2012 NFL Season Thread

[NEW.ERA]

I do think next week will be when we get to see if Andy Dalton is ready to take the next step forward.

Bengals started 6-2 last year, but finished 9-7, backed into the playoffs, and got nuked by the Texans. The culprits for that 3-6 backslide? The Ravens, Steelers, and Texans, who each beat the Bengals twice. Andy Dalton is 0-6 in his career against his chief division foes. It's put up or shut up time for him and the Bengals. They would be in a much more tenable spot if they had held on to a few more passes in the game against Dallas, but they didn't, so now they have to win in Pittsburgh. I think with the Ravens disintegration of late, there's a fine chance the Bengals win the Week 17 matchup at home. But it will all be for naught if they lose next week, because there's literally no chance in hell the Browns win in Pittsburgh, in a game where the Steelers could clinch a playoff spot.

And, in regards to the Ravens, they are a 4th-and-29 non-conversion away from a four game skid, an 8-6 mark, and a tenable playoff hold, at best. Yikes. John Harbaugh's Ravens have never looked as bad as they have the past couple weeks. And they'll be facing a team just as pissed off as they are next week. It doesn't get any easier from here. I do expect Ray Lewis to provide a huge emotional boost to that decrepit and wounded defense.

Since NBC promoted it so heavily, I imagine the Niners/Seahawks game is locked into the SNF slot next week.

Because I think Bengals-Steelers has a case for being in that slot as well. The NFC West is very likely sealed for the Niners. Arizona has no chance in hell of winning at Candlestick in Week 17. The game has meaning because, as mentioned above, there's still a race with the Packers for the #2 seed.

But I don't think that meaning is as significant as the Bengals and Steelers playing in what amounts to a knockout game. Steelers will win their final game regardless, so a W gives them the tiebreak over Cincinnati, wile a W for the Bengals clinches them a playoff spot as well, and possibly even a Week 17 matchup with Baltimore for the division title.

But this is an all-for-naught argument. I won't complain about a matchup between a 10-3-1 team, and a 9-5 team in primetime. Better than what ESPN has for their final two games of the season, that's for damned sure.

The only other game if it holds any merit, and the Giants/Cowboys have to lose next week and the Vikes have to win. Vikings vs. Packers. Vikes with a shot at the playoffs, Packers with a chance at a bye. Might be how it works.

They just ran the network promo for Niners/Seahawks so I'm taking that as an official announcement.

We're mixing weeks here anyway. That Packers/Vikings game is in Week 17, and if I had to take any guesses right now as to what that game will be, I'd say the Cowboys/Redskins game that will win the division for one team, and knock the other team out of the playoffs. Kinda like last year, eh?

I'd actually be okay with Cowboys/Redskins. Both would be tremendous stories if they make the playoffs.

[Sport]

I do think next week will be when we get to see if Andy Dalton is ready to take the next step forward.

Bengals started 6-2 last year, but finished 9-7, backed into the playoffs, and got nuked by the Texans. The culprits for that 3-6 backslide? The Ravens, Steelers, and Texans, who each beat the Bengals twice. Andy Dalton is 0-6 in his career against his chief division foes. It's put up or shut up time for him and the Bengals. They would be in a much more tenable spot if they had held on to a few more passes in the game against Dallas, but they didn't, so now they have to win in Pittsburgh. I think with the Ravens disintegration of late, there's a fine chance the Bengals win the Week 17 matchup at home. But it will all be for naught if they lose next week, because there's literally no chance in hell the Browns win in Pittsburgh, in a game where the Steelers could clinch a playoff spot.

And, in regards to the Ravens, they are a 4th-and-29 non-conversion away from a four game skid, an 8-6 mark, and a tenable playoff hold, at best. Yikes. John Harbaugh's Ravens have never looked as bad as they have the past couple weeks. And they'll be facing a team just as pissed off as they are next week. It doesn't get any easier from here. I do expect Ray Lewis to provide a huge emotional boost to that decrepit and wounded defense.

