Wow. I can’t believe that the Patriots lost a 2nd straight game.
Man, the Seahawks are stinkin’ the joint up tonight.
It’s the Seahawks. You know the game will get close and go down to the wire.
The Packers are 10-3. I shouldn’t look a gift horse in the mouth, but they sure don’t feel like a 10-3 team to me. Neither the offense nor the defense seem to be able to play consistently.
Seattle has had a soft defense all season and the Rams are taking full advantage of it.
Right now this is how I’d rank the (true) N.F.C. playoff teams: 1) San Francisco, 2) “Nawlins,” 3) Seattle, 4) Minnesota, 5) Rams, 6) Green Bay. You can put that team from Texas wherever you want to. In my book they’re not truly a playoff-worthy team this year. In my opinion it’s too bad that they’ll (probably) be allowed in the playoffs, anyway.
I didn’t think the Seachickens were good enough to win out
Seachickens… Haha cute I think it’s a Niners fan.
They had a flat-out bad defense all season. The previous few weeks the defense was actually good. Tonight it was mediocre.
What killed Seattle was drops. Receivers couldn’t catch. So many catchable passes either for long yardage or scores that for whatever reason didn’t get caught. The team hasn’t been like that all year.
I would’ve never guessed that I’d be so bored and unimpressed by the Browns winning 4 out of their last 5 games, which is not something that happens often.
And even if they win out, and finish 9-7, their odds of snatching a playoff spot is under 30%.
They’re beating bad teams, and, earlier this year, they beat some pretty good teams. The Niners loss was ugly and bad and they’re not blowing the bad teams out, but that happens over the NFL season.
They’re relying on the running game a lot more, which should help them in the playoffs. But I have yet to see Aaron Rodgers looking like the Aaron Rodgers of old (other than the great job at limiting int’s). He’s still very, very good, but not really dominate this year. At this point, I think the blame for that clearly falls on Lafleur. The quick starts on offense is great, but the passing game quickly falters after that.
On defense, they’re very aggressive, which is a nice change, but boy could it cause problems against good teams, especially in the playoffs. I am concerned that they’re way too turnover dependent as a defense. They’re in the bottom half of yards given up, which, again, may not bode well for the playoffs.
Division rivals next three games. I’ll be very upset if they lose to the Bears or Lions. The Vikings will be a good test.
Some teams and players (like the Patriots) have the ability to find another gear in the playoffs. I’m hoping Aaron Rodgers and the pass offense is one of those.
In the mostly meaningless prop-bet department, if 24 hours ago someone had offered to bet that Brady would gain not only more rushing yards than Mahomes, but more than three times as much, what odds would they have gotten?
I know no one will have any sympathy for the Patriots, but they got royally screwed by the refs on at least three plays, four if you count a spot challenge.
KC on 3rd and 6, spotted at the 40, when the receiver didn’t get there, loose challenge.
Kelce fumble, called dead when Gilmore had a very good chance of scoring. Use last challenge.
Clear touchdown, ruled OOB, but they have no challenges left.
Obvious DPI, but again, no challenges.
In the last seven games, the Ravens have beaten the Seahawks, Patriots, Texans, Rams, 49ers, and Bills. (And the Bengals, but that doesn’t really count this year.) In non-Ravens games, those 6 teams are a combined 56-17, and 7 of those 17 losses are to other teams in that same group.
Baltimore certainly hasn’t looked bulletproof over the past couple of weeks, and they could have lost to the 49ers and the Bills if a few plays had gone differently, but at the very least they look like they can hold their own against any team, and on a good day they can win comfortably against even the best teams. I’m hoping for a deep playoff run.
Maybe I’m dumb, but I don’t understand why Kitchens, against one of the worst run defenses in the league, ran the ball a whole 8 times in the first half of the game.
I don’t understand why Mayfield throws the training staff under the bus to appease OBJ.
I guess I don’t understand the Browns at all.
I think the key to understanding the Browns is that it’s a team with a lot of talented players and awful coaching. That explains almost everything you see, from inexplicable game plans to a lack of discipline. That falls on Kitchens.
I’d take it up a level. The Browns are a team that currently has talented players but awful coaching but have, at times over the last 20 years, had talented players and/or talented coaches but always a single constant - impatient, stupid ownership.
The Browns are in that situation where they really need 3-4 years of stability but their front office and/or coaches generally only get 1-2 years. Either the GM or coach gets replaced nearly every season and neither has lasted more than 3 seasons in nearly 20 years.
The last time the Browns had concurrently the same GM and coach for 4 straight seasons was Bill Belichick (who was the de facto GM in Cleveland just as he is the de facto GM in New England). Let that sink in. And even there, they may have cut him short - a lot of the assistants and front office personnel of the period thought Belichick had finally gotten the Browns to the level of regular contention when he got the axe.
Jimmy Haslam claimed early on that he wanted to replicate the Steelers model and have front office/coaching stability and build success that way. He repeated that concept several times over the years claiming that “this” time, he meant it. That never materialized. Well, words are cheap.
I rarely get caught up in hype and when I do it’s usually for something or someone completely different from what everybody else gets caught up in hype about. But the Ravens are on a roll. I’d this point I’d be surprised if they don’t make it to the S.B. next February (and my pick to play against them is a team they just beat: the San Francisco 49ers).
I’m not particularly impressed with the Packers this year, either. Matter of fact I think Minnesota is going to beat them out for the N.F.C. North title.
I already have the N.F.C. playoffs mapped out in my head: first round - Seattle @ Arlington in a playoff re-match from last year and Green Bay at Minnesota (personally I would keep division rivals apart in the playoffs for as long as I can but that’s not how the NFL sees it, so. . .)
Conference semis: Seattle @ San Francisco and Minnesota at “Nawlins”
Conference championship: “Nawlins” @ San Francisco
N.F.C. representative in next year’s S.B.: San Francisco