NFL (2024 Season)

[1995hoo]

The Houston Football Team win the Snyder Prize by finishing the season with the "Football Team"  moniker under the forum's game.

[webny99]

Dolphins end up on the outside at the end of the day, and Ryan Fitzpatrick reaches 16 seasons without a playoff appearance. He twice has been win and in Week 17 and both times his team lost (2014 Jets).

It would've been fun to see Fitzpatrick in the playoffs, but ultimately, they still overachieved this season. They got very lucky against the Raiders, and still needed to win a big game with Tua to get in, and that didn't happen. And at the end of the day, I don't think either team wanted a rematch next week.

[1995hoo]

The Houston Football Team win the Snyder Prize by finishing the season with the "Football Team"  moniker under the forum's game.

To confirm how this all shook out:

Washington Eagles
Philadelphia 49ers
San Francisco Rams
Los Angeles (NFC) Bears
Chicago Texans
Houston Football Team

[NWI_Irish96]

The Houston Football Team win the Snyder Prize by finishing the season with the "Football Team"  moniker under the forum's game.

To confirm how this all shook out:

Washington Eagles
Philadelphia 49ers
San Francisco Rams
Los Angeles (NFC) Bears
Chicago Texans
Houston Football Team

We were awfully close to "Football Team" ending up with a playoff team.

[CoreySamson]

Honestly, the Houston deserves it. I was pretty wrong about predicting they would go 7-9 (plus they lost in one of the worst ways possible). And keep in mind they did this with a quarterback who won the passing title for the entire NFL!

[CoreySamson]

Also fun fact about the Houston game: The Titans became the 2nd team in history to beat an opponent twice in a season whilst giving up 35+ points both times. The stranger thing is the only other time this happened was in 1960 when the NY Titans (Jets) beat the Dallas Texans (KC Chiefs) twice that year under the same circumstances. So both times this has happened in the NFL, it was Titans-Texans.

[I-39]

Packers have the number 1 seed in the NFC, but IMO, they shouldn't be the favorites until they prove themselves. They always find a creative way to choke or get steamrolled in the playoffs.

With as much talent as Aaron Rodgers has, I can't believe they haven't been able to get back to the Super Bowl in a decade. The Packers have failed Rodgers.

[NWI_Irish96]

I can't find the post but webny99 said a while ago that the Packers beat the Bears four times in 2011. That could potentially happen with the Browns and Steelers in 2021. It has been confirmed that the Browns will play the Steelers in the wild card next weekend. Browns might be favored in that game considering Pittsburgh's recent struggles. Long term the Browns seem to be trending up with a good coach, a young QB, and a solid roster overall, while the Steelers are nearing the end of an era and Roethlisberger retiring this offseason is a possibility.

In the 2010 season, the Bears and Packers played three times, but the Packers only won 2. In 2011, they only played twice.
In 1941, they played three times with the Bears winning two.

They've never played 4 times in a season.

What he means is calendar year: Week 17 of the 2010 season when Green Bay beat the Bears was technically in January 2011. Then three weeks later the Packers beat Chicago again in the MFC Championship game. Several months later during the scheduled 2011 season Green Bay beat Chicago twice more.

Ah, OK, yes the Packers beat the Bears 4 times during calendar year 2011.

Another weird quirk involving the Bears - 14 years ago, the Bears and Colts became the first teams with black head coaches to reach the Super Bowl. Today they became the first teams to be #7 playoff seeds.

[webny99]

Also fun fact about the Houston game: The Titans became the 2nd team in history to beat an opponent twice in a season whilst giving up 35+ points both times.

If Ravens-Browns on MNF was the game of the year, Texans-Titans was definitely series of the year. Both games were absolute thrillers.

[Buck87]

Man it feels great to finally see the Browns playoff drought come to an end

[webny99]

The AFC North has three playoff teams, and would have even under the previous format because the Ravens are #5 and Browns are #6.
Ravens-Titans is a tantalizing matchup next week.

With the expansion to 14 teams, the extra two teams are Colts and Bears. Colts are definitely deserving and would have been only the second 11-5 team in history to miss out. Bears are ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ but they've had a heck of a ride this season, and they're definitely more worthy than the Cardinals IMO.

Full Wild Card Weekend schedule here: https://www.nfl.com/news/nfl-2021-postseason-schedule

[thspfc]

Packers have the number 1 seed in the NFC, but IMO, they shouldn't be the favorites until they prove themselves. They always find a creative way to choke or get steamrolled in the playoffs.

With as much talent as Aaron Rodgers has, I can't believe they haven't been able to get back to the Super Bowl in a decade. The Packers have failed Rodgers.

