NFL - Are You Ready For Some Football?! - Off Season

[EPW]

It's too bad atlanta sucks. But alot of bad teams won in the first round, so they should have a decent shot.

[-Jrabbit]

Man, what a meltdown by KC in the 3rd quarter. Four turnovers, and it really should have been five. I swear the officials turned a Cassel fumble into in incomplete pass out of sheer pity.

AFC has nothing but stud teams remaining. Meanwhile, over in the NFC...

Things continue to fall the Bears' way; they get the Seahawks.
If they get to the NFC championsip game, the season is a huge success.
If they lose to Seattle, it will be a huge missed opportunity.

Atlanta-Green Bay should be an awesome game.

[SlowwHand]

I wish I knew the code for posting stuff like this, but anyway, Patriots just kick ass on take-aways.

RK TEAM INT FUM TOTAL INT FUM TOTAL DIFF
1 New England 24 12 36 5 4 9 27
2 Pittsburgh 18 14 32 9 9 18 14

RK TEAM INT FUM TOTAL INT FUM TOTAL DIFF
1 Atlanta 21 8 29 9 7 16 13
2 Philadelphia 23 10 33 10 11 21 12
3 Green Bay 22 8 30 12 8 20 10

http://espn.go.com/nfl/statistics/team/_/stat/givetake/seasontype/2/league/nfc

[rah]

Things continue to fall the Bears' way; they get the Seahawks.
If they get to the NFC championsip game, the season is a huge success.
If they lose to Seattle, it will be a huge missed opportunity.

Atlanta-Green Bay should be an awesome game.

The best thing about the Seattle win is that it sets up a real WIN WIN for Bears fans.
Either the Bears win and advance to the NFC championship game or they lose and Lovie doesn't get an extension. WIN WIN

[OzzyKP]

I wish I knew the code for posting stuff like this, but anyway, Patriots just kick ass on take-aways.

RK TEAM INT FUM TOTAL INT FUM TOTAL DIFF
1 New England 24 12 36 5 4 9 27
2 Pittsburgh 18 14 32 9 9 18 14

RK TEAM INT FUM TOTAL INT FUM TOTAL DIFF
1 Atlanta 21 8 29 9 7 16 13
2 Philadelphia 23 10 33 10 11 21 12
3 Green Bay 22 8 30 12 8 20 10

http://espn.go.com/nfl/statistics/te...e/2/league/nfc

Yea, I noticed that a few days ago. Huge difference between them and other teams. Just about one extra turnover per game over the next highest. I thought it was some kind of record, but looking back over the last few seasons there seems to always be a team that is up in the mid-20's in positive turnovers. Impressive nonetheless. Brady's lack of interceptions is a big part of it no doubt.

[Donegeal]

The best thing about the Seattle win is that it sets up a real WIN WIN for Bears fans.
Either the Bears win and advance to the NFC championship game or they lose and Lovie doesn't get an extension. WIN WIN

I hope to god that you are right. All I keep hearing is what's on the Score, and they all seem to believe that Lovie has not already only saved his job, but has earned an extension. With you guys actually in the city, I hope the word is different (short of a SB victory, I want a new coach and GM).

[Demonbinder]

I'm not sure there will be an extension for Lovie regardless of whether he wins or loses in the next game. They may wait until they know what is going on with the CBA. I agree about a new GM, and as I've said at FFZ, there are reports Angelo may retire this year anyway. But even though I have some problems with Lovie, mostly when to throw the replay flag and previous problems with not changing personnel when it was warranted, I cannot complain about his record. His overall record is over .500 and Bears have gone to playoffs a few times under his watch and were in the game at the Super Bowl a few years back until fourth quarter. Yes, there are better coaches out there but how much money do they want and there are no guarantees on how well they will do.

But looking forward to Seahawks game (cold weather predicted - around 20 degrees) and Lovie's cold weather record is 9-2 (in coldest games they have played). So Bear weather is based on cold, not snow. Go Bears - get revenge for that regular season loss!

[Al B. Sure!]

