NFL 2008 Season

[Hurlshort]

Technically Warner only has 7 seasons where he has made the 8 game cutoff. But looking at his stats, he really only had three fantastic seasons before he ended up in Arizona. Three seasons is pretty light for the HoF, even though he was unreal in the playoffs during those years. His last two seasons in Arizona have been statistically solid, so that's a big help. I think it's a moot point at this stage because he made it to another Superbowl, and that is basically a golden ticket to the HoF.

Edited January 20, 2009 by Hurlshot

[taks]

all 4 years at AZ have been solid, actually... he just wasn't given much of a chance by wisenhunt till last year when he blew doors in spite of not being full-time. hell, this is the first year that manning actually lived up to warner's season in NY, which was yet another example of coaches failing to acknowledge what he was capable of. total joke...

 

quite frankly, warner's doing better at AZ in part because he has better receivers, and i wouldn't doubt if manning would do better in AZ than he's doing in NY, too. you simply can't be a good QB (statistically, that is) unless you've got someone that can catch the ball.

 

I think it's a moot point at this stage because he made it to another Superbowl, and that is basically a golden ticket to the HoF.

particularly given that he did have those bad years, and did get the short end of the stick, but managed to come back and live up to his "hype" at 37 anyway. voters look at that as determination, a hallmark of hall of famers.

 

no denying, btw, that i'm a warner fan and have been since trent green got hurt in st. louis all those years ago. martz blew it with warner. plain and simple.

 

taks

[Kelverin]

cards - steelers (good call Dragon Lord Jones)

 

The steelers will win. But I do hope The Cards take it. Pitts got enough championships, time to share the wealth.

Edited January 27, 2009 by Kelverin

[Aristes]

I always go for the AFC. It makes it easier to know whom I want to win. However, in some special cases I'm actually a bit more neutral. After all, Steelers have plenty of SBs under their belt. That wouldn't be enough, but the Cards have been such an underdog all year, it's just weird to think that they'll take the day. There were a lot of Cinder Ellas invited to the ball, but only the Cards might go home with the prince. I think the Steelers are a better team, but if you look at it from just the playoffs, the Cards look pretty damned good. Whatever they did in regular season, they've faced tough teams and overcome them handily post season. On the other hand, Pittsburgs' OL is holding better and, if they can protect Roethlisberger keep the ground game running, then the Steelers will probably be unstoppable. Warner is the one on fire, but Roethlisberger is no slouch and with a little protection an the opportunity to mix things up, I think they've got it.

 

The real question is, will the Cards Offense be able to brush aside the Steelers Defense like they have the other post season contenders? They've scored at least 30 points in the last three games, and it's not like folks were kicking sand in the face of the Eagles' defense all year. The Steelers have a strong defense, but they need to be strong enough.

 

I guess the real question is, can the Cards ride the Underdog wagon all the way to victory? How many times can they be the odds on favorites to lose before the odds makers get it right?

 

I'm predicting that the Steelers will win by seven in a tight game. Maybe 21-14. I know, these teams have been putting points on the board, but I've got a gut feeling. You can make fun of me later if I'm wrong.

 

Sadly, I won't be able to watch the superbowl, although I will be checking the score from time to time. You just can't really get to know the teams very well by reading about the games afterwards and checking the stats. If stats ruled, then we wouldn't even have this matchup in the first place. There is something visceral about football. At one level it's a thinking man's game, but on another level it's about the experience. It's not a thought, it's an event.

[Enoch]

Pittsburgh is rightfully favored, and by any objective standard based on their performance so far this season, they should win.

 

I'll probably be rooting for them, if only to restore some sanity to the League. Upsets are fun and all (and I'm certainly glad that my Giants won last year), but if Arizona wins, that would make 4 straight seasons where a team that didn't earn a first-round playoff bye came home with the championship. At some point, either the favorites are going to have to start re-asserting their dominance, or the regular season is going to lose its significance. By that I mean that teams will no longer care about playing for playoff seeding and start mailing their games in the moment they clinch a playoff berth, which would be a terrible thing for people who like to see interesting football games played in December.

[taks]

i don't think it's that the regular season is out of whack, it's that teams that peak early and play strong tire by the end of the season and do poorly in the playoffs. the cardinals, perhaps, just had a late season "gel" and are putting together better football than they were consistently capable of all season (they played very well in many games, but very poorly in others, particularly on defense). it may be only 16 games before playoffs begin, but that's a loooong time and a lot of things can happen in the mean time. injuries, drama queen action, etc.

 

taks

[Hurlshort]

One of the primary functions of a salary cap is that it creates a bit of parity in the league. I'm not sure why (I've read a lot of articles that touch on Enoch's point of view) it is a problem to have an exciting post season where anyone can win it. It makes the league better for me.

