4101

I can think of one: KC could be heading into the playoffs with two running backs who have just over 200 carries apiece. Another: JC hasn’t been an every-down back since High School, and I’m not even sure about that; when folks have tried to make him an every-down back, the injury bug came up. Keeping your best weapon healthy for the offseason, particularly when you have a perfectly adequate back like Thomas Jones to rest him with, is a good idea.

Don’t get me wrong here. I have absolute burnt-orange blind love for JC. I think he deserves more carries, too. And I could be completely wrong with the above. But given that KC is looking at the playoffs in a terribly tough division after years of being in the wilderness, firing Todd Haley would be throwing the baby out with the bathwater.

4102

Because you have crap for defense.

4103

I have an alternate theory: the NFC South records are artificially inflated because they get to play the patsies in the NFC West. Even Carolina, who only has 2 wins this year, is 2-2 against the NFC Worst. They’ve proven they’re as bad as anyone in the NFL.

Going into 2010, the NFC West strength-of-schedule rankings were 28th, 30th, 31st and 32nd. They had a monopoly on the easiest schedules in the NFL and they’re approaching an achievement of historically inept proportions.

If your argument is that the teams in the NFC West are better than their records indicate, I disagree. I think they’re worse.

4104

Oh, man, Favre’s back and they don’t have AP? The Vikes are toast.

4105

Looks like the Bears are putting him out of his misery…

I don’t really get the Favre hate, I’ve seen him get banged up and keep on playing, the man has guts.

4106

He does indeed have guts, but he’s too banged up to be effective, especially in terrible conditions. I don’t hate the guy; I just wish he’d bow out gracefully and let the Vikings find their future quarterback.

4107

Who’s worse right now, Hasselbeck or Palmer? I saw the teams should just swap them, maybe spark a life in them, since they look like zombies out there (they should get some of whatever magic got into Kitna this year!)

4108

Wooooooooooooooooo Devin Hester!

4109

To support you, I would like to point out that everybody in the NFC South gets two free wins because they get to play Carolina–the Real Worst Team in the NFL, NFC South wins notwithstanding. The Bucs are 6-6 without their wins against Carolina. The Saints are good but not great at 8-4. And the Falcons, I think, are one of the best teams in the NFL, so never mind about them. The NFC South isn’t so great.

::edit:: Oh, and it was cool to see Hester break the return-TD record tonight.

4110

This is fantastic. Two NFC North teams playing the week before Christmas outdoors in the freezing snow. Now THIS is December football.

I kinda feel for the Vikings. They’re playing on a makeshift field with a makeshift head coach and a makeshift QB. It’s the season of improv for Minnesota.

But you just gotta be rooting for Joe Webb. You gotta. Taking a guy who was drafted as a WR and impressing him back into QB service… heck, maybe give the guy the job next year!

4111

You can make the argument that Tampa is benefitting, but I don’t think you can make that argument for Atlanta or New Orleans. Atlanta is 5-2 against teams with winning records. New Orleans is 2-2, but that’s not unusual for good teams. Pittsburgh is 4-4 against winning teams, Kansas City is 2-3, etc.

And preseason strength of schedule rankings are relatively useless IMHO. Look at all the “good” teams from last year that suck this year - Dallas, Minnesota, Cincinnati, etc. What matters is how good the teams you play this year are.

4112

True, but even then…

4113

Seattle definately needs a QB plan and the downside to this season of playoff hunt by default is that they haven’t gotten much of an idea about Whitehurst. Nor will they have a high draft pick, so that means looking at the lesser QBs that might be available. Personally I’m not a big fan of drafting QBs high and Seattle has zero history of success in that regard. Their best QBs have been undrafted or later round picks. Their first rounders (or equivalent) - Stouffer, McGwire, Mirer - didn’t pan out.

So I’d rather see Seattle go after someone that has been developing for awhile. In my mind that means Kolb right now, but Flynn probably deserves a closer look and I still think it’s possible we’ll see Leinart in Seattle next year. But QBs now have to play to learn, so if Hasselbeck comes back it’ll have to be as a veteran backup who knows he will only play if the #1 guy gets injured. Whether he’s willing to do that remains to be seen and also depends on whether any other team promises him a better chance to play every week.

It’s a weird year to be a Seahawk fan. If you’d said before the season they’d win 6-8 games fans would have been happy. If you said they’d contend for the division no one would have believed it. But the inherent assumption would have been that it was a young team showing improvement. Instead, if you look at the roster you see a bunch of castoffs and veterans which means that in terms of building for the future not much has been accomplished. Offensively the QB, key receivers, and most of the offensive line could completely change by next year. Defensively they aren’t bad but the defensive line still needs work and most importantly depth behind the starters. It just doesn’t feel like a whole lot has been accomplished.

