Football Season

In the Dallas area, we don't get Monday Night Football-a mute point now, but the rascals are highhanded.
We got the first six games, then phew on you.
Yes it was yanked-no idea?
We got Thursday night Football, so there.

The Bills have the personnel to be in the race for the next several years.
We need BB to retire right?r Eleven conference won in 11 years; we'll

The Pats have a by as do the Ravens. I don't think the Bills can beat the Ravens, if they do meet at some time
in the playoffs, here hoping.

The coaches will figure out how to limit the Ravens qb next year, but they don't seem to stop him for the remainder of this year.


not see that again.
 

Kaila said:
@Old Dummy
It's good to see you and to hear that you were able to see that game.
See my post about it, above, post # 534, maybe it is? Scroll up to it.
Click to expand...

Hi Kaila :D

You wrote previously:
@Old Dummy (and possibly other Bills fans here? )
You must have been disappointed, with the ending, of that very close game.
Your team played very well though, I can see from the highlights being shown, today,
and the Bills came extremely close to tying or winning it, and to challenging the Patriots out of winning the division.

Bills are still an improving and formidable team , :)
they have become much more challenging, and fun to watch, last year and this year.
They are in a good position for this playoff season, and for the future years, as well!
Click to expand...

Yeah it was a nail-biter, lol. But at least the Bills weren't humiliated.

Tomorrow's game vs. the Jets means absolutely nothing to either team, so may be boring. We shall see. :D This time of year I always start to get NFL Withdrawal Syndrome.

In a few weeks it will be over for the season. But by then, in early February, the sun is out noticeably longer, giving one that instinctual optimism that the dark days of winter are on their way out (despite still being in the middle of it, storm- and temperature-wise).

And, at least for those of us in the north, spring begins its own lifestyle changes as the weather changes. I've tried to explain this to people who live where it's always warm out, how our winter-summer habits change with the seasons -- not sure if they quite understand why we view this positively.

Activities and diet are probably the biggest changes. And a lot of people's jobs change with the seasons: Contractors around here have 4WD trucks, and some of them, when they can't work outside during the winter, put plows on their trucks and plow snow all winter instead (they, and the skiers, are among the rare folks around here that pray for numerous, heavy snowfalls).

Wineries, seasonal bars (on the water) beaches, boat launches, fishing, etc. all change with the seasons too.
 

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jerry r. garner said:
We got Thursday night Football, so there.

The Bills have the personnel to be in the race for the next several years.
We need BB to retire right?r Eleven conference won in 11 years; we'll

The Pats have a by as do the Ravens. I don't think the Bills can beat the Ravens, if they do meet at some time
in the playoffs, here hoping.

The coaches will figure out how to limit the Ravens qb next year, but they don't seem to stop him for the remainder of this year.
Click to expand...

Yeah, the odds are heavily against the Bills vs. Ravens, but they're never 100-0. But either way, nobody around here expects the Bills to go too far in the playoffs this year -- except for some ridiculously overly-optimistic, all-weather fans.

I hear these guys on the local radio call-ins -- one guy is called "John the Optimist." He will defend any Bills player even on the worst of games -- where the Bills look like a bunch of Keystone Kops. And he ALWAYS predicts the Bills to win the next upcoming game, etc.

I guess I'm not quite that deep into it, lol. And I don't want to be. :)
 
This week's NYT column was quite late coming out but here it is, finally:

NFL Week 17 Predictions: NY Times by Benjamin Hoffman
There are two playoff spots up for grabs, and bye weeks to be earned in both conferences, so a jam-packed Sunday should have plenty of excitement.

The Top Two Seeds in the NFC
49ers at Seahawks, 8:20 p.m., NBC
Pick: 49ers
If the 49ers (12-3) beat the Seahawks (11-4), they will clinch the NFC West and the No. 1 seed in the NFC, thus earning a first-round bye and home-field advantage throughout the playoffs. With their first three RBs injured and only a rookie left, Seattle activated the Beast Mode signal, summoning Marshawn Lynch from unofficial retirement to try to save their season.

SF has suffered injuries to its defense and its OL which have made the team far less scary in recent weeks. But the carrot of a bye week should motivate the 49ers, along with a desire for revenge for that OT loss to the Hawks in Week 10.

Lethe's note: Last week's Seattle's loss to AZ was a big upset. Seattle just could not get their game going, either defensively or offensively. I could wish the Hawks had their bad game this week rather than week 16, but c'est la vie.

