NFL Week 17 - Welker hurt, Giants suck and some other stuff
 

As a Lions fan no week in the NFL is worse then Week 17. We have a blacked out game that doesn't matter. Our rookie QB is out so we can't even watch him play. All my FF leagues are over (for nearly everyone else I'd assume too) and this year the one game that means anything will end up a sham as the Jets will play a Bengals team most likely headed up by JT O'Sullivan.

Oh well. At least I can hold out hope that the Rams accidentally beat SF and the Lions lose.

I remain surprised that Dallas/Philadelphia wasn't flexed to Sunday night instead of Jets/Bengals for this reason. Once Dallas beat Washington last Sunday, Dallas/Philly was the only game in the league that could be played after all the other games and be guaranteed to still have meaning for both teams. Unless, of course, there's a rule about the same team appearing on Sunday night two weeks in a row, in which case that's a shitty rule to have for week 17!

If I pay attention to football at all this weekend it will because I'm in a fantasy football championship with about $150 on the line.

The Colts sucked out all of my NFL enthusiasm.

DeTox. I think it's safe to assume that regardless of whether the Rams have the first, second, or third pick of the draft, that they'll be taking either Clausen or McCoy. That should leave at least 2-3 top flight receivers for the Lions to choose from.

They said the reason they did it was because at the end of this TV contract cycle, an equal number of Fox games and CBS games must be flexed. Currently, Fox has lost five more games than CBS has and they took the game to start to try and balance it out.

I will laugh if Denver loses and they don't make the playoffs.

You'd only miss him throw a few picks anyways.

I bet it is likely that Denver will win and not make the playoffs.

What sucks is we actually need WR badly :(

Really? I'd think the Lions have much bigger needs than WR, with Megatron on the roster. I'm thinking...any position on defense.

I don't mean in the draft. Just that our WR's outside Megatron are an abortion despite all the picks used on them in the past.

Speaking of, we haven't had a good argument about how great and underrated Denver is and what a good hire Josh McDaniels was for a while. I guess going 2-7 over the last 9 games will do that.

You actually want the #1 pick again?

Not sure about back-to-back appearances, but I think there is a rule about how many times you can appear on primetime and use flex. I think Dallas has been on prime time too many times.

9 times out of 10 I would say no but I am that high on Suh. He is someone who can turn a D around in a hurry.

The one time this year I'll be rooting for the Giants and they have absolutely nothing to play for. And, of course, I'm sure the last thing they want to do is help the Cowboys (or Eagles) out...

Yeah I can't even sell my Colts vs Bills Tickets for $30 less than face value for the 2.

I'd buy them for dollar but my wife doesnt wanna give up the suite

Suh is no doubt the guy in this draft but I don't think Eric Berry would be a bad consolation prize.

Lamarr Woodley agrees with you.

Woodley predicts Bengals, Patriots to 'lay down' to keep Steelers out

Yeah, everyone's afraid of the big bad "can't stop shit in the 4th quarter" fucking squealers.

Yep, fucking PANIC stricken.

Woodley is such a lame ass. The only team People are less worried about right now would be...Miami or maybe Jacksonville. The Jets, Broncos and Ravens are all better than shitsburgh.

No beer but you get a nice towel
 

Jets to hold halftime Giants Stadium celebration - NFL - SI.com

We get it already. You don't like Pittsburgh. It's old.

not week 17 related,but was just watching a micd up video on Brett Favre earlier this year against the lions. It's Awesome and I'm not even too much of a Favre fan. you guys should check it out:

hxxp://www.vikings.com/media-vault/videos/Sound-FX---Brett-Favre-Just-A-Big-Kid/5710a3de-a55a-4b08-ba98-8a45e4319627

Dola, I love these vids, this is one of Stafford when he lead the come back against the browns. and he was hurt the last couple plays of the game, pure guts. Kids got em.

hxxp://www.nfl.com/videos/nfl-films-sound-efx/09000d5d8147c551/Sound-FX-Matthew-Stafford-mic-d-up

Surprised this wasn't posted yet.

Broncos bench Brandon Marshall Sunday. Also benching Tony Scheffler.

