Week 12 Discussion Thread

[Judge Jude]

WEEK 13 SKED

THURS NITE
SAINTS 5-6 at FALCONS 10-1 - wild card do or die for Saints; Falcons can near bye-clinch

SUN EARLY
VIKINGS 6-5 at PACKERS 7-4 - Packers could be in a bind if they get upset here
Seahawks 6-5 at Bears 8-3 - big for both, for different reasons
Patriots 8-3 at Dolphins 5-6 - ditto

SUN LATER
STEELERS 6-5 at RAVENS 9-2 - Balt crowd be bloodthirsty
Buccaneers 6-5 at Broncos 8-3 - visitors hungrier?

SUN NITE
EAGLES 3-7* at COWBOYS 5-6 - can they 'flex escape' yet?

MON NITE
GIANTS 7-4 at REDSKINS 5-6 - intriguing, and Giants need to exterminate this upstart with a better division record

[Friarfan]

Every Charger fan would rejoice if they canned Norv tonight but knowing the Front Office's ways they'll let it drag out for the last few games

Norv and AJerk must have pictures of Dean Spanos in a gang bang with underaged transgendered midgets or something

[Erik]

Defending champion Giants crushed the 2011 No. 1 seed 49ers on the road this year, and killing the 2010-11 SB champ Packers so far at the half.

That would normally make them the prohibitive favorite to repeat - but the other 9 games so far, not quite as dominating.

Still a weird, weird team. Overerstimate, or understimate, them at your peril....

It's pretty clear that they play up (or down) to their competition. Which makes them dangerous in the playoffs.

[Erik]

Down by 21, the Pack picking a bad time to use their (poor) running game.

Mike McCarthy is not a good game-day coach. He's good at team building, play design, stuff like that. But he's in the bottom third of coaches as far as decision-making on gameday. He's lucky that his team usually has the talent to overcome it.

[Judge Jude]

It's pretty clear that they play up (or down) to their competition. Which makes them dangerous in the playoffs.

well, they haven't won any playoff games in 15 of the last 18 seasons, so not always.
but yeah, once they get on a postseason roll....

[revo]

It's pretty clear that they play up (or down) to their competition. Which makes them dangerous in the playoffs.

That's true. I'm always scared when they play a crummy team at home -- those are always trap games.

well, they haven't won any playoff games in 15 of the last 18 seasons, so not always.

I assume he means the current regime. What they did in the mid 1990s matters little to this crew. They have tended, in recent years, to rise to the occasion.

[Judge Jude]

Ok, they have not won any playoff games in 6 of Coughlin's 8 seasons with the Giants.
The only definitive tendency is that they have had a worse 2nd-half record in all 8 of Coughlin's seasons than they had in the 1st half.

The two Super Bowl wins are in the books, of course. But I wouldn't say this franchise under Coughlin has "tended" to rise to the occasion. They've tended not to, with two MASSIVE exceptions.

They're the only team ever to win 2 SBs with the same QB and coach and yet not dominate in either of those regular seasons (at all), and to not win ANY playoff games in the years in between*
(they did have a bye once, in 2008-09, and I tend to credit a team with a 'W' there, though)

That's why I said that to over- or under-estimate this team is tricky....

EDIT: I hope I don't seem like I'm trying to rain on a Giants fan's parade(s). I'm kind of fascinated with the seeming randomness of recent winners in football and hockey and baseball in terms of regular-season results and year-to-year (in)consistencies. I think it's also natural for us, though, to continue to expect these results to match prior eras - and it's just not happening...

[revo]

Wow, LaFell couldn't have been more open if he was playing against a Pop Warner team.

[revo]

This Bryce Brown guy looks pretty good!

[Erik]

If only the Eagles had the kind of depth on the OL that they do at RB.

[Erik]

The Eagles' second- or third-best draft pick of the past 5 years is... a kicker.

[revo]

Fumbles are killing the Eagles!

[off_the_wall]

Fumbles are killing the Eagles!

Now Jackson put on IR and Babin has been cut.

[schlesinj]

Rashard Jenning starter again.

[Erik]

Fumbles are killing the Eagles!

Brown is talented but has no idea how to properly carry the ball.