Are you ready for some Football?!? (NFL)

[John Crichton]

Raiders had a great defense, so their is hope there.

I wouldn't quite call that defense great. The '85 Bears & '00 Ravens were great.

I'd say that it was pretty good, especially compared to the offense. But yeah, they need a QB which is where it all starts. Brooks is terrible. Their O-line stinks, too...

 

[Crothian]

I wouldn't quite call that defense great. The '85 Bears & '00 Ravens were great.

See, I'd call those defenses Legendary. The Raiders finished in the top 3 for defenses this year, and for me that's a great defense.

 

[jonathan swift]

My generic prediction for wild card weekend, home team wins.

 

[John Crichton]

See, I'd call those defenses Legendary.

Hmm, perhaps I interchange the terms too liberally, so perhaps I should have capitalized Great.

The Raiders finished in the top 3 for defenses this year, and for me that's a great defense.

3rd in total yards, which is an overblown stat. They are middle of the road in points allowed, a more important stat. And that top 3 isn't outstanding (for yds allowed) unless they were distanced from the rest of the league by a sizable margin, which they weren't.

And they only had 23 takeaways, which was good for 27th in the league.

Argh, you got me talking about the Raiders and it's not even about them botching the #1 pick!

 

[Crothian]

..and Miami needs a coach.

 

[drothgery]

3rd in total yards, which is an overblown stat. They are middle of the road in points allowed, a more important stat. And that top 3 isn't outstanding (for yds allowed) unless they were distanced from the rest of the league by a sizable margin, which they weren't.

And they only had 23 takeaways, which was good for 27th in the league.

They're 9th in Football Outsiders' defensive DVOA, which tries to measure play-by-play performance, relative to who they were playing against (so stopping the Chargers offense is somewhat more meaningful than stopping the Ravens), and tries not to penalize a defense that's getting stuck in bad positions by their offense.

Not great, but certainly pretty good.

 

[John Crichton]

They're 9th in Football Outsiders' defensive DVOA, which tries to measure play-by-play performance, relative to who they were playing against (so stopping the Chargers offense is somewhat more meaningful than stopping the Ravens), and tries not to penalize a defense that's getting stuck in bad positions by their offense.

Not great, but certainly pretty good.

Agreed. Pretty good. That's about the most I'm willing to allow a 2-14 team, ya know?

 

[Dungannon]

..and Miami needs a coach.

I hear Denny Green is looking for a job.

More seriously, I don't expect Miami to name a new head coach until after the Super Bowl.

 

[Steve Jung]

I hear Denny Green is looking for a job.

More seriously, I don't expect Miami to name a new head coach until after the Super Bowl.

Why? It's not like they're doing anything.

 

[kenobi65]

Why? It's not like they're doing anything.

Only reason I could see for that is if they're looking at an assistant coach from one of the playoff teams (Ron Rivera, the Bears' defensive co-ordinator, has been mentioned as a candidate for several jobs). Although, with the new rules, they can interview playoff assistants before their teams get eliminated, but I'm not sure if they're allowed to hire them before elimination.