The official NFL Discussion Thread

[Hilltopper39]

I wouldn't bet to much money on Detroit but if San Diego makes a run it wouldn't surprise me in the least. Then again if Aaron Rodgers get a concussion in week 7 and has to sit for 3 games and Cutler starts throwing interceptions like he's in cahoots with the opposing D coordinator it wouldn't surprise me a bit to see Detroit win that division. Megatron is good for about 4 wins all by himself isn't he? And that my friend is why the NFL is the greatest league in pro sports, the difference between last place and first place is never that large. A new QB, new coach, new deep threat, new pass rusher and all the sudden you have the 49ers going from last place to making a run deep into the playoffs.

[simaticable]

Anyone else see the Broncos lose to the Falcons yesterday? I thought that the Falcons would lose, and this is why I can never work in the stock market.

[Sir Clinksalot]

My 49ers are looking good after 2 weeks. Beat two great teams so far, but there is a LONG way to go.

 

My picks:

 

NFC:

East: Giants

North: Green Bay

South: Atlanta

West: San Francisco

 

Wild Cards: Arizona/Tampa Bay

 

AFC:

East: Patriots

North: Baltimore

South: Houston

West: San Diego

 

Wild Cards: Pittsburgh/Denver

 

NFC Championship: San Francisco over Atlanta (in SF)

AFC Championship: Houston over San Diego (in Hou)

 

Super Bowl: San Francisco over Houston

 

My teams "on the rise" this year:

Miami - I know a lot of people don't think they will be any good, and they probably won't be. But they will get at least 6 wins this year.

Cleveland - Same as above. They will get about 6 wins, but their defense is looking AMAZING and Richardson may be the next up and coming RB.

Carolina - This would be my dark-horse team to make the playoffs in the NFC.

 

Teams "on the way down":

New England - Yes I picked them to win the division, pretty much by default. I can't see them doing much once they do. In fact, I think they'll have the worst record among the division winners.

Pittsburgh - Getting older, not very impressive the first two weeks.

Detroit - I just think this team has done as much as they can with who they have.

 

Teams I could care less about but hope they lose every game:

As always, I'll be rooting against the Eagles, Cowboys and Raiders every chance I get.

[Hilltopper39]

^I wish I could go back and re-do my picks after the first two weeks, there have certainly been some major surprises thus far and a few of my picks just look flat out terrible haha. But as far as your picks go San Francisco looks as dominant as I've seen a football team look in long time and the amazing thing is that they don't really do anything fancy. I think they're going to be real tough to beat, there is a lot of football left to be played and 'm sure they will have some adversity at some point but if they stay healthy they will be tough.

 

After watching Houston play 2 games they look like the best in the AFC to date. They haven't played the stiffest competition in the league but as long as Johnson/Schaub/Foster stay healthy I think they can hang with anyone. With that being said, as long as Kubiak is their coach I'm not sold on them making a deep playoff run, but do think they have a team to do it with.

 

I agree with you on Miami, Cleveland, and Carolina being on the way up (still up in the air on Cleveland), but I think that after 2 weeks you have to throw Washington, St. Louis, and maybe Tampa into that mix as well.

 

I'm not convinced New England and Pittsburgh are on the way out just yet. For NE, Arizona might be better than everyone thought, I like what New England is doing offensively with a more balanced running game, and as long as Brady is taking snaps they're a contender in my mind. Pittsburgh has two of the most dynamic receiver in the league, and while you are right and the defense is getting old, when Mendenhal gets healthy they may be able to get into shoot outs with anyone.

 

I will say one of the surprise of the season for me has be how dismal the saints have looked. With all of their off field troubles I didn't know if they would come out in total "F you" mode and be as good as they were, or just lay be a mess. There is a Lot of football left but it looks like they are in for a long long year.

[Hercules]

I'll go ahead and throw in my picks that I had chosen prior to the season:

 

NFC

East - Philadelphia

South - Atlanta

North - Green Bay

West - San Francisco

Wild Cards - New Orleans, Chicago

 

AFC

East - New England

South - Houston

North - Baltimore

West - San Diego

Wild Cards - Denver, Buffalo

 

NFC Championship - Green Bay over San Francisco

AFC Championship - New England over Baltimore

Super Bowl - Green Bay over New England

 

I'll stick with those even though a couple of weeks have gone by and a few picks are a little iffy.

[Meteornotes]

Eagles and Steelers games are on here today! Hopefully one of them will be a decent game.

 

dt

[molemaster43]

^Second Heath Miller touchdown! So far the Steelers game is good, I like it.

[Hilltopper39]

So, week 3 has been insane, just when I thought I was getting a good feel for who is who in the league Minnesota goes off and beats San Francisco, Arizona starts 3-0 by blasting Philly, New Orleans loses to the Chiefs at home to start 0-3 and Detroit scores 14 points in 20 seconds to force OT then lose to Tennessee. Crazy week of Football but right now Houston and Atlanta look the best two teams in the NFL to me.

[Angry_Gumball]

My boss had hooked me up with tickets for today's Railer-Steeler game. I'm glad raiders finally got their first win, was a really close game! While I'm a Raider fan, I'm more of a GP when it comes to sports stuff in general, learning as I go along about the team and sport.

Raiders!

[Meteornotes]

Ugh, that Steelers game yesterday...stupid Steelers! Oh well, at least the Redskins and 49ers lost yesterday, so it wasn't all bad...

 

dt

[Coupon]

Add another win to the Seahawk's record! Best nail biter ending ever!

[LoneRider92]

^ You may be happy, but the mood around here would best be described as ''irate''.

