Chargers are now officially division winners (at 11-3) and only second team to clinch playoffs in the AFC. Only the Pats and Bengals can hope to get 11 wins in the AFC in the remainder of the season, yet neither have locked up a playoff spot. I am pretty sure the Patriots will get in with two games to go.
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NFL season 2009-2010
- Thread starter PCsucks
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Chargers are now officially division winners (at 11-3) and only second team to clinch playoffs in the AFC. Only the Pats and Bengals can hope to get 11 wins in the AFC in the remainder of the season, yet neither have locked up a playoff spot. I am pretty sure the Patriots will get in with two games to go.
Pats may get in,how far they go is another story. Their lack of second half offensive production has been a problem all year long. If they haven't corrected that by December 20th......
On another note,WTF was Mike Tomlin thinking??An onside kick with a two point lead??Steeler's winning takes all the heat off him..
Six teams in AFC are in the hunt for a wild card compared to only one in the NFC (Giants)...
There's this amazing amount of mediocrity in the often boring AFC with all the teams going for the wild card, but it won't surprise me if the one standout of the AFC, Indy, takes it all.
It can possibly be Manning's last realistic chance and this could be his season of destiny where he rides off into the sunset with a Super Bowl win and a ton of records. When Elway retired and some fans cried foul and thought he had another Super Bowl run left in him, I knew it was Elway's time. Same goes for when Steve Young or when Troy Aikman retired. And yes, I wanted one more season for Emmett Smith, but even he had to retire.
Nobody can play at their top level to age 40 like Favre has. Favre doesn't look like his old self tonight, but however the Vikes season ends up, he has given old guys like me hope and no reason to feel sorry for oneself for turning 40.
With most teams with two games left, who do you think will go to Super Bowl?
The Titans are out but I didn't expect much from a 7-7 team this late in the season. I kind of like them and hope they can end the season 8-8.
I think Indy will represent the AFC with no doubt in my mind. They are football's version of baseball's New York Yankees, with a stellar record, fanatic following, and likely future hall of fame players. There are no other AFC teams which come to mind as an Indy stopper this year. I would want a team from my region of the country, San Diego, to give a good fight but this seems terribly unlikely so I won't hope and I won't go there.
The NFC will be more interesting since I see a real fight to represent that conference. It can be easy to say the New Orleans Saints are a shoe-in for getting into the Super Bowl, but the Vikings could rain on their parade. My guess is that the Vikings will have to play the best game they have all season in order to even get an iota of a chance to beat the Saints. But we are talking about a team that has been to the Super Bowl several times, but lost, but also a team with a hungry Favre who most likely would love one more ring to add to his Green Bay ring before his age will make him have to call it quits. If the NFC championship ends up between the Saints and Vikings, a Saints win will likely by by three touchdowns. But if the Vikings win, which I want but doubt, it can be by as little as one to three points, and be a nail biter. If in the unlikely event the Vikings go to the Super Bowl, their D would have to pounce on Manning and take him out of the game in the first quarter. But even then, I still think Indy is likely to win.
What are your predictions for Super Bowl contenders as it's (possibly) late enough in the season to make some educated guesses?
The Titans are out but I didn't expect much from a 7-7 team this late in the season. I kind of like them and hope they can end the season 8-8.
I think Indy will represent the AFC with no doubt in my mind. They are football's version of baseball's New York Yankees, with a stellar record, fanatic following, and likely future hall of fame players. There are no other AFC teams which come to mind as an Indy stopper this year. I would want a team from my region of the country, San Diego, to give a good fight but this seems terribly unlikely so I won't hope and I won't go there.
The NFC will be more interesting since I see a real fight to represent that conference. It can be easy to say the New Orleans Saints are a shoe-in for getting into the Super Bowl, but the Vikings could rain on their parade. My guess is that the Vikings will have to play the best game they have all season in order to even get an iota of a chance to beat the Saints. But we are talking about a team that has been to the Super Bowl several times, but lost, but also a team with a hungry Favre who most likely would love one more ring to add to his Green Bay ring before his age will make him have to call it quits. If the NFC championship ends up between the Saints and Vikings, a Saints win will likely by by three touchdowns. But if the Vikings win, which I want but doubt, it can be by as little as one to three points, and be a nail biter. If in the unlikely event the Vikings go to the Super Bowl, their D would have to pounce on Manning and take him out of the game in the first quarter. But even then, I still think Indy is likely to win.
