Lurker > thekitchensink

alright, as I thought. well played all, see ya next year!

I get the argument for OT rules of, "play defense". But I think there's also an argument, if we accept that in some situations going into OT, both defenses are helpless due to fatigue and both offenses are rolling, that the more entertaining thing is to see which offense fails first, instead of whether an exhausted defense can pull one out of their hat.

In other words, with a lot of the rest of the league tilting toward offense, isn't it reasonable to also tilt OT towards highlighting offense? If you go into OT in a situation where both defenses will fail, then it really is the coin flip deciding it pretty much, instead of seeing which offense can't keep it up for as long as the other.

how in the **** did that just happen

oh god I just read the topic

did we all pick home teams lol

well I'm out. felt like house money anyway sneaking in at 12th and the games have all been great!

well played to the qualifiers... I'm looking forward to watching the last 3 games with nothing on the line!

thanks Ash. well, it makes sense that it would be the NFC West to do it, now the only conference to do it in over a decade.

west was clearly the most competitive in the conference this year, and almost all of the strength of the conference outside of Brady and Rodgers propping up teams as usual.

its also been that division recently that when they play an afc team, I'm usually judging the game for, how good is the afc really this year?

should be a fun game!

how many times have we ever seen a divisional game in the conference championship?

The fumble on the 1, the snap over the head, the missed fg, the last akers fumble, at the least.

And that's not counting the Kupp fumble or various other insanity.

Somehow, the Rams still win. Fitting that Kupp should still be the hero!

utter madness

there have been at least like 5 sequences that should only ever happen maybe once to swing a game

well. I guess it's hard to blame anyone specific other than tannehill. I do think the game really hinged on that 3rd and 4th down they stopped us on. two not great play calls there and the momentum from converting that could have been enough for a victory.

neonreaper posted...

Feel like the Titans play calling was really poor tbh

also Im really high on Foreman and feel like he should have had more carries BUT I get thats its crazy talk with Henry back in the lineup

Yeah I was talking to some friends about this... Derrick Henry looked just a tad indecisive, seeking contact just a little less than usual. Hard to blame for that given the return from injury, but Foreman did look better. But it's an incredibly hard call... imagine the media and the fans if they go with Foreman and it doesn't work out. Foreman would basically have to leave no doubt literally every time he touched the ball. Tough situation.

SwiftyDC posted...

Why not run it with Henry on 3rd, and QB sneak on 4th

If tannehill handed it to Henry on that third there would've been no 4th

BOOM

incredible catch, solid confidence throw for tannehill, amazing INT

yikes. not sure whether to put that on tannehill or not, sometimes a defender just makes a great play. clearly not his best game though.

damn well there's the likely tiebreaker 2... 54 yards from money mac

Titans were 5-1 at that point last year, had just lost the battle of 5-0 teams trying to stay undefeated against Pittsburgh, and coming off a three game home stretch to go away to the Bengals, who were 1-5-1 and had zero pressure on them.

Now, I don't think Burrow is affected by pressure like a normal human, but there's no doubt this is a much different environment and context than last year's game.

If the pats showed up, it was going to be their secondary, so it made more sense to guess on the lower side to me, because pats win was probably low passing tds and many versions of buffalo win were also low pass td

Bengals not really known for their run defense. And Titans, other than Byard, haven't had a lockdown secondary for years. Who can shore it up more for the playoffs?

Burrow came in and lit up the Titans last year. But last year that game was kind of a trap game. This time the Titans should be ready to hit em in the mouth...

The scary thing, as usual with the Titans, is an early mistake or too many out of rhythm 3-and-outs for our offense that let Joey B get hot, possess the ball and build a lead. Titans typically not coming from behind and even less so against Burrow on (at that point) a 4 game heater from week 16. But if they can come out and stifle Burrow's streak and play the usual ball control with Henry, tennessee becomes the usual #1 seed favorite. so I think we'll know what we're in for early.

See, that last play was what the vikings defense should have done when they lost on the last play to the lions. Y'know, instead of playing 5 yards deep in the end zone.

And now, to catch myself up on the thread:

I came in ready to say that the Flores firing was completely insane. I still pretty much think it is. That team had no business having more than about 5 wins both this year and last year, and if the owner expected playoffs this year after the overachievement last year, then man, that's gotta be bottom of the list to work for. Way to turn a positive into a negative.

With that said, what KCF said about coaching staff is the first I'm hearing about that, and if indeed Flores feels a specific affinity toward Watson that drove a wedge between him and Tua and/or nudged Flores himself toward wanting out in general, I get it a little more. But still, Dolphins just let one get away. Arguably the only of Belichick's coaching disciples to have success and even beat his mentor (three times in a row).

