2016 NFL Playoffs

[infrared41]

4 hours ago, BlueSky said:

Saddens me to see people crapping on the Falcons and their fans, especially Saints fans who have done their share of suffering and should thus have some empathy.

 

Yes, I started the night rooting for NE, and I didn't end it rooting for Atlanta. It was more like "come on, Falcons, don't do this to your fans." It was real life playing out the saying "wouldn't wish that on my worst enemy."

 

I suppose living in metro Atlanta for 16 years has given me the chance to know the enemy so to speak. Screw the bandwagoners, but I know a lot of good people who live and die with that team as all true fans do with their own and I feel for every one of them. 

 

I don't feel for Kyle Shanahan. Up by 16 with 8:31 left, averaging 7 yards a carry, AND you have a strong, 6'4" QB, and on 3rd and 1, you call a pass that takes so long to develop that a LB has time to run 20 yards before crushing Ryan and forcing a fumble? That play turned the tide and made possible all that followed.

 

Plenty of responsibility to go around on the Falcons' side, and credit the Patriots, but that call was just inexplicable.

 

Oh, and you have this guy and target him exactly four times (all completions, for 87 yards). Hmmm...

 

Image: USA Today 

 

Edelman's catch? Instant legend. Unbelievable focus, admirable skill, and a dump truck full of luck. 

 

It's great to see that you're back. We need all the level-headedness we can get around here. 

[OnWis97]

40 minutes ago, McCarthy said:

I'm just sick to my stomach for Falcons fans. That's the worst possible way to watch your team lose - to believe you have a championship, your first championship no less, in the bag and then have it snatched away in historic fashion by a team/fanbase/city who's lousy with titles already, plus you have a handful of "what ifs" and second guesses you're going to ask for the rest of your life. Ugh. That's an all-time gut and nut punch. One of the worst I can remember. Maybe this is taking sports too seriously, but I don't think I could come back after that. That's as close as you can get without actually winning. If I'm a Falcons fan right now I'm probably done with football. 

 

Also, no doubt in my mind that if the Bengals are ever in another Super Bowl that's how we'd lose. 

 

I think I'm done with the NFL until Brady and Bellichick are retired and Roethlisberger is done playing in Pittsburgh. Until then it just feels pointless. 

I still dwell from time to time on two Viking "Vikingesqe" NFC Championship Game losses and two Wisconsin Final Four losses.  It's sad that we say this about sports (like people told me when my dad died) but it gets easier.  (Man, it's really strange to say it this way; I almost feel dirty).

 

But I do feel for Falcon fans...I've been there (once at the hands of the Falcons), though this was maybe worse given that the social media tone of it being over at 28-3 and some of the die-hard Pats fans I know (including from Minnesota, ugh) were conceding.  All Atlanta had to do was put its foot just a bit on the gas and then not have that perfect storm happen.  Ultimately, it's just a game and most of the fans will be just fine as soon as Week 2 next year (since they'll be playing New England Week 1). But yeah, anyone that happens to be like me will be thinking of this game from time to time for the rest of their lives.  

[BlueSky]

Thanks, @infrared41. Much appreciated. As always, last night my two favorite teams were the Saints and whoever is playing the Falcons but it surprises me that anyone who has felt that pain would be saying "Bwahaaahaaa Atlanta." Sure, I've gotten my share of "abuse" - one diehard Falcons fan colleague was heading into the men's room once and cheerfully informed me he was going to "take a Saints" then "wipe his New Orleans" - but it's understood to be good-spirited razzing. Anyone who revels in others' misery needs to do some serious introspection. 

 

@OnWis97, I actually thought of that incredulous, frustrated Vikings radio call when Atlanta's playcalls backtracked them from the NE 22 out of FG range: "You could take a knee and try a 55-yard field goal! This is not Detroit, man, this is the Super Bowl!" Run it and kick, Atlanta!

[Sport]

47 minutes ago, OnWis97 said:

I still dwell from time to time on two Viking "Vikingesqe" NFC Championship Game losses and two Wisconsin Final Four losses.  It's sad that we say this about sports (like people told me when my dad died) but it gets easier.  (Man, it's really strange to say it this way; I almost feel dirty).

