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[Skiesofwonder]

Falcons nearly lost to Scam at home

Texans beat the Broncos in Denver but the Falcons beat them at home both by approximately the same margin.

I don't think the Dolphins are *that* bad of a team so I'm not sure if I would downplay that as not being a somewhat quality win. I'll agree that beating the Jags is not.

Carolina game was expected. It was an in-conference game, and we don't exactly have the best track record against QBs with the ability to run.

I don't think the Dolphins are a bad team, but I wouldn't necessarily say they are better then the Panthers.

I do think that your 4-0 is more legit than Arizona's at the end of the day but I'm not sure if I could seriously put Atlanta as a better team than San Francisco (who is still likely the class of the NFC, maybe the league), they're probably on the level of the Giants or Green Bay (both teams that I think are better than their record).

I would also say our 4-0 is more legit then the Cardinal's, but then again I would have said the same about any other underfeated team compared to the Niner's 4-0 last year.

I wouldn't rank the Falcons above the Niner's yet either, they are still the best in the NFC. Amazing defense and a consistent offense that gets the job done. I would however put the Falcons above the Packers and Giants, who I feel both have glaring weaknesses and injury problems.

At the end of the day, there's no way the Falcons don't win that division because the rest of the NFC South is either garbage or are going to be digging themselves out of a huge hole just to have a shot at the wild card.

Agreed.

 

[eznark]

Did they really do referee introductions yesterday?

CBS did. Fucking idiotic. I bet that was one of those whiny clowns sticking points.

 

[DeaconKnowledge]

Falcons nearly lost to Scam at home

Texans beat the Broncos in Denver but the Falcons beat them at home both by approximately the same margin.

I don't think the Dolphins are *that* bad of a team so I'm not sure if I would downplay that as not being a somewhat quality win. I'll agree that beating the Jags is not.

Going to San Diego was a quality win and I won't take that from you.

I do think that your 4-0 is more legit than Arizona's at the end of the day but I'm not sure if I could seriously put Atlanta as a better team than San Francisco (who is still likely the class of the NFC, maybe the league), they're probably on the level of the Giants or Green Bay (both teams that I think are better than their record).

At the end of the day, there's no way the Falcons don't win that division because the rest of the NFC South is either garbage or are going to be digging themselves out of a huge hole just to have a shot at the wild card.

The Giants are the Giants. underachievers. They've been like that for a while now. No team goes to sleep like the G-Men. Eagles are usually the benefactors but sometimes other teams catch them sleeping.

 

[Wrayfield]

Hungover Monday after yet another Dolphins OT loss, not sure if i
I'm gonna survive this season...

 

[squicken]

It wasn't 900 Seahawks fans, it was just 30 but they pumped in fake crowd posts to make themselves seem louder.

shit that's just ... a perfect metaphor

 

[The_Darkest_Red]

Hungover Monday after yet another Dolphins OT loss, not sure if i
I'm gonna survive this season...

Yesterday was so rough, man. I think my wife was a little freaked out when I started screaming after that 4th down TD and walked around in circles for awhile trying not to break anything. I always think I'm in the mindset to not let it bother me and yet it still hits me right in the heart every single time.

Found the moment.

 

[Squall ASF]

Alright, you guys probably expected me to be pissed that we won in this fashion and didn't blow the phins out, but I'm actually very pleased with the way it played out. I cannot think of a single other type of game that would spur more growth in character and confidence than this game did. It was a trap game, we weren't prepared, and we played like shit in all three facets and yet still hung in there and clawed our way back to victory. Yet another example how this team NEVER gives up and will fight it out to the end. This is why you never want to be in a close game with us, especially at home where we are now 8-0 second to Baltimore and we are 5-0 in overtime going from last year.

