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- Communist China
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Re: The NFL 2007-08 Season thread
Brady Quinn will be a shitty NFL QB. Chambers on San Diego could be trouble for the AFC West.
Re: The NFL 2007-08 Season thread
Great article about the Pats....
The NFL season is less than one-third over, yet it's already been distilled to one issue, unquestionably the greatest issue that can be raised in pro football.
Can a team go through an entire season undefeated?
The team in question is the New England Patriots, now 6-0, who seem invulnerable. They've got the highest-scoring offense in the NFL and have the second-stingiest defense. They've got the most prolific quarterback in Tom Brady and the hardest-to-cover wide receiver in Randy Moss, and they resemble (bow your heads) Joe Montana to Jerry Rice.
They went on the road last week and stepped on the Cowboys' necks at the end of the game like Dallas was a JV team.
And after it was proven by the NFL that the Patriots had cheated by videotaping opponents' signals, the Patriots have played as if somebody cheated them, with a vengeance, whipped into a frenzy by the offending party, their coach, Bill Belichick. Having already beaten the Cowboys into submission, the Patriots nonetheless rolled into the end zone with only seconds remaining to score what appeared to be a spiteful touchdown, the kind that leads you to pity the team on the wrong end, even the previously undefeated Cowboys.
It's a wondrous thing to watch, these Patriots, Brady throwing to Moss, Brady throwing to Wes Welker, Brady throwing to Dont¿ Stallworth. Nobody, until now, has thrown for 21 touchdowns through the first six games of a season. Brady is on pace to throw 56 touchdown passes (Peyton Manning has the record, 49). Brady's passer rating (128.9) would be an NFL record. His 72.5 percent completion rate would be an NFL record.
Of course, there's a difference between greatness and perfection, which is why people become obsessed with any team that looks capable of going undefeated. Just the scores (38-14, 38-14, 38-7, 34-13, 34-17, 48-27) suggest the Patriots are untouchable, to the point that you look at the schedule and ask, "Can anybody beat the Patriots?"
NFL coverage
Okay, it's not like pro football doesn't have this issue pop up every now and then. In fact, every few years, six weeks into the season, there's a team that opens the discussion.
But nobody ever finishes the job. The Dolphins went 14-0 in 1972, then 3-0 in the postseason. But since the NFL went to a 16-game season in 1978, no team has gone undefeated through the regular season. The Colts went 13-0 in 2005, and wound up losing at home to the Steelers in the playoffs. In 1998, John Elway's Broncos went 13-0 before losing to the Giants, settled for 14-2 and a Super Bowl championship. The same season the Vikings went 15-1, losing one lousy game by a field goal, then the NFC championship game at home. The franchise has been in a tailspin since.
The 1991 Redskins went 11-0 before losing to the Cowboys and Eagles by a grand total of five points. Then they romped through the postseason for the franchise's most recent Super Bowl. The '83 Redskins, at times, looked like these Patriots, which is to say unstoppable offensively. But that team, with Joe Theismann, John Riggins, Art Monk, Darrell Green, the Hogs, the Fun Bunch, etc., is dismissed historically because it was obliterated by the Raiders in the Super Bowl.
The two greatest teams of the Super Bowl era are the 1985 Bears, who went 12-0 before losing to the Dolphins, and the 1989 49ers, who lost two games by a total of five points. Each won the Super Bowl. Those 49ers, created by the late Bill Walsh, who retired before that season, essentially invented offensive football as we know it today. With Montana throwing to Rice, John Taylor, Roger Craig and Tom Rathman, the offense is what the Patriots aspire to be. And the 49ers' defense, hardly ever talked about, had Ronnie Lott, Charles Haley, Keena Turner, Eric Wright, and a young linebacker who hadn't totally lost his mind yet by the name of Bill Romanowski. The Niners were dreamy good.
And the '85 Bears were a nightmare, a team that opponents were physically afraid of. Theismann says he can, still today, close his eyes and see the Bears' front four of Richard Dent, Steve McMichael, the Fridge and Dan Hampton, all coming after him.
So, it's into this discussion that the Patriots step. They seem to have a 49ers-like offense, and a touch of the Bears' meanness and ferocity. It's such a complete team the defending champion Colts, also undefeated, have been reduced to "also starring" on the season's marquee.
The Nov. 4 game between the Colts and Patriots in Indianapolis very likely will determine home field advantage in the AFC. Tickets at an online site yesterday afternoon were selling for $1,275 to $4,500. The Patriots' game with the Cowboys attracted more viewers than CBS has had for an NFL game since 1998. The Patriots are the story until they lose -- if they lose.
