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Honored Contributor
Posts: 33,631
Registered: ‎03-20-2010

Re: The NFL Wildcard Playoff Weekend!!!

[ Edited ]

@gardenman wrote:

Interesting. The Redskins fired their defensive coordinator and two assistant coaches. We're starting to hear rumors of some coaching changes in Philly, but not at quarterback coach. Joe Defillippo is the QB coach and the Jets wanted to interview him to be their offensive coordinator, but the Eagles denied permission. There's speculation that Frank Reich the current OC in Philly could be going to Buffalo as head coach, so the Eagles locked down Defillippo to take his place if Reich leaves.


@gardenman

 

In his press conference after the last game, Gruden said the coaching staff decisions were his to make.  Barry was under a lot of criticism...everyone was calling for him to get the axe......yes he didnt have much to work with regarding the D line and secondary---but former players, analysts, and fans complained there were other defensive schemes that he could've tried but instead he kept going with the same things that didnt work, and some said some of the players had ability but lacked in coaching......rumor has it that the Bengal DC will come to Washington..... we will see.....(some dont see the Bengals letting him get away)....other canidates---Greg Manusky former 49ers DC when Scot was there...players like him, but spotty track record as DC, currently Redskin's OLB coach.  Steve Wilks---Cards secondary coach--but he's drawing interest for one of the head coach openings,  (smart and releates to players), Gus Badley (ties to Scot when he was in Seattle, ties to Bruce Allen in Tampa, ties to Jon Gruden....mixed results, Wade Phillips--best results of candidates, but Redskins bypassed him in favor of Barry, Wades son Wes coaches TEs so that may bear some weight....

 

@teganslaw

 

I saw on ESPN that Irsay said that Chuck will stay on with the Colts but no word so far on the Colt's GM....personally I think the GM is where the problem lies.....Andrew needs some help.....Mike Golic said the only good decisions the Colt's GM has made in recent years with Andrew Luck (no brainer) and TY Hilton but most of the Colt's draft picks and free agent signings never panned out....

 

Yep, I think the Steeler's bumble bee uniforms helped with their success---they are such a distraction to their opponents LOL!!!---

Animals are reliable, full of love, true in their affections, grateful. Difficult standards for people to live up to.”
Honored Contributor
Posts: 33,631
Registered: ‎03-20-2010

Re: The NFL Wildcard Playoff Weekend!!!


@redwingsgal wrote:

This is what I would LIKE to see this weekend (I am a lifelong, die hard LIONS fan)

 

Dolphins over Steelers- even though Brown went to Central Mich, Bell went to Mich State, Toussant went to Mich, Steelers have won enough and I do not like Ben

 

Giants over Pack- again, lifelong LIONS fan

 

Lions over Seahawks- ITA, @teganslaw, never liked Carroll

 

Raiders over Texans- only because Connor Cook is starting due to all the QB injuries (Spartan guy)

 

BTW, I won the FF here in my office!!!   Three years in a row now, girls have won!!

 

Good Luck to all teams!!!


@redwingsgal

 

I'm not against your Lions---and wish them Good Luck---it's more the home field advantage and Stafford's finger injury that made me go with the Seahawks.....Good Luck!

Animals are reliable, full of love, true in their affections, grateful. Difficult standards for people to live up to.”
Honored Contributor
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Registered: ‎03-20-2010

Re: The NFL Wildcard Playoff Weekend!!!

@sunshine45

 

NBC PROFOOTBALL TALK on all pro awards--

 

Ravens kicker Justin Tucker and Chiefs punt returner Tyreek Hill were the only unanimous selections to their All-Pro team.

 

BTW forgot to mention that they aired a piece on our local news about Justin Tucker's singing and my sister was amazed by his talent!

Animals are reliable, full of love, true in their affections, grateful. Difficult standards for people to live up to.”
Honored Contributor
Posts: 33,631
Registered: ‎03-20-2010

Re: The NFL Wildcard Playoff Weekend!!!

[ Edited ]

Well the Redskins were granted permission to talk to Steve Wilkes Panthers assistant HC....but were denited by Bengals to interview Guenther....

 

@gardenman  Well the Redskins signed former Eagle/Jag safety Earl Wolff....he has to be better than anything we currently have on the roster---lol--sad but true!!! Woman LOL

 

First mock draft has Redskins taking a WR and an oft injured WR????????? Say what???  we need DEFENSE!!

Animals are reliable, full of love, true in their affections, grateful. Difficult standards for people to live up to.”
Honored Contributor
Posts: 41,255
Registered: ‎03-09-2010

Re: The NFL Wildcard Playoff Weekend!!!

