Week 8 Thread

skippymac6

Morrisseeee wrote: »

Agree that San Diego aren't out of it, but I don't think the AFC is weak, if anything it's as good as if not better than the NFC right now.

Nah I don't agree with that pal. In the AFC there are two very weak divisions in the East and South and probably already 4 seeds locked in with Denver, New England, Indy and one of Cincy or Baltimore taking the AFC North. San Diego are certainly the front runners for the 6th seed (or perhaps the 5th) but after that the Chiefs are probably the only team that could knock one of the wildcards out. The Dolphins are too erratic with Tannihill at QB, the Steelers D isn't what it was and Buffalo and Houston have major issues at QB.

Contrast that with the NFC were only the NFC South is a weak division. Green Bay, Dallas, Detroit, Seattle, San Fran and Arizona are all top 10 teams probably and then you have the likes of Chicago, the Giants, New Orleans while erratic are as good as Miami, Houston, Pittsburgh etc.

You might make thepoint that the Chargers knocked off the Seahawks and Denver beat San Fran but also then Seattle beat Denver, Philadelphia beat Indy and the list goes on in both directions. The fact of the matter is that Tennesse, Jacksonville and Oakland are in the bottom 4 teams this year probably along with Tampa Bay and that's one reason teams like Houston, Miami, Pittsburgh are picking up easy wins.

I think you'll see come the end of the year that there will be a few 9-7 or 10-6 teams in the NFC missing out while that certainly won't be the case in the AFC.

Hazys

The AFC looks much stronger than the NFC this year so far.

spiralism

Imo the NFC is deeper but the top teams in the AFC are better than the top ones in the NFC right now. Pats are the pats, we're playing about as well as i`ve ever seen us and Indy, Baltimore and San Diego are formidable and could handle anything in the NFC at the moment.

Son Of A Vidic

skippymac6 wrote: »

Nah I don't agree with that pal. In the AFC there are two very weak divisions in the East and South

Quite wrong I'm afraid. AFC East teams finished the 2013 season with a better winning record than 5 other divisions - AFC North, AFC South, NFC North, NFC East and NFC South. And of all the teams that finished last in their divisions across the league, the Bills were the strongest team, finishing with a 6-10 record.

skippymac6

Corvus Maximus wrote: »

Quite wrong I'm afraid. AFC East teams finished the 2013 season with a better winning record than 5 other divisions - AFC North, AFC South, NFC North, NFC East and NFC South. And of all the teams that finished last in their divisions across the league, the Bills were the strongest team, finishing with a 6-10 record.

Quite wrong I'm afraid. The Rams finished bottom of the NFC West last year with a 7-9 record.

Also the Cardinals finished outside of the playoffs with a 10-6 record. Also you are factoring the Jets at 8-8 in last years discussion, they are 1-6 now.

eagle eye

skippymac6 wrote: »

Quite wrong I'm afraid. The Rams finished bottom of the NFC West last year with a 7-9 record.

Also the Cardinals finished outside of the playoffs with a 10-6 record. Also you are factoring the Jets at 8-8 in last years discussion, they are 1-6 now.

I think you need to read a post before you state it is wrong.

Billy86

It's an interesting one - in the AFC, the Broncos are looking extremely strong and the Chargers are not far behind. The Ravens have slipped under the radar a bit and are right up there too. Indianapolis is a bit of a question mark for me, they look extremely good so far but they have lost 2 of their 3 tough games so far (Denver, Philly... and beating Baltimore) - the rest of their schedule is very soft for the most part though, which will help them. New England have not looked hugely convincing, but you still know they will be there or thereabouts. The Bengals look to have lost a lot of steam, and then there are some decent teams but nothing too threatening.

