NFL 2017 Conference Championship Thread

I've been meaning to XCOM 2 more now that I have a PC that can run it.

Feel like the basic story of the first half is the Eagles defensive line is beating the Vikings offensive line, and the Eagles offensive line is beating the Vikings defensive line. Foles had about a week to throw that long TD to Jeffery; the Vikings just haven't been able to get pressure with four.

*Legion* wrote:

Well this should put to rest any notion of a Bortles long term deal. Go sign Cousins.

And go NFC.

Sorry Legion.... Jags played really well though.. I think they showed they are legit and with Cousins or Manning next season should be a force in the AFC.

TheGameguru wrote:
*Legion* wrote:

Well this should put to rest any notion of a Bortles long term deal. Go sign Cousins.

And go NFC.

Sorry Legion.... Jags played really well though.. I think they showed they are legit and with Cousins or Manning next season should be a force in the AFC.

or Foles? Keenum?.... Hundley?

jowner wrote:
TheGameguru wrote:
*Legion* wrote:

Well this should put to rest any notion of a Bortles long term deal. Go sign Cousins.

And go NFC.

Sorry Legion.... Jags played really well though.. I think they showed they are legit and with Cousins or Manning next season should be a force in the AFC.

or Foles? Keenum?.... Hundley?

Foles: No.

Keenum: Not going to happen; I think the Vikings keep him.

Hundley:

This Eagles v Patriots Super Bowl is going to suck. Hopefully there is a good Super Bowl party to go to.

Yuck. Don't think I will watch the game. Maybe the first quarter for commercials or something. Ugh.

I would actually pay money to see "Web of Fries."

Rat Boy wrote:

I would actually pay money to see "Web of Fries."

Id watch it over this SB.

and F the Vikes and everyone who just wanted to see them because they are hosting. Thats not a real thing or reason.

Congrats to Foles. Hes going to get paid win or lose somewhere and he honestly should.

So why not. I mean crazier things have happened.

The streets outside the stadium have become a giant mosh pit.

Have some friends at the game and they say it’s nuts. That sound you hear is second and third mortgages being taken out on houses to pay for Super Bowl tickets.

TheGameguru wrote:
*Legion* wrote:

Well this should put to rest any notion of a Bortles long term deal. Go sign Cousins.

And go NFC.

Sorry Legion.... Jags played really well though.. I think they showed they are legit and with Cousins or Manning next season should be a force in the AFC.

I agree. They are a QB away, and the youth of the defense, runners and receivers mean the window is open for the immediate future.

They really need to land a capable veteran QB, they can't afford to waste years developing a rookie.

As for your team, I hope they bring home a Lombardi trophy.

Also, wanted to point out that Tom Brady scored 13 fewer points against this Jaguars defense than Jimmy Garoppolo did with a rag-tag 49ers offense.

*Legion* wrote:
TheGameguru wrote:
*Legion* wrote:

Well this should put to rest any notion of a Bortles long term deal. Go sign Cousins.

And go NFC.

Sorry Legion.... Jags played really well though.. I think they showed they are legit and with Cousins or Manning next season should be a force in the AFC.

I agree. They are a QB away, and the youth of the defense, runners and receivers mean the window is open for the immediate future.

They really need to land a capable veteran QB, they can't afford to waste years developing a rookie.

As for your team, I hope they bring home a Lombardi trophy.

A guy like Cousins or even Alex Smith fits the team's philosophy; run the ball, play great defense, avoid mistakes. Eli Manning's always been a guy who throw loads of INTs, and just doesn't seem a great option just based on that.

Maybe the Jaguars will do something really unusual and trade up so they can draft an immensely physically talented yet raw QB with loads of potential. JOSH ALLEN, JACKSONVILLE JAGUAR.

N/M

kergguz wrote:
Top_Shelf wrote:

I'd hope they end at 5-3 but MAN it's tantalizing thinking about how they could be 3-5 and no one is talking any of this GOAT junk.

Their two losses to the Giants were by a combined 7 points. They could just as easily have been 7-0 as 3-4. Just to be there at the end so many times, win or lose, is the reason for the GOAT 'junk'.

(mostly unbiased British onlooker viewpoint)

And their wins were by a combined 19, or 3.8 avg.

My point is that winning more than 50% of 50/50 games is kind of a crapshoot and the likelihood of them being 7-0 is equal (or at least mathematically close) to being 0-7. This is why point differential is such a major indicator in which team is better.

