NFL (Pats Still Rule)

[The Young One]

You know what, I'm a good person, so i thought I'd give you poor Vike fans a little sorry-we-beat you present. I dedicate this downloadable midi ringtone to the Vikes, Supa, and all Vike fans, from me, a lowly Eagles fan

Sorry

 

[Nizzle]

I do have to admit that my heart didn't settle down until about mid-fourth quarter. We just kept giving the Vikes chances to get back into the game. Trotter was an absolute monster!

Focus on next week...contain Vick like they've done in the past. Blitz Lewis and Dawkins early and put him down. I'm sure it'll jog back his memory of the Dawkins hit two years ago.

 

[The Young One]

Really, Mid 4th. I was confident after the end of the 1st. Our offense wasn't scoring to well in the second half, and we gave up a fair amount of 15 yard passes, but all year long we've been the bend-dont-break defense. During the rare times we let teams into the red zone, they either end up with nothing(turnover) or a field goal. I think next week the Falcons will be harder, but i also think the Eagles will be playing better. And the Wing Bowl(for any of you true Philadelphians) will be the best ever.

The week comes to an end, my pick percentage is 62.5, and ill be back next week to see how well i can do with and without the spread.

 

[hodgepodge]

To all the doubters: Patriots got blown out right??? Peyton threw 50 tds and the pats failed to hold the colts below 30 right??? Tom Brady and the Pats couldnt hang right???


Oh wait, it was the complete opposite, my mistake


my pick percentage... 100%

 

[RichieTBaum]

People always seem to forget....

DEFENSE WINS CHAMPIONSHIPS!

It happened last year to KC and this year to Indy;
no matter how good the offense is in the regular season,
it doesn't mean shit come playoff time.

New England beats Atlanta in the Super Bowl...wait and see
(I may regret that but probably not 8))

 

[Stingray]

Hodgepodge: RE-Falcons offense

--Let's not go overboard. Alge Crumpler really isn't that great of a player. One of the better players on Atlanta's roster, yes, but that doesn't necessarily make him a strong player, in his own right.

RE: Patriots
--Well....I called it. Granted, my pick--and I did pick the Colts--lost (3-1 ain't so bad the way these playoffs were going after last week's upsets), but I still called it. I said the Pats would have to run the ball effectively in order to win this game...and my god did they. I couldn't help but shake my head everytime Dillon or Faulk got ahold of the ball, as they were practically given a 5 yard pass, it seems. What the hell happened to Indy? From what I saw (the slowness of the game forced me to skip the 3rd quarter, and several minutes of the 4th...i was falling asleep), Manning was the only one who could actually hold onto the ball. (and we'll talk about that a little later.)


Okay, and since there wasn't anything else for me to respond to...lemme comment on some things.

Pass/Catch problems:
Anyone notice, in the Steelers game, that the announcers were HAMMERING Rothlisburger for his 'bad passes', all but 3 of which went right to recievers, hit their hands/fingers/arms, and were dropped....but then, in the Colts game, were jumping on the recievers for the EXACT SAME PROBLEM?

It just cracks me up, that all these announcers (I know plenty of fans that're just as guilty) that jump on Ben everytime a pass isn't completed, simply because he's a rookie, then when an experienced QB/reciever duo makes the same/very similar mistakes, it's all on the reciever. Similar scenario in Farve's last game. He was actually throwing decent passes. Not one into double coverage, very few into heavy single coverage. There were 2 picks where recievers broke routes, and it was pointed out that they broke route, but then 2 seconds later, it was all Farve's fault again.

Now granted, ANY TIME a QB throws multiple picks, somewhere, you HAVE to look at the QB. Fact. But, it's also a plain & simple fact that it's not always (and in those games mentioned above, rarely), actually the QB's fault. When the ball's hitting you in the fingers, slipping between your hands, in your arms, and you STILL don't get the completion, it's time to point the finger the other way.

Steelers/Jets:
Wow. BOTH offenses sucked in this game. Even IF Brien had made either of those 2 kicks, the Jets would've gotten hammered in the Conference game, regardless of the Pats/Colts outcome. The only reason they managed to score, in the humblest of my opinion, is because Santana Moss can actually play the game at the peak of his ability game after game after game. When his contract comes up, if the Jets don't re-sign him, their entire GM staff should be taken into Times Square and shot. He's the future of that franchise. On the Steelers end, GREAT running, exception of the Bettis fumble, but the recieving corps failed too many times. I saw WAY too many balls hit fingers/hands/arms and then turf w/out a completion. Pittsburgh needs to fix that problem if they're going to take New England again. They cannot continue to have those kind of recieving mistakes and win. Don't believe me? Look at the Colts game today. Their defense played better today than they have all season. Manning did MUCH better throwing on the run than in previous encounters. But there were simply too many dropped passes, and it cost 'em the game.

