2008 NFL Season Thread- The Road to Super Bowl XLIII

[Dark Flame]

I caught some of the end of the 49ers game (goddamn NFL rules) and that last touchdown catch was sweet! He just went up there and stole the ball away from 3 guys (including a teammate.) I don't know who that rookie is, but he made a hell of a play.

And... BIG NEWS HERE.... the Brownies lost. Again. To the Bengals. Wow. We might have the longest streak ever without an offensive touchdown. Utter failure. Goodbye Romeo...

Did anybody see that Falcons game when Matt Ryan dove for the goal line? The kid has balls. He might've wanted to be a little smarter, but he definitely laid it all out there.

And I'm really happy to laugh at the perennial choke artists, the Cowboys and the Jets. Ha fucking ha!

[Qwerty 42]

Things just got worse for the Eagles. They now need Houston, Oakland, and themselves to all win in order to lock down a playoff berth. At least everyone will know by gametime whether they're playing for anything.

[Havok]

Things just got worse for the Eagles. They now need Houston, Oakland, and themselves to all win in order to lock down a playoff berth. At least everyone will know by gametime whether they're playing for anything.

So much for the vaunted NFC East.

[Chardok]

I have decided that I hate Aaron Rodgers. Because he looks like Steve Carrel OR Joaquin Phoenix depending on the angle. He looks like a stuck-up assholish holier-than-thou dickhead. I am basing that on nothing more than his appearance - and since football is all about trivialities and superficial nonsense my point is virtually impenetrable.


Oh, did I mention the Dolphins are going to the playoffs? No? Oh, well, they're going to the playoffs. WOOOOO!

Forgot to

*crossfingers*


there.

[Burak Gazan]

And... BIG NEWS HERE.... the Brownies lost. Again. To the Bengals. Wow. We might have the longest streak ever without an offensive touchdown. Utter failure. Goodbye Romeo...

There was a fan sign at the game that caught the camera's eye:

"It could be worse: followed by a Lions logo"

I suppose thats the up side of the season......

[Bilbo]

And... BIG NEWS HERE.... the Brownies lost. Again. To the Bengals. Wow. We might have the longest streak ever without an offensive touchdown. Utter failure. Goodbye Romeo...

There was a fan sign at the game that caught the camera's eye:

"It could be worse: followed by a Lions logo"

I suppose thats the up side of the season......

When your starter and backup get whached and you are at your third string rookie what do you expect? You cannot pass so defenses tighten down on the run and crush you.

[The Spartan]

Oh my fucking god! We beat the Titans. This is huge. Not only because we beat the Titans, but because we now have a legitimate shot at a winning season. I was pegging us as 8-8 at best. But after this win, and the win we'll get next week (sorry Hav, the Raiders are going to lose) all we have left is the Bears and we have a decent shot at beating them.

It's going to happen, it's going to happen, it's...

Well after having had to eat all of these words, I'm going to take a risk and go ahead and make another prediction. The Texans will not finish the season 8 and 8. They're going to finish 7 and 9, taking a step back from where they got last season.

The fucking Raiders of all teams. Maybe next year...

[Darth Fanboy]

of all teams? Oh no Spartan, the Lions would have been a far more disheartening loss.

[Tsyroc]

It's all part of the plan. Yes that's it.

The Cardinals, having already clinched the NFC West, and knowing it's unlikely they'd be able to play into a situation better than hosting one game in the playoffs, have come up with a plan. The plan is to suck royal ass and if necessary get royally bitch slapped in real football weather. Thus they will seemingly back into the playoff and be able to spring their trap on some unsuspecting teams.

I actually haven't seen the Cardinals play for a while but it almost seems like they started sucking ass when they decided that Edgeran James wasn't the starting running back anymore. They even went so far as to barely use him in some games. Now, I don't personally think he's that great and certainly the Cards needed to shake something up in their running game, but so far they've just gotten worse and worse. I just wonder if Edge losing his starting spot fucked up the team chemistry and that's contributed to the team getting beat so badly lately. Not that I think they would have won playing in New England in December but at least it wouldn't have given me flashbacks to when Tampa Bay wide receivers used to run routes with their hands tucked in their pants because it was so cold in Green Bay when they were playing. Fuck, the Cards might as well be a dome team if the weather and traveling to the East Coast is going to mess with them so much.

