NFL Football - 2008-09 Season Discussion

[Commander Vaughn]

It really is amazing how terrible the Lions are.

Their quarterback (Jon Kitna) has had 2 straight series where he threw picks that were returned for touchdowns, and a third where he threw a pick that led to a touchdown. He personally gave up 21 points! In the fourth quarter! When his team had just taken the lead!

Unbelievable. And it's like this every single year! Going back for as long as I can remember.

 

[Tom Servo]

Pats beat the Jets 19-10 in the first game of the Matt Cassel era. Hopefully he continues to play well.

 

[1001001]

Denver should be embarrased to call that game a "win".

Two completely botched calls by the refs ruined a great Charger comeback. The Bailey strip (where the review equipment malfunctioned!) was terrible. Cutler's fumble at the end should have sealed the deal, but nooooo....

Absolutely pitiful job by the refs on both of those calls

 

[JM1776]

I'm thoroughly enjoying Arizona's two-game lead after two games played in the NFC West. [Even though San Fran is 1-1, it's functionally a two-game lead because the Cards beat the Niners.]

It's not too early to say, "I told you so," because they're gonna win this division.

 

[archeryguy1701]

While I am glad Denver won, I do whole-heartedly agree that the refs screwed that fumble call up, especially after reviewing it! As near as I can tell, he let Denver keep it because the whistle was blown, but this was the first time that I've seen a call like that. Denver is too nice. Much like previous seasons, they are unable to kick the opponent when they're down. They will massacre them the first half, and then forget that there is a second half to play. They were damn lucky to come out of this one alive.

 

[TheLonelySquire]

While I am glad Denver won, I do whole-heartedly agree that the refs screwed that fumble call up, especially after reviewing it! As near as I can tell, he let Denver keep it because the whistle was blown, but this was the first time that I've seen a call like that. Denver is too nice. Much like previous seasons, they are unable to kick the opponent when they're down. They will massacre them the first half, and then forget that there is a second half to play. They were damn lucky to come out of this one alive.

What's most interesting about that game was that Chicken Cutler didn't go to Brandon Marshall (18 catches) for the potential tying td. He went to Eddie Royal. He didn't go to Marshall for the winning two point conversion. He went to Royal. A rookie. Takes nothing away from BM. Speaks volumes about Royal though.

Incredible.

 

[the_wildcard]

Go NINERS! Big victory over a division rival on the road.

 

[Adm. Bonz]

Buffalo is 2-0!

 

[smeos]

The Seahawks are now 0-2 after blowing the game today. Seriously, the fuck do you get 8 sacks and lose?

My liver won't last the season at this rate.

 

[pookha]

... his therapist says he was definitely talking about suicide.

Frankly, we shouldn't know that. A therapist should be better able to keep her piehole appropriately shut than a worried mother. You inform the police if you believe the situation critical, but the guy's football coach—someone who's going to be grilled by the media? Give me a freakin' break. This gal should lose her license to shrink.

Is it possible that he was always the 'golden boy' both in high school and at Texas and thus never had to deal with this kind of pressure?

I think it's pretty apparent such is the case, unless all indications are just way off base.

well considering some details shift and seem to change day by day.

his mother freaked when vince left the house evidently in state of emotional turmoil.

fisher along with a psychiatrist and the person in charge of player relations went out to see vince earlier in the day.

when vince left his mom knew about the gun in the car.

she called fisher. fisher may have called the therapist to see how bad it was.
evidently he found out about the suicide talk and that the therapist was working on getting vince more help and a psych eval due to it.

fisher felt with what he was hearing both from the mother and the psychologist he had no choice but to call the police.

to get the police to help in a situation like this he had to tell why he felt vince was a danger to himself.
which is how i suspect what the psychologist said got into the police report which is public record.

also remember his mother really was the first person to really open up about the depression stuff ect...

i think it is just amazing the team held together the way they have considering just how crazy this week has been.

according to vince he has already talked to mcnabb and mcnair.

fisher has already said vince can be qb again but only after he has healed and gotten his sense of perspective back ie gotten his head screwed on straight.

 

[JM1776]

While I am glad Denver won ...

I've just never understood how owners, coaches, players and fans happily take such a result and claim "victory." Clearly the Broncos lost. It wasn't an act of God, but rather incompetence.

I always chuckle disgustedly, for example, when anyone associated with the University of Colorado claims to have won a national championship in the 1990 season. Um ... no. The refs gave 'em five downs against Missouri, and CU scored on the game's last play. In other words, they freakin' lost. Georgia Tech was the true champ that year.

Contrast this with the 1940 Dartmouth/Cornell game, where men of character and substance voted to forfeit a game they'd won unfairly. [Cornell was unbeaten and ranked number one when the game took place.]

And people wonder why I weep for the future.

 

[archeryguy1701]

^Oh, for crying out loud! It wasn't like Denver cheated. It wasn't like the refs did something incredibly stupid, such as giving additional downs. In the middle of a game, a ref made an incorrect call, and...

