NFL 2008 Season

[Kelverin]

Lets see if we can get more participants.

 

Sunday, September 28

 

Cleveland (0-3) at Cincinnati (0-3)

Minnesota (1-2, win) at Tennessee (3-0)

Denver (3-0) at Kansas City (0-3)

San Francisco (2-1, 2 win) at New Orleans (1-2, 2 loss)

Arizona (2-1, loss) at NY Jets (1-2, 2 loss)

Green Bay (2-1, loss) at Tampa Bay (2-1, 2 win)

Atlanta (2-1, win) at Carolina (2-1, loss)

Houston (0-2) at Jacksonville (1-2, win)

San Diego (1-2, win) at Oakland (1-2, loss)

Buffalo (3-0) at St. Louis (0-3)

Washington (2-1, 2 win) at Dallas (3-0)

Philadelphia (2-1, win, grr) at Chicago (1-2, 2 loss)

 

Monday, September 29

 

Baltimore (2-0, win) at Pittsburgh (2-1, loss, )

 

Bye: Detroit, Indianapolis, Miami, New England, NY Giants, Seattle

[taks]

P.S. Just ebcause soemthing is in a contratc doesn't make it legally binding, btw. It has to pass certain legal threshholds.

uh, mostly, yes, they are legally binding. and the "thresholds" are generally things that would otherwise be illegal. the contracts these guys sign, players and the like, make certain that their behavior can impact their employment. the league does not have the right to silence them, true, but they can fire them for failing to live up to their contract. telling the ref to shut up was a nice way of saying "you can keep talking, and we can fire you, or you can shut up and keep your job. take your pick."

 

taks

[Gfted1]

No spread this time? Anywho:

 

Sunday, September 28

 

Cleveland (0-3) at Cincinnati (0-3)

Minnesota (1-2, win) at Tennessee (3-0)

Denver (3-0) at Kansas City (0-3)

San Francisco (2-1, 2 win) at New Orleans (1-2, 2 loss)

Arizona (2-1, loss) at NY Jets (1-2, 2 loss)

Green Bay (2-1, loss) at Tampa Bay (2-1, 2 win)

Atlanta (2-1, win) at Carolina (2-1, loss)

Houston (0-2) at Jacksonville (1-2, win)

San Diego (1-2, win) at Oakland (1-2, loss)

Buffalo (3-0) at St. Louis (0-3)

Washington (2-1, 2 win) at Dallas (3-0)

Philadelphia (2-1, win, grr) at Chicago (1-2, 2 loss)

 

Monday, September 29

 

Baltimore (2-0, win) at Pittsburgh (2-1, loss, )

[Kelverin]

No spread this time? Anywho:

Figured we get more than 2 people.

[Volourn]

"Trouble in Giant land?

The New York Giants will not have the services of their most electrifying offensive weapon when they play Seattle after their bye week. WR Plaxico Burress will miss the game, not because of injury, but rather insubordination."

 

Coughlin, and co ar egetting ****y now. Coughlin was Mr. tyrant afew years ago, and ever got anywhere. Last eyasr, he wa smore relaxed and the team responded. What a moron.

 

Suspended, and losing tons of money because of 'ignored' calls? Give me a break. That's pathetic.

[Enoch]

This thread needs a bump. It slipped when Kelv stopped his regular news wire updates, which is OK. But it's the Playoffs now!

 

So, who you got in the first round?

 

Saturday:

4:30 EST Atlanta Falcons at Arizona Cardinals

8:00 EST Indianapolis Colts at San Diego Chargers

Sunday:

1:00 EST Baltimore Ravens at Miami Dolphins

4:30 EST Philadelphia Eagles at Minnesota Vikings

 

I really like 3 of the road teams-- Atlanta, Baltimore, and Philly. The Cardinals have looked awful lately. The Ravens should be able to shut down Miami's offense and run the ball effectively. Minnesota has Tavaris Jackson at QB.

 

Colts-Bolts is a tougher call. I think Indy is a slightly stronger squad right now, but based on past meetings SD matches up with them better than most teams do. I'll take San Diego to win, but I'm not at all confident in this one.

[Volourn]

ARI over ATL: Somebody has a superbowl ring; the other is a rookie (a good rookie but a rookie nontheless)

 

INDY over SD: 12-4 team vs 8-8 team? I'll take my chances are the 12-4 team even if they are the road. SD is a tough team; but sorry hard to bet against Peyton Manning.

 

BAL over MIA: This is a really ahrd game to call. can go either way. I'll take Baltimore just because I have to take someone.

