The NFL Thread

[W]

This time of year I get a little agitated by College Football. With Florida's loss, there are only five undefeated teams in college football. I think the biggest bowls will look like this:

1 Alabama vs. 2 Texas
3 TCU vs. 4 Boise State
5. Cincinnati vs. 6. Florida

Basically, this means if Cincinnati beats Florida (I don't think they will), they would have beaten Oregon State, West Virginia, Pitt, and Florida; lost to no one; and be able to lay claim to the 4th or 5th best team in the nation. Hell, no one knows whether they're the fourth or fifth best team in the nation except a computer.

Boise State has won every game the past two seasons except for their bowl game last year and no one will return their calls when they ask to play a good team from a good conference.

TCU beat two #16 ranked teams, could beat a #4, 5, or 6 ranked team while not losing and not be able to call themselves champions.

Fans want a true national champ, meaning a tournament, but the NCAA wants to keep the Bowls in place. Why not have both? Add two weeks to the season played at neutral sites with:

A 1 ranked vs 8 ranked
B 4 vs 5
C 2 vs 7
D 3 vs 6

second week:
E Winner A vs Winner B
F Winner C vs Winner D
G Loser A vs Loser B
H Loser C vs. Loser D

Two weeks off then (These are all Bowl Games)
Championship: Winner E vs Winner F
3rd place game: Loser E vs. Loser F
5th place game: Winner G vs. Winner H
7th place game: Loser G vs. Loser H

[Shrykespeare]

Just finished watching the Cardinals polish off the Vikings, 30-17. God, I love this team!

Adrian Peterson had 13 rushes for 19 yards. Favre threw two picks after going a career-long 148 passes without one. The offensive line allowed ZERO sacks of Warner against the #1 pass-rush in the league. What an absolutely tremendous effort by my Cardinals.

Next week: clinching the division against the Niners on Monday night!

[Geezer]

That was the Brett Favre I have been waiting for all season! Hmmm.. I think I remember sometime last week when everything started going downhill for the old bag of tears... I think it was... after 11 games! Same time as this one! Almost eerie. Was he hurt? Its not like the Cards have a great pass defense (at all, sorry Shryke but you have to know that) and he had a horrible game. AP with 19 rushing yards? You won't see a game like that from Chris Johnson.

Unfortunately, I was of course wrong about the Titans beating the Colts. Sigh. The opportunities are there, but they couldn't convert. Tough to watch for me.

However, with Pittsburgh losing, I think they still have a shot at playoffs at 9-7. Its a long shot, but it could happen. I don't trust the Jaguars.

W, I get what you are saying, and you have no idea how hard I was pulling for Nebraska this weekend. They could have made me an honorary Husker. I was INTO that game. I always root for BCS chaos and this year we had the potential, but got none. Instead we get a boring powerhouse final, and Boise and TCU get matched up AGAINST each other, so we don't even get the chance to see them take on a power school. Its ridiculous. Cincinatti showed me more in their comeback over Pitt than Alabama or Texas did all year. Its a crime to deny a playoff system, but your system wouldn't work. They don't want these kids playing that much football. They are afraid of getting them hurt, I guess. Its all a convuluted mess. I hope, and I mean I REALLY hope, that people have the strength to resist this title game and show that we will not stand for the BS anymore. I want the TCU/Boise game to bring in better ratings than the national title game. I know I will only be watching that, and maybe the Cinci/Florida game. It should not be this hard. The bowl system is awful. These games don't mean anything. Yes, you play to win the game, but ultimately, you play to win the title. With this system, you don't even get the chance. Its criminal. It hurts everyone but the money hungry sponsors. Am I really going to have to wait to all these Good Ol' Boys die to get a system that makes any freaking sense? AHHHHHH!!! This is why I avoid talking about College football because it frustrates the hell out of me.

