NFL (2024 Season)

[wanderer2575]

I suppose this is off-topic, but WTF makes beer, insurance, and truck companies think repeatedly watching their lame TV commercials is going to result in my dropping serious coin for their products?

[hotdogPi]

I suppose this is off-topic, but WTF makes beer, insurance, and truck companies think repeatedly watching their lame TV commercials is going to result in my dropping serious coin for their products?

They have to show something between plays, they already analyze the game while it's in progress, and it's not election season anymore. What would you rather have them do?

[thspfc]

Ben Roethlisberger breaks the all time record for completions in a game. I kind of figured this could happen after the Steelers got behind 28-0 in the first quarter, but I didn't actually start tracking it until the drive that made it 35-23 in the 3rd. Steelers got beat, kind of badly, but it's fun to see a record set that might not be broken for a long time.

[Alps]

I suppose this is off-topic, but WTF makes beer, insurance, and truck companies think repeatedly watching their lame TV commercials is going to result in my dropping serious coin for their products?

I think advertisements have proven themselves worth the revenue by now, after 70+ years on TV...

[webny99]

The Divisional Round is now set, and unlike previous years, there were no massive Wild Card upsets, so there are 8 very good teams remaining. You could certainly argue it's the 8 best teams in the league. Interestingly, the 3 and 4 seeds got completely swept, so both conferences are left with seeds 1, 2, 5 and 6. Had the Bills or Saints slipped up - and the Bills came very close - we would've had a 5 seed HOSTING the Divisional Round. 

AFC: 5 Ravens at 2 Bills, 6 Browns at 1 Chiefs
NFC: 5 Bucs at 2 Saints, 6 Rams at 1 Packers

[1995hoo]

I suppose this is off-topic, but WTF makes beer, insurance, and truck companies think repeatedly watching their lame TV commercials is going to result in my dropping serious coin for their products?

I'd rather see those commercials than ads for feminine hygiene products and the like....

[webny99]

The Browns' 3 signature wins this season have all been very similar: stun the opponent by jumping out to a monster lead early, and then coast to victory. Happened against the Cowboys and Titans in the regular season and now the Steelers.

The Steelers might be a great defense in the regular season, but this is brutal. They've given up 93 points in their last two playoff appearances.

[NWI_Irish96]

The Browns' 3 signature wins this season have all been very similar: stun the opponent by jumping out to a monster lead early, and then coast to victory. Happened against the Cowboys and Titans in the regular season and now the Steelers.

The Steelers might be a great defense in the regular season, but this is brutal. They've given up 93 points in their last two playoff appearances.

To be fair, their offense had a pretty big hand in giving up points last night.

[jeffandnicole]

The Divisional Round is now set, and unlike previous years, there were no massive Wild Card upsets, so there are 8 very good teams remaining. You could certainly argue it's the 8 best teams in the league. Interestingly, the 3 and 4 seeds got completely swept, so both conferences are left with seeds 1, 2, 5 and 6. Had the Bills or Saints slipped up - and the Bills came very close - we would've had a 5 seed HOSTING the Divisional Round. 

AFC: 5 Ravens at 2 Bills, 6 Browns at 1 Chiefs
NFC: 5 Bucs at 2 Saints, 6 Rams at 1 Packers

The Browns' win was definitely an upset, and close to a massive upset, depending how you want to term that.  They were generally 5.5 or 6 point underdogs against the Steelers.  The Rams were a FG underdog.

Some writing was on the wall:  Pittsburgh was 1-4 in their last 5 games.  Browns struggled down the stretch too. But probably a little too much history at play here with the Steelers playoff success over time and the Browns not even making the playoffs for quite a while.

[webny99]

The Steelers might be a great defense in the regular season, but this is brutal. They've given up 93 points in their last two playoff appearances.

To be fair, their offense had a pretty big hand in giving up points last night.

With the fumble and the picks, sure. It was a team meltdown. But after the first quarter, the offense did everything possible to will them back into it. They could've won if the defense got some stops in the fourth quarter.

(And the "93 points in 2 games" stat is only possible because of the 2018 loss to the Jaguars, which was just as bad if not worse defensively. 45 points a week after the Bills held them to 10!)

[webny99]

The Browns' win was definitely an upset, and close to a massive upset, depending how you want to term that.  They were generally 5.5 or 6 point underdogs against the Steelers.  The Rams were a FG underdog.

Being the nerd that I am, I tend to go by FiveThirtyEight's predictions, and they had the Browns with a decent 38% chance.
Contrast that to Titans/Ravens last year when they had Titans only at 12%.

Some writing was on the wall:  Pittsburgh was 1-4 in their last 5 games.  Browns struggled down the stretch too. But probably a little too much history at play here with the Steelers playoff success over time and the Browns not even making the playoffs for quite a while.

Oh, absolutely. JuJu's quote certainly helped fire up the Browns. And the COVID situation helped, narrative-wise, because the whole week was spent writing the Browns off and lamenting "what could have been" if they had their coach and other key players. Turns out it doesn't matter if everyone else shows up!

[1995hoo]

The Philadelphia Football Team fired their coach.

[thspfc]

Ravens actually got better by getting worse from last year compared to this year, if that makes any sense. In 2019 they rolled through the regular season while local and national media lapped up their attractiveness and trash talking, only to get embarrassed the first time they faced real adversity, when they went down 14-0 in the playoffs. This season, they had to take a hard look at themselves and make important changes after a midseason stretch when they lost four out of five and were bound to miss the playoffs. Then they got behind 10-0 early in the playoffs, and were able to keep fighting because it wasn't the first time they faced adversity.

