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Alpe d'Huez said:Good posts.
We knew Seattle was good, but their offense looked very impressive. Russell Wilson is about as good as any QB in the NFL right now. He made plays with his legs, and his arm, across the entire field. While the defense is back to being ranked first in points, yards and YP/P, and playing mistake free overall as a team. They're scary good right now.
The way I see the playoffs is this, in the NFC:
Detroit @ Dallas - This could go either way.
Arizona @ Atlanta or Carolina - What a shame, as we've discussed.
Winners travel to Seattle and Green Bay. There is an outside chance Dallas could go into Green Bay, or even Seattle and upset them. The Cowboys will be underdogs, and not have the expectations they often do. They are excellent on the road. They have a great OL and can run and grind out plays. Their defense is sketchy, but have good days. Imagine a few bounces, a late turnover...
I agree with Hitch on Detroit. They look more like a 10-6 team. Even this week they barely beat Chicago with Cutler benched. Arizona is out of cards (sorry, bad pun), and there is no way Atlanta or Carolina even belong in the playoffs.
The AFC is harder to speculate, as there are more options. I'm going to guess this:
Baltimore goes to Pittsburgh. Both of these teams are very Jeckel/Hyde. Both have plenty of playoff experience however.
San Diego goes to Indianapolis. This could be a shoot out, and one team could ride a hot game into the divisional game.
I actually think any of these teams could upset either New England or Denver. I still think one of these two will lose that first playoff game. Both teams put together very impressive drives, but also have long stretches where they just look average on both sides of the ball. That's a recipe for an upset to me.
Oldman said:Alpe-
Valid observation for Dallas in Green Bay but not likely in Seattle. The same reason they have a shot in Green Bay is the same reason I think Atlanta could shock some folks; they played well in a late run at Cold Green Bay. Matt Ryan is hitting his receivers well. I like Atlanta's chances better against Denver for no particular reason.
Atlanta-Denver Super Bowl? That would be something!Oldman said:I like Atlanta's chances better against Denver for no particular reason.
Alpe d'Huez said:Atlanta-Denver Super Bowl? That would be something!
I do agree the Falcons could take out either Detroit or Arizona though. At home, in that awful dome, it's possible.
Twice I said I was certain that Denver would win last night. Shows you what I know. But I also said for some time I could see the Broncos eliminated in their first playoff game. I can still see that. But even if they get past that, the team we saw last night was no Super Bowl contender. Then again, the Patriots squeezed out a win on Sunday over the lowly Jets by one point, and Brady definitely had an off day. So anything can happen.
I do agree that it's going to be very difficult for any team to go into Seattle and win. Atlanta, Detroit, Arizona, Carolina, no way. Dallas or Green Bay do have the tools. But I'd still favor Seattle. Recall that Dallas beat Seattle in week 6 this season, in Seattle.
A big problem every team has playing Seattle is that they'll have to come up with a plan on offense that pounds the ball, and has some extremely efficient throws on offense, especially down the field. This way they can put the needed points on the board to compete. But the double whammy is that Seattle's offense is really coming together right now. This is no Trent Dilfer lead Ravens team.
Didn't Cutler lead to Shanahan getting fired? I can't remember how it went down, but it didn't end well. At this point, I don't think anyone can fix Cutler. He simply doesn't have the temperament to be consistently successful in the NFL. I can't believe that the Bears didn't see that last year. Now he's an enormous albatross around their neck. Still I'm sticking with my pick that Cutler has a big game against Minnesota (relatively speaking of course).Alpe d'Huez said:Mike Shanahan apparently wants back in the NFL as a HC[/URL]. But on a team that can win soon. Both jobs in the bay area are very likely to be open, but one place where I can see Shanahan landing is actually Chicago. He's from Illinois, that team has talent, but is a mess. And a hyper-organizer, stoic, somewhat disciplinarian coach like Shanahan could be just what Cutler and crew need most. Recall he drafted Jay Cutler, and recently told ESPN he still saw him as a franchise QB. But that may be a smoke screen.
Curious where the soon to be fired Rex Ryan ends up as a DC. What about in Chicago with Shanahan as HC? That would be interesting.
"God, what if LeBron James got what I got? What if he trained how I trained?" Brady asks. "He really could play forever."
House and Brady work to refine less than 2 percent of the QB's overall skillset. That's it. The upper end of the upper end.
"Tom is pushing back the aging process," says House. "There's no reason he can't do at 45 what he did at 25."
Take that diet. It's seasonal, which means he eats certain things in the winter that are considered "hot property" foods, like red meat. In the summer, when it's time for "cold property" foods, his diet is mostly raw. He subscribes to the 80-20 theory -- but it's not 80 percent healthy food, 20 percent unhealthy. It's 80 percent alkaline, 20 percent acidic. The idea, he says, is "to maintain balance and harmony through my metabolic system." That's why teammates always see him with hummus, raw snack bars packed with nutrients and what one teammate calls "that birdseed s---." This is the same guy who once ate Christmas breakfast with the Evans family and quietly picked all the sausage out from his omelet.
Take his workouts. Brady does them on land, in sand, in water. He hardly ever lifts weights but works mainly with resistance bands.
Then there's the brain resiliency program. Brady underwent a battery of tests and a neuroscan a few years back, then had a program created to work out his brain the way he worked out his body. The various exercises help Brady to more quickly process information between plays, read defenses and make adjustments. They assist with his memory. They increase his peripheral vision and how far he can see downfield. "The body is a whole system," says Brady, "and that includes the brain. I'm lucky I haven't had many concussions -- maybe one I can remember. I'm training for if that happens. I'm building resiliency and staying sharp. I feel like that's really where my edge is."
Merckx index said:Added: Here's a long article on Brady. The theme is one all of us in the Clinic are familiar with. Brady in his late 30s is having one of the best years of his life because of hard work and attention to details. The term marginal gains is not used, but it probably could be.
Worked for Horner.
SirLes said:You forget one very important reason: They've had enough.
SirLes said:It hurts more as you get older, you take longer to recover. You do have to work harder, and pay more attention to detail to stay fit.
SirLes said:You have enough money to retire and a family you haven't seen much of. You are increasingly aware of other opportunities you'd like to have a go at.
FoxxyBrown1111 said:It wil be a full blown rant of Schadenfreude as you all know.
leftover pie said:
PM falling for "Foxxy's Curse" bring on the rant!
FoxxyBrown1111 said:BTW: I plan to watch one or more playoff games. That means the Broncos game(s) only. History will be made with the final PM disaster. That one I can´t miss.
And after that final meltdown I´ll give my last shot at talking about an actual game played. Looking forward that. It wil be a full blown rant of Schadenfreude as you all know.