[Buscemi]

They should do college football like March Madness and let 32 to 48 teams in (eight or sixteen wouldn't work because too many colleges would complain that they should have made it). Some people say that's too many games to play in one year,\ but if NFL teams can play up to 24 games (including preseason and playoffs) in a year, college teams could play 16 or so games.

[W]

I guess when I see 34 yards for Johnson when he played Indy or 14 carries for 8 yards week 10 of last year. Everyone has bad games. If the Saints played Arizona this week, they'd have lost. If Tennessee played Arizona this week they'd have lost. Let's see what happens next week. If Favre isn't playing well, you can worry.

And you really think that the Collegiate system is for the players? The NCAA is what you would call a monopoly with as much power over their capital as anyone. Two more games per team isn't going to hurt anything. There'd be a real national champion, the same amount of bowls, and more good games that sponsors would even more money for.

Eight is the max amount of teams you can realistically have before it gets too convoluded. If you extend it to 32 teams, #33 is mad anyways. Plus, how much is the regular season going to matter if six or eight SEC teams make it? I mean, serously, if Michigan State has a chance to make it with a 6-6 record???

[Geezer]

I guess when I see 34 yards for Johnson when he played Indy or 14 carries for 8 yards week 10 of last year. Everyone has bad games. If the Saints played Arizona this week, they'd have lost. If Tennessee played Arizona this week they'd have lost. Let's see what happens next week. If Favre isn't playing well, you can worry.

And you really think that the Collegiate system is for the players? The NCAA is what you would call a monopoly with as much power over their capital as anyone. Two more games per team isn't going to hurt anything. There'd be a real national champion, the same amount of bowls, and more good games that sponsors would even more money for.

Eight is the max amount of teams you can realistically have before it gets too convoluded. If you extend it to 32 teams, #33 is mad anyways. Plus, how much is the regular season going to matter if six or eight SEC teams make it? I mean, serously, if Michigan State has a chance to make it with a 6-6 record???

I know everyone has bad games, I was just saying, of course we have to wait til next week and beyond to find out.

And do I think the collegiate system is for the players? No, but its an argument they make. I don't really understand the system myself or why they insist upon it. It makes no sense to me why they don't have a playoff system already, as I feel they would make so much more money with more interest.

To say anything less than a 32 team playoff system would work is ridiculous. How can teams complain about going from only 2 teams with title hopes, to 8 teams or more. This is the most ridiculous argument the BCS makes. That more teams would have a problem with being left out, when only 2 teams make it now. More teams in = less teams out.

Personally, I want to see a 16 team playoff system in an ideal world. No more, no less. This would allow for each of the 11 conference winners (yes, even the little ones, upsets are what make the NCAA basketball tournament so great, the East Carolina's and Central Michigan's of the world would need to get their chance too) plus 5 at large teams. You seed them based on their in season performance. That is a total of 15 games played over 4 weeks. 15 potential major bowl games that mean more than any BCS bowl other than the title game does now. Who says we can't have the Rose Bowl national semifinal game? Plus, every other bowl eligible team that doesn't make the playoff system would still be able to play in bowls, meaning one thing: more bowls for more sponsors! Could you imagine this:

1. Alabama
vs.
16. Troy

8. Georgia Tech
vs.
9. Ohio State

4. Cincinnati
vs.
13. LSU

5. Florida
vs.
12. Virginia Tech




3. TCU
vs.
14. Central Michigan

6. Boise St.
vs.
11. Penn st.

7. Oregon
vs.
10. Iowa

2. Texas
vs.
15. East Carolina


How much fun would filling out these brackets be??? It would be as big, if not bigger than March Madness. This doesn't make sense to the people in charge?

If you're feeling frisky, go ahead and fill that bad boy out and post it. I'm sure it would spark more debate than who wins: Texas or Alabama.

[Buscemi]

Alabama would win. The SEC is usually stronger than the Big 12.

[W]

I don't think Florida would play that bad of a game again...

