Dappa Dan

I've been thinking that for weeks. The worst part of the media thinking the Eagles were "back" after smashing Dallas was the fact that you KNEW everyone would be quick to jump on their backs as soon as they dropped a game. If they're not already, they're fools. Haven't seen a bad game from them. Yeah. Then it'd be more like our footy. And yeah, would be nice just to have more sport to watch, and more variety in competitors. There's some talk of making it an 18 game season. Perhaps... But then McCoy had over 100 yards from scrimmage... and no turnovers. Tough one to call. Certainly on the season, Forte's marginally ahead. Peterson's the front runner here, but is somewhat vulnerable. Shame all three are NFC. Going to be competing with one another for the pro-bowl spot.

Harsh on McCoy, but I guess Peterson has to be first, and Forte has receiving yards. Top 5 WRs is a funny one. Just cos it seems to change wildly every year, and if you don't have a good QB, you'll never look that good. 1: Smith. Wow. Is it the Newton effect? Or the other way round? 2: Welker. Has a good QB, and should probably be further down. I reckon he gets no love mostly cos he's a shortarse. But his height is the only down point. He's awesome otherwise. 3: Megatron. What a terrifying, terrifying footballer. 4: Wallace. 5: Fitzgerald. Been in my top 5 for years. Or at least would have been since 2007ish, was I a fan. What a pro.

Yup. SD for mine. How is that division, by the way. Even Tebow is only a game from everyone else's .500...

I would agree that 10-6 might be enough (particularly with Philly's strong division record) but with now also Dallas in the hunt, it makes it mathematically more difficult, as they and the Giants still play one another. Also, Dallas' schedule is very ridiculously easy. If it was just the Giants they needed to reel in, that's one thing. But with both? That's gonna be hairy. Meh. After a 1-4 start, it was always going to be nearly impossible. I think what makes more of a difference is what we see in how they play. There's a few good players, and some elite footy going on. The Vick and McCoy factors particularly. But so much has gone wrong. What got them feared last season was their big-play ability. Jackson and Maclin in space. But since they got to 10-4 last season, they are 3-8, and in that time I haven't seen a single game that they won with that explosive footy that was a hallmark of the team when Vick took over. I would be all for the Eagles making 7-1 in these last 8 games, if they were playing their best. But they've played exactly 1 good game this season, and 7 mediocre/poor games. They'd have to mirror that to even have a chance. I just don't see it happen. Not to worry. It's not AFL. But it does suck that it'll be months before I can cheer on a team that can maybe make finals/playoffs. In the meantime, I'll be keeping an eye on the pack. I like the way they play. And maybe the 49ers.

Was a bad loss, yeah. Though I've seen worse. Important stats: -There was 2 turnovers each, so on that basis, you would think we should get up, since there was an equal amount of disasters. -We handed Cutler his second EVER game where he wasn't sacked. EVER! -We got ten points behind, and midway through the third we were 7 up... from there, there isn't any excuses. -The last couple of possessions were what hurt us. Maclin dropped two absolute sitters all by himself during the game, then on fourth down he took a catch, and lost his footing a couple of yards short of the 1st down. -We went for a rare fake punt pass... we had 2 wide receivers completely left alone. The punted got it, and his throw was a few yards short of the WR on the right side. He had plenty of time, a wide open player, it should have happened. And if it did, it would likely have gone all the way to the house. The Bears played a great game. Cutler was very very good. But the Eagles had this one in the palm of their hand, and like the rest of the year, when the pressure's been on, we completely blow it on multiple occassions. Devastated.

Eagles season = Over. With that loss we're not going to be able to compete with the wild card teams like Chicago, Falcons, Lions etc... And the Giants are now 3 games clear, Dallas 1 game clear. Even if we went 8-0, we wouldn't make it.

WR is tough. SO many of them. Wow, Eagles bumbling along in this game. Forte the better of the two RBs so far. But he gave up a fumble which the Iggles returned for a TD. Then on the following possession they punt it to Jackson, who fumbles it in the red zone... Eagles hold them up but Babin gets pushed into Cutler, they call roughing the passer (never cal it on Vick, of course), and they turn a certain field goal into a TD.

Oh, and who's your new #1? Over the pack? Surely not. I assume you're talking Ravens... they nearly got done by a bottom 4 team last week!

