titan_uranus

I'd also say 2, but the first was when McGrath rolled his ankle in England in the 2005 Ashes.

I'm not the biggest Patriots fan (I really don't like them, to be honest), but between them and Seattle it was a no brainer as to who I wanted to see win, so I'm quite happy with the result. The play call on the INT was terrible. At the very least, by throwing it there they were clearly going for the TD which would have left NE with, what, 25 seconds? Why not run the ball (it was only 2nd down), if you don't get in so be it, use up some more time and run it again the next down (or throw it if you're that overly keen to throw it). Especially given how Lynch was running (and that Wilson wasn't exactly dominating). In the end, the best two sides of the year played one of the best games of the year and that's how you always want it to be (even if I hate Seattle). Also, Tom Brady surely has to go down as one of the best of all time. Rogers gets the MVPs, Manning gets the records, but Brady wins Superbowls (and if it hadn't been for some miraculous plays, would have two more instead of two losses to the Giants).

Good article on NFL.com about 8 moments which defined GB's loss, most of which Macca has touched on: http://www.nfl.com/news/story/0ap3000000460883/article/how-they-lost-eight-plays-that-doomed-the-packers The two early field goals when it was fourth and goal from the 1 yard line were definitely bad decisions. That's a little bit of hindsight of course but maybe even allowing for the first one to be a FG for some points, you have Rodgers at QB and on the road you need TDs - should have gone for it. The two drives in the fourth that Georgiou pointed out above were also important. Rodgers touched the ball once in the six downs Green Bay had. Once. Aaron Rodgers. Look what he did on the final drive to level the scores. I understand running the ball eats the clock up but a first down does even better than that.

No it didn't. I'm biased (I hate the Seahawks with a passion), but they played 5 minutes of football and won the game. You were all over them for 3.5 quarters. Your defence smothered them at the line and your offence controlled the tempo. Your two main problems were an inability to turn the dominance into TDs - five field goals left the door open all day, Seattle should never have been able to win by scoring just two TDs, they should have needed 4 or 5 - and your choke at the end (you intercepted Wilson with 5 minutes left and a 16 point lead). Bostick also shouldn't have been catching that ball - he said himself his job was to block for Jordy Nelson to make the catch and you can see Bostick kinda jumps in front of Nelson as he turns to make the catch. Terrible play.

By the rules it definitely wasn't a catch, but intuitively when you watch it you don't think incompletion, you think catch. He bobbles it but keeps it with him the whole time and IMO that should be a catch. As Macca said, we should be rewarding those kinds of plays. The missed field goal leading to a Green Bay field goal (6-point turnaround) followed by DeMarco's fumble (he holds it, he scores a TD) were just as critical though. As for Denver, Peyton's second half of 2014 was bad enough to suggest to me that his dominance is over, and with that I think Denver's dominance is over (which is pleasing, to be honest). He's lost a lot of arm strength and accuracy and without that Denver is just an average side. I'd love to see the Colts beat New England but I don't think that's happening. Meanwhile for the NFC I don't think Green Bay stands a chance in Seattle with Rodgers on 1 leg.

Bummed with both results. Never thought Carolina could actually win but I can't stand Seattle so they had my full support. As for the Ravens, they probably should have won, and it's highly disappointing to have New England in the AFC Championship game again. Credit to them of course, but it's sad that, despite the evenness of the competition and the 'any given Sunday' stuff, it could well be 3/4 teams the same on Championship weekend. Really? I disagree with you, Dallas' O line is one of the best, if not the actual best, in the league. If Rodgers can't play, or isn't 100%, Dallas can win this.

Well, apparently it didn't hit the wire - it just distracted Smith's view. http://www.espncricinfo.com/australia-v-india-2014-15/content/story/817967.html

The footage doesn't show whether it hit it or not, zooms in right before it passes the wire. I'm with you though - it's it shouldn't come to this, ever.

Road of a pitch, game going nowhere, Lyon gets rid of Rohit and next ball not only does Haddin drop Kohli but we miss a blatant run out opportunity to get rid of Rahul. Wickets aren't easy to come by, especially without Johnson, and there's still Rahane to come. Draw looks quite likely right about now.

http://www.espncricinfo.com/australia-v-india-2014-15/content/story/817143.html Great article from Jarrod Kimber.

Great comeback from Dallas. To come back from down 14-0 and 17-7 at the half against one of the better defences in the league in a playoff game is a big effort. Means we get the Packers, 8-0 at home, hosting the Cowboys, 8-0 on the road, which should be a great match up (Carolina at Seattle though, I'm not so excited about).

Bell out for the Steelers was always going to be huge. Having said that, I never felt Pittsburgh was anywhere near as good as the number 3 seeding suggested and they showed why - crap secondary, inconsistency from Big Ben, and a marked inability to score in the red zone. Baltimore is a well-rounded side. I don't see them winning in New England but good on them. Arizona's season ended when Carson Palmer got injured. Big fall from them, to go from 9-1 and not make the Divisional Round of the playoffs is disappointing though.

