Running NFL Conference Championships Thread

I fear the Steelers OL will be undressed by the Ravens.

But I will take the AFC in the Super Bowl. I don't like either NFC team against those two AFC defenses.

 

Maybe, but I also like how Chris Johnson averaged 6.5 yards per carry against the Ravens' defense with Mawae out. And that the Ravens offense managed only nine first downs, 50 yards rushing and five plays in Tennessee territory with six minutes left in the third quarter against the Titans.

There are matchup problems for the Steelers, sure, but the same also applies to the Ravens.

 

See? He has figured out something over those 41,000-plus posts.

Which is more than I'll ever know.

 

Christ. Bruce Matthews was drafted by freaking Ed Biles just a few years off the Luv Ya Blue days in Houston. He played with Archie Manning for crying out loud.

No one with a sound mind connects Matthews' career to Jeff Fisher.

 

He had a complete team in 2000?

Please, give it a rest will you -- I know you can't stand the man but this is becoming laughable -- I guess suddenly the 2000 and 2001 Bucs had the Colts offense to go with that great defense.....

In 2000 Tampa's offense featured Shaun King, Warrick Dunn and Keyshawn Johnson -- and that's all they had, which is why they were ranked 26th in passing and 21st in total offense and which is why they were 10-6 and not even division champions and which is why they were at Philly and not even favored to win the game as the Eagles had a better record. The team's offense was rather anemic.

In 2001, with the same offensive weapons only with Brad Johnson -- who threw four int's against Philly by the way -- they had a banged up Warrick Dunn for much of the year -- he missed four games that year, and they were 30th in the league in rushing yards, 26th in total offense and finished 9-7 in third place in their own division and then lost at Philadelphia -- a team that had beat them in the last week of the season.

Again, they were one-dimensional teams and very weak offensively, particularly in the passing game -- and neither of those teams won their divisions or were favored to get to the Super Bowl, much less win it.

The next year after Dungy left - - they added Keenan McCardle, Joe Jurvecious and Michael Pittman to take some pressure off of Keyshawn Johnson and their passing offense was ranked No. 3 in the league -- they were 12-4 and division champs and had a much better offense going into the playoffs (and statistically a better defense than the previous two years as well) and Brad Johnson played much better in the

By 2003 -- the team had a losing record.

Again Tony Dungy built the foundation of that team from the ground up and he left a roster that needed only a few pieces to get over the top.

You want to kill him for 2004 losing to the Steelers and not winning the Super Bowl, fine. I think there are legitimate reasons why they lost that game but they lost it and should not have and that year he had the best team and should have won the Super Bowl.

You want to kill him for losing one round before he should have last year, fine -- but they weren't the best team and they weren't going to Foxboro and winning the next week anyway.

Those are the only two years his teams have underachieved in the playoffs.

 

So the seven years he anchored Fisher's line don't count because he was drafted by someone else? That's ridiculous.

 

I think the Eagles defense is as good as the Steelers and Ravens defenses.

 

From 1999-2001, the Bucs ranked 27th, 6th and 15th in the NFL in points scored. They most certainly WERE better on offense in 2000 and 2001.

The 2000 team scored 27 or more points seven times in 16 games. http://www.pro-football-reference.com/teams/tam/2000.htm

Tony Dungy built the Bucs. Bully for him. Since 1999, nobody has lost in January like Tony Dungy.

 

Oh I'm sorry. Those 12 years Matthews played without Fisher in charge -- 12 years culled straight from Matthews' prime -- don't mean shit because it doesn't support your argument.

My bad oh master debator.

 

What are we even arguing here?

Matthews was so horrible and over the hill he made the Pro Bowl eight times in eight years with Fisher -- and six times before Fisher was the head coach.

To say that he does not count as a Hall of Famer Fisher coached -- simply because he didn't draft him is idiotic. He had a lot of great years with Fisher as his coach.

And BYH -- nice try -- the offensive rankings don't lie -- those offenses were putrid and anemic, they were ranked lower than 20 in total yards and passing yards -- the point totals were skewed by the fact that the team led the league in takeaways and turnover differential (thus setting up short fields and easy scores) and in 2000 they scored six defensive touchdowns.

Again, keep trying to convince yourself those offenses were good but the statistics don't lie and more importantly -- they weren't favored in either of those playoff games, they weren't favored to get to the Super Bowl in either year and once again the point still stands -- 2004 Dungy's team underachieved by a lot and in 2006 his team underachieved by one game - and those are the only two years his teams have underachieved in the playoffs and I'd say there were legitimate reasons for both.

 

The offenses WERE better, Zag. Trust me. They weren't so bad that four field goals in two playoff games are excusable. In Dungy's last three playoff games in Tampa, the bucs scored ZERO touchdowns. ZERO. Yet he got to the playoffs with those terrible offenses.

And even if you're going to excuse the playoff losses as not Dungy's fault, why don't you ask whose fault it was that those offenses weren't worth a shit? Why don't you wonder how he could never get a Super Bowl-quality offense in there? He sure threw a lot of OCs under the bus. Fired one a year for several years.

 

I know who Dwight Clark is . . . but the Bob Saturday reference has me laughing pretty hard.

Who the hell?