2012-13 NFL Playoffs

[Sammys Boombox]

Yeah. He's a Raiders fan.

[rawaction]

1. Seems like every year, there is a team that comes roaring out of the gate and goes on a long winning streak to start the year. 2011 it was the Packers, this year it will be the ATLANTA FALCONS. Start off with all 4 mediocre AFC West teams, with Carolina and Washington thrown in. Bring back their complete offensive team. Their toughest stretch of the season (@ Philly, @ NO, vs. Dallas) comes after their bye week. Falcons sweep thru and start 10-0.

 

2. The disaster that is 2012, continues for the Saints. The team struggles on defense and eventually is dealt a season-ending blow with Drew Brees going down for several weeks. Also lose Sproles and Jimmy Graham for extended periods of time.

 

3. AJ Green becomes a stud. Not quite Megatron 2011 numbers, but AJ puts up 85-90 catches, 1400-1500 yards and 12+ TDs.

 

4. Chris Johnson is back. Wins his first rushing title since the 2K season. Puts up over 1600 yards (only MJD got over 1400 last year).

 

5. Year of the mobile QB! Mobile QBs actually win some games for their teams this year, as Jake Locker and Russell Wilson lead their teams to the playoffs. Cam Newton falls just short of the wildcard for 9-7 Carolina.

 

6. The Steelers put up an inconsistent season on both sides of the ball and they have in-season locker room distractions from Roethlisberger, Wallace, Harrison, etc. for the first time, all separately complaining about coaching, schemes, and playing time. Finish 7-9.

 

7. With Tom Brady taking too many hits by midseason, the Patriots take to the running game by committee, rushing for over 2100 yards as a team, good for top 8 in the NFL.

 

8. Eli Manning adds another notch to his belt by winning the regular season passing title for the first time in his career.

 

9. Five IN. Five OUT. Every year there's about 5 new teams that make the playoffs that weren't in the previous year. This year. OUT= Steelers, Broncos, Lions, 49ers, Saints. IN= Bears, Titans, Eagles, Raiders, Seahawks.

 

10. Ravens beat the Falcons in Super Bowl.

 

My predictions before the year. Pretty close on most of them.

 

1. Falcons won first 8. Not exactly right, but they were the last undefeated team.

2. Part right. No Brees injury. Sproles and Graham did miss time. And the defense was the worst ever statistically.

3. Green went over on catches (97), just under on yards (1350), and 11 TDs instead of 12.

4. Yeah, way off.

5. Russell Wilson part was right. Locker missed time. Cam started poorly. Kapernick helps my case though, I guess. And mobile QBs did take the league by storm this year in general.

6. No major complaints out of Pittsburgh, Ben had some minor things to say at one point. 8-8 instead of 7-9

7. Brady didn't get hit too much, but the Pats did rush for over 2100 yards and were 7th in the league in rushing.

8. Didn't happen. Finished a distant 12 in yards.

9. 3 of the "outs" right. Only 1 of the "ins"

10. Called the winner. Runner-up was pretty close to making it in.

[shnsajax]

Thought Bolden deserved the MVP over Flacco.

[Irrelevant Dude]

Did Ray Lewis just say that he put his hands on Jacoby Jones' chest and that is why Jones returned the kick for a TD? Nothing like making everything about himself... but hey, God is for him so nobody can be against him.

[Cubswin11]

Crean found a tanning booth in the basement and it blew a fuse.

I laughed

[TruffleShuffle]

I am really starting to feel like more than 90% of sports media types are completely worthless. Who does Reilly think he is? This is none of his business and has no place being brought up during Super Bowl week.

 

http://espn.go.com/espn/story/_/id/8897116/colin-kaepernick-birth-mom

 

just getting caught up on this. Jesus what an offensive article. i'm adopted and have no interest in meeting my birth parents. i'm glad my birth mother decided to have me and put me up for adoption, and i'm glad that i ended up with the people i call my parents, but beyond that, i have no need. i was adopted when i was two weeks old. i've never known my parents as anything other than that. they loved me and supported me. they're my parents; my brother is my brother. that's it.

 

i'd feel awful if some guy went around badgering me to get in touch with my birth parents and calling my birth mother and harassing her too. [expletive] rick reilly. what a condescending piece of [expletive].

[TruffleShuffle]

Yeah, competition committee should take a look at that. Under no circumstances should committing a penalty actually be advantageous to you.

