NFL 2012 Week 17 Thread

Is it wrong of me to hope Austin doesn't return?

I'm holding on to a 17 point lead in my non-GWJ fantasy finals, and that's the only player my opponent has left.

Wow. Morris had about 20 feet from the edge to run through.

Washington is interesting to watch.

Watching Dallas flail helplessly is fun.

Good late game for me.

Don't end games with those stupid hand-hit-the-helmet flags. Keep that flag in your pocket in a situation like that. If it's a helmet-to-helmet blast, OK, still call it, but seeing a game essentially end by an accidentally-slapped-his-helmet penalty is sickening.

Have three rookie QBs ever made the playoffs at the same time before?

So, uh, Romo.

HTTR!

*Legion* wrote:

Don't end games with those stupid hand-hit-the-helmet flags. Keep that flag in your pocket in a situation like that. If it's a helmet-to-helmet blast, OK, still call it, but seeing a game essentially end by an accidentally-slapped-his-helmet penalty is sickening.

Yeah, as much as I enjoy watching Dallas not make the playoffs, I was still pretty grossed out by that one. I mean, what the hell was that guy supposed to do? Just hold his hands up against his chest and happily break his neck when he smashes his face into the ground?

Ugh.

Eh Dallas not being in the playoffs is always a great thing, no matter how it happens. :p

So sick of ESPN talking about them every week over and over, whether they are good or not. After a couple days of whining about them losing tonight, might actually get a month break from it.

Stele wrote:

So sick of ESPN talking about them every week over and over, whether they are good or not. After a couple days of whining about them losing tonight, might actually get a month break from it.

I'm just sick of them being the team whose game seems to always be on TV here. One week when the Cinci game was blacked out and we couldn't even watch our local team... still had the Dallas game on. Their games were on TV here I think almost every single week of the entire season. I can only remember maybe two or three weeks when the Dallas game wasn't on. Super annoying.

Stele wrote:

Eh Dallas not being in the playoffs is always a great thing, no matter how it happens. :p

So sick of ESPN talking about them every week over and over, whether they are good or not. After a couple days of whining about them losing tonight, might actually get a month break from it.

It'll just go from discussing whether they're good or bad to discussing Garrett's future and whether Romo will ever get it done.

Stele wrote:

Eh Dallas not being in the playoffs is always a great thing, no matter how it happens. :p

So sick of ESPN talking about them every week over and over, whether they are good or not. After a couple days of whining about them losing tonight, might actually get a month break from it.

You just watch too much ESPN. I watch the games, but very little of their "news" and talk shows. ESPN is generally horrible. I don't remember the last time I watched Sportscenter.

I don't watch SportsCenter either. It's been terrible for years. I enjoy Around the Horn and Pardon the Interruption. And First Take I used to enjoy a lot, but it's wearing on me. That's the one I'm probably mostly complaining about.

They also show NFL Live every afternoon, even in the offseason now it seems, and some other NFL32 thing every night. It's way way too much air time for just NFL stuff, and they waste a lot of it.

There are good play-by-play and scheme break-downs sometimes. But those are few and far between from the drivel that's usually on.

Stele wrote:

I don't watch SportsCenter either. It's been terrible for years. I enjoy Around the Horn and Pardon the Interruption.

Same here. I DVR Around the Horn and PTI, but try to avoid SportsCenter.

This NFL season has been a mixed bag for me. I won our small fantasy league and the Colts are having a great season, but the Bears missed the playoffs. I can't believe I spent yesterday afternoon rooting for the Packers.

thejustinbot wrote:
Enix wrote:

So who got second in the division? Carolina swept the Saints but coughed up a couple of hairballs against your Bucs.

Looks like they all have the same division record, but Carolina and the Saints both trump Tampa Bay on conference record. Between those two, the Saints win out due to points differential.

Common games comes before conference record, but still eliminates Tampa. Each of those teams played Atlanta twice, plus each team in the AFC West and NFC East once. In those ten games Carolina and the Saints went 5-5, but the Bucs only went 4-6.

The thing is that once Tampa has been eliminated, the process does not continue with Steps 4 and 5 of the three-team tiebreaker process (conference record and strength of victory), but instead reverts to Step 1 of the two-team tiebreaker: Head-to-head. Carolina beat New Orleans twice. Therefore Carolina takes second place in the division, followed by New Orleans, with Tampa bringing up the rear.

Thin_J wrote:
*Legion* wrote:

Don't end games with those stupid hand-hit-the-helmet flags. Keep that flag in your pocket in a situation like that. If it's a helmet-to-helmet blast, OK, still call it, but seeing a game essentially end by an accidentally-slapped-his-helmet penalty is sickening.

Yeah, as much as I enjoy watching Dallas not make the playoffs, I was still pretty grossed out by that one. I mean, what the hell was that guy supposed to do? Just hold his hands up against his chest and happily break his neck when he smashes his face into the ground?

Ugh.

The problem is that you can't just selectively apply the Brady Rule, especially when it was THAT obvious. That was both hands on the helmet.

Gene Smith is out.

Wow. It looks like Seattle and Washington are very similar on offense, but the Seattle D is head and shoulders better than Washington's.

As much as I would love to see my Skins getting their first playoff win in decades, I am not holding a whole lot of hope for a V next week. Even still, we are playing with house money. I didn't see us going over 8-8 this year.

garion333 wrote:

Gene Smith is out.

A mistake I've been dreading.

Pioli still has his job (edit: for now), Romeo Crennel was fired. Err, okay.

Shurmur and Heckert are gone in Cleveland.

Tannenbaum fired by the Jets, Rex Ryan is safe.

Black Monday is so weird.

garion333 wrote:

Pioli still has his job (edit: for now), Romeo Crennel was fired. Err, okay.