I really rate Flacco. It took some convincing with my mate who thought he was middle of the road. I put him up there in Ryan territory. Though both have good teams around them. And yeah, I'm all for top 12 teams, top 10 QBs... I'd like to work in RB and WR lists as well. Maybe just top 5s of those. I'm not a good enough fan to know TEs and and of the linesmen, or linebackers. Eagles/Bears will be awesome tomorrow. Best of all I have foxtel, and can watch it mid afternoon!!! Since we're on the subject of top 10 QBs. This is for this season. 1: Rodgers 2: Brady 3: Brees 4: E. Manning. 5: Vick (4&5 could swap based on Monday night) 6: Rothlisberger. Still can't fit him in, but probably should. 7: Newton. Will probably slide. But you can't ignore his numbers. Wow. 7: Stafford. When he's fit, he's awesome. 8: Rivers. You'd assume he'd climb up as the season goes on. At passing QBing he's as good as any of the top 3. Just is out of form, has a crap team around him. Last year was easily top 4. 9: Ryan. Always rated him. Safe as houses and seems to bob up for 4-TD games often. 10: Flacco. Probably should have Romo. But I don't trust him. Or I could have Cutler. But I'll wait and see what he does when he's not getting hit so much. I've also been unkind to Smith, Freeman, Schaub and Fitzpatrick, all of whom probably deserve to be there on numbers. As for RBs. 1: Peterson. Wow. Amazing player. 2: McCoy. He's there now. Is doing it all. Went up against the best rush defence in the league, that had given up an average of 69 yards a game, and he picked up 187 all by himself. Says it all. An absolute joy to watch. Even makes Vick look pedestrian by comparison, especially since he's not gone for any big plays this year. 3: Forte. That pesky receiving yards stat, along with his rushing puts him here. I'm not as sold on him as many. I really do believe he racks up receiving yardage only because Cutler has NO-ONE ELSE to throw to. That said, he's been awesome. This top three are set in stone (if not order) as much as Brady, Rodgers and Brees are for QBs. 4: Jackson. 5: Gore. Wanted to fit in Jones-Drew cos I love him. But can't. Not his best work so far.

Yeah. Looks like you and I have to eat our words now on the Jets in our top 12. Oops. I like it actually. Unlike the NFC which has the pack, then everyone else... The AFC is wiiiiide open all over the place. Who expected the Pats to lose 2 in a row? Some of those divisions are logjams now, I love it. In fact 3 of the 4 divisions have their top 3 teams on the same amount of wins! Only the Texans seem to have a bit of a lead. Bloody Atlanta. If my birds beat the Bears, we'll be one game off that last wild card spot that they currently hold. Losing to them earlier this season is going to hurt I think. Ouch. Still can't get over the Giants win, or Miami's for that matter.

Wow. Jets smash Buffalo, despite some more Sanchez mediocrity. Damn Giants and Cowgirls win games they could have lost. Gonna be tough for Eagles now. Somehow Tebow does good things... Rivers still doing amazing things, and amazingly bad things, the Pack just keeps on keeping on. But what the hell? MIAMI?!!! Say sayonara to luck!!! I knew they'd pop up with a strong week somewhere along the line, but THAT scoreline? Wow. How many playoff contenders have been kept to 3 points this season? Monday night football coming up!!!

Just had a fair few bad experiences. The place is rotting from the core. Not unfixable, just not fixable in my lifetime probably. Let's just say I love AND hate it. Thank goodness for Australia, in other words. There are those that will cling to the amateurism of the game. It's only when EVERY club has had a downturns like the dees that they'll realise this is what happens when greedy clubs like the dons and pies take everything, the natural evolution is for tanking to occur. Good luck convincing fans of the big four of that though... That's actually what makes me nervous. It's not who's right, it's who's popular that makes things happen in this league. Why? Could be a good one, and will have massive ramifications on the standings.

