NFL 2011 Week 15

Patriots over Broncos - The Pats defense is horrible, but I think Brady to Gronkwelk is enough to overcome the stellar Broncos D and put Tebow too far behind for a 4th quarter comeback.

Jets over Eagles - Jeez. Which of these teams is the least inconsistent? Is Vick back this week? Eh, I'll still take the Jets in a coin flip.

Ravens over Chargers - This is normally when SD remembers how to play football, but Norv Turner's mediocrity has finally worn down the players, I fear. Salieri may absolve Norv, but the Ravens still get the W.

49ers over Steelers - East to west travel + HARBAW! = for Pittsburgh. Maybe. With Harrison suspended, Big Ben hobbled, Pouncey on a peg leg...

Wildcard - Packers over Chefs. Going against my usual Texans wildcard pick here because I feel like if any of these last three games is going to be an 'oops, we overlooked that team' game, it's going to be the Panthers. Plus I don't think I've picked the Pack at all this season, so one cheesy pick. Also, this will be the week the Packers actually lose, because I picked them.

MilkmanDanimal wrote:
Fedaykin98 wrote:

What's the story with Carolina, anyway? I thought Cam Newton was leading them to the promised land this year.

Defense sucks. Loads of significant injuries, can't stop anybody, plus Newton's been really good, but he's a rookie, so the usual expected lots of INTs and such.

Throw in dismal special teams and a rookie head coach who has had his share of brain farts, and you've got it nailed.

Carolina's second quarter against ATL was the best football the Panthers have played all year. Then Cam during halftime remembered he was a rookie and made a couple of dumb mistakes.

The Texans better not be too slack or they might end up losing. The Panthers are usually only a couple of plays away in each game from making things very interesting instead of merely entertaining.

Vick didn't practice today. Looks like young might be stepping in. Glad I picked the Jets.

TempestBlayze wrote:

Vick didn't practice today. Looks like young might be stepping in. Glad I picked the Jets.

Dammit I need the Jets to lose!

Paleocon wrote:
Xeknos wrote:

Patriots at Broncos: Forget it. I'm drinking the Tebow-ade. (Get it? Gatorade? Because Tebow was a Gator? Ge- yeah okay it was lame.)

Do you feel at all like Squidward saying "all hail the magic conch"?

"Can I have something to eat?"

"No."

Double post is double.

To clarify what was posted in the previous week's thread:

http://www.denverpost.com/recommende...

Much to Hanson's chagrin the lead of the article post shortly thereafter read:
"Pastor Wayne Hanson - who runs Summit Church in Castle Rock, CO where Tim's dad often speaks - tells TMZ God is actively intervening in Denver Broncos football games...and aiding Tim on the field because of his strong faith."
Not only was he the only pastor quoted, he says the article distorts what he actually said.
"I don't think God cares about who wins a football game," he said. "I do think he cares about people and people care about football. I think Tim has favor from God in his life, but that is there win or lose," he said.
Hanson thinks the quantum leap from mild mannered pastor to close Tebow family confident began with a YouTube clip.
CBS4 did a story about Summit Church in 2010 when Tim's dad, Bob, was in town to preach and speak at a youth rally.
He says that is the only visit that any Tebow has made to the church since the congregation started in 2007. And while TMZ accurately described Hanson as "having ties to the Tebow family," that phrase quickly got shortened and distorted by websites picking up the TMZ story (including The Denver Post) into an inaccurate description of Hanson as "Tim Tebow's pastor."

Years ago, I remember watching some game on television in which the ending overtime kick was prayed on by teams on both sides of the field. I was at a hotel bar in Minneapolis for work at the time and commented to a coworker that I wasn't sure what it said about a religion that folks believed that the almighty creator of the universe would give a crap about the outcome of a football game.

Just then, some dude with a very Texas accent tapped me on the shoulder and said "excuse me. God cares about all sorts of things.".

Not wanting to get into it with a total stranger, I just smiled and went back to my beer.

Gumbie wrote:

I'll just leave this here..

I can't stop listening to it. It's hypnotic.

Patriots at Broncos

Eagles at Jets

Ravens at Chargers

Steelers at 49ers

Wild card: Panthers at Texans ... Plus a little superlative trivia: T.J. Yates is the first former UNC quarterback to start an NFL game at QB.

Pats
Jets
[b]Chargers[b]
Steelers
Packers

Where will Peyton Manning be playing next year?

That rap was awesome!

For some reason, I listened to the rap 5 times now. Stop me!!!!

I wish we (in the overall "NFL fans" sense, not us here in this thread) could set aside Tebowmania and just have honest critical evaluations of Tim Tebow.

Here are some thoughts of mine:

* I've been hypothesizing an eventual return of the 230+ pound running back - whether it's workhorse tailbacks like Earl Campbell or the heavy ball-carrying fullback like Christian Okoye. The pendulum always swings back and forth, and with offenses going to spread-like concepts, defenses are getting smaller and lighter - which seems to be begging for a pendulum swing back to a power attack.

We are seeing a little bit already with guys like Mike Tolbert. One thing I didn't expect, but maybe isn't so crazy, is a 235 pound option quarterback exploiting the same undersized defenses. Tebow isn't beating anyone with foot speed, but he's breaking tackles of lightweight defenders who don't form tackle, because today's game is demanding players to run and shove instead of square up and form tackle.

