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

[ClevelandSteve]

They look cooler now though, Steve! I mean, those new uniforms! I like them better than the old ones. Now you guys just need a real logo (srsly, what's with the boring orange helmet...). Also, Johnny Manziel doesn't look as bad as he did last year.

Or...is this not helping? xP

The uniforms are pretty cool, yeah, but the orange helmet logo is kind of our thing.

Also it was basically impossible for Manziel to look as bad as he did last year, so his minor improvement is nothing for me to get excited over.

[-Cynthia-]

Going to do another week of picks. Got 14/16 right last week which is pretty good.

Broncos at Chiefs- Broncos offense looked weak, Chiefs looked like they can throw the ball downfield now. Thursday night games also favor the home teams significantly.

Lions at Vikings- The Lions defense looked very vulnerable last week, but I don't think the Vikings have the tools to take advantage of this.

Cardinals at Bears- Bears put forth a good effort last week, but I think they're overmatched on both sides of the ball again. Don't think Forte will be as successful here as he was last week.

Titans at Browns- The Titans are probably not as good as they looked last week and picking them to go 2-0 seems shaky, but the Browns looked like a total mess.

Patriots at Bills- This was a tough one to pick- Brady has dominated the Bills for his entire career but I think the combination of Rex Ryan, the Bills personnel and a questionable Patriots offensive line might make the difference.

Texans at Panthers- Texans have a QB controversy- and not a good kind, the kind where both guys kinda suck. Add in Arian Foster being out and I think the Panthers D will dominate.

Niners at Steelers- I think the Niners falling apart may have been exaggerated somewhat, but I still like the Steelers at home after the long week. They'll need to control the line of scrimmage though or they could end up like the (probably)overrated Vikings.

Chargers at Bengals- The Bengals usually take care of business at home during the regular season- that's how they keep going to the playoffs. Their defense will definitely be challenged more than last week though.

Rams at Redskins- I think the Rams D can dominate the Redskins offensive line and their offense looks better than expected.

Falcons at Giants- Falcons barely managed a win and the Giants barely managed to shoot themselves in the foot. Should be a lot of passing yards and points here- I'll take the home team.

Bucs at Saints- The Bucs are probably the worst team in the NFL. This week will probably be less embarrassing by the law of averages at least.

Ravens at Raiders- I could see the Ravens being sluggish here after their second straight week out west, but the Raiders don't have the tools offensively to win this game I think.

Dolphins at Jaguars- The Dolphins weren't very impressive last week, giving up a lot of rushing yards and not doing much offensively. I think their defense manages to do just enough here to win though.

Cowboys at Eagles- The Cowboys barely won, the Eagles barely lost and the NFC East is rather unpredictable. I'll go with the Eagles with Dez Bryant out.

Seahawks at Packers- If Nick Foles got almost 300 yards on the Seahawks, what will Aaron Rodgers do? The Seahawks have caused matchup problems for the Packers in the past, but Packers have been tough at home when Rodgers plays.

Jets at Colts- The Jets D-line could match up well against the Colts O Line, but if the Colts can limit mistakes I think they can still outscore a still questionable Jets offense.

[Bullwine85]

Seahawks at Packers- If Nick Foles got almost 300 yards on the Seahawks, what will Aaron Rodgers do? The Seahawks have caused matchup problems for the Packers in the past, but Packers have been tough at home when Rodgers plays.

On the other hand, if Matt Forte got 144 yards vs. our terrible run D, what do you think Marshawn Lynch will do?

Tough call next week

[-Cynthia-]

On the other hand, if Matt Forte got 144 yards vs. our terrible run D, what do you think Marshawn Lynch will do?

Tough call next week

Yeah I think if the Seahawks get a lead the Packers could have issues. The Seahawks going 0-2 also seems unlikely, but the Colts went 0-2 last year and ended up in the championship game so eh.

[Anacybele]

So, how do the Vikings with Adrian Peterson only get 3 points total? Was Peterson severely overestimated or do the Niners have that good a defense?

Anyway, I'll start making my own picks later today. I waited because before week 1, we don't exactly get a good idea of what the starters will be like.

