The NFL 2012 Season

thothguard51

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As bad as I wish he could, RGlll can not do it all by himself...

The Giants looked formidable last night against the fig Newton...
 

Jcomp

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Oh, and while I'm in this thread today, a belated RIP to Steve Sabol, who should've already been in the Hall of Fame, even if they had to create a new "contributor" wing for it or something. He did about as much as anyone to make the NFL as popular as it is today.
 

Shadow Dragon

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There were some great upsets so far today. Like the Vikings beating the 49ers. I like the Vikings' quarterback, Ponder, but I would never have seen that coming.

Also, it seems like the Eagles' luck has finally run out against the Cards.
 

mirandashell

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Yeah, some mad scores today. I mean, the Titans winning in OT? There were some good comebacks as well
 

thothguard51

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My skins are showing their weakness -- defense. The first play of the game proved the Skins can not defend against the big pass play. It's what beat them last week and what beat them this week. Zone coverage is not working with pass happy offenses.

The fact that the skins are averaging 30+ points a game on offense is good. Hell, its better than most teams. But the defense is allowing almost the same points per game.

On offense, the O-Line is got to get better at protecting RGlll and someone from the receivers group has got to step up and make the big plays. Our running game is still a work in progress, but so far it is what has kept the Skins in the games and moved the yardsticks.

Still too early to say this is going to be another long season for Skins fans, but RGlll is giving us something to root for...
 

thothguard51

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Lots of games with high scores, 30+ points. Is the run game dying?

I must say, the referring I have seen this week is not nearly as bad as last weeks, but they are still taking too long to make the calls and get the game moving.
 

Ed Panther

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Joe Flacco is turning into something special. Heck, pretty much everyone on the Ravens offense is. Dennis Pitta, Torrey Smith, and it even seems like things are finally clicking for Jacoby Jones.

Flacco has outplayed Brady every single time they've played. It's good to see Flacco actually get the win this time, especially after he threw a perfect touchdown pass to go to the Super Bowl last year but was let down by his team.
 

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For Jones, he's following a pattern for the Ravens. Every time they pick up a player from the Texans, they play great; Pollard, Leach, now Jones. The Ravens finally have a dependable no. 3 receiver. For Smith, he has all the makings or a great wideout. I also think the Ravens have their long term answer at kicker. He barely made that one at the end but he has made a few fifty+ yarders so far. Once Suggs comes back and gives them a steady pashrush again, they could be Superbowl champions.
 

thothguard51

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With the amount of injuries so far, its a wonder any of the teams are going to have their starting line up intact by mid season...
 

Lavern08

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My skins are showing their weakness -- defense. The first play of the game proved the Skins can not defend against the big pass play. It's what beat them last week and what beat them this week.

It's what almost ALWAYS beats them!!! :rant:


Still too early to say this is going to be another long season for Skins fans, but RGlll is giving us something to root for...

*Sigh* :(
 

dogfacedboy

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Joe Flacco is turning into something special. Heck, pretty much everyone on the Ravens offense is. Dennis Pitta, Torrey Smith, and it even seems like things are finally clicking for Jacoby Jones.

Flacco has outplayed Brady every single time they've played. It's good to see Flacco actually get the win this time, especially after he threw a perfect touchdown pass to go to the Super Bowl last year but was let down by his team.

Flacco was wretched in that game. His passes were all to wide open receivers - nothing was threaded into a tight spot. There were at least three separate throws that were directly at the Patriots' secondary. Luckily the Pats have garbage defensive backs. The Ravens have an excellent team, but Flacco was far from special.

Tough to say which team deserved the win. The game was so over-officiated that it was just a relief to get it over with. And fitting that it was decided with a highly questionable (and reviewable) field goal. So it goes.
 

thothguard51

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Yes, I thought all scores in the final two minutes were reviewable. I can not imagine going into the playoffs with these sales clerks as refs...
 

Ed Panther

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Flacco was wretched in that game. His passes were all to wide open receivers - nothing was threaded into a tight spot. There were at least three separate throws that were directly at the Patriots' secondary. Luckily the Pats have garbage defensive backs. The Ravens have an excellent team, but Flacco was far from special.

Tough to say which team deserved the win. The game was so over-officiated that it was just a relief to get it over with. And fitting that it was decided with a highly questionable (and reviewable) field goal. So it goes.

