NFL 2013

[Bungee]

Norv Turner's moving to Minnesota; so now the Browns are short a HC and an OC.

I wonder if they've considered giving Rob Chudzynski his old job back yet...

Seems Gase is out as well...

http://tracking.si.com/2014/01/18/adam-gase-likely-to-turn-down-browns/

Horton's gone too.
Meanwhile Munchak was interviewing for the Steelers' vacant OL coach position.

[sickrubik]

Well, at least for Gase, it sounds like he's not open to going ANYWHERE, which is awesome.

Also, I'm ready for the game now. Got the most important thing this morning.

[sickrubik]

I am on cruise control to drunkenness.

IN COM PLETE

[Shannow]

Talib bails out of another AFC championship. wtf.

[sickrubik]

WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO.

[Tannhauser]

The Broncos look fucking terrifying.  400 yards, no turnovers, and pressure all day.

[sickrubik]

[Paelos]

Got the matchup I wanted. Jim Harbaugh gets to take his trantrum-tossing $8 pants back to SF. Good riddance.

[Mithas]

Got the matchup I wanted. Jim Harbaugh gets to take his trantrum-tossing $8 pants back to SF. Good riddance.

Agree. Good games today. No Harbaugh and no Belichick will make for an enjoyable Super Bowl.

Also - that knee/leg injury to Bowman was nasty.

[sickrubik]

Went to a Niner's bar after the Broncos game. :( Cleared out fast. Suddenly become a broncos bar.

Can not wait to post 34+ on the Chickens.

[Paelos]

For once the Power Rankings were spot on all year. This is the best matchup wire-to-wire all season.

[slog]

[Furiously]

Hey. More importantly..  I called the superrbowl before the Seahawks started playing!. That's not too bad for my first post in sports.

[sickrubik]

Yeah, whomever did that edit on Wikipedia can go fuck themselves.

[Tannhauser]

Huh.  The best defense in the league is in the Superbowl.  Go figure.

What a great matchup, Peyton vs. that Seattle D.  No doubt the two best teams are in the SB this year.

Also, Harbaugh and Richard Sherman are punks.

[Bungee]

Edit: I'm retracting what I said here. I really thought it was a colleague of mine who came up with that...

[Nebu]

I know this may get some hate, but I think that was a game that Alex Smith could have won.  He has a much more conservative passing style and wouldn't have given the ball away.  This is the price of Kaepernick.  If you can keep him contained, he's not much of a stategic leader.  I'm not sure if this is his inexperience showing or just a gap in his skill set.

[Cyrrex]

I get why you say that, but I don't exactly agree.  Alex is probably a better QB overall (IMO), but against that defense he would have been almost no improvement in the passing game, and far less effective on the ground.  The reason I think this is because Alex is a dink and dunk passer, checkdown extraordinaire, and that is exactly what does not tend to work against Seattle's D....they are too good at making the tackle on those short routes.

This is actually why the matchup against Denver is really, really interesting.  Seattle is great at the tight-man defense, and Denver has absolutely lived off those short routes and getting yards after the catch.  Which is playing to Seattle's strengths.  I think it will all come down to how much pressure they can get on Manning.  History has shown that if you can get pressure on him, and play really tight man-to-man at the same time, you can get him to make mistakes.  There's a reason he has this post-season knock on him.  Anyway, if he is afforded enough time, he will tear up any NFL defense, including Seattle.  If they can get consistent pressure on him, I think Seattle wins.

[Paelos]

I know this may get some hate, but I think that was a game that Alex Smith could have won.  He has a much more conservative passing style and wouldn't have given the ball away.  This is the price of Kaepernick.  If you can keep him contained, he's not much of a stategic leader.  I'm not sure if this is his inexperience showing or just a gap in his skill set.

I've been saying this since he got in the league, but Kaepernick isn't a real QB. He's an athlete that can make some throws. When forced to actually throw in the playoff games, he had a 74 combined QB rating. When facing a remotely competent defense, he's been very bad. Against Seattle he's had ratings of 20.1, 67.5, and 56.4. Against Indy (a terrible defense) he had a 49.9 rating. He posted a 42 rating against a Carolina team that only managed 10 points.