 

well there are loads of times when it's good to take a penalty, like tackling a defensive end who's about to steamroll your qb from the blind side, or a defensive back hauling down or holding a wide receiver who has him badly beat on a double move. or taking an intentional delay of game on a punt. and this is ignoring all the circumstances in which a team commits a dirty play and hurts an important player on the other team, but only faces a 15 yard penalty. the competition committee is really going to have their work cut out for them if they're going to ban every penalty that may be advantageous to the offending team.

[chuckywang]

Yeah, competition committee should take a look at that. Under no circumstances should committing a penalty actually be advantageous to you.

 

well there are loads of times when it's good to take a penalty, like tackling a defensive end who's about to steamroll your qb from the blind side, or a defensive back hauling down or holding a wide receiver who has him badly beat on a double move. or taking an intentional delay of game on a punt. and this is ignoring all the circumstances in which a team commits a dirty play and hurts an important player on the other team, but only faces a 15 yard penalty. the competition committee is really going to have their work cut out for them if they're going to ban every penalty that may be advantageous to the offending team.

 

I should say strategically advantageous ... advantageous in the context of football strategy.

[Soul]

I am really starting to feel like more than 90% of sports media types are completely worthless. Who does Reilly think he is? This is none of his business and has no place being brought up during Super Bowl week.

 

http://espn.go.com/espn/story/_/id/8897116/colin-kaepernick-birth-mom

 

just getting caught up on this. Jesus what an offensive article. i'm adopted and have no interest in meeting my birth parents. i'm glad my birth mother decided to have me and put me up for adoption, and i'm glad that i ended up with the people i call my parents, but beyond that, i have no need. i was adopted when i was two weeks old. i've never known my parents as anything other than that. they loved me and supported me. they're my parents; my brother is my brother. that's it.

 

i'd feel awful if some guy went around badgering me to get in touch with my birth parents and calling my birth mother and harassing her too. [expletive] rick reilly. what a condescending piece of [expletive].

 

I'm in the same situation. I actually had an opportunity to meet my birth mother years ago, and I turned it down. I just felt like I knew who my real parents were, and it wasn't my biological ones. Also, I felt like my father, who was recently a widower at the time, would have been hurt by it.

 

The bottom line is, this is always an incredibly personal thing, and nobody should ever trample on someone else's reasons for doing what they do.

 

Reilly is trash.

[Sammys Boombox]

I am really starting to feel like more than 90% of sports media types are completely worthless. Who does Reilly think he is? This is none of his business and has no place being brought up during Super Bowl week.

 

http://espn.go.com/espn/story/_/id/8897116/colin-kaepernick-birth-mom

 

just getting caught up on this. Jesus what an offensive article. i'm adopted and have no interest in meeting my birth parents. i'm glad my birth mother decided to have me and put me up for adoption, and i'm glad that i ended up with the people i call my parents, but beyond that, i have no need. i was adopted when i was two weeks old. i've never known my parents as anything other than that. they loved me and supported me. they're my parents; my brother is my brother. that's it.

 

i'd feel awful if some guy went around badgering me to get in touch with my birth parents and calling my birth mother and harassing her too. [expletive] rick reilly. what a condescending piece of [expletive].

 

I'm in the same situation. I actually had an opportunity to meet my birth mother years ago, and I turned it down. I just felt like I knew who my real parents were, and it wasn't my biological ones. Also, I felt like my father, who was recently a widower at the time, would have been hurt by it.

 

The bottom line is, this is always an incredibly personal thing, and nobody should ever trample on someone else's reasons for doing what they do.

 

Reilly is trash.

 

My dad and my uncle are adopted. My uncle is married to a woman who is adopted and has an adopted brother. My dad is the only one of the four that decided to meet his biological mother. It would have been better if he had not met her, or his three half-siblings from his mom, or finding out that he was one of at least 22 children fathered by his biological father who died before my dad could meet him. His adopted family was astronomically a better situation than his biological family would have been. I'm sure that's the case in most adoption cases and sure seems to be the case in the Kaepernick situation. This is not a one size fits all situation, and I wouldn't fault any adopted person for making either decision.

[Thed Hoyerstein]

The most underrated part, and probably my favorite part of the Super Bowl, was the Niners coming out of the tunnel with Tupac's "California Love" playing. Pretty freaking sweet, if you ask me. And then you have Jim Harbaugh running behind the team, seemingly looking like he wanted to headbutt someone. Love that guy.

[Smack]

Jim Harbaugh's tantrums were the best part, what an insufferable douche. I was only 13 when he left the Bears in 93 but I don't remember him being that much of an ass clown as a player. Was he?

