BuffOrange

He didn't really say it explicity but you could hear it in his voice as he was calling the play: "And they throw on 1st down!" [raised voice emphasis on 'throw'].

Shift goalposts much? You said their Front 7 is "nowhere near good enough" which is obviously ridiculous. Yes they were outplayed and maybe outcoached in the 2nd half - Harbaugh while being insufferable, is maybe the best coach in the league. That is not mutually exclusive with the refs giving SF every call and multiple scores in the 1st half. Neither of these teams was going to beat the other down 13 with half a quarter left. We're all aware of the one call that went against SF because Harbaugh of course had to react like he lost his first born son.

This, especially when the remaining alternatives are what they are. Refreshing to see a QB who: A) Knows something about the game's history in an era where most of these clowns couldn't tell you who won Super Bowl II. B) is smart enough to manage a game like an expert Madden player.. 2:02 left why not throw it on 1st down? Jim Nantz and his idiocy is not surprisingly shocked by this.

Its one game and the refs gave SF 10 pts.

Ya that's an elite front 7. The points about their offense are valid though. Everyone said poor Kaepernick had no weapons when Crabtree & V. Davis were injured but he still has a better supporting cast even with those guys out than Cam does normally.

Crazy talk.

"Nobody else has 3 good players so let me just name their 3 most popular players (not their 3 best mind you) to highlight my awful point ". - Casual fan posting 101.

This is the most 1sided officiating I've seen since the Steelers-Seahawk SB. Aikman is killing it.

Ya you're wrong. When was the last time SF gave away a down with a qb sneak on their own 20 after a FG/touchback? Too bad SF has been handed 6pts by the refs.

__ This. What a steaming pile of garbage this conference would be if not for Cuse & Pitt. Where is the UNC fan who used to troll these threads? GTFO.

Well ya, juggernauts are usually QB'd by Rodgers/Manning/Brees/Brady. I'd never hire an OC who happened to luck into one of those guys. Zimmer probably did do a more impressive job though considering he was missing his two best players for much of the year.

I lived there my first 22yrs & always said "Sarah". Never heard it pronounced any other way.

I thought so too but it looked & sounded more like Seton Hall, ha. Wtf? I got it on espn3 in Philly just fine. Was never worried even a little bit. I would like to see Ennis take more of those 3s if people are going to guard him out there like he's Keita or someone; he's obviously not an inept shooter so why the heck not.

Sure, Indy is a flawed team on defense and the skill positions w/ a great QB. That's a stark contrast to NE how exactly? I guess NE has a better OL but otherwise they're almost mirror images. If they lose Saturday it will be less of an upset than the Jets/Ravens chokejobs imo.

If you want to trot out the QB problem in defense of the OC I guess that's fine but lets face it, the offense sucked. Your 19 ranking is inflated due to their fast pace & subsequent more plays. Football Outsiders had them 25th which is more accurate.

I've thought a lot about this (why QB is so important now) & something about the chalk answer of "it's easier to throw now" never made sense to me. I mean if the NBA moved the 3pt line closer teams would shoot more 3's, sure. But would that really make good 3pt shooters more valuable? I would think the opposite. The bolded part is the one that gets overlooked imo (and the salary cap). There just isn't the talent gap in overall rosters that there used to be; thus the importance of the most important position is amplified. I am starting to think it's less important in the postseason. The idea that Eli & Flacco are elite is obviously 'circular logic'. They are elite in the same way Dalton would be considered elite if he played a good 4 games starting yesterday and won it all this year. If you're not considered a stud before a playoff run you're not a true stud imo. Everyone knew Rodgers was a stud before his run in 2010. Or at least everyone not named Colin Cowherd and the simpleton "sort by playoff wins" fans. I wonder if maybe so much of Peyton's edge in the reg. season is his obsessive preparation & film study which is more likely to be matched by opposing defenses in the playoffs.

Something came up on another board if the Panthers are the first Round 2 home dog in history. I thought that can't be right so looked up some possible games where I thought the road team could've been favored: '80 Oakland @Cleveland "Red Right 88" - Browns -3.5 '80 Dallas @Atlanta - Falcons -2.5 '92 Buffalo @Pittsburgh - Steelers -2 '96 Dallas @Carolina - Panthers +3.5 '96 Pittsburgh @NE - Pats -3 '97 Denver @KC - PK '01 Oakland @NE - Pats -3 Maybe the Panthers have the distinction of the only two in history? At least since the format changed from alternating divisions to seeding... Nvmind, found Eagles -4.5 @Tampa '79.

Our offensive efficiency is ranked higher than the defense this year. Miami basically played stall ball to perfection. Good for them I guess.

Ya no, I'm pretty much the polar opposite of "recency bias" guy.

Thumbsup: I've made this exact post 50 times it feels like. When you're critical of a pick as it's made you're "an idiot for not giving him a chance, gotta wait 4yrs". But when you're critical 4yrs later it's written off as hindsight. So basically you just can't rip drafts ever. Wouldn't we all love to have that little accountability in our jobs? Seems like an awesome gig. And yes, sadly if you could go back 12yrs, fired every single front office body collecting a check and just went "sort by Kiper" for picks, the $ you'd save on salaries/traveling/other expenses would surpass "Toronto $" plus you'd have a roster that is no worse.

The Bills also didn't sniff the playoffs in his 2nd yr and when they did in yr 3 the defense carried them. I mean we all know its a different game now and its not fair to compare stats but if Kelly is the over/under, love ya Jim but I'm taking the over on Luck's career.

Colts win a boring game. Better QB and KC is a fraud as others have mentioned. Bengals win a close game - traditionally they don't have a great homefield advantage so I think their home/away dichotomy of results this year is a bit of a fluke. Despite their incredible luck last week, the Chargers are absolutely more deserving of being in this game than the Steelers. I do think weather is a factor here & the Bengals superiority in the trenches wins out. Losing your two best players on D has to catch up with you at some point though; probably next week. I'll take the Packers with Godgers at home. Wouldn't be shocked if I'm horrifically wrong here since the 9ers clearly have the better roster and coach. Saints are the one road team that does not have a disadvantage at either QB or 'the rest of the roster' so I'll go w/ them. Interesting point by Barnwell today that if the officiating wasn't poor in the 49ers/Patriot games their home/away splits would not look atypical. Plus "the Linc" is a lousy home advantage. Great job by Chip this yr w/ that roster either way - what happened to all the macho "aint none of that Oregon stuff working in this league" guys?

And a few posts later someone calls this "a pathetic showing".... wtf games are people watching? I swear, our fans sometimes, wow.

No, this game was in Foxboro. Vinaterri missed 2 game winning kicks & almost got cut iirc. You're thinking of the previous year's game in Buffalo, which was not a rematch game as it was a couple weeks prior to the infamous "just give it to them" game.

While that is true, the advanced stats on our defense after 14 games (so even before yesteday) were very good. Like Top 5 good. Yes they've given up plays. People need to realize it's basically impossible to be dominant on that side of the ball in 2013. Seattle & Carolina come closer to doing that than the Bills - but that doesn't mean the Bills defense hasn't been very good by today's standards. I do think our personnel on that side of the ball is better than average though - especially with a healthy Byrd & Gilmore, and with Dareus finally playing like a 1st round pick. So while Pettine has done a nice job, it's still possible the defense is playing about how well they should and Wandsteadt was just a clown of extraordinary proportions.