NFL

[Macca 17,120]

I'll post up the TV games tomorrow night but Friday's game is Dallas @ Chicago.

The early game on Monday (7mate) is the Steelers @ Cinci and ... the late game on 7mate is the big one ... Seattle @ Philadelphia.

SNF is the Pats @ San Diego whilst MNF is Atlanta @ Green Bay

[JV7 2,375]

49ers

Dallas

Texans

[Gorgoroth 13,188]

Dallas should beat the Bears but I'm not super certain on that, the Bears are playing average at the moment but this is the sort of game they could easily get up and win.

[Macca 17,120]

Friday

12.30pm Dallas 8/4 at Chicago 5/7 (ESPN)

Monday

5.00am - 11.30am RedZone (ESPN)

5.00am Pittsburgh 7/5 at Cincinnati 8/3/1 (7mate)

8.25am Seattle 8/4 at Philadelphia 9/3 (7mate)

12.30pm New England 9/3 at San Diego 8/4 (7mate & ESPN)

Tuesday

12.30pm Atlanta 5/7 at Green Bay 9/3 (ESPN)

All the week 14 games & BS Report

I'll post up the 'Elo' ratings & playoff chances link when it's available

[Gorgoroth 13,188]

Texans

Niners

Pats

[Macca 17,120]

San Francisco

Houston

Indianapolis

[Go the Biff 3,472]

Chiefs

Niners

Pats

[cowboy_from_hell 2,390]

Dallas

Indy

San Fran

[Macca 17,120]

Dallas should beat the Bears but I'm not super certain on that, the Bears are playing average at the moment but this is the sort of game they could easily get up and win.

The Cowboys won well in the end - Murray was immense. I suppose that puts them right back into contention

So ... we've got the following teams fighting for 5 spots in the NFC (the other spot goes to the winner of the NFC South)

Green Bay 9/3

Philadelphia 9/3

Arizona 9/3

Dallas 9/4

Detroit 8/4

Seattle 8/4

San Francisco 7/5

The 49ers can make it but they're going to have to make it to 11/5 you'd reckon.

[Gorgoroth 13,188]

Yeah the Bears did well...

Arizona could slip. They are not going as well since Palmer went down. We have them this Thurs night too.

[titan_uranus 25,204]

The Cowboys won well in the end - Murray was immense. I suppose that puts them right back into contention

So ... we've got the following teams fighting for 5 spots in the NFC (the other spot goes to the winner of the NFC South)

Green Bay 9/3

Philadelphia 9/3

Arizona 9/3

Dallas 9/4

Detroit 8/4

Seattle 8/4

San Francisco 7/5

The 49ers can make it but they're going to have to make it to 11/5 you'd reckon.

Green Bay and Detroit will both make it. Detroit's schedule is easy though - Tampa Bay, Minnesota and Chicago should be three wins for them, which will make Week 17 vs Green Bay a winner-takes-the-division game.

Seattle and Arizona are fighting for the NFC West, and I think Seattle's going to win it. Injuries at RB for Arizona plus an iffy QB makes it tough for them. So I see it as Arizona vs Dallas (who are likely to end this week on the same number of wins) for the final WC spot (edit: and the Cardinals beat the Cowboys earlier in the year which means Dallas has to finish a win in front of them to get the WC over them. Same deal for SF and Dallas, though Dallas does have the win over Seattle which will help them if it comes to it.)

Edited December 6, 2014 by titan_uranus

[Macca 17,120]

Green Bay and Detroit will both make it. Detroit's schedule is easy though - Tampa Bay, Minnesota and Chicago should be three wins for them, which will make Week 17 vs Green Bay a winner-takes-the-division game.

Seattle and Arizona are fighting for the NFC West, and I think Seattle's going to win it. Injuries at RB for Arizona plus an iffy QB makes it tough for them. So I see it as Arizona vs Dallas (who are likely to end this week on the same number of wins) for the final WC spot (edit: and the Cardinals beat the Cowboys earlier in the year which means Dallas has to finish a win in front of them to get the WC over them. Same deal for SF and Dallas, though Dallas does have the win over Seattle which will help them if it comes to it.)

You're probably right but there's nearly always a twist in December in the NFL ... one upset loss can change everything for any of those 7 aforementioned teams. It's almost certain that a team will miss due to the tiebreak rules only.

