rawaction

Definitely. Some of that was probably put together before his ESPY speech in July. Most didn't think he'd make it there.

Sad. Rich Eisen and Merrill Hoge in tears talking about him. I was a fan simply because he was one of the rare African American journalists and TV personalities. He used hip-hop references and was really one of the only people on tv that I could see being one of my peers. 49 is too [expletive] young. Fitting that his moving ESPY speech is one of his last public appearances just like Jimmy V.

Those guys were part of the organization when they were good. Good? How many rings do they have to show for it? Hell how many playoff appearances? They were not good enough then and likely would not be good enough now. Hahahaha. Are you drunk? Lots of angry drunks in pittstown tonight. They don't have titles. Lots of good teams don't have titles. Mediocrity is something below what those Bears teams were. Those teams were good, not great. You know this. Although they were great one year. Point remains, doesn't strike me as a combo likely to be great for a long period of time. Maybe Ballard and Toub having the biggest influences instead of just being part of the group will make the difference from good to great, but I still don't know how an organization can be so upset and make unprecedented changes after 2-3 years and just go back to the way it was 2-3 years ago, to people that worked under guys they determined weren't good enough then.

It's what I'm expecting and I will be pretty disappointed. Nothing says "organizational change from mediocrity" like hiring guys who were a part of the organization during their mediocrity. Those guys were part of the organization when they were good. Good? How many rings do they have to show for it? Hell how many playoff appearances? They were not good enough then and likely would not be good enough now.

Kendricks has been so great this year, but Jack flashes pure greatness on every play. If only Kendricks had 2". Still take him in Chicago. Idk about Mike LB, but looks like the ideal weak side LB in a 4-3 defense. Sideline to sideline player and a volume tackler.

There's no chance Cam Newton can beat those teams on the road. He's way, way too sloppy with the ball. But they can beat Seattle the same way Seattle beats people. Run the ball, control TOP, fly around on D, force teams into 3rd and long and get to the QB.

It's what I'm expecting and I will be pretty disappointed. Nothing says "organizational change from mediocrity" like hiring guys who were a part of the organization during their mediocrity.

Kendricks has been so great this year, but Jack flashes pure greatness on every play.

Carolina and Dallas are the only teams I think could beat Seattle and GB at home respectively. Just basically have to beat them at their own games.

Yeah way too much time on the field. Steelers fan friend is like "you still want Arizona DC? Cant even stop 1-dimensional team after Cam injury". Basically said uh hard to stop teams when ur offense has 70 total yards and 17 minutes time of possession.

This was Oilers vs. Frank Reich bad. 31-6. I go to the bathroom when its 31-13. Then its 34-13 so I stopped paying much attention (I'm at work). Someone emailed me that Pitt was going to lose and I literally could not fathom it.

No thanks. But I wonder if Gamble would extend that Kelly relationship to the current Oregon coach. Yeah, I want Gamble and I'd be extremely interested in the Oregon coach. Not sure it would work, but definitely intriguing.

What was he before?

Advanced metrics are fine. But that's not how the teams are picked. The way the teams are currently picked for the playoffs, FSU was clearly one of the 4 teams that deserved to be in.

I don't see how you can say they "clearly deserved" to be one. But I think everybody hates them because they have so many run-ins with the law and are the quintessential small town cops protect the football team organization. They are in Florida, which is another strike. And they kind of lucked their way into an undefeated season which forced people into begrudgingly allowing them to participate in the tourny. Lucked into? How so? Just off the top of my head, they should have lost to Clemson but for their RB fumbling the ball away when the Tigers were already in position for a game-winning field goal in the final minute, and they should have lost to ND but for Irish receivers bailing FSU out and committing OPI on the game's penultimate play. They also fell behind by 17 to NC State, by 9 to Florida and several other times this season (which, yes, they came back, but great teams shouldn't need to do that over and over again). 2014 FSU was basically 2012 ND only without the road win over Oklahoma, and the surprise level for me that Oregon crunched them was zero. Oh are we arguing that they're a great team and not surprised they lost.....or that they were one of the 4 most deserving? Even if they lose that Clemson game, it was with their backup QB and still a better loss than Virginia Tech, and maybe even Ole Miss now that things are said and done.

I don't see how you can say they "clearly deserved" to be one. But I think everybody hates them because they have so many run-ins with the law and are the quintessential small town cops protect the football team organization. They are in Florida, which is another strike. And they kind of lucked their way into an undefeated season which forced people into begrudgingly allowing them to participate in the tourny. Lucked into? How so? I think it has been pointed out on this site the multiple instances where they pulled off last minute/weak wins this year and that all evidence pointing toward them being worse than their record would indicate. Although I don't pay close attention to college football and may have the details wrong. Yeah, that seems accurate. They have 7 wins by 6 or fewer points, but only 2 really came down to the end (one of which they led and held vs. ND and the other they scored to win at the end). Doesn't seem like "luck" that a team won close games. Especially when that team has multiple instances of winning close games, and their QB had never lost a game.

Agreed. Still doesn't explain hating them more than Ohio St (coached by Urban Meyer mind you) or any Nick Saban coached team.

I don't see how you can say they "clearly deserved" to be one. But I think everybody hates them because they have so many run-ins with the law and are the quintessential small town cops protect the football team organization. They are in Florida, which is another strike. And they kind of lucked their way into an undefeated season which forced people into begrudgingly allowing them to participate in the tourny. Lucked into? How so?

Why does everyone hate FSU? I'm not a fan, but I don't understand why they are hated more than Bama or Ohio St even. I understand hating Jameis, and I guess in turn hating the team, but they clearly deserved to be one of the 4 teams.

Eh, they aren't bad. Branden Albert, Brandon Flowers, Jamaal Charles, Dontari Poe, Justin Houston, Brandon Carr, Tamba Hali, Eric Berry, etc. Jon Baldwin is really their only early miss in recent years. The bolded are/were (Carr in KC was a top 5 CB) among the best in the league at their positions and all picked in the 3rd round or later.

My thoughts also.

Yeah, he knows he'll get a job. No way he left without at least some feelers out there. Jets is probably going to happen, assuming they get a GM he can work with.

I don't know about Marrone. Seems like a decent coach, nothing special. Pretty sure he's going for the Jets. Bronx born. Former OL coach there. Syracuse head coach (though obviously that's closer to Buffalo).

Huh... He was definitely one of the more interesting names. Yeah, this is intriguing. Still get DeCosta, or whoever, and bring Gamble in as Dir of Player Personnel. Would rather have two GM worthy candidates than one. Bring on the brain trust. DeCosta is so far over everyone that if he interviews for the job, you give it to him on the spot. I wonder if a guy like Gamble would take another position like that, although if DeCosta does eventually go back to Baltimore, Gamble could be a great "next-in-line" type of guy.

Huh... He was definitely one of the more interesting names. Yeah, this is intriguing.