NFL 2010

[Cimmerian Nights]

Dude, Parcells became your HC in 1993. You've pretty much been respectable to great ever since. It might be time to give up on the downtrodden schtick.

I remember fondly, that was my freshman year and my school hosted their training camps. Good times. Kraft taking ownership, the #1 pick and Parcells was like winning the lottery.

But you have to think Parcells only took it because it was the ultimate rebuilding job with them being the worst possible team at the time. Taking a 2 win team with the #1 pick and building them into a SB team in a matter of years.
He was preceded by a couple 1 and 2 win seasons. He came here to feed his ego by remaking the worst franchise in the league. And then didn't fly back with the team after the SB. Prick. Well, at least he brought a certain D-Coord with him...

Still, I grew up in the Victor Kiam era, ugly times that gave the entire sporting scene a black eye. Through my whole childhood the AFC East was Danny Marino's to lose, and later Jim Kelly's, Patsies were perennial doormats.

I used to go to Patriots games just to see the opponent.

Pffft. No one really cares about Woodhead. He succeeds because of the system, not because he's good. Pats know that. Jets know that. No one cares.

Boston/NYC roster switches are bigger than Cold War era defections going all the way back to the Bambino.

But the Jets let their vanity get the best of them. They cut Woodhead because he was a walk-on and kept Joe McKnight (3rd rounder) for Tannenbaum to save face. Same reason they are still keeping 1st round bust Vernon Gholston on the roster - cutting losses would be an admission that Mr T. fucked up.

The beauty of Woodhead is that he's a system dude. He walked in off the street and started immediately in some big fucking games, and short of one fumble all year and some spotty blitz pickup he's filled the role of Kevin Faulk pretty seamlessly. That's a vital role in the Pats offense, and they didn't skip a beat. I thought they'd be screwed this year without Faulk.
He is a system guy, but more importantly in the right system. It has to kill anyone with an appreciation for football to see how a RB like ... Barry Sanders was never in a good system.

5.6 per carry and 11 per catch. Not too shabby. Rarely goes down on first contact, 1st down pickup artist. I'll take him.

Anyway, the fact that he was a featured star on Hard Knocks with all the obsequious praise from Rex - Eagle Killer and all that. I have a hard time believing the Patriots didn't use that footage and the insight from it to decide to go after him. It gave a lot more scouting insight than his preseason appearances could give.
I would never want my team on Hard Knocks for this kind of reason.

Little things like this contribute to the overall makeup of why the Jets are the Jets and why the Patriots are the Patriots.


I'm stoked for this weekend, hopefully all the games are competitive, should be with better road teams all around. Then the college champ. Mon. I don't know if Oregon can hang with the SEC champs though.

Too bad the Jets fans are conspicuously quiet this time around. I got a real kick out of the Mike Francesa Jets baiting last year. Masterbaiter.
Going to be fun to see Manning, Wayne & Garcon Vs. Revis and Cro. Nice matchups. Cromartie should wear his old Charger's Powder Blue for good luck against Manning.

 

[UniversalWolf]

To be entirely honest, I've never even heard of the fucker.

If I remember correctly, Blyleven has a prominent position in the hierarchy of your national baseball team. They've pulled off some nice upsets in international play over the past few years.

Never much of a baseball fan, but always loved Lenny Dykstra as a kid. Charming guy. Not sure the Dutch would want to claim him.

After he retired Dykstra billed himself as a financial guru. He made millions and millions of dollars until he lost it all when his investments went bad a couple years ago. Now he's millions of dollars in debt and lives in his car. Or at least he did.

But enough about baseball.

Most of these bowls with Top 10 teams have been great (you can thank UCONN for the one exception), I could really do without the rest of them though.

There are 35 bowl games this year. 70 teams in bowls.

I was disappointed the Badgers lost, but they made a few mistakes and TCU really didn't make any mistakes, so they deserved it. Besides, TCU going undefeated makes the BCS look bad, which is a positive silver-lining.

There are some good draft prospects from Wisconsin this year. They might have two players picked in the first, or at least one in the first and one in the early second. I'm hoping the Packers get OT Gabe Carimi, but I think he'll be long gone before GB picks.



No one mentioning the Great Qwest Field Beer Scandal yet?

 

[Sander]

I remember fondly, that was my freshman year and my school hosted their training camps. Good times. Kraft taking ownership, the #1 pick and Parcells was like winning the lottery.

But you have to think Parcells only took it because it was the ultimate rebuilding job with them being the worst possible team at the time. Taking a 2 win team with the #1 pick and building them into a SB team in a matter of years.

They had 5 consecutive losing seasons, that's it. That's not being a downtrodden franchise, that's just a downturn in the franchise's history. The Bucs had 15 consecutive losing seasons, and continued losing after you guys started winning. There's no way the Pats were the worst team or franchise at the time. Please stop pretending the Pats ever had a history of futility. Not compared to the Bucs or Saints they didn't.
You keep talking about how the Pats were the shame of the nation in your youth, but they went to the freaking Super Bowl in '85.
Every franchise has a couple consecutive years of losing. That doesn't make you special. Get the fuck over it.

