NFL Thread

[Hurlshort]

Preseason is underway, so I thought I'd start the new thread. I also read this and found it very interesting.

 

http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/news?slug=lc-s...ondchance081210

Edited August 14, 2010 by Hurlshot

[Guard Dog]

I'll sum up the HoF game last weekend in the words of one of my coworkers "It was like watching two three year olds try to play Madden 2010".

 

Not much hope for my Bucs this year, looks like another long rebuilding season. And next year with labor strife looming it might well be a very blue season indeed.

[Guard Dog]

The season begins this Thursday, any interest in making picks this year? Someone else has to tally though, I've been real busy between work and writing and that just figures to get worse later this year.

[Nepenthe]

The season begins this Thursday, any interest in making picks this year? Someone else has to tally though, I've been real busy between work and writing and that just figures to get worse later this year.

 

I've been completely out of the loop for years, but looks like I'll finally get to see something this year... So, no :D

[Guard Dog]

So, lets see here. The Bucs spent some forty million bringing in Micheal Clayton and Derrick Ward as free agents and signing them to long term contracts. Last year they were the most productive RB & WR on the squad. This preseason they have cut both of them (which means they got no value for losing them and STILL HAVE TO PAY THEM!!!!) and have nothing to show for them but less salary cap space. Jesus F***ING Christ Domanik! What the bloody f**k are you doing??? You bring in a 30 year old nobody to be the head coach who, so far, does not seem to have a clue what the hell he is doing. You fire your offensive coordinator TWO F***ING DAYS before the season last year, and replace him with a guy who has been fired three times as a freaking assistant. You create a whole new defensive scheme last yeare that nobody understands and you end up dead LAST in combined defense (which at the very least kept the offense from feeling bad about being next to last) then in mid season change you mind and go back to the Tampa 2. There was just one problem, you got rid of all the personell you needed to ACTUALLY RUN A TAMPA 2 D! Trying to run that defense with two no name safeties is like showing up at your wedding wearing flip flops. So, lets see here, this year you have cut our two best players and insulted some of the others, publicly I might add. That Donald Penn incident is more than enough to know you are an absolute idiot.

 

I think the Glazers should fire Domanick, Morris and the whole bloody lot of the coaches and just start the f**k over! Maybe we can get a troop of drunken baboons to replace them. They certainly could not do worse.

 

Freakin' Bucs!

Edited September 5, 2010 by Guard Dog

[Enoch]

The season begins this Thursday, any interest in making picks this year? Someone else has to tally though, I've been real busy between work and writing and that just figures to get worse later this year.

We could sign up for a free pick'em league on yahoo (or some other host). That'd take care of the tallying. (And email reminders when picks are due are helpful.) Probably not worthwhile if we only have 3 or 4 participants, though.

[Guard Dog]

Who won last year? I don't even remeber. Well we can at least make Super Bowl predictions

 

 

 

I've got Indy over Dallas in the superbowl.

[Enoch]

I'll go with calling the whole playoff slate:

 

AFCN: Baltimore

AFCS: Indy (Tennessee could make some noise here, with the further development of Vince Young being the key factor.)

AFCE: NE

AFCW: SD (They are waning this season-- that defense is going to be pretty awful-- but I'm not quite daring enough to hand the division crown to the Chiefs.)

AWC1: Pittsburgh (A healthy Polamalu leads a defensive revival to offset their losses on offense.)

AWC2: Kansas City (A frighteningly easy schedule helps the 2nd-best AFCW team get in. The Chiefs addressed their biggest weaknesses (Center and Safety) in the offseason, and have some underrated playmakers in Jamal Charles and Tamba Hali.)

 

The AFC, in general, is the much more divided Conference between "elite teams" and "other teams." Over the past seasons, each of the elite squads has had an off year here and there, but it tends to be Indy, Pittsburgh, NE, SD... and then all the rest. I think the Ravens break firmly into that category this season, with offensive improvements making up for the aging defense. (I was at the NYG@BAL preseason game, and Flacco looked very good.)

