Official 2008-09 NFL thread

With the way things have gone this season, I dare not venture a guess.

With all the upsets and/or surprisingly close games, with so many teams doing either much better or worse than expected....I'm not even comfortable saying who will get into the playoffs, much less the Super Bowl. Yes, the Giants and Titans are both pretty much shoo-ins to make the post-season, but I'm not ready to make any predictions as to who else will be there with them. And I'm definitely not prepared to say whether New York and Tennessee will make it all the way to the big game.

Giants in the NFC. Nobody else is remotely close.

AFC is a lot tighter, but I think the Colts are going to surprise everybody and make a run as a wild card team, leading to a *gulp* Peyton-Eli Super Bowl.

Do I live in an alternate reality or did Aikman just say, regarding some boy band,

"That was a hard hand smack. You have to be 18 years old to touch the gobbler."

...on national television? I can't be the only person who laughed. My four year old thought I'd lost my mind.

:egypt:

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Originally Posted by Ramses II CP

Do I live in an alternate reality or did Aikman just say, regarding some boy band,

"That was a hard hand smack. You have to be 18 years old to touch the gobbler."

...on national television? I can't be the only person who laughed. My four year old thought I'd lost my mind.

:egypt:

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:laugh4::laugh4::laugh4:I missed that game but maybe I'll catch that replay on Sports Center. If they don't bleep it out...

Speaking of gobbler; just when you think the Eagles are down for the count they are putting the boots to Arizona. Practically every game Westbrook is on the injury report, questionable to play at best, and he keeps putting up big performances...amazing.

Big Ser takes an early lead for the week by predicting all 3 winners on Friday and being the only one to pick Philly. Good job! :2thumbsup:

I'll be at Lambeau tomorrow. :grin:

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Originally Posted by woad&fangs

I'll be at Lambeau tomorrow. :grin:

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Food vendor? ~D

J/K, have fun.

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Originally Posted by woad&fangs

I'll be at Lambeau tomorrow. :grin:

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I was at the Oakland Coliseum, that wasn't fun :wall:
How was Lambeau tho?? Besides cold an all ~;)

Admit it, Martok. The man is growing on you. Resistance is futile. ~D

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Originally Posted by Decker

I was at the Oakland Coliseum, that wasn't fun :wall:
How was Lambeau tho?? Besides cold an all ~;)

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It actually wasn't too cold until the end when it started to snow. The Packer's punter and coverage units were absolutely terrible. The Panthers kept starting near midfield.:wall:

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Originally Posted by seireikhaan

Admit it, Martok. The man is growing on you. Resistance is futile. ~D

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Never!! :whip:

I still think he's a bloomin' idiot. We've only won as many games as we have due to the efforts of individual players and a few coaches. The only thing Childress has done is manage to be in the right place at the right time.

Watched the bengals game on an hdtv yesterday. They looked twice as bad :juggle:

I just want to say this.

After Sunday's game I just couldn't hold it in any more.


I hate the Saints. Hate them. Hate them hate them hate them.

EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEERRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!!!



Every year it's like this. My whole life has been spent watching them fizzle out and make a joke of themselves.



Why why why why!!!!





Anyway,



:scorpio::scorpio:Go Black and Gold!!!!!:scorpio::scorpio:



Next week is a home game. Falcons are going down.


maybe.

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Originally Posted by Sasaki Kojiro

Watched the bengals game on an hdtv yesterday. They looked twice as bad :juggle:

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They couldn't have possibly looked as bad as the Bills losing at home, scoring a whole 3 points, against that juggernaut 49'er team. Next week the home game, in Toronto~:rolleyes:, against the Dolphins.

Ugh. I definitely did not liking having to pick some of the match-ups this week: Washington at Baltimore, Dallas at Pittsburgh, and (especially) Tampa Bay at Carolina.... Tough calls, all of them. :sweatdrop:


Now we'll see if Minnesota can stitch together a 3-game winning streak. That shouldn't be tough against the Lions, but then we just lost Kevin & Pat Williams for the rest of the season, so who knows?

Hellfire and damnation....


Well so much for our run defense. Guess we can kiss the rest of the season good-bye.

:furious3: :furious3: :furious3:

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Originally Posted by Martok

Hellfire and damnation....


Well so much for our run defense. Guess we can kiss the rest of the season good-bye.

:furious3: :furious3: :furious3:

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NNNNNNNNNNNNNOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!


So much for Deuce's career.


And N.O.'s defense was already bad enough....

Wow, Orgah's are unanimous on 9 games this week, the Tampa Bay-Caroline game is the only one that's truly split. Martok and I have the exact same picks :dizzy2:

Suspensions temporarily blocked.

For the moment, at least, it's good news for both Minnesota and New Orleans. :2thumbsup:

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Originally Posted by Sasaki Kojiro

Wow, Orgah's are unanimous on 9 games this week, the Tampa Bay-Caroline game is the only one that's truly split. Martok and I have the exact same picks :dizzy2:

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So we do. Weird. ~:eek:

I'm surprised you went with Pittsburgh over Dallas. I'd figured you'd pick the Cowboys. ~;p

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Originally Posted by Martok

I'm surprised you went with Pittsburgh over Dallas. I'd figured you'd pick the Cowboys. ~;p

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Well, I feel at this point in the season the odds of the bengals making the playoffs are becoming slim. So no problems picking a rival team. Don't think the cowboys can beat the steeler's D, plus they don't have marion barber.

Dallas-Pittsburgh game is intense. :shocked2:

Tashard choice???

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The bengals have gotten to the point where they're putting carson's little brother in as quarterback just for laughs. Well, 1-11-1 has a nice symmetrical look to it.

