National Football League

[on3m@n@rmy]

Happy FG kicking by BAL. They may come away with it. But it´s nothing to be proud of it...

Absolutely. What a throw by Ben to Miller just now. Stupid LB for not looking back to see the ball. If Pit scores TD they should go for 2.

 

[on3m@n@rmy]

Bell out. Shoot. Hope he's OK. TD good.
Edit, stupid rule may take TD back. Le'Veon Bell is one of those players who suffered a minor Lisfranc injury earlier this season.

 

[on3m@n@rmy]

Foxy. ..this is one of those situations where they should go for the TD.

 

[FoxxyBrown1111]

but they should have kicked the PAT.

 

[on3m@n@rmy]

Too funny!

Really nice try by PIT kicker to double fake the onside kick.

Steelers robbed on the helmet off no touchdown call. But I'm not crying .

 

[Alpe d'Huez]

That "play" by Mike Tomlin on the kickoff in the 3rd Q was really, really sneaky. Like, Belicheck sneaky. Cris Collinsworth was saying "I don't want to say it was intentional". Are you kidding me??? Of course it was intentional! Tomlin knew completely well what he was doing. Link here.

Matt McGloin didn't look too bad for Oakland, except that late fumble hurt. Still, for a 3rd NFL game from an undrafted rookie. Not bad at all.

I can see why the Raiders cut Matt Flynn, who despite having a very good week last week, played like crap. But it was equally, or really the Packers defense who did nothing as well. They really look done, and if Detroit can get it's act in gear, they should end up with the NFC North title.

 

[on3m@n@rmy]

@Alps: agree on all 3 points. On Tomlin, no doubt that trick was deliberate. If he was performing some other coaching duty (other than the play in progress) he would have been facing someone on his team. But no. He was facing the endzone with his back to the return man, Jones, like he was daydreaming. Now, consider this tackling principle: to a defender, the sideline is like another defensive teammate and defenders use the sideline when taking angles on an opponent ball carrier. Tomlin is well aware of that! So Tomlin's stepping onto the field essentially moved the sideline in at least one yard making Jones have to swerve toward oncoming tackles. BUSTED. One of the reasons I was not upset at the PIT loss.

McGloin did look good. The Silver and Black lokd good. I was really hoping for a Raider win!

GB has OL injury issues, which may have contributed to the one fumbled snap with Lang moved to C when the starting C went out with injury. But that's just one play. But Matt's performance overall was not good. Still, GB is prolly the best spot for Flynn to be at the moment. Not saying on his future.

 

[Tricycle Rider]

Didn't the Broncos just play KC only two weeks ago? I'll still stick with Denver, though, even though they are playing on KC's turf.

Other picks:

Carolina
Cleveland
Indianapolis
Denver
Chicago
NY Jets
Philadelphia
Buffalo
San Francisco
New England
San Diego
Washington
New Orleans

 

[Alpe d'Huez]

Didn't the Broncos just play KC only two weeks ago? I'll still stick with Denver, though, even though they are playing on KC's turf.

They did play just two weeks ago. I still content the Chiefs are missing some key players to injury, which hurts. Also, the weather will be fairly nice. 50 degrees, very light winds, mostly sunshine. Perfect for Manning. Also, I really think you need a coach like Belicheck to stop Manning. Someone who knows when to take risks, when to blitz, how to disrupt him. Another example is the Superbowl a few years ago when Sean Payton of NO changed schemes throughout the game. Two weeks ago I think the Chiefs blitzed twice all day. They never touched Manning. Zero sacks, zero knockdowns, zero batted balls, zero hurries. His jersey was perfectly clean. Andy Reid is one of the most conservative coaches in the NFL. Unless he can get out of that skin, in a game like this...

Very eager to watch Arizona and Philly tangle. Also to see what Seattle is really worth when they face Brees, Payton and the Saints, in a game the Saints really need. Percy Harvin is still not practicing and likely out, with Seattle not wanting to rush things. Brandon Browner is in limbo, still injured while awaiting appeal. If the appeal is reduced to 4 games he will be back for the playoffs. If not, his time in Seattle, and maybe the NFL, is done.

A bright spot for the 49ers is that Michael Crabtree will finally suit up for the 49ers and likely see some action. However, as someone with a burst of speed coming of an Achilles tear, it remains to be seen how well he plays. I'm sure the Niners are just happy to have him back, period. And if he's anything close to normal by season's end, all the better.

