The Lonely NFL Thread (complete with tumbleweeds)

[TitoFan]

Well I'll be damned.

I never thought the Tennessee Titans would go into Baltimore and knock off the top-seeded Ravens.

Well..... good for me 'cause I've never been a Ravens fan.

Earlier today the San Francisco 49ers beat down the Minnesota Vikings. What the hell, the Vikings looked like they didn't belong in the playoffs in the first place.

[TitoFan]

Good thing nobody cares about the NFL here. Otherwise we'd have to be talking a few Houston Texans fans off the ledge.

Leading 24-0, and.................................... LOSE THE GAME 51-31 !!!!

Damn.... talk about a major implosion.



The other Sunday game was more competitive, and the Packers took care of the Seattle Seahawks.

So next week's conference Championships are SET!


It's gonna be the Green Bay Packers at the San Francisco 49ers for the NFC....... and the Tennessee Titans at the Kansas City Chiefs for the AFC.

I'd say the Titans are the dark horse here. They've knocked off the Patriots and the Ravens in back to back weekends. The AFC game should be a doozy.

[El Kabong]

I'm calling it right now Chiefs vs Green Bay in the Super Bowl. I think the Chiefs have it this season.

[palmerq]

Russel Wilson nearly won the game pretty much on his on, well. Offensively, Seattle will be disappointed to lose that one, they had green bay on third down and around 9 yards twice at the end but Rodgers did some good stuff to be fair, the last pass for the 1st down was pretty impressively calm.. And of course if you're 18 points down at halftime you're in a bit of trouble... Still think Seattle could have won that and will be annoyed with themselves...

I don't think Green Bay were too impressive(for this stage of the season), I'd agree Kansas are probably the favourites although I haven't watched much of the sf 69ers except when they lost to Seattle in the regular season. Tennessees running back is pretty impressive though, I hope the winner of tttans v chiefs wins it, preferably titans.

[palmerq]

Good thing nobody cares about the NFL here. Otherwise we'd have to be talking a few Houston Texans fans off the ledge.

Leading 24-0, and.................................... LOSE THE GAME 51-31 !!!!

Damn.... talk about a major implosion.



The other Sunday game was more competitive, and the Packers took care of the Seattle Seahawks.

So next week's conference Championships are SET!


It's gonna be the Green Bay Packers at the San Francisco 49ers for the NFC....... and the Tennessee Titans at the Kansas City Chiefs for the AFC.

I'd say the Titans are the dark horse here. They've knocked off the Patriots and the Ravens in back to back weekends. The AFC game should be a doozy.

Bizzare, Houston were down like 19_0 v Buffalo the round before and came back to win now they go up and get smashed :S

[palmerq]

Kansas city win, good for the state of Missouri after the treacherous rams left them...
San Francisco are giving green Bay a bit of a beating too, not that close this week.

[TitoFan]

Well it's all over and the Super Bowl's set. Chiefs vs 49ers.

Right off the top I'd favor the Chiefs to win..... but with my prediction record this year I probably just cursed the shit out of them.

Still.... tough to fathom the 49ers being able to stop Mahomes and that unstoppable offense.

Should be a good SB.

[palmerq]

It should be a good superbowl with two good attacking teams, I have a feeling that Kansas are just going to squash sf... Although Kansas have allowed a fair few points against them... Interesting hiw little the sf qb passed in the last game too, he had like 6 completed passes total near the end of the 3rd quarter) I think)... But still they were up big, so that means they have some running game..... And of course Kansas just over came big oil derrick henry(that name would make more sense of they were still the Houston oilers but wotever :S) and that big git is pretty good. So I'm going for an easy Kansas win.

I'm looking forward to it.

[Master]

I am supporting the 49erz!

[X]

Still.... tough to fathom the 49ers being able to stop Mahomes and that unstoppable offense.

Should be a good SB.

HOW DARE YOU




He is not 'your' homes, he is MY homes.

[TitoFan]

Bump.

Frankly, I'm tired of talking about Trump and Biden. (and COVID)

So back to one of my favorite subjects... the NFL.

Few storylines going on this year.

Tom Brady with the Buccaneers and the Patriots without Tom Brady.

This is one of my favorites. Brady, as far as I'm concerned the QB GOAT, left the New England Patriots this year after 2 decades and went to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. So naturally the storyline began about whether the Patriots could succeed without Brady but with their HOF'er coach, Bill Belichick... and whether Brady could take the Bucs to the Super Bowl. In other words... was it Brady? Or was it Belichick that were mostly responsible for all those Super Bowl wins in New England during their great dynasty. I'm a Brady fan... so naturally I'm rooting for the Bucs to go as far as they can this year. Realistically they won't win the Super Bowl... but a deep run in the playoffs would be good enough. Belichick isn't doing too bad without Brady... but they still have a losing record... and will probably miss the playoffs. So that would sort of make it Brady 1, Belichick 0.

COVID effect on teams and games.

Probably should've put this one first, since it's the huge white elephant in the room. Teams IMO have done a pretty admirable job of fielding teams and playing a halfway decent schedule. I guess the NFL should be commended also. There have been teams missing starters due to being put on COVID injured reserve... but that just tests the resilience of the team to win with backups. My own personal favorite team, the Pittsburgh Steelers, got screwed on their schedule when their game against the Baltimore Ravens was moved several times (gameday) because of COVID. They ended up playing the game later in the following week... affecting their bye week, and forcing them to play about four games in quick succession. That was part of the reason they lost their undefeated record (they were 11-0 at one point). Still... I knew they would eventually lose... as they're not an undefeated caliber team. It was weird at first watching teams play in front of cardboard fans and piped in crowd noise. But one gets used to everything, I guess... and the games themselves have been great.

Good and bad surprises.

One surprise has been the NFC East being so bad. The Dallas Cowboys, the New York Giants, the Philadelphia Eagles, and the Washington Redskins (sorry... they'll always be the Redskins to me even though now they're formally the Washington Football Team... or the team without a name). They ALL have losing records, but one of them has to win the division... one of those quirks of playoff formats. Still... the Redskins and Giants have been showing signs of life. Traditionally bad teams that have surprised with how good they are this year include the Cleveland Browns and the Buffalo Bills, both with a good chance to make the playoffs. Gotta feel good for both Cleveland and Buffalo, not exactly hotbeds of championship teams in any sport.

Passing of the torch from some old ATG quarterbacks to some hot shot new ones.

Tom Brady is 43, which is astounding that he's still playing at a level to succeed in the NFL. Future HOF'er Drew Brees of the Saints will be 42 next month and is still lighting it up. (Well... not right now 'cause he sustained a few cracked ribs and a punctured lung a couple of games back). Aaron Rodgers (Packers) is 37. Ben Roethlisberger (Steelers) is 38. Philip Rivers (Colts) is 39. You figure there's gonna be a lot retirements pretty soon. Meanwhile, you've got some young studs making their own mark for greatness. Patrick Mahomes (Chiefs) is 25. Lamar Jackson (Ravens) is 23. Josh Allen (Bills) is 24. A complete changing of the guard.