NFL Playoffs

[OldPhiKap]

I don’t know who is behind @CaptAndrewLuck, but it is genius. It is written as if Andrew Luck is writing home from the Civil War. Most recent:

Dearest mother —
Our victory frolicking has ceased. We must now begin our march to Kansas City to battle a unit of such great stature, every member has been granted the title of Chief. Our path has been long and winding, but I have never seen the men’s spirits higher.
— Andrew

[Bluedog]

Ughhhh as a Bears fan, so painful. First, three great stops at the 2 yard line and then give up a TD on 4th down. Then the double boink FG miss (off the upright and then the crossbar) that sadly reminded me of Grayson's miss against Kansas as it was in twice. So painful. Feel bad for Parkey but I guess that's sports! A game of inches...

[CDu]

Ughhhh as a Bears fan, so painful. First, three great stops at the 2 yard line and then give up a TD on 4th down. Then the double boink FG miss (off the upright and then the crossbar) that sadly reminded me of Grayson's miss against Kansas as it was in twice. So painful. Feel bad for Parkey but I guess that's sports! A game of inches...

No doubt about it. Heart-wrenching. The supposed worst QB in the NFL (per DBR) leads a brilliant drive to set up the field goal well within range, and he hits the upright for the sixth time this season.

Good defensive effort by both sides. Neither team could get it going. Kudos to the Eagles for doing just enough on offense, and to their defense for getting enough stops in the red zone to stay in the game.

But, stupid kickers 🤬

[camion]

No doubt about it. Heart-wrenching. The supposed worst QB in the NFL (per DBR) leads a brilliant drive to set up the field goal well within range, and he hits the upright for the sixth time this season.

Good defensive effort by both sides. Neither team could get it going. Kudos to the Eagles for doing just enough on offense, and to their defense for getting enough stops in the red zone to stay in the game.

But, stupid kickers 🤬

Too late for this year, but going forward I propose a simple fix. The Bears should put a third upright centered between the other two and located in the stands.

[moonpie23]

So, he earned the other 4?

no... they were most likely cheating in 2002, DEFINITELY cheating in 2004 and 2005. They were GIFTED the 2015 title with the worst play call of all time when the seahawks, facing 2nd and goal on the 1yd line, opted for a pass play.

they most likely "won" the 2017 superbowl with and amazing comeback against the Falcons.

[SoCalDukeFan]

Ughhhh as a Bears fan, so painful. First, three great stops at the 2 yard line and then give up a TD on 4th down. Then the double boink FG miss (off the upright and then the crossbar) that sadly reminded me of Grayson's miss against Kansas as it was in twice. So painful. Feel bad for Parkey but I guess that's sports! A game of inches...

I somehow feel for the Bears fans. The players play so hard in these games and then you lose like that. Evidently one of the Eagles got a finger on the kick and may have deflected it enough.

But I had about given up the game, then the fourth down touchdown. I thought (I am biased) that the ball crossed the line enough on the extra points play for the Eagles to get two but they did not. Then the missed field goal. Wow.

How about the play where the Bear receiver caught the ball, fumbled, but the refs signaled incomplete and blew whistles. Ball is lying on the field and because of lack of a clear recovery is ruled incomplete. Second lack of a clear recovery for the Eagles this year and I can remember it ever in balls that stay in bounds. Could the Eagles have recovered after the whistles blew?

What a game.

SoCal

[luburch]

I'm a homer, but I think the Colts get by KC this weekend.

My order of preference:

Colts
Rams
Eagles
Chiefs
Chargers
Cowboys
Saints
Pats

[JasonEvans]

Stunning Deshawn Watson factoid: Yesterday was the first time he had started and finished a game at QB and his team lost by more than a TD since he was in high school. Every single college game and every single pro game has either been a win or a one possession game. Wow...

[thedukelamere]

Stunning Deshawn Watson factoid: Yesterday was the first time he had started and finished a game at QB and his team lost by more than a TD since he was in high school. Every single college game and every single pro game has either been a win or a one possession game. Wow...

Yep, read this on Grantland 2.0 on Friday, which without a doubt cursed the Texans this weekend.

https://www.theringer.com/nfl/2019/1...s-nfl-playoffs

[Mtn.Devil.91.92.01.10.15]

Kickers sure played a huge role this weekend, with injuries, misses, onside kicks, etc.

[moonpie23]

Kickers sure played a huge role this weekend, with injuries, misses, onside kicks, etc.

well, seems like each team DEFINITELY needs 2 of them...

