NFL 2014-5 playoffs: DIVISIONAL ROUND

hard not to go chalk with these picks

there is only one i am not sure about - can you guess which?!

btw congratulations to the lone individual who correctly predicted CAR BAL IND DAL for the wildcards

CAR SEA is going to be one of those games that seems close the whole time but seattle will never actually look like losing it
i think dallas is actually pretty legit but they will get killed. that is a nailed on shoot out and they will not be able to keep up.
actually, DEN IND has upset potential, denver definitely stuttered a little to close out the reg season, albeit while still finding ways to win for the most part. having said that, probably they come out and put 40 on the colts

now NE BAL...
this goes 2 ways imo. either NE scores a lot of points (not out of the question) or baltimore wins. i can almost close my eyes and watch this game play out with NE getting owned up front and struggling to score in the first half, maybe just a FG by half time, coming back with a couple second half TDs; meanwhile ravens not moving the ball consistently but four scores off of 2 long completions, a big PI, and a turnover. so basically the score will be either 20-17 or 24-17.
idk, on balance i still give the edge to the patriots but it is very easy to imagine it playing out exactly that way

NE CAR DAL IND

bold

its destiny

paving the way to the XXXVIII rematch everyone is hoping for

NE v BAL could be really interesting. I'm guessing if you're a Pats fan that's the team you were most afraid of in the divisional round.

that is fair. if you are prone to pessimism, ravens are definitely a black dog for the pats

if you are prone to optimism, NE beat and scored 40+ points on every one of the other afc playoff teams in their last meetings, all in the last 14 months

NE CAR DAL IND

― lag∞n, Thursday, January 8, 2015 9:35 AM (1 hour ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

so, upsets in every game except the one you don't want an upset in (and is most likely to have an upset, tbh)

bold stance goon

trenchant

NE SEA DAL IND

Saturday, obvious. Sunday, upsets.

kyle shanahanranahn quits browns, off season going well in cleveland as per. dad shan is shopping him and kyle as a package deal apparently.

also, i missed this before, but mike tannenbaum as a 3rd wheel at miami is hilarious

Lines, if you're interested:

Patroits -7
Seahawks -10.5
Packers -6
Broncos -7

Actually think the Packers one is too high, there's a lot of uncertainty about what Rodgers will or will not be able to do on the field. It seems like he'll play but he won't be able to move as well nor make all the throws he's used to. That said it's been brutally cold here in Wisconsin, which you'd think would be a big advantage for GB, but I don't think they've played a really cold game this year either

i don't see the ravens throwing deep successfully on saturday

was thinking like flacoo int game

http://robertmuellerreport.com/

Patriots QB Tom Brady on cold weather: 'I'm a (expletive) machine'

As to the first question, despite extensive investigation, we have found no evidence that
anyone at the League received or viewed the in-elevator video prior to its public release.
Likewise, we have found no evidence of a woman at the League acknowledging receipt of that
video in a voicemail message left on April 9, 2014.

With respect to the second question, we have identified the investigative steps that the
League took in the wake of the Rice incident, steps that reflect the League’s longstanding
practice of deferring to law enforcement—a practice that can foster an environment in which it is
less important to understand precisely what a player did than to understand how and when the
criminal justice system addresses the event. In this case, that deference led to deficiencies in the
League’s collection and analysis of information during its investigation. We conclude that there
was substantial information about the incident that should have put the League on notice of a
need to undertake a more thorough investigation to obtain available evidence of precisely what
occurred inside the elevator. Had the League done so, it may have uncovered additional
information about the incident, possibly including the in-elevator video prior to its public release.

that shit is soft like a twinkie filling

league aint want to know

jfc goodell

"guys you didn't do anything wrong except allow the police to investigate a crime. you gotta get out in front so you can spin that shit"

this is more like management consultancy than an inquiry

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

love the fact that news of romney running again emerges from his meeting with the owner of the j-e-t-s

NE SEA GB IND

i pretty sure Denver will win that last game but rooting for Andrew Luck.

and anyone but the Cowboys please, i thought i didn't like the owner but now i know it's the fans who are insufferable.

well that was quick

wow yea

god please don't let that garbage franchise win

yeah not great. cmon pats

Mike Reiss ‏@MikeReiss 2m2 minutes ago
Ravens with impressive opening drive for TD. One thing that stood out: Patriots D opened game not knowing which personnel should be on field

football is hard

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

that's not a catch. garbage throw

those birds are very cruel

all 3 units starting strong

yeah didn't look like a catch here. wonder if torrey smith returns

haha pen on NE on only ravens play so far that wasn't positive yards

ok wake up defense

ravens o-line playing like champs

yep. what pass rush

8/8 100 yds

yes, that joe flacco pls

wilfork is 3 yards back when the tackle is made. just getting moved

i don't trust the colts or broncos to beat the ravens, the line must be drawn here AFC-wise. even though i think seahawks/ravens would be a pretty great SB, i just don't want them to succeed. https://pbs.twimg.com/profile_images/252512140/08plainview_normal.jpg

rip pats

if jim nantz were doing this game hed be openly sobbing rt now

they do have a bunch of starters up (6 or 7 iirc). some pretty easy decisions in there though, like remember when ppl thought julius thomas was really good?

wait isn't j. thomas still really good? what did i miss?

Only 489 receiving yards. He was basically a red zone target only this year.

lots of td's tho

tds are valuable

huh. well i guess they have to spend money on at least demaryius and presumably terrance knighton out of those FAs coming up so maybe there is no JT money anyhow. someone will pay a lot for him i am certain.

why is there both a y and an i in demaryius thomas's first name?