So we had the same top 12, I had chargers in, you had KC. But is that who you think WILL make the playoffs? They're what I think are the best sides, but there's a few that I think might not make it. I saw an article recently that described who the writer thought WOULDN'T make playoffs. It's a good way of looking at it. AFC East: Jets, Dolphins. North: Bengals, Browns. South: Jaguars, Colts. West: Broncos. NFC East: Cowboys, Redskins. North: Vikings. South: Panthers. West: Hawks, Cardinals, Rams. I think the AFC winners will be Pats, Steelers, Texans, Chargers. With the wild cards the Ravens and one of the Bills/Bengals. Though that race is WIDE open. NFC winners: Giants, Packers, Saints, 49ers. Wild card probably Lions, and hopefully Philly. Probably a bit early for all that, but the teams that just miss out, I think just don't have the legs to get to 10 wins.

Wow. Eli in your top 5? I barely have him in the top ten, even with the ring. I've seen him in a bunch of games, and there's just no hardness to him. It's possible he suffers from the "not Peyton" factor... maybe. HA! Sexy Rexie. What a train wreck. Best to watch top 5: 1: Vick, with a bullet. 2: Newton, for all the reasons Vick is fun to watch, only he'll probably end up better. Slightly less pretty arm though. 3: Rodgers 4: P. Manning, his 2 minute drives are like a lesson in how football is supposed to be played. 5: Benny R. [censored], but a great [censored]. 1: Packers. 2: 49ers. If you look past last year, and just go on what you've seen this year, they play like a complete team, even though they're not. 3: Steelers. Basically based on one game. 4: Patriots. Could possibly not lose another one for the rest of the season. 5: Saints. Stories of their demise greatly exaggerated. Need more in the running game though to take some pressure of Brees. 6: Ravens. Like the Falcons last year. Not sure they'll make a superbowl, but they're touch opposition any time. I like that you had them up higher. They aren't spoken about enough. 7: Lions. Stafford stays healthy, they could go 12-4. 8: Bills. Ho hum. 5-2 is hard to disagree with. I think they'll slide though. 9: Eagles. Giants in 3 weeks will tell us what we need to know. If they win the next 3, they'll be top 6. 10: Giants. They're ok. Just not THAT good. Made a lot out of nothing, and injuries will hurt now. Eli won't keep playing like this. Soft. 11: Texans. Very underrated. 12: Chargers. Only cos Rivers has upside. Like you I couldn't fit in the Jets, who have shown only average football, and I don't think they have enough to go further. Dallas, after this week, don't deserve to be top 12. KC's a big call. I watched them last weekend. Not overwhelmed. I probably feel worst about not fitting in Cinci, who are kind of like 49ers... playing far better than they should be. And from here, Dalton should probably be taken seriously. I just don't trust them not to completely fall to pieces for a whole month.

Yeah, on form, there's so many teams you just can't see losing, like the Packers, but history suggests they have to drop one SOMEWHERE. As for tanking, and Vlad. I think it comes down to semantics. I absolutely agree that, by it's definition, tanking doesn't exist. The 22 try their guts out no matter who's in there. But if your team is awful, and they're 1-7, or 0-8 in the AFL... then that's your season right there, and you play your players to develop and to get picks. There's nothing WRONG with that, and anyone who thinks there is is a dinosaur and completely out of touch. What frustrates me is when fans of teams like the Dons, Blues and Pies give s a hard time for tanking... if they had it their way, the lesser clubs, with awful lists and no money to keep players like Scully would perpetually exist ONLY to lose to the richer clubs... Having a team like the dees always in the basement is bad for footy. The NFL at least has this worked out VERY well. The way their draft works, the way the distribution works, any team is only a few years away, or one daring draft selection away from jumping into contention. Take the Eagles. They're supposed to be rebuilding... but they recruit Vick to run wildcats, with a view to trade him the following year... 12 months later he's battling Brady for MVP honours, and is now on a $100 contract. The NFL is different every year, and there's always teams making dramatic ups (49ers, Bills, Bengals, Lions) and dramatic downs (Colts, Vikings) within a 12 month period. If the powerbrokers like Eddie have their way, the powerful will STY powerful and site "tradition" as the cause. I hate to say it, cos I hate the country for the most part, but they are so far ahead with the way they arrange their football it's not funny. And the best part... it costs no money to implement a lottery draft, or conferences... both of which will fix a lot of problems. Question... I'm having trouble debating with a couple of othersthe top 5 QBs this season, and also overall in current-day players. This season: 1: Rodgers (easily... rating is 20+ higher than next best) 2: Brady (form is waning, but amazing start to season) 3: Brees (Huge yardage) 4: E. Manning (Hasn't put a foot wrong. Rating 100+ all year, lots of big games, hardly any picks... still think he's barely in the top ten overall, but going on this season, hard to argue) 5: Vick (This one is a bit of bias. Purely on quarterbacking, he's probably behind a few others, but you HAVE to add in his rushing yards. If you do, he's in the top 5 for ypg. Has played very few bad games, only his turnovers have hurt him) Hard to go past Newton (just needs a few more wins, also needs to hold it together for the rest of the year), Ryan, and Rothlisberger who's a champ. As for Romo, don't make me laugh. And Rivers is as good as anyone, but is having a patchy year. Current day: 1: Brady 2: Manning 3: Rodgers (give it a year or two, it'll be him and Newton) 4: Brees 5: Rivers Vick would be 6th, just ahead of Rothlisberger.