Vikings/Eagles:
The first mistake by the Vikings here was starting Moss. It was pointed out late that he was coming off the line slow, and he'd been doing it the whole game. When you've got the pass coverage Philly's got, you HAVE to have you're fastest guys out there, and Moss wasn't cutting it today. On top of that, his head wasn't in the game. The fine, the ankle, and everything else under the sun...er his hair, because you know, he strikes me as the type that believes the world revolves around him...was there, but not the game. That was evident by his THREE dropped passes. When was the last time we saw Moss drop 3 in the same game, let alone 2 in the same quarter? Mistake #2 was Culpepper being too dependant on Moss. Throwing 2 in a row into double-coverage in the end zone was just stupid. There's no other word for it. And, rest assured, if the situation were reversed, and it was McNab/Owens with those problems, I'm 85% we'd have seen the same on their end. Mistake #3 was going for it on 4th down WAY too many times. They gave Philly good field position far too often, and couldn't get back into the game because of it. On Philly's end, they played a solid defensive game. Offensively, McNabb could've mixed it up more, imo. Even with TO out, he's got twice the recieving corps of most teams, but really only focused in on one or two. If they wanna get past Atlanta next week, they're gonna have to mix it up a little more. Westbrook did much better than I thought he would as well, but took some pretty good shots during the game, and that could come back to haunt Philly in the Conference championship.

I didn't watch the Atlanta game, as I was playing cards.

Pats/Colts:
Dropped Passes. More than anything else, it was the dropped passes that hurt Indianapolis today. New England was able to maintain a solid running game, which helped keep Manning's arm out of the picture, but even with that, when Peyton was on the field, it was the dropped passes that killed them. The Pats' defense played well short, which is good, and will help them against Bettis & Duce. But we didn't really see much of them long, with that beat-up secondary exposed, so they could still be hurting if Rothlisburger goes deep next week, especially to Burress or Ward. Ward moreso.

My Predictions for next week:
Philly, in a close one. Both defenses will play well, and the running will go well on both sides. But when it comes down to it, Vick isn't a good passer. When the pocket collapses around him a few times, he'll fold.

Steelers, in a VERY close one. If the Steeler offense can get back to form, and fix the dropped pass problems, this one could go to overtime. They've got a stronger defense--by FAR--than the colts had, and have a lot of experience working against Dillion, so the run won't be as effective for New England. They'll have to keep it balanced and unpredictable to get past the Blitzburgh secondary. I also think the fact that the Jets game was so close will work in Pittsburgh's favor, and give them a lot more focus, specifically on offense & special teams, where they had the most mistakes against NY.

 

[The Young One]

Hmm... thats funny. You say defense wins chamionships but out of the 4 teams left, you pick the 3rd and 4th defensive teams. The Pats secondary is more banged up than Jenna Jameson's pussy, and the falcons defense is hot and cold. The Eagles defense is far superior to the Falcons, and its funny that after a whole week of no recognition, people, like yourself, will still continue to disreguard the Eagles defense. The Steelers defense is really good too. Cower isnt a terrible coach, and compared to the Pats and the Falcs, the Steelers are defensive masterminds. Defensive-wise I'd say 1. Steelers, 2. Eagles 3. Pats 4. Falcons. I think that the only way the Superbowl Champ is from the NFC is if its Eagles v. Pats, otherwise, the champ will be out of the AFC

 

[hodgepodge]

Alge Crumplers stats
rec- 48 yards-774 avg-16.1 td's-6

pretty good numbers...

i also am sticking with my pre-playoffs prediction of falcs-pats (yet to declare a winner).

--Well....I called it. Granted, my pick--and I did pick the Colts--lost

well then you didnt call you did it?? If I use your rules I could say "If the steelers score more points then the patriots next week, they will win the game" and then pick the pats but if the steelers win, I called it.

