NFL 2014

[Trippy]

Like the Patriots?

[WayAbvPar]

GB won't make it that far, but if they did the Pats would SHRED them in Arizona. Last week was very conservative from BB.

[Mithas]

Good god did the Packer's defense melt down in the second half. Keep playing like that and the playoffs will not be pretty.

NFC South will not have a champion with a winning record. I think it would be hilarious if someone gets in at 6-10.

[Malakili]

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.

Browner did not leave his feet for that hit.  He did get knocked off his feet after the impact.

[HaemishM]

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

I've been saying this all season. They ONLY hope the Packers have is to get home field advantage and even then... a good defense with a credible offense beats them like a drum unless something strange happens. Julio Jones is an absolute freak. The fact that the Packers just could not fucking cover him ALL GODDAMN NIGHT is ridiculous. You could see he'd be a problem from the get go. It's not like Atlanta has anyone else to throw to that's a true threat. Triple team that motherfucker and make the Falcons beat you with Roddy White.

Dom Capers does not adjust well in-game at all.

[WayAbvPar]

JJ is indeed a freak. He clowned Patrick Peterson last week too. Kid can play.

[shiznitz]

Like the Patriots?

Or the Eagles?   

[HaemishM]

Eagles had Mark Sanchez. That doesn't count. 

[Trippy]

Like the Patriots?

Or the Eagles?   

The Patriots have a top 10 defense. The Eagles aren't as good (middle of the packish).

[jgsugden]

Which team gets back to the Superbowl first: Raiders (who have further to go but are moving in the right direction) or 49ers (who are falling apart, but are closer to a complete team)?

[Surlyboi]

Niners.

[Paelos]

Raiders if they draft a functional QB this year.

[Velorath]

Superbowl? They both need to worry about getting back into the playoffs first. The Raiders haven't gone above .500 since 2002 and have only been to the playoffs three times in the last 20 years. The Niners sudden success followed by their rapid regression to mediocrity (and probably worse next season) has been like watching somebody make a sequel to Flowers for Alegernon.

[jgsugden]

Raiders if they draft a functional QB this year.

They have one in Carr.  He isn't a Luck, Brady or (good) Manning, but he can be a Dalton, Flacco or (bad) Manning: Someone that can be a leader, but not someone that can carry a team on his back.  There are about 20 positions I'd rather they draft in the first three rounds before they spent an early pick on a QB.

[Mithas]

lol Johnny Football.

[MrHat]

lol Johnny Football.

Ya.

Was it the line? What happened there.  It was...awful.  Is the CIN D back?

[Cyrrex]

A) He stunk
B) Everyone around him stunk at least as much

I watched the first three quarters of that game and most of the time was thinking to myself that those guys were deliberately tanking to make him look even worse.  I mean, he was still bad, don't get me wrong.

[01101010]

Looked like the whole team was in week 1 of a new playbook. Blocking schemes were just not there, route running was sloppy and dropped passes, and a rookie making stupid mistakes and looking every bit the part of a deer in headlights. Gordon and Cameron look like they have lost a step or two and, at times, lost. That said, the Bengals looked pretty damn good. They have to be the most bipolar team in the league right now.

Being Cleveland, the team that makes bad picks and has no skill in developing players, I'd guess they attempt to trade Johnny in the offseason because kneejerk reactions are a way of life for this team.

[Azuredream]

He was 1 for 2 passing when the Bengals were up 17-0. The Brown's D gave up 150~ rush yards in the first half. He made a bunch of mistakes as well but I'd still say the jury is out on whether he's a viable NFL QB.

[HaemishM]

Yeah, Johnny Football was fucking terrible. It wasn't just that the team around him stunk, his throws were all over the place. Most of the decent throws he made were still too high or inaccurate. The bad throws... they were just WTF You Ain't Brett Favre type of "gunslinger" throws that he clearly didn't have the arm strength to be making. Lucky for him, the way their D was laying down for the run, Favre probably wouldn't have been able to win that game either. Cincy is still going to be a one and done playoff team if they make it.

God, the NFC South. Atlanta's best hope is a 7-9 season before getting bounced in the playoffs by a good team. I want that whole division to disappear.

