American Sports Thread

[gallsman]

Absolutely ruthless display from Atlanta.

[thewobbler]

Atlanta very impressive but there must have been some virus in the Green Bay camp this weekend. No other explanation for every last one of them being off colour.

[magpie seanie]

Atlanta very impressive but there must have been some virus in the Green Bay camp this weekend. No other explanation for every last one of them being off colour.

Packers are a very average team who were carried by Rodgers brilliance. When his protection wasn't as good and he started to shit himself after getting a few hits as he always does it all fell apart. He was lucky he wasn't ejected for pulling the helmet off Alford by the facemask. He's a brilliant QB but no one can do it on their own.

[Syferus]

Patriots to walk through the Falcons. Nightmare champion is upon us.

[cadhlancian]

You can hate all you like, but surely now Brady has cemented his place as the best QB to play the game? Seven SBs in a salary cap era is an unbelievable achievements. There are no Julios or Antonio Browns or OBJs on that team, but their gameplay execution is second to none. Brady will be 40 in the summer, and tbh, is showing very little signs of slowing down, although it's gonna happen at some point. This is without Gronk as well. Chandler Jones, roaded. Jamie Collins , roaded . Business as usual. Whoever wins, will have to put up at least 35 points... could be a classic.

[magpie seanie]

Did ya hear that some gobshite set off the alarm in the Steelers hotel at 3am, forcing an evacuation. He fled via a waiting car but was later arrested. Since Trumps election assholes everywhere are emboldened but this is typical Patriots cheating. Obviously no link to the team but the culture of cheating is clearly embraced by this supporter. Hopefully Atlanta can do it but it's looking bad.

[Minder]

Did ya hear that some gobshite set off the alarm in the Steelers hotel at 3am, forcing an evacuation. He fled via a waiting car but was later arrested. Since Trumps election assholes everywhere are emboldened but this is typical Patriots cheating. Obviously no link to the team but the culture of cheating is clearly embraced by this supporter. Hopefully Atlanta can do it but it's looking bad.

Good weekend for Brady & Bellichick, getting to the Super Bowl & their buddy Trump getting inaugurated 

[AZOffaly]

I only watch the condensed version of the Pats and Steelers, so I'll look at it more this evening. The Falcons were very good against the Packers, but I'm suspicious of them. Green Bay needed to make plays to stick with the pace being set, and when they didn't it became very easy for Atlanta. Green Bay were also very banged up, so that didn't help. The main thing though is they have very little running game, and Atlanta did to Rodgers what you have to do to him. Get pressure on, and in such a way that he can't escape left or right. I think he was only out of the pocket 3 or 4 times. All the other times he was throwing from a pocket or else was hit. That's exactly what you want. He's still a great QB, but when he's a pocket passer, he's just another great NFL QB, and if you can cover the receivers for a normal amount of time, you have a great chance. When he runs around, the receivers eventually get open and that is what kills defenses.

Atlanta are balanced. They have 2 decent running backs, 3 or 4 good receivers and a very good NFL professional quarterback. However I just can't get the feeling out of my head that Bellichick will take 2 weeks and have something for them. The problem for the Pats is they normally take away your best player. That's Belichicks M.O for years. With Atlanta, that might be harder to do. You can take away Jones, but they spread it around so much that they still may be able to make hay with Sanu and Gabriel, not to mind Freeman catching it out of the backfield. You also have 2 running backs that can be productive, so it'll be harder to take away the run game.

I'm going to watch the games back, and the coaches film, but at this point my gut trusts the Patriots more to make plays against the Atlanta Defense, and it just feels like the Hoodie will do something to stymie the Falcons.

[Walter Cronc]

Not only has Stuart Lancaster improved Leinster but now the Atlanta Falcons

http://www.express.co.uk/sport/rugbyunion/686166/Stuart-Lancaster-handed-defence-coach-role-Atlanta-Falcons-Rugby-Union-return-News-Gossip

[J70]

Did ya hear that some gobshite set off the alarm in the Steelers hotel at 3am, forcing an evacuation. He fled via a waiting car but was later arrested. Since Trumps election assholes everywhere are emboldened but this is typical Patriots cheating. Obviously no link to the team but the culture of cheating is clearly embraced by this supporter. Hopefully Atlanta can do it but it's looking bad.

