I think that poor secondary play on Denver might stick for a long time. I also think Flacco's 11 TD, 0 Int. might last to.
The Jets lost 45-3 in New England in 2010, then pulled off that great win that junc pictured on the first page, so there is no reason Drew Brees and the Saints can't win tomorrow. I will take the Seahawks, but don't be shocked if the Saints win. Wait. I take it back. I take the Saints baby! Bank on it!
#1 seeds are 2-5 against 6 seeds since the 05 season. I wouldn't be shocked if one of the 6 seeds wins. The saints Seahawks game reminds me of the jets pats from 2010-11 a tad bit. The jets played their worst possible game that Monday night as the saints did back in December. Both teams were better then the performance they put up. How the saints respond will be seen tomorrow but I doubt this game is a blowout. Indy New England had passing of the torch potential written all over it. Only thing is Indy's defense is a liability. Seeing how it gave up 44 to Alex smith. 49ers panthers. The 49ers should win this game. Aldon smith had just came back from his DUI last time. The team looked flat after the bye week, Vernon Davis played less then a half and Crabtree didn't play. I'm sure Carolina is going to be motivated after being disregarded all week long. West coast teams have trouble with the 10am pacific standard time start time games but the 49ers should pull this out. Broncos Chargers. Its no way Peytom chokes again. Then again I said the same thing last season and look what happened. San Diego has given Peyton trouble over the years. I hope the 49ers game is a one sided San Francisco victory and the other 3 games are entertaining with San Diego, New Orleans, and Indy getting wins.
I think Seattle wins but doesn't cover the 8 point spread. I think the patriots roll over the colts this week. Remember hearing something (either on the radio or tv,can't remember the source) that the colts have had 3 huge comebacks and have been out scored like 90-27 in the following weeks. On sunday, I think San Fran wins. Crabtree being back will be a huge boost and then I think San Diego will keep the game close for its entirety. I think 9 points is way too much to lay, especially against teams with such familiarity.
Some fun reading: http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702303754404579310500005285822 http://www.grantland.com/story/_/id/10273112/bill-barnwell-nfl-playoffs http://www.footballoutsiders.com/game-previews/2014/afc-divisional-round-preview
Cam Newton hasnt made these major improvements that everyone keeps talking about. He played at the same level last season, the main difference has been the defense, specifically at the end of the games. The Panthers in 2012 lost an absurd amount of games that they were leading in the final minutes. But its like the old saying, QBs get to much blame, and get to much credit. Netwon took blame for losing and now is getting credit for winning despite playing nearly the same.
lol exactly. Now all the sudden he is "clutch" because his defense has kept them in games whereas before he was a "choker" because he couldn't be perfect on every drive. This is why people need to stop listening to these ESPN narratives
Way over the top. The only other time I recall a team acting that ridiculous after a divisional round game was the Patriots after they beat San Diego in the 2006 season . Each team lost in the AFC title game.
Yep, that's made clearly from the grantland article I posed above. It's kind of eery how similar Cam Newton has played. But it has to be because Cam got better, how else could a team improve? :wink: It will be interesting to see next season if Ron+Panthers stay aggressive on 4th downs and if it helps them win close games. Riverboat Ron :lol:
I didnt read the article but ill read it later. Thanks for posting it. Ill just say this, does Cam Newton deserve the amount of credit he is getting? No, but did he deserve all the blame he got to? NO. I watched a game in the Atlanta Dome last year where the Panthers had a 1 pt lead and they gave the ball to Matt Ryan with about 24 seconds left pinned at the 5 yard line. The defense failed and allowed a huge pass that put the Falcons in FG range. The difference between 2012 and 2013 is now the defense is making these clutch stops like in the New England game or the San Fran game where they stopped the Niners offense with a 1 pt lead at the end. Cam Newton was having these clutch comebacks LAST YEAR but the defense ended up choking, now they arent.
Cam Newton is closer to a game manager than an offensive machine. The thing to watch Sunday is if the Niners can manage to pull away. Jim Harbaugh has got to take an aggressive approach to this game. The thing that should have the niners worried is the inability to score in the Redzone. If the Niners can put up touchdowns then they will win, if they cant, they will leave themselves very vulnerable.
Sea beats NO, ATS: SEA - 9.5 NE over IND, ATS: Luck backdoors +7 CAR beats SF. Close game, thanks to Goodell it's 1 pm -- killer for WC team. DEN wins, but it'll be close so SD +9
Overall I don't disagree, but I do think that poor performance does have something to do with the narrative. From week 3 through week 7 last year the Panthers lost 5 in a row, killing their season, and Newton was absolutely terrible as a passer: 52.8% completion percentage, 3 TDs, 6 INTs, 66.7 rating. The last three losses were by the scores 16-12, 19-14, and 23-22, so they absolutely were not the defense's fault, and it was right then that the anti-Newton backlash began. From that point on Newton was far better (58.2% completion percentage, 14 TDs, 4 INTs, 94.7 rating), but nobody noticed because the team's season was over. That 5-game stretch is really the only bad stretch he's had in his career, but it killed their season, and he deservedly got a lot of blame for it. What isn't reasonable is for people to still be talking about it, since it was 1 1/2 seasons ago.
Mike Pereira @MikePereira 28s Ok, here we go. Terry McAualay is the ref in Seattle. Only one member of his regular crew is with him. Already had to keep the teams apart. Jay Glazer @JayGlazer 13s First Jimmy Graham and Bruce Irvin had to be separated and we're about to show Sherman/Thomas and Graham having to be separated Shocking news, Richard Sherman was involved.