 

But I do feel for Falcon fans...I've been there (once at the hands of the Falcons), though this was maybe worse given that the social media tone of it being over at 28-3 and some of the die-hard Pats fans I know (including from Minnesota, ugh) were conceding.  All Atlanta had to do was put its foot just a bit on the gas and then not have that perfect storm happen.  Ultimately, it's just a game and most of the fans will be just fine as soon as Week 2 next year (since they'll be playing New England Week 1). But yeah, anyone that happens to be like me will be thinking of this game from time to time for the rest of their lives.  

 

I'm not old enough to remember the Bengals Super Bowl losses, but last year's playoff collapse against the Steelers was the worst sports loss of my life. It was a big reason why I wasn't that interested in the NFL this season. Just couldn't get up for it after that. I can't imagine if that had happened in the Super Bowl. My mom told me the day after the second Bengals super bowl loss, which was of the gut-punch variety, she was in downtown Cincinnati and everyone looked like they'd been through a trauma. My dad was at the game in Miami because he worked for the team's radio affiliate and I don't think he's ever gotten over it. If the John Taylor highlight comes on he turns his head. Older Bengals fans I talk to speak about that team like it's the one that got away and know we'll never get that close ever again. 

 

Sports takes on more meaning in our lives than it probably should. If the Bengals had won SB23 it wouldn't have made the 90's any easier and really nobody would've cared. We'd be the Buccaneers right now - an historically bad franchise that got their act together for one season. In the end none of this matters, is my point I guess. 

[FinsUp1214]

1 hour ago, McCarthy said:

I think I'm done with the NFL until Brady and Bellichick are retired and Roethlisberger is done playing in Pittsburgh. Until then it just feels pointless. 

 

I'm just about there myself. I mean I'm likely still going to peek in here and there and watch a game, but I'm pretty much done caring for the time being until those guys leave.

 

Yeah, you get your occasional Ravens or Giants or what have you, but the key word is "occasional". Even if, say, the Chiefs take it next year, how long before Brady and co. carve the heart out of the Lions or Cardinals or whomever? How long before they take even the Packers or Cowboys or heaven forbid the Falcons again and blow them up like they did Alderaan?

 

There's this inevitability about it, even if delayed here and there, that makes it really hard to get excited or want to care too much about the NFL until they're gone for good. And as a fan of parity, that day can't come soon enough.

[MJWalker45]

1 hour ago, Pharos04 said:

 

I've consistently been an advocate of just playing a 5th quarter.  there's no way that a team could sustain a drive for 15 minutes to just run out the clock. It's the simplest in terms of adjustments.  Screw the "place it on this line and they get three downs to try and blah blah blah.  I personally HATE NCAA OT rules because there's no strategy: Punch it in and then see if the other team does too. Repeat as necessary. Just play a 5th Quarter.  If the quarter also ends in a tie, then during the Regular Season, it's a Tie.  if it happens during the playoffs, 6th quarter.  Rest of the rules (Replays from the booth, 3 time outs) can stay.  Just eliminate these little ticky-tack stipulations and let them play football!

The players union is the only reason this hasn't happened. They don't want to run the risk of dead legged players getting hurt in a 6th or 7th quarter of football. Advertisers might like it but I just don't see it happening.

 

Atlanta just seemed to sit back on the routes instead of attacking them like they did in the first half. All the holding calls at the end of the second quarter could have played a part. When you're up in a game and you have an All Star type running back why not keep running. I know Coleman went out but Freeman could still do the work. Your job then is eat up clock and keep moving forward. It's almost like Shanahan said, "I'm going to San Francisco with a Super Bowl! Wait, if I win this thing they might expect me to win right away? Here, hold my beer!

[oldschoolvikings]

4 minutes ago, McCarthy said:

 

I'm not old enough to remember the Bengals Super Bowl losses, but last year's playoff collapse against the Steelers was the worst sports loss of my life. It was a big reason why I wasn't that interested in the NFL this season. Just couldn't get up for it after that. I can't imagine if that had happened in the Super Bowl. My mom told me the day after the second Bengals super bowl loss, which was of the gut-punch variety, she was in downtown Cincinnati and everyone looked like they'd been through a trauma. My dad was at the game in Miami because he worked for the team's radio affiliate and I don't think he's ever gotten over it. If the John Taylor highlight comes on he turns his head. Older Bengals fans I talk to speak about that team like it's the one that got away and know we'll never get that close ever again. 