You say defense wins chamionships but out of the 4 teams left, you pick the 3rd and 4th defensive teams. The Pats secondary is more banged up than Jenna Jameson's pussy

okay, time to set the record straight... The pats have an equal defense to the Eagles in the most important statistic, points allowed. And in the other statistic used (Yards per game) The Pats are BETTER than the eagles (310 ypg to 320, not a huge difference but still better). And their secondary is so banged up that the held the #1 scoring offense to 0 TD's... i hope they get help b/c that just isnt good enough.

The Patriots would definitly beat the Eagles. The eagles have a mediocre run defense and the patriots have the #2 running back in yards per game. Also lets review the most overlooked aspect... Tom Brady's playoff record is what??? Oh yeah... 7-0, best ever by a QB who has started at least 7 games. And if the game comes down to a field goal, who else would you want kicking it than Adam Vinatieri. And dont get me wrong i am not trashing the eagles, they are very good and one of my favorite teams, but I dont think they would beat the Patriots

 

[IHateHonda]

Also you got to remember the Eagles come form The nfc which we all know was a horrible conference this season. So to compare thier defense to New England in my opinion isn't striaght. New England played better teams and to put up great numbers that they did is more impresive that the eagles.

I gotta say that I dont think Pittsburg or Philly will come out on top in thier respective leage championship Games. New England, even with thier banged up secondary is to strong to take down. Even tho Atlanta plays shotty defense here and there, I still think that Vick will find running room enough to get Atlanta into many scoring oppurtunities. My guess is that the Atl/Phi game will be close.

 

[Stingray]

--Well....I called it. Granted, my pick--and I did pick the Colts--lost

well then you didnt call you did it?? If I use your rules I could say "If the steelers score more points then the patriots next week, they will win the game" and then pick the pats but if the steelers win, I called it.

That'd be correct....if I were talking about having called the winner of the game. Since I said---right there, in plain english--that the team I picked to win lost, I obviously wasn't talking about that, which can be seen--again, in plain english--in the rest of the paragraph. I've heard of only hearing what ya want, but come on now...that's just rediculous.


Crumper....700 yards, 6 TDs, right? Bubba Franks, 7 TDs on the season, Antonio Gates, 900 yards, 13 TDs on the season, Tony gonzales, 1000+, 7 TDs on the season, Todd Heap--who played those whole 6 games--300+ yards, 3 TDs on the season, hell...Doug Jolley, with Oakland--who's opponents caught more passes than their recievers did--managed over 300 yards, almost 12 per carry, and 2 TDs. 700 & 6 doesn't make him a great player, it makes him a good Falcon.

 

[oscaraustin]

Super Bowl will be Steelers vs. Eagles. I will be rooting for the Steelers, but the Eagles will win, fairly easily. Championships are always let downs.

 

[war|forever]

UNSTOPPABLE.

The Pats secondary is more banged up than Jenna Jameson's pussy.

Really? Because they seemed pretty damned effective against the league's MVP offense.

 

[The Young One]

Well, war, i dont refer to peyton as the MVP. and im not sure if that was the pats defense as much as it was peyton chocked. dont get me wrong, they are good, but they have a wr as a corner. now i think the pats offense is the second most commonly overlooked thing in this postseason, most common would be eagles defense. nobody has said one word about them, and i like the pats offense alot. i think both games will be great games, however i think the margin by which the eagles beat the falcons will be greater than the steelers/pats game(havent decided yet). i think if the eagles go to the bowl, the afc team will have to show up. if the falcs win, itll be over mid 1st quarter. im waiting to see how this pans out. i love playoff football.

 

[Asian Sensation]

and im not sure if that was the pats defense as much as it was peyton chocked.

If you think about it, Peyton didn't choke. He posted really good numbers tonight, and did not throw an interception until the very last drive, which really didn't matter at all. His recievers weren't getting open due to the Pats defense as well as the defensive schemes of Bill Belichick. In my opinion, it was the Colt's defense that let the team as well as the fans down tonight...Big suprise. Corey Dillon amassed 144 yards and Faulk had 56 yards as well, thats at least 200 yards on the ground to begin with. Also, it didn't really seem like they were pressuring Tom too much, he looked pretty comfortable all night long...lets face it...Defense wins games, and tonight the Colt's defense did not show up.

 

[thewonderdog]

As much as I prefer Mike Tice over Denny Green, he has to be not only the most under-paid, but also most over-rated coach in the league. The Vikings have made STUPID mental mistakes all season. Randy Moss has all the talent but his ego is getting in the way. He has become even more of a distraction for the team than he was in the past. Unfortunately, I don't see him being traded any time soon.

