NFL Playoffs - Divisional Round

[stevew]

Good point

[TroyF]

3rd and 2. Denver has made statements all week about wanting to run the football.

So run it. Don't resort to trickery. Call an actual running play. Really stupid call there.

[JPhillips]

I really don't understand what the rule is for leading with the crown.

[Carman Bulldog]

Originally Posted by JPhillips

I really don't understand what the rule is for leading with the crown.

Not sure I really understand pass interference anymore the way Talib wrapped his arms around Bryant in the end zone well before the ball got there.

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

Going to be really irritated if Pittsburgh wins and the Chiefs let the opportunity slip away to host an AFC title game.

[Thomkal]

19 yards is the biggest pass play for Manning so far-I thought Big Ben was the QB with the injured shoulder

[whomario]

Originally Posted by Thomkal

19 yards is the biggest pass play for Manning so far-I thought Big Ben was the QB with the injured shoulder

To be fair, the Steelers long plays are all after the catch. In the air, both have struggled with accuracy and i don´t think its a stretch that the wind played a part so far (seems to be letting up now).

I think both QBs are doing fine, Bens receivers do a better job with it.

[cthomer5000]

Whether or not he "gave himself up" can't be challenge-able... can it?

[stevew]

Bullshit call. If someone smacks Peyton on the ground its a personal foul

[cthomer5000]

Slick by Tomlin to slow things down when Manning was telling guys to get to the line of scrimmage, BTW. He probably knew it wasn't reviewable when he threw the flag.

[stevew]

Geez, we need a punt returner

[stevew]

The fuck is that rule

[NobodyHere]

Now that is a BS rule

[Eaglesfan27]

That should be spotted at the 1 even if the rule says it would be a touchback if recovered in the endzone.

[cthomer5000]

Seems weird to be able to muff a punt, then basically benefit by jumping on it in your own endzone.

[stevew]

We're really YAC'ing them today

[kingfc22]

Originally Posted by stevew

We're really YAC'ing them today

You would think they would adjust the defense to stop the underneath pass that has occurred consistently this game

[stevew]

Really bad fumble

[kingfc22]

Looked like a nice flop to draw that holding call

[Glengoyne]

Originally Posted by Eaglesfan27

That should be spotted at the 1 even if the rule says it would be a touchback if recovered in the endzone.

I think they should have challenged that he was down by contact at the one before he slid to the end zone.

Edit boy that was stuck in the ipad for a bit

[stevew]

This field is really garbage today

[Carman Bulldog]

That non-PI call in the end zone is looking huge now.

[Galaril]

Originally Posted by stevew

This field is really garbage today

The field is in great shape.

[Galaril]

Originally Posted by Carman Bulldog

That non-PI call in the end zone is looking huge now.

That was not PI in the end zone sorry to say but get you are a Pats fan so sure😊

[stevew]

Originally Posted by Galaril

The field is in great shape.

If your neighbor had grass like that you'd be calling the HOA.

[NobodyHere]

Why wasn't that a fumble?

[stevew]

Forward progress stopped I guess.

[Galaril]

Originally Posted by stevew

If your neighbor had grass like that you'd be calling the HOA.

Haha yeah I see what you mean color wise but you get we live in a semi arid desert region with little rain so that is common but they could have used the sprinklers more sure. The field is dry and very intact.

[Carman Bulldog]

Originally Posted by Galaril

That was not PI in the end zone sorry to say but get you are a Pats fan so sure😊

Sorry, you must have me confused with someone else. I was hoping for a Chiefs-Cards final before the weekend. Now I'm rooting for the Cards. I don't own a single piece of merchandise and live in the centre of Canada and have no allegiance. Also, I'm not sure if a Pats fan would rather face the Steelers of Broncos so that comment is really moot.

Regarding the actual play, watch the replay and tell me how the CB can have both arms wrapped around the WR before the ball even gets there and it not be a penalty.

[stevew]

Good game.

[Galaril]

Originally Posted by Carman Bulldog

Sorry, you must have me confused with someone else. I was hoping for a Chiefs-Cards final before the weekend. Now I'm rooting for the Cards. I don't own a single piece of merchandise and live in the centre of Canada and have no allegiance. Also, I'm not sure if a Pats fan would rather face the Steelers of Broncos so that comment is really moot.

Regarding the actual play, watch the replay and tell me how the CB can have both arms wrapped around the WR before the ball even gets there and it not be a penalty.

The play was close. I watched the play a number of times and the ball got there when his hands wrapped him up.

Pats wanted the Steelers without Brown, injured QB and get to play in Foxboro.

