NFL 2005 Season Wildcard Weekend Picks

	Jon - 3463 Posts 01/06/2006 @ 08:16:30 PM
I guess the AFC West is in there with the top divisions. So I'm making a slight correction to say that Washington and Tampa Bay are from two of the three top divisions.		Rate this comment Yours: Rated 0 times.

	icbeast - 3619 Posts 01/06/2006 @ 09:24:19 PM
I wish Smith would've at least gotten one MVP vote. No love for WRs. They'd have been the Packers offense without Smith. I'll go with Washington, Jax (out of spite), Carolina, and Cincinnati. Cincinatti lost to Jax, Pitt, Indy, and then basically mailed it in the last two weeks. Pitt lost to New England and Jax at home, then dropped 3 in a row to Baltimore, Indy, and Cincinnati. They had to win out starting in week 14 just to make the playoffs.		Rate this comment Yours: Rated 0 times.

	Jon - 3463 Posts 01/06/2006 @ 11:12:27 PM
Pittsburgh finished 11-5 just like Cincinnati and yeah Cincy threw a game away at the end, but Pittsburgh had maddox play some games so that's about even. Each team won at the other team's field. Pittsburgh actually finished better on the road in general and I think Cincinnati actually played worse at home.		Rate this comment Yours: Rated 0 times.

	Scott - Get Up! Get outta here! Gone! 01/07/2006 @ 03:42:36 PM
Viking and Packerless playoffs. Has there ever been a more pointless year to watch the playoffs:)		Rate this comment Yours: Rated 0 times.

	icbeast - I don't need to get steady I know just how I feel 01/07/2006 @ 06:24:17 PM
That's a touchdown, no matter what the announcers say.		Rate this comment Yours: Rated 0 times.

	Jeremy - 9563 Posts 01/07/2006 @ 08:20:37 PM
Yeah I dont even care. Sarah isn't even watching them. The only team I want to win even a little is JAX because I'm sick of hearing about the f-ing Patriots.		Rate this comment Yours: Rated 0 times.

	Scott - On your mark...get set...Terrible! 01/08/2006 @ 09:24:24 PM
the Patriots are a completely different team in the playoffs. It's sickening		Rate this comment Yours: Rated 0 times.

	Jon - 1000000 posts (and counting!) 01/08/2006 @ 09:30:29 PM
Woah why the hate for the Patriots? Ok so it's probably patriot-media hate, but still. Also, I'm actually fairly interested in these playoffs. Although I did sleep through the majority of the games. I saw some of each game, but also slept through some.		Rate this comment Yours: Rated 0 times.

	icbeast - 3619 Posts 01/08/2006 @ 10:10:34 PM
That's the thing. Everyone says baseball is too slow and the nba playoffs last forever, but most people will say that the nfl is so great. Not really. I had the Skins-Bucs game on in the living room but only watched about 2 mintues of the Bucs second to last drive. Then I was at my parents with my brother and I think I we were watching a SNL rerun instead of the jax-patriots game. I choose the Badgers over the Giants-Panthers, especially when I flipped over on commercial and it seemed like Carolina was dominating. I was a little more interested in the Bengals-Steelers, until Palmer got hurt and left the game. Then I played Madden with my dad. Turned the game back on in the 3rd quarter, watched the Steelers put up a quick 14 to basically end the game, and played cribbage after that with the game on but not really paying attention anymore. Why the hate for the Patriots? You're kidding right? They're from the Northeast, they've won 3 of the last 4, their uniforms are nasty, Brady played college at Michigan, Brady is annoying, all the commercials this year were annoying, Brady saying the Patriots get no respect was annoying, Weiss went to Notre Dame and Notre Dame is annoying because all there games are on NBC and that's retroactive to New England, the fact that there name is New England instead of one particular city, Bellicheck and his game playing with the injury report, and those are just all the things I could think of without pausing for more than a second.		Rate this comment Yours: Rated 0 times.

