PatDaMan

We gave you Schenn, what more do you want?! Also, loving the new title. Plus...apparently Burke talked about trying Kadri out at center, since he was impressed with what he saw during the playoffs. AND apparently he isn't done with making moves, talking about upgrading center. Let's get Getz! Schenn is a definite upgrade, but also definitely not a replacement for a guy like Pronger, although not many are. Pretty much, I'm saying I want Shea Weber next year.

Wait, what the actual fuck? The Wild? Anyway, as a Flyers fan, I'm not too worried about losing out on Parise. As good of a player as he is, I really like the Flyers' young talent, and feel like Sean Coutourier and Brayden Schenn in particular could have really big years. Hopefully we don't trade them like we do all of our promising young talent. Losing out on Suter hurts more. Now Matt Carle will be the best FA available. I can't see that he would give Philly a hometown discount after they we were about to give Suter $100 mil. Holmgren would be smart not to get into a bidding war over Carle, but needs to make some sort of move on defense.

That is insane. 155 points by anyone is impressive, let alone a defenseman.

hahaha, was that before news of the trade broke?

I think the Leafs will be fine if JVR can rebound. He had a broken foot last year, and a hip injury that bothered him when he was healthy, but if he can rebound, he has breakout-potential. Remember, one of the reasons the Flyers felt so comfortable trading Richards and Carter was that they thought they could count on JVR...he was looked at in the same light as Giroux at this time last year. For the Flyers, circumstances changed, young guys stepped up, and JVR became expendable. Without the great efforts last year from Brayden, Voracek, Hartnell, Read, Simmonds or Coutourier, no chance we're even talking about this trade. Half those guys were expected to be in the minors most of the year.

As a huge Flyers fan, I like this move. It seems like we have a bajillion quality forwards, who are young and have similar upside to JVR (Ironically, Brayden being one of them). We didn't miss much with JVR out last year, and we shouldn't miss him too much this year with the development of B. Schenn, Simmonds, Coutourier, Read, Wellwood. On the other hand, injuries to Pronger (and, later, Mezsaros) crippled the Flyers defensively, especially in the playoffs. The trade deadline deal to get Kubina was just grasping for straws. There's some talent there - not the biggest Matt Carle fan, but he and Coburn are both passable - both on the team and in the system, but hopefully Luke Schenn can stabilize the blue line a little bit. Kimmo Timonen is old. And, on looking over the roster again for the purposes of this post, I never realized Lilja was 36.

No love for Natasha McElhonne? She's Karen on Californication, she's sexy. Carla Gugino's also pretty hot. I feel like she's perfect for the hot lawyer/agent that gets banged by the bad boy celebrity (Right now she's Hank's lawyer on Californication, she was also Amanda Daniels on Entourage)

The main problem I see with an 18 game season is that, if a team starts out 13 or 14-0, they could essentially rest their starters for up to 4 weeks, depending on the division/conference. I like the approach Mike Florio from ProFootballTalk put forward...17 game season, each team gets 8 home and away games, and 1 neutral site game. With the NFL widening it's scope to Toronto, LA, Mexico, England, (Plus the ability to play in some legendary college stadiums - the golden dome comes to mind immediately) it could work, and would, in most years, prevent a .500 team from getting in the playoffs, cause there would be no .500 teams (this year, the Seahawks getting in was a fluke. A sub-.500 team will probably never get in again under a 16 or 17 game season. Edit: And no, they don't test during a lockout. With no CBA, the players don't fall under league policy.

Could not disagree more. Really? Once they got their shit together, they looked great. The second half was the stuff of legend to be able to come back from a 21-3 deficit and almost win it. If they would've gotten their shit together a little bit earlier, we're having a completely different conversation right now, talking about how much we hate Ben and he didn't deserve MVP, and Steelers fans saying "told you so," etc.

Wow, my prediction was only a point off....damn 2 pt. conversion But good for Rodgers, good for the Packers. I was a Rodgers fan since he was drafted, and never disliked Green Bay for any reason. Glad they won tonight, also glad it was a really good game. Pittsburgh played really well too, and just as easily could've won the game. That missed pass to Wallace followed by the HUGGGE whiff on that 52-yard FG absolutely killed Pittsburgh's momentum. So, how long 'till a CBA gets done?

Pulling for Rodgers and the Pack in this one, I'll say GB takes it 31-27

Titans firing Fisher so late is ridiculous. 31 teams are preparing for the draft, and they have to find a coach. Absolutely absurd.

Cutler's definitely physically tough. He played 2007 with undiagnosed type II diabetes and lost 30 pounds during the season. Not exactly the most outgoing guy, that's fine. Not completely mentally tough? Ok. The thing that gets me is that he just looks like he doesn't care at all. Dude wouldn't survive 1 season in Philly or New York. But none of this would be an issue if the PR/coaching/medical/whoever makes that decision had just kept him in the locker room when they pulled him from the game. Then Fox wouldn't be able to show apathetic Jay sitting on the sideline with his blank stare all game, and it would be a dead issue at this point, being that he is legitimately injured.

Terrible playcalling...finally get a respectable run game going, then call 2 straight pass plays from the 2 yard line? WTF?