[Galaril]

Originally Posted by stevew

Good game.

Great game and tons of props to the Steelers, clean hard played game and with the injuries Pittsburgh played with tons of heart.

[Carman Bulldog]

Four one score games and this weekend continues to be one of my favourites every year. All four road teams last week and all four home teams this week.

If the Chiefs could have pulled it off, we also would have had four former first overall picks as the four starting QB's. I believe that would have been the first time ever. As it is, we have three 1st's and a 199.

[BishopMVP]

Originally Posted by Galaril

Pats wanted the Steelers without Brown, injured QB and get to play in Foxboro.

That's the only part I care about... would've rather faced the Broncos at Foxboro than travel to Pittsburgh (plus Big Ben looked no more banged up than he normally does and AB was probably likely to play next week, though we'll never know for sure). Oh well, should've beaten the Dolphins... now I just need to completely tune out every radio host and ESPN for 6.75 days!

[Abe Sargent]

I'll be rooting for either NFC team to win the Super Bowl.

[Galaril]

Originally Posted by BishopMVP

That's the only part I care about... would've rather faced the Broncos at Foxboro than travel to Pittsburgh (plus Big Ben looked no more banged up than he normally does and AB was probably likely to play next week, though we'll never know for sure). Oh well, should've beaten the Dolphins... now I just need to completely tune out every radio host and ESPN for 6.75 days!

I expect an ass whipping at the hands of your Pats next weekend. You guys are going to be like a 5 or 6 point favorite even in Denver . Weather is supposed to be 50 degrees sunny and light wind too.

[TroyF]

Well, that's Denver.

Steelers moved the ball better than I expected, but Denver was simply set up to not allow the over the top TD's they had a few weeks ago. I am not saying I liked the strategy, but that was clearly the strategy right from the start. Don't blitz a lot, play deep zones and force the Steelers to drive down the field while Denver just wanted to avoid turnovers and stick with the run.

Take out the Denver drops and the game would probably have been over or changed much earlier. While the Steelers moved the ball with some big plays (underneath routes that went for big yardage mostly), they didn't move the ball at any other point. 2-14 on third and fourth downs.

On the PI in the end zone, I watched that play 15 times on slow mo rewind and I'll be damned if I can give an opinion on it. Overall, I thought the refs did a pretty good job in this one. I also liked the fact there wasn't any real cheap shots out there. The Broncos were still VERY angry about the cheap shot the Steelers linemena took last month. (he should have been suspended by the way, one of the cheapest shots I've seen this year) The Steelers were pissed off about the "bounty" Denver put on him. (all Denver said publicly is that they would hit him between the whistles) Either way, based off of the idiocy we've seen the last few weeks it is good everyone acted appropriately.

Next week is going to be interesting. Usually, Beli tries to ugly it up to slow down Manning. Now the Broncos will be trying to ugly it up to slow down Brady. I'm hoping for a blizzard with 75 mile an hour winds. If it comes down the running game, I think Denver will be better than the Patriots. But getting spread out and Brady making his quick reads? Nope, nope, nope. Find a way to slow the pace, have long drives and pressure Brady into a few mistakes. That's the way Denver can win this game. (I will be cheering for Denver, but would give the Patriots a 65 to 70 percent shot of winning this game. Maybe more.)

[Buccaneer]

Originally Posted by BishopMVP

That's the only part I care about... would've rather faced the Broncos at Foxboro than travel to Pittsburgh (plus Big Ben looked no more banged up than he normally does and AB was probably likely to play next week, though we'll never know for sure). Oh well, should've beaten the Dolphins... now I just need to completely tune out every radio host and ESPN for 6.75 days!

+1

All game long, I kept think whether to have the Pats play at home vs. Steelers thinking that Brown would be back or play on the road vs. Broncos. Couldn't decide which was the lesser of two evils.

[jeff061]

Pats didn't deserve home field. Looking forward to another Brady/Manning game.

[Carman Bulldog]

Originally Posted by Galaril

The play was close. I watched the play a number of times and the ball got there when his hands wrapped him up.

We might be talking about different plays. This is the one in the 3rd quarter I was referencing. The hug only got worse after this point as the ball got closer. I don't even think Phil Seeems mentioned it at all. Clearly looked like PI to me live and on all the replays.

[Kodos]

Not an impressive win, but the Broncos live to fight another day.

[Thomkal]

I think Denver has the better chance of beating New England, so glad they won, but I'm already sick of the Manning vs Brady pre-game hype.

