NFL 2016 Discussion Thread - Ready for Some Football

I just got home from working the cardinals game and oh man was that an ordeal. Our usual routine got interrupted due to a lot of help being needed for the half time show which meant we had to bring in our audio gear from the bands as the game got out. Everyone was drunk. Lots of Larry chants, lots of packers and cardinals fans were ejected from the game. Lots of wives very mad at the drunk men who just got ejected from the game. One drunk guy who thought the game was over when it was actually still in the third kept trying to tear down our equipment and had to be physically escorted out of the gates. All in and all, pretty fun day at work.

What a great and insane game/second half that GB/ARI game turned out to be. GB had a good game plan on defense to pressure Palmer for really the whole game and still somehow, Palmer and the Cards found ways to stay in it. Michael Floyd was the unsung hero catching 2 Palmer TD's. Rodgers also keeps finding ways to find open targets no matter who's catching, and Janis was a serious help for that case with yet another unbelievable Hail Mary catch, and another TD from earlier. Then Carson and Larry marched down the field and earned the game winning score to advance. I'm rooting for Arizona to go all the way and I went from being shocked from the Hail Mary to ecstatic seeing the Cards win in OT.

KC had some poor, poor time management against the Pats and surprise, NE wins and takes advantage of KC's mistakes. I guess the dream of Dan Ryckert owning Baseball and Football is dead now.

That game last night was ridiculous. Rodgers made two Hail Mary throws in the span of several seconds to bring it to OT and Fitzgerald + that last play call for him to bring it home was just incredible.

Anyway, as a Bears fan, for today I'm cheering for Chico Rivera.

Russell Wilson taking all sorts of Ls today and it's not even halftime.

Ugh. That's all. Ugh.

Time for a comeback. Come on Hawks pull a TCU!

Would be extremely happy to see either Cam or Fitz take the Super Bowl.

Fuck everyone in the AFC.

Oh well, good game panthers.

Can't come back from that deficit. GG, Carolina deserved that one they were the better team throughout the year. Now that the Hawks are out gonna be rooting for the Broncos to win it.

Honestly, Seahawks didn't deserve to make playoffs.

@gnomeonfire: it's true. They've been playing like shit all year. The o-line has been bad all year long.

Aw man, roll on next season.

If anything, I'd probably just cheer for the Broncos to make it through the AFC. As for the NFC, I like both Carolina and Arizona but I'm leaning towards Arizona because of Fitzgerald and their 80 year old assistant coach who was also a part of the VERY FIRST Super Bowl with Kansas City. If they win it next week and make it to Super Bowl, that's going to be pretty special I imagine.

Well, after the last two weekends all I can say is:

Bravo, NFL script writers. Bravo.

Seahawks and the steelers out.

Happy man.

@milkman: Yep. Again, I'd prefer the Cards to win the SB, but I'd be happy to see Cam hoist the Lombardi trophy.

I wouldn't be too heartbroken seeing Peyton win one more SB, just rather see one of the NFC teams win it all. Just as long as NE doesn't defend the title, I can live with this season.

Also, I have a feeling Denver will get to the SB because since 2005, Peyton Manning led teams either lose their first playoff game or make a run into the SB:

I feel like I have to root for Carolina because I wouldn't want the chance of Arizona winning a SB in our stadium. At the same time though, I respect Fitz too much to be upset if he got a ring. As long as whoever wins beats the Patriots/Broncos, I'll be ok with this playoffs.

Considering this is likely Mannings last year with the Broncos I really don't want the Broncos to lose to the Patriots. Brady has plenty of life left in him to come back and get his next ring. Please god don't let this Patriots team add "killed Peyton Manning" to their list of accomplishments.

For the NFC I don't really care which of them get into the Superbowl.

I have disliked the Broncos since the 80s, that will continue this year. I think Carolina is a beast of a team, so it would be cool to see them. Actually, Arizona would be a cool team to see in the Super Bowl as well. I have no animosity towards any NFC team, really. So either one would be cool.

Full disclosure, I'm a dirty Pats fan (I remember when they drafted Bledsoe, so I'm from before the good times) so I'm obviously rooting for my Pats to get a 5th and cementing that team legacy and QB legacy to diamond hardness. I know it annoys a lot of football fans, but that's just the way it is for me. The thing is, I know this isn't going to last, so I want as much success as possible before Brady declines or Belichick retires, or whatever happens. But until that happens...

