2017 NFL Playoffs - Super Bowl LI Confirmed! Atlanta Falcons vs New England Patriots!

[Lord Raven]

Yah, I'm just going full homer before the season starts, don't mind me

[Jiac]

Lions at Chargers- I could go either way on this one really, somewhat unsure about both of these teams so I picked the home team.

All Chargers' home games are pretty much away games. Sucks being a military city.

But this game really could go either way.

I think it comes down to who can generate the better pass-rush and which team can generate more pressure on the defense.

The Chargers have Melvin Gordon who can generate pressure on the defense to attempt to stop the run.

The Lions have Ameer Abdullah who can expose our weakness against the run. But Calvin Johnson especially puts pressure on our defense.

The Lions have a mis-match of Verrett and Johnson because Johnson is like 60 pounds heavier and 8 inches taller than him. Which puts pressure on Weddle to try to stop Johnson rather than play-making he's going to cover the potential weakness in the defense. A lot of pressure will be placed on Weddle to cover Abdullah and making sure that Verrett gets help on Johnson.

[Anacybele]

And Sammie Coates continues to prove that he should be filling in for Bryant instead of Heyward-Bey. He's the only one doing anything at all on this Pittsburgh team right now. Everyone else is awful. I wish Tomlin could cut them all and get all new backups... Obviously, he can only cut some of them though.

Regardless though, our depth at receiver is lovely. And the Panthers have nice depth on defense (unless our backup offense is just that bad minus Coates) and RB.

Edited September 4, 2015 by Anacybele

[chococoke]

picking the broncos over the ravens is gutsy considering how the broncos went down against the Colts without a fight and the Ravens went down kicking and screaming

I could see the Ravens winning. Steve Smith would just have to go off, which is tough against one of the top CB tandems in the NFL. It's obviously possible, though.

Also, I decided to rock my Patriots surgical cap today. I work at a hospital in Rockville so needless to say I've already been called out by 2 or 3 Ravens fans

EDIT: Also, Ana, I wouldn't put too much stock in the last preseason game. Teams tend to only play their back ups so it's not exactly a great indicator of possible regular season performance

Edited September 4, 2015 by chococoke

[TheAssassinMercenary]

Yeah, the Pats defense is pretty bad this year. That's the Steelers chance to win, considering their offense.

In the playoffs, I think the biggest threats to the Patriots will probably be the Broncos and the Ravens. That being said, I think they still have a fair chance to make it to Super Bowl 50.

[Anacybele]

Chococoke: I know, I just pray that we have few to no injuries on defense due to the way these backups look.

AssassinMercenary: Our defense probably won't be that great either. I foresee something like Steelers vs Colts from last year...

[Lord Raven]

In the playoffs, I think the biggest threats to the Patriots will probably be the Broncos and the Ravens. That being said, I think they still have a fair chance to make it to Super Bowl 50.

Well, I am a psychic so I know the Patriots have a zero chance of going to Super Bowl 50. The Ravens have a 100% chance.

We'll dominate Super Bowls 50 to 54. Just you watch.

[-Cynthia-]

I think the Ravens have a decent chance of making the Super Bowl this year- but I also think there's a fair chance they might not even make the playoffs. Steelers and Bengals are credible choices to win the division and unlike last year where they played the two weakest divisions (NFC and AFC South), the NFC and AFC West are arguably two of the toughest divisions in the league which means that the AFC North might only have one playoff team.

Edited September 5, 2015 by -Cynthia-

[Jiac]

WOAH WE CUT NICK THE KICK.

For Josh Lambo. Josh Lambo hype train.

Pros:

Salary Cap saving, nice young franchise kicker, a huge-ass fucking leg.

Con:

Small sample size of playing time, may not be the guy, unsure if he has Novak's reliable accuracy.

Nick Novak will be taken off the street soon, but this was EXTREMELY SURPRISING to me. Especially how conservative Mike McCoy is since he was deciding who the kicker was going to be. He took the risk on Lambo over Mr. Reliable can't kick a touchback Novak.

