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

[Lord Raven]

rest in peace, i'm remembering him now and i remember he looked good during preseason last year

my condolences to his family

EDIT: apparently his father passed away or something a week or two prior. how awful

Edited March 18, 2016 by Lord Raven

[Anacybele]

I thought it said his dad died in 2014... But still, yeah, very sad.

But I know the Ravens are tough and can get through this together. I respect those guys, after all. There's no other team I'd rather have for the Steelers' biggest rivals, I can tell you that! The Browns are blah and fuck the Bengals. :P Let's keep the rivalry strong!

Edited March 18, 2016 by Anacybele

[Lord Raven]

That could've been it, there was something recently about his father I think that might've thrown me off.

[Anacybele]

Yeah, maybe.

Oh, and the guy's family, I hope they know what to do to get through this rough time as well. It won't be easy though, I can tell you that. I know from experience, as someone who lost a close family member suddenly and at a young age... If I could talk to the family myself even, man, I damn well would.

Edited March 18, 2016 by Anacybele

[chococoke]

On a less depressing note,

I'm gonna go ahead and give a super early prediction of the AFC's playoff seeds from this upcoming season. Lemme know how wrong I am n stuff:

1) Patriots

2) Ravens

3) Raiders

4) Jaguars

5) Steelers

6) Broncos

This is rough and I haven't even really looked at schedules or anything like that. With that in mind, I'm obviously a fan of the moves the Raiders and Jaguars have made this off-season. The Patriots were 1 pass to a wide-open Gronk away from tying the best team in the league last year, and they've experienced very little personnel turnover. The Ravens are one of the best in the business when it comes to drafting and I expect them to retool their defense in a big way come April. The Steelers and Broncos will most likely be carried by their offense and defense, respectively, but have huge questions on the other side of the ball.

[Anacybele]

Not a bad list. I think the Ravens are kind of iffy though, given how strong the Steelers and Bengals are, and the fact that Flacco is coming off an ACL/MCL tear. Maybe a 50/50 shot there. Same with the Broncos, as while they still have a freaky defense, they've got a QB situation now with Peyton's retirement and Brock Osweiler's going to the Texans.

Oh yeah, ClevelandSteve, your Browns could get RG3. I'd hope for that if I were you, he was pretty good despite all his injuries. The guy just needs to freaking stay healthy.

Edited March 20, 2016 by Anacybele

[-Cynthia-]

Interesting predictions. I'd agree that the Patriots seem like the #1 team in the AFC right now, they were arguably the best team in the conference last year and the Broncos have QB issues(Sanchez?) along with some other departures.

I think the Jaguars will contend in the AFC South, but I'm leery of picking them to win it despite their improvements. I'm not really sold on Osweiler being the solution in Houston. With a healthy Andrew Luck I think the Colts will be decent at least. The Titans signed DeMarco Murray who wasn't very good last year and is kinda old and injury prone so I'm not expecting much there.

[chococoke]

I really think the Jags can win the division as long as the O-line doesn't blow it and the defense doesn't underperform. The offense has a decent amount of talent and I expect it to be utilized in Bortles' 3rd year with the offense. The additions on defense were nice, though a lot of the potential for this unit as a whole will hinge on how well Dante Fowler plays coming off an ACL tear. They could also easily add a quality defensive player via the draft picking at #5

EDIT: the Colts fail to bring in defensive help every year. I don't think Andrew Luck can carry them without a defense that is somewhat competent.

Murray doesn't upgrade the Titans offense at all, for sure. I'm not sold on the defense and their talent at the offensive skill positions will have to make big-time strides.

The Texans could actually throw a wrench in my predictions if Lamar Miller and the defense can carry the team (much like what happened with the Broncos last season.) Osweiler had something like a 3 game stretch where the offense was shut out in the second half. That seems fairly ominous considering his offensive supporting cast has been slightly downgraded from last season (except maybe at O-line.) Lets not forget he was benched for statistically the worst QB in the league.

