NFL 2008

[naiwf]

Tony Romo after the game essentially said: "All we can do it go back to work next season, try to make the playoffs, try to get to the Super Bowl. If we don't OK. If we do, OK. Thats all you can say."

No Tony, its not OK if you don't win, its fucking terrible. What the fuck is wrong with him? Its like he has no competitive spirit whatsoever. I'm fucking sick of this oh its just a game attitude he has. No Tony, its your job and you're pretty fucking bad at it.

Parcells always said Romo was more concerned with being a celebrity than he was being a superstar football player or a champion. It's looking more and more like he was right since Tony's got two more famous chicks dated than playoff games won in his career.

Edited December 29, 2008 by naiwf

[bstan80]

[CQI13]

Ah, feels SOOOO good for Favre to get his comeuppance. Never liked him. He got too much of a free pass for "making things happen" when what he made happen were pick-6's. I guess karma is a bitch. And to just leave the field like that? Horrible!

Anyway, glad to see the Dolphins make it to the playoffs. They'll lose to Baltimore, but what a year. They need a lot of help in the offseason, but I'm confident that Parcells will get the job done (should he decide to stay). What is this, 5 organizations he's re-built? He should go into the HoF AGAIN (this time as a personnel guy).

[HailtotheYo]

Mangini/Marinelli/Crennel all out already.

NY is stupid. Mangini isn't the problem. I point to Favre and his stretch run that saw him double his INT's as to one of many issues other than the HC. But that's an entirely different discussion.

Crennel .... iffy. I'm sure most others won't see it this way, but I'd have given him another year. Yeah, they were shit the final six games, but this team was destroyed by injuries. You can't coach nobody.

Marinelli ... just ouch. Not a fiar judgement because 0-16 isn't on one man. He shouldn't be in charge next year, but this clearly goes much much deeper than him and everyone knows it. I hope he gets another shot somewhere and gets a fair shake.

The playoff match ups look much better in the AFC. Indy is hot as all hell (fuck you manning) but if Sanders isn't completely healthy their D could be suspect against a Chargers offense that found itself .... if only LT is healthy for the game. More questions surround SD than Indy so I'll take the Colts though I don't want too. Baltimore and Miami is just a weird pairing. I'm going with Baltimore and their D. That sends Indy to Pitt again and Baltimore to Tennessee. The Titans can only hope they get the mirror image of themselves. It'll be tough but I see Tennessee winning that game. Who knows what will happen with Pitt/Indy. Leftwich might actually be better for the Steelers. I'll take 'em. In the AFC title game I'm going to stay with Tennessee thanks in part to their performance recently against said Steelers.

The NFC ..... eh, two teams that will either show up or forget to get off the bus. The Eagles and the Vikes could be a great game but I'm thinking that we'll see one team forget to get off the bus. That'll be the Eagles, the Vikes win it. Atlanta might get 30 scored on 'em but they'll put up 50 on Arizona. That will put Atlanta in Carolina and Minnesota at NY. Carolina will just be too much for Atlanta and I see Minnesota lulling NY into the type of game they don't want to play, and it'll be ugly with the Vikes eeking out the upset. We'll see Carolina and Minnesota for the NFC title with the Panthers getting it done.

In the Super Bowl we'll see thunder/lighting against smash/dash. I see smash/dash winning a game of attrition with a big play by Steve Smith being the difference.

sure, why not ....

[Maxx]

Yeah but Romeo went 24-40 in four years, there's nothing to say that last season wasn't the fluke season.

[HailtotheYo]

true, but the way this year played out kind of screwed the real evaluation of what he's done. His personnel decisions and what he's done in the draft have obviously improved the team, but the injuries kind of killed this year which hampers the actual appraisel of what he's done/doing. That's why I say give him next year.

[Maxx]

ESPN's ticker said that Brady's ACL and MCL are still loose and there's scar tissue from an infection that might have to be surgically removed which could cost him the 2009 season.

[GhostMachine]

It must suck to be a Cowboy fan right now.

Time for a Titans/Dolphins AFC Championship game.