Carolina is the Richmond of the 2014 NFL season. Hopeless first half despite high expectations, then some key wins in the middle of the year allowing them to come home with a wet sail. They, at 7-8-1, now get to host the 11-5 Lions, a game that IMO could go either way now that Carolina's defence has lifted and Newton looks fit. It's all moot though, Seattle is going to the Superbowl for the NFC. If Rodgers is indeed injured then there's no chance they can win in Seattle. Arizona is floundering and will lose its first playoff surely, which leaves Dallas as the only other chance. They did it once this year but I just don't see it happening twice. As for the AFC, can't believe the Ravens are in the playoffs. They've been highly mediocre all season. San Diego is a much better side but injuries meant they'd have been average in the playoffs anyway. Buffalo blew it last week losing to Oakland; I'm not sure, but I think if they'd won that game then their win today would have put them in? Meanwhile Cleveland went from 6-3 to 7-9, sad for their supporters. I still back New England to make the Superbowl with their home-field advantage but it's so rare that both number 1 seeds make it so I'm sure something will change. (edit: happened last year. Oops. Well, it's rare that it happens twice in a row...)

Ridiculously huge turn around in this game. From 3/409 India lost 7/56 - some were saying they could push on through today to end up 150-200 in front and then have a go at bowling us out on Day 5, but instead we're now 112 runs in front with 10 wickets in hand and two days to come (with some rain it seems). Kohli and Rahane both played beautiful innings (though both were dropped and should have been caught), they kept our bowlers away nicely. Once we had someone else to bowl to at the other end though Harris and Johnson came to life a bit more.

Feel sorry for Cowan who has stacked on the runs and probably is good enough to bat at 3, but I guess the selectors are swayed by youth a bit and Burns can bat anywhere from 1-6. I'd put him at 3, Watson down at 6. Also Harris replaces Starc.

Redskins, what?! If Dallas wins tomorrow that's the Eagles' season now, I think.

Terrible day. Shaun Marsh's two dropped catches were horrendous, both of them displayed of terrible technique and were so atypical for Australian fielders. Multiple injuries and generally toothless bowling on a Brisbane pitch weren't great either. If Marsh can't bowl then he shouldn't be playing on Boxing Day. Ed Cowan's making a stack of runs; I know he's an opener but with the form he's in maybe there's a spot at 3 for him?

I'd still be surprised if you didn't win a playoff or two. But the number 1 seed is huge for you, and you may have lost it with that loss. I don't see how anyone can beat you at Lambeau but at Seattle, or even at Arizona, I reckon you're on par with your rivals (though Arizona being forced to start Lindley at QB changes things a bit). Seattle v Arizona is enormous - if Seattle wins they probably firm for the number 1 seed and if they get it, will they lose? Probably not. Meanwhile if Arizona wins they clinch a first-week bye and, possibly more importantly, Seattle will be forced to go on the road repeatedly to make the Superbowl. Could change everything.

Marsh and Starc have been added to the squad for Brisbane, so it seems that Marsh will come in (and probably bat at 5, moving Smith up to 4 I think (he's in ripping form, Smith)), but I think Siddle will get one more game on a friendlier pitch. He was also sick in the first innings apparently, which hampered his pace.

Arizona pretty much can't miss the playoffs now. They still have a game against us which they can bank I'd think, even with Lindley at QB. If they can knock off Seattle next week on SNF they'll win the division too.

Fantastic effort from Lyon. Always coming under largely unwarranted criticism but stood up when needed. Should have had both Vijay and Kohli out well before they actually got out too, two horrendous decisions from Erasmus with those non-lbws (of course, Dhawan and Rahane didn't hit the ball either so it evens out). Amazing that Dave Warner could hit centuries in both innings and probably only be the third best player in the match. Clarke won't play again this series you wouldn't think, which will probably mean Rogers will save his spot for now. S Marsh might get Clarke's spot since he was in the squad, must be next in line. Siddle is also in trouble - he really doesn't threaten anywhere near as much as he needs to.

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

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.

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.)

The AFC WC race is really tight and will be really interesting to watch it play out. Tuesday Morning Quarterback noted today how this December features so many critical playoff-implication matches, whereas in previous years December has been the playoff sides just tuning up for January. For example, San Diego has to play Denver, Kansas City, SF and New England. They looked good this weekend but that's an horrendous run home. Similarly, Buffalo has the Raiders, but also Green Bay, New England and Denver. Baltimore has crucial games against Cleveland and Miami, Miami has the Ravens and Patriots, the Browns have the Colts, Bengals and Panthers. So many important games with so much riding on them. If Miami beats Baltimore this week, they could get to 10 and get in. If Baltimore win they could do it, but they lose the tiebreaker to San Diego and they're weak in their conference record which also hurts. Chiefs will need to beat at least one of Pittsburgh and Arizona on the road if they want to make it (the Oakland and Tennessee losses are shaping up to make them miss the playoffs).