This type of stuff has been happening in soccer for years. Usually the fans just gather in front of the hotel and make a pile of noise all night!

[Minder]

Atlanta very impressive but there must have been some virus in the Green Bay camp this weekend. No other explanation for every last one of them being off colour.

Packers are a very average team who were carried by Rodgers brilliance. When his protection wasn't as good and he started to shit himself after getting a few hits as he always does it all fell apart. He was lucky he wasn't ejected for pulling the helmet off Alford by the facemask. He's a brilliant QB but no one can do it on their own.

Yeah good summation Seanie, Packers are average in a lot of areas and below average in some. Linebackers are atrocious and Clay Matthews isn't even close to giving value for money. With Joe Flacco or an ordinary Joe at QB this team would be lucky to win 6 games. A lot of that lies at the door of Ted Thompson, the GM, won't spend in free agency.

No matter how well Rodgers plays they will never win a Super Bowl with that D, saw a stat today that Rodgers has 3 playoff losses where the D has allowed 44 points. 

Tom Brady has *never* played on a team where a D has allowed 44 pts (267 starts).....

Obviously injuries hurt them, you had Gunter (undrafted in 2015) trying to cover Julio Jones, the bloodbath everyone expected happened

[magpie seanie]

Atlanta very impressive but there must have been some virus in the Green Bay camp this weekend. No other explanation for every last one of them being off colour.

Packers are a very average team who were carried by Rodgers brilliance. When his protection wasn't as good and he started to shit himself after getting a few hits as he always does it all fell apart. He was lucky he wasn't ejected for pulling the helmet off Alford by the facemask. He's a brilliant QB but no one can do it on their own.

Yeah good summation Seanie, Packers are average in a lot of areas and below average in some. Linebackers are atrocious and Clay Matthews isn't even close to giving value for money. With Joe Flacco or an ordinary Joe at QB this team would be lucky to win 6 games. A lot of that lies at the door of Ted Thompson, the GM, won't spend in free agency.

No matter how well Rodgers plays they will never win a Super Bowl with that D, saw a stat today that Rodgers has 3 playoff losses where the D has allowed 44 points. 

Tom Brady has *never* played on a team where a D has allowed 44 pts (267 starts).....

Obviously injuries hurt them, you had Gunter (undrafted in 2015) trying to cover Julio Jones, the bloodbath everyone expected happened

Yeah, it got crazy with the secondary. Green Bay's defence had just about done enough - a big play here and there making up for leaking yards and points - but against a really good offence playing well it was going to be a tall order.

I know it's laudable (and probably still the best way) "building through the draft" and retaining your better players but sometimes you have to pay top dollar in free agency to get the pieces in place. There needs to be a mixture. Would GB have cap space? Despite it being predominantly a passing league you still do need a running game and the Packers haven't really had one for quite some time. Lacy looked like he was going to be that piece but has really disappointed. From the outside looking in it looks to me that the Packers coaches don't think you really need a run game.

[gallsman]

Is paying top dollar in free agency, particularly on the defensive side, not generally shown to be a vastly more inefficient way of building a team?

[cadhlancian]

Did ya hear that some gobshite set off the alarm in the Steelers hotel at 3am, forcing an evacuation. He fled via a waiting car but was later arrested. Since Trumps election assholes everywhere are emboldened but this is typical Patriots cheating. Obviously no link to the team but the culture of cheating is clearly embraced by this supporter. Hopefully Atlanta can do it but it's looking bad.

ffs, wise up seany! Typical patriots cheating? Some clown does that , and that's what you come out with? You're usually a level headed poster. That's a ridiculous comment...

[declan85]

Is paying top dollar in free agency, particularly on the defensive side, not generally shown to be a vastly more inefficient way of building a team?

You're right that its not the correct way to build a team but its a great way to finsh off a team and make a good team a contender such as Talib and Ware to Denver a few years back