f13.net

Let's talk playoffs?

NFC
Philly > NYG
Dallas > Seattle

Chicago > Dallas
NO > Philly

Chicago > NO

AFC
KC > Indy
NE > NYJ

SD > KC
Balitmore > NE

SD > Baltimore

SuperBowl

SD > Chicago

Philly over NYG by a ton
Seattle over Dallas (I gots to believe!)

Seattle over Chicago (Chicago is a fucking mess)
Saints over Philly

Saints over Seattle

Indy over KC
NYJ over NE

SD over Indy
Baltimore over NYJ

SD over Baltimore

SD over NO Saints

<cough> Playoff pick thread plz </cough>

Ooops.

Interesting playoffs so far.  Is Jeramy Stevens finally not worthless?

Edit: This new Diet Pepsi commercial is stupid.  The dubbing is just pitiful.

Edit#2: What a crazy damn game.  Welcome to Goatsville: population you, Tony Romo. Just fucking nuts.

Holey Moley!

Edit: What a bizarre 4th quarter.

I wonder how many little heart attacks WAP had during that game.

Wow great game, glad to see the Seaducks win thanks to Tony Homo...er Romo.

Cowboys should be thankful they even made the playoffs, sure wouldn't have made it with Bledsoe.

Romo was just the nail in the coffin, and I don't blame his dropping the ball for the loss. He's the only reason Dallas was even in the game at all, and we shouldn't have even had to be kicking fucking field goals in the first place.

Terry Glenn's fumble on the one was what lost the game. The Cowboys had made a 4th down GOAL LINE defensive stand, got the ball back, and had a touchdown lead with 6 minutes left. At the very least, they run about 2 minutes off the clock, go three and out, and punt the ball away to Seattle who probably scores the TD and it either goes to OT, or Dallas wins with a kick. The absolute worst case scenario at this point is a tie and OT. Best case, you run the ball out, get a few first downs, and burn so much clock they don't have enough time to move.

BUT NO! A fumble on the one, and they knock it out of the endzone as a safety. At this point, I'm looking back wishing that it had just been a TD, because then Dallas would have just been tied and had the ball again in better field position. The safety was literally the only freak thing that could have happened that would have guaranteed the game didn't go to OT.

Lets be real, nobody looked good out there at all. If I'm Chicago watching this matchup, I'm chomping at the bit to get Seattle in the next round, because they are gonna steamroll them with plays like that. Hasselbeck threw for 50% with 2 picks. Alexander had less than 70 yards, with an average of less than 3 per carry. They played in a fashion that would lose to any other team who could remotely manage the game, or play some sort of defense down the stretch. Now, barring a major upset by NY in Philly, Seattle's next stop is to play the #1 Defense in the NFC on the road.

Good luck.

During the Tony Romo lovefest I told all the 'Boys fans that he would be a second-stringer for somebody again in about two years.  I stand by that.

Chicago's secondary has been looking really shaky and Rex Grossman couldn't have played worse against Green Bay if he was intentionally trying to lose the game. At this point I think the Eagles have the best chance of making it to the Super Bowl from the NFC.

Ravens have the most complete team. 

Romo is light years ahead of duds like Chris Simms and Eli Manning. He'll do fine. He has had a half-year as starter and done a good job.

He isn't the second coming but he is certainly good enough to be a starting QB.

I never talk sports on F13, but let me just say that as a 20 year Charger fan I am so STOKED that they are doing well.  I love just watching football, but it's always better when your team is competitive.  :-D

But, yea I think the Bolts might make the Super Bowl (I am almost scared to say it since I haven't really gotten over the 1994 plunger raping)  If anything I'd be more worried about them facing K.C. then Indy, and for some reason I have a bad feeling about Baltimore, because they seem to have a good deal of momentum going right now.

Anyway, my final prediction is SD vs. Bears, with Bears winning off Rivers throwing a late game pick. (knock on wood though) 

Should be a good time all around however since I made sure and ask for that Super Bowl day off (and the next day LOL) and my two best friends and I are planning on watching the game together since we are all Charger fans.  Go Super Chargers woot.

