redsoxnation
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|  #1 Posted on 28.11.04 2132.18 | Instant Rating: 5.60 | The absolute ineptitude of the majority of the National Football Conference was humorous for a great stretch of the season. Now, however, that humor is being replaced by disgust. Atlanta and Philly are fine teams, and really, they don't deserve to be lumped in with the rest of the flotsam and jetsam in the conference. However, should Green Bay win at home on MNF against the Rams, this is how pathetic the NFC will be:
The Seahawks, who were pummeled at home by a mediocre at best Buffalo team that struggles away from home, will have a division lead in December and be on pace for a home playoff game.
The Rams and Giants at 5-6 will be tied for the final playoff berth. That would be the Rams with the mental pigmy Mike Martz running the show and the Giants with the offense of a popgun being the front runners for playoff football.
Now, the really ugly stuff: The Saints (who are as inept as any team in football), the Lions, the Bears, the Cowboys, the Cardinals, the Panthers and the Bucs are only 1 game out of the playoffs at 4-7. After watching on Thanksgiving Day, the Lions, Bears and Cowboys shouldn't be able to be in a position to qualify for high school playoffs, let alone a shot at the Super Bowl. Hell, its so bad that if the Redskins actually show heart down the stretch at 3-8 they could become playoff factors.
At this point, forget 8-8 getting the 6 seed in the NFC. 7-9 might get a team in without tie-breakers, 6-10 could cause the points for/against tie-breaker to come into effect.
Money is no replacement for the love of a good woman. Real estate, especially in the current marketplace, is another story.| Promote this thread! |           | Mr. Boffo
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| #2 Posted on 29.11.04 0025.56 | Instant Rating: 4.29 | Originally posted by redsoxnation
At this point, forget 8-8 getting the 6 seed in the NFC. 7-9 might get a team in without tie-breakers, 6-10 could cause the points for/against tie-breaker to come into effect.
Now, the NFC does suck, but this is a stretch. Looking at the standings, it seems obvious that the #5 team will be the loser of the Green Bay/Minnesota breakdown (barring an unforseen [or forseen for Minnesota, as the case may be] collapse). That leaves one more team that will make the playoffs. St. Louis could easily go 4-1 the last five weeks, especially if Philly & NYJ are resting guys for the playoffs (they both play @ StL in weeks 16 & 17) .
Anyway, I agree with your premise, but I think you're exaggerating. At the worst, the #6 seed will go 8-8, if not 9-7.
NOTE: The above post makes no sense. We apologize for the inconvenience.
| Grimis
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| #3 Posted on 29.11.04 0634.06 | Instant Rating: 7.29 | First off, this is the current NFC situation:
1. Philadelphia(10-1)
2. Atlatna(9-2)
3. Minnesota(7-4)
4. Seattle(6-5)
5. Green Bay(6-4)
6. St. Louis(5-5)
7. New York(5-6)
8. Chicago/Detroit/Dallas/Carolina/Tampa Bay/Arizona/New Orleans(4-
Originally posted by Mr. Boffo
Now, the NFC does suck, but this is a stretch.
Well, let's go to the schedule of the teams...
WEEK 13
Sunday, Dec. 5
Arizona at Detroit
Atlanta at Tampa Bay
Carolina at New Orleans
Minnesota at Chicago
San Francisco at St. Louis
Green Bay at Philadelphia
N.Y. Giants at Washington
Monday, Dec. 6
Dallas at Seattle
WEEK 14
Sunday, Dec. 12
Chicago at Jacksonville
Detroit at Green Bay,
New Orleans at Dallas
N.Y. Giants at Baltimore
Seattle at Minnesota
San Francisco at Arizona
St. Louis at Carolina
Tampa Bay at San Diego
Philadelphia at Washington
WEEK 15
Saturday, Dec. 18
Pittsburgh at N.Y. Giants
Washington at San Francisc
Carolina at Atlanta
Sunday, Dec. 19
Dallas at Philadelphia
Houston at Chicago
Jacksonville at Green Bay
Minnesota at Detroit
Seattle at N.Y. Jets
New Orleans at Tampa Bay
St. Louis at Arizona
WEEK 16
Friday, Dec. 24
Green Bay at Minnesota, 3:00 p.m.
