NFL playoffs

The Game Room
41

Yipee.
The Browns had their chance and blew it, but it’s not as if the Titans deserved it more. They got thrashed 35-6 or something by the Cinci team that took the Browns destiny out of their hands, and then they didn’t really have to earn it - they had to beat 2nd and 3rd stringers who were going through the motions.

The Colts had no real obligation to try to win that game (tell that to the thousands of people in the stadium that paid to watch a football game, though - any chance they get a refund because they saw a scrimmage?) but it wouldn’t have been very risky to put Manning back in for that last drive, finish the season on a high note, win one for the fans, and build some momentum. Or use their last time out, for that matter. Oh well. Normally I like the Colts, but this year I’m hoping this comes back to bite them in the ass. Maybe resting starters too much, or ending the season on a downer, or something… ideally Tennessee would knock them out of the playoffs but that’s a very unlikely scenario.

Unfortunately that was the best chance of the Browns to have success. Next year will see a regression as Romeo is still one of the worst head coaches in the league. He succeeded this year primarily be being carried by the surprising offense - one that was only successful because he was made a lame duck and taken out of the picture on offense. But it won’t be a surprise next year, other teams will be better able to counter it, and it appears to be a harder schedule.

42

Nor any less.

43

The Titans went 9-6 in real football games, the Browns went 10-6.

And it’s not even sitting the starters that bothers me that much. The Colts didn’t seem to care about winning. If their backups gave it their best and failed - well I’d still be annoyed, but not quite so much. But look at the long Bironas FG for example - they didn’t even try to block it. No edge rushers, no push up the middle, the FG blocking unit basically just stood there at the snap. A lot of the playcalling (and quality of play from the starters) just indicated they were going through the motions. No time out called at the end - I forget the exact situation but IIRC couldn’t they have gotten the ball back with a bit of time? Maybe I’m wrong on that.

It’s not Tennesee’s fault that they didn’t get to play their 16th football game, but that’s the way it went down. And even then, they only squeaked out a 6 point win over a team that wasn’t even trying, after squeaking out a 4 point win from a pathetic team that imploded, after getting thrashed by the same team that ended up killing Cleveland’s playoff chances.

Edit: Their starters besides Bob Sanders only played hard in order to pad their stats. Ooooh, let’s force feed the ball until we get the stat totals we want, and then quit.

44

Something smelled wrong about the game. Reggie Wayne picking up 12! receptions on the first drive, and Manning hitting the 4000 yard mark unscathed, and then the Colts shutting down entirely?

Meh, I’m just filled with hate for the world right now. I’ll definitely be rooting for San Diego in the first round of the playoffs.

45

Yeah, I’ll certainly grant that, although he is a fast RB, it takes Jacobs a little time to get up to full speed, and that naturally impedes his ability to get to certain holes. However, I think there’s a misperception among people who only know about him in passing that he’s a traditional big power back. Yes he uses his size to get a couple of extra yards against most tackles or push the pile, but he’s also agile to make some tacklers miss, and fast enough that only rarely will even a cornerback be able to chase him down from behind.

As a fan of his I might be biased, but I think that as a runner, Jacobs is one of the best in the league, when healthy.

46

Browns - Titans. . .sort of a toss up for me.

Titans benefitted from the Colts situations, but if Albert Haynesworth stays healthy all season, the Titans are in easy. So, as a full team, the Titans are definitely a playoff team.

Still, Cleveland really got going offensively. I don’t think they’ll fall off much next year. They have a great foundation for an O-line, great tight end, great receiver. I don’t know if they’ll be able to count on Jamal too much next year, but their defense seemed to figure out how to play well late in the season.

I don’t consider the Pats a lock at all right now. Jags, SD, and Indy all finished the season playing at least as well as the Pats.

A bad weather game in New England could really hurt them against the Jags if it comes to that.

Teams really were putting up a lot of points on the Pats late in the year (Giants, Ravens and Philadelphia all moved the ball against them).

Anyway. . .great playoff line up. Seriously. Dallas, Green Bay, New England, Pittsburgh and Indy.

On top of that, you have Holmgren and Seattle, Gibbs and Washington.

Star power in Vince Young and LT-2.

You got a New York team in there.

Except for maybe finding a way to put in Chicago, I can’t imagine what else the league could have hoped for.

47

Only if they’re in the same division, which the Titans and Browns are not.

Not sure where you got that info, but it’s wrong. Division records play no part in tiebreaking teams from different divisions:[list=#][li]Head-to-head, if applicable.[/li][li]Best won-lost-tied percentage in games played within the conference.[/li][li]Best won-lost-tied percentage in common games, minimum of four.[/li][li]Strength of victory.[/li][li]Strength of schedule.[/li][li]Best combined ranking among conference teams in points scored and points allowed.[/li][li]Best combined ranking among all teams in points scored and points allowed.[/li][li]Best net points in conference games.[/li][li]Best net points in all games.[/li][li]Best net touchdowns in all games.[/li][li]Coin toss.[/list]For anyone who might not know:[/li]
The rankings in 6 & 7 would go like: “3rd in points scored & 9th in points allowed for a total of 12, versus 5th in points scored and 7th in points allowed for a total of 12, so tied and move on to the next tiebreaker.”