[Darth Fanboy]

HAte to say it Tsyroc, but the Cardinals clinched a spot because they are the best team in the NFL's worst division. 5-0 vs. the NFC West, 3-7 v. everyone else. The three wins outside of their own division were against decent teams but all came at home.

[Havok]

It's all part of the plan. Yes that's it.

The Cardinals, having already clinched the NFC West, and knowing it's unlikely they'd be able to play into a situation better than hosting one game in the playoffs, have come up with a plan. The plan is to suck royal ass and if necessary get royally bitch slapped in real football weather. Thus they will seemingly back into the playoff and be able to spring their trap on some unsuspecting teams.

I actually haven't seen the Cardinals play for a while but it almost seems like they started sucking ass when they decided that Edgeran James wasn't the starting running back anymore. They even went so far as to barely use him in some games. Now, I don't personally think he's that great and certainly the Cards needed to shake something up in their running game, but so far they've just gotten worse and worse. I just wonder if Edge losing his starting spot fucked up the team chemistry and that's contributed to the team getting beat so badly lately. Not that I think they would have won playing in New England in December but at least it wouldn't have given me flashbacks to when Tampa Bay wide receivers used to run routes with their hands tucked in their pants because it was so cold in Green Bay when they were playing. Fuck, the Cards might as well be a dome team if the weather and traveling to the East Coast is going to mess with them so much.

Incorrect. Hightower usurped James almost from the beginning of the season. The Cardinal's fall off was due to them having a practically guaranteed playoff spot about half way through the season and not actually being that good.

[The Spartan]

of all teams? Oh no Spartan, the Lions would have been a far more disheartening loss.

Okay, amend that to read, "...of all the teams left on our schedule after turning ourselves around."

[CmdrWilkens]

Things just got worse for the Eagles. They now need Houston, Oakland, and themselves to all win in order to lock down a playoff berth. At least everyone will know by gametime whether they're playing for anything.

So much for the vaunted NFC East.

When every single team in the division will be .500 or better I think the fact that they feast on each other is half the reason. The NFC South is the only other Division with that locked in (if the Bills win the AFC East could get there as well)

[Tsyroc]

Incorrect. Hightower usurped James almost from the beginning of the season. The Cardinal's fall off was due to them having a practically guaranteed playoff spot about half way through the season and not actually being that good.

He was certainly more productive than James. I was just speculating a bit because there are some weird psychological quirks involved in being the starter even if the backup gets more playing time. It probably has nothing to do with it at all. The team certainly has enough other issues.

I thought the Cards might almost be decent because they played the Giants pretty close but now it seems like their suckiness has become glaring.

Still, at least the beat the Cowboys this year.

[Havok]

Yeah. beating the Cowboys is always nice.

Damn... speaking of The Cardinals. I can't help but wonder if Gore hadn't slipped at the end of the last game vs them, if we wouldn't be in the same boat as the Chargers. I'll have to go check the standings and see how that would have played out.

[Falkenhayn]

I'll be going to the Pats-Bills home closer with a couple friendly patsfans. Right now I've got my baghead all ready. I'm thinking of writing "Give Dick the Shaft", "Cowher before Dick" or something else on it, and I'm open to your suggestions.

We're heading up on Saturday Night, staying in Rochester, then heading for the Ralph early Sunday morning, loaded for bear with Kielbasa, Brats and booze (not too loaded with booze, naturally). Figure the tailgate will be the best part of the game. Tickets were only $50 though.

There's a thread on BuffaloBills.com called "What were you driving when the Bills last won a playoff game?". I had a 5 speed Huffy. Somebody found a picture of a Conestoga Wagon.

[Darth Fanboy]

suggestions:

-"Merry Xmas San Diego"
-"Shoulda left 'em in Toronto"
-"I'd rather lose 4 Straight Super Bowls than this!"
-"At least we're not Detroit!"
-"Slept with Sister, less ashamed of that than being a Bills Fan."

