs on TV and have a real nasty decision to make next year at QB.


Woah there.  Rivers had a great season. He had 2 bad games, 2 mediocre games and the rest of the time he carried the team.  34 tds, 11 ints, 4009 yards and a 106 rating.  And if you're talking about Peyton.. uhh, he's likely the MVP.  Guy gutted it out early and again, was pretty much the only reason the Colts are where they are.  The receiving corp this year for Indy was banged up horribly and Harrison is on a steady decline. Addai was a non-factor this year also.

Screw this Matt Ryan for MVP crap (glad the Kurt Warner calls have subsided), Michael Turner and the departure of a lot of huge distractions greatly added to the Falcons' success.  Although you could argue without either of these 3 guys, the Falcons, Colts and Chargers would be 12 loss teams this year.

This one is apparently the gift that keeps on giving since Shamalanahan was just fired.  What a twist!

Yes, I'll give you that both Peyton and Rivers could be considered MVP candidates - but 6 weeks in, they were both on shaky ground with teams that could miss the playoffs. Hell, the Chargers didn't turn it around until over halfway through the season. Both showed why they are MVP caliber, because they took an unfavorable situation and turned both teams around. Warner for MVP was destined for epic fail, and Matt Ryan shouldn't be considered because really, without Turner, that team goes NOWHERE. Turner didn't carry their offense, but he made it playoff caliber. He's almost as good as LT when he's on. Had San Diego had Turner this year, they'd have gotten another 2 wins at least.

EDIT: And the gifts keep on giving. Martz gets fired as offensive coordinator in San Fran. I hate that motherfucker.

Manning's injury was much more serious than they were letting on. Given how bad their running game was this season Manning was their offense:

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2008/writers/peter_king/12/29/Week17/index.html

(skip down to the bottom half on the first page and read from there)

The more that comes out from behind the scenes regarding the Dallas Cowboys, the more I'm convinced this is a completely ridiculous decision to keep Wade Phillips. Jerry Jones is single-handedly handcuffing the team by taking all the authority away from his coach. He's keeping Phillips because he's willing to be Jerry's puppet. People were constantly late to meetings, fines for team rule violations were around $100, people held up flights and travel arrangements by being late.

Mike Shannahan without any owner interference could lead this team to playoff spot easily. But no, they have to stick with lame duck Wade because he tows the line.

It's about money.  If Jerry wants to micromanage his way to a quick exit, it's his $$$. 

I totally agree about Shannahan. 

I am happy (as an Eagles fan) to see the Cowboys wallow in franchise disputes and idiocy.

Tony Gonzalez gets traded to Atlanta for a 2nd round draft pick in 2010. Dumbest move ever by the Chiefs?  :ye_gods:

He is getting a bit long in the tooth, and for a team that's looking to rebuild, he's probably not in the 3-4 year outlook. Whereas Atlanta could use him RIGHT NOW and maybe next year to give some coverage to that good young QB. KC won't be making the playoffs, Atlanta probably will. Probably should have gotten something in this year's draft for him, though, but there might have been salary cap considerations.

Second round pick seems to be the standard price for good players that you can't realistically resign and have no desire to play for your team.  And yah, bonus points if they're considered past their prime.

Randy Moss, Matt Cassel, etc.  Ohh hey, they all have Scott Pioli's  stamp on it.

Eh, his value declined precipitously after 2008 season.

I'd say that's a fair trade for a guy with fading star power that might be apt to perform at above-average replacement level for a season or two.

Two Utes go in the second round.

What's a Ute?

(http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y222/Abagadro/fg3-sized.jpg)

Are the Raiders retarded?

There were relatively few dumb picks, but theirs shone like a beacon on a hill.  Feel free to quote and mock me once Darius Heyward-Bey becomes the next Jerry Rice instead of just another speedster bust. The other guy they picked might have ended up not drafted at all.

Cardinals pick was a bit dicey.  I hope Beanie can hold up.  Would have been nice if Donald Brown would have fallen a few more spots.

I really hate the money being demanded at the top of the draft.  41M guaranteed as  a rookie is ludicrous.

Yes. Next question.

Would make me want to trade top pick status for multiple lesser rank picks…

…but then I'm no NFL GM.

Seconded. FFS, just look at the years since they were in the Super Bowl with the Bucs. They've performed horribly, made shitty draft picks, bad trades, and fired multiple coaches. I really think Al Davis has gone completely off the deep end, even more so than he already was.

Unless the Raiders are outside the top 10, no one will want your pick. Except for the Jets maybe.

Drafts are funny because almost everyone who picks a skill player ends up looking like an idiot, or they are constantly judged. While everyone who takes a lineman (like you should) rarely takes any shit because real fans realize where the NFL actually hinges.

HINT: Trenches.

Baltimore is as good an example as any.  There's a serious vocal minority that is screaming bloody murder over not picking up a WR in the draft while everyone else is thrilled that we picked up what appears to be a solid upgrade for the O-Line in Oher.

Why would Baltimore choose a wideout? There weren't any standout WR in this draft, meaning anybody you get should be a 3-year development project. They did well with really 2nd tier and older receivers last year. Protect the young QB, get a running game and make sure any WR you get, you bring along slowly. I swear, some fans are fucking retards.

99% of fans don't understand the game on the X and O scale.  It's complicated. 

