NFL 2014-2015 Season: Super Bowl Champion Patriots

[Dijon Mustard]

At any rate, we've seen some weird shit in this league. See: Young, Vince (though Tennessee didn't make the playoffs that year).

Ah yes, I remember watching the Titans get beat down 59-0 by the Patriots (five passing touchdowns in the 2nd quarter! in a snowstorm!) as the immortal Kerry Collins threw for a grand total of -7 yards and CBS cut away from the game. I was wearing my Vince Young jersey (I was so young). Naturally, the winless Titans won 7 of their next 8 games. If there's a path to 8-8, dear god Jeff Fisher will find it.

random, but my favorite football read of the week is always the MMBM, which makes fun of dumb macho football opinions/debates and angry message board commenters, more or less.

http://www.sbnation.com/nfl/2014/11/24/7271547/mmbm-week-12-was-odell-beckham-making-a-gang-sign-during-his-catch

Edited November 24, 2014 by Dijon

[Lord Raven]

To be fair Tom Brady's preferred football weather is snow.

Man, Kerry Collins. That's a name I haven't heard in a while. Everyone keeps making fun of Brett Favre for never retiring but Kerry Collins was a Colts QB in 2011 and was drafted by the Panthers in like 96... and he played in Super Bowl 35 where he had a Dalton-in-primetime-esque performance.

Edited November 25, 2014 by Lord Raven

[Anacybele]

The episode of American Dad I just watched mentioned Big Ben. That's so awesome. :D

On another topic, that catch by that Giants rookie receiver was insane. And I thought Antonio Brown made sick one-handed catches. o.o

[Lord Raven]

Ravens @ the big easy

#letsgo

[Anacybele]

Man, tie game at just 7-7 in the second quarter? Turn things up a notch, Saints! Although I'm gonna need you guys to lose to my Steelers next...

Edited November 25, 2014 by Anacybele

[Lord Raven]

that was not complete. no way do you fuck that up on a challenge.

[Anacybele]

Brees...seriously. If you and your guys are having this much trouble at home against the Ravens, you're going to be sorry against my Steelers on their turf. COME ON, MAN. >_<

17-14 Saints at half time. That's more like it! But a game is 60 minutes, not 30. Hang onto that lead after half time!

Edited November 25, 2014 by Anacybele

[Lord Raven]

Obligatory -

New York Jets are officially eliminated from the playoffs.

EDIT: WILL FUCKING HILL

EDIT 2: TERRELL SUGGS IS THE 31ST PLAYER IN THE SUPER BOWL ERA TO HIT 100 SACKS

Forsett: 2 TDs, 8.3 ypc, and like 190 all purpose yards.

Finally, some NFC South number crunching;

1. Falcons (4-7)

2. Saints (4-7)

3. Panthers (3-7-1)

4. Buccaneers (2-9)

The 2010 NFC West by this point:

1. Seahawks (5-6)

2. Rams (5-6)

3. 49ers (4-7)

4. Cardinals (3-9)

They still look miserable.

Edited November 25, 2014 by Lord Raven

[Anacybele]

Man, the Steelers can't ever catch a break lately...

At least this is looking more and more like they ought to chew up the Saints and spit them out on Sunday. But we need the team that mopped the Colts and Ravens to show up and leave the team that blundered against the Bucs and Jets in the trash. Badly.

[-Cynthia-]

Thanksgiving week...

Chicago at Detroit- Lions have had a tough stretch, but they should be able to handle the Bears
Philadelphia at Dallas- This one could go either way, but the Cowboys defense looks quite vulnerable
Seattle at San Francisco- Seahawks haven't managed to beat any good teams on the road this year...Niners offense is worrisome though
Cleveland at Buffalo- Browns have struggled against good D-lines this season
San Diego at Baltimore- Trusting the home team here, still not sold on the Chargers
Carolina at Minnesota- Not trusting NFC South teams, especially on the road
Washington at Indianapolis- Colts against bad team at home

Tennessee at Houston- Texans can take care of a bad Titans team

New York Giants at Jacksonville- Jaguars can't score, Giants looked ok last week

Oakland at St. Louis- Not picking the Raiders to win two in a row

Cincinnati at Tampa Bay- Bucaneers are not good and it's 1 PM so the Bengals should be ok

New Orleans at Pittsburgh- Steelers at home after a bye against a bad defense, a game they should win which means they might blow it

Arizona at Atlanta- Still not picking Falcons outside the division

New England at Green Bay- Patriots are playing so well right now, hard to pick against them

Denver at Kansas City- Broncos have struggled a lot on the road this year

Miami at New York Jets- Jets are a mess

[Lord Raven]

LOL Cynthia you're predicting the NFC South to have a leader at 4-8? Hilarious!

[Anacybele]

Yeah, but they're against the team with the best record in the league. :P

And Cynthia, you pretty much said what worries me about this Saints game. Still, it's not a huge concern, the Steelers have beaten just as many bad teams as they have lost to them. They beat the Jags and Titans, but lost to the Bucs and Jets. And even then, the loss to the Bucs was mainly due to penalties and the refs missing obvious calls and the loss to the Jets was more bad luck than anything (Antonio Brown fumbling twice and Ben throwing two bad interceptions all in the same game has just never happened).

Still, they cut it close against the Jags and Titans and in the case of the former, the defense had to save Ben's ass.

[Randa]

Two proproblems with the picks for the week.

1. The niners are so dysfunctional on offense that I can't see them beating any good teams down the stretch. Look at the llast 3 wins. Giants, saints, and skins. Not exactly a group of playoff contenders. Unless you're in the nfc south.

2. The pats will lose a shoot out in lambuea. Please for the love of Christ let them lose at least once more before the playoffs

[-Cynthia-]

Packers have been extremely good at home this year so it's a bit of a toss up and yeah I feel confident picking against the NFC South at this point lol.