EDIT: I GUESS YOU COULD SAY WE TOOK A LAMBO LEAP

Edited September 5, 2015 by ~Summer~

[Anacybele]

The Steelers cut one of their draft picks, lolwut (Gerrod Holliman). Way to waste a pick then. >.>

They also cut Josh Harris and Shakim Phillips. I thought both were decent. Oh well. I hope Tomlin and Colbert know what they're doing here.

[Lord Raven]

I think the Ravens have a decent chance of making the Super Bowl this year- but I also think there's a fair chance they might not even make the playoffs. Steelers and Bengals are credible choices to win the division and unlike last year where they played the two weakest divisions (NFC and AFC South), the NFC and AFC West are arguably two of the toughest divisions in the league which means that the AFC North might only have one playoff team.

The AFC West is not that great outside of the Broncos. I think the Chiefs and Chargers are overrated and the Raiders are still in a hole - they made improvements from last year, but it's like enough to propel them to 6 wins instead of 4. Chargers have a clearly hobbled Rivers, an aging Banks, and all they really have is Keenan Allen and I have no idea what they did with the OL. Chiefs look balanced, but maybe I just don't think highly of Alex Smith or Andy Reid or their OL.

The NFC West is still Seahawks/Cardinals (provided the Cardinals can stay healthy, what with Palmer's second ACL tear - I don't know how QBs tend to do after the second one). The Rams still have a shit OL with a QB who can't handle pressure, and the 49ers are basically in rebuild mode.

I wouldn't overestimate these divisons either, they aren't far and away better than any other division, they're just top heavy enough. The NFCS last year was a fluke year anyway, because the Panthers/Saints were supposed to be really good but they broke down.

The NFCN is looking stronger than the NFCW at this point, and the AFCN always has 3 strong teams vying for power yet they still end up sending 2 or 3 teams to the playoffs every year (sans 2013) anyway.

[Anacybele]

I don't think any players tend to do well after ACL tears. From what I've been told, it's really hard to come back from them. It's why I worry about Shaun Suisham's future now. He might just be a kicker, but still. Not to mention that the ACL he tore was in his kicking leg.

I worry about Kelvin Benjamin for the same reason too (he was the Panthers' only amazing ball catcher not named Greg Olsen).

Edited September 6, 2015 by Anacybele

[Lord Raven]

Rivers tore his ACL in 2007 and he's been very good ever since

Peterson almost broke the rushing record right after his ACL tear

[Anacybele]

I never said there haven't been exceptions. I'm aware that there are. But from what I know, those are few.

[Jiac]

The AFC West is not that great outside of the Broncos. I think the Chiefs and Chargers are overrated and the Raiders are still in a hole - they made improvements from last year, but it's like enough to propel them to 6 wins instead of 4. Chargers have a clearly hobbled Rivers, an aging Banks, and all they really have is Keenan Allen and I have no idea what they did with the OL. Chiefs look balanced, but maybe I just don't think highly of Alex Smith or Andy Reid or their OL.

We turned our O-line around to the point, our 2nd string Guard didn't make the 53 man roster so we traded him to the Vikings. The signing we made to our O-line suggests we're transitioning into more of a Power-Run scheme to suit Frank Reich's system of using draws. The only notable thing we did to our line was give Joe Barksdale the Right Tackle spot and move Fluker to Guard, since his body, strength and length are better suited for Guard.

Our offense was surprisingly productive last year even though we were like the most or 3rd most injured offense in the NFL. It began falling apart when Ohrnberger was getting injured and Woodhead fell down. It was a surprise we went 9-7.

But clearly hurt Rivers is a problem and he opted to not get surgery. He did get it checked though.

Our problems last year were mainly health, pressuring the quarterback and stopping the run, . We couldn't stop the run because all our run-stuffers were injured so we brought in depth who are competent in stopping the run and potentially increasing pass rush.

The Chiefs are definitely overrated, everyone thinks Jeremy Maclin will make that much of a difference in their offense, when they didn't bother to re-sign Dwayne Bowe, and are in slight cap-trouble so they only retained talent on defense and improved their offense.

Their line has been looking competent enough to not have Smith take 50 sacks a season but I don't think they've done enough in their offense to make them get a playoff spot.

