frozen balls and billy volek: it's the championship weekend thread

billy "frozen balls" volek

omfg chambers almost caught that

Chambers playing well so far....

here we go defense here we go

pls never show that LONG mcdonalds ad again

man I wonder how the Chargers would be doing with a healthy trio. Rivers is playing well despite the hobble but LT not being in now....granted the Chargers have 3 good running backs but LT is otherworldly!

I like the defense...

and that play is indicative why I never minded trading Chambers.

what a terrible play.

I mean he had freaking position on the ball, even if he didn't catch it, do whatever you can to prevent Samuel from catching it.

(but he should have caught it)

rivers kinda getting impatient...

so maybe the way to stop the pats is just to have really great corners

all things considered, how many of us expected a 14-9 game at the half? And one of the TDs came on a short field. Kudos to the Charger defense. Extreme kudos. I like how they're feigning blitzes or occasionally sending the blitz and dropping a d-lineman into coverage.

Part of me wonders if it wouldn't be better to try Volek, who isn't exactly chopped liver, but Rivers was really only responsible for the one interception (first was on Chambers)...

the main problem is he doesn't have the mobility to escape pressure, which thankfully until now he hasn't had to evade much, but gotta think that's gonna change in the second half...

"he" being Rivers

You stay classy, San Diego.

BORING

OMG PROFESSIONALS NOT SHUTTING OFF THEIR PHONEZ PRODUCER HAVING A SHITFIT SOMEWHERE

i hope sharpe is pranking him or something

marino would get so mad about something like that

http://etc.lawrence.com/galleries/images/kuorl122003/lores/NC-States-Philip-Rivers.jpg

http://students.uww.edu/morrisonbt10/mike.jpg

San diego playing a gutsy game, that's for sure....

If San Diego loses, it's the red zone that loses it for em.

Can't argue with the playcall at all, but zero execution....

hard to believe how well Seau is still playing. Burns me up that he 'retired' after his last season with the Dolphins and then un-retired when the Patriots came calling. Not that I don't understand why he did it, but damn...

I <3 CROMARTIE!!

JESUS!

this really would be a shame if San Diego lost. They've played a really gutsy game.

But...why the FUCK did he run it out? that's 15 yards of field position you lost!

stop with the gutsy already you sound like a hack newspaper writer

Stop using the word "stop", don't you have more creative verbs to use?

fucking shithead

lol

:-\

Oh well. Go Packers!

hmm. tough game. 3 int..

haha, Fox's pregame dudes all look 90 years old in the cold.

rip fox sideline reporter

SAUSAGES

f u pack trying to run old pats quick outs

Fuck, there's a trainer on the Packers sideline in shorts!

brandon jacobs makes poor choices while running

lol troy thinks coughlin is gonna die of exposure

al harris is a good corner but pretty dirty man

Tom Coughlin is redder than a strawberry or other red-colored thing.

Hey guys, my Chargers beat the spread! YEAH!

burress is kindof a big tease

I taped Pats game and not sure I even want to bother to watch what I missed. zzzzz. the heck was wrong with Brady today?

Al Harris is all hairdo today against Burris.

couple bad decisions but one int was a freak deflection, one a pretty athletic play by cromartie, brady was still pretty brady when he needed to be

yah I saw the one Stallworth missed, that wasn't really his fault

TD Jacobs.. taunts fans.. can not find play clock

pls jacobs dont hurt the play clock..haha

good effin drive tho

hehe commentator "play clock is too high for Jacobs to throw it against"

guys brandon jacobs is the new steve smith

ha, bjo yeah, it was a "gutsy" performance to get so close and settle for field goals every time. the pats opponents lead the league in moral victories and gutsy performances.

dink.

or maybe they played a weak ass road sched then got inexplicably hot INEXPLICABLY for the playoffs

i don't know about any of that but i just saw eli's post-game interview last night and am left wondering: is his head disproportionately small in comparison to his body or was he just wearing like 18 t-shirts?

Boss is a freakin' hoss, the Giants should play that dude all the time next year. He is a mutant tackle playing TE.

btw cosmic schefter is meant to be played on loop. hojoshowea can you embed that on the schefterpages?

yah totally but my site is down due to me spacing out a losing all teh info hopefully itll be back shortly

and yah i like that boss guy too his name is boss and hes lol hueg - someday the pilsbury throwboy can pass to him and then thell say ok everyone can go home the nfl is not getting any better than that the nfl is over now

^lol

with the exception of the bills, teams that have had a second shot at the pats (jets, fins, chargers) have played significantly better than the first game. part of that can be accounted to weather and the shock of omg new pats offense randy O_O wearing off, but it's still something to keep in mind i think

actually, say what you will about the giants, but won't this be the first super bowl in a while w/ two teams that were both playoff teams the previous season?

*insert cheap comment about nfc playoff teams*

Wonder what Shockey's take is on all this

Wonder what Shockey's take is on all this

-- Bill Magill, Tuesday, January 22, 2008 8:56 AM (Tuesday, January 22, 2008 8:56 AM) Bookmark Link

http://www.imagedonkey.com/out.php/i432_shockeyshocked.gif

that never gets old.

two things easterbrook can't seem to stay away from; hyperbole and anti-semetism. he's going with the former today:

Norv Turner's decision to punt in New England territory in the fourth quarter when trailing by two scores might go down as the single worst coaching decision of all time. Let us count the ways in which the decision was ludicrous.

