NFL 2014-2015 Season: Super Bowl Champion Patriots

[Anacybele]

Case Keenum is not a rookie and he played like shit.

What? Well, the media said the Texans were using a rookie QB...

And I meant that he still played well enough to let the Texans get points on the board. Not that he played well period.

Also, eliminations and playoff clinches!

Clinched Playoffs:

- Steelers

- Packers

- Lions

Eliminated from Playoffs:

- Saints

- Browns

Secured First Round Bye:

- Patriots

Can Clinch their Division Next Week:

- Panthers

- Falcons

- Steelers

- Bengals

And that's all I've picked up. Lord Raven is better at this than me though, he can do the rest. xP

We have an NFC South showdown next week! Go Panthers! I want my dream of a Steelers vs Panthers Super Bowl!

Edited December 21, 2014 by Anacybele

[Lord Raven]

Nope, Case Keenum is a third year player. He went undrafted in 2012 and he played on and off 2013, and in 2014 he was signed off of the Rams practice squad.

I'll be doing clinching/elimination after SNF.

[Anacybele]

Ah, I see. The media makes mistakes though. Even the commentators during the games do. They mistook Markus Wheaton for Martavis Bryant... lol Then today they said the Steelers can win the NFC North. looool

And okey doke. :)

[Team Alucard]

Well, even though the game was mostly irrelevant I'm glad the Lions avoided the indignity of losing to Jimmy Clausen.

While I still believe in him, Stafford makes some of the most idiotic passes of any QB in the league. There's no reason that game should have been so close.

[Skynstein]

The NFL would be 10x more fun if it was like soccer and had relegation. :P

[Anacybele]

What exactly is relegation?

I still love NFL football anyway though. I just get so pumped up and I find it fun to watch the big plays and awesome catches and defensive stops and interceptions and long runs and all that awesomeness. ^^

And right now, I'm just happy my Steelers got to the playoffs! YESSS!! PLAYOFFS WOOO!

[Randombobman]

Stellers have the best shot at knocking off either the broncos or pats. They're the only afc team with the playoff/championship experience to n9t crap their pants. They also have an extremely dangerous offense that would allow them to go toe-to-toe with either of the aforementioned teams.i really hate NE and am neutral to denver so guess im rooting for Pittsburgh in the afc

[Anacybele]

Thanks, Randombob! I have to agree, this has to be the best offense this team has ever had. It must be because of all the record setting/breaking that's been happening. The offense's records so far this season:

Big Ben is the only QB in NFL history to:

- Get two 500+ yard games

- Have back-to-back six TD games

He's the only QB this season so far:

- With four FedEx Air Player of the Week wins

He also broke his own franchise record in yards and TD passes.

Bell:

- Is the only RB in NFL history besides Walter Payton that got three 200 yard games in a row

- 2nd leading RB in the NFL right now

- He also holds the franchise record for yards

- He and LeGarrette Blount were the first RB team on the Steelers since the freaking 80s to get over 100 yards in one game apiece. Blount is gone now, of course, but still. He will be remembered for this.

Brown:

- Longest streak in NFL history of 5+ catches and 50+ yards in each game

- The NFL leading receiver right now

- Also surpassed Hines Ward's single season record for receptions

Bryant:

- Gotta be the best rookie receiver we've ever gotten. Seven touchdowns in his first seven games AND he torched the CHIEFS pass defense today at the beginning of the game! He'd have done much more if he'd been used from the start of the season, for sure.

Markus Wheaton is awesome at returning punts. He has never failed to get past the 20 yard line and he usually gets between the 25 and 30.

Edited December 22, 2014 by Anacybele

[Randa]

Stellers have the best shot at knocking off either the broncos or pats. They're the only afc team with the playoff/championship experience to n9t crap their pants. They also have an extremely dangerous offense that would allow them to go toe-to-toe with either of the aforementioned teams.i really hate NE and am neutral to denver so guess im rooting for Pittsburgh in the afc

honestly i wouldn't bet on the steelers beating either team. put simply there defense can be run on if they don't stack the box like they did today, more importantly though they lack a good coverage linebacker to deal with either teams monstrous tight end and the most damming fact in my opinion is the lack of a threatening number 2 reciever. martavius bryant is fast but he doesn't make a defense worry at all. when, not if but when, brown gets shut down by one of either teams top corner, talib being in the top five in the league and revis being in the discussion for number one, then they have to rely solely on the run game. but these teams aren't tennesse and both have pretty good interior defensive lines. now if baltimore makes it then they can probably beat either team. the playoffs are match-up based football and pittsburgh doesn't match up favorably against either team. Edited December 22, 2014 by king ranting panda

[Randa]

I have no idea why this post appeared.