Yeah Nuggets, I reckon the tanking thing is in a similar place to how it is with the AFL. Teams may tank, but then when they do it's generally because they're appalling. Miami and Indy may be sucking for luck... but they are also easily the two worst teams going round this year, so even WITH the tanking, the result is sensible. Just like how the dinosaur twit fans from opposition teams get stuck into us for tanking, when all we did was place players in odd positions in a game we still were winning at the final siren... Not to mention the fact we came out and smashed Freo the following week. Not only that but we didn't tank for a whole season, but for one part of one game... and all this at a time when we were BY FAR the worst team in the comp... and EVEN WITH the big draft picks we got, they didn't take us from 16th to 1st... they were compo picks designed to bring us from last to "competitive." Which they've done. But we're still miles off being a serious contender. Try telling that to the great unwashed... We got picks to make us bearable to watch again, and our list is now middle of the road. But I digress. This is actually going to be, at long last, a fantastic week, after a few mediocre ones. The big ones, in order: Ravens v Steelers, Giants v Pats, Bears v Eagles, Bucs v Saints, Bills v Jets, Rivers v Rodgers (Chargers v Pats), Bengals v Titans.... Awesome.

I'm going to assume it's because of the sheer amount of games played in the NFL, and most of them at exactly the same time. I reckon it's amazing that they do that, and don't spread them out a la the AFL. Yeah, as you say that's just cos of how they set up. Brees has more attempts... which means more picks. I'd be ok with that. As long as they're winning. Probably true. I watched Ingram very closely in his Heisman year, and thought he would dominate the comp... but while he's been ok, he isn't what he was at college level. Good call again. Their effort is A+... but do they have the cattle to go .500+ in the remaining games? They probably will rest guys soon, tey've all but got their division wrapped up already. Dunno about that. He's only had this season, and their team has had some injuries. Yeah. Every Philly Phan's worst nightmare. The way he runs and how long he holds onto it... he's gonna pick up a few more things here and there. I think that's actually what excited fans the most about this last week. He let it go SO quickly... as opposed to previous weeks where he would cling onto it. Yup. And they only juuuust beat Miami who are deplorable. We also gave them the game a few weeks ago. They're not as good as people say...

Agree with all of that. Packers are miles out ahead of everyone. Literally every other team has stumbled here and there along the way, but the pack with Rogers under centre and the hugely underrated McCarthy are just fantastic. Helluva thing to go from Favre to Rogers, huh. NFC East is nasty. That logjam isn't gonna get worked out for a month or so yet. Which in a way is good, but still kind of sucks. I would say the only teams you have to be worried about are the Saints, who when they turn it on, can overwhelm teams with sheer yardage... and 49ers who play some of the most surprisingly hard at it football in the league. To give you an idea, the Eagles this week took on the best run defence in the league so far in 2011, and McCoy on his own ran for 180+ from scrimmage. The 49ers were the only team this year so far to work McCoy out and stop him from grabbing half a dozen first downs. As a team, they work every angle really well without smashing any one area. Most people have the 49ers in the top 3 at the moment. As for other teams: Giants nearly lost to Miami, and Eli hasn't suddenly gotten good, no matter what the experts tell you. Nothing to fear there. Cowboys have the biggest Streisand in the league at QB (Besides Eli). Redskins are just pain awful. Lions will tire. Bucs and Falcons are good, but not in the pack's territory. And everyone else are spent already. That leaves the Eagles, who if they stay healthy, and keep using Celek, might have enough to give the Pack an honest run in a playoff game and turn that pick into a TD, win the game, and go all the way. SOOOO much has to go right though. Pumped. The seasons just starting to warm up now.

