NFL 2011

[Merusk]

ZOMG Tebow actually completed a pass, and it was for a TD!

I, too, was amused at the breathless recap.

Ed: Wow just checked ESPN.com.. 28:0 in the raiders, KC game? Ow.

[Trippy]

Denver should play Orton for the first three quarters and Tebow in the 4th. I think that'll give them the best chance of winning

(only half-joking)

[Nevermore]

So my fantasy team needed a QB to cover Brady's bye this week, so earlier this week I traded DeMarco Murray for Matt Cassel because I'm just as awesome at this football stuff as Tony Sparano. 

Of course, the guy I traded him to left him on the bench which makes him even dumber than me. 

[Paelos]

I've never actually seen a team lay down in the NFL until today. That was disgusting. You could tell the coaching staff figured out they were going to win, and everyone just quit playing for the last 4 minutes of the game AND overtime.

Why would the coaching staff try to throw the game when they're all going to be fired long before they ever get to see Luck?  No, they're really just that horrible.  Why the hell are they going for 2 when they're up 12-0?  Because Sparano has no business coaching anything, that's why.

Because they've been told they are getting fired and they will get a tasty bonus if they lose every game. Who knows why? All I know is that no coach in their right mind would align their defense on a two point conversion with no linebackers to protect against a Tebow run.

[Fordel]

I am lawling at Painters 'no huddle' offense. 

[Paelos]

Yeah I'm wondering how the Colts come out for the second half.

[ghost]

I thought it was a "no offense" huddle.

[JWIV]

3rd INT for Boller and it's not even halftime yet

God damn.  I knew picking up KC's defense this weekend was going to be a decent move, but I wasn't expecting 37 points from it.

[Fordel]

So who is worse, the Dolphins blowing that 55 minute lead, or the Colts and this embarrassment tonight?

[Paelos]

So who is worse, the Dolphins blowing that 55 minute lead, or the Colts and this embarrassment tonight?

Colts. I still think the Dolphins did it on purpose.

[Nevermore]

And I still think you overestimate the competency of the Dolphins coaching staff.  Keep in mind, this is the same staff that made a trade to get Reggie Bush as their featured back before the season even started.  If they had actually been trying to lose that game at the end, they'd have somehow managed to accidentally score 2 more touchdowns. 

I think I'd say that the Colts had the worse loss, but the Dolphins are the worse team.  Indy was playing a very pissed off Saints team with something to prove after losing to Tampa the previous week.  Everyone knew the Colts were going to lose, but 62 points is a lot no matter how bad your team is.

On the other hand, the Dolphins managed to blow a 15 point lead in two minutes to a team with no wide receivers, no running backs and Tim fucking Tebow as the QB.  Any bad team can lose big to a good team.  Even some decent teams have had 40+ points dropped on them this season.  But it takes a special kind of suck to lose the way the Fins did today.

[Ingmar]

I kind of feel like the Seahawks 6-3 loss is right up there in the sad zone.

EDIT: At least Carson Palmer didn't get hurt right? 

[01101010]

I kind of feel like the Seahawks 6-3 loss is right up there in the sad zone.

EDIT: At least Carson Palmer didn't get hurt right? 

Only the Browns can actually win a game and still come out looking like losers. 

[ghost]

This Colts team may be the worst ever.  And I guess this pretty much cements the idea that Payton Manning is worth 8-10 wins just by himself.

[Azuredream]

This Colts team may be the worst ever.  And I guess this pretty much cements the idea that Payton Manning is worth 8-10 wins just by himself.

I have a hard time believing that this collapse is just because of minus one Peyton Manning.. there has to be some other things that are compounding it, not that I know what they are.

[Nebu]

Replace Aaron Rogers with Kyle Boller in Green Bay and you'd get similar results. 

Indy is getting old.  Wayne is past his prime and Addai can't stay healthy.  Manning was the duct tape holding the team together. 

[Slayerik]

I hope my 7-9 Lions prediction doesn't come true......

[Cyrrex]

I don't think so...I didn't see the whole game, but what I did see appeared to be an Atlanta D line that just tore the shit out of the Detroit O Line on that particular day.

Replace Aaron Rogers with Kyle Boller in Green Bay and you'd get similar results. 