Edited December 22, 2014 by king ranting panda

[Anacybele]

Uh, the Ravens have crappy receivers and our offense torched them in week 9. And they just lost to the Texans who have QB woes. I don't think they stand a chance against the Broncos or the Pats. Or the Packers. Maybe even the Lions because of Megatron.

Flacco is a good QB and the Ravens have a good defense, but I'm pretty sure that Pey-Pey's receivers and Brady's main guys Gronk and Edelman would prevail on them.

The Steeler D has been playing better (aside from the brain fart at the start of the Chiefs game, anyway), and our offense is the most dangerous in the season. Just about every defense has had trouble with it. Our receivers did well against the number 2 pass defense in the league!

And Bryant isn't a threat? COME ON. He torched the Bengals with a whopping 94 yarder and now he torched the Chiefs at the beginning of the game today. He's gotten seven TDs already and he didn't even play in every game this season. He is a threat.

Bell is a threat at receiving too, actually. Having a little trouble on the ground? No problem, he'll just air it out.

Oh yeah, and note: We beat both the Patriots and the Packers recently. The Packers last season, and the Patriots the season before that. The Broncos, we haven't faced them since the Tebow days, I think.

[Randa]

A lot of problems with that post Ana.

1. The ravens don't match up well with the steelers. Antonio brown had no check in that game and could destroy them through the air. That won't be the case against teams like, the pats, the broncos, cardinals, or Seahawks. The last true shut down corner you guys faced was joe Haden back in week 6. They also were trying way too hard to pass the ball and ignored they ground game in both match ups this year.

2. The ravens defense is a much better matchup. The front four gives a consistent pass rush while keeping the run game shutdown, this aspect of the defense has a lot to do with the nagta-Suggs combo and the addition of players like CJ mosely and Elvis dummerville have only made that front even more troublesome. They can put the pressure on QBs like Peyton who need time to go down the field, their LBs shutdown the middle pass that is the bread and butter of the pats offense and their run defense makes both these teams one dimensional. The problem is they can't handle those deep threat, big bodied receivers as such. Least that's from what I've seen, if you've watched enough Raven's games to actually know better I will gladly hear your thoughts. Of course I'd also like Lord Raven's opinions on how his defense matches up as he knows even more than I do.

3. Let's go through the offenses your defense has played this season and see how many are remotely close to the pats, broncos, packers, cowboys, and let's see how the steelers played in each of those games.

KC: Not a bad job good win, it was a bend don't break mentality, especially against a team with a relatively weak passing game, but you guys did a good job shutting down the best, IMO, multipurpose back in the league.

KC's numbers: 12 pts, 317 yards in the air, 39 yards rushing (really impressive number but again you did stack the box, still impressive though so kudos for that). 32-46 passing, 22 first downs, 6/14 on third downs, 1 turnover, T.O.P 31:07. So Surprisingly KC did better than the score board says they did an 0-4 redzone day will do that for you though. However KC isn't really comparable to any teams in the playoffs, except kind the Seahawks.

ATL(No Julio jones): Really. That offense was pretty bad and we all know it. Roddy white was the main reciever. The WR 2 was Harry Douglas. The only reason I know about this guy is he's the on who dropped the pass that woulda sent the falcons to the Super Bowl two years ago. You still let up 20 points and 310 yards, to a team who's top recievers where Harry Douglas, Reggie white (acceptable he's only 33 this part is not sarcastic btw), and Devin "Only good as a punt returner" Hester. Oh yeah there also was Steven Jackson. Fun story about Steven Jackson, I was talking with my friend Ron one day and he mentioned Steven Jackson was having a decent year and asked why they didn't use him more. My response "Wait Steven Jackson still plays football?"

ATL's numbers: 20 pts, 310 yards passing, 97 yards rushing. 26-37 passing, 20 first downs, 6/11 on third down, 2 turnovers, T.O.P 29:17. Not a bad performance against a lack luster team missing its best player. Also I will continue they are lack luster and that the NFC south sucks this season until I am proven wrong. Unfortunately this is a playoff team so I'm not gonna search for a comparison.

Cinci: My distaste for Cincinnati's offense was well documented in the off season. It hasn't really changed, except I think Jeremy is a better rushing RB than Gio Bernard, who is actually a nice scat back. Also was this a prime time game? If it was than this game doesn't count for anything. Just like when Denver beats them tomorrow or when the browns beat them on Thursday night football.