I don't know. The Patriots were 2nd behind the Ravens in points allowed per game, just 2 points back and their offense is 2 points ahead of the Ravens in points scored per game. Clearly people do not fear the Patriots defense like they do the Ravens but like he's been doing for a while now somehow Bill Belichick manages to cobble together a Super Bowl-worthy team without many super stars on either side of the ball (only one Patriot is going to the Pro Bowl this year).

Romo is the white man's Kordell Stewart.

Kordell wouldn't have been caught from behind on the botched field goal. Of course he wouldn't have been holding either but that's a different issue.

Oh for 2.  Let's see if you can make it a perfect season.

I'm going to call bullshit on that. Stewart was prone to the pick, and made bad throwing decisions at key moments. Romo's problem now is that his internal clock on the pass rush isn't fully developed. That clock will get better with game experience, but making bad decisions with your passes is typically a hell of a lot harder to correct.

Also, Stewart never made the pro bowl in his first starting season. Romo has thrown more TD's in his first season than Aikman threw in any of his first three seasons. He's a gamer, but he needs some more time.

Kordell Stewart led his team to 2 conference championship games... ...while they lost, one was given to Elway Broncos by some extremely suspicious pass interference calls (98) and the other one against NE, Stewart couldn't overcome special teams mishaps...

When Romo leads his team to two conference championships, then he might be recognized with similar status... ...otherwise it's even an outrage that a QB with 3 good games gets elevated to star and Pro Bowl status...

Explain to me how the guy who has the third best passer rating in the NFC (behind McNabb who's injured making him effectively second in active players), doesn't belong in the pro bowl?

My buddy who actually follows football has Bolts vs Bears for the bowl. I'd like to see either the Pats or Indy go, because I like those teams.

I think Romo is cool, I hope he can snap out of the funk he's in. It was pure fluke at the end, and a great defensive save because Romo still almost won the game with his heads-up thinking. He's a good QB, and as mentioned, Dallas wouldn't even have been in that game if not for him. I'm not a big Dallas fan (at all), but I like to watch good players play, and Romo is a good player.

Always makes me think of my favorite defensive player of years past, Romanowski.

They are both losing this weekend.

fify.  

Anyway, it was unfair of me to compare Romo, who has a bright future as a mediocre NFL starter, with Stewart, who has a bright future as the guy who can't beat out Kyle Boeller for the Ravens' backup spot.  Kordell was on my mind due to Cowher's retirement, and watching a young QB who had done nothing to justify an incredible amount of media hype blow a playoff game brought back memories of good ole Slash.  I'm sorry for bringing up his name, which makes me want to retch more than any sports-related memory I can conjure up, with the possible exception of the last play of the 1992 NLCS.

IN ANY EVENT, I was pretty underwhelmed by the Eagles, who I thought would destroy the Giants.  Still gotta stick with them as my pick for this year's NFC Champ sacrificial lamb.  Some great games on the other side, at least now that the Colts seem to have found a rush defense and the Pats have somehow managed (in true MacGyver style) to once again concoct a team out of Tom Brady, some empty milk crates, a spool of barbed wire and a bunch of salary cap space.

I managed to survive by heavily medicating myself with beer.

Wow. Seattle NEVER gets lucky like that, especially in the playoffs. I am glad we get another shot at the Bears. This time, Shaun is playing, Tommie Harris ISN'T playing, and Grossman is not doing the smoke and mirrors thing any more. Chicago may very well win the game, but it will be a hell of a lot closer than 37-6 or whatever it was in Week 3. Opening line is like 9 points....that is ridiculous. No team that makes the NFL playoffs should ever be more than a touchdown dog to any other team barring some catastrophic injury to a QB or something.



Ugh. That guy is a fucking asshole of the 1st order. He should be in jail for his attack on his TEAMMATE during PRACTICE. Roid rage ftw.

Wow, what a set of shitty NFC games this weekend. They were entertaining, but TERRIBLE, TERRIBLE football. Just fucking awful. For the first time in a while, I can safely say that none of the wild card teams deserved any sort of playoff berth or recognition. They were shit shit shitty teams who won just enough games to make it, and for the most part are better teams than they've shown on the field.

