Oh no, I completely agree with you about MVP voters. I know he won't win the award at all, let alone be in the final running -- but there are damn few players who are more valuable to their team's success than Rodgers.
Peterson's put up some stinkers before. He's a really boom or bust runner. He's good because he breaks the big runs so often, but if a team can keep him contained, not letting him rip off any long runs (extremely difficult) he'll be pretty ineffective. ETA: not even close to the worst, last night was probably his 2nd worst. His rookie year he went 14 for 3 against the Niners. 8 inches per carry. http://www.pro-football-reference.com/p ... 1/gamelog/
Peterson's problem is that he is trying to hit the big run every single play. You barely ever see him grind out a 30-35 carry 125 yard game. The reason? We have been running a ton of stretch plays and have surprisingly been trying to run to the right side of the line, instead of to the left behind a couple of pro-bowlers (I know, debateable on McKinnie). I read somewhere that AP has been hit behind the line more than any running back this year, which doesn't exactly lead to great running games.
Re: 2009 POWER RANKINGS 1. Saints 12-0 2. Colts 12-0 3. Vikings 10-2 4. Begals 9-3 5. Chargers 9-3 I really think the Colts are better than the Saints. Don't get me wrong I realize that NO is a power-house who should be representing the NFC in the superbowl. I just think the Colt's are better. The close games the Saints had with Washington and especially St. Louis really bother me. I can understand the skins, (the emotion from beating New England) but I feel the Colt's have faced and beaten better teams. The Colts have had closer games especially within their own division and had a very close game in Baltimore, but they blew out the teams they should. Question to the board, who wins today Saints or Colts? Also does anyone have any idea how they do the power rankings? What the formula is?
Re: 2009 POWER RANKINGS The Saints have been the better team all season, and their close wins are easily explainable; they are the better team Better all year: The Saints came out the gates firing on all cylinders, and pounded the Giants and Eagles early in the season. They dominated the Pats; Brees threw for more TD's than any other QB ever had a against the Pats with BB as head coach. The Saints have the #1 offense in football. They are top 5 in rushing and passing. They also lead the league in turnovers and interceptions. Statistically, they are better than the Colts. When the Saints are at their best, they look practically unstoppable. Against the one notable common opponent (Patriots), the Saints dominated, and the game was over with 10 minutes to play in the 4th. The Colts got dominated most of the game, and squeaked out an improbable win at the last second on a very controversial call from BB and a controversial spot. Close wins against shitty teams: The Saints played the Rams without 3/4 of their secondary, including Darren Sharper (also Porter and Greer). The Saints played the Redskins with their top 3 corners out (Porter, Greer, and Gay). They started 2 guys who had been on the streets less than a month ago (McKenzie and McAllister) and a rookie (Malcolm Jenkins). McKenzie went down, and they had to play a S/special teams player (Pierson Prioleau) at corner for much of the second half. The Saints secondary is a key component of the Saints' success. Greg Williams relies on Porter and Greer to be able to cover so that he can put pressure on the QB, thus forcing him into mistakes and allowing the center fielder, Darren Sharper, to capitalize on them. When you replace two young, able bodied CBs in the prime of their careers with two 30+ guys who have both lost a lot of speed and explosiveness, you really change your defense completely. Luckily, Greer and Porter will be back for the playoffs, and they will be 2 of the major reasons the Saints are contenders.
Re: 2009 POWER RANKINGS Very well said. Check out this site http://www.nfl.com/stats/categorystats? ... 447263-n=1 This has Indy's D at 17 with the saints at 18. Colts have given up about 50 less points. I do agree with you that the Patriots game gives a good look at both teams. Remember how often the Pat's play the Colts, they had a much better game plan and I don't think anyone would disagree that this paticular game was going to be closer simply because of the familiarity and rivalry of the two teams. Saints are number one in offense but Colts are number one in passing. I like Manning over Brees this year. I also think the Colt's have the better and bigger playmakers. With the exception of Brees no one compares to Reggie Wayne or Dallas Clark. (Please don't claim Colston is on their level) I will say that the Saints are the better coached team (in my opinion.) I respected everything you said (with the exception of pointing out the wins over philly and NY, I'm a eagles fan and the NFC east can't hold a candle too the Saints) even with everything you posted I like the Colts over the Saints in a game. Great post however, exactly what I was looking for by asking the question.
Here we go, Brownies! Here we go! Damn, what a cold evening. As much as it sucks to be a Cleveland fan I'm estatic that we were the ones that pretty much have knocked the Stillers out of the playoff race. Josh Cribbs is a fucking beast. Pay the man.
Ohhhhhhh fucking yeah! This one makes up for alllllllllll the loses baby. And the fact that I have court soon. And the fact that some assholes stole all the money out of my checking account. And the fact that....well, anything else bad. I'll be in such a good mood all weekend, as I study for exams eating McChickens because I only have 11 dollars in cash until Tuesday.
I'm gonna preface this by saying that I have no athletic ability with regards to team sports; I don't think I've ever even held a football. That being said, I think even I could have caught the first two passes that Eli Manning just threw to #88. Yeah, he caught the third one, but Jesus. It's the least he could've done after the first two hit him square in the hands.
