2008 NFL Season Thread- The Road to Super Bowl XLIII

[Darth Fanboy]

Buy/Sell

-The Jets will avenge their earlier loss to the Patriots.

Sell. The question is not whether the Jets have a chance, but if they will actually win, otherwise I would say "Buy". I'd prefer the Jets to win and I think they have a shot with New England hurting down the stretch, but they couldn't beat the Pats back when Cassell was completely new, and it is @ New England. Here's hoping i'm wrong.

-Arizona will clinch a playoff spot in by the end of Week 13

Sell. If they win this week, then the second place team is guaranteed to be no better than 3-7 (SF plays STL). A win this week puts them at 7-3. BUT they have two games in a row against the NFC East (vs. NYG and @ PHI) So the door I think will mathematically stay open a little longer

-Denver vs. San Diego in the final week will determine the AFC West Champion

Buy, and if it does, i'm going to try and find tickets.

[Dark Flame]

Sell. The Jets are improving, but Matt Cassel is playing much better and the Pats' offense is much stronger.

Sell. I think Arizona is gonna fuck it up and bumble their way into the playoffs because their division sucks. They have some tough games left, and it'll take at least until Week 15 to clinch their spot, but they will eventually get it.

Buy. That will be a real interesting game for the division, to see if the Broncos can get back to their early-season form, or see if the Chargers can have one more good game to squeak into the playoffs. Either way, whoever wins is going to lose in the playoffs.

[Elfdart]

I'll take the Jets. I'm not terribly impressed with either team but I think Mangini will do everything possible to stick it to his old boss.

[Qwerty 42]

I'm just happy the Cardinals got out of it with a win. I figured it would be tough since the first game of the season was pretty close as well.

At this point I'm hoping the Cards will continue on into the playoffs and hopefully knock someone off that everyone is sure they shouldn't beat. They'd have to get seriously lucky for a long run to make it to the Super Bowl.

Besides some of their crappy games they have had close games with some of the actually good teams in the NFL. They just haven't beaten them.

Welcome to the nightmare that is Philadelphia.

[Dark Flame]

I totally forgot about the Thursday game.. How in the world did that happen?

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

[Tsyroc]

I'm just happy the Cardinals got out of it with a win. I figured it would be tough since the first game of the season was pretty close as well.

At this point I'm hoping the Cards will continue on into the playoffs and hopefully knock someone off that everyone is sure they shouldn't beat. They'd have to get seriously lucky for a long run to make it to the Super Bowl.

Besides some of their crappy games they have had close games with some of the actually good teams in the NFL. They just haven't beaten them.

Welcome to the nightmare that is Philadelphia.

Birds of a feather and all that I guess.

Unfortunately the two teams do have some similarities don't they? I bet the Eagles were wishing they were in the NFC West or the Black & Blow division instead of the NFC East.

[Darth Fanboy]

God how I love being wrong. I didn't think that the Jets were capable of playing this kind of brutal defense against a team like New England. But they are just brutalizing the Patriots, just as it seemed the Pats were going to get in a score towards the end of the Half, the Jets decided that the Pats' offensive line meant nothing to them and started swarming the backfield.

Patriots got the ball back and put up some points at the end but the Jets with a quick drive. Jets look like they could the break at halftime to get their legs back and get back to what they were doing early in the game.

[Darth Fanboy]

Gap closed a little further as NE puts up 8 to make it 24-21 heading into the 4th quarter. The no-huddle is not being nice to the Jets D.

[Tsyroc]

Pats went down in OT to the Jets.

I'm surprised the Pats had so many yards passing. Cassel had over 400 yards, 3 TDs and no INT. What's also weird is that Favre threw for 2TD for the Jets and didn't have an INT. That's almost unheard of.

[Master of Ossus]

Gap closed a little further as NE puts up 8 to make it 24-21 heading into the 4th quarter. The no-huddle is not being nice to the Jets D.

I think both sides were a little lucky to get their results. The Jets' D never showed me much the whole game, and I thought they were lucky to have won the first half so easily. The Pats sort of turned it on late, but after a furious comeback it proved not to be enough. Tough game for both sides, but the Jets managed to escape.

[Darth Fanboy]

Pats went down in OT to the Jets.

I'm surprised the Pats had so many yards passing. Cassel had over 400 yards, 3 TDs and no INT.

