Those were good picks though. LJ & Love are at the top of their game & due for a SB appearance. I had the Chiefs & the Eagles in a rematch....foolish thinking on my part. Lol.
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Off season schedule (proving football is almost year round, only really going flat in June/July)
- Feb 17: Franchise/transition tag window opens.
- Feb 23–March 2: NFL Scouting Combine (Indianapolis).
- March 3: Franchise tag deadline.
- March 9–11: Free agency negotiation period (legal "tampering" window).
- March 11: 2026 League Year begins, free agency starts at 4 p.m. ET.
- March-April - NCAA team/player Pro Days
- March 27: UFL season starts
- April 6: Start of voluntary workouts for teams with new head coaches.
- April 20: Start of voluntary workouts for teams with returning head coaches.
- April 23–25: 2026 NFL Draft (Pittsburgh, PA).
- May 1–11: Rookie minicamps.
- June 13: UFL Championship
- July 15: Deadline to sign franchise-tagged players to long-term deals.
Late July: Training camps begin.
I think as some folks said, the NFC championship was the matchup of the two best teams in the league. With very little to separate them.
Obviously these events get less attention than they might because they occur during the heart of the road cycling season 🤪
I caught a few of Bo Nix's highlights and Broncos were good. Again, I don't think any AFC team could've beaten any of the NFC West; except Phoenix.
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Great win by the Seahawks with their defense and special teams consistently made plays, while the offense made the plays they needed to keep it together. Great turnaround and comeback for Darnold who gets the win over the team that made him a meme years ago. Playing like this, Seahawks probably beating any of the AFC playoff teams. Patriots couldn’t make any substantial plays, even on defense. They had Darnold quite a bit but couldn’t get him down or come up with the play. While their offense had zero clue what to do.
ESPN staff and other forecasters had SEA at bottom of NFC West until they started hammering everyone. They were then gleefully dismissive of the team when SF beat them. More so when LA did the same. I didn't have alot of faith until I watched all of their games. They ended up losing 3...by a total of 8 points. Not much compares to that.
Yesterday's game could easily have been 37 to 6 if NE's secondary standout Gonzalez was 1/2" shorter. He stood out as possibly the best defensive secondary player for the entire game. He did not give even that 1/2".
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C'mon man, the Broncos could have beaten any NFC team including the Seahawks in the SB.
First look at the Broncos schedule & teams they beat. They were beating teams left & right with elite QBs including some key wins on the road (e.g., Chiefs, Eagles, Packers, Chargers, Cowboys). They beat Houston on the road - a top 3 defense at the time - knocking Stroud out of the game. Result: 14-3 record and #1 seed (just like Seattle).
Their three losses were two very close ones on the road vs the Chargers (walk off FG) & Indy (walk off FG). Their only real significant defeat was the two-score loss at home vs the Jags (Dobbins was out for the year by that time).
Playoff time: They beat the Bills in the divisional rd of the playoffs - with no Dobbins - where Nix outplayed Superman.
Denver Broncos 2025 Postseason NFL Schedule - ESPN
ESPN has the full 2025 Denver Broncos Postseason NFL schedule. Includes game times, TV listings and ticket information for all Broncos games.
Secondly, the Bronco's D led by Vance Joseph is every bit as good as Seattle's D. In fact, the Broncos are better than Seattle in every statistical category except one; scoring defense where Seattle #1 held a slight advantage over the Broncos #3 (17.2 vs 18.3).
2025 NFL Defense Rankings: Team Pass and Rush Stats | FOX Sports
Find out where every NFL team ranks on defense following the 2025 regular season.
www.foxsports.com
If Nix doesn't get hurt, the Broncos beat NE in the AFCCG. In the SB, I believe the Broncos would have given the Seahawks a much better game - possibly winning. Certainly Sean Payton is a better offensive coach than Vrabel, who's a defensive guy, and I believe Payton is better than McDaniels - who clearly is overrated as supposedly an offensive guru. Lol.
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McDaniels is just poor at adapting to how the game is going when the offense doesn’t have a stand out player. He is good at drawing up plays and when to use it. The Patriots had plays offensively that were there, Maye missed them.
Denver had a great defense this year, and led a number of categories. Better go back and check your statistics before claiming they were better in every other category than pts allowed/game. The statistic most analysts cite these days is defensive DVOA, in which the Hawks were far higher than any other team, and also ranked as among the best of all time. Broncos not in the top 5 for this year. Another key stat, yards per play, Sea slightly ahead of Den.