Brady has made a career out of having 5 seconds to throw 8 yard passes to wide open receivers, and people try to say he might be the greatest of all time.

If you don't think that Flacco was making great throws all over the place then I think you need to watch some of the plays again. The three wide open plays to Jacoby Jones were perfectly thrown balls with absolute impeccable timing that enabled so much YAC, and then all of the throws to Smith were superb, etc.

The throws to defenders.. The one with Boldin in the area was Boldin running the wrong route. That should've been a huge completion. The one that Torrey caused the incomplete with tackling the defender, he slowed down while the ball was in the air. Still a risky throw, but it only appeared like a gimme interception because Smith slowed down for whatever reason.

Flacco had an INCREDIBLE touch pass to Boldin for like 30 yards while getting hit. That was more impressive than any throw Brady made tenfold.

And Flacco was simply incredible on the drive to get in field goal range.

He outplayed Brady, Bigtime... Again.

Saying 28/39 for 387 yards 3 touchdowns and 1 interception is "wretched" is as absurd as the ending of the Packers/Seahawks game.

The only play that was truly just an easy pass to a wide open receiver was the touchdown to Dennis Pitta.
 

dogfacedboy

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Maybe wretched is too strong a word, but you could put nearly any QB in the league in that game and they would have done just as well. Zero pass pressure, receivers that completely burned their coverage, and DB's that couldn't hold on to balls thrown directly at them will make any QB look good. There's been a groundswell of support for Flacco this season and I just don't see why. I get that the Ravens are a tremendously talented team and are likely to win a ton of games this year, but Flacco is the smallest contributor to that success, so far as I can tell.

Plus I can't shake the notion that he's nearly as whiny as Jay Cutler. How much more can we listen to him talk about how the media is out to get him and they never give him a chance? Reminds me of Roberto Luongo.

But more importantly, how stunningly ironic is it that the team that gets screwed the hardest by the owners vs. officials standoff is the one team without an owner? Green Bay got royally hosed last night. I hate complaining about referees in general (in any sport), but this season has been off-the-charts horrible. The problem is that nobody's going to stop watching or stop buying tickets, so what reason is there to bring the actual, competent refs back? Just because your crack dealer starts selling you lower grade stuff (I honestly have no idea if there is high or low grade crack but bear with me) are you going to suddenly quit? The NFL knows that it has the audience trapped. It's going to take a lot more than some bad calls to convince them to fix the problem.
 

Ed Panther

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Maybe wretched is too strong a word, but you could put nearly any QB in the league in that game and they would have done just as well. Zero pass pressure, receivers that completely burned their coverage, and DB's that couldn't hold on to balls thrown directly at them will make any QB look good. There's been a groundswell of support for Flacco this season and I just don't see why. I get that the Ravens are a tremendously talented team and are likely to win a ton of games this year, but Flacco is the smallest contributor to that success, so far as I can tell.

Plus I can't shake the notion that he's nearly as whiny as Jay Cutler. How much more can we listen to him talk about how the media is out to get him and they never give him a chance? Reminds me of Roberto Luongo.

But more importantly, how stunningly ironic is it that the team that gets screwed the hardest by the owners vs. officials standoff is the one team without an owner? Green Bay got royally hosed last night. I hate complaining about referees in general (in any sport), but this season has been off-the-charts horrible. The problem is that nobody's going to stop watching or stop buying tickets, so what reason is there to bring the actual, competent refs back? Just because your crack dealer starts selling you lower grade stuff (I honestly have no idea if there is high or low grade crack but bear with me) are you going to suddenly quit? The NFL knows that it has the audience trapped. It's going to take a lot more than some bad calls to convince them to fix the problem.

Really? If you put any quarterback in that game they would've done what Flacco did? And he's been the smallest contributer?

No. You have an axe to grind with Flacco, nothing more nothing less.

Please, look at the highlights of the Ravens Bengals game. Flacco made ridiculous throws all over the field.

Flacco had to make much more difficult throws than Brady last night, and had less time to throw too. Honestly if I uses the evaluation process for Brady that you use for Flacco, then Brady would be a mediocre quarterback.
 

