Watching the playoffs

[EJay]

Haters still exist, Luck shut em up last week with an epic performance. Maybe one day our QB will have a chance to do something as great.

He shut the haters up? How so? You conveniently neglect to acknowledge that a big reason the Colts were down 28 in the first place was because of Andrew Luck. He had many horrible throws, several of which led to points for KC. No credit should be given for cleaning up your own mess.

Today, despite what the ignorant Dan Dierdorf would like you to believe, ALL 4 Colts turnovers today were on Andrew Luck. He threw 3 INT's right to a Patriots defender despite not being under heavy duress or pressure. And the other INT came via an inaccurate throw where he threw the ball behind Stanley Havili, against his forward momentum, which resulted in Havili deflecting the ball. You can't place the sole blame on a FB not being able to make a tough catch like that. They don't have the hands and skill of a WR. Sure, he could have bailed out his QB by making the tough catch, but it's still the QB's responsibility to hit the receiver in stride and in the direction he is moving. Luck didn't do that.

Luck has been awful the past 2 games. The 7 INT's prove as much. It's not like they were fluke INT's or he put the ball exactly where it was supposed to be and the receiver just didn't catch it. Each and every INT came via poor reads, decisions or inaccurate throws. And most of them came when he wasn't under heavy pressure.

Is Luck a good QB? I think so. But he's nowhere near an elite QB right now and it remains to be seen whether he will ever get there. If the Dolphins had squeaked into the playoffs and Tannehill threw 7 INT's in 2-games in the same manner Luck did .. He'd be getting tarred and feathered on this board. Luck shouldn't be treated any different.

 

[Awsi Dooger]

The Seahawks/Saints game was a pleasure to watch. Rarely in today's NFL do two teams with that caliber of defense match up.

I noticed the familiar simpleton garbage early in this thread, during the first half of the game, the posters desperately rooting against Russell Wilson whining that New Orleans is terrible on the road. That's the familiar ignorant bar stool conventional wisdom, the type of thing that allowed the Saints to be a 3 point underdog at Philadelphia last week when it should have been pick-em at worst.

As I mentioned last week, in the playoffs it comes down to,"How good are you?" Anyone clinging to regular season nonsense is destined to be surprised, and tear up tickets.

The Saints were a terrific defensive team this year, challenging passing games and ending up with a very good +1.6 Yards Per Pass Attempt Differential. That was second best, along with Denver, among all the teams remaining in the playoffs. Only Seattle at +2.1 was better.

I had Seattle -7.5 and had to sweat it out. That game was bet as high as -9.5 today by the group that has been moving pointspreads with disdain lately.

Seattle was undoubtedly stunned today when the Saints were fully prepared for all the bootleg action with the receivers slipping underneath. The Seahawks thrive on those plays for cheap first downs. I'm not sure one of them succeeded today. Russell Wilson has lived on that play at North Carolina State, Wisconsin and in Seattle. Today is the first time I remember it being totally snuffed out. They'll have to adjust next week. But that team won't be as skilled on pass defense as the Saints.

I hope it's the 49ers. The league deserves a Carroll/Wilson vs. Harbaugh/Kaepernick matchup for a berth in the Super Bowl. Two teams that do it the right way.

The AFC game was predictable mush, with the Colts and their -.6 YPPA Differential out there. Kudos to the Patriots for running the football 40+ times, even if WVDolphan must have been closing his eyes in denial.

Would New England trade Jamie Collins for Dion Jordan? Ha.

 

[FinfanInBuffalo]

And all those problems just materialized in the last two weeks, right?

WTF does that mean? When the OL didn't play like complete crap they beat the Steelers and the Pats. Jesus man.....

 

[FinfanInBuffalo]

The Seahawks/Saints game was a pleasure to watch. Rarely in today's NFL do two teams with that caliber of defense match up.

I noticed the familiar simpleton garbage early in this thread, during the first half of the game, the posters desperately rooting against Russell Wilson whining that New Orleans is terrible on the road. That's the familiar ignorant bar stool conventional wisdom, the type of thing that allowed the Saints to be a 3 point underdog at Philadelphia last week when it should have been pick-em at worst.

As I mentioned last week, in the playoffs it comes down to,"How good are you?" Anyone clinging to regular season nonsense is destined toe be surprised, and tear up tickets.

