NFL 2014-5 playoffs: WILD CARD WEEKEND

AZ PIT CIN DAL

those read like summoning incantations

i like CAR PIT IND DET and some kind of hilarious exit for the cowboys

suh's gonna pull a mountain to romo's red viper

i like CAR PIT IND DET and some kind of hilarious exit for the cowboys
― Roberto Spiralli, Thursday, January 1, 2015 12:12 AM

miami maybe have maybe haven't offered DC job to rex ryan which is just weird as surely he is getting another HC shot right away. also in DC news, hatcats want to speak with vic fangio which might just be speculative but might indicate that niners are not considering him as HC, in which case i guess he will be away. so niners being linked with defensive HC candidates makes a little more sense suddenly, altho they really like josh mcd apparently

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

Carolina's defense is playing too well to lose to AZ. AZ missed a shot this year once their QB went down.

I like Indy against Cincy in probably a kinda fugly game. I don't think either club is ready for prime time.

I'm kinda feeling Baltimore upset in Pittsburgh, especially if Bell is not really a factor.

I can't see Detroit hanging with Dallas, although it is 'Dallas' and it would be appropriate for them to revert to football goof form and lose to the Lions in the playoffs.

I'll be real surprised if the Superbowl is not Seattle and NE.

yeah i feel bad for AZ because all they needed to be competitive was a drew stanton level QB and they couldn't even finish the season with that.

and speaking of 3rd/4th string scrubs, i don't see how the current ravens secondary is going to stop pittsburgh scoring. i think that is going to be the overwhelming factor in that game. even without bell i figure it goes p much the same as the regular season game at heinz.

Offense
Quarterback
Aaron Rodgers, Green Bay, 44; Tony Romo, Dallas, 3; Tom Brady, New England, 2; Andrew Luck, Indianapolis, 1.

Running Backs -- x
DeMarco Murray, Dallas, 48; Le'Veon Bell, Pittsburgh, 44; Marshawn Lynch, Seattle, 7.

Fullback -- y
John Kuhn, Green Bay, 18; Anthony Sherman, Kansas City, 14; Marcel Reece, Oakland, 12; Bruce Miller, San Francisco, 3; Marshawn Lynch, Seattle, 1; Kyle Juszczyk, Baltimore, 1.

Tight End
Rob Gronkowski, New England, 50.

Wide Receivers
Antonio Brown, Pittsburgh, 49; Dez Bryant, Dallas, 24; Jordy Nelson, Green Bay, 15; Demaryius Thomas, Denver, 11; Odell Beckham Jr., New York Giants, 1.

Tackles
Tyron Smith, Dallas, 35; Joe Thomas, Cleveland, 22; Andrew Whitworth, Cincinnati, 14; Jason Peters, Philadelphia, 12; Ryan Clady, Denver, 4; Sebastian Vollmer, New England, 3; Joe Staley, San Francisco, 3; Ricky Wagner, Baltimore, 2; Trent Williams, Washington, 1; Lane Johnson, Philadelphia, 1; Jared Veldheer, Arizona, 1; Bryan Bulaga, Green Bay, 1; Louis Vasquez, Denver, 1.

Guards
Marshal Yanda, Baltimore, 38; Zach Martin, Dallas, 24; Josh Sitton, Green Bay, 22; Kyle Long, St, Louis, 5; Mike Iupati, San Francisco, 4; Evan Mathis, Philadelphia, 2; Jahri Evans, New Orleans, 2; Joel Bitonio, Cleveland, 1; Dan Connolly, New England, 1; James Carpenter, Seattle, 1.

Center
Maurkice Pouncey, Pittsburgh, 21; Travis Frederick, Dallas, 14; Nick Mangold, New York Jets, 7; Jason Kelce, Philadelphia, 5; Corey Linsley, Green Bay, 1; Rodney Hudson, Kansas City, 1; Ryan Kalil, Carolina, 1.