	Jon - 3463 Posts 01/08/2006 @ 11:20:13 PM
That's a good list. Except I like them for a lot of those reasons. I like their uniforms. I don't mind Michigan (though it's really not a factor in my feelings for the Patriots) and Brady and his hype can be annoying but he's good and I kind of like him. Fantasy Football will do that kind of thing. The Patriots getting no respect thing was annoying and really the dumbest thing said this side of Drew Rosenhaus. I like Notre Dame. Bellicheck is annoyig with the injury report, but only because of fantasy football. Otherwise, I kind of like it. I'm not a fan of lying outright, and I don't support that, but the fact that you have to report what kind of injuries your team has is kind of ridiculous. So if he wants to be vague I'm all for it. He's trying to win games, not fantasy leagues.		Rate this comment Yours: Rated 0 times.

	Jon - 3463 Posts 01/08/2006 @ 11:24:35 PM
Oh and I try not to hate teams or people for winning because that's really what we want for our teams anyway. It seems like a jealousy thing that makes us (myself included) want to dislike winners and that seems a bit ugly to me. I don't mind disliking the hype that goes with it and wanting a change. But winning I don't think is really something to hate teams over.		Rate this comment Yours: Rated 0 times.

	Scott - 6225 Posts 01/09/2006 @ 08:28:08 AM
my comment wasn't really a Patriot-hate comment. They just seemed to be a completely different team yesterday. I also can't really stand the Uniforms. I don't like the fact that President Bush named the controversial legislation after a football team as well. I will say this, the Patriots are not the Yankees. The Patriots are a good team who get that way by working hard and having outstanding team chemistry. The Yankees on the other hand still work hard and everything, but outspending your next closest opponent by $80 million is reason enough to hate. So in that regard, I don't hate the Patriots. I really just like seeing Goliath being taken down. That's partly why I was rooting for Texas over USC. I wanted Someone other than the Braves to win the NL East. I wanted to see the Lakers lose after the 3-peat. I'm an underdog supporter, probably because I am an underdog of sorts.		Rate this comment Yours: Rated 0 times.

	Scott - 6225 Posts 01/09/2006 @ 08:29:42 AM
oh, and 3 road teams won this weekend. Crazy. I didn't really watch any of the games this weekend though. I probably spent a grand total of 30 minutes watching football.		Rate this comment Yours: Rated 0 times.

	Jeremy - Always thinking of, but never about, the children. 01/09/2006 @ 10:26:22 AM
I dislike the Patriots, but only because of the media. In fact I was hoping the bengals would win because I don't want to listen the the neverending media love affair with the Colts/Patriots "rivalry". At least it can't be the championship game.		Rate this comment Yours: Rated 0 times.

	Scott - 6225 Posts 01/09/2006 @ 12:23:20 PM
I tend not to let the media control how I feel about a team or a player in most circumstances. The Patriots deserve all the media attention they are getting. 3 of the last 4 Super Bowls and in the playoffs for a 3rd straight. You do that and the media has every right to go nuts. Now, what gets me is when the media does this type of thing for someone who has done little to nothing to warrant it, ie Mike Vick. He isn't a bad QB, but why does his ability to run give him more talent than anyone in football? Throwing is a talent too, in which he has very little. I just like to see the big guy being taken down by the "little guy". So if the Colts Patriots game is overhyped, I don't care. It's deserved in my opinion. This is like the 49ers Cowboys rivalry of the mid 90s, or the Redwings/Avalanche of the late 90s. The Colts have yet to prove that they can get over the Patriots hump, and this game possibly could be a huge game in shaping the career of Peyton Manning. I don't think that championships determine good players (Marino), but after he retires are people going to be saying "He's the best, but he could never beat the Pats", or "He's the best QB to ever play, and finally beating the Patriots and going to the Super Bowl cements what we all have concluded anyway". I hope it's the latter, and that's why I will be rooting for the Colts if they should meet in the AFC Championship game. I'll take the hype with a grain of salt.		Rate this comment Yours: Rated 0 times.

