oakland raiders, NE patriots, what the heck is going on?

[jefhatfield]

these two great nfl teams, who i thought at the end of the season last year would go to this years playoffs, are losing it big time right now

what is happening with this football season?

it kind of reminds me of a baseball team that finished 41 games out of first place last year but just won the world series

no one can call sports boring or predictable in the last couple of years

...'cept for maybe basketball...kobe, shaq?...you guys need to be on different teams!!!

[diorio]

I don't know, the AFC west is kind of weird right now, I believe the Chargers are leading? The Broncos are hanging on and I think they have a good playoff shot.

[jefhatfield]

imagine the broncos a superbowl contender without john elway

that would be cool

i used to hate the broncos, but elway just kept on plugging away and that made a lot of people come around

those angels, in baseball, had their hearts broken more than any team in baseball history and blew so many chances and had the players like carew, jackson, ryan, and others

no other team i could think of spent their first 41 years not yet in a second round of the playoffs or world series...amazingly bad luck so this world series win must have meant a real monkey off their back

but, they have a monkey on their back and this time, at least, it was their good luck charm

a rally monkey...it's time has come:p

[diorio]

I'm glad the Angels won, they had the great players but could never capitalize. It would be kind of weird with Brian Greise as QB instead of Elway, but it would still be good. Remember, the Broncos are 2 for 5 in the superbowl, and I think Elway lost two.

[jefhatfield]

Originally posted by diorio
I'm glad the Angels won, they had the great players but could never capitalize. It would be kind of weird with Brian Greise as QB instead of Elway, but it would still be good. Remember, the Broncos are 2 for 5 in the superbowl, and I think Elway lost two.

elway is 2 for 5 alone

but the broncos are 2 for 6 overall but the public will most remember the last two they did which were wins

[cubist]

I don't think it'll happen this year. But this definitely is a weird season. Last week there were like 3 OT games. I think the reshuffling of the divisions has caused some weird effects. The Saints have really come to life, eh?

Actually with 2 more divisions I think they ought to reduce the number of wildcards from 6 to 4. As it is, 14 out of 32 teams make playoffs... that's weird.

[g3ski]

The Raiders bought all new PCs from Dell, that's why they are so bad this year

:D

[wdlove]

The Patriot's definitely need help, per sportscasters, doing everything wrong!:confused:

[Over Achiever]

You want to know whats weird? The NFC North...my Minnesota Vikings are in second place...with a 2-5 RECORD...same with the Bears and Lions...2-5 is good enough for a three way tie for second!

My goodness...

[g3ski]

2nd place means even less than it used to, now that there are four division. There will be four division winners and three wildcards from each Conference. Yeah 14 teams make the playoffs, 7 out of 16 from each conference, but it is still very unlikely that a sub .500 will make it. All playoff teams will be over .500!

I still have to agree, it's a wild season.....but aren't they all. I guess the last time that we were in agreement with who was going to be good was in the early to mid 90's when the Cowboys and Niners dominated. Or maybe when we could predict that the NFC would beat the AFC in the superbowl.

Oddly enough, right now things are shaping up for a Niners vs. Chargers rematch, with the chargers looking solid and the Niners looking like the cinderella team. It would have been a great year to put $100 on the chargers in Vegas, they are probably 25-1 odds (that would be a nice new dual 1Ghz G4 or a 23" flat screen) :D

I still have my money on Philly in the super bowl. :cool:

[sickboy_osX]

San Fransisco 49ers (27)
vs.
Miami Dolphins (30)

Superbowl XXXVII January 26th 2003
San Diego California....

1:00 left in the game....

And the ball is at the Miami 50
Fiedler Passes to Ricky Williams, hes running, hes at the 30, the 20, the 10 TOUCH DOWN Miami and Miami Wins Superbowl 37 in San Diego first time since 1974!!! If only Marino was here right now to see this!

Thats how i think it will play out..

(these are the opinion of sickboy, depending on how ray lucas throws until fiedller can get back into the game)

[blackpeter]

The Broncos are doing so well because of the addition of my boy, Clinton Portis. He's going to be next year's Ladianian Tomlinson!

