NFL Playoffs

[Ralphis]

and ralph, why did you suggest sending him to cleveland or oakland in that way? do you not realize that both of those teams are on the rise? hell, the raiders beat the eagles. the raiders would be lucky to get mcnabb. they're a QB away from contending in the AFC west.

I've always been of the philosophy that you don't want to trade a marquee player within your conference where he can come back to haunt you the next year by beating your team down. The Browns and Raiders won't even meet the Eagles in the regular season for the next 3-4 years sans a potential Superbowl matchup, so that type of event would never come to pass. The only team I'd consider trading within the conference to would be Carolina for Julius Peppers + 2nd round pick. Of course, I'm no GM am I?

Whether or not McNabb is traded this year, he's gone after next year when his contract is up. You can bet your money on that. Might as well get something for him from a team that won't be able to directly compete with the Eagles in coming seasons.

[zykO]

I've always been of the philosophy that you don't want to trade a marquee player within your conference where he can come back to haunt you the next year by beating your team down. The Browns and Raiders won't even meet the Eagles in the regular season for the next 3-4 years sans a potential Superbowl matchup, so that type of event would never come to pass. The only team I'd consider trading within the conference to would be Carolina for Julius Peppers + 2nd round pick. Of course, I'm no GM am I?

Whether or not McNabb is traded this year, he's gone after next year when his contract is up. You can bet your money on that. Might as well get something for him from a team that won't be able to directly compete with the Eagles in coming seasons.

oh heheh and i thouyght you were just picking on my team

yes, i agree on everything you said except for one thing... i think you'd make a fine GM if you are willing to trade him to carolina for peppers and a 2nd rounder (if they'd bite on that... maybe a 3rd). it's need-based trading and frankly, as much as moore was lighting shit up there late in the season for the panthers, they're a QB away from being some trouble too.

but yeah. get something in return for him before he simply walks away and replaces (OMG NO) campbell in washington and gives the eagles fits!

[Jam Stunna]

I really think Jason Campbell could be one of the better QBs in the league if he had some consistency. Maybe not McNabb good, but has the poor guy ever had the same offensive coordinator/coach for two years in a row?

[zykO]

I really think Jason Campbell could be one of the better QBs in the league if he had some consistency. Maybe not McNabb good, but has the poor guy ever had the same offensive coordinator/coach for two years in a row?

nope. he hasn't.

how good will he be? i'm not sure... he has some of the right tools... decent mobility, good arm, a little bit of grit... but we've never seen what he can do with a good offensive scheme

maybe shanny can save him, i dunno

[zykO]

Here we are. At the crossroads a mere couple of weeks before the biggest event of every year. We have three of our top seeds still in it as well as a team decked from head to toe in a sparkly dress and glass shoes that would make Cinderella weep in envy. Let the games begin.

New York Jets at Indianapolis Colts

Rex Ryan is an awesome coach. I’d play for that man any day of the week. He has his men as ready for battle this Sunday as he had them against San Diego last weekend and Cincinnati the weekend before that. He has them loose, confident and prepared. After all, two heavy favorites are down for the count; why not another? Because as good as Carson Palmer is and as much better as Philip Rivers is, Peyton Manning is an entirely different beast. It’s difficult to imagine New York’s formidable blitz packages and no-look defensive schemes throwing Peyton off as much as it has thrown the last two guys off. Rivers moved the ball on them enough to win the game, he just couldn’t make the scoring throws when it mattered – those just happen to be the exact scenarios in which Peyton does and that will be the difference. New York will bring the heat, no doubt and this game will be close, it won’t be any kind of a blowout. However, unless Curtis Painter suits up, I think the Colts are safe to win this game at home with their supreme confidence (mind you, this is real confidence… not that cocky “of course we’re going to win” bullshit some of the Chargers players were strutting about) and poise. The Jets will have to hope that running game gets the job done early and goes up by 2 or 3 scores by the half or there’s no way Mark Sanchez will keep up with Peyton when it matters… when Mathis and Freeney are chasing him around and forcing the rook to throw into good coverage by an underrated secondary. No, Thomas Jones and Shonn Greene are gonna have to run for 300 yards and 4 scores if they want to win this game.

Sorry atmuh

Colts

Minnesota Vikings at New Orleans Saints

Why is it such a big deal that the Superdome is loud and difficult to win in? Jared Allen brought up a perfectly good point: so is the Metrodome. While it’s true that home crowds usually get loud when the other team has the ball in critical down situations to disrupt offenses, I’ve yet to watch a single game at either dome that had, at any point, quieted down. It’s always going hardcore in there! And this is the biggest NFC game of the year! You think it’s going to be quiet for the Saints on offense? CHILD PLS. Simply put, too much is being made of this. Brett Favre has shown several times this season that when the lights are brightest, so is he. This is pretty much as bright as it gets outside of the Super Bowl itself. I’m pretty sure Drew Brees is going to light it up as well but the same folks that said Brett was going to throw 4 or 5 picks last week are saying it again and I again want y’all to know that if Brett makes any mistakes, it’ll be near the end of the game when it’s close and desperate and it will almost directly determine the outcome. And that’s, unfortunately, what I think is going to happen. This will be a very close game and it’ll go north of 30 points on both sides for sure. Vikes are 4 ½ dogs in this one and that sounds almost right. The Saints can win by as little as a field goal or as much as a TD. But not more than that. There are too many injury questions for the Vikings… primarily Jamie Kennedy, Ray Edwards and Percy Harvin… all very important keys to their game. If this turns into a slingfest for Brees and Favre, then missing a key receiver and two critical pass rush/run D guys will skew the result in favor of the

Saints

Yes. Colts vs. Saints. First time in 17 years that we have a 1 v 1

[atmuh]

yeah im pickin colts saints too

i just really hope im wrong about half of it!