Green Bay shit the bed against a good defense with a credible offense on the road... just like we said they would. Forget talking about home field advantage - they have to make sure they still make the playoffs. Their margins are pretty thin and the goddamn Vikings shitty kicking game didn't do them any favors.

San Fran actually looked better yesterday than they have in weeks. They still aren't good though. Kap seemed to be determined to win the game by himself. Their running game is now shot with Gore concussed and Carlos Hyde injured. Of course, they got nothing to play for since they got eliminated from the playoffs. Hope whatever coach they get to replace Harbaugh can get along with Jed York AND coach a good team to the playoffs. Seems the former is more important than the latter.

Miami completely collapsed on their season but at least for them, Buffalo needs so much help to get the playoffs at least they won't be losing their playoff spot to an AFC East team. Good God, I hope we don't get 3 teams from the AFC North in the playoffs. That would be depressing because they are all inconsistent messes.

[Paelos]

Raiders if they draft a functional QB this year.

They have one in Carr.

The knock on Derek Carr is that he gets flustered by a decent pass rush, and that he never faced anything remotely close to an NFL defense in college. It's showing up right now.

Can he be a functional QB? Maybe, I won't say he can't, but he's absolutely not one right now at 30th in QB rating, and completing under 60% of his passes. He's making rookie mistakes, but his 18-11 TD-INT isn't making me think he's got it, especially since half of those TDs came in Q4 garbage time.

[Paelos]

God, the NFC South. Atlanta's best hope is a 7-9 season before getting bounced in the playoffs by a good team. I want that whole division to disappear.

Everyone keeps saying Atlanta or the Saints. Honestly, they are counting out the Carolina Panthers, who have a tie on the schedule. If Atlanta beats the Saints, and the Saints lose tonight on the road, Carolina is just a win over a crappy Cleveland and a crappy Atlanta team away from the playoffs.

Shit's insane.

[01101010]

Saints aren't going to go quietly. 

[Paelos]

Chicago looked, wow. Really really bad. I mean it's obvious that the coaching staff hates Cutler, Cutler hates them, and the front office needs to just move Cutler and start over. He's never going to be good there now. It's just too much against him.

Nothing really changed for the Saints other than the fact that they can clinch with a win over Atlanta. They lose that game, and suddenly it's down to Tampa, and hoping Atlanta beats Carolina. But they also have to hope Carolina doesn't win against Cleveland.

The whole thing is now a complete cockup.

[Malakili]

I haven't looked at the standings, but what is the worst record someone from that division COULD make the playoffs with? 7-9?  Is 6-10 possible given divisional matchups in the last couple of weeks?  I love a good dumpster fire.

[Paelos]

I haven't looked at the standings, but what is the worst record someone from that division COULD make the playoffs with? 7-9?  Is 6-10 possible given divisional matchups in the last couple of weeks?  I love a good dumpster fire.

There's two games left. Saints have 6 wins. Atlanta has 5 wins, Carolina has 5 wins and a tie. Atlanta plays the Saints, and they play Carolina. So here's how the dumpster fire would work:

Saints lose to Atlanta. This brings Atlanta to 6 wins, Saints to 6 wins. Carolina loses to Cleveland. This holds them at 5 wins.

Going into next week, Atlanta plays Carolina. Carolina wins and goes to 6 wins and a tie. Atlanta stays at 6 wins. Then the Saints lose to Tampa in a shocker. Saints stay at 6 wins.

This would advance the Panthers with 6-9-1 to the playoffs.

If the Saints win out, best case scenario has them advancing at 8-8.

If the Falcons win out, they control the head-to-head with the Saints and win at 7-9.

Then you have varying fucked up scenarios that advance from there.

[01101010]

Chicago looked, wow. Really really bad. I mean it's obvious that the coaching staff hates Cutler, Cutler hates them, and the front office needs to just move Cutler and start over. He's never going to be good there now. It's just too much against him.

Nothing really changed for the Saints other than the fact that they can clinch with a win over Atlanta. They lose that game, and suddenly it's down to Tampa, and hoping Atlanta beats Carolina. But they also have to hope Carolina doesn't win against Cleveland.

The whole thing is now a complete cockup.

If Cam is not back by the time they play Cleveland it'll be Derek Anderson - who will beat the Browns and get into the playoffs. And I shall laff.

[Bungee]

Adjusted Net Yards per Pass Attempt (first NO is actually NE in that table).

