American Sports Thread

[magpie seanie]

To the Rodgers haters - he got 44 votes out of 50 for the QB Position on the AP All Pro team 

So approx 1 in 8 do not think he was the best QB in the NFL this season. I'm possibly in that camp, definitely not MVP though. If I am a "hater" cos of that so be it.

Who would your MVP be Seanie?
Rodgers v impressive this year IMO.
Not sure how bad his inj is!

Think the ravens were the 'form team' so expected them to pip inconsistent steelers.

Same could be said of the panthers being the form team beating cardinals - but I thought the cards might just do enough to win. But obv I was way wrong!

Bro thinks it's patriots v packers but I think there will be an upset or two yet!

JJ Watt.

I think Dallas could give the Packers a tough enough shake of it, especially if they get Murray going and control the clock which is highly possible. If they survive that they've most likely to beat Seattle in Seattle. I wouldn't put money on the Packers making the SB.

In the AFC it looks like the Patriots have to be warm favourites. Denver look to have made a conscious attempt to run the ball more and take the load off Peyton Manning a little. Is that to keep things fresh or is he struggling? We will find out. I'm leaning towards the latter but perhaps they are just keeping their powder dry for the bigger/biggest tests. Indy are capable of going there and beating them. It should be a really good game. Can't see Baltimore, even with "the best QB in football" beating the Pats in Foxboro. Just think the Pats have so many options all over the place that they'll come up with enough plays to win the AFC.

[AZOffaly]

Sounds heretical, but if Manning was QB for the Colts, and Luck for the Broncos, I could not see the Colts getting within two touchdowns. I think Manning's arm strength (never his best asset) is gone, and he is surviving on smarts. He struggled as a 'dome' quarterback on the road in places like Pittsburgh and New England. I think Luck is a stronger armed QB, and probably better equipped to deal with cold/windy weather.

If Denver win, I think it will be on the back of their running game. The Colts were able to stop Hill and Bernard largely because AJ Green wasn't on the field, so you could have a safety cheat up. Too many WRs in Denver to do that, so I think the Broncos may be able to win on the ground.

[magpie seanie]

Agree with all that pretty much.

[lynchbhoy]

To the Rodgers haters - he got 44 votes out of 50 for the QB Position on the AP All Pro team 

So approx 1 in 8 do not think he was the best QB in the NFL this season. I'm possibly in that camp, definitely not MVP though. If I am a "hater" cos of that so be it.

Who would your MVP be Seanie?
Rodgers v impressive this year IMO.
Not sure how bad his inj is!

Think the ravens were the 'form team' so expected them to pip inconsistent steelers.

Same could be said of the panthers being the form team beating cardinals - but I thought the cards might just do enough to win. But obv I was way wrong!

Bro thinks it's patriots v packers but I think there will be an upset or two yet!

JJ Watt.

I think Dallas could give the Packers a tough enough shake of it, especially if they get Murray going and control the clock which is highly possible. If they survive that they've most likely to beat Seattle in Seattle. I wouldn't put money on the Packers making the SB.

In the AFC it looks like the Patriots have to be warm favourites. Denver look to have made a conscious attempt to run the ball more and take the load off Peyton Manning a little. Is that to keep things fresh or is he struggling? We will find out. I'm leaning towards the latter but perhaps they are just keeping their powder dry for the bigger/biggest tests. Indy are capable of going there and beating them. It should be a really good game. Can't see Baltimore, even with "the best QB in football" beating the Pats in Foxboro. Just think the Pats have so many options all over the place that they'll come up with enough plays to win the AFC.

He's good but maybe no Richard dent yet!!
Could be a good shout with no single outstanding offensive standout IMO

[cadhlancian]

No outstanding offensive candidate? 38 TDs, 7 ints, 2 rushing TDs , nearly 4400 pass yards and over 200 rushing yards isn't enough for you? Total rating of over 114. Guys, if Rodgers continues for say another 5 or 6 years at his current rate, he'll own nearly every record in the history of QBs. He has been lights out all year, Seanie , you are a Bears fan. That is why you don't like him. Don't be spouting any other dung about this and that, the fact is you simply don't like cos he's a packer. That's fair enough.

[cadhlancian]

Btw, Seanie you were pointing out that Rodgers was playing against bad secondaries, thus his numbers. Watt played against Two teams that had O-lines ranked in the top 15. He had one sack total against both.... Goose and gander and all that.

[magpie seanie]

No outstanding offensive candidate? 38 TDs, 7 ints, 2 rushing TDs , nearly 4400 pass yards and over 200 rushing yards isn't enough for you? Total rating of over 114. Guys, if Rodgers continues for say another 5 or 6 years at his current rate, he'll own nearly every record in the history of QBs. He has been lights out all year, Seanie , you are a Bears fan. That is why you don't like him. Don't be spouting any other dung about this and that, the fact is you simply don't like cos he's a packer. That's fair enough.

Two QB's threw more TD's.

The INT's stat is impressive (actually only 5), though Nick Foles had a season with a similar INT rate as I pointed out earlier on his thread.

Six QB's threw for more yards (including Matt Ryan and Eli Manning).

Tony Romo had a better QBR (Rodgers was 112.2 according to NFL.com, Romo 113.2).