Cinci's numbers: 21 pts, 327 passing yards, 86 rushing yards. 25-35 passing, 16 first downs, 3/11 on third down(this is actually a really good number especially with the game AJ green was having), 2 turnovers, T.O.P. 27:15. Another example of bend don't break mentality. This is a potential playoff team so I'm not gonna search for a vague comparison.

NO: I was right. I already stated my thoughts about this offense before this game.

NO's numbers: 35 pts, 257 yards passing, 143 yards rushing. 19-27 passing, 20 first downs, 4/10 on third down, no turnovers, T.O.P. 26:01. I called this game, I was nice a didn't gloat for a month but for the second time in 4 weeks I was dead on. 2/2 with my steelers predictions on the year. Also I personally feel that NO is like a really out of whack Denver offense, with a worst defense.

Tennessee: I think this was the first time people in Nashville actually thought of Mettenberger as the future, also can we please stop saying how good bishop sankey is, he has played badly all year. That last statement was not directed towards this forum in particular.

Titans numbers: 24 points, 263 passing, 49 rushing (3.5 per rush for sankey, 3.5). 15-24, 14 first downs, 3/8 on third down, 1 turnover, T.O.P. 20:11! Comprable to the chiefs offense back in the first Super Bowl.

N.Y.: God who this group of players would make a functioning offense, like come on. John Idzik needs to be fired out of a canon for this.

N.Y.: We don't need numbers this offense has no similarity to any team above .500, forget playoffs. This was the jets defense winning the game. If you want some specifics 132 passing, 150 rushing, no turnovers, 30:33 TOP. #fireIdzik.

Since I have to be up at six I'm gonna be brief about the rest of your schedule.

Ravens x2, ask raven I didn't watch either of these games.

Indy, was this Andrew lucks 4 int game, only 2. Weird I thought he threw more. Also 34 points allowed to a playoff caliber offense.

Houston, pretty sure Mallet started over the Amish rifle the next game. Also someone explain to me why fitz suddenly got good after he was benched.

Cleveland x2, jets offense with a better o-line and a top line reciever who was suspended for too much pot.

Jacksonville, lol.

Tampa bay, lol.

Carolina, another good example of bend don't break mentality, lots of yards not so lot of points. Also how the hell are they a potential playoff team. Come on they suck.

4. Bryant is not a threat. Any team that doesn't have to pull their safeties out of position to cover brown will not have a problem with him. For example against the browns who can go one on one with brown with out getting torn up, he had 0 catches for 0 yards and, unsurprisingly, 0 tds. A colts team with vontae Davis on the field will not have the same struggles agains brown and Bryant, combined for 16 catches 216 yards, and 4 tds.

5. Throwing to bell is a nice idea, but the pats, broncos, Seahawks, cowboys, lions, and chargers all have linebackers who can handle a bubble screen run by a team that does not run the screen very often.

6. You lost to the tebow run broncos. Which ironically was also the last season you played the pats iirc, 2011. All I remember from the last time the steelers played the pats was my power was out and I missed the game, I was pissed. And that was the Matt Flynn led packers. Teams change in 3 years, so I'm not holding losing to tebow against you, but at the same time it's impossible to compare the pats from then with the pats this season. One of our best players got arrested on 3 counts of murder, we lost Wes Welker, we vastly improved of pass defense, Vince got hurt and hasn't looked quite the same since, and much to my delight we got rid of spikes. You also have to consider the steelers have changed since 2011. God I feel old, I'm only 18 why do I feel 49.

[Anacybele]

A lot of problems with that post Ana.

1. The ravens don't match up well with the steelers. Antonio brown had no check in that game and could destroy them through the air. That won't be the case against teams like, the pats, the broncos, cardinals, or Seahawks. The last true shut down corner you guys faced was joe Haden back in week 6. They also were trying way too hard to pass the ball and ignored they ground game in both match ups this year.

And Antonio Brown has beaten Joe Haden too. He did so in week 1. He also beat the Chiefs' NUMBER 2 PASS DEFENSE. As did Martavis Bryant. And Heath Miller.

2. The ravens defense is a much better matchup. The front four gives a consistent pass rush while keeping the run game shutdown, this aspect of the defense has a lot to do with the nagta-Suggs combo and the addition of players like CJ mosely and Elvis dummerville have only made that front even more troublesome. They can put the pressure on QBs like Peyton who need time to go down the field, their LBs shutdown the middle pass that is the bread and butter of the pats offense and their run defense makes both these teams one dimensional. The problem is they can't handle those deep threat, big bodied receivers as such. Least that's from what I've seen, if you've watched enough Raven's games to actually know better I will gladly hear your thoughts. Of course I'd also like Lord Raven's opinions on how his defense matches up as he knows even more than I do.

