DivineBovine

Childress isn't why the Vikings struggled. They might get a bounce with the coaching change, but that will fade over the next three weeks' worth of games before Chicago arrives. Leslie isn't going to bring Moss back, and he isn't going to make Favre change his stripes. I'm not conceding that game until we see how the next three week's shake out. I'm not conceding any game, but understood. I'm not conceding any game either but it is gonna be tough. The amount of effort the Vikings put into their last couple of games is questionable at best. The Vikings are still relatively talented. They are better than other 3-7 teams out there you would think. The Vikings players supposedly hated their coach and were mired in a funk of controversy and undisciplined play. Say Leslie gives them a little bump. Say they win a couple of games in a row. The effort is there, the players like the coach, and although the playoffs are highly unlikely, the team has a new common goal to finish the year strong to keep Leslie as their coach. Suddenly a Monday night game in the dome seems a lot more difficult than it did yesterday. I'm not gonna pretend that Brett Favre is randomly gonna stop throwing INTs like he's auditioning for a role in ABC's movie of the week: "The Rex Grossman story". I'm not going to hide the fact that the Vikings are a bit banged up and the Williams wall is not the same as it was 2 years ago and the secondary is questionable, etc. But it will most likely be a more difficult game than I had hoped for, in the stadium we've won in only 1 out of the last 9 games there. Favre is killing the team more than anyone. He's just lost it. He's playing every play like a gambling addict in the casino who's down big and trying to win all his money back at once. He flings every ball at a receiver to try and make a big play, even if its not there. Forget about checkdowns or throwing the ball away. And he's completely uncoachable at this point. Chilly clearly lost the team. But as long as Favre is still playing, I like the league's chances against the Vikings.

NFC playoff picture looks crazy right now.

Call me a homer, but if Boozer fits in and they continue to get better with the new system, I think they can compete with anyone.

Phew. Nice win. Good defense today.

Brewer's shot is as ugly as Korver's is pretty.

Vick scares the crap out of me. If it were Kolb, I'd say the Bears are winning for sure. With Vick, I see a probable loss.

what on earth? cutler and the defense are the reasons we are successful, he is one of the best in the game right now. i've stated that i'd take no other qb ahead of him in this system, with this offensive line, except for rodgers, maybe, and vick looks good as of right now. but jay is the man. Um, I think the true answer is somewhere in between you two. Rodgers, Manning, Brees, Vick, Brady, and Rivers just off the top of my head.

Already starting to worry about Vick next week.

O line is holding its own.

theisman and millen and someone else. "Whenever you keep the other team in it, 90% of the time, its going to come back and bite you." huh? exactly.... Theismann meant that the team that's losing is going to come back and win 90% of the time if the game is close. What a genius.

theisman and millen and someone else. "Whenever you keep the other team in it, 90% of the time, its going to come back and bite you." huh?

My team is the hard luck team of my league. I have the second most points, and I'm 5-5, barely hanging onto the playoff spot. I keep getting barely beat by teams having crazy weeks (I just went up against Vick), and killing teams when they have off weeks. And according to this, I'm in trouble for the playoffs. Nicks, Bradshaw, and McCoy are 3 of my start every week guys. And none of my other guys has an easy schedule. This sucks.

Bears remaining schedule is absolutely insane. @Dolphins Eagles @Lions Patriots @Vikings Jets @Packers The easiest games are Vikings and Lions, both on the road. They will be underdogs in every other game. Hate to be a spoil sport but 0-7 is not out of the question. Hope not, just saying. And if we did 0-7, we'll still get screwed on the draft pick since we played such a tough schedule.

Vick has become what the entire league has always feared he would become. He is absolutely impossible to defend. He's the fastest and most elusive guy on the field, and he happens to have a rocket arm and good receivers. I'm not sure whether it was his motivation, the talent around him, the coaching. But he was beatable in Atlanta. He's pretty much unbeatable right now. He hasn't lost this year. I won't count week 1 against GB, because Kolb started the game. I'd be real curious to see how a team is going to shut him down, short of injuring him or putting up a ton of points on the Philly D. Another tough loss of my fantasy team. Damn it. I always bring out the best in my opponents. I went up against Cutler and Forte in week 1 too.

One more game where the offensive line gets abused is all the Bears need to be viewed as a bad team again. Let's hope it doesn't happen.

