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Whenever a preseason ranking puts your team near the bottom there's always the impulse to go HEY! THEY'RE BETTER THAN THAT. Here's a chance to express how you feel and why it might all go in the toilet. The Minnesota Vikings are better than what other people think because... Mike Zimmer and Norv Turner. The coaching was so incompetent and predictable last season that at one point Aaron Rodgers was calling out the defense. Bill Musgrave famously had all of his offensive plays on a postcard. The right things are being said about Zimmer and Turner has a reputation for solid offensive design that goes back to the Cowboys of the 90's. In addition there have been a five first round players picked in the last two season and none of them look like busts. Patterson looks like the next great WR in Minnesota, Rhodes is the best corner on the roster now and most importantly Bridgewater looks like a solid student of the game and may start with the coming season. Floyd and Barr are building projects but that's what Zimmer excels at. In recent years Minnesota has yoyo'ed up and down between awful seasons and years where they make the playoffs and last season was a down one. Thing is, a number of those losses came after losing late leads. If they had caught some decent breaks they could have beat the Bears, Cleveland, Dallas and Baltimore which would have made them a bad 9-7 team rather than 5-11 team. Especially toward the end of the season the team could become very tough to play against. Without the anchors of last season (coaching staff, Christian Ponder) and if absolutely everything goes right this could be an eleven win team. Why it might all go in the toilet. Zim is a first time coach and even if he is a great coach a lot of time is going to be spent teaching, and getting guys up to speed. Turner has coached for so long that there's the danger of teams dragging out their old San Diego film and going "this is what we can expect this Sunday" There are still holes in the talent and even catching some breaks nobody seriously thinks the team will win the Superbowl (unless you're eight and from mankato).
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Aug 6, 2014 02:10
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The Ravens are better than people think because... The defense was decent last year, and it's looking to be even better this year. Dumervil and Suggs are still great pass rushers and the team's LB corps is absolutely stacked, outside and in. Jimmy Smith finally seems to be living up to his 1st round pick status and can be an awesome physical corner. Webb is finally 100% with his knee so there's a nice chance he gets back to his 2011 old self. The crazy front 7 and decent corners will mask the youth at safety very well. The offense has nowhere to go but up. Gino Gradkowski and AQ Shipley will not be starting this season barring any injuries. Marlon Brown emerged as a viable receiving target as a UDFA rookie in 2013, and is a huge receiver. Dennis Pitta is 100%, and Owen Daniels adds a TE that can actually block to the roster, as well as a viable receiving target. Steve Smith is another sure set of hands on the team. Joe is also in an offense that will utilize his mobility. Cam's offense was pretty much a Norv Turner offense involving deep dropbacks and a heavy vertical passing attack that was dependent on having a threatening run-game. With no run game and no middle of the field and knowing what a slot receiver was. The blocking schemes have been simplified as well. Ray Rice dropped the weight he stupidly put on last season when he tried (and failed) to be a power-back. He also won't have injuries on each line, Joe was running for his life last season. Caldwell's offense was pretty much Cam's except he simply utilized the of his legs. If Bernard Pierce can stay healthy, he will be in Kubiak's offense, which is the type of offense a RB like pierce would thrive in moreso than Rice. Why it might all go in the toilet Ray Rice may not bounce back, and Bernard Pierce could prove to be a flash in the pan and constantly be injured from here on out. If there are injuries to the O-line bringing one (or both) Gino or Shipley back in, things could get real nasty real quick. Sour Diesel fucked around with this message at 07:13 on Aug 6, 2014 |
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Aug 6, 2014 02:38
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The Panthers are better than people think because... The defense that carried the team will remain intact for this season. The backfield should be fairly interchangeable and the front 7 has added depth with Kony Ealy as well as a developing A.J. Klein. Bene Benwikere has (so far) seemed to be just the player to make QBs pay for the errant throws that our d-line will create. The other retreads don't matter- just like last year, they were all JAGs. Get in front of or under the hurried passes. Everyone makes a big deal out of the fact that we lost all of our WRs from last year and enough has been said about the quality of the pieces lost vs the pieces added to fill many forum posts by many people, so let's talk about what they've added. Kelvin Benjamin is, by all