[Life]

- Baltimore Ravens - me

- New England Patriots - chococoke, Assassin Tempest, sorta Alucard

- Detroit Lions - Alucard

- ShittsburghPittsburgh Steelers - Anacybele

- Jacksonville Jaguars (JAX lol) - Cynthia

- Green Bay Packers - bullwine

- St. Louis Rams/San Francisco 49ers - Phoenix Wright

- San Diego Chargers - Jiac/Summer/etc

- Cleveland Browns - Baltimore[/b]ClevelandSteve

- Arizona Cardinals - Jedi

I know I've been gone for a month, but have you really forgotten about me already?

Tyrod played well. Defense was lights out. Shady will find his holes as the season go simply because the Colts underestimated the air game and stacked the box. Now that people know that T-Mobile's got a light touch, it's a pick your poison type of gameplay.

AB though, he's still incredibly awesome! He beat Malcolm Butler a few times, and wrestled with him to make a sweet catch!

I've been trying to keep my mouth shut but I can't anymore.

Ana, this is why we constantly tell you that you don't know anything about football. Why? Because you actually believe that Malcolm Butler should be covering Antonio Bryant when someone who actually understands the sport is wondering why he's starting (and that would because the Patriots secondary is that weak).

My grandmother could beat Butler any day of the week. Congratulations on being proud of something that is supposed to happen.

Edited September 15, 2015 by Oogie Fletzet

[Anacybele]

1. If you're the one who knows so much, why not get the guy's name right? It's Antonio BROWN.

2. You should've continued keeping your mouth shut. Stop calling me stupid and quit posting if you can't say something that isn't rude. I'm really getting tired of your BS.

3. If Butler is so bad, how could he have given AB, a top receiver, a hard time? AB might've outplayed him in the end, but it wasn't without difficulty given that wrestle catch.

Edited September 15, 2015 by Anacybele

[Life]

1. If you're the one who knows so much, why not get the guy's name right? It's Antonio BROWN.

2. You should've continued keeping your mouth shut. Stop calling me stupid and quit posting if you can't say something that isn't rude. I'm really getting tired of your BS.

3. If Butler is so bad, how could he have given AB, a top receiver, a hard time? AB might've outplayed him in the end, but it wasn't without difficulty given that wrestle catch.

The only point that's worth contending is the last one.

Butler was getting beaten all night long by Brown/Bryant/receiver that I can't be bothered to learn his name. Want examples? Thank god for Gamepass.

- Q1, 14:21 - Butler gets caught up in a beautiful screen by Heath Miller after going in motion but lining up too far away from the line of scrimmage. Result? 9 yard gain for Brown.

- Q1, 6:26 - Brown makes a retarded catch off the helmet of Butler, Butler fails to wrap Brown up entirely or push him out of bounds and Brown gets an extra 3 yards after the catch. A poor read by Roethlisberger turns into a 10 yard first down on 3 & 5 due to Butler's incompetence.

- Q1, 5:29 - Butler gets caught again on a screen to Brown and once again blows the tackle. Brown only gets three yards because Jamie Collins was there to help out.

That's three examples of both misplay and blown tackles in the first quarter alone. Butler is a terrible CB and you're caught up in the hype of believing that he's good simply because he iced the Seahawks back in Feb. And if he's the guy who's covering Brown, that speaks volumes about the state of NE's secondary.

EDIT: I feel like proving you wrong even more. Let's keep going on why Butler is SO fantastic.

- Q2, 8:46 - Rather than attributing this one to Butler, this is poor route running by Brown and a terrible throw by Roethlisberger. Brown doesn't look back for the ball and Roethlisberger throws it too far behind. Something to note: Butler was facing Brown the entire time. If Roethlisberger puts it closer to Brown, Butler gets called for Pass Interference.

- Q2, 3:57 - Why is Butler 8 yards deep on 1st and 10? Once again, he gets locked up in a screen (this time from Heyward-Bey) and fails to finish the tackle.

- Q2, 2:13 - Straight up blown coverage with Butler 3 yards back of Brown in open field. On a freaking fly route. Are you kidding me? This is your best CB? Sammy is gonna make mincemeat of Butler next Sunday.

Long story short, you have no fucking clue what you're talking about.