 

NFCN: GB (A tough one for me to call. I think their secondary is going to be pretty awful, but with the way they're scoring it might not matter.)

NFCS: Atlanta

NFCE: NY Giants (As has been the case for the past several years, whichever of NY, PHI, or DAL stays healthiest will win this one. Assuming relatively even health, I like the Giants-- their huge glaring weakness last year was deep coverage by their Safeties, and they've addressed that well with Antrel Rolle, Deon Grant, and the recovery of Kenny Phillips.)

NFCW: San Francisco (This division is soooooo baaaaad. I'm quietly rooting for the fightin' Alex Smiths to be the first ever division champ with a losing record.)

NWC1: Philly (I love their front-seven on defense.)

NWC2: NO

 

The NFC, on the other hand, is a mess of parity. I wouldn't be all that surprised by any one of 9 teams representing the Conference in the big game (the whole NFCE, the NFCN excepting Detroit, ATL and NO).

 

Super Bowl: Baltimore over Atlanta

 

First pick in the '11 Draft: Buffalo

[Hurlshort]

You are correct about the NFC West. However I don't think it is possible for the team that wins the division to go 7-9. Mathematically, the team that wins will end up getting about five wins from the division, and going 2-8 against the rest of the league would be very hard to pull off. I do see an 8-8 record being enough though.

 

I think the 49ers actually have the defense to compete with most teams.

[Volourn]

Somebody must have an anti Favre bias because barring something out of the blue no way does a Favre led Viking team miss the playoffs.

 

I foresee Philly having a subpar season as I believe they underrated McNabb's level of play, and the replacement while good is no McNabb. Now, if, Vick was the starter 9as he should be) then Philly might make playoffs.

[Enoch]

Somebody must have an anti Favre bias because barring something out of the blue no way does a Favre led Viking team miss the playoffs.

You mean like the Favre-led Jets missed the playoffs in 2008 and the Favre-led Packers missed the playoffs in 2005-06? There are 52 other guys wearing the uniform, too, you know. (Also, he just had a pint of WD-40 injected into his ankle. Something happening would hardly be "out of the blue.")

 

 

Criticism is easy-- let's see your picks, Vol.

[Hurlshort]

THe Vikings have a pretty brutal schedule. I still think they have a good shot at the playoffs, but it will be a tough road. It is also hard to put too much faith in older QB's, I know I don't bounce back like I did in my 20's.

[Volourn]

You aren't Brett Favre... or are you?

 

 

"You mean like the Favre-led Jets missed the playoffs in 2008 and the Favre-led Packers missed the playoffs in 2005-06? There are 52 other guys wearing the uniform, too, you know."

 

The Vikings a s a team are vastly superior to those ones. Favre's Jets only missed the playoffs b/c Favre got injured and as for the pack, hey, even the best can't be perfect. Afterall, if they could, Peyton manning would have a bunch of SB rings by now.

Edited September 10, 2010 by Volourn

[Guard Dog]

Interesting reading: http://www.cnn.com/2010/LIVING/09/13/mf.nf...x.html?hpt=Sbin

 

How about them Bucs? Nice freaking pass Freeman! Defense needs help though. If the Browns can run on our boys like that God help us in New Orleans.

[Enoch]

Results-wise, that was a beautiful weekend of football. Giants won, Eagles lost, both teams looked awful in DAL-WAS, and we had 2 straight nights of arrogant teams (Dallas, NY Jets) getting humbled on national TV. Oh, and my fantasy team won by a huge margin!

 

Quality-of-play-wise, though, that was an awful weekend of football. The enormous effect that injuries have on the game has led teams to scale back their practices to mere walk-throughs and play roster-fodder for the bulk of the preseason. Which leads to guys just not looking ready when the games start to matter. I watched all of CAR-NYG, GB-PHI, DAL-WAS, and BAL-NYJ, and half of SD-KC, and I didn't see a single team that I could say played well, on the whole.

[Hurlshort]

The 49ers season ended a bit earlier than expected. There go my moderately high hopes of a winning season.