Tony Romo can eat a dick. Why? Because he's on a team with Terrell Owens and any team who signs Terrell Owens I can only wish the worst fucking luck on. Romo can't win this game against a shitty shit shit shit Seahawks team with Owens AND Terry Glenn? To be fair, the loss isn't totally on him, because the defense should have been able to stop the lackluster Seahawks. But they didn't, and Romo couldn't bail them out. All those fuckers who anointed him the next coming of Aikman can go suck one now, because for a fucking month, that's all I heard. Romo this, Romo that. He's not that good. The team just got hot. Once they cooled off, they started tearing into each other. Or well, Owens started tearing into everyone else while dropping every pass that counted. Could Owens have played a shittier game? Was that $10 million worth, Jerry Jones? Stop hiring douchebags and you might win.

The Giants... Coughlin deserves to lose his job. His cornerbacks are atrocious, Eli hasn't consistently progressed in 3 fucking years, you can't decide what kind of offense you want to run and you can't stop your O line from shooting their dicks off. Oh and you can't keep your stars in line. Did anyone see that shot of Shockey taking Coughlin's headset off to yell in his ear? Uh uh, buddy, that's fucking laps and some time riding the pine. It's just a level of disrespect for the man's position that you just don't do. And 2 false starts in a row when you're driving for a winning score? Unacceptable. Everyone involved should be ashamed. Eli has had 3 years and he's still getting basic fundamental mechanics wrong, which tells me the coaching just isn't there. Philadelphia did ok, but they didn't win as much as didn't lose.

The Jets and Pats was the only real decent game, and the better coach and team won. Tom Brady vs Chad Pennington, I'll take Brady every time. But against San Diego? This team is going to get exposed on both sides of the ball. For all the Jets blitzes, they don't have the defensive talent that the Chargers do, and Merriman, Castillo, and others are going to light Brady up. LT will shred that defense, and I think even Phillip Rivers is going to have a good game against a suspect defensive backfield.

The Colts dominated the Chiefs, which gives me hope they'll at least reach the championship game where they'll likely get beaten by the Chargers. Bob Sanders made all the difference against the great running game of the Chiefs. He's the most valuable player on that Colts D, beyond Freeney, June or anyone else. When he's in, they can contain the run. When he's not, it's a nightmare. As good as the Ravens are, they will get beaten by Indy. They will get dinked and dunked to death.

The Bears will not beat New Orleans, and New Orleans won't lose to Philly. For all the Bears great D, they still got shredded by a mediocre offense in Green Bay. When Rex Grossman performs competently, the Bears D makes plays. When he doesn't, forget about it. Against New Orleans, the Bears won't be able to make enough plays, and their offense just won't be able to cover. Seattle is however, going to get slaughtered.

I'm not a betting man. I just like those teams because they seem competent and don't have douchebags like Owens doing little dances and whatnot. Also, Freeney plays defense like I do in video games.

Again, Stewart lead his team to 2 AFC championship games, destined for Canton he is not, but still far exceeds the accomplishments of an over-hyped unproven rookie that has had a grand total of 3 good games... ...the arc of Kordell's career has long ended, but when Romo leads his team to 2 conference championships and/or piles up passing records, then it might be moot, but Romo may not even be the next Scott Mitchell...

Terry Glenn fumbled at the 1 and Terrel Owens was his usual ball-dropping self. It is hardly Romo's fault that they lost.

In the NFC it's a toss up between the Eagles, Saints and the Bears -- one of those teams is going to back into the Super Bowl. I've never liked the Bears for some reason (probably cause I like offense over defense) and while it would be cool for the Saints to make it there given all the stuff that happened to them in 2005 - 2006 I wanna see Jeff Garcia go since I enjoyed watching him play for the 49ers and am glad that he got another chance to show that he can still play (which has been the story of his entire career).

In the AFC it definitely feels like the Chargers' year but the Patriots played better on the road than they did at home this year and Brady is 10 - 1 in playoff games (or is that 11 - 1 now?) so it's tough to count them out. It would be nice to see Marty finally make it to the Super Bowl after so many tries and LT is such a nice guy and Brady and Co. already have a bunch of rings it's okay to spread the wealth around a little.