accounts, pretty good so far. Jerricho Cotchery was a serviceable player in Pittsburgh and the same could be said for Jason Avant in Philly. With Mike Shula's offensive style, that's all you need or even want. Another encouraging sign is the fact that with the addition of Ed Dickson we could see some more 2 TE sets, which is something Cam did very well with in his first season. Greg Olsen is in the prime of his career and can shoulder the load for the offense for a few more years if necessary. Meanwhile the running backs are all the same, if not a bit older. Tolbert and Whittaker will make a good decent goal line combo, and the addition of Benjamin should make us a lot less one-dimensional inside the 20- our biggest problem toward the end of last year. Why it might all go in the toilet The offensive line leaves a lot to be desired. The interior seems solid enough with Kalil and Silatolu returning alongside newcomer Trai Turner. However, the current two front runners for starters are a converted defensive tackle and Byron loving Bell and to be honest I don't know which one I find worse. If we sign even one tackle before the season starts I'll feel a lot better almost regardless of who it is. There can't be much worse than those two options. Also, there's just the fact that we play in an extremely tough, extremely turbulent division where any team could rise up and kick some major and unexpected rear end. Every coach in this division is matched up in an eternal chess game with the other 3 and no one has ever been able to hold the upper hand for two seasons in a row. The battle for the NFC South is always uphill.
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Aug 6, 2014 03:54
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zimbomonkey posted:Bene Benwikere Loved this guy as a draft prospect. Tremendous athleticism and body control with an eye for the ball is the stuff that makes good corners. Putting him on a pro team to coach up his technique and play against top end competition and he could really thrive. Absolutely would not be surprised if he ended up being a 10 year starter. I was livid when the Panthers drafted him in the 5th round. He wasn't projected to go till the late 6th at the earliest. 
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Aug 6, 2014 04:53
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Someone force Kawalimus to post in this thread.
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Aug 6, 2014 04:55
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R.D. Mangles posted:Someone force Kawalimus to post in this thread. Kawalimus, Went to see training camp today. They were terrible. We won't even win one preseason game let alone lose by less then 20 in the regular season even once.
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Aug 6, 2014 15:17
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The Raiders are better than people think because... poo poo, maybe they aren't? I don't know. The turnover this team has had is insane. Last year The starting QB was Matt Flynn/Terelle Pryor who are currently not even close to starters on other teams, replaced by Matt Schaub and Derek Carr. A serious upgrade. Last years starting Oline were Jared Veldeer(hurt the first half of the season)- Tony Bergstrom (awful, zone blocking guard)- Lil Wiz - Mike Brisiel(Hurt, zone blocker) - Khalif Barnes (should be a backup) This years are Donald Penn (downgrade/sidegrade, but huge) - Khalif Barnes/Gabe Jackson(Huge road graders, Khalif is an ok tackle but a gigantic guard) - Lil Wiz - Austin Howard (6'7 road grader) - Menelik Watson (huge road grader) The run game improvement should be massive. If you remember the last time the Raiders were any good (2010-2011), the key was to give the ball to McFadden in a power blocking scheme and let him go. The Raiders switched to zone blocking on and off the past decade and it showed in the run game. Now the Raiders have a complete line set up to compliment the run game. The Run game should be bolstered by splitting carries between MJD, DMac and Marcel Reese. Last years starting wide receivers were Denarius Moore and Jacoby Ford. Ford is barely making the Jets and Moore is barely making the 53 man squad as it is this year. The current starting WRs for the Raiders are Rod Streater and Andre Holmes (6'5, Vincent Jackson build) and James Jones. Massive upgrade. The defense last year had zero pass rush. Zero, nada. Lamar Houston was the only pressure at all, with Sio Moore expected to add some pressure. Miles Burris was injured before the year started. Now the Raiders added Lamar Woodley, Justin Tuck, Khalil Mack, and regained Miles Burris, alongside a more veteran Sio Moore. Massive upgrade. Cornerbacks have upgraded from Mike Jenkins and Tracy Porter. The Raiders brought in a kicking coach for the first time since the 60's to help Seabass and our punter fix their problems from last year. Why it might all go in the toilet A billion different ways, not including having the toughest schedule in the NFL. Maybe Schaub doesn't regain form or the Raiders are hit with the injury bug. There are plenty of ways this train derails, hard. But this team is basically The Expendables and is super easy to root for.