Also have to say the fact you rolled this commentary out the morning after the SB just sounds like “someone” is pretty annoyed
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Sorry Nomad, I don't see Denver being as good as you do from your viewpoint (as in living there and being a fan - if only a casual one, who does respect other teams and great players). Just the fact they needed luck, and some bad decisions by both Allen and McDermott to beat the Bills, at home, is one example. During the regular season they struggled to beat the Raiders, Commanders, Jets, even the Chiefs with Oladukan at QB. Beat the Giants and should have lost that game. If they were that good, they would have blown all these teams out or won by double digits at least.
I see no world where Bo Nix and Denver beats the Seahawks. And this one game where Seattle stifled Maye doesn't mean Maye didn't deserve his MVP votes and praise, and it certainly doesn't mean Nix was better than Maye. It means Seattle was that good. It wasn't until they let up late playing mostly deep cover 4 and the game was out of reach, the Pats finally got to move the ball. That's how impressive their defense was, and this has to rank as one of the best defensive performances in Super Bowl history.
Going back, he got huge praise in that 13-3 Super Bowl win over the Rams where he concluded the Rams had their playbook, maybe even audibles, figured out, and heading into 4Q drew up a handful of plays from scratch the had not run or even considered all year, which helped lead to victory (Brian Flores also got and deserved credit. He was the linebacker coach, but the de facto DC in that game). But that obviously didn't happen here, or McDaniels tried and it didn't work.
I see no world where Bo Nix and Denver beats the Seahawks. And this one game where Seattle stifled Maye doesn't mean Maye didn't deserve his MVP votes and praise, and it certainly doesn't mean Nix was better than Maye. It means Seattle was that good. It wasn't until they let up late playing mostly deep cover 4 and the game was out of reach, the Pats finally got to move the ball. That's how impressive their defense was, and this has to rank as one of the best defensive performances in Super Bowl history.
Patriots saw the McDaniels that coached the Raiders. Now, Josh lost the locker room, that was his demise. But he also had many games where there were solid plays drawn up, but the team couldn't sustain drives against a good D, and couldn't get the team in the end zone when it mattered.
Going back, he got huge praise in that 13-3 Super Bowl win over the Rams where he concluded the Rams had their playbook, maybe even audibles, figured out, and heading into 4Q drew up a handful of plays from scratch the had not run or even considered all year, which helped lead to victory (Brian Flores also got and deserved credit. He was the linebacker coach, but the de facto DC in that game). But that obviously didn't happen here, or McDaniels tried and it didn't work.
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Better than how he coached the Colts.
He definitely had some plays that worked, offense and Maye just couldn’t make them. They had so many opportunities that were missed. But you can’t just blame the offense, defensively they missed a lot of their opportunities and the Seahawks punt that the Patriots returner let bounce and be downed on the 4 was just continuing mistakes. They played like the 2021-2024 Patriots.
Refs even let them play the whole game basically with nothing to write home about. Though I was surprised there wasn’t a flag when Diggs was shoved when he was out of bounds and the play was over and then the following scuffle with an open punch thrown.
McDaniels got all the credit for that but he and Brady came up with that 1 play to use 3 times together on the fly based off what they saw. Just like McDaniels gets credit for Gronk doing a slant instead of fade vs the Chiefs on a critical third down even though that was Gronk and Brady based off the Chiefs positioning. He’s definitely top 10 and top 5+ with a great/ elite qb play.
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Probably annoyed when Legion of Boom got a safety on Manning and things went worse for the Broncs from there. Remember one forum fan claiming SEA had better drugs then......Maybe these two teams will match up next year.Denver had a great defense this year, and led a number of categories. Better go back and check your statistics before claiming they were better in every other category than pts allowed/game. The statistic most analysts cite these days is defensive DVOA, in which the Hawks were far higher than any other team, and also ranked as among the best of all time. Broncos not in the top 5 for this year. Another key stat, yards per play, Sea slightly ahead of Den.
Also have to say the fact you rolled this commentary out the morning after the SB just sounds like “someone” is pretty annoyed
That's a fair point & good find on DVOA. But another stat that wasn't included in the NFL defensive stats link that I posted is team sacks. Here the Broncos are #1 having a decisive advantage over the Seahawks 68 - 47. In fact, the Broncos with those 68 sacks set a new franchise record - and the 5th-most in NFL history.Denver had a great defense this year, and led a number of categories. Better go back and check your statistics before claiming they were better in every other category than pts allowed/game. The statistic most analysts cite these days is defensive DVOA, in which the Hawks were far higher than any other team, and also ranked as among the best of all time. Broncos not in the top 5 for this year. Another key stat, yards per play, Sea slightly ahead of Den.