[Jam Stunna]

I hope that you're right Zirc. A Jets-Vikings Super Bowl would be my no-win scenario.

[Bahamut]

zirc doesn't watch football . I kinda like both the Saints and Vikings, I wouldn't mind seeing either. The Saints I'm not so sure about necessarily winning, they've been sort of on and off the whole season. My guess is it's going to be a Vikings vs. Colts Super Bowl, although I'd like to see the Jets pull off the upset.

[atmuh]

oh boy ONE MORE DAY i am so friken excited

[atmuh]

man it was just like watching the game in 98 against the broncos

the jets started out so strong but manning started to figure them out and it was all downhill from there

and when shonn greene got hurt that pretty much stopped their offense completely

[Poke'G]

in before the vikings win the super bowl.

Yep.

Way, way, waaaaaaaaaay before.

[Airwalker]

I gotta say. I really didn't care who won the NFC yesterday, but it reminded me of how much I hate the NFL's overtime rules. Sure, NCAA rules aren't perfect either, but with such high-scoring offenses, you are almost guaranteed the first team with the ball to win the game in overtime.

Oh well. Colts vs. Saints.

[Bahamut]

man it was just like watching the game in 98 against the broncos

the jets started out so strong but manning started to figure them out and it was all downhill from there

and when shonn greene got hurt that pretty much stopped their offense completely

At the least, you can't say that the Jets didn't play hard though - they definitely came out strong that game.

Also, I agree with the OT rules - I wish it was similar to college football in that both teams get to try, it was basically determined by the coin flip.

[Jam Stunna]

I would like to see Drew Brees get a ring.

Anyway, we have two weeks until the Super Bowl, so let's talk some general football. I made this post on another forum in the beginning of Jamuary and I wanted to see what you guys (READ: zyko, atmuh, Bahamut) think about it and the NFL in general.

Well, this has shaped up to be quite possibly the worst NFL post-season I've ever seen. Wild card weekend, and three of the four games are rematches from Week 17 blowouts. Wonderful.

But more generally, the NFL that I've known is dying. Roger Godell and the ownership seem hell-bent on hollowing out the sport to maximize profits. There's going to be a lockout in two years, they want more neutral-site and out of country games, they want to expand the season to 18 games, they want to "incentivize" the end of the season to make teams play their starters all the way through, not to mention all of the smaller rule changes they've made to "protect" players (read: make their bodies last longer for more games) and that reward offense over defense. All of these things are watering down the sport to make it appeal to a larger audience with more games, higher scores and longer playoffs (that's next: they're going to expand the playoffs, mark my words).

The NFL is going to look entirely different in 3 years, and it's not going to look good.

And I posted that before I learned that the Pro Bowl was being played the week before the Super Bowl, ostensibly to increase viewership. Football isn't like basketball or baseball; every time the players step out onto the field they take their careers in their hands. Could you imagine if Manning or Brees were injured in the Pro Bowl, of all games? But, it's in the pursuit of greater revenue for the league, so it's okay.

[atmuh]

At the least, you can't say that the Jets didn't play hard though - they definitely came out strong that game.

nah im not disappointed in the jets

the colts are just the better team

[Bahamut]

I would like to see Drew Brees get a ring.

I'd like to see Pierre Thomas get a ring - just a few years ago he was the RB at my school (Illinois), starting even over Mendenhall, the future 1st round draft pick (current starter for the Steelers). Thomas went undrafted, so it's great to see him do so well in the pros despite that.

[zykO]

well, the colts are gonna win

[Johnny B]

Minnesota Vikings at New Orleans Saints

Brett Favre has shown several times this season that when the lights are brightest, so is he. This is pretty much as bright as it gets outside of the Super Bowl itself. I’m pretty sure Drew Brees is going to light it up as well but the same folks that said Brett was going to throw 4 or 5 picks last week are saying it again and I again want y’all to know that if Brett makes any mistakes, it’ll be near the end of the game when it’s close and desperate and it will almost directly determine the outcome. And that’s, unfortunately, what I think is going to happen. This will be a very close game and it’ll go north of 30 points on both sides for sure. Vikes are 4 ½ dogs in this one and that sounds almost right. The Saints can win by as little as a field goal or as much as a TD. But not more than that.

Wow, you were pretty much right on with your whole post, especially this part.

[bladiator]

GOOOO COWBOYS!!

And I was rooting for the Saints for two reasons:

1) Because the Vikings beat my Cowboys and so I like to see our defeaters take the early train home every year, and

2) Because near the midway part of the game when Favre was getting the ever-loving snot beat out of him, left the game with his messed up ankle then came back to keep playing, I just knew ... KNEW that if they won the game, we would have to listen to a never-ending wall of Brett Favre glory talk for more than a year. I hate Brett Favre for pretty much that one singular reason: because you have to hear about how awesome he is every other day. I also hate Tom Brady and Peyton Manning for these reasons (ever heard of .. I don't know .. the rest of the team??) but people have toned down the Peyton talk now so I'm all about him taking this one. Not to mention that he has been on a team that is a contender ever since time began it feels like. Favre's team is always iffy.

I guess in general, I'm one of those guys that hates to watch quarterbacksterbation. I know they do a really hard job and doing it really well is much worse, but who is blocking for you? Who is receiving your crazy awesome passes? Who is returning punts and kickoffs for good field position? "PEYTON MANNING MARCHED THEM ALL THE WAY DOWN THE FIELD!" If he ran the ball on every play with no other teammates, then get back to me on that one.