neuronet

N.F.L. Fast Forward - Rematches of Season Finales Rule Wild-Card Round - NYTimes.com

Fluffy piece about teams holding back against teams they will face in first round of playoffs.

Notable for one random last paragraph:

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Ice_Ice_Brady writes:
The difference is that Brady calmly calls audibles while Manning flaps like a chicken, barks 11 code words, and makes sure every camera in the stadium has documented his once-in-a-generation (and patented, I believe) ability to see a defensive formation and change the play. Both have the same effect, but Manning transcends measurable human intellect while Brady merely chooses a different play.

CheerforTom

That's really not that bad, though. We're very good at home and only two notable games on the road? One against Pittsburg? I'll take it.

The fact that we play Indy at home for once makes that schedule good news imo

MrTibbs

The NFL will make sure that is a September, October game. They won't want Manning standing outside in the cold you know.

neuronet

Yes, it's about time we have a home game against Indy. Three in a row in that sissydome is enough.

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Ice_Ice_Brady writes:
The difference is that Brady calmly calls audibles while Manning flaps like a chicken, barks 11 code words, and makes sure every camera in the stadium has documented his once-in-a-generation (and patented, I believe) ability to see a defensive formation and change the play. Both have the same effect, but Manning transcends measurable human intellect while Brady merely chooses a different play.

TrueBeliever

I fully expect Philly and Cincinnati to look a helluva lot better this week than they did last week. NE I'm not sure what to think. Arizona will probably do better but I still expect the Packers to beat them again.

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Bringing you snarky commentary since 2008.

JR4

That is a horrible schedule. Everyone of those teams is a 50-50 situation.
Unless the PATs improve a lot I would expect at least 4 losses. from those
8 games. From the remaining 8 games I would not be surprised for a 6-2 record.
Doing well the PATs may be looking at a 10-6 season. It really depends
on what happens in the off season concerning all the moves these teams make.

jmt57

The Colts game won't be in December, but it won't be in September either. The networks want that held back every year until Nielson does their ratings sweep, which is usually sometime in November.

Way too early to figure out if a schedule is good or bad. Every year teams make big jumps up and big jumps down due to free agency and injuries. In 2008 the Steelers had the toughest schedule in the NFL and won the Super Bowl; then in 2009 their schedule was the easiest based on their opponents' records from the year before but they missed the playoffs entirely.

Right now it looks like five games that should be definite wins (Bills, Bills, Browns, Bears and Lions) with eleven that could go either way, but that could drastically change by next fall. I don't know that it looks that much harder than most past seasons at this point in the year. If I looked at the 2009 schedule one year ago today I would have said there were only four or five definite wins and eleven or twelve that could go either way also. The 2009 schedule had seven games against teams that went to the playoffs the previous year, and six more against teams that just missed the playoffs.

dalero

They had him in Buffalo last week.

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pheenix11

We had a "horrible schedule" in 2007 as well.

How'd that work out?

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16-0? Yup I called it:
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Pat the Pats Fan

Although the networks like this game to be in November and at night. Should be interesting to see if Polian can get a roof on Gillette.

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A sarcastic Bill Belichick on Tom Brady's finger injury, "It's not life threatening."