Josh McDaniels benches Brandon Marshall for Broncos finale - NFL - SI.com

To answer the titular question:

History suggests that the Bills will still get rolled in week 17 by a playoff team's b squad. See 2003, when the bills had a playoff birth on the line, and got stomped by a Steelers team featuring Brian St Pierre and Willie Parker(before he was a starter)

This has to be the last time I'll see good ole TC23 on the outer frames of a play, chasing down the guy he was supposed to cover? Right SR? Hopefully him and Tank can hang out a lot next season, Tank should be out of prison soon.

I read an article in the Trib today that blew my mind.

Discussion of who, should the Steelers choose to, would get the franchise tag after the season. Mentioned Hampton, Clark, Parker and Reed as the main UFAs.

And all I could think is WHERE THE FUCK IS THE SUPPORT FOR THE BEST DREADS IN PITSBURGH!?

DOLA

NFL to ask competition committee to look again at game, competitive balance - ESPN

Not really sure how this gets enforced

Boy this will be an interesting decision should the Broncos not make the playoffs now. C'mon Chiefs! :)

Going to the Browns-Jags game tomorrow in Cleveland, yay fun

Supposed to be strong winds. Derek Anderson might wish for the days of 2-17 for 23 yards.

Yeah how can you force some team to play its starters when they have everything locked up? I can see it now, if this would ever become a rule (it won't) and a key player gets hurt in one of these meaningless games, there would be organizations up in arms.

Not sure exactly how either, but it definitely needs to be addressed. The Colts did nothing short of throwing a game last week & since it had definite impact on the playoff possibilities of other teams, that's a pretty grave issue.

What they can do is not expand the playoffs further (which would create more meaningless regular reason games). Though I'm resigned to the fact that they're going to do that soon anyway.

Nothing can be done though, about the Colts being too afraid to enter the playoffs undefeated.

Even if forced to dress and use players a minimum number of snaps, it would be a bunch of dive plays. Manning takes the snap, hands to Addai, 1 yard gain. Does this twice more. Punt.

Next series...three more of the same.

If they do anything, I imagine it'll be some sort of fine that some organizations will cheerfully pay anyway.

Blizzard like conditions here in Buffalo, I doubt you see the starters for the colts play more than a quarter.

Pains me to say this, but "Let's go Giants, beat those Vikings so my Cards still have a shot at the #2 seed!" :)

Fixed

You are such a homer Jeebs. ;)

Oh shit, welker possibly injured (looks like a knee)

Now I'm going to have to listen to jackasses and morons all offseason on how they should have sat Welker.

Wonderful.

freak injury, that could happen in Practice, he was basically untouched when it occured (I'd say sprained knee, don't think it's ACL/MCL related)

I think you lose more in routine and edge in NOT playing your starters then you do in risking injury.

That's the correct answer. But you know the Boston sports scene.

I'd say the fact that Welker was crying for five minutes and then carted off means it probably is worse then a Sprain. These guys know when something is really wrong and I think this is really wrong.

I don't think any significant number of people will really be pissed about him playing in the 1st quarter. This is the way Bellichick has done it since he's been here. And as Bellichik likes to point out - it's not like you have an unlimited roster, it's technically impossible to sit out all of your starters. Every team today is going to have their starters playing at least some of the game.

Welker doesn't stay down, ever. I knew it was over after 10 seconds.

Let's see what Edelman does in the post season. He could shine or he could disappoint.

I dunno how people can be pissed? This is no different then Week 1, 5 or 10. It's not like BB is defying logic and being a wildcard who is playing his guys when no one else does. Just bad luck.

If Bellichik convinced a guy to play after having a stroke, maybe he can convince Welker to play with a torn ACL.

The story of the week was "who if anyone is going to play". Now I don't know if the general fan base cared or thought there was a chance they'd sit healthy starters, but the talking heads and columnists sure couldn't stop debating it.

There was zero chance that any starters would miss the entire game. That was never discussed, even by the talking heads.

Even taking the extreme far end of this philosophy (the Colts), Manning is going to play some today.

And the game's not even entirely meaningless - The Pats have hosted at least one AFC Championship game as a #3 seed. (As a remote a chance as that is)

Well then we are listening to different people. Cause I'm not lying, I swear to god I listened to Massorotti and some idiot talk about it for over an hour on Thursday(I think). And Reiss's, Globe and Herald blogs had something on it every day for the last week.

Edit: and Massorotti started by saying they should all sit, but changed his mind. Idiot(I forget his name) firmly believed they should all rest because only injuries could derail them.