What are your predictions for Super Bowl contenders as it's (possibly) late enough in the season to make some educated guesses?
Who besides Manning on the current Colts roster is Hall of Fame-worthy? The only sure-thing Hall of Famer on the Colts was Marvin Harrison. And they're totally unlike the Yankees in that they have a few stars supported by many more no-names.
What? The Chargers have a habit of beating Indy both late in the regular season and in the playoffs. Have you even paid attention to the NFL in the last 4 years?
Again, what are you talking about? Manning is 33 and arguably playing the best ball of his career the past couple years. He has almost no injury history and doesn't seem to be dependent on one player to make his offense succeed. The only quarterback of note riding off in to the sunset is Brett Favre.
I am talking about sports. Maybe things are different over there where you are with football (as you call it) and players' longevity and long term dynasties. I got a taste of it when Beckham came over here. Man, he looks like he can do that until he's 50. It could be his wife.
Every season is different regardless of sport, and players age.
Let's look as some facts:
We have both watched American football over the years I assume, but our conclusions are different. I hope you are right about the Chargers. Personally, I don't care how many times the Chargers have beat Indy in the past, because that's the past. I was a rabid Niners fan in the '80s and the Niners never beat the Broncos that entire decade, but in the 89-90 season, San Francisco squashed Denver in the Super Bowl.
In 2003, few would have said a team like the Boston Red Sox, who had not won the World Series in many decades, were about to win two of them later that decade. Past history does not make things form into a mold as you may also remember the White Sox. They had a long dry spell, too.
I would not call the other players on Indy as no-names. It takes a team to win a game. Indy is undefeated and this is not by accident. Yes, it can be a fluke, but it's not likely.
And about age, then why did Troy Aikman (33) and E. Smith (35), arguably still good for more seasons, leave football? It's not that they got bored. While Aikman was physically strong, he had been sacked too many times and there was a chance he could suffer long term brain damage from going down all those times. Smith was not a youngster, but he was actually an asset to the Cardinals and was on the rise so his departure from football upset some fans, including me.
I see Manning as a great QB who can tie on another Super Bowl win to his long list of amazing achievements, but it is foolhardy and unrealistic to think he will somehow play to 40 like Favre. Favre is so unusual in American sports that he is that old and still plays like a man ten years younger. It's one thing to be 40 and look 30 (which I have only seen a few times in my life), but to play like a 30 year old starting QB being 40? Favre is a one of a kind anomaly that sports sees once or twice a century. Personally, I think this is Manning's last chance. www.NFL.com thought last season was Indy's last realistic run for a big 12 game season thinking they would not do it again for a long time.
Again, I hope you are right about the Chargers since they are the last California team still in the running for a Super Bowl ring. The Raiders have 3 and the Niners have 5, and it would be sweet to see San Diego get one to fill out my home state of Super Bowl winners.
So you refuse to use past success as an indicator for future success? That pretty much defeats the entire premise of talking about sports. You also have made statements that would seem to contradict this mentality:
(???? what does this even mean?)
(...which means nothing, because that's in the past. Why even bring it up?)
(But "statistically" the Chargers have an advantage over the Colts.)
But few people would have said that about any team in any sport.
The Colts in the Peyton Manning era have been all about Peyton Manning. The entire team feels the consequences of his presence in Indianapolis. Ever since around 1999 the Colts have relied heavily on late-round or undrafted players they didn't have to pay a lot because they knew that they'd have to pay Manning.
Aikman's multiple concussions probably had something to do with his retirement, and the fact that he had nothing left to prove after 3 SB wins. Emmitt Smith retired at 34 and was a running back. It's widely acknowledged that a running back's skills decline after age 30, so Smith was an unusually durable back in that he managed to play 12 seasons with the Cowboys and 1 with the Cardinals.
All I want to know is how does this directly relate to the Chargers having any chance against Indy?. Again, I hope you are right.
I see you like to predict games. You are a smart guy.
I was also a numbers guy in grad school. But I will stick with the Chargers (in spirit) from my state of California but know the Chargers will not win, pending some miracle. If the Chargers play the Colts in the post season, what is your prediction?
There's no such thing as a direct relation in sports. Why wouldn't they have a chance against Indy?
27-23 San Diego.
What is it that you do at CERN. I drive by SLAC (in Palo Alto) a lot. I am sure your building is less of an eyesore than ours.
I'm a physicist/engineer, and work on the ATLAS experiment. SLAC and CERN look pretty much the same, honestly.
Yes yes yes, I hope you are right.
