The NFL Play-offs

[VicVegas 70]

It's December and the NFL play-off picture is becoming clearer. Thought I'd open a thread for those interested in discussing their favorite team or for laying down a little smack talk.

 

In the NFC it's all about the Packers. Aaron Rodgers is a stud and the Cheeseheads are celebrating a perfect season . . . so far. Who can beat them?

 

The Saints might be able to, but they'll probably have to wait for the NFC championship game to prove it. The 49ers have looked strong despite a loss today to the Cards. Dallas and NY are fighting it out for the NFC East. Atlanta and Detroit are hoping for wild card bids.

 

New England has taken their regular spot as the best team in the AFC. Pittsburgh and Baltimore are right behind them. The surprising Texans have clinched the AFC South. Even more surprising are the Tim Tebow led Broncos, who seem to be a lock for the play-offs in the weak AFC West. They play the Pats next weekend, so Cinderella Tebow should finally hear the clock strike Midnight. The Jets love to talk trash, but can they make any noise as a wild card team?

 

My Chiefs have been killed by injuries this season, so I'm all about the Packers. I'll be boring and pick a Packers/Patriots Super Bowl.

[RhinoTusk 4,901]

Packers over the Steelers, just like last year. Packers run the table, have already beaten the Saints this year.

[samfreeland 64]

i think the steelers will win at the superbowl.

[VicVegas 70]

Two replies in a week. Where are the NFL fans? At least the footie fans bring a little passion for their sport to this board.

 

Good day in the NFL for me.

 

1. My Chiefs ended Green Bay's unbeaten streak. Probably the best thing that could happen to the Cheeseheads. The pressure's off for a perfect season, so now they can concentrate on getting healthy and landing home field advantage for the play-offs.

 

2. The Pats beat the Donkeys and brought the legend of Tebow down to earth. Geuss Jesus liked Tom Brady better on Sunday, huh?

[joekicker 53]

.

Edited December 19, 2011 by joekicker

[joekicker 53]

Whoops, sorry, I thought it was a religious thread, didn't realise it was also about sports.

 

Looking forward to the new, family-sized San Francisco against the big guy in a few hours. Of course, I was so dumb, I thought San Diego-Baltimore would be a competitive game. Still, Norv has found new ways to lose this year, and I have full confidence we won't have the Bolts to kick around in two more weeks.

Edited December 19, 2011 by joekicker

[cannonball83204 78]

Lots of surprises yesterday, although I think GB was getting too big for their britches, way to go KC. It's not looking good health wise for my Steelers, hopefully Big Ben can play a full game tonight at SF, but I wouldn't count on it. I love the way that SD kicked the shit out of the Ravens last night. Steelers back in 1st place in their division now, hope they can hang on for home field advantage until they play at NE for the AFC title. Tebow is doing much better than expected and I see a lot of improvement in him over the last couple of months. I've always liked this guy, his drive and determination could be learned by a lot of prima donna players in the NFL. Hopefully Elway will really work with him in the off season and he can get even better. Anyways, my picks for the SuperBowl are the Steelers and the Packers with a different outcome this year. That will make 7, the most of any team in the modern era. GO STEELERS!!!!!!!!!!

 

CB

[The Mook 105]

The Saints over The Steelers in the SB.

[The Mook 105]

By the way, we finally get an opinion out of a truly brilliant Englishman:

 

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204791104577108782771826106.html?mod=WSJ_hpp_MIDDLE_Video_second#printMode

[nodleroh 1]

The Steelers got kicked all over the field by the 49ers, Green Bay gets beat by Kansas City (!) and Dallas and New York are both working at volunteering to stay home for the play offs. With the right breaks, the niners beat New Orleans then the Packers at frozen Lambou. Its the Niners and Pats in the Superbowl, with the Smiths combining for 5 sacks of Brady, and the win,

[MM 6,562]

The Steelers got kicked all over the field by the 49ers, Green Bay gets beat by Kansas City (!) and Dallas and New York are both working at volunteering to stay home for the play offs. With the right breaks, the niners beat New Orleans then the Packers at frozen Lambou. Its the Niners and Pats in the Superbowl, with the Smiths combining for 5 sacks of Brady, and the win,

 

Yes, please.

