NFL 2014

[Paelos]

John Harbaugh doesn't even make the list if Denver knocks down a pass. I don't think he belongs there at all.

I'd have Pete second. No way Seattle wins without him. At all.

Bruce is probably overrated just because Arizona happened to be relevant now.

Payton should be way higher. The Saints lost him for one year and they turned into hot garbage. Remove him and Drew Brees from that team, and they go 1-15. The one would be a win against the Falcons.

[Trippy]

Grats to the Cowboys for their first winning season since 2009

[sickrubik]

Remove him and Drew Brees from that team, and they go 1-15. The one would be a win against the Falcons.

Remove the star QB and the good head coach and they would be crap? Of course? Not sure you couldn't say that about any team, so not really sure that's a point.

[Segoris]

Bruce is probably overrated just because Arizona happened to be relevant now.

Um, what? He turned Indy around as an interim coach. He turned around Ari from 6-10 (or was it 5-11?) to 10-6 the next year with lots of injuries on the team but was overshadowed by Sea and SF (both had much stronger rosters), missing the playoffs with a 10-6 record. And he is currently coaching a team of 2nd/3rd stringers due to mass amounts of injuries while still holding 1st place and he's somehow overrated?

IMO he should be #2, with only Payton being able to contend for that spot

[Paelos]

Remove him and Drew Brees from that team, and they go 1-15. The one would be a win against the Falcons.

Remove the star QB and the good head coach and they would be crap? Of course? Not sure you couldn't say that about any team, so not really sure that's a point.

My point is that the Saints are surviving because of an amazing QB and coach. They are terrible in basically everything else they do right now.

I don't mean put in backups when I say that, I just mean give them an average NFL starting QB and coach, and I think the Saints go 1-15. Like if they had Tannehill and Miami's head coach. The rest of the Saints parts are awful.

[HaemishM]

But you literally could say that about Green Bay, New England, and Denver too. They may not be 1-15 bad, but we already saw what Denver did without a QB.

[Paelos]

But you literally could say that about Green Bay, New England, and Denver too. They may not be 1-15 bad, but we already saw what Denver did without a QB.

You've isolated why I think most of those teams haven't won Super Bowls recently. The last time Green Bay did it was because their team was much better. The defense alone was #2 in the league. It's why I keep saying I don't expect Green Bay in the Super Bowl this year.

Teams with decent QBs and coaches have been winning Super Bowls in the last three years, beating some of those teams.

[Paelos]

Saints. Good lord.

[Tannhauser]

Go Lions go! In other new, good lord the Titans suck. The Jake Locker Era needs to end this year.  He's been there seven years of injury and incompetence. 

[Nevermore]

I thought the Locker era was over, it just got resurrected when Mettenberger was injured.  So now it's the Zombie Locker era.

[Malakili]

I don't know if anyone is watching the Patriots game, but if that hit by Browner is illegal then I guess you just have to let receivers catch the ball now.

[Ginaz]

I don't know if anyone is watching the Patriots game, but if that hit by Browner is illegal then I guess you just have to let receivers catch the ball now.

It seems DB's are getting screwed with more calls against them this year than I've ever seen.  The NFL seems to believe offence is what sells tickets and gets eyeballs to watch on TV.

[Mithas]

The only thing I'll say to that is, why did he aim for the head/neck area? I agree it probably wasn't a penalty, but seeing that live at full speed you could make an argument for it. I think so much second guessing of officials comes from the ability to see everything in super slow-mo and from a billion different camera angles. If Browner would have just gone lower he would have still jarred the ball lose and wouldn't have been called for a penalty.

[HaemishM]

Just when you think the NFC South can't get anymore pathetic, it does. 41-10. At New Orleans. There's just no excuse for losing that bad to the Panthers at home.

The Browner hit on Green was perfectly legal and should never have been flagged. I can see how the refs at live speed might have misread it as a blow to the head, but it simply wasn't. And frankly, I don't know how the fuck they expect guys to defend receivers with all the chances for them to get flagged for perfectly legal contact. It was a hard hit but it was clean. The rest of the game was  How bad could two offenses with "elite QB's" look? Real real bad.

Seattle exposed Chip Kelly's achilles heel. Mark Sanchez is a shitty QB even in a system that favors QB's. He'll do fine against shitty teams but any team with a good pass rush or defensive secondary or both will eat him alive. And if that defense can also stop the run, he's hosed. Seattle has their mojo back and I have to keep rooting for the Cardinals to win so that Seattle doesn't get an automatic home game in the playoffs.

The slaughter tonight will be glorious.

[Malakili]

The only thing I'll say to that is, why did he aim for the head/neck area?

He didn't.  He hit him in the shoulder/chest.  Maybe his shoulder pad touched the facemask a little I guess, but it was not a blow to the head/neck area unless your chest and shoulder now count as the head/neck area.  But we're talking about an inch or two difference between what he did and hitting him square in the chest.  He's also 6'4'' and both players are moving fast.  I'm willing to accept that they are just saying blows to the head will always result in a penalty. But they are bordering on just starting to call any hit that just looks too hard,  which is ridiculous.  He clearly went out of his way to make a legal hit, and still got called.  Might as well just aim for the head and knock a key player out of the game with a concussion, you're going to get the 15 yard penalty anyway.