Wins after 9 games is hardly the most important one. And wins is only important to the extent that you have to beat out 7 teams in your conference in that column to make the playoffs, and a little bit regarding how many home games you'd like, since it's about a 4-point swing in general. Past that, it's about predicting how well a team will do going forward, and treating a 20 point win over Orlando the same as a 2 point overtime loss to Utah as exactly the same is not very accurately predictive. And who's talking PER? PER is a very offensive-biased individual statistic, and I'm going strictly on team predictions, here. Individual stats aren't being factored in on any level, here, aside from being compiled to perform team point differentials. Fair enough. But wins after 9 games is still better than using statistical predictors after 9 games. Err, no it isn't. Or are the Heat going to win 45 games this year? Whatever. I don't think they're winning 45 games. So what does that prove? I don't think they are going to finish 1st either. If the predictor is using 9 games as an indicator, it's every bit as bad. I'd bet you that everyone who has posted could predict NBA standings at the end of the year right now and most of us would be at least as good as that statistical predictor. Here is the predictor: 1. Miami Heat 2. New Orleans Hornets 3. Los Angeles Lakers 4. Boston Celtics 5. Denver Nuggets 6. Dallas Mavericks 7. Orlando Magic 8. Portland Trail Blazers 9. San Antonio Spurs 10. Milwaukee Bucks 11. Utah Jazz 12. Chicago Bulls Here are is the same thing by current W/L record: 1. New Orleans 2. Lakers 3. San Antonio 4. Boston 5. Orlando 6. Dallas 7. Atlanta 8. Portland 9. Golden State 10. Utah 11. Chicago 12. Miami I'd bet most people could do better than both the above predictions just on the basis of common sense. But as a measure of how the teams have played SO FAR? W/L is a better measure than the predictor. I'll stand by that one. There's no way you can tell me that the Heat have played the best basketball in the NBA over 9 games. Sorry.

Wins after 9 games is hardly the most important one. And wins is only important to the extent that you have to beat out 7 teams in your conference in that column to make the playoffs, and a little bit regarding how many home games you'd like, since it's about a 4-point swing in general. Past that, it's about predicting how well a team will do going forward, and treating a 20 point win over Orlando the same as a 2 point overtime loss to Utah as exactly the same is not very accurately predictive. And who's talking PER? PER is a very offensive-biased individual statistic, and I'm going strictly on team predictions, here. Individual stats aren't being factored in on any level, here, aside from being compiled to perform team point differentials. Fair enough. But wins after 9 games is still better than using statistical predictors after 9 games.

How clear is it if the Heat are still statistically the superior team in the NBA? Sure, it's fun to bask in the schadenfreude, but the reality is that if this is the "struggling Heat", they're going to lap the league when things click. Based on what? Are you talking about Hollinger's power rankings on espn? It's even worse than the BCS. Look how well he predicts NBA standings. He's no better than anyone else, and goes out on a limb about as often as Dick Vitale does when he picks NCAA hoops. The Bulls just crushed a Golden State team which just beat the Knicks on the road. Yet the Knicks beat the Bulls at home. so how does this factor into his ratings? I just don't believe you can easily distill basketball to stats. More than a lot of media guys, Hollinger seems to have an increased interest in the Heat, because he and his PER predicted that the Heat should run away with a title. Him and his PER will end up looking bad if the Heat are a flop. He predicted 68 wins. I also happen to believe the PER is stupid. A decent player on a bad team can put up big numbers (Chris Bosh). It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out he wasn't going to do it with the Heat. And no amount of math could replace common sense there. No, basically every predictive statistical measure has the Heat on top of the NBA right now. "Common Sense" is highly subjective, and everybody has an increased level of interest in the Heat. The statistics aren't massaged to make the Heat look good, the Heat look good, and it shows in the statistics. Four single-digit losses against good teams where they still played well aren't enough to sway them. The "eye test" is a far worse way of evaluating team performance than almost any statistical measure. As much as basketball can be a team sport, it's far less so of a "team is greater than the sum of parts" than the NBA, NHL or pro soccer. It is more team-based than baseball, though, so it has that going for it. Except for wins. Which is the most important one. And I disagree about the last point. Sure its less of a team sport than the NFL or soccer. But its more than a lot of people make it out to be who are predicting the Heat to run away with it. Calculate the big 3's PER at the end of this year and compare to last season. I'd bet any amount of money that it will be far less. And there aren't many people who would argue with that. Take these examples. - LeBron drives and breaks down the defense. He kicks it to DWade outside who happens to be open. Now is DWade really that much more valuable in that particular situation than Ben Gordon? DWade gets paid a lot of money because he can also drive by 3 people and score. But there is some redundancy there. - DWade drives to the hoop and misses a layup contested by 2 players. Bosh gets the board under the basket and puts it in. Is Bosh really that much more valuable in that particular situation than Marcus Camby? Bosh gets paid the big bucks because you can throw it to him in the post and he can make a contested jumper. But does a team with Wade and LeBron necessarily need a PF who can make a contested jumper in the post?

