Sunday Open Thread

Manning is looking alittle rattled today. Pittsburgh has really shown up early and taken the crowd out of it.

steelers are dominating, one last run for the bus…

Indy is in trouble.

If pittsburgh punches it in on this drive,they are looking good, it could put the Colts away and then the talk will start, can Peyton Manning win the big games…..if it hasn’t already.

Can either Manning win a big game? Not up to this point.

Indy doesn’t seem to be playing with any fire. The Steelers, it’s business as usual, and I hate the Steelers.

That was big, it ain’t over yet.

Anybody see Indy’s kickoff guy is none other than Cortez?

Indy just punched it in with a great run and catch by Dallas Clark, Pittsburgh has to answer with a long time consuming drive and put it out of reach.

Manning overuled Dungy on that fourth down play to keep the drive alive, its a good thing.

what was that call, refs are unbelieveable

Yeah Derrick, the refs have sucked in this game.

Steelers just chewed up almost 8:00 minutes on the clock, looks like this game could be over, depending on the punt.

Colts need a quick score here, and then try and play some defense.

I’ve been relly impressed with the Steelers today, even though I cant stand Cowher.

HORRIBLE CALL ON INTERCEPTION WHAT? YOU CAN ROLL ON GROUND WITH BALL AND THEN SOMEHOW NOT HAVE POSSESSION? RIDICULOUS

This could be an exciting finish, but the Steelers have played great today.

Holy sh*t, down to the 2. We’ve got a game.

TD!! This is getting interesting.

whAT a joke of a call

This would be incredible if Indy comes back and wins this game.

GAME OVER !!

O M G!!!!!

What was that?!!!!!!

what a shocker!!!!!

Can you freakin’ believe this!! Fumble by the bus, never fumbles.

did I say what a shocker!!!!

this was the giants eagles philly fumble game except in postgame

what is going on, for christ sake

I hope colts miss so that Bettis doesnt go on suicide watch

God had mercy on Bettis!!!!!!!

they should of used cortez

Field Goal attempt-maybe overtime!

F@#&ing kickers!!!

theres are kicker for next year, Vandy wont be signed back after that

Man, that wasn’t even close. That’s a sure sign of “throat-constriction.”

Anybody still want to throw money at Vanderjagt this spring? Kicks like that are why you pay big money for a guy.

So Cundiff looks better? lol

yeah, but he’s still one of the best kickers in the league, couldn’t picked a worst time to miss one.

I think Vanderjaht will be our kicker next year

I wouldnt throw a dime at Vjaght. Good TO by Pitt to ice him, i guess it worked.
On another note, how about the difference in replay officiating during the bowl games and the NFL. Right now, i have to give the NCAA replay officiating the clear lead over the NFL playoffs officiating. that was a pick on manning by troy p, and the replay official sure took a long time looking at it. i thought there was a 90 minute limit.
They need to watch the bowl games from this year and take note b/c the NCAA is showing up the NFL on that note.

90 second limit that is….

linus,

It’s not an either-or proposition.

I’ll add that I’d take Longwell over him. He’s four years younger than Vanderjagt, will probably cost less and while his career average is lower (87% to 81%) he’s had to kick for nine years in the cold of Green Bay, on grass. Vanderjagt is about as pampered as kickers get, playing in a flat ACed dome.

Game shouldn’t have even been close. Ref crew was shaky all day. Totally blown instant replay call. Hope those guys don’t ref another game this year….

I don’t like manufactured drama in games.

Does add an interesting spin to the ‘Get a kicker for the Cowboys’ movement though.

I like longwell too but I cant see Greeenbay letting him get away.

WOW, Panthers up Seven already.

thought viniateri was coming available this year. can we have him?

how’d the cats score? am watching the basketball game….

Steve Smith 60+ td. bomb.

The Bears are behind, let’s see if this anemic offense can come back.

Nice punt, they better hold Carolina on this set of downs, or it’s going to be a long day.

New England would probabilty Franchise him if they cant get him signed. I think we’ll have a better shot at Vanderjagt since Indy’s up against the cap and that they drafted a kicker in the last draft, and with that miss today, I think Indy will let him go.

Long bomb to Smith, Panthers have the ball again in Chicago territory at the 36 yard line

vandy is a head case. he’s had some issues at Colt U. got drunk one time and called out Peyton Manning. other stuff. I’m not convinced he’s the answer here.

Derrick,

You see the story I linked to last week that Dallas will pursue Longwell? Vandy has gotten big money. Longwell has too, but not as much. Plus, Green Bay is rebuilding and I’ll bet Longwell wouldn’t mind getting out of Wisconsin, being a California guy.

