BuffOrange

Colts, Pats & Bears win. I'm not sure how I feel about the other game.

Yessir. I've read tons of "yeah but they establish the run first" posts, but those points make no sense. If McGahee ripped of 40 years on 4 carries and the Bills failed to execute a trick play properly, would people criticize the playcall less than normal because "well, at least we had established the run"? Me think not. In fact, trick plays should primarily be used as a bail-out when your bread & butter ISN'T working IMO. See the Dallas-KC game where a flea-flicker turned the game around as the Cowboys were trailing 14-3 and doing squat offensively.

Moss was injured. Their OL stinks. Is Lamant Jordan even an average starter? I bet I can name 16 better RB's.

I thought Moss being hurt turned Moss into a pedestrian. I've always liked Norv's offensive philosophy of featuring the run and the vertical passing game...he's kind of an anti west coast guy.

That's odd - I haven't seen any "OMG TO is getting along with his teammates....wait no he's throwing fists" ads in Philly.

Bleh, it doesn't matter. NE & Miami play basically the same schedule.

I'll third that.

Take away Alstott's phantom 2 pointer in November and they win the division despite playing 1 less home game than the Giants. Really - that one call screwed up the NFC playoff picture and the 2 visiting teams should've been hosting, so it's no suprise both road teams won.

Not to hijack, but what do you mean the refs hosed NYG? Skins proved they're the best team in the NFC East, as I have said all year long. I bet FOX would've loved a Giants-Bears game @ 4:00 Sunday too.

Agreed - the Colts are going to smoke whoever they play. Would rather get put to sleep seeing them predictably hang 40 on Denver AGAIN, or would you prefer to soak in all of the Jim Nance cosolation comments "what a great run its been" and blank stares from Brady on the sidelines as James Mungro gets a carry with 12 minutes left because they're up by 24 points.

I'm not taking Jake Plummer vs. Tom Brady in a playoff game. The regular season game means nothing. The Pats were a crippled team who played poorly and they still only lost by 1 score. For gambling purposes, I hope NE does win because Indy would be a huge favorite over Denver. However, if NE were to win, they will likel get overvalued as their bandwagon would really fill up to the 10th degree and there would be some great value on the Colts. I mean, if Indy gets an early lead on the Pats in that dome they will never let up - neither Manning or the fans will call off the dogs until Tuesday.

Yeah, I know. Still, they backed their way into the playoffs at 8-8. They had a better team this year.

Touche

Yes, my biggest concern re: Indy would be the rust factor. And yes, the public will likely jump all over the Pats.

Bleh, so NE did better vs. the weaker teams when they were healthier towards the end of the season....is that supposed to be suprising? They played badly in Denver a few months ago and lost by 8. They're a better team now, and I expect them to win next week before losing @Indy.

Gimme the Bears & Pats.

I agree. Didn't really get the Moss quip though - didn't the Vikings have a better record this year than they did last year?

What a punk ass B word.

So Bellicheck is a better offensive mind than Joe Gibbs? I don't know why everybody who posts on a message board is convinced that players have zero accountability and coaching wins/loses every game. It's the F-ing players. Also, I am of the opinion that 2000-2002 was the dark ages of the NFL, just that nobody realizes it. Anybody who tries to model their club after these teams will fail, because none of those teams were that good. Not the Ravens with the worst championship offense ever. Tennessee was probably the best team that year, but unfortunately for them Steve McNair did not become really good until Eddie George was washed up. The Patriots were average on both sides of the ball and needed all the fluke luck in the world, and not the Bucs who as you pointed out - had an average QB, no OL, and no RB. Really, all of these teams benefited from the era they played in and they'd all get destroyed by the '96 Packers, '98 Broncos, or the modern day Patriots, or this year's Colts.

Good point - that would be their only hope. All things being equal I think the Skins are as good or better than Seattle. But as injured as the Skins are and playing their 3rd straight "must win road game" next week, all things are not equal. Same with Panthers-Bears next week if Carolina wins this game.

And Seattle's division is 1998 AFC Eastesque? Wake me up when Shaun "pad stats vs. 49ers & Cardinals" does something when it matters vs. a good defense.

This is ridiculous. The Colts have the best chance to knock them off and it's not close. There's no way the Panthers win 3 straight road games anyway.

Agreed - the Jets defense got better after he left with basically the same players. Vikings D has underachieved, though they did start to play better towards the end.

Meh, Young's chances of being a bust are at least triple that of Bush IMO. Davis is a nice player, but you can find runners like him in the 3rd round of almost any draft.

I don't really understand that either. Competition wouldn't have been a huge factor because Herm is friends w/ Peterson and wanted to go to KC as long as the $ was there; and it's probably the most attractive job on the market anyways. And the thought of giving up draft picks for Herman Edwards is hard to comprehend. I don't see it as necessarily a good move for the Jets though. No coveted coach like Ferentz is going to want to inherit their salary cap mess, so they're stuck with Hemreindinger or Haslett - not an upgrade IMO. To me this works out badly for both teams, which is fine by me.