2014 NFL Playoffs Thread

[kingfc22]

I wonder if Carolina goes back to the read-option which was working much better than straight running game.

[Suicane75]

Originally Posted by TroyF

I do. I'm a middle aged white guy, but I care. Guys getting up and in each others faces after every play gets old and gets old fast for me. I love emotion. You jump in the air and cheer and wave first down? Yeah, I'm ok with that. Head butt someone? No, not so much. Get a PI call and run toward the player flagged to talk trash? that should be 15 yards.

Completely agree. It's gotten beyond obnoxious at this point.

[kingfc22]

Good penalty. Saved a TD.

[Glengoyne]

Tough to stop that on third and short.

[kingfc22]

Big sequence there to push it out of FG range.

[kingfc22]

Need to finish this drive off with a TD.

[Vince, Pt. II]

Damn. Still a good drive, but would have LOVED a TD there.

[kingfc22]

Originally Posted by Vince, Pt. II

Damn. Still a good drive, but would have LOVED a TD there.

Yup. Nice stop by Carolina to hold there.

[RedKingGold]

If the Niners hold on, how much play is that Kaepernick Beats commercial going to get?

[kingfc22]

Bowman has been the best ILB in this game.

[Jon]

Originally Posted by RedKingGold

If the Niners hold on, how much play is that Kaepernick Beats commercial going to get?

Probably a lot.

They showed it here in Seattle when the 49ers and Seahawks played in the regular season and a group pop upped in Seattle to boycott Beats for the misrepresentation of Seattle fans.

Pretty funny stuff.

[Vince, Pt. II]

That is the most awful call. Holy crap. That changes the game. Wow.

[kingfc22]

Well there's the equal it out call.

[Glengoyne]

That is just wrong


No way that should be a penalty.

[Crapshoot]

That was a 30 yard swing on a crazy call - ridiculous.

[frnk55]

Love it! Go and pout now Cam.

[Vince, Pt. II]

Whew. Breathing again.

[kingfc22]

Yes! Can't wait for next week.

Everyone thought it was going to be Seattle/San Francisco and that's what we will get.

[Solecismic]

Referees aren't have a great weekend, are they? Remembering the silly Seattle penalty after they recovered the fumble that wasn't. At least neither one ended up having any impact.

[RedKingGold]

Next week is going to be epic!

[Carman Bulldog]

I'm getting really tired hearing people complain about the Seahawks not getting called for penalties. Is there some giant league wide conspiracy to help a team from the Pacific Northwest? They led the NFL this year in penalties against and penalty yards against. They tied for the lead in DPI calls and were second in defensive holding penalties. It seems like they are getting their fair share called against them. I don't buy this whole "they interfere on every play" argument either. I recall one play from last night that should have been called that wasn't and that was the Earl Thomas one on Jimmy Graham where he got there early. It's not like the officiating is one-sided. They are working within the confines of what the officials give you and it has been happening for years with offensive linemen with holding and talented receivers with pushing off. They are more willing to play dangerously close to that line and it shows with them leading the league in penalties.

Regarding the Patriots, I'm in awe of Bill Belichek and the way that the he adapts and continues to win. First it was the defense and finding value in versatile 3-4 linebackers that weren't in demand elsewhere. When he was able to add Welker and Moss for very little cost, they revamped the personality of the team to be a high powered passing machine. When Moss moved on they transitioned to more of a 2 TE offense. Unfortunately that hasn't panned out and they now look like they are becoming this three headed back run team. The one constant seems to be seeing value in players that others do not and developing the team around that.

If someone were to say that the Pats would lose Welker, Hernandez, Gronkowski and Vollmer on offense and Wilfork, Mayo and Spikes on defense from last years team, I'm not sure anyone would have said that they would be back in the AFC title game. While I don't cheer for one team exclusively, I suppose that's why I don't mind seeing them be continually successful. It's amusing when people criticize them for not winning the Super Bowl since 2004. It seems like you can pinpoint one play or moment each year that may have been the difference in a championship, albeit some much closer than others, whether it's the Reche Caldwell drop in 2006, the Tyree catch in 2007, the Brady injury in 2008, the Welker injury in 2010, the injury to Gronkowski and the Welker drop in 2011 and the Gronk injury in 2012. I would say that in all of those years except for 2010, with the right breaks they could easily have won the championship.

[mauchow]

Or it could be as easy as Tom Brady.

[Suicane75]

Stoked for an potentially epic NFC title game. Not so stoked for how out of hand and stupid I can imagine it getting. I hope the NFL sits down with both teams during the week and lays down the law.

[Vince, Pt. II]

Originally Posted by Suicane75

Stoked for an potentially epic NFC title game. Not so stoked for how out of hand and stupid I can imagine it getting. I hope the NFL sits down with both teams during the week and lays down the law.

+1

[BillJasper]

Originally Posted by Suicane75

Stoked for an potentially epic NFC title game. Not so stoked for how out of hand and stupid I can imagine it getting. I hope the NFL sits down with both teams during the week and lays down the law.

+2

[Jon]

Originally Posted by Suicane75

Stoked for an potentially epic NFC title game. Not so stoked for how out of hand and stupid I can imagine it getting. I hope the NFL sits down with both teams during the week and lays down the law.

+3

And choose a decent officiating crew for the game.

[albionmoonlight]

Originally Posted by mauchow

Or it could be as easy as Tom Brady.