I really hope he doesn't go to Houston, both for him as a person/coach and as a Titans fan, even though that now seems likely. In Houston he will either fail like all the rest or actually rebuild their team effectively, and the former sucks for him while the latter sucks for the Titans. Texans are too much fun for me to root against as a trash heap and I don't want him at the head of it.
Would much rather see Flores go try to rebuild Chicago or the Giants as a defense-centric scheme! I think he could find sneaky success in those places...

Okay, Flores diatribe over. Btw, I agree that Culley was set up to fail.

Oh, and count me in the camp that believes that Burrow will help the Bengals transcend the Bungles!

First of all, some thoughts on this weekend's games:

LV @ CIN - Bisaccia vs. Taylor, somebody has to get their first playoff win as a coach.

Pats @ Bills - feels like -5 on the field?!

Eagles @ Bucs - might be more about Bucs D than Tom, but the D is also missing some pieces

SF @ DAL - I will just be enjoying how much each fanbase thinks is at stake with this game

PIT @ KC - please, Big Ben, bow out with some dignity, Chiefs are way more fun to watch

Cards @ Rams - man, NFL is brutal. these two teams are so completely all in for this year with player age and contracts and one of them has to get eliminated by the other in the first round, lol

welp. just thought far more about all these games in the past 2 hours than I was ever planning to earlier in the week. here I was thinking I had the week off from predictions after a long season.

Was hiding the Bucs really necessary? It's not like anyone in the universe is picking the Eagles or Steelers~

I actually do think the Eagles can win that game... the pieces are there for the players to put it together at least. Slay cancels out Evans, D Line is proud enough to maybe get to Brady, and weather might favor the Eagles run...?

now, did I pick against Brady? I'll give you one guess

WHAT I qualified

o boy better get some picks in

Oh yeah, I doubt it will matter but I guess

Tiebreakers
Browns/Bengals passing 386
Titans/Texans rushing 258

Kansas City Chiefs
Dallas Cowboys

first ever Week 18
Cleveland Browns
Green Bay Packers
Minnesota Vikings
Washington Football Team
Indianapolis Colts
Pittsburgh Steelers
Tennessee Titans
New Orleans Saints
Buffalo Bills
San Francisco 49ers
Miami Dolphins
Arizona Cardinals
Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Los Angeles Chargers

Level 7
QB - Justin Herbert
RB - Jonathan Taylor
WR - Cooper Kupp

Kansas City Chiefs
Dallas Cowboys

thekitchensink posted...

Level 7
QB: Josh Allen
RB: Rashaad Penny
WR: Justin Jefferson

somehow I totally avoided the news that Cousins is out, gonna change my WR to Davante Adams

Time for HEDGE PICKS

Level 7
QB: Josh Allen
RB: Rashaad Penny
WR: Justin Jefferson

Bonus: Seahawks/Lions

I'm playing against all those players in fantasy championship matches, so here's hoping I don't pass this week!

also, one bonus point all year, might be the worst I've ever done on that

Sunday, January 2nd
Buffalo Bills
Chicago Bears
Kansas City Chiefs
Tennessee Titans
Indianapolis Colts
New England Patriots
Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Philadelphia Eagles
Los Angeles Rams
Los Angeles Chargers
San Francisco 49ers
Dallas Cowboys
New Orleans Saints
Seattle Seahawks
Green Bay Packers
Cleveland Browns

seemingly an easy week on all but a few games; means we'll probably see some weird upsets!

San Francisco 49ers
Green Bay Packers
Indianapolis Colts

Week 16
Atlanta Falcons
Cincinnati Bengals
Los Angeles Rams
Buffalo Bills
Jacksonville Jaguars
Philadelphia Eagles
Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Los Angeles Chargers
Seattle Seahawks
Kansas City Chiefs
Las Vegas Raiders
Dallas Cowboys
Miami Dolphins

Level 7:
QB - Aaron Rodgers
RB - Jonathan Taylor
WR - Cooper Kupp

Bonus: 16-21

Green Bay Packers
Indianapolis Colts

San Francisco 49ers

Pittsburgh Steelers!

Level 7
QB: Josh Allen
RB: Josh Jacobs
WR: Ja'Marr Chase

Bonus: 5

Kansas City Chiefs
New England Patriots

Week 15
Buffalo Bills
Arizona Cardinals
Miami Dolphins
Dallas Cowboys
Jacksonville Jaguars
Denver Broncos
San Francisco 49ers
Green Bay Packers
Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Philadelphia Eagles
Minnesota Vikings
Los Angeles Rams
Las Vegas Raiders

New England Patriots

Kansas City Chief

Pittsburgh Steelers

Week 14
Cleveland Browns
Tennessee Titans
Kansas City Chiefs
New Orleans Saints
Dallas Cowboys
Carolina Panthers
Seattle Seahawks
Denver Broncos
Los Angeles Chargers
Cincinnati Bengals
Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Green Bay Packers
Arizona Cardinals

thanks for clarification!

Level 7
QB - Mahomes
RB - Zeke Elliot
WR - Mike Evans

Bonus: Chicago