Those who doubt Lynch will have an impact, may be proven wrong. Seattle's O doesn't work without the run, and even with some rust, Lynch only has to run straight ahead. SF doesn't have a big physical D, and if the linebackers don't stop him, he'll smash right through their secondary.

Lynch's lack of big stats with the Raiders before he retired, was more mental than physical. The fans loved him (he is from Oakland and proud of it) but I felt he was getting ready to move on with his life. I'm not surprised he decided to "unretire", however. The prospect of helping the team for a few games and getting that ring were probably tempting enough to pull him back. It helps that Pete Carroll never, EVER, disses his players in public; he is one of the best at managing big egos.

I think the Niners will win, but it's going to be mentally one of the hardest for them. Again, they are a very young team, and the closer you get to the Super Bowl, the harder it is to manage the emotional roller-coaster.

Packers at Lions, 1 p.m., Fox
Pick: Packers
The expectation was with new HC Matt LaFleur, the Packers (12-3) would run an offense that better utilizes the remainder of Aaron Rodgers’s prime. With one game left this season, the Packers have clearly improved, but Rodgers has attempted 83 fewer passes than he did last season, and has thrown for 763 fewer yards. He has barely more than half as many TDs (24) as he had three years ago (40).

It is not that Rodgers has played worse: his rate statistics are in line with those of the past few years. Instead the offensive production is led by RB Aaron Jones. Jones’s 16 rushing TDs not only lead the NFL, but also have him just three short of the franchise record set by Jim Taylor in 1962.

Saints at Panthers, 1 p.m., Fox
Pick: Saints
After all their hard work New Orleans (12-3) enters the season’s final weekend tied for the best record in the NFC, yet will most likely end up being the hosts of a wild-card game rather than earning a first-round bye.

There are paths to the No. 1 and No. 2 seeds, but expecting Green Bay to lose in Detroit is a bit ridiculous, and SF is favored to win in Seattle as well. That leaves the Saints with enough motivation to beat the Panthers (5-10), but not enough to keep their key players in long enough to deliver a blowout.

The No. 2 Seed in the AFC
Dolphins at Patriots, 1 p.m., CBS. Pick: Patriots
Chargers at Chiefs, 1 p.m., CBS. Pick: Chiefs

A first-round bye is in play between the Patriots (12-3) and the Chiefs (11-4) but one could be forgiven for simply assuming NE has the No. 2 seed all wrapped up. But looking beyond this week, KC is pretty clearly a better team right now. The Chiefs beat the Patriots, 23-16, in Week 14. Since KC’s Week 12 bye the defense has lived up to their terrific offense: a scary thought for any team that meets them in the playoffs, including Baltimore.

The NFC East
Eagles at Giants, 4:25 p.m., Fox. Pick: Eagles
Redskins at Cowboys, 4:25 p.m., Fox. Pick: Cowboys

How did this happen to the Cowboys (7-8)? A team with QB Dak Prescott, RB Ezekiel Elliott and WR Amari Cooper, all being reasonably healthy, simply tossed away 2019 through a series of inexplicable losses. Dallas will finish the season with only one victory against a team that had a winning record at the time of the game.

The Eagles (8-7) have had some head-scratchers of their own this season, but can point to injuries for much of their inconsistency. And last week, when they had their backs against the wall, they delivered a win against the Cowboys.

Dallas hardly deserves a playoff spot after this mess of a season, but might get one anyway. Beating Washington at home is doable, and a Philadelphia win over the Giants (4-11) on the road, a week after Daniel Jones had the best game of his career, is hardly a given. But whichever team wins this division will undoubtedly be an extreme underdog on the road in the wild-card round, so getting too worked up in any direction is a bit of a waste.

The Second AFC Wild Card
Titans at Texans, 4:25 p.m., CBS. Pick: Titans
Steelers at Ravens, 4:25 p.m., CBS. Pick: Steelers
Raiders at Broncos, 4:25 p.m., CBS. Pick: Broncos

Thanks to losses by the Titans (8-7) and the Steelers (8-7) last week, the second wild-card spot in the AFC will be decided through these three games. In the case of the Raiders (7-8), it will need outside help.

Tennessee has the momentum in this group even after last week’s loss to New Orleans. RB Derrick Henry appears ready to return from a hamstring injury, and that gives the Titans an offense that is playoff-worthy, provided they get to the postseason. Helping matters will be a lack of motivation for the Texans (10-5), who have already clinched the AFC South but will probably go into the game locked into the No. 4 seed in the playoffs, provided KC beats the Chargers.