Edited September 6, 2015 by ~Summer~

[-Cynthia-]

The AFC West is not that great outside of the Broncos. I think the Chiefs and Chargers are overrated and the Raiders are still in a hole - they made improvements from last year, but it's like enough to propel them to 6 wins instead of 4. Chargers have a clearly hobbled Rivers, an aging Banks, and all they really have is Keenan Allen and I have no idea what they did with the OL. Chiefs look balanced, but maybe I just don't think highly of Alex Smith or Andy Reid or their OL.

The NFC West is still Seahawks/Cardinals (provided the Cardinals can stay healthy, what with Palmer's second ACL tear - I don't know how QBs tend to do after the second one). The Rams still have a shit OL with a QB who can't handle pressure, and the 49ers are basically in rebuild mode.

I wouldn't overestimate these divisons either, they aren't far and away better than any other division, they're just top heavy enough. The NFCS last year was a fluke year anyway, because the Panthers/Saints were supposed to be really good but they broke down.

The NFCN is looking stronger than the NFCW at this point, and the AFCN always has 3 strong teams vying for power yet they still end up sending 2 or 3 teams to the playoffs every year (sans 2013) anyway.

Fluke year or not, it still happened- I don't think the AFC North is going to go 12-3-1 against the NFC/AFC West (they actually were only 10-6 against the AFC South which isn't too ridiculous I guess) so their overall win total going down seems reasonable. I also don't think any of the top 3 AFC North team are particularly dominant(are any of them really much better than the Chiefs or Chargers?) and the Browns probably aren't going to be very good at all.

Edited September 6, 2015 by -Cynthia-

[Lord Raven]

Bengals and Ravens tend to be very well-rounded teams as a whole. The Chiefs and Chargers have certain aspects to their game that they excelled at last season and look to continue it this season, but they have a bunch of really punishing flaws.

On the other hand, the Bengals and Ravens may have individual components that aren't as strong as those teams, but they also don't have any major weaknesses especially considering their strength in the trenches (I main the Bengals will be better this season than last in the DL department). Ravens have a relatively weak receiving corps, the Bengals may have at best a slightly above average quarterback, but none of those are as bad as a shit run-defense and volatility at the QB/OL positions (Chargers), or a relatively conservative coach and QB combination with only one or two receivers to throw to, as well as a hobbled up OL.

The Steelers are glass cannon-y, I maintain that the Steelers may be the weakest of the three teams and may just be on par with the Chiefs/Chargers if only because of their OL injuries and their horrific secondary. God knows until next season. I just don't see the AFCW hype.

I also think Marvin Lewis, Mike Tomlin, and John Harbaugh are leagues above Mike McCoy, and that while Reid is better than Lewis and Tomlin he's still not as good as Harbaugh.

I also remember the AFC West having a bad record against the AFCE and NFCW last year, with the Chiefs and Chargers only pulling off W's against a weakened Seahawks team and the Broncos crushing the Cardinals in a game where they had to play their third string QB.

Edited September 6, 2015 by Lord Raven

[-Cynthia-]

The AFC West went 10-6 against the AFC East(the Chiefs swept every team there). It's true they didn't do so well against the NFC West though, the Broncos/Chiefs/Chargers split and the Raiders got swept went 1-3 I forgot they beat the Niners, so 7-9 overall. This might just be the NFC West being strong though- the NFC West also went 12-4 against the NFC East.

Overall, I would say based on last year that the NFC West and AFC North were the strongest divisons with the AFC West in third. NFC North doesn't seem too strong overall unless you're considering them majorly improved this year- they went 7-9 against the AFC East.

(Fun fact: the Bills beat every NFC North and lost to every AFC West team- very unusual)

Edited September 6, 2015 by -Cynthia-

[Lord Raven]

NFC North is pretty powerful. The Bears are up in the air, but the Lions and Packers will remain very good and the Vikings are climbing their way up.

[-Cynthia-]

Well the Packers are very good and the Lions should be pretty good, but the Bears and Vikings both have some pretty major issues. The Bears have a bad defense and aren't good enough offensively to make up for it and the Vikings have a weak passing offense and their defense isn't good enough to compensate. I guess I can see on the surface how it's similar to the NFC West though.

