2009 NFL

[Velorath]

I should be happy because the 49ers won, but fuck... all those interceptions and the offense can only get 10 points out of it?  That shit was depressing.

The really depressing thing is I have no idea where they are going to find a QB to save this franchise.

They could probably get by with Smith if they somehow manage to get a decent offensive line.

[Cyrrex]

That very rarity simply adds fuel to the discussion that it is likely to end very soon.

That's the same nonsense they have in baseball when a guy striking out is "due". I think it's very easy to just say you take a contrarian attitude to past performance and move on.

I hope you only do that in sports.

No, a better comparison would be the guy with the 35 game hitting streak being bound to go hitless.  You can only defy the odds for so long.  Being terrible (e.g. striking out all the time) is far easier to achieve on a consistant basis.

Anyway, that isn't really the point I'm trying to make.  Sometimes you just have a gut feeling that one team is going to defeat the other, despite (or sometimes because of) evidence to the contrary.  That's all I'm saying.  For what it's worth, I'm better than average at picking them.

[Paelos]

Dallas can lose in GB quite easily. All they have to do is play like they did in Denver. The Broncos suppressed the running game, and they put massive pressure on Romo to single-handedly deliver on the road. Instead, Romo took 5 sacks, a fumble, and a late pick that sealed the game. They couldn't score at all outside of the first quarter.

The only problem is that every team has tried to suppress the Dallas running game since then, all been pretty successful, and yet none of them have beaten the Cowboys. Everyone knows now that the Cowboys win or lose based on the play of Romo, and how much pressure the opposing defense can put on him. Green Bay is 29th in sacks, so they either have to turn around that part of their defense, or they have to hope that Rodgers can win in the overall aerial battle.

[Cyrrex]

I always find it hilarious when teams constantly overload the box to stop the run, and are damn successful at it...only to get lit up by the passing attack instead (see Minnesota Vikings).  Stopping the run is one of the easiest thing for a defense to do if they are hell bent on it.

[Paelos]

Oh look, Dallas lost the way I said they could...   Except I didn't see the fact that neither teams' offense would take the field.

Also, the Pats took out a gun and just shot themselves in the foot. Thanks Belicheat.

[Fordel]

God Damn Indy can go down the field fast!

[Nevermore]

How do you go for it on fourth down at your own 30 with 2 minutes left when you're sitting on a 6 point lead?  Not that I'm sad; I can't stand the Patriots.  I get that if they make that first down they win but talk about handing the game to the Colts.

[Paelos]

How do you go for it on fourth down at your own 30 with 2 minutes left when you're sitting on a 6 point lead?  Not that I'm sad; I can't stand the Patriots.  I get that if they make that first down they win but talk about handing the game to the Colts.

Because they were getting worked, and they knew it. Hand the ball to Peyton on the opposite 30 and I don't believe it's any different, except they don't huddle up and waste clock. If the Pats make the first down it's over, but you had to punt and play the odds.

[Brogarn]

Dallas lost and an angel got it's wings. Patriots lost and that same angel got a sweet guitar.

[HaemishM]

How do you go for it on fourth down at your own 30 with 2 minutes left when you're sitting on a 6 point lead?  Not that I'm sad; I can't stand the Patriots.  I get that if they make that first down they win but talk about handing the game to the Colts.

It was pure, beautiful arrogance, and I absolutely loved that it fucking failed. Not only did it fail, the contentious call couldn't even be challenged because Bellichek fucked up his timeouts. Way to be a douche. Worst part was that he treated the Colts like a scrub team - you do shit like that against the Titans or the Raiders, not the fucking Colts. Holy shit. Most awesome.

My fucking Fox affiliate shit the bed so I missed the Packers game, but at least they won.

[01101010]

So I went to visit my mother this past weekend for her 60th. Driving into Cleveland I was met with something I never heard before on the radio. The hosts (strangely the same hosts that another channel had several years ago when I lived there) were doing some promotion where they were apologizing for giving away tickets to the Monday night game in Cleveland. It was one of those surreal moments when I came to realize just how far down the ditch the Browns rolled to. Strangely enough, it seems most of the fans in that town seem to behave similarly to an abused wife, as my friend and diehard put it.

