2014 NFL Season Thread

[DG_ThenNowForever]

For what it's worth, there are lots of people in town with one or two degrees of separation from Russell Wilson, a lot of them having met him at Seattle Children's Hospital. I know a couple myself and have seen the photos on Facebook.

That doesn't mean he might not have his demons, but he's definitely given back to the Seattle community in ways he doesn't have to.

[See Red]

Quick little rant: On Facebook and Twitter, I have seen a lot of hate being shown towards the Cowboys about the call tonight, and I've heard "karma" being used a lot. Well, the Cowboys aren't the reason the call was reversed. Blame the refs, not the team that won.

I still don't understand how people think it was a bad call. I can't think of an instance I've seen in the NFL in the last 3 or so years where, even after a challenge, they've ruled in favor of the WR on a play like that. The rule doesn't say anything about a football move or about reaching forward or anything, it just says if you go to the ground in the process of making a catch, you have to possess the ball through contact with the ground, which he did not. It is a stupid, stupid rule. But as per the rules, the call was correct.

But there has to be some way to draw that line. Some people have been saying "football move". He had three steps. Obviously if he'd run 15 yards, it would be a catch/fumble. Maybe we are not even disagreeing; that is what makes the rule so terrible. Based on my reading of the rule, I honestly would not know what to call this play. Why? Because a line has to be drawn; somewhere between one step and after running 15 yards. I don't know where that line is. It sounds, based on Perrera and what I've red, that this call was consistent with the way this rule's been called. But as far as how it's written and what happened...I'd tend to think of it as a catch.

And I still can't imagine this happening to Dallas vs. about 28 of the NFL's teams.

I'm bias, but once his knee hit he should've been down by contact. At that point he had possession, and it wasn't until he went for the goal line when the ball got loose. That is such a weird rule.

I wanted to make that argument but I kinda think he gained possession after contact was done being made.

Am I also the only one not convinced the ball hit the ground at all?

I don't know man, the whole thing makes my head hurt. I'm still trying to figure out how they called the pass Cobb dropped a completion. That ball clearly touched the ground.

The ball can touch the ground and still be a catch.

I'm somewhere between Jackie Chan confused face, and Playstation Guy mind blown gif on that one. Fix it NFL.

Well, as long as it's considered to be completely in possession of the WR when it touches the ground. I don't remember the exact circumstances with the Cobb catch, I was watching the TV from afar while eating, and can't find a video but if he had his hands firmly grasped onto both sides of the ball, and the ball then touches the ground but doesn't move around in his grip, it would be considered a catch. It's difficult to explain without an example to show.

With Dez, the ball hit the ground and not only moved pretty significantly, but at one point was completely out of his hands as he rolled over and regained possession.

[Sport]

The 12 thing is everywhere around Seattle. I think because it makes people feel like they're more a part of the team's fortune than they actually are, but mostly it's everywhere because businesses can use it to get in on some of this Seahawks action, but don't have to pay to license it. It's pretty smart.

[FiddySicks]

Seattle is a terrific city, and it was by far my favorite place I've ever lived. Also, I generally love the people up there and think they're really laid back and genuine people. But I wanna see them lose SO BAD. I've never seen a group of fans become so annoying in such a short amount of time. In the few months I lived up there I met so many Seahawks fans who had pretty much turned to Cowboys fan "America's Team" level insufferable after the one measly title. I get celebrating a title, celebrate away, but the arrogance was just ridiculous. After moving back to Arizona I had several Seattle based friends who called me IN AUGUST asking if I could help them get hotel rooms for when they were back in the Super Bowl.

I'd love to see the Packers beat them next weekend just to shut them up, but I doubt it'll happen. Best case scenario at this point is the Packers play the Colts in the Super Bowl, but it's gonna be Seahawks vs Pats, and either outcome of that is gonna suck. Either Seattle is gonna get even more ridiculous, or Boston wins another tittle. Yuck.

[Rockstar Matt]

I guess I haven't met too many arrogant Seattle fans here in LA, but I've always taken a liking to them. I'm firmly on the Seahawks bandwagon for the last 3 games this season.

Granted, the collective d*** sucking of Russell Wilson by the media is extremely irritating. He's a good quarterback don't get me wrong, but he's not a Top 5 QB.

[Unocal]

You know who else has to be feeling sick right now? The Steelers. They could have easily done what the Colts did today.