Amazing. Damn Phillies lose to the World series champs two years in a row... Well done STL... Grr.

I picked a good side to follow. Both the Giants and Cowgirls have huge history and animosity. Regularly play unbelievable game. And the Miracle at New Meadowlands last year, I was in a Hooters in the states for it. In the top3 things I've ever seen in sport. And changed my sport following life, for sure. This week? Or recent weeks? Stuff like that has been going on all year. Returned punts and kickoffs, picks, odd fumbles. OCs and DCs seem to be calling weird plays and setting up their lines in new and crafty ways instead of sticking to an old faithful scheme. Scores and yards are all up on average. not sure whether it's necessarily a good thing, but it's definitely not boring. Not true actually. They've been playing quality, but unlucky football. Vick is in the top five for all purpose yards. McCoy is the best RB in the league in most stats. The OL is coming together. The only really bad thing is defending the run. The guys to blame are the offensive and defensive coordinators. The schemes were awful up until two weeks ago when they FINALLY changed things and tightened up the OL. Since then Vick and Celek have been killing it, and everyone respects them again. They're now 1st in the league for offensive yards and rushing yards, and their D is somewhere in the middle. They were always gonna take 4-6 weeks to get it together with an interrupted off season and a LOT of new names in the side. What they've done though is make good honest hard work their main course of action, and right now many regard them as the team to beat in the NFC east, even though they're two games off the Giants. In fact, on form, if Philly beat the Bears (4-3) and Cards (1-6)... and the Giants lose to the Patriots (5-2) and 49ers (6-1)... then when these two sides face each other in 3 weeks it could VERY likely be for favouritism for the division. As well you should be. It's unbelievable. A few weeks ago everyone had them in the top 4 sides in the comp. At the time I thought, yeah right, but boy have they ever proven themselves. The next best side in their division is a full 4 games behind them. They are more or less ALREADY playing for a 1st or 2nd seed. Your coach is a nutcase, but just the right kind of nutcase for NFL footy. Colts not looking too far off it. :D Would be a nice thing, going from Manning who's about 73 years old, to Luck.

http://www.afl.com.au/news/newsarticle/tabid/208/newsid/125673/default.aspx About halfway down the article it mentions Strauss is running with Grimes and is apparently "not far away" from joining the main group. Is anybody else stunned by this? Nathan Brown didn't get near a football ground for ages after wrecker took his leg off. Strauss' leg was still stuck in the turf fifteen feet behind him only a couple of months ago. This wasn't a round 1 injury, he hasn't had a full footy season to let it settle again... I'm not saying it's all roses and he'll suddenly be back to 100% in a few weeks, but the fact he's upright and running stuns the bejeezus out of me. I had him written off for his career... but then I'm a cup half empty kind of guy.

Pumped. If Eagles lose they're done for the year. So I hope they win, even if only to keep the division interesting. On the other hand, If they do win, that'll put the Giants up by 2 games, with a bye against Miami this week.

Holy freaking [censored].... That would have to be one of the great World Series games ever wouldn't it? Great call by Joe Buck. See you all tomorrow night.

I'm one of the few that's not all that thrilled with the schedule. Sure, we play the bottom sides more, but that's empty for me, West Coast were a "bottom side" going into 2012. In general it's a god thing, but overall it doesn't guarantee that we'll get good results. Not only that, but we'll likely get smaller crowds. Also, I'd rather we play top sides more, so the kids in the team get to know what they need to do. The big displeasure though comes from the lack of Friday night games. Then again, I guess according to the league, you have to be a competitive side to qualify for more than 1. SO that's fair enough I guess... the rich get richer.

What it the hell is going on in the NFL? Marino's 5086 yards in a season record not only looks like being broken, but it looks like being broken by 3 different guys? I keep expecting Brady and Brees to have a bad day somewhere along the line... but Rodgers, with 20 TDs through 7 games... nothing can stop that guy. Even the rookie Newton is averaging enough to get around the 4500 mark in a season, which is to say nothing of his running ability. Wow...