NFL - Discussion Thread

I have New England winning 24-21.

I'd say 31-17 would be more appropriate. Nick Foles is due for a bad game soon, and what better stage to do it on. I think no matter who wins, it won't be that close.

I have to agree with Warrior13. I think it will be a closer game than what people think. What lots of people are doing when they look at this game is putting the whole Patriot 17 year dynasty under Brady and Belichick against the 2017 Philadelphia Eagles and not just the 2017 Patriot team.

The 2017 New England team are not the same dominant powerhouse Patriot teams of the past, this team started the season badly got themselves sorted out and then took full advantage of a weak schedule. I think this Patriot team can still be run against and Brady can be pressured by the Eagle front four, this is a forty year old Brady who is not as mobile as he once was.

The other thing you have to take into consideration is the Eagle team will be hungry for their first Super Bowl, can the same be said for the Patriots players who have been there and done it several time apiece. Do the Patriots have the same desire to win again, not many teams have repeated as Super Bowl champions and those that did were heads and shoulders above any other team playing at the time.

I give it to New England 21-17 in a closely contested contest.

« Last edited by Sanzano on Jan 22nd 2018 »

Honestly, I just did the same score from the last time these two teams faced in the Super Bowl. lol

I wonder if we'll hear that Brady's thumb is fractured and swelling uncontrollably lol. New England are the masters of deception.

I must say, it's remarkable that Jacksonville only lost by 4. I was sure it would be a blowout. It's funny that Blake Bortles out-passed Brady too.

If Philly can jump out of the blocks and lead by something like 10-0 or 20-7, then I'll have them holding on. But I doubt they will get that lead. They're great frontrunners Philly. One thing's for sure; if Philly get a 25-point lead they won't be taking their feet off the gas ;)

Philadelphia's confidence must be very good the way they demolished the bookies favourites Vikings. If they can sustain that momentum and are not in awe of the Patriots and the occasion they've got a good chance of pulling off the upset. That team is desperate for the win, Foles has suddenly started playing well and they've got a good defense. You'll get a rough idea how the game will go in the first quarter.

2 seasons ago after Carolina destroyed Arizona 49-15 in the NFC Championship Game, then layed an egg against the underdogs Denver. Philly will be confident, but they HAVE TO remember that they are again underdogs and have little chance of winning. That way they'll come out to try prove the doubters wrong again. Getting cocky can have disastrous results (28-3 gone). If Philly are ever going to get cocky, it's either after the game has finished and they've made sure there's not a last-second penalty, or once they have a 40-7 lead with 5 minutes left. Inexperience can really hurt teams.

What Philly need is to take their chances, and to NOT play to the scoreboard. Do what Miami did and attempt an onside kick at 33-9 up late in the game. Be aggressive. The moment Philly start running down the clock is the moment their chances of winning shrink by the second.

« Last edited by Matt77 on Jan 22nd 2018 »

I'm just so sad I don't know what to do. Once it was 31-7 it was just too painful to watch, so I lied in the dark drinking Mountain Dew and watching Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2.

Like I said, the Vikings' curse will only be broken when their SB record improves to 1-4.

Talk about curses, since 1967 the beginning of the Super Bowl era the Philadelphia Eagles have won 17 playoff games but never the big game having lost it twice, once to Oakland in 1981 and again to the Patriots in 2005. Not a good omen...

At least they've made the Superbowl. Poor Jacksonville blew a 20-10 Q4 lead, and if they had won it would be their first ever trip to the big dance.

I didn't watch the game Matt, why didn't Jacksonville run out the clock with Fournette? The Redskins during the early 80's when they made two trips to the Super Bowl would kill a game in the fourth quarter just be handing the ball off to John Riggins, they did it every week, literally run out the clock and wear out the defense. Fournette is an elite runner, you can't tell me he couldn't pick up ten yards in three attempts? I'm hoping Philadelphia use Jay Ajayi, LeGarrette Blount and Darren Sprokes to grind out the yardage and keep Brady off the field.

Darren Sproles has played 0 games this season lol, but they can instead use their rookie RB Clement to have the trio of RBs. It's clear they need to be rush-oriented. As predicted against Minnesota the RBs had a pretty good time, but once again there's a higher level they can go to. Imo NE have a hugely overrated running game that will be outplayed by Philly's.

I didn't see the JAX @ NE game either obviously (it was on at 3:40am) but since like you said, Jacksonville dominated time of possession, that's not going to help Philly. All Brady needs is a few final possessions and they can easily put up 17 points in Q4 and steal the SB. Jacksonville likely tried to run the clock, but instead barely moved at all and gave Brady 2 possessions, which he cashed in for 2TDs. In the NE @ MIA game, Miami had a 27-10 lead in Q4 and started running the clock. They made bugger all yards, and instead gave NE the ball so they could score and get it back to 27-20 with an onside kick to come. It failed, but the point is if it had succeeded, NE probably would've gone on to score a late TD and take the game to overtime, erasing a 17-point deficit. Teams MUST stay aggressive until it's after the 2-minute warning. If your opposition know you're going to run the ball, they'll simply stuff you and you'll make -3 yards and 0 first down. Then your defense will get little rest, and will have to come back out quickly.