[Troublemaker]

No doubt about it. Heart-wrenching. The supposed worst QB in the NFL (per DBR) leads a brilliant drive to set up the field goal well within range, and he hits the upright for the sixth time this season.

Good defensive effort by both sides. Neither team could get it going. Kudos to the Eagles for doing just enough on offense, and to their defense for getting enough stops in the red zone to stay in the game.

But, stupid kickers 🤬

Chicago's got to get to 17 points at home against that decimated Eagles secondary, though. Also, ending the drive with a 43-yard FG attempt for a shaky kicker in windy Chicago isn't going to get young Trubisky an NFL Films voiceover treatment. Get 15 more yards, and now we're talking.

That said, Trubisky is clearly not the worst QB in the league. He's young and had an excellent QBR this season under a new coach / offensive mind. Hopefully Nagy can further develop him.

[Mtn.Devil.91.92.01.10.15]

pete and russell handed brady a ring...there's no forgiveness for that...EVER...

i haven't pulled for the cowboys since jimmy johnson was there, but i did last night...

Darell Bevell would again like to talk credit.

[DukieInKansas]

I'm a homer, but I think the Colts get by KC this weekend.

My order of preference:

Colts
Rams
Eagles
Chiefs
Chargers
Cowboys
Saints
Pats

Will this be the year the Chiefs beat the Playoff Curse of the Colts? I certainly hope so.

[JasonEvans]

That's...that's...that's freaking astounding. How is that even possible?

Well, his college career was at Clemson and he was not the starter as a freshman. As a Soph and a Junior, they went 14-1 both seasons with a 5 point loss to Bama one year and a 1 point loss to Pitt the next.

His rookie year in the NFL, he got hurt so he only played half the season. This year they were pretty good, winning 11 games and with 5 close losses.

That is how it is possible... but it still is really impressive.

[CDu]

Chicago's got to get to 17 points at home against that decimated Eagles secondary, though. Also, ending the drive with a 43-yard FG attempt for a shaky kicker in windy Chicago isn't going to get young Trubisky an NFL Films voiceover treatment. Get 15 more yards, and now we're talking.

Worth noting that Trubisky threw for over 300 yards in that game, including over 200 yards in the second half. He played pretty well in the second half. I think both the playcaller and the QB were a bit nervous in the first half, which is understandable as both were making their first ever appearance (in Nagy's case first as a head coach) in the playoffs.

And yes, it'd have been nice to be even closer than the 26 for the FG attempt. But he only had 48 seconds and 1 timeout to work with. Trubisky went 2-3 for 33 yards plus a spike of the ball to stop the clock with 18 seconds left. That's pretty darn good. Would it have been nice to have gotten it down to the 10 or 15? Sure. But it's not like he had a ton of time to work with.

Once they got it to the 25, there were 18 seconds and no timeouts left. The Bears had one play available at that point. But it had to (a) avoid a sack and (b) not be stopped in bounds. So the playbook was pretty tight. Rather than a roll-out (which would reduce sack risk and possibly open up the sideline), Nagy called a straight drop back. When Philly blitzed, Trubisky took the smart play and chucked it deep over the middle for an incompletion.

Honestly, there wasn't much more he could have done. If I were the coach, I'd have not called the timeout so quickly. That really handcuffed the offense and probably cost them one additional play. But, hindsight is 20/20.

That said, Trubisky is clearly not the worst QB in the league. He's young and had an excellent QBR this season under a new coach / offensive mind. Hopefully Nagy can further develop him.

Yeah, that was more of a lighthearted jab at whoever it was that said he was the worst starting QB in the league and worse than half (I think) of the backups in the league coming into the season.

Now, Trubisky is far from an elite QB right now. He's probably middle-of-the-pack amongst starters, but with promise. But there were at least 10 passing offenses I'd like to have less than the Bears' QB and receiver group. He was just hindered by an arcane coaching staff and an absolute lack of weapons in 2017, both of which were substantively revised going into 2018.

Still plenty of room to grow though. But he's showing a lot of promise I think.

[budwom]

I've often thought the most awkward situation in sports is being the spindly little placekicker whose failed kick lost the game...at least Codey Parker didn't have to
endure a long plane ride home with all those worn out, gigantic, dyspeptic teammates around him. Must be mortifying...

[elvis14]

Always sucks when the Cowboys win (the UNCheat of the NFL). Hopefully that ends next weekend.
Felt bad for the Bears but their starting QB is from UNCheat so I'm good with them losing.