Nice stat this site keeps to see how good a team is at the 2 most important things in the NFL: passing and stopping the pass.

[Cyrrex]

While I agree it is probably "most important" if you have to call out a single type of stat, it is still semi useless unless you also combine it with Rushing differences.  I suspect that would change the chart around a bit.

[Hutch]

Chicago looked, wow. Really really bad. I mean it's obvious that the coaching staff hates Cutler, Cutler hates them, and the front office needs to just move Cutler and start over. He's never going to be good there now.

Cutler is bad in Chicago for the same reason that Denver gave him up for Kyle Orton and a draft pick. He's not a good quarterback. He's loaded with talent, but he's a head case.

While it's become apparent that Trestman is also not a good head coach, I don't think it matters who the coach is. Cutler isn't going to be good anywhere. Chicago needs to start over. They need a new front office, a new head coach, OC, DC, and QB.

[Chimpy]

They need a new owner too. The grandchildren (maybe great grandchildren at this point?) of Halas are clueless.

Which, honestly, I love to see as Bears fans around here are obnoxious when their team is good.

[Paelos]

Cutler is bad in Chicago for the same reason that Denver gave him up for Kyle Orton and a draft pick. He's not a good quarterback. He's loaded with talent, but he's a head case.

Cutler got traded because Josh McDaniels was there at the time, and he was a fucking idiot. He went after Cassel in New England, which was just as dumb if not dumber, and then ticked off Cutler.

Cutler is a much better QB than anything they had up to getting Peyton, but that was long after McDaniels was removed from the situation.

Jay right now is a middle of the road QB who can win in the playoffs. They just can't get back to the playoffs because the Bears are completely inept as an organization. Their defense is a complete joke. For the most part they've won every game that the defense didn't give up 27 points. I place Chicago's woes mostly on the side of that defense, and not as much on Cutler who is making due with a shitty line and getting in the top 10 of the league.

I think Cutler is on par with a Carson Palmer, Alex Smith, Eli Manning, etc.

[Bunk]

That's what really bugs me as a Chicago fan - everyone wants to put all their issues on Cutler, when based on stats he puts up more than enough points to win games. Biggest problem he has is that he's permanently playing from behind because Chicago hasn't fielded anything even resembling an NFL defense in the last few years. I've heard people complain Trestman doesn't run with Forte enough - how can he afford to when he's behind by two touchdowns at the end of the 1st quarter.

NO game was ugly because Ryan realized that Chicago only had one NFL receiver on the field with Marshall hurt, so they just kept sending enough guys to force Forte and the TEs to stay back and "block", making it Jeffry vs the rest of the defense. As great as that Chicago offense can be, they have zero depth beyond the 1st team stars.

[HaemishM]

Trestman proved last year he has the stuff to be a good NFL coach - but only if he can hire the right DC and get the players who can play defense worth a shit. I still believe if Urlacher is on the Chicago defense last year, that team makes the playoffs, if for no other reason than his ability to diagnose plays.

Cutler is a GOOD NFL QB. He is Eli Manning good. He's not elite, and he can't carry a team on his back but if he's given protection by a line that doesn't fold at the first sign of pressure and his defense doesn't give up 400 yards a game, he can win. He'll throw more INT's than he should based on making bad decisions especially in pressure situations, but he's good enough to win in the NFL. There's no way he can win with that Chicago team. Despite all the firepower he has on offense, he can't win when he's constantly 2 TD's down and playing catchup like Bunk said. He gets killed and then he gets the yips and starts tossing INT's because he's trying to force shit instead of taking another disco biscuit to the head. He's in Chicago because Josh McDaniels is an utterly clueless fuckstick (this being the same shitstain that gave us Tim Tebow as a first rounder). Cutler takes all the heat for Chicago's failings (to the point where fans wanted fucking Josh McCown to be their starting QB... the fuck? Ask Tampa how that's working out) but this team would be angling for the #1 draft pick without him.

Cutler's biggest problem is his doucheface. He's just so goddamn punchable that nobody likes him, even the fans who ought to be kissing his ass for being better than the last 15 or so QB's they've had in that town. It's like they's completely forgotten what having Rex Grossman as your starter feels like.

[Bunk]

(I liked Sexy Rexy)