[joekicker 53]

The Steelers got kicked all over the field by the 49ers, Green Bay gets beat by Kansas City (!) and Dallas and New York are both working at volunteering to stay home for the play offs. With the right breaks, the niners beat New Orleans then the Packers at frozen Lambou. Its the Niners and Pats in the Superbowl, with the Smiths combining for 5 sacks of Brady, and the win,

 

Update. Indianapolis whipped the Texans, say good-bye to Houston, talk about going the wrong way in December!

 

I've really liked SFO this year, small market team and all, coming off years of terribleness, very under the radar most of the season. It's a long way to Lucas Oil Stadium but there are several ways to get there, and yours is not fantasy.

 

Reminder: All games this weekend are on SUNDAY, not Monday. (Pattaya time.) Onliest exception is "Sunday Night Football" on Monday morning as usual.

 

.

[VicVegas 70]

I've really liked SFO this year, small market team and all,

 

Since when is SF a small market? There are over 7 million people in the bay area.

 

Tebow magic seems to have evaporated. Four interceptions in the second half, two returned for tds, as "Tebownhead" helped the pathetic Bills end their 7-game losing streak. Elway is desperately trying to work out a way for the Donkey's to trade up in the draft and get his Stanford brother Andrew Luck.

 

Rex Ryan, maybe you should think before you trash talk. Looks like the Giants are the least-sucky NFL team in New Jersey.

 

The Pats won ugly again, but it WAS a win. Miami allowed 27 unanswered points and gave away a 17-0 halftime lead. Luckily for my fantasy team Reggie Bush seems to have found his mojo. I think he's finally gotten over his break up with Kim Kardashian.

[joekicker 53]

Since when is SF a small market? There are over 7 million people in the bay area.

 

Lucky for them they don't have any other team competing for attention, and get all 7 million.

 

Tebow magic seems to have evaporated. Four interceptions in the second half, two returned for tds, as "Tebownhead" helped the pathetic Bills end their 7-game losing streak. Elway is desperately trying to work out a way for the Donkey's to trade up in the draft and get his Stanford brother Andrew Luck.

 

Elway never liked Tebow -- kind of like you, Vic. But he kind of likes winning and the big problem for Elway is that Tebow is a winner AND puts enormous numbers of bums on seats. What McDaniel and Fox and Quinn and Orton (and Elway) did was 1-5 and chase away fans. What Tebow did was turn that into 8-7 and bring enormous cash into the Broncos' franchise. You absoutely have to hate a quarterback that does that -- turns a three-win season into 8 or 9 wins, right?

 

Right?

 

I'd bet a substantial amount that Elway doesn't have the stones to even pretend, even SUGGEST he wants to to get Andrew Luck, let alone to actually pursue him and gut a very sub-standard team of its last remaining talent to do it. Elway is a Colorado icon, but he hasn't won a game for the Broncos for many years now, and I don't believe he'd dare to go up against the market -- or that even the fatuous, vaguely conscious Pat Bowlen would allow it. Elway went broke, failed at everything he did after his Super Bowls, and the Broncos gave him a job to get him through. It's a *job* not a God-post.

 

Predicting is pretty tough work, especially about the future. But this I know. If Elway does go after Luck, it will go very badly for Elway. If he gets Luck, it will not be good for the Broncos, it will tear apart the fan support, which was already on its way out the door over the Orton person, which is why Josh was thrown in to the volcano to appease the Colorado fans and other gods.

 

Orton comes to Sports Authority Field on Sunday. Simple: Broncos win, they are 9-7, win the division and go to post-season for a game, maybe two. Orton wins, the Broncos end their year 8-8 which is a lot better than Orton, Elway and Fox were going to give them.

 

We shall see.

 

.

[The Mook 105]

Oakland is in the Bay Area, and has a large fan base. The 49ers do not have a monopoly in their region.

