2007-2008 NFL season discussion thread (2 Viewers)

[Scott Merryfield]

I missed the Chargers - Colts game, but I was shocked to see the score when I got home. I never would have guessed that San Diego would win that game. The Giants beating the Cowboys was not that big of a surprise, though, since Dallas has played like crap for the past several regular season games.

I just do not see any way that it's not a Pats - Packers Super Bowl. The Chargers have injuries to key players, and the prospects of the Giants beating the Pack in Lambeau are not very good.

 

[Walter C]

The Giants are a great road team, and could have the luck that the Steelers had few years ago, when they won the Super Bowl without a single home playoff game. They just had trouble winning at home.

 

[Jim_C]

I thought I saw last night that he's 7-7 in the playoffs now.



Joseph,

I realize that the Yankees were great in the past and it had little to do with money but I'm not talking about that. I think the current Yankees suffer from 'perception is reality'. They are perceived as spending vast amounts of money in order to 'buy' a championship, whether they succeed or not, and because of that they are disliked, and by many hated. FWIW, the Red Sox have transformed into the same thing. The Dice-K posting fee solidified that POV.

 

[Jeff D Han]

Chargers vs. Colts-

Who thought up that genius defensive game plan for the Colts? Dungy or their
coordinator? I couldn't believe that they didn't blitz Rivers while he was
playing. Rivers is brutal under pressure, and throws the ball up for grabs.
It seemes to me that the Colts didn't try to come after him, and they got
beat because of lack of QB pressure. The Chargers did a great job of hanging
in there after going behind 3 times in the game, especially after LT left the
game. The Colts loss this time wasn't Peyton's fault- once again it was a
bad defense- no pressure on Rivers, especially with a leg brace. STUPID!!!

Giants vs. Cowboys-

Poetic justice to see that punk T.O. once again not win the ring. Amazing
that the Giants keep winning- they are doing it with mirrors. Wade Phillips
is Marty Jr.- a playoff failure.

 

[Johnny Angell]

I agree, no one expects you to get there year after year. But...this year they were supposed to get to the AFC championship game.. They're playing at home, they're the better team, they've got a lot of playoff experience, it's a game they should have won. Even the refs thought so

I definitely disagree with you on the Pat's reputation if they lose the SB, which they won't. If they lose, the previous 18 victories will feel pretty hollow to them. You can't be the greatest team of all time and lose your league's championship game. Pretty is, what pretty does.l

 

[Johnny Angell]

And that game ended in a similar way with Pitt throwing an incomplete pass into the end zone that would have won the game. I now have on my DVR, in HD, two, countem, two Charger playoff wins. I know I'll have to delete them eventually, but I've gotem.

 

[ThomasC]

He's from the Patriots, what else did they need to know?

 

[Alex-C]

I think the 82 victory over Miami (which I watched!) is still the greatest Charger win of all time; maybe the best game I have ever seen.
Beating Pittsburgh on the road was amazing and catapulted them to the Superbowl.
In both of those games, they were followed by a drubbing. In 82, The Chargers went from the Miami heat to that icebox masquerading as a football field in Cincy. And everyone knows what happened in the 94 Superbowl. ahem.
So big wins have not been followed by bigger wins in Charger playoff history and in one case, the cold windy field got to them which could repeat next week.
Oh well. I wore my L.T. jersey to work and I got a good week to bask in it.

 

[RobertR]

"Greatest team of all time" can always be debated, but if the Patriots don't win the Super Bowl, they cannot be rated number one. WINNING defines team greatness, not "making it to the championship game and losing". For example, who remembers how AWESOME the Baltimore Colts were in 1968 (they had FOUR shutouts and a 13-1 regular season record, including a 34-0 victory over Cleveland in the NFL championship game)? Very few, because they LOST to the Jets, who got the glory and made history. They are NOT considered one of the all-time great teams. The same thing will happen if New England loses. "How could you go this far undefeated and LOSE?". Miami will still have "perfection bragging rights". They HAVE to win it all or it's a very sour outcome.