Jcomp

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But more importantly, how stunningly ironic is it that the team that gets screwed the hardest by the owners vs. officials standoff is the one team without an owner? Green Bay got royally hosed last night. I hate complaining about referees in general (in any sport), but this season has been off-the-charts horrible. The problem is that nobody's going to stop watching or stop buying tickets, so what reason is there to bring the actual, competent refs back? Just because your crack dealer starts selling you lower grade stuff (I honestly have no idea if there is high or low grade crack but bear with me) are you going to suddenly quit? The NFL knows that it has the audience trapped. It's going to take a lot more than some bad calls to convince them to fix the problem.

You are correct. To expand on the crack analogy (there are indeed highs and lows in the qualities of crack, depending on how much you cut the product, but I digress) the only way an addict would stop purchasing from the dealer who starts pushing lower quality product is if there is competition. If there's another dealer nearby who can provide a better product at a comparable price, they'll move on to that dealer. Otherwise, the only other option is to quit, which is easier said than done for a lot of people. Not saying football fans are like drug addicts, but they are fans. They want football. They'll suffer through this crap because the alternative is to not have football at all.

It makes me think of a quick convo I had in a bar downtown last week with a guy from Ireland. He said he likes American football, but said he was surprised there weren't more leagues. The NFL would be the big, premier league, sure, but having other competitive leagues would help make sure the NFL stayed sharp, he said. I had never thought of it that way, and thought that he had an interesting perspective. I think that what's going on in the NFL now is a result of them having no real competition in the pro football market.

The one thing that might influence the NFL to act more quickly: Vegas. The NFL would never admit to Vegas having any influence, but millions of dollars in potential winnings and losings being swayed by shitty refs can't be ignored.
 

dogfacedboy

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No. You have an axe to grind with Flacco, nothing more nothing less.

Okay, sure. You got me. He stole my girlfriend in high school and I never forgave him. Let's move on. Because nothing I say will make you go, "Hmm, maybe he's not as great as I think," regardless of how truthful it is.

You think he's wonderful. I disagree. So it goes.

The NFL would be the big, premier league, sure, but having other competitive leagues would help make sure the NFL stayed sharp, he said.

While I like the idea, I don't think it would work here. There have been opportunities for alternate leagues, like the XFL, NFL Europe, and even arena league. But nothing even comes close to threatening the NFL as far as talent and entertainment. Too bad, really. A little healthy competition might be nice.
 

Shadow_Ferret

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After last night's horrible series of bad calls and non-calls that gave Seattle a victory they didn't deserve, and after today's gutless decision by the NFL to let said travesty stand, I find I now have Sundays, Mondays, and a few Thursdays free.

If the NFL doesn't care enough to out a quality product on the field, why should I waste my time watching that crap?


Maybe they'll make some rule changes for next year. Reviewing no -called offensive pass interference, which would have ended the game. Or ties between the defender and receiver simultaneously catching the ball going to the receiver (even when it was clear to everyone that there was no tie, unless catching and holding a defender who caught the ball is considered a tie).


I've put up with a lot: a strike shortened 1982 season; the scab player season; among other lockouts/walkouts. But this one, especially after last night, is too much.
 

Jcomp

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While I like the idea, I don't think it would work here. There have been opportunities for alternate leagues, like the XFL, NFL Europe, and even arena league. But nothing even comes close to threatening the NFL as far as talent and entertainment. Too bad, really. A little healthy competition might be nice.

Oh yes, make no mistake. I thought it was a great idea, but it has zero chance of actually happening, unless the NFL does something so unbelievably egregious that it manages to chase a huge chunk of the fandom away, and I can't even imagine what that would be other than making the game go to two-hand touch or some other ridiculousness...
 

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I'd heard that the sub refs were retirees. But last night, might have been Steve Young who said they were mostly high school and small college refs. That would explain a lot. Such a shame. Maybe more of a shame the way it's overshadowing great performances. Seattle's defense was so tough last night.
 

mirandashell

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Just as quick side line....

What happens to the college players who are good but not quite good enough to get into the NFL? There must be a lot of them every year. So what do they do? Not play again?
 

Maze Runner

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There's Canadian football. I played with a guy in HS, a standout in the 3 big sports, football, baseball, and basketball. He went on to be a standout in college football, and then in Canadian football. He now an assistant coach in the NFL. There's also Arena football, but the cold truth is a lot of these guys just end up working stiffs like the rest of us. Too many college players and so few slots in the NFL.