NFL Football Discussion Thread ~ Final Week of Regular Season

NFL ^

[dfwgator]

As a fan of both the Lions and the Cowboys, all I can say is "Thank God that's all over."

[eldoradude]

49ers vs Raiders in the Super Bowl. Raiders 38, 49ers 17. HAHAHAHAHA.

[wi jd]

(Rodney Harrison)

Yes they do. But Gene Washington does his best to fine the "Nitschke" out of him.

[E Rocc]

Cleveland is still VERY in this.

The Browns have beaten or outplayed every AFC playoff team except Oakland this year. They took the Squealers to the limit twice this year...before William Green emerged.

-Eric

[Bloody Sam Roberts]

I was really disappointed to see the Patriots get eliminated even though they won today.

Yep. It was a lousy way for me to start the week, too.
I still can't believe the Jets/Pack game. I don't know if it was the Jets coming alive or the Pack laying down or a combination of the two.

[hobbes1]

How any team can take the field against an inferior opponent

Inferior? Curtis Martin one of TWO RBs in the History of the NFL to gain 1000 yards in his first 8 Seasons...Chad Pennington of the gaudy 104 QB rating...Chrebet, Coles and Moss, against Donald Driver, and .... and.....nevermind, Bubba Franks is a better TE, and On the Defensive side of the ball, excepting Vonnie Holliday, it's not even close.

Lets Face it, Given the Packs road woes, and their relative invincability at home, they Had EVERYTHING to play for, yesterday, and came up woefully short of the mark.

[hobbes1]

Lets Face it, Favre, Behind probably Montana, and Steve Young, is probably the greatest Offensive player to lace up, in the last 30 years. BUT....

As a Team,GB is not all that great away from Lambeau Field. They were decidedly overmatched yesterday, and it showed.(even at Lambeau IIRC, they got beat by the NYJ in their last meeting.)

[Media Insurgent]

Now that Miami's season is over, who does everyone think the Dolphins' Annual Designated Messiah will be next year? Allow me to define the term:

Every year Miami starts off hot prompting all the "experts" to say "This is their year!" Then they tank in the second half of the season, and either lose early in the playoffs or miss them altogether. Inevitably, they make some change in the offseason that leads the same "experts" to proclaim they have FINALLY found the missing piece to the puzzle and this will certainly be their year. This piece is the Dolphins' Annual Designated Messiah. This year the ADM was Ricky Williams. Past ADMs have been Dave Wannstedt, Sam Madison, Zach Thomas, Jimmy Johnson, Keith Jackson and any number of journeyman running backs.

So getting back to my original question, now that the almighty Ricky Williams has failed to restore the Dolphins' past glory, what coach, coordinator or player will they add next year to make everyone proclaim them as the rightful heirs to the Miami dynasty of the early 70s?

[Bloody Sam Roberts]

Lets Face it, Given the Packs road woes, and their relative invincability at home, they Had EVERYTHING to play for, yesterday, and came up woefully short of the mark.

Which is exactly why I hate them like no other football team.

[Teacher317]

I think they'll stick with Ricky as the "DM"... they had a decent year. Of their 7 losses, 4 were to playoff-caliber teams (KC was a solid team all year, and lost only one game by more than a touchdown... to the AFC's top team). Every team slips once, so MIN is understandable... but the two losses to Buffalo were inexcusable, and the sole reason they are sitting at home until the summer. Only the Raiders had more convincing wins over good teams than MIA. The 'Phins won 30-3 over NYJ, 30-3 over SD and 26-7 over BAL.

(To be fair, the Jets did stomp SD 44-13 and drilled GB 42-17 and NE 30-17 when it mattered most... the Raiders had 9 winning spreads over 12 points, and 6 of those were against Week 17 playoff contenders.)

My calls:
CLE 20, PIT 17, last minute score wins it
NYJ 34, IND 30, with 31 pts in the 4th Quarter (21 by the Colts)
GB 30, ATL 17, the Packer-backers blood-thirsty after the Jets loss
NYG 16, SF 13, reversing the Week 1 final score

GB 20, TB 17, on a Favre 4th quarter drive in a violent game
PHI 28, NYG 17, in McNabb's emotional return
TEN 26, CLE 13, McNair runs wild
OAK 31, NYJ 28, in overtime

TEN 27, OAK 24, avenging the stomping the Titans got early in the year
PHI 24, GB 17, with GB too exhausted and bruised from the previous two games to keep up. (If PHI loses to the Giants, then GB wins at home and goes to SB37)

TEN 28, PHI 13, in a SuperBowl with crummy commercials. The Titans overcome "the tackle" and the Eagles go 0-2 in the Big One. Hey, one of them had to.