 

MIN over PHILLY: I think Philly is the better team; but they're so hot and cold soemtimes you don't know which team you'll get. Plus, Eagles fans don't deserve to have McNabb or Reid so I hope they lose, go to another team, kick butt while Philly sucks for half a dozen years. It will serve them right. Plus, Petersen is a beast.

[Kelverin]

Saturday:

4:30 EST NBC Atlanta Falcons at Arizona Cardinals - I want to take the Falcons, but Ryan has been average the last couple of weeks (rookie wall?) and Turner just had a monster game not sure if he can run all over the 16th ranked run defense on the road. Cardinals win their first home playoff since 1947

 

8:00 EST NBC Indianapolis Colts at San Diego Chargers - I would feel more confident in a Charger victory if LT and Gates were not hurt, but Chargers win in a close game.

 

Sunday:

1:00 EST CBS Baltimore Ravens at Miami Dolphins - I take the Ravens defense, they might still be pissed about being the Dolphins only victory last year.

4:30 EST FOX Philadelphia Eagles at Minnesota Vikings - Hate taking the Eagles, but I will anyway.

[Enoch]

Yeah, Volo is right that Philly's offense seems to disappear entirely for 1 game out of every 3. (And, as a Giants fan, I'd really prefer not to see the Eagles-- the only team to beat NYG at home this season-- in the second round.) But I just don't see how the Minnesota offense is going to do much of anything against Jim Johnson's D.

 

As for ATL-ARI, Ryan has faded a little down the stretch, but Warner hasn't been so hot either (when he's playing teams besides the dregs that make up the remainder of the NFC West). The Cards might have a middle-of-the-pack run defense on the aggregate, but their performance in that aspect of the game has generally declined as the season wore on. I could see them winning in a shootout, but I'm betting that Atlanta will be able to control the ball effectively enough to prevent that.

 

Oh, and Michael Turner is officially the next victim of the dreaded "Curse of 370." In short, running backs who get more than 370 carries in one NFL season either get hurt, have their effectiveness decrease substantially the following year, or are named "Eric Dickerson." Recent victims include Larry Johnson in 2006, Shaun Alexander in 2005, Ricky Williams in 2003, Eddie George in 2000, and both Terrell Davis and Jamal Anderson in 1998.

[Volourn]

No love for the Colts. WOWSERS!

[Enoch]

No love for the Colts. WOWSERS!

Well, Kelv is a SD fan, and I did say that I thought it would be the most competitive (i.e., hard to predict) game of the weekend. The Colts have looked strong lately, but their streak to end the season has mostly come against lousy opposition (plus the meaningless backup-on-backup battle with Tennessee last week). The last good team they played was, oddly enough, at San Diego in week 12, and they needed a last-second 51-yard FG to win that one. I saw it as a 50/50 shot, and decided that I needed some variety after picking all the other road teams.

 

I do think that whichever team wins that game has a meaningful chance of knocking off one of the top seeds next week. (Baltimore does too.)

[Kelverin]

No love for the Colts. WOWSERS!

For a team we generally do great against (3 of the last 4)

 

My response would be no love the bolts at home, with a QB that statiscally put up a better year than manning, superior special teams, argueably better offense, I give the defensive advantage to the colts only because Merriman will not play

 

 

How can you not trust this guy?

Edited January 2, 2009 by Kelverin

[Volourn]

"My response would be no love the bolts at home, with a QB that statiscally put up a better year than manning, superior special teams, argueably better offense, I give the defensive advantage to the colts only because Merriman will not play"

 

Of course, SD is only in the playoffs 'cause of a horrible division. 'Statistically better'. L0L I remember when Manning was the stats man and people still bashed him 'cause he didn't have a ring now all of assuden it's all about the stats. Which is it, people?

 

9 straight wins.

 

P.S. Of course, SD *does* have a chance to win. Won't take that away from them. But, being the favorites? No way.

Edited January 2, 2009 by Volourn

[Kelverin]

Of course, SD is only in the playoffs 'cause of a horrible division.

Lol

 

They have no control over who is in their division and who they play. Records are as meaningless as stats. As long as you get to the dance, it don't matter how you get there. A whole new season starts this weekend, lets see who wants it more.

Edited January 2, 2009 by Kelverin

[Enoch]

Of course, SD is only in the playoffs 'cause of a horrible division.

Lol

 

They have no control over who is in their division and who they play. Records are as meaningless as stats. As long as you get to the dance, it don't matter how you get there. A whole new season starts this weekend, lets see who wants it more.

