Are You Ready For Some Football - Play Offs

[Imran Siddiqui]

Btw... Joe Gibbs in Washington... that will be an interesting division.

[Brundlefly]

Thanks for your effort badams!

[yavoon]

every year I think its funny how many teams expect to make the playoffs next years. so for my amusement lets compile a list.

every playoff team this year(thats 12).

the miami dolphins-they won 10 games, they're surely in next year!

the buffalo bills-they had a highly ranked offense a year ago, and a highly ranked defense this year! next year they will combine the two.

cincinnati bengals-2 wins to 8 wins to 14 wins?

washington redskins-they now have IMO the coach w/ the best resume ever.

49ers-10 win season w/ a young team, fire coach, win 7 games. team still getting better. ps. get a kicker.

bucs-yah ok post superbowl letdown, but next year it will be in order!

vikings-ps. dont lose to 4 win teams. and certainly dont lose to ALL OF THEM.

falcons-stay healthy vick! its a shoe in!

new orleans-u figure the law of avg's at some point they should stop choking.

giants-superbowl quality team gone awry? we'll see.

jets-pennington stay healthy!

bears-bears always expect what they probably wont get.

so thats 24/32 teams that I think expect to make the playoffs. but alas, only 12 spots.

[Imran Siddiqui]

BUMP!

Falcons sign Jim Mora, Jr. (Def Coord - SF) to be the NEW head coach. Rumor has it that he is also taking the Offensive Coordinator AND O-Line coach from SF with him to ATL. All three coaches are hold overs from the Mooch era.

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2004/football/nfl/01/08/falcons.mora/index.html

[Zopperoni]

Erickson's doomed.

[Ming]

Out of the 7 teams that fired their head coaches, 4 have now gotten new ones... leaving the Bears now without their plan B.

They better sign Sabin, of they will look like total morons yet again.

[-Jrabbit]

Originally posted by Ming
They better sign Sabin

Don't count on it. He wants "Spurrier money."

...or they will look like total morons yet again.

Well, with Lovie Smith and Romeo Crennell as the backups, at least it's not as bad as 5 yrs ago.

[Zopperoni]

I hope Romeo Crennel and Charlie Weis stay with the Patriots. They are extremely important to the team's success.

In other news, former NYJ defensive coordinator Ted Cottrell has been offered a contract by the Vikings. I think he'd be a very valuable addition to the team.

[ixnay]

Sorry I haven't had much of a chance to grace this thread this week but the new computer I'm building had a busted power supply and I needed to wait for a replacement

With that said, I don't see how the Eagles will be able to beat the Pack this week. Ahman Green will run all over them and if the Eagles try to stop him Favre will air the ball out.

The Eagles barely won in a bad-condition game with the Pack having multiple fumbles.

That's not going to happen this week.

GO PACK GO

[-Jrabbit]

Welcome back, ixnay. We were perplexed at your silence in the wake of cheesehead victory...

Oh and btw, the Pack is going down this week.

[Brundlefly]

Yes, Eagles fans know more

Market research points to contrasts between Philadelphia, Green Bay.

You can get a pretty good argument going about whether Eagles fans or Packers fans are the more passionate.

But facts are facts.

Compared to their counterparts in Wisconsin, the Eagles faithful are better-educated, better-paid, more tech-savvy and more widely traveled. You can look it up.

This information comes from an impartial source - a survey of NFL fans, done market-by-market by Scarborough Sports Marketing and published last year by the SportsBusiness Journal.

Appearances (at times) to the contrary, nearly 25 percent of all people who identify themselves as Eagles fans are college-educated, which is slightly above the average for the entire league.

Only 22 percent of Packers fans went to college, which is slightly below average. In this category, by the way, Redskins followers lead the league while the Bills come in last.

When it comes to money, 35 percent of Eagles fandom report family incomes in excess of $75,000, which is above the NFL average, compared to a mere 27 percent for the Packers, which isn't. Here the Raiders are first and the Bills bring up the rear yet again.

