Sports: NFL

[Yodaking]

Tampa Bay has put up 41 on New Orleans right now, leading them 41-24, with Fitzpatrick as their QB. 335 yards passing, 3 passing TD's, no picks, plus a rushing TD with 26 rushing yards, and it's only the 3rd quarter. Never would have guessed that.

[Dad_Scaper]

Ravens have lit up the Bills so far 47-3. I know dok wouldn’t have guessed that, given that they are led by his selection for the worst starting quarterback in football.

[IAmBatman]

Bills might be the worst team in football this season. But, uh, congrats?

[Dad_Scaper]

They sure looked bad today.

I didn't need congrats. I just needed to note the timing between dok's post and Flacco posting a passer rating of 121.7, tossing three touchdowns against zero interceptions. Receivers make a difference!

That is all.

[Dad_Scaper]

As a guy who doesn't follow the NFC North closely at all, and has no strong rooting interest, it's my considered opinion that that was one hell of a game. I know heartbreaking for those of you who hate the Packers, but it was a hell of a game.

[Hahma]

Originally Posted by Dad_Scaper

As a guy who doesn't follow the NFC North closely at all, and has no strong rooting interest, it's my considered opinion that that was one hell of a game. I know heartbreaking for those of you who hate the Packers, but it was a hell of a game.

All I'll give it, was that it was a gutsy game by Rodgers. Other than that, as a Bears fan, it was a game where the rookie coach made some dumb mistakes, the Bears' secondary looked out of position and the defensive front looked tired in the 2nd half. Fuller dropped a certain interception that would have sealed the game. When the Bears were up, in the 3rd quarter, the coach was calling stupid horizontal pass plays, mostly abandoned the run game and should have called a run on 3 and 1 instead of a pass near the end.

But I give Rodgers a lot of credit for being awesome!

[Aldin]

WooHoo Niners and Titans! ...sigh

So the Titans ended up being my early, late and (almost)night game what with the delays. Disaster of a game, too. Injured our left tackle, QB and TE, three of the most important cogs to the offense. Hard to have much optimism there.

Niners... I can feel optimistic about. Yes they lost, but I expected them to lose. The Vikings are a better team. I was glad they stuck around and had their chances at the end. Also kinda glad that Jimmy G gets to get that first L out of the way. This may not be their year, but it feels like the pieces are starting to fall into place.

And after a long haul with not much that moved the excitement needle for me, Rodgers saved the day. What an amazing second half! Glad I stayed up for the dregs on the first football Sunday of the year.

~Aldin, curious to see how the Rams look tonight

[Spidey'tilIDie]

A) the Ravens did look good, albeit against the new worst team in the league. B) As for the Browns, I suspected they'd be way better this year and they are. Pittsburgh looked good at times, but when up 21-7, they looked to have the same playcaller as the Bears last night, with cautious uninspired playcalling and an almost "don't do anything to lose" attitude. I'm just glad we squeaked out the tie and won't be the team they break that winless streak against.
As far as the Broncos, how is Denver that different from Minnesota? The teams are virtual mirror images. Two good solid WRs who play different roles? check. A decent young run game? check. A solid, at times even stellar Defense? check. The only difference is that the AFC is very top heavy whereas the NFC is pretty even.
Lastly, I hope Lev Bell sees how unimportant he is. Yesterday, an unheralded late-round pick set a Pittsburgh record with 190+ total yards in an Opening Game. Lev is a product of the Pittsburgh system, not the other way around.

[Dad_Scaper]

Originally Posted by Spidey'tilIDie

I'm just glad we squeaked out the tie and won't be the team they break that winless streak against.

Right. Just the team they broke the losing streak against.

[Yodaking]

I still think Bell is a pretty good talent, he really sees the holes and wiggles his way thought them quite a bit better than most. However, you are right that the RB is often given way too much credit, the blocking is what really makes the biggest difference between success and failure. Clearly Pitt's run blocking is pretty darn good.

[dok]

Originally Posted by Spidey'tilIDie

Two good solid WRs who play different roles? check. A decent young run game? check. A solid, at times even stellar Defense? check. The only difference is that the AFC is very top heavy whereas the NFC is pretty even.

Thanks to what appears to be a solid Denver rookie class I'll agree with most of that. However, I don't think Denver's D is overall as strong as it's been in recent years. You're also missing the most important difference between the teams, which is Minnesota has a solid offensive line and Denver does not.

Keenum threw 3 picks, and they were all really bad. He had some nice throws too, but I'm not going to get too pumped up. This is called "national jump to conclusions week" for a reason. Is your winning team good, or was the team you beat bad? Only time will tell.

[Spidey'tilIDie]

Originally Posted by Dad_Scaper

Right. Just the team they broke the losing streak against.

Yep, we'll see how you do against them. They are much better than they have been. (By the way, you can't throw shade at me and my team if you haven't won a Division title in 5 years and have less Division Titles than we have Super Bowl Rings, OK?)