Official Football Thread

[InfiniteNow]

:)

 

What could have been a good game turned into a pummeling ;)

I had to turn the game off! Oh well, at least they got the "unbeaten" label off their backs. ;)

Funny... I remember having this very same feeling about a week ago. :cup:

 

 

I was interrupted by a couple 7th Day Adventists trying to find converts. I messed with 'em for awhile. They couldn't really answer my questions except that "they interpret the Bible differently"

Good way to distract yourself from the game. Well done. :D

[Racoon]

Week 5 in the Books!

http://msn.foxsports.com/nfl/scores?weekNum=5&season=Regular

 

My 'Hawks had a bye week.

The Bears could be scary.

 

If the Ravens win tonight I will have gone perfect in my Pick-em League Predictions! :xx:

[cwes99_03]

We've let this thread go a bit to the way side. Well, I'm not gonna let it die that easily.

 

This week Detroit plays the softened up Bills. I think detroit should put it together for the upset of the week (since the Lions are in the winless column).

The Lions had a better game against the Bears than the Bills had, but the Bears also played a lot better against the Bills than against the Lions. The Bills did beat the Vikings, who defeated the Lions. I think these are two evenly matched teams, even if neither one is a Superbowl contender.

 

Important games to watch. Carolina at Baltimore. Ravens will finally be matched up against an offense that can give their defense a workout. The giants play Atlanta, which will also be a good workout for the Falcons offense and Mike Vick (watch Mike get sacked a few times then see how many interceptions he throws :kiss: ).

Phili at NO will be the battle for coach of the year (according to NFL.com). What will each team do? (Eagles by 10)

Seattle at St. Lou. Are the Rams really playing that well? Are the Hawks gonna play like they are expected sometime soon?

KC at Pitt. How far down will the Steelers go the year after the superbowl?

Maybe Tenn at Washington, will be interesting. If the skins can start rolling, then they might still contend for a playoff spot.

And of course the game of the week DA BEARS down in the brand new stadium in Arizona. How will Leinert act against a defense that is going to be pounding him into that natural (can you call it natural when it is transfered into and out of the stadium for every game?) turf.

[InfiniteNow]

The giants play Atlanta, which will also be a good workout for the Falcons offense and Mike Vick (watch Mike get sacked a few times then see how many interceptions he throws

 

While I don't share cwes' optimism, I'd like to wish Tarantism a less than enjoyable viewing experience this Sunday while the Giants play the Falcs...

 

:kiss:

[Tarantism]

ahhh thanks for picking up the slack, cwes! i havent been giving my weekly useless paragraphs on the season the past few weeks, mostly due to lazyness i think...

 

the bears will kill arizona. of course, they COULD be over-confident and miss a chance at an easy win...but i dont see that happening. lovie smith is displined coach and i dont see him letting his players make that mistake. what i would tell my players if they were red-hot like the bears are: "play every week like you are winless". anyway, bears by 15.

 

i dont care what anyone says, the panthers will lose to the ravens. if you look at the teams they have played, they have lost to the legitament contenders and beaten the struggeling teams, with the exception of the saints, who i dont see as contenders, just fleglings. the ravens are coming off a loss, and they have enough veteren leadership on that team to pull out a win this week. another thing, jake delhomme is NOT a great quarterback, and DeShaun Foster cant win a game for you. look for those two things to be apparent this week. ravens by 5...

 

in my upset of the week, i think that the titans will beat the redskins by 3. dont as me why, i just got a feeling.

 

ahh, once again the falcons will be playing in my game of the week. the giants are a contender, so well see how the falcons match up..but bewhere, if the falcons running game can get into a rythem, watch out. the giants are not rated high against the pass, so keep an eye on Alge Crumpler to make some catches early.

 

its on, fellas :kiss: :kiss: :kiss:

[Tarantism]

(season picks record 6-6)

[Tarantism]

oh, i think FALCONS BY THREE. w00t.

[Racoon]

Seahawks win a Nail-Biter!! :hyper:

 

Good thing Paul Allen had a pep talk with Josh Brown, the kicker, before the game. :) Two field goals of 49 yards, and the game clincher at 54! ... someone may have had to call the ambulance had he not made the last one.

