Yeah, it's been a busy morning:
Friday A.M. Quickie Roundup
Louisville-WVA Reactions
CFB Weekend Preview
Now, Week 9 NFL Preview...
Obviously, the Game of the Week is Sunday night between the Colts and Pats, the best rivalry in the NFL right now. Sorry it's so brief today:
Bears over Dolphins: No repeat of '85.
Falcons over Lions: Vick as NFL MVP?
Chiefs over Rams: It's Huard-Mania.
Giants over Texans: Bring back Sage!
Saints over Bucs: Colston over Bush.
Cowboys over Skins: Brunell needs Bledsoing.
Jags over Titans: VY a poor man's Garrard.
Bengals over Ravens:
Niners over Vikings: Have to pick ONE upset
Broncos over Steelers: Def. champs 2-6?!
Chargers over Browns: No Merriman? No prob.
Pats over Colts: There's your No. 2 team.
Seahawks over Raiders: Seneca sensation!
Season: 63-51 (Ugh.)
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26 comments:
The Bills can't lose, man. We're coming off a bye, we're hurting, we need something to hang our hats on before we pull out the paper bag disguises against Indy, Jax, SD and Bal. Come on!
~sigh~ Who's in the NFL draft this year?
Dan, for the love of God - pick 'em against the spread for once.
I like Cinci +3 at Baltimore. Carson is going to light it up.
Pack at .500? Whaaa?!
Heck, they'd be playing for 5-3 if they'd kept it together in the St. Louis game. Sadly, they'll likely be 4-7 after the next stretch (at Minny, New England, and then at Seattle) ... although we can always hope Matt Hasselbeck takes longer to recover ...
What's the over/under on the number of yards for Marony and Dillion Sunday night?
Pats will run run run against that sorry Indy run defense.
Wait, you're not picking against the spread, and you're STILL barely over .500??!? Laaaaaaame, on so many levels.
No mention of Viniteri's homecoming?
Boos or cheers?
Personally, i'm rooting for the ultimate irony - a missed game winning kick.
I strongly doubt the Colts will pull out a win this weekend, but am feverishly hoping for a pleasant surprise. As to their run defense, half the problem is the way they play. They put so much emphasis on the pass rush that half the defenders are in the backfield while the RB is heading up field. I am hoping that maybe they have put some work in this week and will be lining up with more emphasis on stopping the run for this game. Time will tell though. The other big key is going to be injuries. It seemed like everyone except Harrison, Wayne, and Manning were listed as questionable as of Wednesday. Regardless of the outcome, I have a feeling we will be seeing this match-up again in January, and that is the one that will count.
I think the Steelers take out Denver this week. Too much talent on that team and they are officially to that do or die point. (might already have gone past that)
NOt that anyone cares but I just noticed that the peeps behind withleather refered to some people as some cockgoblins. I was reading the st pete times today and joey galloway is running his mouth about he is going tobe so open since the saints always use man coverage. Great he is going to drop more balls when he is wide open this week. That guy sucks ass. I thought Chuckie was an offensive genius. I hate being a bucs fan. Sometimes I wonder if we are about to start another ten year stretch of consecutive ten loss seasons. I wish the NFl had a system like in europe where if you finish inthe bottom half you get relegated. At least then the bucs would get some wins on a second tier league. Probably not.
you CAN'T have relegation in American sports....cities would literally SUE if they had to be treated as second-class because their teams were dropped down to a minor league.
So you're stuck in the NFL with the Bucs, rather than the SEC. (Not sure the wins there would come so easily, either!)
Your team, the Bucs, won a Super Bowl. In fact, that was just a few years back. Stop complaining. Teams couldn't be relegated in the States because of whiners like you.
My question of the weekend: Will the Bears be able to beat the Dolphins by more than 42 points (the point difference of the Bulls-Heat game earlier this week)? Seeing how they put a 41-spot on the 49ers in the first half last weekend, I say they can do it.
The whole idea of relegation/promotion is too foreign to American ears, in general. There's this pseudo-democratic idea embodied in a sports league that, in theory, the Arizona Cardinals are the equals of the Chicago Bulls, and on any given Sunday anything can happen. So we let the dreadful teams lose to the great teams, year after year. We figure that if the bad teams wish to improve, then they should just go and do it.
Of course, another part of the problem is that we use our minor leagues as feeder teams for the majors; if we started relegating, that whole system would have to be scrapped.
As for the actual games . . .
I like the Colts over the Pats, not because I actually think they're going to win, but because Bill Simmons' article today actively made me angry.
(I AM a Colts fan, but even so.)
Colts vs. Pats is NOT Manning vs. Brady. The two aren't even ever on the field at the same time! Do you think maybe, just maybe, NE's success over the last six-seven years has something to do with its O-line? You think maybe Indy's failure to win has something to do with their defense?
The Colts' failure to win a championship takes nothing away from Peyton Manning's abilities as a quarterback, so saying he, personally, is somehow wanting as a player because the Colts lose games in January is a reductionist fallacy. Anyway, if you want to blame an individual player for the Colts' failures in recent years, a more likely choice would've been Vanderjagt.