The biggest thing I take from this game is that I will finally say Kevin Kolb looks like a good QB. Laugh all you want. The fact is that for a change he did not solely rely on field position handed to him by our D or ST and actually fought his way down field in crunch time and made a clutch TD when the game was on the line in a 4th and 10 situation. He made his way down the field on other occasions and scored when we needed him to and all of this was amidst being sacked 8 freakin times. He kept his composure, he did not run in fear as he had last season, he just took it in stride and made big plays. Our struggles on offense can be attributed to the OL getting man handled and WR's dropping passes they could have caught, some of them on very big plays that would have allowed more scoring. He is looking really good this season and for once, I feel alright with our QB situation.

It's the OL that concerns me and that was the case before the season started when our starting OT's went down for the season. Miami's pass rush finally made our rookie tackles look how I expected them to every week. Not sure how they performed so well against the Eagles and Sea Chickens D. Wake just abused poor Massie. That's ok, rookies need time to grow. Good lord do we need Levi's run blocking, we just cannot run against any body right now and that's a concern.

Our defense, while it's true that we just had an off game all around on the team (except for Kolb and Roberts), the biggest reason we couldn't generate the pass rush you saw the last few weeks was the absence of Dockett, with a little credit to Phin's OL. Missing a key player that's a complete beast always hurts, but I had hoped we would be alright because we have decent depth and said depth held up just fine against Philly when Dockett went out late in the game. This is the first game he's ever missed in his 9 year career so I'm not used to seeing him out of the game and didn't know what to fully expect. He has been a monster this season tearing through OL's and demanding double coverage the first three weeks and with Campbell, they are a force to be reckoned with that generate sacks, tackles for loss, and demand lots of coverage freeing up our LB's to get to the QB. He was sorely missed last night as all of you saw. He is day to day on a hamstring issue and I hope he'll be back real soon but I know hamstrings can be re-aggravated easily. Might be best to sit him out this week, we have a shot at beating STL without him.

This game was completely nuts, even Patrick Peterson was dropping punts left and right. It was one of those games where your team just doesn't show up and you lose, happens some times, except we didn't lose. We fought back hard and showed a lot of heart in the process. I'm proud of my team and we're still undefeated bitches! 4-0 WOOOH

 

[Fox318]

Somebody just told me about this thing called a touchdown?

What does it look like?

 

[The_Darkest_Red]

Salt on the wound, Squall.

Congrats on the win though, you guys earned it.

 

[darkside31337]

How could a Cardinals fan possibly be pissed off about a win? That is completely illogical.

 

[tmdorsey]

I think all this Matt Ryan MVP stuff is funny. He's doing a lot of Fatford "throw it up for grabs against bad defenses and let my awesome WRs outmatch them" plays. Like the bomb from the EZ told me that the Panthers still have bad safeties, still have no pass rush, Falcons coaches understand mismatches, and Ryan can throw a ball 50 yards. The "play" was made by White, not Ryan

To be far he doesn't do "a lot" of that. There's no doubt his long ball isn't his strong point, but you can't deny other than that he's playing very good so far this season.

And not so much on that particular play, but throughout the entire game the Panthers D-Line was dominating our our O-Line. The game yesterday proved to me that defense still needs so work and we are still susceptible to running QBs. The threat of Cam running threw the entire defense seemed like to me.

Gonna be interesting week of practice for the defense since we got RGIII coming up.

Ah well, I'm just happy to be 4-0 with a 3 game lead in the division.

 

[FrenchMovieTheme]

Somebody just told me about this thing called a touchdown?

What does it look like?

Kaepernick for a 1st rounder

 

[Goro Majima]

How could a Cardinals fan possibly be pissed off about a win? That is completely illogical.

It's new and confusing.

 

[Crisco]

http://deadspin.com/5947937/was-the-panthers-fourth+down-decision-dumb-enough-to-change-the-nfls-punt+to+win-philosophy

But here we have a situation in which a) the difference in win probability between punting and not punting is massive and b) the personnel involved screams "go for it." This analysis by ESPN Stats & Information suggests that the Panthers' chances of winning the game dropped by 26.1 percentage points when they decided to punt the ball, going from 83.5 to 57.4 percent. That's nuts.