[Viper]

Peyton: Regular-season juggernaut who (except for one season) always chokes in the playoffs.

Eli: Awful in the regular season, but if his team still manages to make the playoffs, then he becomes practically unbeatable.

[Unocal]

Those who wanted Cowboys karma after last week? Be careful what you wish for if the NFC-CG isn't competitive.

[Coast2CoastAM2006]

Bad call or not, Dallas still allowed GB to come back in the second half and basically take it over when it mattered. I have no issue with the call. The call doesn't make or break the game.

[Still MIGHTY]

The Colts... won? in Denver? to advance to the AFC title game? I am honestly and truly pleasantly surprised. I did not think this team had it in them. I really didn't. But they played damn near perfect, especially on defense with their line pressure, tight secondary, and (praise jeebus) excellent tackling and wrapping up. Luck played great, the receivers caught the ball for him, the run game was gritty/gutty and effective. Special teams did their jobs. Total team win. Just great.

And onto the AFCCG in New England? Man, it's all gravy. Do I hate Tom Brady? Yup. Do I hate the Pats? Yup. But like I said, I didn't ever expect to this Colts team to get where they are. Too inconsistent, couldn't run, defense just flat out couldn't tackle, but they've put it all together and here we are. I still don't expect a win, but they're taking it in steps, and we're back in New England for an AFC title game just like the old days with Peyton. And speaking of...

Oh man, Peyton Manning. He just looked bad. So so bad. I'm very happy the Colts won, but at the end of the game, watching Peyton trying to lead that comeback as he had done so many times as a Colt and seeing him just unable to do it, it saddened me. If the Colts were to have won, I wanted it to be a fight. Two teams and quarterbacks slugging it out with one simply outlasting and beating the other. It started out how I wanted, but once the Colts got ahead, I never felt threatened. It was almost painful to watch. If Peyton truly doesn't have it anymore, I want him to see that and retire. He doesn't deserve the "held on too long" season.

---

Also, with that Dez Bryant catch, what would have happened if he had actually broken the plane with that lunge? If he broke the ball into the end zone? I've almost got to believe that's called a touchdown. Like I see the rule, I get it, but Dez took THREE STEPS and LUNGED TO THE END ZONE. Obviously he has a bias, but he said exactly that in the post game. If you want to believe him, he was in full control of what he was doing. He knew what he was doing extending towards the end zone.

[Cosmic]

Bad call or not, Dallas still allowed GB to come back in the second half and basically take it over when it mattered. I have no issue with the call. The call doesn't make or break the game.

I was mostly with this argument last week for Detroit (weren't there like 7 minutes left or close to it?), but you go for what common sense says should be 1st and goal on the 1 or possibly even a touchdown to turnover on downs is pretty darn important.

[Tigers6884]

Colts-Patroits should be interesting. That being said, I'll be rooting for Tom Brady and the rest of New England.

[Balu the Bare]

Also, with that Dez Bryant catch, what would have happened if he had actually broken the plane with that lunge? If he broke the ball into the end zone? I've almost got to believe that's called a touchdown. Like I see the rule, I get it, but Dez took THREE STEPS and LUNGED TO THE END ZONE. Obviously he has a bias, but he said exactly that in the post game. If you want to believe him, he was in full control of what he was doing. He knew what he was doing extending towards the end zone.

I just saw the video...I don't believe he was in control of his actions for the bolded reason. Those weren't full control steps, that was him stumbling and then lunging to the end zone IMHO. The amount of steps he takes doesn't matter because he's in the process of going to the ground during the catch. Is it a stupid rule? Yes, from the moment they put it in to justify taking a win from Detroit years back. As dumb as it is, it is the rule and the correct call.

In any case...Dallas had their chances.

[Kramerica Industries]

Watching that Indy-Denver game, I'm just not quite sure how to describe it. The entire game, I kept expecting Denver to eventually get the ball rolling on offense, and it never came. Their only touchdown came on their first drive, a drive extended by a personal foul, otherwise it would've been a three-and-out. That may have been the worst I've ever seen Peyton Manning look. Ducks and incompletions; almost nothing was on target, and D. Thomas dropping a couple passes surely didn't help, either. C.J. Anderson was the only thing that made the Broncos offense look halfway-respectable. If this was how bad their offense had dwindled to, then maybe it doesn't matter if they won or lost because New England would've slaughtered them in Foxboro, but it's still disappointing.

