POLL: NFL - Contender or Pretender?

Remove all ads!

to my enormous frustration. NFL is almost impossible to get in Holland. For one month it was on try with a special super de lux package which costs a lot of money. I even watched the re-runs.
So back to our football, or soccer as some say, to watch games prime time in which al the action worth of five minutes is put in 90. Our national pasttime is so boring to watch.

 

Patriots are definately contending - they're already in the playoffs (secured last week). Hopefully they can beat the damn Colts!

 

Everyone on the Falcons except Vick and DeAngelo Hall should hide there faces in shame.

 

@Merlanni

You can pick up video highlights of every game from every week here . You can even sign up for internet radio coverage of every game at the same location for a price.

On Gamedays, ESPN maintains a live up-dated scoreboard of every game.

Somebody, still trying to find out who it is, offers a subscription to internet broadcast so you can watch any game on your PC (assuming connections and PC speed are suitable).

[edit]OK, I think it's ESPN.com that offers the online NFL broadcast. I found the link for the coverage they're offering for the basketball season, I just don't think they're advertising the NFL package since the season's almost over. Here's the basketball link, for what it's worth.

[ December 27, 2005, 21:30: Message edited by: Hacken Slash ]

 

@Merlanni does the UK's channel 5 show in Holland because they have Monday night football live at about 2am cet, and sky show live NFL every sunday from 7pm cet

 

Oh, I have NFL all week long I just try not to watch the highlights on every game so I won't spoil myself from next game....

So, wasn't the Colts last year or the other on a very good victory season but couldn't make it to the Super Bowl? Will do the same this year?
Bledsoe seems to get better every game.

 

Here is what I hope this weekend happens.

Bengals go in play a good first quarter with their starters and than loose due to a lack of experience from their 2nd and 3rd string players.

Steelers win Detriot to clinch the final playoff spot.

Patriots win and clinch the third seed.

That gives mean the Steelers would go into Gillete Stadium and the Jaguars would be off to Browns Stadium.

This scenario would give the Steelers a chance to get back at the Patriots for what they did to the Steelers a few years back, beat them in their own turf.

 

Haha, not gonna happen - Pats lost (I think on purpose, we could have tied it, but we obviously threw it away), so we're playing at home against Jacksonville.

3rd time repeat is what I'm hoping for.

 

Bengals look to have had their defense exposed when they don't rack up the turnovers. I wonder if they can even beat the Steelers this weekend.

I didn't do so well on my playoff contender picks...Atlanta, San Diego and Dallas let me down. Who'd have ever thought the Skins would make it in.

 

I'm assuming you mean either Manning or Brady, not Bledsoe. Bledsoe plays for the Cowboys, and he seems to have gotten worse as the year goes on. Before the Cowboys, he played on the Bills. He never played for the Colts, and hasn't played for New England in the last 4 years.

The dance of joy! The Steelers are in the playoffs!

Plus, as an added bonus, they get to play the Bengals - which is a much better matchup for the Steelers than the Patriots. With the way both teams have been playing lately, I certainly expect the Steelers to win this game. However, unless they have something clever up their sleeves, which I seriously doubt, they will likely get pwned when the play Indy in the second week of the playoffs.

 

I'm a little concerned about Indy. I think when San Diego beat them they showed a defensive scheme that revealed an Indy weakness. 3-4 with a blitzing linebacker and 2 deep cover in the secondary. Even the pathetice Arizona Cardinals used it against them with some success (granted, the played most of the game against the second team, but it could be claimed that it was the Cardinals second team too, due to injuries).

I still think they're the team to beat, but they don't seem quite as invincible as a few weeks ago.

That being the case, I'm going to go out on a limb with some Wildcard Weekend picks...

I'll go with the Bengals over the Steelers (I'd love to see the Steelers win, but I just get a feeling there'll be turnovers in this game)

I'll take the Jaguars over the Patriots

I'll take Tampa Bay over Washington

and, I'll take the Giants over the Panthers.

We'll see if I can do any better than my first picks.

 

Unfortunately, that's the Steelers base defense, and they pwned when they played Indy a few weeks back. That having been said, teams always make adjustments when they face a team for the 2nd (or even 3rd) time in the same year, and it is possible, even likely, that the Steelers will have a better idea of what to expect during the second meeting.

