Wildcard Weekend Discussion Thread

[BeerBaron]

Cincinnati at Houston (Saturday 4:30 EST)
Detroit at New Orleans (Saturday 8:30)
Atlanta at NY Giants (Sunday 1:00)
Pittsburgh at Denver (Sunday 4:30)

Ah, playoff football. Best time of the year and the only reason it makes January worth a god damn.

Saturday's games both feature historic firsts:

Cincy/Houston will feature the first pair of rookie QBs to ever face off in the playoffs. It wasn't that long ago that no rookie had ever even won a playoff game. (Shaun King with the Bucs was the first in 1999...how is that for some obscure trivia?)

Detroit/New Orleans features the first ever matchup between 5000 yard passers. (With the way offenses are in the NFL, I highly doubt this is the last one either.)

[Giantsfan1080]

So pumped to have playoff football back!!

[Byrd430]

I'm going to be really interested in the Cincinnati-Houston game. I believe that one, more so than the rest, could go either way.

[Hines]

Tebow, meet Debo.

[BeerBaron]

Originally Posted by Byrd430

I'm going to be really interested in the Cincinnati-Houston game. I believe that one, more so than the rest, could go either way.

It could. One of the reasons the Texans won their first matchup this season was because TJ Yates was allowed to actually go out and play a bit more. He made some mistakes, but won it at the end with a GREAT game winning drive. (I was watching it live and it was a thing of beauty.)

Since then though, his leash has been needlessly short. If Kubiak strangles him on the short leash, I don't think Houston wins.

[K Train]

steelers should blow the broncos out....if they get tebowed i wont be able to live with myself, might need to take off a week of work

[BeerBaron]

Originally Posted by K Train

steelers should blow the broncos out....if they get tebowed i wont be able to live with myself, might need to take off a week of work

You and the western half of PA and parts of eastern Ohio. I couldn't imagine a worse blow than that.

[Byrd430]

Originally Posted by BeerBaron

It could. One of the reasons the Texans won their first matchup this season was because TJ Yates was allowed to actually go out and play a bit more. He made some mistakes, but won it at the end with a GREAT game winning drive. (I was watching it live and it was a thing of beauty.)

Since then though, his leash has been needlessly short. If Kubiak strangles him on the short leash, I don't think Houston wins.

Kubiak is in a tough situation here. The Schaub injury was the second most crucial loss to a team this season (behind Peyton, all due respect to Cutler).

I agree, He cannot put a leash on Yates, or he will lose. Cincinnati's defense is too good to become one dimensional against, even with backs like Foster and Tate. He's going to have to keep the playbook open and trust in Yates to get the job done.

And if you lose, no one can blame you. You had a great season, you made the playoffs, and you lost behind your third-string rookie QB. It happens.

[Byrd430]

P.S. The Tebow train is loaded up and ready to break some hearts!

[BeerBaron]

Catching up on my TMQ this week revealed some interesting stats:

- Road teams playing indoors in the postseason are on a 6-18 streak.

- Ryan Brothers teams (the Cowboys and Jets) were 0-9 this season versus the Eagles, Giants and Patriots.

- Philip Rivers is 24-3 after Dec. 1, while Tony Romo is 9-18 after Dec. 1.

- Fifteen players scored touchdowns for New Orleans this season, while six players scored touchdowns for St. Louis.

- Since winning their first-ever playoffs berth, the Texans have lost every game.

- The Bengals were 9-0 against teams that missed the playoffs and 0-7 against teams that made the playoffs.

- The Lions have lost 21 consecutive games played in the state of Wisconsin.

- Denver and the NY Giants won their divisions despite being outscored.

- Green Bay, New England and New Orleans outscored their opponents by a combined 580 points.

[scottyboy]

giants were outscored because every win we have has to be a god damn last minute score or close game giving the fans heart attacks.

and then, of course, the face ******* we had at the hands of the saints

[JBCX]

Originally Posted by scottyboy

giants were outscored because every win we have has to be a god damn last minute score or close game giving the fans heart attacks.

and then, of course, the face ******* we had at the hands of the saints

The Giants were outscored because their secondary and linebackers are crap and their defensive line either shows up in a big way or doesn't show up at all, depending on the game.

[tjsunstein]

Originally Posted by JBCX

The Giants were outscored because their secondary and linebackers are crap and their defensive line either shows up in a big way or doesn't show up at all, depending on the game.

But yet, you support less talented teams such as the Redskins and Eagles.

[JBCX]

Originally Posted by tjsunstein

But yet, you support less talented teams such as the Redskins and Eagles.

The Giants are not more talented than the Eagles or even the Redskins.