And step 3 is the same as 4 except you only count the wins.

48

I’m going to disagree, though I completely agree with everything you wrote about the Colts. (While I don’t hope that their pussy tactics backfire – because I don’t care – I predict that it will.)

If you want to get into “real” football games, the Titans’ divisional games were way tougher than the Brownies’. Based on that I think they deserve it more, having had a much tougher row to hoe.

49

While he sucks at pass catching, one nice thing is that he’s a solid pass blocker. (For whatever that’s worth.) I’m not sure how much I want to kill him for his dropped passes anyway. The Giants lead the league in dropped passes, and Toomer leads the team. WTF? I’m guessing that they’ll address that in the offseason and assuming it gets corrected for the team, it’ll get corrected for Jacobs as well. Hopefully, at least. Unlike Toomer, Jacobs has never had good hands, but here’s hoping.

As for your comparison to Tiki, I would have agreed with you except that I’ve been transferring over my tapes of the second half of 2006 this week. Tiki ran about a bajillion times better than Jacobs. Don’t get me wrong; I agree that Jacobs runs well, but holy friggin’ shit Tiki was just on another level. His fluid style, deliberative starts, deceptive power and surgical cutbacks combined to make him a true phenomenon.

Jacobs isn’t anywhere on that level, and that’s not even taking into consideration the fact that Tiki was apparently invulnerable, leading the team in rushing for something like 80+ straight games. 80! That sounds like a QB starting streak, not a RB getting the most yards streak. Look at last week, when Bradshaw outrushed Jacobs due in large part to a big gainer. For every game the Giants played from like 2001 to 2006, Tiki Barber had the most rushing yards on the team.

The craziest thing? In the game I just finished transferring – against the Bucs – Tiki got hit behind the line and carried a LB on his back for 5 yards, just barely converting a 3rd down. That’s something I don’t see Jacobs doing. Sure, he’ll bowl the occasional safety over, but Tiki would actually carry linebackers. I have yet to see Jacobs carry anybody, ever. He’s like the anti-weeble-wobble.

Don’t get me wrong, though. I’m a big fan of Jacobs, and would like to see him as the starter for the next four years. I’m just saying he doesn’t belong in the same sentence as Tiki Barber, who was a truly transcendent back.

50

My Redskins are in, thanks to their victory over the Whiny Cowgirls (Terry Glenn: “I think they were trying to hurt me”), though I hardly think the Cowboys who show up for the second round of the playoffs in two weeks will closely resemble the uninterested team that played at FedEx Field yesterday.

Factoid: today is the 35th anniversary of the Redskins’ beating the Cowboys, 26-3, in the NFC championship game on the way to Super Bowl 7, which didn’t go quite as well. (As someone said to me afterwards, with absolutely no trace of irony, “You can’t win 'em all.”)

51

Well, that may be true. I meant real in the sense that the other team was doing their best to win, regardless of how good that team was. In all 16 games the Browns faced the challenge of a team trying to win. If, when the Browns held their destiny in their own hands like the Titans did, Cincinatti decided to yank their starters in the mid-2nd quarter, they’d have made the playoffs over the Titans. Or if the Titans happened to reverse the order in which they play the Colts and the Jets - Colts in week 16, Jets in week 17, the Browns would probably make the playoffs. It’s a fluke of scheduling and some pussy shit from “we’re going to try to win the game” Dungy that the Titans went in. And again, it’s not strictly the resting the starters thing, other teams have done that. I’d have been happier if their starters never even took the field, but that their backups actually played to win.

I’m not trying to blame it all that way. I’m extremely dissapointed in how my team played in week 16. Mostly Anderson. Too often one player takes too much blame for a game, but if there was a game you can pretty much pin on a single player, this is it.

Comparing the schedules overall, the Titans didn’t really accomplish more than the Browns. Discounting the last Indy game, they played 5 games in the division - the two vs Jacksonville and one vs Indy were legitimately hard, they won both games with Houston but by a smaller margin than the Browns did, got thrashed 35-6 by lowly Bengals, and they got to play Atlanta, Carolina, Kansas City, and a freebie at Indy. Ultimately, if the schedule were a bit different, and they were forced to play all 16 games against teams that were trying, they most likely would’ve finished 9-7.

Edit: Looks like Billick was fired. :frowning:
What’s next? No Boller?

I’ve seen multiple rumors that Parcells wants Crennel for Miami. If there’s any competant coaches who will accept their role as coaches and not GMs to replace him with, I’d be all for it.

52

UPDATE:

Hey Eagles! HA-ha!

53

How does Parcells / Tuna / Manboobs feel about allowing his next head coach to shop for some of the groceries?

