2007 NFL Playoffs thread

XXXIV · Post by **XXXIV** » Mon Jan 22, 2007 12:17 am

Templehorn wrote:da-da-dum, da-da-dum..............

Danimal · Post by **Danimal** » Mon Jan 22, 2007 12:19 am

ESPN and braintrust are two words that should never be used together. Don't worry I am sure ESPN's own Gene Wojciechowski is hammering out another article saying how bad the Bears suck, guys been basically sucking New Orleans dick for the last 4 weeks.

At least the media has a story worth reporting for two weeks about African American head coaches.

RobVarak · Post by **RobVarak** » Mon Jan 22, 2007 12:20 am

First line that I've seen:

2/4 6:25 ET Indianapolis -7 Chicago

RallyMonkey · Post by **RallyMonkey** » Mon Jan 22, 2007 1:07 am

What the hell happened to the Pats' defense where Clark was so damn open on that big play on the final drive? Had to be a breakdown somewhere.

I looked at my wife when the Colts came to the line on that play and said "Any reason we STILL have no one assigned to Clark. He's about to be wide open, watch" and bang.

Bottom line again, we (Pats) stopped running the ball in the second half. Did Dillon even play after halftime. Your defense is EXHAUSTED and you don't try and give them any break by running the ball? Stupid.

Regardless, i'm upset, but the Colts deserved this one. All the credit in the world to that offense for fighting back. And major kudos to Manning. After Samuel took that pick back for a TD he could have hung his head and crawled into his shell. Instead he battled and led his team to the win.

Good luck to all Colts and Bears fans. Should be fun.

JRod · Post by **JRod** » Mon Jan 22, 2007 1:26 am

RallyMonkey wrote: Good luck to all Colts and Bears fans. Should be fun.

Except the Bears are in the Super Bowl. Grossman and Greise do NOT deserve a Super Bowl ring. Urlacher does! If they win can they just give out rings to the defense.

pk500 · Post by **pk500** » Mon Jan 22, 2007 1:27 am

RobVarak wrote:First line that I've seen:

2/4 6:25 ET Indianapolis -7 Chicago

That's a bit fat. I'm liking the 'dog ...

Take care,
PK

b_assassin · Post by **b_assassin** » Mon Jan 22, 2007 2:57 am

Sweet, the stupid Patriots lost! Boy, that Super Bowl looks interesting...oh wait, I just realized I don't care.

RobVarak · Post by **RobVarak** » Mon Jan 22, 2007 3:05 am

JRod wrote:
RallyMonkey wrote: Good luck to all Colts and Bears fans. Should be fun.
Except the Bears are in the Super Bowl. Grossman and Greise do NOT deserve a Super Bowl ring. Urlacher does! If they win can they just give out rings to the defense.

Are you off some kind of medication? The Bears were tied with the Colts in Scoring Offense, 8th in the league in pass TD's, and scored more points per game than the Colts. But hey, don't let the facts trouble your obviously well thought out opinion.

RobVarak · Post by **RobVarak** » Mon Jan 22, 2007 3:08 am

pk500 wrote:
RobVarak wrote:First line that I've seen:

2/4 6:25 ET Indianapolis -7 Chicago
That's a bit fat. I'm liking the 'dog ...

Take care,
PK

There's gonna be a ton of homer money poured into the Bears and it'll be 5-5.5 by kickoff.

I got the Bears at 12-1 in Vegas back in February. I laid the bet at the same time that I bet on Italy to win the World Cup, which means that if they do win I should never bet on sports again...as my best days will be behind me

Brando70 · Post by **Brando70** » Mon Jan 22, 2007 10:38 am

RobVarak wrote:First line that I've seen:

2/4 6:25 ET Indianapolis -7 Chicago

That is f***in ridiculous. I am not upset the Colts are favored -- they played a harder schedule in a harder conference and won only one less game than Chicago. But the Bears hold the top offense in the league to 14 points and win by 25, and they're seven point underdogs against an Indy team that probably would have lost if Reeche Caldwell hadn't done his Tony Romo impression twice?

And seriously, enough with the nonsense about Grossman. It's his first full season and he's shown a lot ups and downs. He didn't play well yesterday but came through when it mattered and didn't force anything that wasn't there. He's been the key all year in allowing the offense to open up the playbook. There's a reason why his teammates have stuck by him when a lot of Bears fans were calling for his head.

The Colts will be a very, very tough opponent. Manning is a great QB, their defense has stepped it up in the playoffs, and they can run the ball. But if the Bears run like they did yesterday and force a few TOs, they are winning that game.

JRod · Post by **JRod** » Mon Jan 22, 2007 11:34 am

I don't think the Bears make it to the playoffs if they play in the AFC. The NFC north was pretty bad this year.