Pittsburgh, which has played without QB Ben Roethlisberger since the third quarter of Week 2, has acquitted itself fairly well this season, but to avoid missing the playoffs for a second consecutive year, the Steelers would need to beat the Ravens (13-2) and have Tennessee lose to Houston.

Baltimore has announced that Lamar Jackson, the favorite for the NFL’s Most Valuable Player Award, will not play, and that RB Mark Ingram II is out with a calf injury. But the depth of the Ravens is terrible news for Pittsburgh, as Robert Griffin III and Gus Edwards are perfectly capable of engineering what would officially be an upset.

Oakland is technically in the mix for the wild-card spot as well, but the team should not start printing playoff tickets: To get there, the Raiders would need to beat the Broncos (6-9), have the Steelers and the Titans both lose, have the Colts beat the Jaguars and even then would need a strength-of-victory tiebreaker over Pittsburgh, which requires at least one win by a group of teams that includes the Bears, the Lions, the Patriots and the Chargers.

Jets at Bills, 1 p.m., CBS. Pick: Bills
No matter what happens in this game, the Bills (10-5) will have the No. 5 seed in the AFC while the Jets (6-9) will simply be trying to sort out what worked this year and what didn’t. With the game in Orchard Park, it makes sense that Buffalo is favored, but Coach Sean McDermott has committed only to playing his starters for “the majority” of the game, so predicting the result is mostly guesswork. A victory would give the Bills their second 11-win season since their four-year run of Super Bowl appearances ended in 1994, and they may be looking to enter the playoffs hot, so the scale tips slightly in their favor.

Bears at Vikings, 1 p.m., Fox. Pick: Vikings
The Vikings (10-5) can technically improve from the No. 6 seed in the NFC to the No. 5 seed, but either way they are going to be playing a road game against a terrific team in the wild-card round, so there is no real motivation for a win. The Bears (7-8) were crushed last week but have a chance at securing a .500 season with a road win.

The Irrelevant Games: For these teams already eliminated from the playoffs, there is mostly pride on the line.

Cardinals at Rams, 4:25 p.m., Fox. Pick: Rams
Browns at Bengals, 1 p.m., Fox. Pick: Browns
Falcons at Buccaneers, 1 p.m., Fox. Pick: Buccaneers
Colts at Jaguars, 4:25 p.m., CBS. Pick: Colts
 
The only two games that matter this week are on tomorrow afternoon/evening: #1 LSU vs #4 Oklahoma, and #2 Ohio State Buckeyes vs #3 Clemson Tigers. Go Bucks!
 
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Thanks to @Lethe200 for posting that info.
I particularly enjoyed reading your own input and ideas on the 49ers/Seattle match-up.

And thanks for the reminder of the Saturday college games, @Buckeye
 
Agree with all of Lethe's picks
I would have deleted NFC East. neither of these teams deserve any post season games. They need to hang out in a house of shame and watch the real football teams play.

Buck:
Would have liked to see OS and 'bama smash each other-however, Clemson will give them more than they anticipate.
Same with LSU, those corn-fed Okies might muscle boys disrupt Burrows.
 
Bonnie, where have you been?
Ohio State and 'bama are always there, well most years anyway. They are so dominate one tends to cheer for their opponents.

I watch Ohio State and 'bama to see 'how it should be done'.
They show up with wagons loaded with massive corn feed boys that crack heads. When their linemen get tired, they have
second stringers who are just as massive.
Playing 'bama or OH is like play a team of "Hulks."
Oklahoma belongs somewhere in this group

The only way to beat these 'King Kong' lineman is to chunk the ball, and chunk it quickly, Burroughs might do just that.
 
I'm around @jerry r. garner ... just been a little busy lately.:)

About that LSU game today ... some sad news for one of the coaches.. he said he will still be coaching today at the game.

Carley McCord, the daughter-in-law of LSU offensive coordinator Steve Ensminger, was one of five people killed in a plane crash in Lafayette, Louisiana, on Saturday. She was 30.
The plane was attempting to make an emergency landing at the Lafayette Regional Airport after it had taken off from there on the way to Atlanta, where LSU is playing Oklahoma in the Peach Bowl. McCord’s husband, Steven Ensminger Jr., confirmed that she was one of the five killed in the accident to the Associated Press.
 
