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Week 17 Power Rankings
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'02
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I like your rankings more than nfl.com. they put Seattle back at one, for what defeating a very bad offense of Arizona. AZ will be one and done, Seattle is top 2, but NE is well NE.
The biggest surprise in the NFL for me this season, by far, is the bad season the Saints had. Before the season, I thought the Saints-Patriots was the most likely Super Bowl matchup.
The Saints lost a number of close road games in the first half of the season. Since then, they have lost 5 straight at home. Prior to that point in time, the Saints were practically unbeatable at home the last several years. Including the SNF win over the Packers this season. It will be very interesting to see what the Saints do this off-season to attempt to get back on track. Drew Brees will be entering his 15th season. They have to seriously consider getting a long term solution at QB in place in the next couple of years. They certainly have plenty of work needed to be done on Defense.
Quote:The biggest surprise in the NFL for me this season, by far, is the bad season the Saints had. Before the season, I thought the Saints-Patriots was the most likely Super Bowl matchup. I'm also shocked how far they fell. They need to retool the Defense. Quote:I'm also shocked how far they fell. They need to retool the Defense. After Rob Ryan led the way in turning around the Saints Defense last season, I thought they would continue on course. A mistake the Saints appeared to have made is getting rid of a number of veteran Defensive players. They probably lost too much leadership/ direction, even though most of the veteran Defensive players that were discarded had substantial declining physical skills. Now, Sean Payton has to decide whether to bring Ryan back or yet again change direction on Defense again. We show less advertisements to registered users. Accounts are free; join today!
I say keep Ryan. Bring in a few FAs and draft a few more on D. An average D and they can win that weak division.
Quote:I say keep Ryan. Bring in a few FAs and draft a few more on D. An average D and they can win that weak division. The greatest obstacle would be the Saints very problematic salary cap situation. In terms of the salary cap, the Saints situation seems like the antithesis of the Jaguars situation. The Saints brass has a challenging off season ahead. They especially need a strong draft class that can contribute substantially in 2015. Much easier said than done. http://overthecap.com/salary-cap/new-orleans-saints/
Quote:The greatest obstacle would be the Saints very problematic salary cap situation. In terms of the salary cap, the Saints situation seems like the antithesis of the Jaguars situation. The Saints brass has a challenging off season ahead. They especially need a strong draft class that can contribute substantially in 2015. Much easier said than done. I looked at the link. Too many numbers, too much math for me. I'm a VFX artist, I work with pictures, not enough pictures on that site. I'll take your word for it. Quote:I looked at the link. Too many numbers, too much math for me. I'm a VFX artist, I work with pictures, not enough pictures on that site. I'll take your word for it. Here's an article that I think will make it somewhat easier to picture the Saints problematic salary cap situation: http://www.nola.com/saints/index.ssf/201...l_tea.html We show less advertisements to registered users. Accounts are free; join today! Quote:I like your rankings more than nfl.com. they put Seattle back at one, for what defeating a very bad offense of Arizona. AZ will be one and done, Seattle is top 2, but NE is well NE. Or maybe for putting almost 600 yards and 35 points (should be more if not for 3 missed FGs) on a very good Arizona defense? Not saying we should be #1 in Power Rankings and personally even don't care much about them. It's something for talk about during the season, but we will find out which team is the best this season on February 1st.  Quote:The biggest surprise in the NFL for me this season, by far, is the bad season the Saints had. Before the season, I thought the Saints-Patriots was the most likely Super Bowl matchup. Agree about the Saints. Another dissapointing team this season for me is Chicago. I was expecting much more from offense with Forte, Marshall, Jeffery,.... , but Cutler is still Cutler, I quess. Arizona, Dallas (I didn't expect Murray to stay healthy all season) and Detroit (especially their defense) are positive surprises. In the AFC Buffalo and Cleveland have a couple more wins that I expected. Other than that no real surprise there. Quote:In the AFC Buffalo and Cleveland have a couple more wins that I expected. Other than that no real surprise there.I've always been an AFC guy. But, I have to admit, it's getting rather boring when it comes to which teams are playoff contenders and which teams aren't. It's the same 7-8-9 teams that legitimately have a shot to get in,, and the other 7-8 teams are just spoilers or fodder. For the past few years: NE, DEN, IND, CINCY are virtual locks. S.D, PITT, BAL, K.C, HOU(sans last year) are the teams that wrestle for the rest of the spots. These others: Raiders Browns Jags Titans Jets Bills Dolphins Will half of these teams start "seriously" contending for a playoff spot in the near future,, please?