[Smack]

Also, the refs were letting all sorts of things go last night. There were at least a half dozen personal fouls that could've been called for unsportsmanlike conduct. Headbutts, shoved officials, standing over players on the ground and taunting. They were really letting them get away with some [expletive].

[Sosa21MVP]

Jim Harbaugh's tantrums were the best part, what an insufferable douche. I was only 13 when he left the Bears in 93 but I don't remember him being that much of an ass clown as a player. Was he?

 

I grew up watching McMahon and then Harbaugh play QB. I don't recall Jim throwing any tantrums as a player. I don't think that side of his personality really came to light publicly until he started coaching.

[Soul]

I was just glad the 9ers came back, made it fun to watch after the power outage.

[UMFan83]

Jim Harbaugh's tantrums were the best part, what an insufferable douche. I was only 13 when he left the Bears in 93 but I don't remember him being that much of an ass clown as a player. Was he?

 

I grew up watching McMahon and then Harbaugh play QB. I don't recall Jim throwing any tantrums as a player. I don't think that side of his personality really came to light publicly until he started coaching.

 

Granted I was 11 when he left, but I don't remember him having much of a personality at all.

[Soul]

Jim Harbaugh's tantrums were the best part, what an insufferable douche. I was only 13 when he left the Bears in 93 but I don't remember him being that much of an ass clown as a player. Was he?

 

I grew up watching McMahon and then Harbaugh play QB. I don't recall Jim throwing any tantrums as a player. I don't think that side of his personality really came to light publicly until he started coaching.

 

He was always standoffish though, even as a player. I don't recall the tantrums either. He's becoming more onery with age :).

[sneakypower]

Thought Bolden deserved the MVP over Flacco.

for the 3rd & inches catch alone he should have won

 

what a terrible decision by Flacco there, he's 6'6 and they weren't stacked up over center...seemed like a pretty obvious QB sneak call, and he goes back shoulder into press coverage for some reason

[DivineBovine]

Jim Harbaugh's tantrums were the best part, what an insufferable douche. I was only 13 when he left the Bears in 93 but I don't remember him being that much of an ass clown as a player. Was he?

 

I grew up watching McMahon and then Harbaugh play QB. I don't recall Jim throwing any tantrums as a player. I don't think that side of his personality really came to light publicly until he started coaching.

 

 

I don't recall it at all. He's basically become Bellichick. He says absolutely nothing of any substance in press conferences. He is super competitive, arrogant an has developed a sore loser reputation.

[Banedon]

“When you believe in what you believe in no matter what happens or what people believe, the ultimate is the ultimate,” Lewis said. “This is the ultimate to come and leave the game as a champion.”

[mul21]

Jim Harbaugh's tantrums were the best part, what an insufferable douche. I was only 13 when he left the Bears in 93 but I don't remember him being that much of an ass clown as a player. Was he?

 

I grew up watching McMahon and then Harbaugh play QB. I don't recall Jim throwing any tantrums as a player. I don't think that side of his personality really came to light publicly until he started coaching.

 

He was always standoffish though, even as a player. I don't recall the tantrums either. He's becoming more onery with age :).

 

I was on a flight with him when I was like 15 in January of '92. I went up to him and asked for his autograph in the airport and he was completely cool about it. He was just hanging out waiting for his next flight like anybody else.

[UMFan83]

He seemed pretty normal on Saved By the Bell.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fuKrcjskQiU

[Irrelevant Dude]

Sharpe, now an analyst for CBS, asked Lewis what he would say to the families of the two men killed. Lewis pleaded guilty to obstruction of justice after the incident.

 

"It’s simple," Lewis said. "God has never made a mistake."

I'm sure that will provide much needed closure to the families.

[Old Style]

Wasn't there a big blowup between Harbaugh and Ditka on the sidelines once? For some reason I remember that happening.

[UMFan83]

Wasn't there a big blowup between Harbaugh and Ditka on the sidelines once? For some reason I remember that happening.

 

There was this:

 

http://articles.chicagotribune.com/1992-10-06/sports/9203310391_1_coach-ditka-audible-jim-harbaugh

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dhNiJCyCmoo&noredirect=1

 

Apparently Jim called an audible during a particularly loud moment in a game at the Metrodome and I'm guessing his receivers didnt hear the call properly and he threw a pick 6 in a game the Bears led 20-0 and ended up losing 21-20. Ditka threw a tantrum on the sidelines, screaming at Harbaugh, and then tore him apart in the media after the game. In the video I referenced, Harbaugh seemed to take the high road for the most part.