NFL Playoffs and Superbowl

[Crothian]

I've been horribly wrong in forecasting most of the playoffs, but how do you figure Atlanta's got a better offense than Philly? The Eagles have superior numbers in points per game and yards per game, and, unlike Atlanta, have a legitimate passing game.

No TO. You don't lose your best reciever, one of the best in the league and not have your passing game suffer.

 

[drothgery]

No TO. You don't lose your best reciever, one of the best in the league and not have your passing game suffer.

That'd be a reasonable assumpiton, except that there was pretty much no Westbrook (the Eagles other playmaker, both as a reciever and a running back) for most of the second half of the season. Also the Eagles tanked their last two games; if anything, the raw numbers understate how much better they are than the Falcons. The more sophisticated DVOA rankings at www.FootballOutsiders.com put the Eagles as the #4 team in the NFL, and the Falcons as #19.

 

[DaveStebbins]

Oh Jets what happened, man I don't even know what to say about that one. I just stared at the TV in disbelief I can't even imagine how Brien feels right now.

No, but I bet Scott Norwood can...

 

[GlassJaw]

Steelers looked VERY beatable in the Jets game, and that was at home. If it wasn't for a stupid kicker, they should have lost. Pats looked unstoppable today. Big Ben is in for a wake-up call next Sun. All the critics looked like fools for picking the Colts. Pats are already favored next week by 3 against a 15-1 team at home. Go figure.

My predictions:

Pats over Steelers
Falcons over Eagles

Pats over Falcons in the SB

 

[Crothian]

The more sophisticated DVOA rankings at www.FootballOutsiders.com put the Eagles as the #4 team in the NFL, and the Falcons as #19.

I haven't looked at it, but any system that ranks a team in the NFC Championship game as 19th in the league is flawed. It probably pays too much attention to stats and not enough to the bottom line, winning. At the very least having the sixth best record in the NFL has to make the team a little better then 19th.

 

[Crothian]

Steelers looked VERY beatable in the Jets game, and that was at home. If it wasn't for a stupid kicker, they should have lost. Pats looked unstoppable today. Big Ben is in for a wake-up call next Sun. All the critics looked like fools for picking the Colts. Pats are already favored next week by 3 against a 15-1 team at home. Go figure.

The Pats are the winners of 2 of the last 3 superbowls. THe Pats have played very imporessively and win the big games. Pats are going to be the favored team and they deserve to be.

Oh, and the Colts looked unstopible for much of the year that's how the critics and most people picked wrong.

 

[drothgery]

I haven't looked at it, but any system that ranks a team in the NFC Championship game as 19th in the league is flawed. It probably pays too much attention to stats and not enough to the bottom line, winning. At the very least having the sixth best record in the NFL has to make the team a little better then 19th.

Would you take the Falcons over any AFC playoff team, or even any of the AFC near-miss teams (Buffalo, Baltimore, Jacksonville) on a neutral field? I'm guessing the answer is no. Also grant that the Eagles are better than the Falcons. So they're to #11 without dropping into stat-head territory.

The rest of the Falcons status by their rankings is a bit more complicated. They're statistically an average team that ran away with their division by being very lucky while the other teams in the division -- none significantly better or worse -- were unlucky, and which beat a truly awful, but just as lucky, St. Louis team (#30 in the NFL) to advance to the NFC championship game.

It's probably also worth noting that there's not all that much difference in their ratings between #12 Carolina and #21 Green Bay; the big drop-offs are from #3 Indy to #4 Philly, from #9 Baltimore to #10 Cinci, from #21 Green Bay to the #22 Giants, and from the #30 Rams to the #31 Bears.

 

[Crothian]

I'd rate the Falcons over Baltimore, Bills, and Denver at least. Against the Jets and Chargers and Jacksonville I'd call it close to even.

I always hear how teams are lucky, and luck has to be near impossible to judge. I mean we all know OSU was lucky to win the national championship, and the Patriots were lucky with their season in 2001. At least those teasm were called lucky at the time.

 

[Stone Angel]

AAAAAAAAAAAAND we are crushed. Dang I just don't know if we will ever beat the Pats. They just outplayed us and played great.

Looking forward to the playoffs next weekend I am gonna take the Pats over the Steelers thinking that their experience will take them through the big game.

I am going for the Eagles over Atlanta next week. For some reason it is just hard for me to take atlanta seriously. I understand that they are good and they had to be good to get this far but I just see Philly as a better team.


The Seraph of Earth and Stone

 

[msd]

This one really can't be pinned on Manning (believe me...I spent half the night trying to figure out a way how ). The guy can't do his stuff if he is never on the field and let's face it, he was practically never on the field.

The other thing is that this "banged up secondary" routine is getting a little out of date. Most of the injuries that people are talking about (mainly Law and Poole) happened in the first couple weeks of the season. Our "banged up secondary" filled with misfits and second and third string guys did manage to go about 10-1 after those injuries picking up a little bit of experience on the way.

I actually feel kinda bad for Manning.