	Jeremy - No one's gay for Moleman 01/09/2006 @ 12:40:24 PM
I agree that it's infinately better than the undeserved hype, I'm just sick of hearing them talk about the Patriots. Deserved or not it's reached boil over point. The worst part is half the time they prattle on about them is about the fact that they "don't talk about them enough". The reason I want them to lose is because I too want someone else in there. I guess my only issue with the rivalry is that the talking heads talk about it like Peyton is 0-197 against a vastly inferior Patriots and 195 or them were AFC Championship games. I think the record is 1-7 and the 7 are games at Foxboro. Manning couldn't get past the hump because his team wasn't as good as a dynasty in their prime. The fact that this could define his career either way is exatly what I'm talking about as far as it being blown out of proporttion. If the Patriots win 4/5 this year thats 124 teams that they left in their trails, not 1 team, and cetainly not only Peyton Manning.		Rate this comment Yours: Rated 0 times.

	icbeast - 3619 Posts 01/09/2006 @ 12:54:37 PM
First of all let me qualify the hate aspect. It's not like I would go Tonya Harding on Brady given the chance. But once he steps on the football field, I would prefer that he lose instead of win, preferably by throwing about 10 interceptions. Bellicheck's injury report games are unsportsmanlike and disrespectful of his fellow coaches, and the NFL for that matter. Pretty much every game in the entire season is overhyped. Agree with Jeremy's comments. If you don't mind Michigan football, you are not a Badgers or Gophers fan. Michigan and Ohio State, almost always overhyped and always overshadowing the rest of the Big Ten because of the media in football. In basketball, Michigan State and Illinios always overhyped and overshadowing the rest of the conference. Since Bo Ryan has taken over the Badgers have been arguably the best team in the Big Ten. I'll look up some proof later. Illinois would be their only competition. But still, every year Michigan State this, Illinois that, now Ohio State is back blah, blah, blah. Wisconsin never gets its props.		Rate this comment Yours: Rated 0 times.

	Jeremy - 9563 Posts 01/09/2006 @ 12:56:27 PM
who doesn't enjoy a good Tonya Harding reference?		Rate this comment Yours: Rated 0 times.

	Jeremy - Super Chocolate Bear 01/09/2006 @ 01:06:53 PM
Also congrats to Jon who locked up at least a tie for 1st.		Rate this comment Yours: Rated 0 times.

	Scott - Resident Tech Support 01/09/2006 @ 03:06:00 PM
Favre had a similar start to the beginning of career as Peyton. Favre and the Packers lost the first 6 times they played Dallas. All six times were in Dallas, I think 4 of those games were playoff games, and Dallas was in the midst of winning like 3 Super Bowls in 5 years or something like that. So I think for the most part I agree with Jeremy. But I think if and when the Patriots finally play in Indy in the AFCCG, a regime change in the NFL will occur.		Rate this comment Yours: Rated 0 times.

	Scott - No, I did not change your screen saver settings 01/09/2006 @ 03:09:16 PM
Michigan State is 12-4 and Wisconsin is 12-2, and Wisconsin beat Michigan state and Mich St. is still ranked higher than Wisconsin. Mich St's 4 losses all come against ranked opponents and 1 of wisconsin's 2 losses is against a ranked team, but still, only 2 losses compared to 4.		Rate this comment Yours: Rated 0 times.

	icbeast - 3619 Posts 01/09/2006 @ 06:22:55 PM
Not only that, but both of Wisconsin's losses were to the at the time #23 team on the road, with one of those teams still being undefeated. This plays right in to my earlier comment. Unofficialy (from teamrankings.com), Wisconsin has the #3 RPI right now compared to MichSt's 23. That site also has its own Power Rating list which has Wis at 12 and MichSt at 25.		Rate this comment Yours: Rated 0 times.

	Scott - If you aren't enough without it, you'll never be enough with it. 01/10/2006 @ 08:34:15 AM
For the record, I think Carson Palmer is a classy guy.		Rate this comment Yours: Rated 0 times.

	Micah - 584 Posts 01/10/2006 @ 01:18:54 PM
Congratulations to Antwaan Randle-El for achieving a perfect passing rating of 158.3 for the 2005 season, and for consistently being on someone's fantasy roster yet never actually scoring points for anyone.		Rate this comment Yours: Rated 0 times.

