Falcons and Texans both have the best records in the NFL. You're not being real. Seattle is 7-3 and are contenders. Show you know what you're talking about, pick this weeks games before Thursday.
I'm changing my earlier prediction that would match the Patriots against the 49ers. I see the super bowl being a three-peat matchup between the Patriots and the Giants. You guys are right about the Ravens, the Texans and the Bears as being pretenders. Yeah, I would throw the Steelers in there as well as being a pretender unit.
The Texans aren't pretenders. Their defense played its worst game and their offense won the game. That is a team that can win in all facets of the game.
Brandon Marshall dropped a TD catch that hit him in both hands; Michael Bush fumbled the ball in the red zone; Robbie Gould missed an easy field-goal; Jay Cutler got knocked out of the game; Texans barely won that game, and the Jags, one of the worst teams in NFL football, put up a ton of points on them; Texans are good but they are not real contenders in my opinion; when I watch teams, I look for playoff potential, not regular season performance; lots of teams don't "turn it on" until the playoffs; San Fran showed greatness against the Bears and totally proved beyond a doubt that this Bears defense is not even in the same universe as the 85 Bears; please do not insult the greatness of that Bears defense, arguably the best defense in NFL history, with this above average Bears defense that got embarrassed by a rookie QB on MNF; I see the playoff caliber play and creativity in squads like San Fran and Green Bay that simply is not there when I look at the Texans or the Bears; they are good teams, but they do not have the greatness for Superbowl contention. And I am being perfectly "self-consistent"; I judge each game and team according to its merits. The SB champ will be Green Bay or San Fran, barring injuries.
AFC Championship: Broncos vs. Texans NFC Championship: Packers vs. 49ers Superbowl: Texans vs. 49ers Champs: Texans
Watch. I can play the same game as you, here. If the 49ers are so good, why did they let a 2nd year QB embarrass them in week 3? You know he put up a nearly 100 QBR against their supposedly "great" defense. Or St. Louis? If Green Bay is so good, why did they just barely eke out a win against Seattle? Or New Orleans? Or Indianapolis against a Rookie QB? Or Detroit? The fact is, aberrations occur. You'd have to be completely out of your mind to say that one game against Jacksonville negates every single other game they've played all season. You know, like dominating Denver defensively or dominating Baltimore offensively. Self-consistency means that your argument that you apply to one applies to all. You're arguing that one bad game by Chicago's defense, and one bad game by Houston's defense, defines those teams. If so, then you have to also say that San Fransisco's defense defined itself against Bradford and Eli Manning. And that Green Bay's offense defined itself against Seattle. Look up some statistics, man. You're discounting every single thing that disagrees with your narrative as being an aberration, as opposed to the actual statistical outliers. Statistically, Houston and Chicago embarrass Quarterbacks. Not doing it in one game doesn't change the fact that they both do it on a regular basis. Now, unless you have some post-season statistics for this season, we're going to have to focus on what they've done so far. If you do happen to have post-season statistics (as you implied by discounting the entire regular season in favour of the post-season), please let me know. I'd really like to clean up at Vegas. Also worth noting, despite the absolute plethora of data that I've provided you to contradict your point, you have not yet provided one shred of evidence to support yours. My working assumption (which I'm happy to be proven wrong about), is that you're one of those people who 'doesn't believe in statistics'. While I don't know exactly how one can disbelieve math, I recognize that many people get so emotionally invested in their opinions that they will. Sabermetrics demonstrated this very eloquently. It also demonstrated very eloquently the futility of denying the math, but to each their own, I suppose. If you don't believe in statistics, please let me know, so I can just stop the discussion here, because nothing will convince you that you're wrong.
Talking about games that have already happened is just that, talk. Still don't see you picking games this week. Afraid of showing that you don't know what you're talking about?
Detroit * Dallas New England Minnesota * Cincinnati Pittsburg Indianapolis Denver Miami Tampa Bay * Jacksonville San Diego----- Arizona New Orleans N.Y. Giants Philadelphia Those are my picks for the upcoming Tnhanksgiving Holiday week. Notice the asterik games. Those wins will knock out a couple of the favorite picks of some here to contend for the super bowl. Also, the N.Y. Giant/Green Bay game will also give us a pretty good idea as to why I'm picking the Giants to repeat the super bowl against my beloved Patriots.
Did you really laugh at my Texans vs. 49ers Superbowl, and then pick Miami to beat Seattle? You sure you don't want to pick KC over Denver while you are at it?
Seattle ain't much of a road team, and Miami is licking its wounds from their loss last week, so it sure does look like an upset is in the making. Yeah, Texans aren't going anywhere. AFC championship game will probably pit Denver against New England, and the NFC wil most likely pit N.Y. Giants against Green Bay. Trust me on this, I'm never wrong...except maybe when predicting Romney would beat obama in a landslide. LOL!