You're a bigger jinx than Sahyder I should start getting credits for no-hitters that happened after I mentioned them too! Just a minute there. I didn't screw Galaragga. Jim Joyce screwed Galaragga. I can't be the only one rooting for one historical 2nd half comeback? Two whole weeks of Evil Chase K are not healthy for any of our health. ECK stay away from the spoiler tag. I'm definitely rooting for a comeback too, as a jealous fan from the other side of the state, I have always hated the Steelers.

Yeah, definite questions about Cutler's toughness...I wouldn't be surprised if there is a QB controversy in Chicago after that. I know I wouldn't want him on my team.

Yeah, Hanie looked surprisingly good today, it was very odd...I had written the Bears off when Collins came in, but they kept it close.

I posted before they replayed it But yeah, terrible drive by the Packers defense. I don't know what they were doing.... ...And Rodgers gets sacked on 3rd and 12. FUCK.

I'm kinda mad they didn't replay Raji's sweet dance he did after that TD

They won't trade Bryant, don't even give any credence to those rumors. Absolutely ridiculous. And, Cassel is going in cause Brady is getting surgery on a stress fracture in his foot. I don't know about Rivers or Manning yet, but I'd assume they're playing

Don't let the irony be lost in the fact that it's Cassel replacing Brady. Again.

So, how bout them Packers?

So why don't we give the Super Bowl to whoever has the best stats? There's also an argument that can be made that those guys put up better stats because they play in pass happy offenses. There's only one stat, to me, that really tells you how good a QB is...Yards Per Attempt. That will tell you how efficient a guy is. Who cares if he throws for 4000 yards and the next guy throws for 3000 if the first guy has 100+ more passing attempts? I'll never understand that argument. So then you would agree with the statement that Dan Fouts, Vinnie Testaverde, Drew Bledsoe and Fran Tarkenton are all better than Joe Montana? Not at all, but a lot of people call Favre the greatest QB of all time, and he's only won one SB. Peyton's a big time stats guy with a Super Bowl and a bunch of MVP awards. Brady's had great stats, MVP awards, and 3 SBs. Roethlisberger won 2 Super bowls, but one he played like shit. Like I said, he'll probably be mentioned among the greatest one day, and, if he keeps playing well, will be a HoF lock, but to say he's anywhere near the level of Brady or Manning is ludicrous.

Yeah, Ben's just along for ride. The way the defense drove down the field and scored the game winning TD in Super Bowl XLIII after the offense gave up that long pass to Larry Fitzgerald was a thing of beauty. The way the defense came out and scored quickly in every playoff game in the lead up to Super Bowl XL was something else. And the Tom Brady-lead Patriots won every Super Bowl by 3 TDs, and Peyton Manning wasn't carried by his defense and running game in the lead up to Super Bowl XLI. How do you judge QBs? Stats? Manning has had better WRs. Brady has had much better offensive lines (plus the whole cheating thing). Yeah Manning has had great stats over the years, he's done fuck all in the postseason. He's never carried his team to a Lombardi. The great Tom Brady put up sick numbers for one season. The rest of the time he was winning Super Bowls by 3 points. How come when Brady does it, it's all on him (when he had a great defense for those Super Bowls) but when Ben does it, it's because he was carried by his defense? Let's not forget, the Steelers had great defenses under Bill Cowher too. They didn't win anything until Ben came along. If he's carried as much as you guys say by his defense, why didn't the Steelers win anything under Bill Cowher until he came along? I would say that Ben is at the stage now that Tom Brady was at around the same period of time in his career. I'm not saying Ben can't become an all-time great, or what have you, just that he's not there yet. And, to answer your question, I judge QBs by a lot of things. Stats are a big part of it, because, if you're a great QB, you can put up numbers whether you have a sub-par supporting cast or not. Brady will win the MVP this year with a bunch of no-names (besides Welker) at skill positions. Peyton still had a good year in spite of the lack of running game, and the fact that Dallas Clark (one of the best TEs) was replaced by Jacob Tamme (not). Phillip Rivers, who, in my estimation, is anywhere from #3 to #6 (depending on how I feel about Brees and Rodgers at the time), still threw for a gazillion yards despite not having Vincent Jackson for most of the season, missing out on a few games from Gates, and throwing to a bunch of street FAs. If I were absolutely pushed to "group" the QBs, I would put it something like this: Peyton Manning Tom Brady Brees Rodgers Rivers Roethlisberger Now, I don't really think that going through all the QBs in the league is necessary, but you get my point, those guys in the 2nd group are all very close, but if Brady or Manning retired today, they would without a doubt be first ballot hall of famers, no question.

You realize his post-season winning percentage is higher than both of them right? Brady also hasn't won a damn thing since Spygate. 0-3 in his last three playoff games. Yeah, but that's mostly due to the defense being so dominant. Plenty of "game managers" won games in the post-season. In the overall body of work, Peyton Manning and Tom Brady are far and away the #1 and #2 quarterbacks in the NFL right now, and are talked about in the discussion for greatest ever. Ben isn't there yet. Not discounting his accomplishments at all, he's a great quarterback, and if he hadn't been suspended would probably be an MVP candidate this year, but his overall body of work, like I said, is nowhere near Tom Brady or Peyton Manning. And this is coming from someone who hates both of them.