2012 NFL Gameday Discussion

[BwareDWare94]

I'm not even going to bother with breaking down each and every one of the points you've made, because while they may come into play, you clearly just don't understand football. It is a one time, 3 hour slugfest that more often than not results in one team simply overpowering the other. Baltimore is going to come in to New England next weekend and win. Joe Flacco will outplay Tom Brady again. The Ravens will have much more success stopping your running game than Houston because, well gee, Baltimore has BETTER PLAYERS in their front 7 than that injury plagued Houston front did. Bradie James was once a stud, and he's still damn good, but he's not Ray Lewis. JJ Watt is the only player across that front 7 who's definitively better than his Ravens counterpart. Ellerbe's been a beast. Ngata is playing. Ray and Suggs are back. Terrance Cody's coming around. Paul Kruger has been nice during this playoff run.

Calm the fuck down. The Patriots aren't covering any 9.5 spread. They might win, but if it's by that margin or greater we can just as well crown them Super Bowl Champions because if they dispose of the Ravens like that, they'll sure as hell demolish either NFC counterpart they'd face in the big game.

I fully expect you to come into this thread and offer a post in which you eat your words if the Pats lose.

A fucking 9.5 spread, and you think they'll get it. Just freakin' wow, man. Wow.

Damn, I'm good.

 

[CameronCrazy06]

Brady's choking ways have led to the douche-bowl becoming a reality.

See you all next season.

Yeah because it'd be much better if the Giants were in it!!!

 

[youngguru]

I'm just happy Brady isn't going to win it. The rest of the teams I despise didn't even make the playoffs so w/e.

 

[jonathanlambert33]

Let me just start by saying I love my wife and kids and I wouldn't purposely do anything to hurt them. I have a history of anger problems which forced me to go to anger management and my counselor identified my love of sports as a potential problem. Anyhow, I'm sharing this because I know I am not alone and I know this issue is more prevalent than most would care to admit.

When Roddy dropped the ball at the end of the game I lost my mind. I picked up my 40 inch flat screen and slammed it on the ground. When I ripped the tv off its stand, the cord you plug into the wall whipped around and hit my 7 year old son in the face. It didn't hit him hard but he started crying. To make it worse, I was so angry that I didn't even notice. My wife said he hid behind the couch and started crying uncontrollably, while I was in the other room slamming my head against the door frame.


I feel absolutely horrible. My wife won't talk to me and both of my children are scared. Have any of you ever dealt with anything like this? All I know is the Falcons better get their **** together next year because I can't take much more of this.

 

 
http://www.worldstar...i64109T4fd6e5ze
 

People take this shit to serious

 

[Hurricane Season]

Ravens linebacker Terrell Suggs doesn’t like the Patriots. And now that he’s on his way to the first Super Bowl of his career after beating them in the AFC title game, Suggs has teed off on his team’s long-time nemesis.

“Tell them to have fun at the Pro Bowl,” Suggs said after the game, via Dan Wetzel of Yahoo! Sports. “Arrogant fuckers.”

Suggs elaborated, explaining that, in his view, “These are the most arrogant pricks in the world starting with [coach Bill] Belichick on down.”

lel

 

[elcheato]

Terrell Suggs: Not arrogant

 

[BwareDWare94]

http://www.worldstar...i64109T4fd6e5ze

People take this shit to serious

I can't believe people can get that mad over a game. Just pathetic. At least the crying guy wasn't screaming (or at least during the portions I watched).

 

[Teagz]

It's more appalling that he was crying over his team losing a football game and not over what he did to his family.

 

[Falcons11497]

http://www.worldstar...i64109T4fd6e5ze

People take this shit to serious

yes, those are all extreme examples
but I'm not sure you guys understand what this meant to the city. Atlanta teams always choke in the playoffs, and people use it as a joke, but to be soooo close to a fucking championship, this loss hurts. As a falcons fan since 2006, this loss hurts the most...
It would've been nice to see Tony G get a ring...