The Saints were a terrific defensive team this year, challenging passing games and ending up with a very good +1.6 Yards Per Pass Attempt Differential. That was second best, along with Denver, among all the teams remaining in the playoffs. Only Seattle at +2.1 was better.

I had Seattle -7.5 and had to sweat it out. That game was bet as high as -9.5 today by the group that has been moving pointspreads with disdain lately.

Seattle was undoubtedly stunned today when the Saints were fully prepared for all the bootleg action with the receivers slipping underneath. The Seahawks thrive on those plays for cheap first downs. I'm not sure one of them succeeded today. Russell Wilson has lived on that play at North Carolina State, Wisconsin and in Seattle. Today is the first time I remember it being totally snuffed out. They'll have to adjust next week. But that team won't be as skilled on pass defense as the Saints.

I hope it's the 49ers. The league deserves a Carroll/Wilson vs. Harbaugh/Kaepernick matchup for a berth in the Super Bowl. Two teams that do it the right way.

The AFC game was predictable mush, with the Colts and their -.6 YPPA Differential out there. Kudos to the Patriots for running the football 40+ times, even if WVDolphan must have been closing his eyes in denial.

Would New England trade Jamie Collins for Dion Jordan? Ha.

The point about Wilson is that he doesn't need to carry the offense. When he ****s the bed, someone else can clean it up.

 

[JTC111]

WTF does that mean? When the OL didn't play like complete crap they beat the Steelers and the Pats. Jesus man.....

When the Oline played better and when RT played better. And there's no one named Jesus on the team.

 

[Awsi Dooger]

Yes, I'm indescribably jealous of Seattle's stadium design and its location. That stadium was a quarter mile away when my cruise from Alaska docked in Seattle a few years ago. That's as close as I've been. I'd love to see a game there.

At least the happy adjusters were thwarted last spring. The same mindset that wants to take nothing for face value was determined to patch our stadium at high expense. The bottom line would be the same...less than the hype once the changes are made.

You need to get it right initially, as Seattle did, building an intimidating stadium and drafting a quarterback who has been excellent at every stop.

Seattle played a bit nervous today. It reminded me somewhat of our 20-14 escape against Cleveland in the first playoff game of 1972. Morrall hit exactly one meaningful pass in that game, deep to Warfield during our go ahead drive, just as Wilson today was shut out for all but a couple of passes. He did hit one gorgeous lob in the first half, to go along with the 3rd and 3 sideline toss late.

The YPPA Differential system, BTW, is to take any team with at least a half yard regular season edge over its opponent. I've mentioned it many times over the years. Grinds a profit. Generally performs best early in the playoffs and then flattens out late. This week it had Seahawks -7.5, Patriots -7 and Broncos -8.5. I get good numbers. No play on 49ers/Panthers but I'm rooting for Harbaugh and Gore.

 

[J. David Wannyheimer]

The Seahawks/Saints game was a pleasure to watch. Rarely in today's NFL do two teams with that caliber of defense match up.

I noticed the familiar simpleton garbage early in this thread, during the first half of the game, the posters desperately rooting against Russell Wilson whining that New Orleans is terrible on the road. That's the familiar ignorant bar stool conventional wisdom, the type of thing that allowed the Saints to be a 3 point underdog at Philadelphia last week when it should have been pick-em at worst.

As I mentioned last week, in the playoffs it comes down to,"How good are you?" Anyone clinging to regular season nonsense is destined to be surprised, and tear up tickets.

The Saints were a terrific defensive team this year, challenging passing games and ending up with a very good +1.6 Yards Per Pass Attempt Differential. That was second best, along with Denver, among all the teams remaining in the playoffs. Only Seattle at +2.1 was better.

I had Seattle -7.5 and had to sweat it out. That game was bet as high as -9.5 today by the group that has been moving pointspreads with disdain lately.

Seattle was undoubtedly stunned today when the Saints were fully prepared for all the bootleg action with the receivers slipping underneath. The Seahawks thrive on those plays for cheap first downs. I'm not sure one of them succeeded today. Russell Wilson has lived on that play at North Carolina State, Wisconsin and in Seattle. Today is the first time I remember it being totally snuffed out. They'll have to adjust next week. But that team won't be as skilled on pass defense as the Saints.

I hope it's the 49ers. The league deserves a Carroll/Wilson vs. Harbaugh/Kaepernick matchup for a berth in the Super Bowl. Two teams that do it the right way.

