Football (american football to those across the pond!)

[Grimward]

I remember watching the PPEs, Pars, although they were well past their prime. Not sure that even 2-3 fewer turnovers than the G-men will do the trick, though; except for Cleveland and Philly, that defense doesn't give up points! You'll have to score on the turnovers!

[Culhwch]

Well that was heartbreaking, and that's definitely our season done. On the back foot from the start with that kickoff return for a TD, finally pull ourselves in front on the back of some willing defense, and then give up two drives for fieldgoals to let it slip away...

Sorry, Minnesota fans.

[Grimward]

It's all right Cul, I'll be joining you in a week or two unless the Skins remember that they're not playing high school ball anymore. Actually, but for a couple of egregious pass interference calls, the outcome of that game probably would have been reversed, even with the opening TD. Apologies for the somewhat late posting, folks; things DO get busy around this time of the year, demanding the already-scarce real estate inside my cranium: We stand as follows:

Cayal 11-1 (Titans)
Pyan 8-5 (Jets)
Ursa 8-5 (Cowboys)
J-Sun 8-5 (Cowboys)
LOW 8-5 (Patriots)
Seph 8-5 (Vikings)
Parson 8-5 (Vikings)
Grim 7-6 (Redskins)
Cul 7-7 (Saints) - owing to last nights Thursday night game result
Edott 7-7 (Saints)
Weasel 5-8 (Packers)
Wiglaf 5-8 (Chargers)
Clovis 5-8 (49ers)
Simian 3-10 (Raiders)
Joja 2-11 (Seahawks)
Monty 0-13 (Lions)

Well, with 3 (2 for Cul and Edott) games to go in the regular season, we must crown Cayal as King of the Hill. It's a merry donnybrook, though, for the 2nd spot. 3 teams in the AFC East all tied up at 8-5? They've got nothin' on us; we've got 6! Should have 7, but Your's Truly's Skins are fading out of sight (although they probably have the easiest schedule remaining of the teams that can get in with a little help, I've a BAD feeling about this)....

[Parson]

Originally Posted by Culhwch

Well that was heartbreaking, and that's definitely our season done. On the back foot from the start with that kickoff return for a TD, finally pull ourselves in front on the back of some willing defense, and then give up two drives for fieldgoals to let it slip away...

Sorry, Minnesota fans.

No need to be sorry. You played a strong second half.

But now it looks like the Vikes will have to win 2 of the last 3 a daunting task indeed. And now TJack is starting. I wanted to change my ESPN Pickem choice but my head couldn't convince my heart to pick for a Vikings loss. Gives a whole new meaning to the phrase "dumb head."

And Grim, any team with the "real" Adrian Peterson has a chance against anyone who makes 2 or 3 more turnovers.

[Grimward]

And yet, Minnesota's in the middle of the pack at 23.6 points per game, while the Giants average 28.2. Further, the Giant's defense only allows 17.4 points per game on the average, and are +10 on the giveaway/takeaways, while the Vikes are -2, your Parsonship sir. Still gotta play the game, but it's going to take more than AP to turn the tide, I think.

Note: Will happily eat my words, as most Giant fans drive me to distraction. Go Vikes, even though a Vikes win makes the Skins' situation worse!

[Parson]

Grim,

"Your Parsonship sir?" Flattering but unnecessary.

Oh no doubt it would be an upset, but upsets happen, especially when turn overs are present (The last I heard, teams with a two turn over disadvantage or more had won only like 10% of the games played.) Also the Viking scoring has been on the up tick the last few weeks. Generally teams that run first and pass second in the NFL plan on low scoring games with time consuming drives.

[Cayal]

urgh.

I can live with losing to the Texans, but losing and possibly losing Haynesworth for the season pretty much ends all hope we have to win it all.

[Grimward]

What did I tell you all?

Freakin' Redskins.

A fair demonstration that we don't deserve to be in the post-season.

*Much wailing and grinding of teeth in the aptly-named Grim household*

Ah well, at least we can spoil the Eagles' chances next week. After all, I'm an incurable optimist...!

[J-Sun]

I am one happy camper. A ferocious sack-fest with Ware getting three of them. Finally dialing up some picks with Newman getting both of them. Tashard Choice continues (along with Scandrick) to be the steal of the draft with his surprisingly capable filling in for Barber. While Dallas did suffer the safety, they didn't cave but recovered. While the running game was a horrible struggle for almost the entire game, they didn't give up on it entirely. And this one finished like the Pittsburgh game should have.

Before the game, I felt we could beat anyone in the league - it's just that we so frequently fail to do so and I wasn't really expecting success tonight. But there it was. And, going by stats/bookie angles, as good as the Ravens are, if we can beat the Giants, we can beat them. And as good as the Eagles are, if we can beat the Ravens, we can beat them. And we currently have a better record than the West leader and the same record as the North leader so we ought to be able to beat one of them if we can beat all the preceding. IOW, as brutal as our schedule is, it's (relatively) downhill.

Dallas has yo-yo'ed so much this year (and several years before) that this is extremely unlikely - but it ought to be doable.

Sorry about your Skins (division archrivals though they are), Grim. Sorry also for your team, Cayal, though I couldn't give a bleep about Haynesworth, who I think should have been ejected from the NFL for life and arrested besides. To tell the truth though, while I haven't seen much of the Titans, I feel like Collins has been playing above his true level, really. Sorry Cul. And congrats Parson. I heard some interesting Unlikely Scenarios tonight, such as the Giants losing out and the Vikings winning out and the Vikings getting the bye rather than the Giants. Also the idea that if Dallas manages to be the 5th seed and go to the Championship Game and the 6th seed also got there, we could have one last game in Texas Stadium. Neat stuff to think about, anyway.

[Cayal]

Originally Posted by J-Sun

Cayal, though I couldn't give a bleep about Haynesworth, who I think should have been ejected from the NFL for life and arrested besides.

Hypocritical coming from a Dallas fan.

[J-Sun]

Originally Posted by Cayal

Hypocritical coming from a Dallas fan.

What Dallas player who stomped on someone's face while the other person lay on the ground (arguably after ripping their helmet off to commit said stomp) has had their actions defended by me?

Anyway - my point was that it's unfortunate for any team to suffer adversity from injury vs. plain ol' winning or losing at full-strength and I was sorry about that as it affected team and fans in general.

[Cayal]

Originally Posted by J-Sun

What Dallas player who stomped on someone's face while the other person lay on the ground (arguably after ripping their helmet off to commit said stomp) has had their actions defended by me?

If you were truly disgusted by such things you wouldn't even be a fan of that team.

[Culhwch]

Let's keep it civil, gentlemen. As passionate as football can make us, it's just a game, and we can all agree to disagree. And I can attempt to get as many cliches into one post as humanly possible.

[Grimward]

Have to agree with Cul. There's more than enough examples of poor sportsmanship in the NFL to go around; we could probably find something on every team if we looked hard enough. Given the way that both conferences are shaping up, there's more than enough to, er, debate (Yeah, that's the ticket!) about without dwelling on who should've been kicked out....

Congrats, J and you too, Cay. Despite the Titans' loss, they have the weapons to do it, even without Haynesworth. You're right though, it's hard to get to the Super Bowl without a shutdown defense...

[Grimward]

And what's this? ESPN still lists the Skins as the last playoff hopeful in the NFC? I thought I was an optimist!!!

Makes you wonder who the mad mathematician is that figured that one out...