They were talking a lot about how long guys were going to play - but it would impossible for the Patriots to actually sit their entire starting lineup for the entire game even if they wanted to, the rosters aren't that big.

If someone was talking about sitting players for the whole game, idiot is the right word to use, because no team has ever done that, and I don't Bellichick as the guy starting a new trend in that area.

Mortensen said earlier today that they might use extra draft picks as an incentive to get teams to play their starters. I have no idea how that could possibly work, with the main sticking point being how you handle the shitty teams.

New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady has played the last several games with three broken ribs, CBS Sports reported Sunday.

Give Brady props for toughness

Bill Simmons has been saying that for weeks.

You would read Bill Simmons.

Nah, podcasts. Once that shrilly voice comes on, your sister turns into a beast.

Simmons has been saying that, but that was just from his view (admittedly, the fact that he had to wear the "flak vest" chest protector was pretty much a giveaway)

It sounds eerily quiet in Detroit today. Not a lot of shots of the stands yet, wonder how many people are actually there.

One less after that guy who ran on the field got ejected.

Heh, yeah. He wasn't even naked or anything, loser.

Enough of that nonsense...let's talk about a game that matters.

Bears up 6-3 over the Lions. :D

I was shocked Fox kept the camera on him, normally they just cut away. Maybe they wanted to prove people actually showed up?

This game is so fucking boring.

Pretty sure he said he got it from someone within the Pats, but whatever.

STFU RutgersAl.

If you don't read Rivals or any other Rutgers forums, disregard, though I suggest you start for that one reason.

They just gave it away. Just saw a shot of the crowd, the good seats are packed, and about 40 or so rows up it was utterly empty.

I can't believe I just had a rutgersal crossover here. Really blew my mind.

I've met Al before. He's batshit insane in real life too and has the hairiest arms you'll ever see.

Oh God. I figured he wasn't just a troll, he had to be insane, glad this confirms it. His Youtube videos are awesome.

Woodley's just making a tackling dummy out of his old college QB.

:lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:

Godell was in the booth during Steelers-Dolphins and was asked about this, and he mentioned it as well regarding draft picks, but I sort of took it as teams being penalized, I guess similar to salary cap violations. Maybe I heard him wrong though.

Or Mort was wrong...for a change.

Yeah, and when Manning or Brees is lost for the season because some guy trying to make a name for himself takes a cheap shot in week 17, what will Goodell do then?

Goodell is going to solve Week 17's "play the backups or keep the starters in" debate by adding two more regular season games, so then it becomes Week 19's problem.

Football sucks when one team doesnt care. When the Giants decided to pack it in for the year they decided to do it in style.

The only game saving today is Eagles/Cowboys.

Probably suspend him for a number of games, just like he would do for any other week of the season where these guys can get hurt.

Another opportunity for the Lions to set a futility record? Sweet!

Pat White looks like he just got knocked out.

I dunno why the Saints feel its totally ok to go into the playoffs on a 3 game losing streak, but its quite clear that is the case. Carolina has been playing well to be sure, but New Oreleans is just not trying at all today.

Brutal...

These are the plays you have to remember when people whine about rules designed to protect players.

Henne was taken out of the game earlier due to some kind of eye injury. Next time Miami has the ball it will be Tyler Thigpen time.

As far as the starters PT argument, could Peyton not take 1 snap, kneel down then leave the game rubbing his knee.
"He missed the 2nd half with a bruised knee, we hope he will be ready to go next week"

That Pat White hit looked brutal. Hope he's ok. Once someone here posted that story about White and the Vets, I became a fan of his.

So, with a Vikings win, the Packers definitely play the Cardinals next week... I'm pretty sure. Interesting. But they could be the 5th or 6th seed, depending how the game goes.

So uh, Thigpen's looking pretty good. :)

Another game blown in the 4th on the road?

!!!

Ben losses the ball

Fucking Steelers.

Holy shit, this Miami game is insane!

What about Bens arm?

Ok, that pass not so good.

Ben is going to play QB 1 handed? That arm doesn't look well at all.

Damn Texans are winning. :(

OK now I'm pissed...instead of showing us (Chicago) a meaningful Eagles/Cowboys game, they're showing us the Packers/Cards game that means absolutely nothing!

Edit: Looks like its Ravens/Raiders for me.

Move to Denmark. We got both games :p

Sucked to lose the Steelers game. :( But we had our chances.