Edited March 20, 2016 by chococoke

[Lord Raven]

ravens will be the #1 seed and win the super bowl

john harbaugh has never lost a home playoff game

[chococoke]

Playing them in the playoffs is always 2 much 4 me

[Anacybele]

Haha, I KNEW it, AB added his touchdown dance to his DWTS performance! He did great throughout the whole thing, he's such a natural, just like I thought he'd be! I saw a few hiccups here and there, but he'll get better as he keeps at it, I know it. He's not going home in the first round, no way. lol

Funny enough, he and Von Miller got the exact same score, even down to what each of the judges gave them. 8, 6, 7 in that order for both of them. But that was laaame, both of them did better than a freaking 6! Screw the old guy judge. :( I would've given AB an 8 and Von a 7. The style of dancing Von used just never impresses me a whole lot. Faster dancing like the quickstep, which is what AB did, usually appeals to me more. Plus, AB's TD dance, you can't ignore that, man. It's too good. XD

There was also a former NFL guy in this cast, Doug Flutie, I think his name is.

Edited March 22, 2016 by Anacybele

[-Cynthia-]

I think the Jags will be fine on offense, it's the defense I'm worried about. The free agent pickups/Fowler if he's any good should help some, but last season's D was...bad so there's a lot to prove.

Yeah, I think Osweiler is probably a downgrade from Hoyer and the Texans offensive talent is...lacking. They'll have the best defense in the division most likely, but probably not good enough to dominate most games like the Broncos D did.

I think the AFC North is pretty much a crapshoot because the Steelers and Bengals are pretty much the same(the Bengals lost Sanu I guess) and the Ravens should at least bounce back to .500. Browns are gonna Browns.

Chiefs should be a pretty competitive team, might even be the division winners- not really a championship squad unless Brady gets injured or something though. Raiders should be competitive, I think the Chargers are trying to clean house or something.

I don't think any of the AFC East teams other than the Patriots make the playoffs. Weird as it sounds, Jets are probably better keeping Fitzpatrick than whoever they can wrangle off the street.

I think my AFC playoff picks are:

1. Patriots

2. Bengals

3. Chiefs

4. Colts

5. Steelers

6. Raiders

[Jiac]

I'm going to make my seeding predictions after the draft. That seems like a more appropriate place to being evaluating.

[Anacybele]

Yeah, same here, I like to take things like the draft and such into consideration. Even the preseason too, though that's the least important part to me.

[ClevelandSteve]

Oh yeah, ClevelandSteve, your Browns could get RG3. I'd hope for that if I were you, he was pretty good despite all his injuries. The guy just needs to freaking stay healthy.

I mean, he did do well for me on my Fantasy team back during his rookie season, and from all I've heard about him he's a pretty cool guy and it would be great if he finds success somewhere. However, his injury issues are a major problem.

At the same time, though, I don't think any of these QBs in the draft are worth the #2 overall pick, especially with how depleted our team got in free agency this year. I say giving RG3 a shot might be a good idea. If he doesn't work out, we'll probably have another high draft pick next year when hopefully the QB class will be better (though I can't be certain about that, since I don't really know if any big names are likely to enter the 2017 Draft).

[chococoke]

Cynthia, I actually was saying that the Texans' offensive supporting cast was a downgrade from the Broncos offensive supporting cast. I personally believe Osweiler is better than Hoyer, and Houston obviously feels the same way.

I like RG3 as a pick up for the Browns. He would at least make them a little bit exciting.

[Anacybele]

Oh yeah, Osweiler is definitely better than Hoyer. I thought Osweiler was better than old man Peyton. :P

And yeah, I think RG3 could potentially make the Browns a bit more exciting too.

[Jiac]

Oh yeah, ClevelandSteve, your Browns could get RG3. I'd hope for that if I were you, he was pretty good despite all his injuries. The guy just needs to freaking stay healthy.

I remember RG3 had issues staying and recognizing pressure in the pocket.

Like he doesn't have the footwork to stay in the pocket, the visual cues to recognize that pressure is coming, nor the comfort to stay in the pocket.

He would've been pretty good otherwise, but there was a lot of issues about his QB play aside from his first year. I think the Browns picking him up will be okay, since they have an "experienced" QB with "potential." But, with their history in developing QBs, I think RG3 will face the same issues unless they do a scheme overhaul.