Not surprising when you look at the facts behind it, the Pats got down on the scoreboard early and were forced to throw, notice that Cassel had over 50 attempts. In fact, for whatever reason the no-huddle offense just seemed to completely fuck with the Jets defense, on that last drive in regulation the Patriots moved some 65 yards in just over a minute, Cassell hit just about every pass and the Jets didn't do anything about it.

@ MoO:

Chris Jenkins looked really good yet again tonight, but the Jets defense was so inconsistent that it turned what should have been a well earned victory into a narrow escape. They held NE to a three and out with three minutes left that included a monster sack. Unfortunately the Jets failed to use up more clock on their next posession and they ended up choking.


Side note:

What the hell is that logo that appears above and below the Pats logo in the center of the field? Is that for their new attraction thing by the stadium?

[Master of Ossus]

@ MoO:

Chris Jenkins looked really good yet again tonight, but the Jets defense was so inconsistent that it turned what should have been a well earned victory into a narrow escape. They held NE to a three and out with three minutes left that included a monster sack. Unfortunately the Jets failed to use up more clock on their next posession and they ended up choking.

Jenkins got tired, though, and was obviously not moving well against the no-huddle offense in the second half. He was even dragging a little towards the end of the first half, even though the Jets' D wasn't on the field for very many plays. It was weird in that, for much of the game, the Jets contained the Pats' big weapon receivers but still couldn't get off the field.

[Darth Fanboy]

Well i'd get tired too if I was one man carrying his team's entire defense on my back, not to mention 350 lbs on a body not even six and a half feet tall. You have to wonder how he would play if he weighed even just fifty pounds less. IIRC the same thing happened to him against the Chargers on MNF back in week 3.

[Elfdart]

All pass rushers get winded when the offense goes into no-huddle mode. That's the main reason so many of those last-minute drives work when the offense sucked during the rest of the game.

[Elfdart]

This week's winners:

Falcons
Panthers
Eagles
Saints
Ravens
Bears
Dolphins
Buccaneers
Chargers
Colts
49ers
Cardinals
Jaguars
Redskins
Bills

[RedImperator]

@ RedImp:

I thought the World Series was supposed to make the bitterness with the other teams magically fade away?

Whoever told you that is full of shit. All that World Series did was make the other three teams look even worse. Fuck them if they think they can bask in reflected glory.

[FSTargetDrone]

Whoever told you that is full of shit. All that World Series did was make the other three teams look even worse. Fuck them if they think they can bask in reflected glory.

I was half-surprised the Eagles let the Phils use Lincoln Financial Field on the day of the parade. Unlike the Flyers (who actually put the Phillies' logo on some of their own rally towels at at least one game), there was precious little acknowledgment of the Phillies' success by the Eagles during their run.

Anyway, it's a stunning 3-3 tie with 3:11 to go in the first half of the Eagles/Bengals game.

Update:

The game is stopped at 3:11. One of the Bengals (Chapman, I think) is being taken off on a stretcher. They are just now slipping the backboard under him.

Update:

Antonio Chapman is now on the stretcher, being taken off the field, with his helmet still on, tightly strapped down but he moved his legs. Mikell made a seeming-clean hit to knock him down.

[FSTargetDrone]

McNabb throws an interception and Bengals score with 33 seconds left in the 2nd quarter. 10-3 Bengals.

Bengals then kicked off out of bounds.

What a shitty game.

Update:

McNabb throws for yet another interception. Bengals' ball to close out the 2nd quarter.

10-3 Bengals at the half.

[The Spartan]

The Texans are actually leading at the half...

I wonder how long that will last?

[FSTargetDrone]

A 41-yard kick adds 3 more for the Bengals. 13-3 Bengals.

Update:

McNabb to L. J. Smith for a touchdown. 13-10 Bengals.

[FSTargetDrone]

McNabb throws his THIRD interception. 4 turnovers in all. Bengals have the ball on their 43, but a bad snap pushes them back.

Update:

Bengals decide to go for it on the 4th down but cannot score. 13-10 Bengals.

[Qwerty 42]

It's the battle of ugly statistics in Cincinnati. McNabb has been picked off three times, Fitzpatrick has gone down five times.

[The Spartan]

Well, there goes the game. The Colts just scored, making it 30-20, and I'm thinking they've got their rhythm. And that's bad news for the Texans.

Screw this, I'm going to go get something to eat.

[FSTargetDrone]

It's the battle of ugly statistics in Cincinnati. McNabb has been picked off three times, Fitzpatrick has gone down five times.

The Eagles are practically handing them the ball and asking them to score.

[Qwerty 42]

Tie game in Ohio with 5:30 to play. The game in Cincinnati's court.