2011 NFL thread

[rubecube]

Originally Posted by troutman

Strangely, the only thing that might stop the Packers now, is a freezing cold home date in January. -40 tends to level the playing field.

Possibly. I think the Giants, Niners, and Bears are all built to win in January. I'm actually considering putting money on the Giants to win the Super Bowl. 33 to 1 odds are pretty good.

[DropIt]

Originally Posted by troutman

Strangely, the only thing that might stop the Packers now, is a freezing cold home date in January. -40 tends to level the playing field.

Honestly, I don't even know if that could do it. They have a ton of home dates left and minus the Bears in week 16, none of them play in the snow (Oakland, TB, Detroit) and of the 3 road games they have, only 2 could potentially be affected by weather in KC and NYG. Both teams that the Packers will likely roll over.

I wish they could play Brady and NE in a blizzard this year. For some unexplained reason, Brady gets some sort of abominable snowman effect and throws for 500 yards and 6 touchdowns whenever snow falls.

[Sainters7]

Agreed about the Pack, they just seem head and shoulders above everyone else. Maybe I'm just being a homer but I honestly think the Saints could give them a good run and maybe even beat them if it were at the Superdome in January. But at a snowy Lambeau Field (which will almost certainy be the site if they played), I'm having trouble picturing it.

Obviously the conditions would limit both the Rodgers & Brees arial attack, so it'd come down to more of a short attack/ground game. I like our RB's better, but in those types of games it always comes down to the lines, and their OL and DL pretty much owned the Saints' lines on the kick-off Thursday game, including that final play at the 1 to potential push it to OT.

I'd be pretty shocked if it wasn't a repeat in February.

[Sylvanfan]

I'm reminded a bit of the 1998 season that was Randy Moss' rookie year. The Vikings were an offensive machine that year racking up their 15-1 record. Meanwhile the Atlanta Falcons quietly managed a 14-2 record with Chris Chandler at QB. When they met in the playoffs in Minnesota, The Falcons got lucky with a missed field goal and than won the game in OT.

If the Packers are to lose a game this year, I think it will be a home game to the 49'ers where David Akers makes the difference. Green Bays starting to get a lot of attention, but the Niners themselves have been pretty consistent in putting up their 8-1 record.

Although I do think the Giants with Ahmad Bradshaw could give the Packers a game too.

After the Patriots lost the Superbowl to ruin their perfect season..I do now believe anything is possible.

[rubecube]

Originally Posted by Sainters7

Agreed about the Pack, they just seem head and shoulders above everyone else. Maybe I'm just being a homer but I honestly think the Saints could give them a good run and maybe even beat them if it were at the Superdome in January. But at a snowy Lambeau Field (which will almost certainy be the site if they played), I'm having trouble picturing it.

Obviously the conditions would limit both the Rodgers & Brees arial attack, so it'd come down to more of a short attack/ground game. I like our RB's better, but in those types of games it always comes down to the lines, and their OL and DL pretty much owned the Saints' lines on the kick-off Thursday game, including that final play at the 1 to potential push it to OT.

I'd be pretty shocked if it wasn't a repeat in February.

I really can't get a good read on the Saints this year. I think they're a good team, but not a great team. That secondary has been lit up a few times, and they still have trouble closing out games on the road. They've been great at home, but the teams they've played there aren't great. Chicago and Houston are decent teams but I thought they were lucky to get by a Houston team that also struggles on the road, and they caught Chicago with their pants down. The game against the Giants is going to be their first true test.

[DropIt]

I think the Packers losing a game may end up being the best thing for them in the big picture after the New England outcome

[dirk diggler]

Originally Posted by rubecube

I really can't get a good read on the Saints this year. I think they're a good team, but not a great team. That secondary has been lit up a few times, and they still have trouble closing out games on the road. They've been great at home, but the teams they've played there aren't great. Chicago and Houston are decent teams but I thought they were lucky to get by a Houston team that also struggles on the road, and they caught Chicago with their pants down. The game against the Giants is going to be their first true test.

Saints and the Ravens are the 2 biggest enigma teams out there..

[Sainters7]

Originally Posted by rubecube

I really can't get a good read on the Saints this year. I think they're a good team, but not a great team. That secondary has been lit up a few times, and they still have trouble closing out games on the road. They've been great at home, but the teams they've played there aren't great. Chicago and Houston are decent teams but I thought they were lucky to get by a Houston team that also struggles on the road, and they caught Chicago with their pants down. The game against the Giants is going to be their first true test.

Agreed about them not being elite right now due to the Jekyl & Hyde-ness, and I don't think anyone in that locker room would disagree. They're just a completely different team at home. Don't even get me started on the D, I could write a book about how much Gregg Williams angers me right now. "Hey how about sending the house at the QB for the 100th time! ...oh wait, a 6 yard quick slant just went for 65 yards and a TD. Guess I should've seen that coming, seeing as it happens every game."

The key to lighting up the Saints on D is quick short plays and screens, because they're so ridiculously over-aggressive. That and the underneath middle zone has been wide open all year (this week's example, Harry Douglas 133yds all on checkdowns), if Payton doesn't address our huge whole at OLB this off-season I will snap. Also, the secondary hasn't been recovering the ball like they did in '09, unfortunately FS Malcolm Jenkins hasn't made the big jump to star player this season like many predicted he would. He's only in his 2nd year at the position though (ever, converted from CB) so it will take some time. Jabari Greer is so underrated though, I can't figure out why teams try to pick on him every game instead of Porter. It never works.