It was during an interview in Canada when he questioned Mannings fire and ability to fire up his team going into the game against new England a few years back, Manning was the one who said he was drunk during the Probowl interview with Suzy Kolber. I heard him a few times during Interviews, doesn’t sound like a head case or drunk to me.

Raf,
 If thats true and he wants out, I hope Jerry is standing there with his check book open, I wouldn’t mind Longwell at all, major upgrade from whats been here the last few years.

I think the three ares we have to upgrade before we head into the draft is a Tackle, Safety and a veteran kicker, my picks would be Backus at tackle, chavious at safety and either Longwell/Vandy/Bryant for kicking duties.

lets ssee if the refs can get this call right, looked like a catch and fumble to me that Peppers ran back for a TD.

Man, how many Grossman passes have been tipped into the air and just missed being picked off? That’s five by my count this half. Sooner or later one of those quackers is going to be returned for a TD.

Chicago’s hanging by a thread right now. Urlacher bought them time, but for how long?

OK, Chicago looks good right now. Now they should take their time and get the TD.

If Chicago takes a FG here the game may be over.

TD makes the game winable for the Bears.

that was a big play, chicago is back in a game when they could and should of been blown out by now

Tillman made a great play on that.

Well the bears are still alive but it looks like Im going to go 1 and 3 on the weekend. Thats OK, the 1 was the skins getting beat, their luck finally ran out.

well boys looks like we have a ball game – i was kinda rooting for the Bears as the cinderella team to win today – although i didn’t think they’d win
had completely forgotten that Julius’ bro played for them – that gives me new reason to yell for them – anyone know what the line was on this game?

I’m beginning to see why BP runs on first down so much. Chicago should be working on getting up the field a little more before throwing those long passes. They gave Carolina good field position again.

Chicago just can’t win on third down

I could have covered Smith that well.

What’s the league record for receiving in a game? 300 yards? Smith has 215 now and there’s over a quarter left to play.

Chicago was -3 Loo. I’m rooting for carolina, never liked the Bears.

I’ll tell you though, it makes what TNew did against Smith that much more impressive, 1 catch for 18 yards against us.

I heard Pam Oliver say that one of the Carolina players call Jones the best RB he’s ever seen. Pam must not realize when she’s being BS’d. She really showed herself up on that ‘quote’.

Rafael, from the NFL page:
336 Willie Anderson LA Rams vs NO (11/26/89) OT
309 Stephone Paige Kansas City vs SD (12/22/85)
303 Jim Benton Cleveland vs Det (11/22/45)

I know Flipper Anderson had it. Saw the game, but didn’t remember how many. I knew there was a 3 at the beginning, though.

Anybody try to follow a game on ESPN’s gamecast? Most confusing thing I’ve ever seen. I’m going to put on the satellite radio.

Raf, the NFL site is good, I’m following on there, and the plays come up quicker than the radio broadcast on NFL Field Pass.

GAME OVER !!

Thanks, that’s good to know.

ESPN had a couple of plays where they marked the ball backwards; one Delhomme to Smith pass for 21 yards was marked as a -21 yard reception. And they’re slow to update. Maddening. I’ve also found the game on local radio, so my blood pressure has dropped now.

Yeah, I know the feeling..lol That’s why I like the NFL site over ESPN and FOX Sports, they are both slower to update than the NFL site. Although Fox is more accurate in my experience than ESPN. Glad I could help.

What are your thoughts on Carolina/Seattle next week? Should be a hell of a game.

lance shulters who i think we looked at last year at safety is again a free agent. i believe he had 4 int this year. possible safety for us????

I’m really impressed by the Steelers/Colts game. I don’t like the Steelers at all because of those Super Bowls against the Cowboys in the 1970’s, but I do have a lot of respect for the style in which they play…tough, smashmouth football. I had a feeling that would be the best game out of the four this weekend, and for me it was. The blown calls were disconcerting and added a lot of drama, but that was a hard fought, exciting, and emotional game from start to finish.

Watching that game reaffirmed to me how important it is in the postseason to have a team that can run the ball effectively and play dominating defense. That’s what postseason single elimination football comes down to. If having great QB’s and talented WR’s were all it took to win in the postseason the Houston Oilers would have beat the Bills in the early 90’s instead of blowing that huge lead, the Chargers and Dolphins of the early and mid 80’s would have won at least one Super Bowl each, and the Rams and Colts would have been been the dominant teams so far in the 2000’s. Postseason football always has and always will get down to dominating defense and being able to consistently run the ball and thus control the clock. That’s why I am glad we have Parcells as the coach…because that’s the way he builds his teams and that is what works.

Amen Sterling, excellent point.