Major Contenders so far:
-Chargers
-Broncos
-Saints
-Niners
-'Phins (as long as Fiedler makes it back soon)
-Eagles
-Bills
-Packers
-Cheifs

This is what's great about the NFL. The salary cap maintains parity in the league. Every game is important (unlike basketball and baseball). I love this game!

Any MacRumors folks play Fantasy Football like myself?

[jefhatfield]

Originally posted by g3ski


I still have to agree, it's a wild season.....but aren't they all.

nope, between the raider's january 84 superbowl until the late-90s, the nfc on every superbowl

for a long time, it was as if the nfc were the pro players and the afc some "minor" league...it was an awful time in football

now, things are up in the air and much more exciting than those predictable years of the nfc dominance

[sickboy_osX]

I think the Fins have a better chance because we have Chris Carter, Ricky Williams and Fiedler, I just hope Jay comes back soon because That other dude keeps throwing like shiz. and it pisses me off, and makes me get more drunk at the bar, which pisses the lady of the house off because I am piss drunk, reak of alcohol, and I cant do anything the rest of the night.

[Over Achiever]

Originally posted by sickboy_osX
I think the Fins have a better chance because we have Chris Carter

Cris Carters a traitor:mad:

(this coming from a long time Viking fan;))

[3777]

The Patriots were never a great team....... they were a one year wonder. I hate the Patriots, I'm a huge Miami Dolphins fan living in New England..... I go too Miami / New England game at foxborough / Gillette ever year........they always throw beer at me :mad:

P.S. The Raiders were never great, they just had a great coach........ now that Grudens gone they will fall apart.

P.P.S. Speaking of falling apart....... I am sort of glad Dolphins fans are getting a good dose of Gay Lucas, maybe now they will appreciate Jay Fiedler for the great quarterback that he is:o

[jefhatfield]

Originally posted by 3777
The Patriots were never a great team....... they were a one year wonder. I hate the Patriots, I'm a huge Miami Dolphins fan living in New England..... I go too Miami / New England game at foxborough / Gillette ever year........they always throw beer at me :mad:

P.S. The Raiders were never great, they just had a great coach........ now that Grudens gone they will fall apart.

P.P.S. Speaking of falling apart....... I am sort of glad Dolphins fans are getting a good dose of Gay Lucas, maybe now they will appreciate Jay Fiedler for the great quarterback that he is:o

i live in a tiny california city, pop four thousand, and john madden lives there and i see him all the time...now when he was coach, the raiders posted a .750 winning percentage

that went down with every coach since then until you have what the raiders are today and have been for the last few years...has beens which if they were in their prime, would be contenders

i hate to see the raiders blow it in the playoffs of just flat out miss the playoffs...the last time they were in a superbowl was in the 1983 season before some of you were born and before many of you were old enough to know what football was

forget about passing and the west coast offense...forget about finesse...in those days of football from vince lombardi thru the vicious chicago bears of '85, football was a black and blue sport of ball control in time of possession and running it like a bulldozer through devastating defenses

when i think of football, i think of larry czonka, the colts winning the superbowl, ronny lott, lawrence taylor, the steel curtain, the black and blue division, etc...

now that was real football...usually on grass and not often in some temperature controlled indoor stadium with artificial turf

give me a low scoring defensive superbowl determined by a field goal and many sacks on both sides and then i will be happy...real football, third down conversions with a running back built by a tank, and time of possession and eating up the clock as the team marches down the field with ripped uniforms and turf being ground up by face masks

in other words, football

[wdlove]

It will be interesting this week with the Patriots going up against their former team mate Drew Beldsoe. This is a good season so far for him. Should be sorry that they traded him! :)

[jefhatfield]

Originally posted by wdlove
It will be interesting this week with the Patriots going up against their former team mate Drew Beldsoe. This is a good season so far for him. Should be sorry that they traded him! :)

drew is in for a playoff run as starting quarterback and an early favorite for a ring and superbowl mvp

fox sports call him the best quarterback in football today

[wdlove]

New England Patriots won today 31 -7 against Drew Bledsoe in Buffalo! Would have like to see Drew win after the way the Patriots treated him last year.