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

[-Cynthia-]

Man the Falcons are going to lose to the Niners- perfect Niners picking streak broken :(

[Anacybele]

The Rams and Raiders sidelined Ben for a few weeks apiece.

I wonder what the next team will be... hmm

(not that i wish an injury on people but)

Dude, please. Let's not jinx him. :(

[-Cynthia-]

And the Colts end the undefeated streak for the Broncos. Maybe they're just inconsistent rather than bad or something.

[Lord Raven]

And the Colts end the undefeated streak for the Broncos. Maybe they're just inconsistent rather than bad or something.

also drops peyton to 1-3 all time vs colts

weirdest shit

[-Cynthia-]

In other news, the Panthers are 2 games up on everyone in the NFC and have beaten 3 out of 4 teams in last year's championship games. Are people going to consider them a serious contender yet?

[Anacybele]

The Panthers are carried by two things: the defense and Cam Newton. Cam Newton is like all the offense they have and somehow it's working. But it won't get them far enough. He needs a better set of receivers to throw to and still needs to improve his accuracy a bit more. I heard earlier that Cam has the lowest accuracy of any starting QB right now. ._.

They end up against a team with a very strong defense that's good against the run, like the Broncos or Steelers, and they might be shut down. The Steelers gave them a beating last year too.

Then again, I thought the Packers had a great defense too. Who knows?

Also, I can't believe some people right now. They're giving up on Ben and saying the Steelers should draft a replacement next year. ANY player, regardless of their age, can end up with a knee injury or ankle injury like he got. He just had some bad luck is all. It's just bad luck! And besides, Ben already signed for five more years. He's not going anywhere. He's our franchise QB and one of the toughest dudes in this league. He had BAD LUCK. And I don't mean the Colts kind. :P

[Jiac]

yea and the ravens have had key injuries out the butt

super bowl favorites to top 10 pick fml

looks like we're winning the bye week so far

Tough game for the Steelers. If it's any consolation, the Patriots had several key injuries today

Try being a Chargers fan and talk to me about injuries : ).

Edited November 9, 2015 by ~Summer~

[Lord Raven]

Pretty sure we're about as well off as you buddy

Also, I can't believe some people right now. They're giving up on Ben and saying the Steelers should draft a replacement next year. ANY player, regardless of their age, can end up with a knee injury or ankle injury like he got. He just had some bad luck is all. It's just bad luck!

ana pls he played like 16 games in a season like four times total in his career and one or two of those times he played like shit most of the season

EDIT: it was 3 times total in his career, and the first time he didn't play very well and he was carried hard by his defense.

Edited November 9, 2015 by Lord Raven

[-Cynthia-]

The Panthers are carried by two things: the defense and Cam Newton. Cam Newton is like all the offense they have and somehow it's working. But it won't get them far enough. He needs a better set of receivers to throw to and still needs to improve his accuracy a bit more. I heard earlier that Cam has the lowest accuracy of any starting QB right now. ._.

They end up against a team with a very strong defense that's good against the run, like the Broncos or Steelers, and they might be shut down. The Steelers gave them a beating last year too.

Then again, I thought the Packers had a great defense too. Who knows?

The Seahawks are generally considered a strong defense that's good against the run and the Panthers won that game (I wouldn't consider the Steelers a 'very strong' defense under almost any circumstances fyi). The Packers also blew out the Panthers last year and look what happened today.

I don't really love the Panthers chances of winning the Super Bowl because the Patriots are still doing their thing, but are the Packers really the favorite in the NFC at this point?

[Anacybele]

Pretty sure we're about as well off as you buddy

ana pls he played like 16 games in a season like four times total in his career and one or two of those times he played like shit most of the season

EDIT: it was 3 times total in his career, and the first time he didn't play very well and he was carried hard by his defense.

You do realize that you're talking about the man who led the Steelers to 14-0 in his rookie season, has two Super Bowl rings and a third Super Bowl appearance, is the first QB with two 500+ yard games and 12 TDs in back to back games, and has played well even while injured? He played well with a sprained ankle and broken nose at the same time. Oh yeah, Ben won Super Bowl 43 with a shitty o-line too. And one of those seasons where he didn't play all 16 games was due to a suspension.

No QB is perfect, they all have some flaws. Yes, Ben has had some shitty games. But even the best get those, you know. Tom Brady didn't look too hot at the beginning of last season. Aaron Rodgers is struggling. And so on.

I won't believe Ben is done yet. If he gets hurt again next season or something though, maybe. But right now, I don't think so.

