NFL Playoffs

Well, you didnt exactly read what I was getting at. All the teams I mentioned as 'beating Steelers' were ones I dont particularly LIKE or are generally poor performing.
I sorta like seeing Cowboys get drubbed occasionally, and not being in playoffs.

I agree from a purely intellectual POV, that the Pats are probably the best team assembled in the modern NFL. And with the most effective coach. Sorta like Chelsea began to be. Or, more to the point, ManU of the 00's.
Asterisks aside there's no indication they wouldnt win, anyway.
But there's JUST enough 'fan' in me to attach an emotional component. Enough that I would like to see the Steelers go winless for one season. More than that would be cruel and not good.

 

Something tells me Goodell will be in Charlotte this Sunday.

AFC: Hoping that Manning can turn back the clock and play well enough that he won't get the hook in what will probably be his final rodeo. Denver is clearly the 4th best team left in the bunch, but are playing at home. The Pats D is dinged up so if Manning is sharp, the O-line can run block, not drop the 2 or 3 interception chances Brady will give them, and not turn it over themselves, the Broncos have a chance. However, that's too many ifs. I just don't get the feeling that Kubiak is a championship level coach.

NFC: I think the eventual champion comes from this game, there is no area in which either of these teams is weak in. Big question is whether or not Carson Palmer raises his level of play from last week, because that won't be good enough to beat the Panthers. The AFC is getting all the pub, but this will be the better game. I'll take Carolina in a squeaker.

 

A good story about a guy that most NFL teams probably wish they had now.

http://espn.go.com/nfl/story/_/id/14622509/julian-edelman-made-perfect-new-england-patriot-nfl

 

Cant say I'm sorry how the w.e. turned out. Wouldn't have minded seeing Carson have one last shot, but in retrospect, he reminds of an old guy named Fran Tarkenton.
Also I wont mind if Peyton wins his last shot.
But he wont.
This is the year of ascendancy for a 'New Entity' in the ranks. And the Panthers are them.

I say all this using my powers of hindsight.

 

Carson Palmer was horrible. Fog, Fran Tarkenton was a much better QB than Palmer ever has been, I might compare Palmer to a Jim Everett, better than average, but when the chips are down the ball becomes a hand grenade.

Brady got hit time after time, but he was clutch at the end until the 2 point conversion. Gronk (who is as good as any TE in history and a monster roaming the countryside yesterday) was inexplicably left one on one and Brady was rolling his way and threw it across his body into a sea of orange to Edelman.

Carolina unlike the Pats (to be fair, injuries made them one dimensional), runs the football with Stewart & Cam besides the ability to pass it to their own great tight end Greg Olsen and a group of very fast WRs. As good as Denver's D is I just don't see this SB being other than Panthers dapping party.

 

Since his finger injury 5 weeks ago, Palmer has been pretty bad. I don't know how much of that was "the stage being too big." It may have been, but losing your accuracy and having to change the way you throw the ball will make anyone look worse than they are.

This looks like Carolina's Super Bowl to lose. The one thing Denver can hang their hat on is that Phillips probably can come up with a scheme to confuse Newton & force some turnovers. He's still fairly early on in his development from the mental side, especially considering where he started from. They'll also need a perfect game from Manning with no turnovers & will need to get the run game going. I still just don't see them scoring enough unless they can get 1 defensively or on special teams. Carolina has been a lot of fun to watch this year, so I'll be pulling for them.

 

@astroevan, @dtowndough Was wondering what the vibe is like up in Bronco country, optimism or pessimism??

Without the Seahawks or Steelers playing the biggest thing I'm looking forward to is going over to my buddy's house for a party instead of hosting. As far as the game I'm thinking of Carolina winning comfortably if not in a blowout. Denver's defense is excellent, but so is Carolina's (less than 1 point difference between the teams on average giving up per game). Carolina's offense is far superior to Denver's so this get ugly.

The one thing Denver does have going is that every 'expert' has them losing big. In Vegas 90% of the bets are on the Panthers. Denver has been saying all the right things to the press by heaping praise on Cam and Carolina. In other words they are reveling in their 'Us against the World' mentality. Nothing gets teams going like playing for pride.

 

and yet, the point spread is 6-10, if I read it right. If 90% are betting Panthers, I'd think it would be a little higher. Of course if it were 20, and I would bet, it sure would be on Denver. Ought to be an interesting game.

 

Fog, NFL point spreads are tiny compared to college (rarely does it go into double digits), all the money came in on Carolina when it started at -3.5, now that it's -6 Denver money has been coming in (80% of total bets still on Panthers). One more point and there will be a ton of late bets on Broncos.

 

Late Denver money took brought the point spread back to 5.5 and Carolina was down to 54% of the betting going into today.

May your get togethers be fun (even if you watch the Puppy Bowl), the commercials be funny (been a drought), and the game not a blowout.

 

The city was actually pretty quiet leading up to the game. Much like Denver's play all season, the water cooler talk was just basically about the defense winning this game. Most people here were predicting low scores. And then the game was exactly what everyone predicted. Get to Cam a few times, he'll whine and start to fall apart. And then that's what happened. And his whining continued until the four letter network defended him this morning. Either way, that Denver defense was something special to watch and it was great to see Von get the MVP. Unfortunately, not sure this team was built to sustain the success though. They have some big contracts coming up to keep it together.

 

Congratulations to the Broncos and their fans. Pitchers, catchers and Yadi report Feb. 17th.

 

Yeah... I saw a guy post on FB that it was a really boring game. I replied that it was anything BUT! and he obviously wasnt a soccer fan, either. Because it was Pointy-Ball FOR soccer fans. Defensive Mid-Fielders ruled!