Belichick dismisses the talk. Brady dismisses it. They all dismiss it. They'll tell you that the team on deck, the winless Dolphins, are a real threat Sunday down in Miami. Of course, there's even drama in that matchup because the '72 Dolphins make their yearly champagne toast whenever the last undefeated team is beaten. The Dolphins took great pleasure in 1985, on "Monday Night Football," no less, in beating the undefeated Bears themselves. These Dolphins look like a pretty sorry lot, but by Sunday they'll have heard a week's worth of comments from the old ring-wearing forefathers about the pride and glory they played with, how this rebuilding season can be remembered, if for nothing else, for stopping the run of what historically has been one of the Dolphins' most bitter rivals.
Belichick, who has taken over from Joe Gibbs when it comes to convincing folks that dreadful teams are potent, was talking up the Dolphins the moment the Cowboys had been put away, which is why the Patriots are not going to lose in Miami on Sunday. They're more likely to lose to the Redskins the following week at home, what with the Colts on deck.
The trip to Indy, though, isn't the last big hurdle. The Patriots have to play in Baltimore on a Monday night, Dec. 3, then at home six days later against a Steelers team that loves just such a rumble, then Dec. 29 on the road against the Giants, who might just be playing for playoff position. That's four killer games, three of them in December.
No team has ever gone 16-0 in the regular season for the simple reason that it's too difficult. The bet here is it will prove too difficult for the Patriots, too. The fun, nevertheless, is in watching a team that's talented enough, well coached enough, resourceful enough, even ruthless enough to make us think as October turns to November that perfection is possible.
Re: The NFL 2007-08 Season thread
that is a good article....the thing before the game with the cowboys was funny....they were totally blowing things off, like brady saying he could be 75% if his shoulder wasnt injured and the backup qb saying that he hated brady cuz hes always listed as questionable or probable but he still plays every game 
anyway did anyone else see that? at first i was like wtf? cuz i came in after the beginning but then it was pretty funny once i realized what was going on
Re: The NFL 2007-08 Season thread
I only caught bits and pieces of the game. I always flip back and forth when I watch football. I really hope the Pats and Colts are both undefeated when they play. That game is going to be huge. That is turning into a rivalry just like the Dallas-SF rivalry of the mid 90's.
Re: The NFL 2007-08 Season thread
The Pats aren't even a team. Its a machine that does nothing but score. Only way they lose this year is if they have a key player go down with a serious injury. Bengals continue to collapse, and with the Ravens losing also, the Browns can take another step towards playoff contention. Detroit is staying in the hunt, and if the Vikings end up losing to the Cowboys, we may see a two way race between the Packers and Lions for the division.
The NFC West is a mess. Rams, Cardinals, and 49ers lost(well, Rams game aint over yet). Looks like Seattle is going to win that division by default.
NFC East about to turn into the bloodbath I predicted. Giants continue to keep winning, Redskins winning as well, Eagles in trouble but not out of it, and of course the Cowboys having the whole country behind them with SB aspirations.
AFC West is a fucking mess as well. No team in that division deserves to go to the playoffs.
Anyone think the NFL should alter its playoff system? There is just way too many crappy teams that are gonna go to the playoffs this year just because they lucked in to winning a shit division. This season could easily see a 9-7 or 8-8 team win a division while teams with 11-5 records stay home.
I think the NFL should consider using an NBA type playoff system where the top teams based on record make it into the playoffs.
Re: The NFL 2007-08 Season thread
Bengals continue to collapse.
Strange. I could've swore they lost that game. I was just reading some of the articles today, and apparently they won.
Question: Are the Rams the worst team in history? They are awful. If they played a high school team, I would put my money on the high school team. Seriously. If they win one game, it will be a miracle.
Re: The NFL 2007-08 Season thread
I think the Bengals had some late 4th qtr comeback rally. Yeah, I could've sworn they lost but after the Eagels Bears game I saw they won. I haven't watched the Rams, but if they're worse than Miami that's really bad.
I agree with you this playoff system is flawed. 4 division winners ?? and only 2 wildcard teams. That's fucked up. They should think about revising it or going back to 3 divisions, not 4.
Eagles blew it. Seasons all but over for them, which sucks this early in the season but at 2-4 with 2 games against the Cowboys & 1 against NE and others (Seatlle, Minn, NYG, Wash etc) it isn't looking good.
- NY Giants82
- Rep: 26
Re: The NFL 2007-08 Season thread
The Pats are just on another level. Plain and simple. But I am interested to see how the Colts play them. I by no means think the Colts D will stop them, but I think the offense will put a lot of point up. It will be a very high scoring game.
Glad to see my Giants making a statement. In the past, it was one side of the team playing well, while the other was lackluster. Now offense and defense are both playing very well. Just need to work on special teams.
Re: The NFL 2007-08 Season thread
Yeah 5 in a row is nothing to sneeze at.
I'm sick of the whole NE thing. I seriously think Washington could pull an upset if too much talk is made about NE facing the Colts undefeated in two weeks. It happened back in 90 with SF & NYG facing each other in week 11. They both lost in week 10 & were 10-1 instead of 11-0 or something.