 

[veganrob]

@Alps: agree on all 3 points. On Tomlin, no doubt that trick was deliberate. If he was performing some other coaching duty (other than the play in progress) he would have been facing someone on his team. But no. He was facing the endzone with his back to the return man, Jones, like he was daydreaming. Now, consider this tackling principle: to a defender, the sideline is like another defensive teammate and defenders use the sideline when taking angles on an opponent ball carrier. Tomlin is well aware of that! So Tomlin's stepping onto the field essentially moved the sideline in at least one yard making Jones have to swerve toward oncoming tackles. BUSTED. One of the reasons I was not upset at the PIT loss.

McGloin did look good. The Silver and Black lokd good. I was really hoping for a Raider win!

GB has OL injury issues, which may have contributed to the one fumbled snap with Lang moved to C when the starting C went out with injury. But that's just one play. But Matt's performance overall was not good. Still, GB is prolly the best spot for Flynn to be at the moment. Not saying on his future.

Absolutely agree on Tomlin. That was so obviously intentional. I doubt NFL will do anything except maybe small fine for being on the field when he should not be. But an act like that deserves a huge fine and a few games suspension. IMO.
Did you see Jason Kidd get $50,000 fine for purposely spilling his soda to get a timeout. lol

 

[The Hitch]

That "play" by Mike Tomlin on the kickoff in the 3rd Q was really, really sneaky. Like, Belicheck sneaky. Cris Collinsworth was saying "I don't want to say it was intentional". Are you kidding me??? Of course it was intentional! Tomlin knew completely well what he was doing. Link here.
.

@Alps: agree on all 3 points. On Tomlin, no doubt that trick was deliberate. If he was performing some other coaching duty (other than the play in progress) he would have been facing someone on his team. But no. He was facing the endzone with his back to the return man, Jones, like he was daydreaming. Now, consider this tackling principle: to a defender, the sideline is like another defensive teammate and defenders use the sideline when taking angles on an opponent ball carrier. Tomlin is well aware of that! So Tomlin's stepping onto the field essentially moved the sideline in at least one yard making Jones have to swerve toward oncoming tackles. BUSTED. One of the reasons I was not upset at the PIT loss.

Absolutely agree on Tomlin. That was so obviously intentional. I doubt NFL will do anything except maybe small fine for being on the field when he should not be. But an act like that deserves a huge fine and a few games suspension. IMO.
Did you see Jason Kidd get $50,000 fine for purposely spilling his soda to get a timeout. lol

Bellicheck has a different opinion :trollface

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[veganrob]

Bellicheck has a different opinion :trollface

lol I would have loved to hear Bellicheck say that with his tongue planted firmly in is cheek.
You can hate him, but you gotta love that comment.

 

[on3m@n@rmy]

Saw the Jason Kidd news. But did BB say thaat? LOL. Better than the best of a hundred BB post game press conference highlights.

 

[Amsterhammer]

GB&DET -
OAK@DAL -
PIT&BAL -

At least I had those three right.

JAX&CLE - Browns should take this
TEN@IND - Colts to turn the corner here, just
CHI@MIN - Vikings too poor, da Bears to take this
MIA@NYJ - Fins have been unlucky recently, Jets are....well, the Jets...
ARI@PHI - I hate the Iggles
TB@CAR - Panthers to roll on with minimum fuss
NE@HOU - Pats also to roll on
ATL@BUF - Possible upset, but Falcons too poor to pick
STL@SF - Niners aren't all that right now, a Rams win would not be a major shock, but still..
DEN@KC - Last week was a blip. Peyton restores order
CIN@SD - I'm going for Sandy Eggo - bet the house on the Bengals
NYG@WSH - Ugh. I have lost faith in the Shanahans and RG3, so they'll probably win this without my pick.
NO@SEA - Should be a great one to watch. I'll take a chance on Brees

 

[FoxxyBrown1111]

"Riverboat Ron"... It seems he has gone trou an evoultion in some weeks where others take 100 years.
Even going for it when he wouldn´t get the ball back (b/c time would have run out) if failing... Well, that´s super duper. Beyond imagination. Applause.

 

[The Hitch]

Some intense finishes there. Philie got very lucky with a holding call when foles got intercepted and then no holding call a minute later for a similar foul on 4th down for Cardinals.

But what the hell happened in Cleveland. Lead changed about 4 times in the last few minutes.

Houston probably get Bridgewater now.