 

 

It's funny, but my childhood gut-punching losses had the exact opposite effect on me.  When I was six I picked out the Vikings as my favorite team based on a Sports Illustrated photo of their helmets... purple, unidentifiable thing on it... that's my team.  A few weeks later, they were in the Super Bowl (the first football game I can remember actually watching), and they lost to the Chiefs, a game my pop assured me there was no way they could lose.  But I figured they'd be back.  And they were.  When I was a kid, I just thought that's how football worked... Ohio State never went more then a couple of years without going to the Rose Bowl, and the Vikings never went more than a couple of years without going to the Super Bowl. For those of you too young to remember, that was IV, VII, IX, and XI... and they lost every one, as the 6 year old, 9 year old, 11 year old, and 13 year old me watched alone, locked in my room ("don't bother me!"), incredulous that it could just keep happening.  Maybe I just wasn't that smart, and maybe I'm still not, but all that childhood angst and heartbreak just made me that more loyal and determined.  Buy the time of that 4th loss, there was literally nothing in the world that could make me give up on them.

 

And for the next 40 f'n years they just kept testing me and testing me, and making my life a living hell.  Gary Anderson missing his only FG all year?  Still here.  Favre surviving a half dozen blatant cheap shots only to throw a last second interception?  Still here.  Whatever's next?  Bring it... I'm a dumbass... I'll still be here.

[logoman]

I'm still trying to find words to describe my feelings. Sympathy for the fans of a team that blew a 25 point lead in the Super Bowl certainly is not one of them. The pure, unadulterated joy of watching the Patriots come from behind and win the first SB to go to OT certainly is one. The absolute satisfaction of seeing Tom Brady get his fifth ring is one. The records. The wins. The history. The greatest ever. I think too many people have allowed their hatred for New England blind them to the fact that this was possibly the greatest SB ever played and the greatest QB ever came out on top. I've been a Patriots fan since 1976 so I know a little about losing. The reason some of us sound like jerks is the same reason the Cowboys & Steelers fans in the 1970's sounded like jerks to me. Or the 49ers in the 1980's. Winning is way better than losing. The fact that Patriots have been able to sustain it this long - with some of the talent - or lack thereof, should be applauded, not maligned.

[BBTV]

At least one Patriot has stated that he will not go to the White House when the time comes. I wonder how many others will do the same. It's too bad Brady will go, because at the end of the day as the unquestioned leader of the team it's his statement that matters most. 

 

Waiting for childish tweet about the patriot players tha boycot:

 

"those guys are losers and only won bc of Brady. They'll be out of job in a year. Don't need them"

 

 

[kroywen]

14 minutes ago, MJWalker45 said:

The players union is the only reason this hasn't happened. They don't want to run the risk of dead legged players getting hurt in a 6th or 7th quarter of football. Advertisers might like it but I just don't see it happening.

This. Any overtime plan has to get players off the field as quickly as possible. That's why we still have sudden death - it's the fastest method of getting players off the field while still having a decisive result.

 

A college football-type overtime, in which teams start at the opponents' 25 yard line and basically play "innings" (a la baseball), would be somewhat effective at getting players off the field with a decisive result as well. You do run an increased risk of teams trading off touchdowns and 2 point conversions indefinitely, but that wouldn't be the norm. By starting at the 25, you would avoid the need for teams to make long drives down the entire field (as they typically have to now), so that would cut down on some of the time that teams are on the field during OT.

[BBTV]

I really like the college system even if it eliminates special teams. 

 

I think if you played a full quarter you're increasing the likelihood of a tie score and having to play even longer. 

 

I really don't like the current system. I think a win-by-4 might be better. Either that or after the coin-toss-loser stops the offense on 4 downs, they have the option of keeping the ball wherever the punt was run back or requesting a kickoff so that both teams have the opportunity to use their kick return game (since it's now all about giving both teams equal possession, except when it's not.)

[rams80]

I'd like college (and high school) style OT with maybe the tweak that the ball starts on the opponent's 40 or something.

 

That said, it's not going to happen because the Patriots won.  Now if the roles had been reversed....

[SFGiants58]

9 hours ago, SabresRule7361 said:

I'm gonna lay out the truth.

 

If you ever met me in person, I am anything but someone with questionable mental health. If you ever met me in person, I'm actually a lot more rational and cool-headed face-to-face.

 

But sometimes, I tend to post/write what I really feel .And that is I can't stand the Patriots and their seemingly never-ending success.

 

But sports really have a tendency to swing and mix my emotions.