Colts vs Ravens seems like a huge mismatch in the Ravens favor except that the last three times they have played the Colts the Colts have won including once at Baltimore. While there are defenses that can befuddle Peyton, the Ravens D is not one of them. I would like Peyton to make it to at least one Super Bowl but I'm not sure they can get past the Patriots (assuming they beat the Chargers) even if they manage to beat the Ravens plus I don't like the Ravens (similar reasons as the Bears, though I do like Steve McNair) so for this week I'm going:

Eagles over Saints
Bears over Seahawks

Chargers over Patriots
Colts over Ravens

There are 2 teams I absolutely do NOT want to see in the Super Bowl, the Bears and the Ravens. Why? Because their defenses are so good that it'll end up being a one-sided game, even if it's close. If it's the Bears, not only will the defense dominate, the Grossman-led offense will fucking twaddle around with about 4 INT's. It'll look like last year's Super Bowl all over again. And last year's Super Bowl was awful, with terrible officiating, horrible play on both sides of the ball, and just a general feeling of "How did these teams get here?" I hate sloppy football, and last year's game was sloppy football at its worst. Give me a game like the 99(?) Super Bowl with the Titans and Rams battling it out to the end, or the Panthers/Patriots Super Bowl that was such a good fight.

Super Bowls with blowouts or sloppy play just bore the fuck out of me. It makes the whole year anti-climatic.

I predict a Chargers v. Saints Super Bowl. The Saints will be the moral underdog favorite, and the Chargers will have their high powered offense with LT. It would be a hell of a show.

I like watching defensive teams dominate. And I like it when a team pounds another into submission and humiliation in the biggest game of the season.

Besides, after halftime, who's sober enough to remember anything anyway? And all of the overpriced overhyped commercials will have already been rolled…

Fuck.

Sorry man.  As a Crimson Tide fan, I can tell you how badly it sucks to lose in OT.  As a Bears fan, FUCK YEAH!

NIce picks Kreskin.

Fuck.Fuck.Fuck.Fuck.Fuck.Fuck.Fuck.Fuck.Fuck.Fuck.Fuck.Fuck.Fuck.Fuck.Fuck.Fuck.Fuck.Fuck.Fuck.Fuck.Fuck.Fuck.Fuck.Fuck.Fuck.Fuck.Fuck.Fuck.Fuck.Fuck.Fuck.Fuck.Fuck.Fuck.Fuck.Fuck.Fuck.
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There's the Charger team I have been waiting for to show up all year.  Fuck.

My Saints prediction is still alive.

My Chargers prediction, what the hell was that?

Here's what happened to the Chargers. They get the ball back with plenty of time to drive down for a winning field goal. Marty and his O Coordinator thinks back to all the times they lost and got called "too conservative." So, despite the fact that New England CANNOT STOP LT, he runs once, then passes 2 straight times to wideouts who have shown little ability to catch the ball all game. No screens to LT, no runs, just passes, taking the ball out of your best player's hands. Two incompletions, punt, New England drives down for the win. By the time they get the ball back with no timeouts, it's too goddamn late. Not to mention that they pissed away like 20-30 seconds just lollygagging up to the line of scrimmage. Fuck you, non-Martyball Marty.

He just cannot coach in the playoffs.

Indy looked pretty good against a damn good defense. But their defense looked fantastic. And who was in the lineup? Bob Sanders. I'm telling you, I think this guy is more important than Freeney to that team.

It's going to be an Indy/New Orleans game. Archie Manning will be completely ambivalent and yet happy at either outcome. New England has shown they can't beat Indy without decent wideouts (which they don't have), and Chicago's Defense should not have allowed 24 points to the Seahawks. The Hawks just weren't that good this year. They couldn't even make a goddamn 3rd and 1 ALL FUCKING GAME with last year's M-V-FUCKING-P carrying the ball. And yet had they been able to make at least one or two of those 3rd and 1's, they'd have won the game. That Chicago D is going to get PICKED APART by the Saints offense. It may not be high scoring, but the Saints will win. New Orleans will flood again, only this time it'll flood with BEER.