Edited September 15, 2015 by Oogie Fletzet

[Anacybele]

Uh, I don't see where I said he's fantastic or amazing. He's pretty good, but not fantastic.

[chococoke]

I enjoy watching the aggressive flaming that takes place in this thread. I'd argue that Butler is better than you give him credit for, Oog. Of course, there isn't much of a sample size, so that judgment will have to wait.

I'm kinda scared Tyrod is gonna have like 60 fantasy points this week. The Pats have always played shit defense against mobile QBs

[Life]

Uh, I don't see where I said he's fantastic or amazing. He's pretty good, but not fantastic.

He's not even good. That's the problem right there.

You claimed that he gave Antonio Brown problems. If you rewatch the game (I literally picked through Brown's first 6 targets in the game), you'll see that Malcolm Butler repeatedly misses tackles, got caught by screens and then blew coverage on a 30+ yard pass. If that's called "giving problems", I can't wait to see if he'll be covering Sammy or Percy next Sunday. Percy will flat out burn him and Sammy will just have a monster day with like 8 receptions.

So shall we make way for too early bold predictions for the upcoming season?

Broncos go 2nd in the AFC West.

The Browns make the playoffs.

Aaron Rodgers goes down again but with a competent back-up who shows flashes of an NFL caliber starter. Leads Green Bay to a 11-5 season winning 1 playoff game.

The Panthers get a capable Left Tackle via Free Agency.

Brett Favre, Troy Polamalu and Ed Reed get out of retirement to sign with the Eagles. Seeing Sam Bradford get hurt, Brett Favre instantly retires right after the game selling jeans and hair products. Troy Polamalu causes friendly-fire upon Ed Reed and both retire upon this hit.

Darren McFadden has a career year and gets nominations for Comeback Player of the Year.

The NFC West gets surprised by the up and coming Rams who sneak into the playoffs.

Bills win the AFC East due to a 12 game suspension of Tom Brady. Jimmy Garropolo leads the Patriots to a 9-7 season but miss the playoffs.

DeMarco Murray and Ryan Mathews are placed on the IR by the end of this season.

Found this. Let's go through it after Week 1.

1. Denver isn't winning the AFC West for sure, not after KC's manhandling of Houston. Second place... Probably not going to happen either. Chargers will take that one. Wrong.

2. The Browns will make the playoffs when the Cubs win the World Series. Wrong.

3. Rodgers isn't going down. Lacy was averaging 4.5 ypc due to holes being opened by the OL and Rodgers barely got touched on dropbacks. That OL is solid but Chicago isn't exactly great. Wrong.

4. Couldn't care less about the Panthers so I don't know. All I know is that Atlanta's going back to the playoffs in that division.

5. That's a good one. Wrong.

6. Now that Dez Bryant is out for about two months, this one could come true. That Dallas OL is something else. Correct.

7. Rams won't sneak into the playoffs. They'll make it easily and I've been thinking that ever since the start of preseason. I wouldn't be surprised if Seattle implodes and St. Louis wins the division... but I'm not expecting it. Correct.

8. No suspension for Brady but the Bills can do it. We didn't just beat Indy; we shut them out for the first half. The offense can actually move the ball for the first time in years and Tyrod wasn't making any mistakes. My favourite play was when he batted a ball out of air to the ground in order to avoid a possible interception. That's smart play. Thanks for mentoring him, Baltimore. Correct, I hope.

9. With Bradford slinging the ball 50+ times? Not enough touches to do so. But Philly are crap and nobody wants to admit it yet. They can go down injured thanks to their terrible OL. No sacks for the Falcons but they were penetrating with only four. Maybe.

I enjoy watching the aggressive flaming that takes place in this thread. I'd argue that Butler is better than you give him credit for, Oog. Of course, there isn't much of a sample size, so that judgment will have to wait.

I'm kinda scared Tyrod is gonna have like 60 fantasy points this week. The Pats have always played shit defense against mobile QBs

It's hard for me to be nice to dumb people.

I'm willing to have a discussion with you about Butler after the Bills game but he's going to get burned no matter who he covers. Sammy, Percy, Woods... two of them have speed on him and Sammy is just an excellent receiver.