That's a good assessment of the AFC North. This game on Sunday will be a test to see if Dalton/Green/one of the NFL's best defenses can take the next step. The theme of this season has been missed opportunities. You think back to the losses to Dallas when they could've and should've won, the Miami game, the SNF game against Pittsburgh when they fell apart after taking an early 14-3 lead. It's time to go into Pittsburgh, play a good game, and win for the first time since 2009. Finally seize an opportunity. They'll have to earn the playoffs this year and that's kinda the way I like it.

With all the injuries the Steelers have in the secondary, I like the Bengals chances on offense. And with one of the best defensive lines in football, I like their chances to get to Roethlisberger.

It's crazy to think that the Bengals have a shot at the division championship. It's crazy to think that we're even watching meaningful football in Cincinnati right now. This team was 3-5 and showed no signs that they were going to come back from the dead.

and then we'll probably get crushed by New England in Foxboro.

[Kramerica Industries]

I do have to amend that posting, though, because I was forgetting about the Jets.

In the event that the Jets and Bengals finished with the same record, the Jets hold the tiebreaker since their AFC record would be better. And the Jets finish with the 4-9 Titans, 5-9 Chargers, and 5-9 Bills. Yes, two of those are on the road, but those are all terrible teams. They should be able to reach 9-7. Not good enough to get in over Pittsburgh, since the Steelers beat them head-to-head early in the season, but good enough to get in over the Bengals, should it come to that.

And if the Jets got in, they'd be facing none other than the Patriots, in Foxboro. The 2010 parallels with the game being personal would just be amazing.

[Island_Style]

A note to Brian Urlacher,

You are a multimillion dollar professional. You play in front of paying costumers. Costumers paying an arm and a leg for an experience way more expensive and way less comfortable/convenient than home. Those boos are telling you your expectations have not been met. Stop crying and stop blowing the season.

[vmd9]

A note to Brian Urlacher,

You are a multimillion dollar professional. You play in front of paying costumers. Costumers paying an arm and a leg for an experience way more expensive and way less comfortable/convenient than home. Those boos are telling you your expectations have not been met. Stop crying and stop blowing the season.

They are 8-6 and still very alive for the last playoff spot in the NFC. Sorry it's those kinds of fans that tick me off. Just like the Giant fans booing and the Steeler fans who are throwing away jerseys yesterday.

These "fans" don't get any sympathy from me....

[Kramerica Industries]

Besides the fact that you're citing a very small percentage of those teams fanbases (that is, the loonies that give everyone else a bad rap), don't compare the Bears to the Giants or Steelers.

The Giants and Steelers have won two Super Bowls since 2005. The Bears haven't won a Super Bowl since 1985. The Giants and Steelers still control their own destinies to get to the playoffs. The Bears do not, and they are the ones who have had the hardest fall this season, from 7-1 to their present state.

Bears fans have the most justified frustration amongst playoff hopeful fans in the NFL right now.

[rams80]

A note to Brian Urlacher,

You are a multimillion dollar professional. You play in front of paying costumers. Costumers paying an arm and a leg for an experience way more expensive and way less comfortable/convenient than home. Those boos are telling you your expectations have not been met. Stop crying and stop blowing the season.

They are 8-6 and still very alive for the last playoff spot in the NFC. Sorry it's those kinds of fans that tick me off. Just like the Giant fans booing and the Steeler fans who are throwing away jerseys yesterday.

These "fans" don't get any sympathy from me....

Of course a Browns fan would believe in blindly supporting the sinking ship.

[Island_Style]

A note to Brian Urlacher,

You are a multimillion dollar professional. You play in front of paying costumers. Costumers paying an arm and a leg for an experience way more expensive and way less comfortable/convenient than home. Those boos are telling you your expectations have not been met. Stop crying and stop blowing the season.