I am actually more impressed with 7 straight AFC championship game appearances and 9 straight playoffs (15/17 years). That is insane. I'd have to run the numbers but I'd guess the likelihood of a team making the playoffs that much is less than winning 5 Super Bowls. And it is certainly more indicative of a quality team that is consistent than a team that has beat the odds on winning 5 of 7 50/50 games.

Coming up next on FOX: Doctor Show, 2018.

So I began to cool down and wanted to apologize for the knee-jerk bashing on Patriots. I'm just getting used to this fandom, am a bit victim to the zeitgeist of the living room, and find it to be a sort of "the computer cheats!" response of emotion and inexperience.

Jaguars did a good job. Maybe there was something iffy with the refs, maybe there wasn't. Some of the Pats plays were impressive, reluctant as I am to admit. But they won, and by the end of the game it's because they made better decisions than the Jags.

In regards to Eagles vs. Vikings, I'm gonna be honest, part of me is shocked at how disinterested in the Super Bowl everyone is, but at the same time I would have been disinterested if Eagles lost. Patriots vs. Other Team is just such a boring match-up at this point, and no one wants to be disappointed. To me, though, this has reinvigorated my faith. The defense did a great job, the offense surpassed my expectations, and Foles is back, baby. Can they beat the Patriots? I dunno, but Tom Brady was on the cover of Madden and either he breaks the Madden curse or Fletcher Cox breaks him.

I'm psyched, I hope we win, and if we lose... eh, I'll probably just blame it on Pats cheating.

Dear Minnesota,

That's what you get for desecrating Rocky, ya filthy animals.

Love,
#PhillyPhilly

Sure wish we could go back to just one week between Championship game and SB. Two weeks is way too long.

MilkmanDanimal wrote:

A guy like Cousins or even Alex Smith fits the team's philosophy; run the ball, play great defense, avoid mistakes. Eli Manning's always been a guy who throw loads of INTs, and just doesn't seem a great option just based on that.

I don't think Eli is going to be available anyway. I think the Giants keep him for one more year, draft a QB at #2, and ease the rookie in.

Maybe the Jaguars will do something really unusual and trade up so they can draft an immensely physically talented yet raw QB with loads of potential. JOSH ALLEN, JACKSONVILLE JAGUAR.

You just want OH NO NOT AGAIN again.

TheGameguru wrote:

Sure wish we could go back to just one week between Championship game and SB. Two weeks is way too long.

And push back the awesome, compelling PRO BOWL week?

*Legion* wrote:
MilkmanDanimal wrote:

A guy like Cousins or even Alex Smith fits the team's philosophy; run the ball, play great defense, avoid mistakes. Eli Manning's always been a guy who throw loads of INTs, and just doesn't seem a great option just based on that.

I don't think Eli is going to be available anyway. I think the Giants keep him for one more year, draft a QB at #2, and ease the rookie in.

Jay Glazer was on during the game and said Shurmur's about to accept the Giants job, and they expect to keep Eli around for a year and draft a rookie. So, basically that.

Maybe the Jaguars will do something really unusual and trade up so they can draft an immensely physically talented yet raw QB with loads of potential. JOSH ALLEN, JACKSONVILLE JAGUAR.

You just want OH NO NOT AGAIN again.

Maaaaaybe.

Long-term Bortles extension would also be fine.

Boy, I'm a little disappointed by all the "not gonna watch the Eagles/Pats" talk. I would have hoped that for once people would root for the Birds, if only because they didn't want to see the Pats win again. Especially given a headline like this:
The first person to congratulate Tom Brady after the Patriots' win was a ref

I could probably have done without hearing Terry Bradshaw singing "Fly Eagles Fly", although it was funny that Jeff Lurie would stop singing when Terry wanted to give him the trophy.

Rat Boy wrote:

There's an obligation to say "Hoooooooogaaan!" anytime Chris Hogan doesn't make a play.

<Hochstetter>Vat is zis man doink hier?</Hochstetter>

I'm watching. I'd love to see the eagles pull this off, with Any Reid's old OC and Alex Smith's old back-up. Also, I was one of the few that felt like Nick Foles had the ability to get them to the Super Bowl.

I've always kind of liked the Eagles, even when I was a kid and they were in the same division as the football Cardinals. I liked that old Wilber Montgomery and Harold Carmichael team, with Jaworski at QB. And when the Chiefs hired Schottenheimer, I was really hoping Carl Peterson was going to get Dick Vermeil out of retirement.