Sunday, Dec. 26
Atlanta at New Orleans
Carolina at Tampa Bay
Chicago at Detroit
N.Y. Giants at Cincinnati
Arizona at Seattle
Washington at Dallas
Monday, Dec. 27
Philadelphia at St. Louis
WEEK 17
Sunday, Jan. 2
Detroit at Tennessee
Green Bay at Chicago
Minnesota at Washington
New Orleans at Carolina
N.Y. Jets at St. Louis
Atlanta at Seattle
Tampa Bay at Arizona
Indianapolis at Denver
Dallas at N.Y. Giants, 8:30 p.m.
So the good news is that the likelihood of a 7-9 team getting in with all of these teams playing each other is remote, but 8-8 is not out of the question...
 | The Thrill
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| #4 Posted on 29.11.04 0755.34 | Instant Rating: 4.25 | Catch The Thrill on "Pick of the Week": taped Tuesdays at Planet Magic in Denmark, WI; on the air Sundays @ 1 am on WB-14!
And your requisite Packer homer point:
When (if?) the Pack wins tonight on MNF, they'll be tied w/ Minnesota again...and due to their win vs. the Vikes a couple o'weeks ago, they'll be considered #3 in the NFC, right behind Philly and the Dirty Birds...certainly not behind Seattle.
Damn, that Christmas Eve game at the HumptyDome (p'tooey!) is looming even larger now...
Star wipe, and...we're out.
Thrillin' ain't easy.
THE THRILL
ACW-NWA Wisconsin Home Video Technical Director...& A2NWO 4 Life!
(Click the big G or here to hear the Packers Fight Song in RealAudio...or try .AU, .WAV or .MIDI!)
| dMr
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|  #5 Posted on 29.11.04 1154.51 | Instant Rating: 5.73 | While I don't deny that the NFC is inferior to the AFC at present, I largely disagree with your assessment.
The Eagles and Falcons, as you point out, are both pretty darned good teams capable of giving any of the contenders from the AFC a game, even if in the Falcons case thats only because KC isn't a contender 
Behind them you've got Minnesota, who have kept ticking away in spite of losing arguably their biggest offensive threat for several weeks. They were pretty damned unlucky in fact to lose out to the much lauded Colts away from home and without Randy, and even as an Eagles fan I would concede that had a couple plays gone the other way they could easily have taken a victory away from Philly.
Green Bay having overcome some astoundingly awful D in the early weeks now look more than worthy of a playoff berth. Their offense is one of the most complete out there, and their D is certainly no worse than say, Indy's, particularly now that Grady Jackson's back to stuff the run.
Below that the quality tapers off a bit, but St Louis and Seattle both have more than enough quality to be playoff teams, its just consistency they struggle with. For all Seattle got thumped by Buffalo, they came pretty damned close to ending the Pats unbeaten run, and would have had a shot at it in the final minutes if they'd bothered to remember the Pats were still allowed to throw it in the last five minutes. And the mental pigmy has taken his team a ways in the playoffs before.
Below them the Giants only need to get moderate play out of Eli to be a threat, and Carolina are coming back now that they found a running game, in spite of having an IR role longer than many teams rosters.
And heck, we were hearing the same stuff about AFC superiority most of last season, but it never stopped Carolina (generally regarded as 4th best in the NFC going into the playoffs) from taking the Pats (widely regarded as the best from the AFC heading in) down to the wire.
 | BigSteve
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| #6 Posted on 29.11.04 1521.59 | Instant Rating: 2.01 | "St. Louis could easily go 4-1 the last five weeks"
Easily? This is the Rams, cooached by Mike Martz we're talking about here. I find it a whole hell of a lot more likely that they win only 1 or 2 games down the stretch. Then again, of those teams underneath the Rams right now (Lions, Bears, Cards, Skins, Saints, Seahawks), I can't see any of them being competent enough to put together a good run.