I really want the Pats to lose. Not hating on them, just wants some new teams in mix. Chargers, Chiefs or Colts out of the West would be cool (now that Deshaun, Nuke and the Texans are out).

[Mal]

Also, we now know the ball was tipped (may or may not have gone thru without that). And he did score most of their points on the game. A 43 is not a chippie...not a gimme.

All true points. The problem for Parkey, however, is that he did not earn himself any benefit of the doubt over the course of the regular season. He was mediocre, at best (I think he'd missed 7 or 8 FG's and 3 XP's already), with shaky range, had already blown a win by himself in Miami, and was making way too much money for the performance. The miss at the end of the game last night was entirely predictable. He came into the game as the biggest looming weakness on the team, and a lot of people feared this exact outcome.

I'm a Vikings fan, so maybe predisposed to seeing dark linings in every silver cloud, but when Cohen started off the last drive last night with a great kickoff return, I said to the Bears fans in the room "Hey, they're already halfway to where they need to get for Cody Parkey to miss a game winning field goal!"

Had he made a couple from long distance last night before the miss, I could see giving him more credit for the 9 points he'd already scored in the game, but those were all chip shots. And if the median NFL placekicker these days made less than about 80% of their attempts from 40-45 yards, I could see a little more sympathy headed his way for the last one. But they do make 80%+ from that range nowadays. Unfortunately for him, even the fact that the NFL just changed the ruling on the final play to a block isn't going to help him all that much. If it's someone busting up the middle or getting around the end to smother a kick, that's all on the line, but not elevating the kick quickly enough to get the ball over the outstretched arms of a defensive tackle? I think the kicker takes the blame on that one pretty much every time, unless it's a 54-yard attempt or something. He may have kicked it lower intentionally, because when they'd iced him a minute earlier his kick, while successful, was not exactly the booming, halfway up the uprights into the net "would have been good from 53, not 43" sort of result we've all gotten used to seeing in recent years.

All that said, I do wonder if that block changed the amount of fade he would have gotten by modifying the spin, etc. It's possible he was starting it out a little left intentionally, and the tip, while it changed the immediate trajectory to something more in line with the upright instead of wide left, denied the ball its full planned arc. Don't know enough about the physics of kicking footballs, though, to really speculate. In any event, that one strikes me as a "don't give away the hole" putt in golf.

[Acymetric]

All true points. The problem for Parkey, however, is that he did not earn himself any benefit of the doubt over the course of the regular season. He was mediocre, at best (I think he'd missed 7 or 8 FG's and 3 XP's already), with shaky range, had already blown a win by himself in Miami, and was making way too much money for the performance. The miss at the end of the game last night was entirely predictable. He came into the game as the biggest looming weakness on the team, and a lot of people feared this exact outcome.

I'm a Vikings fan, so maybe predisposed to seeing dark linings in every silver cloud, but when Cohen started off the last drive last night with a great kickoff return, I said to the Bears fans in the room "Hey, they're already halfway to where they need to get for Cody Parkey to miss a game winning field goal!"

Had he made a couple from long distance last night before the miss, I could see giving him more credit for the 9 points he'd already scored in the game, but those were all chip shots. And if the median NFL placekicker these days made less than about 80% of their attempts from 40-45 yards, I could see a little more sympathy headed his way for the last one. But they do make 80%+ from that range nowadays. Unfortunately for him, even the fact that the NFL just changed the ruling on the final play to a block isn't going to help him all that much. If it's someone busting up the middle or getting around the end to smother a kick, that's all on the line, but not elevating the kick quickly enough to get the ball over the outstretched arms of a defensive tackle? I think the kicker takes the blame on that one pretty much every time, unless it's a 54-yard attempt or something. He may have kicked it lower intentionally, because when they'd iced him a minute earlier his kick, while successful, was not exactly the booming, halfway up the uprights into the net "would have been good from 53, not 43" sort of result we've all gotten used to seeing in recent years.

All that said, I do wonder if that block changed the amount of fade he would have gotten by modifying the spin, etc. It's possible he was starting it out a little left intentionally, and the tip, while it changed the immediate trajectory to something more in line with the upright instead of wide left, denied the ball its full planned arc. Don't know enough about the physics of kicking footballs, though, to really speculate. In any event, that one strikes me as a "don't give away the hole" putt in golf.

I mean...Parkey has always just been an average kicker. I'm still amazed Ross never found a spot.