NFL Playoffs

[Del Murder]

Cowboys
Saints
Chargers
Colts

0-4 last week.

[Bunny]

NFC:
Dallas @ Minnesota
Arizona @ New Orleans

AFC:
New York Jets @ San Diego
Baltimore @ Indianapolis

I want the Vikings to win but I think the Cowboys have been playing better football lately and have more of an edge. If Minnesota's defense can bring it then they will probably win. Saints over Arizona, because I completely undervalue the skill of the entire Cardinal's team and recognize that. I just like Brees that much.

From what clips I saw of the game yesterday, Baltimore's defense was unstoppable for most of the game. If they can bring that sort of pressure against the Colts, they stand a good chance of winning. That said, I think Manning flourishes under that kind of pressure and can probably overtake the Ravens by even a slim margin.

Cowboys over Minnesota
Saints over Cardinals
Chargers over Jets
Colts over Ravens

[Raistlin]

So history shows I should just take the opposite of what Del says. I predicted Green Bay but I was cheering on Arizona just for another chance at last year's run. I have no idea who to cheer for in their next matchup, because I like Brees, but another Cardinals run would be hilarious. Oh well, anyway, my predictions:

Minnesota over Dallas
New Orleans over Arizona
San Diego over NYJ
Baltimore over Indy

I'm going for another epic Indy playoff collapse after their starters having the past month or so off. Although that would manage to avoid their perennial late loss to San Diego, but Baltimore is a physical defensive team, and those are the ones that usually fluster the Colts.

I went with Minnesota over Dallas because of the rest and home field advantage. If Minnesota had played Dallas in the first round I might have gone the other way, but the rest should do Favre and their offense some good. And Romo has to collapse sometime, right?

I picked the Saints and San Diego just because they're fairly obvious picks, though I wouldn't be too surprised by another Arizona run of upsets. The Jets are the odd one out in this round.

[Del Murder]

The most obvious pick is San Diego. Norv Turner should be fired if they lose that game.

[Raistlin]

With the sole exception of Arizona's first play, New Orleans looks unstoppable. Three TDs in one quarter, and Brees's only incompletion is a throw-away. Ok, Arizona's defense is not exactly leading the league, but even their offense hasn't gotten anything started against New Orleans's D.

[Del Murder]

I changed the channel after Warner went down. I can't see them coming back.

[Raistlin]

Yeah, it wasn't even worth watching the second half.

Well I was feeling ok about my Baltimore pick for most of the half. Baltimore had put almost no pressure on Manning, but Indy had only managed 3 points. Until the two touchdowns in the last two minutes, anyway, which is probably it for Baltimore.

[Del Murder]

Baltimore is getting to Manning but they are pissing this away with things like fumbling an interception runback. Their offense hasn't done much so I can't see them getting 17+ in a quarter to win this one.

[Del Murder]

The announcers in this game really annoyed me.

'Hey that Reggie Wayne may do ok for himself.'
'That Ray Rice will be around for a long time.'
'Now Caldwell can put the Jets game to rest. Resting players worked.'

That last one really got to me. I like the Colts but I almost wished they lost because I HATE the idea of resting starters for whole or half games for the playoffs. These guys get paid to play. People pay a lot of money to go to these games to see stars like Manning, Wayne, etc. Winning the Super Bowl is not all there is to it or else teams that are eliminated from the playoffs wouldn't even field a team for their remaining games to get a better draft pick or not risk an injury that would hurt their team the next season. Sports are a form of entertainment, first and foremost. I just hate that rest your players mentality because it is selfish and unethical and I would wish that it backfires every time so that teams stop doing it.

[Raistlin]

'Hey that Reggie Wayne may do ok for himself.'
'That Ray Rice will be around for a long time.'

Haha, yeah, football announcers do have a tendency to not only state the obvious, but do it repetitively.

Winning the Super Bowl is not all there is to it or else teams that are eliminated from the playoffs wouldn't even field a team for their remaining games to get a better draft pick or not risk an injury that would hurt their team the next season. Sports are a form of entertainment, first and foremost. I just hate that rest your players mentality because it is selfish and unethical and I would wish that it backfires every time so that teams stop doing it.

I don't have any problem with coaches making a choice designed to give the team a better chance down the road. Do you have the same objection to starters sitting in a rout? My problem is that with resting starters for two weeks and then having an additional week off for a bye, there is foreseeable trouble for an offense-oriented team going up against a physical defense-oriented team. The Colts in fairly recent years are a prime example of that. It worked out well for them this time, but like you I was rooting for another failure.

[Del Murder]

I guess it's fine to put the backups in for a quarter if the game is well out of hand. I would have a problem doing that for an entire half (let alone entire games), outside some circumstance where you have some injury-prone superstar or something. I prefer though that they play hard the entire game. I hate that 'running up the score' bs. I loved when the Patriots kept throwing it when they were up by 4 TDs back in 07. This is a game of men, don't take it easy and don't hold back.

[Raistlin]

NFL announcers are almost universally terrible.

"At this point [on their own 2 yard line] the Cowboys are just trying to get one first down, to give their punter more room."

And then when there's a penalty called on the Vikings for running into the kicker, the announcers act like it was the VIKINGS's choice to decline it or not, and then spent most of the rest drive saying the Vikings made a bad choice because they were backed up a further 20 yards than on the first punt.

And now Romo just made a great pass right to a Vikings linebacker. Minnesota's pass rushing has been excellent so far.

[charliepanayi]

Get in there Minnesota

[Del Murder]

Another stinker. The games this weekend have been pretty lackluster.

[Raistlin]

Out of all the games likely to be within one possession at half time, the NYJ v. San Diego one was last on my list. Well, the Jets have sucked it up offensively, but the Chargers haven't done much either.

Also, how the hell was that Malcolm Floyd fumble an incomplete pass? It seemed obvious that he had possession.