NFL 2012

[HaemishM]

Yep, exactly why a team like the '10 Packers, '11 Giants, '06 Colts, '09 Saints, '08 Steelers were such good teams. They got after the QB and got turnovers.

[ghost]

The two sentences directly after the quote I posted:

Six teams (2011 Giants, 2010 Packers, 2008 Steelers, 2007 Giants, 2005 Steelers, 2004 Patriots, 2003 Patriots) ranked in the top three in the league in sacks. Only one team ranked in the bottom half, the 2006 Colts. (But that Colts team did sack Tom Brady three times in the AFC championship game to finally get past their nemesis.)

[Paelos]

Well as I've pointed out, the Saints (and also the Colts since the article mentions it) are the two blatantly offensive teams that don't really match up with those metrics.

[ghost]

But the Colts and the Saints were spectacular offensive teams.  It really seems to come down to two things:

1.  Your "specialty", i.e. offense or defense, has to be badass

2.  Your lesser talent has to be okay and probably excel at a particular aspect of the game, e.g. special teams, turnovers, whatever. 

[Paelos]

Yeah I said that like a page ago. 

There's a simple reality about what it takes to win a championship (with a couple of notable exceptions). You have to have one outstanding half of your game (be it offense or defense), and a passable version of the opposing half.

[ghost]

Stop agreeing with me, motherfucker.  I'm trying to have an argument here.   

[cmlancas]

When the Bucs beat the Raiders, this was most certainly the case.  Brad Johnson was in the game to not lose it, not to make plays.

[Bunk]

Well, that was almost unwatchable. I have Cutler in my pool. At the half, I believe he was at negative 4.5 fantasy points. Sad thing is, most of it wasn't his fault.

[WayAbvPar]

Watching Jay Cutler fail (and whine about it) is one of the great joys of the NFL. God he is a cunt.

[shiznitz]

He is indeed the cuntliest.  Or would you say cuntiest?

[sickrubik]

Cuntler, obviously.

[HaemishM]

Watching Jay Cutler fail (and whine about it) is one of the great joys of the NFL. God he is a cunt.

Oh the joy I had last night.

First off, is the Bears offensive line the absolute worst in the NFL? Maybe, though I haven't watched the Rams, Cardinals or Jags yet. Safe to say that they are pretty fucking awful though. Of course, the first sack on Cutler by DJ Smith wasn't the O line's fault, it was Matt Forte. He apparently decided that turning sideways was the proper way to block a rampaging linebacker. He owes Cutler a dinner out of that one. Cutler's INT's were about half his fault, half the fault of an O Line that kept him running for his life all fucking night. No excuse for him being such a cunt as to bump and shove his linemen. Maybe Brady's just as much of a cunt, but Cutler has the doucheface, so you want to punch him before he even opens his mouth. He is a whiny twat, though.

Also, I could watch Brandon Marshall dropping wide open touchdown passes all fucking night. I think halfway through the act of catching, he thought to himself "Have I slapped a bitch today? I don't think I have. Maybe there's a slappable bitch in the stands. What's CuntyMcTwat over there yelling at me about? Oh the football? Fuck it, I'm getting paid anyway. Now about that bitch-slapping... I probably should throw in some choking while I'm at it. I ain't choked a bitch in months."

I feel much better about the Packers D than last week. They showed up, they got INT's, they got sacks in bunches. They actually COVERED people. Granted, it's only the Bears's receivers, but they Marshall only got open a few times all night. Good to see Jerel Worthy and DJ Smith able to pressure the QB, which let Matthews run wild. Next week is Seattle, so they ought to be able to cover that pack, and be able to throw a rookie QB off his game.

What worries me still is the Packers' receivers. Did someone replace all their hands with bricks? I don't think they dropped as many passes in the first 14 games of last season as they did since the playoff loss last year. Just fucking dreadful. It was good to see they committed to the run with Benson and stuck with it, but shit, Rodgers can't do diddly if his guys are dropping 4 and 5 balls a game.

jwiv tweeted me last night to say that the NFL announcers were awful, and yes, they fucking were. From mispronouncing Masthay's name to just not shutting the fuck up to looking at replays and being dead wrong, I wanted to mute them. With a bottle. To the temple.

[ghost]

I love Randall Cobb.  You have two players from Kentucky that are really badass in Cobb and Masthay.  Masthay is amazing. 

[Paelos]

Saints and Pats are really proving my point that you can't just rely on a QB to win games. It requires you to have some semblance of a functional defense.

Baltimore's D let them down late. Vick picked them apart when back in the day the Ravens would have locked him down with a lead in the 4th quarter.

[ghost]

Go. Seahawks. 

[Paelos]

Seahawks win at home. Whoopdedo. It's not really on Dallas except for the fact they didn't run well at all. That was the difference in the game.

