A few NFL playoff thoughts

[recruitsreadtheseboards]

1) Best Weekend of Football Ever!!!!
2) The NFL, one of the most blah, overproduced regular seasons. But the best postseason, at least up to the Super Bowl.
3) Ratings ginormous! College football is still somewhat team/market driven, but so many regions have been literally freezed out by "southeastern football" that they college playoffs are off by 20%. The NFL is up by 20%. The NFL is so big and bad, they don't need New York, LA, Dallas, DC, Chicago to be in the post season to draw huge numbers.
4) AFC. Here is your lineup of QB's over the next decade. Mahomes. Allen. Burrows. Hebert. You would think Trevor Lawrence. Mac Jones. Lamar Jackson.
5) NFC. Brady and Rodgers on their last legs. Matt Stafford will be 34 by the Super Bowl. Lots of question marks. Wonder which conference is going to dominate.
6) One of the best games of all time, KC/Buffalo. And the other 3 weren't too shabby.
7) Cleveland. Ah yes Cleveland. 18 years ago you passed up Ben Roethlisberger. Now, you are going to have to live with drafting Baker Mayfield ahead of Josh Allen. And for good measure, though Myles Garrett is great, you drafted him over Patrick Mahomes.
8) The Steelers might as well just take the L, rebuild and draft their next franchise QB in 2023 after a bad season. Because constantly putting bandaids on things to try and finish with 9-10 wins to get a wild card berth won't forward your franchise.

 

[pitt90seven]

steelers should try to get jimm g. use cap money to get OL and DL.

 

[Zeldas Open Roof]

Sucks that bills / chiefs was a divisional rd gsme and not an afc championship. Yep beat teams by far in afc and the nfl too.

 

[CaptainMurphy]

Sucks that bills / chiefs was a divisional rd gsme and not an afc championship. Yep beat teams by far in afc and the nfl too.

Bengals Chiefs could be very good as well given how their game a few weeks ago turned out.

 

[Las Panteras]

With regard to the 49rs packers

A decided underdog goes on the road, against a team that seldom loses at home

In weather conditions that do the niners no favors

Their special teams players.....mostly non starters, block a FG at the half and a punt at crunch time.

That speaks to a balls out effort by San Francisco, and tells me this team is extremely well coached. The effort put forth was impressive.

The niners are going to do some damage. Garappolo stinks.....replace him with a legit QB and this team will be a serious contender

 

[TheWerewolfFromTwilight]

Sucks that bills / chiefs was a divisional rd gsme and not an afc championship. Yep beat teams by far in afc and the nfl too.

I considered both games yesterday to be divisional championships. Of course, KC could always have an emotional letdown and San Fran has won like six in a row against the Rams. But my money would still be on the home teams next week.

It's like innate in me to always root for the underdog, but after watching yesterday I kind of want the Rams and Chiefs to win in hopes of getting the best Super Bowl we can.

 

[TheWerewolfFromTwilight]

With regard to the 49rs packers

A decided underdog goes on the road, against a team that seldom loses at home

In weather conditions that do the niners no favors

Their special teams players.....mostly non starters, block a FG at the half and a punt at crunch time.

That speaks to a balls out effort by San Francisco, and tells me this team is extremely well coached. The effort put forth was impressive.

The niners are going to do some damage. Garappolo stinks.....replace him with a legit QB and this team will be a serious contender

Pretty wild to think the Niners could make three Super Bowls in like a ten year period with Kaepernick and Jimmy G. twice. Not exactly Montana and Young.

I was also thinking last night how, if they make it this year, that will be four Super Bowls since '99 for the Rams. Not an insane feat or anything, but that's like one every 5.75 years for a team in a conference that doesn't get nearly the hype of Dallas, the Packers, the Saints, etc.

 

[CaptainMurphy]

With regard to the 49rs packers

A decided underdog goes on the road, against a team that seldom loses at home

In weather conditions that do the niners no favors

Their special teams players.....mostly non starters, block a FG at the half and a punt at crunch time.

That speaks to a balls out effort by San Francisco, and tells me this team is extremely well coached. The effort put forth was impressive.

The niners are going to do some damage. Garappolo stinks.....replace him with a legit QB and this team will be a serious contender

I think it says more about the Packers than the Niners. I'm a Packers fan and for the last dozen years they've been a great regular season team that wilts in the playoffs. Goes back to leadership, from the GM and coach to the QB.

 

[h2p_5150]

Never bet against *any* NFL franchise managing to royally f something good up, but how do you (outside of Chargers, Bengals and maybe Ravens fans) watch that game yesterday and not ponder if your team has any chance in the next 5-10 years? There have been incredible QBs forever. But Allen and Mahomes being able to run like they do while making every throw you could dream of, and rarely making mistakes... how do you beat them without a cyborg quarterback of your own?!

 

[Pitt79]

Never bet against *any* NFL franchise managing to royally f something good up, but how do you (outside of Chargers, Bengals and maybe Ravens fans) watch that game yesterday and not ponder if your team has any chance in the next 5-10 years? There have been incredible QBs forever. But Allen and Mahomes being able to run like they do while making every throw you could dream of, and rarely making mistakes... how do you beat them without a cyborg quarterback of your own?!

