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- Communist China
- Rep: 130
Re: The NFL 2007-08 Season thread
James, I don't get how you can say the Browns are going to the playoffs but the Bills have no shot. They play each other in a few weeks, and currently have the same record.
- Communist China
- Rep: 130
Re: The NFL 2007-08 Season thread
The Bills may have a harder schedule but they play the Browns... with a head to head coming up you can't really give too much of an edge to Cleveland. When Buffalo beats the Pats next week we'll see what people say.
I think both wild cards may come from the South. Tennesse and Jacksonville.
Tennesee gets Denver, Cincy, Houston, San Diego, KC, the Jets, and Indi. Hell, with some luck they could end up as good as 12-4. But winning 4 of those should be easy, and that's what it'll take.
Jacksonville plays SD, Buffalo, Indi, Carolina, Pittsburgh, Oakland, and Houston. A much harder schedule, but they get San Diego Buffalo and Carolina at home, so they could win 4, maybe.
Re: The NFL 2007-08 Season thread
Bills aren't going to the playoffs. The division they are in and their schedule will prevent that. They are NOT beating the Pats. If Cleveland stumbles, either the Titans or Jags will take that spot.
I'm not ruling out Tennessee winning that division. I think the Colts are collapsing, and even if they recover, they go nowhere in the playoffs without home field advantage.
Re: The NFL 2007-08 Season thread
Lets take a look at the current playoff picture. Its very interesting.
AFC
1. Patriots (9-0, 7-0 Conf)
2. Steelers (7-2, 5-1 conf)
3. Colts (7-2, 4-2 conf)
4. Chargers (5-4, 4-2 conf)
5. Jaguars (6-3, 4-2 conf)
6. Titans (6-3, 3-2 conf)
NFC
1. Cowboys (8-1, 6-0 conf)
2. Packers (8-1, 5-1 conf)
3. Buccaneers (5-4, 4-2 conf)
4. Seahawks (4-4, 3-2 conf)
5. Giants (6-3, 4-3 conf)
6. Lions (6-3, 4-3 conf)
----------------------
In the AFC, the second seed is actually the most valuable spot to be in. Sounds dumb, but look at it like this. The Pats pretty much have home field wrapped up, and there is no sense in pressuring your team to aim for that goal. That could cause your team to stumble and wind up missing the playoffs completely. Each team in the playoff picture(add Cleveland as well) has a shot at the number 2 seed. NE will play the worst team that makes it to the divisional round, which will likely be the Jags or maybe even the Titans. Definite chance for an upset there. So the second seed immediately becomes the favorite to go to the SB. With that second seed up in the air, at the moment it looks like Pit will get it. Colts are clearly dropping, but what if Cleveland goes on a win streak? Anyone want to go into Cleveland in January?
The AFC playoff picture gets more interesting by the week.
NFC is opposite. You almost have to have the number one spot to guarantee a trip to the SB. Dallas has the advantage at the moment, but I believe GB will wind up getting home field. People should keep their eyes on Tampa. They could pose a serious threat to Dallas and GB.
The mediocrity of the league and its current playoff system is already rearing its ugly head. Those wild card teams have better records than some of the division teams.
Re: The NFL 2007-08 Season thread
Good to know the horrific NFC West division is now getting national media coverage for the shit stain it is on the league. This could literally be the first step in the league considering a change in the playoff structure.
"What's that stench? The NFC West"
You know that old line about the one-eyed man being king in the kingdom of the blind? Make that guy badly nearsighted and give him a cataract, put him in the NFC West, and he'd be the Seattle Seahawks.
And he wouldn't be king. He'd be emperor.
There is no worse division in the NFL than the NFC West and no worse team than the San Francisco 49ers. Throw the records out the window on this one, forget that the Jets and Rams have just one win and the Dolphins have no wins while the 49ers won the first two games of the season. The Jets and Dolphins, by virtue of their membership in the AFC, are automatically better than the NFC bottom-feeders. And the Rams, who lost to San Francisco, will get their revenge when they meet again next week.
After getting shut out by a mediocre Seattle team that can't win when they leave the cacophonous confines of their home field, the Rams have not scored more than 20 points in a game since their first game of the season. They haven't thrown for 200 yards '” a total that Tom Brady often reaches before the opening coin toss '” once since sometime last year. They are dead last in yards gained in the NFL, and not by a little, but a lot. Going into their game against the Seahawks, they were averaging 224 yards a game '” 44 fewer than the Bills. After rolling up 173 yards against Seattle, that average is going down.