Haha that is pretty damn epic. Why even have a coach?

 

[Narag]

Somebody just told me about this thing called a touchdown?

What does it look like?

It's when one of your players takes the ball into the opposing endzone. This can happen on offense or even on defense if a turnover occurs. It's worth two field goals and, get this, you get to kick an extra short field goal for another point.

 

[Griegite]

How could a Cardinals fan possibly be pissed off about a win? That is completely illogical.

I'm trying to wrap my head around that thinking. Maybe they should have never been in a position of being down 0-13 to the mighty Dolphins?

In other news, the final drive that gave Cundiff a 42 yard field goal attempt was lead by RG3 without his headset working properly so he had to call the plays himself. Supposedly Sexy Rexy gave him a pep talk right as the Bucs were about to go for the field goal for the lead and I guess it worked! Rex seems to inspire even when he isn't dressing for games!

 

[The_Darkest_Red]

I'm trying to wrap my head around that thinking. Maybe they should have never been in a position of being down 0-13 to the mighty Dolphins?

To be fair, the Dolphins have been up on every team they've played this year. They just don't finish games.

 

[Smokey]

*CAPTIVE COVER YOUR EARS*

I'm a bit worried about the Texans offense. They stall out way to much in these games, and they usually rely on the defense to give them a spark. Foster needs to eat a damn steak. Beans and rice has messed up his sense of direction and he's running east/west rather than north/south. Schaub has been alright. Not turning the ball over or anything so that's good. But the run game mayne...makes me twitch.

Depending on the defense is mind blowing to me and a concept I'm still trying to wrap my head around. 2 years ago we were one of the worst defenses of all time. I don't think cajun really understands how bad a defense can get.

 

[darkside31337]

Rex Grossman is a better head coach than Rex Ryan.

 

[Dutch Gronk]

Rex Grossman is a better head coach than Rex Ryan.

But Fox said Rex was better than Parcells.

 

[Narag]

But Fox said Rex was better than Parcells.

Fox doesn't know what a touchdown is. I wouldn't trust him.

 

[Wrayfield]

Yesterday was so rough, man. I think my wife was a little freaked out when I started screaming after that 4th down TD and walked around in circles for awhile trying not to break anything. I always think I'm in the mindset to not let it bother me and yet it still hits me right in the heart every single time.

Found the moment.

You should've seen me in the bar I was watching it. It was almost empty by then and I scared the rest of the people.

 

[Futurevoid]

The Giants are the Giants. underachievers. They've been like that for a while now. No team goes to sleep like the G-Men. Eagles are usually the benefactors but sometimes other teams catch them sleeping.

No team wakes up like the Giants either. I'm more than happy to keep watching them "underachieve" to a Super Bowl win every four years. Gladly.

I agree with your underlying point though. The Giants are not a consistent regular season team. They lose games they shouldn't and win games they shouldn't. But then the regular season doesn't matter for shit come the playoffs anyway which is why I find discussions about which team is the cream of crop at the moment useless. How did all those number one seeds do last season, again? Or the season before that?

 

[DeaconKnowledge]

*CAPTIVE COVER YOUR EARS*

I'm a bit worried about the Texans offense. They stall out way to much in these games, and they usually rely on the defense to give them a spark. Foster needs to eat a damn steak. Beans and rice has messed up his sense of direction and he's running east/west rather than north/south. Schaub has been alright. Not turning the ball over or anything so that's good. But the run game mayne...makes me twitch.

Depending on the defense is mind blowing to me and a concept I'm still trying to wrap my head around. 2 years ago we were one of the worst defenses of all time. I don't think cajun really understands how bad a defense can get.

The Saints D couldn't stop me and you on offense. The Texans were horrible, but the Saints already look worse than they ever did.

