The NFL Thread (with added College Football)

[cdbearsfan]

You're probably right. Very childish and happy to apologise. Still happy to be two games clear of you even though we'll inevitably fuck it up in about November as usual!

[taylorsworkrate]

The game at Wembley was good, it was just difficult to care as both sides were 0-3.

That's the problem the Wembley game has had, and will continue to have. No decent team is going to be willing to give up one of only 8 home games, so we'll be stuck with the likes of Jacksonville, St Louis, Oakland etc

[cdbearsfan]

Minnesota went 10-6 last year, made the playoffs and have the league's reigning MVP. The league can't be blamed for failing to guess that they'd start badly, they're not clairvoyants.

Oh, and the Bears were shite.

[usav]

The game at Wembley was good, it was just difficult to care as both sides were 0-3.

That's the problem the Wembley game has had, and will continue to have. No decent team is going to be willing to give up one of only 8 home games, so we'll be stuck with the likes of Jacksonville, St Louis, Oakland etc

Disagree with that.  They chose these two teams because they expected the Vikings to be good this year and the Steelers are consistently good every season - apart from this year obviously, but nobody could have predicted just how bad they would be.

I fully expected Villa to get thumped on Saturday and the Steelers to win last night.   As it turns out, I'm not disapointed with the reversal of fortunes.

[ADVILLAFAN]

Always thought the Vikings were the favourites last night. The Steelers' Offensive Line looks terrible this year (as it does for the New York Giants). Plus Ponder was injured for the Vikings, so they were always going to be better with Cassell at QB.

Surprised at how well the AFC is doing this year, in particular the AFC South and AFC West. Dolphins and Patriots in the East are doing okay as well. The AFC North looks like the weakest in the AFC this year.

The NFC East is a mess this year.

[Meanwood Villa]

The NFC East is a mess because they're all crap so one of the teams who wins it will probably be in the playoffs above a team who deserves it more. This is something that I find a bit unappealing about American sports, that if you're lucky enough to be in a weak division or have a favourable schedule you've got an unfair edge over some of your rivals. Home and away against every other team- McGregor's way is the best!

[ADVILLAFAN]

I agree to some extent, although I like the fact that you get match-ups against teams that finished in an adjacent position to you in another division. So if you're 4th you play the 4th team in another division and likewise the top teams play each other. It tries to help the poorer teams to improve.

Suppose it would be dull if no one in your division was in the play-offs to cheer for/root against.

Just a shame that the NFC North is so tough this year, we got 10-6 last year and didn't make the play-offs. Even the Vikings aren't too shabby, in spite of Ponder being their starting Quarter-Back.

[UK Redsox]

The game at Wembley was good, it was just difficult to care as both sides were 0-3.

That's the problem the Wembley game has had, and will continue to have. No decent team is going to be willing to give up one of only 8 home games, so we'll be stuck with the likes of Jacksonville, St Louis, Oakland etc

Oakland haven't been over yet. I love it if they did

[UK Redsox]

Yesterday was the best game so far at Wembley.

The new "Yellow" card park down by the Quality Inn is a doddle to get in/out.

[ADVILLAFAN]

Yep, a pretty good game. The Steelers almost brought it back, but the better team won.

[UK Redsox]

Yep, a pretty good game. The Steelers almost brought it back, but the better team won.

The last Steelers drive was right in front of my End Zone seat. Exciting stuff.

Big Ben still has the body strength to swat defenders away but his passing accuracy has gone and his O Line leave him under too much pressure

[ADVILLAFAN]

I don't blame him, he was having to dodge 3 players before attempting each pass, dreadful O-Line. He was even trying to hold the ball with 2 hands so that he didn't fumble as well.

I love the comparisons between Big Ben (the Clock Tower) and Big Ben (Rothlisberger). Age 157 - 34, height 315 feet - 6'2" and so on.

Americans are more mad about stat's than I am.

[cdbearsfan]

I'd much rather watch an exciting match between two 0-3 teams than a one-sided shitefest like New England Patriots vs [Insert load of shit team] that we've been subjected to a couple of times. Sadly, I'm not holding out much hope for the 49ers/Rams match-up in October.

I still wonder why they haven't played a game in Germany yet? They seemed a lot more passionate about NFL Europa Deutschland.

[Meanwood Villa]

I agree to some extent, although I like the fact that you get match-ups against teams that finished in an adjacent position to you in another division. So if you're 4th you play the 4th team in another division and likewise the top teams play each other. It tries to help the poorer teams to improve.

Suppose it would be dull if no one in your division was in the play-offs to cheer for/root against.

Just a shame that the NFC North is so tough this year, we got 10-6 last year and didn't make the play-offs. Even the Vikings aren't too shabby, in spite of Ponder being their starting Quarter-Back.

I didn't realise they did that with matching placings, that is a good idea. There's still a big advantage in being in a crap division though and vice versa as the Bears found to their cost last year.

[cdbearsfan]

We used to have a division with one rival that was always good (Packers), one that was always inconsistent (Vikings) and one that was always shite (Lions). Annoyingly, the Packers have remained good but the Lions have ceased being shite.