[jbergey22]

Originally Posted by Galaril

I expect an ass whipping at the hands of your Pats next weekend. You guys are going to be like a 5 or 6 point favorite even in Denver . Weather is supposed to be 50 degrees sunny and light wind too.

Pats -3 Total 44

[TroyF]

For the hell of it, lets play the fan game:

Patriots fan:

We'll win because we are finally healthy and we are playing against a corpse. The Denver offense hasn't been good all year and it isn't going to start next week. Our WR are solid and Denver will have a difficult time slowing down this team with a healthy Gronk and Edelman. The Broncos have been playing with fire all year long and it will backfire on them next week.

Broncos fan:

The Patriots have not been as dominant as people seem to think for most of this season. They are a very good team, but everyone who reaches this point is. They were not a historic team even before their injuries. Brady has never had a lot of success in Denver. His two wins are over Danny Kannel and Tim Tebow. The Denver defense is the single best unit that will be on the field on Sunday. The Broncos will keep things close and there is no reason to think they can't pull one out.

Carolina fan:

We are 16-1. Period. The offense is great, the defense is great and we are at home where we have won 11 straight games. We have the MVP of the league and the pass rush to put Palmer on his back. Speaking of Palmer, did you see how weak he was against GB? We'll make him pay for every one of those mistakes. We don't have WR? Who did the Packers have? The same Packers who torched that defense for a majority of the game?

Cardinals fan:

If it weren't for a miracle play, we win that game in regulation and we didn't even play close to our best. We know that if we get down, the Panthers are prone to sleepwalking through full halves of football and will let us back in the game. Palmer was poor, but he got through it. We went 7-1 on the road. We played about as poorly as we can and still won the game. We won't play that poorly again. Pederson will take out Ginn by himself and force the Panthers to beat us with Olsen and the running game. That may work when Russell Wilson is throwing INT's inside the 20 yard line, it won't work so well when you have to drive 80 yards each time you get the ball.

[Ryche]

Originally Posted by Galaril

I expect an ass whipping at the hands of your Pats next weekend. You guys are going to be like a 5 or 6 point favorite even in Denver . Weather is supposed to be 50 degrees sunny and light wind too.

My one point of hopefulness next weekend is that I think the Steelers offensive line is much better than the Patriots. They should get pressure on Brady and I don't think they will have much luck running the ball.

[jeff061]

With Edelman in the line up they get the ball out consistently in 1 to 2 seconds. Mitigates any pass rush. That's how they did it early in the season and yesterday. They barely even bother to run.

Denver will need to disrupt the short timing routes. If they can do that they will likely pressure consistently rushing just 4. Pats offensive line has been truly awful all year. They were just able to mask it the first half of the season.

[Galaril]

Originally Posted by Ryche

My one point of hopefulness next weekend is that I think the Steelers offensive line is much better than the Patriots. They should get pressure on Brady and I don't think they will have much luck running the ball.

Just read that Chris Harris played most of the game hurt and only third downs mostly and is likely the nickel or dime back again next week with Roby, Talib being the starting backers and Bolden may be lost with a torn ACL so they are going to have a hard time controlling the Pats passing game.

[TroyF]

Originally Posted by jeff061

With Edelman in the line up they get the ball out consistently in 1 to 2 seconds. Mitigates any pass rush. That's how they did it early in the season and yesterday. They barely even bother to run.

Denver will need to disrupt the short timing routes. If they can do that they will likely pressure consistently rushing just 4. Pats offensive line has been truly awful all year. They were just able to mask it the first half of the season.

The Patriots make it really hard to do that. I think what Denver has to do is one from the Patriots playbook.You aren't going to stop the catches, but what you can do is pound them after the catch it. Don't miss tackles. Cover the living hell out of the short routes and force Brady to throw it either into tight coverage or deep. He's 20 of 60 on any pass over 21 yards down field this year. Take the chance.


The Patriots have zero running game and that isn't fixed by having all the WR back. They can only beat you one way now.

I'll state one last thing Denver MUST do if they are going to win. Forget Ware/Miller on the edge. I don't give a damn about that. If Denver want to beat Brady, they need to get pressure up the middle.

This game is going to be decided by turnovers and long plays IMO. The offenses are both incredibly flawed. I favor the Pats in this one, but I can easily see a scenario where Denver uglies up the game, controls TOP and eeks out an ugly win.

[cartman]

So, wild card weekend all of the road teams won, and this past weekend all of the home teams won. First time since the 2004 season that all of the 1 and 2 seeds will meet in the conference championship games.

[PilotMan]

Go Cards.