N.f.l. 2012 (1 Viewer)

[Peter Reuss]

Oh dear...the Giants in the NFC Championship game...

What's the over/under on the number of posts in this thread by Louis in the next week???? The opening line is 27!

 

[sammy719]

I think Sammy raises some fair points about the Texans D Ravens O. However, we are in an offensive age right now and I don't think Flacco or their O is equipped to go toe to toe with Brady, as the Niners O was with Brees and company on Saturday.

However, the Texans ran all over the Ravens D, which was not expected. They were also playing with a rookie QB, who played creditably. Had Schaub been in there, Ravens would be watching the next game at home. I think age is starting to show and if they play like that on Sunday, they will get torched and Brady is on fire right now. The level of competition they beat might not be great but that is because the AFC stinks. Patriots are head and shoulders above everyone else in that conference.

Hmmm.. week 6 Shaub played the whole game vs. the Ravens, we won that one 29-14, didn't really matter that day, like Ray Rice said not gonna apologise for a win yesterday. Houston played a solid game and is a very good team, I wish we could have played Denver and the Pats played Houston,somehow I don't think Brady would have had it so easy, but the cards fell in the Pats favor..missed the Steelers/texans and got the best draw in the field (sorry Tebow fans):smile2: which I think the Steelers would have beaten them and I think the Texans could have beaten the Pats as well, oh well...We'll just somehow take our terrible, lousy 13-4 team, that has beaten some of the best teams in the league this year and ride up to ol' New England and show up at 3 p.m. Sunday, just like our last playoff visit there only a short 2 years ago and then we would be destroyed by the mighty Pats..didn't happen...and it's not gonna happen this Sunday either...Ravens 27...Pats 23...Harbough Superbowl perhaps:smile2: or even a rematch of Superbowl 35 perhaps:smile2:...Sammy

 

[theBaron]

Oh dear...the Giants in the NFC Championship game...

What's the over/under on the number of posts in this thread by Louis in the next week???? The opening line is 27!

I thought the Giants played better than they did in the regular season, and Green Bay looked liked they did in their one loss. Turnovers never help, you can't hand the ball over to your opponents like they did.

Despite being an Eagles fan, and much as it causes my tongue to burn to say it, I have to give the Giants all the credit they deserve. Manning hit his receivers, and the defense was practically impenetrable, and also ready to take advantage of those Green Bay mistakes.

I think the next round is going to be pretty exciting, too.

Prost!
Brad

 

[Louis Badolato]

Oh dear...the Giants in the NFC Championship game...

What's the over/under on the number of posts in this thread by Louis in the next week???? The opening line is 27!

Well here's the first . . . . just 26 more to go!^&grin

 

[sammy719]

I had originally picked the Ravens to win it all. After seeing how poorly they played on defense as well as offense against Houston, I am picking the Patriots next week to win the AFC Championship game, and move on to play my Giants in the Superbowl.

Always go with your first intinct they say Louis:smile2:...the only issue I have Louis is all year you basically trash your own team (Giants) get rid of the coach or assistant coaches, Giants are to this or to that^&confuse glad to see that they are your Giants again, no need to jump from bandwagon to bandwagon, stick with your guns sometime, don't judge a team from one weeks performance to the next...Sammy

 

[jazzeum]

He got you there Louis ^&grin

However, being a fan doesn't mean you have to be consistent {eek3}

 

[lancer]

All of you that are pick'n the Pats in a blowout I hope you show up next Sunday nite to re-read what you wrote, again the Ravens played against the 2nd best D in the NFL today, we are 7-0 against playoff teams this year...hmmm how many big games did the Pats win??? not many because they didn't play alot of teams with winning records, and the Ravens will score against the pats 31st defense in the league, so I don't look at it Defense vs. offense, I look at the better balanced team on both sides..Ravens win in a close one...Sammy

Sammy, I'm with you. Ravens have an up and down offense but their defense shows up for every game. I know the Pats are an extremely dangerous team, so the Ravens must run the ball and keep the ball away from Tom Terrific. If the Ravens can do that, they will win, if not, they lose. I have brought up the Pats record a couple of times. They are a scoring machine but they have gotten to the championship game without beating a single team with a winning record in the regular season. Let's hope that stands up. -- Al

 

[Warrior]

All of you that are pick'n the Pats in a blowout I hope you show up next Sunday nite to re-read what you wrote, again the Ravens played against the 2nd best D in the NFL today, we are 7-0 against playoff teams this year...hmmm how many big games did the Pats win??? not many because they didn't play alot of teams with winning records, and the Ravens will score against the pats 31st defense in the league, so I don't look at it Defense vs. offense, I look at the better balanced team on both sides..Ravens win in a close one...Sammy

It's funny because I didn't read anywhere where someone said it would be a blowout.