The Bills are 1 qb away from being a true contender. They get a real vet, like AZ did with Palmer and I see Buffalo being the AFC version of the Cardinals.
The Jags are a few years away from true SB contenders. But can we take the next step and become a Wild card sppiler? Division champ? Maybe. Quote:Or maybe for putting almost 600 yards and 35 points (should be more if not for 3 missed FGs) on a very good Arizona defense? After watching around half of the Bears games this season, including the Lions-Bears game this past Sunday in which Jimmy Clausen started, I'm of the opinion that getting rid of Jay Cutler is a necessity for the Bears. Their Offense functioned better last season when Josh McCown filled in for the injured Cutler and it functioned better with the inexperienced Clausen the other day. The Bears need to address all levels of their Defense but their # 1 position issue is the QB position. As a Lions fan, I'm thrilled that the Bears have a dilemma with Cutler's contract. I thought Arizona would be a playoff contender ( falling just short ) but didn't expect them to be 11-4 when factoring in their injuries and suspension of LB Daryl Washington. Bruce Arians gets my vote for NFL Coach of the Year. A case can be made that Arians deserved that honor for 3 straight seasons. Including leading the Colts to a 9-3 record when HC Chuch Pagano took a leave of absence in his battle with cancer. Dallas certainly had a much better season than I anticipated. DeMarco Murray's better health and their Offensive Line play have made their Offensive Unit that much better than in the past. Scott Linehan has been an excellent addition to their coaching staff. Defensively, Rod Marinelli has done a terrific job as Defensive Coordinator. The sum of the Cowboys Defense is certainly greater than the parts. While I thought the Lions Defense had a chance to be much improved, I'm pleasantly surprised that the unit is at or near the top of the NFL in most categories. Jim Caldwell has done a terrific job with the team. His even keel approach is exactly what the Lions needed after the erratic coaching style of Jim Schwartz. Arguably, the best decision Caldwell made was hiring Ravens DB Coach Teryl Austin as Lions Defensive Coordinator. Even with key injuries at all 3 levels, the Lions Defense has played well enough to win every game except the one in New England. The Lions Offense hasn't performed as well as I hoped except for the most important exception: a much lower # of turnovers than in recent seasons. Before the season started, I picked the Lions to go 10-6 and be a wildcard team. The regular season exceeded my expectations after win # 11. It will be an uphill battle to win the showdown NFC North Title game in Green Bay. But I'm thrilled the Lions are in this position. If as expected the Seahawks beat the Rams this Sunday, I think the Seahawks are clearly the team to beat in the NFC. I'm impressed with how well they are playing, even with an Offensive Line that's dealing with key injuries at LT and C. A Patriots-Seahawks Super Bowl, if both teams play at their peak level, would be the game of the ages. We show less advertisements to registered users. Accounts are free; join today! Quote:The Bills are 1 qb away from being a true contender. They get a real vet, like AZ did with Palmer and I see Buffalo being the AFC version of the Cardinals. Agree. Their defense is really good. I also think they need another RB. C.J. Spiller is good, but he can't stay healthy and Fred Jackson is already 33. Quote: After watching around half of the Bears games this season, including the Lions-Bears game this past Sunday in which Jimmy Clausen started, I'm of the opinion that getting rid of Jay Cutler is a necessity for the Bears. Their Offense functioned better last season when Josh McCown filled in for the injured Cutler and it functioned better with the inexperienced Clausen the other day. The Bears need to address all levels of their Defense but their # 1 position issue is the QB position. As a Lions fan, I'm thrilled that the Bears have a dilemma with Cutler's contract. Good post. Bruce Arians gets my vote as well, but I could also see Jim Caldwell (especially if the Lions win NFC North) or Jason Garrett winning Coach of the year. When Jay Cutler signed his new contract I was expecting he would be a problem for the Bears in 3-5 years, but didn't expect he would have a down year already this season. It will be interesting to see what they will do with him in the offseason. I don't see many teams willing to spent draft pick to get his big contract. It will be also interesting to see how he'll react this week when he plays against Minnesota because of Clausen's concussion. What do you think about Suh? I know he'll be testing free agency, but how much chances do you give the Lions to keep him? Can they afford to pay him with Stafford