Referee Ed Hochuli blew his whistle when the ball came out, ruling it an incomplete pass. A review showed that it should have been ruled a fumble. Instant replay rules, however, don’t allow the opponent to gain possession in such situations.
“All we can do to fix it is put the ball at the spot that it hit the ground, which is why we moved it back to the 10-yard line and the down counts and it becomes third down,” Hochuli said afterward.

http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/recap?gid=20080914007
Refs make bad calls all the time, but lets go ahead and call bull-shit on this one because he made that bad call with less than 2 minutes to go. Hochuli saw a pass, reviewed it, and did the only thing he was allowed to do according to the rules. Seeing how the mistake was caught by the officials in game and the rules were all followed, I think that would count as a win.

San Diego isn't the first team to get shit on, and they won't be the last. What it comes down to is if they're a better team, they'll out last in the long run. This shouldn't be the make or break game of their season.

 

[Scout101]

suck it, J-E-T-S! I'm gonna love reading the talking heads this morning and watching everyone backpedal. Just last week, they gave the AFC East to the Jets, the Pats were finished, etc. Rumors of the Pats' demise may have been a tad premature.

Still don't think they can go all the way, but the people expecting them to roll over without Brady were kidding themselves...

 

[SmoothieX]

^ I'm with you. The Jets have 6-10 or 7-9 written all over them. They aren't that good. They got too much attention before the season and even more once Brady went down. They're the 3rd best team in their division!

I thought Cassel looked ok out there. He needs to get his timing and familiarity with the first unit down. That was big biggest flaw to me yesterday.

 

[the 4th hanson bro]

The game should have never come down to that last play. The Broncos were in control of the game and let the Chargers back into it. Who the hell was playing defense in the second half? And special teams? There's a lot of work to be done in Mile High.

I do admire Shanahan's balls in going for the win and not the tie, although I wonder if that was more a realization that his defense couldn't stop the Chargers and didn't want to risk losing the coin toss.

 

[tomalak301]

Go NINERS! Big victory over a division rival on the road.

Not just that, but it's a boost of confidence. Last week when they lost to Arizona I was thinking dang, this might be another long year. I didn't think they were able to beat Seatlle on the road, but they did. Still not saying this is a good football team but I'm happy about the victory.

Just what the hell was Ed Hoculie looking at yesterday? I guess the call was if the ball is blown dead, than you can't review. That only begs this question I've had. What is replay again? Wasn't replay installed because of cases like this if whether it's an incomplete pass or Fumble. Maybe I just don't understand the rule, but that was a crap call and anyone who says otherwise (like Tom Jackson) I think is delusional. Chargers should have won that game and I think they should file protest.

 

[Scout101]

he knows it was a bad call, he said that. But the way replay works, you can only change certain calls. You can't overturn plays like that after the whistle blows, because you're supposed to stop when the whistle blows. You could argue that had he not blown the whistle, Denver might have had a chance to recover, or knock it back away from SD, etc. Once it blows, that's it. Otherwise, players will keep going after the whistle in case there's a review, and then people get hurt on dead calls.

As for going for 2 points: he said basically that the defense was spent, and he didn't want to trust the outcome of the game to a coin flip. The offense was clicking, so why not give it one try from the 2 yard line? Ballsy play, but it worked this time

 

[JM1776]

^Oh, for crying out loud! It wasn't like Denver cheated.

But it wasn't like Denver won, either.

It wasn't like the refs did something incredibly stupid, such as giving additional downs.

No, he "did something incredibly stupid" like blowing a play dead inappropriately, without a good angle, as opposed to letting things play out and sorting things through via replay afterwards.

San Diego isn't the first team to get shit on, and they won't be the last.

And when it's preventable then and there, as it was, make the right call instead of the technically correct one. Refs interpret rules all the time: See that ridiculous celebration penalty during BYU-Washington last Saturday. Unlike that incident, this should have been one of those in which a rule is gently set aside so that what's right may prevail.

What it comes down to is if they're a better team, they'll out last in the long run. This shouldn't be the make or break game of their season.

"Shouldn't," but it might. That call could well be the difference between a playoff spot and a long offseason for the Chargers. This is not a baseball season, in which a single loss may be considered negligible. One game is over six percent of your season, whether played in September or on Christmas Day.

 

[SmoothieX]

And when it's preventable then and there, as it was, make the right call instead of the technically correct one.

You really couldn't in that instance though. The whistle was blown indicating the play was dead. That fundamentally changes what happens next if the players think the play is over. It might not have played out as a turnover.

 

[JM1776]

And when it's preventable then and there, as it was, make the right call instead of the technically correct one.

You really couldn't in that instance though. The whistle was blown indicating the play was dead. That fundamentally changes what happens next if the players think the play is over. It might not have played out as a turnover.

Fair enough—no pun intended.

It still sets off my bullshit detector, because if I recall the play correctly, no one other than a Charger had a shot at the ball, but ... I do (and long before this debate did) see the point.