[caladein]

Honestly, I liked Belichick's call and I say that as someone that actively dislikes the Patriots.  (It's similar Mike Holmgren's call near the end of the SB XXXII as both are essentially about conceding a score for clock.)  Let's actually think about the percentages instead of reflexively thinking they say punt.

4th & 2 is a completely makable distance and if you make it, you win.  If you don't get the first down, Peyton Manning gets to make a ~30 yard scoring drive to win while maybe taking all your clock.

If you punt, Peyton Manning gets to make a ~70 yard scoring drive to win while definitely taking all your clock.

Now, of course, if the Patriots had punted and still lost the front page on ESPN would be "Peyton Manning is awesome." with a sidebar on "Does Belichick not trust his offensive anymore?" instead today's of "Belichick is a poopy-head."

[Cyrrex]

Yeah, I might agree with that, haven't decided.  While the actual odds of Peyton marching 70 yards with 2 minutes might be something around 1 in 3...that's just something he has a knack for pulling off.  In my gut, I would have said "oh fuck, he's totally going to march down the field and score on us".  If at the same time I'm staring at 4th and 2 with Tom Fucking Brady on my team for a chance to win...I could see myself making the same call.  The same guys calling him out for the terrible call could just have easily been calling him a mad genius this morning.

Oh and look, the Cowboys didn't come remotely close to winning.  How delicious.  What a fugly game though - all those penalties made it torture to watch.

[HaemishM]

You take the punt every fucking time, unless you are an overconfident douche. Look at it logically.

Your defense has been good, and the last two TD's the Colts got, it took some doing (and one very big, very ticky-tack penalty). They weren't just running up and down the field on the Pats. Also, Manning had 1 timeout? And thanks to your atrocious clock management, you had none. So if you fail at 4th and 2 and Indy DOES score, not only can they run the clock at their leisure (like they did) but you can't stop it at all. Unless you plan on letting the Colts score by having your defense not try at all on the first play, it's a bad call because all of the clock advantage is with the Colts. Make them march 70 yards with 1 timeout - certainly not impossible given the Colts' proclivity for scoring. Any other option is either 1) stupid, 2) arrogant or 3) entirely too risky for words. Again, it's not like the Pats were behind, they were ahead. Their defense just needed to make the stop. If I was a defensive player, I'd be pissed that the coach backed us up in the corner.

[Trippy]

Honestly, I liked Belichick's call and I say that as someone that actively dislikes the Patriots.  (It's similar Mike Holmgren's call near the end of the SB XXXII as both are essentially about conceding a score for clock.)  Let's actually think about the percentages instead of reflexively thinking they say punt.

4th & 2 is a completely makable distance and if you make it, you win.  If you don't get the first down, Peyton Manning gets to make a ~30 yard scoring drive to win while maybe taking all your clock.

If you punt, Peyton Manning gets to make a ~70 yard scoring drive to win while definitely taking all your clock.

Now, of course, if the Patriots had punted and still lost the front page on ESPN would be "Peyton Manning is awesome." with a sidebar on "Does Belichick not trust his offensive anymore?" instead today's of "Belichick is a poopy-head."

Even with Peyton Manning the odds of the Colts going 70 yards in 2 minutes to score is less than the odds of them going 30 yards to score. Yes they had essentially done just that their previous series but Peyton had also thrown 2 INTs in the game so it wasn't like he was infallible.

On the other hand the Patriots' D is notorious for its epic 4th quarter collapses. I can understand Belichick not trusting them to get the job done but do you really want to make it known publicly that's how you feel about half your team?

[Sky]

This just in, Bill Belichick is a dick.

[01101010]

This just in, Bill Belichick is a dick.

So was Lombardi going by what my grandfather used to rail on about.

[naum]

This just in, Bill Belichick is a dick.

So was Lombardi going by what my grandfather used to rail on about.

Lombardi was a bastard, indeed.

On the 4th down call, on the surface, /yes, a terrible decision.