and Megatron already having a big cap numbers? Is he willing to take a little less money to stay in playoff contender or will he just want to get paid and go to one of the teams with a lot of cap room like Oakland? Do you think the Jaguars have any chance to sign him or if they will even be interested? Also, good luck to your Lions on Sunday and then in the playoffs. If we can't win it again, I will be rooting for you. And for the Bengals in the AFC, but I can't see them winning a playoff game. Hopefully they can surprise me. I would like to see a Seattle-New England matchup in Super Bowl, but it's a long way there. First thing first, we need to win against the Rams this week. I respect Arizona and San Francisco as divisional rivals, but over the last few years I always fear the most the games against St.Louis. Don't know why, but they always seems to get a special effort to beat us. Maybe Jeff Fisher just hates us. We usually win, but the games are always ugly. Still, the team know what's on the line in this game. A bye week and 2 home games if we win versus (most likely) 3 road games (if we lose) on the way to another Super Bowl. Quote:Agree. Their defense is really good. I also think they need another RB. C.J. Spiller is good, but he can't stay healthy and Fred Jackson is already 33. Thanks! Even if there's no demand for Jay Cutler because of his contract and / or his body of work, I think the Bears would be better off cutting him. If Cutler remains on the roster after March 12, 2015, $ 10 million of his contract becomes guaranteed in 2016. The Bears would be better off getting Cutler totally off the books in 2015. They need to rebuild. Hence, they can use 2015 as an opportunity to develop many younger players. It's hard to predict what will happen with Ndakumong Suh. I don't think Suh will take a home team discount. The Lions are very likely going to have to give Suh a projected market value contract if the team wants to keep him long run. My strategy with Suh would be as follows if in G.M. Martin Mayhew's position. I would let Suh know that the Franchise Tag will likely be used if he doesn't sign a long term agreement. The cap hit for 2015 would be at or close to record setting. But the alternative of letting Suh hit the open market is worse. A strong case can be made that Suh is the Lions MVP in 2014. The Lions are currently 2nd in the NFL through 15 games in least amount of points allowed, with the Seahawks 4 points ahead. This is despite DT Nick Fairley missing the last 7 games, MLB Stephen Tulloch missing the last 12 games, and the Lions being w/o the top two Nickel Backs the last 13 games. Suh has been as durable as any player in the NFL. He's the player on the Defensive Unit that opens up the most opportunies for other Defensive Players. The Lions have to find a way of keep him in 2015. IMO, one thing that will help the Lions chances of retaining Suh is if Defensive Coordinator Teryl Austin doesn't leave Detroit for an NFL Head Coach job in 2015. Regardless of whether Suh is back in 2015, the Lions need to address the DT situation in a meaningful way. Especially since Fairley is set to be an UFA. If the Lions Franchise Suh, the team will probably not be able to retain him in 2016 if Suh doesn't sign a long term contract. Hence, the Lions will need to add 1 or 2 DT's in the off-season that will need a season of development, before playing bigger roles in 2016. I would be surprised if the Jaguars make a strong attempt to sign Suh if he hits the open market in 2015. Especially, if the medical report on DT Roy Miller is favorable, which I believe will be the case. The Jaguars have a much greater needs at DE, LB, and FS. Not to mention TE and RT on Offense. I could be wrong but right now I can't envision the Jaguars being in serious consideration for Suh in 2015. One thing I'm expecting when the Seahawks host the St. Louis Rams is a physical game. The NFC West games are often like blood baths. This probably won't be an exception. Jeff Fisher and Def. Coordinator Gregg Williams aren't in a good mood after the Giants had a huge Offensive performance in St. Louis this past Sunday. Yet, in the end, I believe the Seahawks Defense is just too good for the Rams to have enough success to win, unless the Seahawks turn the ball over many times and/ or lose the Special Teams battle by a wide margin. For the record, in the Yahoo picks contests, I'm predicting the Rams to score the least amount of points in week # 17.
Didn't think it needed its own thread but Logan Thomas was supposedly going to get the start this week for arizona but after one practice they changed their mind and named lindley the starter.
Coughlin when asked if winning will be a focus: "What the hell else is there? This is nice and dandy, but winning is what all this is about."
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