What would make this sweeter is if San Diego beats Indy with Indy have gone this far undefeated. I do like Peyton as a player, but like Aikman, I don't think he has anything left to prove. Heck, Marino has no rings and Joe Montana, and many fans of football, including me, consider Marino the best who has ever played the QB spot when he retired. That title may go to Favre or Manning when they retire. You could be a starting QB who has a ring, but be nowhere near being called good or great, as one could look at Brad Johnson or Doug Williams.Too bad about CERN. I have never been to CERN but it looked nice from pictures. So you have been to the states? Next time you come to Northern California and you are near SLAC, avoid the eyesore of San Jose and check out Mountain View, Atherton, Woodside, and Los Altos Hills. They are pretty nice places in an otherwise ugly Silicon Valley.
Marino will always have the stigma that he never won a Super Bowl.
I'm from the US and have explored NorCal a little bit. I mostly just went to SLAC for work, though, and didn't have time to actually enjoy myself.
Heck, same with Barry Bonds (WS ring), but I would have loved to have lived their lives over my current job/field. I won't tell my uncle in law since he's the chief prosecutor who went after Bonds in a steroids case over here.
BTW, I am five foot nothing and weigh as much as a feather compared to those guys so my only hope to be near the NFL or MLB would be as the guy working in the locker room or corporate office. (many people I went to grad school with went to represent sports stars and entertainers).
Oh, I almost forgot,
24-13 Indy
In a few weeks we will find out who is closest.
If I were brave, I could put only $100 dollars down on a 7-7 team in the hunt which have have roughly a 1 in 15,800 chance of winning. (Note: the 1979 LA Rams made it to the Super Bowl with a record of 9-7, but lost) Any of those outside mediocre teams winning the Super Bowl will give me a mansion if they beat the odds, assuming I put my money down, which I won't. Also at the shopping mall, 15,000 tickets will be sold for a chance to win a $30K car with limit of one ticket per person. In previous years, they didn't have a limit on how many raffle tickets they can sell, so the car dealership ate the costs (we must be in desperate times).While I think these odds are stupid, it just doesn't seem as crazy to hope a 7-7 team goes all the way this year. Go Houston?
Neither the Saints or Vikings are going to the Super Bowl. It's either Arizona, Philadelphia or Dallas (if they don't choke).
Based on who's playing hot right now, it's easy to say that the Eagles and Chargers will meet in the super bowl. But depending on how the AFC wildcard works out, and if the Chargers end up getting the Patriots in the 2nd round, I'm thinking the Eagles and Patriots could meet.
The NFC looks really weak to me, with the Saints going undefeated through last week then losing to the Cowboys and Bucs, two teams they were expected to handle easily. I don't see them carrying any momentum into the playoffs, which might not be needed since they have a first round bye, but would help their case a lot.
The Eagles beat my Niners, which gave me a chance to look at them up close, and they look like they're the real deal. Their defense is stifling and the offense is clicking right now. I'm thinking its going to be a throw back superbowl (haha) with the Eagles and Patriots squaring off, and the Eagles taking it in a nailbiter. 24-20.
Yeah, tell me about it, as I am also a 49ers fan. It was painful and the Eagles, if they continue play at their very best, stand some chance of going all the way. If I were an Eagles fan, I still would not underestimate the Vikings or Saints.
Something still tells me that the Saints are going to the Super Bowl, and while I don't think they are the most invincible team in football, many power rankings put them at #1 or #2. While I like underdogs, like the Texans who are barely in the wild card race, I would like to see Manning and company square off with the miracle Saints so we can see who is really the best team overall, beginning to end, and deserves the title of the team that dominated the NFL this season.
I have heard more than a few sports analysts on the radio questioning Manning's age, and his ability to hold up in the postseason. How far can a 33 year old man, who has been thrown down on the turf umpteen times over the years, hold up as each game gets progressively more physical? And how about Favre holding up, even though he's arguably tougher than Manning? I think every year tacked onto a QBs age, past age 30, sees that person being just that much vulnerable to injuries and fatigue this late in the NFL season. I don't care if Manning or Favre tell anybody their bodies are more fit now than when they were 21.
To me I feel like I am driving a car with two good tires (two young teams headed for conference championship games) and two bald tires (one with old Manning and one with even older Favre) and wondering if those two tires won't blow on the last leg of a cross country road trip. If somehow Indy goes against the Vikings, how many commentators out there do you think will call this the Senior Bowl?