In terms of frequency of Internet use, Eagles fans are above average, Packers supporters below. On overseas travel, it's the same story: Eagles above, Packers below.

To be sure, Green Bay fans outrank Eagles followers in several categories.

They take more domestic airplane flights.

They eat at more often at McDonald's and Taco Bell, though not Wendy's or Burger King.

A slightly higher percentage of them are women.

In addition, Packers officials point to the results of ESPN the Magazine's "ultimate standings" - an elaborate, statistical attempt to determine which team's supporters felt most fulfilled by being fans.

Of 118 franchises rated last January, the Packers came in first.

But the Eagles finished a more-than-respectable seventh. And if those standings were recalculated as of today, after the move to Lincoln Financial Field, the results might well have been different.

As writer Peter Keating noted in presenting the numbers: "The Eagles likely would have finished No. 1 on our list if their own fans hadn't savaged Veterans Stadium."

One final note. Beyond wearing hats made to look like wedges of cheddar cheese, Green Bay fans are famous for their love of beer and their loyalty to their own.

So it's no surprise that they lead the league, if not the universe, in the following category: percentage of individuals who, in the last 30 days, consumed an alcoholic beverage brewed by the Milwaukee-based Miller Brewing Co.

For the record, an astounding 45 percent of Packers fans fit that description, about triple the league average.

So we know what they'll be drinking Sunday night. The question is whether they'll be celebrating or drowning their sorrows.

They will be drowning some sorrows after watching Favre interceptions and Packers fumbles combined with a stellar McNabb performance produce an Eagles win.

Eagles 27, Packers 13

[Imran Siddiqui]

Out of the 7 teams that fired their head coaches, 4 have now gotten new ones... leaving the Bears now without their plan B.

They better sign Sabin, of they will look like total morons yet again.

I don't think they will get Sabin, unless they totally offer him money we wouldn't think they ever would. Interestingly Mora was #2 on the Bears list. They may be able to score Crennel or Smith and not look that bad at all.

Erickson's doomed.

DOOMED!

[Kidlicious]

Lovie Smith at Chicago would be interesting. I have lots of friends who are Bears fans.

[-Jrabbit]

Originally posted by Imran Siddiqui

They better sign Sabin, of they will look like total morons yet again.

I don't think they will get Sabin, unless they totally offer him money we wouldn't think they ever would. Interestingly Mora was #2 on the Bears list. They may be able to score Crennel or Smith and not look that bad at all.

You're wrong Imram. If they end up with another defensive coordinator with no NFL head coaching experience, Angelo is an idiot, plain and simple. Why?
Because the one he just fired at least had 5 years of coaching experience and knew the team.

The only (positive) explanation that makes sense is that the Sabin hire is a done deal.

Otherwise, the recent head coaching history of the Bears will look like like this:

Wannstedt (D-coord, no experience)
Jauron (D-coord, no exp) as Plan B to McGinness (D-coord, no exp)
THEN
Lovie, Romeo, or Greg Blache (all D-coords with no exp).
...and if that's the scenario, Angelo is an idiot.

If it's Fassell, we know the plan failed and he's getting last choice of the guys with experience.

If it's Sabin, we have hope. It means Angelo had a plan and found a way to make it happen.

If it's anyone else, it means Angelo is a foolhardy gambler who risked the team's success on his friendship with Sabin.

I'm really, REEEALLLY hoping we get Sabin at this point.
The alternatives are pretty ugly to contemplate...

[Imran Siddiqui]

You're wrong Imram. If they end up with another defensive coordinator with no NFL head coaching experience, Angelo is an idiot, plain and simple. Why?
Because the one he just fired at least had 5 years of coaching experience and knew the team.

You ignore something important though. Both Smith and Crennel would be black head coaches. I know people say it doesn't matter, but I bet that free agents (most of them black) would go to a team they felt was better to minorities all other things being equal.

Remember, the D-Coord without NFL head coaching experience isn't always a bad pick. Tony Dungy, Marvin Lewis, Dom Capers, etc.