How many big games did the Patriots win? How about 13, which gave them HFA throughout the playoffs, that's how many.

And I love the arguement that they didn't beat anyone with a winning record; how about if you take a look at how the teams they beat were playing AT THE TIME of the game rather than what their final record ended up being?

How about this for a statistic on the Ravens defense; they did not play a single team that ended up in the top ten offenses in the league for 2011.

Except for one.

The #6 Chargers and they got waxed in that game.

Also, here is another statistic; of all the playoff teams, including the 8-8 Broncos and the 9-7 Giants, the Ravens had the worst road record of the 12 teams.

So there you go.

 

[lancer]

Maybe who the team beats during the regular season matters, maybe it doesn't. A stat that is telling is the record against teams that make the playoffs. Counting yesterday's win against Houston, the Ravens are 7-0 against this seasons playoff teams. With their win over Denver, the Pats are 2-2 (both wins against Denver). The only playoff bound team that both the Ravens and the Pats played, Pittsburgh, was beaten twice by the Ravens but the Pats lost to Pittsburgh. These are all just numbers, games over and done, but they do show tendencies. Baltimore's 4 losses were all on the road, to teams with losing records, indicating the Ravens got a little sloppy, overconfident, or got caught looking ahead. The Ravens have not lost to a team with a winning record, except the Titans, who ended 9-7. Baltimore needs to buck their bad road game tendencies to win in NE, who were 7-1 at home and 8-1, counting the playoff win. Baltimore was also 2-0 on the road against playoff teams this year while the Pats were 1-2 at home against playoff teams. All this may mean something or nothing. Each game is played on an individual basis and still means, tendencies or not, that the game Sunday will be a war and that the Ravens will have to play up to their best level to win. NE is just too good on offense to be beaten by luck or a sub-par effort. -- Al

 

[Warrior]

The keys to winning in the playoffs;

Win the turnover battle
Pressure the Quarterback
Scoring touchdowns in the red zone

IF the Ravens can pressure Brady, they have a shot
IF Flacco doesn't make bone headed plays, they have a shot


My questions to the Ravens are;

Who is going to cover Welker, the best slot reciever in football when used that way.
Who is going to cover Gronkowski, the best tight end this year in the AFC; he's too fast to be covered by a linebacker, to big to be covered by a cornerback, it takes two or three players to get him to the ground.
Who is going to cover Hernandez, the second best tight end in the AFC this year; he is also used as a running back and as a third reciever in some sets.

SO; how are you going to stop all three of these guys, because if you plan on winning the game, you'll have to do just that.

And regarding the Patriots defense, the same defense everyone keeps babbling about as being the worst in football. Spikes was out most of the year with a knee injury. He is so good, Mayo, the captain of the defense was moved from the middle to the outside earlier in the year and Spikes was the starting middle linebacker before he got hurt.

Well he's back; he was the guy you saw all over your TV screen Saturday night, #55 in the program. Notice all the pressure on Tebow too; Ellis is playing out of his mind, he was hurt most of the year too. Ask Brad and he'll tell you when it comes to big games, Mr Ellis steps up.

As in bigtime.

Good luck Sunday Ravens.

 

[lancer]

The keys to winning in the playoffs;

Win the turnover battle
Pressure the Quarterback
Scoring touchdowns in the red zone

IF the Ravens can pressure Brady, they have a shot
IF Flacco doesn't make bone headed plays, they have a shot


My questions to the Ravens are;

Who is going to cover Welker, the best slot reciever in football when used that way.
Who is going to cover Gronkowski, the best tight end this year in the AFC; he's too fast to be covered by a linebacker, to big to be covered by a cornerback, it takes two or three players to get him to the ground.
Who is going to cover Hernandez, the second best tight end in the AFC this year; he is also used as a running back and as a third reciever in some sets.

SO; how are you going to stop all three of these guys, because if you plan on winning the game, you'll have to do just that.

And regarding the Patriots defense, the same defense everyone keeps babbling about as being the worst in football. Spikes was out most of the year with a knee injury. He is so good, Mayo, the captain of the defense was moved from the middle to the outside earlier in the year and Spikes was the starting middle linebacker before he got hurt.

Well he's back; he was the guy you saw all over your TV screen Saturday night, #55 in the program. Notice all the pressure on Tebow too; Ellis is playing out of his mind, he was hurt most of the year too. Ask Brad and he'll tell you when it comes to big games, Mr Ellis steps up.