In 2008 the Pats missed the playoffs after finishing 11/5 ... there's an outside chance that might happen again in the NFC. What a way to miss ... Denver & New England the only teams to miss the playoffs with an 11/5 record

Edited December 6, 2014 by Macca

[Macca 17,120]

Monday

5.00am - 11.30am RedZone (ESPN)

5.00am Pittsburgh 7/5 at Cincinnati 8/3/1 (7mate)

8.25am Seattle 8/4 at Philadelphia 9/3 (7mate)

12.30pm New England 9/3 at San Diego 8/4 (7mate & ESPN)

Tuesday

12.30pm Atlanta 5/7 at Green Bay 9/3 (ESPN)

All the week 14 games

Bill Simmons' column

[DeeSpencer 26,461]

Indi

Houston

San Fran

Wish I did early tips and went the Coybows. Funnily enough I'm not overly upset with our loss. We need to get real about where the team is at and fighting to an 8 win season would've been false hope. I am slowly getting a bit more faith in our defense even if they keep getting torched I can see effort and can see some improvement with a few good signings, we at least will stop paying money to always injured veterans in Tillman and Briggs after this year. And our offense was dead for 3 quarters before getting back in it, stuffing up an extra point and then Cutler being Cutler. But there was some signs of life. I go through swings of thinking who we should or shouldn't sack. Overall I think the franchise is completely screwed by having Cutler, but at the same time I see a sign of life if we take our medicine and rebuild with young players in every other position. Whilst our win-loss record isn't quite bottom of the league I think we are now having a season so bad that next year has to be better! So very MFC! Long term of course the entire future of the franchise will rest on picking right for the next QB. Oh to have a legitimate superbowl quality franchise quarterback. I hate those teams who have one!

[Dappa Dan 2,188]

Oops. Forgot. Guesss I have the 4:25 and onwards games to pick from...

San Fran, Seattle and New England

[Macca 17,120]

Baltimore and Pittsburgh winning changes things somewhat in the AFC ... otherwise, no huge surprises from today apart from the 49ers losing a game they couldn't afford to lose (San Francisco also cost most of us in the comp) Oh, and Carolina smash the Saints - who knew?

Leaderboard in the comp

4 - Dappa Dan

3 - JV7, Go the Biff, Georgiou R. R. Martin

2 - pantaloons, Macca

1 - cowboy_from_hell, Gorgoroth

Week 15 games

Some other observations ...

• Seattle loom large
• New England way too strong for San Diego and look set to get the 1 seed (next 3 ... vs Miami, @ Jets, vs Bills)
• Arizona win a close one and still lead the NFC West by 1 win.
• More joy for Rams & Vikes fans
• The AFC North is probably now down to 3 teams whilst the NFC South is there for whoever wants to take it.
• Atlanta @ Green Bay tomorrow ... may the better team win 'JV7'

[titan_uranus 25,204]

Huge win for Arizona. Keep their buffer over Seattle. That Week 16 Sunday night game looms large, could determine the number 2 seed.

Browns were so close to a massive upset that would have kept them alive, but you'd have to think they're out of it now. Steelers' win over Cincy changes the AFC North again - they've got a strong division and conference record which keeps them above Baltimore if they finish on even wins.

And as for SF, we're hopeless. Kaepernick is holding us back.

[JV7 2,375]

Baltimore and Pittsburgh winning changes things somewhat in the AFC ... otherwise, no huge surprises from today apart from the 49ers losing a game they couldn't afford to lose (San Francisco also cost most of us in the comp) Oh, and Carolina smash the Saints - who knew?

Leaderboard in the comp

4 - Dappa Dan

3 - JV7, Go the Biff, Georgiou R. R. Martin

2 - pantaloons, Macca

1 - cowboy_from_hell, Gorgoroth

Week 15 games

Some other observations ...

• Seattle loom large
• New England way too strong for San Diego and look set to get the 1 seed (next 3 ... vs Miami, @ Jets, vs Bills)
• Arizona win a close one and still lead the NFC West by 1 win.
• More joy for Rams & Vikes fans
• The AFC North is probably now down to 3 teams whilst the NFC South is there for whoever wants to take it.
• Atlanta @ Green Bay tomorrow ... may the better team win 'JV7'

Well the panthers beating the saints have made things easier for us.. A loss tonight seems inevitable but we'll still lead the divison at 5-8 lol, what a joke. The falcons can still lose to Pittsburg next week and all they have to do is beat the saints & panthers and they win the divison. And yes macca unless some strange things happen can't see us getting close haha Edited December 8, 2014 by JV7

[pantaloons 2,019]

I can't ever remember being more disillusioned with the NFL than I am after yesterday. The Chiefs just blatantly had their season ruined by disgraceful officiating, and Buffalo has a similar complaint. I'm not a conspiracy theorist, I'll just go with the notion of complete incompetence.

[cowboy_from_hell 2,390]

Vikes win in OT agains he Jets. Not the way I wanted to win but I'll take it. Geno Smith on the first play of the game threw a pick 6. Teddy's biggest game so far. Overall I'm happy with our year. A division win would be nice in the next few weeks.

Cleveland coughed up what looked to be a certain win. Holding Luck to nothing in the first half and scoring on defense had he browns in the box seat to win. Those Manziel drums are beating.

Was the Saints-Panthers scoreline a shock? I thought it was but then remembered it was a NFC south divisional game.