* Tebow is still an awful passer. Development in this area remains slow. Receivers have been doing him favors, scooping up underthrown balls. At times, though, defenses have found themselves overwhelmed trying to defend the run/pass option. They're so bad at tackling that they pinch down on plays where Tebow keeps the play alive and threatens to run, opening up some easy wide-open throws to receivers that are left alone and have plenty of room to adjust to slightly off-target throws.

As a young player, though, there is still room for development. Tebow will never throw like Brady. But what if he at least got to the point where he could play 60 minutes as a mediocre passer, playing the run/pass option?

* The string of good fortune Tebow's team has experienced is undeniable. Under normal circumstances, Tebow should be batting no better than .500 in the win column right now. The public discussion of Tebow would be much more interesting if it wasn't clouded by short-term success bolstered by improbable fortune.

* My long-term outlook for Tebow remains unchanged. I think defensive coordinators, given an offseason with the film reels to study, are going to attack the snot out of the Denver offense in 2012 and press Tebow to make accurate pocket throws or fail. It's much the same way defenses adjusted to Doug Flutie. I think defenses will press and blitz, and force Tebow to make hot read throws with precision, and that he won't be able to get those throws off fast enough (with his slow windup release) or accurate enough.

That said, I applaud seeing an offense attack the league's continued erosion of form tackling. Players take knockout shots or cut tackle instead of wrapping someone up. It's a natural evolution for defending PolianBall style offense, where defenses find themselves constantly operating out in space instead of hip-to-hip with offensive players, but form tackling still is a required skill and it's being far too neglected.

Anyone have Bears WR Sam Hurd on his fantasy team? Might want to pick up a replacement.

Chicago Tribune wrote:

At the Wednesday night meeting, Hurd negotiated to buy five to 10 kilograms of cocaine and 1,000 pounds of marijuana a week for distribution in the Chicago area, authorities alleged.

The Big Lead is reporting that his customers included other NFL players. It doesn't ID players or teams.

Has anyone seen Matt Jones lately?

*Legion* wrote:

* My long-term outlook for Tebow remains unchanged. I think defensive coordinators, given an offseason with the film reels to study, are going to attack the snot out of the Denver offense in 2012 and press Tebow to make accurate pocket throws or fail. It's much the same way defenses adjusted to Doug Flutie. I think defenses will press and blitz, and force Tebow to make hot read throws with precision, and that he won't be able to get those throws off fast enough (with his slow windup release) or accurate enough.

Interestingly enough Doug Flutie was on ESPN First Take this morning, talking about Tebow.

He talked about some times early in his career when he was put in to run some spread stuff on 2nd and 25 or some such, converted a couple plays, and then was subbed back out. It's like they would only run offense tailored to him in little bits and were scared to commit to it. Kinda like how Tebow only gets to run his offense in the 4th quarter.

There was some more later but honestly I missed it. Been kind of in/out of it today on cold medicine. I think they have the show up as a podcast... yep

These are sort of brilliant

http://www.theawl.com/2011/12/footba...

Stele wrote:

Interestingly enough Doug Flutie was on ESPN First Take this morning, talking about Tebow. :D

People compare Tebow to VY, but Flutie is a much more relevant comparison. VY's arm strength isn't as deficient as those guys, whereas those guys don't have VY's mental game deficiencies.

Tebow's big and bulky and powers through tacklers, while Flutie was small and wiry and avoided tacklers, but outside of that difference, they're remarkably similar. Both guys have/had probably the weakest arm among the league's starting QBs. Both are/were natural playmakers with a knack for making improbable plays happen with their athleticism.

Patriots at Broncos
Eagles at Jets
Ravens at Chargers
Steelers at 49ers
Packers at Chiefs

Tebow was mic'd during last weeks Bears game.

I managed to only watch the first 3 minutes. I don't care how people respond when things are going their way, I care when things are going poorly.

Well he seems like a a really positive guy. The only problem is he keeps relying on "We'll pull this out." "You'll make the game winning catch!"

Those things are great if used sparingly but what happens the first time he spends the whole second half promising they'll win and they lose?

Elliottx wrote:

Tebow was mic'd during last weeks Bears game.

I managed to only watch the first 3 minutes. I don't care how people respond when things are going their way, I care when things are going poorly.

Well he seems like a a really positive guy. The only problem is he keeps relying on "We'll pull this out." "You'll make the game winning catch!"

Those things are great if used sparingly but what happens the first time he spends the whole second half promising they'll win and they lose?

I'm not sure if he's promising anything. It looks like he's just trying to motivate the others.

Green Bay -13.5 At Kansas City
Chiefs just fired their coach!
They'll win if their new coach is
Zombie Lombardi. PICK: PACKERS

Love it.

Going 5-wide against the Jaguars is just mean. I don't think the Jags have 5 healthy DBs to line up against them.

I refuse to judge/mock Gabbert until they have at least 1 guy who can catch the ball.

jowner wrote:

I refuse to judge/mock Gabbert until they have at least 1 guy who can catch the ball.

Dillard used to be the closest we had. He's now contributed a dropped pass and a dropped punt to this game. :/

I'm guessing every athlete ever has said "We can do this!" and been wrong before. No biggie. And positive motivation > negative, IMHO.

I love Mike Mayock. Raving about a run block in the middle of the play still happening. Diagramming the high-low route concept off the bootleg, which each team ran. Wish he did every Jag game.

I don't even know who some of these Jaguars are.