Boston/NYC roster switches are bigger than Cold War era defections going all the way back to the Bambino.

But the Jets let their vanity get the best of them. They cut Woodhead because he was a walk-on and kept Joe McKnight (3rd rounder) for Tannenbaum to save face. Same reason they are still keeping 1st round bust Vernon Gholston on the roster - cutting losses would be an admission that Mr T. fucked up.

Or maybe they kept McKnight because he's much more talented than Woodhead (more upside) and had Brad Smith, LDT and Shonn Greene to run the ball so they had no real room or need for Woodhead.

Jets had an overload at the running back/scrappy versatile guy position. Pats had a lack of people there. That's all there is to it.

If I remember correctly, Blyleven has a prominent position in the hierarchy of your national baseball team. They've pulled off some nice upsets in international play over the past few years.

I don't think so. Google says he was the pitching coach in '09, but that's all I can find. Only MLB guy in our national team I know of is that Andruw Jones dude.

 

[Brother None]

If I remember correctly, Blyleven has a prominent position in the hierarchy of your national baseball team. They've pulled off some nice upsets in international play over the past few years.

The Dutch male national basketball team is ranked somewhere below the Dutch female handball team in level of interest from the populace.

No one mentioning the Great Qwest Field Beer Scandal yet?

*shrugs* Honestly when you pay 8 bucks for your beer you shouldn't be shocked they'll gyp you for an extra buck. Anyway, they didn't apologize or say it was a mistake (nice honesty), but they'll offer beer cheaper this game (good to get the crowd rowdy) and presumably fix it in the off-season.

I used to go to Patriots games just to see the opponent.

Yeah dude, that's fascinating. It's 15 years ago. Time to drop the shtick.

It gave a lot more scouting insight than his preseason appearances could give.
I would never want my team on Hard Knocks for this kind of reason.

Doubt it was that big a factor.

I'm stoked for this weekend, hopefully all the games are competitive, should be with better road teams all around.

Pack-Iggles is the only one people seem to have pegged as close, pretty clear favourites in all the others. Not that that's saying much.

 

[Cimmerian Nights]

I never put the pre-2000 Pats in Saints/Bucs level of sucktitude. More like the Bengals - middling franchise, got blown out in a couple SBs, not the worst by any stretch.

Yeah dude, that's fascinating. It's 15 years ago. Time to drop the shtick.

Yeah OK we are abrasive fans regardless, it doesn't help being landlocked by NY and NJ you know for your sports demeanor either.

TCU going undefeated makes the BCS look bad, which is a positive silver-lining.

Wisconsin was very impressive still. But yeah any time a dark horse fucks up their agenda it's nice.
TCU just went legit BCS joining the BIG East. so they are de facto champs. UCONN sucked and they got their automatic bowl bid vs. #6 Oklahoma. That was a waste of Oklahoma's time. Useless bowl.

 

[SimpleMinded]

Wow, I'm loving the way the Seahawks are playing. Great blocks, great passes, hard plays on defense. The team wants to win and they're showing it on every play. I love it.

 

[Cimmerian Nights]

Wow indeed. Run of Lynch's life. Clutch.

 

[Sander]

Now that's why I love football. Point spread of 11, everyone hating the Seahawks. They don't give a shit and beat the Saints pretty soundly, with a little help from the 12th man.

Those double moves were disastrous for the Saints. And it's not like the Seahawks have such a tough passing game to stop. That was just terrible by the Saints.

 

[Brother None]

ooooooooooOOOOOOOOOOOOooooooooooo

Losers gonna lose.

These issues have a way of self-correcting.

Anyway you were saying?

 

[Sander]

So Cimms, where's the "Manning choked" stuff?

If only Peyton didn't have a dumbass head coach and a shitty defense.

 

[Brother None]

That was some horrible "no one wants to win this game"-style football. I don't feel like excusing Manning, the national media does that enough, but whatever. Pats are licking their chops.

 

[Cimmerian Nights]

Steve Sabol is not pleased.

So Cimms, where's the "Manning choked" stuff?

If only Peyton didn't have a dumbass head coach and a shitty defense.

Ahh, he didn't choke, but he didn't exactly bolster his post season, big game rep either. Another one and done at home by the Colts. The whole team gets tight and conservative in the playoffs - comes from Polian? Who's built more regular season champs than him that never close the deal?
I'm so glad Vinatieri has never been the big game winner for Indy that he was here. Guy is money, especially indoors, but like last night, he's never in the same positions as he was with the Pats

Nice game call by Shotteneheimer, I guess when Sanchez is such a liability and the Colts run D is so soft, it's pretty obvious that it's time to go 'ground and pound'. LT even showed up in a playoff game! Gotta give the Jets credit.

Conversely, can't understand why Payton tried running Bush in between the tackles yesterday, that's a road to nowhere.

Pats are licking their chops.