Six QB's rushed for more yards including Andrew Luck who also had one more rushing TD.

Rodgers had a very good season but I would argue that Luck for example, was a far more valuable player. His stats are better in all categories except INT's and QBR and his team had no running game to speak of. At the very least it's a close call.

As for this rant:

Seanie , you are a Bears fan. That is why you don't like him. Don't be spouting any other dung about this and that, the fact is you simply don't like cos he's a packer. That's fair enough

Grow up!

[lynchbhoy]

Btw, Seanie you were pointing out that Rodgers was playing against bad secondaries, thus his numbers. Watt played against Two teams that had O-lines ranked in the top 15. He had one sack total against both.... Goose and gander and all that.

Re read what I said

No SINGLE outstanding candidate doesn't mean there was none !!

I like Rodgers btw.
Prefer foles but I'm biased

[AZOffaly]

Rodgers is class, but I think there are a few excellent offensive performers this year. Demarco Murray couldn't be far off the voting either. JJ Watt is my MVP because he is such an anomaly at that position. I know that's not the criterion for selection, technically, but he is so good and so versatile and so unique, I think he is the MVP of the League.

[magpie seanie]

Btw, Seanie you were pointing out that Rodgers was playing against bad secondaries, thus his numbers. Watt played against Two teams that had O-lines ranked in the top 15. He had one sack total against both.... Goose and gander and all that.

I never said anything of the sort. Get your facts straight.

[Hound]

That was brutal. Still a very good year for AZ, but jaysus I could throw the ball better than lindley. I'm not even sure I'm joking!

Panthers were also that poor that the Cards still could have won had the punter not put in the worst performance from a kicker I've ever seen. Gave the Panthers decent field position every time.

But season effectively ended for the Cards when Palmer got injured. Stanton probably would have got the job done last week but wouldnt have next week. If Palmer had been fit it would have been home field advantage all they way through and that would have given a glimmer of hope.

[cadhlancian]

I got you mixed up with someone else Seanie, he was backing up a point you made, but it it was his comment. Apologies. Eli, and Matt Ryan both have more passing yards because both teams were behind in many games for much of the year, and there running game wasn't as good as Green Bays. Luck also had 16 picks and threw the ball nearly 100 times more than Rodgers. Both Ryan and Eli had 14 picks. Ryan had a few more passing yards, on over a 100 more passing attempts. Eli had a bit more , on nearly 100 more attempts. Watt is a great player, there is no doubt about that. If he continues doing what he's doing , he will be a first ballot hall of famer, no doubt. The texans were the 16 ranked defense this year, and as I said earlier , he had ONE sack against Olines in the top half of rankings? Great player, but not an MVP for me, but sure who knows ..

[AZOffaly]

That was brutal. Still a very good year for AZ, but jaysus I could throw the ball better than lindley. I'm not even sure I'm joking!

Panthers were also that poor that the Cards still could have won had the punter not put in the worst performance from a kicker I've ever seen. Gave the Panthers decent field position every time.

But season effectively ended for the Cards when Palmer got injured. Stanton probably would have got the job done last week but wouldnt have next week. If Palmer had been fit it would have been home field advantage all they way through and that would have given a glimmer of hope.

I agree. Well, I'm not sure about homefield all the way through because they'd probably still have struggled to beat Seattle, but I think they'd have finished 13-3 or thereabouts. They'd have beaten Atlanta and the 49ers.

You're also right about the punter. Yet another injury change. Dave Zastudil was the punter and he was very good. Ted Ginn Jr probably also played himself out the door, he's been poor on returns all year.

One of the things about the Cardinals, in relation to their offense, is they are not built to be a running offense at all. Scat backs like Ellington and the like are supposed to break the odd big one, but really serve as pass protects and dump off. Stepfan Taylor (or Jonathan Dwyer!) were supposed to be the 3 yards and a cloud of dust between the tackles runners. But they were a sideshow. Everything hinged on protecting Palmer, and using the passing game to move the ball. The running game was always going to just 'keep teams honest'.  If you look at coaches film, which I sadly do, you can even see the way the O-Line blocks is tailored towards pass protect. They don't fire off the ball like a good running O-Line does. They do the kick slide, into a passing pocket, and they are decent at that (although Bobbie Massie at right tackle has been weak). But they are not a physical, blood and snots, O Line that will pound you.

That's fine and dandy, but the problem was when Lindley, and to a lesser extent Stanton, were at QB the opposition just said 'OK, we don't think you can score on us through the air, so we're going to put 8 or 9 lads in the box and stop you even running the ball 3 yards. Then if you can't pass either, you are bollixed'. That's how it played out. Running game non-existent against a solid run defense like Seattle and/or Carolina. Passing game pathetic. Defense completely worn out after a long season and many injuries. Game over.

Carson Palmer is no Aaron Rodgers, but he's an NFL calibre QB and the Cardinals would have had the ball longer, scored more and protected the defense a bit better with him I think. When he went down, the whole offense tried to become something it wasn't built to be, and that's not a recipe for success. When Stanton went down, it got even more lopsided.

[Carmen Stateside]

Here we go, would love Baltimore to get the win.  Think they have a decent chance, but sit;; have to fancy Brady in Foxboro.  Seahawks should take care of Panthers later.

[Carmen Stateside]

Nice start Ravens!