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Aug 6, 2014 21:29
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The Buffalo Bills are better than people think because...
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Aug 6, 2014 22:02
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The Browns are better than people think because both of their quarterbacks are better than Jason Campbell or Brandon Weeden, who started the majority of their games the past two years. They'll miss Josh Gordon a whole loving lot, but better quarterbacks should mean fewer 3rd and 12s to panic and heave it to Josh Gordon on. A simple and unspectacular offense will be a huge upgrade from the poo poo they've been fielding the last 3...5...10 years.
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Aug 6, 2014 22:45
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I haven't heard anything about Terrance West, how has he looked so far in training camp?
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Aug 6, 2014 22:47
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LOCKED IN A BATTLE!!! He and Ben Tate are fighting for the starting spot. I think like just about every team they'll get multiple HBs on the field so he'll get touches. I think he's been good so far
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Aug 6, 2014 22:50
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Now-a-days everybody wanna talk like they got somethin' to say But nothin' comes out when they move their lips Just a bunch'a gibberish And motherfuckers act like they forgot about Jason Garrett's offensive acumen and Princeton football pedigree as well as the promotion of Rod Marinelli to DC which will likely improve upon last year's defense and also the unquestionable leadershp of owner and general manager Jerry Jones.
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Aug 7, 2014 04:55
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My team isn't.
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Aug 7, 2014 13:28
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Alfred P. Pseudonym posted:Now-a-days everybody wanna talk like they got somethin' to say Saw that Chris Pratt video too huh
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Aug 7, 2014 13:40
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The Detroit Football Lions are better then people think because Jim Caldwehahahahahahaha We will be 3rd or 4th in the NFC north.
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Aug 7, 2014 16:11
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WoodrowSkillson posted:We will be 3rd or 4th in the NFC north. Fan chant at Ford Field.
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Aug 7, 2014 16:15
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The Bengals are better than people think because Dalton is better than people think. The Bengals roster is stacked up and down. They are well coached and will be forced to cut NFL level talent at six or seven positions. When people decide how they feel about the Bengals they point to a game last year where the majority of offensive positions were held from practice until two days prior to the game and multiple starters were incapable of even doing any practice other than walkthroughs. The offense was so banged up that they couldn't effectively instal any plays for the game and Chargers defenders said they never saw any new plays from the Bengals offense all game. They still led at the half and could easily have won without a few key turnovers. People forget that the Bengals had a top ten offense and defense last year. They forget how dominant the Bengals looked for long stretches of the regular season. They forget that the Bengals had the best defense in the AFC despite having more than five defensive starters on IR midway through the season, including the two best players on that side of the ball. Meanwhile, they forget that the Ravens and Steelers have huge questions on the offensive line and in the defensive backfield. They forget that Ben Roethlisberger has had a laundry list of nagging injuries year after year and had long stretches last year where he looked like a below average QB. They forget that the Ravens couldn't run the ball to save their life. They forget that both teams have had poor drafts in recent years and particularly have struggled with early round LBs. They forget that the Browns have gone from one of the greatest offensive minds to the younger Shanahan. If the Bengals go in the toilet it will be because: The loss of Anthony Collins makes them significantly less durable on the offensive line. With Collins the Bengals could adjust to any one starting guard or tackle going down with very little drop in pass protection. If The Bengals O-line at any point becomes susceptible to interior penetration that will be very difficult for a Dalton offense to overcome. On defense Guenther is almost certainly no Zimmer and Michael Johnson was one of the best run stuffers and pass disruptors in the AFC last year.
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Aug 7, 2014 16:37
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Chilichimp posted:Fan chant at Ford Field. 