There's always been 2 sides. One side said that the Heat was destined to win due to their sheer talent. The other side said that they weren't necessarily complimentary, there were no good role players. Nobody has been proven right yet. But right now, the other side is winning. The big 3 are great. No doubt. But superstars are superstars because they can score and create their own shot. You don't need 3 guys who you can throw the ball to and expect to score 1 on 1. So a lot of it will come down to how well they do other things. And they do other things well. Like LeBron and his passing. But its not their passing, rebounding and defense that earned them their reputation and their max contracts.

How clear is it if the Heat are still statistically the superior team in the NBA? Sure, it's fun to bask in the schadenfreude, but the reality is that if this is the "struggling Heat", they're going to lap the league when things click. Based on what? Are you talking about Hollinger's power rankings on espn? It's even worse than the BCS. Look how well he predicts NBA standings. He's no better than anyone else, and goes out on a limb about as often as Dick Vitale does when he picks NCAA hoops. The Bulls just crushed a Golden State team which just beat the Knicks on the road. Yet the Knicks beat the Bulls at home. so how does this factor into his ratings? I just don't believe you can easily distill basketball to stats. More than a lot of media guys, Hollinger seems to have an increased interest in the Heat, because he and his PER predicted that the Heat should run away with a title. Him and his PER will end up looking bad if the Heat are a flop. He predicted 68 wins. I also happen to believe the PER is stupid. A decent player on a bad team can put up big numbers (Chris Bosh). It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out he wasn't going to do it with the Heat. And no amount of math could replace common sense there. I wonder what the combined PER was of all the US Olympic teams that couldn't win the gold.

Come on. People are just having fun. Everyone loves to hate the Heat, and its not like they didn't bring it upon themselves. The decision, the smoke machine, the talk of 7 or 8 championships, the talk of keeping a list and shutting people up. It's fun watching this. I admit I'm loving it. But on a more serious note. I agree that this is an overreaction from 9 games. But how can Miami not be concerned? This is basketball, not baseball. You can't necessarily combine players and know what to expect. I'm sure they will get better. Its a question of how much better. But all the experts who talk about the Heat, either good or bad about them, really have no idea. Take Hollinger for example and his mental masturbation about stats. He has no idea. One thing that is clearly occurring right now is that the whole is less than the sum of its parts. We'll see what happens. But the pressure is really high. Forget about building a team over 6 years with mid-level exceptions. If this team is going down, meaning not at least winning conference championships this year and a ring in the next 2, they are getting dismantled. If the team is underachieving, LeBron is going to be running his mouth even more and blaming others, fingers are going to be pointed, staff is getting fired, and no free agent or coach in their right mind is going to want to come for less money and be part of it. Not saying its going to happen, but the Heat don't have years to turn this around. They have maybe one. Which I agree is a lot of time. But still.

I remember laughing at everyone who said they wouldn't part with Noah in a S&T for Bosh. Whoops. The Heat might do that deal right now, straight up. :lol:

Paul Pierce Tweet: :lol: Bosh just doesn't fit into the team. He can put up big numbers if force fed the ball on a bad team, but can't seem to do it for the Heat. The Heat experiment is proving the importance of the role player. Scoring isn't everything in the league. You don't necessarily need 3 guys that can score 1 on 1.

LeBrick!

So entertaining to watch the Heat struggle. The whole is nowhere near the sum of its parts. The big 3 are detracting from each other at this point. Maybe they turn it around, but I hope they don't. So entertaining.