Look at the other NFC contenders though . . . Saints are even worse chokers, Seahawks can never get past the divisional, Rams are highly inconsistent, Bears and WFT/Giants are not good. Buccaneers are the only team that I don't see significant flaws in other than Green Bay. There's a good chance the Bucs will play the Packers at Lambeau in the divisional round, and that would more or less be the NFC Championship in my mind. Yes, the Saints did hammer the Bucs twice, but I don't think the Saints will make it past the divisional without screwing up in a new hilarious way.

[webny99]

Washington wins the NFC Least with a 7-9 record, completing an awesome comeback story for Alex Smith.

Hilariously, the Eagles and Bengals both finish the season 4-11-1... a tied record because of the tie game. 

Can't help but wonder if the Eagles preferred a loss (and a higher draft pick) over sending the 6-10 Giants to the playoffs... and really, who can blame them?

[jeffandnicole]

Washington wins the NFC Least with a 7-9 record, completing an awesome comeback story for Alex Smith.

Hilariously, the Eagles and Bengals both finish the season 4-11-1... a tied record because of the tie game. 

Can't help but wonder if the Eagles preferred a loss (and a higher draft pick) over sending the 6-10 Giants to the playoffs... and really, who can blame them?

Based on the 4th and Goal from the 4, along with immediately bringing in the backup QB for the final 20~ minutes of the game, the draft pick was more important that who made the playoffs.

I would have loved to see a 6-10 team be the Division winner though, which the Giants would've been if Washington lost.

[oscar]

Based on the 4th and Goal from the 4, along with immediately bringing in the backup QB for the final 20~ minutes of the game, the draft pick was more important that who made the playoffs.

Not to mention at least pretending to try to win the game. 

I was primarily rooting against Dan Snyder, but I too was also rooting for a 6-10 team to sneak into the playoffs.

[TheHighwayMan3561]

The second half was brutal. Also got tired of Al and Cris constantly musing what Giants fans thought about any particular play:event. They weren't there.

[US 89]

The Giants-Cowboys game could very well have turned out differently if Mike McCarthy had remembered he had a challenge flag on Dante Pettis's 10-yard catch right before the Giants hit that 50 yard FG. Sure looked like an incomplete pass to me, which would in all likelihood have forced the Giants to punt and the Cowboys would have gotten the ball back just one point down instead of four.

And for that reason I'm glad Washington won in the end - the result of that early game didn't matter anyway.

[Alps]

Based on the 4th and Goal from the 4, along with immediately bringing in the backup QB for the final 20~ minutes of the game, the draft pick was more important that who made the playoffs.

Not to mention at least pretending to try to win the game. 

I was primarily rooting against Dan Snyder, but I too was also rooting for a 6-10 team to sneak into the playoffs.

The team was trying to win the game. Other than the QB substitution, the players weren't mailing it in and there wasn't a wholesale removal of key players.

[webny99]

The second half was brutal. Also got tired of Al and Cris constantly musing what Giants fans thought about any particular play:event. They weren't there.

I agree. Ultimately, I'm sure Giants fans still hate the Eagles just as much or more than they did before, but that was an annoying few hours in between.

[jeffandnicole]

Based on the 4th and Goal from the 4, along with immediately bringing in the backup QB for the final 20~ minutes of the game, the draft pick was more important that who made the playoffs.

Not to mention at least pretending to try to win the game. 

I was primarily rooting against Dan Snyder, but I too was also rooting for a 6-10 team to sneak into the playoffs.

The team was trying to win the game. Other than the QB substitution, the players weren't mailing it in and there wasn't a wholesale removal of key players.

I never wanna be *that* guy that says a team mailed it in. 

Buttttttttt.....

When a team doesn't start their franchise QB and removes their starting QB only down by 3 points to put in the 3rd stringer as if it was a pre-season game, I can't say they were playing at 100% here.  Hurts had a bad game overall when you look at the QB rating, although he did score two TDs on his own.  Do I think they played to lose...probably not.  But then again, the Redskins played as if they really didn't care if they made it or not.  Limping into the playoffs would be an overstatement here. 

The Giants were caught in an unfortunate situation...but then again, they were 6-10.

Pederson's coaching here certainly raised some eyebrows though... https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/30648412/philadelphia-eagles-doug-pederson-says-was-coaching-win-washington-wanted-get-nate-sudfeld-some-reps is just one of several stories and Facebook "opinions" by broadcast reporters that questioned his desire to win this game.

The second half was brutal. Also got tired of Al and Cris constantly musing what Giants fans thought about any particular play:event. They weren't there.