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Aug 7, 2014 17:20
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Mel Mudkiper posted:Saw that Chris Pratt video too huh Actually no.
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Aug 7, 2014 19:09
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R.D. Mangles posted:Someone force Kawalimus to post in this thread. I'm saying the Ravens are better than people think because it's possible we have a competently run offense for the first time since the mid 90s when the team first came here. Like I said earlier I really liked what the offense showed on that one drive and if that's what we're bringing to the table then the Ravens have a good chance to be fighting for the division lead. If Kubiak is good I hope his reputation as a HC is tarnished so that he stays our OC forever just like Dick LeBeau on the Steelers defense. Why would it go bad? If Kubiak is some sort of fraud as OC, or the usual injuries. If Flacco can't hit his receivers on target.
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Aug 8, 2014 14:19
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I'm saying the Falcons are better than people think because: Matt Ryan is boring as poo poo, but he's a top 10 quarterback even in a down year. He threw for over 4500 yards in 2013 behind the second worst offensive line in the NFL and sacked more times than anyone but Tannehill. He did this with no Julio after week 5, no Roddy until week 9, and until the NFL front office put the word out that you can't jam a tight end that is lined up off the line with 2 guys, no Tony Gonzalez. He didn't have his usual dump-off target Jaquizz Rodgers because every team they faced had a checkdown spy, because the receivers were so bad. Matt Ryan made Harry Douglas look like a Pro-bowler, and 4th and 5th string receivers look competent. The offensive line has been revamped: Sam Baker - A good tackle is a good as you're going to get with him, but that's all you really need. Baker is back and looking healthy. If he can maintain his health, the left will be pretty solid because of... Justin Blalock - probably one of the more underrated falcons (linemen usually are unsung heroes) He was the only saving grace of the 2013 line, and has been a solid guard for several years. Joe Hawley (Brawly) - Better than Pete Konz, which isn't saying much, but he played pretty solidly down the stretch once Konz got benched for good. He's fighting for his spot, and I like the spirit. Jon Asamoah - A guard that never quite was what KC was looking for, but a solid one. I'm not sure why he didn't stick with the Chiefs, other than they just had a better man for the job, but he's been stout as gently caress in camp. He'll probably perform as well as Blalock in 2014, and if he can, he's 2-3x better than the gyro spit we had in the role last year. Jake Matthews - is a loving beast. He hasn't given up a sack all camp (against a Falcons pash rush, so... here's all of the salt in the Atlantic Ocean). All reports indicate he'll be a great rookie tackle, and will undoubtedly be better than Lamaar Holmes and Jeremy Trueblood. Julio Jones is back, and is as explosive as ever, by all accounts. Can't wait to see him in a real game, but my reservations aside, if he's back... Roddy and Julio are in the discussion for best Tandem in the NFL. How it could go down the toilet: The defensive scheme flip to a 3-4 doesn't produce results and the Falcons are a sieve against the run again in 2014, making their acquisitions of dual corners in 2013 just as useless as last year. The Line rebuild didn't take, or Baker goes down and Matthews doesn't live up to what's expected of a Left tackle in the NFL. Julio's foot proves to be done, and he turns into Hakeen Nicks. Steven Jackson is out for the year and rookie RB Devonta Freeman just can't live up to expectations.