In the NFC the Cowboys have the question mark of how they finish the season but have looked devastating so far, while the Cardinals like the Ravens have gone a little unnoticed - they have Palmer back now and have gone 5-1 despite having to scrape through with Drew Stanton for a few games (and in their one loss had to move back to Logan Thomas, a 4th round rookie). Detroit have a major Achilles heel in that they simply are not the same team with Megatron/Bush out on offense and have not gone over 24 points all season, but their defence is lethal. Philadelphia are having trouble at QB but otherwise are a very strong team. And Green Bay have been on a roll with Rodgers in possibly even better form than 2011, Jordy Nelson arguably in the best form of any WR in the league, and some rookies like Clinton-Dix (S) and Corey Linsley (C) improving quickly week on week, big body players on the defensive line improving week on week for the run defence, a much improved pass defence, and are second in the league in takeaways tied with NE. They have won their last four games on a tear, by a total score of 145-67 but need to face a big test since they failed in their first two early in the year (@SEA, @DET). the 49ers and Seahawks are both hiccuping also but looking at their talent levels, should be there or thereabouts. The NFC South has been very underwhelming thus far though, and it looks like the wheels have about come off in Carolina as with Cincinnati.

Basically I think it's too early and too close to tell, apart from the Broncos being out in first (beating Arizona albeit with Stanton/Thomas at QB, Indy, SF, SD and KC - losing to SEA), the Cowboys thus far in behind them, then San Diego, then it being a toss up.

poldebruin

Well it depends how you want to see a conference. Which is tougher, one with several upper echelon teams and admittedly some of the weakest teams in the NFL (AFC). Or a conference with 1 or 2 top tier teams and lots of middling teams fighting behind them and only 1 or 2 bad teams. (NFC).

Top to bottom the NFC possibly shades it. But the best teams in the NFL currently reside in the AFC. (DEN, BAL, IND, NE, SD, compared with GB, SEA, maybe DAL, maybe PHI in the NFC) Of course this could all change in February when Denver get beaten 56 - 10 by Dallas!

Actually, just looking at it on Football outsiders total DVOA rankings it's actually quite even if you pair the teams up. Imagine trying to pick these games straight up, neutral field. None stand out as a gimmie one way or the other.

DEN v GB
SD v SEA
BAL v PHI
IND v DAL
KC v DET
MIA v ARI
NE v SF
CIN v NO
PIT v CHI
BUF v ATL
CLE v NYG
HOU v WAS
TEN v CAR
NYJ v STL
OAK v MIN
JAC v TB

eagle eye

poldebruin wrote: »

Well it depends how you want to see a conference. Which is tougher, one with several upper echelon teams and admittedly some of the weakest teams in the NFL (AFC). Or a conference with 1 or 2 top tier teams and lots of middling teams fighting behind them and only 1 or 2 bad teams. (NFC).

Top to bottom the NFC possibly shades it. But the best teams in the NFL currently reside in the AFC. (DEN, BAL, IND, NE, SD, compared with GB, SEA, maybe DAL, maybe PHI in the NFC) Of course this could all change in February when Denver get beaten 56 - 10 by Dallas!

Actually, just looking at it on Football outsiders total DVOA rankings it's actually quite even if you pair the teams up. Imagine trying to pick these games straight up, neutral field. None stand out as a gimmie one way or the other.

DEN v GB
SD v SEA
BAL v PHI
IND v DAL
KC v DET
MIA v ARI
NE v SF
CIN v NO
PIT v CHI
BUF v ATL
CLE v NYG
HOU v WAS
TEN v CAR
NYJ v STL
OAK v MIN
JAC v TB

I'm all in on the Cards to beat the Dolphins.

skippymac6

Corvus Maximus wrote: »

Quite wrong I'm afraid. AFC East teams finished the 2013 season with a better winning record than 5 other divisions - AFC North, AFC South, NFC North, NFC East and NFC South. And of all the teams that finished last in their divisions across the league, the Bills were the strongest team, finishing with a 6-10 record.

"And of all the teams that finished last in their divisions across the league..."

I'd interpret that as talking about the league itself in a whole. What senses would it make to say that of the divisions that they had the higher winning percentage against, they also had the last team with a better record than all?

Son Of A Vidic

skippymac6 wrote: »

Quite wrong I'm afraid.

Oh look parroting, always a red flag. But I'm sure this will be fun so let me check what I posted again.....