The AFC game was predictable mush, with the Colts and their -.6 YPPA Differential out there. Kudos to the Patriots for running the football 40+ times, even if WVDolphan must have been closing his eyes in denial.

Would New England trade Jamie Collins for Dion Jordan? Ha.

The Saints blow on the road.

 

[TheWalrus]

 

[hoops]

wilson wasn't all that good either today...he placed easy slant routes behind the open wrs all over the place...hit a lollipop ball to harvin in the middle on a 3rd and long that frankly felt like was in the air forever...i was shocked when they didnt just run the ball on that last 3rd down up 8 and they had gashed the saints with the read op run all day...qb could have kept it on that play and been wide open had they called it...instead a difficult ball down the sideline probably wilsons best play all night and in the clutch...i sure as hell wouldn't have called it...

make brees and the saints go the length of the field if you dont convert running the ball on 3rd down...must be nice to have that damn d and running game russel wilson...filthy units...

terron armstead sure would look nice as a next year left tackle option for us had we used pick #42 on him but i digress...

jamie collins and chanlder jones gonna be thorns in our side for the next decade...playmakers there folks

 

[Spiff]

luck made some terrible decisions, im not putting all of the blame on luck, but as many great plays that he made, he also made some terrible plays that led to pats pts, including the pick 6 to start the game. but i am not getting into this discussion, because luck has played really well in his 1st 2 seasons and is living up to the hype, while tannehill has not shown really as of now why he is our franchise qb. the reason you believe he is and many others do, is because he was a '' 1st round pick and 8th overall'', just like u and many others held on to hope until chad henne was cut that he was going to be our savior, u guys r doing the same thing with tannehill. now tannehill is better than henne prob, but that is not really an accomplishment. he needs to be better than the majority of qbs in this league, and so far, he has not been able to show on a consistent basis that he is capable of carrying a team. next year if he does not improve and we go 8-8 or worse, i hope this team is certainly smart enough to move on, or should he be given a 4th, 5th and 6th year as well? todays nfl is made for offenses to dominate, for qbs to be able to come in and be effective from the get go, its not like the 80s 90s and early 2000s where qbs would be drafted and sit for a year or 2, todays game is made for offenses to dominate, and any team with a strong qb does just that.

Wow. That's a pretty long (and IMO lame) excuse for Luck's play eventually turning out to be another Tannehill bashing. If we blame Tannehill for 7 points in the last two games, we have to blame Luck for 4 interceptions last night, 2 of them turned into touchdowns. Let's keep the same standard.

Last week everyone said that Luck proved that he's already one of the greatest QBs in the league. Forgetting that he was the one putting his team in that hole early on. If Tannehill had a game like the one Luck had last week almost everyone in this board would focus on the early bad play only.

 

[j-off-her-doll]

The exact same thing can be said about the Seahawks outside of Century Link Field......

Nope. Seattle is 6-2 on the road this season.

 

[j-off-her-doll]

The biggest thing I saw was how did we not select E.Thomas!!! I like Odrick, I love E.Thomas!!! Too bad we weren't in the need for a safety during that draft....oh ya, we were, duh!

Said it a few days back. Missing out on ET might have been Ireland's biggest blunder. He should be DPOY. Without question, he's the most valuable player on the best D in the league.

 

[FinfanInBuffalo]

I can follow you just fine. I teach children so I've become fluent in the language of whine. When someone disagrees with you, it doesn't mean they don't understand you; it means they think the thoughts you're expressing have little or no merit.

Well clearly you are used to being obtuse because it makes you feel like the smartest person in the room. That won't work here.

 

[FinfanInBuffalo]

keep bringing up 58 sacks, if u think all 58 sacks were on the o line, ur lost.



so by your theory, if a qb takes a **** load of sacks, its not on him but all the o line?

historically bad o line? i watched every snap this year like many ppl, our o line was far from perfect, but i didnt see a historically bad o line out there. just because a qb gets sacked a ton, does not mean its all the o line. plenty on him as well.

This has been analyzed by PFF. They put the majority of the sacks on the OL. They don't have an axe to grind like you apparently do.

 

[FinfanInBuffalo]

And there's no one named Jesus on the team.

If there were and he played QB, you and a bunch of others would be bashing him.....