[Mithas]

So you're telling me he couldn't have gone lower here?



I'm not saying it wasn't a legal hit, it was. The point is at full speed it sure looked like it wasn't. He goes lower there and there is no problem.

[Paelos]

Or you know, FUCKING WRAP UP INSTEAD OF SHOULDER CHECKING A GUY.

Drives me nuts. You almost never see a flag for a wrapped up tackle. But these fools never want to do that. He deserved not getting the benefit of the doubt.

[HaemishM]

Sure he could have gone lower... but he performed a legal hit. He contorted his body a bit to make sure he didn't hit the head. I mean, what else is a guy supposed to do? Injure himself to make sure he doesn't accidentally go 1 inch too high? It's a legal hit, but the rules are so cloudy and the refs have been instructed to be so sensitive, he's got no way to know if a hit is going to get him flagged, fined and suspended or not.

[Mithas]

I agree it is cloudy. So why let the refs be cloudy? GO LOWER.

[Rasix]

If you're going to try and blow someone up or deliver that kind of hit, you run the risk of getting flagged.  It's just that simple at this point.  At least with a non-QB you can go low, so there's no risk in just going lower and making sure your shoulder isn't up into their chin.

At full speed that hit looked pretty nasty.  It would be nice if they could take a look at those hits when it's a borderline issue.  At least they can look at them in college, but that's because of the targeting rules. In college you get ejected if you target.  Is it the same thing in the pros?

[Chimpy]

I did not see the hit except the photo above. That photo makes it appear that he hit the guy like a torpedo with his arms at his sides instead of out in front to "wrap up" the guy which at full speed will always look very close to spearing which has been illegal for decades.

Instead of trying to knock people over like bowling pins they should try to tackle them.

[Malakili]

Or you know, FUCKING WRAP UP INSTEAD OF SHOULDER CHECKING A GUY.

He wasn't trying to tackle him, he was trying to knock the ball loose - which he did.

But I think you guys all seem to get it anyway - the penalty was called because the hit looked really nasty and the guy was injured.  Well fuck, I guess we might as well just start playing flag football and be done with it.

[Paelos]

He wasn't trying to tackle him

Exactly. And his job is to play defense, which means you are supposed to tackle people. Not launch at them like a dumbass. You can literally finish the sentence with anything you want, it won't make it fine it my book.

He wasn't trying to tackle him, he was pondering his next contract.
He wasn't trying to tackle him, he saw a chick in the crowd he thought was hot.
He wasn't trying to tackle him, he was just going to play a game called just the tip.

[Trippy]

So you're telling me he couldn't have gone lower here?


I'm not saying it wasn't a legal hit, it was. The point is at full speed it sure looked like it wasn't. He goes lower there and there is no problem.

Basically. It looked to the ref who flagged it like there was helmet-to-helmet contact, especially with the way Green's head moved on contact. And that sort of call is not reviewable. That may change for next year.

[Malakili]

He wasn't trying to tackle him

Exactly. And his job is to play defense, which means you are supposed to tackle people. Not launch at them like a dumbass. You can literally finish the sentence with anything you want, it won't make it fine it my book.

So I guess the fact that the play resulted in a patriots touchdown, penalty excepted, isn't good defense to you. K.  Got it.

[Paelos]

Nope. It's not.

Because what he's doing isn't fundamentally sound, and if you asked the people making these rules it's exactly the hit they are trying to get rid of. The launching, no arms up, shoulder checking type of hits on receivers at full speed. Because those are a fucking trainwreck waiting to happen no matter where you get hit. It's much much more dangerous to everyone involved, instead of a guy actually wrapping up with some body control.

[Malakili]

It's much much more dangerous to everyone involved

Maybe it's because I come from a background in Hockey, but these are what I call clean hard hits.

[Mithas]

It's much much more dangerous to everyone involved

Maybe it's because I come from a background in Hockey, but these are what I call clean hard hits.

Hockey is changing its rules for the same reason football is.

[Malakili]

Yes, when it comes to targeting the head.  But not when it comes to just flat out leveling someone cleanly.  Which is what this was.

[Paelos]

My understanding is you aren't allowed to leave your skates on those hits. These players are launching at people. It's not the same.

[01101010]

Hockey is fine and all because you can't tackle someone outright. Football, tackling is the end result. Leave checking to the ice skaters.

[Trippy]

The Packers might want to think about double covering Jones.

[Paelos]

If the Falcons had a remotely functional defense, they could win this game.

But they have a negative pass rush. QB's thrive in that pass rush. A good one like Rodgers annihilates it.

[Chimpy]

The Green Bay defense played pretty well in the first half but this second half has just been pitiful.

Also is always fun to have the umpire running the screen for the other team twice in one drive.

[WayAbvPar]

A good defensive team that can do ANYTHING on offense will shit all over the Packers in the playoffs. They are a paper tiger.