:eek2: ---> :doh: ---> :dead:

 

Rams/Seahawks are usually exciting games with good scoring and ball movement.

box score:

http://msn.foxsports.com/nfl/boxscore?gameId=20061015014

 

scores from around the league. Including Atlanta's loss.

http://msn.foxsports.com/nfl/scores?weekNum=6&season=Regular

 

[Racoon]

WHOA! :eek2:

 

This college footbrawl happened over the weekend!

 

view with caution :hyper:

 

YouTube - UM FIU Brawl http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6jWWC_ozN7E

[Tarantism]

alright, another week, another thought platter for ya's...im doing it a bit different this time so "bear" with me...:)

 

starting with the game that just ended, the bears are lucky that they had such a poor offensive show against the underaciving cardinals. if it was against a contender that game would have been over after the first half. a good note for the cards wold have to be the play of matt lineart, and the good blocking of the offensive like....IN PASS PROTECTION. maybe the cardinals would not be 1-5 if their running game wasnt so non-existant. I dont know if the blame for that falls more on James or poor blocking, or both, but something has to be remidied, or they will not be a winning team. the other bright spot for the Cards would have to be the defensive play...though some may forget because of the loss, the defensive unit gave up only three points to a good (but over-rated) offense. all of that being said, the bears are 6-0.

 

the broncos won a game that they should have won. its looking like another battle for the AFC west division title between two great teams, the broncos and the chargers. i look foreward to seeing them play each other, and i that whoever doesnt get the division will get the AFC wild card.

 

Will the raiders win a game this year? they dont have an easy schedule, and the only game it looks like they have a shot against that other texas team, houston, but i think that even the texans are a better football team than the raiders. assuming QB Brooks comes back as the starter (if he is even injured), that game will be the battle of the failure quarterbacks.

 

the steelers beat a team that they were supposed to beat. thats all. i dont see them being a playoff team this year, their division is too good. ps. i have been saying that Rothlisberger is overrated for three years now. ;)

 

the Dolphins are competing with the Cardinals for the biggest bust of the year. its good to see Harrington playing, he has looked better than Daunte did...and at half the salery. but hey, at least former first-round pick Ronnie Brown showed up to play this week. do you think that they are missing Ricky Williams yet? :smoking:

 

the Chargers have a shot to go deep in the playoffs, they seem to get just enough out of LT and Phillip Rivers every week to win...mostly because of the defensive play. Shawn Marrimen could be defensive player of the year. him or Urlacher. the Niners are the worst team that nobody talks about. at the beginning of the season they looked like they could be on the improvement sloap...but maybe not. well see. i think that if we give mike nolan a few more years they will be winning again. they do seem to have some pieces in place, Alex Smith is improving, and Frank Gore is going to be good enough. i think that they should draft another back next year with a mid-round pick, and get a tandem going. Antonio Bryant could be a good number one reciever, but well see how long he stays in SF. he has as big of a mouth as TO, with half the skills...thats why he got dumped by the Browns, despite good numbers.

 

Bucs win, Titans win, Lions win. Bengals and 'Skins are embarassed. Bills arent any good anyway. Radiers are alone under that bus now.

 

the panthers are making a turn around it would appear. the ravens had issues against the pass, and i dont think that they had many injuries in the secondary so im not sure what the issue was. if anything on that defense is suspect...its uh...the defensive tackles? finding a scapegoat is hard. my only question is what happened to Ed Reed? he has been dominant...now he seems non existant, except the other day when i saw a highlight of him blowing up-top coverage help for Samari Rolle, resulting in a Steve Smith touchdown. bow is that guy something to watch.

 

i think that the TO thing is being blown out of purportin by the media in a desprate attempt to save that story from the ER. my message to sportswriters? THE STORY IS DEAD...GIVE IT UP. Bill Parcells is probably one of my favorite coaches, he knows what he is doing. there is a reason he gets so much respect. i just dont know how long he will keep coaching this team, they cant seem to live up to expectations.

 

i still dont want to think that the Saints are really contenders. but, the keep winning, and i just dont get it. this week, i was sure that the eagles would come out and dominate, but somehow that team keeps winning. im starting to wonder if the NFL is fixed :). oh well, good for them. they just better watch out when the come into atlanta, mark my words. revenge!

 

im not saying a word about the falcons game. poor run defense was the biggest problem last year. Pat Kearny gets hurt too much, and really he has only had one great year. i hope Rod Coleman isnt hurt too long, Grady Jackson is just fat, nothing else.

 

the Seahawks and Rams are meeting again, and im going to be tuning in for certain.