The Patriots destroying Denver seems like such a given, but this is a year of fuckery, so I'm ready for anything.

NFC game should be fun. Either Carolina goes to the Super Bowl or Fitz does, so it's win-win.

@jadegl said:

I have disliked the Broncos since the 80s, that will continue this year. I think Carolina is a beast of a team, so it would be cool to see them. Actually, Arizona would be a cool team to see in the Super Bowl as well. I have no animosity towards any NFC team, really. So either one would be cool.

Full disclosure, I'm a dirty Pats fan (I remember when they drafted Bledsoe, so I'm from before the good times) so I'm obviously rooting for my Pats to get a 5th and cementing that team legacy and QB legacy to diamond hardness. I know it annoys a lot of football fans, but that's just the way it is for me. The thing is, I know this isn't going to last, so I want as much success as possible before Brady declines or Belichick retires, or whatever happens. But until that happens...

I can't be mad at you for supporting your team. But god damn it I want to see the Pats lose to Denver so much. The only team I currently dislike more than the Pats right now are the Seahawks for handing the Pats another superbowl win by screwing up so monumentally. Build Malcolm Butler a statue in the parking lot standing over a defeated Russell Wilson.

- An Eagles fan who feels bad for KC for having Andy Reid and his awful clock management curse.

Go Broncos! People have been writing us off all season, and it would be huge to beat the Pats again and go to the big game.

@jesus_phish said:

@jadegl said:

I have disliked the Broncos since the 80s, that will continue this year. I think Carolina is a beast of a team, so it would be cool to see them. Actually, Arizona would be a cool team to see in the Super Bowl as well. I have no animosity towards any NFC team, really. So either one would be cool.

Full disclosure, I'm a dirty Pats fan (I remember when they drafted Bledsoe, so I'm from before the good times) so I'm obviously rooting for my Pats to get a 5th and cementing that team legacy and QB legacy to diamond hardness. I know it annoys a lot of football fans, but that's just the way it is for me. The thing is, I know this isn't going to last, so I want as much success as possible before Brady declines or Belichick retires, or whatever happens. But until that happens...

I can't be mad at you for supporting your team. But god damn it I want to see the Pats lose to Denver so much. The only team I currently dislike more than the Pats right now are the Seahawks for handing the Pats another superbowl win by screwing up so monumentally. Build Malcolm Butler a statue in the parking lot standing over a defeated Russell Wilson.

- An Eagles fan who feels bad for KC for having Andy Reid and his awful clock management curse.

Yeah, man, that clock management by the Chiefs was terrible. I was completely baffled by how poorly the Chiefs handled the end of the game. They should have had a legitimate chance to send that game to overtime if they hadn't bungled the clock the way they did. I can only imagine how mad Chiefs fans were watching that (I'm a Patriots fan), because I know if it was the Patriots using the clock like that I would have grown more agitated with every wasted second that ticked away.

@ll_exile_ll: I would have been livid. It wasn't even the timeouts, it was just that it seemed that the Chiefs were playing with no urgency. I mean, you don't want to score too quickly and give the Pats too much time to maybe score again, but you want to make sure you give yourself enough time to recover the onside kick and score OR defend if you fail and get the ball back with some time to even try a Hail Mary. It was unbelievable seeing all that time just being lost.

It's down to Reid. He's always been awful at clock management. He comes up with great plays and strategies but he's absolutely awful at managing the clock.

I'm predicting the Cardinals and Patriots win and that the Patriots win yet another Super Bowl

Thank you Denver! Now can Arizona pull a win out?

Denver better hope Arizona wins, Cam will give Denver a lot more trouble with their pass rush.

@recspec: Yeah, it would probably be another Super Bowl 48 situation.

I can't believe Denver has made it to the Super Bowl this season. I mean, I also couldn't believe they were actually winning throughout the season either, what with their rushing game being sub-par and their abysmal QB play. It would be ironic if out of all the Denver Peyton years, this was the year Peyton got his ring.

The Arizona Cardinals be like:

I'm torn on the ARI-CAR game. I feel good for Cam and the Panthers and they look like the SB favorites, but that was depressing to watch Carson Palmer and the defense implode like that. I really hoped that was going to be a better game.