You know I meant Bears. I do that sometimes.
Manning, the Arod of the NFL.
No love for my Brownies? OK, I can't blame you.
Vick for MVP is laughable. Isn't it???
I will never understand Vick. He could be the barry sanders of his generation, and instead he wants to be Kordell Stewart.
Don't pick on Dan about the spread. The scoring has been soooo low this season, underdogs are winning all over the place. Even Oakland rose out of the grave last weekend. I can't remember more unwatchable games in any NFL season (I'm not talking about the Bills either). When the "take a couple quarters off" Giants are favored for the SB, we have problems. Offenses around the league are in shambles. Even fantasy scoring has been atrocious.
mark
I'm a Pats fan, so my opinion is as biased as yours. BUT, if you want to be "reductionist", Manning's stats in January are significantly worse than his stats in the regular season. His interception to touchdown ratio is radically different. How do you attribute that to Vanderjagt or anyone else on the team?
Liria-nope
See you in '08
I think Manning should cut loose a little. He seems like he worries too much about what other people think. He needs to have a musical montage this offseason (after he blows a playoff game). I can see it now.... a tattoo, hair cut, pumping iron, punching dead cows in a meat locker all to the tune of "Bad Company". I think an image chage would go a long way for him.
Peyton Manning has not been nearly as bad in the post season as people would like everyone to believe.
Ignoring the first 3 post season games, he has been very solid. 2003 in Den, 377 yds, 5TDs, next week vs. KC, 304 yds, 3 tds. Then vs NE 237yds, 1td, 4ints. (Flush)
2004 vs Den 457 yds, 4tds, 1 int. Vs NE 238 yds, 0TDs 1 int.
Last year vs. Pittsburgh, 290 yds, 1TD.
I would argue that those are for the most part respectable numbers. Yeah he dropped a deuce in 03 against NE with 4INTs but really everyone needs to get off his freakin' back. That particular game his recievers were dropping the ball all over the place. The next year the recievers were getting mugged so bad that the NFL instituted new rules to put an end to it. It isn't a one man show in the NFL.
If you are going to judge a QB by his post season stats only, then you should be ready to say Trent Dilfer is better then Manning, or how about Jeff Hostetler.
The Colts can win this game easily IF the can keep the Pats scoring to mainly field goals and their offense works as efficiently as it has the past couple weeks. Big ifs, but you never know when someone is going to shit the bed and throw a couple INTs or maybe Dillon puts the ball on the ground. Game of the year so far if you ask me, and win or lose for my colts, I hope it is competitive the whole way.
Ignoring the first 3 post season games
What? Why would you ignore his first 3 playoff games? Because they were all losses? Or because his numbers looked like this:
19-43, 227, 0/0
17-32, 194, 1-0
14-31, 137, 0-2
Look, Manning is a great player. He'll probably go down as Top 5 of all-time when he's through. But in "big" games - and more notably, in games his teams were supposed to win - he shat the bed. Fair or unfair (ARod, anyone?), that's how he's going to be remembered, until he actually goes out and wins a ring.
I hate when people say that the Colts receviers were mugged in 2003. Those were the rules and when they changed them the next year the Pats still beat them.
I think Peyton's problem is not being able to adjust during the game. Last year against the Steelers he could have called more draws to Edge to slow the Pittsburgh blitz. Instead he wanted to throw the ball and then blamed his O-Line for losing the game. I think that is part of the problem people have with Peyton, he is quick to point out his teammates mistakes but you rarely hear him say how he messed up, A-Rod does the same shit.
I am Titans fan so I have to deal with losing to the Colts for the next couple of year until the Titans get some more experience. When Young starts to come into his own the Titans will own the Colts.
IM not whining. I think you should be dropped. Imagine a second tier league with oakland, san fran, the bucs, houston, arizona, cleveland, detroit, buffalo, tennessee, and miami. We all play each other twice and the top two teams go up to the first division. The 3rd through 6th teams are in the playoffs to decide who gets the third spot. The bottom three teams in the first division drop. Imagine what would happen in the dawgpound if cleveland actually could win a title. I bet the games would be just as competitive as in a first division. I figure that back in the day the NFL schedules were based more on your record the previous year so teams that perennially sucked like the aints and the yuks would play every year. Sure both teams sucked but they were fun to watch. I know it is only a dream but I really love how they do the soccer leagues in europe
I think Peyton's problem is not being able to adjust during the game.
Funny, I thought that was precisely what he was best at.
I think that is part of the problem people have with Peyton, he is quick to point out his teammates mistakes but you rarely hear him say how he messed up, A-Rod does the same shit.
Hi. Show me a direct quote from either of those people dissing their teammates. I really don't believe that you can. No fair pulling things from the Manning/Vanderjagt feud, which Mike V. indisputably started.
Speaking of Bill Simmons, other than the fact that he writes 97.89% of his articles about Boston teams and bitches like a little girl about the rest of the country, he really is a great journalist.
Anyway, I am Giants fan...and a yankees fan, and therefore a boston hater...but I still respect and am continuously impressed by Brady and the Pats...As much as I would love for him to tear an achilles, the man can play...and Manning is no Brady. Period
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