NFL 2013-2014 Season!

[Anacybele]

You guys have made me want to do predictions now! lol

Carolina Panthers @ Tampa Bay Buccaneers - Cam Newton and his guys have been looking pretty good overall this season. Tampa? Not so much. Still not even a single win.

Dallas Cowboys @ Detroit Lions - The Lions have improved a lot over the last few years, but the Cowboys seem to not have changed much at all. And some of the Lions players are looking scary lately.

San Francisco 49ers @ Jacksonville Jaguars - Yeah, Jacksonville's been sucking lately. No contest here.

Cleveland Browns @ Kansas City Chiefs - I fucking hate the fucking Chiefs after what they pulled last season in their game against the Steelers and I would cheer for the Ravens or Patriots before I cheer for them, but the Browns suck so bad that it's a no brainer.

Miami Dolphins @ New England Patriots - As much as I'd love for the Dolphins to win, the Patriots have just been consistently better.

Buffalo Bills @ New Orleans Saints - The Saints are scary this season. That's all.

New York Giants @ Philadelphia Eagles - The Giants have just been awful this season for the most part. I bet Eli is really embarrassed that his team is doing so badly while his brother's is looking freaky as hell. The Eagles have always been decent and Vick is a very good QB, even if he's the most hated one in the league.

Pittsburgh Steelers @ Oakland Raiders - I may have a little bias here because rabid Steeler fangirl and all, but lately the Steelers have just been looking beastly since they came out of their bye week. They may be going to a different timezone, but I've seen them win in Oakland before. They're not going to let a little jetlag hold them back. And they've shown that they've gotten a lot of motivation from their recent wins. And they made a close game against the Bengals, who are scary as heck.

New York Jets @ Cincinnati Bengals - As much as I'd like the Bengals to lose, they're just the best team in the AFC North right now, no question. The Jets are not as competent.

Atlanta Falcons @ Arizona Cardinals - From what I've seen and heard, the Cards have a good offense while the Falcons have a terrible defense. You figure it out. Though I personally like the Falcons.

Washington Redskins @ Denver Broncos - Because Pey-Pey and his guys. Nuff said.

Green Bay Packers @ Minnesota Vikings - These are the Packers we're talking about here. xP

Seattle Seahawks @ St. Louis Rams - I don't know much about these two teams, but from what little I've seen, Seattle has looked better. I do like the Rams though.

Edited October 24, 2013 by Anacybele

[Lord Raven]

Randa - watching that Pats game, the Saints choked it away with terrible playcalling towards the end.

Miami had an excellent front 7 that consistently pressured Brees btw, team put up like 38ish points and held Miami to 17. I can see something like that happening with the Saints. They won't run it up the gut but they run a lot of screens instead of straight up running the ball, which I see as more of a threat. Furthermore they still do have the ability to run it decently, even if they don't do it often.

[Black Dynamite]

Anacybele, what fuels your hatred for the Chiefs? I don't remember what incident you're talking about with the Steelers, but I didn't pay too much attention to the Chiefs or the Steelers last season. I mean I'm not a fan by any means, but I've loved their turnaround season and the success they've had with their defense.

And I would tend to agree with Lord Raven, I see the Saints beating the Bills with relative ease. Although the Bills didn't look bad beating the Ravens or the Panthers, both of which I would say have superior defenses to the Saints. I just don't see their offensive output being enough to match Brees. Especially when New Orleans is at home.

Edited October 24, 2013 by Black Dynamite

[Anacybele]

Anacybele, what fuels your hatred for the Chiefs? I don't remember what incident you're talking about with the Steelers, but I didn't pay too much attention to the Chiefs or the Steelers last season. I mean I'm not a fan by any means, but I've loved their turnaround season and the success they've had with their defense.

Last season when the Steelers faced the Chiefs, there were a couple plays where some of the Chiefs group celebrated in the endzone. The first time annoyed me enough. Then the second was supposedly a TD, but it really wasn't because it was never called a TD and clearly hadn't been a TD. Yet the Chiefs STILL celebrated like morons and ignored it. I'm glad as hell they were penalized and fined for it and that the Steelers kicked their asses in this game. They're such annoying sore winners and they tried to mock my team!

Edited October 24, 2013 by Anacybele

[Lord Raven]

You do know that not only did they go 2-14 that season but they saw their own teammate kill himself right during a practice? Situation was even worse when you realized he had just killed his girlfriend. Turns out the dude had some mental issues the whole time.

I don't think they were mocking your team. The season was such a clusterfuck that they had to take what they could get.