Well, sure, you don't get bonus points in playoff games for having strong stats, or having a better record, or having played a stronger schedule, so it certainly doesn't matter to the teams and players involved.

 

But as fans and as rational analysts, all of those things are bits of evidence that we should use to set our expectations for playoff teams. I really really hate the kind of sports analysis that attributes success in hindsight to meaningless concepts like "wanting it more," "momentum," and "swagger." They're all shorthand for lazy analysis that looks accurate in hindsight, but that actually fails to provide any kind of predictive insight to games that haven't been played yet. Sure, emotional and motivational factors have great effects on NFL games, but unless they're hanging out in the locker rooms of both teams for the entirety of the week leading up to the game, nobody has anywhere close to enough information upon which to base a prediction on the relative emotional states of the teams.

 

Two caveats: First, real analysis of NFL games is very hard to do. The gap between the understanding of the sport that coaches, players, and management personnel have and the understanding that fans and sportswriters have is larger in the NFL than it is in any other sport. (Sadly, most sportswriters covering NFL football are not interested in brigding this gap with study of their own when they can simply crank out ill-informed columns on how Team A will win because it has Swagger.) So, unless we want to devote all of our free time to charting play-by-play results like NFL scouts do, we're left with educated guesses, aided by a few useful tools like DVOA.

 

Second, all the analysis in the world is only going to get you 3/4ths of the way there. A heck of a lot of what goes on in a football game is attributable to nothing but dumb luck. Given a couple random bounces of an oblong ball, a few a random trips over divots in the turf, or a few gusts of wind at the wrong time, and you can see teams that are clearly inferior by any objective or subjective assessment pull off an upset victory. You won't hear many analysts, coaches, or players say it openly because it sounds like a cop-out, but random chance plays a huge role in who ends up the champion of a single-elimination playoff.

[Volourn]

"are as meaningless as stats."

 

Then why did you bother to point out the 'meaningless stat' (your words not mine) of Rivers having a better 'statistical season' than Manning if it is meaningless? L0L

[Kelverin]

"are as meaningless as stats."

 

Then why did you bother to point out the 'meaningless stat' (your words not mine) of Rivers having a better 'statistical season' than Manning if it is meaningless? L0L

Blah, blah, round and round we go there's no arguing with you and your manlove for the manning family. Bolt's take this game, hopefully you will be here on Saturday night to admit you were wrong, as usual

[Volourn]

Yeah, I was also wrong when I said neitehr Manning was a 'choker', and they'd both be winning championships, right? Or that the Giants got the better deal with they got Eli for Rivers (even though Rivers is a great QB too), huh?

 

And, look at that, Peyton wins ANOTHER MVP. And, the 'media darling' Brees didn't even get 1 1st place vote. HAHAHAHA!

 

Remember, the Giants had 'no chances' vs the Patriots last year.

 

On top of this, it's not like I said SD had 'no chance' vs Indy. They do; but enough to be the favorites even at home? Nah.

 

P.S. I notice how you quoted the stats thing but avoid commented on it ebcause you know you got skooled on it so you decided to try to make some silly funny about 'Volo is always wrong' even though I tend to be proven more rigtht han wrong in this thread.

 

R00fles!

Edited January 2, 2009 by Volourn

[taks]

The Cards might have a middle-of-the-pack run defense on the aggregate, but their performance in that aspect of the game has generally declined as the season wore on.

i'm not sold on ARI's defense, either, and middle of the pack, IMO, is an overstatement. well, maybe if constrained to the run only. every time i watched ARI play (primarily to see how warner did with his receiver corps), i kept thinking "kinda like watching mizzou." i want warner to win, not ARI, btw, just as a f*** *** to the rams, which i have the utmost of contempt for right now ("how to destroy a team in 2 years and make it last for a decade" sounds like the name of a book).

 

taks

 

PS: ^volourn: i'm surprised brees didn't get anything. maybe because they sucked as a team?

Edited January 2, 2009 by taks

[Volourn]

Not to mention the Giants treated him like crap too so if Arizona manages to beat the Giants even thoguh I'd be disspaointed my team lost; I'd be laughing at them too.

Edited January 2, 2009 by Volourn

[Kelverin]

Giants got the better deal with they got Eli for Rivers

So far, its still to be determined.