By the way: The Eagles upsetting the Giants??! Even with Plexico out, I didn't see that coming. Also, the Texans edging the Packers and SanFran smacking the Jets around were two more surprises as well. :dizzy2:

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Originally Posted by seireikhaan

Dallas-Pittsburgh game is intense. :shocked2:

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10-3, baby!

If the Titans lose vs Us and either Indy/(Next week: I forget), Pittsburgh can win the conference.

Good week for the Eagles. They win, the Giants and Cowboys lose, and Washington's down with 4:30 to play. Not too shabby when you win and everybody else in your division loses. :yes:

Now if only I had as good a week... :laugh4:

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Originally Posted by Martok

By the way: The Eagles upsetting the Giants??! Even with Plexico out, I didn't see that coming. Also, the Texans edging the Packers and SanFran smacking the Jets around were two more surprises as well. :dizzy2:

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Yeah, the only three games I called wrong. Big Ser picked Houston over Green Bay for the win this week. Nice call.:2thumbsup:

Wow, I know I picked tampa bay but I have to root for the panthers. Their running game is amazing.

I mean, seriously:

Carries Yards TD's Long
D. Williams 19 186 2 41
J. Stewart 15 115 2 30


Although bryant for TB had a good day too:

Receiving REC YDS TD LG
A. Bryant 9 200 2 52

Plus an amazing catch in the endzone.

Don't forget to make your picks for this weekend! There's a little less than 20 hours left.

I'm gonna be running the Superbowl Pool at work this year. We use the 100-squares type pool that requires zero picking skill. $5 per square. Payoffs are for each quarter's final score (last digits), with "reversi".

So, for example, the score at the end of the 1st quarter is Detroit 21-7 San Diego. Whover picked the square "Det 1, SD 7" gets $100; and whoever picked the square "Det 7, SD 1" nets $25. So everybody gets 8 chances to win some cash.

Would anyone here be interested in participating? We could set up PayPal coordination. There's lots of time until the SB (1 February), so no hurry. But we ought not run this on the publicly-viewed boards. So, if you're interested, let me know via PM by 28 January.

-edit-

to see how that would look, I set up a custom squares pool at pool host, which should go active at 0600, 12 Dec (tomorrow). User Tools>Private Pool>totalwar>tosainu, should land you at the "Shogun" pool with Ashigaru vs Warrior Monks. :)

More good news for the suspended players:

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Minnesota judge extends injunction against NFL suspensions

Associated Press

MINNEAPOLIS -- A federal judge extended his preliminary injunction against the NFL's suspension of five players for violating the league's anti-doping policy, a move their lawyer said will let them play the rest of the season.

In his ruling Thursday, U.S. District Judge Paul Magnuson asked both parties to propose a schedule by Dec. 22 for further proceedings that would lead to an eventual hearing on the merits of the case -- a process that could take months. The regular season ends Dec. 28.

Kevin Williams and Pat Williams of the Minnesota Vikings, and Charles Grant, Deuce McAllister and Will Smith of the New Orleans Saints were suspended last week for four games each. They tested positive during training camp for a banned diuretic, bumetanide, in the dietary supplement StarCaps.

Bumetanide can be used as a masking agent for steroids. Diuretics also are used to quickly shed weight. The StarCaps label didn't list the diuretic as an ingredient.

"The players and the union are thrilled (about the judge's ruling)," Jeffrey Kessler, an attorney for the NFL Players Association, told The Associated Press. Kessler said the judge's timeframe is long enough that the players can finish the season and go to the playoffs if their teams make it that far.

Kevin and Pat Williams, who aren't related, are star defensive tackles for a Vikings team that is 8-5 and in first place in the NFC North. They play Sunday at Arizona.

New Orleans, 7-6 and in last place in the NFC South, played Thursday night at Chicago.

"Since there has to be discovery and other proceedings, it's unlikely we would agree on a schedule for a trial until sometime after the Super Bowl," Kessler said.

Magnuson issued his initial injunction Dec. 5 after hearing arguments from the league and the NFLPA. That move came two days after a Minnesota state court judge had issued a restraining order in a lawsuit brought by the Vikings players.

The union argued the NFL didn't properly inform players about what it knew about StarCaps. The NFL's attorneys argued that claim, and others had been considered and rejected in a process set out by the league's collective bargaining agreement.

Magnuson urged both sides to negotiate a solution. If they can't, he will preserve the status quo until there is a full evidentiary hearing on the case. The two sides have until Dec. 22 to negotiate a proposed schedule for filing papers ahead of that hearing, otherwise the judge will schedule it himself. Magnuson didn't set a hearing date.

The judge said the players union had shown it likely will succeed on its claims that the NFL breached its duty to the players by failing to share what it knew about StarCaps. Another issue is whether Jeffrey Pash, the NFL's chief legal officer who upheld the five players' suspensions, was too partial to be an arbitrator.

"We are extraordinarily pleased for Kevin and Pat as well as for the Vikings fans," Peter Ginsberg, an attorney for the Williamses, said in a statement. "We appreciate the court's decision to allow us to conduct a full and fair hearing to explore the full extent of the NFL's failure to live up to its obligations to the players."

NFL spokesman Greg Aiello said in a statement that the league accepted the decision.

"This is consistent with the approach the judge has taken in giving careful consideration to these issues, which we fully respect," Aiello said.

Richard Berthelsen, acting executive director of the players union, said the decision shows that the league can't ignore the rights of players in issuing arbitration rulings and that courts will intervene if it does.

Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press

Huzzah! With any luck, these guys won't receive suspensions at all, but at least now they should be able to play through the rest of the season. :2thumbsup:

I'd like to point out that not a single overtime game has gone my way this year.

Beat me this week khaan...that was the only game we picked different :shame: