zevon wrote:Dear AFC and NFC Playoff Participants:
If your team name doesn't start with "New" you'll need to buy your own tickets to the Super Bowl (airfare NOT included).
I love that post!
Bottom line is this:
Today is a day for FOOTBALL. Today is the day where all the talk means nothing and everything is settled on the field.
NE and Indy... We can break it down all we want, but it really comes dowm to whether or not Manning and Brady reverse their playoff fortunes today. I think not. Today is not that day.
NO and Chicago... I just think NO has too much firepower for the Bears D. Grossman makes a few mistakes rather than having the flawless day he needs and the New Orleans Saints roll on into Miami.
Gentlemen, start you engines, and enjoy a great day of NFL football!!!!!
Yo, Met... thanks for the sig! GO DUCKS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I know you gave those "reasons" why Indy would revert back...but I didn't find them to be any different than "reasons" other people gave in past games why Indy would allow a big game on the ground. McNair did the short passes thing against Indy last week and we all know how well that worked out....short passes against a cover 2 defense are exceptionally ineffective.
Sanders will play, I don't believe there was ever any doubt that he would probably play in this game no matter what. Like I've said in other places, the "excuses" being made for why Indy was able to play good defense the past couple weeks are getting kind of ridiculous when you look at the predictions of how these teams were supposed to tear them up. Of course it's easy to say in hindsight that "these teams were just bad offenses" but when they're predicted to have big games offensively and Indy shuts them down, some credit has to go to Indianapolis rather than just making excuses for why they did well.
The 27-20 win for Indy @ NE may have been "close" despite Brady having a poor day, but also keep in mind that the game was indeed in NE. The turf may help Maroney, yes, but it also significantly helps the Indy defense because they are built as a fast defense. So Brady is following a 3 INT performance against the #13 pass defense in the NFL....and he had a 4 INT game against the team he is playing next (#2 in pass defense) and yet there's no way he'll repeat throwing a few picks this week? You may not believe it will happen but quite honestly, there's a decent chance of it happening again.
Congrats on having a big running game against the Jets....only every other team that played them all season can say that.... Would you honestly allow the "well we didn't run well against that team but no one else would have either" argument for someone else to explain how they weren't able to run the ball? Indy was able to run it well enough against Baltimore and the Ravens are a better run defense than SD.
What I'm saying about the end of the regular season not having a bearing means that at this point in the playoffs (after 2 games won by the Colts in the postseason) what happened at the end of the regular season no longer matters. The Colts NOW have momentum regardless of what happened when they lost games at the end of the season. Your comment about the Steelers is irrelevant because they BOTH won games at the end of the regular season AND in the playoffs, so at this point in the playoffs for them, it no longer mattered either whether they won at the end of the season.
mattb47 wrote: ...for a team like NE who is in a division with the Jets, Bills, and Dolphins compared to Baltimore playing Pittsburgh and Cincy...
If you are trying to hint that Baltimore had a disadvantage this year because they played in a better division, thats just bullcrap. I, at the very best, would say that the two divisions were pretty even this year. As far as records go, the AFC East did better, and the wildcard came from the AFC East. Now I didn't go through and check who had the tougher schedule, but I'm betting it pretty much evened itself out over the year. Last year that would have been a valid arguement... not this year.
mattb47 wrote: ...for a team like NE who is in a division with the Jets, Bills, and Dolphins compared to Baltimore playing Pittsburgh and Cincy...
If you are trying to hint that Baltimore had a disadvantage this year because they played in a better division, thats just bullcrap. I, at the very best, would say that the two divisions were pretty even this year. As far as records go, the AFC East did better, and the wildcard came from the AFC East. Now I didn't go through and check who had the tougher schedule, but I'm betting it pretty much evened itself out over the year. Last year that would have been a valid arguement... not this year.
Yeah I actually think the AFC East is better than the AFC North, and I find it funny that he left out the Browns when talking about Baltimore's opponents . Pittsburgh and Cincy were not that good this year.
"Nobody in football should be called a genius. A genius is a guy like Norman Einstein."
-Joe Theismann (pronounced theese-MAN, not rhyming with Heisman)
Matt, I hope to see you here after the game.
I'll be here, win or lose, and will either be eating crow or dishing it out. I'm pretty adept at both.
BTW, do you have a score prediction today? I didn't see one from you.
Mine is 27-17 NE, posted previously.
Last week, mine was 24-21 Pats (look it up).
Throw one out there and let's see who's closest.
My last word is that I think you are knowledgeable about football and I know you've been here a lot longer than I, and I respect that. But if anyone thinks the Colts D, which has blown chunks all season long, has turned into the Steel Curtain in two weeks with the return of one guy....