As for Tyrod, I just want him to play smart and protect the ball. I might not like the Patriots but I respect them a lot. We can win this game but it's going to be difficult and requires mistake-free football (which is impossible considering how much the refs hated both us and Indy).

Seriously, what the hell. We had flags called on us which were beyond phantom. As in the refs refused to even call out the number of the offending player every now and then. Like that fumble which got cancelled by a bullshit facemask.

Edited September 15, 2015 by Oogie Fletzet

[Anacybele]

It's hard for me to be nice to dumb people.

And comments like these are why you should take your own advice and keep your mouth shut. I'm not dumb and I know plenty about football. I'm not as knowledgeable as, say, Lord Raven (in fact, I consider him a teacher to me here, I wouldn't know as much as I do know if it wasn't for him), but I still know more than you've ever given me credit for.

Anyway, now I'll do some week 2 picks.

Broncos vs Chiefs: The Chiefs don't seem to be impressive on either side of the ball. I mean, they barely beat the Texans who have bad QB issues. And Pey-Pey's Broncos have the top ranked defense right now.

Texans vs Panthers: The Panthers have offensive issues in the passing game, but they at least have a good RB and QB. The Texans have QB problems as I stated before, and the Panthers are at home here and have a defense.

49ners vs Steelers: The Steelers are excellent in everything but defense right now, even while missing a few guys on offense. And thankfully for them, the Niners appear to have a shitty passing game. Oh, this is a home game for the Steelers too.

Buccaneers vs Saints: This is actually a tough pick. The Bucs looked awful vs the Titans, but the Saints defense looks awful too. I think I'll go Saints here because of their offensive ranking compared to the Bucs' defensive ranking.

Lions vs Vikings: LOL the Vikings rankings right now.

Cardinals vs Bears: Similar rankings here, except the Bears have a much better defense, and they're at home. So unless Jay Cutler just shits himself, I don't see a loss for his Bears.

Patriots vs Bills: The Bills totally manhandled the Colts and lol the Pats' defense.

Chargers vs Bengals: Hmm, these two look evenly matched... I'll have to say Bengals since it's not primetime and they're at home. lol

Titans vs Browns: Mariota shits on bad teams. :P

Falcons vs Giants: Both look bad defensively, but the Falcons look better offensively.

Rams vs Redskins: The Rams took down the Seahawks with surprising talent, and the Redskins are bad right now. xP

Dolphins vs Jaguars: Florida battle! Jags got a defense that looks better than the Dolphins on either side of the ball. And they're at home. I think this is going to be close though, because the Jags also aren't great offensively.

Ravens vs Raiders: Come on... It's the Raiders. lol And the Ravens' defense.

Cowboys vs Eagles: Cowboys look good offensively while the Eagles look bad defensively. And the Cowboys' D isn't as bad as theirs, I think.

Seahawks vs Packers: I like the Packers at home, I think. Seahawks could make this a close game though.

Jets vs Colts: Colts look kind of bad right now and the Jets actually look decent given how they blew out the Browns. The Browns are still rather bad these days, but not terrible.

EDIT: Just saw this. Boykin has no idea why he didn't play vs Pats. Except on special teams. I mentioned this before too! Tomlin, PLEASE PUT THIS GUY ON THE DAMN FIELD. For SNAPS. Cortez Allen would be a good choice to bench in his place. Also, I just heard that if Boykin doesn't play 60% of the snaps, the Eagles get a higher draft pick for the trade. Do Tomlin and Keith Butler REALLY want that to happen?

Edited September 15, 2015 by Anacybele

[Lord Raven]

I'm kinda scared Tyrod is gonna have like 60 fantasy points this week. The Pats have always played shit defense against mobile QBs

yeah i guess they really sucked it up against tebow huh lol

[chococoke]

Tebow might as well play fullback. The man really couldn't ever throw the ball. And no, his playoff win against the Steelers doesn't mean he was ever worth balls. Tyrod's TD pass to Harvin was better than any throw Tebow made in his entire career.

[Life]

Next weeks picks?

Broncos @ Chiefs - Absolutely manhandled the Texans and gave up garbage time TDs. Their D looks a bit suspect but Peyton couldn't score offensively on the Ravens, so I'm not seeing any problems here. It's also the home opener for KC.

