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

[-Cynthia-]

The Steelers aren't quite eliminated just yet. They need to beat the Browns next week and either have the Jets lose to the Bills or the Broncos lose to the Bengals and Chargers.

[Lord Raven]

Also New England can't clinch the 1 seed this week.

EDIT: Kansas City can't ever have a one seed but I included teams that aren't eliminated.

Edited December 27, 2015 by Lord Raven

[Anacybele]

That first line was literally me copy+pasting the text from the last post. My bad.

But I didn't make any announcements of clinching or elimination because only 7 teams are in the hunt. I only brought up potential seeding scenarios.

Oh, then my bad too.

And you're right, Cynthia, but what are the chances of that happening? And I honestly hope the Steelers don't get in now, because I don't want them to get in simply because a couple teams lost. I want them to be in because they made it happen, like last year (even though they didn't win that playoff game).

Although, I bet if Ben hadn't been lost for four games, we wouldn't have even been in this position in the first place...

[Team Alucard]

A win next week and the Lions finish 7-9, 2 games shy of my pre-season prediction of 9-7. And if you factor i nthe two games that they had stolen by the refs (@Seattle, Vs. GB) then my prediction was right on the money. =)

Season was obviously over months ago, but I'm glad they've managed to look respectable down the stretch.

Hopefully the new FO doesn't blow everything up. This team isn't terrible, just needs better O-Line play and they could be in business next year.

I think Stafford at the very least has shown management that he deserves to stay. He's easily having his best season since 2011. Don't wanna see Megatron get traded/released either but with his contract who knows what will happen.

At the very least, next year's schedule likely won't be as brutal as it was this season. (8 games against playoff teams)

Edited December 27, 2015 by Team Alucard

[-Cynthia-]

So all 6 teams in the NFC are now decided due to the Vikings win. In Week 17 we have:

NFC

Carolina is the #1 seed with a win or Arizona loss

Arizona is the #1 seed with a win and a Carolina loss

Green Bay is the #3 seed with a win, #5 seed with a loss

Minnesota is the #3 seed with a win, #5 seed with a loss and a Seattle loss, #6 with a loss and a Seattle win

Seattle is the #6 seed with a loss or a Minnesota win, #5 with a win and a Minnesota loss

Washington is the #4 seed

The AFC is contingent upon the Bengals/Broncos game tomorrow and is generally more complicated. The Bengals clinch a first round bye with a win tomorrow, the Broncos clinch a playoff berth with a win tomorrow. A Bengals win also clinches the AFC South for the Texans and eliminates the Colts.

[Jedi]

I finally actually see what happened in the game today and it was a bit more one sided than I thought it'd be.

[Bullwine85]

I finally actually see what happened in the game today and it was a bit more one sided than I thought it'd be.

I was working during the game. For me, the fact that I wasn't able to watch it was a blessing in disguise.

Edited December 28, 2015 by Bullwine85

[Anacybele]

Can't blame you there. I'm glad I didn't see most of that Steelers game myself, though I wish I'd seen none of it.

Still, funny thing there, isn't this the first season where Ben and Flacco never played against each other while they've both been in the league? Or was there another year that I for some reason don't remember? :P

But honestly, I suppose the Ravens deserved SOMETHING nice for a change after all the hell they've been through this season. So good on them, really.

Oh, but I'm glad I didn't see the Panthers game either.

[Jiac]

The Panthers' offense just looked plain dysfunctional against the Falcons.

It shouldn't be a thing of concern though since Ron Rivera is probably going to solve what went wrong.

EDIT: DERP

Edited December 28, 2015 by ~Summer~

[Anacybele]

You mean Ron Rivera. lol But yeah, at least he's a coach that doesn't let his team repeatedly lose to ones with bad records. Thanks, Mike Tomlin. >_>

Tomlin is by no means a bad coach, but he really needs to fix this. The game was just poorly coached overall. All of them need to be more consistent and Todd Haley just needs to completely throw out the stupid dink and dunking. Ben already said a long time ago that he hated this too, and it makes him look bad. He was playing poorly, likely due to poor decisions by Haley.

Edited December 28, 2015 by Anacybele

[Lord Raven]

Ben was playing poorly because he was missing open dudes and not seeing defenders. That is not on Haley. His interceptions (and dropped picks) were off of poor throws and bad aim.

That "dink and dunk" offense you keep harping about also took like 5-10 deep shots out of like 40 pass attempts. It was the deep throws that went poorly generally. Furthermore most teams run a "dink and dunk" offense, known as a West Coast Offense which is significantly more nuanced than "dink and dunk."

I finally actually see what happened in the game today and it was a bit more one sided than I thought it'd be.