 

 

Peyton wins ANOTHER MVP

Who cares? The media and "fans" lol

When did Brees get to be the media darling, that belongs to your boys. By the way the Chargers kept the right QB. I would rather have Rivers then any other QB, but thats just me

 

I gave the Giants a great chance to win last year, they are still the favorites in my book to go all the way, looking forward to a SD NY superbowl

 

You schooled me?

 

In every way Rivers was the better QB this year period end of story.

[Volourn]

"gave the Giants a great chance to win last year, they are still the favorites in my book to go all the way, looking forward to a SD NY superbowl "

 

Won't happen.

 

 

"You schooled me?"

 

Yup.

 

You claimed that Rivers was better because he was 'statistically better' as you gave that as a reason why SD will win this weekend then soon afterwards you claimed stats were meaningless. So.. which is it? Are stats meaningful or not. Otw, Manning went 11-5. Your precious Rivers went 8-8. Manning won MVP. Rivers did not.

 

 

"In every way Rivers was the better QB this year period end of story."

 

L0L Delusional much?

 

 

"Giants got the better deal with they got Eli for Rivers

So far, its still to be determined."

 

Nope. Giants won a Super Bowl, already. SD has not.

 

 

"When did Brees get to be the media darling, that belongs to your boys."

 

All season long, actually. 'Brees for MVP' was a common refrain followed by 'Warner for MVP'. Or 'Dallas for super bowl winning fvaorites'. In fact, Giants have for the most part relatively ignored the Giants though its ahrd to completely ignore a team from NY. But, ooohhh,, people sure tried.

 

 

"By the way the Chargers kept the right QB."

 

First off, they didn't 'keep' anyone. It was a trade. And, no, they didn't.

 

" I would rather have Rivers then any other QB, but thats just me"

 

Biasness at its worst. Rivers is a great QB; but winning your divsion with an 8-8 record is not impressive. Though, he did beat Indy last year (iirc) so it's not all lost.

[Kelverin]

Chargers kept the right QB Rivers > Brees. Was'nt talking about the "Wahhhhhhhh I don't wanna play in SD daddy" shli

 

Watch a Charger game before you talk **** about rivers, he lead his team to the lead in almost every game they lost, the defense gave away those games.

 

Again it's too early to judge the rivers-manning deal, eli started a year or two earlier no? lets see how it measures up when their careers are over

 

He (Chargers) beat the colts TWICE last year

[Volourn]

"Chargers kept the right QB Rivers > Brees. Was'nt talking about the "Wahhhhhhhh I don't wanna play in SD daddy" shli"

 

Nah. Not really. They're about equal.

 

 

"Watch a Charger game before you talk **** about rivers,"

 

Um. I said he was a great QB. read my posts before you lie about what I posted.

 

 

" he lead his team to the lead in almost every game they lost, the defense gave away those games."

 

YTeah, he led them to an 8-8 record. SWEET.

 

 

 

"Again it's too early to judge the rivers-manning deal, eli started a year or two earlier no? lets see how it measures up when their careers are over"

 

Waaa.. Don't be butthurt because Eli was smart and avoided SD, and went to a real sports city. And, he's already won a championship. Come talk to me when Rivers wins a superbowl over an 18-0 team. Deal?

 

 

"He (Chargers) beat the colts TWICE last year"

 

Yet, he's won 0 superbowls. L0L 0 MVPs. Peyton has 1, and 3 respectively. R00fles!

 

 

You keep bragging about Rivers being so much (due to biasness) yet over half the voters felt Manning was the MVP. Majority doesn't always rule; but these voters aren't as biased as a SD fanboy is so I'll believe them before you.

[Kelverin]

"Nah. Not really. They're about equal."

Where will Drew be again this year? Watching PR in the playoffs on TV.

 

"YTeah, he led them to an 8-8 record. SWEET"

Playoff bound

 

"Waaa.. Don't be butthurt because Eli was smart and avoided SD, and went to a real sports city."

I believe he avoided the organization, not the city itself. But we are a real sports city (whatever that means) we have stadiums, teams and everything. Shove that east coast bias up your ass! Yes I know you are in Kanada, but it still shines through....

 

"Yet, he's won 0 superbowls. L0L 0 MVPs. Peyton has 1, and 3 respectively. R00fles!"

I could care less about MVP's, you got me on the Superbowls however

 

"but these voters aren't as biased as a SD fanboy is so I'll believe them before you."

You calling me a fanboy ain't that rich, but whatever. Never said PR was the best QB, but I am glad he is on my team, he's a winner, has heart (playing last years AFC championship game with torn ACL in right knee won me over) and never throws his teammates under the bus unlike some 3 time MVP QB I could mention.