 

[Scott Merryfield]

I agree completely, and think history would, too, should the Patriots fail to win the Super Bowl. A 16-0 record is meaningless if it is not completed with a championship. Whenever a list of "greatest teams of all time" is compiled, the source is always from championship teams only.

 

[Jim_C]

I agree as well. They have to win the Super Bowl for it to matter in the 'best' team discussion. Great stats mean little compared to winning it all.

 

[Johnny Angell]

I watched that Miami game too and it was literally "The thrill of victory, the agony of defeat" all rolled into one and I'm talking as a Charger fan. I can't remember how many times I thought, "we're done, we got beat". Yet, still we won.

Then we had the great misfortune to play Cincy in the Freezer bowl. I believe I read somewhere that the NFL later admitted the game should not have been played. I still believe that if a big name team, instead of the Chargers, had been playing they would have postponed. I believe I also read that Dan Fouts suffered some permanent frost bite damage to his fingers.

Sometimes, I think things are stacked against the Chargers. There's the freezer bowl, than when they do get into the SB, it's not just any opponent, but SF which is not just in the SB, but playing at an exceptional level. Combine that with a Charger team that had no defense, it was a slaughter.

In many years, I think this Charger team would have a good shot at getting to the SB, but nooooo, we gotta be going up against perfection, maybe the best team ever. What I'd really like to do is transplant this years defense into the "Air Coryell" Charger teams. That just might be the greatest team of all time.

 

[RobertR]

Was the "freezer bowl" really worse than the Dallas vs. Green Bay "ice bowl"? I think Vince Lombardi would call the Southern California guys a bunch of pansies.

 

[Alex-C]

That validates a lot of experiences I had growing up and going to Charger games. It seemed like they were always 42-38 and whoever scored last, won !

I see going up against perfection as a great challenge and if...IF...they overcome that, then it will be the greatest win of all time in Charger history. So to hell with all the poor-mouthing, the Chargers are still playing football and that means they are one of the 4 best teams of 2007. I have watched the Colts game 3 times now, and unfortunately, I don't see Brady making half or 1/4 of the mistakes that Manning made. Brady just doesn't make mistakes. what does he have, like 8 picks vs 50 TDs.
The Chargers have to force turnovers. They have to stop the run and they have to get to Brady like the Giants did.
Even then, they have to do about 100 other things right, but the Patriots are not unbeatable.
Also, the Patriots are the best at coming out of halftime and scoring. No team seems able to stop them right after halftime. It kills me.
Oh well, I had no expectations going into the Colts game with all their stars healthy, and I got, well, let's call it, realistic expectations for Sunday's game.

The Chargers D is tough. Their linebackers are really good. I thought Jax was a good D but Maroney ran well against them.

I feel like Kramer after winning the Tony award. (get it ?)

"You can't bring me down off this high !"

 

[Ed Moxley]

My stepfather and I were just talking about the Patriots.
He said that Brady has been labelled the best quarterback ever, which we think is total nonsense, though he is very good. They're comparing apples to oranges. Back in the days of Johnny Unitas and Terry Bradshaw, the quarterbacks called their own plays. Nowdays, they have "offensive coordinators" calling the plays. We think if Brady had been calling all his own plays, he wouldn't be ranked nearly as high as he is. So, saying he's the best quarterback ever, is just wrong. Next year, let him call all his own plays, and if he has an undefeated season, and passes the records of the old guys, then they can say he's the best ever.
Until he does that, it's apples and oranges.........

 

[Malcolm R]

Should be a pair of ice bowls this weekend. Some of the coldest air of the winter so far should keep the high temps at both stadiums somewhere between 5-15 degrees.

 

[Brandon_T]

It still comes down to execution, nothing more, nothing less. So I guess Joe Montana wasn't a great QB either? Come on, the performance on the field is what matters most. It will always be debatable who is the greatest of all time at any position, but to merely label him as good is doing a diservice to him. He has 3 SB championships, two SB MVPs, a regular season MVP, and has a very good chance of going to his fourth. It makes no sense to me to punish a guy because of the way the league is structured now as opposed to then.