It is good to run the clock, but put in at least one pass every possession to mix things up and try make yards. That way when you actually try to run the ball, the defense won't be absolutely prepared for it and you'll have a better chance of making more yards.

I don't know who I'm going with in the SB, it's going to be so hard.

A gut feeling is whispering 'Philly' though honestly. I watched them, and lord, did they look good with their screens.

I know what you mean FreezShock, I don't think it's going to be the stroll in the park for the Patriots that everyone is expecting. Foles is putting up some good numbers last week againts the Vikings, the guy's a former pro bowl player so he's no idiot. I also think Philadelphia has the better defense of the two teams. It's difficult to bet against Brady because it is uncanny the way he finds a way to win.

Here's something interesting though, of the Patriots six Super Bowls under Brady and Belichick none were won by more than five points. They're not blowing teams away they're scraping wins, the law of averages states they are due to come up short soon.

Brady had proven time and again that wit his 57 fourth quarter comebacks that he's dangerous until the final whistle. If Philadelphia can get points on the board and not let up like Atlanta did last year you have to give them a chance of winning the game. Philadelphia will also be out for revenge for the loss they suffered against the Patriots in the last Super Bowl appearance.

A silly person said:

Eagles - 0%

No way the Eagles win the Super Bowl. Actually 0%.

A wiser person said:

(should be 0.1%)

The Postseason Expert said:

I bet if you did that Philadelphia would have a 3% chance of winning the Super Bowl.

There's a reason we all (you're included Warrior cause I know you doubted Philly, you were just clever and didn't leave any evidence :p) thought Philly were done for. Nick Foles is a backup QB who has just had 2 good games, right after having 2 awful games. Think back to a fortnight ago. Why did each one of you think Philly were gone? That reasoning should still apply now.

Two meaningless bad games followed by two good very important games against two of the best teams in the NFC. I see a pattern developing, Foles needs to have one more good game and he will become the city of brotherly loves favourites son. Foles confidence must be good now that he see? that the team has rallied around him and believe he?s good enough to win them the Lombardi trophy. You can understand why Foles was shaky in his first two games, everybody, me included gave the Eagles no chance once Wentz went down and Foles was under pressure to perform otherwise he was going to be the scapegoat for a season most experts were picking Philadelphia to win it all. Now I give the Eagles a 40% chance of pulling it off as the pressure is now off Foles because he has overachieved, nobody thought the Eagles would be in the big game.

What happened to the Eagles happened to the NY Giants in the early 90?s when their pro bowl quarterback Phil Simms went down injured for the year and everybody gave them no chance with some dorky looking fella nobody had heard of called Jeff Hostleter coming in under center. The Giants led by all pro linebackerLawrence Taylor and running back OJ Anderson did the unthinkable and won the Super Bowl and to do it they had to get past all pro quarterbacks Joe Montana and Jim Kelly so it is not impossible, the Eagles have a chance, they just need to start the game like they finished the Minnesota Championship game and not take their foot off the pedal. I think there is more pressure on Tom Brady because all of America is expecting him to lead the Patriots to victory.


« Last edited by Sanzano on Jan 24th 2018 »

Give me a break, I saw the two crap games, that was before his stellar performance in Weeks 2 and 3 of the playoffs lol

You're a fool FreezShock if you think the Eagles have no chance. Any team on any given Sunday can pull off an upset if the other team doesn't execute and makes mistakes that leads to points. I can think of a whole list of games that NFL teams who had no business in winning came through and caused an upset against the odds. If Offense, defense and special teams don't perform anything can happen.

Granted, Wentz is a good player but he wasn't the whole team, he had a good offensive line blocking for him for starters and that's still intact and so is the defense. The Patriots will probably win the game but it's going to be a lot closer than what most people think. I personally think that when it's all over there won't be more than ten points separating the teams which is only a touchdown and field goal. Just remember that the Patriots benefited from an easy schedule and their defense is not as tight as it was last year.

Foles' first game was a 4:0 game. Then he had 2 bad games. Then 2 good ones. Now 1 bad one. THAT'S the pattern ;)

We have to remember if Julio Jones had remembered how to catch a football, Philly would've been one and done.

That said, it is hard to judge NE. They have been probably an 8/10 team this season, but not fantastic. They arguably should've lost to Houston, NY Jets, Tampa Bay, Pittsburgh, & Jacksonville just last week. That's a 10-6 record, and an exit from the playoffs last week. The key to beating NE is to put up lots of points, and put them up as early as possible. The second way you could go about it is the defensive strategy, but Jacksonville payed a heavy price of 2TDs in the last quarter to turn a low scoring affair on its head. The running game of Philly needs to dominate, but Foles needs to have a go at a fair amount of passes to mix the offense up.

Last season's SB, Atlanta had the perfect game plan and shot out of the blocks with 21 first half points, followed by another 7 on the starting possession. Yes they choked and scored 0 more, but that's because they started playing conservative and defensive. This season KC scored 42 points, away from home. Carolina scored 33 points in a shootout, away from home. Houston also scored 33 I think (my computer doesnt't load the regular season game option so I can't check) and were so close to winning. Miami scored 27 in the first 3 quarters. With Philly scoring 38 unanswered points against a top 3 defense, it's the perfect preparation for that offensive onslaught.