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Aug 8, 2014 15:31
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The San Diego Chargers are better than people think because: Norv Turner still isn't head coach. Although he may be doing great things for Minnesota this year in his specific position, he's a dogshit head coach and we're still glad to be rid of him. We've had extremely low turnover from last season, and picked up several people who look very promising in the draft as well as some surprising non-drafted rookies who made a splash like Brandon Oliver. I'm also excited about having a Flacco TD being maybe a thing. Our defense was crap last season, but it got better halfway through, and in this offseason, we made serious upgrades to our secondary. Jason Verrett should help out Eric Weddle bigtime, and Brandon Flowers was gifted to us. Make no mistake about that last one, that's was a gift that I can't believe the Chiefs would let go. We have enviable depth in many positions that will keep us going through the season when injuries start happening, as was showcased against the Cowboys. I'm hoping against better teams we can show them off again and prove that game wasn't a fluke. If that's the case, then we're going to be in a very strong position to keep going when other teams would keel over and die. Our schedule is tough, tough enough that if we can win some or most of those games against the better teams, we will go to the playoffs again, and will be a much harder team to beat once there. Only one player is on the PUP list, and none on IR. We have some minor injuries, but nothing that will keep all our starters from playing week 1. How it could all go down the toilet: Last season we got lucky to make the playoffs, and we capitalized on it. We can't count on that again. We have no choice this time around to make it on the strength of the team, not on the weakness of other teams. Questionable people after our starters on the offensive line makes injuries there a very serious matter for us. Having one of the toughest O-lines in the NFL doesn't matter much if they go down without any good replacements. Difficulty of schedule is going to make it critical to win games against teams we should beat to merely hit a season of 8-8. Yes, I mentioned this above as a positive, but the tough schedule goes both ways, and is going to make it extremely hard to have a winning season. I think the only way we go back to the playoffs is with a 10-6 season or better. Our defensive line is still not very good against the run game. It's the only position we weren't able to make meaningful upgrades that were still necessary. In our defense, we had a huge number of other pressing positions to fill, something had to give. People are no longer going to be surprised by Keenan Allen or our run game (Woodhead, Brown, Matthews plus whomever makes the 4th). We got through last season on teams not paying attention before and just letting us run a surprise train on them. I don't think that will be happening again. There's a lot about the Chargers I like. But complaints about the tough schedule only go so far. If we fall flat against the Pats, Broncos, 49ers, Seahawks, Cards in the regular season then we have no business going to the playoffs. The way I see it, we only deserve to go if we can beat at least some of them.
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Aug 8, 2014 19:46
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Blitz7x posted:wngrade/sidegrade, but huge) - Khalif Barnes/Gabe Jackson(Huge road graders, Khalif is an ok tackle but a gigantic guard) - Lil Wiz - Austin Howard (6'7 road grader) - Menelik Watson (huge road grader)
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Aug 8, 2014 20:34
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Kawalimus posted:I'm saying the Ravens are better than people think because it's possible we have a competently run offense for the first time since the mid 90s when the team first came here. Like I said earlier I really liked what the offense showed on that one drive and if that's what we're bringing to the table then the Ravens have a good chance to be fighting for the division lead. I don't mean this as an insult, I absolutely promise, but do you have Asperger's syndrome
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Aug 8, 2014 20:35
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football fuckerman posted:I don't mean this as an insult, I absolutely promise, but do you have Asperger's syndrome I mean this as an insult, I swear. How the hell could you diagnose Asperger's Syndrome by reading a goddamn post on a message board?
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Aug 8, 2014 20:39
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Chilichimp posted:I mean this as an insult, I swear. How the hell could you diagnose Asperger's Syndrome by reading a goddamn post on a message board? In fairness to Rap, it's probably the collection of posts over the past few years.
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Aug 8, 2014 20:44
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Chilichimp posted:I mean this as an insult, I swear. How the hell could you diagnose Asperger's Syndrome by reading a goddamn post on a message board? I know I left a question mark off the end but that was a question. Thank you
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Aug 8, 2014 20:51
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Kawalimus has a very well-established fixation on completeness and totality that is a hallmark of Asperger's. Kawalimus cares a lot what the Ravens' all-time record is against each franchise and in each stadium. Kawalimus has repeatedly criticized both Super Bowl-winning teams for not being "complete" teams as if some all-seeing football judge is going to withhold the Ultimate Trophy of Completeness from them. As a fan of a team that has never won a Super Bowl it's personally frustrating to me to see him whine about whether a team that won it all could do this or that very well. But on another, separate level apart from my personal irritation, I also want to know if Kawalimus has Aspergers. Thank you and begone
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Aug 8, 2014 20:54
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who the gently caress cares
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Aug 8, 2014 20:56
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Oh, well, if that's what you meant.