This year's team is fun, and has there look of a team that will be in the playoff mix for several years.

Jayhawker wrote:

I've always kind of liked the Eagles, even when I was a kid and they were in the same division as the football Cardinals. I liked that old Wilber Montgomery and Harold Carmichael team, with Jaworski at QB. And when the Chiefs hired Schottenheimer, I was really hoping Carl Peterson was going to get Dick Vermeil out of retirement.

That's the Eagles team I grew up with, too (although Roman Gabriel was the QB when I first started watching). I had a Harold Carmichael "jersey" that I used to always wear when playing football after school.

Funny thing is that the St. Louis Cards were usually pretty bad during those days, but for some reason when the Eagles became decent they still always had trouble with the Cards. Also funny was back in those days, the Eagles owner (Leonard Tose) was threatening to move the team to Phoenix.

My team went ahead (Pats).

My wife's team was held back (Vikes).

Now I feel horrible.

Early line is NE -5.5. What would it have been if Certis was playing?

Top_Shelf wrote:

Early line is NE -5.5. What would it have been if Certis was playing?

Depending on how he played in both playoff games I would guess not much difference. Probably 2.5-3.5

I think one of the reasons people don't care about Philly is, to the rest of America, they're probably just another team. What makes it worse is the fans, who, of the many "up and down" fans in terms of team quality, can be awfully obnoxious. I still feel Eagles fans aren't as obnoxious as constantly-winning teams, and I think part of the fandom is having to constantly hear pundits and ESPN be down on Eagles whenever possible. When Beckham imitated a dog pissing on Eagles territory ESPN was trying to argue that the fine he was charged with for unsportsmanlike conduct was too harsh. If an Eagles player did that, do you think they'd argue the same thing? Because I don't.

Listening to the Pats game honestly confirmed it for me. Last week the announcer was always saying sh*t like "The Eagles have to hope for field goal range" or something to that effect, assuming a touchdown was out of their capability, and next thing you know Eagles score a touchdown. Meanwhile, I have to constantly listen to the announcers highlight and talk about how amazing Tom Brady is just at handing the f*cking ball off. It's like the guy can do no wrong, and it's very easy to develop a grudge not just against other teams, but against the rest of the League that think a sufficient punishment for cheating at the Super Bowl is to lose a draft pick instead of a ring.

It's one of the reasons I'm only partially upset the Steelers lost. Technically, the Steelers as a team have done nothing to me and I have no reason to dislike them so strongly. But when I lived in Pennsylvania I knew so many Pittsburgh fans and every single one of them was so obnoxious and yet whining that I can't help but hate the team now.

And when you take into account things like my friend's anecdote – where at that same Giants game a jeering Giants fan got a beer can thrown at him, and when security showed up the rest of the crowd said it was the Giants fan starting sh*t – I can see why Philly fans would get a bad reputation. To us, that's a real sense of communal spirit and teaching a guy not to be an asshole on our turf. But then... how do Philly fans act on other turf? Win or lose, how are Philly fans going to treat the city of Minnesota?

So I can understand why people wouldn't care about a Pats vs. Eagles Super Bowl. Hell, as I said before, if Vikings won I wouldn't have cared either. I don't care about the "Super Bowl on their home turf" narrative, would have much rather the "two underdogs head-to-head" narrative of Jags vs. Eagles, and I was already let down watching Pats vs. Atlanta in terms of underdog games.

Worst of all, if the Eagles lose, you have to hear Philly fans cry about how the Pats must have cheated or how the Refs won the game for Tom Brady (which plenty of us are already saying about Jags/Pats. "The Refs won the game and the Pats just happened to be there").

If you're a fan of neither team, the Super Bowl and a lot of the time following is gonna suck.

But you know what? Nobody gave Foles a chance and treated last week like a fluke, so if the Eagles win, than the fans certainly deserve to gloat this time around.

I do feel bad for Vikings fans though. They don't have the opportunity to turtle for a few weeks after a playoff loss. Instead, they will be reminded daily with green jersey's all around town.

ccesarano wrote:

Listening to the Pats game honestly confirmed it for me. Last week the announcer was always saying sh*t like "The Eagles have to hope for field goal range" or something to that effect, assuming a touchdown was out of their capability, and next thing you know Eagles score a touchdown. .

The Eagles have a backup quarterback and weren't moving the ball well last week. Of course the announcers are going to say stuff like that. That's just them providing there best guess on how the Eagles could win the game as it was playing out.