Placekicker
Adam Vinatieri, Indianapolis, 25; Stephen Gostkowski, New England, 21; Matt Bryant, Atlanta, 1; Dan Bailey, Dallas, 1; Chandler Catanzaro, Arizona, 1; Justin Tucker, Baltimore, 1.

Kick Returner
Adam Jones, Cincinnati, 17; Darren Sproles, Philadelphia, 15; Devin Hester, Chicago, 14; Jacoby Jones, Baltimore, 3; De'Anthony Thomas, Kansas City, 1.

***

Defense
Ends
J.J. Watt, Houston, 45; Mario Williams, Buffalo, 24; Calais Campbell, Arizona, 11; Fletcher Cox, Philadelphia, 5; Cameron Wake, Miami, 5; Michael Bennett, Seattle, 3; Elvis Dumervil, Baltimore, 3; Everson Griffen, Minnesota, 1; Jerry Hughes, Buffalo, 1; Robert Quinn, St. Louis, 1; Muhammad Wilkerson, New York Jets, 1.

Tackles
Ndamukong Suh, Detroit, 41; Marcell Dareus, Buffalo, 24; Gerald McCoy, Tampa Bay, 13; J.J. Watt, Houston, 5; Kyle Williams, Buffalo, 4; Aaron Donald, St. Louis, 4; Sheldon Richardson, New York Jets, 4; Sen'Derrick Marks, Jacksonville, 2; Fletcher Cox, Philadelphia, 2; Calais Campbell, Arizona, 1.

Outside Linebackers
Justin Houston, Kansas City, 47; Elvis Dumervil, Baltimore, 13; Von Miller, Denver, 11; Connor Barwin, Philadelphia, 11; DeAndre Levy, Detroit, 7; Clay Matthews, Green Bay, 5; Ryan Kerrigan, Washington, 3; Lavonte David, Tampa Bay, 2; Terrell Suggs, Baltimore, 1.

Inside Linebacker
Luke Kuechly, Carolina, 43; Bobby Wagner, Seattle, 31; C.J. Mosley, Baltimore, 9; DeAndre Levy, Detroit, 4; Lawrence Timmons, Pittsburgh, 4; Jamie Collins, New England, 2; Dont'a Hightower, New England, 2; D'Qwell Jackson, Indianapolis, 1; Brandon Marshall, Denver, 1; Clay Matthews, Green Bay, 1; Larry Foote, Arizona, 1; Mychal Kendricks, Philadelphia 1.

Cornerbacks
Darrelle Revis, New England, 42; Richard Sherman, Seattle, 41; Chris Harris Jr., Denver, 9; Brent Grimes, Miami, 4; Vontae Davis, Indianapolis, 2; Aqib Talib, Denver, 1; Joe Haden, Cleveland, 1.

Safeties
Earl Thomas, Seattle, 39; Eric Weddle, San Diego, 16; Kam Chancellor, Seattle, 14; Glover Quin, Detroit, 13; Harrison Smith, Minnesota, 7; Antoine Bethea, San Francisco, 5; Devin McCourty, New England, 2; Tashaun Gipson, Cleveland, 2; Charles Woodson, Oakland, 1; Rashad Johnson, Arizona, 1.

Punter -- z
Pat McAfee, Indianapolis, 26; Johnny Hekker, St. Louis, 12; Sam Koch, Baltimore, 8; Kevin Huber, Cincinnati, 2; Bryan Anger, Jacksonville, 1.

gronk unites all

Little surprised Houston and Watt weren't unanimous. And fullback must be totally irrelevant if John fucking Kuhn is all pro

watt got 50 votes too, 5 at DT for some reason

My bad. Sometimes a 3-4 end is called a tackle. Semantics, also applies to an LT/Tippett style olb who is basically a DE. We played a 3-4 in college the wording didn't matter it was where you lined up (3 or 5)

Also love "Devin Hester, Chicago". No respect for falcons, then again they don't deserve much.