Well, I'll let you fill in the rest.
mattb47 wrote: ...for a team like NE who is in a division with the Jets, Bills, and Dolphins compared to Baltimore playing Pittsburgh and Cincy...
If you are trying to hint that Baltimore had a disadvantage this year because they played in a better division, thats just bullcrap. I, at the very best, would say that the two divisions were pretty even this year. As far as records go, the AFC East did better, and the wildcard came from the AFC East. Now I didn't go through and check who had the tougher schedule, but I'm betting it pretty much evened itself out over the year. Last year that would have been a valid arguement... not this year.
Which division had the better offensive teams? Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, and Cleveland or the Jets, Bills, and Dolphins?
Pittsburgh - #7 in total offense (13th in scoring offense)
Cincy - #8 in total offense (8th in scoring offense)
Cleveland - #31 in total offense (30th in scoring offense)
Miami - #20 in total offense (29th in scoring offense)
NYJ - #25 in total offense (18th in scoring offense)
Buffalo - #30 in total offense (22nd in scoring offense)
Does record really end up mattering when you're talking about a comparison between how a defense is matched up within a division? I don't think so.
zevon wrote:Matt, I hope to see you here after the game. I'll be here, win or lose, and will either be eating crow or dishing it out. I'm pretty adept at both. BTW, do you have a score prediction today? I didn't see one from you. Mine is 27-17 NE, posted previously. Last week, mine was 24-21 Pats (look it up). Throw one out there and let's see who's closest.
My last word is that I think you are knowledgeable about football and I know you've been here a lot longer than I, and I respect that. But if anyone thinks the Colts D, which has blown chunks all season long, has turned into the Steel Curtain in two weeks with the return of one guy.... Well, I'll let you fill in the rest.
Enjoy the games, I'm out.
You should read the article I posted.....has my predicted score of 27-24. I'll be here, I'm not one to back down if the Colts don't produce a win today.
I didn't say they turned into the Steel Curtain, but is it any coincidence that their defense is significantly better with Bob Sanders in there? I don't think so. Or that they've won every game that he's played?
mattb47 wrote: ...for a team like NE who is in a division with the Jets, Bills, and Dolphins compared to Baltimore playing Pittsburgh and Cincy...
If you are trying to hint that Baltimore had a disadvantage this year because they played in a better division, thats just bullcrap. I, at the very best, would say that the two divisions were pretty even this year. As far as records go, the AFC East did better, and the wildcard came from the AFC East. Now I didn't go through and check who had the tougher schedule, but I'm betting it pretty much evened itself out over the year. Last year that would have been a valid arguement... not this year.
Yeah I actually think the AFC East is better than the AFC North, and I find it funny that he left out the Browns when talking about Baltimore's opponents . Pittsburgh and Cincy were not that good this year.
For the record, I left Cleveland off of there because they were obviously the weakest of the 3 teams in that division, in the AFC East, they were all mediocre at different times in the year this year so there was no clear team to leave off that list. And read my post, the AFC East was MUCH worse offensively than the AFC North....which is really the only thing that needs discussing here when considering the level of a defense.
zevon wrote:Matt, I hope to see you here after the game. I'll be here, win or lose, and will either be eating crow or dishing it out. I'm pretty adept at both. BTW, do you have a score prediction today? I didn't see one from you. Mine is 27-17 NE, posted previously. Last week, mine was 24-21 Pats (look it up). Throw one out there and let's see who's closest.
My last word is that I think you are knowledgeable about football and I know you've been here a lot longer than I, and I respect that. But if anyone thinks the Colts D, which has blown chunks all season long, has turned into the Steel Curtain in two weeks with the return of one guy.... Well, I'll let you fill in the rest.
Enjoy the games, I'm out.
You should read the article I posted.....has my predicted score of 27-24. I'll be here, I'm not one to back down if the Colts don't produce a win today.
I didn't say they turned into the Steel Curtain, but is it any coincidence that their defense is significantly better with Bob Sanders in there? I don't think so. Or that they've won every game that he's played?
Guess I couldn't resist peeking...
I had read your article, but hadn't realized it was you who wrote it - I enjoyed it, but of course disagreed with your prediction. It's good analysis though.
One thing I'd also note is that Willie Mcginest isn't a Pat anymore, and he has made some huge game ending plays in this series. Hoping not to miss him too much.
Sanders did play in one loss by the way, Dec 3 against Tenn - 1 of only 4 games he played regular season.
It'll be a good game, I wouldn't rule out an offensive explosion by both teams.
Really gone now, gotta concentrate on the Saints' fumble fest.
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by Nfl Fan » Sun Jan 21, 2007 12:05 pm 
Would you honestly allow the "well we didn't run well against that team but no one else would have either" argument for someone else to explain how they weren't able to run the ball? Indy was able to run it well enough against Baltimore and the Ravens are a better run defense than SD.