 

now, looking ahead to next week:

 

there are almost no big matchups next week, so i feel bland making these predictions. lets see.......one good game should be the Falcons and Steelers. im not sure if Joey Porter will play, and that could be important, he is a good run-stopper and we all know atlanta likes to run and run. i think that as long as atlanta can run and stop the run, the will will make it out alive on their home turf. Falcons by 5...fingers crossed.

 

The Monday night game is the other good one, with the Giants going into Dallas to play the Cowboys. i think this one will be an offensive slugfest, and that being said i think taht the cowboys have more weapons, but if the Giants can get to Bledsoe it wont matter. look for the 'Boys to try to control the game by getting the tandem of Jones and Barber going...and then using play action in the second half. the Giants need to get something going early, i dont know how many times they can win by winning out the second half. how long have we been saying Eli will be the real deal? its time to step up. i think that any team that has the lead going into the second half against the Giants should just keep scoring and not try to protect their lead, because apparently its not going to be safe. Giants by One.

 

breifly and finilly, the Panthers will beat the Bengals by ten and san diego will beat kansas City by 8.

 

phew, another week in the books. im starting to think i should have an ESPN sprots column or something...:D

[Tarantism]

the football trade deadline is nowhere near as busy as the parody of baseball trading, but still there were a few deals. Anthony Hargrove, a defensive lineman, has been traded from the rams to the bills. Hargrove, who has only 4 tackles and o.5 sacks this season, wasnt needed by the Rams who have a good pass rush this season, suprisingly enough. the Bills defensive like, on the other hand, need all the help they can get. coming into this season they had one perrenial pro bowler on that line has been terrible, probably contributing to the ailing bills ability to win games. Hargrove had 6.5 sacks last season, so well see if he can be motivated to improve this years numbers with a change of sceanery.

 

the bigger trade is Anthony "Booger" McFarland from the Bucs to the Colts. McFarland has had a few good seasons in his career and may just be able to improve the Colts run defense, which as we saw in the Titans game, is embarassing. of course, lets not forget last years preseason trade from the Eagles to the Colts, which was supposed to do the same thing. both players are old, and the Colts are slowly ageing...

 

both players were exchanged for mid-round draft picks.

[cwes99_03]

Some really good football this weekend. Even if you team hasn't played well, and wasn't playing a contender, I would have paid to go to several of these nail biters.

 

Anyone see the hit on Payton that took him out of the game (temporarily)? OUCH!!! And speaking of that game, the Skins were up until everything began to crumble with two penalties and a kickoff from their own 5 yard line (that's 25 yards back from where they should have kicked off.) That and Portis leaving in the 3rd ended the game for the Skins. I really felt bad for them.

 

Oakland finally wins 1!

Leinert showed his rookie status. He'll have a much better year next year. Keep playing and learning, Matt.

 

Jacksonville drops to 9th place on overall defense. San Diego, Chicago, and Baltimore remain in the top 3 with Chicago being the only team on that list undefeated (despite nearly throwing that away in AZ.)

 

Got to run. More at nfl.com

[pgrmdave]

I realize this is more for professional football - but how about the Rutger's Scarlet Knights? A win over Louisville! :esmoking: Go NJ football!

[cwes99_03]

OK, so two weeks without a post.

 

Sure Chicago lost to the Dolphins. At the time, I'd have said it was most likely due to overconfidence (an at home game against a team that had only won one game.) They took a stiff slap in the face and fell down (6 turnovers, sounds like a Refridgerator Perry afternoon snack).

 

But I had confidence the Bears would come back the following week and play much better. And they did, well the did after 28 minutes of similar horrible play against one seriously battered and broken defense. The Giants would have creamed the Bears had they been healthy, and I don't like saying that. The Giants lost two more veteran players in Pettigout and Madison (fibula and hamstring). The Giants aren't down and out, but I will agree with Madden in that Eli showed that he is still a young QB (as did Grossman.)

 

All said and done, I think the Bears should win their next game in the same stadium (even though the crowd will now be very bitter that they have to watch the same team win twice in two weeks on their turf). I think Grossman needs to spend the entire week with the oldest members of the team putting on their IcyHot and BenGay so that he can learn what it means to lead a veteran team like a veteran. I think he is really talented, but that he still makes rookie mistakes (mistakes that will be their undoing this post season if he doesn't shape up.)

 

That being said, I think Mr. T has something to say about his beloved Falcons.