But reckoning that Belichick had little confidence in his defense to stop Manning (and probably had a little devil Peyton Manning in his head at that point) and no doubt figured that it was a matter of Patriots v. the Clock at that juncture. Had they converted, he would have been hailed a genius. Earlier in the season, Steelers Tomlin pulled a similar stunt and went for it on 4th down in his own territory nursing a small lead… …I like the call, if your defense has been getting shredded by opposing QB throws…

[Sky]

Let's not forget that they were also a bobble away from making it, too.

[Paelos]

Oh and look, the Cowboys didn't come remotely close to winning.  How delicious.  What a fugly game though - all those penalties made it torture to watch.

That's the kind of game where everybody deserves to lose. I think if both teams take more than 20 penalties in a game combined, they should be fined by the league to pay back the fans who had to watch such shitty football.

[Nebu]

This just in, Bill Belichick is a dick.

I don't know about that.  He's a player's coach and does what it takes to allow his players to focus on the game.  The guy is a football genius and does more preparation than about anyone in the sport. 

Like him, don't like him... he's damn good at what he does and players want to play for him. 

[Sky]

I didn't say it was a bad thing.

[Nebu]

I didn't say it was a bad thing.

I'll keep that in mind the next time you call me a dick. 

[Nevermore]

Ronnie Brown is out for the rest of the year.

[Cyrrex]

Ronnie Brown is out for the rest of the year.

Which is good news when you have Ricky Williams in your Fantasy Football starting lineup like I do!

[MrHat]

Ronnie Brown is out for the rest of the year.

Which is good news when you have Ricky Williams in your Fantasy Football starting lineup like I do!

::rageface::

[Nevermore]

I don't have either Brown or Williams on my fantasy team.  I'm just sad because I'm a fan of the Fins and Brown is a lot of fun to watch.  It's especially sad because of that horrible knee injury he came back from.  At least this foot injury isn't supposed to have any long-term effects.  Hopefully it won't affect the Fins resigning him in the off season.

[Rasix]

How does Carolina's offensive coordinator still have a job?  "Hey, we're gashing these guys bad on the ground.  HEAVE IT UP, JAKE." 12 carries for DeAngelo Williams?  

[HaemishM]

TWELVE CARRIES? I didn't watch the game, but really? How does that Panthers team not keep it on the ground. Does John Fox just not remember how much they punched it up the gut over and over with Stephen Davis in their Super Bowl year, and how Jake Delhomme was great with that style of offense?

[Cyrrex]

Is there such thing as an NFL team that gets down by a couple touchdowns and doesn't abandon the run?  Rhetorical, no need to answer.

[Paelos]

Is there such thing as an NFL team that gets down by a couple touchdowns and doesn't abandon the run?  Rhetorical, no need to answer.

The Saints. They never had the run to begin with. And it just doesn't seem to matter.

[Trippy]

As I stated earlier the Saints have one of the best running games in the league right now. You just don't hear that much about it because 1) they don't have a featured back (their best rusher has ~1/3 of their total rushing yardage) and 2) they have Drew Brees.

[Paelos]

As I stated earlier the Saints have one of the best running games in the league right now. You just don't hear that much about it because 1) they don't have a featured back (their best rusher has ~1/3 of their total rushing yardage) and 2) they have Drew Brees.

They have the best scoring rushers in the game right now because they get set up by Brees. However, they do well overall because they are a 3 headed counter-punch to the defense overplaying the pass.

[Tannhauser]

I'm amazed at Young and the Titans turn-around.  What bothers me though is the 86-year old owner made Jeff Fisher put Young in and they've won, what 4 straight?  I've always been a Fisher fan but now I'm really doubtful. 

[Paelos]

I'm amazed at Young and the Titans turn-around.  What bothers me though is the 86-year old owner made Jeff Fisher put Young in and they've won, what 4 straight?  I've always been a Fisher fan but now I'm really doubtful. 

I can see where both sides are coming from. Vince had his shot with the Titans in 06-07 and had a 21-30 TD/INT ratio with 50 sacks in two seasons. Nothing about those numbers suggest he's an NFL caliber QB. We'll see if he can hold up in the long haul.