 

In fact, a HUGE amount of people and athletes, not just in the NFL, are exceptionally unhappy. It wasn't that the officiating was bad; it was putrid. The calls on that last drive went from awful to horrendous to vomit-inducing. You can't look me in the eye and say that the refs got even one thing right on that last play.

 

The NFL's image seems to be tanking fast and after tonight, I hope there are some serious ramifications. Enough of this crap.

 

Just disgraceful. No sleep for me tonight I guess.

[Jew]

The refs blew that call (and the offensive PI that went with it), but that DB also blew the fundamental thing that all DB's are taught since pop warner when it comes to hail marys: knock the ball down.

[LoneRider92]

Not trying to get into any fights due to poor judgment at the time, but like Tennessee?

 

 

And, for anyone who didn't see it...

Hmm...

Since when did Seattle start wearing white?

[Jew]

^I would say on that play, he wasn't able to actually knock the ball down. Just got his hand on it and by freak occurrence Titus Young was in exactly the right spot at the right time. But DB's are taught to physically knock it down (not just tip it) to the ground in order avoid any situation where the receive could still end up with it.

[Hilltopper39]

Ya know what in the refs defense, that is probably the most difficult call possible to make. Dual possession goes to the receiver, that that was what was called on the field, and the replay evidence has to completely over rule the on field call which I don't know if it did in the context of review process. The pass interference was there yes, but it wasn't called and it is unreviewable, besides in a 6 man melee in the corner of the endzone that instantaneous interference is not the easiest thing to see. I'm not defending the call because I do think after hundreds of HD slow mo reviews dissected by everyone in the world it was wrong, but it was awfully darn close and making that call correctly in the heat of the moment isn't the easiest thing in the world to do.

 

I will say that yes there have been a lot of terrible calls, some that have decided games, some that didn't that could have, and the officials are taking a little longer than normal to review and make calls, but otherwise I feel like they have been letting a lot of stuff go and letting the players play which I appreciate to a degree. Also, I kind of like the extra scuffling that has been going on, there is a point where it is too much that I don't think has been reached yet, but a couple of good all out post whistle shoving matches makes for good television. If punches start getting thrown and someone gets hurt it has gone to far, but in the meantime I kind of like seeing Bernard Pollard and Logan Mankins get into it after the whistle without flags being thrown.

[Sir Clinksalot]

Here's the thing, the Ref with a front-side view of the play (correctly) called it an INT. The ref that couldn't see because the back of the players was blocking him called it a TD. It IS a hard play. But you know what you do, you have a discussion, the "White Hat" comes over, doesn't do an "official" call, talks to both officials and then decides based on the arguments.

 

That didn't happen and that's the point. I'm not going to say the regular officials would have gotten it right, they make plenty of mistakes. But they would have taken the proper steps to insure they got it as close as possible. These officials didn't do that because they don't know how to.

 

These are officials that can't even officiate at a Division I or II in college, let alone the NFL.

 

As far as the replay, it's a moot point. Possession isn't reviewable.

[BeemerBoy]

I'm actually getting a little tired of blaming the refs for everything. If it wasn't for those guys, your teams wouldn't be playing right now at all. And there's one simple way to avoid losing the game by a blown call in the last seconds......put your opponent away before then.

 

Just sayin'.

[Hilltopper39]

^ I completely agree, put em away in regulation and you don't have to wait till the last second to win or lose.

 

I kind of feel bad for these replacement officials at this point to an extent. They don't deserve the amount of ridicule and scrutiny that they are receiving, officiating a game in the NFL is a tough job and to expect someone who has never done it to be successful at it after 3 weeks isn't really fare. We'll see how it all works out.

[BeemerBoy]

Also, I think the Saints vs. Packers game this week will be far more interesting now, as opposed to two preseason contenders with 2-1 or 3-0 records.

 

See, the NFL wins either way. It's time to just deal with the refs and let things play out.

 

On a side note, I'm sick to hell of Steve Young acting like a Toddlers and Tiaras drama queen over the whole situation. Seriously dude, grab your purse and take it to the sewing circle. It's a game, not the end of civilization.

[Meteornotes]

Sorry, that was the worst call I've ever seen in a football game. These guys are horrid. What will it take beyond this to get the NFL to knock off their crap and get the regular refs back? Does someone has to get hurt in a game, since these officials have clearly shown they cannot take control of the game? This is a mess, and needs to be resolved.

 

dt

[Hilltopper39]

Mitt Romney needs to put of $50 million of his own money to end the officials lockout, saving the game of football and maybe his Presidential campaign at the same time. It is the greatest political strategy of all time, saving football has to be worth a couple poll points right?

[Wes]

^ Someone listens to the Simmons podcast...

[Jew]

I kind of feel bad for these replacement officials at this point to an extent. They don't deserve the amount of ridicule and scrutiny that they are receiving, officiating a game in the NFL is a tough job and to expect someone who has never done it to be successful at it after 3 weeks isn't really fare. We'll see how it all works out.

 

The NFL deserves the blame, not the refs. They're only trying to do what everyone else would do if given the opportunity: make a lot more money in their chosen profession. The NFL is trying to play hardball and break the officials union by pushing for "backup crews to replace poor officials," which in theory is a good idea if both sides can agree on a fair way to judge officials...but the NFL wants complete control over it so they can do as they please with the refs.

 

What I think is funny is how the Saints bounty scandal "hurts the integrity of the game," but the NFL sees no problem with their replacement officials. Even going as far as to release an official statement defending the poor call, while trying to push for holding refs more accountable...

[Hilltopper39]

^ Someone listens to the Simmons podcast...

 

Haha you got me, long time listener! That was one of the better lines he's had in a while on there.