[Qwerty 42]

Alright:

St. Louis at Atlanta
New England at Buffalo
Kansas City at Cincinnati
Chicago at Houston
New York Giants at Minnesota
Carolina at New Orleans
Cleveland at Pittsburgh
Oakland at Tampa Bay
Tennessee at Indianapolis
Detroit at Green Bay
Jacksonville at Baltimore
Seattle at Arizona
Washington at San Francisco
Miami at New York Jets
Dallas at Philadelphia
Denver at San Diego

If my predictions all hold true for the first time ever, this would be the playoffs bracket:

AFC:

1. Tennessee
2. Pittsburgh
3. Miami
4. San Diego
5. Indianapolis
6. Baltimore


NFC:

1. New York
2. Carolina
3. Minnesota
4. Arizona
5. Tampa Bay
6. Atlanta

And, unless I'm very much mistaken:

SATURDAY, JANUARY 3RD:

Early Game: Indianapolis at San Diego (again)
Late Game: Atlanta at Minnesota (again)

SUNDAY, JANUARY 4TH:

Early Game: Baltimore at Miami (again)
Late Game: Tampa Bay at Arizona

And the Draft Order*:

1. Detroit (0-16)
2. Kansas City (2-14)
3. St. Louis (3-13)
4. Seattle (4-12)
5. Oakland (4-12)
6. Cleveland (4-12)
7. Cincinnati (4-11-1)
8. Jacksonville (6-10)
9. Green Bay (6-10)
10. San Francisco (7-9)
11. Houston (8-8)
12. Washington (8-8)
13. Buffalo (8-8)
14. Denver (8-8)
15. San Diego (8-9)
16. New Orleans (9-7)
17. New York Jets (9-7)
18. Dallas (9-7)
19. Chicago (9-7)
20. Minnesota (9-8)
21. Philadelphia (9-6-1)
22. New England (10-6)
23. Tampa Bay (10-7)
24. Baltimore (10-7)
25. Atlanta (11-7)
26. Miami (12-6)
27. Carolina (12-5)
28. Indianapolis (14-5)
29. Tennessee (13-4)
30. New York Giants (14-4)
31. Pittsburgh (14-5)
32. Arizona (13-7)

* This is after my imaginary playoff, since playoff teams receive lower draft picks than teams that didn't play in January with the same regular season record. As well, I was too lazy to do strength of schedule tiebreaker.

[Dark Flame]

I'm not getting as in-depth as Qwerty, but here goes:

St. Louis at Atlanta
New England at Buffalo
Kansas City at Cincinnati
Chicago at Houston
New York Giants at Minnesota
Carolina at New Orleans
Cleveland at Pittsburgh
Oakland at Tampa Bay
Tennessee at Indianapolis
Detroit at Green Bay
Jacksonville at Baltimore
Seattle at Arizona
Washington at San Francisco
Miami at New York Jets
Dallas at Philadelphia
Denver at San Diego

[Darth Fanboy]

You think Cleveland will beat Pittsburgh with a 4th string quarterback being backed up by a sixth string quarterback? Best of luck man.

Good luck with the endzone.

[Darth Fanboy]

http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/playoffscen ... WinningPct

This is really fun, it's a playoff scenario generator on Yahoo. You adjust the potential outcomes and conditions and it gives you the outcome of any possible playoff scenario based on this week's final games. So instead of wading through tiebreakers and other BS like i've been doing, you can just figure it out really easy on this.

[Dark Flame]

You think Cleveland will beat Pittsburgh with a 4th string quarterback being backed up by a sixth string quarterback? Best of luck man.

Good luck with the endzone.

I don't know if you noticed, but I live near Cleveland. It's kind of a loyalty thing going on there. Plus, maybe the defense will step up and maybe get a pick-six or something. The Steelers may be resting starters, so maybe if Jamal Lewis has a good day then it won't matter as much that we have a shitty QB. Yes, it's a long shot, but it's our only chance.

[Darth Fanboy]

Oh I know that your Cleveland bias is well documented, however I also thought you a rational thinking human being . If it wasn't a rivalry game i'd give your chance of success. Heh.

Game's also at Heinz Field, even the second string Steelers are going to be ready to play.

[Darth Fanboy]

SATURDAY, JANUARY 3RD:

Early Game: Indianapolis at San Diego (again)
Late Game: Atlanta at Minnesota (again)

You don't think they would try and have the game on the West Coast be the later game scheduled?

[Dark Flame]

Well, I was also the only one to correctly call the Giants-Browns game earlier this season, so occasionally even the blind rabid Browns fan gets it right!