 

[squicken]

Alright, you guys probably expected me to be pissed that we won in this fashion and didn't blow the phins out, but I'm actually very pleased with the way it played out. I cannot think of a single other type of game that would spur more growth in character and confidence than this game did. It was a trap game, we weren't prepared, and we played like shit in all three facets and yet still hung in there and clawed our way back to victory.! 4-0 WOOOH

6 fumbles hit the field, and 6 were recovered by AZ. That's pretty much why you won the game

 

[The_Darkest_Red]

You should've seen me in the bar I was watching it. It was almost empty by then and I scared the rest of the people.

There are losses and then there are soul-crushing losses. And then there are two back to back soul-crushing losses.

But at least Tannehill looks to be improving.

 

[verbum]

CBS did. Fucking idiotic. I bet that was one of those whiny clowns sticking points.

The power of the unionized worker, make those corporate overlords bow down.

"eat the rich!, eat the rich!".

Just because GB got shafted yesterday, it wasn't a game breaker like in Seattle.
See, if you're nice to the proletariat, they will be nice to you.

 

[Wrayfield]

Just found out about Pagano. Sucks, man. Hope he makes it. It's a long fucking struggle that.

 

[eznark]

The power of the unionized worker, make those corporate overlords bow down.

"eat the rich!, eat the rich!".

Just because GB got shafted yesterday, it wasn't a game breaker like in Seattle.
See, if you're nice to the proletariat, they will be nice to you.

The refs had a bigger impact on yesterdays game than they did on the Seattle game. The Packers were just able to make up for the fuck-awful calls because they happened with time left.

 

[DeaconKnowledge]

No team wakes up like the Giants either. I'm more than happy to keep watching them "underachieve" to a Super Bowl win every four years. Gladly.

I agree with your underlying point though. The Giants are not a consistent regular season team. They lose games they shouldn't and win games they shouldn't. But then the regular season doesn't matter for shit come the playoffs anyway which is why I find discussions about which team is the cream of crop at the moment useless. How did all those number one seeds do last season, again? Or the season before that?

That's nice and everything, but the 1 seed is usually the 1 seed for a reason. Last years AFC/NFC Championship had two 1 seeds, a 2 seed, and the Giants. This low seeded team fluking their way to the Super Bowl is a recent phenomenon. Are you really relying on the Giants to sleep through another regular season on the way to another SB in three years?

 

[Cagey]

That's nice and everything, but the 1 seed is usually the 1 seed for a reason. This low seeded team fluking their way to the Super Bowl is a recent phenomenon. Are you really relying on the Giants to sleep through another regular season on the way to another SB in three years?

Schedule and health are generally two big reasons.

The Giants have not had either of those factors on their side in years.

 

[Narag]

The power of the unionized worker, make those corporate overlords bow down.

"eat the rich!, eat the rich!".

Just because GB got shafted yesterday, it wasn't a game breaker like in Seattle.
See, if you're nice to the proletariat, they will be nice to you.

The blown fumble call damn near was a game breaker.

 

[The_Darkest_Red]

The refs had a bigger impact on yesterdays game than they did on the Seattle game. The Packers were just able to make up for the fuck-awful calls because they happened with time left.

Then it's like I have a guy on Facebook who is a Packers fan and for a week straight after the Packers-Seahawks game it was post after post after post of pictures and whining and complaining about the replacement refs, but not a single peep so far about the refs from yesterday's game. Of course, them winning is probably the biggest factor there, but it's just irritating how so many people go along with whatever narrative ESPN is feeding them.

I don't like these replacement refs who replaced the replacement refs. Bring back the original refs!

 

[Squall ASF]

Salt on the wound, Squall.

Congrats on the win though, you guys earned it.