I think Marty called the game well, but  Phillip Rivers kept calling timeouts. YOU NEVER USE ALL YOUR TIMEOUTS RIVERS! The worst part is the field goal kicker was on target but was short yardage. I remember Marty calling a timeout during the extra point attempt which is funny because you can't call a timeout during the actual attempt.

Is it just me or did LT look really pissed walking off the field.

He should have been pissed. When it counted, they didn't give him the ball.

I believe he was pissed off about Ellis Hobbs and others celebrating before the game was over.  Apparently this is a no-no if you're on the road.  He looked like he was about to start a brawl with Hobbs but others pulled him away.

Really poor time management, too many turnovers, lots of dropped balls, not working LT more at the end, and a defense that always buckles when the game is on the line.  I have no idea how they expected to win. The fact that they had a chance, even with Brady throwing 3 ints is a minor miracle.  Still, close games if not particularly well played.   I enjoyed my football weekend.

LT hadn't been having a Great game, he had been having a good game.  The Patriots were containing him, rather than let him run for long yards.  I think someone needs to give credit to the Patriots defense who stopped Antonio Gates.  The LT/ Antonio Gates one-two punch was the real combo, and the Patriots attacked all of the Chargers strengths, and let LT run for his yards.  No matter how good you are, you can't win a game with only a running back. 

*Side-note: San Diego gave up Reche Cadwell by the way, and wow did he burn them.

The Chargers just fucked up more than the Pats did, although both teams looked like shit.  The Chargers fumble on the punt return, and then trying to pick the ball up to run with it rather than just falling on it.  That 4th down interception by the Chargers which they then fumbled, when all they had to do in the first place was knock the ball down for a turnover on downs with much better field position.  Too much sloppy playing, but that's pretty much how the playoffs have been going.

If the Bears finally got the whole "we can actually win in the playoffs" thing figured out (I think they had some mental hurdles to deal with), and the younger Saints players choke a little, maybe they have a shot. 

But I'll be watching the game with the hands over my eyes, occasionally peeking out between my fingers.

More Cedric Benson please.  And more throws like that 68 yarder, Rex.  That was pretty.

Fuck this season, ever since the National Championship I really am done with football, the pats winning means I may just avoid knowing what happens in the playoffs from here out.  I will literally be in a belltower with a high powered rifle in the Boston area if that fucking cock-smoker Tom Brady gets another ring.

The truly unseemly part of all this is that we are stuck with either Manning or Brady in the Super Bowl. Madison Ave is filling its collective shorts with glee as we speak, and the rest of us are consigned to another hellish season of retarded commercials from an already overexposed douchebag.

Marty still retains his title as the biggest choke coach in the history of professional football. Things haven't changed much in 20+ years...

...he wasted a timeout on a call that was obvious would not be overturned.

Granted, he wasn't the guy who decided to fumble a 4th down interception in lieu of knocking it down or just falling on it and ending the play... ...but his 4th quarter game management sucked.

I've never seen a team self-destruct quite as bad as the Chargers in a long time. Fumbling that punt, the interception/fumble, the personal foul penalty that gave a critical 1st down. Unreal. I feel bad for LT that his dumbass teammates apparently went braindead during the biggest game of the year.

Fuck I hate the Pats.  I don't care who wins the final game as long as it isn't them. 

About that final Chargers field goal.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but if you kick a field goal and miss on a down other than 4th down, you can kick it again, right?

So why couldn't the Chargers kick again? They got a first down with the pass to Parker. They spiked the ball, which made it 2nd down. Missing the kick would make the play 3rd down because the other team didn't recover the ball. Am I just totally coming out of left field with the rule that you can kick again if you miss on any down but 4th?

Nah.  They kick on 3rd so that, in case of a bad snap or hold, they can fall on the ball and try again.

No. Once it passes the line of scrimmage you have relinquished possession of the football. I believe that if it is blocked behind the line of scrimmage and you recover it prior to 4th down, you can indeed re-kick, but I'm not positive on that one.