Yes. Yes, it does.

And make that Titans/Colts, and I'd be happy no matter which team won - but would prefer it if the Titans won unless we get the Giants as the NFC champs for a possible Manning Bowl.

We need to get a new fucking QB. Romo is not the franchise quarterback, he never will be. Its not a matter of "can't win the big one" no that'd be okay, he can't even fucking show up in the big one. He's absolute garbage in big games. He's got no heart, he's too fucking nice and mistakes get to him way too much. He hasn't developed at all since Parcells left, he's still making stupid mistakes like he was making two years ago.

Romo's the type of guy who looks a lot better than he is because he plays on an All-Star level offense and occasionally scrambles out of pressure and makes a big play happen. However, when things go bad he's one of the worst "elite" QBs ever. They've got a Pro Bowl caliber RB and TE, a Hall of Fame level WR and two other guys at the position (Crayton and Williams) who would be in the mix to be #1's on most teams and yet they were 16th in scoring and can drop to 17 if Denver scores at least 14 tonight. If you just look at the "back of his playing card" you'll see great numbers every year, but they're largely hollow. Romo WILL throw the backbreaking pick or fumble away any game that really matters and things will only get worse as T.O and Witten get older/less effective.

Honestly, the best thing Dallas could do - and frankly I don't see Jerry Jones having the sense to do it (he's the GM besides being the owner), unfortunately - is get rid of both Romo and T.O., and you two have both listed the reasons why Romo is overrated and needs to go perfectly. (I don't think I even need to explain why T.O. needs to go) They could probably find a team willing to trade for Romo, but I'm not sure that even the Lions would be desperate enough to take T.O. - the Raiders, maybe, since Al Davis is either insane, senile or both?

The only "elite" QB I'd call anywhere near as overrated as Romo is Big Ben; he gets injured a lot and the motorcycle accident he had just showed he's an idiot off the field, but at least he can win big games unlike Romo. However, the years people were verbally fellating him the most the Steelers were primarily a running team and he had a lot less passing yards than most QBs.

HTTK, I agree with you about the coaches that were let go. Especially Crennel and Mangini.

Oh, and I hope Favre retires. He's a shadow of his former self, and I think he'd still be even if he had done a full spring training and didn't have an arm injury.

[gunnar hendershow]

Sure, why not...

AFC

Ravens over Dolphins

Colts over Chargers

Titans over Ravens

Colts over Steelers

Colts over Titans

NFC

Vikings over Eagles

Falcons over Cardinals

Giants over Falcons

Panthers over Vikings

Giants over Panthers

Super Bowl

Colts over Giants

Yeah, I think the Manning Bowl is a distinct possibility this year. I've liked the way the Colts have played to close out the year, and I've just felt the Giants are the only true contender in the NFC the past few weeks, despite their uninspired play and record. They'll turn it on in the playoffs.

Edited December 29, 2008 by damshow

[Slogger]

Awesome, UnOfficial prediction contest.

AFC

Dolphins over Ravens

Chargers over Colts

Titans over Dolphins

Chargers over Steelers

Titans over Chargers

NFC

Eagles over Vikings

Falcons over Cardinals

Falcons over Giants

Eagles over Panthers

Eagles over Falcons

Super Bowl

Titans over Eagles

[CQI13]

Mangini/Marinelli/Crennel all out already.

NY is stupid. Mangini isn't the problem. I point to Favre and his stretch run that saw him double his INT's as to one of many issues other than the HC. But that's an entirely different discussion.

Crennel .... iffy. I'm sure most others won't see it this way, but I'd have given him another year. Yeah, they were shit the final six games, but this team was destroyed by injuries. You can't coach nobody.

Marinelli ... just ouch. Not a fiar judgement because 0-16 isn't on one man. He shouldn't be in charge next year, but this clearly goes much much deeper than him and everyone knows it. I hope he gets another shot somewhere and gets a fair shake.