[Lord Raven]

pls let the pats lose two more games

[Anacybele]

Being in Pittsburgh for Thanksgiving with family is fun when I go out shopping and see tons of people in Steeler gear. :D I also got myself a Steeler hoodie for the cold weather!

GO STEELERS, CRUSH THE SAINTS!!

[Jiac]

MAN THIS IS THE SMALLEST INJURY REPORT I'VE SEEN ALL SEASON

Why can't we go against the Ravens during Philcember... ;n;, November is our month of woes.On November 30th, Philcember better start early.

EDIT: I don't understand why Dwight Freeney is always on the list. He takes Wednesdays off just to rest because the man is 34.

Edited November 26, 2014 by Vermilia Scarlet

[Lord Raven]

CHARGERS ARE GOIN DOWN BABY

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GQ6H9o0lpvA

And yeah Ravens allow veterans to do the same thing. We have Steve Smith and Owen Daniels like every week.

Edited November 27, 2014 by Lord Raven

[Anacybele]

Yeah, but you don't have those Rays of purple anymore. :P

Obviously, I want the Chargers to win, but I don't really see them beating the Ravens while the Ravens are at home...

[Jiac]

Yeah, but you don't have those Rays of purple anymore. :P

Obviously, I want the Chargers to win, but I don't really see them beating the Ravens while the Ravens are at home...

Why not? It's the dawn before Philcember. 30-6 during December. Underdogs as usual during the month of December.

[Anacybele]

Well then, let's hope that comes early. My Steelers need some help here. :P Although, they also need to take care of the Saints. Which theoretically, they should. They've been outright monstrous at home, and Drew Brees and his guys aren't exactly amazing (overall. Mark Ingram and Jimmy Graham are pretty good). Buuut, there's still a little prone-ness to self-destruction. >.>

[Randa]

So couple more things after actually looking at the schedule for the week.

1. The broncos are probably gonna lose. On the road against a good pass rush they have struggled mightily and it does not bode well for their Super Bowl aspirations if they lose this wek.

2. Steelers are gonna have a harder time than people think. Pitsburgh secondary has shown weakness over the last couple games and against a saints team that still has explosive recievers, even after losing cooks, it might turn into a shoot out of Indianapolis proportions, except the saints can actually run the ball for like not 4 yards on 14 carriers or whatever the abysmal numbers were last week.

3. The rams might legitimately win out the rest of the year. They are the one team nobody wants to face down the stretch.

[Lord Raven]

#2 - thats what they said about Baltimore though I think our ground game has been generally better (or at least more efficient) than Pittsburghs cause we run our plays from under center 37% of the time which is like 31st int he league.

#3 - holy lord you may not be wrong

[Anacybele]

2. Steelers are gonna have a harder time than people think. Pitsburgh secondary has shown weakness over the last couple games and against a saints team that still has explosive recievers, even after losing cooks, it might turn into a shoot out of Indianapolis proportions, except the saints can actually run the ball for like not 4 yards on 14 carriers or whatever the abysmal numbers were last week.

1. Our whole defense has been littered with injuries. But we're getting at least some of those starters back. What's more, they did fine against a good Colts and Ravens offense. They even managed to shut Arian Foster up against the Texans and EVEN FORCE HIM TO FUMBLE for the first time in 100 games. Arian Foster is supposed to be like top five in RBs, along with DeMarco Murray, Le'Veon Bell, etc. Even healthy, our D isn't spectacular, but they can get the job done with some Dick LeBeau magic.

Oh yeah, they said we'd get creamed by the Colts' receivers too because of a questionable secondary. They did put up a lot of points on us, but not enough. And Andrew Luck of all people threw a pick six. Drew Brees isn't any Andrew Luck.

2. Our offense has been insane at home. Our last two home games got us 51, then 43 points, and they were both against top defenses in the league. If the Steelers can get THAT team on the field instead of the one that killed themselves against the Jets and Bucs, they're going to wipe the floor with the Saints. Our Killer B's, Ben, Bell, and Brown, just can't be stopped when they're at their best. They have help from Martavis Bryant (I like to call him the fourth Killer B, because this guy's awesome) and Heath Miller too, with a little Lance Moore mixed in. You can't even double cover Antonio Brown. He beats even that. The Saints will also be going against a promising new face: RB Josh Harris. I saw a video of him practicing, he's just a bit smaller than Bell, but appears to be quick and have burst and stuff. I think he'll prove to be a good replacement for LeGarrette Blount. Oh, Lance Moore is going against his old team too. He might take things up a notch.

Edited November 27, 2014 by Anacybele

[Randa]

1. Ana these are strictly my opinions or what I feel, except for number 3 which is fact, because damn the rams are hot and if they draft well they can be legitimate Super Bowl contenders next year, so please don't take offense when I say something controversial or different to your opinion.

2. From a defensive player the only thing that causes a fumble is either luck or bad ball security. Yes you are trained to put yourself in a position to knock the ball lose, but it is almost impossible to do intentionally otherwise we'd see a lot more fumbles.

3. The point isn't to look at the run game or the pass game in an isolated perspective. The point is to look at the combination. Baltimore lacks a strong receiving core IMO, and we all know Indy can't run the ball worth shit. A balance between the two, as we saw against Tennessee, can give the steelers difficulty.

4. The steelers offense is hot at home but if the saints can control the clock weel, which I expect they can, then that offense won't have a lot of opportunities.

5. Drew Bree's is an Andrew Luck. Despite the team having a bad season Brees is still putting up his normal numbers, ie monstrous. He still arguably a top 5 QB. Which ATM looks like, Rodgers, Brady, Manning, Luck, Brees IMO.