[motzman]

I wanted the Mets to get Rolen last year because I figured Fonzie was through. Bell's a good player, but Rolen always had that "impact" tag--

I think SF overpaid big time for Fonzie who is much older than advertised, and could have a chronic back problem.

[Teacher317]

Oops! Gotta correct myself, before a Bucs fan gets here... they had 4 big wins over playoff-contending teams: Baltimore 25-0, Cleveland 17-3, Green Bay 21-7, Atlanta 34-10... and all 4 losses to playoff contenders (no "slips" against poor teams)

Defense wins championships, and the Bucs held opponents to two scores or less EIGHT times... which doesn't even include Carolina's 3 FG's and 130 total yards.

(There. Does THAT make up for my faux pas, TB fans??)

[motzman]

PHI 28, NYG 17, in McNabb's emotional return

Nice analysis, but Rusty McNabb is not going to beat the Giants after sitting out for 8-9 weeks. McFly is a great player, but the Giants have too tuff of a Defense and too many offensive weapons for the Filthy one's to handle...

[motzman]

The Vikes have never been the same since the NFC Championship game of 2000.

At least you got rid of D. Green (worst coach in the NFL).

I like Tice, I'd give him two more years to turn your ship around.

[BenLurkin]

GO BROWNS!

[Teacher317]

Yeah, but that gives GB the home field for the NFC Championship game... and nobody wants THAT!!!

Sorry, the Giants will just have to lay down for that one. ;^)

[mr.pink]

This Steeler fan will congratulate the Browns on a job well done.

Should be a great game sunday. How's Couch's situation?

Also, how `bout them Miami Dolphins!!...LOL

[motzman]

Sorry, the Giants will just have to lay down for that one. ;^)

Not bloody likely! (lol)

Jeremy Shockey is the Blonde Beast!

[Allegra]

It's so bad that I curse the NFL blackout rules because the fox station can't show the Cowboys when they're playing at the same time as the Texans. That's bad. LOL

How 'bout them Cowboys yesterday? My presence at FedEx Field last week broke the long-standing curse. :)

Booing Bud Adams yesterday at Reliant Stadium was great fun. He was wearing that awful rug on his head and had on an ugly brown suit.

[Diddle E. Squat]

What a complete and utter waste this stupid playoff system is. The regular season now has no meaning, every game isn't crucial, and it just isn't as exciting in the final weeks without the teams fighting for BCS rankings and bowl seedings. Plus there is nothing to argue about, and these playoff games don't come close to the tradition, excitement, and pagentry that the bowls would offer. Surely its time for a better system.

Wouldn't the world be perfect if instead of this boring playoff system we just took the top 2 teams for a single national championship game and then let all the rest with winning records play exhibition games in bowls? Let sports media members(who saw maybe 1/4th of the relevant games) and computer geeks subjectively select the top 2 teams, and perhaps 6 more to play in 'premium' exhibition bowls. Less pressure and worry for all but 2 teams and their fans, and half the teams and their fans end the season with a win. Utopia within grasp.

So how would it be right now if the NFL idiots(who despite themselves for some unexplainable reason have crafted by far the most successful sports league) would adopt the far superior BCS system(which would better reflect 'the will of the people' and the 'popular vote', since the BCS is a 'living, breathing system'):

Philadelphia and Tampa Bay meet in the national championship game down in Tempe. Clearly this is the game that everyone wants to see. Reward for dominating and standing out in the regular season. C'mon, can any team with 5 losses really have any legitimate claim to playing in the nat'l champ. game? Why should we reward mediocrity? The Eagles and Bucs have done all that was asked of them, why should we penalize them by allowing lesser teams to upset them from their rightly earned place in the title game?

The Orange Bowl would feature perhaps the best matchup, with the Jets(sells tickets in S. FL) playing the Titans, the team nobody wants to play right now. Too bad they struggled at the start of the season, nonetheless we can't have them polluting the champ. game with a good playoff run. Luckily for TN, the independent Dallas Cowboys' loss to the Redskins left them one game short of the required number of victories for BCS eligibility, and the disappointed Orange was unable to find a loophole to select them.

The Rose would take the Raiders and Green Bay(both travel well), while the Sugar takes Pittsburgh and New Orleans(since they would draw better than the 49'ers). The 49'ers cry foul, but hey, its not a playoff, so what does it really matter? San Francisco can still look forward to a nice trip to San Diego and the Holiday Bowl against the Chargers. Wouldn't Cincinnatians have a much better holiday if the Bengals were playing Atlanta in the Pissant City Music Bowl. Nothing like a nice trip to Tennessee in January to relieve a disappointing season.

Yes, clearly the NFL could learn a thing or two from college football. What a shame that we are stuck with this boring playoff system that makes a sham of the regular season. Yesterday's games just weren't the same.