The Ravens defense is better than our defense, but like I said, they also have an ass offense and you yourself are saying that the Broncos and Pats have good defenses. My Steelers offense just beat a very good defense today, one that's even better than the Ravens' imo. The Chiefs beat the Pats because they had the defense to do it. But they couldn't stop our guys.

Lord Raven said earlier in the thread that the Ravens offense can't match up to the Pats or Broncos and that Brady would torch them because he can get rid of the ball really fast. Something like that. And I believe him now. Flacco and his offense were just shit today.

3. Let's go through the offenses your defense has played this season and see how many are remotely close to the pats, broncos, packers, cowboys, and let's see how the steelers played in each of those games.

Well yeah, but that's not the point I'm making. All I'm saying is that our offense is good enough to match them. If the fricking Chiefs can beat the Patriots, the Steelers can too. That doesn't mean they will, of course, it just means that they're capable of it.

We also put up 51 big ones on the Colts right after they shut out the Bengals. And then 41 on the Ravens defense you think is so good right after that.

4. Bryant is not a threat. Any team that doesn't have to pull their safeties out of position to cover brown will not have a problem with him. For example against the browns who can go one on one with brown with out getting torn up, he had 0 catches for 0 yards and, unsurprisingly, 0 tds. A colts team with vontae Davis on the field will not have the same struggles agains brown and Bryant, combined for 16 catches 216 yards, and 4 tds.

Bryant is a threat. Read what I said again. Seven TDs in his first seven games. And a bunch of catches along with that. This kid's VERY FIRST NFL CATCH was a fucking TD! And a long one at that! Also, wtf, Bryant didn't even play against the Browns. He didn't start until week 7.

5. Throwing to bell is a nice idea, but the pats, broncos, Seahawks, cowboys, lions, and chargers all have linebackers who can handle a bubble screen run by a team that does not run the screen very often.

Bell also got a rushing TD on the very same defense that had previously only allowed two of those all season.

6. You lost to the tebow run broncos. Which ironically was also the last season you played the pats iirc, 2011. All I remember from the last time the steelers played the pats was my power was out and I missed the game, I was pissed. And that was the Matt Flynn led packers. Teams change in 3 years, so I'm not holding losing to tebow against you, but at the same time it's impossible to compare the pats from then with the pats this season. One of our best players got arrested on 3 counts of murder, we lost Wes Welker, we vastly improved of pass defense, Vince got hurt and hasn't looked quite the same since, and much to my delight we got rid of spikes. You also have to consider the steelers have changed since 2011. God I feel old, I'm only 18 why do I feel 49.

Yes, but back then, they were all still good teams. And pass defense? Like I said, our offense beat the second best in that category today.

Also, btw, Steelers vs Bengals will be Sunday night football. A primetime game. And we all know the Bengals suck in those games. lol Yeaaaah. :D

Edited December 22, 2014 by Anacybele

[Team Alucard]

Ryan Lindley is so unbelievably awful. The guy can't even statpad in garbage time against the Hawks' back-up secondary.

I'm sorry Cardinals fans. =(

[Lord Raven]

lol I said that was an if, if they hold the ball (which they are prone to) and we pressure the interior then we will fuck Brady/Manning sideways. That's always been the case and that's why Brady's struggled against us always even when we didnt have Ed Reed.

Furthermore Brown was pretty handily shut down by Jimmy smith whenever the two met and he only got yards via garbage time.

[Anacybele]

I still think the Steelers can match the Patriots and Broncos. And Packers. Our defense needs work, but it's getting better, and they just shut down the RB with the most TDs this season. They also never let the Chiefs get in the endzone AT ALL.

Our offense is still very dangerous and ranked #1 for a reason. I'm not saying nobody can shut down Brown or nobody can shut down Bell. It HAS happened. But shutting down just one or the other won't do much. We have so many offensive weapons that you just can't take any of them out of the equation for long.

The Chiefs focused on Bell, Brown, and Bryant, but they forgot about Heath Miller and he had a pretty nice day as a result. And Bell still got a rushing TD on the defense that allowed only two all season. Brown also still got his typical 5+ catches and 50+ yards on one of the best pass defenses in the league. Doesn't that say ANYTHING?

[Lord Raven]

Week 2 against Ravens you guys got wrecked, and the Saints/Jets had their way with the Steelers.

EDIT: Until the Steelers started adjusting some protections he could not function in the first quarter when we played @PIT because Ben was under some serious pressure and kept missing passes. Fact is that Broncos could get pressure with their front 4 (and the Pats can too to some extent) but get help on the back end so they'd match up much better; we can only get pressure with our front 4 and hope to god our back end can beat you guys.