 

[Ed Moxley]

We're not punishing him for anything. We agree he's very good, although we'd like to see him taken down a peg or two. He's too cocky! But, to say he's the best that's ever been, is just plain stupid. Like I said........apples and oranges. Yes Joe Montana was very good. And Joe Namath was good. Bret Favre is very good. We could go on and on. It's a totally different game now, and not necessarily for the better.

I originally wasn't going to mention this, but as far as being undefeated this season, we ARE talking about a team that was caught cheating. I don't know all the details of that, but it was all over the news for awhile, so it did happen. Yet it doesn't seem they paid any consequences for it. That alone, should have kept them from being undefeated. That should have disqualified at least one win..........

Sorry to make anyone mad, or hurt feelings, but we just don't think it's right to praise a team that's caught cheating, and say their QB is the best ever.

 

[DavidJ]

How is he cocky? He is constantly deflecting praise to his line, receivers and coaches. It is the same thing that players like Manning do. It seems to me a lot of people hold his looks against him. That because he is a "pretty boy" he can't be a "real football player." Nevermind the fact that all reports are that he is one of the hardest working players around (on the practice field, in the gym, in the film room).

 

[Patrick Sun]

Ed, the Patriots lost their first round pick for 2008 for Belichick's decision to have a guy film stuff on the opponent's sidelines. If you're naive to think no other team "cheats" in terms of stealing signals, scouting personal groupings, etc, well, that's your world view. Every team looks for an edge, and it's not like that footage helped the Patriot win the first game of the season (they didn't even see the footage, as it was turned over). They got caught, they paid a penalty by losing their first round pick, and they used it as a rally point to run through the NFL this year, and it's resulted with an undefeated regular season that saw them respond to late season challenges, and almost impossible comebacks, all of which were led by Brady, who executed their offense well when it counted the most for his team. That's being a leader, and a baller in the QB position.

Look at how Romo wilted in the final minutes of the Cowboy - Giants game. Give Brady a shot at a overcoming a lead under a TD and he gets it done more often than not. His resume is remarkable for starting NFL QBs. Not many QBs played at a higher level than Brady this year. He's put up decent numbers with inferior receiving talent in the past, but finally got solid receivers this season, and he stepped up and showed people what he was capable of by having receivers who could catch. Peyton Manning's had the good fortune of having Marvin Harrison (and Reggie Wayne) to throw to in productive fashion, and then this season Marvin was hurt, and Manning had to deal with some adversity, the same way Brady did in previous seasons with no-name receivers, and his team came up short (Harrison couldn't even play in the final drive against the Charger because he just couldn't run well enough to help the team). Little things like that add up in a finely-tuned offense. Previously, Brady succeeded in spite of his previous receiving corps being average. Manning did a good job keeping things afloat this season, but in crunch time, his options weren't as good, and the Colts were ousted at home.

Brady inspires his defense because they know if they can stop the other team's offense, Brady's going to put points on the board with their offense. That's another hallmark of a good QB. He plays smart, if the defense is taking away the long ball, he keeps to the game plan with the shorter passing game, and has the discipline to keep it going. Other less disciplined QBs might get greedy, try to throw long passes that get picked off. Very rarely is Brady going to beat himself with a stupid throw when the play just isn't there. It's common sense, but in the QB position, it's not a common commodity, as evidenced by QBs throwing disasterous interceptions when they didn't need to try for the long pass play, or thread the needle between 2-3 defenders.

Re: Brady's cockiness, etc. When presented with advertising options, look at what Manning did: You couldn't watch 20 minutes of TV this year without seeing Peyton Manning pushing a product (it seemed). Peyton was ubiquitous, marketing-wise. Brady did a few commercials, but whenever he did a few commercials (from his new-found Super Bowl winning ways), he found ways to get his linemen in the commercials because he's a team-guy, he knows to take care of them because they take care of him, and allow him the time it takes to make the plays that win ball games.