I disagree on all, and I'll tell you why:

Mangini: Horrible judgment this season. Look at the first Jets/Patriots game (you have 4 tries inside the 10 -- much closer even -- and you run 4 times? You have Favre who everyone thought would be their savior, and you don't use him in that spot?!?! Really?), the game a few weeks ago when he didn't send Feely out for the FG (after the 5 yd penalty that negated the previous FG), and the fact that Buffalo handed them that second game. He's oblivious to game situations.

Crennel: He had one good season. He hasn't shown anything to say that that season WASN'T a fluke. And injuries are part of the game. Patriots defense was decimated by injuries, and they lost Tom Brady. They managed 11 wins with what was originally considered one of the tougher schedules in the league.

Marinelli: Fair or not, you can't come back after 0-16. You just can't.

As for predictions...

The Dolphins will probably lose to the Ravens, but they missed Ferguson in their first game, which was pretty close despite the 27-13 score. Still Ravens over Dolphins. The AFC looks right, though I'd like to see Tennessee beat the Colts.

NFC -

Eagles over Vikings, setting up Giants vs Eagles. That's a scary match up. I'd like to see a Tennessee vs Carolina SB. Anything over any Manning. But if not, anything over TWO Mannings. What a dull SB that would be.

Edited December 29, 2008 by CQI13

[JStarr]

About the only way Crennel could have saved himself was to actually win a couple of the Ken Dorsey games. Of course, Christ Almighty probably couldn't have pulled that one off. A mediocre season can still be salvaged with a decent finish, as Mike Singletary proved. This season, the Browns probably should have had more doubters than they did, with the kind of out-of-nowhere year that Anderson had in '07. Lord knows I bought into them, too, and Anderson helped cost me one of my fantasy leagues.

Mangini gone? Yeah, good riddance. It was so tiresome hearing his name all the time in the lists of great coaches after his first year. Like has been said, he just seemed to never make adjustments, using Favre or not using Favre at exactly the wrong times.

Marinelli can't be totally blamed for Matt Millen's incompetent moves, but fair or not, the guy will always have 0-16 permastamped across his resume. Like Crennel, he had a few moments where the team seemed to be improving, but this year's QB shuffle did them no favors. Perhaps they would have been better off going to Drew Stanton early and trying to see where he'd end up. At the very least, you get the PR boost for using the local boy.

[HailtotheYo]

I disagree on all, and I'll tell you why:

Mangini: Horrible judgment this season. Look at the first Jets/Patriots game (you have 4 tries inside the 10 -- much closer even -- and you run 4 times? You have Favre who everyone thought would be their savior, and you don't use him in that spot?!?! Really?), the game a few weeks ago when he didn't send Feely out for the FG (after the 5 yd penalty that negated the previous FG), and the fact that Buffalo handed them that second game. He's oblivious to game situations.

Crennel: He had one good season. He hasn't shown anything to say that that season WASN'T a fluke. And injuries are part of the game. Patriots defense was decimated by injuries, and they lost Tom Brady. They managed 11 wins with what was originally considered one of the tougher schedules in the league.

Marinelli: Fair or not, you can't come back after 0-16. You just can't.

Mangini is debatable for sure, but I just don't think he'd done enough to warrant the firing. I don't care who you are, you can't out coach 22 INT's from that guy that was brought in as the savior. He has no control over that. Besides, the strength of the team is the running game why the fuck not ram the ball 4 straight times ? That's just a personal take on philosophy though. Yeah, he isn't on par with the top echelon and got a bit of an over praising, but he certainly shouldn't have been fired. I mean, now what ? The Favre experiment failed and you've probably got a hole now because he probably isn't coming back. You've got SHIT at QB. Thomas Jones and the running game overachieved so banking on that wouldn't be all that great. Mangini got out of the team what they are. 8/10 win team on the bubble of the playoffs. That's what they did. I sure as hell wouldn't want to take away the HC from a team that might be overturned at several key positions in the offseason. Get the new "key" pieces in under the same direction of the core of the team ... and THEN change philosophy if needs be.