Edited November 9, 2015 by Anacybele

[-Cynthia-]

I dunno if he's getting repeatedly injured, drafting a QB to serve as a replacement in the near future isn't the worst idea. That would pretty much concede that they don't think they'll be winning a Super Bowl anytime soon though.

[Anacybele]

Exactly, and I think this is a Super Bowl worthy team if we didn't have all the injuries. Our offense has good depth, but nothing beats having all our starters out there. This season will end with only ONE game where Ben, Bell, Brown, and Bryant all played together. Now half of those guys are gone for the next few games (Ben and Bell). We've had a few defensive injuries too (Tuitt, Shazier, Will Allen, etc.). Two o-line men are still sidelined as well, one for the rest of the season.

Ben's a great QB, he has a lot of weapons around him, and the defense has gotten a good deal better since last year. They've yet to allow a rushing TD! The secondary still has issues, but they're working through the growing pains, I think. And I think a lot of people would say that Antonio Brown and Le'Veon Bell deserve Super Bowl rings.

[Lord Raven]

You do realize that you're talking about the man who led the Steelers to 14-0 in his rookie season, has two Super Bowl rings and a third Super Bowl appearance, is the first QB with two 500+ yard games and 12 TDs in back to back games, and has played well even while injured? He played well with a sprained ankle and broken nose at the same time. Oh yeah, Ben won Super Bowl 43 with a shitty o-line too. And one of those seasons where he didn't play all 16 games was due to a suspension.

That's not my point. He always misses like 3-4 games a season due to injury and this is more like a normal season for Ben than an outlier season.

I'm also gonna go out and say that he's played like shit in some seasons where he was injured and he's played well other seasons where he was injured. He's played like shit in some seasons where he wasn't injured either. Cherrypick all the stats you want but he has had some stinkers of a season when he was uninjured.

That 14-0 team was him coming along for the ride. They held opponents to around 238 points total and he was throwing to studs like Plaxico Burress, Hines Ward, and Jerome Bettis. It's very easy for a rookie who wasn't even drafted high (he was pick 11) to fuck up the team's cap situation to find success. 11th overall pick was because they won 6 games the year prior with Turnover Tommy Maddox playing. Who was bad...

You're also talking about the 2005 team that made the Super Bowl, where again he was along for the ride + they tore Palmer's ACL that season.

The 2008 team had one of the best defenses of the entire decade, and he played like shit that year. 2010 he limited turnovers, but again that team allowed 232 points all season. All he had to do was limit turnovers. This wasn't an unbelievable or phenomenal season.

Ben didn't carry a team to the Super Bowl, and you're also noticing these high stats coincide with the fall of the Steelers defense and more volume passing. You're also noticing the Steelers haven't won a playoff game since January 2010. His team accomplishments are clearly not solely or even majorly due to him.

No QB is perfect, they all have some flaws. Yes, Ben has had some shitty games. But even the best get those, you know. Tom Brady didn't look too hot at the beginning of last season. Aaron Rodgers is struggling. And so on.

He threw 4 TDs to 1 Int against an otherwise top tier defense today. He also doesn't have Antonio Brown or Deangelo Williams caliber receivers.

I won't believe Ben is done yet. If he gets hurt again next season or something though, maybe. But right now, I don't think so.

These pundits are stupid so your fault for listening to them. Furthermore, an injury prone QB getting injured at an advanced age is an issue no matter what. Looking towards the future is ideal no matter what the situation.

Exactly, and I think this is a Super Bowl worthy team if we didn't have all the injuries. Our offense has good depth, but nothing beats having all our starters out there. This season will end with only ONE game where Ben, Bell, Brown, and Bryant all played together. Now half of those guys are gone for the next few games (Ben and Bell). We've had a few defensive injuries too (Tuitt, Shazier, Will Allen, etc.). Two o-line men are still sidelined as well, one for the rest of the season.

And yet you feel sorry for us who are probably even better if we weren't completely injured out the ass. I still have yet to hear a response to that earlier post aside from the report you probably gave, by the way.

Welcome to the life. You should take it in stride rather than make 2-3 paragraphs every other post about how the oh-so-poor Steelers with their only-six rings are having a year plagued with injuries. Jesus.

[Anacybele]

Just because you have weapons around you doesn't mean you'll automatically look like a star. Landry Jones was pretty much ass vs the Chiefs despite that he had exactly the same guys Ben does.

Also, the Ravens wouldn't be better at full health. The Steelers still have better receivers and RBs and your defense has all but collapsed with the loss of guys like Haloti Ngata and...I forget the other guy's name, but I'm pretty sure you lost one more defense guy in the offseason. And we've proven that we can do alright with injuries. Your Ravens are rubbish with injuries.