Pioli has to go. Worse than putting together a terrible product and making dome horrible moves, he has created a toxic atmosphere in KC that will keep any quality coaches from considering them and force the Chiefs to overpay for who does take the job.

The team has the pieces for a quick turnaround (except for that pesty QB position), but Clark Hunt has to clean house and get a solid GM. This team should have been able to stumble to 8-8, and could have been very good. But there is dysfunction that has its roots in Pioli. If he stays, they are just delaying the inevitable.

http://www.kansascity.com/2012/12/30...

They broke an 83-year-old NFL record by not holding a lead in regulation until the ninth game. They broke a 68-year record for most rushing yards in a loss. They just lost their ninth game by more than two touchdowns, a level of ineptitude unmatched since the 1981 Colts — back when they played in Baltimore. They once went until late in the third quarter without a first down. They turned the ball over six times in one game, and lost six others with one or zero turnovers.

They fumbled snaps at the goal line, threw passes off facemasks, claimed to have lost their spirits after missed field goals before halftime (twice), drove their most passionate fans to organized protests, celebrated touchdowns that didn’t count (twice), were insulted by fans at goodwill photo ops and trash-talked their opponents to the ugly end.

Many longtime fans came to hate this team, and the Chiefs played like the feeling was mutual.

With Crennel presumably out, bringing Pioli back means letting him hire a third head coach in five seasons — a talent pool diminished because nobody wants to come work for a GM who drove his first coach to paranoia and who might soon be on his way out.

And this is a team that should have won the AFC West. Instead it was just a gross season that diminished hope for the future.

Paleocon wrote:

Wow. It looks like Seattle and Washington are very similar on offense, but the Seattle D is head and shoulders better than Washington's.

As much as I would love to see my Skins getting their first playoff win in decades, I am not holding a whole lot of hope for a V next week. Even still, we are playing with house money. I didn't see us going over 8-8 this year.

Seattle is 8-0 at home and 3-5 on the road. I think you have a great shot. They don't get the calls and crowd noise on the road. Can't wait to see them eliminated.

Jayhawker wrote:
garion333 wrote:

Pioli still has his job (edit: for now), Romeo Crennel was fired. Err, okay.

Pioli has to go. Worse than putting together a terrible product and making dome horrible moves, he has created a toxic atmosphere in KC that will keep any quality coaches from considering them and force the Chiefs to overpay for who does take the job.

The team has the pieces for a quick turnaround (except for that pesty QB position), but Clark Hunt has to clean house and get a solid GM. This team should have been able to stumble to 8-8, and could have been very good. But there is dysfunction that has its roots in Pioli. If he stays, they are just delaying the inevitable.

http://www.kansascity.com/2012/12/30...

They broke an 83-year-old NFL record by not holding a lead in regulation until the ninth game. They broke a 68-year record for most rushing yards in a loss. They just lost their ninth game by more than two touchdowns, a level of ineptitude unmatched since the 1981 Colts — back when they played in Baltimore. They once went until late in the third quarter without a first down. They turned the ball over six times in one game, and lost six others with one or zero turnovers.

They fumbled snaps at the goal line, threw passes off facemasks, claimed to have lost their spirits after missed field goals before halftime (twice), drove their most passionate fans to organized protests, celebrated touchdowns that didn’t count (twice), were insulted by fans at goodwill photo ops and trash-talked their opponents to the ugly end.

Many longtime fans came to hate this team, and the Chiefs played like the feeling was mutual.

With Crennel presumably out, bringing Pioli back means letting him hire a third head coach in five seasons — a talent pool diminished because nobody wants to come work for a GM who drove his first coach to paranoia and who might soon be on his way out.

And this is a team that should have won the AFC West. Instead it was just a gross season that diminished hope for the future.

I would agree with that last statement if (1) Peyton Manning hadn't come in and played so damn well and (2) the Chiefs had a real QB. Pioli overpaying for Cassel is what should get him fired, everything else comes after that disastrous mistake. The Chiefs have a lot of good pieces, but winning the AFC West (sans a Peyton Manning-led Denver) probably wouldn't be considered much of an accomplishment this season.

So, KC fans. What do you think are the chances of Dwayne Bowe playing for the Redskins next season?

That's true. The trade for Cassel was solid. Signing him to a six-year extension before he took a snap doomed the team. And while I doubted that Manning was going to be good for Denver, he sure was a difference maker.

This off-season they could have traded to get RGIII easily. Instead they took Dontari Poe.

They could have put the franchise tag on Brandon Carr and let Dewayne Bowe go. Bowe is a flake who rarely plays up to potential, while Carr is a damn good CB, which do not grow on trees.

Not only should this team have played better as is, even with Cassel, but they could have easily been much better on paper with what seemed like obvious moves. Now they face an off-season with no real path to a QB they can depend on. I just hope to god they don't waste their first round pick on a QB that has no business being draft that high just because they need on. They need OL, too.

I can't stomach another year of Pioli pissing off his employees and fans. The Chiefs have suddenly become the Raiders.

Paleocon wrote:

So, KC fans. What do you think are the chances of Dwayne Bowe playing for the Redskins next season?

I think Bowe is gone. He could go somewhere else and thrive, or be the crazy head case for someone else. They may try to use the franchise tag to force a trade, and Snyder just may go after him.

Jayhawker,

How do Rams fans like their draft picks? We shined them up special for you.

Listen, I realize it's 7 a.m. in San Diego, but Norv really hasn't been fired yet?

Five teams finished this year with $14 mil or more in unused cap space.

These teams will draft in April with picks 1, 2, 4, 6, and 10.

Andy Reid is gone from Philly. Long, long time coming.