Ok, my mistake. Shows what I get for listening to broadcasters over the years. They never explain shit right. I'm not speaking about the broadcasters on that particular game, just in general.

I haven't held my breath like that at the end of a football game in years. Chicago Seattle was a sloppy mess but it was a hell of an entertaining game. Kind of tough on me, being a long time Bears fan, but being a Seattle fan second due to proximity.

New Orleans has had thier big home field win to make them feel good (would have loved to have been on Bourbon for that), but it's now time for them to move aside for the Bears.

Never listen to broadcasters, unless it's Jaws, Costas or Collinsworth.  The state of NFL broadcasting right now is just sad.  They're all terrible.

Root for the Bears. Urlacher has always been ok (I didn't want to say bearable here) in ads. They certainly wouldn't use Grossman. :P

I don't mind guys like Moose Johnston. Even Mike Tirico is good. They just happen to put some of the worst fuckers in the booth. As I said on my blog, "Theismann is abrasive, Kornhole is steel wool on genitals irritating. He comes off as arrogant and combative. There are times when I expect Theismann to stand up, pull off his dangling broken leg off of his body and beat Kornhole to death with it. I know I'd watch that."

I fucking hate Kornhole.

Collinsworth is actually really good, as analyst and commentator, I like him better than maddan for getting to know the game, he explains things well.

Everybody needs to get off Schottenheimer's back.  Yes, it'll go down as yet another L in his poor career playoffs percentage as a head-coach.  But Marty didn't drop all the passes and Marty didn't muff the punt; and Marty didn't go all Zidane-Zidane on the Pats and draw a 15 yard unsportsmanlike which gave them 1st and 10 again; and Marty didn't unwisely try and run back an interception on 4th down which if he'd just fallen down (or knocked the pass down) would have probably been THE nail in the coffin...  I guess you can call those examples of bad coaching but that's a stretch.  The Chargers fucking humilated themselves and melted down on national TV.  Period.  That being said, word is he'll be fired inside the week which is a shame.

I haven't watched yesterday's games yet but I'm going with Colts/Saints as well. The Colts pass rush in passing situations is just unstoppable in the RCA Dome and somehow their run defense is the best in the game right now so Brady's going to be passing quite a bit, or trying to pass as the case may be. Also he has enough rings for now and I like I said earlier I want to see Peyton make it to at least one Super Bowl.

I've been following the Bears since before many of you were born, so my objectivity is pretty limited.  Watching the Seattle game, I liked the Bears ability to recover from a letdown at the half, and the defense stepping up in clutch situations.

The defense isn't as dominant as it was in the start of the season.  Losing Harris and Brown hurt bad, and the current weaknesses in the secondary and pressure off the line are a result of that, but I also think that other teams have watched a lot of film, and have figured out the defense scheme a bit.  The defense needs to generate a few big plays, and they have done that pretty consistently.  I think there has been at least one turnover in every game this year.  I expect Reggie Bush will break one or two big runs, and cough up one or two fumbles.  Which of those is a one and which is a two will probably determine the outcome of the game.  Any way it goes, I expect NO to put serious points on the board.

That means that the offense needs to respond.  Grossman needs another solid game, and the receivers need to play better than they did Sunday.  Grossman still has issues with ball location, but there were a few drops that really hurt the Bears, and, if caught, could have turned the game into a blowout.  The line could also step up a notch.

Special teams is the Bears greatest strength at the moment.  Hester forces people to skip distance for placement, which translates directly into field position.  Gould is very consistent, and handles pressure very well.  Under Smith, special teams has starters, not subs, and it has paid off.

I haven't seen enough of New Orleans to judge them well, but they beat an Eagles team that I have seen a lot of, and that had a lot of momentum.  This will be a tough game, and could go either way.

If Indy's defense brings it the way they have the last couple of weeks, the Pats are meat.  The Bears should have beaten the Patriots, but Bad Rex showed up that day.  Brady turned the ball over vs both Bears and Bolts, and I think Indy will make that happen as well.