That being said, when one guy retires, and then the other, at retirement they will be called the best player who has ever played in the NFL in the position of quarterback. And judging from their numbers, there is a good case to say these are two of the finest QBs in football history *the balding dude and the white haired dude!!
Ah it's a bummer that the Colts lost to the Jets, but it's no big deal -- yeah, it's ALWAYS better to win games, but the game today meant nothing. A whole bunch of Colts "fans" were pissed at Caldwell's decision to take the starters out and consequently ruined our perfect season, but if you ask me, you can't be a FAN without standing behind your team's coach's decisions.
Besides, had he kept Manning in today and Manning was injured, those same people bitching about taking him out today would be bitching about not taking him out. Hypocrites.
I would much prefer another Superbowl run (with healthy starters) than a perfect regular season and injuries in the playoffs. With the way Indy has been playing (for the most part) thus far (both at partial and full health), we should be WELL prepared for the playoffs. I'm not worried or upset about this loss. Yeah, a win would have been nice, but *meh*. We already clenched the division and home-field advantage so...keep on truckin'.
Besides, had he kept Manning in today and Manning was injured, those same people bitching about taking him out today would be bitching about not taking him out. Hypocrites.
I would much prefer another Superbowl run (with healthy starters) than a perfect regular season and injuries in the playoffs. With the way Indy has been playing (for the most part) thus far (both at partial and full health), we should be WELL prepared for the playoffs. I'm not worried or upset about this loss. Yeah, a win would have been nice, but *meh*. We already clenched the division and home-field advantage so...keep on truckin'.
I can't believe the Colts pulled their players today and just gave that game away. They've got Buffalo next week and could have easily been 16-0 if they wanted to be. I'm a native Tennessean and have followed Peyton for a long time. I guarantee, no matter what he says on camera, that he is ticked off about the decision.
I can't believe the Colts pulled their players today and just gave that game away. They've got Buffalo next week and could have easily been 16-0 if they wanted to be. I'm a native Tennessean and have followed Peyton for a long time. I guarantee, no matter what he says on camera, that he is ticked off about the decision.
I think he will be happy when he's healthy going into the playoffs, and will most likely pick apart the first team he sees. I would be surprised if he throws less than three touchdowns in his first playoff game. And I don't think he will be pissed off when he holds up his second Lombardi trophy which will likely be the result of this season if it's not the Saints. If Indy wins, and does so against the Saints, it will make people forget that Indy didn't have a perfect regular season.
I am kind of glad that we can now focus on football and not who can get the perfect regular season record. So let's say Indy won today, does that guarantee that they will automatically win a 16th game?
I felt the same way about the loss 63dot...now there's not the pressure of pulling a perfect season. It takes that off the minds of the players and lets them focus on the game instead of the outcome.
mscriv, I'm sure he's bummed about being pulled from the game, but Indy's players are there to work and follow the coaches orders. Don't know if you caught the press conference with Peyton after the game, but he kept saying how they follow the coaches orders and he's got the last word. It's really cool that someone like Peyton Manning has this kind of mindset when he could almost run the game by himself.
mscriv, I'm sure he's bummed about being pulled from the game, but Indy's players are there to work and follow the coaches orders. Don't know if you caught the press conference with Peyton after the game, but he kept saying how they follow the coaches orders and he's got the last word. It's really cool that someone like Peyton Manning has this kind of mindset when he could almost run the game by himself.
The Colts should be more concerned with their record coming off bye weeks,esp in the post season. They've had a history of one and dones. The one year they won the SB,they were a wild card team and kept the pedal to the metal. They play the Bills in Buf next this weekend. It's going to be cold windy and near zero wind chills. Not great conditions for a dome team. I'm not quite ready to give Indy,or NO,the Lombardi just yet because they're #1 seeds.Not to mention that NO hasn't exactly been dominating the last few weeks....Esp since two of the last four SB have been won by wild card teams...Post season NFL ball is a whole different mind set..
^You're welcome or something
For the Jets it's simple, win and they're in.
Oh wait, this is the Jets we're talking about.
For the Jets it's simple, win and they're in.
Oh wait, this is the Jets we're talking about.
Finding out that 3 teams lost and put the Jets into contention for a playoff spot was a bit of good news yesterday. Then I realized that this is the Jets we are talking about. I could have told you they'd knock off Indy only to disappoint their fans again by losing next week. The way I see it, Sanchez will throw an interception late in the 4th quarter that is returned for a TD that propels Cincinnati to the win.