I don't buy him, I don't buy RG3, I don't really buy Cam, and I don't buy Russell. I don't buy the "new school" of QB. I don't buy any QB that can't put up 3,500 yards in the air consistently in one of the most wide open passing leagues in the land. Russell has a chance to prove me wrong, but I'm betting it will be his defense and running game that does it, not him. I think if you put Russell on Denver, they aren't even in the playoffs.

Alex Smith posted a 119.7 rating in a playoff game and lost because his defense gave it away. Alex Smith is a QB I would put on any team missing the QB piece and he would improve them, I think, but perhaps not dominate.

EDIT: I do buy Andrew Luck. I do buy Matt Ryan if he wasn't on the god-awful Falcons. I do buy Ryan Tannehill and think he has room to improve, but I'm afraid Miami may hinder that.

[HaemishM]

I'm not sold on either Wilson or Kap - I think they have been consistently overrated because of the teams they are on. Granted, Kap just absolutely DESTROYED Green Bay last year with his legs, but his passing game still isn't there. When Crabtree was out this year, they only had good passing games against teams with bad defenses like that first game against Green Bay. And that game in particular was because of Boldin constantly getting open. You put Wilson or Kap on Atlanta this year, they would get SLAUGHTERED because of how bad the O line and running game is. Wilson in particular didn't look great yesterday but he made a few big passing plays (in no small part because his wideouts caught passes that could easily have been picked).

Keep in mind both these guys are essentially second year players and most experts on the position say it takes 3 years to really get it at the NFL level. So they have time. But yes, they would not be pro bowlers on shitty teams.

[Paelos]

NFL Thread in Review:

[Nebu]

My comment on Schaub may be the only correct thing I've said in the entire thread this year.

[Megrim]

I know this may get some hate, but I think that was a game that Alex Smith could have won.  He has a much more conservative passing style and wouldn't have given the ball away.  This is the price of Kaepernick.  If you can keep him contained, he's not much of a stategic leader.  I'm not sure if this is his inexperience showing or just a gap in his skill set.

The fault for that was entirely on the play caller for the 49ers, not Kaepernik (unless it was him who called the play). When you have 1st and what, 15-ish with three time-outs and 45 seconds to go, why the eff would you call for a deep corner route? It was a completely braindead call.

[Ingmar]

Kaep should still have either thrown it away or checked down when he saw the coverage. He's not yet making the right decisions in these situations.

[K9]

NFL Thread in Review:

<snip>

Hah, thanks for taking the time to do that, you made me smile.

[Megrim]

Kaep should still have either thrown it away or checked down when he saw the coverage. He's not yet making the right decisions in these situations.

Well yea, but why make the inexperienced QB have to make that choice? The coach needed to be wiser.

[Paelos]

NFL Thread in Review:

<snip>

Hah, thanks for taking the time to do that, you made me smile.

Thanks, I think it's fun to look back on a year and see the wild predictions after the fact. Some are spot on, some are way off, and some are downright hilarious.

[Rasix]

Mine wasn't much of a prognostication.  It was a certainty. 

[Paelos]

There was actually a really robust debate on Ponder that looks completely silly now.

[K9]

We should have a bold prediction/sane prediction theme to kick off the 2014 thread! 

[Nevermore]

Well, the Steelers proved me wrong by making it all the way to .500! 

[HaemishM]

There was actually a really robust debate on Ponder that looks completely silly now.

Who knew he really was as bad as Blaine Gabbert? I figured with Jennings and Patterson, he'd at least be able to complete 55% of his passes.

[Sjofn]

Well, the Steelers proved me wrong by making it all the way to .500! 

Don't YOU feel silly!

[WayAbvPar]

Radio call of the Smith INT. Worth it for the strangled scream that Warren Moon (the color guy) does mid-call 

[Paelos]

NFL ruled on the Welker hit that Belichick called the worst play he's seen. NFL decided it wasn't even a penalty, and that Belichick should cut out the butthurt.