I really did not see this coming, this is so weird

mookie how do you feel about lebeau? was it time for him to legeau? feel like he has had increasingly little to work with. who is good on pburgh defense right now?

my sense, despite watching essentially no games, is that the defense is shot. i mean it's cool that james harrison can come out of retirement and be a big contributor, but not a great sign.

i'm not sure quite what lebeau wants, at age 77, but i'll not say a bad word about him

i work with multiple steelers fans and they are very down on the defensive talent on the roster.

i am glad he is still going to work, he is for certain one of those old guys who are held together by work, who retires and then dies a month later.

idk -- he can easily pass for 20 years younger; he'll probably outlive me

who is going to hire him for a dc job tho

arizona i guess

gary kubiak head coach of denver broncos

for real??

lol sorry i meant that is who will hire lebeau as dc

u made me check twitter

oh lol ok, i'm on edge for an announcement like that because i really don't think elway fired the staff without a plan

fwiw kubiak committed himself to the ravens today, which i imagine is in fact not worth much

some of these broncos message board people really want brock osweiler to get a chance to start which for now i'm just going to chalk up to legal weed

shd get mcdaniels imo

lol and xp lol

cad iyo out of 10 how good an oc is mcd?

ummm my longform answer to that question is i think the patriots have had a lot of continuity in offensive scheme going back to charlie weis and it's tough to figure out who is responsible for what. that said mcdaniels is a solid 7 at least in my mind, i think he's a lot more creative than someone like bill o'brien. to the extent that o'brien was involved in the development of the gronk/hernandez no-huddle he deserves all the credit in the world (because that offense was set to be more or less unstoppable), but given varied personnel and skillsets i'd take josh. the really extreme gameplan offenses (running vs. the colts, spread passing vs. the lions and ravens) seem to be a product of his thinking and when they work they really work.

ty for taking the long form response option

i like the extreme game planning thats cool

denver prod shdve done that

maybe manning audibled out if it

'it's tough to figure out who is responsible for what' -> yes. esp with a vet qb changing things at the line. i agree that as oc he must be the guy who brings the dramatic change ups and it is definitely important to not stay still nowadays. i think he has a tendency to overcomplicate things at times which i am sure is related. maybe it is a product of the environment and the shadow of bb but he does not seem to stand as a great coordinator. as a hc candidate obv there are different qualities being considered of course. mind you it is not clear he has those either, except for having spent a lot of time with bb which is currency in itself. anyway, i have found myself hoping that he gets a hc job. mostly out of curiosity. overall i would not be too broken up about losing him. however, doesn't sound like he is seriously in contention anywhere.

that gronk/hernandez offense, a great what if oft pondered by me and i suppose the relatives of some dead ppl

think he has a tendency to overcomplicate things at times which i am sure is related.

this seems to be a general tendency with patriots coaches bill included.

lol yes. the patriot way.

i think josh could be a pretty good head coach under a smart gm. in his last job he was doing personnel too iirc which was....not smart

greg roman confirmed as rex's new oc. he has the tremendous upside of not being brian schottenheimer

elway opens press conference by saying 'first, i'd like to thank john elway -- i mean john fox'

http://cdn1.sbnation.com/assets/3849925/luckcivilwar.jpg

I don't remember seeing this posted, but this is a very ILFootball article.

http://www.sbnation.com/nfl/2015/1/4/7490869/colts-bengals-andrew-luck-civil-war-general

Haha!

I really want to read a sequel about Denver heading into NE.

http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2015/01/13/jason-garrett-rod-marinelli-agree-to-contracts-with-cowboys/

Hang on, I thought Marinelli to Tampa Bay was a done deal! lol @ sports press.

nice save by the 'boys, just pay marinelli--he can coach defense.

more important than retaining garrett

todd bowles, your ny jets head coach

i've seen more ringing endorsements of a general manager: http://espn.go.com/blog/new-york/jets/post/_/id/48379/analysis-mike-maccagnan-a-mystery-man-with-questions

a director of college scouting who hasn't found any players in rounds 3-7. sounds good!

rex's first words at bills introductory press conference:

*taps mic* 'is this thing on? because it's getting ready to be on'

decided to modulate his approach i see

Yeah but you can't really call Rex's shuffle off to Buffalo as a step down. Winning in NYC is not winning in Buffalo. I think it could work, but it could end up like his Dad. Buddy after nearly getting in a sideline fight with June Jones as a coordinator on one of Jerry Glanville's crazy ass Oilers clubs was one coach who also came and fell as a Cardinal head coach. His dad's record as a head coach was 55-55-1. Rex Ryan's record is now 46-50.

Gary Kubiak possibly going to Denver makes total sense if they don't promote the OC. Kubiak is Elway's old backup and was there most of his career. Kubiak pretty much went from backup to being a coach in Denver. I kinda always thought he seemed like a pretty smart coach at least style wise. I think that classic Denver style of zone blocking running game is a pretty good idea if you can get a line that can make it work. Kubiak had all sorts of QB issues more often injuries taking out his starter.

I got the Wild Card week games right. I didn't vote on division games but I would have picked Denver and figured Baltimore to be the possible upset possibility.

Carolina held up pretty decent for a while in that game with Seattle. Their linebackers are ace and can cover a crap load of field. If they can keep big guy healthy at QB and get a big athletic WR to give their game some oomph, they could be a good offense. Greg Olsen is really good, Bears shouldn't have let him leave. Stewart is a good back.

Indy's defense tackled really well last week and got some pass rush. Luck's got a big arm, he can through that tight deep ball like Dan Marino and Kurt Warner. He definitely doesn't rely on a high arc rainmaker for his deep pass.

Broncos plan seemed off after the first drive. They seemed to get alot of yards rushing but somehow couldn't get it going. They kept going for the deep ball when it was obvious Manning didn't have the fast ball. Denver couldn't get JACK for pass rush. I don't remember hearing DeMarcus Ware's name much at all during the game.