Running Week 5 NFL thread

(Before this thread sinks into oblivion...)

God,

Are you kidding me? Enough already.

Signed,
the city of Buffalo

PS: Probably already been said, but if Jauron and Fewell can fuck with Romo's world that much, the Pats win by at least two touchdowns. Three of those picks were by undrafted free agents (Wilson/Greer/DiGiorgio), none of whom started the season opener. (The guys they replaced - Ko, Jason Webster, and Poz - can all be found on the lengthy I.R. list.)
Imagine what will happen against a REAL defense, instead of a bunch of backups playing their hearts out.

 

Yep, call me the minority, but the guy I remember winning those games for the Patties was Vinatieri. And the same people who think Brady is so damn good in that system, will say the same thing bashing a Troy Aikman for being surrounded by 2/3 of the Triplets.

NO Brady didn't have a HOF receiver in those SB wins, no he didn't have a HOF runner (Dillon's a big stretch IMO), but he's very successful in that system. If you put him somewhere else, trying to run a different offense I think he fails and fails miserably. Again, my opinion and I realize I'm in the minority here, but I am entitled, no matter how wrong you might think I am

 

You are entitled. Some of us just disagree.

The first two parts of that last paragraph are key. Brady has never had a receiver at Michael Irvin's level until now. And he has never had a running back like Emmitt Smith. He has had some very good offensive lines, but not quite up to the level of what those Cowboys teams had.

Did Brady win all those championships by himself? Of course not. He has had some tremendous defenses. The first championship team was also great on special teams. Brady wasn't even particularly good in the post-season that year.

But since then? He has been as good as any quarterback in the league.

 

See, I love a good quality debate that doesn't deteriorate into name-calling and bashing

Believe me I'm not saying that Brady, right now, isn't one of the top 5 QBs in the league. I'm not saying Romo is better, in fact right now the only person I consider better than Brady would be Peyton right now, it's just I feel we wouldn't be talking about Brady if Vinatieri isn't so damn clutch.

We might be, but we'd be comparing him to Jim Kelly.

 

Ok...enough quoting. I can definitely see the argument for Manning as a clear No. 1. The numbers back it up and he did finally get a ring last year.

I think Brady is better than Kelly was, but they are a tough comparison. Different types of quarterbacks asked to do different things by their teams.

I am curious to see what Brady could do with more up-tempo, spread-formation plays, like what Kelly did. The Patriots have done more of that than normal a couple of times against the Steelers with excellent results.

 

As a confirmed Bills fangirl, Jim Kelly is possibly my favorite NFL player of all time. As you say, oop, Brady doesn't do what Kelly did (call his own plays)... but Brady has the rings, and he didn't do that with two (potentially three or four, if Reed or Hull ever gets in) other Hall of Famers on his offense. Hell, the Pats damn near got back to the Super Bowl last year with Reche Caldwell and Jabar Gaffney at WR, and they sit at 5-0 with Sammy Morris -- a guy neither the Bills nor the Dolphins deemed important enough to hang onto -- starting at RB for the injured Laurence Maroney.

I detest Brady (mostly because I'm tired of watching the Pats stomp my favorite team on a regular basis), but I respect the hell out of him. Slam-dunk, first-ballot ticket to Canton in my book.

 

You're thinking that Tom Brady is overrated... I don't really know how to respond to that in any rational way. What's the system? He's had maybe a handful of Pro-Bowlers on his offense in his career. And he'd be Bledsoe if not for the system? Bledsoe did play in the system... he went 5-13 under Belichick.

The one part of your statement that I actually have seen other people mention from time to time is how Brady benefited so greatly from Vinatieri. Vinatieri wasn't kicking 80 yarders in those SB's. Someone had to move the ball down the field to even give him the opportunity to be clutch. I'd say that relationship was pretty symbiotic, but to say that Vinatieri played a large role in Brady's success is overstating it, IMO.

 

I think you are pushing it with his Super Bowl wins.

That team has been plenty talented.

 

No doubt.

Without Walt Coleman and Vinatieri making the greatest FG in NFL history in the Raiders game in 2002, there is no first SB.

And I think that would have changed things momentously.

And, yes, I think the videogate does taint those Pats championships.

 

That is the cure.

 

I haven't seen EVERY post in the MNF discussion, but what stuns me, from the announcers to this board, is the free pass the ref, Morelli, has gotten.

First, he rules the onside kick, which bounced off a guy and bounded a dozen yards downfield before being recovered, took only two seconds.... bull-fucking shit it did.

And then, the 22-yard overturned completion took only five seconds? Come the FUCK on. Eight-yard outs take 5-6 seconds.... that's why Buffalo didn't win SB XXV, and the evidence beyond that is overwhelming.

Honestly, I believe the guy should be suspended.

But, perhaps more importantly, where the hell are the writers who should be grilling Pereira about this? I wish I had the game on Tivo to time the plays, but I don't.

P.S.: At the time I thought that the official bailed out Buffalo by ignoring the obvious arm bar applied by Greer to TO on the two-point conversion (arms straight up in TO's grill without a thought of turning to locate the ball). He may have sunk them, in retrospect.