Week 11 NFL thread

Well, we all have our predicted scenarios. Mine is Denver winning home field throughout the playoffs as division champs. I still like them, even on the road, but not as overwhelming a favorite there.

The Colts and Chiefs are trendy picks because they made the jump from the absolute bottom to respectability very quickly, but we forget it's a lot harder to make that next jump from respectability to top of the mountain.

I can't fathom the Steelers trading Roethlisberger. If they did, what's the plan for quarterback long-term? Pick some stiff in the draft and hope he isn't the next Vince Young/Blaine Gabbert?

 

I have this gut feeling he will end up playing for the Vikings. Maybe not today or tomorrow, but at some point. I don't know why, I just do.

 

--Washington (3-6) at Philadelphia (5-5). Redskins were 3-6 last year too, and ran the table.

I like Philly here. I have a feeling they will end up winning the East.

--Cleveland (4-5) at Cincinnati (6-4). The Browns are ... legit? A win here and they have a sweep for tiebreaker purposes.

Going Cincy.

--Green Bay (5-4) at NY Giants (3-6). If the Packers can't win that one, even with whoever ends up under center, all hope is lost.

Agree. I think most everyone has put the nail in GB by now, but I wouldn't just yet. The schedule is extremely favorable for them, but it depends on when Rodgers is back and they have to win at least 1 game before then. They do get to play CHI again and if Rodgers is back for Thanksgiving they could play for a sweep of DET. That defense looks abysmal though.

--New England (7-2) at Carolina (6-3). In preseason you'd look at the list and wonder what idiot thought that would be a good MNF matchup.

I think Carolina rolls. They are everything New England is not. I'm predicting a classic example of why brutal defense will always beat a soft-tossing team like NE. I think this could be a nightmare for Brady.

 

I got $100 says Manning starts on Sunday. Any takers?

 

Oh, gawd! You want to foist everyone from Brett Favre to Roethlisberger on the Vikings. OK, so I'd trade Ponder for Roethlisberger, straight up. Hell, I'd even throw in Josh Freeman if you want him. But I won't mortgage the future with a lot of high draft picks to get him.

Until the Vikings learn to actually tackle people, it won't matter who's taking snaps for them.

 

Maybe the Vikings should try developing their own quarterback for once.
And by developing - giving the guy more than a season and a half.

 

SURE!!

 

It's a shame the Browns are in the same division for the purposes of a potential Roethlisberger trade because I think he'd be a great fit there. Ohio boy, a team that has wandered through the QB wilderness for a decade (two decades?) and a team with a lot of young talent. (They're good on defense.) Obviously his window might be five years, tops. But that fan base deserves some stability at that position.

 

He's not going anywhere, not unless they somehow acquire another franchise quarterback. Given his history of off-field issues and the physical beating he has taken over the years, I just don't see the Steelers getting enough in return for it to be worth trading him.

 

I think that's what they are trying to do with Ponder. Then they get all these detractors saying what a bum he is, they need to play someone else, etc. So they waste a lot of money ($2 million) on Freeman, who is even worse than Ponder. But now that you have him, you pretty much have to play him a few games and render a verdict in the offseason. It might be Ponder. It might be Freeman. It might be Matt Cassel. It might be none of the above, but if that's the case, I'm curious to see what you're next move is going to be.

 

That was kind of my reaction. I don't really see them getting more than a No. 2 for him, but based on what KC gave up for Smith, I could be wrong.

Assuming the Rooneys are being truthful, they still might not be able to pass on one of the quarterbacks if they were still available in the first or second round of next year's draft. If Roethlisberger sees the Steelers draft his replacement, even if it's a guy who isn't supposed to take over for a year or two, he might ask out.

Is Roethlisberger still beloved in Pittsburgh? That's one of those cities where they tend to really take care of their former players, especially one who has won two titles. It's in his best interest to stay on the favorable side of the fans there. Maybe he's long past that, I don't know...

 

Regarding earlier remarks about the Colts, I ask this question: For those who believe the Colts are a real threat to win the AFC, what have you seen in their games throughout the season that suggest they can win the AFC, beyond just who they have beaten.

In other words, talk about specific things that happened during those games — and then in looking at the games they lost, whether or not those specific things happened in the losses.

When I look at the Broncos, I can tell you quite a bit about the things that they do well and the things they don't — on the latter, their biggest problem has been fumbling the ball too much. Part of that goes back to two running backs, Ronnie Hillman and Montee Ball, who weren't securing the ball. The Broncos have addressed one prong: Hillman has been benched and inactive the past two games. Meanwhile, I noticed in the last two games that Ball was doing a much better job securing the ball.

And then there are the players who people may not know about if they aren't closely following the Broncos. I imagine everyone here knows who Ryan Clady and Von Miller are, but how many of you are as familiar with Orlando Franklin and Wesley Woodyard? Or know about Chris Kuper's time with the Broncos?

I bring this up because people tend to focus so much on the bigger names and not enough on the players who may not be elite, but are good players who have significant roles on the team. Woodyard and Franklin were both injured and didn't play against the Colts, meaning the Broncos had to start Paris Lenon (who?) to replace Woodyard at middle linebacker, move Louis Vasquez to right tackle to replace Franklin and have Kuper start at right guard.

The Kuper story: To sum up, he was a good guard who broke his leg in the 2011 playoff game against the Steelers, battled more injuries during 2012 and has never recovered from that, hence why the Broncos signed Vasquez in the offseason.

My point is that a lot of factors go into determining the outcome of a game and there's no simple way to determine which team is going to do what in the playoffs just by looking at who won which matchups head to head. The little details and the lesser-known players play a role just as much as the name players do.

So let's go back to the Colts: For those who think the Colts are a threat to win the AFC, what are the things the Colts have done well that nobody really talks about because they focus too much on Andrew Luck and Robert Mathis? Do the Colts have a receiver who can effectively replace Reggie Wayne and do the things that he has done well in the games he played? How good is their next pass rushing threat after Mathis? How well do the coaches game plan?

I'm more than willing to listen to people who have watched Colts games regularly and can point to things that don't get discussed in the headlines, which make them a threat to the AFC. But I'm not interested in those who say because the Colts beat this team, they are a threat, but pay no attention to that loss because it's just an anomaly — because I can use the same "anomaly" excuse to say the Broncos' loss to the Colts doesn't matter, and I don't think many people would accept that.