2015 - 16 Nfl Fan Talk Page

[Ty]

Thursday Night Football is coming soon. Can the Falcons maintain their winning streak? I sure hope so. Eventually, they'll meet a team that SHOULD be able to beat them and that's okay. I'm thinking The Colts or Vikings but other than those two teams, they don't play anyone any good. Don't give me that "Carolina is good" crap either... The teams they beat so far this season have a combined record of 6-14 through 4 games and their next game is against the Eagles (2-3) . Sure, the Falcons' have had it pretty easy too with opponents' record of 10-15.

In fact, lets look at the unbeaten so far and their likelihood of staying that way...

First, the Top Tier Teams (based on quality of wins):

Patriots - They have to play the plucky Colts and Denver... But, with Manning noodling it up, they should win that one. Other than those two games, it looks like they could almost phone it in... (they also play the Giants but... yeah.)

Packers - Not one of their wins was a single-score win. They play at the Broncos, Panthers (LOL), Vikings, Cardinals, and then the Vikings again. This one isn't easy either (statistically speaking) though the Panthers shouldn't give them much trouble.

The middle of the Pack:

Bengals - Pittsburgh without big Ben but still tricky. Three of their wins were single-score wins. They also play the Cardinals and Denver at Mile High. They have a tough row to hoe.

Broncos - Four of their wins were single-score wins. They play the Packers, New England, Pittsburgh, and Cincinnati. Three of their opponents are also undefeated. This is also a tough row to hoe.


and that brings us to the oddities. Yes, oddities:

Panthers - Their tough games -- Seahawks, Eagles, Colts, Packers, Falcons, Giants, Falcons. 4-0 looks impressive and every team would want to start out that way. Two of their wins were single-score wins and the other two wins were against the Jaguars and Buccaneers. In four weeks, this team could easily be 4-4.

Falcons - My team, of course. I'll try to be unbiased here though. Their tough games - Colts, Vikings, Panthers, Panthers... If you take away those 4 games, there are 8 teams that have a grand total of 9 wins where the best record they face is the 2-3 Buccaneers.

In the case of these two teams, being undefeated doesn't really mean much. It looks good and makes me feel good. Well, the Falcons, anyway.

Cam Newton can choke on a big fat... Anyway, I'm sure the Panthers and their ultra cocky superman quarterback will be brought down to earth pretty soon. I'll bet that day will be this Sunday.

 

[Jeff Porter]

Great post Ty.

I'm usually torn at this point of a season, coming up on week 6, and looking at teams' records vs. how "good" we think they are. I agree with the statement that a team is as good (or bad) as their record, but then when you've only played 4 or 5 games, it's difficult sometimes to get an idea of how good or bad the team is.

It's true that New England and Green Bay are looking like the top 2 teams. Next comes Denver and Cincinnati. Atlanta and Carolina would be 5th and 6th at this point in the season, and that takes care of the 6 undefeated teams. Atl and Car will play each other twice since they're in the same division. If they split it's a wash, but if one team can sweep the other, they'd be the favorite to win the NFC South.

Teams to watch out for: AZ at 4-1 with a +100 on pts, plus the Steelers and Jets are playing excellent defense now and have winning records. Dark horse that I would not count out: Seattle.

Good luck to the Falcons tomorrow night!

One interesting thing about my Chiefs and how bad they look: they've played 3 undefeated teams in 5 games. Yes, they lost to Chicago at KC, which looks really bad, but I'm not sure another team has had such a tough schedule so far. Ah, Seattle plays Carolina this week, that'll be the Seahawks' 3rd undefeated team they had in 6 weeks.

Scoring pts so far, the leaders are AZ, NE, Atl, Cin, GB, Car, NYG.
Best allowing of pts so far, the leaders are NYJ, Den, GB, Car, AZ, Minn, NE, Pitt, Sea.

Old school coach smilie:

 

[Coss]

Excellent Pre weekend break down Ty.
Between Ty and Jeff I don't have to watch any of the Pre or Post weekend shows; I get a better report here

Way to go guys, excellent reports; we all appreciate the time and effort you put into these reports

 

[CheeseheadEarl]

Thursday Night Football is coming soon. Can the Falcons maintain their winning streak? I sure hope so. Eventually, they'll meet a team that SHOULD be able to beat them and that's okay. I'm thinking The Colts or Vikings but other than those two teams, they don't play anyone any good. Don't give me that "Carolina is good" crap either... The teams they beat so far this season have a combined record of 6-14 through 4 games and their next game is against the Eagles (2-3) . Sure, the Falcons' have had it pretty easy too with opponents' record of 10-15.