[Aristes]

If this were like baseball, with tons of games played out in series, the stats would rule by the end if for no other reason than luck evens out over time. That assumes luck exists in the first place. Randomness and chance? Sure. Luck and fate? The jury is still out on that one.

 

Anyhow, sometimes the underdog wins in baseball. Basketball has a lot of games and there are upsets there as well. ...But football is an entirely different beast. With so few games, any team can get 'lucky' over a few games. There really aren't enough games to even out the chance events. Of course, football isn't God aweful dreadfully boring and I'll actually watch a game if I get the chance as opposed to baseball.

 

I don't know. I see Enoch's point about the playoffs. It makes sense to want things to have some sort of rhyme or reason. It's good to have upsets just to show that these are games of chance, but for stats to have any meaning at all, teams with better stats should beat teams with worse stats. If teams that just barely squeak into the playoffs frequently beat teams that went in with a solid record, it undermines the underlying logic of football strategy. Now, the stats come from games, so they're certainly fluid, but there's a huge difference between saying that any given team can beat any other given team on any given day... there's a difference between saying that and saying that teams beat each other so randomly we don't even bother looking at stats.

 

I don't think it's that bad at this point, but I can understand how someone who views the game on an intellectual level would appreciate better (not perfect) predictability than this post season has yielded.

[Aristes]

I didn't get the points. Steelers win it, which makes me just as happy. I was neutral, but I got soooo sick of the cinderella stories in the media. And it's not like the Steelers have a bad rep like the Eagles. They don't try to spear people all the time and crap. They both played super well and the Steelers won.

[Dragon Lord Jones]

dispite the penalties (by the cards especially) I thought it was a very good game. A game called well by the refs. it was close, it was exciting and although it was no surprise the steelers won ....... it could of easily went the other way. on another note the half-time show sucked again (not being a Springsteen fan I could not bare to watch it) (still not as bad as the stones half-time show though)

 

cudos to the cards for a most excellent effort. I applaud the steelers on their 6th superbowl win ....... sorry to see another season end. 1 more game so to speak (pro-bowl). I can't wait for the warmer weather and to see what happens in the off-season/draft.

 

will have to find something else to waste my sundays on now ....... until next season.

Edited February 2, 2009 by Dragon Lord Jones

[Volourn]

Finished 6-5 with my predictions. I nearly got the score perfectly as I was off by 2.

 

Great game. Not as good as last year's game; but still pretty darn good considering I didn't care about either team all that much.

 

Sweet.

[Trenitay]

Great game, horrible ending. Worst five bucks I've ever made.

[Kelverin]

Entertaining game tonight! Many are claiming greatest ever

 

Top 10 in order

 

XXIII: January 22, 1989: San Francisco 20, Cincinnati 16

X: January 18, 1976: Pittsburgh 21, Dallas 17

XXXII: January 25, 1998: Denver 31, Green Bay 24

XXXIV: January 30, 2000: St. Louis 23, Tennessee 16

XIII: January 21, 1979: Pittsburgh 35, Dallas 31

XXXVI: February 3, 2002: New England 20, St. Louis 17

XXV: January 27, 1991: N.Y. Giants 20, Buffalo 19

XLII: February 3, 2008: NY Giants 17, New England Patriots 14

XXXVIII: February 1, 2004: New England 32, Carolina 29

XLIII: February 1, 2009:Steelers 27 Cardinals 23

 

7-4 this year

 

 

 

 

I didn't care about either team all that much.

I like it better when I have no vested interst, better for my nerves, just relax and enjoy the game

[Aristes]

I can't watch a game and not cheer a side. I just can't. I thought maybe I could this time, but, no. I still found that I really wanted to see the Steelers win. But I was actually happy to see Arizona play as well as they did.

[Enoch]

I thought the game was too sloppy to be considered one of the best evar, but it did have an entertaining finish.

 

I love me some Bruce, but the halftime show was weak. It's not the kind of venue that emphasizes his strengths, and they (whether it was Bruce, the event producers, or NBC) were trying too hard to get the impressive 'rock star' visuals.

[Kelverin]

I thought the game was too sloppy to be considered one of the best evar, but it did have an entertaining finish.

Considering there have been only about 13 competitive Super Bowls, it definitely belongs in the discussion. The first half and last 8 minutes was very entertaining with many big plays, but the questionable calls (Warners "fumble" at the end was the fastest booth review this long time fan has ever seen) and horrible officiating weighs the game down.

[Gfted1]

Yeah, I thought that booth review was suspiciously fast too. They immediately lined up and took a knee to run out the clock, Im not even 100% sure they did a review at all.