2012 NFL playoff thread

[browna]

Originally Posted by flames_1987

Some of the stuff being said to Kyle Williams on Twitter is just despicable, few outlets running stories about the people actually dumb enough to utter death threats.

Blows my mind that people and fans need to scapegoat someone and still will never learn their lesson even after seeing what happened to guys like Steve Bartman or Bill Buckner. If they want to get mad at someone, how about the entire 49ers offense for not converting one 3rd down, Alex Smith, or Vernon Davis for taking those two dumb penalties. Feel awful for the kid, especially with how great his other returns this game were.

There are a lot of band wagon 49er fans that jumped on board halfway through the year, that would't have known who Alex Smith was 12 months ago. Further to that, with some of the problems that they've had at Candlestick (fights with Raiders fans in preseason, the issues throughout, including last week) there is a "punk" (some event have suggested "gang") element to these new fans that haven't bothered to cheer for the 49'ers for better part of a decade until now. Some probably don't care that its football, just caught up in the 49ers frenzy, and its "I am cheering for this team and this guy made this team lose" so he deserves to have something bad happen to him.

I suspect this is the case with the origination of the twitter comments.

[GirlySports]

Originally Posted by burn_this_city

Go Giants, to hell with NE and their largely bandwagon fanbase.

[GirlySports]

The Giants may well have won this game because Coughlin pulled his mistake-prone punt returner for a safer guy around the 4th quarter, and Harbaugh did not.

[Bobblehead]

1) Harbaugh - Act isn't going to wear thin anytime soon. On gameday he is ultra-competitive, probably to a fault, but the rest of the week he is generally calm, meticulous, and the players love him because he goes around and sits with them all and they feel like they can relate to him. Everything is not fire and brimstone*.

2) Smith will be back as long as he doesn't ask for a huge contract.

3) WR will be a point of emphasis. For all the talk about how healthy the Niners have been (which is generally true) there were 3 WRs who were active with a total of 2 catches between them for the season.

4) Kyle Williams has a chance to be a good WR in a similar style to Welker. I hope this blows over in a hurry. Yes, he was the goat - 10 points can be laid on his miscues - but you don't want that to ruin his future potential.

5) They will be back with a continuity in the coaching staff and personnel, a full off season and some unfinished business to take care of.


Edit: News report on how the team responded to Williams after the game:

Almost every 49er made a point of hugging Williams in the locker room. Fellow wide receivers Michael Crabtree and Brett Swain gave him the biggest hugs as Williams fought back tears.

“Everybody in here came to me and told me to keep my head up and that it's not on me,” Williams said to crowd of reporters around his locker.

http://www.pressdemocrat.com/article...p=all&tc=pgall

* (edit 2): Things like this, from Sports Illustrated, which are why Jim Harbaugh is going to last a long time in SF.

And Williams walked off the field stunned. He threw his helmet to the ground, and then was wrapped up by Jim Harbaugh, who told him to keep his head up.

Read more: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/201...#ixzz1kIVk6FCs

[troutman]

Originally Posted by moon

Scary thing for Pats fans is that the best players on the Pats defense are old and the new guys brought in have been crap for the most part.

Throw in some other odd decisions by Belicheat in the draft the past few years and the rebuild of the defense might not be such a great thing and this crap defense might not be just a fluke rebuild and the norm.

That's my point. Imagine how good they will be when Bill does rebuild the defence properly.

[moon]

Originally Posted by troutman

That's my point. Imagine how good they will be when Bill does rebuild the defence properly.

But based on his moves recently what reason is there to believe he will rebuild the defense properly?

[troutman]

Originally Posted by browna

Well, the Giants beat the Pats as their only +.500 team that they beat all season. Losses to Seattle, Washington twice and the Eagles among the lowerlights.

Look forward to NE taking this one...although Gronkowski's injury will be a big x factor. I also have a funny feeling Ochocinco is going to play a big game out of the blue. Will be interesting to see how he handles the media day and the two weeks of hype. The old Chad Johnson would be a circus act, but we'll see how he'll be muted by having a useless (to this point) season, the Pats controls over him, and his father passing away (the reason he was inactive today).

I keep waiting for NE to spring 85 on an unsuspecting defence.

[troutman]

Originally Posted by moon

But based on his moves recently what reason is there to believe he will rebuild the defense properly?

A little thing called best coach of all time.

[Bobblehead]

Originally Posted by troutman

A little thing called best coach of all time.

I'm sorry to be the one to tell you this, but Bill Walsh passed away in 2007.

[troutman]

Originally Posted by Bobblehead

I'm sorry to be the one to tell you this, but Bill Walsh passed away in 2007.

Walsh did not coach defence.

[moon]

Originally Posted by troutman

A little thing called best coach of all time.

Definitely arguable whether that title is true or not but still not sure what his coaching has to do with the bad draft picks he has made in the past or his ability to make good draft decisions in the future.

The Pats could have added quality pieces to their defense this year but instead traded back and drafted two useless RB's and a Cb that was meh when healthy but unsurprisingly he wasn't healthy enough to be meh for the majority of the season.

[Drake]

Originally Posted by Flabbibulin

Ya, your bitterness over the Ravens loss isn't showing or anything.

You butt hurt over the truth? That 31st crap fest filled passing D will be torn to sheds by Manning, Nicks, Cruz and Manningham. No chance in hell a crap fest D will be able to contain them.

[troutman]

Originally Posted by Drake

You butt hurt over the truth? That 31st crap fest filled passing D will be torn to sheds by Manning, Nicks, Cruz and Manningham. No chance in hell a crap fest D will be able to contain them.

They contained Joe Flaccid well enough.

[moon]

Originally Posted by troutman

They contained Joe Flaccid well enough.

Didn't he throw for over 300 yards?

Doesn't seem like they contained him at all.

[Drake]

Originally Posted by moon

Didn't he throw for over 300 yards?

Doesn't seem like they contained him at all.

306 yards to be exact. Elli should have 325+ passing yards easily on that crap D.

[troutman]

Originally Posted by moon

Didn't he throw for over 300 yards?

Doesn't seem like they contained him at all.

20 points.

[Flabbibulin]

Originally Posted by Drake

You butt hurt over the truth? That 31st crap fest filled passing D will be torn to sheds by Manning, Nicks, Cruz and Manningham. No chance in hell a crap fest D will be able to contain them.

Ya, the Pats finished 31st in passing yards allowed... Good thing the Giants rocked the league by finishing a whoppin 4 spots higher at 27!

Fortunately, the only defensive category that truly matters is points allowed- where the Pats finished middle of the pack at 15... Quite a bit better than 25th placed Giants.

Too bad yards didnt decide the games... Your Ravens would have won yesterday.

[moon]

Originally Posted by troutman

20 points.

Thanks to the Ravens not the Pats d.

And not sure that 20 points is anything to be excited about when it comes to the Ravens offense.

[HelloHockeyFans]

Should be a close game, but I really hope the Pats cream the Giants for no other reason than to see moon freak out about how lucky "Belicheat" and Brady are... every single time.

[troutman]

What's wrong with being lucky anyway? Better than the alternative.