The corn-fed boys from Oklahoma got their hinnies beat. Their secondary was non-existent
TV was peculiar, not enough cameras, when Burrows threw a 20 yard pass or longer, could not determine if it was completed.

Reminded me of the old days, when they one camera roiling from one end zone and another camera at the other end zone .

Clemson vs Ohio, much better cameras. Ohio corn-fed linemen are always good, but Ohio also has a secondary
.
21 to 16, third quarter, if OH can keep it close they may beat Clemson

!!!That last pass by OH, the receiver fell down, the only guy free in the end zone was a Clemson player. He was there all by
himself, I saw it, you saw it-why in the world did OH qb throw that ball? If I could see it, he could to?
 
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I promised I would not become emotionally involved in that amateurish, clumsy, bungling, blundering, butterfingered football
team today.
I have them on the tv,, as I pc and read a novel, but I don't care who wins, I don't care who wins, no I don't, really-I promise I don't care
 
Thank you for that heartfelt and interesting post, and humorous to read this afternoon, Jerry! (y):)

That Packers game sure looked like they couldn't play today. I've noticed in the past, that they often start actually competing, a couple of quarters after the other team starts the game, but often this year, the Packers win anyway. This one came down to 1 kick, in final seconds….

which I think has happened to Detroit this year, at least a half dozen times. (Losing in final 15 seconds, by 3 points or less.
Talk about frustration for their fans, players and coaches and staff. :oops::rolleyes:

On this, the final day of the NFL regular season, Some teams still don't know whether or not, they are going home, or advancing on to playoff games.

College games yesterday...
Wow, Clemson fans rejoice. I was surprised by that. Sorry to our members who are Buckeyes!
 
Kaila said:
Wow, Clemson fans rejoice

Clemson (I think) did not appear as a team that could beat 'bama until around seven years ago, but their sure a contender since then.
Still don't understand how one team can rise above the pack-AND STAY THERE.

Like your Pat's win, win and win-I guess you have to say it is BB, but if he did not have Brady he would in trouble.
Click to expand...
 
@jerry r. garner said:

"Like your Pat's win, win and win-"

It's bad timing for you to bring that up, right atm, Jerry... :rolleyes::ROFLMAO::LOL:

(They just lost today, about an hour ago. :sneaky:)
But I am okay with it, and I did know what you meant!
:)
 
Don M. said:
The Chiefs continued their winning streak, today. I sure hope they make it to the Super Bowl....it's been a long time

I've picked the Chiefs and Saints, both might be wishful thinking, but their whom I want to see in the biggie game.

(grammar: who, whom---who cares?) My real favorite is the Bengals, but it'll be a few years of waiting.
Click to expand...
 
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Helped by Pete Carroll's mistakes, the Niners won over the Seahawks on Sunday evening. Interesting game.

The first three quarters it seemed like the refs had been hired by the Seahawks. Few calls but all went against SF, including a couple of rather dubious ones.

Then the refs morphed into officials who were actually watching the game in front of them, and whistles blew madly. On one series I was beginning to wonder if they were ever going to be allowed to run a play again without it being whistled dead as soon as the ball was snapped!

Nail biter to the end and the delay of game penalty on the Hawks killed the opportunity to have Marshawn Lynch score a 2nd, and game-winning, TD. The Hawks had eight(!) chances to score from 11 yds out, and blew them all. They weren't helped by the refs, who this time missed a PI call that could have helped Seattle (thus proving that karma was working equally, since this balanced a blown PI call in Q3 that would have helped SF prevent a Seattle TD).

(Does anybody think the NFL's inconsistent waffling on what is/what isn't PI is improving the game?!?)

Dre Greenlaw, a Niner whom nobody pays attention to, had a game-leading 13 tackles and made the final hit that stopped Hawks TE Jacob Hollister less than one-inch from the goal line. Painfully, if Hollister had tucked the ball into his LEFT arm rather than his RIGHT, the ball would have broken the plane and been a winning TD.

But his butt went down on the ground and although his left arm broke the plane of the goal line, his right arm with the ball.....did not.

Greenlaw was using his smarts on the tackle. Had he tackled Hollister low, the TE could have fallen forward for the score. Instead he tackled Hollister at the shoulders - a much more difficult angle - and wrestled him down to the ground. Hollister managed to wiggle towards the goal line, but as mentioned above, wasn't lucky enough to have the football close enough to the line to twitch it over.
+++++++

The Wild-Card Round: Next week’s matchups have been set.

