OT: Big news in the AFC as James Harrison will be undergoing surgery

[BSR]

If you are not in the playoffs you are not contending, for anything other than fishing. Stop being a homer.

So the 7-9 Seahawks had a successful contending season last year but the 11-5 2008 Patriots did not. Brilliant!

 

[TruthSeeker]

I must have missed the memo that we're 4 games in to a 16 game season. Writing a team off with 12 games remaining is not a smart idea.

Ordinarily, I'd agree with you. But this is no ordinary Colts team.

 

[sbpatfan]

Harrison is one player I don't mind seeing injured.

 

[BradyFTW!]

Gee, that's a real shame. Not a great shock considering his current age (>33). Considering that he was an undrafted free agent, you have to admire what he has done in the NFL.

I guess I admire the ability of someone as genuinely ignorant as he is to make as much money as he's made, but other than that I see very little to admire about James Harrison.

 

[shmessy]

So the 7-9 Seahawks had a successful contending season last year but the 11-5 2008 Patriots did not. Brilliant!

Dutchmaster617 will call you a homer for saying such things!!!!

 

[Deus Irae]

So the 7-9 Seahawks had a successful contending season last year but the 11-5 2008 Patriots did not. Brilliant!

You can't contend if you're not in the playoffs. That's about as obvious as it gets.

 

[BSR]

You can't contend if you're not in the playoffs. That's about as obvious as it gets.

You can't contend for the superbowl if you aren't in the superbowl. That's about as obvious as it gets.

Under that thought process, there are only two teams competing every year. The reality is that teams contend during the regular season to get into the playoffs, then they contend to get to the superbowl and then they contend to win the superbowl.

Lets try not to be obtuse just for the sake of being obtuse. His overall point was valid even if the semantics of it can be argued.

 

[shmessy]

Lets try not to be obtuse just for the sake of being obtuse. His overall point was valid even if the semantics of it can be argued.

Easy now.

Deus never "tries" to be obtuse.

 

[Bella*chick]

You can't contend for the superbowl if you aren't in the superbowl. That's about as obvious as it gets.

Under that thought process, there are only two teams competing every year. The reality is that teams contend during the regular season to get into the playoffs, then they contend to get to the superbowl and then they contend to win the superbowl.

Lets try not to be obtuse just for the sake of being obtuse. His overall point was valid even if the semantics of it can be argued.

Yes! Thank you. What is so hard to understand about this?

 

[Ron Sellers]

They are D-O-N-E.

They look like crap against Houston and barely escaped the pathetic Colts.

It's going to be a rough few years while they turn that team over.

With all this wringing of hands over our 'lousy D", people forget that no franchise has been as consistently a contender this century as the Patriots.

You can't contend if you're not in the playoffs. That's about as obvious as it gets.

The first quote is the original "contender" comment. Shmessy never specified what type of contender. Contending to be in the playoffs? Contending for a division title? Contending to be in the conference championship game? Contending to be in the Super Bowl? Contending to win the super bowl?

It seems to me that the term "contender" gets used far more often before the playoffs start, and about teams vying for a playoff spot than it does only after it is determined who is (and who is not) in the playoffs. So based on common usage of the term I would think the term "contender", as applied to the NFL would primarily be defined as any team that is in the hunt for a playoff berth late in the season.