 

[hodgepodge]

Crumper....700 yards, 6 TDs, right? Bubba Franks, 7 TDs on the season, Antonio Gates, 900 yards, 13 TDs on the season, Tony gonzales, 1000+, 7 TDs on the season, Todd Heap--who played those whole 6 games--300+ yards, 3 TDs on the season, hell...Doug Jolley, with Oakland--who's opponents caught more passes than their recievers did--managed over 300 yards, almost 12 per carry, and 2 TDs. 700 & 6 doesn't make him a great player, it makes him a good Falcon.

I never said he was the best TE or a "great" player but he is pretty damn good. If you factor in how little passing yards the Falcons average per game (#30 in the NFL with only 168.2 yards per game) his numbers seem more impressive (and not to nitpick or anything but you should have rounded to 800 instead of 700 since it was 774). He had by far the most recieving yards and touchdowns on the team (like i mentioned earlier, not a passing team but still an impressive feat).

Another thing about his numbers was how near the end of the season (around week 13 or 14 on because they had wrapped it up), they stopped playing him much. In the last 5 games of the year (the last two of which he did not play at all) Crumpler caught only 5 balls for 65 yards and watched the majority of the game. Alge Crumpler isn't a Tony Gonzalez or Antonio Gates, but as for Bubba Franks, the reason he had more TD's than Crumpler was the fact that when the Falcons get in the redzone, they generally do not pass the ball. They pound it with Duckett, Dunn, and the occasional Vick QB sneak or rollout.

Something you cannot measure is how much better of a blocking TE Crumpler is than Gonzalez or Gates. Gonzalez is not a great blocking TE at all and Gates was adequate this year but Crumpler is one of the best around (part of the reason why his team is so great at running the ball). Also, Crumpler has been around only 4 years and has gotten better numbers each year (yes i know Gates has been around 2 and has much better numbers already, Gates is the best in my opinion because he can do more than Gonzalez).

 

[boriqueno]

Jets can play the Patriots! we almost beat the steelers its just Brien killed us!

 

[coclarkson]

 

[RichieTBaum]

-Young One:

First off, I admit that it APPEARS somewhat contradictory to pick the Falcons over the Eagles after saying "Defense wins championships." But the thing is, I never said that the Eagles defense was bad and I didn't say that Atlanta would destroy the Eagles. In fact, I think the game will be close. Anyways, regular-season defensive and offensive statistics mean nothing to me when the playoffs arrive. When I talk about defense winning championships, I am NOT refferring to how good a defense was during the regular season. Instead, I look at how the defenses perform during the playoff games themselves. We all know that Atalnta's defense is awesome at times but terrible at others (KC game...). Because Atlanta can have fantastic defensive showings when the effort is there, I think that the defense=championship concept can apply to them. As for the Patriots, to say that Peyton choked against them is unfounded. As Asian said, Peyton did fairly well before throwing some INT's but his wideouts couldn't get open. If anything, the fact that Troy Brown defended Brandon Stokley out of the slot should be commended. The slot recievers are some of the hardest to defend, especially when Peyton is throwing to them.

Lastly, of all your comments, the most glaring was this:

Cower isnt a terrible coach, and compared to the Pats and the Falcs, the Steelers are defensive masterminds.

Cowher is the coach and you call him "not terrible." The coach/es call the plays, and yet the Steeler's defense are "masterminds"
Call me stupid, but I just don't get that. (Especially when you have Bill Belichek and Romeo Crennel roaming the New England sidelines)

 

[The Young One]

Now after rewatching some of the game on highlights, I must retract some statements. I noticed somethings differently than from when i watched the game. Im not denying the Pats D anything, but right now with all the injuries I have to say the Steelers D is better. Also, I was under the notion that Cower, like Dungy, was called some defensive plays, I could be wrong, but I thought Cower was a former Defensive Coordinator. Also, how can you call the Falcons a good defensive team when half the time it looks like theyve waken up on the wrong side of the bed; whereas, the Eagles defensive TD-FG-TO ratio in the red zone has too be the best in the NFL. If you watch, they force a lot of turnovers, and they dont let teams score TDs as much as most teams. They make the Bend-dont-Break defense work to prefection. I think the Eagles will take the game by 14. Essentially, they beat the Vikes 27-7 because the last Vike TD was when the game was over. The Falcs defense, not as good as the Eagles