Indy is getting old.  Wayne is past his prime and Addai can't stay healthy.  Manning was the duct tape holding the team together. 

I can't quiite go along with the comparison to Green Bay, but otherwise, yeah.  I think Indy's D has been very suspect, and the lack of having a sustainable offense on the field just magnifies things.  Payton makes them better just by keeping them off the field.

[Fordel]

They had a pretty damning statistic on the TV during that game, where Indy hasn't won a single fucking game if Manning wasn't playing. Like, ever.

[Paelos]

Indy is happy to lose at this point. They and Miami and going to try and out-shitty each other.

I think Indy blinks first. Their losing schedule has more craptacular opponents.

[ghost]

Who is going to win the Andrew Luck bowl?

[Paelos]

I still think it would be hilarious if Andrew just said, Nah I'm not going to come out this season. I really want the degree.


EDIT: Also congratulations to SF on wrapping up their division title without playing a game yesterday!

[01101010]

I still think it would be hilarious if Andrew just said, Nah I'm not going to come out this season. I really want the degree.


EDIT: Also congratulations to SF on wrapping up their division title without playing a game yesterday!

I think he is done with his degree this year IIRC...hence why he stayed this past year.

[ghost]

I seriously doubt he stays.  If he gets his degree, which I believe he will, he would need his head examined to stick around.

[HaemishM]

Another crazy fucking weekend in the NFL.

The Raiders and Carson Palmer - shit. At least I was justified in saying that Kyle Boller is shit, and at least Palmer has the excuse of having all of 4 days to learn the playbook. Losing McFadden was likely a HUGE issue in this game, but still, they can't be this bad a team, can they? KC seems to have learned how to play defense at the very least.

The Atlanta-Detroit game was a good one. Where was this Atlanta team all year? They haven't looked this good on either side of the ball in any game I've seen them play. Their defense teed off on Stafford, thanks to the Lions not really having much of a running game to be concerned about. I don't think Atlanta's running game was spectacular, but it did what it needed to when it needed it. The Lions better hope Best gets back soon, because they need SOMEONE to run the ball at least a little bit. Or catch the ball out of the backfield, because a lot of their short passes should have been caught today but weren't.

San Diego is really not a good 4-2 team. Both the Pats and the Jets defense handled Rivers and this offense. The Jets controlled the Chargers running game, and their coverage on Vincent Jackson was really good. The Chargers run defense couldn't stop Greene and even their coverage was soft. Can NO ONE cover Plaxico? Throw some sweat pants at him, see if he flinches. With KC finding some form, and the Raiders looking very suspect without McFadden, the AFC West may actually be up for grabs. I still don't think this is a great Jets team, but the Chargers are probably a 9-7 team, 10-6 at best.

The Rams... sigh. This team shouldn't be this bad. Not having Bradford hurt, but I really think is is the offensive system as much as anything else.

Green Bay tried to lose the game to the Vikes, but their defense toughened up in the end. Christian Ponder looked really good but the offensive system and the lack of any weapons in the passing game are going to hinder him. Percy Harvin is the best receiver on that team, everyone else is just shit. They don't seem willing to throw the ball deep, though Ponder looks like he could pull it off if he had anyone open. Rodgers is the man, and James Starks is really starting to come into his own.

I'm so glad I didn't make any attempt to watch the Colts game. That's not even goddamn funny. The scariest part is that if you look at the box score, the Colts were balanced on offense (23 running plays, 22 passes) and Brown got 89 yards on 10 carries. But a total of 45 offensive plays isn't going to get it done. They can't hold the ball and their defense can't get off the field. Amazing how bad this team is without Manning, and I think they may have just given up.

The fucking Dolphins - could they be worse than the Colts? Losing to goddamn Tim Tebow in his first start after shutting him out for 3 quarters is just horrible. Now I get to hear how Tim Tebow is the Broncos' savior or some shit. Shoot me fucking now. They get Detroit next week, so I look forward to seeing Suh eat his liver.

[ghost]

they can't be this bad a team, can they?

It is the Raiders, so it's not surprising. 

[Fordel]

One of the better statistics of the Colts/Saints game, is the saints didn't have a THIRD down till like the third or fourth quarter?