They are 8-6 and still very alive for the last playoff spot in the NFC. Sorry it's those kinds of fans that tick me off. Just like the Giant fans booing and the Steeler fans who are throwing away jerseys yesterday.

These "fans" don't get any sympathy from me....

Of course a Browns fan would believe in blindly supporting the sinking ship.

Rams gets it. They get paid to preform and win. This isn't the college game. Take your criticism.

[CS85]

A note to Brian Urlacher,

You are a multimillion dollar professional. You play in front of paying costumers. Costumers paying an arm and a leg for an experience way more expensive and way less comfortable/convenient than home. Those boos are telling you your expectations have not been met. Stop crying and stop blowing the season.

They are 8-6 and still very alive for the last playoff spot in the NFC. Sorry it's those kinds of fans that tick me off. Just like the Giant fans booing and the Steeler fans who are throwing away jerseys yesterday.

These "fans" don't get any sympathy from me....

Of course a Browns fan would believe in blindly supporting the sinking ship.

Rams gets it. They get paid to preform and win. This isn't the college game. Take your criticism.

Thanks all. Bears deserve to be booed, and if the players don't like it they can go to hell.

Cutler came out today and said some stuff that shows he's not oblivious.

"The fans they have a reason to boo, we're not playing well. You can't blame them. The media, we're giving them a lot of ammo right now, guys are doing a lot of talking and we're not playing very well. At the end of the day, it falls back on us."

[The_Admiral]

Jay "These :censored:ing fans, I swear to God" Cutler, man of the people.

[CS85]

Jay "These :censored:ing fans, I swear to God" Cutler, man of the people.

Man Among the People!

[Island_Style]

Jay gets it. He would boo if he were in the fan's shoes. He understands.

[The_Admiral]

Everything about that picture is great. The hair, the finger, the dog, the giant sweatpants, the pastel red-orange Nikes.

[IceCap]

Everything about that picture is great. The hair, the finger, the dog, the giant sweatpants, the pastel red-orange Nikes.

He's just missing a cig.

[GFB]

http://blacksportsonline.com/home/2012/12/the-rob-parker-scale-of-blackness-released-see-if-you-are-down-for-the-cause-photo/

[FiddySicks]

I swear the more I learn about the level of how strongly Jay Cutler doesn't give a , the more I like the dude.

[HedleyLamarr]

Since NBC promoted it so heavily, I imagine the Niners/Seahawks game is locked into the SNF slot next week.

Because I think Bengals-Steelers has a case for being in that slot as well. The NFC West is very likely sealed for the Niners. Arizona has no chance in hell of winning at Candlestick in Week 17. The game has meaning because, as mentioned above, there's still a race with the Packers for the #2 seed.

But I don't think that meaning is as significant as the Bengals and Steelers playing in what amounts to a knockout game. Steelers will win their final game regardless, so a W gives them the tiebreak over Cincinnati, wile a W for the Bengals clinches them a playoff spot as well, and possibly even a Week 17 matchup with Baltimore for the division title.

But this is an all-for-naught argument. I won't complain about a matchup between a 10-3-1 team, and a 9-5 team in primetime. Better than what ESPN has for their final two games of the season, that's for damned sure.

A non-CBS station (in this case, NBC) already had the Steelers-Bengals in their first matchup. As far as I know, CBS (and Fox) can't lose both meetings between divisional opponents, so NBC couldn't take the other Steelers-Bengals game.

[Kramerica Industries]

Maybe they amended that rule. NBC had both Cowboys-Giants games last season, which is why I floated that possibility.

[illwauk]

I swear the more I learn about the level of how strongly Jay Cutler doesn't give a , the more I like the dude.

He throws way too many tantrums for someone who doesn't give a .

[FiddySicks]

I swear the more I learn about the level of how strongly Jay Cutler doesn't give a , the more I like the dude.

He throws way too many tantrums for someone who doesn't give a .

I mean in terms of what everyone thinks of him.

I'd be throwing a fit too if I had linemen that were as tough as wet cardboard.