My guess is Indy wins the Superbowl.  Whether they beat the Bears or the Saints is hard to say.  I tend to think Saints, but everybody seems to either underestimate or overestimate the Bears.  I think it is Urlacher who has been mocking the press by calling the Bears "the worst 13-3 team in history".  The Bears have lost the least important games this season.  They have won all the ones that mattered. and then a couple.  It is hard to argue with that kind of success, yet almost everyone does.

When did Tomlinson become such a goddamn whiner?

When he got to see the smarmy douchebagginess that infuses the Patriots firsthand?

The thing about New Orleans is that they have so many weapons. Their coach knows how to use them all, which makes it tougher.

You can't double, you can't zone, You can't gear against the run or the pass.

You can't take them :all: away.

You do beat the Saints by throwing deep against Fred Thomas. You also beat them by running up the middle.

Someone will execute on that, and it will probably be in the Super Bowl.

I think NO has best receivers in league, even better than AZ. And they do have lots of O-weapons esp. with McAllister & R.Bush being a pretty 1-2 punch...

Philly had played well too, but they let Grossman complete a few long (well 1 long, and a few medium sized) balls and that all it took...  ...Saints pass D has been suspect so I figure that be the key - if Grossman can get a longball off and spread em out.

Of course, the only pick I got right this last weekend was NE over SD... ...so WTF do I know...

Yes the Saints secondary seems to be lacking in speed. However trusting Grossman to win a game with his arm is a bit dicey.

Something pointed out by Hillenmeyer ( Bears OLB, usually chasing the TE down the seam when teams try and "beat" cover 2 ), sure to be bulletin board material for the Saints, is that they are probably 10-6 for a reason.  Discount the last game against the Panthers, thats five losses - and when I looked into them there was a fairly obvious trend.  Now, I don't want to alarm anyone with how amazing this sounds, but check out this awesome football fact I discovered:  If you get pressure on Brees while covering his hot routes, he will turn the ball over.  Genius, I know. 

Seriously though, this game is gonna come down to tackling, as boring as that sounds.

Tackling is not boring imo. And there's a heck of a lack of it in the NFL, good tackling anyway.

Certainly not if it is the quality of the  light up  (http://youtube.com/watch?v=ZHe5aV-THpQ) Reggie Bush took in that Eagles game.

Yeah, that was a beautiful hit. Perfectly legal and perfectly teeth-rattling.

Come on Peyton, dangit, don't make me have to root for the Bears.

Edit: Praise the FSM!

That was an incredible game.  I wasn't even going to be upset if the Pats won it, both teams played great.

So, you can imagine that the 1930's Bears fight song is playing behind me, because I've got the TV on, and in the time it takes to type this, it will be.  The Chicago media is as gaga over the Bears as they were doubtful of Grossman, and the fans much the same.  I can understand the giddiness, because not only was Grossman mistake free, the early season defense was back.

The Colts are early favorites (There goes the damn fight song again, I'm gonna hate that thing by the time this is over) which is good, because I think everybody picking the Saints really lit a fire under the team.  If the Bears team that played today shows up in the Super Bowl, the bookies will bite it big time.  If it weren't for Des Clark's late motion penalty, the Bears would have racked up a perfect game; no penalties, no turnovers, and no sacks.  We'll forgive Clark, though, for the blocking he did, not just the open field block on Thomas' last touchdown, but for the beautiful job he did on Thomas' 30 yarder, where Clark blew out the outside contain man and then spun around and buried the seal man coming from the inside, leaving Thomas a gap I could have hit.  Freaking one man O line.

The Colts/Patriots was exciting, a great game, but I couldn't help watching the two goalline fumbles for touchdowns, and thinking how bad those guys were at recovering fumbles, compared to what I'm used to with the Bears.

Colts are a good team, but the Bears match up decently against them, and if the Bears team that played today shows up, Colts lose.

Oh, yeah, by the way, Hillenmeyer was right.