	Jon - 3463 Posts 01/11/2006 @ 01:32:01 AM
My earliest memories of college football are watching two teams. Notre Dame and Michigan. So I do like them. Plus, Michigan was like THE coolest thing in college basketball around then also. The Fab Five. Sure the whole thing ended up slightly disappointing, but with those black socks and long shorts they were better than Duke and North Carolina combined. As far as Wisconsin is concerned, I don't really care much about their lack of glory from being overshadowed by other teams. Especially in basketball. Not because they don't deserve it, but because it's not that big of a deal. Wisconsin wouldn't have beaten North Carolina last year if they got more hype. Probably not at least. Oh and the Yankees WON their championships with a lot of homegrown players. Jeter, Pettite, Rivera, Bernie Williams, Jorge Posada. That's a pretty good core of guys to build around. A core they didn't "buy". The fill in players for the championship teams really weren't the All Stars we're used to seeing in Yankees uniforms now. Brosius and Chad Curtis were both starters. Multiple years. No doubt, their money helped them hang on to some of the guys and get high priced talent along the way, though there were a ton of busts to go with the successes. Really though, it appears that the more they have tried to "buy" championships, the worse they've gotten. Sure they're still in the playoffs every year but they haven't won the Series this century.		Rate this comment Yours: Rated 0 times.

	Jon - 3463 Posts 01/11/2006 @ 01:42:37 AM
And the injury report games Bellicheck plays are what I like to call smart. I don't tell you all the details of my player's injury and you don't get the advantage of gameplanning for it. I mean why doesn't the league just mandate that they share the first twenty five plays they are going to run.		Rate this comment Yours: Rated 0 times.

	Micah - 584 Posts 01/11/2006 @ 09:46:55 AM
A+ for Jon on Bellicheck comment, even if he did just defend the Yankees		Rate this comment Yours: Rated 0 times.

	Jeremy - 9563 Posts 01/11/2006 @ 10:09:29 AM
Well his defense of the Yankees is pretty stupid anyway. Whether or not the players are "homegrown" they still have all the money on the world to keep those homegrown players. A lot of teams would be good if they has the ability to hold onto the players they wanted to hold on to, but they don't. It really isn't much different.		Rate this comment Yours: Rated 0 times.

	icbeast - 3619 Posts 01/11/2006 @ 01:39:01 PM
I agree with Jeremy's comment. If the A's had the Yankees money, they would going for their 5 world series title in a row. Tejada, Giambi (who is now a Yankee), Hudson, Mulder, Damon (who is now a Yankee) ... The fact that not every single player on their team was bought up from some other team doesn't really mean much. Even if guys they steal away are "busts" in New York, they might have played better with their previous team who then would have played better against the Yankees. You can argue that teams having to give out injury reports is a dumb idea. But when he's disobeying NFL guidelines to intentionally deceive people, I call that lying.		Rate this comment Yours: Rated 0 times.

	Matt - 3961 Posts 01/11/2006 @ 03:31:16 PM
Alex beat me to the point I was going to make about Belichick (the correct spelling by the way). It may be a stupid rule, but it is a rule and he should abide by like every other coach.		Rate this comment Yours: Rated 0 times.

	Matt - Washington Bureau Chief 01/11/2006 @ 03:48:04 PM
As for the Yankees.... They have money, they spend their money, its just the way it is and if the Brewers or Twins had $200 million to spend I have a hard time believing we would object. If you want to hate someone hate MLB for not having a salary cap, although that has its own problems and I like that they don't.		Rate this comment Yours: Rated 0 times.

	Jeremy - 9563 Posts 01/11/2006 @ 04:19:43 PM
What we hate is the UNEVENESS of the markets cousing the uneven bankrolls. Obviously if all things were equal the situation would be different.		Rate this comment Yours: Rated 0 times.