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

http://yahoo.thepostgame.com/blog/mvt-most-valuable-tweeters/201412/indianapolis-colts-nfl-football-pat-mcafee-adam-pacman-jones

McAfee is pretty funny.

are any of these games cool they all seem kind of sad

pitt/balt maybe

pit/bal would be cool if the stadium fell into a bottomless pit during the game.

haha

all of the wild card games seem p cool tbh with the exception of car/az which will at least be competitive i guess, albeit for sad reasons.

I think lions cowboys is the ticket to see how loco ndamukong suh will go this time

Presuming Dallas wins that one, I'm looking forward to watching Suh's last game as a Lion.

this game is obv terrible but lvoe getting gruden/tirico calling a playoff game

this is def the kind of game where the biggest single play on offense will be a def PI call

def

http://s.azcentral.com/home/File-/picture/47270/1/0/258/1024/
http://s.azcentral.com/home/File-/picture/47270/1/0/258/1024/
http://s.azcentral.com/home/File-/picture/47270/1/0/258/1024/

otm

What happened to Arizonas run defense

how is jericho ctochery their #2 receiver btw

their = carolina

oh dear

has to be a td

This az punter is the pits but these qbax may be worse

realistically that's game, off of a shitty penalty call

dont think ive ever seen anything quite like that fumble then punched ball

playoffs!

larry fitz so heartbroken, rip

what happened i left for a min did they rule that not a fumble what the heck

was a fumble, lindley threw a pic rt to keuchly v next play

ah lol

they shd start the next game now

zona shd take a knee

game continues to deliver

shit sandwiches

piping hot

looool

http://mattsko.files.wordpress.com/2014/03/keystone-kops-gif.gif

15 drives, 46 plays, 97 yards

that game was about what i expected

really hate the steelers but do not want the ravens to go to foxboro

‏@billbarnwell
28 different plays from scrimmage in 2014 (including Marshawn Lynch’s run two weeks ago) produced more yards than the Cardinals did all day.

http://i.kinja-img.com/gawker-media/image/upload/s--EkxI9io---/nax7ppa0mlzg37xi4u1r.png

how can you have 12 men on a fg. ffs

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/B6eLiaZIcAE98i2.jpg

cam consulting w wades stylist

feel like pburgh are kind of psyching themselves out of this game on offense by overreacting to ravens' strength up front. conservative playcalling that is surely working against their strengths this season, and their advantages in this match up.

can't find the right bowl joke for that Flacco pic

lol pittsburgh players just looking at the loose ball

Is there any way these teams can eliminate each other in one game?

wow

lame that brown td didn't count. we need contextual refereeing. awesome plays must stand.

suggs! crazy

wonderful int

these birds are so mean to pitt & rapethlisberger

The key question is whether Flacco is elite. Nothing else matters

hes elipe

he already won a super bowl, what else do you want?

not bad running for an old man

that hit on heath was brutal

haaaaaaaaa

LOL

that is amazing

eat shit roflesburg

lol ben

shoulda left the backup in there

bruce gradkowski steelers could've been something

shouldve thrown ben in the garbage

ahhh haha

BAD FOOTBALL TODAY

he already won a super bowl, what else do you want?

― call all destroyer, Saturday, January 3, 2015 11:06 PM (10 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Just joking. Mimicking the Mike and Mike-esque debate about "who's elite" or "who's next". It's all bullshit.

oh lol ok

Happy to see the rapist go down

ouuuuch

Great hit. FSU and steelers go down in the matter of days. Good start to 2015.

both pretty shitty games.

feel like evil birds devil magic will cook dem patriots

sorry not possible

ugh. garbage 3y throws on 3rd and 8 really GRIND MY GEARS

shdve gone for it too

never bet on yac

good work fellas

jeez that was nice

CMON LIONS

yeahhhhh GO LIONS

otm

man how many times did romo get hit already?

hahaha that was remarkable

annointed best oline in the league is getting destroyed

i heard something in the build up to this about how the conventional wisdom is a great o-line will always trump a great d-line, which i had never encountered as a maxim before. turns out that might be wrong! this is really a whole defense/scheme thing tho, these dudes are going nuts out there.