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Aug 8, 2014 20:56
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ALL RIGHT LISTEN UP YOU TRESTMANIACS It could go well for the Bears if Cutler, Marshall, Jeffery, and Forte continue to own everyone and terrify Bears fans who have no idea how to react to a competent passing offense except by braying about Josh McCown in an absurd accent. What also needs to happen is that the defense has to be at least competent. Last year's run defense was historically terrible, and the Bears are relying on a completely reveamped line but also olds such as Briggs, Tillman, and whatever is left of Jared Allen to at least keep other teams honest. It can go horribly wrong if the defense continues to suck and Cutler plays like poo poo. On the other hand, if the Bears are terrible, we get an entire season of insane Doug and OB callers yelling about Jimmy Clausen. Also, the entire season will be a waste if Jimmy Clausen plays a single minute. None of this makes a difference because unless Aaron Rodgers dies, the Packers will win the North.
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Aug 8, 2014 22:55
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Your Washington Redskins will be better because they will field a special teams unit that has a coach who should be able to coach. And their defensive should be more aggressive. The end.
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Aug 8, 2014 23:36
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football fuckerman posted:Kawalimus has a very well-established fixation on completeness and totality that is a hallmark of Asperger's. Kawalimus cares a lot what the Ravens' all-time record is against each franchise and in each stadium. Kawalimus has repeatedly criticized both Super Bowl-winning teams for not being "complete" teams as if some all-seeing football judge is going to withhold the Ultimate Trophy of Completeness from them. No I don't have anything like that. I just like taking weird angles to rooting for my team sometimes cause it's different and I find it fun. Like the stadium record thing. It's also appropriate since the Ravens have a reputation for getting the first road win in another team's new stadium. So far we have Denver, Tennessee, Washington(!!!!), Pittsburgh, and the Jets. We might get a shot to be SF's first next year, I hope we at least get the chance. That would be great to add a 6th. And I don't criticize the 2012 team for not being great either I just acknowledge they are. I just comment on stuff like the 2000 team and try to do that from a kind of detached perspective cause I like doing that. I do want to see us field a truly great team like the 2006 Chargers or the 2001 Rams but that doesn't mean I don't greatly enjoy every year we do well. I basically am the all-seeing football judge in my mind and have my own set of ideas for what I want my team to do. It's not because of any disease.
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Aug 9, 2014 00:02
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Because the Eagles are considering bringing back the Kelly Green uniforms.
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Aug 9, 2014 00:02
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axeil posted:Because the Eagles are considering bringing back the Kelly Green uniforms. As alternates though. gently caress that.
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Aug 9, 2014 00:09
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Kawalimus posted:No I don't have anything like that. I just like taking weird angles to rooting for my team sometimes cause it's different and I find it fun. Like the stadium record thing. It's also appropriate since the Ravens have a reputation for getting the first road win in another team's new stadium. So far we have Denver, Tennessee, Washington(!!!!), Pittsburgh, and the Jets. We might get a shot to be SF's first next year, I hope we at least get the chance. That would be great to add a 6th. Like how you leave a Steelers-Ravens game that went into overtime because you wanted to beat the traffic home.
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Aug 9, 2014 01:56
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Weird angles to root for during your own team's games are great. Ever since I heard about a bunch of long Lions losing streaks against certain teams, I've had a list on my computer of when the Lions last beat every other team, home and away. Because the Lions have stunk for so long, there's a handful of streaks that are 25+ years old, with the oldest being a losing streak since 1955 in Pittsburgh. There's also a bunch of game combinations that the Lions have just never won.
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Aug 9, 2014 02:25
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AsInHowe posted:Weird angles to root for during your own team's games are great. On this topic and the Lions, the Ravens had never won a road game vs the NFC North until last season against the Lions. We didn't beat the Patriots at all in the regular season until 2012. We've only played two games in Buffalo(an AFC team!) in our entire history. First one ever was 2007. Both losses. Kawalimus fucked around with this message at 03:07 on Aug 9, 2014 |
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Aug 9, 2014 02:54
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Grittybeard posted:As alternates though. gently caress that. I think the midnight green ones look good too 
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Aug 9, 2014 02:58
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