 

[elcheato]

I admit, I know very little about teams who choke.

 

[Falcons11497]

I admit, I know very little about teams who choke.

Hawks lose every year in the second or first round of the NBA playoffs
you saw ATL fans throwing shit when the Braves choked
here we go again...year after year with this shit. Promising regular season just to blow it in the playoffs
I'm not justifying that shit that people did though, but its more frustrating than anything
especially considering we had the lead the whole time up until the 4th quarter...AGAIN

 

[elcheato]

I was joking but I get the picture.

 

[Falcons11497]

yea...I kinda sensed that after I posted

 

[bosoxlover12]

Ok, here we go.



First off, I said I didn't like how the line was so high. 9.5 gives the other team a lot to play for. That said, a 9.5 point spread isn't that ridiculous, at all. The fucking Ravens won by 15; they would have covered had they been 9.5 favorites.

Then, there was the "fumble". Its in my sig, and it is quite obvious that Ridley was down. He has possession, his leg is fully extended, and he is sitting down.

[background=rgb(242, 246, 248)]An official shall declare the ball dead and the down ended:[/background]
[background=rgb(242, 246, 248)](a) when a runner is contacted by a defensive player and touches the ground with any part of his body other than his hands or feet. The ball is dead the instant the runner touches the ground. A runner touching the ground with his hands or feet while in the grasp of an opponent may continue to advance; or[/background]
[background=rgb(242, 246, 248)]Note: If, after defensive contact, any part of a runner’s leg above the ankle or any part of his arm above the wrist touches the ground, the runner is down.[/background]

So according to the NFL rule book, he was down. The fact that these fucking refs didn't overturn that, is absolutely mind boggling. Either the refs are like most of America and hates the Patriots so its fixed, or they are legitimately retarded and therefore should not be reffing a single more game in their entire careers. Absolutely despicable And the fact that Bernard Pollard took out ANOTHER Patriots starter makes me absolutely sick. If he isn't kicked out of the NFL, I will petition for him to be. For a league that focuses on league safety, he has injured a Patriots starter every season he plays us, and that shouldn't be allowed. Its clearly malicious intent, he doesn't injure anyone from other teams, just New England.

We also blew many chances to put points on the board. Welker dropped a HUGE catch on 3rd and 8! And the clock management issue at the end of the half was poorly handled by the Patriots, we could have easily gotten 7 points out of that instead of 3. And for some reason, we didn't run nearly the same type of offense that we had in past weeks. Instead of Hoomanuwanui at the #2 TE spot, who has done exceptionally well, we put out Fells, who was extremely ineffective. And what happened to that fast paced offense we've ran? We ran like 3 plays in the fast pace: one was when Ridley ran right into the defense and got one yard, the other two times we got 15+ yard plays. Why we didn't run that, is beyond me.

Injuries also did not help this team at all. We knew Gronk was going to be out, but Chandler Jones hardly played due to injury, and Kyle Love, his replacement, also got injured. So we were forced to putting situational pass rusher UDFA Justin Francis to play the majority of the snaps at LDE. We got no pressure at all on Flacco. And then Talib, who was the reason our defense improved so much, got injured and didn't return. We then had Arrington and Cole play #2 CB, and both are terrible. Cole is a ST guy, and Arrington is absolute trash. Has been the whole year. And because we had such a weakness at corner, we had to play more in sub which creates even LESS pass rusher. Instead of running Jones-Wilfork-Deaderick-Ninkovich-Mayo-Spikes-Hightower-Talib-McCourty-Gregory-Dennard, we had Francis-Wilfork-Deaderick-Ninkovich-Mayo-Spikes-Dennard-McCourty-Cole-Gregory-Arrington. That defense literally scares nobody, because there is no pass rush if you block Vince and Nink, and half the field should be free and open, because McCourty was usually lined up near Dennard, because Dennard took Boldin once Talib went out (and actually had a great game. Dennard and Hernandez were the two Patriots who actually played well).

