NFL Discussion

[comrade]

Re: NFL Discussion

Can anyone give me a recommendation on which teams I should follow?

* Note: I asked a similar question regarding the Premier League. I settled on West Ham who barely escaped relegation last year and are now dead last after 3 games. Best not to recommend your own team, then.

[mjp]

Re: NFL Discussion

Can anyone give me a recommendation on which teams I should follow?

* Note: I asked a similar question regarding the Premier League. I settled on West Ham who barely escaped relegation last year and are now dead last after 3 games. Best not to recommend your own team, then.

I have followed the Steelers since the old Don Lane days when I fell in love with Barry Foster - who really was a one-season wonder. That has worked out well for me with three superbowls (2 wins) and a competitive team every year.

My favorite two places in the US are Austin and San Diego. As Austin doesn't have a team (well, the University of Texas may as well be a pro-team I guess!) I would support the chargers if I had my time again. They have a good - if arrogant qb (Rivers), a coach who calls pretty aggressive plays (though has a rep for choking in the playoffs) and a rookie running back (Matthews) tipped to win the ROTY award...they also have some key holdouts (Vincent Jackson) and key vets returning from injury...but they play in a crap division so will almost certainly make the playoffs. And it is a great, fun city where the weather is year-round beautiful (and the girls, oh my goodness).

My advice - go with the Chargers.

[comrade]

Re: NFL Discussion

(and the girls, oh my goodness).

My advice - go with the Chargers.

That's good enough for me.

[The Underdog]

Re: NFL Discussion

That's good enough for me.

mjp didn't mention their continual failure in playoffs and the rumours of potential relocation to LA, but both of those probably give you points to relate to


I'd suggest watching a few games and deciding for yourself but avoid the following:

Dallas - Like barracking for Collingwood
Oakland - Like barracking for Carlton crossed with Richmond
Detroit - Like barracking for a disadvantaged child (that's my team)

One hd has a fantastic slate on Monday with New England vs Cincinnatti, Philly vs Green Bay & Dallas vs Washington. Disappointed they've lost access to Monday night football though.

[The Underdog]

Re: NFL Discussion

The Underdog's Ill-informed pre-season NFL guesses.


Not many sports are as unpredictable or as prone to the fickle hand of fate and injury as the NFL, so in that spirit here's my predictions for the coming season.

AFC East-

1. NY Jets: Only real weakness is at QB, which is big, but like the Ravens in their SB winning year, competent QB play should be enough. Revis signing is huge. Should win with D and a coach with a huge mouth.
2. New England - Brady should get them to the playoffs and challenging the Jets but they've got major question marks at RB and on defense.
3. Miami - opportunity for them to jump up in the division if Henne can play well. The acquisition of Marshall is big and the running game should be solid. Will be in the mix
4. Buffalo - My tip for the worst team in football. Average to poor QB's, awful Offensive Line. Solid in the DB's but defense will spend a lot of time on the field.

AFC North -

1. Baltimore - early loss of Ed Reed will hurt, but have good depth all over and D should be traditionally dangerous. my pick for the SB
2. Cincinnatti - close call between them and Pittsburgh. Never completely confident pre-season with the Bengals but they look pretty good all the way across the team. Pressure is on Palmer.
3. Pittsburgh - Polamalu back is huge. He's the soul of the team. However the loss of Roethlisberger for 4 games and the trade of Holmes means they'll struggle early on offense. D is starting to look a little old.
4. Cleveland - should be improved but Delhomme is a wildcard who could make or break them and the division is too strong.