[Anacybele]

This game happened BEFORE that one Chief killed himself. I hadn't known that the guy had killed himself right in front of his teammates though.

[Hawk King]

^ LOL, really? Come on they were the worst team in the NFL last year, let them celebrate when the do good for once. The Steelers won in the end so you have no reason to hold a grudge. Plus I highly doubt they did it to mock the Steelers.

@ Raven - The only game I really disagree with is Falcons vs Cardinals. Matt Ryan showed last week that he is really good despite not having his top 2 WRs. Carson Palmer has thrown more INTs than TDs when throwing to Fitzgerald this year.

Jets vs Bengals - With these two Defenses I could see a 13-10 game going either way

Miami @ NE - Miami's pass rush gave us hell last week, and we all know Brady absolutely crumbles when he starts taking hits. However it's in NE so I see them getting alot of calls to go their way.

Bills @ NO - NO opened as 10 point favorites. The Bills have played every team close this year. If they dont pull the upset, the Bills will at least cover the spread. The injured players are getting healthier each week and Mario is playing really well.

[Anacybele]

^ LOL, really? Come on they were the worst team in the NFL last year, let them celebrate when the do good for once. The Steelers won in the end so you have no reason to hold a grudge. Plus I highly doubt they did it to mock the Steelers.

Well, it was still annoying as all hell and I felt mocked as a fan. I felt like the Chiefs were saying "Haha, we made your Steelers look WEAK!"

[Black Dynamite]

Yeah, I can see where you're coming from. The heated disputes between the Panthers and the Rams last week kind of left a bad taste in my mouth when it comes to the Rams. Much like the Patriots beating the Ravens in 2011-2012 season in the playoffs along with the fact that they beat the Panthers in Superbowl XXXVIII makes them possibly my least favorite team in the NFL.

@Hawk King: Although the Cardinals offense has looked terrible, their defense will pressure the hell out of Matt Ryan and give the Falcons' offense lots of trouble. I think the Falcons were one of the most over hyped teams this season, and although the Cardinals aren't anything exceptional, I think they have a better chance at taking this one than the Falcons. The Cardinals had trouble stopping the Saints offense, but with all the injuries the Falcons are facing their offense doesn't pose anywhere near the threat that the Saints offense does.

[Anacybele]

Yeah, that's kind of how I felt. Glad you understand. I think I remember now why that play hadn't actually been a TD for the Chiefs. Ben had started to pass the ball, but some Chief threw him off and got ahold of it and ran it into the endzone, but it was ruled an incomplete pass instead of a TD return because Ben's arm had been going forward.

I remember now because a similar incident happened in the game against the Giants (I think it was that one), but the idiot refs gave them the TD anyway, though even the ANNOUNCERS could plainly see that Ben's arm had been going forward and pointed it out. It was one of the stupidest calls I'd ever seen.

[Lord Raven]

This game happened BEFORE that one Chief killed himself. I hadn't known that the guy had killed himself right in front of his teammates though.

Right but they were still 0-8 or 0-7 going into that game and almost universally mocked in the media.

Also for the Falcons game - Carson isn't what he used to be anymore but Falcons can't get pressure at all, and their coverage blows. Doesn't help them that they're playing on a different coast. I underestimated the Seahawks but the cardinals looked like shit after the lions game because teams realized how brittle that oline is and despite the futility of the line Falcons still can't field a good defense.

Also, I agree. Fuck the Patriots.

Edited October 24, 2013 by Lord Raven

[Randa]

Why do people hate the pats? Somebody please explain this to me.

[Anacybele]

Probably because they had a reputation of being cheaters. Literally. It's how they won 21 games in a row some years back.

Lord Raven: Oh fine. I still will probably never root for the Chiefs though.

[Lord Raven]

They weren't caught cheating. Most teams did what they did; the nfl just told them all to stop and they broke it anyway afterwards. In 2007 they made it their mission to not only win every game but to blow everyone out in shoutout style, so they became the team to beat. Also they have knocked any given AFC powerhouse out of the playoffs over the past decade.

To be honest they should only be hated by AFC teams, the Rams, Panthers, and Eagles. Also, the only AFC teams that can really hate on them are the AFC East, Steelers, Ravens, Chargers, Raiders (tuck rule never forget) and Colts/Manning.

I personally hate them because everytime we didn't blow them out (which happened twice) we lost close games to them. Always. Only once have the Ravens beaten them in the regular season. And that hated started closer to 2007, when we came the closest to beating the, at the time, 12-0 Patriots during a particularly heartbreaking season (FYI that was the season Billick was fired after being unable to being a stable offense to Baltimore). The AFCCG in 2011 was where that came to a peak.

