[Bean]

Originally Posted by natedogg

That's if they can even make it past Pittsburgh next week.

Hmmm. Colts rested... Steelers not... indoors... at home... How many Probowl players? How many from DEFENSE? Where's the 'IF' again?

[natedogg]

Pittsburgh outplayed the Bengals plain and simple. What, you didn't think Pittsburgh wouldn't score against a weak ass D that gives up on average as many as they gave up tonight. And that wasn't a dirty play. C'mon now. I would go on, but I'm tired. That was a no doubter in my opinion. Next weekend I give the edge to the Colts obviously, but don't count out the Steelers.

[Sir Foxx]

Originally Posted by sandinsciuz

As has been typical of the past few years, people continue to underestimate the Patriots in the post season. Beating the Jags tonight, the Patriots captured another record of 10 consecutive playoff wins, having surpassed the former record of 9 held by Lombardi and the Packers almost 50 years ago. Quite an accomplishment, add yet another to Belichick's and Brady's lists.

People critical of the Patriots this year who point to their inconsistent play on defense earlier in the season seem to conveniently ignore that at points in time they've played without Seymour, Warren, McGinest, Bruschi, Harrison and have fielded defensive corners and safeties on almost a revolving door basis due to injuries, including free agency pickups fresh off the street.

Even on offense, Logan Mankins a rookie at left guard, Nick Kaczur a rookie at left tackle to replace the injured Matt Light, and Ross Hochstein has replaced Dan Koppen at center. In the backfield, Corey Dillon has had 2 significant leg injuries, Kevin Faulk has missed games with a foot injury and Patrick Pass has had a hamstring injury. At that time, they acquired both Heath Evans and Amos Zereuoe, both fresh off the street. Daniel Graham at TE has also missed several games, as has Deion Branch, Troy Brown, Bethel Johnson..... and on and on.

Yet in spite of that, and notwithstanding having the good fortune of being in the AFC east this year with other struggling teams, they're in the playoffs.

They are now fielding consistent, reasonably healthy personnel each week (although Dillon didn't actually start last night, and doesn't appear to be 100%). They've adjusted to having lost both Romeo Crennel (D Coordinator) and Charlie Weiss (O Coordinator). And the guys who were rookies, or who were new to the team have acquired experience and have adjusted. Ellis Hobbs and Asante Samuel weren't just able to keep their heads above water tonight, they looked impressive at times: Samuel returning an interception for a TD, and both making big play hits. And Rosy Colvin has finally rebounded 100% from his broken hip injury at OLB and is back to his dominating ways.

The Offense has consistently demonstrated an ability to score 20-30 points on anybody they play. But now, the defense isn't just playing better, they are dominating the teams they play. And it's been building for about 5-6 weeks now (forget about the Miami game, the starters rested, and that was their bye week)..... really, since the second half of the KC game. And yeah, they lost to KC, but they pretty much shut them down in the 2nd half and mounted a pretty decent comeback.

One thing you WON'T hear about after tonight's 28-3 route of the Jags, but is probably the best news of all, is that you DIDN'T hear anything negative about the play of either LB Chad Brown or Monty Beisel. They seemlessly transitioned in and out of schemes, and the impact of Bruschi NOT playing wasn't even a topic of discussion during the game. Beisel and Brown, both 1st year players on the team have adjusted to being Patriots, which was not the case early on in the season when teams ran right through them.

The Patriots are peaking at the right time. The Colts haven't played together in a meaningful game since their loss to the Chargers. I don't think it will happen, but I'd love to see the Bengals beat the Steelers and have the Patriots go play the Colts right away next weekend.

Either way, neither the Colts nor the Broncos will be facing the same depleted beat up junior varsity version of the Patriots they faced in November. I believe the Patriots have now rebounded to the point where they can play competetively against anyone in the league. It's a great time, AGAIN, to be a Patriots Fan

I don't want hear you crying when the Pats get destroyed in Denver. Just accept it like a man.

[Reggin]

As a Giants fan, I was embarrased watching that game. Eli was the worst I've ever seen him.

New predictions:
Indy over Steelers
Patriots over Broncos
Bears over Redskins
Seahawks over Carolina

The only possible upset is Broncos beating Patriots.

[sage]

yea, my hawks will win next week but they dont play carolina. they play the skins.
Im sticking with my preseason prediction of hawks-steelers superbowl. for next weekend:

hawks 31
skins 17

others game dont matter
Sage

[Reggin]

My bad.

My predictions still remain the same.

[LCSULLA]

Originally Posted by sage

yea, my hawks will win next week but they dont play carolina. they play the skins.
Im sticking with my preseason prediction of hawks-steelers superbowl. for next weekend:

hawks 31
skins 17

others game dont matter
Sage

31 points on the 'Skins defense.

[sage]

Originally Posted by LCSULLA

31 points on the 'Skins defense.

absolutely.
Sage

[natedogg]

I'm going out on a limb here (not really), but I'm picking all home teams this weekend.

Colts over Steelers
Broncos over Pats
Seahawks over Redskins
Bears over Panthers

[revodrew]

Originally Posted by LCSULLA

31 points on the 'Skins defense.