I don’t know about you guys but I find myself at this site even though the Boys are done for the year.
I think the analysis beats anything on ESPN, even when it’s not our team!

is it just me or is this not the year of the SHARK……..as the MEDIOTS labeled 2001 before planes flew into WTC..with the absolute same number of shark attacks as always…..and airport security far off the dateline radar……..absolutely no disrespect meant to the victims or families…………but this is the year of the KICKER….Vandy misses from 46…….

A few last thoughts about this weekend. Did anyone else notice Jimmy Johnson’s hair today? What happened with that? I was watching the end of the Steelers/Colts on another channel so if the Fox Guys did something as a joke to mess up his “helmet hair” I missed it.

The other thing is watching Jerome Bettis. It was very sad about the goal line fumble, especially if this would have been his last game because of that mistake. Luckily for him it wasn’t. The thing I take away from watching him not only this year, but also when he was with the Rams is what a physically imposing presence on the field he has been throughout his career. He is almost a tailback/fullback hybrid because he is built more like a big FB, but has the speed and quickness of a TB. I really wish the Cowboys had a younger version of Bettis to complement JJ and MBIII. Just think of all the 3rd and 2/3 situations that having a presence like that would change defensive alignments to stop a guy like him. Great player, and has always seemed like a pretty classy guy. Wish we could find the younger version to play for the Cowboys!!

Next week should bring some good games, tho I think the winner of the AFC Champ. wins it all. I dont see the Panthers or Seahawks keeping up with the Broncos or Steelers. It should be good though.

At least the Boys can say we beat the Panthers, and had the Seahawks and Bronco’s beat.

I’m thinking Steelers/Panthers, but I’ve been drinking all day.

Cheers,Bottoms up!!!!

Mo Rice,

Thanks. We’re all football junkies and it’s a hard habit to put down. So we don’t.

Jon,

Yeah, it is the year of the kicker. But at least there isn’t this groundswell of hot air, as there was about ten years ago, to eliminate kickers. The sports talk radio yahoos would not let go of that one sometime around ’95 or ’96.

Football will never give up kickers because eliminating extra points and FGs would destroy point spreads, not to mention take us back to the days of college football, circa 1900, when it was all TDs. The amount of ties would drive us insane and kickers would be back within a year, if not sooner.

Sterling,

Fox had a poll up the day before asking viewers if Jimmy should go for the “slick” or “spiked” look. I guess spiked won. I have some 30 something friends with a spiked look and I think Jimmy could pull it off if he cut his hair shorter. At that length he just looks like somebody got a handfull of gel and mussed him.

How stupid of the Colts not to run on 3rd and 3? They should’ve also gone for it on 4th down as well. Makes no sense to me.
How could their DB get caught by Roethlisberger?
How could they game plan for two weeks, and not plan on added pressure from the LB and Safety? Did they study the San Diego loss or what?
The loss is all Dungy’s fault. No two ways about it.
Why did it take them 2 quarters to cover a tight end?

Strangest game I’ve ever watched. Colts wasted 2005.

Deshaun Foster is out with a broken ankle.
Seahawks win in a laugher.

Come on, Joey2zs, you’re missing the emerging storyline:

We’ve got two teams vying to become the first duo to win three road games in a row to reach the Super Bowl.

The home teams are just 3-5 in this year’s playoffs, so I think the Steelers and Panthers can do it. Neither home team reminded me of the ’93 Cowboys.

Carolina has a crippled running game, but it still has a better O than Washington. They’ve got a chance. And based on what I saw this week, Pittsburgh should be the favorite, though they won’t be.

Please, I don’t like the prospects of a Super Bowl between Denver and Seattle…maybe Pam Anderson could put on a ‘home display’ for all true fans…

but this time, my family WON’T be watching…

BTW:
I was seeing Hunter Hillenmeyer from Chicago, he’s a true OLB in a 3-4.

Yeah, Chandus, but Hillenmeyer is only a RFA. Chicago will match any offer he gets.

Yeah, but that wouldn’t take me out of a bidding war… He’s certainly talented, plays great against the run and gets in the pocket with ease. That’s the role of a SSLB in the 3-4. And the best thing about the guy, he backed Urlacher last season in the middle, so he can also play inside.

Rafael –
1. I bet on the Colts
2. I hate the Steelers, and as a Cowboys fan, I would expect the same from all of you.

Well, Sunday was not good to my picks. Lost them both. Shows you what I know. Now for next week. I hate the Steelers. Carolina vs. Seattle is a ‘who-cares’ outside those cities (see below for the lone exception). By the way, I live in Placerville CA. Today I saw a woman actually wearing a leather Seahawks jacket while shopping at Big Lots. My first ever Seahawks fan spotted in the wild.