Steve Smith Sr's retirement letter. Such a boss. Farewell #Agent89

 

https://scontent-iad3-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/15822882_1134517833331327_1278156679868928094_n.jpg?oh=bfd40eeb8a9de01921aaae80d1f28776&oe=591D5D1E

********************************************
"The world is a dangerous place, not because of those who do evil, but because of those who look on and do nothing." - Albert Einstein
Honored Contributor
Posts: 24,105
Registered: ‎03-09-2010

Re: The NFL Wildcard Playoff Weekend!!!

@Spurt Picking up former Eagles, especially former Eagle safeties, is a very wise strategy. Those guys always seem to excel once they leave Philly. Quinton Demps, our 2008 draft pick is the starting safety for the Texans. Kurt Coleman, the Panthers starting safety was a 2010 draft pick. Patrick Chung, the Patriots starting safety was with the Eagles for one whole year before we cut him loose.

 

In fact fully half of the Patriots defensive backfield are recent Eagles with Eric Rowe, our 2015 second round pick now their starting cornerback.

 

You could make a pretty good team out of former Eagle players who are now in the playoffs and still playing. There's Demps, Chung, Rowe, Coleman, then there's Dion Lewis the Patriots runningback, Byron Maxwell the Dolphins Cornerback and Kiko Alonzo the Dolphins linebacker, Denzel Rice a corner for the Texans, Alejandro Villanueva the starting offensive tackle for the Steelers, Jeremy Maclin, the wide receiver for the Chiefs and Nick Foles the backup QB for the Chiefs, Nate Allen the Raiders safety, Austin Howard, the Raiders offensive tackle, Joique Bell, the Lions runningback, Clay Harbor, the Lions tight end, Mark Sanchez, the Cowboys backup QB, Cedric Thornton the Cowboys defensive tackle, Dominique Rodgers Cromartie, the Giants corner, Brad Wing the Giants punter and Danny Amendola, the Patriots Wide receiver.

 

And those are just the guys who are still in the playoffs. Include the former Eagles who were cast off, but missed the playoffs and you could make a pretty solid team. Our weakness this past season was our secondary, but then you look around the league at guys we cut who are excelling at those positions and you start to wonder about our talent evaluators. 

 

The Eagles have quite a history of letting good players go, so if you have to pick up a player from another team, look to former Eagles first. We find lots of really good football players, but then we cut them loose and someone else benefits from them. I think the Jets, Bengals and Saints are the only three teams in the league without a former Eagle player on their rosters.

 

Put a DeSean Jackson, and Jeremy Maclin at wide receiver, put LeSean McCoy in the backfield spelled by Dion Lewis, and combine them with Carson Wentz, and that would be a scary offense. Our defense could use nearly any combination of the safeties/corners we've cut and have been better than what we fielded this year. You could make a team that's arguably better than the current Eagles team, from the guys we've cut or let leave. That's probably a sign that your personnel people aren't the best at what they do.

 

All summer from the first OTA's on, we kept hearing certain names as players who were standing out in the OTA's and training camp. They played great in the preseason games also. Then the season started and they were either cut, on the practice squad, or on the bench. It's the same thing every year. We get rid of guys who go on to great careers while we're still looking for guys to fill that role. It can drive you a little crazy as a fan.

Fly!!! Eagles!!! Fly!!!
Honored Contributor
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Registered: ‎03-09-2010

Re: The NFL Wildcard Playoff Weekend!!!

I agree with your picks, but the Packers absolutely have to win.

Honored Contributor
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Re: The NFL Wildcard Playoff Weekend!!!


@AuntG wrote:

I agree with your picks, but the Packers absolutely have to win.


I suspect the Packers will win pretty easily to be honest. Whatever was wrong with Aaron Rodgers early in the season, he got over on week twelve when they came to Philly. He played like the old Aaron Rodgers in that game and hasn't slowed down any since then. The Giants on the other hand are pretty much a one man team on offense. That one man is Odell Beckham Junior. Take him away and the Giants are pretty much defanged.

 

Now the Packers have a weakness in their left defensive corner/pass defense that the Giants will try to exploit with OBJ, but barring a couple of big plays down that side of the field (Giants right on offense/Packers left on defense) the Packers should be able to get the win pretty easily. 

 

The Giants have struck me as being  a mirage team all year. I think their record is better than the team is. Last year they went through a streak where they couldn't buy a win and found amazing ways to lose. They weren't as bad as their record looked last year and I don't think they're as good as their record looks this year. I've kind of had the Giants pegged as an 8-8 type team, but they won some games they'd have lost last year, and also won some games they got pretty lucky to win this year.

 

The Packers on the other hand had some weird sort of early/mid season funk, that they've now shaken off and are playing good football again. I think we could see the Packers go pretty far in the playoffs if they can fix/hide that issue on the left side of their pass defense.