[The Mook 105]

What is up with you?

[joekicker 53]

What is up with you?

[brotherbuzz 3,206]

Oakland is in the Bay Area, and has a large fan base. The 49ers do not have a monopoly in their region.

I'd say more than half of Oakland's fan base comes out of the South Bay, and true the Niners do not have a monopoly on the region, but the teams really don't compete for fans. Apples and Oranges really.

 

Anyway, Niners over the Ravens, unless it's not....

[VicVegas 70]

Lucky for them they don't have any other team competing for attention, and get all 7 million.

 

The fact that there are two NFL teams in the area has zero effect on the size of the market. San Francisco and the surrounding bay area is a large market - that's why it can support two teams. Green Bay and Jacksonville are small markets.

 

 

 

Tebow is a winner

 

Not the last two weeks.

 

AND puts enormous numbers of bums on seats.

 

This is the only thing keeping him in the starting line up right now - he sells jerseys (The Donkeys sell out their games with or without Tebow).

 

 

What Tebow did was turn that into 8-7 and bring enormous cash into the Broncos' franchise.

 

As Tebow himself would humbly tell you, he didn't do it alone. Their defense has improved greatly, and they have a guy in the backfield named McGahee who deserves more attention than Tebow.

 

Tebow led a couple of 4th quarter comebacks against very suspect competition. He's a college option QB. He's a one-deminsional player. Elway and Fox know this. That's why they were so hesitant to throw any support his way. The team went on a freakish winning streak with him, so now they're stuck with him, at least until he falls on his face and loses fan support. It's already started, and I hope it continues this weekend against my Chiefs. I wouldn't put any money on it because, despite the win over the Packers, the Chiefs haven't exactly looked like world beaters lately. Still this is a heated rivalry and Orton has plenty of motive to have a big game.

 

Of course it might be more fun to watch a really good defense like Pittsburgh or Baltimore "crucify" Tebow in the first round of the play-offs.

[joekicker 53]

As Tebow himself would humbly tell you, he didn't do it alone. Their defense has improved greatly, and they have a guy in the backfield named McGahee who deserves more attention than Tebow.

 

So you are totally contradicting yourself. Earlier, you were saying how Elway was going to trade away this improved team to get Andrew Luck. Which one is it? I can assure you it won't be both. Elway doesn't like Tebow, so all he has to do is go against the fans, trade away the improved elements of the team, and he can have Luck. Like I say - again - I don't believe Elway has the guts. This job is his last chance. If he screws up, the only thing he'll be doing for the rest of his life is glad-handing at some steak restaurant and living off an NFL pension.

 

But anyhow, the Broncos have the same defence as in October. Same McGahee as in September. Same coaches as August, and the same "executive vice president of football operations" whatever the heck that is. In September and October, McGahee was in TERRIFIC physical shape but there wasn't a quarterback who could use him. If he doesn't get the ball, he deserves no attention at all. With Tebow, even in terrible physical condition and playing hurt, he gets it -- the ball and attention, both. I liked McGahee, I was delighted the Broncos took him on, but it was a very weird decision with a 3-yard passer like Orton. Why have a guy like McGahee? Turned out to be a good acquisition -- accidentally. The guy's terrific.

 

Somehow, Vic, you ended up at the right conclusion for every single possible wrong reason. It's weird to me that personal political feelings are involved in sports, but they sure are. You realise Tebow had a better beginning record than Elway, right?

 

Tebow led a couple of 4th quarter comebacks against very suspect competition.

 

How many? Two, you say?

 

The point is that the 1-5 Broncos are not 1-14 or about 4-11 which is where Orton and Elway and Fox were taking them. However, the absolutely undoubtable fact that Tebow won five games in a row in the last minutes, and made the victories hugely exciting in doing so, was a bonus. Tebow couldn't do any worse than Elway and Fox - and he did five, six times BETTER than them. Must be tough for you to live with facts like that.