4114

I’m new to the Seattle area after 10+ years…and I’m pretty happy with all of the work Pete has put in. He’s taken, as you said, cast offs and stragglers and dealt with serious injuries up and down both sides of the ball and done all right.

They did great in the draft, both of their first round picks look to be long time, high quality starters, and they are more than willing to move people when they feel it gives a better chance to win. They don’t need LBs, safeties, which is a good thing.

That said, yes, both lines need work. The WR position needs help, even with Williams and Obamontu (sp?) coming on. The RB position might be good, hard to tell without good blockers. Heck, Washington is a starting RB in my mind. The QB position is up in air, the CBs are iffy, the oline is all questionable except the rook, and the dline needs, as you said, a LOT more depth.

I think it was a good start to rebuilding. And I think they’ll be an even better team next year, depending upon their line and QB positions…

4115

We could see three new starting QBs in the West next year. The entire West is probably in rebuilding mode.

That’s one advantage the Rams have over the other teams – they have their QB. It can be hard to fill that position, as the Niners and Cardinals have seen.

4116

Is it too early to start evaluating team’s draft choices from this spring? Esp from a fan’s PoV (since you probably saw them play most)?

To kick it off, Steelers drafted Pouncy in round 1, and he’s been (sadly) the solid core of the offensive line this year. Great pick, given how crap our line is despite him. Two rookie WR’s making significant contributions in both special teams and increasingly in the offense, and have been played against each other to earn playing time this season. After Limas Sweed, great to see (as Ward has at most what, two season’s left in him?). Too bad about Sweed, thought he’d turned it around this year before going on IR. Haven’t heard much of other rookies even from the local media, even by the local media.

Other teams, chip in?

4117

The Redskins draft yielded one starter (and a good one at that - LT Trent Williams)

And their trade of picks for Mcnabb yielded . . . well, Mcnabb.

In spite of the B+ grade in the linked article, none of the other players made any contribution this year. ‘Street’ players signed as free agents or off practice squads added more than these picks. The Skins have some youth, some building blocks, but they aren’t building them through the draft.

4118

Eli Manning…C’mon, Man!

Pondered putting this in the “Best YouTube” thread, but it really belongs here.

4119

Bwahahahahahah, oh, man. I guess everyone was trying to mob Vick and Jackson with questions over in the Eagle’s locker room.

The “kid from study hall” makes it even more hilarious. I like how Eli tries to look around the room from the podium, like he’s addressing a big crowd.

4120

Nah. When the Rams have recently played New Orleans and Atlanta–teams with an obvious talent gap over them–in both cases the Male Sheep had no chance, and it was obvious from the beginning.

But I think I’m just tickled by the whole idea of an entire division where no one might win 8 games. Almost half the wins of NFC West teams have come from playing each other – they’re collectively a comical 12-26 against the rest of the league. Watching them fight it out for a division title is like watching a spectacular car wreck in action.

2 years ago, one of those teams was in the Super Bowl, and a couple of years before that another team was (Cardinals and Seahawks, respectively). The Rams were the last NFC West to win a Super Bowl, 11 years ago. Compare that to the number of Super Bowl appearances by the NFC North or the AFC West in the last 11 years.

In other words, yep, you’ve got four teams, all of whom are down this year. The Seahawks are getting old and had a change of regime. The Cardinals lost a Canton-bound QB and have had the wheels come off. The Rams are recovering from a spectacular collapse that saw a team president, all team vice presidents, all parts of player-personnel scouting, and two head coaches removed. The Niners…well, I’m not sure what the heck is going on there. They just seem to be spinning their wheels.

Point being, many NFL teams run in cycles. The NFC West is all down right now…but it isn’t like these teams aren’t spending money and are sandbagging. The Rams look like a team on the come; if the Niners could get a QB and real coach in there, they could be very tough in a short amount of time.

To my mind, if you really want to blame a divisional format for the mediocre-to-bad NFC West, the biggest problem is divisions of only 4 teams. If you want to talk realignment, I think the best way to do it is to keep the same number of playoff qualifiers, but make the AFC and NFC divisions 5/5/6 teams, rather than 4/4/4/4. Too easy to get four teams in a single division all on the losing side of .500, but with 5 or 6, it becomes a lot more probable that one team in each division will at least be strong enough to win enough inter-divisional games to finish above .500.