 

When you look at the two rosters and compare them positon to position, the Packers roster just looks better to me. Rodgers is the gunslinger, take no prisoner type QB, while Eli Manning is the more patient dink and dunk QB who can be pressured into making the big mistake. Rodgers will scramble around, buy time and make a play. Eli will feel the rush coming and fall to the ground.

 

Put OBJ on the same team with an Aaron Rodgers and watch the numbers they'd put up. A gunslinging QB teamed up with a game-breaking receiver is a very scary combination. Eli can do okay with OBJ, but a true gunslinger like an Aaron Rodgers, would rewrite the record books with a guy like OBJ.

 

One of the quirks you see across the NFL is we rarely get a game breaking receiver and a gunslinging QB together at the same time. Calvin Johnson, Dez Bryant, OBJ, AJ Green, Julio Jones, those guys were/are all teamed up with more the dink and dunk type QB's. About the only real gunslinger/game breaker combo right now would be Roethlisberger and Antonio Brown.

 

There aren't a lot of the gunslinger mentality QB's in the league. Roethlisberger, Rodgers, Brady, all have that mentality. Carson Wentz seems to have it so far. Most QB's tend to look for the shorter/safer routes first though and dink and dunk their way down the field. Defensive coordinators tend to prefer playing those types of QB's. They know that somewhere in that twelve to fifteen play drive to score the offense will make a mistake and derail their drive. The gunslinger type QB though scares them to death. Sure he'll throw a pick into coverage from time to time, but when he does it's often forty or fifty yards down the field so it's effectively a punt. He'll also throw one pass and get seventy, eighty, ninety yards on occasion.

 

Imagine how scary an offense would be with an Antonio Brown as one reciever, and an OBJ as the other one with an Aaron Rodgers as the QB. Every team playing that combo would just start the game in a dime package with six DB's on the field and stay that way the whole game.Even with six DB's on the field those guys would make plays with a Rodgers throwing them the ball. 

 

The Eagles are now desperately trying to find an OBJ type target for Carson Wentz. If they can do that, and it's a big if, then the Eagles will become immediate playoff contenders with that combo.

Fly!!! Eagles!!! Fly!!!
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Posts: 6,501
Registered: ‎03-11-2010

Re: The NFL Wildcard Playoff Weekend!!!

The Colts retained both Pagano and Grigson. A news headline stated that the Colts were staying with what isn't working. Have to agree with that.. A change should have been imminent; now if the Colts miss playoffs next year, will Irsay still do nothing?  Maybe the team will draft well.

 

Steve Smith will be missed, but not by opposing teams. Wish him well in retirement. Same for Robert Mathis.

 

I plan on watching most of the games this weekend. Will miss part of the Oakland-Houston game, but can see at least 3 quarters of it.  I don't understand why Houston's coach might lose his job. The team made it to the playoffs, but I guess that isn't considered good enough anymore.

 

 

"The more I learn about people, the more I like my dog."

Mark Twain
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Registered: ‎03-20-2010

Re: The NFL Wildcard Playoff Weekend!!!

[ Edited ]

@teganslaw wrote:

The Colts retained both Pagano and Grigson. A news headline stated that the Colts were staying with what isn't working. Have to agree with that.. A change should have been imminent; now if the Colts miss playoffs next year, will Irsay still do nothing?  Maybe the team will draft well.

 

Steve Smith will be missed, but not by opposing teams. Wish him well in retirement. Same for Robert Mathis.

 

I plan on watching most of the games this weekend. Will miss part of the Oakland-Houston game, but can see at least 3 quarters of it.  I don't understand why Houston's coach might lose his job. The team made it to the playoffs, but I guess that isn't considered good enough anymore.

 

 


@teganslaw

 

Wishing both Smith and Mathis a good retirement.....the way Smith wowed people on Mike & Mike wouldnt be surprised if he winds up at ESPN....

 

As far as Bill OBrien Texan's coach being on the hot seat...even though he made the playoffs, he also has control over the roster rather than the GM....he has drafted smart players .....but some say not necessarily smart and physically talented players....then there's the debalacle of the Osweiler signing with all that money they gave him yet another player that didnt pan out...and most critical position....And even though they made the playoffs most view them as first round and out and not a real contending team....One local newscaster said that coaches that want total control doesnt necessarily pan out.....(see Chip Kelly).....most say a partnership between the coaches/GM and scouts & front office and input from all that are most successful.....thats what we hear in our part of Texas (although most analysis and news is devoted to the Cowboys and our Spurs)

Animals are reliable, full of love, true in their affections, grateful. Difficult standards for people to live up to.”