	Scott - If you aren't enough without it, you'll never be enough with it. 01/11/2006 @ 04:30:45 PM
I agree that if the Brewers had $200 million to spend they would probably spend it, but the point is they don't, and neither does any other team in the league. The Difference between the yankees and their next closest payroll competitor was like $80 million dollars. George Steinbrenner is out of control. I know they haven't won the world series in a few years, but talk about a team that is so freakin easy to root for. Seriously, unless you were born in New York, if you are a yankee fan and you are under the age of like 20 or even 30, you obviously started watching them soley for the fact that they were good. In my opinion, the true fans are the ones that stick with their team through the worst of seasons. And since the Yankees havent had a losing season in like forever, there are actually no true Yankee fans;) Any way. I just wish that baseball would adjust their system to allow the bottom feeders to inhance their payroll and their ability to win.		Rate this comment Yours: Rated 0 times.

	Scott - 6225 Posts 01/11/2006 @ 04:33:21 PM
I think they should take away Belichick's Super Bowl championships for his violation of this rule. Just strike them from the record. Super Bowls 36, 38, and 39 never happened. No questions asked.		Rate this comment Yours: Rated 0 times.

	icbeast - I was too weak to give in Too strong to lose 01/11/2006 @ 06:55:47 PM
I'm down with that. I just guessed on the spelling (obviously), but I figured someone would jump on it right away.		Rate this comment Yours: Rated 0 times.

	Micah - Even now in Heaven there are angels carrying savage weapons 01/12/2006 @ 09:58:25 AM
I just copied Jon's spelling. I thought he had my back but I guess I was wrong.		Rate this comment Yours: Rated 0 times.

	Scott - 6225 Posts 01/13/2006 @ 01:46:29 PM
games tomorrow, guys, lets get hoppin'. And oh yeah, nobody seems to care about the new hires for the Vikings or the Packers. weird		Rate this comment Yours: Rated 0 times.

	Jeremy - 9563 Posts 01/13/2006 @ 01:48:54 PM
I think we collectively lost the will to talk about football. Also Matt and I have had it done for a couple days now.		Rate this comment Yours: Rated 0 times.

	Jon - 3463 Posts 01/15/2006 @ 11:46:01 PM
On the Yankees, I did actually acknowledge the fact that the money doesn't just work to get them free agents. Obviously that helped them. (Again, as I stated) Anyway, it's still an unbelieveable core group and Jeter and Posada were young when the championships started so they weren't spending a lot on them anyway. Yes the Athletics have had great groups of talent come through their organization, but not every team has, so it's not like you can just give Any team a load of money and they will win a lot, but more on that later. The fact is, though, I still feel that people hate the Yankees for really lame reasons sometimes, which certainly is their own right to do, but nevertheless, I think it's often misguided. And I'm not even necessarily telling you all that your reasons are dumb. Anyway, here are my thoughts on the Yankees. Yes they spend way more than other teams, but every fan wants their team to spend the most money possible and their possibilities are a lot higher. Anyway, other teams like the Red Sox and Dodgers and Mets and (don't forget the Cubs) have been trying to win by outspending their opponents for years now and they havent had nearly the success the Yankees have. I think that some people forget that Brian Cashman and other parts of the organization are actually just good at what they do. Sometimes the rich kids in school also happen to be really talented and sometimes not. The Yankees are the kids that happen to be both. And Scott, to pick on your argument about young people being Yankees fans, I don't really think it's a good one. One of the main reasons people become fans of a team is that they have a lot of exposure to them when they are young. This happens to go hand in hand with geography a lot but not always. Just because they were exposed to a team like the Yankees every October and took a liking to them, doesn't mean they are just a bunch of fairweather fans. Kids shouldn't have to pick only bad teams to cheer for. And they don't have to pick the local ones either. I guess my main beef with Yankee hate is that it's just another bandwagon people get on. Sure there's some genuine feeling to go with it, but I think a lot of people (not necessarily any of you) just hate the Yankees cause it's easy to do and it's kind of "the thing to do". I mean, where was all the Yankee hate during, say, the early 90's? Or most of the 80's? Was there Oriole hate during 1998 when they outspent the Yankees but finished with a losing record? And why isn't there more hate for the Braves? Maybe if Boston fans complained about those teams then there would be more hate for them.		Rate this comment Yours: Rated 0 times.