I was hoping they'd go for it but I didn't have a lot of faith that they'd convert it at that point.

PEOPLE NEED TO QUIT MISSPELLING ANTI-SEMITISM

did i mispel anti-samitism?

I love that Shockey gif. I wish I could get an animated t-shirt.

http://i14.tinypic.com/8ek37dt.jpg

SEND SHOCKEY TO OAKLAND

I'd rather have Zach Miller.

it's a shame there's two weeks to hype this f'ing game because this is actually one game that needs no hype and would be so much better if both teams could just keep on rolling into it.

fuck the nfl sometimes.

The hype is already horrible. Mo Lewis was on NYC radio being interviewed about knocking Bledsoe out and Brady taking over. That was old news during the first Pats SB.

lost in that game is that while bledsoe was almost bleeding to death HE CAME BACK FOR ONE MORE SERIES. it was only when he started getting light headed that he came out.

Brady would have overtaken him eventually anyway, maybe not that year. As much as I loathe Belichik, he is a brilliant personnel guy, see Welker, Harrison, Sea3u etc.

eh, chad scott, chad brown, andy katzenmoyer etc.

wait, katzenmoyer was pete carroll's last year so he was a bobby grier pick.

whoa, i'm reliving belicheck's first draft, pretty brutal until pick #199.

Come on dude, without his personnel skills, the Pats are nowhere. And don't forget additions by subtraction like Lawyer Milloy

i'm not saying he's not talented, i'm just saying not everything is a homerun. seriously go back and look at that first draft: adrian klemm, jr redmond, greg robinson-randall, dave strachelski, antwan harris, jeff marriott...

only two guys had an lasting impact on the team and that was brady and patrick pass, their 6th and 8th round picks.

Nobody hits a home run with every draft pick. The bottom line is that the team was almost entirely built from the draft, and the majority of the players on the team have only ever played for the Patriots as pros.

well... all teams not named the Redskins are built through the draft. the pats are just more succesful at it. a lot of their most important players were FA acquisitions anyway

btw, this is my favorite "it's all dumb luck" story - during the 2000 draft, down to the last minute, the pats draft room was split 50-50 on whether to take tom brady or... tim rattay.

again, i'm not saying he's not talented. i'm stopping short of brilliant though based on his pre-pioli track record.

by the time the game actually rolls around, will i even care about it? if the pats win i'll be happy for a day but by monday afternoon all i'll be thinking about is work. if they lose i'll be pissed for a while but by tuesday afternoon all i'll be thinking about is work.

"...pre-pioli track record. "

Uh, can't he improve? He sure improved as a coach.

sure he can improve but i'm not ready to say he's brilliant (as you did) unless i know that he is. maybe he is, maybe he's not. but until i know i'll withhold on calling him that.

also, it's 11:30 a.m. central time and we've pretty much finished all the work for today. someone suggest to me a time waster. tracking my amazon shipment every ten minutes lost it's charm pretty goddamn quick.

tension mounts,

CHICAGO, IL, US 01/24/2008 7:30 A.M. OUT FOR DELIVERY

Nobody hits a home run with every draft pick. The bottom line is that the team was almost entirely built from the draft, and the majority of the players on the team have only ever played for the Patriots as pros.

-- polyphonic, Wednesday, 23 January 2008 23:48 (5 days ago) Link

hurf: http://msn.foxsports.com/nfl/story/7716466/Road-to-Super-Bowl-means-many-moves

Free agents (Giants 36, Patriots 30)

The bulk of the players on both teams weren't drafted or acquired in trades. They were free agents, either as veterans or as undrafted rookies.

I'm not sure what your point is. That the Giants are roughly similar in terms of being built "the right way"? I never said otherwise.

i think the point is you said "The bottom line is that the team was almost entirely built from the draft,..." when 30 of the players on the 52 man roster came via free agency.

When I think of "free agency," I'm thinking of pricey veterans. There are certainly a few of those guys on the Pats, but not very many.

How the hell is the Giants money line only 375??? There hasn't been a Super Bowl this lopsided since Pats/Rams and back then I remember people were getting at least 800-900 for taking the Pats.

I guess since the Pats actually won that game Vegas learned its lesson.

Also, fuck media day.

How the hell is the Giants money line only 375???

dude, you've got to remember that the lines have NOTHING TO DO WITH THE GAME!!! they only exist to try to get an equal amount of money bet on either side without the bookmaker getting middled.

The Pats won me $500 in the Rams SB. I don't think it got up to $800

dude, you've got to remember that the lines have NOTHING TO DO WITH THE GAME!!! they only exist to try to get an equal amount of money bet on either side without the bookmaker getting middled.

Well then why are so many more people taking New York than were taking the Pats back in Super Bowl XXXVI?

Also, fuck media day.

-- Mr. Snrub, Tuesday, January 29, 2008 6:04 PM (2 days ago) Bookmark Link

RONG! plax's media day alone justified the whole thing (cf. clip of him talking about caressing amani toomer's supple "right buttock") but strahan and randy were killin it too... plus that crazy broad proposing to brady.

Well then why are so many more people taking New York than were taking the Pats back in Super Bowl XXXVI?

i'm gonna guess because there are more people with sports allegiances to new york than with st. louis?

DING DING DING!!