The 2009-2010 NFL Season: General News & Discussion Thread
 

Any and all NFL talk is welcome here.

I know this thread is about 4-5 months late, considering all the stories that have already occurred in the meantime, during the draft and offseason acquisitions, more controversies to shake a stick at, and even a tragic end to a legend or two, but now is as good a time is as any.

So, who else feels that last night's season opener and AFC defensive clash among the Steelers and Titans was the perfect game to start the NFL's season? It was so good, I couldn't believe it, and it could easily be the best kickoff game in the last five years, maybe even this decade.

Which team is your team(s)? Who are your surprise teams for this year? Who improves, and who will ultimately disappoint yet again. Show off your know-how and intuitions.

go packers! that is all.

goddamn 'phins! that was a horrible display from them yesterday.

It was indeed a wonderful game. Big steelers fan here and by the end of that game it was one of those that you could not be mad over losing if it happened. Sadly it was a loss in a way with Troy being hurt.

I still have folks out here talking shit to me about last seasons game (rigged, blah blah) people of Phoenix do not let things go.

Should be a good season overall.

Really sucks for Philly with the broken ribs on Donovan.

Bears are in trouble. They just lost Pisa Tinoisamoa and Brian Urlacher. With Urlacher out for the season.

Both the Packers and the Bears played like crap last night.

first, who did Green Bay have playing Defense for them, because they looked nothing like the packer D from last year.

second, did anyone really expect Cutler to lift the Bears to division champs?

Third, what a wild Bronco finish.

it's going to be an exciting year.

Packers just switched from a 4-3 to a 3-4. It might pay off big but one game against a faltering cutler doesn't give them legitimacy yet. From the bits I watched last night it seemed more that both offenses were playing like crap instead of defenses playing great.

It's funny. I watched this game with a bunch of hardcore Packer fans and was more then a little amused at their take on the game. Bears played like shit and the Packers just kept getting bad calls and bad breaks. I agree with you, both teams played a pretty awful game.

I also think the Bears are in a pretty screwed position without Urlacher for the entire year.

Here is one for the highlight reals


Man AP is a beast. Despite what he claims LT has nothing on AP currently (though they were close in his prime).

Go Niners! 20-16 Win over Arizona to start the season! I love it! Offense looks questionable, but the defense has definitely improved in the off-season.

Woohoo! Brady is back!
(wipes sweat off brow from last 5 minutes of gametime.)

Pats got very lucky with that comeback.

Both games tonight, very enjoyable!

What a awesome first week all in all.

Totally. But Brady finally got comfortable at the end of the game, and that's what should carry forward into the rest of the season. It's a good thing that the first game was against the Bills, so that the Pats could get away with a bad start.

2009 NFL Week 1 Box Scores
 

I'm calling the Chargers-Raiders game a tie, because they got jobbed on that overturned TD.

I think ever since last season, the referees have exercised more power and game-changing abilities than ever before; from the early in the season Ed Hochuli call (SD v. Den), to the Super Bowl (which the Cards got housed in 'cause of the zebras) to this past Monday night in both features, on the Murphy TD for Oakland, and the newly-instituted "Brady rule 1.2" when Edwards was sacked, yet it was incorrectly called as "roughing the passer; lunging at the legs". I could also go in depth at how many touchdowns were recalled in the Det @ NO tilt (3 at least, in total) unfairly.

It's unbelievable how much the game has changed in the course of what seems only two seasons, in that it now takes overcoming both the opposing team, the schedule, the away from home crowd, and as it is, even the referees, in order to eventually secure a victory. It's scary.

I'm going to say it now, because I probably won't be able to the rest of the season:

My Jets are undefeated!


That aside, Matt Stafford sucks.

The NFL disagrees with you.

---------- Post added at 05:47 AM ---------- Previous post was at 05:42 AM ----------

I see it as the Bills getting stupid at the end. Why try to run the kick off back at all? Fall down and protect the ball and eat the clock. Poor ball and clock management cost the Bills that game.