I agree. Ultimately, I'm sure Giants fans still hate the Eagles just as much or more than they did before, but that was an annoying few hours in between.

My wife was really annoyed at the announcers with the amount of praise they were giving in the multiple times they talked about Washington's comeback stories.

The 2nd half though...what can you say - the announcers know a garbage game when they see one.  They joked about the fans in the stadium (0).  The best thing they saw were the overhead nighttime shots of the city (pre-recorded; it was a lousy weather day/night in Philly).   From a Road Enthusiast perspective, they had a great time-lapse shot of the traffic on the Ben Franklin Bridge and some marine traffic on the Delaware River, in which the camera would've been located on the tower on the Jersey side of the bridge, facing towards Center City Philly.

They also said, or started to say, the 'Redskins' 3 times, all late in the game, which shows the lack of concentration they had by that point.

[I-39]

Packers have the number 1 seed in the NFC, but IMO, they shouldn't be the favorites until they prove themselves. They always find a creative way to choke or get steamrolled in the playoffs.

With as much talent as Aaron Rodgers has, I can't believe they haven't been able to get back to the Super Bowl in a decade. The Packers have failed Rodgers.

Look at the other NFC contenders though . . . Saints are even worse chokers, Seahawks can never get past the divisional, Rams are highly inconsistent, Bears and WFT/Giants are not good. Buccaneers are the only team that I don't see significant flaws in other than Green Bay. There's a good chance the Bucs will play the Packers at Lambeau in the divisional round, and that would more or less be the NFC Championship in my mind. Yes, the Saints did hammer the Bucs twice, but I don't think the Saints will make it past the divisional without screwing up in a new hilarious way.

True, but I'm still not confident because the Packers always seem to find a way to mess it up. I really want to see Aaron Rodgers get a second Super Bowl, or at least appear in one. This is his best shot in years, but we'll see.

[ET21]

Packers have the number 1 seed in the NFC, but IMO, they shouldn't be the favorites until they prove themselves. They always find a creative way to choke or get steamrolled in the playoffs.

With as much talent as Aaron Rodgers has, I can't believe they haven't been able to get back to the Super Bowl in a decade. The Packers have failed Rodgers.

Look at the other NFC contenders though . . . Saints are even worse chokers, Seahawks can never get past the divisional, Rams are highly inconsistent, Bears and WFT/Giants are not good. Buccaneers are the only team that I don't see significant flaws in other than Green Bay. There's a good chance the Bucs will play the Packers at Lambeau in the divisional round, and that would more or less be the NFC Championship in my mind. Yes, the Saints did hammer the Bucs twice, but I don't think the Saints will make it past the divisional without screwing up in a new hilarious way.

GB has had many other seasons in the past 10 years where they were the clear favorite yet exited in either the Wild Card, 1st, or conf rounds. 2 Super Bowl wins in over 25 years of two HoF QBs, I am shocked fans did not revolt like 5 or 6 years ago against management.

[thspfc]

The 2020 NFC East is officially NOT the worst division in NFL history. Its record of 23-40-1 is one game better than the 2014 NFC South, at 22-41-1. Ha!

[1995hoo]

I never wanna be *that* guy that says a team mailed it in. 

Buttttttttt.....

....

Are you saying it Hurts to be a New York NFC Football Team fan this morning?

[I-39]

Packers have the number 1 seed in the NFC, but IMO, they shouldn't be the favorites until they prove themselves. They always find a creative way to choke or get steamrolled in the playoffs.

With as much talent as Aaron Rodgers has, I can't believe they haven't been able to get back to the Super Bowl in a decade. The Packers have failed Rodgers.

Look at the other NFC contenders though . . . Saints are even worse chokers, Seahawks can never get past the divisional, Rams are highly inconsistent, Bears and WFT/Giants are not good. Buccaneers are the only team that I don't see significant flaws in other than Green Bay. There's a good chance the Bucs will play the Packers at Lambeau in the divisional round, and that would more or less be the NFC Championship in my mind. Yes, the Saints did hammer the Bucs twice, but I don't think the Saints will make it past the divisional without screwing up in a new hilarious way.

GB has had many other seasons in the past 10 years where they were the clear favorite yet exited in either the Wild Card, 1st, or conf rounds. 2 Super Bowl wins in over 25 years of two HoF QBs, I am shocked fans did not revolt like 5 or 6 years ago against management.

The fans did, but management was in denial there was a problem. When the Packers had the meltdown in Seattle in 2014 and they came back in 2015 and regressed, they should have fired everyone afterwards. That right there exposed just how much GB management cares about winning. Rodgers has been carrying the Packers for years.

Imagine if he had the kind of teams Brady had in New England........