The NFL Thread

[Wales2004]

This morning I listened briefly to ESPN's Colin Cowherd make his case for why Andrew Luck should be Rookie of the Year. I generally pay more attention to discussions about awards in baseball than any of the other sports and this year the arbitrary nature of choosing the recipients became was glaring. So now I see the same arbitrary points being made for ROY and MVP. Cowherd pointed to the awful record of the Colts last year, the fact that Andrew Luck has to throw the ball more than Robert Griffin, III, and that RGIII made shorter passes, and that Andrew Luck played in all the games (RGIII missed one). He was debating someone who had a response for all of those stats which caused Cowherd to reach for how Andrew Luck has won games in the 4th quarter and this prompted me to turn him off. I find that winning in the 4th quarter disingenuous on his part since the same was said about Tim Tebow last season and he didn't seem to find this of much value with Tim Tebow.

There needs to be set criteria for awards so that one year it's not based on who makes it into the playoffs and another strictly on stats despite no playoff appearance. MLB awarded Felix Hernandez a Cy Young (despite his team's losing record) because they thought his individual stats merited it. One of the arguments in favor of Justin Verlander winning the Cy Young for the second consecutive year was that his team would be in the playoffs and David Price's team wouldn't. All the voters didn't go with that premise and David Price ended up winning but it's an illustration of how flaky the criteria is. I take issue with the reason against one person being the same as the reason in favor of another.

I don't think they can go wrong choosing any of the three most talked about NFL rookies (which includes Russell Wilson). I just don't need to hear that the reason Andrew Luck should get is because the Colts were bottom dwellers last year. He's not the only reason that team has turned around. Bill Polian should be blamed for not drafting viable back up quarterbacks, because the Colts should have been able to plug in a quarterback (as did the Patriots with Matt Cassell when Tom Brady was out), and still have a decent record.

[Soapsuds]

The root of the problem is Jerry Jones but his ego is so big that he wont make drastic changes...he wants a coach he can control...thats why he fired Jimmy Johnson since then Dallas went downhill.

[Soapsuds]

http://myfox8.com/2013/01/02/cowboys-fan-blows-up-romo-jersey-and-washing-machine/

[Toups]

3 out of the 4 games this weekend was pretty boring - WSH/SEA being the only decent game. Mike Shananhan should've played Kirk Cousins way earlier instead of risking further damage to RG3's knee. I'm glad Trent Williams smacked Richard Sherman in the face. I hate that guy. I don't mind if you trash talk within the game, but don't do it once the game is over.

http://www.thebiglead.com/index.php/2013/01/06/trent-williams-mushed-richard-sherman-who-was-yapping-again-after-seattle-beat-washington/

[MissLlanviewPA]

Gah, my Colts and my Redskins lost! As a Marylander, though, I **suppose** I should be happy the Ravens have done so well and at least see if they get to the Super Bowl.

[SFK]

My FB feed got mighty quiet after the Skins lost today. All season, Skins fans have treated RGIII like the Second Coming and it was pretty devastating to see his knee go out and he had to be taken out of the game.

[Soapsuds]

http://www.sbnation.com/nfl/2013/1/12/3870806/tim-tebow-peyton-manning-twitter-playoffs

Bwahahahaha...so happy Denver lost! I wish I could have seen Elway's smug big tooth face...lol

[SFK]

Those Ravens were pretty impressive. But here in Washington, there are more Cowboys fans than Ravens fans even if they're 45 min. away up in B'more. This is still Redskins/Cowboys territory.

[Eric83]

Happy for Baltimore!

Nervous about the Falcons game.

[Soapsuds]

Another great game today even though I cant stand the teams left in the NFC.

[Eric83]

I had a freaking heart attack during the last 2 minutes of the Falcons game. I ran around like I had the holy ghost when they won.

[Toups]

Yay for the Pats but it sucks that Gronk is out for the season. Just loved watching Brady work the high temp, no huddle offense. On a lot of plays the Houston defense looked like they didn't know what they were doing. I hope to see more of Vereen as a "wide receiver" - he has pretty good hands. Loved Belichick's reaction when the Pats scored a TD. "We scored a TD? Meh, back to coaching my defense." LOL

Manning and the Broncos lost in the same game last year with Tebow. Take that Elway!! I'm a Tebow fan so I was happy Elway lost.