The only reason the skins held tampa at bay is because of consitancy. Tampa has had a problem all year with scoring. I think they only went into the 30's like 2 times and there average was only around 18 or so. They got 10 which is expected. Washing is going to get totally mutilated, as my boys the "seapigeons" are going to romp that ass. Sure Cadillac is good, but is no comparison to SA. Sure Chris Simms is good, well actually not, he cant hold a match to Matts ass. The skins will be embarressd here next weekend and I see a Colts vs hawks SB with the hawks pulling out a win!!!

[LCSULLA]

Originally Posted by revodrew

The only reason the skins held tampa at bay is because of consitancy. Tampa has had a problem all year with scoring. I think they only went into the 30's like 2 times and there average was only around 18 or so. They got 10 which is expected. Washing is going to get totally mutilated, as my boys the "seapigeons" are going to romp that ass. Sure Cadillac is good, but is no comparison to SA. Sure Chris Simms is good, well actually not, he cant hold a match to Matts ass. The skins will be embarressd here next weekend and I see a Colts vs hawks SB with the hawks pulling out a win!!!

Didn't we beat you guys once? If Joe can get that pathetic offense to acutally do a few things then it will be a game.

[revodrew]

Originally Posted by LCSULLA

Didn't we beat you guys once? If Joe can get that pathetic offense to acutally do a few things then it will be a game.

Any one can get lucky once, to win twice, that will actually take some talent and skill. Which, your team has neither!!!

[judge-mental]

the way brunell is playing right now skins are going nowhere. only if the seahawks hurt themselves they will lose. could happen though, it happened before...

[sandinsciuz]

Originally Posted by Bean

Yeah and the Patriots are totally back by beating wounded teams I'm sure I'll get some 10 paragraph long essay about why Belichik is god that I won't bother reading Dillon had how many yards against the Jags? How many times was Brady sacked? How many fumbled balls by the Pats? They barely won. IF they play like that against Denver or Indy they will be destroyed.

Anyone upset about the Pittsburgh game? I was VERY angry with how Carson Palmer was injured on his second snap. Judging by the pregame antics; I wouldnt put it past the Steelers and their notoriety of almost doing it on purpose. I saw MANY plays that showed some dirty, on-the-verge-of-cheating antics... weird thing is, Cincy got called for doing some of the same things and Pittsburgh did not.

Oh well. I called the game the way I thought it would be won, even though I wanted Cincy to win. I just feel cheated that it was done by injuring Palmer and Pittsburgh not being called for a few pass interference, holding, and that one play where Chad Johnson clearly had the ball but then had it clearly stripped out to go out of bounds (and they ruled it an incompletion)

You seem to have an odd and rather biased slant on the games......

The Pats "barely won"? What game were you watching, Bean? 28-3 is close in your mind? While the first half was slow, the Jags were never in a position of controlling that game at all.

The Patriots have now routed 2 lower calibur playoff teams, the Jags and the Bucs. It remains to be seen if they have rebounded and developed far enough to beat the better AFC teams like the Broncos or the Colts, but given their injury recoveries and recent level of play, most objective guys think those games will be interesting and unlike the lopsided regular season games.

As to how many yards Cory Dillon had against the Jags...... did he start the game? Nope. Hopefully he'll get healthy soon, but he hasn't been healthy since early in the season. The Patriots are going to need him from here on out, and hopefully his health and performance will improve. No question though it hasn't happened yet this year.

Insofar as Palmer's injury goes, anyone paying attention to the replays saw the Steelers tackle was pushed to the ground while being blocked, and fell on Palmer's leg entirely beyond his own control or direction. His reaction was clearly one of regret, not a Romo type of ha-ha, gotcha anyway I could. I'm sure he'd relish getting a good clean lick on Palmer or any quarterback any day of the week, but being pushed to the ground by your opponent and accidently falling on someone's knee to end their season is nothing any self respecting player would be proud of.

[sandinsciuz]

Originally Posted by hannainnc

wow...I cant believe nearly everyone predicted Giants over Carolina.

Eli choked, Carolina defense held Barber at bay.

Carolina and Seahawks will meet up for the NFC championship.

Eli threw the interceptions true enough, but Carolina simply dominated the Giants at the line of scrimmage, both sides of the ball. Had those interceptions gone as incompletions, Carolina still would have won the game handily, they simply were the stronger team. They took the Giant's game away from them on defense and were able to execute their own offense against them.

If they play their remaining NFC games the way they did yesterday, they will go to the Superbowl and may even win it. They looked that good.

[LCSULLA]

Originally Posted by revodrew

Any one can get lucky once, to win twice, that will actually take some talent and skill. Which, your team has neither!!!

I guess its just luck that we're 6-0 right now and going into the second round of the playoffs. And the Seahawks will choke, as they always do. Every year since Holmgren became the coach they have predicted a Superbowl birth, but has happened? NOOOOOOOOOO! Why the Seahawks always look better, because of weak opponents, then they really are.
Is the 'Skins offense sucking right now? Yes, but this is JOE GIBBS. He will turn it around!