Are You Ready for Some Football

[Jaguar]

Originally posted by Imran Siddiqui


And I always enjoy seeing reismark being a sore 'loser' .

Good for Dungy, good for Peyton. Good result .

And they finished with 46 total points, so on tie breaker I win the Pick 'Em .

I was expecting another score. The way I saw it, although the Colts offense and Bears defense were the strong units in the game, the Colts offense was stronger and they'd be able to move the ball pretty well and score points. Check. I thought Hester would score. Check. I thought there would be multiple Colts defensive scores from Bad Rex. Almost.

The game went more or less as I expected, except I thought Sanders would take the 2nd interception for six as well.

Well played good sir.

[Imran Siddiqui]

Why do you think I waited until you made a pick?

I figured if you picked 50 or above, I'd gamble and say it'd be under whatever you picked.

You actually think about your picks so I had to come up with a strategy .

[SlowwHand]

You actually suck turkey eggs, but that has nothing to do with the discussion at hand.

[asleepathewheel]

Originally posted by Sava


Not according to the numbers or the personnel matchups.

The Colts have Peyton Manning. That's pretty much it. He's their bread and butter. The Bears OTOH are very balanced.

It would be a mistake to compare Grossman to Manning. The correct comparison to make is the matchup of the Bears offense vs the Colts defense and the Colts offense vs the Bears defense. Manning and Grossman aren't going to be passing against each other. Why compare them? Anyone who makes such a comparison is missing the point. If the Bears execute, they will bend but not break and allow Manning a lot of completions, but no big plays. Think back to the Baltimore game. The Colts could get 5 field goals. But with the Bears talent on special teams, Chicago figures to own the field position battle which puts their offense in a better position against Indy's defense. And that matchup favors the Bears much more (especially with the Bears running game vs Indy's run defense) than the matchup of Indy's offense vs the Bears defense.

Also, look at the possibility of turnovers. The Bears are the top takeaway team in the league. Grossman hasn't thrown an interception in the playoffs. Manning has thrown 6.


I'm sorry, but to say these teams are even is incorrect. The Bears have the advantage. It's just a question of execution. We'll see if they do that on Sunday.

Go Bears

Spot on analysis

[Imran Siddiqui]

[Lord Avalon]

Originally posted by Lord Avalon
I think it will help the Colts to have a 1st playoff game, rather than a bye. Having a bye seems to hurt their rhythm, IMO.

They may not have been "in rhythm" every game, but they kept winning.

Edit: Of course whoever they face could run all over them and send them home.

http://apolyton.net/forums/showthread.php?postid=4722142#post4722142

Somebody musta sold his soul & got the Colts a defense.

[Imran Siddiqui]

You note that Bob Sanders didn't praise God .

[rah]

IT was weird. Hester returns the opening kick off and ALL I could think about was the Ohio State lack of championship game. Turned out similar.

[Arrian]

@ the claim that the guy stepped out of bounds on the INT return. What a joke: he was clearly in bounds.

@ Grossman. Now THERE is a QB who "can't win the big one."

Congrats to the Colts & their fans. I didn't really care who won the game.

-Arrian

[Imran Siddiqui]

So where are the Chicago contingent today?

Most of you were alright (you back your team, nothing wrong with that), but some of you were off the wall the past few weeks with your statements. And so, to entertain myself...

Collection of Ned-icious gems, since he was so annoying before the game about being disrespected and whatnot (sorry ).

The LV line -7 for the Colts is a joke and is more reflective of the group-thinking that goes on at ESPN than anything rational.

Perhaps it was bit more than 'group-think', eh?

not one mention of phenom Mark Anderson, who has the potential of dominating the game the way Dent did in '86. It's all been Manning this and Manning that and a little about Brian Urlacher. But no real analysis of how the Bears could stop Manning by sacking him using their outstanding rookie

'Nuff said

Chicago is a stronger team across the board, but Manning is a very good QB.

As said before, 'hardly' . This was after I pointed out their running game.