Texans @ Panthers - Carolina barely beat Jacksonville and looked bad doing it. The Texans, meanwhile, are reeling from losing at home and Bill O'Brian needs to re-evaluate his passers. That being said, I think Mallett gets the nod and the Texan Defense will suffocate Newton.

49ers @ Steelers - Time for the 49ers to play a half decent team rather than the Vikings. And it's in Pittsburgh.

Buccaneers @ Saints - The Saints aren't good. The Bucs are that bad. It'll be nice for Who Dat Nation to grab a home win. Side note: I had the best sex of my life in New Orleans. Fact.

Lions @ Vikings - That Defense scares me. Not the Lions; I mean how bad the run defense of Minnesota truly is. They laid an egg against San Fran and now they have that rookie phenom coming in? Oh boy.

Cardinals @ Bears - The Cardinals are the best team in the NFC this year. This is just fact. They will quietly win their way to another Superbowl appearance with Palmer helming them. Oh and the Bears looked nice and then fell apart... like usual.

Patriots @ Bills - NE fans are the funniest. They make Anacybele look knowledgeable about football. Like Andy Gresh asking " what does Mario Williams really do to earn 20 million a year". I guess he'll find out the hard way.

Chargers @ Bengals - Cincy excites me this year but this is another close game. I think home field advantage will put Cincinnati over the top, mind you.

Titans @ Browns - Believe it or not, the Titans D was facing a better QB last week than it will this one. As long as Johnny Manziel is playing for Cleveland, that team will never win.

Falcons @ Giants - Falcons deserve a lot more respect than they're being given right now. And the Giants D played decent until the last 96 seconds.

Rams @ Redskins - Washington is bad. I mean, really bad. And the Rams may just win the division if Arizona slips up.

Dolphins @ Jaguars - Ndamukong Suh, meet Doug Marrone. You know, the self proclaimed OL genius who managed to fuck up Buffalo's OL nice and proper? Please eat them alive before we face them in Week 7, it'll make gloating that much sweeter.

Ravens @ Raiders - I'm assuming that Matt McGloin is starting and that will be the end of that.

Cowboys @ Eagles - You can't play 53 man shuffle and expect to win, Chip. And Dallas is just straight up solid.

Seahawks @ Packers - If Arizona isn't the best team in the NFC, then it's Green Bay. Aaron Rodgers looked really good in Chicago and I watched that full game. I also lost a bet thanks to that last Chicago score.

Jets @ Colts - Colts are smarting from the loss in Buffalo and the Jets looked good because they played Cleveland. I think this shows how bad the Browns really are because the Jets are crap.

[Anacybele]

Tebow might as well play fullback. The man really couldn't ever throw the ball. And no, his playoff win against the Steelers doesn't mean he was ever worth balls. Tyrod's TD pass to Harvin was better than any throw Tebow made in his entire career.

Yeah, Tebow was always much better as a runner than a passer. Buuut, we can say the same about Cam Newton, ya know? Still, he's probably even worse than Cam there, and that would be why Cam is still an NFL QB and Tebow isn't.

[-Cynthia-]

Broncos vs Chiefs: The Chiefs don't seem to be impressive on either side of the ball. I mean, they barely beat the Texans who have bad QB issues. And Pey-Pey's Broncos have the top ranked defense right now.

Not really sure where you're getting 'barely' beat from. The Texans managed 2 TD's and a bunch of passing yards in the second half(aka garbage time) because the Chiefs already had a 3 TD lead- the game was never really close if you were paying attention.

Although now I remember that you hate the Chiefs because they celebrated a play they made against the Steelers once or something.

[Life]

Not really sure where you're getting 'barely' beat from. The Texans managed 2 TD's and a bunch of passing yards in the second half(aka garbage time) because the Chiefs already had a 3 TD lead- the game was never really close if you were paying attention.

Although now I remember that you hate the Chiefs because they celebrated a play they made against the Steelers once or something.

Half of her thoughts are the exact opposite to mine.

How the hell can the Jets win on the road against Indy? They're not the Bills.