Don't beat yourself up too much, there are some promising pieces on your team. Tannehill especially, I thought he'd be garbo but it's clear with good protection and time, he can sling it with accuracy. Our OL isn't the best test since it's patched and with rookies but your pass rush still HEAVILY out played both the Philly and Seattle D's that are highly thought of. Wake was a beast. I think your WR's showed they are serviceable when you get nice QB play, still definitely need to draft skill players, but at least there's hope that you won't be one dimensional with Bush if your OL holds up for Tanny. Hell, be happy that we completely shut down what everyone considers your only weapon and your team responded by Tanny throwing over 400 yards and your WR's having career games. You scored more points than Tom Brady and Michael Vick There are definitely some positives for Phin fans. You just plugged in a rookie QB, don't expect playoffs overnight, you're building and yesterday suggested you may have promise at the most important position in the game.

 

[Narag]

I don't like these replacement refs who replaced the replacement refs. Bring back the original refs!

One game a day called by Mike Carey for 256 days. Give the guy a week off then PLAYOFFS.

 

[eznark]

Then it's like I have a guy on Facebook who is a Packers fan and for a week straight after the Packers-Seahawks game it was post after post after post of pictures and whining and complaining about the replacement refs, but not a single peep so far about the refs from yesterday's game. Of course, them winning is probably the biggest factor there, but it's just irritating how so many people go along with whatever narrative ESPN is feeding them.

I don't like these replacement refs who replaced the replacement refs. Bring back the original refs!

If the Packers had lost I'm sure all the whiners would have gone apoplectic over the kickoff fumble...and ignored the brain dead fucko Triplett actually reviewing Graham's clear drop and calling it a catch. I cannot wait to dance on that douches grave.

 

[The_Darkest_Red]

Don't beat yourself up too much, there are some promising pieces on your team. Tannehill especially, I thought he'd be garbo but it's clear with good protection and time, he can sling it with accuracy. Our OL isn't the best test since it's patched and with rookies but your pass rush still HEAVILY out played both the Philly and Seattle D's that are highly thought of. Wake was a beast. I think your WR's showed they are serviceable when you get nice QB play, still definitely need to draft skill players, but at least there's hope that you won't be one dimensional with Bush if your OL holds up for Tanny. Hell, be happy that we completely shut down what everyone considers your only weapon and your team responded by Tanny throwing over 400 yards and your WR's having career games. You scored more points than Tom Brady and Michael Vick There are definitely some positives for Phin fans. You just plugged in a rookie QB, don't expect playoffs overnight, you're building and yesterday suggested you may have promise at the most important position in the game.

Indeed, there is a lot to be excited about from yesterday's game (assuming it isn't all fool's gold), but in the short-term that loss still stung pretty hard. In the long-term it's probably better if the Dolphins win less games this year though; better chance at drafting some good WRs or defensive backs in the next draft.

In the meantime, I think the Dolphins will continue to surprise some teams this year, especially if they come in expecting them to roll over.

 

[XiaNaphryz]

Catching up on random vids posted over on NFL.com, it must have been really awkward for Brady to talk about losing those Super Bowls while sitting directly next to Montana. That and over half the "Losing hurts" video focuses on Brady as opposed to the other 4 QBs.

http://www.nfl.com/videos/nfl-films-presents/0ap2000000066870/NFL-Films-Presents-Losing-hurts

 

[Squall ASF]

6 fumbles hit the field, and 6 were recovered by AZ. That's pretty much why you won the game

I'm sure that we just got lucky all 6 times, right? and that that's all there is to a football game.

 

[Alligatorjandro]

Somebody just told me about this thing called a touchdown?

What does it look like?

 

[Dragon]

I'm sure that we just got lucky all 6 times, right? and that that's all there is to a football game.

Recovering six fumbles is pretty much lucky yeah. You won in overtime and allowed 431 yards to a rookie QB. I would hesitate to start crowing about a game like that but I'm not you.

 

[FrenchMovieTheme]

God I can't wait to play the cards

 

[XiaNaphryz]

I'm sure that we just got lucky all 6 times, right? and that that's all there is to a football game.

Aren't fumble recoveries for the most part 50/50 over the course of time? Getting all of them back would be lucky, yes.