wacky game so far

Dallas is playing tight and Detroit is playing loose. It will be interesting to see if the Cowboys can get their heads about themselves, they seem kinda discombobulated. Detroit plays this fugly all the time, they are not precision on offense.

that was a horrible throw, what a let off

when a score preventing int hits u in the face

is the lions - cowboys game worth watching?

loooool @ dallas

it's pretty entertaining so far

lmao missing the gimmie fg while the most accurate ever graphic is up

aikman almost says something insightful, catches himself, apologizes

herre we go

booooooo

LOVE THE 4TH DOWN CALL

i root for whichever team goes for it on 4th in the sickest sitch

big play

lame

wow

just terrible

picking up a flag after announcing the penalty is true garbage

the mo... has shifted

xp yeah that's happened a few times this season, nagl

arent they supposed to like consult with each other how does this happen

also it was interference

dallas has made good adjustments and detroit hasn't really done anything in response. cowboys are winning this. fuckin lions smh

nice conversion

isn't it about time for a romo INT

wow tings not going detroits way

guess its just justice for the cowboys going for two sick ass 4th downs

i'll be disappointed if detroit wins bc of a clutch stafford drive and not bc of a choke job romo non-drive.

chris christie lovin it

Some of the worst officiating I've ever seen

i am rooting for tony romo above all other factors in this game

Why is Chris Christie in Jones' box. New Jersey taxpayers were raped to build that shit stadium and he now goes to every Cowboys game? I can't even imagine the amount of food being consumed in that box.

im rooting for christie to have a heart attack

this ridiculous game though

lol dubl fumbl

i dunno refs you might want to give it back to dallas just because

hahahahaha

http://i.imgur.com/ffm9ss5.png

that'll get you a couple laps xp

http://www.themattrix.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/atomicbomb.jpg

its a first down too lol

Really sad to see bad officiating steal a win But Detroit is driving. Hope stafford has a signature drive hrre

cmon lions get the ball to megatron

welp

BALLS

ugly game all around

Chris Fatass. This is a nitemare. Detroits oline is falcons-esque

Cheap victory. That picked up flag cost Detroit the game. Sickening.

the worst past of all of this is that dallas actually looks good

whatever joe buck today's play of the game was picking up that PI flag for no reason

even the fox nfl panel seems to despise the call and chris christie

this branded mock turtleneck thing garrett wears

refs are so gonna buy cocaine and strippers with the $100,000 jerry jones paid them off with

whenever i see garrett's name, in my head there is some kind of "placeholder coach name" thing that happens, but we're like 4 years deep on the garrett era.

$100,000 jerry jones paid them off with

some kind of jersey taxpayer/port authority angle on this, there's gotta be a real reason that dude is around

did christie wear that bright red orange thing so the cameras would be sure and find him

http://bloximages.newyork1.vip.townnews.com/brownsvilleherald.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/a/95/a9571282-76a1-11e2-b90c-001a4bcf6878/511cd7cbb4ff0.image.jpg

invisible trophy

oh wow one bad PI non-call stop the presses

u can always tell a princeton man

Would you really trust the man with his finger on the button to a guy from New Jersey who loudly and proudly states he is a Cowboy fan? I think not.

Totally weird call on the pass interference, mostly would have been handled a bit different might not be a thing if they did an explanation. Doesn't matter much either way, as I can't believe Dallas can go into Green Bay and win next week.

On another note, Rich Eisen's eulogy for Stuart Scott today on the NFL channel preview was about as real as cable TV gets. You could really tell that Scott's passing really hurt him.

was it even PI

You're shitting me.

This game was totally fixed.

it was fixed because of one PI call, they really rolled the dice I guess

i've seen the replay 20x like everyone else and I still don't see PI, but picking up the flag is the issue xp

You have no idea what you are talking about.