Chicago Bears *yawn*

But since it's the favorite topic of discussion for Apolyton and the multitudes of Chicagorillas here, the Bears are a pretty schizophrenic team. Last I saw them, the Giants embarrassed that offense and teams like the Seahawks and Redskins beat them but then a few weeks later, they were racking up the points against teams like the Eagles and Jets. I don't know what to make of this team; they've alternated between looking like a bottom-dweller and looking like a playoff team. Chicago's success or failure all seems to be predicated on that offensive line and the protection they can afford Jay Cutler.

Last time these teams met, the Seahawks had 6 sacks and Matt Forte did nothing (since then, injuries to the Seahawks D-line have weakened the Seattle rush D whereas Forte has become more effective). I think if Matt Forte can be a credible run threat (the Saints had no run threat, and even less of one when Reggie Bush got banged up) and a threat in the short-yardage/screen passing game, it will throw a wrench in the Seattle pass rush and allow Cutler the time to throw down-field. But you're dealing with Mike Martz here so who knows if Chicago is really going to try to establish the run.

I like the mismatch of Charles Tillman on Mike Williams; I like the Seattle receiver depth; I think Chris Clemons and that D-line will get enough pressure on Cutler to prevent the deep ball to Knox/Hester; I think the Seattle LB's can handle Greg Olsen and Forte in the short passing game.

I think the Bears D can handle Lynch but won't be able to stop Hasselbeck from coolly hitting Stokely and Obamanu on crossing routes.

I like Seattle to win it

[Al B. Sure!]

Holy ****! It really was Beast Mode!

SEATTLE -- Marshawn Lynch's 67-yard touchdown run that clinched Seattle's upset of New Orleans in the first round of the NFL playoffs may be remembered for more than the half-dozen or so broken tackles.

John Vidale, director of the Pacific Northwest Seismic Network, says that a seismic monitoring station about 100 yards west of the stadium registered seismic activity during Lynch's fourth-quarter run that clinched Seattle's 41-36 victory.

Vidale says he was inspired to look at the seismic graphs after watching a video posted on the Internet from the upper deck of the stadium and noticed the shaking as Lynch completed his TD run.

Vidale says the shaking lasted about 30 seconds and then faded off for another minute.

Holy ****. Can a packed stadium get loud enough to shake the earth?

[MRT144]

We have an earthquake machine now. Watch out!

[Al B. Sure!]

We have an earthquake machine now. Watch out!

Packers at Seattle for the NFC Championship?

[-Jrabbit]

Here's my take:

Not so much scihizophrenic as improving, The Bears are night-and-day better on offense since the Week 8 bye. At that point, they installed some significant changes on offense:
-virtually eliminated the 7-step drop
-massively revamped (and stayed with) the offensive line. Only Olin Kreutz is at his original spot.
-became actively balanced run/pass

These changes provided stability and simplified assignments for the line. Which helped keep Cutler alive and made Forte more effective. Martz has impressed me at his willingness/ability to adapt to the personnel he has available. He's also been solid to brilliant in making halftime adjustments -- the 3rd quarter against the Jets was just awesome. These are significant improvements over any Bears offense in recent memory.

The thing that strikes me about this season is the sheer number of times things have inexplicably broken their way -- facing multiple backup QBs, the goofy bad-rule win vs Detroit, Minny falling apart, the Packers handing fhem the division, etc. Now they get another break, facing the (on paper) weakest remaining team.

Combine the offensive uptick with a solid, turnover-based defense and excellent special teams and you've got something. Even though the Bears are IMHO not the most talented team in the playoffs -- not by a longshot -- they have enough horses to have a puncher's chance against anyone.

So if things keep breaking well, the Bears will get past Seattle, then face the winner of Green Bay-Atlanta. And if they truly are a team of destiny, their NFC championship opponent will lose a key starter between now and then...

Do I think they will win this week? Yup.
After that? Now we're moving from thought to hope. Unpredictable, unlikely, but like I said, they have a puncher's chance...

Still can't believe Celek stepped OB on the 2-pt. try BTW.

[Boris Godunov]

[Imran Siddiqui]

Awesome

[Al B. Sure!]

Since 2003, first-time playoff QB's are 5-19. This will be Cutler's first NFL playoff game and his first postseason game at any level since high school.

Seattle

And yes, I'm putting my money where my mouth is once again; straight wager on Seattle.