All I have to say about the draft is who is getting paid to scout for Oakland?   :why_so_serious:

Crabtree and Nicks I though were NFL ready and stud-potential wideouts. But Crabtree was gone and Nicks would have been a reach.  If a stud OL is available and you need one, you better take him. Hell, Jacksonsville took 2 of them.  There were a lot of decent WR available late in this draft.  Ones that I think will all have better careers than Harvin, Bey, Robiske or others taken ahead of them.  WRs in the first round are always dicey; I saw an article last year in SI that showed very few manage not to be busts.  It's probably as bad as drafting a QB #1.

There didn't seem to be a lot of "ohh, shit" type talent in this draft, but solid players could be found for a number of rounds.

Sure, but for Baltimore, they don't really even need a top-tier wideout to be successful, so them pissing away a first-round pick on one would have been idiotic. Like you said, first-round WR's are dicey and always expensive.

I think this brings up a question that I've debated for many years when it comes to the NFL (or any draft): 

Do you take the best player at a needed position or do you take the best available talent regardless of need?   I'm likely to err on the side of the latter since you can always trade for what you need and perceived value seems to be everything in the NFL. 

Bengals had a great draft until after the 5th round, then it became fucking silly.  Two more RB's when you can't keep the ones you've got on the roster?  The fuck?

Raiders clearly had the worst draft of the year, I get to see Crabtree a bunch and Beanie twice a year minimum, that is exciting.

If he does hold up you have a true stud. Those Ohio State offensive lines were total shit (3 seniors graduated this year and none were drafted), teams stacked 8-9 in the box to stop him and Pryor, and he still got 6 yards a carry.

I was surprised by the Cardinals' pick of Wells. Shouldn't they have gotten some O-linemen, considering that's been their biggest problem for years now?

They needed an every down back.  They're not convinced that Tim Hightower is that guy as he seems to be more of a short yardage back at the moment.  Wells has the potential to be a standout. 

Their line right now isn't that bad.  They just hadn't been healthy at all until last year. They likely didn't have anyone rated high enough for them to justify that pick over Wells or Brown.  They did pick guards in rounds 5 & 7.

I think Freeman may have a better career with the Bears then Wells will have in Arizona.  I'd love to see him be dominant but he's always seemed too much like Clarett mentally for me to be comfortable.

Oh for gods sake.

GO SELL SOME JEANS OR SOMETHING BRETT.

http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=4142857

Sadly, Favre or even Elway for that matter, are still better than half of the QB's in the NFL.   Can't say that I blame the vikings.  They need the experience and a passing threat to go with the ground game.

If he comes back again, the league should just hire somebody to break his legs. That would put a stop to this nonsense.

Are you kidding? The league LOVES the publicity. And Favre I think just really really really wants to stick it to the Packers. He has got some serious sand in his vagina against that franchise (or at least its current management) and would love nothing better than to win a Super Bowl with a rival team, especially if that rival is Minnesota. It's gotten sad, though. The last games of this past season proved that it's really time for Favre to not play football anymore. He doesn't need the money, and I don't think his arm can hold up for a full season.

It is getting to the point that I will be rooting for a career ending injury for Brett, and I have always liked him. I am just fucking sick of his coy bullshit.

Damn you guys are hostile.  It's tough to stop being an athlete when you've known nothing else.  Favre played well last year.  He may very well have 2-3 more seasons in him.  If he can get a paycheck for doing what he loves, why the hell not?

I don't begrudge him playing until he is 50 if he wants. I am just sick and fucking tired of every single offseason being about him retiring and then unretiring. Don't fucking go through the whole song and dance if there is even a chance you will change your mind 3 months later.

He played well for 4 games. If you take out only the Cardinals game, he threw 16 TDs and 21 interceptions.  His last 5 games the split was 2 TDs 9 ints. 

Like Way, I'd just like him to stop treating football like boxing. Teary retirement speeches should be a once in a career type thing.  To don the tin foil hat, this all seems orchestrated since he couldn't pick his team later year.

I stand corrected.  Favre did have a better QB rating in 2008 than 10 or 11 other regular starters.  You're correct in that's not exactly a Hall of Fame benchmark.  For someone at the end of their career, that's not terrible.  His QB rating was over 80.  Better than Flacco, Collins, and Roethlessberger. (http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/statistics?stat=pass&season=2&year=2008)

Guess what those 3 guys did that he didn't do?  I'll give you couple guesses.  :why_so_serious:

Those are horrible examples anyhow.  You should know why.

I'm just saying that for a guy in the waning years of his career, he put up a respectable showing. 

Aren't the Viks supposed to have a pretty decent team coming back this year? 

Anyway, I wish he'd stay retired.  The punch drunk athlete getting smacked around at the end of his career just...sucks.

Sure, he did well and he's still better than the two guys Minnesota is looking at starting. But he's retired now. TWICE. It's enough already. Either be a fucking man and stick with what you say or be a fucking man and say "I still want to play just not for this team." Don't be a fucking minge who takes his ball home then comes back a month later and decides he really does want to play with the cool kids and he was just kidding about that taking the ball with him thing. He can play 'til he's 100 if someone will give him a paycheck for all I care, but don't say one thing then back out of it a month later.

Maybe his elbow is feeling good now.

First half of last season for Jets, he played well, but he looked dreadful by season-end and apparently was due to the elbow injury/soreness/?.

At 39, he could play effective for another 4-5 years, conceivably if the arm holds up and avoids getting clobbered by opposing pass rushers.

This whole unretirement shenanigans may become an annual ritual until he carts an oxygen tank.

Though Mrs. Naum is going to rip down the Favre posters if he dons a Vikings jersey…