In fact, lets look at the unbeaten so far and their likelihood of staying that way...

First, the Top Tier Teams (based on quality of wins):

Patriots - They have to play the plucky Colts and Denver... But, with Manning noodling it up, they should win that one. Other than those two games, it looks like they could almost phone it in... (they also play the Giants but... yeah.)

Packers - Not one of their wins was a single-score win. They play at the Broncos, Panthers (LOL), Vikings, Cardinals, and then the Vikings again. This one isn't easy either (statistically speaking) though the Panthers shouldn't give them much trouble.

The middle of the Pack:

Bengals - Pittsburgh without big Ben but still tricky. Three of their wins were single-score wins. They also play the Cardinals and Denver at Mile High. They have a tough row to hoe.

Broncos - Four of their wins were single-score wins. They play the Packers, New England, Pittsburgh, and Cincinnati. Three of their opponents are also undefeated. This is also a tough row to hoe.


and that brings us to the oddities. Yes, oddities:

Panthers - Their tough games -- Seahawks, Eagles, Colts, Packers, Falcons, Giants, Falcons. 4-0 looks impressive and every team would want to start out that way. Two of their wins were single-score wins and the other two wins were against the Jaguars and Buccaneers. In four weeks, this team could easily be 4-4.

Falcons - My team, of course. I'll try to be unbiased here though. Their tough games - Colts, Vikings, Panthers, Panthers... If you take away those 4 games, there are 8 teams that have a grand total of 9 wins where the best record they face is the 2-3 Buccaneers.

In the case of these two teams, being undefeated doesn't really mean much. It looks good and makes me feel good. Well, the Falcons, anyway.

Cam Newton can choke on a big fat... Anyway, I'm sure the Panthers and their ultra cocky superman quarterback will be brought down to earth pretty soon. I'll bet that day will be this Sunday.

Good stuff, but I caution against putting much faith in the Vikings. They're at 2-2, but their wins came against the winless Lions and a 2-3 SD team that was without Antonio Gates. (I live a stone's throw from MN and am forced to follow them.)

Sure, Peterson can always burn you, but I've not seen as much of that this year, age and a year out of the game are affecting him.

 

[Ty]

Good stuff, but I caution against putting much faith in the Vikings. They're at 2-2, but their wins came against the winless Lions and a 2-3 SD team that was without Antonio Gates. (I live a stone's throw from MN and am forced to follow them.)

Sure, Peterson can always burn you, but I've not seen as much of that this year, age and a year out of the game are affecting him.

You are correct but I think the Vikings are clicking on defense better than some of the offenses out there. I went with my feelings a little there as I watch a lot of games and try to keep up with the scuttlebutt. If football were played only on paper, there wouldn't be a need to play the game in the first place and like they say "Any given Sunday".

The "experts" gave the Patriots a 25% chance of remaining undefeated. I don't. They also give the Falcons a 6% chance. Now, I have NO delusions that the Falcons are better than the Patriots but the Falcons have a MUCH easier schedule... possibly the easiest in the NFL. It's possible they could go 16-0 before being completely wiped out in the first post season game. Then again, winning has a way of becoming a habit and some teams seem to come together and start playing at a level much higher than the sum of their parts would suggest.

The Falcons are kind of odd in that 4 of their 5 wins resulted in coming back from behind in the 4th quarter.

Another trivia bit: Last year, there were zero undefeated teams at this time.

 

[Karnaj]

I'd like to say my team will put a halt to your undefeated claim TY.... but i know better. Even though, despite how either of our teams are doing, we always have great games against each other. I do wish you luck, your team looks great this year. I hope you enjoy it. I have a feeling I may have to get the old paper bag out again. It's been years since it's last use.

 

[Ian442]

As a Ravens fan, I wonder how many next man up are left....

injuries suck.

 

[Coss]

As a Ravens fan, I wonder how many next man up are left....

injuries suck.

But they can always go and sign one if they don't have one ready. That's what practice squads are for.

 

[JEBar]

Saints up 7-0 early .... they seem to be playing with considerably more emotion than the Falcons

 

[slinches]

That was a ridiculous punt block. 14-0