Kaepernick was unstoppable! I think he's the real deal and has a lot of upside. Harbaugh made the right decision when he sat Alex Smith.

Brandon Spikes' little dance move

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wvQkNRjY7qQ

So glad the Falcons won! Hate Richard Sherman. I couldn't believe that horrible squib kick at the end that gave Seattle a chance. What was that!?? LOL

[Toups]

My favorite one is Jim Harbaugh's. LMAO! \

http://youtu.be/Zce-QT7MGSE

[Wales2004]

I'm not a fan of Tim Tebow nor do I have anything against him. ESPN's excessive coverage and fixation on him probably contributed most to to the anti-Tebow sentiment that exists. I really don't get any of those people that claim he's shoving his beliefs in their faces because I haven't seen any evidence of that. I do think that ESPN's constant harping on it made it seem that way. They were just as disingenuous with him as they were with their camping around Bret Favre. I don't know how many times I heard one of their analysts claim to be tired of hearing about Bret Favre when they were the ones driving the conversation. As far as I could see, Bret Favre wasn't standing outside everyday making any statements. To hear them talk, you would think he was forcing them to follow him around while he tried to make up his mind. No one sent them to the Jets' training camp and no one insisted that any of their analysts make proclamations about how Tim Tebow would end up being the starting quarterback on the Jets by the third or fourth game of the season.

It's pretty sad to hear anyone labeled an expert saying that the Jacksonville Jaguars should sign Tim Tebow purely on the basis of selling tickets. These are the same individuals who bemoan how athletes are used by team owners who don't care about their well being basically advocating an owner pimping out Tim Tebow. They probably just want to be able to criticize the team after the fact. Hopefully that new GM keeps his word.

I respect John Elway's accomplishments in the NFL but I'm no fan of his either. I don't think he did Tim Tebow wrong. Josh McDaniels did by drafting him at such a high spot. He also did no favors to the team and he created a mess. The infatuation with Tim Tebow seems to blind people to the fact that he's not even a decent quarterback. And even though Peyton Manning is more than a decent quarterback, the team benefits most from being in an extremely sorry division. Hue Jackson screwed the Raiders over by luring Carson Palmer from his couch. The Chiefs are irrelevant. The Chargers perpetually fool their fans into thinking they're this close but this season they didn't even muster up that eternal hope. That's on them for believing that Norv Turner was going to do what they didn't give Marty Shottenheimer a chance to try. So as great as Peyton may be, this was more a story of his ability to return from surgery than it was about the Broncos being any good.

Last season the Raiders were decent until Jason Campbell got injured and Hue Jackson had an idiotic revelation. I don't even get why USC quarterbacks get drafted so high because look at some of the most recent crop: Mark Sanchez, Matt Leinart, and Carson Palmer. They might do well emough at the college level and even win a Heisman trophy but it does not seem to translate into big time in the pros. But I digress. Tim Tebow provided a bit of a story with the Broncos but most of that was sheer exaggeration. The Steelers just about beat themselves every Sunday they play and their defense is usually great when it doesn't matter. And of course, the Raiders provided the playoffs gift by not rising to the occasion and winning the one game they needed to win. Dallas Cowboys anyone?

The Broncos did the same thing as the Spurs did when they last played the Lakers, they tried their hardest to give the game away. Somehow the Lakers could not reach out and take the gift but the Ravens did not make that mistake. The Falcons are lucky that the Seahawks are equally as generous as they are. I don't think I've seen more blown coverages on third down conversions outside of watching the Steelers regular shenanigans.

My major gripe with football is the ridiculous celebrations at stopping first and second downs only to give up third down and even fourth down conversions. Celebrate when you actually win the game.

I have no interest in the Superbowl unless the 49ers make it and put a beat down on either of those two tiresome teams (Ravens or Patriots). I don't care if the Falcons get there but I don't see them beating the Patriots....though anything is possible. ESPN is probably salivating over the Harbaugh brothers take two.

[Eric83]

Ugh. The thing that makes this loss hurt most is the media continuing to suck off Kaepernick.

Thanks for a great season Falcons and Tony Gonzalez I wish you the best in whatever you decide to do.