 

Thanks man. It's good to know that this whole persona you created for yourself here is a bit of an act, and I'm glad that it's not a reflection of your mental state. I apologize if I came off as rude or pissy in my previous post, as I was getting tired of your act and not following standard board protocol (read: ignoring your rants and hot takes, most of which me and my fellow posters find dull and irritable). Thank you for clearing that up, and for finally breaking with your persona for a few minutes.

[hbgoo1975]

2 hours ago, Dalcowboyfan92 said:

That was just an absolutely soul-crushing defeat for the Falcons. To get so close, and to blow the game. That's just playoff inexperience.

 

This is a tough loss to stomach; it can't really be put into words. How will Atlanta come back next season? We'll have to wait and find out.

They'll probably be mediocre next season.

[MJWalker45]

So they'll swap places with Carolina.

[habsfan1]

3 hours ago, CS85 said:

 

 

It was taped in October. I would have lol'ed if the Pats lost the game and they would have wasted all their money producing this commercial.

[Rj0498]

2 hours ago, logoman said:

I'm still trying to find words to describe my feelings. Sympathy for the fans of a team that blew a 25 point lead in the Super Bowl certainly is not one of them. The pure, unadulterated joy of watching the Patriots come from behind and win the first SB to go to OT certainly is one. The absolute satisfaction of seeing Tom Brady get his fifth ring is one. The records. The wins. The history. The greatest ever. I think too many people have allowed their hatred for New England blind them to the fact that this was possibly the greatest SB ever played and the greatest QB ever came out on top. I've been a Patriots fan since 1976 so I know a little about losing. The reason some of us sound like jerks is the same reason the Cowboys & Steelers fans in the 1970's sounded like jerks to me. Or the 49ers in the 1980's. Winning is way better than losing. The fact that Patriots have been able to sustain it this long - with some of the talent - or lack thereof, should be applauded, not maligned.

Yeah I feel the same way. I am not even a patriots fan in fact, I used to hate them but now, I have come to respect them. What we saw last night was the continuation of probably the best dynasty in NFL history. I mean sure, some salty fans are going to say that the game was rigged or they cheated but, they need to give credit where credit is due. The better team just won plain and simple

[Brass]

2 hours ago, BringBackTheVet said:

At least one Patriot has stated that he will not go to the White House when the time comes. I wonder how many others will do the same. It's too bad Brady will go, because at the end of the day as the unquestioned leader of the team it's his statement that matters most. 

 

Waiting for childish tweet about the patriot players tha boycot:

 

"those guys are losers and only won bc of Brady. They'll be out of job in a year. Don't need them"

 

 

 

I think it's the same thing with Tim Thomas a few years ago. As long as the team doesn't mind a player not going to the White House, then fans/media shouldn't mind either.

[FinsUp1214]

Regarding gut-punch games, I completely get how games like that can be a wrecking ball to a fan's morale and I don't blame a Falcons fan if the wind's knocked out of them for years after this.

 

As a Jazz fan, I think a lot of us haven't really gotten over Jordan's shot in '98. I was just a young'un then and remember it generally, but I saw over the next few years what that really meant as the team declined and older fans who "got it" sort of "carried on but not really". Watching the team turn into a shell of themselves after that is what made me "feel it" for myself. That feeling that it may have been the last shot we have get to get a ring, and it got barbarically harpooned, became a legendary highlight that every sports fan knows, and it's like "hey that's my team getting skewered like Han Solo in that Air Jordan commercial and it's freaking demoralizing and that's how everyone knows who my team is. Not that we had two of the greatest players ever and were freaking good for years, but this." Still a fan, still love them, always will. But that's always in the back of my mind, and will be as long as they go title-less, which may still be for a very long time.

 

So dang it, I feel for the Falcons fans. This is probably going to go down as the greatest Super Bowl ever, it'll be highlighted and referred to forever, it'll be on commercials and posters and ads, there will be stories written about in even 50 years plus, its plastered all across the record books, etc etc....and it's all at their expense. That's their team at the other end of the highlight getting mauled by both the moment and a horrific new-found reputation. I'm not a Falcons fan by any stretch and I'm even jarred by it all. It sucks and it's demoralizing and I feel for them.

[DG_ThenNowForever]

Richard Jefferson had a fun quote in November. He said something to the effect of him being happy to be the last team that visited the White House after winning the title.

 

The politics of the NBA are drastically different than NFL though.