[Anacybele]

Not really sure where you're getting 'barely' beat from. The Texans managed 2 TD's and a bunch of passing yards in the second half(aka garbage time) because the Chiefs already had a 3 TD lead- the game was never really close if you were paying attention.

Although now I remember that you hate the Chiefs because they celebrated a play they made against the Steelers once or something.

I was just looking at the scores, sorry about that (as well as some game stats and rankings). But you're probably right. I mean, Steelers vs Patriots was closer than the score showed, so I guess I kind of forgot that scores aren't everything.

I actually forgot about my hate for the Chiefs when I made that pick though. Didn't remember it until I saw your post here. But yeah, I do hate them for what dipshits they were during that play. They group celebrated what they thought was a fumble by Ben returned for a TD and were STILL celebrating even when the ruling was overturned. I was so glad that they all got flagged. I mean, doing a little dance or something by yourself is one thing, but what they did was just so fucking annoying.

EDIT: Funny, I see us having made most of the same picks, Oogie.

Edited September 15, 2015 by Anacybele

[-Cynthia-]

Half of her thoughts are the exact opposite to mine.

How the hell can the Jets win on the road against Indy? They're not the Bills.

Hmm I agree that the Jets probably are not as good as they looked last week, but if they can get pressure and run the ball(hardly impossible against the Colts, Hilton is out too) I could see it getting very close. Picking a team that went 4-12 last year to beat a championship game-calibur team at home is tough though.

[Life]

EDIT: Funny, I see us having made most of the same picks, Oogie.

A lot of them are no brainers. We disagree on the following games.

NYJ@Ind

Den@KC

Hou@Car

Ari@Chi

Mia@Jax

The bolded game is the only one where I think you have a point and Carolina may pull out the win. But Kuechly is on concussion protocol and may not be ready for the game. Plus, the Texans have a sick 3-4 line with Wilfork and Watt being backed up by Cushing in the LB corp. It could go either way.

As for the rest, I think you're just flat out nuts or not watching properly. Jacksonville will be lucky if they win more than 3 games this season and the other three teams are the better teams AND at home.

Correction: Arizona is away but GB deftly handed the Bears in Chicago so I'm not expecting anything less.

EDIT: Look at the Bills game. Sure, the game ended at 27-14. But it was 24-0 until late in the third quarter. Buffalo simply sat back and took their foot off the gas offensively to avoid mistakes. Aaron Williams' INT was pretty clutch, though.

Edited September 15, 2015 by Oogie Fletzet

[-Cynthia-]

Call me a homer, but I think the Jags could beat the Dolphins. Their offensive line got tossed around by the Redskins, they gave up like 130 yards to Morris and needed a special teams TD to win.

Cardinals/Bears is in Chicago...although the Bears having a much better defense sounds like something from several years ago honestly.

[Life]

I had already made my correction. And I would love it if Miami loses in Jacksonville. I have to play them in Miami in two weeks and I'd rather they be quite crap instead of just having a bad week.

I love Dameshek.

"I'd give the Brown Paper Bag of Shame to the Steelers' secondary but I can't give it to something that doesn't exist." Straight from the mouth of a diehard Steelers fan.

Edited September 15, 2015 by Oogie Fletzet

[Anacybele]

I love Dave Dameshek too, he is SO funny. XD On top of being a Steelers fan and Pittsburgh native, of course. :)

You're right about Kuechly though, if he doesn't play, the defense is weaker. But even without him, the defense might still be good enough, as they still stuffed the Jags' offense like turkey in the end.

The rankings I was looking at, btw, were either from the end of last year or from week 1. I'm not sure.

Edited September 15, 2015 by Anacybele

[Life]

I love Dave Dameshek too, he is SO funny. XD On top of being a Steelers fan and Pittsburgh native, of course. :)

You're right about Kuechly though, if he doesn't play, the defense is weaker. But even without him, the defense might still be good enough, as they still stuffed the Jags' offense like turkey in the end.

The rankings I was looking at, btw, were either from the end of last year or from week 1. I'm not sure.

The Jags are not good.

Repeat.

The Jags are not good.

The biggest problem with the Jags (oh boy, where do I start) is their OL Coach. If anyone can figure out why I harbour feelings of hatred and can't wait for Week 7, you get a cookie.