While it was a dumb move, this is unacceptable:

No kidding, fans can be stupid beyond belief.

That just isn't right.

(unless it happens to one of the Cowgirls, then I'm totally cool with it)

I'm a Denver fan, and I hate saying it but it looks like it is going to be a long year. The defense actually looked good until the last drive but the offense was pitiful. I'd be willing to trade Orton for just about anybody in the league. Or maybe talk Jake Plummer out of retirement. Heck, John Elway is 49 years old, get him out there, even at that age and after 10 years of retirement I wouldn't be surprised to see an improvement over Orton.

The defensive coordinator is at fault for that cincy score by being conservative and letting palmer have some relief from the pressure.

and I realize that alot of people think Kyle Orton sucks, but that just makes them plain wrong. Orton had zero turnovers and is currently the #6 QB in the league for rating. Now, if you want to blame missed blocks and O line penalties on Orton, fine, but that's not very smart. If you want to blame dropped passes on Orton, that's less smart. If you want to acknowledge that the entire offense needs to step it up, including Orton, then you are most likely right.

It's only week 1 and you've got the #6 QB in the league, yet you're ready to cut him from the roster. Does that sound smart to you?

I wonder why the entire Fox NFL panel has them as the sole NFC representative for this season's Super Bowl? It was quite curious to not hear a single disagreement nor explanation as to why they all felt the same way.

LOL Bills

The Bucs already lost...

and I lost five bucks over it....

Hopefully, this isn't a primer for the whole season.

Ok I made it sound like Kyle sucks worse than he does but to call him the #6 QB in the league? Better than Tom Brady, Peyton Manning, Ben Roethlisberger, and Philip Rivers? There is more to a QB than just passer rating, and a lot of Ortons decision making isn't very good, such as taking the sack that knocked them out of field goal range late in the game instead of throwing the ball away. Besides, if Stokley wasn't in position to catch the fluke last touchdown pass and it had just fallen incomplete then Ortons passer rating for the game drops to 72.9, which would be 23rd in the league.

I get what you're saying but all QBs make mistakes at times. The point I was making is that alot of people think Kyle just plain sucks but that is so far from the truth. He's not a superstar, but he's not a basement dweller either. Even last year at the start of week 6, he was the #2 QB in the NFL for TD passes, 2 less than Favre. The sack, yes he probably should have thrown the ball away but the way the Bengals line had been beating the O line, it was probably a better decision to protect against a turnover than to risk attempting a pass.

Kyle Orton is a QB who can get the Broncos to the playoffs as long as the rest of the team does their part, which includes avoiding stupid penalties and not dropping easy passes.

They did pretty well considering we've got a new coach. I was really impressed with how Cadillac was running. I think him and Ward are going to be a nice duo for our run game. Now if only Leftwich would stop overthrowing those deep passes....

I love seeing the Ravens with an offense this year. I think I'll have some fun watching the games, and not cringe every time the offense has the ball.

Price tag for new stadium: $1 billion +
Attendance for inaugural game: 105,000 +

Having the New York Giants come in and wreck the house warming party: priceless

Excuse me, but where the fuck did those Jets come from?

Last year. Didn't you see? They had an above average defense then, and now with Rex Ryan, (who was the same defensive coordinator who fronted a vaunted defense to lead another rookie to the AFC Championship Game, so would it be impossible to duplicate it w/ Sanchez?) they have a great formula for success. And Darrelle Revis is probably one of the top-3 cover corners in football today.

absolutely horrid time management by the 'phins. They could and should have won last night.

also, it's time to give up on Ted Ginn.

I had that joy even last year, but what I have liked about the Ravens offense even when it sucked was being able to have very few turnovers, and make sure the other team had poor field positioning.

I just want next week to see the raven defense as it should be.

It boggles my mind how many coaches don't know how to manage the clock. Pennington is to blame too, but ultimately it is the head coach that needs to have a plan for late in the game that has been communicated to his offense.