Monday Night Football has a long and proud history. It's true that since moving from ABC to ESPN and being replaced by NBC's Sunday Night Football as the marquee game of the week, it hasn't had the top matchups it used to have. But Monday night was ridiculous by any standards. If there's ever been a worse game in the storied history of the MNF franchise, no one who watched Seahawks-49ers wanted to remember it.
It was so bad that the first few times San Francisco had the ball, I thought I was having a flashback to a Notre Dame game. By the second quarter, I realized that wasn't being fair to Charlie Weis' woebegone warriors; the 49ers have to pick it up a lot to be worthy of being compared to the Irish.
The NFC West is beyond bad. Every other division in the league has at least 15 wins among four teams. But the NFC West has just 12 wins in 36 games.
That's 20 percent fewer victories than any other division in football.
The Seahawks will win the division, and, by virtue of beating San Francisco, is now 5-4 and the only team in the division with a winning record. The Cards are next at 4-5, followed by the 49ers at 2-7 and the Rams at 1-8.
How the mighty have fallen. The 49ers have five Lombardi Trophies mocking this year's imitation of the team. The Rams have one trophy and until recently were one of the powers in the conference. Seattle is two years removed from the Super Bowl. The Cardinals have always been bad.
And all of them stink, the only difference being one of degree. Seattle just needs a shower and a dab of cologne; the 49ers need to be boiled in lye, soaked in bleach, and keelhauled through a vat of Old Spice before they can visit even a pig sty without gagging the residents.
It boggles the mind how a team and an entire division can be this bad in a league that does everything corporately possible to make every team competitive. The salary cap makes sure nobody wins by outspending the competition. Free agency makes decent veterans available to all. The draft rewards incompetence with the first shot in the annual collegiate meat market.
And it would be nice to be able to lay the blame for the 49ers awfulness on the former No. 1 pick, Alex Smith, who isn't playing well enough to be confused with Akili Smith. He's terrible, to be sure, but the 49ers also can't run the ball, they can't protect the quarterback, and on defense they're merely okay. They've managed to screw up every aspect of the game.
That the 49ers won their first two games was total luck. They were outgained by huge margins by both the Rams and the Cards and eked out wins in both games. Since then, they've showed what they're really made of, which is something you can buy by the bag down at the garden store to fertilize your roses.
The rest of the division has no excuses, either. The Cards have found that Matt Leinart was a good No. 1 choice '” by comparison to Smith '” but so far not in comparison to much else. The Rams are simply a mystery '” a once-great team gone entirely to seed. And the Seahawks made the primal mistake of showering huge wads of money on a running back, Shaun Alexander, who lost interest in his job the moment the bonus check cleared.
The Seahawks will win this division; with a 5-4 record, they have it all but wrapped up. But come playoff time, they're one-and-done.
On the East Coast, we hadn't really seen the NFC West until Monday Night's showcase game. Now we know why.
Re: The NFL 2007-08 Season thread
INDIANAPOLIS (AP) -Tony Dungy spent Monday morning sorting out a mess.
He broke down the Indianapolis Colts' latest game tape, called the league's officiating director and tried to figure out who might play next week against Kansas City.
Good luck, coach.
After seeing a two-time league MVP throw a franchise-record six interceptions, the league's best clutch kicker miss a go-ahead 29-yard field goal with 1:31 left and the Colts' coverage teams allow two kick returns for touchdowns in Sunday's 23-21 loss at San Diego, Dungy struggled to explain it.
"It was much more disappointing than Jacksonville,'' Dungy said, referring to last season's 44-17 debacle. "Jacksonville was one of those games where things happen. These last two weeks, you lose in the fourth quarter and we're not doing the things you need to do to win.''
No, the Colts (7-2) didn't look like themselves Sunday night.
Peyton Manning threw four interceptions in the game's first 16 minutes, Joseph Addai averaged 2.5 yards per carry and Adam Vinatieri missed two makable field goals, including a potential game-winner on a soggy, recently resodded field.
Then again, the Colts weren't themselves.