The problem for this Patriots team, aside for injuries, is the problem we've had for two seasons now in most specific, but really for the past 6 seasons. We have relied on Tom Brady to win our games for us, and that's it. And it has shown during these past seasons, the teams that win the Super Bowl does not rely solely on the defense. The Giants of '07 and '11, the '10 Packers, the Steelers of '05 and '08, and either the Ravens or Niners in '12 are all examples, they do not rely on their offenses to win their games. Its all about the defense, and that is how the Patriots won their first three Super Bowls. That is how the Patriots need to go back to playing, not relying on Tom Brady to put up 30 points every game. Because even if though you hate Tom Brady, he is one of the best QB's in the NFL. But like every QB, like Peyton, Eli, Rodgers, Brees, every QB has a bad game. And in the past two seasons, the defenses of the Ravens and Giants have caused Brady to have these bad games in his last game of the season.

New England needs to make changes. Right now, we have $18M in cap space. After back to back seasons of making a huge drop in the worst time, I think Wes Welker's time as a Patriot has come. Too many drops, and he cuts into our salary cap too much. We can sign Edelman to a lot less money (like $1-2M), and draft a player like WR Markus Wheaton out of Oregon State in the 3rd round. Vollmer is a FA as well, so if he wants to sign for $3-6M, then I'm on board. Otherwise, its been real Sea-bass. There are a lot of good tackles in this draft, so that can be a way to improve. I'd like to target either S Dashon Goldson or S Louis Delmas, and maybe one of the Bengals LBs like Maualuga, Howard, or Lawson. The Patriots can still have a very good offense without keeping Welker, but if we can get a Delmas/Goldson+Howard+ re-signing Talib, I'd feel much better about our chances of winning a Super Bowl. The common expression, while in an era of ridiculous passing records being broken, still holds true: Defense wins championships.


Congrats to Ray Lewis for the Super Bowl appearance. Congrats to Jack and Jackie Harbaugh. Better luck next year for the Patriots, hopefully we can improve this defense so we can compete more.


And I wrote as many paragraphs as I could, just for you CC.

 

[Falcons11497]

The refs usually rule the runner down if the forearm or knee touches. I know the NFL rule states any part above the ankle and what not, but from most of the games I've seen, the refs use the knees/forearms as the determining factor as to whether or not the runner is down (not saying its the right thing)

 

[elcheato]

The top pic in your sig doesn't help your case. He's clearly not down there.

 

[WHO-DEY-BENGALS_18]

Q: Can you give an explanation on what you saw in the hood when you went to review the (Stevan Ridley) fumble in the fourth quarter that confirmed the ruling on the field?

Bill Leavy: “What I saw was the receiver was going to the ground, had both legs off the ground, no body part was on the ground. The ball hit his knee and dislodged from his hand before the rest of his body hit the ground, therefore it was a fumble and we confirmed it.”

 

[WHO-DEY-BENGALS_18]

The top pic in your sig doesn't help your case. He's clearly not down there.

Agreed.

 

[BwareDWare94]

It's more appalling that he was crying over his team losing a football game and not over what he did to his family.

Wait, is that the same guy? I thought they were just two examples of people going way overboard.

 

[BwareDWare94]

You know, they were declaring it not a fumble on the radio (was at work) but after watching replay, there's just no way to overturn that call no matter what they'd called it live. Had he been down, he'd have stayed down after replay. You saw what happened in the other situation.

Bernard Pollard hasn't been even slightly malicious in ANY of his hits against NE. It's just a horrible coincidence and I bet he feels terrible about it, either way.

Look, you need to understand why people react so vehemently when you're uber-confident about any Patriots team. The Patriots are already easy to hate, just like any team with 3 recent Super Bowl victories is. There are three teams who could go on Super Bowl droughts and I wouldn't give a shit: The Pats, Giants, and Steelers. Why? Because they've won recently.

Be as confident as you want in your team but don't be that guy, you know?