Xp

what were the other bad calls? you don't fix a boxing match by having the judges score one round wrong

Detroit had a 20-17 lead at that point and that penalty put them deep in Dallas territory. And it was a good call peirera explained it well. Cheap win

https://twitter.com/PHIEagleFans/status/551902541903314944/photo/1

Detroit had a 20-17 lead at that point and that penalty put them deep in Dallas territory. And it was a good call peirera explained it well. Cheap win

― Prince Kajuku (Bill Magill), Monday, January 5, 2015 1:23 AM (5 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

typical bad call in a football game

You can't complain about a terrible call useless your team played a prefect game

What's the deal with Bryant running onto the field w/o a helmet to argue the call that wasn't a call?

lol @ all the idiots complaining about riggage, if they seriously rigged the game they're not throwing the flag in the first place and nobody talks about it after

especially given that the refs were giving Detroit a ton of borderline calls the entire game

and I say this as someone who really wanted Detroit to win

Borderline calls happen in every single game.

An obvious infraction call reversal (after its announcement) without explanation is quite another.

Anyone saying that this isn't a big deal probably doesn't watch a lot of football.

You can't complain about a terrible call useless your team played a prefect game

― peepee, Monday, January 5, 2015 1:45 AM (41 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

"rigged" games are a series of absurd calls not one call that was bad that would have been a first down in field goalish territory

Who's saying rigged?

https://cdn0.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/ppF-I7jiaxb7KTzAcwqzJcLGn_U=/800x0/filters:no_upscale%28%29/cdn0.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/2903012/dezappears.0.gif

Suh is appealing the game's outcome.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tdAKk42OzVw&feature=youtu.be

if nothing else maybe this will result in them keeping crews together for the playoffs

http://cdn.fansided.com/wp-content/blogs.dir/53/files/2015/01/pete-morelli-nfl-preseason-cincinnati-bengals-arizona-cardinals1.jpg

You can see even from the still on that video, the player from Dallas didn't play at all on the ball and made contact before the ball got there. It's a catch able ball, it wasn't tipped, so by the contact and lack of going for the ball, I don't see how it's not pass interference.

It's a blown call made worse as they originally called it, picked up the flag and then said nothing on why they did so.

its pass interference but not too far from being borderline, weve all seen countless far worse missed calls, the weird thing is the picked up flag after announcing the penalty, if they never made the call in the first place no one wld be talking about this

yes exactly

The dude that is getting a TOTAL PASS on this whole thing with the penalty call is the Lions punter who shanked a 10-12 yard punt. That guy was setup to pin them deep and gave them the ball on nearly the 40 yard line. Even a touchback would have been over twice as effective.

that was bad

TV dudes roasting Caldwell for being spineless and not going for it on 4th and 1 would have been the same ones roasting him for being an idiot if they gone for it and failed.

always go for it never punt

http://images.chron.com/blogs/askacat/hatcat.JPG

“That's unbelievable… and you know it,” Stafford said, visibly animated. “You know it is, though… How does that get overturned? …. Congratulations. It's unbelievable.”

Stafford sought after several officials and, shortly after, continued to voice his displeasure:

“Can we explain that or no?” Stafford asks. “Just flat out overturning a pass interference call?” An official then mentions face guarding to Stafford, and the quarterback responds: “I understand, but your man saw it and threw a penalty…. I understand that… But I've never in the history seen one turned over. Congratulations, man. First time in history that's happened.”

Stafford later, standing on the sideline in the aftermath of the confusion, started telling, “Hooome cookin!”

It sucks that Detroit is on the wrong end of so many of these things but honestly, officials picking up a PI flag after a conference or on replay is probably a good thing, it's such a subjective and game-swinging call

“When you have two challenges, I don’t see anything wrong with the concept of, 'You can challenge any two plays you want.' I understand that judgment calls are judgment calls, but to say that an important play can’t be reviewed, I don’t think that’s really in the spirit of trying to get everything right and making sure the most important plays are officiated properly."

xxp Stafford otm

ESPN Stats & Info ‏@ESPNStatsInfo 2m2 minutes ago
The @Seahawks are trying to become the 1st defending Super Bowl champion to win a playoff game since the '05 Patriots (def. JAC in WC round)

crazy

something tells me that seems like an inevitability