The NFL Thread (with added College Football)

[Villa'Zawg]

BTW, as I'm on here at stupid o'clock I'm watching the Bengals V 49ers on nfl.com and its easily the best sports stream I've ever watched. No distortion at all.

Quality was probably good because no one's really interested in the 49ers v Bengals. Also, it was live on Sky as well

aah that explains it. I'm usually quite cynical about the "slickness" of the nfl output but that website is tremendously well put together. It was a pleasure to be able to just click and watch a game without having to sign-up/subscribe etc...

[Ross]

Blimey - anyone watching the Browns on Sky Sports 3? Complete blizzard conditions!!!

[OCD]

Blimey - anyone watching the Browns on Sky Sports 3? Complete blizzard conditions!!!

You can't see the markings - do NFL games ever get abandoned?

[freddie Rincon]

Blimey - anyone watching the Browns on Sky Sports 3? Complete blizzard conditions!!!

You can't see the markings - do NFL games ever get abandoned?

Only if there's lightning.

[VillaZogmariner]

So how did the Browns get on?

[freddie Rincon]

So how did the Browns get on?

Won 8-0 in a snowstorm, means they're still in a playoff position with two games to go.

[VillaZogmariner]

Fantastic. My uncle is a Bengals fan so he will be threaders - hates the Browns!

[UK Redsox]

Dolphins get their first win of the season

Patriots go 14-0

[AV82EC]

Right after getting my head round how each teams regular season fixture list works, someone is going to have to give me a run down on how its decided who gets in the play offs and what the format is?

I would assume, though that seems dangerous, that each divisional winner gets a place making 8 teams then conference semi's and finals followed by Super bowl between AFC and NFC Champions?  

However, as this is America that seems far too logical and I've seen that there are wild cards and play off places up for grabs, so how is it decided?

[UK Redsox]

Right after getting my head round how each teams regular season fixture list works, someone is going to have to give me a run down on how its decided who gets in the play offs and what the format is?

I would assume, though that seems dangerous, that each divisional winner gets a place making 8 teams then conference semi's and finals followed by Super bowl between AFC and NFC Champions?  

However, as this is America that seems far too logical and I've seen that there are wild cards and play off places up for grabs, so how is it decided?

From da Wiki.......

Qualification into the playoffs are as follows:

The NFL Playoffs. Each of the 4 division winners is seeded 1–4 based on their overall records. The two wildcard teams (labeled Wild Card 1 and 2) are seeded 5th and 6th (with the better of the two having seed 5) regardless of their records compared to the 4 division winners.

    * The four division champions from each conference (the team in each division with the best overall record), which are seeded 1 through 4 based on their overall won-lost-tied record.
    * Two wild card qualifiers (those non-division champions with the conference's best winning percentages), which are seeded 5 and 6.

The first round of the playoffs is dubbed the Wild Card Playoffs (the league in recent years has also used the term Wild Card Weekend). The 3rd-seeded division winner hosts the 6th seed wild card, and the 4th seed hosts the 5th. The 1 and the 2 seeds from each conference receive a bye in the first round, which entitles these teams to automatically advance to the second round, the Divisional Playoff games, to face the Wild Card survivors. Unlike most tournaments, with a predetermined bracket, each round of the playoffs is 're-seeded'; the highest surviving seed always hosts the lowest surviving seed, the second-highest hosts the second-lowest, etc. This guarantees each division winner at least one home playoff game.

The two surviving teams from the Divisional Playoff games meet in Conference Championship games, with the winners of those contests going on to face one another in the Super Bowl.

[Villa'Zawg]

Fantastic. My uncle is a Bengals fan so he will be threaders - hates the Browns!

With a bit of luck he'll be truly upset next week when the Browns beat them at their place to  clinch the play-off spot :-)

[Rotterdam]

49ers won......... \/

[avfcpg]

Raiders lost...again  ](*,)  ](*,)  ](*,)

[cheltenhamlion]

I saw a little bit and the weather at the Browns game was bloody ridiculous

[CT]

Any updates on 'our' team then? Are they doing ok still?

Ian, they played in a blizzard yesterday and made the play-offs for the first time in 5 years. Mr Lerner will be very proud.