Crennel - only four seasons. The first one doesn't really count for ANY HC. It isn't his team. He then took his lumps with the guys he brought in during his second year. Last year (his third) the team showed their capability. I think Crennel had quite a bit to do with it. 20 wins in his first three years at the Browns ? Yeah, that's as good as it's been in a hell of a long time in Cleveland. Hell, the '02 playoff season wasn't even ten wins, and Crennel got them to ten last year. Yeah, this year wasn't good but I still think injuries and a people underperforming contributed to that more than Crennel's ability to coach. And please, you're using the Patriots as a comparison ? They are an anomaly. You're taking 4 years of building/philosophy against a decade. Hell, the Patriots are proven in their system/philosophy. If I remember correctly the deal with Cassal replacing Brady is exactly what happened to Brady when he replaced Bledsoe. Using the Patriots as an example here is a bit much considering NOBODY has been able to do what they have over the last 6-8 years. I know what you're saying though and there's certainly validity in it to a degree. But if we compared what all HC's do against the patriots, there'd be less than a handful of guys with jobs next year.

[Magus978]

AFC

Colts over Chargers

Dolphins over Ravens

Titans over Colts

Dolphins over Steelers

Dolphins over Titans

NFC

Falcons over Cardinals

Eagles over Vikings

Falcons over Panthers

Giants over Eagles

Giants over Falcons

Super Bowl

Giants 31, Dolphins 14

Call it a hunch, but I think Miami's got a few more wins in them. Their miracle run gets stomped out by the G-Men, who repeat as champs

[Vendetta]

So I've taken this Buccaneers loss in stride. In other news, Caddy is most likely done for good. it appears he tore his petallar tendon in his other leg this time and fuck Ron Winters for not calling that Horse Collar that caused it and also fuck the Sideline Judge who called Def PI against Sammy Davis that set up the Raiders touchdown to pull the game with in three. He wasn't fucking touched yet you call pass interference. All across the league this year the refs have made some horrible calls...I like to think it's because all of them are 50+ and have no fucking business being on the field.

With that said Raheem Morris now takes over as D Cordinator and hopefully we will see some changes. For instance, here's to hoping Barber and Brooks call it quits after this year and stay on as coaches.

Hopefully we will see an addition of two big defensive tackles to the interior line as I'm tired of seeing our guys get man handled by the bigger backs.

Hopefully we will see a lot more blitzing now that Monte is gone. Kiffin is not a blitzer but something tells me Morris will be a complete opposite. Are defense needs to get nasty. I want to see them play like the Steelrs and the Raiders.

Edited December 29, 2008 by Ruthless Aggression

[Maxx]

Apparently the 2010 Pro Bowl will happen a week before the Super Bowl, meaning no players on either teams in the Super Bowl will be playing. It will also be held in Miami

Edited December 29, 2008 by Maxx

[nufan]

What is the deal with the Dolphins and Pats?

Both teams finished 11-5 in the same division, but the pats had a bigger points differential, yet the fins make the playoffs?

Is it because Miami had a better conference record?

Congrats to Miami though hell of a story coming from 1-15 to 11-5 and playoffs

GO COLTS!

[Plankton]

Crennel - only four seasons. The first one doesn't really count for ANY HC. It isn't his team. He then took his lumps with the guys he brought in during his second year. Last year (his third) the team showed their capability. I think Crennel had quite a bit to do with it. 20 wins in his first three years at the Browns ? Yeah, that's as good as it's been in a hell of a long time in Cleveland. Hell, the '02 playoff season wasn't even ten wins, and Crennel got them to ten last year. Yeah, this year wasn't good but I still think injuries and a people underperforming contributed to that more than Crennel's ability to coach. And please, you're using the Patriots as a comparison ? They are an anomaly. You're taking 4 years of building/philosophy against a decade. Hell, the Patriots are proven in their system/philosophy. If I remember correctly the deal with Cassal replacing Brady is exactly what happened to Brady when he replaced Bledsoe. Using the Patriots as an example here is a bit much considering NOBODY has been able to do what they have over the last 6-8 years. I know what you're saying though and there's certainly validity in it to a degree. But if we compared what all HC's do against the patriots, there'd be less than a handful of guys with jobs next year.