Corvus Maximus wrote: »

Quite wrong I'm afraid. AFC East teams finished the 2013 season with a better winning record than 5 other divisions - AFC North, AFC South, NFC North, NFC East and NFC South. And of all the teams that finished last in their divisions across the league, the Bills were the strongest team, finishing with a 6-10 record.

Well, well, isn't that interesting I never even mention the NFC West in my post. And here was me doubting myself.

skippymac6 wrote: »

Also the Cardinals finished outside of the playoffs with a 10-6 record.

There you go again, talking about a Division that had nothing to do with my last post.

skippymac6 wrote: »

Also you are factoring the Jets at 8-8 in last years discussion, they are 1-6 now.

Oh dear, looks like you missed this part...

Corvus Maximus wrote: »

the 2013 season.

I must notify the NFL when they're compiling the 2014 end of year stats, they'll have to wait and factor in the 2015 stats for 2014 also.

skippymac6

Ah here I don't think you need to be that sarcastic. I only mentioned the jets 2013 record as you mentioned the 2013 form of the divisions above.

Again I thought that by saying "of all the divisions across the league" meant you were talking about the whole league once again. If you had have said "those 5 divisions or the divisions above" I would have known what you were talking about.

Anyway I think we're both being a bit petty here. I've an opinion and you have yours and we both have our stats and facts to back it up. It's always going to be a very contentious debate so can we stop tell taleing and go back to the week 8 and the upcoming massive win for the Redskins?

Realt Dearg Sec

skippymac6 wrote: »

the upcoming massive win for the Redskins?

The what now?

Vandango

skippymac6 wrote: »

Ah here I don't think you need to be that sarcastic.

You reap what you sow. You came out with a totally irrelevant response to another post and your smart arsery backfired on you.

Realt Dearg Sec

Vandango wrote: »

You reap what you sow. You came out with a totally irrelevant response to another post and your smart arsery backfired on you.

In fairness I took the same sense from the original post as he did. Best to let it lie.

skippymac6

Vandango wrote: »

You came out with a totally irrelevant response to another post and your smart arsery backfired on you. You reap what you sow.

Listen I probably shouldn't have rehashed his first line and apologies for that, but I genuinely misinterpreted his post.

No harm done, I've said as much to Corvius too.

Detroit Lions @ Atlanta Falcons
Chicago Bears @ New England Patriots
Baltimore Ravens @ Cincinnati Bengals
Minnesota Vikings @ Tampa Bay Buccaneers
St Louis Rams @ Kansas City Chiefs
Miami Dolphins @ Jacksonville Jaguars
Buffalo Bills @ New York Jets
Seattle Seahawks @ Carolina Panthers
Houston Texans @ Tennessee Titans
Philadelphia Eagles @ Arizona Cardinals
Oakland Raiders @ Cleveland Browns
Indianapolis Colts @ Pittsburgh Steelers
Green Bay Packers @ New Orleans Saints
Washington Redskins @ Dallas Cowboys


to many away wins id say but we will see. was tempted to pick the rams but hard to reproduce one of the all time great special teams games

skippymac6

Really fancy the Jets tomorrow strangely. They usually back up a decent performance with a bad one which wouldn't be good for tomorrow but I feel that it's absolute last chance saloon tomorrow and maybe the added effect of bringing Harvin over has the dressing room in good spirits. Added to that spiller and Jackson are missing and that will require Orton to beat the jets through the air which I don't fancy. I'm by no means fully confident in trusting Geno smith and the jets certainly won't run on this buffalo defence like they did the patriots, but I think they force enough errors from Orton and gain enough plays on offence to win this one.

padraig_f

So I guess the games are on at 5pm tomorrow, are they?

SantryRed

padraig_f wrote: »

So I guess the games are on at 5pm tomorrow, are they?

Yes, except Falcons-Lions which is at 1:30pm.

Itssoeasy

SantryRed wrote: »

Yes, except Falcons-Lions which is at 1:30pm.

And the Americans have to get up at 9:30am to see the game live. The shoe is on the other foot.

Billy86

Itssoeasy wrote: »

And the Americans have to get up at 9:30am to see the game live. The shoe is on the other foot.

They better whip out God Save the Queen, just for the craic. :pac:

GoldFour4

Itssoeasy wrote: »

And the Americans have to get up at 9:30am to see the game live. The shoe is on the other foot.