And it isn't just the injuries, we were predicted to have a great season and be big Super Bowl contenders, perhaps even the team to knock the Pats off their perch. But that's gone now because of the injury plague.

Edited November 9, 2015 by Anacybele

[-Cynthia-]

The Steelers probably aren't going to trade up and try to get a star QB like teams with bigger QB problems(Texans for instance), but a 'project' QB pick in the later rounds isn't a ridiculous proposition. If I were the Steelers GM, I wouldn't hedge all my bets on Ben lasting five years at this point(note that I wouldn't do this for Brady or Brees either given their age).

[Anacybele]

Brady is 38 and Brees is like 37. They're several years older than Ben. If they and Peyton Manning can last that long, Ben should be able to as well with how tough he is.

I'm not saying I'd be totally against drafting a QB next year, especially given that Gradkowski can't seem to go five minutes without being hurt and Vick is a failed experiment (he did notch a win vs the Chargers, but that was the only time he looked any good). But replacing Ben right now, NO.

[-Cynthia-]

Ben has had more significant injuries in his career compared to Brady or Brees, so from a management perspective I would treat them similarly which is to say that they will probably be fine next year but I'd be uncertain about a few years down the road.

[Lord Raven]

Also, the Ravens wouldn't be better at full health. The Steelers still have better receivers and RBs and your defense has all but collapsed with the loss of guys like Haloti Ngata and...I forget the other guy's name, but I'm pretty sure you lost one more defense guy in the offseason. And we've proven that we can do alright with injuries. Your Ravens are rubbish with injuries.

Pernell McPhee, but a healthy Suggs would make this defense a lot better. You're forgetting that our pressure on Manning in the first week was night and day after Suggs went down. Suggs is/was the most versatile 3-4 OLB in the entire division and one of the most versatile in the league and having someone who can play at an elite or borderline elite level on all three downs is a boon.

We also had mid-game injuries and a first round pick that hasn't seen any play time. We didn't predict losing Steve Smith on top of that, or Michael Campanaro. We didn't predict Gillmore being injured and holding him back for a few games. We didn't see Monroe being on all-but-IR and we didn't see Wagner or Osemele regressing this heavily. We didn't see Kendrick Lewis being this atrocious either.

Last year our strongest aspect got weaker because we lost McPhee and Ngata (and truth be told maybe losing Ngata wasn't a big deal) and we weakest aspect got better with the addition of Perriman and Jimmy Smith. In reality, that's not what happened, thanks to injuries and Smith still recovering from a lisfranc.

And it isn't just the injuries, we were predicted to have a great season and be big Super Bowl contenders, perhaps even the team to knock the Pats off their perch. But that's gone now because of the injury plague.

I wasn't predicting that, but it is exactly the injuries.

Brady is 38 and Brees is like 37. They're several years older than Ben. If they and Peyton Manning can last that long, Ben should be able to as well with how tough he is.

That's because they get rid of the ball very quickly and avoid sacks at all costs. Their only sacks tend to be where they have no time to throw to begin with.

Brady's missed an entire season due to a dirty hit from Pollard and Brees has missed all of 3 games since he began playing for the Saints, two of which came at the age of 37. Manning missed an entire season due to a freak injury as well. Ben has consistently missed games every season and he holds onto the ball longer and thinks he can keep taking the hits he does but he really can't sustain that as he gets older. Yeah sure they've had a short passing scheme as of late but Ben still doesn't get rid of the ball as quickly as those three you mentioned.

This is also why I believe that Russell Wilson and Cam Newton will inevitably drop off pretty quickly because of how much they rely on their feet. It's also why Vick went from an MVP candidate to terrible at the drop of a hat.

Edited November 9, 2015 by Lord Raven

[Anacybele]

True, Ben has issues with getting the ball out faster, and I wish he would fix that. Although, he is actually getting it out faster than in the past, I think. But I still won't give up on him yet. Like I said, you try taking a hit to the legs like Ben did and see how well you move around after that. Bell is younger than me and has been hit there twice and he's out for the season now.

But like I said, if Ben is hurt again next year, I probably will start thinking that he's getting too old to be playing tough guy QB.

Edited November 9, 2015 by Anacybele

[Life]

Lord Raven, I'm going to say this again.

Thank you very much for drafting Tyrod Taylor and letting him come on over to Buffalo. That man has the nicest deep ball touch I've seen in a long time. If he airs it out, he's perfectly on target (nailed Sammy twice yesterday for 30+ passes that were on the money).