I admire the fact that your sticking up for Crennel because whenever a team is free falling, the coach is the first to get thrown under the bus while players and GMs get the benefit of the doubt. I agree 100% that the Browns had a lot of problems that was out of Crennel's hands, but if Crennel can't find a way to work around those problems, then why would the Browns want to keep him as a head coach? The players gave up halfway through the season, and you expect a head coach to be able to light a fire under his team. Crennel couldn't do it. I think he's a good coach, and not every coach needs to have the I-think-I-smelled-a-fart-and-I'm-pretty-pissed-about-it Bill Cowher scowl, but some teams need a coach that will stick a foot up their asses when they need it (I can think of another particular Ohio team that is in the same position). Crennel's a good coach, but obviously not the one Cleveland needs.

And there were also questionable decisions he made in games. In particular, early in the season, he called for a field goal instead of going for it on fourth down when they were too far behind with too little time left for that field goal to mean anything. He essentially threw the game away because, as he described later, he didn't want his team to be discouraged by not having a scoring drive. In short, he gave up so his team wouldn't feel bad. That's just stupid.

Also, he's struggled against division teams. He has never beaten the Steelers, and if you're consistently losing against the same team twice a year, something's not working out.

Crennel is a good coach and he hasn't been the entire problem (GM Phil Savage was first to be let go), but he wasn't working out in Cleveland. At a certain point, you have to make a judgment call and decide if this coach, good or not, is best for your team. And with his poor record, I think it's obvious that he wasn't working out.

[alldaws1]

What is the deal with the Dolphins and Pats?

Both teams finished 11-5 in the same division, but the pats had a bigger points differential, yet the fins make the playoffs?

Is it because Miami had a better conference record?

Congrats to Miami though hell of a story coming from 1-15 to 11-5 and playoffs

GO COLTS!

TO BREAK A TIE WITHIN A DIVISION

If, at the end of the regular season, two or more clubs in the same division finish with identical won-lost-tied percentages, the following steps will be taken until a champion is determined.

Two Clubs

1. Head-to-head (best won-lost-tied percentage in games between the clubs).

2. Best won-lost-tied percentage in games played within the division.

3. Best won-lost-tied percentage in common games.

4. Best won-lost-tied percentage in games played within the conference.

5. Strength of victory.

6. Strength of schedule.

7. Best combined ranking among conference teams in points scored and points allowed.

8. Best combined ranking among all teams in points scored and points allowed.

9. Best net points in common games.

10. Best net points in all games.

11. Best net touchdowns in all games.

12. Coin toss

I assume Miami won the 'common games' tiebreaker, can't be bothered to check through it. Head-to-head was actually tied 1-1, division records were the same, too.

[nufan]

What is the deal with the Dolphins and Pats?

Both teams finished 11-5 in the same division, but the pats had a bigger points differential, yet the fins make the playoffs?

Is it because Miami had a better conference record?

Congrats to Miami though hell of a story coming from 1-15 to 11-5 and playoffs

GO COLTS!

TO BREAK A TIE WITHIN A DIVISION

If, at the end of the regular season, two or more clubs in the same division finish with identical won-lost-tied percentages, the following steps will be taken until a champion is determined.

Two Clubs

1. Head-to-head (best won-lost-tied percentage in games between the clubs).

2. Best won-lost-tied percentage in games played within the division.

3. Best won-lost-tied percentage in common games.

4. Best won-lost-tied percentage in games played within the conference.

5. Strength of victory.

6. Strength of schedule.

7. Best combined ranking among conference teams in points scored and points allowed.

8. Best combined ranking among all teams in points scored and points allowed.

9. Best net points in common games.

10. Best net points in all games.

11. Best net touchdowns in all games.

12. Coin toss

I assume Miami won the 'common games' tiebreaker, can't be bothered to check through it. Head-to-head was actually tied 1-1, division records were the same, too.

Thanks AD

bit of a kick in the pants for the pats though considering they got this far without Brady.

Like i said before now though GO COLTS lol