My guess is that Seattle probably beats GB at home as well. Even at their worst, the Seahawks play 10x better in their house than elsewhere. It's like watching entirely different teams.

Then they'll go into a furious spiral of crap on the road, get blown to pieces by NE in their house, and you're looking at a 3-5 team by November.

[shiznitz]

Eagles alone in the NFC East at 2-0.  Fuck yeah!

[JWIV]

Saints and Pats are really proving my point that you can't just rely on a QB to win games. It requires you to have some semblance of a functional defense.

Baltimore's D let them down late. Vick picked them apart when back in the day the Ravens would have locked him down with a lead in the 4th quarter.

Enh - the D wasn't great, but honestly, I don't understand the football universe that Cam Cameron lives in that has 3rd and 1 be consistently a passing down.  And when you know your QB has a rib bruise going into the second half that's affecting his accuracy and mobility, having everything be a slow developing downfield play is just   But really, I had actually turned the game off by the 4th quarter  - it was a clusterfuck and out of control. Multiple and lengthy delays of game just to figure out how to spot the ball were the least of the issues. The refs were clueless and had lost complete control of the situation by about 3 minutes into the 1st quarter and I am shocked that we didn't have a full on brawl.  Between this and the completely horrid NFL Network game on Thursday, I'm increasingly glad I've got meaningful baseball to watch - at least there I know what stupidity I'll be up against (where's the strike zone today, will you fuckers get instant replay already?)

[Malakili]

Saints and Pats are really proving my point that you can't just rely on a QB to win games. It requires you to have some semblance of a functional defense.

Baltimore's D let them down late. Vick picked them apart when back in the day the Ravens would have locked him down with a lead in the 4th quarter.

Enh - the D wasn't great, but honestly, I don't understand the football universe that Cam Cameron lives in that has 3rd and 1 be consistently a passing down.  And when you know your QB has a rib bruise going into the second half that's affecting his accuracy and mobility, having everything be a slow developing downfield play is just   But really, I had actually turned the game off by the 4th quarter  - it was a clusterfuck and out of control. Multiple and lengthy delays of game just to figure out how to spot the ball were the least of the issues. The refs were clueless and had lost complete control of the situation by about 3 minutes into the 1st quarter and I am shocked that we didn't have a full on brawl.  Between this and the completely horrid NFL Network game on Thursday, I'm increasingly glad I've got meaningful baseball to watch - at least there I know what stupidity I'll be up against (where's the strike zone today, will you fuckers get instant replay already?)

The refs did make the Eagles/Ravens game pretty atrocious to watch.  I was actually looking forward to the matchup, but ended up watching more of the Pathers/Saints.

[Paelos]

Barring injury, the 49ers still look like the best team in the NFL to me.

[MuffinMan]

Ugh Detroit looked terrible. Everywhere.

[Trippy]

It was a good weekend of football

And how about those NFC West teams?

[Ingmar]

Worst division in the league, am i rite?

=======================


Scab refs are Pac-12 bad.

EDIT: ...in fact, I'll go so far as to say they're Pac-12 basketball refs bad.

[Rasix]

Yah, they missed a lot of really obvious stuff.  It's hard to watch.

[Cyrrex]

Seahawks win at home. Whoopdedo. It's not really on Dallas except for the fact they didn't run well at all. That was the difference in the game.

My guess is that Seattle probably beats GB at home as well. Even at their worst, the Seahawks play 10x better in their house than elsewhere. It's like watching entirely different teams.

Then they'll go into a furious spiral of crap on the road, get blown to pieces by NE in their house, and you're looking at a 3-5 team by November.

I should hedge this post by repeating that I am a Seahawks fan, and have also demonstrably shown my hate for Dallas in this very thread in the past.  So that said, I lolled at your post.  The reason it is "on Dallas" is because it shows exactly what is wrong with them.  On any given Sunday, it is impossible to guess which Dallas team will show up.  In other words, despite having a better roster of players than average, they seem to be completely unpredictable. 

Also, while the Seahawks have their own issues to be sure, there are certain teams they have had these strange rivalries with....not really ones that the media talks about, but they are there nonetheless.  Dallas is one of them, because of that whole Romo dropping the snap debacle.  He has never gotten that out of his head (and Seattle knows it).  I thought he got his redemption last season, but apparently not.  Despite possibly being a better team than Seattle, I definitely give the Hawks the psychological edge in that matchup, especially at home.  I suppose every team in the NFL has these kinds weird rivalries were they just seem to play a team or even a whole division better than the others.  For Seattle, they seem to really get up for games against NFC East teams. 

[Paelos]

I disagree about Dallas being unpredictable. I think for the most part they are very predictable. For the most part, Dallas is pretty shitty on the road outside of the division. They'll play teams close at times, but their record on the road outside the NFC East over the last 3 seasons? 7-9.