All I've heard about the Ravens, though, is that Lamar "busted the narrative" of playoff failure. If this was all on the greatness of Lamar, then why did he only score 20 points on a Titans defense that absolutely stinks?
- Gave up 30 to the Jags
- Gave up 30 to the Vikings
- Gave up 36 to the Texans
- Gave up 27 to the Steelers
- Gave up 31 to the Bengals
- Gave up 34 to the Colts
- Gave up 26 to the Colts
- Gave up 41 to the Browns
- Gave up 25 to the Lions
- Gave up 40 to the Packers
- Gave up 38 to the Texans

So excuse me if I'm not super impressed by this. Ravens defense won that game, Lamar just did what he had to.

Kevin Stefanski is probably going to win coach of the year, but I don't think he should. It's not like he took a 6-10 roster and went 11-5. Think back to the 2019 offseason. Most people had the Browns going 10-6 or 11-5 in 2019. Then Freddie Kitchens turned out to be the worst head coach of the entire decade (yes, worse than Gase), and they went 6-10. The Browns' roster is really good, all Stefanski has had to do is be merely average to above average. My pick for coach of the year would be McDermott.

[webny99]

The Philadelphia Football Team fired their coach.

Ron Rivera is now the longest-tenured coach in the NFC Least by virtue of being hired before Judge and McCarthy.

[webny99]

Ravens actually got better by getting worse from last year compared to this year, if that makes any sense. In 2019 they rolled through the regular season while local and national media lapped up their attractiveness and trash talking, only to get embarrassed the first time they faced real adversity, when they went down 14-0 in the playoffs. This season, they had to take a hard look at themselves and make important changes after a midseason stretch when they lost four out of five and were bound to miss the playoffs. Then they got behind 10-0 early in the playoffs, and were able to keep fighting because it wasn't the first time they faced adversity.

It does. I think this version of the Ravens is more dangerous precisely for that reason. I think the Hail Murray had a similar effect for the Bills who took the loss into their bye week and then won six straight afterwards.

Kevin Stefanski is probably going to win coach of the year, but I don't think he should. It's not like he took a 6-10 roster and went 11-5. Think back to the 2019 offseason. Most people had the Browns going 10-6 or 11-5 in 2019. Then Freddie Kitchens turned out to be the worst head coach of the entire decade (yes, worse than Gase), and they went 6-10. The Browns' roster is really good, all Stefanski has had to do is be merely average to above average. My pick for coach of the year would be McDermott.

There's a lot of good candidates this year. I think it would've been Flores if the Dolphins made the playoffs. McDermott is definitely in the mix, but I'm obliged to give Matt LeFleur some credit, too. Despite what I've said about their record last year, 26-6 is an incredible record for his first two seasons.

[amroad17]

I hope Washington allows Taylor Heinicke the opportunity to compete for the starting job in the 2021 season.  He had a really good performance against the Bucs.  Plus, an incredible play on that 8 yard touchdown run he had!

(this message brought to you by a fellow ODU alum)

[plain]

I hope Washington allows Taylor Heinicke the opportunity to compete for the starting job in the 2021 season.  He had a really good performance against the Bucs.  Plus, an incredible play on that 8 yard touchdown run he had!

(this message brought to you by a fellow ODU alum)

He should at least be in the running. Smith is injury prone and they got rid of Haskins so unless they draft a QB or trade for one then he might have a shot.

[webny99]

And the coaching carousel continues... With the Jets hiring Saleh and the Jags hiring Urban Meyer, we're down to 5 head coaching vacancies: Chargers, Eagles, Falcons, Lions, and Texans.

[thspfc]

And the coaching carousel continues... With the Jets hiring Saleh and the Jags hiring Urban Meyer, we're down to 5 head coaching vacancies: Chargers, Eagles, Falcons, Lions, and Texans.

Falcons hired Arthur Smith, so make it four.

[I-39]

So the Packers are back in the NFC Championship game. Do you think they can actually win it this time? They have a pretty bad track record in these games.

[ET21]

So the Packers are back in the NFC Championship game. Do you think they can actually win it this time? They have a pretty bad track record in these games.

Yeah they need to show up. If they lose again again in the Championship round, that fanbase may riot

[tchafe1978]

I have confidence in the Packers, even going up against the only team to soundly beat them this year. Rodgers is on a mission this year, playing the best football of his career. Tampa Bay isn't stopping him this time, not at Lambeau. And the Packers defense is greatly improved since the last time they played as well. Packers win 27-20.

[I-39]

I hope you're right. It's just seems like the NFC Championship game always brings out the flaws in the Packers and they they can almost never win it. They need to make a huge statement on Sunday.

I really want to see Aaron Rodgers win a second Super Bowl.

[ET21]

Packers are very similar to the Saints. Having good teams year after year only to get knocked out in the 1st or 2nd rounds of the playoffs. They can make a big statement and break the narrative if they can win on Sunday against TB

[webny99]

With the conference championships again on the horizon, what were the best AFC/NFC championships of the past decade?

For the AFC, Pats 37/Chiefs 31 (OT) in the 2018-19 playoffs. Don't like the result, but it was undeniably a great game.
For the NFC, Seahawks 28/Packers 22 (OT) in the 2014-15 playoffs. One of the wildest games in NFL history period, much less the playoffs.