I'm shocked that the Colts can put up 28 on the #3 scoring D in the league (allowing 16.8 pt/g coming in) and allow only 16, to go 13-0, clinching the #1 seed in the AFC, breaking the NFL records for consecutive regular season wins and wins in a single decade and have me disappointed with the performance. The O only looked like itself for 4 drives all game (80, 71, 56 and 80 yard TD drives) with 5 three and outs and 3 INTs (all in the first 5 plays of the drive) in between. Mostly in a 30 minute stretch between TD drive 3 and 4 where they gained just 29 yards on 7 possessions. The D couldn't keep DBs healthy enough to put anyone other than hated dimeback Tim Jennings on Brandon Marshall for much of the game leading to him catching a recordbreaking 21 passes for 200 yards and 2 TDs (killing one of my fantasy teams in the playoffs). Now time for 3 weeks of the Curtis Painter show and hope that I'm right about playoff rust just being a lazy easy narrative that's disproved by the Colts 03 and 04 playoff wins and the O taking 2 1/2 games to wake up in 2006 despite playing through week 17.
Yes, the team that beat the Redskins and Chris Redman led Falcons by a combined 6 points the last two weeks is in prime position to capitalize on teams mistakes.
The Aints will be fucking demolished by any good team they face. They can barely beat shitty teams. They've been LUCKY. Granted, 9/10, I'd take lucky over good, but when they run up against the Williams Wall in the playoffs, my Vikings are going to take them down.
All this Vikings and Saints talk. Call me crazy, but I like the Cards to come out of the NFC right now, assuming Warner doesn't get hurt.
My biggest concern for the Colts is the health of the defense. The defense really played an amazing game Sunday. Sure, they couldn't cover Marshall at all, but the rest of the broncos passing game consisted of 8 catches for 77 yards. Jerraud Powers, Jacob Lacey and Melvin Bullitt all sustained injuries of some kind throughout the game....not sure how serious they are, but if they are hindered by injury then the Colts depth is really stretched thin. As noted earlier, Tim Jennings sucks....he's a special teams body at best. If the defense can remain healthy enough, the Colts have a great chance. They have been pretty solid all year, and they have been great at covering for the few occasions that the offense has had some rough patches. If you put the ball in Manning's hands often enough, you know that eventually they are going to punch it in the end zone.....just like they did Sunday, when they rebounded from 7 straight fruitless drives to put together a 7 1/2 minute TD drive to essentially ice the game. I've heard arguments both for and against resting players at the end of the season, but I'm willing to trust Polian and the coaching staff with whatever approach they take. They know the team better than anyone else, and they've done an amazing job giving the team everything they need to succeed.
Right, the Vikings who got run over by the Cards. The Vikings with a QB who is really beginning to play down to his level of the last 2 seasons. The Vikings with one of the most fumble prone RBs in the game these days. And a flake for a head coach. Right, those Vikings. The Saints have played the past 4 games without most of their secondary. Take Sheldon Brown and Asante Samuel off the Eagles and see how they cover. Take Brandon Philips off the Giants and look what happens to them. If you don't think Porter and Greer are at least as valuable to their teams as those guys are, then you don't know much about a Greg Williams defense. The Saints "barely" beat shitty teams. They also beat the Giants, Eagles, and Patriots by around 20 points each. If you're dumb enough to look at a couple bad games over the course of the season (that they won, by the way) and think they're a shitty team, then this is all probably lost on you anyway. Don't take any of this from me though. Maybe you should take a look at what oddsmakers think http://linesmaker.com/live_odds/super_bowl_lines.htm
Kenny Phillips, actually. None of that matters though, because Bill Sheridan doesn't know how to coordinate a defense. He was the LB coach for years before this, and LB has always been the number 1 weakness on the Giants D. Now all you see is a man who is in over his head, a wide open middle field, (consistently) and a defense that was able to hold on to a lead for less than two plays. You score 38 points, over 500 yards of offense and still lose? Get the fuck outta here.
Take Antoine Winfield off the Vikings and see what they do.... Oh wait, they've been pretty much doing that all year (he was finally back against the Bengals). You can always bitch about injuries, but just like your team, everyone has them. Favre had one bad game. AP may be fumble prone, but next to Chris Johnson he is also the scariest back go against due to his big-run-at-any-time potential. I'd take AP and Chester over the Saints RB trio any day. That being said, the Saints are a scary team. The offense is ridiculous with Brees and the D, when playing well, can be one of the better Ds in the league.
Totally agree 100%. The OP was railing on the Saints because they barely beat shitty teams like the Falcons without Ryan and Turner, and I was pointing out that the Saints have the same issues, and the Vikings also have some big question marks. They are obviously both good teams, I just don't get the mentality that Vikes (who have lost 2 games) are a better team than the undefeated Saints because the Saints have won some close games. Anyway, the Saints will hopefully have their corners back for the playoffs, and I expect the D to be more like it was early in the season, decent and opportunistic.
I get mouthy when I'm drunk. Yay vacation. The Saints have barely eked out wins against ATL and Washington, plus one or two others they should have lost. Granted, the Vikings have done the same, but against better teams. And yes, the Vikings have lost two, but they were both to last year's Superbowl contenders, so I don't see that as a horrible thing. Assuming both teams make it there, it's gonna be one rowdy NFC Championship game.