 

Bowlen will spend money but it must stick in his craw that Elway lost bazillions for him this year. He could have got money for Orton in August-September, but instead got zip in November - AND motivated the guy to beat the Broncos on Sunday. That's not a decision the fans or the Broncos really like a lot from Elway. If Orton beats Denver on Sunday - I mean if Orton is the guy that does it, Elway will have to head for his bunker for a while, sports radio will kill him.

 

 

Of course it might be more fun to watch a really good defense like Pittsburgh or Baltimore "crucify" Tebow in the first round of the play-offs.

 

So your prediction is that Tebow wins Sunday and wins the division. Then Tebow wins the wild-card game. That would be the best the Broncos have done since Jack the Snake in 2005 and I was at the game *in Denver* when Pittsburgh won that year.

 

Not bad for, essentially, a rookie who got no confidence from his coach or the front office either one.

 

 

I *just* finished watching "The John Elway Show" on Channel 9 Denver. He brought the GM along, who was pretty kindly to Tebow, and Elway just sat there and didn't say much. I doubt it hurts him as much as it hurts you, mind.

 

.

Edited December 27, 2011 by joekicker

[VicVegas 70]

Tebow 120/250 completions/attempts (48%), 12 tds, 6 interceptions, 6 fumbles, QB rating 75.9

Orton 125/223 completions/attempts, (60.5%), 9 tds, 9 interceptions, 2 fumbles, QB rating 78.7

 

Pretty close statistically, but Orton is better.

[joekicker 53]

Pretty close statistically, but Orton is better.

 

No question. If statistics sold tickets, Orton would be playing for a contender instead of filling in for a backup QB on a last-place team.

 

What was the win-loss again, where the only difference in the teams was the quarterback?

 

.

[VicVegas 70]

Joe I am most offended by pseudo-sports experts who latch onto a flash-in-the-pan player and declare him to be (literally in Tebow's case) the second coming. There are so many great young players in the NFL this year who deserve praise. Andy Dalton with Cincinnati is ten times the QB that Tebow is, yet because Dalton doesn't wear his religion on his sleeve (or on his eyeblack) the average fan doesn't know much about him.

 

You are right, IF the Broncos make the play-offs they might have to win a game to play the likes of Pittsburgh or Baltimore, so I'll change my Bronco failure dream to a more likely scenario: the worst division winning team (Denver) plays a wild card team (Cincinnati), and the Bengals defense, currently ranked 3rd in the NFL in total sacks, send the reverend Tebow to the Arena League where he belongs.

 

As a side note, I have to include a comment from fellow atheist Bill Maher:

 

"Wow, Jesus just [screwed] #TimTebow bad! And on Xmas Eve! Somewhere ... Satan is tebowing, saying to Hitler "Hey, Buffalo’s killing them,"

[joekicker 53]

Joe I am most offended by pseudo-sports experts who latch onto a flash-in-the-pan player and declare him to be (literally in Tebow's case) the second coming.

 

I wouldn't say "offended" but it would be hard to have respect for such a person. Any examples among otherwise (formerly) excellent sports experts? I don't think I've seen one.

 

There are so many great young players in the NFL this year who deserve praise.

 

Not a bad year at all, The Broncos have two (real) rookies who qualify, no doubt about it. And it being Denver they get all kinds of praise. Why wouldn't they?

 

Andy Dalton with Cincinnati is ten times the QB that Tebow is, yet because Dalton doesn't wear his religion on his sleeve (or on his eyeblack) the average fan doesn't know much about him.

 

Then they are not fans. But you need to look in a mirror. If everyone who wears his religion on his sleeve in the NFL is a jerk, then get that Reggie White guy outta there.

 

Ten times? G'wan. Get outta here!!

 

AD - 81.8 rating, 58.9 per cent, 13 ints, 3 fumbles.

He's a good rookie, Vic. Let's not be stupid about it, eh? This isn't Joe Montana.

 

TB - 82.1 rating, 50 pct (exactly), 3 ints, 0 fumbles.

Not bad for a Filipino, really. A long way to go, and a short time to get there.

 

Dalton played more games of course. Still. did you SEE that Ravens game? Peee-eew!