The team won 11 games with Matt Cassell as QB.

Brady is certainly good, no doubt. But I share Carmen's awe of Belichick.

[BillJasper]

Originally Posted by albionmoonlight

The team won 11 games with Matt Cassell as QB.

Brady is certainly good, no doubt. But I share Carmen's awe of Belichick.

Same here. I think Belichick is probably the best at getting the most out of his players in the history of the game.

[jeff061]

Originally Posted by mauchow

Or it could be as easy as Tom Brady.

Yeah, not so much this season. I've always been a member of the "Belichick more than Brady camp". I think this team will weather Brady's retirement much better than it will Belichick's.

And I'm quite happy to be proven incorrect in my doom and gloom Patriots prediction after Gronk went down. Playing better than I expected or just awful AFC competition this year, I'll take it either way.

[BillJasper]

Originally Posted by jeff061

Yeah, not so much this season. I've always been a member of the "Belichick more than Brady camp". I think this team will weather Brady's retirement much better than it will Belichick's.

I hear that leveled at Belichick a lot. "Well, he has Tom Brady", like that somehow lessens his achievements as a coach. Honestly, there aren't too many great coaches who didn't have great QB's on the field.

[Lathum]

Rivers handled that well

[BillJasper]

Chargers offense isn't exactly looking sharp.

[Vince, Pt. II]

Originally Posted by jeff061

...or just awful AFC competition this year...

Don't want to take anything away from them, because I'm just as in awe of Belichick and Brady as anyone else, but the AFC has seemed rather putrid this year. Denver and New England a cut above the rest, although I thought Cincinnati was there as well before Dalton decided to do his best Carson Palmer impersonation.

[BillJasper]

Incompletion.

[Izulde]

Looked down by contact to me.

[BillJasper]

Terrible call.

[cuervo72]

Looked like Mathews was throwing jabs as much as he was trying to stiffarm there.

[Danny]

Yeah I think that was either incomplete or complete and down.

[Glengoyne]

I think by rule that was an incompletion.

I think by rights he was down by contact.. By rights I mean without the crazy reception rule with the going to the ground text.

I'm not sure how you rule fumble there. Unless you have a different threshold for irrefutable.

[BillJasper]

You think a veteran QB would have a better feel for pressure. Rivers looks lost out there.

[BillJasper]

Originally Posted by Glengoyne

I think by rule that was an incompletion.

I think by rights he was down by contact.. By rights I mean without the crazy reception rule with the going to the ground text.

I'm not sure how you rule fumble there. Unless you have a different threshold for irrefutable.

Ends up costing the Broncos ten yards in field position. Not the worst outcome from a blown call.

[TroyF]

Originally Posted by BillJasper

Terrible call.

Beyond terrible. It was clearly an incomplete pass unless going down on your ass is considered a football move.

While Moore screwed the pooch with his defense in last years Raven's game, there were some calls early in the game that swung momentum and were horrible. One was a Pick six by Manning that had two defensive PI's on the same play both uncalled.

That is the type of play that can take a dominating 20 minutes for Denver and turn it into a tie game. Just a horrible call.

On the positive side, I'll actually agree with an announcer for once, the Denver defense looks REALLY pissed off today. They haven't had a pass rush like this in weeks. They have 3 sacks today. Their high water mark for the year was 4 sacks, 3 different times. The last time was 8 weeks ago in SD.

If they can keep up the pressure, they have a good chance of finishing this off.

[BillJasper]

I'm really enjoying the games this weekend. Love watching teams actually run the ball.

[Carman Bulldog]

I see the Broncos run offensive pass interference all the time on those pick plays and almost never get called. Good to see it called. Funny how everyone whines about the Seahawks but not about that.

[TroyF]

In the first two games against the Chargers, the Broncos had the ball for just over 21 minutes per game and converted 5/17 on third downs. Today, Denver has already had the ball 13 minutes and is 3/4 on third downs.

I hope this pays dividends going into the second half. See how the SD defense can hold up when they are on the field for a long time at altitude.

[TroyF]

Originally Posted by Carman Bulldog

I see the Broncos run offensive pass interference all the time on those pick plays and almost never get called. Good to see it called. Funny how everyone whines about the Seahawks but not about that.

The difference is the Broncos do it, the Patriots do it, the Lions do it. . . essentially any team who throws the ball a lot does it. I don't especially like it either, though on that play, it really wasn't a pick. A true pick play has the WR run into the DB. On that play, the WR made no attempt to run into the man covering Welker. He simply ran an inside route and never touched him. That's more good play design than a pick. SD had a third down conversion earlier in this very game where they used a similar play.

[BillJasper]

San Diego needs to stretch the field.

[TroyF]

Originally Posted by BillJasper

San Diego needs to stretch the field.

They do, but there is a reason they can't. Watch the OLine. They are getting destroyed. The Broncos are not blitzing the generate this pressure. That means 7 guys in coverage at all times. It's going to be really tough for them to stretch the field if Denver continues to get this type of pressure with 4 or 3 man rushes.

Denver has 3 sacks on only 11 drop backs. While I don't like Rivers at all, he's a very good QB. He cannot look down the field unless the OLine gets it together and gets it together quick.

[BillJasper]

San Diego catches a break there.

[TroyF]

Great defensive play there. That hurts. I'm sure someone, somewhere will say that was a playoff choke. Ball hit Decker right in the chest. Hope for a good drive to start the second half. That would be huge.