NFL Playoffs 2011-2012

[crawjo]

Any time a Boston or New York sports team loses, I feel good and enjoy the suffering their fans experience. The only exception was the Red Sox in 2004. But after they broke that streak they fell right in with all the other teams. That was why I didn't watch this year's Super Bowl. (And surprisingly afterwards I didn't feel that I had missed anything important. I saw the highlights of the key plays and that was enough for me.)

For a time Boston fans could stake their claim to being hardened by years of defeat...but with the success in the last decade of all four of their major sports teams, that's just no longer the case. Now they are almost as bad as New York fans, and every time their team loses they deserve to feel bad inside.

[Captain Hate]

Bradshaw threw a tight spiral as did Jefferson Street Joe Gilliam before the drugs got to him.

I think I posted this elsewhere (because I did a search to make sure I wasn't repeating myself in a senior moment) but of all the AFL teams I think I remember the Patriots least. I'm almost sure that they were rarely featured on the NBC telecasts unlike the Oilers, Bills, Chargers, Raidazz, Chiefs and ultimately the Namath Jets. The only one of their early players I can even remember is Gino Cappelletti. Maybe that's why I don't regard them fondly at all.

[Mo Noyz]

All I remember about the Patriots from my day was the snow plow game (which should have cemented a hatred for them, but the cat was an ex convict so we share a mistake in lifestyle choice), Grogan vs. Marino (always mega entertaining), and heart-crushingly awful teams with a diehard fan base.

[The G Man]

Watch this fascinating video about the super accurate Drew Brees.

http://www.sciencekids.co.nz/videos/spo ... piral.html

[The G Man]

Bad news for the Giants. Their top two TE's, Jake Ballard and Travis Beckum both tore their ACL's in the Super Bowl. Are there any good ones that may be available at the end of the first round?

[jon abbey]

Bad news for the Giants. Their top two TE's, Jake Ballard and Travis Beckum both tore their ACL's in the Super Bowl. Are there any good ones that may be available at the end of the first round?

what about moving Barden there?

[bostontricky]

If BT is still reading this, isn't about time you jettison your carpetbagging support for the Patriots and return to the team of your youth, as they gear up for another playoff run in what has become the toughest division in the enneffell.

Mind you, the Patsies were kind of like the AFC version of the Lions when we moved out here in 1992, with Hugh Millen, Scott Zolak, and two other guys I've never heard of starting at QB that year. I will become considerably more disinterested in the locals (again) once my fellow alumnus hangs it up one of these years. To their credit, the Trickettes did not get bent out of shape over the end of the game (we are raising no stereotypical Masshole fans here), the old man did give them a crash course on strategy after that last TD which was readily understood and accepted.

Would be easier to follow the Lions if Fox would stop shoving the Giants down our throats every Sunday, not like that situation is going to improve in the near future, if ever, given the ancient territorial rights involved. I certainly am not interested in coughing up any additional funds to improve my viewing selection, either.

WTF is Manningham doing catching balls like that? He couldn't catch half the balls thrown straight at him at U-M.

[walto]

I don't know about you guys, but I just can't think of anything else but Tom Brady's legacy. And his perfect three-day beard, and epicness, and destiny. And Giselle's swearing at those reporters for him. And comforting him, you know, later. And Joe Montana. And Bart Starr. And Ali. And Jordan. And the girls who comforted them, with their extensive heights. And coach-quarterback tandems. And MIA's finger.

But not Larry Fine or his wife.

But mostly legacy. I just can't stop thinking about what might have been or whether it'll happen for him (and all of us) next year. Gosh.

It's all just so epic.

[The G Man]

I don't know about you guys, but I just can't think of anything else but Tom Brady's legacy. And his perfect three-day beard, and epicness, and destiny. And Giselle's swearing at those reporters for him. And comforting him, you know, later. And Joe Montana. And Bart Starr. And Ali. And Jordan. And the girls who comforted them, with their extensive heights. And coach-quarterback tandems. And MIA's finger.