Ginn Jr. needs to catch that ball. He had two hands on the ball and he blew the game.

The Dolphins D played well overall, but those two blown assignments on defense went for 140 yards or so and two touchdowns.

To be fair, the 'phins are still are few players out from having a good defense..

they need even more on offense, but with the Big Tuna swimming around that should change. I totally agree with you about the time management.. especially when Sporano and Pennington are considered two of the smartest guys in the league and they completely stutter the last 3 minutes away. It's almost like they were surprised to have a chance to win and couldn't figure out what to do.. and wtf was up with the play calls? Running the ball with 1:00 and change when you need serious yardage? I don't get it. Sure they ran the ball well, but they just needed side out routes or fuck even a quick slant and go would have sufficed.

Ted Ginn Jr. hasn't proven anything since he's been around. He's been given so many chances and he could have washed all of the past problems away with a grab. It wasn't a difficult catch and the cover back didn't affect the position of Ginn at all so he should have come down with it. He's like the Tony Romo of wide outs. He can't do shit when it really matters.

Please Parcells, get us a REAL (3 would be nice) wide out.

Plus, love him or hate him, Peyton Manning can read a defense better than any quarterback in the NFL, and will eat you alive if you make a mistake.

I originally posted this last month as a preseason "look-back" to last year, but I wanted to hear a few takes on the matter here. Seeing as how many people think that the Dolphins blew the game and moreover, their season, in week 2, here's my article that analyzes last season's greatest team collapses (regular season), in order of significance, expectations, player/coaching hype, overall win-loss record at their height, and (non-)impact on the playoff picture because of their "down-the-stretch" ineptitude.

The list is as follows (minimal bias):


1. The Redskins - Before being embarrassed by Pitt. on Monday Night, The 'Skins held an impressive 6-2 record, Clinton Portis was the league's leading rusher at the halfway mark, and some (ok, only Ron Jaworski) thought that Jason Campbell was in the MVP discussion; what had followed was that the team's O-line eventually collapsed under old bones, Clinton Portis got winded and run into the ground too soon, and JC started throwing INT and getting sacked unmercifully (you could also say they had no viable downfield threat other than S. Moss, 'cause the rookie WRs were no help at all) ... what became of this was an eventual final tally of an 8-8 record, and it opened the doorway to another NFC East wildcard incumbent (to be discussed later on the list more fully).

2. TB Buccaneers - While I wrote the above, wikipedia does a better job describing what ultimately happened to the Bucs in 2008: The Bucs got off to a great start in 2008, with a 9–3 record going into the final month of the season, tied for first place in the division, with a chance at the top seed in the conference. On December 2, it was announced that defensive coordinator Monte Kiffin would be leaving the team after the season's end, for the same job at the University of Tennessee, serving under his son Lane Kiffin, who had just been named the new head coach at the school. After the announcement, the Buccaneers would lose the final four games of the season to finish 9–7 for the second consecutive season. Unlike 2007, it was not enough to secure the division championship, nor a playoff appearance.

3. Dallas Cowboys - The Dallas Cowboys entered the 2008 NFL season with high expectations. With a lot of returning talent on both sides of the ball, many predicted the Cowboys would make a run to the Super Bowl. They started strong, they had such pro-bowl stars as Tony Romo, Terrell Owens, Jason Witten, & Marion Barber, yet they had mixed results of "streakiness" throughout the season - they won their first 3 games, then went on to lose the next 4 of 6 games entering their bye; some of this can be attributed to Romo's hurt hand, but after he came back, rallying yet another 3-win streak, the Cowboys lost their final 3 of 4 games, especially in a disheartening 44-6 loss within the final week of the regular season to Philadelphia, which would have ultimately resulted in the victor claiming a playoff wildcard berth. For "America's Team", Dallas has not had positive end-of-the-season success in the past five years.