You do realize that the Redskins dominated the Giants twice this year? And that the Eagles dominated them in their last meeting, and dominated them in their first meeting as well short of a few busted plays on the Eagles' defense?

The Giants' "talent" level is grossly overrated. They have a solid QB who is just outside of the top-10 in the league. They have two very good but drop-prone WRs. Outside of that, they ahve nothing on offense. Their offensive line is old and slow and quite the liability. They have no impact TEs whatsoever. They have one of the worst rushing attacks in the league.

Their defensive line is pretty solid, but not as dominant as people think they are. I've watched every single Giants game this year, and again, they either show up in a big way or disappear completely. Osi and JPP are both pure pass rushers who are liablities in the run game and can be shut down by good OTs. Tuck is an often injured shell of his former self. Their DTs are all classic JAGs. They have absolutely zero LBers. Corey Webster and Kenny Phillips are their only good DBs and both are just slightly above-average. Everyone else in their secondary is garbage.

[TimD]

Cincinnati at Houston
Detroit at New Orleans
Atlanta at NY Giants
Pittsburgh at Denver

my picks

[Razor]

Cincinnati at Houston
Detroit at New Orleans
Atlanta at NY Giants
Pittsburgh at Denver

As much as I'd like Denver to beat Pittsburgh I just don't see it happening. Also, I don't think New Orleans can keep up with Detroit offensively. Sure, Drew Brees is playing better than anyone right now, but that defense won't be able to stop Stafford, Megatron and Pettigrew. Especially with Burleson, Young and Williams playing well.

[BeerBaron]

Originally Posted by Razor

As much as I'd like Denver to beat Pittsburgh I just don't see it happening. Also, I don't think New Orleans can keep up with Detroit offensively. Sure, Drew Brees is playing better than anyone right now, but that defense won't be able to stop Stafford, Megatron and Pettigrew. Especially with Burleson, Young and Williams playing well.

You don't think the #1 offense in football can keep up with another offense against a really bad pass defense that just allowed 500+ yards to a backup QB.


.....K.

[K Train]

im taking the lions in a monumental upset

[JBCX]

For example, compare the Giants roster to the Eagles roster:

QB - Vick and Manning are both franchise QBs just outside the top-10. Vick had a worse year than Manning, but I'll be shocked if he isn't better next year. Slight advantage, Giants

RB - LeSean McCoy is a top-3 RB in the NFl right now. Bradshaw and Jacobs are lucky to get 4.0 yards per carry on good days at this point. Heavy advantage, Eagles

TE - The Giants let Kevin Boss go and now have some glorified OTs running routes for them as TEs. The Eagles have a duo of two very good TEs in Harbor and Celek. Advantage, Eagles

OT - The Giants are reliant on the ineffective and injured Will Beatty, the slow-as-mud liability David Diehl, and the ancient liability Kareem McKenzie. The Eagles have the best LT in the NFL in Jason Peters, have a solid RT in Todd Herremans, and decent depth with Winston Justice. Heavy advantage, Eagles

OG/C - The Eagles have a top-10 OG in Evan Mathis, who will likely be resigned, first round pick RG Danny Watkins who played decently in his rookie season and will likely improve, and rookie C Jason Kelce who flashed athletic potential. The Giants have a bunch of JAGs at the position and underwhelming free agent C David Baas, and one promising player in Mitch Petrus. Advantage, Eagles

WR - The Giants have two 1000 yard receivers in Hakeem Nicks and Victor Cruz, and some decent depth with Mario Manningham and Ramses Barden. The Eagles have DeSean Jackson, who had a down year and might not be back with the team, Jeremy Maclin, Jason Avant, and Riley Cooper. Nicks and Cruz are probably better than any one of the Eagles WRs, but as a group, Philly's depth is decent, and it depends on what happens in the offseason. But right now, Advantage, Giants, but could easily be a push next year if the Eagles sign a Vincent Jackson, resign DeSean, and/or some of the WRs play better.

DE - The Giants have two pure pass rushers in Osi Umenyiora and Jason Pierre Paul. Osi has been injured alot and ineffective this year, but Pierre-Paul has been very good. Justin Tuck is a great LDE but has been hampered by injuries. The Eagles have Jason Babin and Trent Cole, both top-10 DEs, and a very solid rotation with Daryl Tapp, Juqua Parker, Brandon Graham and Phillip Hunt. The Eagles led the NFL in sacks this season, with most coming from the DL. Cole and Babin are just as good as what the Giants have, and Tapp, Parker, Graham and Hunt provide better depth. Advantage, Eagles