[Black Dynamite]

Panthers looked good on their first drive.

[Anacybele]

They weren't caught cheating. Most teams did what they did; the nfl just told them all to stop and they broke it anyway afterwards. In 2007 they made it their mission to not only win every game but to blow everyone out in shoutout style, so they became the team to beat. Also they have knocked any given AFC powerhouse out of the playoffs over the past decade.

To be honest they should only be hated by AFC teams, the Rams, Panthers, and Eagles. Also, the only AFC teams that can really hate on them are the AFC East, Steelers, Ravens, Chargers, Raiders (tuck rule never forget) and Colts/Manning.

I personally hate them because everytime we didn't blow them out (which happened twice) we lost close games to them. Always. Only once have the Ravens beaten them in the regular season. And that hated started closer to 2007, when we came the closest to beating the, at the time, 12-0 Patriots during a particularly heartbreaking season (FYI that was the season Billick was fired after being unable to being a stable offense to Baltimore). The AFCCG in 2011 was where that came to a peak.

Oh, I see now. I hadn't known THAT much about what happened back then, only what family members told me. This makes it clearer now though.

[Lord Raven]

Panthers looked good on their first drive.

on that note I'm surprised Glennon is an effective QB

[-Cynthia-]

I'm not surprised. The Steelers appear to be the most popular team in the league. You find Steeler fans not only all over the country, but around the WORLD too. My stepdad got a cool Steeler coin in Iraq. And I remember the last time I saw the Steelers face the Cowboys. They were in Dallas, but there were still more Steeler fans in those stands than Cowboy fans!

The Cowboys have one of the largest and most loyal fanbases in the NFL. Steelers fans outnumbering them in their own stadium is highly illogical so I'll call bullshit on your statement. Maybe there were more Steeler fans on the visitor side, but saying there were more Steeler fans overall is inaccurate.

Source for fan loyalty ratings http://ftw.usatoday.com/2013/08/study-ranks-loyal-nfl-fans-dallas-cowboys-new-england-patriots/

[Hawk King]

^ Just give it some time. Now that he has played a few games teams will actually have some game film to watch on him.

Bills fan, 2 wins in the last 27? games vs the pats is enough to hate them. Add in the cheating, tuck rule (which is now no longer a rule), refs not calling penalties on them, and the fact that Belichek is a complete bastard in media interviews, I cant see how anyone doesnt hate the Patriots.

And yes they did cheat. That guy came out and said they filmed the Rams during their superbowl practice and then a few months later everyone just stopped talking about it. It was a huge scandal and the League just swept it under the rug so it wouldnt cause any more trouble. A $100,000 fine for Belichek cheating his way to 3 superbowls. Sean Peyton misses an entire season and millions in salary because his D coordinator did something taboo (no written rules broken).

I heard an interview with Terrell Suggs recently and he is my new fav player. He HATES Brady and makes some very good points about why.

[Anacybele]

The Cowboys have one of the largest and most loyal fanbases in the NFL. Steelers fans outnumbering them in their own stadium is highly illogical so I'll call bullshit on your statement. Maybe there were more Steeler fans on the visitor side, but saying there were more Steeler fans overall is inaccurate.

Source for fan loyalty ratings http://ftw.usatoday.com/2013/08/study-ranks-loyal-nfl-fans-dallas-cowboys-new-england-patriots/

Don't call me a liar. I saw the stadium when I watched the game on TV. There were clearly more Steeler fans than Cowboy fans. My stepdad noticed it too. And we can't both be liars.

And having the most loyal fanbase isn't the same as having the most fans.

Edited October 25, 2013 by Anacybele

[Da Bear]

Source for fan loyalty ratings http://ftw.usatoday.com/2013/08/study-ranks-loyal-nfl-fans-dallas-cowboys-new-england-patriots/

Funny thing is I consider myself a fan of 4 (the Saints), 6 (the Colts) and 7 (the Bears).

In an order of Bears > Colts > Saints.

Edited October 25, 2013 by JSND Has A Dragon Boner

[Lord Raven]

the fact that Belichek is a complete bastard in media interviews, I cant see how anyone doesnt hate the Patriots.

In fairness, it's because he doesn't give a shit about the media and they ask him really stupid questions. He will gladly talk about football and talk a lot about football strategy, just never about personal or team issues or "what do you need to do better?"

