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Post by HometownHoya on Sept 10, 2011 13:10:20 GMT -5
Well, we have 1 game in the bag. Great game for coming back to football. Real excited for this season, I feel like there is a lot more parity across the league then dominant teams out there this year. Couple of new QBs, some new offenses, and many of the contenders from last year remained stable.
In thinking about predicting a SB match-up, there are just so many teams I could see there, so I'll just list those: Chargers, Packers, Steelers, Ravens, Patriots, or Vikings. There are tons of solid teams this year and even a few down teams from last year that I expect to improve. I won't be surprised to the 49ers, Lions, Bucs, or Dolphins exceed expectations.
As far as teams I follow closely: It will be interesting to see how Grossman does as the 'skins QB. I never was a big fan of him and am intrigued to see how he does. I think that Hightower will have a good year for the skins but even still they will end up where they usually do...not in the playoffs.
I hope that Ryan Mathews will be able to perform this year for the Chargers. I'm sure they will avoid the injury bug to their secondary corp from last year but it remains to see how they will improve their weaknesses. I never quite grasped how they were quite so bad at special teams last year but hopefully they have focused on it more this year. Additionally, the defense concerns me a bit.
Finally, the patriots will be elite again this year. Ochocinco may give them the deep threat theyve been missing since Moss left but I think they will be fine even if he doesn't perform. They had a young team last year and if their TEs and RBs improve as they should, Brady should be able to lead that team pretty far.
Anyway, can't wait for tomorrow. Hope its a good season. Go Chargers Go!
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Post by HometownHoya on Sept 11, 2011 15:34:02 GMT -5
1st slate of games done.
Bills looked good, forgot to mention them, but I think the Bills will exceed expectations this year too.
Atlanta just got run by the Bears. On that note that Ravens-Steelers game got ugly. Being on the Ravens' side, I enjoyed it. Not sure what happened to the Steelers today but I don't think that 7 fumbles a game will be something to continue all season.
Eagles/Rams was a decent game as well. Sam Bradford was not sharp at all and Rams recievers kept dropping the ball. Eagles looked good and I am excited to see them all season.
Neither the Browns or Bengals looked very good, but I think that Andy Dalton has potential.
Colts will be going no where with Collins in charge and the Texans have been on the upward climb for years...Manning's injury may have made this year their year. Reggie Wayne still rules.
The Det/TB game was good and I stand by my statement that both those teams will be improved this year.
Not sure what to think of the Titans/Jags game. Confirms my belief that Matt Hasselback is not much of a QB and that Kenny Britt still rules.
Anyway, great to be back to football Sunday. Time for Kolb vs Newton, Harbough's (sp?) 1st game at SF and Chargers and Skins!
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EasyEd
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Post by EasyEd on Sept 11, 2011 18:28:52 GMT -5
Rex Grossman for president.
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RDF
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Post by RDF on Sept 11, 2011 23:19:59 GMT -5
Tony Romo doing what Tony Romo does--gag in crunch time.
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EasyEd
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Post by EasyEd on Sept 12, 2011 8:34:01 GMT -5
Even though he lost, quite a coming out party for Cam Newton.
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SFHoya99
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Post by SFHoya99 on Sept 12, 2011 11:16:47 GMT -5
Good article: www.grantland.com/story/_/id/6960563/upon-initial-review-week-1He's 100% right that neither the Bears nor the Ravens can expect to repeat that, especially the Bears. The amount of instant hype around them is silly. The Lions did look really impressive, but I don't think that much of the Bucs. There's no doubt as well that a significant portion of Cam Newton's awesomeness yesterday was a crap opponent, but I think he's underselling Newton. I was very impressed with the throws he was making. I saw him play two or three times last year and he seemed like a better version of most quarterbacks of elite college teams -- he never really had to make NFL throws and the offense asked him to play conservative. But he had accuracy yesterday that shocked me. It helps to have Steve Smith. It helps to play the Cards. But he's going to be very, very good. As for my Chargers, I hope they got their first half of the season swoon over in the first half of the game. They play the Pats this week in one of their few tests and I don't expect them to win, but if they do, they could have a really gaudy record this year. Before the season I was extremely skeptical of the team, and I am still a bit. But if they stay healthy, the talent level may be back up towards when the team was really good (and not just relying on a weak AFC West). The injuries already don't help, but they finally had a good draft again (Corey Liuget was very good yesterday) and some of the vets like Takeo Spikes and Bob Sanders bring something for the year.
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Boz
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Post by Boz on Sept 12, 2011 12:47:45 GMT -5
Is anyone really saying they expect the Ravens to have a +7 turnover ratio in every game, or that Chicago is going to recover 5 fumbles every time out. Seems like quite a straw man he's erected right there. Cuz I don't know anyone who is saying that. I similarly am not sure where all the hype around Chicago is? Granted I watch only NFL network and not the crummy worldwide leader anymore for my NFL coverage, but everyone there at least was taking Chicago's win with a grain of salt. If there's a team out there with undeserved hype, I'd say its the Eagles, not the Bears. EDIT: Meant to add, my quibbles aside, I do think he's a good writer and he did have some very good points.
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hoyarooter
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Post by hoyarooter on Sept 12, 2011 14:28:54 GMT -5
Come on, you LA Chargers. ;D
Didn't the Chargers have the worst special teams in the league last year? I couldn't believe it when Percy Harvin took the opening kickoff to the house.
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whatmaroon
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Post by whatmaroon on Sept 12, 2011 17:28:08 GMT -5
I've heard a bunch of nonsense about how Lovie's teams are awesome at fumble recoveries for years, so I'm happy to see even Barnwell take a 2x4 to it again.
The Titans looked like the 5-11 team I expected them to be.
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Post by sleepyjackson21 on Sept 12, 2011 22:52:55 GMT -5
Decidedly one sided article about the Bears. In three of those situations the Bears were huge favorites to recover the football. Hester muffing the punt when nobody was around him, Ryan outside the pocket and about to be mauled by Peppers and Urlacher and Gonzalez gang tackled by three Bears after a 30 yard gain. Yes, if Atlanta recovers any one of those fumbles the game might have changed but you could have said the same thing about a dozen other plays. How about Atlanta's lone touchdown? A deflection off a pass which got knocked again and then returned for a touchdown. Or how about Atlanta's second FG which came because Turner bounced off a DL guy and broke through on a 3rd and short and went 50 plus yards. How is that any different then Forte shedding the tackle on his long run. Bears were better than the Falcons yesterday, plain and simple.
As far as Bears hype is concerned, i don't see it. There is no hype. Even Bears fans are skeptical about the Bears. The Bears o/u on number of wins has been trading between 8.5 and 9. That doesn't seem unreasonable.
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RDF
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Post by RDF on Sept 13, 2011 11:00:24 GMT -5
Why are people ripping on the Bears? They kicked the crap out the Falcons and have good players. Nobody I've heard is calling them anything they aren't and their defense is only one that really held Green Bay in check at all last year, so if everyone wants to D-ride the Packers because they won last year, then Bears have to be considered a good team too.
Each season is new and nobody knows who's a serious contender until November anyways, so just sit back and enjoy the ride.
What is the Tim Tebow obsession? The guy would've gotten killed behind that O-line against the best DL in football. Orton did well imo. Quinn looked better then Tebow and Tebow "love" is beyond cult like weirdness, it's ZAGORIAPHOBIA. ;D Say what you want about the Raiders--but that DL group is deep with talent and very impressive. Now being the Raiders, they will lose games due to stupidity/penalties but as far as talent, that DL is loaded with guys who will make it a long day for you--and continue the annual tradition of beating teams up. Always want to play a team who is coming off a game with Raiders, they so damn physical.
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hoyarooter
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Post by hoyarooter on Sept 13, 2011 11:18:18 GMT -5
Who's Tim Tebow?
Oh, that third string QB for the Broncos? Why would anyone have any interest in a third string QB? Maybe the fans are hoping that he'll eventually become another Kurt Warner.
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Post by sleepyjackson21 on Sept 13, 2011 11:35:27 GMT -5
I think RDF just invented a new word. Zagoriaphobia. As in i have a really bad case of Zagoriaphobia and have to find a bathroom ASAP.
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SFHoya99
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Post by SFHoya99 on Sept 13, 2011 11:42:24 GMT -5
No one's ripping on the Bears. But if you watched halftime/post-game shows or read much, there's a large bandwagon brewing. And there's not a lot of reason to do so. They killed the Falcons but it was mostly driven by turnovers, which aren't as repeatable as say, the ability to drive/stop drive.
It's less saying the Bears (or Ravens) suck and more saying -- both these teams (and the Steelers and Falcons) are more likely what we thought they were before the season than what Week 1 would lead you to believe. If you're the type who takes one week of NFL season as not much of an indicator, it's nothing new. If you're the type who re-evaluates and says the Bears are real contenders, the article disagrees.
The point is the way the Lions won is more predictive than the huge wins the Bears and Ravens put up, if that makes sense. We're back to people gushing about Joe Flacco and Jay Cutler as elite quarterbacks.
--------------------
As for Tebow, I'm baffled as well. Is it the religious angle? There's been plenty of winners-in-college-but-suck-in-the-pros quaterbacks over the years and they never get their name chanted at NFL games. NFL fans seem to universally understand that when their team says Gino Torretta sucks, he sucks.
Yes, Tebow was really good in college on a stacked team and rarely lost. But there's not a lot of reason to ever believe he'd be a good pro. So I keep coming back to the religious angle -- and Colorado has a lot of those.
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Boz
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Post by Boz on Sept 13, 2011 12:12:57 GMT -5
I think you might be overreading things a bit. It's pretty basic: The media, mostly national media, sold Tim Tebow to America as the greatest living being since the game was invented. People bought into it. It's as simple as that. No one ever said anything about Gino Torretta ever being much coming out of college. Now, does Tebow's Christianity feed into his golden boy image? Sure it does. And the media fostered that. I guess what I'm saying is the people weren't chanting his name because they were speaking in tongues. They were chanting his name because they've been sold a bill of goods and they want to believe it...for a while at least. (I will hold off on any jokes about how football may mirror presidential politics). On the other hand, here is the complete opposite point of view and he makes some very good points, so maybe you're right and I'm wrong: www.huffingtonpost.com/weston-gentry/kyle-orton-the-antitebow_b_957016.htmlThis line of discussion ahs very little to do with actual football though, so I'll drop it. But before I go: Joe Flacco is a GOLDEN GOD!!! ;D
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RDF
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Post by RDF on Sept 13, 2011 13:13:08 GMT -5
Media overreacting to one half or play? Never. lol
Bears cause turnovers and Matty "Ice" has that Romo gene in him at least in the games I've watched-where he'll just make stupid decisions. Have to give credit to Chicago though-because their defense strips the ball, they make plays and and they have a strong Special Teams--which is often ignored by a lot of teams (Dallas lost game just as much due to blocked punt as Romo).
Tebow-ism is just sad. The guy gets credit for a championship he contributed to but wasn't the starter (Chris Leak), for running QB sneaks, and for making a goofy speech that appeared great when America was deprived of seeing the best 2 teams play when Oklahoma wrongfully took the place of USC in Orange Bowl or Timmy might not have any titles as a starting QB--not to mention he lost more games as a starter in his decade then Ken Dorsey, Matt Leinart,and Vince Young combined but gets talked about as one of the "greatest CFB players ever". WTF? Hell throw in fact Urban Meyer had a better player sitting behind him--Cam Newton was part of UF's title team, won a JC title, and then last year at Auburn, is #1 pick, and did something Tebow will never do in his 1st game.
It's just odd to me how weird/cult like his "followers" are in regards to his football abilities--religion aside.
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hifigator
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Post by hifigator on Sept 13, 2011 15:15:32 GMT -5
I'll come to the defense of the Bronco fans -- at least a bit. I think that part of their sentiment also comes from "change." They are ready to change. Of course, in their case, the "change" they are looking for is changing into a better football team. Still, the point is that Orton is a known commodity. Unfortunately, that known quality is that of a mediocre football player. I'm not anti-Orton, but I do think that there is that hope that the "something new" in Tebow, will turn to gold. And I think that's the hope behind many of the Bronco fans support of Tebow.
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hoyarooter
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Post by hoyarooter on Sept 13, 2011 18:13:26 GMT -5
Except that Tebow is also listed behind Brady Quinn, so how do Bronco fans rationalize that?
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SFHoya99
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Post by SFHoya99 on Sept 13, 2011 18:36:32 GMT -5
I'll come to the defense of the Bronco fans -- at least a bit. I think that part of their sentiment also comes from "change." They are ready to change. Of course, in their case, the "change" they are looking for is changing into a better football team. Still, the point is that Orton is a known commodity. Unfortunately, that known quality is that of a mediocre football player. I'm not anti-Orton, but I do think that there is that hope that the "something new" in Tebow, will turn to gold. And I think that's the hope behind many of the Bronco fans support of Tebow. Just stop. Boz, I don't know if I am right at all. I'm just throwing it out there. Evangelicals tend to be pretty vocal people. They tend to translate their religion to other parts of their life that others do not (the boycotts, for example). I'm not judging that either way, in fact, I respect anyone who actually lives their life according to the values, even if I don't completely agree (admittedly barring some people with values I can't reconcile at all, like Hitler or Charles Manson). The support for Tebow is CRAZY. He sucks. The Broncos know he sucks. He's THIRD STRING. But people are calling for him constantly. And Kyle Orton was actually pretty good the last few years. If the Broncos fans were calling for a backup NT, I'd agree it was driven by poor performance. But it's just off. I don't know if it's the religion angle, but it feels more than just media love.
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Post by bsure on Sept 13, 2011 19:09:42 GMT -5
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