Even if they win the Superbowl, Grossman will be no better than the Baltimore QB that won it a few years ago. What was his name? That's my point!

pk500 · Post by **pk500** » Mon Jan 22, 2007 12:08 pm

JRod wrote:I don't think the Bears make it to the playoffs if they play in the AFC. The NFC north was pretty bad this year.

Even if they win the Superbowl, Grossman will be no better than the Baltimore QB that won it a few years ago. What was his name? That's my point!

Trent Dilfer. And if the Bears win, Dilfer and Grossman will have some neither Jim Kelly nor Dan Marino has: A Super Bowl ring.

And if the Bears win, Grossman will deserve his ring because so far he has done little or nothing to hurt the Bears in their two playoff victories. Like Dilfer in 2000, he has made the high-percentage plays, has made few mistakes and has kept a steady hand on the tiller.

That's all the Bears ask and need from Grossman, and it's all the Ravens needed from Dilfer in 2000.

Is there some sort of unwritten rule where the winning Super Bowl team MUST have a Hall of Fame quarterback? I've never read it. A steady offense and savage defense can win.

As much as everyone is making this game a tussle between the Colts' offense and the Bears' defense, I think the performance of each team's offensive line will be vital.

If the Bears' offensive line controls the line of scrimmage like it did yesterday against New Orleans and keeps Freeney off Grossman's back, then Indy will have trouble.

Jones and Benson are a better running tandem than Addai and Rhodes, and you damn well better believe that Lovie Smith is going to take a page out of Parcells' book from the 1990 Super Bowl and use a ground-control, short-passing game to keep Manning and Co. off the field, just like Parcells derailed Kelly and the K-Gun in the famous "Wide Right" Super Bowl.

If Indy's offensive line can open some regular, consistent holes for Addai and Rhodes and keep Chicago off Manning's back, then it could be a long night for the Bears.

The O line play will be crucial, as always. The media can have the Manning vs. Urlacher matchup. I'll keep my eyes on the O lines.

Take care,
PK

XXXIV · Post by **XXXIV** » Mon Jan 22, 2007 12:12 pm

The Bears did get the right opponent.
Im going to make my prediction right now.

Bears 27
Colts 20

Brando70 · Post by **Brando70** » Mon Jan 22, 2007 12:16 pm

JRod wrote:I don't think the Bears make it to the playoffs if they play in the AFC. The NFC north was pretty bad this year.

Even if they win the Superbowl, Grossman will be no better than the Baltimore QB that won it a few years ago. What was his name? That's my point!

Seriously, you are kidding, right? With the crapalicious Chiefs backing their way in and the Jets winning 10 games? The AFC was better but not that much better. The quality difference was greater last season, I think. The fact that Indy could be a third seed with the worst run defense in two decades says a lot about the quality of the AFC.

I am not about to predict what Grossman's career will be, but he's definitely earned the right to start for the Bears in two weeks. He had an ugly game statistically but came through on a key drive, while Brees turned the ball over twice at key moments for the Saints. I'll take winning ugly over losing pretty any day of the week.

Post by **ScoopBrady** » Mon Jan 22, 2007 12:32 pm

Grossman has gone 15-3 as a starter this season and has had more good games than bad ones. The thing he's lacked all season is consistency. That doesn't mean he can't put in a great performance. I hope all the experts pick against the Bears again this week. I know they can win this game and will wait to see if they do.

Yesterday was surreal. The last time I went to the NFC Championship game was in 1989 and it wasn't anything like it was yesterday. The Fox stage was right in front of my section. That was totally cool. The stadium was rocking from beginning to end and when the snow picked up in the second half it started bringing memories of the 85 NFC Championship game.

AJColossal · Post by **AJColossal** » Mon Jan 22, 2007 12:39 pm

A WOW is all I can muster right now. That Bears D played with a lot of pride when everyone else thought they had fallen by the wayside. Congrats to them!

I love the fact that we're playing America's sweetheart and the Colts are going to be everyone's clear cut favorite. Love it.

grtwhtsk · Post by **grtwhtsk** » Mon Jan 22, 2007 12:54 pm

The Bears relish this underdog role. Important thing is I don't believe the Colts are buying it at all. I'm with PK, I think this game rides on the play of the offensive lines. I'm just going to sit back and enjoy it.

tjung0831 · Post by **tjung0831** » Mon Jan 22, 2007 12:59 pm

The Bears are going to get smoked....it's going to be real ugly too . I'm thinking somehwere along the lines of 41-13 or so.

RobVarak · Post by **RobVarak** » Mon Jan 22, 2007 1:02 pm

ScoopBrady wrote:

Yesterday was surreal. The last time I went to the NFC Championship game was in 1989 and it wasn't anything like it was yesterday. The Fox stage was right in front of my section. That was totally cool. The stadium was rocking from beginning to end and when the snow picked up in the second half it started bringing memories of the 85 NFC Championship game.