Cheers San Fran for ruining any chance of a point in the tipping comp. You were playing the other Bay area team who happened to have 1 win for the year. San Fran are done this year and all this talk of Harbaugh getting the flick is a bit odd to me. Is it 3 NFC championship games in a row for the 49ers? I'd take that.

[Macca 17,120]

Vikes win in OT agains he Jets. Not the way I wanted to win but I'll take it. Geno Smith on the first play of the game threw a pick 6. Teddy's biggest game so far. Overall I'm happy with our year. A division win would be nice in the next few weeks.

Cleveland coughed up what looked to be a certain win. Holding Luck to nothing in the first half and scoring on defense had he browns in the box seat to win. Those Manziel drums are beating.

Was the Saints-Panthers scoreline a shock? I thought it was but then remembered it was a NFC south divisional game.

Cheers San Fran for ruining any chance of a point in the tipping comp. You were playing the other Bay area team who happened to have 1 win for the year. San Fran are done this year and all this talk of Harbaugh getting the flick is a bit odd to me. Is it 3 NFC championship games in a row for the 49ers? I'd take that.

Strange isn't it? ... the chatter and rumour has been there all season. Where there's smoke there's fire I suppose - Harbaugh is certainly an intense character but they can all be like that.

As you said, 3 x NFC Championship games in a row and the main talk is about him going back to college (Michigan?) The money is there too but it does seem quite odd. For whatever reason they're just not the same team.

[cowboy_from_hell 2,390]

Strange isn't it? ... the chatter and rumour has been there all season. Where there's smoke there's fire I suppose - Harbaugh is certainly an intense character but they can all be like that.

As you said, 3 x NFC Championship games in a row and the main talk is about him going back to college (Michigan?) The money is there too but it does seem quite odd. For whatever reason they're just not the same team.

Harbaugh to Oakland is growing as well. As long as they don't fire him after a season which is the Oakland way. San Fran seem to have short memories. It wasn't that long ago that they were a team with not a lot of hope. I'd say he is gone and it will come back to bite them especially if the new coach can't get the best out of Kapernick aka gruden and RG3.

[JV7 2,375]

Well macca the better team won.. I'm happy with the fight back in the 2nd half by the falcons, 24-0 in the 2nd qrt was the difference. Julio jones is a beast!

Edited December 9, 2014 by JV7

[Macca 17,120]

Well macca the better team won.. I'm happy with the fight back in the 2nd half by the falcons, 24-0 in the 2nd qrt was the difference. Julio jones is a beast!

I've seen none of it but kept tabs on the scoreline ... credit to the Falcons by all accounts. Some reasonably big numbers racked up by some players on both sides but you'd have to be happy with Ryan & Jones.

I'll have a look at the game later and apart from noticing that our pass defense couldn't have been that crash-hot it was pleasing to see that we ran the ball quite well - Lacy & Starks combined for 148 yards ... it's hard to be strong in all areas in this league but we've previously not been renowned for having much of a running game.

Your season's destiny is in your own hands at least - your last 2 games (@ New Orleans and vs Carolina) will decide things - it's great to see the NFL have scheduled more divisional games in the last few weeks - for instance, Detroit visit Green Bay in week 17 (that game will probably decide who wins the NFC North) 11 of the 16 games next week are divisional games.

By the way, there were 10 road winners for week 14 - that's right ... 10. And none of us could pick 3 of 'em!

[titan_uranus 25,204]

I can't ever remember being more disillusioned with the NFL than I am after yesterday. The Chiefs just blatantly had their season ruined by disgraceful officiating, and Buffalo has a similar complaint. I'm not a conspiracy theorist, I'll just go with the notion of complete incompetence.

What happened? Haven't heard much about bad calls in either game.

Harbaugh to Oakland is growing as well. As long as they don't fire him after a season which is the Oakland way. San Fran seem to have short memories. It wasn't that long ago that they were a team with not a lot of hope. I'd say he is gone and it will come back to bite them especially if the new coach can't get the best out of Kapernick aka gruden and RG3.

Kaepernick is what he is, I think. Huge arm, ability to run, but can't read defences, makes stupid mistakes over and over again (delays of game, burning timeouts, passing into double/triple coverage, passing the wrong side of a good route) and hasn't shown any - literally, any - development in the time he's been our QB. He's the same QB he was when he started. At his best he wins games (e.g. the divisional round playoff win over Green Bay a couple of years ago where he set the record for QB rushing yards). At his worst, well, see the game against Oakland, or the Seahawks game, or the Broncos game.

So I'm not sure a new coach would make any difference to Kaepernick. Our WRs could use a refresh or two I guess but the talent is still there - an offence with Crabtree, Boldin, Davis, Gore at RB and a pretty strong O-line should be scoring more than we are - 6 of our last 7 games we've scored under 20. It's mainly down to horrendously inconsistent play at QB.