Welcome to the NFL track meet

[RobertWeathers]

Getting off topic slightly...the Saints offense is scary good because they have 4 dimensions that both the Patriots and Green Bay don't have in the passing game.

Pats have plus QB, plus TEs, neutral WRs (Branch weakness), minimal RB contribution as receiver
GB has plus QB, neutral TE, plus WRs, neutral RB receiving

NO has plus QB, plus TE, plus WR, plus RB receiving to the tune of 150+ RB receptions. Sproles and Thomas are tremendous not only in their output, but their receiving threat opens the center of the field unlike GB and NO. No wonder Brees has such a high completion %. I see the Saints as the favorite right now.

I agree but NO is a different team on grass/outdoors. "Only" averaged 27ppg on natural surface.

 

[Joker]

The league has legislated the soul out of the game for fantasy statistics and people who don't care about football.

yeah...the Goodell "Legacy"..forget my tin foil hat Goodell conspiracy theories and just LOOK at what this mutt has overseen as commissioner...a century of hard hitting evaporated amidst a web of arcane rule changes slanted drastically toward the offense....constant fines and bombast directed at defensive players for making football plays,the seeming destruction of the once vibrant Monday Night football slot,yearly unilateral rule changes and policy decisions that make it so arcane for all the teams that a law firm working 24/7 is required to sort it all out...he's been a preposterous failure,the Clouseau of the NFL...and is hailed as some sort of hero for neutering the nature of this great game.

 

[Wax Frog]

The league has legislated the soul out of the game for fantasy statistics and people who don't care about football.

You mean I have ANOTHER reason to loathe FF (nothing personal, just spoils my old-school way of enjoying the NFL - all those damn numbers in my face)?

 

[Joker]

You mean I have ANOTHER reason to loathe FF (nothing personal, just spoils my old school, scores-not-stats way of enjoying the NFL)?

Waxy, it's not even the old school aspect...it's this idea that YOU win your fantasy league and this somehow elevates YOU to "all knower of things" pertaining to the NFL and the subsequent 4 semesters of stats and math theory that ensues to prove YOU are the genius and everyone else knows zero about being a FAN of the sport. Call it idiot/savant arrogance. It's too late to do anything about it, Pandora's calculator has been turned on....

 

[Wax Frog]

...a law firm working 24/7 is required to sort it all out...

So it wasn't his foot after all!

 

[Wax Frog]

Waxy, it's not even the old school aspect...it's this idea that YOU win your fantasy league and this somehow elevates YOU to "all knower of things" pertaining to the NFL and the subsequent 4 semesters of stats and math theory that ensues to prove YOU are the genius and everyone else knows zero about being a FAN of the sport. Call it idiot/savant arrogance. It's too late to do anything about it, Pandora's calculator has been turned on....

I see! I'm not merely obsolete, I'm obsolete and an ignoramus. Great... :bricks:

 

[Joker]

Ah, to hear the lamentation of the Jets' women

heh..what's that, Waxy....a collection of grunts, groans, burps and staccato flatulence???

 

[Wax Frog]

Ah, to hear the lamentation of the Jets' women

heh..what's that, Waxy....a collection of grunts, groans, burps and staccato flatulence???

Now that you mention it*, at present I imagine it sounds a bit like this:

Ironmaster Silly Sub Part 1 - YouTube

*In the highest form of a forum jester, you've given me an opening for a fave funny of mine (the song, not the phony captions - long story) that was otherwise off-topic! Thank you!

Why do I find it funny? What's not to like about a theme for an Italian B-movie featuring grunting cavemen and sitar (wtf)? YT also has the trailer, which is even better, including a pathetically one-sided battle with monkey-men and a guy getting forehead-smacked by a styrofoam rock.

 

[jays52]

You mean I have ANOTHER reason to loathe FF (nothing personal, just spoils my old-school way of enjoying the NFL - all those damn numbers in my face)?

Yep. This is an annual conversation I end up having around August:

(random friend/coworker): Hey, Jay, are you in a fantasy league yet?
Me: Nope.
(random friend/coworker): Really? Wow, hey I'm in a league and I need a few people to join, you in?
Me: Nah, I don't play fantasty.
(random friend/coworker): Huh? You're really into football, though, aren't you?
Me: Exactly.

 

[Slash]

Yep. This is an annual conversation I end up having around August:

(random friend/coworker): Hey, Jay, are you in a fantasy league yet?
Me: Nope.
(random friend/coworker): Really? Wow, hey I'm in a league and I need a few people to join, you in?
Me: Nah, I don't play fantasty.
(random friend/coworker): Huh? You're really into football, though, aren't you?
Me: Exactly.

Jay, I'm interested in your opinion on who is the favorite at this point, Patriot bias aside. It just looks to me like no one will stop the Saints with the rules currently enforced in the league.

 

[Ring 6]

I want someone to explain to me that if it's all about great QBs,great WRs and little defense then how has Baltimore and San Francisco been able to get by when neither has a great QB,great WR corps but great defense...how are these two teams the exception?

