2017 NFL Playoffs the road to Super Bowl LI

[transplant99]

Originally Posted by Frank MetaMusil

It's tough to separate the NFL from the NHL sometimes. Teams that shake up their management don't usually win.

Sports illustrated had the Cards and Bengals in the super bowl, despite Dalton's playoff record. They didn't even make it.

This league has more teams than the NHL, but the playoffs are always similar.

-New England
-Pittsburgh
-Green Bay
-Atlanta

All those teams can score. Belichick is the wildcard, and rarely makes a mistake.

KC will get rolled by Pittsburgh unless they stop Bell.

Im the biggest Packers honk you will ever meet and i fully believe that the Packers will get rolled by Atlanta.

The only chance they have is if interception happy Matt Ryan shows up.

Otherwise i can see the Falcons running roughshod over this depleted GB secondary and the loss of Jordy Nelson really hurts the chances of putting up big numbers.

[chummer]

^^Seattle is playing Atlanta.

[transplant99]

Originally Posted by chummer

^^Seattle is playing Atlanta.

Im a complete idiot.

I even knew that but for some reason had ATL on the brain.

I will show myself out now.

[Strange Brew]

Next weekend is the best weekend of football every year IMO. Usually get some exciting games and every team can legitimately believe that if they win that game, they have a shot at winning it all.

[Frank MetaMusil]

Originally Posted by chummer

^^Seattle is playing Atlanta.

They might meet in conf. championship though. Seattle and the Steelers had easy games, backup QB's too. Houston won't beat the Pats.

[chummer]

Originally Posted by transplant99

Im a complete idiot.

I even knew that but for some reason had ATL on the brain.

I will show myself out now.

All good. Would love to see GB beat Dallas, maybe they will play Atlanta.

[transplant99]

Well that was quick

1/14 4:35 ET At Atlanta -4.5 Seattle 51 -$220 +$185
1/14 8:15 ET At New England -16 Houston 45 -$1500 +$900
1/15 1:05 ET At Kansas City -1.5 Pittsburgh 46 -$125 +$105
1/15 4:40 ET At Dallas -4 Green Bay 51 -$210 +$180

[transplant99]

Patriots are 16 pt favorites...lol.

[dirk diggler]

Originally Posted by Senator Clay Davis

Still has more Super Bowls than Brady the last 10 years.

yeah i guess he must be better based on that rational...

[Strange Brew]

Texans +16 geez

[Drake]

Odell Beckham apparently punched a hole in the wall and banged his head against locker room door. Great talent but has issues when he loses.

[transplant99]

Originally Posted by Drake

Odell Beckham apparently punched a hole in the wall and banged his head against locker room door. Great talent but has issues when he loses.

[Sylvanfan]

Originally Posted by transplant99

Well that was quick

1/14 4:35 ET At Atlanta -4.5 Seattle 51 -$220 +$185
1/14 8:15 ET At New England -16 Houston 45 -$1500 +$900
1/15 1:05 ET At Kansas City -1.5 Pittsburgh 46 -$125 +$105
1/15 4:40 ET At Dallas -4 Green Bay 51 -$210 +$180

A team with a Nationa bandwagon the size of the Steelers is an underdog? Vegas better hope KC covers.

[ben voyonsdonc]

Originally Posted by Drake

Odell Beckham apparently punched a hole in the wall and banged his head against locker room door. Great talent but has issues when he loses.

Next time maybe he won't party in Florida before the biggest game of his career and then drop several catchable balls which cost his team dearly. Beckham needs to grow up.

[Sainters7]

I'm guessing part of the reason he punched the wall is because he already knew that's going to be the narrative now...that and he's clearly the over-emotional type without great control over it.

Man what an awful weekend of football, can't believe Giants/Pack even turned into a one-sided dud. Here's hoping the divisional round actually sees competitive games. Texans/Pats will probably be a blowout too, outside of that, there's potential.

[Erick Estrada]

Who know a Conner Cook led Raiders would be score the most points of all the losing teams this weekend? Talk about a stinker of a weekend.

[Senator Clay Davis]

Weekend summed up the whole year for the NFL, mostly quite down. Next weekend has more promise, but I suspect the Saturday games are both one sided. Pittsburgh-KC should be good, GB-Dallas depends on the Cowboys still being chokers or not. So more hope than this past weekend, but still leaning towards more stinky football next weekend.

[bubbsy]

this weeekend was crap, and outside of perhaps the dallas/gb game, next week is likely going to be a bunch of flops also.

the AFC especially only has any real intrigue if the steelers/pats meet.

The competitve balance in the NFL is messed. it's sort of like the NBA now. You have your super teams (cavs, spurs, warriors) and in the NFL you have the same handful of teams that are the favourites almost inevitably. all the other teams are basically set up to be satisfied as far as they get till they meet one of these teams (ie. see the raptors in the eastern conference).

I like to believe the NHL has more of a competitive balance, though even if you look over the past 8 years, only 4 teams have won the cup! If you look at the 8 years before that, 7 teams won. i guess in my head i'd like to think the cap will result in a faster team lifecycle (rebuilding, playoff contender, cup contender, rebuilding), however, i actually don't think there is any evidence of this yet.

argh.... does this mean that Super teams are ruining all our major leagues? We're headed to the EPL and other major soccer leagues in europe where each league has the same 3-5 teams that are the real contenders year in and year out.

[CaptainCrunch]

The best thing about this weekend's NFL Wildcard games is I got a bunch of naps in. This was just a bad weekend of football. Next week will have one competitive game and the rest blowouts.

[station]

This weekend was pretty crappy but, to be fair, two teams lost star QBs late in year. Those two games would likely have been way more competitive otherwise. I actually like all the matchups this weekend as they feature fairly evenly matched teams or else good offense vs good defense matchups.

Re parity, 50% of the playoff teams were new this year vs 2015 and 50% again vs 2014. To me the NFL actually has less problem with parity than other leagues because their massive tv deals allow every team to start out more or less equal. There is also lots of roster turnover every year and teams have to constantly find year 1 starters in the draft and free agency and win with them. The teams that are always there (NE, Pitt, GB) are just better managed or have stable long term QB situations.