Over-all though, I still think they can make some noise come playoff time and have to be considered a threat, this same roster did it just 2 years ago. They are 7-3, currently hold the 3rd seed in the NFC, and never seem to be out of a game, no matter who they're playing. Maybe it wasn't pretty, but at the end of the day, out of Green Bay, Houston, Chicago and Atlanta, they're 3-1, with the only loss coming to the champs which went right down to the very end. And like you said, this week against the Giants will be a big test. At home, I like our chances.

PS- This was longer than I was intending. That's what happens when I get talking about our D. Belive it or not I cut this down.

[Montana Moe]

I had really hoped that the run defense would improve with the addition of Rogers and Jordan, but they still allow too many 7-10 yard runs that should be 1-3 yard runs. The linebackers obviously are an issue, as well. I was happy to see Dunbar get some playing time with Vilma out, as I thought it would improve the situation...

Roman Harper has been playing great, though. Almost good enough for me to forgive the debacle in Seattle last year... Almost.

[Sainters7]

Agreed Moe, I'm surprised our run D hasn't been great either after all those big bodied additions. I've been a bit disappointed with Rogers/Franklin too, though I don't put a ton of blame on them, as I find most of the big runs are on cutbacks to the outside. Man we need some OLB's, Shanle always seems woefully out of position on those runs.

Ya Harper has been playing great, huge game on Sunday. I was worried he was going to go down as the goat though when he dropped that potential game-ending pick, I thought Atl was going to punch it in on that drive & win.

And totally agreed on Dunbar. I think he's played quite well the past 2 games, especially against Tampa. Physical, physical player. Healthy Dunbar > injured Vilma.

[kermitology]

This is just hilarious to me:

http://www.nfl.com/news/story/09000d...s-texans-bears

Check out number 21.

[rubecube]

If this is true, then it's yet another glaring indictment of Andy Reid as a coach.

http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com...izona-defense/

[KelVarnsen]

Originally Posted by rubecube

If this is true, then it's yet another glaring indictment of Andy Reid as a coach.

http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com...izona-defense/

Andy Reid needs to go. His hiring of Castillo is enough to warrant a firing, and now this. Just fire the guy already.

[Sainters7]

I think the expression "Wow...just wow" is horribly played out, but in this case its needed.

What a bonehead. How could he not see that coming??

[rubecube]

Originally Posted by KelVarnsen

Andy Reid needs to go. His hiring of Castillo is enough to warrant a firing, and now this. Just fire the guy already.

Vick's new contract is another. You can't give a guy that kind of money based off a stretch of 10 games. They had him tagged and he wasn't causing problems, why tie yourself to the guy? Then there's the whole wide 9 fiasco. When you declare yourself "all in" for the Super Bowl and fail so miserably, someone has to be held accountable.

The good news for us Eagles fans is that, according to pythagorem theory, we should have 2 more wins than we do and we're 1-4 in games decided by a TD or less. Those are huge statistical anomalies that usually reverse themselves in the following years.

[dirk diggler]

Originally Posted by rubecube

Vick's new contract is another. You can't give a guy that kind of money based off a stretch of 10 games. They had him tagged and he wasn't causing problems, why tie yourself to the guy? Then there's the whole wide 9 fiasco. When you declare yourself "all in" for the Super Bowl and fail so miserably, someone has to be held accountable.

The good news for us Eagles fans is that, according to pythagorem theory, we should have 2 more wins than we do and we're 1-4 in games decided by a TD or less. Those are huge statistical anomalies that usually reverse themselves in the following years.

yeah it really amazed me how so many people got on the Vick bandwagon so quickly, you could already tell he wasnt as good in the last part of the season as he was in the first part last year. If the Eagles wanted to go all in, why didnt they do that in the Mcnabb era when they were in the NFC championship all those years in a row?

[KelVarnsen]

The Eagles have some good building blocks to use, but they really need to improve the LB core for next year, something Reid hasn't done in a long time.

Are there any good up and coming defensive coaches the Eagles could go after to replace Reid?

[rubecube]

Originally Posted by KelVarnsen

The Eagles have some good building blocks to use, but they really need to improve the LB core for next year, something Reid hasn't done in a long time.

Are there any good up and coming defensive coaches the Eagles could go after to replace Reid?

Juan Castillo?

EDIT: Actually I think Gus Bradley (Seahawks defensive coordinator) could be a darkhorse for some head coaching jobs next year. He's done a pretty good job with a pretty untalented defense.

[KelVarnsen]

Winston Moss of the Packers came up in a search. Might be a good coach for the Eagles. Working under Dom Capers who has an aggressive defense, something the Eagles had for years.

I miss Brian Dawkins.

[Sainters7]

ESPN Page 2 rebrands all the NFL logos based on how their seasons are going. I've seen these done before and they're usually meh, but these ones are pretty funny actually. LOL at the Broncos one.

And if you don't get the Texans one, go to post #1722 of this thread.

http://espn.go.com/espn/page2/story/...ld-performance