Yeah and that's the east coast, west coast fans would have to be up at a ridiculous hour to catch the game !!

padraig_f

SantryRed wrote: »

Yes, except Falcons-Lions which is at 1:30pm.

Oh yeah, I forgot about that. It'll be on all day then.

Hazys

Itssoeasy wrote: »

And the Americans have to get up at 9:30am to see the game live. The shoe is on the other foot.

Kinda silly but could work, game is on 6:30am on the West Coast but basically you have football from 9:30am to 12pm on the East coast, so it aint that bad.

I plan on being pretty hungover tomorrow so i dont fancy getting up to watch the start. I wouldn't like the Pats to be playing at 9:30am but whenever i roll out of bed tomorrow i'll gladly watch Lions Falcons.

Only downside is for Fantasy Football. I have Megatron in two of my teams so I'd have to get up at at least 9am to check if he is active. So thats not happening, probably wouldnt have started him anyway as his points are down because of the injury but it would have been nice to have the option.

Itssoeasy

Calvin Johnson is inactive for the game today.

Billy86

Still going for the Lions to win.

johnmcdnl

Just realising this Wembley game is on at 1.30

And with the clocks going back the "late" game is only at 12.30 so hopefully won't be dead by the end of it.

14 hours of NFL - can't ask for more than that :P

eagle eye

I'm loving that we are just starting this long day of live football.

Itssoeasy

Laura Wright ? Mother of god.

raze_them_all_

some twat from some band.

"do you like the nfl?"
"yeah i love it"
"who's going to win today"
"well my girlfriend informs me lions are the favouite"



what a twat

Paully D

This feels very weird watching a game this early. Now I know how our American counterparts feel getting to watch games at 1pm EST :pac:

Excellent drive from Ryan and the Falcons so far. Though I see on Twitter that the Rams and Raiders also scored on their opening drives so the omens for the Falcons aren't good. :pac:

poldebruin

Detroit will need to wake up quickly or Atlanta eill be out of sight.

poldebruin

Looks like the Lions will need their defense to step up in this game to give them a chance. Better drive there but they look very poor offensively without bush and Johnston.

TO.

Find it hilarious the TE the Lions brought in to replace injuries only got his shot because he had a passport. Apparently they called a fair few FA Tight Ends and loads of them had no passports.

Billy86

Ugh, if Fuller catches either of those two passes at the end of the half I either win my over/under bet on him or get within 3 or so yards of it.

me89

Terrible from the Falcons, 59 yard TD on a 3rd and 25

poldebruin

Shockibg d on 3rd and 25 frim Atlanta. Not sure what the safety was doing there, terrible angle.

poldebruin

Might get a game after all. 3 and out here and pressure should build on Atlanta.

poldebruin

Gah what a costly penalty. Instead of 3rd and 25 frim their 5, it's a first down for Atlanta on the 20.

skippymac6

Matt Ryan what were you thinking!!

me89

What was that Matty :eek: game on now.

poldebruin

Atlanta so lucky, 2 fumbles in their own territory and got both back.

Geez, worst interception of the season. Straight to a detroit player standing all alone. Wasnt a falcon within 10 yards!

poldebruin

Sad by detroit. Coming away with just a fg there.

Was prater that fat when he was in denver? Looks huge.

skippymac6

The Falcons have to stop running the ball just to run it. They're making no yards at all. Leather run a few quick screens or short routes as they are getting no change out of the Detroit defensive line

raze_them_all_

Falcons just need to run the **** out of the ball and complet catches in bounds here

eagle eye

What a ridiculous end to that game.

Paully D

Mike Smith is finished. Watching Hard Knocks I thought to myself "how did this guy ever inspire winning teams."

Billy86

And both Ross (25.5) and Fuller (32.5) have gone over their yards. Can't believe their lines were so low with all the TEs, Bush and Calvin Johnson injured.

21-0 down at half time, and they win 22-21 with the last kick of the game.

MATTY IIIICCCCCEEEE!!

raze_them_all_

out of curiousity why couldn they turn down the penalty?