 

[Alpe d'Huez]

I don't have a great deal of faith in either Denver or KC after today's game. Hard gme to gauge. Denver just can't seem to stop anything, no defensive consistency at all. If Alex Smith had receivers who could, oh, I don't know, actually catch the football, the Chiefs may have won. But Andy Reid not going for it on 4th and 2 late in the third, while in Bronco territory got my ire up. The nice weather benefitted Manning, as I thought it would, but even he didn't look so great half the time. Very streaky. Great passes to Dekker one drive. Bad throws the next. And still, not a single sack for KC all day.

The Colts again eeked out a win, and may find themselves in a fight to stay ahead of Cincy to get that third seed and play what now appears to be an 8-8 wildcard, as opposed to having to host KC.

The Pats contined thir tale of two halves. But when on, they are on.

NFC talk later, after the late game.

 

[manafana]

another great night of bloody nfl eh

 

[on3m@n@rmy]

Gino Smith may have been terrible yesterday, but bench him for Matt Simms? In the end, both QB stats looked like this:
Gino S... 4/10... 0 TD... 1 INT... 1.6 QBR
Simms... 9/18... 0 TD... 1 INT... 3.1 QBR
I don't know if I'd place all the blame on Gino, and Mark Sanchez is prolly not laughing his guts out (as joked about in following link), but it is pretty stinking clear Rex does not know how to handle QBs (Mike Freeman @ Bleacher's take on it).
T-Rex is a quarterback killer!

Is Bilicheat up to old tactics (as suspected by Texans DE)? BB is one of the best X's and O's guys in the NFL. Maybe the best in the past decade. The Texan player claims:
"You can tell they changed their scheme in the second half," Smith told the Houston Chronicle. "It's miraculous they changed some things on offense that keyed on what we put on this week to stop what they were doing. They did things they never did all year before. It was a specific thing that was important to what we were going to do today, as to how we were going to call the defense. We'd not ever did it before..."

Well, if the Texans "not ever did it before" on offense, then how would NE have game planned for that in the first half? NE would not have. And IF NE had practice film of the Texans, NE would have had an answer in the first half. The fact NE "changed their scheme in the second half" is clear they had not seen it before and made halftime adjustments. That's the X-O part that BB is so good at. Until there's proof otherwise, I'm calling this a case of sour grapes.

 

[FoxxyBrown1111]

We had the KC game on screen in germany.
Agree with Alpe that DEN can´t stop anyone unless receivers drop perfect passes. But if PM plays like last night (after his ugly 2nd Int, where he may lost grip, so i give him the benefit of doubt) i wouldn´t be worried. No underthrown balls, connecting literally on every deep pass... That was PM at his best. But then again, he´ll be Jekyll and Hyde in the playoffs. I would like him to earn a another superbowl but i don´t see it..

 

[The Hitch]

Seattle are just so much better than anyone else in the league, absolutely ripping to shreds the 2nd best team in the conference to wrap up hfa for the final, and I don't see anyone in the AFC who can challenge them without huge luck.

 

[Merckx index]

Seattle are just so much better than anyone else in the league, absolutely ripping to shreds the 2nd best team in the conference to wrap up hfa for the final, and I don't see anyone in the AFC who can challenge them without huge luck.

I totally agree. They are really scary, in every aspect of the game. What they are doing would be impressive against Minnesota or Jacksonville, but NO has one of the most dynamic offenses in the NFL, and has been very good defensively this year, too.

I could point out that Seattle looked just as dominant last year against the 49ers, blowing them out 42-13, I think it was, at home in the second to last game of the season. Then struggled to beat Washington (the game turned around for them when RGIII went down to injury), and lost to Atlanta in the playoffs. But those games were on the road. Seattle is not going to play on the road this year, at least not until the SB. They could have trouble in NYC if the weather is really cold. OTOH, bad weather usually affects passing more than running, and Seattle has an excellent ground game, whereas the teams it would most likely face in the SB, Denver or NE, depend much more on passing.

Edit: One thing that bothers me about Seattle's dominance at home is that it seems to depend in large part on the incredible noise level at their stadium--a level that set a record, that is well above the threshold of pain. As others are pointing out, this seems like an unfair advantage, not to mention a health hazard. The Saints, and other teams that have played there, said afterwards they could not hear their signals, which obviously means they can't change plays at the line of scrimmage. Their first play from scrimmage was a big loss because, allegedly, they did try to change it, and the linemen did not pick it up.

If the NFL can't or won't crack down on this, here's an obvious suggestion: why don't visiting teams wear earphones that block out the sound? The QB could call signals through a microphone that all his teammates could hear. Since the noise level is so high that nobody can hear anything even screamed into the air, what could they possibly have to lose?