[Bullwine85]

The Seahawks are generally considered a strong defense that's good against the run and the Panthers won that game (I wouldn't consider the Steelers a 'very strong' defense under almost any circumstances fyi). The Packers also blew out the Panthers last year and look what happened today.

I don't really love the Panthers chances of winning the Super Bowl because the Patriots are still doing their thing, but are the Packers really the favorite in the NFC at this point?

On one hand, it's obvious that we're REALLY missing Jordy Nelson more than we thought we would, and that our defense has....uh....not been good.

On the other hand, this may be another R-E-L-A-X situation. Considering Green Bay's next game against the Lions at Lambeau (The Lions being an absolute train wreck combined with their futility at Lambeau over the past 24ish years), it could do the trick for getting the Pack back on track.

[Lord Raven]

Lord Raven, I'm going to say this again.

Thank you very much for drafting Tyrod Taylor and letting him come on over to Buffalo. That man has the nicest deep ball touch I've seen in a long time. If he airs it out, he's perfectly on target (nailed Sammy twice yesterday for 30+ passes that were on the money).

that touch was hereditary from his football father joe flacco

[Life]

that touch was hereditary from his football father joe flacco

Why do you think I'm thanking you? I know Flacco mentored Taylor. He's given us more hope through 6 games (Taylor is technically 4-2) than we've had in 15 years for actually having a decent QB.

[Lord Raven]

It must also be nice because Tyrod seems better than Kaepernick about everything (and maybe Kubiak/Dennison were good factors in this) and Greg Roman can probably tailor his offense around Tyrod doing stuff (basically Kaepernick but better) especially without Harbaugh breathing down his neck.

I mean let's be a little real here, I think Bill's offensive coaching right now is a much more stable environment than the 2012-2014 (and 2015) Ravens. Different QB Coach and OC just about every year. Especially nicer for him now that they can tailor the playbook around him instead of tailoring it around Flacco and throwing Tyrod to the wolves.

It must also be nice to have an actual deep threat. Torrey Smith really doesn't cut it as one despite his legs. Plenty of times where Flacco floated a beauty to Torrey and Jacoby and they flat dropped it. It's insane. People wonder why they're underthrown - not just for DPIs but because they can't seem to catch them in stride.

Glad to see him doing well. Already has more rings than Marino.

Who is he throwing to anyway? Like Sammy Watkins and Robert Woods?

Edited November 9, 2015 by Lord Raven

[Life]

I mean let's be a little real here, I think Bill's offensive coaching right now is a much more stable environment than the 2012-2014 (and 2015) Ravens. Different QB Coach and OC just about every year. Especially nicer for him now that they can tailor the playbook around him instead of tailoring it around Flacco and throwing Tyrod to the wolves.

Let's get really real here.

The Bills Offensive coaching staff is far from stable and definitely less stable than the Ravens. Greg Roman has been here for half a year and we've completely retooled the personnel in the coaching department (as we do every year). Kromer missed 6 games of the season and hasn't been able to work on the OL up until now. David Lee has been bouncing around the AFC East and is in his second stint as the Bills QB coach. Rex might love Sanjay Lal but the man hasn't seen a decent set of WRs actually play well while he was coaching them (another coach pulled from NYJ but was in Oakland a couple years back).

Throw in the fact that our ultra-conservative "offensive line guru" quit immediately after last season, we have a broken 2nd string QB due to bouncing QB coaches and OCs around every season and absolutely zero chance at staying healthy and this classifies as about as stable as San Francisco during an earthquake.

No matter how much you might complain about your issues with the Ravens, realize that I'm not Ana and I'm not spoiled by multiple SB rings. I would much rather be in your situation and facing an off year than hoping that for the first time in 15 years, we can finally stop being treated as the butt of everyone's jokes. At least you have a head coach who's managed to put together back to back winning seasons for your team. My god, I wish I knew what that felt like.

EDIT: And don't even get me started on the defense. Great to see Jerry rack up two sacks and a FF but I have a major bone to pick with Karl Dunbar and how this DL has regressed. Considering that he was the man behind the Williams Wall in Minnesota, I'm offended by how badly this DL is performing. However, my real resentment goes to Bobby April III and Jason Rebrovich on the atrocities committed by the LBs against Miami. We won't win another game if we're giving up over 200 yards per game AFTER THE FUCKING CATCH. And to think that I went out and bought me a Nigel Bradham jersey for $200 (including customization and special shipping to Tel Aviv). Insulting, that's what that is.

Edited November 9, 2015 by Jim Moriarty