[Buscemi]

Controversial wide receiver Chris Henry died today after suffering life-threatening injuries in a car accident. He was 26 years old. Your opinion, Geezer?

[W]

He had some problems off the field and was said to have gotten on a straight path. I don't think that's exactly true considering it wasn't an auto accident, per se, but he had a domestic dispute and jumped in the back of his fiance's truck bed and (I assume) fell off. Details seem rather sketchy considering they said he was found on the side of the road... Wouldn't you notice someone jumping in your truck bed and then falling out?

Something is amiss...

[W]

Well, it looks like I may be right about Henry. It's being reported that someone heard him say "If you leave, I'm going to jump off the back of the truck and kill myself." Let's see where it goes from here...

[Geezer]

Its a shocking tragedy for the Bengals and the NFL. He was 26 years old. The timing is kinda crazy for me because my family just lost one of my cousins, who was also 26 and was like a big brother to me, to a drug overdose just three days ago. I'm still in shock. My heart goes out to his family, friends and teammates. It is nothing but a tragedy, regardless of his situation.

[Buscemi]

Though the season isn't over yet, I think I will do some reports on some of the teams that out of the playoffs.

Washington: goodbye Jim Zorn. You really dropped the ball this season.
Buffalo: you shouldn't have spent all of your free agency money on Terrell Owens. Hello Toronto.
Cleveland: Eric Mangini should quit while he's ahead or else he'll end up like Marvin Lewis: talented but unhireable.
Chicago: goodbye Lovie Smith.
Detroit: give the team a line and they will probably get better. Just don't look back at 2007.
Oakland: wow, they were actually better than the Chiefs this year? How did that happen?
Kansas City: next time, don't cut all your free agent signings at training camp because you've got the second coming of Neil O'Donnell (major insult towards Matt Cassel) for $14 million a year. Todd Haley proved himself as an idiot coach for actually paying attention to training camp and fielding a UFL team as a result.
Atlanta: better luck next year.
Carolina: Jake Delahomme is still playing?
Tampa Bay: I can't think of anything to say. This time is invisible to me.
San Francisco: Mike Singletary is not your future coach.
Seattle: when did the rebuilding phase start? Or did it ever begin?
St. Louis: the whole situation here is fucked. Careless owners, midding fanbase, has-been quarterback still bound to fat contract and the rest of the team is worse than a UFL team. Expect management to get rid of everyone that's worth anything (meaning that Stephen Jackson will probably be with a contender next season) so they can speed up the move to Los Angeles. Also, they'll fuck up in the draft like they always do.

[W]

Washington is getting Mike Shanahan. I've heard that their GM was practically hand-picked by him and a major insider (Mort?) said that there's a 5 percent chance it won't happen.
Buffalo is not moving to Canada more than once a year.
Chicago is keeping Lovie Smith because someone isn't smart enough to let him go.
Detroit will get better.
Oakland is better than the Chiefs because they have better players the whole season.
Kansas City needs a line and a couple more defensive players and they'll be fine (hopefully).
Atlanta has all the pieces, but haven't had them most of the year.
Carolina would be a pretty good team with a better QB.
TB needs to start from scratch and pretend they're a expansion team (so do the Knicks).
Singletary will be a good coach. Look what he's done for Vernon Davis after ripping him.
Seattle's rebuilding phase never started as you can tell by them signing a #1 reciever. They looked good on paper at the beginning of the year.
St. Louis should have dealt Stephen Jackson this year. It'll be better if they can get some direction after the team is sold.

[Buscemi]

Exactly. Oakland did better this year because they didn't cut everyone with experience during training camp. You can't field a team entirely with rookies and players with limited experience. Before the season, I said that the Chiefs wouldn't be any better because of this and in the end, I was right.

Also, what if the Rams don't get sold to an owner with direction? They've been on the block for almost two years and the only person who showed interest would have made things worse. If this team has a future, it is not in St. Louis.