But not Larry Fine or his wife.

But mostly legacy. I just can't stop thinking about what might have been or whether it'll happen for him (and all of us) next year. Gosh.

It's all just so epic.

Did you mean Bernie and his wife or the colleague of Moe and Curly Howard and his wife, dead as they are?

[Captain Hate]

WTF is Manningham doing catching balls like that? He couldn't catch half the balls thrown straight at him at U-M.

He's been pretty fortunate to have Brainless Edwards setting the bar extremely high on inconsistency.

[The G Man]

Bad news for the Giants. Their top two TE's, Jake Ballard and Travis Beckum both tore their ACL's in the Super Bowl. Are there any good ones that may be available at the end of the first round?

what about moving Barden there?

Is he tough enough, able to block? Dunno.

Martellus Bennett of Dallas is a FA. He might get more dough as the Giants' #1 TE than Dallas's #2. Jeremy Shockey is als a FA but I'd be surprised if Eli wanted him back.

[walto]

I don't know about you guys, but I just can't think of anything else but Tom Brady's legacy. And his perfect three-day beard, and epicness, and destiny. And Giselle's swearing at those reporters for him. And comforting him, you know, later. And Joe Montana. And Bart Starr. And Ali. And Jordan. And the girls who comforted them, with their extensive heights. And coach-quarterback tandems. And MIA's finger.

But not Larry Fine or his wife.

But mostly legacy. I just can't stop thinking about what might have been or whether it'll happen for him (and all of us) next year. Gosh.

It's all just so epic.

Did you mean Bernie and his wife or the colleague of Moe and Curly Howard and his wife, dead as they are?

Oh, you can see how obsessed I am with Patriots legacy!!

[The G Man]

Two things that are annoying me:

1. Over and over again we hear that the Patriots didn't beat any team with a winning record until they beat the Ravens. Well, they beat nine teams with winning records this year if you take out their opponents' games against the Patriots. That's right, eight times they beat teams that were 8-7 in their other games.

2. When the Giants were 7-7, there was a lot of chatter over whether Coughlin would get fired if they missed the playoffs. If he had been fired, his head coaching career (age 65) would probably have been over. Now the chatter is whether he'll make the HOF. Is the HOF selection process so silly that a five game stretch has that much impact?

One more thing:

It hasn't been talked about much yet, but baseball will start to see more mediocre teams (like the 2011 Cardinals) win the World Series due to the expansion of teams making the playoffs. The greater the number of playoff eligible teams, the lower the likelihood of dynasties, even though there might be just as many regular season dominant teams.

[walto]

I'm even more aflutter now--what with the Paul Pierce legacy matter to concider. And is there a Brady-Rivers legacy in the making too (along with the now totally EPIC Patriots-Giants Rivalry)??

I can hardly breathe! It's all too much!!!

[Mo Noyz]

Walto, what the fuck are you babbling about?!

[jon abbey]

Adam Schefter @AdamSchefter

Stat of the day: In the 2007 and 2011 seasons, the Patriots were 1-3 against the Giants and 32-2 against the rest of the league.

[walto]

I'm just all aflutter with the epicosity, Scott.

I was going to fix "concider" but my blackberry shitbox wouldn't let me, and now that I'm home, I kind of like it.

[jesus marion joseph]

All I remember about the Patriots from my day was the snow plow game (which should have cemented a hatred for them, but the cat was an ex convict so we share a mistake in lifestyle choice), Grogan vs. Marino (always mega entertaining), and heart-crushingly awful teams with a diehard fan base.

Grogan could (and often did) stand in the pocket and take crushing hits without ever complaining about it that I can remember.

[jon abbey]

what QB ever has complained about getting hit too much? I can't think of a better way to piss off your offensive line and make sure you get hit even more in the future.

[MRS]