The Ravens have faced 1 top 10 ranked offense all season (SD) and were embarrassed by them.
They have faced offenses ranked
32
31
30
29 twice
28
26
25

That is 8 games against team ranked in the bottom 8.
In other words, in half their games they faced the worst offenses they possibly could.
They allowed 100 points in those 8 games, or 12.5 a game.
The allowed 21 ppg to teams not in the bottom 8 of offense.

 

[jays52]

Jay, I'm interested in your opinion on who is the favorite at this point, Patriot bias aside. It just looks to me like no one will stop the Saints with the rules currently enforced in the league.

The Saints looked pretty damn good against Detroit, but I think a good 2-gapping line would have shut down that running game. They were trapping Detroit to death. Whoever they face are going to need a good tackling, deep group of defensive backs and a good press linebacker to matchup with them. I think they can get run on, which is different than all the other good teams out there. I don't think they're that great at protecting the football, with a neutral turnover ratio. That's not very good for a 13-3 team. If they face a team that can get points off of turnovers (GB) I think that they can be had.

Green Bay looks great as well, but there's something about them that makes me feel "meh".

You know who look really good? The Giants. They're playing awesome right now and I wouldn't be surprised to see them get some upsets in the NFC. I'm waiting for the line to come out on the divisional round game with Green Bay, and I'm going to put money on them winning. I think with that defensive line getting healthy they matchup extremely well against the spread offense. They can also play physically offensively which I think is huge against a Green Bay defense that looks to me like all sizzle no steak. Those linebackers are undersized, and if they can get two hats on Raji, I think they can be ran on easily. I'm betting the Giants will win a dogfight. I think they will beat New Orleans as well if they face them.

No team in the AFC frightens me or really makes me say "wow".


As of right now, I've got it as Giants, Saints, Patriots as the top three.

 

[Uncle Rico]

...

You know who look really good? The Giants. They're playing awesome right now and I wouldn't be surprised to see them get some upsets in the NFC. I'm waiting for the line to come out on the divisional round game with Green Bay, and I'm going to put money on them winning. ...

As of right now, I've got it as Giants, Saints, Patriots as the top three.

Bedard tweeted that Packers opened as 10pt favorites. Seems generous. Giants look strong in every way.

 

[jays52]

Bedard tweeted that Packers opened as 10pt favorites. Seems generous. Giants look strong in every way.

10 points is going be a quarter of the total points scored in the game. I'm diving on that. Thanks!

 

[Uncle Rico]

10 points is going be a quarter of the total points scored in the game. I'm diving on that. Thanks!

No sweat. I'm not big on the whole Vegas/betting thing, but here's the first Vegas-type site I found via Google with odds for next week:

NFL Latest Line: NFL lines. Weekly NFL line. Pro football betting lines.

Ravens by 8 seems high to me too.

 

[PatriotReign]

It's pretty depressing football just isn't as enjoyable as it once was.

 

[Ring 6]

10 points is going be a quarter of the total points scored in the game. I'm diving on that. Thanks!

Wow, thats a bold prediction. A month ago there were 73 points scored and neither team looked like it had much of chance fo stopping the other. 9 combined punts.
What do you see that has changed that would keep both teams around 20-ish?

 

[Pat the Pats Fan]

The Ravens have faced 1 top 10 ranked offense all season (SD) and were embarrassed by them.
They have faced offenses ranked
32
31
30
29 twice
28
26
25

That is 8 games against team ranked in the bottom 8.
In other words, in half their games they faced the worst offenses they possibly could.
They allowed 100 points in those 8 games, or 12.5 a game.
The allowed 21 ppg to teams not in the bottom 8 of offense.

And they still lost to two of bottom 8; Seattle and Jacksonville. Meaning, their offense wasn't even good enough to beat the worst offense, Jacksonville or the 28th worst, Seattle. They can be beaten.....

 

[Ring 6]

And they still lost to two of bottom 8; Seattle and Jacksonville. Meaning, their offense wasn't even good enough to beat the worst offense, Jacksonville or the 28th worst, Seattle. They can be beaten.....

Thats the case a lot with these 'aggressive' defenses. They destroy bad teams and get a defensive identity and then when they face good teams often they can't stop them. Beating up on bad teams is great for cumulative statistic rankings, but other than when they had one of the 5 best defenses of all time, Bmore has been bad more than good in the postseason.

 

[jays52]

Wow, thats a bold prediction. A month ago there were 73 points scored and neither team looked like it had much of chance fo stopping the other. 9 combined punts.
What do you see that has changed that would keep both teams around 20-ish?

The hot team my man. NY is getting healthy finally and have been dominating on both sides of the line for nearly a month now. That, and a dominant front 4 will always beat the spread.

To paraphrase everyone's favorite space alien, "It starts and ends in the trenches. Always has been, always will be. So let it be written."