[Merusk]

They had a pretty damning statistic on the TV during that game, where Indy hasn't won a single fucking game if Manning wasn't playing. Like, ever.

One of the guys in the office made a point of asking that while the offense was built entirely around Manning, what's the defense's excuse?

[Fordel]

The defense having to play 4 times the normal amount in a game probably didn't help any.

[Paelos]

The Atlanta-Detroit game was a good one. Where was this Atlanta team all year? They haven't looked this good on either side of the ball in any game I've seen them play. Their defense teed off on Stafford, thanks to the Lions not really having much of a running game to be concerned about. I don't think Atlanta's running game was spectacular, but it did what it needed to when it needed it. The Lions better hope Best gets back soon, because they need SOMEONE to run the ball at least a little bit. Or catch the ball out of the backfield, because a lot of their short passes should have been caught today but weren't.

You were watching a different game than me, I think. I couldn't get over how bad everyone looked in that Falcons game. For starters, there were 21 penalties in that game for 161 yards. It was very sloppy on both sides of the ball. Second, Stafford was complete shit that entire game and it wasn't just the defense. He went 15/32, and couldn't convert a 3rd down to save his life. He took 3 sacks, but was only hit 5 times. It was like the clock in his head was a second too fast and he made a lot of terrible passes. What's shocking to me was that the runningbacks were averaging almost 5 yards a carry, but for some reason the Lions insisted on passing it 32 times compared to 20 runs. I don't get that kind of playcalling. The worst was when a 20 yard run set up a first and goal, and the Lions threw it 3 times in a row for nothing, then kicked a FG.

Ryan overthrew everyone all game. He tossed two picks to one TD, and one of those picks was over the head of Tony Gonzalez, who is 6'5". By the end of the game, Ryan had a 63 passer rating, but the Falcons won because their FG kicker is Mr. Automatic right now.

[Trippy]

They had a pretty damning statistic on the TV during that game, where Indy hasn't won a single fucking game if Manning wasn't playing. Like, ever.

One of the guys in the office made a point of asking that while the offense was built entirely around Manning, what's the defense's excuse?

The D is built to play with a lead so Freeney and Mathis can tee off on the QB. They also have a very young and inexperienced secondary.

[HaemishM]

The Falcons had lots of penalties, but unlike every other game I've seen them play this year, their defense actually got to the QB. And as for Stafford's problems, there were plenty of catchable balls his receivers just dropped. I didn't say the Falcons looked great, but they've looked so goddamn shitty the entire year, this was an improvement. The team just isn't as good this year, though I can't explain why.

[Velorath]

Who is going to win the Andrew Luck bowl?

Because nothing is guaranteed to turn a team around better than throwing a rookie QB out there on a crap team.  Luck's only value to the dregs of the league is as trading material.  The Rams right now are living proof that even if Luck is able to make the transition to the NFL, drafting a good QB isn't enough to turn a team around, and risks getting him injured playing behind a shitty O-line.

[Ingmar]

Who is going to win the Andrew Luck bowl?

Because nothing is guaranteed to turn a team around better than throwing a rookie QB out there on a crap team.  Luck's only value to the dregs of the league is as trading material.  The Rams right now are living proof that even if Luck is able to make the transition to the NFL, drafting a good QB isn't enough to turn a team around, and risks getting him injured playing behind a shitty O-line.

Carolina strikes me as something of a counter-example. Sure, they're not winning *yet* but Newton has turned that franchise from a pit of doom and gloom to one with real upside.

[Velorath]

Who is going to win the Andrew Luck bowl?

Because nothing is guaranteed to turn a team around better than throwing a rookie QB out there on a crap team.  Luck's only value to the dregs of the league is as trading material.  The Rams right now are living proof that even if Luck is able to make the transition to the NFL, drafting a good QB isn't enough to turn a team around, and risks getting him injured playing behind a shitty O-line.

Carolina strikes me as something of a counter-example. Sure, they're not winning *yet* but Newton has turned that franchise from a pit of doom and gloom to one with real upside.

The Rams looked the same way last season.  They went from winning one game in 2009 to winning 7 in 2010 with Bradford who set a record for most completed passes by a rookie QB.  And yet here they are a year later winless, with Bradford out with a high ankle sprain.