Saturday
No. 5 Buffalo at No. 4 Houston, 4:35 p.m., ABC and ESPN. Texans favored.
No. 6 Tennessee at No. 3 New England, 8:15 p.m., CBS. Patriots favored.

Sunday
No. 6 Minnesota at No. 3 New Orleans, 1:05 p.m., Fox. Saints favored.
No. 5 Seattle at No. 4 Philadelphia, 4:40 p.m., NBC. Seahawks favored.

First-round byes: Baltimore, Kansas City, San Francisco, Green Bay
 
Thanks as always LETHE 200
Yes, we don't know what a completed pass is anymore until the Refs make the final decision-bad deal

Yes-Russell the games best field general got a delay of game penalty that cost the HAWKS the game. also, where was Pete
Carroll?
Remember that terrible blunder he made in the Super Bowl.
Great game, but THE Refs, as you pointed out, have too much control of what is and what is not...

Okay, playoffs
PICKUM
: Houston and Eagles, then Tennessee and Vikes should be eliminated on the first round.
Would like to see Houston win, but can't picku'um
JJ, if he returns should give team an emotional lift, but I can never get a definite status report on him.
 
Sadly, for those who were hoping that the NFC Championship game would be played on the frozen tundra of Lambeau Field, it may not happen.

If the Niners do win their first round game Jan 11th - they will play either the Seahawks, the Eagles, or the Vikings - the NFC Championship would be played at Levi Stadium in Santa Clara, CA. The Niners own the tiebreakers vs the other NFC playoff teams.
 
Lethe 200
Doubt the 49's or Seahawks are pleased with the prospect for playing each other 'one more time,'

It appears AFC has again outclassed NFC with the exception of Saints. SF needs another season of winning-gets in the blood(?).

I learned-don't sell Arron Rodgers short-ever.
 
Ran across this for fans here:

Wild-Card Matchup to Watch: Tennessee Titans at New England Patriots
Bleacher Report by Scott Polacek, 29Dec2019

The New England Patriots playing on Wild Card Weekend is appointment viewing just based on how rare it has been throughout their dynasty. This will mark the first time Tom Brady and Co. don't have a first-round bye since 2009.

The Tennessee Titans are the ones who will be standing in their way after clinching a playoff spot with Sunday's win over the Houston Texans. While a postseason matchup with New England is historically a recipe for disaster, this is not the same Patriots team fans have grown accustomed to seeing in recent years.

Brady was not named to the Pro Bowl for the first time since 2008 (when he tore his ACL in the season opener), there is no game-breaking tight end after Rob Gronkowski retired, and there aren't any wide receivers outside of Julian Edelman that Brady can rely on in crunch time.

Even with all of that, the Patriots still had an opportunity to clinch a first-round bye Sunday with a win over the 4-11 Miami Dolphins but couldn't come through at home.

Ryan Fitzpatrick picked apart New England's secondary for 320 passing yards and a late go-ahead touchdown throw to Mike Gesicki during the 27-24 win. The way the loss happened was all the more concerning for a Patriots team that has counted on its defense to lead the way all year.

Ryan Tannehill will look to replicate Fitzpatrick's performance against the vaunted New England secondary, and he will have help from running back Derrick Henry, who is coming off a career-best regular season.

Henry entered play Sunday with 1,329 rushing yards and 15 total touchdowns and is a nightmare to bring down between the tackles and in open space because of his size and speed. He exploded for 211 rushing yards and three touchdowns in the win over Houston to clinch the NFL rushing title:

If the Tannehill and Henry combination can find the end zone two or three times, the Patriots offense will be hard-pressed to keep pace given its overall struggles for much of the season.

Undercard Matchup: Buffalo Bills at Houston Texans
There are few more intriguing matchups in the first round of the playoffs than the one between the Houston Texans offense and Buffalo Bills defense.

Deshaun Watson, DeAndre Hopkins and Will Fuller make up one of the most explosive trios in the NFL, but the group faces a difficult test against Buffalo's defense. The Bills entered play Sunday second in the league in points allowed per game and third in yards allowed per game and will be tasked with slowing the dynamic receivers down.

If they can, their offense that has been inconsistent at best behind quarterback Josh Allen will not need to score 20-plus points to win. That is the only realistic formula to a road victory for the AFC East team.
 

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