And yes they did cheat. That guy came out and said they filmed the Rams during their superbowl practice and then a few months later everyone just stopped talking about it. It was a huge scandal and the League just swept it under the rug so it wouldnt cause any more trouble. A $100,000 fine for Belichek cheating his way to 3 superbowls. Sean Peyton misses an entire season and millions in salary because his D coordinator did something taboo (no written rules broken).

They lost a first round pick and Belichick was fined 500K. For the record, it's a sizable chunk of his yearly income (which at the time may have been around 5 million at best).

It's not like the crackdown stopped them from winning. It stopped them from being completely dominant (as in, 14-2 records), but that's because the rest of the league became stronger as time went on, and their defense started to wilt while their offense thrived, and you can't consistently win a game on offense alone. It really had nothing to do with Spygate, considering the team went 48-16 in the past 5 season (highest win-loss ratio in the league since 2007 mind you). They've been consistently in the AFCCG (the past two years) or the divisional round (2009 they lost in the wild card round and 2010 they lost in the divisional round). They've even been to two Super Bowls since getting nailed, and when they got nailed Tom Brady broke the TD record and they made it undefeated all the way to the Super Bowl. Whether or not they did it, they didn't need to do it, and most other teams did it anyway (otherwise we may as well get rid of the first round), the only issue was doing it after they were mandated to stop. Not only that, but they didn't tend to use the footage during the game itself, which was the rule.

As for the whole bountygate crap - it was apart of the initiative to promote safety. I think it was extreme, but bear in mind that the Saints were getting a payout for injuries, not big hits. Basically, they would try to injure players, which is bad for the NFL considering the lawsuits. I don't agree with it, but Belichick got fined the league maximum and the Patriots lose a first round pick (they went 11-5 and missed the playoffs in 2008 anyway), but it's not like they needed it even in the past considering how much they dominated teams even after getting caught. Lots of teams do payouts for big hits and tackles, but I don't think they pay players to actively seek out and tear ACLs or take players out of the game. That's not cheating, it's just very unsafe.

I still hate the Patriots; they get a ton of hate because of the way spygate was portrayed in the media, and the media fucks up everything. If spygate were reported more fairly, then they wouldn't be hated as much. It doesn't help that they've had 3 super bowls in 4 years (which would cause anyone to hate them) and Brady/Belichick didn't lose a single playoff game together until 2005. They also consistently made it to AFCCGs and made it to two other Super Bowls, so people were pretty much sick of them winning.

I heard an interview with Terrell Suggs recently and he is my new fav player. He HATES Brady and makes some very good points about why.

He actually doesn't hate the dude as much as one would think, he just naturally talks a ton of shit and it's really really funny. Dude believes Manning and Brady get coddled by the refs too much, but he thinks those two will be Top 5 all-time quarterbacks. Edited October 25, 2013 by Lord Raven

[-Cynthia-]

Don't call me a liar. I saw the stadium when I watched the game on TV. There were clearly more Steeler fans than Cowboy fans. My stepdad noticed it too. And we can't both be liars.

And having the most loyal fanbase isn't the same as having the most fans.

If you watched it on TV, the limited shots the cameras show you don't capture the entire crowd. You and your stepdad are either liars are fools for making such an assertion based on limited evidence.

If you actually bothered to read, team loyalty was decided by fan turnout at home stadiums while adjusting for other factors. If the Cowboys have the most loyal fans, their turnout at their home games would obviously be very high. Visiting team fans only outnumber the home team's when fan turnout is low.

[Anacybele]

If you watched it on TV, the limited shots the cameras show you don't capture the entire crowd. You and your stepdad are either liars are fools for making such an assertion based on limited evidence.

If you actually bothered to read, team loyalty was decided by fan turnout at home stadiums while adjusting for other factors. If the Cowboys have the most loyal fans, their turnout at their home games would obviously be very high. Visiting team fans only outnumber the home team's when fan turnout is low.

Will you stop throwing insults? It's really not necessary, thank you. There were limited shots, yes, but I got views of each side of the stadium. There were more Steeler fans there that day. End of story.

[-Cynthia-]

http://cowboysblog.dallasnews.com/2012/12/jerry-jones-i-wasnt-bothered-by-all-of-the-steelers-fans-at-cowboys-stadium.html/

Steelers fans made up about 15,000 of about 95,000- a good turnout but certainly not more. Unless you want to claim Jerry Jones is 30,000+ Steelers fans off the mark while he is the owner of the Cowboys and you saw a few pictures on TV.

Edited October 25, 2013 by -Cynthia-