It really shows, since Kirk Cousins looks comfortable in the pocket, it's just that his recognition of coverages and progression of reads have issues. I remember a bait play where Revis backed-up like they were playing Cover 3, then he just broke and got an interception on Cousins. He didn't recognize that Revis was watching him to bait his throw.

[-Cynthia-]

Oh yeah, Osweiler is definitely better than Hoyer. I thought Osweiler was better than old man Peyton. :P

And yeah, I think RG3 could potentially make the Browns a bit more exciting too.

He was better than old man Peyton, but arguably so was everyone else in the league (except Nick Foles). Statistically, last year Osweiler was a bit worse than Hoyer but it was pretty close. I suppose y'all might think he has upside or something, I didn't really see it.

[Jiac]

He was better than old man Peyton, but arguably so was everyone else in the league (except Nick Foles). Statistically, last year Osweiler was a bit worse than Hoyer but it was pretty close. I suppose y'all might think he has upside or something, I didn't really see it.

I mean you can argue that since he sat behind Peyton Manning, he at least has a step-up in reading coverages and recognizing stuff etc. It could also be Kubiak's system that makes us unable to see it.

I can't honestly tell how much upside he has since how we fooled Osweiler is that we forced him to make like 2-3 reads before throwing, so his throws were either off-timing or were just bad throws. We had a lot of players stack the box then drop into coverage and vice versa. When Manning came in he recognized a lot of stuff and wasn't fooled.

Edited March 24, 2016 by ~Summer~

[Anacybele]

He was better than old man Peyton, but arguably so was everyone else in the league (except Nick Foles).

Ha, yeah, probably. lol Just goes to show much the defense was the reason for the Super Bowl win. Most of the Steelers' Super Bowl wins were because of their defense too (43 is arguably the only one that was more on the offense thanks to magic from Santonio Holmes and Big Ben. Though you can't ignore James Harrison's historic 100 yard pick-six, lol), it wasn't that big a surprise.

EDIT: Hey, ClevelandSteve, say hello to your new QB! RG3 actually did sign with the Browns. :o

Edited March 24, 2016 by Anacybele

[ClevelandSteve]

EDIT: Hey, ClevelandSteve, say hello to your new QB! RG3 actually did sign with the Browns. :o

Hopefully this means we won't use our #2 pick on Goff or Wentz. Neither of them seems really worth it.

Picking up a QB in the later rounds will probably be a smart investment, though, since RG3 is incredibly injury prone and we just lost two of our three top-notch offensive linemen to free agency.

[chococoke]

I like the way you think. I believe there's a greater likelihood that Cleveland drafts Goff or Wentz to compete with RG3, though. You can take solace in the fact that both have way more upside than any of Manziel, Weeden, or even Brady Quinn.

Then again, maybe a homeless man tells the Browns' owner to draft a top defensive prospect and the team shocks everyone.

[Anacybele]

Baaah, that kind of dance isn't an AB dance! AB needs to move, some slow dancing crap just doesn't fit a guy like him! He did pretty alright regardless though. DWTS is on every Monday night, just to point out. I would've given him a 7 there, rather than an 8 like last week. The crowd was totally booing when the judges pointed out the flaws though, omg wow. Didn't expect that. But really, it was flawed, you could see it. Like I said, that's just not an AB type dance. It doesn't fit the guy. Next week needs to have him do something that's more him! Still, keep BUSINESS BOOMIN'! ("business is boomin'" is an AB meme these days. XD)

Oh, but Chad Ochocino was there to watch him! He's TeamAB/TeamBoomin' and actually played for the Bengals, never the Steelers! You go, dude! Cam Heyward was there too this time, I saw. He wasn't there last week despite being a Steeler.

Von Miller still has yet to dance tonight, I'll watch him if I feel like it. :P

Edited March 29, 2016 by Anacybele

[-Cynthia-]

Schedules have been posted for the upcoming season. Jaguars host the Packers- I guess it's not the worst, will probably be hot and opening day weirdness benefits weaker teams.