[ghost]

It was just a shitty performance by Dallas.  They should be able to win that game. 

[Paelos]

I agree with the first part, Dallas was shitty at running the ball and special teams. My god, the special teams was wretched.

As for the second part, I'm not so sure. Seattle gets almost 70% of it's wins at home over the last 3 seasons, and they sport a winning record at home despite being 19-29 in that stretch.

[ghost]

Dallas, with the talent on the roster, should be one of the top 4 or 5 teams in the league.  I would expect them to be a mostly average Seattle team regardless of the fact that the Seahawks play better at home.  Or at least keep the game somewhat fucking competitive

[Paelos]

I think that's just you misinterpreting the matchup. The NFL isn't just about talent. Everyone is talented. They had to be talented just to make a roster slot. It's about matchups, schemes, and timing. I don't, for example, think the Giants are more talented than the Patriots across the board. I think they have huge advantages in their X's and O's matchups. They can do the things that makes the talented people on the Patriots uncomfortable, while they can't do it against a team like the Skins (a team they ARE more talented than).

I mean look at the Baltimore game last season. You have a Ravens team that was 3 points from the Super Bowl. They were immensely talented. They were 6-2 heading into Seattle against a 2-6 team, and they LOST. Why? Because Seattle absolutely destroys the run at home. They held Ray Rice to 27 yards. Nobody else did that all season. It was a matchup thing, and they had the scheme to beat what the Ravens wanted to do that day.

[shiznitz]

And the Ravens failed to adjust.  That is a coaching failure.

[ghost]

And the Ravens failed to adjust.  That is a coaching failure.

Or a failure of the personell to give a shit, which appears to be a large part of the Cowboys' failure.

[Paelos]

Or a failure of the personell to give a shit, which appears to be a large part of the Cowboys' failure.

Based on what exactly? It's week TWO. If they are 4-7 in Week 11 and look lackluster, fine, but you're being ridiculous.

[ghost]

Would you expect anything else when we're discussing a team I loathe?   

[HaemishM]

Barring injury, the 49ers still look like the best team in the NFL to me.

Yes. Alex Smith is not only a competent QB, he might actually be good - especially when he's playing on a team that doesn't force him to be the main man. He'll never be a Brady, Rodgers, or a Manning (either one) but so long as Frank Gore still has two legs and the defense is THAT GOOD, he can win them a Super Bowl. It just took the right coach and the right talent around him to get there. Detroit, OTOH, is fucked up right now. Matthew Stafford does not look comfortable throwing the ball. It didn't help that they blanketed the shit out of Calvin Johnson in this game, but still, this is a 5000 yard QB last year and he doesn't look like it through 2 games. 4 INT's? He's never been low on the INT total but he hasn't been that bad. Especially when you consider he threw 3 of those against the goddamn Rams. The big takeaway though is that the 49ers defense is fucking incredibly good. Like 2001 Ravens Super Bowl team good.

Oh Saints - I'm glad I didn't watch this game. Their defense does indeed appear to be dogshit and their offense is all over the place.

Both Mark Sanchez and Joe Flacco showed up as their real selves today. Well, they showed up as the Hyde part of their Jekyll and Hyde selves. These two really are hot and cold QB's, and it's why I think neither of them will make the Super Bowl without some serious help. The Jets showed why I think they are destined to be an 8-8 team. Their wideouts are shit. I don't think any of their wide receivers caught a pass after the 1st quarter (at the very least they didn't in the 2nd and 3rd quarters). Their running game isn't strong enough to carry the team, and Greene is too inconsistent to be that feature back Ryan wants him to be. What's behind him isn't better. Santonio Holmes is inconsistent. The Steelers however, aren't much better, despite the big margin. Their running game is also pretty weak, and Todd Haley's offensive system is showing why he's back to being an O coordinator instead of the KC head coach. The Steelers defense also still doesn't look that convincing to me but that's likely because I don't think the Jets are as good as they played against Buffalo last week.

The Redskins defense is better than they've shown, or maybe the Rams are better than anyone thinks they should be. Losing that game because one dolt of a wide receiver can't control his temper is really shitty. Also, either RGIII is the real deal, or both the Rams and the Saints have TERRIBLE defenses. Their next two opponents (Cincy and Tampa) are supposed to have better defenses but Tampa gave up 25 in the second half to a Giants team with no running game, and Cincy let CLEVELAND get 27, so who knows? They still have 2 games against the Cowboys and 2 against the Giants, as well as a game against the Ravens, but otherwise their schedule is not filled with defensive juggernauts.

EDIT: The Cowboys entire roster is overrated - except maybe for their defensive front. No one on that team has shown CONSISTENT performance week in week out other than Ware and Witten. And Witten is getting old as is his spleen. Romo is always on the cusp of being the next Favre but he's been more like early Favre than accomplished Favre. He still has time, though maybe not with the Cowboys.