Seven injured players didn't suit up, and Indy dressed only 44 players - one fewer than NFL rules permit. Four more players went down during the game, and there's no indication when they'll play again.
Among those who sat out Sunday were perennial Pro Bowl receiver Marvin Harrison (bruised left knee), tight end Dallas Clark (concussion), rookie receiver Anthony Gonzalez (dislocated left thumb) and left tackle Tony Ugoh (neck).
If that wasn't enough to challenge Manning, he spent the entire second half working with a makeshift line. Ugoh's backup, Charlie Johnson, left in the first quarter with a left foot injury and did not return. Right tackle Ryan Diem hurt his right knee just before halftime and right guard Jake Scott wound up playing right tackle.
"I thought they did a remarkable job, given the circumstances,'' Dungy said of his line. "Jake played tackle, which he hadn't done in about three years, and he and Michael (Toudouze) did a good job blocking two Pro Bowl guys.''
The larger problem may now be on defense.
Already playing without linebackers Tyjuan Hagler (neck) and Freddy Keiaho (ear) and defensive tackle Raheem Brock (neck), the Colts may have sustained the biggest blow of all in the fourth quarter. Three-time Pro Bowl defensive end Dwight Freeney was carted from the sideline to the locker room with an ice pack on his left foot. Freeney was hurt when he slipped while rushing San Diego quarterback Philip Rivers.
Dungy had no update on Freeney because players were off Monday, other than to say he thought it would not be season-ending.
Finding replacements won't be easy, either.
"The problem with bringing people in is letting guys go,'' Dungy said. "We've already let two guys go that we didn't want to, and none of these injuries are that debilitating. How long can we go in this stretch? I don't know.''
Complicating matters for Dungy were questions he had about the officiating.
An inadvertent whistle wiped out Clint Session's 94-yard interception return in the first half, a call team president Bill Polian told local NBC affiliate WTHR he hadn't seen since high school.
In the final two minutes, Dungy was even more upset when a booth challenge respotted the ball short of a first down, forcing a fourth down. As the Colts lined up to try and draw San Diego offside, tight end Ben Utecht was called for simulating the snap as he shifted.
Dungy was so upset he sought explanations from the league office Monday morning even as he explained the loss was not a result of the officiating.
"The only problem I had with it (the review) was that when we had the ball it was outside the 16 and then the marker is inside the 6. I don't know how that happens, and I called Mike Pereira trying to find out how the chains got set,'' Dungy said. "I talked to Pereira about that (false start) today, too, and he said they'd be much more technical about that in a fourth-down situation. He felt that was a penalty, so that's something we learned.''
With so many key players hurt, a two-game losing streak and a one-game lead in the AFC South, the Colts appeared both heartbroken and angry after losing a game Dungy said they didn't deserve to win.
"I take full responsibility for all of them (interceptions),'' Manning said Sunday night. "Certainly (Shaun) Phillips made a good play on the one that was kind of tipped up. The rest of them were poor throws or poor decisions, either one of them.''
In Dungy's mind, the solution rests solely with his players - or at least those healthy enough to play this week against Kansas City.
"I hate to say it, but we can't get concerned with who's not going to play,'' he said. "Hopefully, we'll get some of those guys back this week. The biggest thing for me is we didn't function smoothly in the fourth quarter. Obviously, we're not happy with the kick returns and the interceptions and all those things, but two weeks in a row we had a chance to win in the fourth quarter and we didn't get it done.''
© 2007 The Associated Press
Re: The NFL 2007-08 Season thread
The Colts are in trouble. I don't care what excuse they want to use--injuries or bad calls. All teams deal with that. If they lose to KC, and lose at least one of their two games after that, it will alter the AFC playoff picture completely and not just Cleveland will move up, but so will Buffalo.
Right now is the time for teams such as Cleveland, Buffalo, and Jacksonville to go on a run. As I stated earlier, Tennessee can take that division.
If the Colts lose 3 or 4 more games, they are toast. Gonna be several 11-5 teams fighting for playoff spots.
Joseph Addai averaged 2.5 yards per carry
You cant win in the AFC with stats like that, especially coming down to the second half of the season.
- BurningHills
- Rep: 15
Re: The NFL 2007-08 Season thread
This whole season is bizarre.
Hell, I'm a Cowboys fan, and even I didn't expect them to have the season that they are.