I don't think that the Eagles and the Falcons are close to being as good as the Steelers or the Pats. The Eagles are a good team, but when they played the AFC, they got whipped by PIT, and had trouble with BAL and CLE. The Falcons got trounced by a poor KC team. If those results don't prove how bad the NFC is, I don't know what does.
"And heck, we were hearing the same stuff about AFC superiority most of last season, but it never stopped Carolina (generally regarded as 4th best in the NFC going into the playoffs) from taking the Pats (widely regarded as the best from the AFC heading in) down to the wire"
Amd of course, that's the other side of the coin. In the NFL, anyone can beat any other team on a given week, especially in the playoffs where it's single elimination. You've only got to win one game against the other conference to win the whole thing. | Net Hack Slasher
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|  #7 Posted on 2.12.04 0048.50 | Instant Rating: 9.00 | Atlanta is the strangest 9-2 team I've ever seen, just not impressive as their record will states. The play down to their competition almost every game. They allowed The NY Giants with Eli playing his first game to make the game close, they won against the Saint's last week on a last minute play... I guess they can look at it as a positive in winning games close and being able to constantly pull out the victory. But early in the season defeating the horrible 49ers by 2-points and a couple of weeks later defeating the Cards 6-3. People mentioned the KC loss and now defeating the Eli first game in Giants by only 4-points and beating the New Orleans Aint's only by 3.
smark/net attack wienerville advisory holds at ORANGE alert - High (JBL is STILL WWE champion and now smarks arch enemy HHH is the World Champion. Major red threat, but the undercard seems okay. The alert holds... for now)- 9/19 | dMr
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| #8 Posted on 2.12.04 1153.55 | Instant Rating: 5.73 | Originally posted by BigSteve
I don't think that the Eagles and the Falcons are close to being as good as the Steelers or the Pats. The Eagles are a good team, but when they played the AFC, they got whipped by PIT, and had trouble with BAL and CLE.
Against the Browns, our D sucked, no argument there, but we still won.
Against the Ravens I never felt like we were in trouble once we got ahead, in spite of Kyle Boller showing signs of mediocrity. We only manage like 3 points or something from 2 trips down to the goal line, so if anything we should've made the game even easier. Either way, I'd reckon both the Browns and Ravens struggled a good deal more with us than we with them, given that we won both games.
Against the Steelers, the whole team more or less blew goats. Both lines forgot to pitch up, McNabb was off his game, and we had Dorsey fricking Levns as the featured back. Not a merry mix. Since then though McNabb started spreading the ball around to receivers who don't have the initials TO, Trotter and Rayburn have shored up the run D, and things generally look rosy again.
But heck, the Pats got cuffed by the Steelers too. So we're 2-1 against the AFC in spite of playing abysmally twice.
The Falcons got trounced by a poor KC team. If those results don't prove how bad the NFC is, I don't know what does.
Indy got tanked by KC too, albeit less impressively. Atlanta are a decent team capable of hanging with anyone, but the fact that their offense relies so heavily on Vick also makes them vulnerable. Get ahead of them early and you force him to throw, which to be perfectly honest he doesn't do well. Of course if and when the Steelers ever go behind by a couple scores THEY'LL have to rely on a young QB who's numbers are going down each week, so the same flaw may yet be seen in them.
In a nutshell, I'd say the top 4 NFC teams (Philly, Green Bay, Minnesota and Atlanta) match up pretty well against Pittsburgh, Indy, NE and San Diego.
Below that the AFC is a bit stronger largely due to the next batch of playoff contender being a bit deeper and a bit more consistent. Even then, Denver (vs Atlanta, Tampa, Oakland), Jacksonville (Lions, Viks) and Baltimore (Browns, Pats) have all had games where they looked mince.
To conclude, the AFC is very strong and the strength is rather deep. The NFC also has strong teams, but isn't so hot on the strength in depth front. The disaprity is not nearly so great as some would have us believe though.
(edited by dMr on 2.12.04 1754)
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