Not to take anything away from the Colts, who it must be said have seen some serious improvement with their corner play this season. Their problem going into Foxboro now is going to be that, in the last two meetings where they've played the Patriots, it's been a bloodletting on the ground. Blount had 160+ in the playoff game last season and, of course, Jonas Gray had nearly 200 in November. Obviously the latter won't happen again for a multitude of reasons, but I expect an entirely different gameplan from the one New England used to beat Baltimore.

--

It sucks that the Dez Bryant catch was erased, but it was also entirely not surprising. Maybe that's the bigger disappointment in all of this - the extreme measures it takes sometimes for a catch to really be a catch. Precedent has established long ago by now that a play like that will result in an incomplete pass, so I really have a hard time with any kind of "Dallas was robbed" thinking. However, maybe the act of completing a catch should be redefined in the rule book to be something that is easier to understand than a Tolstoy novel. Just an idea.

--

(I also watched both those games yesterday on extreme tape delay, so, haha, I see that the Dez Bryant catch/no-catch stirred up quite the internet storm and I'm probably glad to have avoided that.)

[FGM13]

Watching the Dez Bryant incompletion, it was probably the right call in regards to the rule, but that's not the problem. The rule is the problem. If you can watch that and seriously say that he didn't catch that ball, then I don't know what to tell you.

[TheOldRoman]

Sometimes it's just about playing on the right team and getting the lucky bounces. There were a lot of times in his career where Peyton just didn't get those bounces.

I agree that a lot of winning a Super Bowl is luck. But Peyton generally crumbled when the pressure was on. Off the top of my head, I can't remember a really bad playoff game Tom Brady had. He's generally played pretty well, even in defeat. But Peyton's teams generally lose because of him on the biggest stage, not in spite of him. Even putting aside yesterday's game because it sure looked like he was injured and at the end of his rope, he has been very Favreian in finding ways to make playoff mistakes. Last year the greatest offense of all time got a safety on the first play and then packed up their tent. The year before he failed to put away a mediocre Ravens team and then threw a terrible pick in OT to end it. In 2005, the Colts were down 21-3 entering the fourth quarter. Peyton threw a tantrum after the game and blamed his line (the best in football) for not protecting him well enough.

I'm not saying he's not one of the best of all-time, I just don't think his playoff failures were chance as much as him :censored:ing up.

[Lee Noire]

Someone mentioned earlier that the talking heads were acting like Rodgers was out there on two broken legs, and all around choking on the D. I didn't really notice it til this morning, and my goodness it's grating. Again, I'm bias, but Romo was about as broken as a guy could be and he still took the field.

[Mac the Knife]

[See Red]

Sometimes it's just about playing on the right team and getting the lucky bounces. There were a lot of times in his career where Peyton just didn't get those bounces.

I agree that a lot of winning a Super Bowl is luck. But Peyton generally crumbled when the pressure was on. Off the top of my head, I can't remember a really bad playoff game Tom Brady had. He's generally played pretty well, even in defeat. But Peyton's teams generally lose because of him on the biggest stage, not in spite of him. Even putting aside yesterday's game because it sure looked like he was injured and at the end of his rope, he has been very Favreian in finding ways to make playoff mistakes. Last year the greatest offense of all time got a safety on the first play and then packed up their tent. The year before he failed to put away a mediocre Ravens team and then threw a terrible pick in OT to end it. In 2005, the Colts were down 21-3 entering the fourth quarter. Peyton threw a tantrum after the game and blamed his line (the best in football) for not protecting him well enough.

I'm not saying he's not one of the best of all-time, I just don't think his playoff failures were chance as much as him :censored:ing up.

Manning actually had better playoff numbers than Brady heading into yesterday. One place Brady benefitted was from the support he received from the defense and running games. Statistically, anyways. Say what you want about Manning in that Ravens game but he did enough to win it and if the defense doesn't make an all-time lapse, they do win it. That game was also notable for the Broncos inability to run on third and one three or four times late in that game.

You can't remember a bad playoff game Brady had? You must not be trying very hard. How about last years AFC Championship game?

[OnWis97]

Brady also had a HUGE fumble that cost his team a playoff game and a chance at being a surprise Super Bowl winner.

Oh wait, he was throwing that ball.