As in bigtime.

Good luck Sunday Ravens.

George, those are all good points and I believe you are right. The only way to effectively cover said trio is to keep them off the field. Ball control, time of possession, the running game and sharp defensive play; that is the key for the Ravens. No way do they win a track meet with the Pats. The Ravens will have to keep the Pats from touching the ball. -- Al

 

[Warrior]

George, those are all good points and I believe you are right. The only way to effectively cover said trio is to keep them off the field. Ball control, time of possession, the running game and sharp defensive play; that is the key for the Ravens. No way do they win a track meet with the Pats. The Ravens will have to keep the Pats from touching the ball. -- Al

All I can say is if the Patriots do win vs the Ravens and win the Super Bowl vs the 49ers or the Giants, they will have earned it and proven that the old saying offense wins games, but defense wins championships in this case is not true.

Of the four remaining teams, they have by far the worst defense on paper and in the playoffs, as the Saints and Packers both saw, good to great offenses rarely beat good to great defenses.

I still can't believe the Packers laid an egg yesterday, 15-1 and bounced in the first round, the cheeseheads must be going crazy today. Their coach was off yesterday too; what's with the onsides kick, that's what undermanned teams do to try to get an advantage. Also, why go for it on fourth and five only down 7 with 13:00 minutes to go?

Also, sometimes you need luck too; early in the game Rodgers overthrew a wide open reciever inside the 10 yard line, no pressure on him, he makes that throw 99 times out of 100.

There was another play where he had a reciever wide open down the sideline for a sure touchdown only to have the ball slapped out of his hand as he was about to let the pass fly.

He was off, the coaching staff was off, the whole team was off; looks like easing up on the gas the last weekend of the season and then sitting for a week cost them dearly............

 

[sammy719]

It's funny because I didn't read anywhere where someone said it would be a blowout.

How many big games did the Patriots win? How about 13, which gave them HFA throughout the playoffs, that's how many.

And I love the arguement that they didn't beat anyone with a winning record; how about if you take a look at how the teams they beat were playing AT THE TIME of the game rather than what their final record ended up being?

How about this for a statistic on the Ravens defense; they did not play a single team that ended up in the top ten offenses in the league for 2011.

Except for one.

The #6 Chargers and they got waxed in that game.

Also, here is another statistic; of all the playoff teams, including the 8-8 Broncos and the 9-7 Giants, the Ravens had the worst road record of the 12 teams.

So there you go.

Lots of good notes there George, I gave my thoughts on the Pats so I'm not gonna get into a pissing match with ya, I think it's gonna come down to who has fought the hardest and who wants it more, the Pats seemed to have had a easy ride while my team had to really fight to be in this position and will not roll over for anyone including the all-world Pats, so good luck to your Pats as well...Sammy

 

[Louis Badolato]

Always go with your first intinct they say Louis:smile2:...the only issue I have Louis is all year you basically trash your own team (Giants) get rid of the coach or assistant coaches, Giants are to this or to that^&confuse glad to see that they are your Giants again, no need to jump from bandwagon to bandwagon, stick with your guns sometime, don't judge a team from one weeks performance to the next...Sammy

When I'm wrong, I admit I'm wrong. I thought Coughlin, Gilbride and Fewell had lost the players, and needed to go. The players, however, played hard for the coaching staff down the stretch, winning 3 must win games to make the playoffs, then beating the Falcons at home and traveling to Green Bay to defeat a 15-1 Packers team that was the defending Superbowl Champion. My assessment of the Giants and particularly their coaches was way off the mark, I was wrong and I admit it. If I believed I was right, I would stick to my guns, as should you if you believe you are right. I did not change my opinion of the Giants from one week's performance. If you noticed, I continued to indicate they were not going to go anywhere this season until they won 5 of 6, including 4 straight "must win" games, 2 to get in the playoffs, 2 in the playoffs, against opponents with a combined 41-23 record. It was this 6 week stretch that changed my mind and convinced me the Giants are this season what the Packers were last season (a team which needed to win on the last day of the season to get in, who went on a run, played hot in the playoffs, knocked out the number 1 seeded Altanta Falcons in their own building before going on and beating a Chicago team that had beat them in the regular season in the NFC Championship then winning the superbowl).