And this gem from Donegal that was subject of a lengthy discussion needs to be thrown back in

RB: Chi (Jones alone is better than Addia and Rhodes)

The rest of you were mostly ok (mostly )

[-Jrabbit]

The Bears did not maintain ball security, showed a lack of discipline on defense (the Wayne TD), and did not execute on offense. Basically, no one on the team had a great game -- that's something you need to win a championship against a quality opponent. Amazingly, they still had a shot -- until Evil Rex made his appearance in the 2nd half.

I'm surprised at how many people seem to think this game means that Rex will never win a Super Bowl. For a guy who went 15-4 and got the team to the big game, he's absorbing a lot of hatin'. Did Manning get his team to the SB before starting his 30th game? I think not.

Grossman lacks certain physical gifts (height, hand size), but everything else can be improved through instruction and repetition. I refuse to join the "draft a QB" chorus now being heard in many parts of Chicago.

It's about executing the game plan. Chicago didn't do it. The Colts did. Congrats to them.

BTW, is Dungy off his pulpit yet?

[Donegeal]

Sorry Imran, but I stand by saying that Jones is a better back. Not only that, but I'll step it up and say he is a FAR better back.

If you watched the game, there were 8 in the box almost every play.

15 attemps for 112 yards when facing a defense set up to stop you is a great job.

Addai 19 for 77 and Rhodes had 21 for 113. Yes their total number were better, but the Bears were set up to stop... well to stop nothing as it turns out.

Jones is a better back than either Addai or Rhodes. He is a beeter back than both combined.

Put Jones on the Colts. They would use mostly one back and if given 40 carries, he's have more than 190 yards.

[Imran Siddiqui]

[q=Donegal]Sorry Imran, but I stand by saying that Jones is a better back. Not only that, but I'll step it up and say he is a FAR better back.[/q]



Ah the delusions of a Bears fan. I'm not sure I'd take Jones over either Addai or Rhodes. Jones was playing against as some (some being Sava) have said was potentially the worst rush defense in SuperBowl history (dead last in the league in rushing defense). Addai and Rhodes were playing against one of the top defenses in the entire league.

Addai's 10 receptions, also, were essential to the Colts' victory, as the short dumpoffs moved the chains when they needed it.

Simply comparing Jones to Addai, we are saying that a player who during the regular season rushed for 1210 yards with a 4.1 ypc and 26 receptions for 4.3 yper recp is "FAR better" than a player who during the regular season who rushed for 1081 yards with a 4.8 ypc and 40 receptions for 8.1 yper recp?

Oh, the Bears homerism.

[rah]

Yes, there is no joy in mudville today.

The only real bad thing was listening to a lot of fans after the game (on all the local wrapup broadcasts) say heck it was only Grossman's first full year and he'll get better. Hmmm. I agree that he can learn and maybe not throw the real dumb ones. BUT

He's young which is good, but when you can't really scramble when you're young, you aren't going to get any faster with age.

His hands are small, and they aren't going to get bigger with age. He's fumbles so many snaps and has problems hanging on to the football. And when he is scrabbling his hands aren't big enough to for him to throw the ball hard enough unless he can step into it.
Brett F can still get power when he's going down since he has such a good grip.

He's short, and I doubt he'll get taller as he gets older. Short quarterbacks have to be able to see which sometimes requires them to move out of the pocket to get good sight lines. (see mobiity comment above) Very few short quarterbacks are successful. Yeah a few but the percentages favor the taller quarterback.

So while his mental skills may improve, the physical package isn't going to and I'd hate to put the years into developing someone who I can't see being succesfull in the long haul. Back to the drawing board.

Yes the bears can win with an less than average QB (heck despite all the crap yesterday, they were still within 5 points in the 4th quarter with the ball and driving at midfield) Average Rex yesterday and we might have had a chance.

Thank god most of my pre game posts were limited to "yes I think the bears can win" because of the any given sunday phylosophy. Too bad yesterday wasn't the bears any given sunday.

Congrats to Peyton and hopefully he won't have to put up with all the crap anymore. Even though I loved the comment that now people will probably say, until he can repeat what he did, they'll still be questions. Peyton had and has some class, and spent the entire time calling it a team win. Good for him.

[asleepathewheel]

Good post Rah.

Where are Sava and Ned?

I came home from work expecting something about how they were wrong.