The NFL is in its stretch run...6 weeks to go & no more byes. Who's going to the playoff & ultimately the Super Bowl? Barring something crazy, the top 4 in the AFC are set, just not the order - Houston, Baltimore, New England & Denver. The wildcard, on the other hand, is far from determined. Does anybody believe that Pittsburgh or Indianapolis are sure things to hold onto their present spots? Cincinnati (at 5-5), San Diego, Tennessee, Buffalo, Miami and the Jets (all at 4-6) all having varying chances of sneaking into the playoffs, but realistically, the Steelers, with an improbably healthy Roethlisberger, would be the only team (OK, the Bengals might have a punchers chance) that could possibly knock off one of the top 4. So, who's going to the SB from the AFC? Who do (don't) you trust? I see a whole lot of "you need to show me" material:Shaub & the Texans pass defense; Joe Flacco & "is that Raven defense as vulnerable as it has looked at times this year"?; Can the Patriot defense pull it together for the playoffs again, like they did last year?; Are the Broncos an abberation, considering they have beaten only one team over .500 team this year, plus their running game may be non existent by playoff time? Injuries will probably be a major factor for all these teams. Who do I trust? I think I'll stick with Belichek & Brady, thank you very much. Questions abound in the NFC also: Alex Smith/Colin Kaepernick going to/winning a SB? Maybe they(Niners) can get there, but I talk to SanFran fans that are more than a little worried/not sold on either QB. My Giants? Repeating is so tough & they really need to wake up. Tough sked coming up & I'm not all that confident. The Falcons? Win a playoff game & then I may take them seriously. Until then I'm not losing sleep over them. Da Bears & the Saints? Two very interesting teams, both at crossroads. It was at this time last year that the Bears went south. Cutler tends to be inconsistent, but without him Chicago is not a very good team, certainly not a contender(for the SB, anyway). We know N.O. can score with & on anybody, so if their defense just improves some, they might be at least a playoff contender. It wasn't that long ago this team won a SB, but WOW, they have a tough sked(SF, Atl, Giants, TB, Dall. & Carolina)! Tampa Bay, Seattle & Minnesota? I think the Bucs & the Hags are 2 teams nobody would relish facing in the first round of the playoffs. Maybe not threats to go all the way, but also not pushovers. The Vikes are a nice story, but they ain't going anywhere. I think Washington, while still alive in the NFC East, is on borrowed time. They cannot afford to lose to the Cowboys today. I just don't think they are good enough yet, anyway. Speaking of borrowed time, that's just what Detroit & Arizona are living on. Their Wild Card hopes are fading fast. I think the Lions are going to give the Texans a tough game today, but I can't see them leapfrogging a bunch of teams, even if they win today. That leaves Green Bay & Dallas. I think at this moment, the Pack are the favorite to represent the NFC in the SB. The Cowboys, my preseason pick for the SB(to lose to the Pats), still have a punchers chance to go to the SB, but they need their offensive line to play much better or they can forget it. Let's get it on.
Looks like the Texans lucked out with that horrible non call of the Texans touchdown. Ohterwise, the Lions would have won that game. Still not sure why the Lions coach was denied throwing a red flag on that egregious play.
What's liberal about anything doing with sports or with football in particular? I doubt very much any of the Patriots players or their owners are entrenched in unemployment, welfare and foodstamp lines. What say you?
I say I pick winners better than you. I'm already up three to one on this weeks games. Plus I'm better at picking the winner of the election. Ouch, I bet that hurts huh. (((wink)))
I admit that I don't pick the NFC games too well, since you can't rely on any of them to live up to their expectations on any given Sunday. Take Washington beating Dallas down in the big D for instance; who would have ever thunk a loss for the Cowboys? And the Lions should have beaten the the weak Texans had it not been for a blown call by the umps. But as long as my Patriots end up winning the super duper bowl this year--all is fine in Conservative paradise.
I thunk it. But don't let the GOP know you're rootin for "liberal" New England, you might lose your con card. But there is hope for the cons. I've got a con buddy that I grew up with in Colorado, that's smoking pot now because it's legal there. And I'm going deer hunting tomorrow.
I don't agree with your opinion on football so I probably don't believe in statistics? Good lord. I guess all those math and science classes I took in college were for nothing... You are acting like there is an accepted statistical convention for picking winners and losers in the NFL - there isn't. It's all based upon the individual's subjective perception, and your "method" for picking them is no more valid than mine is; you are of the opinion that one game cannot indicate a team's potential for a championship, well, I disagree with that. Plus, I am not basing my opinion on a single game, as you have falsely claimed; I place more emphasis on certain games than others, a nationally televised MNF game in the middle of the season, for instance, than I do on others. But rest assured, Mr. Checker of Facts, I am perfectly self-consistent in my reasoning and have a love of mathematics, so you can take your snooty-ass condescending remarks and shove them.
I wasn't aware that I was required to pick games this week in order to have an opinion on the relative strength of NFL football teams... Leave it up to PF posters to turn a football thread into some childish p!ssing match...
By the way, the Texans show their true colors again. Barely able to beat the Detroit Lions, and that was with a free touchdown from the refs.
That call/rule that screwed the Lions yesterday was the biggest piece of nonsense since the "tuck" rule that screwed the Raiders years ago. Both rules flied in the face of common sense. Just plain crap.
