Put the stats aside - The game is won on SUNDAY

[PATRIOT64]

Well back to the point of your thread, I'm glad Brady will be making the critical throws for us and not them regardless of what happened in, say, Week 6.

I agree - I would take Brady over any QB in the game and its not even close - Manning could not handle Bradys Jock Strap when it comes to performance in the playoffs.

 

[tssd888]

Sometimes even my fellow Patriots fans can get retarted,its great to be a diehard fan but you can get some idiots on here that believe the Patriots can win every single game of every season - Including a season scenerio like where Brady and Seymour is on IR after the first week and We are left with Cassell as QB and Don Davis as our main pass rusher and still think we are SB bound - Sometimes that irks me as well as the trolls - I would love to the Pats go 16-0 every year,who doesn't - However some idiots truly beleive its possible no matter what circumstances exist.

Like I said its great to be a diehard to the death Patriots fan but you need reality checks too,I am proud of this team this year and did not think we would go as far as we have gone and win or lose I am a satisfied Patriots fan in 2006 regardless of the outcome sunday.

bottom line for me this week is this......do I think the Chargers will win? yes. Am I a little biased? of course. Will I be extremely dissapointed if they lose? yes. Will I be shocked and consider it some big upset? no way. Damn.....it's the AFC and it's the 2nd round. Every team at this stage is really good and that certainly includes a team that has won 3 superbowls in the 2000's alone.

 

[RayClay]

check it out buddy......I don't choose to be a member of 32 NFL message boards and be a regular poster on each board all week. Yes, I signed up for your board this week to discuss this game. Win or lose on Sunday, I won't be back. If that bothers you then I'm sorry. You can search all my posts and I don't think I'm being obnoxious. If my presence alone is obxnious then that's your problem, not mine.

Don't sweat it. BFan just needs a little more fiber in his diet.

I think if we stop talking about statistics or talking with SD fans, there might not be much to talk about.

I mean we haven't played you guys so those are two major ways of assessing your team better, no?

 

[PatsFanInVa]

I actually agree the SD fan on here didn't say jack, he just got jumped.

I half-agree with the premise of the thread but really, really don't like where it went in a hurry.

Okay,

1) Yes, (as I said in other threads,) bottom line is, game is decided Sunday

2) Stats are useful, for the idea of who is better at what and how the mismatches will arise, etc. They can also be totally wrong for a given game. But leopards can't change their spots, although the Pats are the closest in the league to doing so. So stats matter. The Ravens could go out and hang 44 points on Indy, all on offense. But more likely their D will be their focal point... and you derive that from past performance, i.e., stats.

3) Where it went was the most problematic part of this premise... someone posted that since stats don't matter, the most productive conversation we can have is about individual player personalities. That turns the whole exercise into a glorified love letter to favorite players. Plus, if you even attempt to apply it to the game, you end up with a statement like "TBC [will/can not] handle setting the edge on running plays..." And how do we know anything about any of these statements? What they have done in the past, or, in the world of the measureable... stats.

4) I'll go so far as to say, God I can't wait for this game.... I'll even go so far as to say (as I did elsewhere) that the stats "don't mean ****," but of course nothing does til game time, so we have to talk about something.

5) I agree we get carried away, especially when the homers come out to play and start throwing out the stats in flame wars, to prove one team or the other is GOING to win.... I like stats for "what to watch for" indicators, but the recent idea that we start gossiping about player personalities strikes me as a downgrade.

PFnV