As a Colts fan, this one hurt. We killed ourselves with penalties, turnovers, and the Panthers got a HUGE break on that Replay Reversal. The NFL will be busy with that call and the Jerry Rice call. Having said that, I tip my hat to the Carolina Panthers. They never gave up and just outworked the Colts on both sides of the ball. They deserved the win. The Panthers will make the playoffs, but I still think that the Bucs will find a way to win that division.
Wow...... Well, that about sums it up for me. Nope, got more. Sometimes refs really mess up games. And for all the bad calls these guys make, the crew that did the Steelers/Broncos game deserve some props. They nailed the two point conversion call to tie the game, had it challenged and were exactly right. Great team work by the crew to get together, discuss, and get the right call. Speaking of those crappy refs, the Packers and Chiefs were getting away with murder when blocking. I counted three times that the gunner for the Chiefs was pushed in the back after he got by his guy covering punts, and not one was flagged. Both O-lines were holding quite a lot, and I don't recall one holding penalty. Go figure. Didn't see the Raiders call, anyone care to explain? Derek (Lucid) nice to see you come be another Chiefs fan in here. Its hard to believe that KC will be 15-0 going to Minnesota. We still have to travel to all three divisional opponents (VERY tough games always). This team has dominated three teams; San Diego, Pittsburgh and Houston. Those teams have a combine record of 4-12. While in the last three games we've won very close games when at times we had no business winning. Those teams (Baltimore, Denver, Green Bay) are a combine 11-6. We have two remaining opponents that currently have winning records (Denver, Minnesota), two that are an even 3-3 (Cleveland, Buffalo, and the rest suck. Our remaining opponents have a current record of 23-32. Teams eventually will lose close games when they play enough of them. The trips to Denver, San Diego, Oakland and Minnesota are not easy by any means. If we win just two of those games we're in prime possition with Buffalo, Cleveland, Cincy, Oakland (@ home), Detroit and Chicago remaining. Heres what to really watch for: By the bye week: Be at least 7-1. Thats splitting the next two games, which on paper we shouldnt even do that. 8-0 is a real possibility, but any Chiefs/Raiders game is going to be unpredictable no matter what the talent level of the two teams is. By December 1: In November we host Cleveland and Oakland. We travel to Cincy and San Diego. All four are winnable. Go 3-1 and we're money, 4-0 (again very possible) and we're golden at 11-1 or 12-0. By Jan 1: We travel to Denver and Minnesot in December. Both will be hard games. Even if we drop those, we should easily win our home games (Detroit and Chicago) and finish 13-3 or 14-2. But again, there will be close games and we'll drop a couple. Unless we just start blowing people out we're going to be pushed by Denver all the way to the finish line.
In about a month, the Bucs go to Ericsson. If the Panthers win that one, the Bucs will have to make up *4* games in the rest of the schedule (since the Panthers would have the tiebreaker.) I think you'd agree with me that that is highly, highly unlikely. One big, big thing the Panthers have going for them in hypothetical discussions like this is that with most teams, you can say, if Player X goes down (usually the quarterback), they'll be in trouble. But not with the Panthers. Having said all that, I agree with you, because I think the Buccaneers are more likely to win in Ericsson than lose. But that's obviously the key game to decide this race. One thing the Panthers have had going for them is that they caught BOTH the Colts and the Bucs after they'd played on Monday nights. It's a proven fact teams underperform after a Monday night game, win or lose. So I still think they're not quite as good as they appear. But they're good. They really should have made the playoffs last year. They had an unbelievable string of games lost on flukes...desperation 4th down passes by the opposition being tipped by the defense and then caught, quarterbacks recovering their fumbles and then hitting a big pass, crap like that. Their bad luck last year was unreal.
Good post.....They're a good team and I'm not going to take anything away from them regardless of that replay call. You forced Ricky Williams to fumble twice when we were driving and that was really what got us in trouble. You just can't give chances like that to teams that can control the clock like the Panthers. I'm pulling for you guys next week, although, I think that the Titans do match up very well with you and will be tough to beat. The Bucs game is the crucial game, then after that you have about 3 or 4 more games that are going to be difficult for you.....but it is the NFL....where you can lose on any given Sunday. Good luck the rest of the year.
1. NFL rules are so friggin' complicated I'm not gonna concede that was a bad call. I thought the "tuck" was a horrible call until the rule was explained. I will only say that I'd be very, very, very surprised if the zebras misapplied a rule, which would have to be the case here. 2. Remember the subsequent events to that call...the Panthers got some first downs, but had to punt. The Colts then launched their TD drive. In the end, that call was more a break for the Colts, because when the Panthers got the ball back, there wasn't enough time to get a game winning field goal. What was the result of the drive at the beginning of OT? 3. The Stephen Davis fumble was a flukish play, but one that is all the Panthers' fault. The Panthers radio guys were saying that before he went back in, he was catching passes on the sidelines, and wincing whenever he caught the ball. So it was foolish for him to sneak back into the game, and he was punished with a rare (for him) fumble. And as subsequent events proved, DeShaun Foster can do the job, too.
Like I said.....The Panthers deserved to win that game. Did Davis end up slightly fracturing his arm? He had to if he was wincing in pain.
Buffalo Bills... what the hell happened? I had a soccer game so I missed watching them get thrashed. The stats don't show what happened either Vinny Testaverde 130 yards and 3 TD?! 7 sacks on Bledsoe?! God they need a real offensive line and I can't wait for Willis to come in Henry hasn't been impressive at all this year, then again it might just be the line, they sure can't pass protect worth shite. Did anyone get a chance to see this game? What happened?
DeWayne Robertson finally started to show why he was the #4 pick in the draft. Shaun Ellis is continuing to show that he is one of the NFL's most improved players. Cowart had a good game as well. The scary part about those 7 sacks is that John Abraham didn't even play.