 

[Wrayfield]

I'm sure that we just got lucky all 6 times, right? and that that's all there is to a football game.

You should say that in a Madden voice. So, if, uh, a team recovers a lot of fumbles, it increases its chances to win football games. Boom!

 

[Talon]

If you noticed, we didn't really use the muddle huddle on D much yesterday, and I think it's a function of playing a team that relies on the ground game. I guarantee that we'll go back to that against more adept passers.

When you have a team that's adept at getting to the edge on the ground, you don't want your guys in the second and third level bailing out on their backfoot at the start of the snap.

I'm interested to see how we deal with a more mobile guy like Rodgers. As we saw yesterday (and every week) AGod rolls to the edge and lays bullets on his guys 20-30 yards downfield. Not many guys in the league can do that. What teams should do is lay off the ball on screens over and over again. I refuse to be optimistic!

Anyways, we played like complete garbage on both sides of the ball and managed to pull a win out of our asses against a divisional opponent. I don't feel terrible.

So the guy who needed a miracle out of his ass in order to beat the lowly Carolina Panthers led by Cam Newton somehow makes him a great QB. Okay.

Cam won me a league last year. Dude is a stud! Fantasy god.

 

[Newton Crosby]

You should say that in a Madden voice. So, if, uh, a team recovers a lot of fumbles, it increases its chances to win football games. Boom!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pg1H9PBwLp4

 

[tmdorsey]

If you noticed, we didn't really use the muddle huddle on D much yesterday, and I think it's a function of playing a team that relies on the ground game. I guarantee that we'll go back to that against more adept passers.

When you have a team that's adept at getting to the edge on the ground, you don't want your guys in the second and third level bailing out on their backfoot at the start of the snap.

I'm interested to see how we deal with a more mobile guy like Rodgers. As we saw yesterday (and every week) AGod rolls to the edge and lays bullets on his guys 20-30 yards downfield. Not many guys in the league can do that. What teams should do is lay off the ball on screens over and over again. I refuse to be optimistic!

Anyways, we played like complete garbage on both sides of the ball and managed to pull a win out of our asses against a divisional opponent. I don't feel terrible.

I wasn't expecting to see much of it since we were facing a more mobile QB who will pull it down and run in a sec. We've got to come with a different plan for the Redskins though since RGIII seems to be a better passer than Cam and can also run it.

 

[Jason's Ultimatum]

I'm sure that we just got lucky all 6 times, right? and that that's all there is to a football game.

Uhhhhhh, Hartline slipped, which is why we lost the game. The Cardinal's defense fucking SUCKS. You let a guy like Hartline obtain over 250 yards; Tannehill 451 yards.

 

[Talon]

I wasn't expecting to see much of it since we were facing a more mobile QB who will pull it down and run in a sec. We've got to come with a different plan for the Redskins though since RGIII seems to be a better passer than Cam and can also run it.

I'm more concerned about Clabo. Guy just gets killed on bull rushes. Charles Johnson looked like Reggie White yesterday.

Diggin' your avatar, man.

 

[bionic77]

That's nice and everything, but the 1 seed is usually the 1 seed for a reason. Last years AFC/NFC Championship had two 1 seeds, a 2 seed, and the Giants. This low seeded team fluking their way to the Super Bowl is a recent phenomenon. Are you really relying on the Giants to sleep through another regular season on the way to another SB in three years?

Being lucky is now more reliable than being good if we go by recent history.

Just remember that when the 2012 Steelers take the title of worst SB champ of all time. This title changes hands every few years but it is going to be ours this year, I can feel it!

Dogshit defense with no running game or pass protection. But we don't give a fuck because we are going to win with the help of luck, the refs, our qb, and most importantly our devastatingly handsome coach (we all know that looks > brains, so suck on that Harbaughs!). We might get some help by a dirty hit by Harrison if his knee ever heals which will somehow be missed by the REAL refs.

Oh man, this garbage SB championship is going to be great!