NFL - Are you Ready For Some Football?! - Six Weeks Till Playoffs!

[Imran Siddiqui]

Continued from here:

http://apolyton.net/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=181058

[Lord Avalon]

Playoffs?! Don't talk about ... playoffs?!?! You kidding me??? Playoffs?!?!

[SlowwHand]

[Theben]

So there's a 3-way tie at 5-5 in the NFC North?

Not really. Green Bay is on top since they beat the Bears, and the Bears beat Minnesota, so they're 2nd. Packers and Vikings split 2 games one apiece, so Vikings 3rd.

[-Jrabbit]

Referee says officials errantly voided Steelers TD

PITTSBURGH(AP) — The first 11-10 game in NFL history shouldn't have ended that way, referee Scott Green said after a last-minute touchdown was errantly taken away from the Pittsburgh Steelers on Sunday.

The officiating mistake didn't affect the outcome since the Steelers still would have won, but the touchdown would have changed the score to 17-10 - or, more likely, 18-10, since the teams were lined up for an extra-point try that was never attempted.

On first-and-10 from San Diego's 21 with 5 seconds remaining, Chargers quarterback Philip Rivers threw a short pass to LaDainian Tomlinson over the middle for 3 yards. Tomlinson turned and made a handoff-type lateral to wide receiver Chris Chambers, who attempted to pitch the ball to a teammate only to have safety Troy Polamalu scoop it up and score from the 12.

Both teams left the field on what looked to be a game-ending play, but were called back by the officials for the extra-point attempt. At that point, the replay official called for a review.

After watching the play, Green initially announced the ruling on the field was upheld and the touchdown counted. But the officiating crew huddled again before the extra-point attempt and changed the call, deciding that an illegal forward pass should have ended the play.

Green, in a postgame interview with a pool reporter, said that call was errant - even though his explanation for the confusion was almost as confusing as the play itself.

"We should have let the play go through in the end, yes,'' Green said. "It was misinterpreted that instead of killing the play, we should have let the play go through.''

Green said the confusion occurred because there was a misunderstanding about which lateral was in question.

"The first pass was the one that was illegal, but it only kills the play if it hits the ground,'' Green said. "That was incorrect to have killed it at that point. The ruling should have let the play go on. That's just the way that it played out. We believe the second pass was legal.''

Green was asked why, since the ball didn't hit the ground during any of the tossing, the officials decided after huddling that the play should have ended.

"We didn't kill it on the field,'' Green said. ``After (the) discussion we decided ... there was some confusion over which pass we were talking about and it was decided that it was the second pass that was illegal that did hit the ground and therefore we killed the play there.''

However, the officials realized afterward they erred.

"I know,'' Green said. "The rule was misinterpreted.''

Asked about the officiating - the Steelers drew 115 yards in penalties to the Chargers' 5 - Pittsburgh coach Mike Tomlin declined to comment.

"No, I have never seen a game ended with 13-to-1 in penalties, but I am not answering questions about the officiating,'' Tomlin said.

The call affected betting on the game since the Steelers were 5-point favorites and would have covered if the touchdown counted.

Copyright 2008 STATS LLC

[-Jrabbit]

Originally posted by Lord Avalon
So there's a 3-way tie at 5-5 in the NFC North?

Originally posted by Theben
Not really. Green Bay is on top since they beat the Bears, and the Bears beat Minnesota, so they're 2nd. Packers and Vikings split 2 games one apiece, so Vikings 3rd.

And when Theben says "not really," he means "yes."

[Supr49er]

If there is a bizarre finish or ruling, you can bet the Chargers are involved.

[snoopy369]

Originally posted by -Jrabbit



And when Theben says "not really," he means "yes."

Yeah, since the tiebreaker ends up being more complex than that (H2H doesn't come into effect in a 3 way tie, iirc, unless one team owns the tiebreaker against both other teams). It would come down to division games, I believe, which isn't a useful stat at this point since not every team has played the same quality or number of division games, I believe.

[Lord Avalon]

When is 5-5 not 5-5?

Originally posted by snoopy369


Yeah, since the tiebreaker ends up being more complex than that (H2H doesn't come into effect in a 3 way tie, iirc, unless one team owns the tiebreaker against both other teams). It would come down to division games, I believe, which isn't a useful stat at this point since not every team has played the same quality or number of division games, I believe.

Quality What do you mean by that?

All teams have played 4 division games, Chi & GB 3-1, MN 2-2.

Remaining games:

Chi: @ St Lou, @ MN, Jax, NO, GB, @ Hou
GB: @NO, Car, Hou, @ Jax, @ Chi, Det
MN: @ Jax, Chi, @ Det, @ AZ, Atl, NYG

s will probably drop back. GB seems to have the easiest road.

[SlowwHand]

You and that damned smilie are really getting on my last nerve!

[snoopy369]

Originally posted by Lord Avalon
When is 5-5 not 5-5?



Quality What do you mean by that?

All teams have played 4 division games, Chi & GB 3-1, MN 2-2.

Remaining games:

Chi: @ St Lou, @ MN, Jax, NO, GB, @ Hou
GB: @NO, Car, Hou, @ Jax, @ Chi, Det
MN: @ Jax, Chi, @ Det, @ AZ, Atl, NYG

s will probably drop back. GB seems to have the easiest road.

By quality, I mean CHI beat DET twice, while the other two teams still have another victory over DET to go

CHI has a pretty easy road, honestly ... I suppose about the same as GB (StL ~= Det), if they can beat GB @ CHI. I wouldn't be shocked to see CHI beat MIN on the road, since we can stop the run but not the pass - and MIN can't really pass. I suspect Week 16 will see the Bears something like 8-6, GB at 7-7, and MIN at 7-7 - i'm counting JAX, NO, AZ as 0.5 wins, CAR as a loss, and STL and DET as 1.0 wins generally - and the Bears vs GB for the division championship (if they win, they have a 2 game lead with 1 to go, and if they lose, both at 8-7, and GB nearly assured a victory at home vs DET, and the tiebreaker), with MIN having two more tough games and most likely ending the season at 7-9. If the Bears lose to MIN, then they still likely have the division if they beat GB, and GB has the division if they beat the Bears, but it's much less likely that the Bears could win without beating GB (i'd say, beating MIN the bears have a 20% chance to win the division while losing to GB, while losing to MIN they have a 0.5% chance...)

But, this is why they play the game after all ...

[SlowwHand]

So...who gets the first pick in the next draft?
Will the Benglas tie cost them the 1st pick? Will Detroit keep stumbling around? Does KC have a chance?

[Guynemer]

Dude, seriously, who is Detroit going to beat?

[SlowwHand]

It could happen.

[Tuberski]

Detroit will win on Thanksgiving Day.

ACK!