As a Denver fan, I hope the Super Bowl will not be another lopsided affair like last time with the Seahawks. Even if the Broncos lose, I hope it's a close game.

@busto1299: Rooting for the Broncos as well man, want to see Peyton get another ring before retiring.

@i_stay_puft: Yeah it would be a great way to end his incredible career.

@busto1299: Rooting for the Broncos to win it just cause Cam is a major d-bag.

Not a fan of either team, but the Panthers are going to annihilate Denver.

As a Panthers fan from when I lived in Charlotte in the late '90s, I am excited. On paper, the Panthers win it. Nothing's guaranteed with that Denver defense, though. And I have to say, thank you Denver for beating New England; no way the Panthers would have beat the Patriots in the Super Bowl (though it would have been close).

I'm not just excited for my team, but also for Cam. I have been following him since he won the National Championship with Auburn. I loved seeing him help to revitalize the Panthers, but hated that things never clicked all the way for him. During 2011-2014, Panthers and Cam would look good, and made the playoffs the past couple years, but were inconsistent. I'm glad they finally turned the corner this season.

I'm a Peyton Manning fan too, and if it had been the Cardinals, I would have rooted for him. But sorry, it's my Panthers! So I have to root against him in what could be his last NFL game.

This season has also been special for me as I went to a couple Panthers games (I had never been to a live NFL game before this season). I saw them play the Saints at home when I went on a trip to Charlotte last fall, and saw them play the Cowboys in Dallas (where I live now). I just hope they can go all the way.

So go Panthers!

I like the Panthers because of Chico Rivera (I'm a Bears fan) but just this once I'll root for the Broncos and Peyton Manning so he can go out on a high note.

I know the Panthers will be back next year and hopefully win one then even if they fall short this time. They have a core that'll last them until the following season if everything goes according to plan.

Ditto. Also Michael Jordan is a terrible person and I don't want anything he supports to win.

I don't find Cam to be a huge d-bag. Cocky for sure but there are people far worse in that league to really earn that kind of reputation.

@gnomeonfire: What makes you think Michael Jordan is a terrible person?

@busto1299: There's tons of stories, you can literally just google "Michael Jordan terrible person" and find a bunch.

Damn. I just had a long post on this upcoming Super Bowl get extinguished into nothingness after hitting post. Let's try again. I'll give the Cliffs Notes version.

Denver's defense is probably better than Carolina's offense, but Carolina presents a lot of problems that the Steelers and Patriots did not. Namely, they aren't going to be one dimensional in their attack. They attack your defense on multiple levels and are extremely difficult to scheme against. Not only can they run the ball (something Pittsburgh and New England couldn't even pretend to do competently), their QB has to be accounted for as a running threat on every play. That's a big challenge for any defense.

While that side of the ball is where the sexiness lies, the game will likely be won on the other side of the ball. I think Carolina's defense dominates Denver's offense. This is simply not a good match-up for Denver. Carolina is susceptible to the deep ball but Peyton is incapable of throwing anything beyond 10-15 yards with any accuracy at this stage of his career.

I say Carolina wins by two scores. The only path to Denver victory that I see is through forcing multiple turnovers and getting some lucky bounces. Which, in fairness, they've pretty much been doing all season long. Eleven of their fourteen victories this season have been by 7 points or less, which is a modern day NFL record (post 1970 merger). They've been very good, but they've also been very lucky. As well as their defense played on Sunday, they were essentially a missed extra point away from having to play overtime, in a game that they pretty much dominated for three and a half quarters. And this is after barely beating a severely gimped Steelers team at home. I know some people will say that this means "it's their year," or whatever. But I see it as them surviving by the skin of their teeth. Maybe it lasts another game, but I think the odds are against it. Most people don't get happy storybook endings, and I don't see one happening for Peyton.

I really hope that this will be a close game that comes down to the wire in thrilling fashion. I really don't want to see a repeat of the horrific stomp-fest that the Broncos suffered against the Seahawks several years ago in that lopsided Super Bowl in New York. With how both defenses are playing, it should be a rough, low-scoring game as both offenses struggle to move the ball.

I hope the Panthers pull a Seahawks on the Broncos.

I hope that doesn't happen. That was a bad Super Bowl game.

@gaspower: But Manning lost super super hard. That was nice.

@gaspower: It was fantastic if you are a Hawks fan!