Sanchez looked horrendous, and his record in the cold is pretty abyssmal.
NYJ/NEP and BAL/PITT rubber matches could be epic next week.

 

[Sander]

Ahh, he didn't choke, but he didn't exactly bolster his post season, big game rep either. Another one and done at home by the Colts. The whole team gets tight and conservative in the playoffs - comes from Polian?

Well.....that was unexpected.

Nice game call by Shotteneheimer, I guess when Sanchez is such a liability and the Colts run D is so soft, it's pretty obvious that it's time to go 'ground and pound'. LT even showed up in a playoff game! Gotta give the Jets credit.

Sanchez was beyond horrible for basically the entire game, except for the two throws on the last drive. He also threw away sure points at the end of the first half with a dumbassed goalline interception. I don't understand why the Jets didn't just start the game by pounding that ball down the Colts' throats.

Conversely, can't understand why Payton tried running Bush in between the tackles yesterday, that's a road to nowhere.

Tried to get a running game started any which way he could. Didn't work, and Brees still ended up throwing it 60 times.

Sanchez looked horrendous, and his record in the cold is pretty abyssmal.
NYJ/NEP and BAL/PITT rubber matches could be epic next week.

Tough to see the Jets beating the Pats, especially at Foxboro.
Ravens-Steelers would be epic. But Chiefs-Steelers would be pretty good too. Whoever goes through, it's going to be smashmouth football in the divisional matchups.

Nnamdi Asomugha just became a free agent. Raiders won't be able to franchise him. Asomugha earned a ridiculous amount of money from the Raiders, and they have nothing to show for it. And now someone is going to get an elite cornerback in free agency.

And the 2011 HoF finalists have been announced. Tim Brown, Cris Carter, Andre Reed, Shannon Sharpe, Dermontti Dawson, Richard Dent, Chris Doleman, Charles Haley, Cortez Kennedy, Ed Sabol, Jerome Bettis, Curtis Martin, Willie Roaf, Deion Sanders, Marshall Faulk.

Faulk, Roaf and Sanders are sure to get in. Ed Sabol will probably get in too. Cris Carter and Cortez Kennedy should get in. I'd like to see Dent make it, too. Key player for the '80s Bears and that 46 defense.

 

[Cimmerian Nights]

Nice game call by Shotteneheimer, I guess when Sanchez is such a liability and the Colts run D is so soft, it's pretty obvious that it's time to go 'ground and pound'. LT even showed up in a playoff game! Gotta give the Jets credit.

Sanchez was beyond horrible for basically the entire game, except for the two throws on the last drive. He also threw away sure points at the end of the first half with a dumbassed goalline interception. I don't understand why the Jets didn't just start the game by pounding that ball down the Colts' throats.

Especially when they were holding the Colt's O down so well. That's exactly when you want to pound them. Once the Colts and their frontrunning style get a jump you have to abandon the run pretty much. They practically shut Manning out in the first half. 16 points at home is not good enough.

Those 2 big drives the Jets had in the second half were monstrous. Even still, 3rd and long you have to put it in Sanchez' hands.

Nice sell on the roughing the punter call too.

And the 2011 HoF finalists have been announced.

That whole group gets in eventually.

 

[TwinkieGorilla]

GO PACK GO!!!

 

[Sander]

Good win, Pack. Looks like you found your running back, too.

Now go beat the goddamn Falcons.

 

[UniversalWolf]

The Dutch male national basketball team is ranked somewhere below the Dutch female handball team in level of interest from the populace.

Baseball's big in the Caribbean region though, and there are a few former Dutch colonies down there -- Curaçao, most notably -- that qualify players for the Netherlands. Add in a few Dutch nationals who grew up in the U.S. and you've cobbled together a respectable team. They upset the Dominican Republic a couple of years ago:

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123679227876897443.html

And your junior team beat Cuba last year.


Oh yeah, go Packers.

 

[Cimmerian Nights]

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ueR1TFFEt3g&feature=player_embedded[/youtube]

 

[Brother None]

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ieMlSNXMR2M[/youtube]

EDIT: more on how weird it is that the Bears are 9.5 faves

-6.5 v. DET (W 19-14)
+3 v. GB (W 20-17)
-6 v. SEA (L 20-23)
-3 v. WSH (L 14-17)
+1 v. MIN (W 27-13)
+3 v. PHI W (31-26)
+3 v. NE (L 7-36)
-2.5 v. NYJ (W 38-34)

This line is ridiculous. The Bears haven't been favored by more than 6.5 points all year, and now they're supposed to cover double digits? What?

Also heh
I'm calling this the Rabid Dog trend because it's a cool name: Teams coming off a straight-up win in the playoffs as underdogs of seven or more are 6-1 against the spread the following week since 2002.

 

[UniversalWolf]

If your sister's name is Brandi, and she was arrested in a meth lab...you might be a redneck!

The thing I remember most about that last Seahawks/Bears game is Okung easily handling Julius Peppers.

The Jets talk way too much. It's not even entertaining anymore.