Also have to say the fact you rolled this commentary out the morning after the SB just sounds like “someone” is pretty annoyed
The Pats only sacked Darnold one time. Who's to say if the Broncos played them, they sack Darnold several times. With sacks comes an increased risk of strip fumbles. All of that can change the dynamics of a game. Bottom line: The Broncos front 7 were the best at sacking QBs this year.
"Annoyed" that the Seahawks won? Granted being a Bronco fan, I'm an AFC guy & wanted to see the Pats win. But in a post yesterday, I congratulated the Hawks & mentioned that Darnold played like the All-Pro that Maye didn't. I also said Macdonald was a great hire winning a SB in only his second year.
My main contention is that the game was one sided & very boring (I found myself more entertained by "Bad Bunny" & "Lady Gaga" during the halftime show. Lol). I think the Broncos could have given Seattle a better game...maybe even win.
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Yeah the way the first half was going, it was over at Seahawks 3-0. At one point Patriots had more punts than first downs. It’ll be interesting to see how the teams fair next season with Seahawks doing better in my opinion.
You bring up some fair points. And certainly McDermott & Allen made some costly mistakes, but the Broncos did beat a "Tier 1" QB in a playoff situation which I think is a big deal (and it must have been a big deal because Allen was crying like a baby after the game. Lol). And remember last year they got smoked by the Bills in the WC round.
There are currently only 5 Tier 1 QBs in the league (Mahomes, Allen, LJ, Burrow & Staffy), and when a team can beat one - particular in a playoff game - that's significant. And as I said before, Nix out played Allen & is credited with a 4th Qtr comeback/GWD in that game (more on that later).
And yes, the Broncos did struggle to beat those bad teams you pointed out. However, Seattle had a few games of their own against some not so good teams where they came out on top in a one-score game; Arizona, Tennessee, TB, Indy (with Rivers).
Seattle Seahawks 2025 Postseason NFL Schedule - ESPN
ESPN has the full 2025 Seattle Seahawks Postseason NFL schedule. Includes game times, TV listings and ticket information for all Seahawks games.
I can see a world where the Broncos beat the Seahawks. For one, the #1 sack defense gets to Darnold more than just once like the Pats could only do. Secondly, the Broncos have Nix - the new comeback kid & shades of John Elway. Nix has eight 4th Qtr comebacks/GWDs this season (including the playoff win over the Bills). This is getting into Mahomes type territory. Nix is clutch at the end of close games beating teams with both his arm & legs.
And with the parity in the league, look at how many games are decided late in the 4th Qtr/closing minutes of a game. All the Brincos would have to do is keep the game close going into the 4th Qtr giving Nix & the O a chance.
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Curious, do you watch any of the UFL games? If so, what do you think about them?
A lot of other experts outside ESPN plus many podcasters had the Hawks on top. No one had the 49ers on top due to their previous FA losses. Some had the Rams and many admitted that there wasn't much between the top two. Cardinals issues haven't changed, on paper they have rebuilt quite well but the QB issue is still there.. The Rams would have also beaten the Patriots while the 49ers defensive issues would have made it tough for them. The NFC West remains the best division in football as the playoffs indicated. ESPN is pretty much unwatchable these days. They lost or canned most of their best experts across multiple sports. Save for the odd show or two and the constant talk about sports betting is nauseating.
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View: https://x.com/RapSheet/status/2020924040496685213
Chargers took one step forward with McDaniel and two steps back with Gase. McDaniel should quit while he can.
Chargers took one step forward with McDaniel and two steps back with Gase. McDaniel should quit while he can.
Well, I like the Broncos anyways, so hopefully next year they are in there. Nix should continue to improve so things look good for them.
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I thought the 2027 Super Bowl winner odds were predictable, but off to me. We knew Seattle would be on top. But oddsmakers have Denver as the 13th best team (Chargers 9th, Chiefs 10th) and the Bears at 14th. This basically translates into 10-7 seasons, teams struggling to make the playoffs. Really? Denver should still have an excellent D, and Payton as HC. And the Bears should only get better with Caleb, and Ben Johnson as their HC. If someone boldly predicted these two teams in the Super Bowl next year I wouldn't say they're nuts at all.
Gase will only be an offensive assistant. But for a guy who had a lot of hype, he sure hasn't done a whole lot recently. Or when asked to do a lot. A year ago he was on the Raiders radar to be OC, but they hired Luke Getsy instead, and he turned out to be bad, and was fired. Not sure what that tells you.
Gase will only be an offensive assistant. But for a guy who had a lot of hype, he sure hasn't done a whole lot recently. Or when asked to do a lot. A year ago he was on the Raiders radar to be OC, but they hired Luke Getsy instead, and he turned out to be bad, and was fired. Not sure what that tells you.
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