Prior to the playoffs, I thought the Ravens defense was still completely dominant, they had a dominant running game, and that Flacco (who had won 3 playoff games going in) had developed into a top tier quarterback, so I picked the Ravens to win the Superbowl. In their case, you are correct, on the strength of one performance, I jumped off the bandwagon. Their offense looked anemic against the Texans, and their defense allowed the Texans to run the ball down their throat. The Patriots, who will be playing at home, have looked incredible on offense all season, have three dominant receivers in Welker, Gronkowski and Hernandez, and one of the handful of greatest quarterbacks of all time in Brady, and their defense has looked at least adequate over the past 5 games. That's why I flipped from the Ravens to the Patriots in the AFC.

 

[sammy719]

When I'm wrong, I admit I'm wrong. I thought Coughlin, Gilbride and Fewell had lost the players, and needed to go. The players, however, played hard for the coaching staff down the stretch, winning 3 must win games to make the playoffs, then beating the Falcons at home and traveling to Green Bay to defeat a 15-1 Packers team that was the defending Superbowl Champion. My assessment of the Giants and particularly their coaches was way off the mark, I was wrong and I admit it. If I believed I was right, I would stick to my guns, as should you if you believe you are right. I did not change my opinion of the Giants from one week's performance. If you noticed, I continued to indicate they were not going to go anywhere this season until they won 5 of 6, including 4 straight "must win" games, 2 to get in the playoffs, 2 in the playoffs, against opponents with a combined 41-23 record. It was this 6 week stretch that changed my mind and convinced me the Giants are this season what the Packers were last season (a team which needed to win on the last day of the season to get in, who went on a run, played hot in the playoffs, knocked out the number 1 seeded Altanta Falcons in their own building before going on and beating a Chicago team that had beat them in the regular season in the NFC Championship then winning the superbowl).

Prior to the playoffs, I thought the Ravens defense was still completely dominant, they had a dominant running game, and that Flacco (who had won 3 playoff games going in) had developed into a top tier quarterback, so I picked the Ravens to win the Superbowl. In their case, you are correct, on the strength of one performance, I jumped off the bandwagon. Their offense looked anemic against the Texans, and their defense allowed the Texans to run the ball down their throat. The Patriots, who will be playing at home, have looked incredible on offense all season, have three dominant receivers in Welker, Gronkowski and Hernandez, and one of the handful of greatest quarterbacks of all time in Brady, and their defense has looked at least adequate over the past 5 games. That's why I flipped from the Ravens to the Patriots in the AFC.

Say it with me Lou....Let's go Giants:smile2:...Sammy

 

[Louis Badolato]

Say it with me Lou....Let's go Giants:smile2:...Sammy

Lets go Giants!:smile2:

 

[jazzeum]

Each team's fans are going to marshal this statistic or that statistic in their favor because they're fans, which means they're viewing from one side.

Since I am a fan of neither team, a few things stick out to me, at least so far. Ravens are 4-4 on the road. You can say this or that about it but you are what your record says you are. I think Brady and Belichick are on a mission, particularly after last year's disaster against the Jets, which Brady described as his worst loss. If the Ravens win, so be it.

Unlike the Patriots Ravens game, I don't have a feel for the 49er Giants game. Two thing sticks out at me however: Giants are 4-0 in conference championship games in the SB era; and the hail mary from yesterday. How the Packers don't defend that I have no earthly idea. Heck, you don't even make that catch in Madden 12. When you make a play like that, luck must be going your way. Hard game to pick so I won't.

 

[maddadicus]

George, those are all good points and I believe you are right. The only way to effectively cover said trio is to keep them off the field. Ball control, time of possession, the running game and sharp defensive play; that is the key for the Ravens. No way do they win a track meet with the Pats. The Ravens will have to keep the Pats from touching the ball. -- Al

In the good old days, an elbow to the head always slowed down most receivers as well as cut blocks, clotheslines, and kicking and biting. Too bad they dummied down the game. Most of the past Hall of Famers can only shake their heads at the timidity of todays product.. Michael

 

[lancer]

Since I am a Ravens fan, I have a biased view towards the upcoming game, but as a fan you hope for the best and expect the worst.:redface2: As an unbiased football fan of the other game, I have no real feel for who I think might win, Giants or 49er's. I think both teams have proved that they are good teams and deserve to be there. They are both playing good football on both sides of the ball. Might just go with the home field advantage on this one. One break could decide this game. -- Al

 

[Combat]

The Giants are killing me on the picks. Third week is the charm though. I'm going with the 49ers at home. Before last week, I might have taken the Ravens over the Pats. But if a third string QB can make a close game of it in Baltimore, what is Brady going to do at home? I'm still on the fence with that one. Should be a good game, but I'm doubting the Ravens D can win it without some help from their terrible O.