4. Denver Broncos - In what was arguably 2008's weakest NFL division, it seemed as though the Denver Broncos were the one shining spot. They were high-flying, gun-slinging, points-racking, and were overall, one of the more highly-potent offenses in the entire league; the problem was, the Broncos had absolutely no semblance of what could be called a "defense", Champ Bailey was not himself, and the hurt RB-carousel of 5-8 different starting running backs did not aid their efforts at all. Yet, despite the surrounding problems, the Broncos held a four-game lead in the AFC West division entering the homestretch of the season. Even with this crutch, it could not save the ultimate fate of Denver, who ended up just shy of the playoffs yet again, due to a final season re-match against San Diego, and the overall results of their campaign was a mediocre 8-8 record.

5. New York Jets - Though they did improve upon their 4-12 record from the year before, 9-7 wasn’t the year the Jets envisioned upon bringing Favre into town. After a series of wins and losses to start the season, the Jets appeared to have turned the corner in week 8 as they began a five game winning streak that included a victory over their long time rival, the New England Patriots. Unfortunately, the Jets (and notably an elder Favre) then fell apart, losing four of five down the stretch and missing the playoffs. The hype for the team's showing after the Patriots smashing (it was a lucky win anyway) was so strong, fervent, and ridiculous for a period of two weeks afterwards, that there were National(!) headlines that deemed them the next successor to the SuperBowl, aptly entitling the "would-be" contest the "Subway" Super Bowl - yecgh.

6. Buffalo Bills - Buffalo Bills quarterback Trent Edwards has been somewhat of an enigma the past couple seasons. There have been times when he’s absolutely brilliant (who has seen this?) , and other times when he looked completely lost on the field. Part of the reason for this is because the Bills have typically only had two options on offense in that they could either run the ball or throw to wide receiver Lee Evans. Perhaps this is the reason that they ranked in the bottom quarter of the league in total yards gained per game (24th overall). The Buffalo Bills finished the season last year 7-9, which happened to be the exact same record they had in 2007. However, after notching a 5-1 start, the 7-9 record posted in 2008 can be seen as nothing other than a disappointment.

7. Green Bay - After going 13-3 and going to the NFC Title Game in 2007, the Packers looked to establish a new identity in 2008, as a changing of the guard occurred with Brett Favre giving way to Aaron Rodgers. Rodgers played very well his first year starting for the Packers, and in comparison, posted nearly identical statistics as the freshly traded Brett Favre had his final year with the Packers. The team as a whole, however, could not finish their contests and lost 7 games by 4 or less points; in what seemed to be a good showing starting 2-0, then 4-3 entering their bye, the Packers ended up winning only two more games, resulting in a 6–10 record overall. The reason for the team's poor record was attributed mostly to the numerous injuries on defense that regularly kept six or seven starters off the field at various times throughout the year, yet refused to mention Favre or Ryan Grant's struggles.


Honorable Mention:
The Patriots - The New England Patriots had high hopes heading into the 2008 season. They were coming off a 2007 season in which they completed the first ever 16-0 regular season in NFL history, but lost the Super Bowl to the New York Giants. In the season opener, quarterback Tom Brady, the NFL's MVP in 2007, suffered a knee injury and missed the remainder of the season. Backup quarterback Matt Cassel replaced Brady. Cassel's start in Week 2 was his first start in a game since high school, and he led the Patriots to a win, which extended the Pats' regular season winning streak record to 21 games before an embarassing loss the next week ended the streak (v. Miami). Although Cassel had a steep learning curve to overcome, he finally hit his stride around mid-season, and at the end of it all, the unheralded backup led the team to an 11-5 record, and due to unfortunate tie-breaking circumstances/ranking, the team failed to reach the playoffs.



What do you guys think? Do you agree, would you switch a few of the rankings, or did I leave off any deserving (flailing) team?

Who's your premature team this season that has virtually no chance in your opinion to recover from a .500 start or an 0-2 record?

How 'bout dem Ravens, hon? :hyper: