Official 'Other Wild-Card Games' Thread

[Deranged Rhino]

34 minutes ago, Alaska Darin said:

Great, now we can listen to a week's worth of talking heads whining about Akers' behavior just after the play. 

 

Welcome to a game played by men. 

 

30 minutes ago, TakeYouToTasker 2.0 said:

Not just that, but when Akers got up and celebrated, very mildly might I add, that he had no idea Baker was injured.

And, the refs let it get chippier than needed on the several plays prior. Akers was in that moment, not even aware Baker was hurt. 
 

But no one will comment on the refs’ role. 

[IDBillzFan]

 

[KD in CA]

[Joe]

2 hours ago, KD in CA said:

"Kliff"

 

What a name. Matches an eminently punchable face

[Ann]

This is good news:

[Alaska Darin]

[devnull]

31 minutes ago, Alaska Darin said:

[Foxx]

38 minutes ago, Alaska Darin said:

Too funny. And also, too true.

[IDBillzFan]

6 minutes ago, Foxx said:

Too funny. And also, too true.

 

The dude was a mess last night. A white hot mess.

 

I watched the Manningcast for the second half of the game, and Peyton starts saying "This isn't over. If I'm Kyler Murray, I'm going up to each of my linemen, and each of my receivers, and letting them know we got this. Get them ready to go back in."

 

As he finishes talking, the game camera shows Murray sitting by himself on the bench like he just got caught pulling the fire alarm during a snowstorm in middle school.

[Foxx]

20 minutes ago, IDBillzFan said:

 

The dude was a mess last night. A white hot mess.

 

I watched the Manningcast for the second half of the game, and Peyton starts saying "This isn't over. If I'm Kyler Murray, I'm going up to each of my linemen, and each of my receivers, and letting them know we got this. Get them ready to go back in."

 

As he finishes talking, the game camera shows Murray sitting by himself on the bench like he just got caught pulling the fire alarm during a snowstorm in middle school.

Kind of amazing what losing Hopkins did to him.

[IDBillzFan]

Just now, Foxx said:

Kind of amazing what losing Hopkins did to him.

 

And Fitzgerald, to some degree, because Fitzgerald was the patriarch of that team and he left before Murray understood how to fill that role. By the time JJ Watt got hurt, there was no leader in the locker room.

[Alaska Darin]

6 minutes ago, Foxx said:

Kind of amazing what losing Hopkins did to him.

Don't discount the injury to Connor, who was tearing it up prior and made them really hard to defend (RPOs were off the hook).  The Rams did a great job of "rush discipline" last night, exposing KM's real weakness - his tiny stature.  When he's outside the pocket or able to use his legs to make plays, he's special.  In the pocket?  Not so much.

 

 

[Foxx]

2 minutes ago, Alaska Darin said:

Don't discount the injury to Connor, who was tearing it up prior and made them really hard to defend (RPOs were off the hook).  The Rams did a great job of "rush discipline" last night, exposing KM's real weakness - his tiny stature.  When he's outside the pocket or able to use his legs to make plays, he's special.  In the pocket?  Not so much.

 

 

I don't know that I'm sold on Kingsbury either.

[Alaska Darin]

Just now, Foxx said:

I don't know that I'm sold on Kingsbury either.

100% agree.  The fact they never went hurry up told me all I needed to know about that guy.  Dude, you're down 4 TDs the first time you get the ball in the second half....and you're using 30+ seconds of clock between plays.  Might as well punt on 1st down.

[Foxx]

7 minutes ago, IDBillzFan said:

 

And Fitzgerald, to some degree, because Fitzgerald was the patriarch of that team and he left before Murray understood how to fill that role. By the time JJ Watt got hurt, there was no leader in the locker room.

Cracked me up when they were doing a bit on Vance Joseph and how he never had a defense that was truly his and how this Cardinals defense was the first he has coached that can really be said to be his. I understand the Rams are pretty good but the Cards D was getting smoked all over the field last night.

[Alaska Darin]

4 hours ago, Foxx said:

Cracked me up when they were doing a bit on Vance Joseph and how he never had a defense that was truly his and how this Cardinals defense was the first he has coached that can really be said to be his. I understand the Rams are pretty good but the Cards D was getting smoked all over the field last night.

It's almost impossible to play good defense when your offense is doing nothing drive-after-drive.  They actually had 3 consecutive "3 and outs" where the Rams started past their own 40.  To that point they'd only given up 2 TDs (the third was Murray's ridiculous attempt to throw the ball away).

 

That epic Ravens' defense is the only one I can think of that was able to completely compartmentalize their play, basically ignoring how bad their offense was and playing out of their minds no matter what. 

[Foxx]

1 minute ago, Alaska Darin said:

It's almost impossible to play good defense when your offense is doing nothing drive-after-drive.  They actually had 3 consecutive "3 and outs" where the Rams started past their own 40.  To that point they'd only given up 2 TDs (the third was Murray's ridiculous attempt to throw the ball away.

 

That epic Ravens' defense is the only one I can think of that was able to completely compartmentalize their play, basically ignoring how bad their offense was and playing out of their minds no matter what. 

The '85 Bears as well possibly.

[Alaska Darin]

7 minutes ago, Foxx said:

The '85 Bears as well possibly.

Overall they scored the second most points in the league.  McMahon, when healthy was an above average QB and they played pretty complementary football. 

 

I think Fuller played like 5 games for them (including the MNF loss to the Fish) - so that part of the comparison is valid.

[Foxx]

27 minutes ago, Alaska Darin said:

Overall they scored the second most points in the league.  McMahon, when healthy was an above average QB and they played pretty complementary football. 

 

I think Fuller played like 5 games for them (including the MNF loss to the Fish) - so that part of the comparison is valid.

I get what your saying about one side of the ball playing out of their minds regardless of what the other side is doing.

 

That said, I have always held the belief that the flow of the game dictates how a team responds. By that I mean if your team is not scoring points, the other team doesn't have to score much and as a result, they may play down to your level. The obverse applies as well. If your team is playing lights out and scoring a lot of points, the other team will often play out of their minds and raise their level of play and score more than they might otherwise. 

 

While I do think the '00 Ravens were a mighty fine D, it is with the above in mind that I think the Bears '85 D was possibly the best I have witnessed in my lifetime. 

[Alaska Darin]

Just now, Foxx said:

That said, I have always held the belief that the flow of the game dictates how a team responds. By that I mean if your team is not scoring points the other team doesn't have to score much and as a result, they may play down to your level. The obverse applies as well. If your team is playing lights out and scoring a lot of points, the other team will often play out of their minds and raise their level of play and score more than they might otherwise.

I generally agree with you on this...human nature and all that.

 

I think the Ravens were more impressive because offenses were so much more sophisticated in 2000.  The Bears were out of their mind good and physically/mentally tore through everyone but the Dolphins - but today's modern passing game is basically the answer to "how do we beat the 46?".

 

I've always wondered what the Super Bowl woulda looked like if the Fish defense coulda tacked any running back in that AFC Championship game.