DT - The Giants trot Linval Joseph and Chris Canty out onto the field when they're not playing their DEs as DTs. Joseph and Canty are basically average players. The Eagles have a top-5 pass rushing DT in Cullen Jenkins, average DTs Mike Patterson, Trevor Laws, Derek Landri, and the injured Antonio Dixon. Because Jenkins is a better pass rusher than anything the Giants have, and Patterson/Laws/Dixon/Landri are on par as a rotation with the Giants' starting DTs, Advantage, Eagles

LB - Both groups of LBers for the Eagles and Giants are a mix of ineffective veteran stopgaps and inconsistent young players. What emerges from these groups will remain to be seen, but needless to say both teams have struggled at this spot. Push

CB - For the Eagles, Nnamdi Asomugha and Domonique Rodgers Cromartie struggled at times this year, while Asante Samuel has been decent. Next year, one of these will likely be out. The Giants have Corey Webster, who is solid, the struggling rookie Prince Amukamara, the injured Terrel Thomas and nobody else decent. I could see either one of these teams emerging next year as the team with the better CBs, but based on this year, I'll take Asomugha and Samuel over the Giants CBs, and based on pure talent, I'll go Advantage, Eagles

S - For the Giants, Kenny Phillips is a very good safety, but Antrell Rolle is very overrated and is terrible in coverage. Outside of these two, the Giants have an aging Deon Grant and nothing much else. The Eagles have struggled at this position all season long. Kurt Coleman is an unathletic JAG, and Nate Allen has shown flashes but has struggled with injury all year. The Eagles S situation might improve next year, but right now this is clearly Heavy advantage, Giants


So I gave the advantage to the Eagles in talent in every area of the roster except QB (which could go either way in any given year, as Vick has potential to play really great games and play really bad games, just as Eli does), WR (which is almost a push, but only advantage Giants because Cruz and Nicks are playing extremely well this year and DeSean and Maclin are having down years), and S.


The only reason the Eagles didn't make it into the playoffs as the NFC East champs is because a.) Juan Castillo struggled heavily as a defensive coordinator early in the season and b.) Michael Vick had a very down year and threw too many interceptions.

They were basically one or two games (lost due to a late-game collapse due to Castillo) away from easily winning the division. The Giants did NOT clearly out-play the Eagles in any way this year and clearly don't have more talent than the Eagles.

[BeerBaron]

Originally Posted by K Train

im taking the lions in a monumental upset

I'm not saying that's impossible, but his argument that the #1 offense in football "couldn't keep up" to the Lions is...asinine.

[TimmG6376]

Originally Posted by BeerBaron

I'm not saying that's impossible, but his argument that the #1 offense in football "couldn't keep up" to the Lions is...asinine.

In the Superdome nonetheless

[Rosebud]

Originally Posted by JBCX

The Giants are not more talented than the Eagles or even the Redskins.

You do realize that the Redskins dominated the Giants twice this year? And that the Eagles dominated them in their last meeting, and dominated them in their first meeting as well short of a few busted plays on the Eagles' defense?

The Giants' "talent" level is grossly overrated. They have a solid QB who is just outside of the top-10 in the league. They have two very good but drop-prone WRs. Outside of that, they ahve nothing on offense. Their offensive line is old and slow and quite the liability. They have no impact TEs whatsoever. They have one of the worst rushing attacks in the league.

Their defensive line is pretty solid, but not as dominant as people think they are. I've watched every single Giants game this year, and again, they either show up in a big way or disappear completely. Osi and JPP are both pure pass rushers who are liablities in the run game and can be shut down by good OTs. Tuck is an often injured shell of his former self. Their DTs are all classic JAGs. They have absolutely zero LBers. Corey Webster and Kenny Phillips are their only good DBs and both are just slightly above-average. Everyone else in their secondary is garbage.

At least we're not as bad as the eagles and redskins.

[JBCX]

Originally Posted by Rosebud

At least we're not as bad as the eagles and redskins.

You do realize that the Giants are 9-7 and only won the division because of terrible hire of Juan Castillo on the Eagles, and that the Eagles are overall a more talented team than the Giants?

Enjoy your early exit in the playoffs, and then enjoy watching the Eagles run the NFC East next year with a new defensive coordinator such as Spagnuolo.

By the way, please read that breakdown of the Eagles/Giants rosters and tell me where I'm wrong about the Eagles being more talented than the Giants on nearly every level.

[Rosebud]

You do realize that the Eagles are 8-8 and lost win the division, and it was only close because of the terrible hire of Perry Fewell by the Giants, and that the Giants are overall a more talented team than the Eagles?

Enjoy not making the playoffs, and then enjoy watching the Giants run the NFC East next year with a new defensive coordinator such as Spagnuolo

[Giantsfan1080]

Please make it stop. The Giants have a higher calling this weekend than just advancing in the playoffs. He's ruining my playoff boner.