That's exactly what happened in the first Baltimore game, except we actually had a great corner that could shut down half the field.

Edited December 22, 2014 by Lord Raven

[Anacybele]

Week 2 didn't have Martavis Bryant in the equation. Markus Wheaton was still having some problems getting in sync with Ben. Things have changed a lot since then. We smoked you in week 9.

Ben hurt his wrist against the Saints and that messed up his accuracy really bad. The Jets game, they shit themselves really bad, which happens once in a blue moon. Even the best teams can have this happen, the Packers recently messed up against the Bills, for example.

EDIT: Also, the Pats almost lost to the Jets today.

Edited December 22, 2014 by Anacybele

[Lord Raven]

Whether or not you guys had Wheaton or Bryant doesn't really excuse Ben missing a ton of passes. Ben looked very very very shaken the entire game and even with Bryant he'd basically be done, especially cause Jimmy would have a half of the field on lockdown.

Whether or not he hurt his wrist against the Saints is irrelevant because he also was injured early against the Ravens too meaning that he gets injury prone. The Jes also put some major pressure on him and they forced a few fumbles...

Pats and Broncos secondary is much, much better than any secondary the Steelers have faced this year btw. And their receivers are also a lot better than just about anything the Steelers have faced. They are most definitely a tier above most teams in the AFC.

[-Cynthia-]

So: Dallas clinches the NFC East, Philadelphia is eliminated

Seattle, Green Bay, and Detroit clinch playoff spots

New Orleans is eliminated

Pittsburgh clinches a playoff spot, New England clinches a first round bye, Miami and Buffalo are eliminated

Cincinnati clinches a playoff spot with a win Monday.

Edited December 22, 2014 by -Cynthia-

[Team Alucard]

Bungles and Chargers need to lose out so the Ravens get in.

They're the only hope to beat the Patriots. Brady is legit scared of them and it shows every time they play.

[-Cynthia-]

Ravens are in with a win + SD loss or win + 2 CIN losses. Good news for them is that Bengals/Steelers has been flexed to Sunday night and we know how the Bengals are in primetime.

[Lord Raven]

Hopefully the Bengals don't let us down and the Ravens don't have a repeat of today

They let us down twice by abusing blown coverage, we need them to channel their inner 90s-era-Bengals

MARVIN LEWIS. WE BROUGHT YOU A SUPER BOWL RING. JUST DO US THIS ONE FAVOR.

CINCINNATI WE AS A DIVISION RIVAL AVENGED YOUR TWO SUPER BOWL LOSSES TO THE 49ERS. CINCY PLS

Edited December 22, 2014 by Lord Raven

[Anacybele]

Whether or not you guys had Wheaton or Bryant doesn't really excuse Ben missing a ton of passes. Ben looked very very very shaken the entire game and even with Bryant he'd basically be done, especially cause Jimmy would have a half of the field on lockdown.

Whether or not he hurt his wrist against the Saints is irrelevant because he also was injured early against the Ravens too meaning that he gets injury prone. The Jes also put some major pressure on him and they forced a few fumbles...

Pats and Broncos secondary is much, much better than any secondary the Steelers have faced this year btw. And their receivers are also a lot better than just about anything the Steelers have faced. They are most definitely a tier above most teams in the AFC.

The Jets didn't force those fumbles, Brown caused them himself. He muffed the punt without even being TOUCHED and he was barely touched when he lost that catch. Ben has always had a bit of a struggle in keeping the ball in his hands when he goes down, which is a flaw I wish he'd fix already... The Jets got lucky, as did the Bucs. The Steelers don't penalize themselves nearly as much as they did against the Bucs anymore, and they're not making anymore of the huge mistakes they did against the Jets and Saints. They still need a little more work, but they're getting much better at being consistent than they did at the start of the year. Remember Brady struggled at the beginning of the season too.

And Rodgers had a shitty game against the Bills. These guys are two of the best QBs in the game. One or two bad games doesn't mean anything.

They can't be, the Chiefs are already the #2 secondary. Unless the Pats and Broncos are both tied for #1. I'm not saying that these teams wouldn't be tough to beat. They will be. I'm just saying that we can make them close.

Lord Raven, why do you want Cincy to win? Cynthia just said that them losing out will get your Ravens into the playoffs. o.O

Edited December 22, 2014 by Anacybele

[Randa]

thats not what cynthia said ana. its if the bengals lose out, if they win one lose one then baltimore still needs the chargers to lose, same if they win both.

also sorry raven but im gonna have to root for the browns this week, if the chargers and ravens both lose then the texans get in as the 6 seed.