You mean 9 sacks and a 30 point lead wasn't enough to tip you off about how one sided it was?

[Anacybele]

Ben did make some mistakes on his own, I'll give you that (like how did he not see the huge Jesse James WIDE open down the field...). And a few of his passes were dropped. But I still think it was mostly on Haley.

[Lord Raven]

like before

why

you're complaining about his dink and dunk system when they clearly took shots down the field

you're complaining about ben's poor play when he wasn't playing well the entire game, and he's had a tendnecy to throw a bunch of interceptions since he came back from his MCL injury

ben would've thrown 4 picks if upshaw wasn't slightly offsides and if Jimmy Smith didn't drop a gimme pick very early on. you cannot possibly blame this game on todd haley

[Jedi]

You mean 9 sacks and a 30 point lead wasn't enough to tip you off about how one sided it was?

Nah I didn't know how the game went then I looked up the score and was like.

"Daaaaaaamn"

[Anacybele]

Because our offense succeeded with the long passing plays coupled with a few run plays here and there. If you noticed, almost none of those shorter passes worked, not even the ones handed to AB. They almost never work for us. I think this is what Ben called "dink and dunk." Haley also made Ben try to force throws to Brown when that never works either (see the Seahawks game). What DID work was spreading the ball around (Wheaton torching the Seahawks D and then the second half of the Broncos game) and whatever they did to get the defense to wisen up in that Broncos game (the Broncos were shut out in the second half!).

Haley also tried having Ben throw a short pass to Heath Miller, which doesn't work at ALL because the guy is just too slow. He's supposed to catch balls while already being down the field because he can't run for crap. He can bulldoze his way through one or two guys, but he's not a runner.

Edited December 28, 2015 by Anacybele

[Lord Raven]

define "Worked" cause ben had like 70% completion rate

the long passes weren't working either. 3 passes beyond the line of scrimmage were either picked or dropped picks.

I think this is what Ben called "dink and dunk."

This is known as a west coast offense. Also, that interview was from 2012, and the fact that Ben called it that is not only unprofessional and disrespectful to a colleague but it's also showing a complete oversimplification and lack of understanding towards what a West Coast offense tries to do. It is also showing that this is clearly much different to Arians' offense. I am tired of explaining this to you.

Most teams run some sort of West Coast offense. The 49ers dynasty of the 80s were entirely based on the West Coast offense. 5 of the Top 10 offenses by yards run this kind of offense. The "dink and dunk" not working is also clearly bullshit because a) the Ravens have spent the entire last two or three seasons being completely susceptible to this playstyle (coupled with tightening up in the red zone leading to long drives resulting in FGs and many times touchdowns) and b) they still threw deep and I don't know what game you were watching but outside of DPIs the deep throws didn't work. This is on the offensive line here, because I've only seen one pass where Ben stepped into the pocket. I'm guessing that Pro Bowl snubbed Brandon Williams completely desecrated all over Pittsburgh's interior but I dunno, I'll have to rewatch some of the plays, especially if Courtney Upshaw of all people could get a sack on Ben.

and then the second half of the Broncos game

Wasn't Denver missing both its safeties in the second half?

Haley also tried having Ben throw a short pass to Heath Miller, which doesn't work at ALL because the guy is just too slow. He's supposed to catch balls while already being down the field because he can't run for crap.

I highly doubt Miller was the primary target for some of these throws. There were a few coverage sacks or some astonishingly good coverage in our secondary, and astonishingly good pressure against Ben, considering he got 3 sacks (at bad times) and an always unclean pocket. Maybe Ben didn't step into the pocket enough. Maybe the OL completely shit the bed. But there's no way you can piss on Haley that much over players playing poorly. Brown had awful footwork on two receptions that would've gone for a TD or a key third down conversion, for another example.

NFC

1/2 seed:

Carolina (1) and Arizona (2) if Carolina wins

Arizona (1) and Carolina (2) if Arizona wins and Carolina loses

3 seed: the winner of Green Bay/Minnesota is the 3-seed

5 seed:

Green Bay if Minnesota wins

Minnesota if Green Bay wins and Seattle loses

Seattle if Green Bay wins and Seattle wins

6 seed:

Minnesota if Minnesota loses and Seattle wins

Seattle if Minnesota loses and Seattle loses

AFC

1 seed:

New England if New England wins

Cincinnati if New England loses, Denver loses and Cincinnati wins

Denver if New England loses and Cincinnati wins

2 seed:

New England if New England loses

Cincinnati if Denver loses

Denver if New England and Denver win

3 seed:

Denver if Kansas City loses

Denver if Cincinnati wins and Denver/Kansas City lose

Kansas City if Denver loses and Kansas City wins

4 seed:

A clusterfuck if Houston loses (something something strength of victory), Houston if Houston wins, and Indianapolis if a ton of teams lose

5 seed:

Kansas City if KC and Denver win

New York if Kansas City loses and New York wins

Denver if Denver loses and Kansas City wins

6 seed:

Pittsburgh if New York loses

Kansas City if New York wins and KC loses

New York if KC wins and New York wins

http://www.playoffmagic.com/nfl/division/

Edited December 29, 2015 by Lord Raven

[Anacybele]

You apparently forgot that I said I don't blame Haley for EVERYTHING, just a majority of it. Yes, Ben made mistakes too, yes Brown for some reason had trouble keeping both feet in when he's usually very good at that, and yes the defense had problems. But I still think Haley accounts for like 60-65% of the reason for the loss.

[Lord Raven]

You apparently forgot that I said I don't blame Haley for EVERYTHING, just a majority of it.

If I said you were then I exaggerating but this is still stupid

Yes, Ben made mistakes too, yes Brown for some reason had trouble keeping both feet in when he's usually very good at that, and yes the defense had problems. But I still think Haley accounts for like 60-65% of the reason for the loss.

We didn't watch the same game... cause all of those factors would pin the loss more on Ben than Haley. There were also a lot good players by our secondary and linebackers, believe it or not, and they were playing much better this game than any other game this entire year.

I don't know how else to explain that Ben was off-target on most of his throws. I don't even know how else to explain that they went deep quite a bit. What else was wrong with Haley's offense? When the short pass wasn't working they went deep, when Williams was finally getting stopped behind the line they passed it more.

[-Cynthia-]

I don't think Cincy can get a higher seed than New England, same conference record and the Patriots win common games.

Picks for this week:

Saints at Falcons- Falcons seem like they're on a bit of a roll after losing so many.

Jets at Bills- I'm sure Rex will try his best to spoil things here, but the Bills have looked pretty shitty this past month.

Redskins at Cowboys- Redskins are probably resting their starters? Meaningless game for them

Titans at Colts- The Titans are a really bad football team when it's all said and done.

Lions at Bears- I think the Lions are the hotter team coming in here. Bears have been bad at home this season.

Steelers at Browns- Steelers probably won't lay an egg two weeks in a row, although the Browns looked OK last week.

Patriots at Dolphins- The Dolphins are a mess, especially on offense.

Eagles at Giants- Pretty ugly for both teams, but the Eagles just fired Chip Kelly so probably the bigger mess at the moment.

Ravens at Bengals- Bengals aren't as good offensively without Dalton, but I don't think the Ravens are good enough to have that kind of performance two weeks in a row.

Jaguars at Texans- Texans are better on defense and can throw to DeAndre Hopkins or something. Even if it's Brandon Weeden.

Bucs at Panthers- Panthers are the better team and should be able to wrap up the 1 seed here.

Raiders at Chiefs- Picking against the team on the 9 game winning streak doesn't seem smart.

Seahawks at Cardinals- Both these teams aren't playing for that much overall, but I think the Cardinals are better.

Chargers at Broncos- Not sure the Chargers can score more than 3 points against the Broncos or Chiefs which would make it tough to win.

Rams at Niners- Rams have put together a solid December to probably go 8-8 and save Jeff Fisher's job. Niners don't look very good.

Vikings at Packers- Ugly game for the Packers last week, but the Vikings can't seem to manage to beat quality teams.

[Lord Raven]

I don't think Cincy can get a higher seed than New England, same conference record and the Patriots win common games.

You may be correct. If New England loses then only Denver can get the seed.

[Anacybele]

Additionally, the Steelers trashed the Browns once before already, so if they don't do it a second time, and when a playoff spot is on the line, then there's definitely a problem.

They actually aren't losing to as many "bad" teams as they did last year (they did obliterate the Niners, Colts, and Browns, and managed to survive the Rams and Chargers when Ben got hurt), but that Ravens game still has no excuse. They knocked down the Cardinals without Ben, you'd think these guys could take a Ravens team that had like a dozen players on IR, including their starting QB and top WR.

Although, now that I think about it, they give us trouble a lot. Almost every game is decided by three points. Last year was funky though, blowouts for both sides. But still, this season's matchups were just bull.

Edited December 30, 2015 by Anacybele

[Lord Raven]

chip kelly is gone

rip

[Anacybele]

Ha, I saw that coming from a mile away. Eagles were so poor.

[-Cynthia-]

Word is that Gus Bradley is safe. I'm not opposed to this, but if we aren't at least 8-8 by next year I think firing him deserves some consideration.

[Life]

Ryan's safe for next year. I'm OK with this.

My personal feeling is to give any given coach 3 years.