"NFL Football is Back!" 2011 Season Thread

[Al B. Sure!]

That touchdown at the end was about as ghetto as it gets.

Do you know what ghetto means? What do you mean ghetto? You mean cheap? It was the logical tactic. On the previous play, I said to people I was watching with that the Patriots should allow a walk-in touchdown and the Giants got to be ready for it.

It was risky but I don't fault Bradshaw. He hit the hole hard and didn't expect the defense to part like that and it's hard to stop on a dime. He tried to stop and run out the clock but fell in.

It won't make highlights but it's an example of intelligent playing on the part of the Patriots.

[DaShi]

Yup, suck it Dallas.

[Al B. Sure!]

Yup, suck it Dallas.

It's always a good time to mock the Cowgirls.

[SlowwHand]

I mean turning around and falling backwards across the goal. Ghetto, and it surprises me none that you argue about it.

[Al B. Sure!]

I mean turning around and falling backwards across the goal. Ghetto, and it surprises me none that you argue about it.

He tried to stop himself but the momentum carried him in.

[-Jrabbit]

Admit it: It's a pretty easy assignment, and he failed. Knees down, wait to be touched. Done.
Gave Brady a chance he never should have had.

Westbrook did it a couple years ago.

[Al B. Sure!]

He attacked the hole and it just opened wider than he expected. He couldn't stop his momentum. I don't fault Bradshaw at all. Westbrook had enough clearance to stop.

[-Jrabbit]

He was on the six yd line.
He had his orders.
He failed to execute.

Straight-up, Alby, stop making excuses for this. It was a total brain fart under pressure.
Just because the Giants won doesn't mean everything they did was brilliant.

[Al B. Sure!]

Hey remember this from way back in August?

The New York Giants quarterback didn't shy away when, as a Tuesday guest on "The Michael Kay Show" on ESPN New York 1050, he was asked if he is in the same class as three-time Super Bowl champion Tom Brady.

"I consider myself in that class," said Manning, the MVP of Super Bowl XLII. "Tom Brady is a great quarterback, he's a great player and what you've seen with him is he's gotten better every year. He started off winning championships and I think he's a better quarterback now than what he was, in all honesty, when he was winning those championships."

Two Super Bowl victories and two SB MVP's.

[Donegeal]

What a shame there was no football this season in both the NFL or college. Bring on 2012!

[Koyaanisqatsi]

Bah. That sucked, but pretty much knew it would be a bad day after NE's first offensive play. Seems like a game that neither team really did what they should have done to win, and NE did least. From up here:

- I can't believe that the Pats receivers came down with a collective case of stone hands in the 4th quarter. No, some of the throws weren't perfect, but they were good enough for NFL skill players to catch and definitely good enough for Welker's normal velcro hands.
- I eagerly wait for Belichick to take situational football to the next level. I expect to wake up one morning this offseason to read about Bernard Pollard's mysterious disappearance.
- If Gronk is 100%, that interception becomes a catch that's played almost as often as Tyree's. That said, Brady needs to learn that, while a long interception may be as good as a punt, you generally don't punt before 4th down.
- The intentional grounding call is going to be like the tuck rule call: one fanbase that looks at the letter, one at how it's usually (not) called.
- Bradshaw backing into the endzone was a) hilarious, b) appropriate, and c) boneheaded.
- For as much of a beating as they took coming in, the NE defense played pretty well given bad field position all day. It once again came down to an exceptional catch for the Giants to really break them.
- I wonder if this will be the year Belichick finally spends the extra picks he's been banking to try to give Brady as good a shot as possible in the next couple years. Doubt it, somehow. But adding Brandon Lloyd should be fun, at least.

[Imran Siddiqui]

While Eli has won 2 SB's, to say that he's in the same class as Brady is pushing it.

Also, yes, New England WRs in the 4th Quarter were GOD awful! WTF? Even Welker dropped one he'd catch as Collinsworth said "100 times out of 100". Bradshaw did screw up on the TD, but it all worked out, so that's ok. And I didn't think the intentional grounding was all that controversial... maybe in New England?

[Koyaanisqatsi]

Like I said, the issue isn't with the letter of the law, it's that IG is very rarely called on deep balls, particularly when the incoming rusher may be altering the throw. How many times are QB's praised for putting a pass into the third row when they're near the end zone, even? Because of the way it's usually ignored, it looks bad (up here) to call it for a safety in the Super Bowl.

[rah]

The only reason I thought it was an awful call was it was the first year in a long time where I had all the good numbers in my box pools. Lots of 0s and 7s. That safety cost me at least a couple of hundred.

[Donegeal]

The safety was BS. In this day of passing offenses, the QB often (and more often than not on deep routes) throws the ball before the WR makes his cut. Most likely, Brady threw it where he thought the receiver was going to be, but instead of running a slant, he ran a deep out.