The NFL Thread

Even a mediocre passer with some other talent isn't going to have consistent success. The last below average passer to actually win an SB was Dilfer, who had the best defense in history with him and was dropped by the team after the season.

Pittsburgh drafted an offensive lineman in the first 3 round for the last three years and New England has spent 8 picks in the first two rounds on defenders in the last 4 years, 5 of them D Bs. The teams have just declined at coaching and developing talent in the offensive line and secondary respectively, and their "flaws" have been part of the reason that NE hasn't won an SB since 2004 and the Steelers lost their last appearance. Fortunately for both teams, they have two of the 5 best Q Bs in the NFL and great players either at LB/Safety(Pit) or o-line/NT/LB(NE).

Neither team would be a consistent favorite to go deep in the playoffs if they didn't have great passers.

First off, the last below average passer to win a Superbowl was Brad Johnson of Tampa Bay in 2003(who also had a really good defense)...

Second, Baltimore hasn't been back since they let Dilfer go... Dilfer may not have been such a "below average" passer(and this coming from a Pittsburgh fan)...

Debatable. Pittsburgh's defense has been good enough to keep in contention at all times(and if it stays par, for Pittsburgh, it will for a long time). Defense does that... You may not win every year, but you'll be in contention.

But the thing to point out with Tebow is that yes he's playing, statistically, poorly. But that doesn't mean he won't get better in the future. If we evaluated every QB based on their first year's statistical performance, Aikman, Elway, Bradshaw, Favre, and others would be the worst passers ever...

You can say historically that the throwing motion Tebow exhibits points him towards failure. And that's probably true. But history, and past performance, really doesn't matter in football with regards to the present day(or that's what we're told every week)...

Johnson was a two time pro-bowler and was actually a pretty good passer, just below the level of the major stars of his era.

Dilfer was far from a good QB, but Baltimore's replacements haven't been any better, and after 00 the defense has never been at the same level again except maybe in 06, and in 06 they went 13-3 and lost in the playoffs because their offense could only manage 6 points despite their defense shutting down Manning.

As for Pittsburgh, they've consistently fielded good defense through the 90s and early 00s. Having Ben passing the ball is what put them from a team that contends for the playoffs, to a team that's won multiple S Bs.

Playoff scenario time!

• Green Bay wins a playoff spot with a win combined with an Atlanta loss and a loss by either Dallas or the Giants.
• San Francisco wins the division with a win combined with a Seattle loss
• Carolina is eliminated with a loss combined with a New Orleans win.
• Indianapolis is eliminated (for real this time, I guess) with a loss combined with a win by Buffalo, Denver, or Tennessee.
• Minnesota is eliminated with a loss combined with a win by both Detroit and Chicago.
• St. Louis is eliminated with a loss combined with a New Orleans win.

*Not sure if serious*

Apparently the last time Green Bay was undefeated going into Thanksgiving, Detroit beat them....

I really hope that Detroit/GB game is as good as I hope. It's been a long time since Detroit played in a relevant Thanksgiving game.

Well, other choices are the Ravens-Niners game, which figures two of the most controversial figures in the league that happen to be related. And Dallas is playing someone bad, but I can't remember who it is.

Dallas is playing Miami. Also, good luck watching Ravens-Niners if you don't have NFL Network.

Well, somehow I do have NFL Network for free (and never even knew...). So I'm a very lucky man indeed.

If you don't have NFL network at this point, and want to watch the game, you have only yourself to blame... Mostly because the network has been in existence for 5 years, and they've had a Thanksgiving game on the network(and every Thursday game as well) for the past 4 years...

edited 22nd Nov '11 6:36:51 PM by Swish

Or his carrier just doesn't have it. Mine got it just this past summer.

I still consider that one's own fault... Every city/town in America has more than one option of television providers(and usually more than three).

If one doesn't want to pay extra, or go the extra mile to make sure s/he has the NFL network, it's not the NFL's fault they can't watch the Thursday Night games...

Again, it's been 5 years. They haven't just started doing the Thursday Night Football games...

No, but I wouldn't change carriers over a single channel, at any rate. That seems a bit silly.

It's not like online streaming doesn't exist.

Also Miami is on a 3 game win streak and Dallas now controls their own playoff destiny. There's not really a meaningless game this season for once.

Miami can at the very least play spoiler to a division where no one seemingly wants to win it.

Yeah, but I'm generally averse to streaming from non-official (read: illegal) channels. Lawful Neutral and all that. At least there's NFL Rewind, so I can watch it later if I'm so inclined (and I may well be).

You can always watch the actual NFL.com stream if desperate to see some of it live but don't want to illegally stream.

I hate the thanksgiving games because the 3rd game is on well too late :<

Eh, that's why there's three games; even if you miss one 'cause of a turkey nap, there's still the earlier games.

I just find it hard to be sober through all three games.

That too. Thanksgiving's good for getting intoxicated and sleeping (which aren't mutually exclusive events anyways ).

Tryptophan only causes turkey nap in the weak! The strong can easily resist it. (Or maybe I'm just an aberration, I can eat a pound of turkey and not feel a bit different sans maybe fed.)

Bah, who doesn't spend most of their Thanksgiving asleep, before or after dinner?

For these reasons.

edited 23rd Nov '11 9:05:13 PM by Firebert

The tryptophan amount in turkey isn't close to enough to cause someone to get sleepy. People just get sleepy from thanksgiving dinner because they eat a fuckton of food (often stuff heavy in carbs) and often drink alcohol while doing so.