 

Did anybody see the helmet to helmet hit in the SD Cinci game? That was just blatant head hunting and malicious at that. Too bad it wasn't against OCHO CINCO, who needs to have his clock cleaned one good time. I think the boy is also talented, but he is going the way of one TO or Randy Moss with his fat headedness.

 

Other news forthcoming, but I got to get back to work.

[cwes99_03]

I'd like to point out that the Bears lost last week to the Dolphins, who won their second game in a row, and have the number two defense in the league right now. Bears fans should feel a bit better about that.

 

Rounding out the top 5 defenses are Dallas, Jacksonville, and Baltimore. These teams always seem to have some of the best defenses in the league.

 

I think the big surprise this year is that the Bears lead the league in Passing Defense. Last year they lost their games based on big plays. They haven't allowed as many big plays this year and over all have clamped down on passing yards allowed. However, their run defense has suffered a bit and they are about 9th on the list of run defense.

 

Speaking of stats, who would have thought that the Saints would be the 3rd ranked offense in the entire NFL after week 10. Philly and Indy lead the league, with Philly racking up almost 400 yards per game. WOW!

 

New Orleans rules the league in passing yards, but to much surprise their run game ranks 26th at this time. What happened to that dominant running power they were known for, good thing they picked up Brees. Then again there is something to be said in that without a running game, the passer gets pressured more, the secondary picks more balls, and the receivers get worn out.

[cwes99_03]

Ok, I had this big long post but IE7 crashed and I lost it all.

 

Basically, don't count Rex Grossman out, though don't build him up to be the greatest because he's 9-2 this season. The Bears are 9-2 because of their defense, running game, and special teams. These have kept the Bears from being 6-5 (as they surely would have lost to the Cardinals, the Giants, and probably to the Jets). 6-5 though at this point is still pretty respectable, and Rex had a lot to do with those 6 wins.

 

Who to watch?

 

The New Orleans Saints. They've done way more than expected. They lead the league in yards per game. They've got a tough schedule ahead of them though, (Dallas, NY Giants, and Carolina) so there's no saying as to where they'll stand in a month.

 

Who might not have it in them?

 

The Phillidelphia Eagles. With Donovan McNabb out for the season, can the Eagles compete. Donovan has been carrying the team on his shoulders this year. Not saying that they aren't a decent team, but hey can Jeff Garcia really do what McNabb has done? Maybe they should play AJ Feeley instead. In my mind, the kid is a lot like Kyle Orton. He needs experience, but he has proven his ability with this team back in 2002. Put the ball in his hands and just ride out the rest of the season. I don't think you're gonna win enough games to finish out the season with the playoffs this year. If this happened three weeks ago, I'd have said put it on Garcia.

 

Superbowl standings as I see them today. In the AFC, Colts or Pats. The Pats will most likely win over the Colts. Don't count out Baltimore or San Diego though (but what happened to the Chargers, dude they almost lost to the Raiders, then again the Bears almost lost to the Cardinals). Watch Miami too, they're on a role like last season. They've won 4 straight including beating Chicago, Kansas City, and Minnesota.

 

How about the NFC. New Orleans or Dallas vs DaBears. You heard me. St. Louis and Green Bay are barely above Detroit Washington and Arizona in the defense categoy, and I mean BARELY. While their offenses have performed above Chicago's, they have only marched 8 more yards per game, and we know Chicago has faced some tough defensive teams.

 

After week 12, I'd say Chicago vs New England in the super bowl.

[Racoon]

Interesting and valid points Qwes.

 

I don't think theres any clear-cut winner out of the NFC. I'm not sold on the Bears,but they will most likely have homefield advantage in bad weather.

 

Cowboys are hot. Infinite's Giants are a media circus and spiralling downward

I'm not giving up hope for my Seahawks making a repeat Superbowl appearance :hyper: Although they have looked like crap for the most part this season, but are 7-4 and hopefully can get the Offense clicking again.

 

The AFC is a much better division, and I'm not so sure the Patriots are going to be there. Colts will have homefield and they look good. The Chargers behind LT are going to be in the final discussion.

 

Still 5 more games to find out. Many cases, its the team who's firing on all cylinders at the end of the season who makes it into January.

 

http://msn.foxsports.com/nfl

 

The Seahawks have a tough game in Denver. Hopefully they can rattle the new rookie QB.

---> Rookie QB facing a mediocre Seahawks defense ?

 

Snack Right :)