 

You're doing EXACTLY what you claim without any examples that some "pseudo sports experts" do. Exactly. You simply can't take what Tebow does (and definitely doesn't do) on the field and be objective about it. It's quite impossible for you.

 

I do get a kick out of this though. The last post at TebowHaters.com was on 9 August. Not much to hate since then, that's a fact.

 

You are right, IF the Broncos make the play-offs they might have to win a game to play the likes of Pittsburgh or Baltimore, so I'll change my Bronco failure dream to a more likely scenario: the worst division winning team (Denver) plays a wild card team (Cincinnati), and the Bengals defense, currently ranked 3rd in the NFL in total sacks, send the reverend Tebow to the Arena League where he belongs.

 

We'll see Monday, but actually, all depending on Monday, it's possible the Broncos WILL look at Pittsburgh or Baltimore. That's assuming they get in. They have a double chance (they win OR Oakland lose) but I'm not predicting this weekend in the West, not at all. Your Chiefs have some wrinkles for sure, and the Broncos are no sure thing in any game.

 

I've not heard a single person until this moment suggest Tebow shouldn't be in the NFL. Even the Denver TebowHaters, who are legend, want him on the Broncos - just as a fullback, that's all. By your standards, Reggie White was an Arena League punk, what with losing so many playoff games before God finally came through for the one-time-lucky sore-kneed God-trusting praytime crumbum. What a loser he was, eh?

 

You have interesting standards, I'll say that. As a side note to that, I'm appalled you'd hook up with a total jerk like Maher. Really. Seriously. I thought you were an actual sports fan, hell you're a thread starter. What happened you have to bring such jackasses to your party?

 

.

[VicVegas 70]

Reggie White was a great player. Tebow is not . . . yet. Could Tebow get better? Sure. I just get sick of all the coverage he is getting right now as an average player, most of which I believe is due to his Jesus spouting. You want examples of all the Tebow love? Turn on any sportscast or click on most internet links about the NFL.

 

Take a look at the teams Tebow has beat:

 

Miami - When they were 0-6, nuff said.

 

Raiders - The AFC West is really bad this year. The Raiders are ranked 29th in total defense. When they played the Broncos they were starting Carson Palmer for the first time. McGahee was the real star of that game, shredding the Raider D for 163 yards and 2 TDs.

 

My Chiefs - A truly ugly game by both teams. The Chiefs hadn't scored a TD the previous two weeks. Tebow had two completions during the entire game, and luckily for the Donkeys one of them was a 56 yard TD pass. Let's hope this Sunday's game contains a little better level of football.

 

Jets - The Jets D contained Tebow all game by stacking the box and daring him to throw. Then in the 4th quarter they got cute and sent their first all-out blitz of the game. Give Tebow credit - he read it and made them pay by running 20 yards for the game winning TD. BTW, this was a Thursday night game. The Jets had lost to the rival Patriots 4 days earlier on Sunday night. Not making excuses, just saying.

 

Chargers - Did I mention that the AFC West is horrible this year? Tebow ran the ball 22 times in this game . . . 22. For a little perspective, the Buffalo Bills are saying they will try to limit runningback CJ Spiller to 20 touches this weekend, and he's a REAL runningback. Tebow's 22 rushes were the most by a pro quarterback since the 1950's. When a QB feels the need to attempt 22 rushes, it's time to stick him in the backfield and go get a guy who can pass the ball. The Chargers were on an 8 game losing streak when they played Tebow. Denver kicker Matt Prater extended that streak to 9 with a field goal in OT.

 

Vikings - A horrible defense, as their 3-12 record would indicate. They have allowed opposing offenses to score 22 or more points in all but one game this season.

 

Bears - No Cutler, no Forte, but Marion Barber WAS playing, unfortunately for the Bears. I give Tebow a little credit for passing for 236 yards, but Chicago was in the middle of a freefall - they had lost to the Chiefs and Raiders the previous two weeks and have lost 2 more since the Broncos game. Not a good team.

 

So there's the great Tebow winning streak. Yawn.