The NFL Thread

Would run into the problem that Canadian football would also be considered a gridiron.

On a sidenote, to my understanding the term "football" doesn't actually refer to kicking, it implies that it's a sport played on foot, as opposed to one played on horseback.

Biggest comeback in NFL history!

It seems like Matt Ryan's teams can't hold onto a lead even if it's duct taped to them.

Frank Reich is like "I'd still have the record if they hadn't fired me!"

Former Steelers running back Franco Harris, of "The Immaculate Reception" fame, has passed at 72 just two days short of the 50th anniversary of said play and also of the Steelers retiring his jersey during their next game.

https://apnews.com/article/pittsburgh-steelers-nfl-college-football-sports-efc7c3e417ad04594ae32a3fbc0a693a

With how consistently good they've been over the last half-century it's weird to think how consistently bad they were before that.

Tonight's Bills/Bengals game has been postponed after one of the players (Bills safety Damar Hamlin) collapsed after a play in the first quarter — while making a tackle, he took a sharp blow to the chest which triggered a heart attack. As of tonight, he's in critical condition at the hospital.

Edited by Blueeyedrat on Jan 2nd 2023 at 11:10:20 AM

The Bills-Bengals game has been canceled. Any playoff matchups that would have hinged on who won or lost that game will be played either on a neutral field or a coin flip in the case of Bengals/Ravens.

Good news is that Hamlin appears to be doing better — still in critical condition but awake and aware, asked about who won the game.

Regular season's in the books, time for the playoffs:

AFC:

(1) Kansas City Chiefs — bye
(2) Buffalo Bills vs. (7) Miami Dolphins
(3) Cincinnati Bengals vs. (6) Baltimore Ravens
(4) Jacksonville Jaguars vs. (5) Los Angeles Chargers

NFC:

(1) Philadelphia Eagles — bye
(2) San Francisco 49ers vs. (7) Seattle Seahawks
(3) Minnesota Vikings vs. (6) New York Giants
(4) Tampa Bay Buccaneers vs. (5) Dallas Cowboys

The last wild card spot in each conference was up in the air going into the final day, with six teams at an 8-8 record: Patriots lost, Dolphins and Steelers both won (with Miami winning the tiebreaker). Seahawks eked out a narrow victory, and the Lions played spoiler by beating the Packers (but lost the tiebreaker against Seattle, whereas Green Bay would've taken it if they'd won).

Of note is that should the AFC Championship Game be Kansas City-Buffalo, it will be played at a neutral site.

From what I have seen, I'm currently thinking...Buffalo vs. San Francisco in the Super Bowl.

I watch Barry Mc Cockiner's recaps on Youtube, and I think he's going to have a field day with Brady vs Cowboys.

Edited by Bexlerfu on Jan 9th 2023 at 1:12:51 PM

I'm wondering where the neutral site AFCCG would be if it is Chiefs-Bills. Detroit seems to be the go-to generally but from what Tom Grossi and Brandon Perna said Ford Field already ripped up their turf to start the process of installing a new one.

Indianapolis has an indoor stadium roughly halfway between Buffalo and Kansas City, so I assume that would be the first choice.

I thought so too, until I read further that Lucas Oil is also unavailable due to holding a national volleyball tournament. https://www.sportingnews.com/us/amp/nfl/news/afc-championship-neutral-site-location-2023-playoffs/uymwyswitnygm5ekwjesj2m0

Edited by megarockman on Jan 9th 2023 at 4:41:23 AM

Of course it's never that easy. And the only other NFL cities roughly between the two that aren't absurdly closer to one than the other are Chicago and Cincinnati. Or, I suppose they could think outside the box a little bit and go with a large college stadium. Columbus and Ann Arbor are both in the right general area.

I don't think the universities will be keen on seeing a massive influx of out-of-towners not connected to their sports programs coming in, especially with classes in session, and I'm not sold that their facilities would be up to NFL standards (OSU and Michigan are big time programs, yeah, but the needs of college football are different than the pros).

Chicago might be the most viable option, then, as an NFC town since asking Cincinnati to host it might risk high emotions anyway from the locals either because it might be seen as a pity prize since the Bengals will have to be knocked out for it to happen or, conversely, they might be tilted towards the Bills between Hamlin's emergency happening on their field and/or some Friendly Fandoms going on in recent years — the Bills were able to end their 17-year playoff drought dating back to the Music City Miracle in 2017 only because the Bengals also beat the Ravens on a last-minute touchdown pass by Andy Dalton in the final week; Dalton's charity foundation got flooded by ecstatic Bills donating and when they met in the following preseason in Buffalo he got a standing ovation.

EDIT FOR UPDATE: Potential Chiefs-Bills AFC Championship Game will be in Atlanta

Edited by megarockman on Jan 12th 2023 at 3:48:24 PM

The last month sure has been big for comeback wins.

I tuned in to the Seahawks-Niners game when I saw it was 23-17 and was thinking "Oh, Seahawks keeping it close." Then they fall apart and the Niner win going away.

Went off to do other stuff, came back for the first quarter of Chargers-Jaguars, then lost interest when it was 27-0. Didn't know the Jaguars came back until right at the end and I was like "What the fuck is going here?"

Considering how the Vikings are one of the most tortured franchises in sports, I think it's odd that in the last few years they've had two unforgettable wins(the record comeback against the Colts and the Minneapolis Miracle) followed by anti-climatic playoff losses.

This will be the first odd-numbered Super Bowl in a decade not to be won by Tom Brady.

I wonder if a team has ever fired their kicker after a playoff win before.

And we have a AFC Championship rematch between the Chiefs and Bengals, while for the NFC the 49ers are up against the Eagles.

So the conference championships feature three of the four teams who played for the championships in the previous season.

Eagles vs Chiefs for Super Bowl XVIILVII.

Edited by tclittle on Jan 30th 2023 at 11:21:30 AM

LVII, unless we've time traveled back to the 80's and it's the Dolphins versus the now-Re-skins.