Finally, holy upset Hack! The Patriots going down in flames to the Jags? I'd love to see it, but I think that is the LEAST likely upset to occur this weekend.

 

Let me try to predict the AFC championship game.

Bengals vs. Steelers - These teams met twice in the regular season spliting the games. Both winning on the road. Steelers are on a 4 game winning streak, the Bengals haven't one a game since winning the division. Both teams know each other. The winner, Bengals - homefield advantage.

Jags vs. Pats - Brady has not lost a playoff game ever. That all I have to say.
The winner, Pats.

Bengals vs. Broncos - Denver has not commited a bunch of turnovers this year and has a good defense. The Bengals defense needs the turnovers to give the team to win.
The winner, Broncos.

Pats vs. Colts - The Colts tend to loose to the Pats in the playoff. This year is no difference. The Pats are a different team than they were when they meet earlier in the season.
The winner, Pats.

Pats vs. Broncos - This game will be close but Brady will finally loose his first game by a point or two.
The winner, Broncos.

NFC....

Redskins vs. Buccaners - This game will be determined by the team who can play better on offense and right now that goes to the Redskins.
The winner, Redskins.

Panthers vs. Giants - Both of these teams are great or bad. I have a feeling the Panthers experience in playing for the big game will benefit them here since most of the Giants players don't have playoff experience.
The winner, Panthers.

Panthers vs. Chicago - This is simple. Chicago just needs to do enough to shut down Steve Smith and they dominate at stuffing the run and that is where Chicago will control the ball on defense.
The Winner, Chicago.

Washington vs. Seahawks - Alexander, Alexander, Alexander, Alexander. Seattle wins.
The winner, Seahawks.

Chicago vs. Seahawks - Alexander, Alexander, Hasselback (thought I would say Alexander didn't you).
The winner, Seahawks.

Superbowl Broncos vs. Seahawks... (Didn't these two coach coach coach against each other before in the superbowl)...

Winner... Bronco just like it was almost ten years ago....

I would like my Bengals to go all the way or the Colts go for the glory for once but chances are they will play the Pats. And if history is any indication of how the Colts always loose to the Pats in playoff games we can say good by to the Colts in the 2nd round if the Bengals and Pats both win. If not that completely mess up my predicition listed here.

 

Hey, let's see if Tal will let us run an "all SP" fantasy league next year!

 

I volunteer for kicker!

 

What happened to the Chiefs this year?

 

@Harbourboy: Chiefs season's over. , didn't make it to the playoffs.

@Aldeth: You're right; I wanted to say Brady; Colts had a great season last year but nothing, Patriost didn't look too impresive, but there they are.

 

Indeed they have - and that's a most astute observation. In the Broncos first Super Bowl vitory (which I believe was in 1997 - meaning the 1996 season, but the Super Bowl was played the following January), they played the Packers. Shanahan was the head coach of the Broncos then, as he is today. However, Holmgren, the now-coach of the Seahawks, was coaching the Packers that year. So yeah, the coaches HAVE been in a Super Bowl against each other. I wonder if there are any remaining members of the Broncos Super Bowl victories that are still on the team - there's a lot of turnover from year to year, so still being there 8 years after the fact is unlikely, but it's possible.

This is one of those occassions that I don't know if Fel is being serious or not. I'm playing the odds here and saying he knows that Fantasy Football doesn't actually have people role-playing positions in real football, but you never know.

Having said that, I'd LOVE to get a Fantasy League together for Football through SP. However, given the relatively limited interest in this topic (not in terms of number of posts, but in number of DIFFERENT posters), we might be hard pressed to have enough people. The majority of posts in this thread were made by just 4 different people. We really need at least 10 people for a decent league, and I'd prefer a number closer to 12.

 

if it were to be offered i would join it.

But to continue the discussion i think that the Steelers will come back to beat the bungles. We have a grudge, and that means alot in football.

 

Ah, but you forget the fact that there are some of use here who love all sorts of sports and would gladly play a fantasy sport even if it was one they knew little about. I've played Fantasy Premiership Football many times even though I don't know my Bolton from my Fulham. Playing the fantasy game encourages you to spend more time following the sport than you might not otherwise spend.