Well more of those will be developed in the future. Until recently, QBs where taught to not play that way, and they wouldn't select those kind of athletes for QB. Now they are giving guys who run a lot and without textbook mechanics a chance, instead of converting them to WR.

 

[pswagadactyl]

With regard to the 49rs packers

A decided underdog goes on the road, against a team that seldom loses at home

In weather conditions that do the niners no favors

Their special teams players.....mostly non starters, block a FG at the half and a punt at crunch time.

That speaks to a balls out effort by San Francisco, and tells me this team is extremely well coached. The effort put forth was impressive.

The niners are going to do some damage. Garappolo stinks.....replace him with a legit QB and this team will be a serious contender

Packers are 7-7 in their last 14 home playoff games. More home playoff losses than any other team in the last 7 years. Not exactly a seldom occurrence FWIW
h2p

 

[Las Panteras]

Packers are 7-7 in their last 14 home playoff games. More home playoff losses than any other team in the last 7 years. Not exactly a seldom occurrence FWIW
h2p

Hmmmm

Seems like you researched this.

And cherry picked.

 

[PittsburghPanther]

Keep this in mind: at one point, the AFC had a young Marino, Elway, and Kelly, and yet they didn’t win any Super Bowls until Elway was almost ready to retire. Dominant QBs are great to have, but they don’t guarantee titles.

 

[pswagadactyl]

Hmmmm

Seems like you researched this.

And cherry picked.

a.) didn't research, heard the stat after the game.
b.) even if I did research, don't see what it would matter.
Don't get butthurt
I wasn't trying to totally dis what you were saying, just saying the Packers losing at home is not anything uncommon the last decade
h2p

 

[President Stache]

1) Best Weekend of Football Ever!!!!
2) The NFL, one of the most blah, overproduced regular seasons. But the best postseason, at least up to the Super Bowl.
3) Ratings ginormous! College football is still somewhat team/market driven, but so many regions have been literally freezed out by "southeastern football" that they college playoffs are off by 20%. The NFL is up by 20%. The NFL is so big and bad, they don't need New York, LA, Dallas, DC, Chicago to be in the post season to draw huge numbers.
4) AFC. Here is your lineup of QB's over the next decade. Mahomes. Allen. Burrows. Hebert. You would think Trevor Lawrence. Mac Jones. Lamar Jackson.
5) NFC. Brady and Rodgers on their last legs. Matt Stafford will be 34 by the Super Bowl. Lots of question marks. Wonder which conference is going to dominate.
6) One of the best games of all time, KC/Buffalo. And the other 3 weren't too shabby.
7) Cleveland. Ah yes Cleveland. 18 years ago you passed up Ben Roethlisberger. Now, you are going to have to live with drafting Baker Mayfield ahead of Josh Allen. And for good measure, though Myles Garrett is great, you drafted him over Patrick Mahomes.
8) The Steelers might as well just take the L, rebuild and draft their next franchise QB in 2023 after a bad season. Because constantly putting bandaids on things to try and finish with 9-10 wins to get a wild card berth won't forward your franchise.

#9 -- yes! This will never happen, but it should. We should get a wr this year, build the line, and go after one of the big 3 QBs next year

 

[Franb]

I think it says more about the Packers than the Niners. I'm a Packers fan and for the last dozen years they've been a great regular season team that wilts in the playoffs. Goes back to leadership, from the GM and coach to the QB.

People complain about the Steelers recent playoff failures, and rightly so, but the Packers have been way worse. Especially given that Rodgers is a better Qb than Ben and their home field advantage is more significant.

 

[CaptainMurphy]

People complain about the Steelers recent playoff failures, and rightly so, but the Packers have been way worse. Especially given that Rodgers is a better Qb than Ben and their home field advantage is more significant.

Lately he has been not great. Wasn't stellar against the Bucs last year, Niners a few years ago (or yesterday). But there were many years where he was singlehandedly keeping them in games. One that comes to mind was against the Cards where he threw 2 hail marys to send it to OT (they lost).

 

[HailToPitt725]

Never bet against *any* NFL franchise managing to royally f something good up, but how do you (outside of Chargers, Bengals and maybe Ravens fans) watch that game yesterday and not ponder if your team has any chance in the next 5-10 years? There have been incredible QBs forever. But Allen and Mahomes being able to run like they do while making every throw you could dream of, and rarely making mistakes... how do you beat them without a cyborg quarterback of your own?!

There’s only one answer.

 

[Franb]

Lately he has been not great. Wasn't stellar against the Bucs last year, Niners a few years ago (or yesterday). But there were many years where he was singlehandedly keeping them in games. One that comes to mind was against the Cards where he threw 2 hail marys to send it to OT (they lost).

He is a serious contender for MVP this season, though. When was the last time Ben was in that conversation? That is my point about playoff disappointment.