Foxxy, you gotta love Jeff Fisher. Fourth and long deep in his own territory against the 49ers, trailing by just 10 with lots of time left. And he tries a fake punt. It failed, and the Niners immediately scored.

Then the Rams drive down the field and have 4th and 11 in the RZ. Again he goes for it, and again he fails. Not sure I agree with that call. At that point they needed 2 TDs and a FG, might as well take the FG when the TD at that point was so unlikely.

 

[Oldman]

It's a little cold here in Seattle. I wouldn't worry about them playing an AFC team in the SB. Whatever "struggles" they've had this year allowed them to rest and recover.
The Beast is fresh, Percy Harvin didn't need to play...

 

[patricknd]

I totally agree. They are really scary, in every aspect of the game. What they are doing would be impressive against Minnesota or Jacksonville, but NO has one of the most dynamic offenses in the NFL, and has been very good defensively this year, too.

I could point out that Seattle looked just as dominant last year against the 49ers, blowing them out 42-13, I think it was, at home in the second to last game of the season. Then struggled to beat Washington (the game turned around for them when RGIII went down to injury), and lost to Atlanta in the playoffs. But those games were on the road. Seattle is not going to play on the road this year, at least not until the SB. They could have trouble in NYC if the weather is really cold. OTOH, bad weather usually affects passing more than running, and Seattle has an excellent ground game, whereas the teams it would most likely face in the SB, Denver or NE, depend much more on passing.

Edit: One thing that bothers me about Seattle's dominance at home is that it seems to depend in large part on the incredible noise level at their stadium--a level that set a record, that is well above the threshold of pain. As others are pointing out, this seems like an unfair advantage, not to mention a health hazard. The Saints, and other teams that have played there, said afterwards they could not hear their signals, which obviously means they can't change plays at the line of scrimmage. Their first play from scrimmage was a big loss because, allegedly, they did try to change it, and the linemen did not pick it up.

If the NFL can't or won't crack down on this, here's an obvious suggestion: why don't visiting teams wear earphones that block out the sound? The QB could call signals through a microphone that all his teammates could hear. Since the noise level is so high that nobody can hear anything even screamed into the air, what could they possibly have to lose?

Foxxy, you gotta love Jeff Fisher. Fourth and long deep in his own territory against the 49ers, trailing by just 10 with lots of time left. And he tries a fake punt. It failed, and the Niners immediately scored.

Then the Rams drive down the field and have 4th and 11 in the RZ. Again he goes for it, and again he fails. Not sure I agree with that call. At that point they needed 2 TDs and a FG, might as well take the FG when the TD at that point was so unlikely.

they'd have to change the rule against headsets in helmets. I remember years ago when the redskins found out Larry Brown was hearing impaired they had to get permission from the league for him to use a hearing aide

 

[Alpe d'Huez]

Probably the most impressive and dominant performance all season. I was most impressed though with the way the Seahawks just walked off the field when the game was done "business as usual". I was worried that they were getting too cocky earlier in the year, the win over TB an example. But that wasn't the case at all here. They were just scary good. We know their defense is good, but to shut down the Saints like this was something. I was equally impressed with their offense. Just how efficient they were, and how focused Russell Wilson was in every aspect.

I do agree games on the road may be a bit different. But I can't see them losing at home, no matter who they play. And as said, the teams they are most likely to play in the SB (presuming they get there) are Den and NE. I like NE's chances in such a game. Denver, not so much so. They wouldn't be able to stop Seattle's offense, and imagine Manning in the February New York cold against that defense.

Having said all that, I still ascribe to the "any given Sunday" thinking. We've seen years past where it seemed impossible a team would lose, and then they did.

As to the noise, I think teams are just going to have to suck it up and deal with it. Hand signals, silent snap counts. If college teams can do it, the pro's can. It will be a bit of a disadvantage for visiting teams, but that's part of what earning HFA and winning all those games is about. Similar to the brutal weather in Green Bay so often helping the Packers in the playoffs. Don't want to deal with it? Then build as good of team, and start winning regular season games. And it's not like Seattle can't win on the road. They are 5-1, losing only a close game to the Colts.

Up next for Seattle are the 49ers, in SF. This is a game the Niners need more than the Seahawks, but I'm sure Seattle is looking to go in there and break them none the less. The week after that is going to be very entertaining, as Seattle goes to the Giants. You guys should hear all the chatter around here about how the Giants aren't out of it, Eli is still one of the most elite QB's, and they are playing well and it's just a matter of finding the right gear. So that game will be fun for me personally being a west-coast transplant. Wish I could go to it. Hmmm, maybe I'll look into tickets...