AFC South-

1. Indianapolis - Umm, Peyton Manning. Nuff said.
2. Houston - Should be therabouts with Schaub and Johnson. RB's are a worry as is the lack of depth at DB. Not convinced by the Texans at all.
3. Tennessee - Got a feeling they'll be a lot better this year. Losses on D concern me a little though. the progress of Vince Young will be interesting to watch.
4. Jacksonville - Inconsistent QB play from Garrard, little depth at WR and an average Defence means I think they'll be a sub .500 team

AFC West-

1. San Diego - I think they're on the downside but in a thin division, Rivers and a solid D should get them through.
2. Oakland - I like Campbell to not lose them games and I think there's enough pieces on the defence to make them competetive.
3. Kansas City - Should be improved. Cassel should be more comfortable, good depth at RB and should be at least average everywhere else.
4. Denver - Going backwards rapidly. Loss of Dumervil for the season means they'll struggle to rush the passer

[The Underdog]

Re: NFL Discussion

The Underdog's Ill-informed pre-season NFL guesses (NFC Edition).

NFC East -

Hardest division in football to predict

1.Dallas - Have been awful in the pre-season but when did that ever matter. Looked to be building last year and despite queries over the offensive line particularly at LT, should be good enough to go deep into the playoffs.
2.NY Giants - Good offseason pickup in Antrelle Rolle. Think they'll bounce back from a poor end to last season.
3.Philadelphia - First season without McNabb at QB might be a case of be careful what you wish for for Eagles fans. Poor end to last year led to big change. Will still be solid but huge pressure on Kolb.
4.Washington - Can't believe the Eagles traded McNabb within their division. Shanahan should improve this team but year's of overspending and average drafts mean it will take more than one year to get out of the basement in a tough division

NFC North -

1.Green Bay - A poor O-line and the loss of Johnny Jolly won't help, but have excellent weapons and should get over the line in a division where they are clearly only challenged by the Vikes.
2.Minnesota- Not sure why I have them 2nd. the D is excellent, although the secondary is a little suspect, but the loss of Rice for the season and my belief that eventually Favre won't be able to recapture the lightning mean I don't believe.
3.Chicago - Spent big in the offseason. Cutler needs to step up. Peppers needs to justify the money. Probably won't be very good.
4.Detroit - Too thin at LB and DB to be a serious threat but Stafford, Best and Suh give Lions fans something to look forward to (at last).

NFC South -
1.New Orleans - Not convinced they'll do it again, but the division isn't great so they're my defacto division winners.
2.Carolina - No real reasoning for this. I like what Matt Moore showed last year, the RB depth is amazing and the LB's are excellent. I think John Fox will get them up & pad his resume for next offseason when he's job hunting.
3.Atlanta - Could win the division. Pretty solid all over. Need better pass rush and Turner to stay healthy.
4.Tampa Bay - Too inexperienced, not enough depth anywhere.

NFC West -

1.San Francisco - Win by default because they didn't get worse. If Alex Smith shows anything and Frank Gore stays healthy, should win the division easily.
2.Arizona - will struggle mightily with the loss of Warner. Can't believe they are going into the season with Anderson and 2 rookies at QB. Still solid enough elsewhere to be better than the Seahawks and Rams.
3.St. Louis - Will be improved. Should be solid on the O-line, better on the D-Line and Bradford will get the chance to QB. Unfortunately he has nobody to throw to. Look for Jackson to run A LOT.
4.Seattle - Not sure what's happening here. Could be as good as 2nd in the division (in the worst division in the NFL) but Carroll seems intent on turning over the roster before he moves forward.

AFC Wildcard- New England, Cincinnatti
NFC Wildcard - NY Giants, Minnesota
Superbowl - Baltimore vs Dallas
Winner - Dallas (in a Super Bowl at new Cowboy Stadium, Jerry Jones dies happy)

[BulldogBelle]

Re: NFL Discussion

Whatever you do, don't support the Dallas Cowboys. That'd be like barracking for Collingwood.
Despite the fact that they are in the same division as my team (the Detroit Lions) and have caused them much pain over the years (who hasn't), the Green Bay Packers are a good choice. Based in a fairly small town and owned by the local community they are also on the way back up.
New England are a team who were a joke for years and turned it around to be one of the more successful teams of the recent era. They're also from Boston which is a great sporting town.
Other good reasons to support teams are the following:

New York Giants-regularly successful and the more stable of the NY teams
Cleveland Browns- a long history and they wear Brown and Orange (they lose a lot though)
Philadelphia Eagles - never won a Super Bowl but they do have the meanest supporters in the sportPittsburgh Steelers - Won the most Super Bowls in NFL history


Teams to avoid:
Detroit Lions -went 0-16 last year, enough said
Cincinatti Bengals - schizophrenic underachievers who always somehow find ways to lose
Oakland Raiders - the craziest, oldest, most meddlesome owner in NFL keeps them stuck to the bottom.

But hey watch some games see who you like but be careful, I fell in love with a running back named Barry Sanders and now I'm stuck with the worst team in the sport.

I had the pleasure once of seeing my beloved Chargers play Philly in San Diego. My god Eagles fans are evil.

Go the Chargers! Great place and exciting team.

[comrade]

Re: NFL Discussion

Has any other team had a 0-16 season?

[The Underdog]

Re: NFL Discussion

Has any other team had a 0-16 season?

Nope the Lions were the first team since the league went to 16 games to do it.
They improved to 2-14 last year.
I'm guessing a 5-11 year this year. They haven't won a road game for about 3 years. They're actually on the improve though, they just have 5-6 years of awful drafting to make up for so they don't have great depth particularly with their linebackers and defensive backs.
I have an uncanny ability to back a loser when picking a team.

[comrade]

Re: NFL Discussion

Nope the Lions were the first team since the league went to 16 games to do it.
They improved to 2-14 last year.
I'm guessing a 5-11 year this year. They haven't won a road game for about 3 years. They're actually on the improve though, they just have 5-6 years of awful drafting to make up for so they don't have great depth particularly with their linebackers and defensive backs.
I have an uncanny ability to back a loser when picking a team.

Are they likely to have a winning season within the next couple of years?

[The Underdog]

Re: NFL Discussion

Are they likely to have a winning season within the next couple of years?

I'd hope they're building something. The development of Stafford, their 2nd year QB, will have a massive say. He was a No.1 pick and was inconsistent last year but he was in a bad situation and got injured. The current GM seems to be going about building the roster the right way and seems to be pretty savvy and their head coach is a youngish guy who should be successful if given the chance. They've just drafter a monster defensive tackle named Ndamukong Suh (first name translates to House of Spears) who looks mean. He was fined in the pre-season for pretty literally trying to rip a QB's head off as per below

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LhtLDG5JxUI

[mjp]

Re: NFL Discussion

Nope the Lions were the first team since the league went to 16 games to do it.
They improved to 2-14 last year.
I'm guessing a 5-11 year this year. They haven't won a road game for about 3 years. They're actually on the improve though, they just have 5-6 years of awful drafting to make up for so they don't have great depth particularly with their linebackers and defensive backs.
I have an uncanny ability to back a loser when picking a team.

They will be fine this year. Most of the drafting under Millen was OK - it was just his fascination with picking suspect receivers in the first round that was bad.

When you compare them with St Louis - who don't have a single pick left from the 2007 draft, just 3 years ago - Detroit's recent drafting has been the work of a genius.

The Lions biggest issue might be that Green Bay are really good, and Minnesota are pretty good...

[LostDoggy]

Re: NFL Discussion

Go Bears!

[mjp]

Re: NFL Discussion

Go Bears!

That's fair enough, but Detroit were robbed. How that catch was overturned is anybodies guess....

[LostDoggy]

Re: NFL Discussion

That's fair enough, but Detroit were robbed. How that catch was overturned is anybodies guess....

Don't get to watch as much NFL as i used, don't have Foxtel or a HD TV. Technically it was probably not TD, but i agree, should have been called a TD.

Who are the teams which will be pushing for the Super Bowl?