54

My bad, don’t know why I got that wrong considering I was looking at my tiebreaker sheet as I was typing the answer. (Yes, I keep an excel sheet ranking all the teams and keeping track of records, points for, points against, games behind in division/wild-card)

55

[QUOTE=Ellis Dee]
[list=#][li]Head-to-head, if applicable.[/li][li]Best won-lost-tied percentage in games played within the conference.[/li][li]Best won-lost-tied percentage in common games, minimum of four.[/li][li]Strength of victory.[/li][li]Strength of schedule.[/li][li]Best combined ranking among conference teams in points scored and points allowed.[/li][li]Best combined ranking among all teams in points scored and points allowed.[/li][li]Best net points in conference games.[/li][li]Best net points in all games.[/li][li]Best net touchdowns in all games.[/li][li]Coin toss.[/list][/li][/QUOTE]

What’s the deepest into this list it’s ever been necessary to go?

56

See, Belichicks not an ass for running up the score, he’s just ensuring if it ever comes to points scored in the tiebreaker, his team will get in. :slight_smile: I think points scored should be further up the list as it is in world soccer- it keeps all teams trying to score always, even late in a blowout, which is good for the fans.

57

Understood and agreed.

I disagree completely. The last thing I want to see in the NFL is the ridiculous, bush-league-style running up the score that is pervasive in college football, which is justified because points play a more important role in tie-breaking.

Speaking of tie-breakers, apparently there was a 3-way tie toward the top of the draft order for next year, and the NFL did not actually have a tie-breaking procedure in place, and so had to make one up on the fly. They were projected to announce the procedure yesterday (Monday.) Anybody hear anything about it?

The ony tiebreaker they had that might apply was for two teams, flip a coin. Since there were three, uh, draw straws? Rock, paper scissors? hehheh.

58

The tiebreakers have changed over the years. In 1979, Chicago had to win their last game by over 30 points to win a points differential tiebreaker over Washington. I think that was about the 5th tiebreaker.

I think they took out the points differential tiebreaker to discourage blow-outs. But it looks like they modified it with the points ranking tiebreaker.

59

#1 AFC South 30-10 (75%)
#2 NFC East 28-12 (70%)
#3 NFC North 23-17 (58%)
#4 AFC North 20-20 (50%)
#5 AFC East 16-24 (40%)
#6 NFC South 15-25 (38%)
#7 NFC West 14-26 (35%)
#7 AFC West 14-26 (35%)

#1 NFC 32-32 (50%)
#1 AFC 32-32 (50%)

Playoff predictions based on these rankings, where coming in second makes you equal to the winner of the division below you, etc…

Wildcard Round
Redskins over Seahawks
Jags over Steelers
Giants over Bucs
Titans over Chargers

Divisional Round
Cowboys over Redskins
Colts over Titans
Giants/Packers (no decision)
Jags over Patriots

Conference Championships
Cowboys over Giants/Packers
Colts over Jags

Superbowl
Colts over Cowboys

60

[QUOTE=Ellis DeeWildcard Round
Redskins over Seahawks
Jags over Steelers
Giants over Bucs
Titans over Chargers

Divisional Round
Cowboys over Redskins
Colts over Titans
Giants/Packers (no decision)
Jags over Patriots
[/QUOTE]

Unless I’m missing something, if the Jags and Titans won, it’d be Pats/Titans and Colts/Jags in the divisional.

I’d love to see the Titans knock the Colts out, it’d be poetic, but it’d have to wait for the AFC Championship game which is pretty unlikely.

I don’t really know who to root for this year. I’ve mildly liked the Colts for years but I’m not such a big fan now. I’m rooting against the Steelers, of course, and I expect them to be tossed in the first round. Jacksonville is a nice run-and-play-defense team but their fan base is small and fickle - I tend to factor in fan base deservingness into who I root for. New England I’m not too enthusiastic about. I don’t have a grudge against the Titans and I vaguely like them, I suppose. Neutral towards SD… I guess my AFC playoff viewing will be based around who I’m rooting against, not rooting for.

The NFC is a little clearer because I’ve always liked and respected Green Bay’s fanbase. They’re the only ones I’d put in the same tier of fan devotion as the Browns. Indifferent towards Favre, but I’d like to see that team succeed. Seattle has always been well-represented by classy, knowledgable fans on the various football boards I’ve browsed, although I don’t especially like the team. Giants - meh, NY team. Washington - always found something mildly obnoxious about the team. Same with TB. Oh and of course screw Dallas. I’ve always disliked them for their institutional arrogance, but this year gave me a more concrete reason to root for their failure - all the fans that taunted us about how the Browns just traded Dallas a top 5 pick in '08 after the draft.

A few weeks ago when SD played TEN I said TEN was the better football team. Looks like the situation has reversed - TEN has been on a steady improvement and SD on a steady decline - although I’ll take Fisher over what’s-his-generic-journeyman-face. The Haynesworth reinjury is a major factor, but I’m not sure if Vince Young’s injury is going to hurt theteam. Still, a home game, the way SD has been playing lately, they’ll probably bounce TEN out convincingly. The Browns would’ve given them a better game - with the warm weather and an aggressive gameplan, we could’ve seen some of the fireworks from the Browns that we’d seen earlier in the year.