First half of the Colts game and I'm thinking, "Dear God, do NOT make me watch a fucking Pats/Bears Super Bowl." That would have been grim fucking death, the snoozefests of all snoozefests Super Bowls. I so wanted the Saints and Colts to win so we'd actually have some goddamn offense in the Super Bowl again. I don't miss the old blowout games, but fucking hell, I want to see SOME offense. The last good offensive Super Bowl game was the Carolina/Pats Super Bowl of a few years ago. The Eagles/Pats game wasn't bad, but it had TO. No, he doesn't deserve the fucking periods.

The worst part is the Saints should have won. But they never, ever bothered with the running game. The Bears run defense isn't all that. But if you sit back and pass pass pass, they will blitz the piss out of you, and you WILL eventually cough it up or throw an INT or something. Peyton just completely forgot that he had a great 1-2 punch in the running game and had he just bothered to pound Deuce up the middle for a drive or two, that passing game would have opened up. Did New Orleans even bother running in the second half? It was all pass, which was retarded in the extreme. It's hard for a fast defense like New Orleans has to stop the Chicago running game when their offense is giving them 3 and outs all the goddamn time. The Saints believed their own hype and lost because of it. This Bears team? NOT THAT GOOD. Thomas Jones is not that good a back, and they stopped Benson early. Grossman is a fucking liability, especially if the running game is held. The Saints got outcoached and outworked.

The Colts game was a good one, a nail-biter, at least from about 6 minutes left in the first half on. That first quarter was PAINFUL to watch. I'm no Brady hater, I actually like the guy and the Pats approach, but FUCK. I want someone else in the Bowl, someone more exciting. The Colts are that team. Brady and the O Line needs to take Reche Caldwell into the locker room and gang rape his ass. You cannot drop that many passes when you are WIDE FUCKING OPEN and still be considered a wide reciever. I've seen fullbacks with better hands. The one in the endzone was bad enough, but the one where the Colts didn't even bother to cover him is inexcusable. And he had that same "going spare" look on his face. He was deer in the headlights useless once he dropped that first one. The Colts won that one, but Brady didn't lose it. He couldn't have thrown those balls any better. I got worried on that Colts 3 and out with 3:40 something left, as they threw down the field 3 times, without even bothering to go to the run game that had been working. But they saved it in the end. That's the one Achilles Heel of the high-powered offenses like the Saints and Colts. They won't to always go deep instead of running the clock. Stop that.

My girlfriend stayed home last night, and around half-time I was going to call her up. I was thinking 'ah shit, another spanking by the Pats' *yawn*  So glad I didn't that turned out to be a spectacular game, almost everyone was playing great...except Reche Caldwell. I haven't seen crazy eyes like that since I had a landlord on the run from the DEA and on a 7-day crank binge come running through our house. Which might explain the dropped passes, anyway.

Grossman...say hello to my little Freeney.

Colts 28-13

I'm from Indiana, was a Bears fan before the Colts came to town and I'm not switching.  It is awesome that both teams got there, 1st time for the Indy Colts (the other 2 were in Baltimore), and 2nd time for the Bears.  Now if it would just snow in Miami it would make a killer Super Bowl  :-D

The media in Chicago seem somehow surprised that the Bears coaches and players are happy to have won the NFC Championship.  Apparently, more angst is needed.  The media is working to fill the angst gap, as we speak.

Edit:

Ran into this Dr. Z column on the SI website. (http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2007/writers/dr_z/01/22/look.ahead/index.html?cnn=yes)  Apparently he feels it was ungentlemanly of the Bears to not let the Saints keep the football, and that the Saints should have used the Quarterback Sack play.  I can certainly agree, the Bears have been much more successful since the offense added the Touchdown Play to its repertoire.

Sorry for the sarcasm, couldn't resist.  Certainly if the Bears hadn't done the things they've done all season to win games, and if the Saints hadn't gotten totally owned at the line of scrimmage, the game would have been different.

Epic game.  Epic.  I don't care about the Pats or Colts, though I do have a lot of admiration for the Pats organization, but that was one of the most memorable games I've ever watched.

At least this year's real Super Bowl was on championship game weekend, unlike last year's divisional round Bowl.  If the spread somehow goes below 7 I can't see a reason not to bet everything I own.  Except, of course, the prospect of losing it.