Scoop, have you seen the broadcast yet? At some point down the stretch, when it was clearly over, they showed a montage of the '85 defense. Serious goose bump time. It was cool that the Bears had Dent as their honorary captain.

kevinpars · Post by **kevinpars** » Mon Jan 22, 2007 1:27 pm

You get the sense from what the Bears players are saying, that they are just as sick of hearing about the 1985 Bears as they are sick of the press saying that they are not going to win the SB with Rex Grossman.

It is like any employee. You start a job and all you hear about is how good things used to be. No matter what you do or how you do it, the old guard will talk about how great things were in the old days.

Grossman is a player who looks like a goofball whenever the camera shows him. (Like right before halftime when he starting walking off the field when the Bears wanted to run a few more plays, or the open receiver in the end zone that he overthrew by about 5 feet). Compare him to the Bears 1985 QB who seemed to shine when the spotlight was on him. The end result is that people remember McMahon as better than he was and see Grossman as the worst QB to ever start a SB game.

I think that I would wait until after the game to label Grossman in the worst category. I would take Neil O'Donnell and the points.

Post by **ScoopBrady** » Mon Jan 22, 2007 1:29 pm

RobVarak wrote:Scoop, have you seen the broadcast yet? At some point down the stretch, when it was clearly over, they showed a montage of the '85 defense. Serious goose bump time. It was cool that the Bears had Dent as their honorary captain.

Haven't watched the broadcast yet but I have it on the DVR.

wco81 · Post by **wco81** » Mon Jan 22, 2007 1:45 pm

Saints did a poor job with protection. Brees fumbled twice but it could have been a lot more. This game was reminescent of some in his last season at San Diego. The Bears weren't going to give up rushing yardage so instead of sticking with the run, Brees and Payton tried to open it up but leaving themselves vulernable to all those turnovers.

I remember being annoyed that Chargers would throw more than they ran a lot of games, because I had LT as my main FF guy. The plays that typified Brees/Payton's mentality was the two plays at the 5 which led to the safety. Bears were coming but looked like the Saints were not only not going to try to get some more room (at least for their punter) by running, they were going to drop back into the end zone and look for some slower-developing routes.

After that, Saints never really threatened again and their defense finally collapsed. They had done a good job of keeping the team close but the offense didn't come through.

In the SB, I would really be shocked if the Bears got those kinds of turnovers. Plus you figure they will gameplan better for the aggressive DEs who were rushing up wide, leaving some gaps.

You can't handicap turnovers so you wouldn't think Colts will hand the ball to the Bears the same way the Saints did (although that KR fumble should have been overturned).

Bears best chance is to run and keep the ball away from the Colts. If they get into a scoring-fest, no way they keep up, unless the poor-tackling Colts of midseason returns.

The other thing is get at least a couple of big plays on returns. Colts special teams are suppose to be poor.

brendanrfoley · Post by **brendanrfoley** » Mon Jan 22, 2007 2:21 pm

As a Patriots fan, losing last night hurts. But I tip my hat to the Colts, because they played their butts off.

I also think yesterday was one of the rare times Belichick was outcoached. Here's why:

The Patriots abandoned -- ABANDONED running the ball. Corey Dillon's last carry came with a few minutes left in the 3rd quarter. Unacceptable.

There was also poor clock management down the stretch. The Patriots got the ball back, up 34-31, with 3:30 left to go. After the too many men in the huddle penalty, they needed 15 yards.

1st play -- 7 yard pass, in bounds, clock running.

2nd play -- 4 yard pass, in bounds, clock running. Colts call their 2nd timeout with 2:30 left on the clock.

3rd play -- incomplete pass. Patriots are forced to punt.

Hear me out on this. If the Patriots RAN on 3rd down, they would have been able to wait out to the 2 minute warning, THEN punt. The Colts would have saved their timeout for their field goal team.

Indy would have gotten the ball back with 1:45 left at their own 20 and 1 timeout. The ability to use the middle of the field would have been limited -- and the Patriots would have had less to defend.

Feanor · Post by **Feanor** » Mon Jan 22, 2007 2:54 pm

Little Mike from Mike & Mike was one guy from ESPN who picked the Bears; maybe the only one.

Brando70 · Post by **Brando70** » Mon Jan 22, 2007 2:55 pm

wco81 wrote:In the SB, I would really be shocked if the Bears got those kinds of turnovers. Plus you figure they will gameplan better for the aggressive DEs who were rushing up wide, leaving some gaps.

You can't handicap turnovers so you wouldn't think Colts will hand the ball to the Bears the same way the Saints did (although that KR fumble should have been overturned).

Yeah, but the Colts have been very sloppy with the ball during the playoffs. Six interceptions and six fumbles (amazingly with none of them being lost). While I wouldn't count on four turnovers, I do think the Bears can produce 2-3, and that's usually enough to turn a Super Bowl.

PK is right, the lines will definitely be where the game is won or lost. If the Bears don't run well against the suddenly rejuvenated Colts defense, they will almost surely lose.