[Anacybele]

Yeah, I have to agree with the statement that the Steelers are like a glass cannon now. >_< I still think their D MAY be a little better than last year, but not much. Keith Butler is a new DC, many of the guys on our D now are young and newbies, our big name defenders are all gone now sans old man Harrison... :P They will grow though, I'm sure of it! These young guys have potential in many places, from Ryan Shazier's Polamalu-like explosiveness to Stephon Tuitt's sheer size and power to Shamarko Thomas's fumble creating ability. In fact, I still think Shazier could be our new Polamalu in the future.

As shown last year, a super offense alone can only take the Steelers so far, especially if there are injuries...

EDIT: Oh, but I think Andy Dalton is quite average for a QB and seems really inconsistent. He can look pretty good at times, but always collapses during primetime and playoff games. He's lost four straight playoff games!

Big Ben is definitely the best QB in the AFC North, but imo, Flacco isn't far behind him. I don't think Joey gets enough credit, honestly. I think he's the main reason that the Ravens offense is still...well, an offense since as Lord Raven said, they have weak receivers and have been without Ray Rice at RB. Justin Forsett is alright, but not a Ray Rice and certainly not like our man Le'Veon Bell.

Edited September 6, 2015 by Anacybele

[Team Alucard]

NFC North is pretty powerful. The Bears are up in the air, but the Lions and Packers will remain very good and the Vikings are climbing their way up.

I'm not so sure about that. Last year's 11-5 record was really deceiving as they mostly skated by against mediocre/bad teams and got annihilated against every decent team they played. They really overachieved by taking advantage of an absurdly easy schedule (they only played 3 teams that finished above .500). Their only decent win was early in the year against the Packers when Rodgers was in a bit of a funk.

The schedule is much tougher this season, and Suh is gone so the defense is probably going to regress pretty badly. I think we've seen enough from Stafford at this point to realize that he's probably never going to be more than a slightly-above-average QB. 2011 seems more and more like a fluke with each passing season.

Of course I'd love to be wrong, but it's difficult for me to have much faith in the Lions when they have been so bad my whole life. I feel like their ceiling is probably 9 wins.

[Lord Raven]

I think if you look at any winning team you'll see many wins from sub-.500 teams. I wouldn't be too worried about that.

As for the rest, your OL was pretty injured last year, as was your run game, and Megatron had a lot of injury issues. It is tough to play QB in an offense where the pieces around you are falling apart. Notice also that the 2011 season had more than one good WR on the field at all times.

You guys also have good coaching, and while he's no Suh (anymore), Ngata is still pretty damn good. He's not the force he used to be but he's still very good.

[Team Alucard]

What's worrisome is the fact the fact that they barely beat most of those teams. Great teams usually beat the bad ones by comfortable margins, not narrowly eking out a win by the skin of their teeth. There was like a 4 week stretch in the middle of the season where they went all cardiac cats and won every game in the final moment after overcoming a big deficit, and against very mediocre competition (Vikings, Saints, Falcons, Phins). At that point they were 7-2 iirc, but I couldn't help but feel that they weren't legit and it was just... kinda flukey, you know?

For what it's worth The Lions had the third worst point differential of any team in the playoffs at +39. They were only ahead of the 7-8-1 Panthers and the Cardinals who played half the season with Stanton and Lindley at QB. Both of those teams also beat us in the regular season....... >_>

Edited September 7, 2015 by Team Alucard

[Lord Raven]

I think the fact that they were an actually fairly weakened team - compared to what they could be - plays a big part in that. They had to rely on defense and field position more than their offense due to the weak OL, weak run game, and Tate carrying their receiving corps. You also haven't seen much of Ebron yet, since first year TEs are almost always going to struggle.

Also keep in mind that they narrowly lost to the Cowboys in the playoffs, who had a 12-4 record, and a few snafus towards the end were what sealed it. If their offense were healthier then they could've done a better job against the Packers in the second game, because they were holding on quite well for a while there.

Edited September 7, 2015 by Lord Raven