2016 Playoff Discussion

[Nge2grads]

1 minute ago, ratedr said:

 

Maybe Flacco will be so inspired.

It would certainly be something worth having Flacco participate in to see if he can make improvements.  

[BmoreBird22]

Just now, darklight1216 said:

I didn't realize Courtney Upshaw was a Falcon.

Now I'm tempted to say something like "no wonder their mediocre at best on defense."

 

Can someone tell me how the Packers managed only 1 touchdown until late in the third against a team like this?

Because the Falcons do have defensive talent and a great defensive mind in Quinn. The reason you see poor rankings is they're mostly very young guys on rookie deals.

[ratedr]

1 minute ago, K-Dog said:

Right now? Yes. A few years ago? No.

I can agree with this. I was not impressed with Ryan before and thought he was an overrated media creation a la Stafford. But he has clearly upped his game.

[BmoreBird22]

1 minute ago, K-Dog said:

Right now? Yes. A few years ago? No.

The only real argument people ever had was that Ryan hadn't won in the playoffs. Ryan always had superior stats, accuracy, and the mental aspect of the game down. Guarantee Ryan wins just as much as Joe on those early Ravens teams.

[JO_75]

Bogus TD gifted by the officials. Janis sucks as a WR so bad that he can't create separation so he intentionally forces a DPI in front of the ref. Should have been a no call, but I guess the officials are trying to make this game closer than it really should be. Should be 44-15.

[redlobster]

2 minutes ago, BmoreBird22 said:

You mean the clear as day facemask?

No if you had opened your eyes and saw rodgers barely bump him ( after the facemask) and Alford fall down like he was shot asking for a flag 

[BmoreBird22]

Just now, redlobster said:

No if you had opened your eyes and saw rodgers barely bump him ( after the facemask) and Alford fall down like he was shot asking for a flag 

That's a fairly common occurence in the NFL....

[darklight1216]

1 minute ago, BmoreBird22 said:

The only real argument people ever had was that Ryan hadn't won in the playoffs. Ryan always had superior stats, accuracy, and the mental aspect of the game down. Guarantee Ryan wins just as much as Joe on those early Ravens teams.

The argument also was, and still is, that Ryan had better weapons and an easier schedule and his home dome environment helped (sometimes barely) better stats.

[redrum52]

14 minutes ago, Pats said:

I'm tired, should not have had insomnia on gameday. I guess i'll catch the afc championship highlights when I wake up.

You might never hear this from again, but good luck today.

[darklight1216]

1 minute ago, redlobster said:

No if you had opened your eyes and saw rodgers barely bump him ( after the facemask) and Alford fall down like he was shot asking for a flag 

I saw that punk move too. Does he think he's playing international football?

[Ravenseconbeast]

Falcons has a feel of 2012 Ravens.   Underappreciated defense is doing enough and offense is clicking on all cyclinder.   
 

[redrum52]

6 minutes ago, jdynamite said:

exactly what I was coming to write. I hope they win it all just to eliminate that narrative around here.   

 

Thats been the go-to anytime Rivers or Ryan is brought up. 

Rivers in general doesn't get the credit he deserves.  My friends a chargers fan and I love to clown him about them never winning... but when's he's not around I acknowledge Rivers greatness.

[BmoreBird22]

2 minutes ago, darklight1216 said:

The argument also was, and still is, that Ryan had better weapons and an easier schedule and his home dome environment helped (sometimes barely) better stats.

The better offensive weapons with vastly worse offensive lines and running games.

Domes also don't make these absurd differences people make them out to. They help keep the elements out and in those games it provides a big advantage, but if it's clear, it doesn't help as much.

[Ravenseconbeast]

7 minutes ago, darklight1216 said:

I didn't realize Courtney Upshaw was a Falcon.

Now I'm tempted to say something like "no wonder their mediocre at best on defense."

 

Can someone tell me how the Packers managed only 1 touchdown until late in the third against a team like this?

 

If you need an excuse, the whole packers had flu going in their lockerroom and all 3 receivers(nelson, davante, allison) all caught flu and are injured.

No excuses though, they sucked today.

[BmoreBird22]

3 minutes ago, darklight1216 said:

I saw that punk move too. Does he think he's playing international football?

That's fairly common in scrimms. It's a 15 yard penalty and players shoot for that.

[ratedr]

Just now, BmoreBird22 said:

The better offensive weapons with vastly worse offensive lines and running games.

Domes also don't make these absurd differences people make them out to. They help keep the elements out and in those games it provides a big advantage, but if it's clear, it doesn't help as much.

Eh. Disagree. Ryan is clearly ahead now, but let's not engage in revisionist history. The Falcons were dire outside of their dome. See the 2011 wild card round @NYG. Dan Quinn has instilled a toughness and confidence in this team that they simply did not have before.

[BmoreBird22]

Just now, ratedr said:

Eh. Disagree. Ryan is clearly ahead now, but let's not engage in revisionist history. The Falcons were dire outside of their dome. See the 2011 wild card round @NYG. Dan Quinn has instilled a toughness and confidence in this team that they simply did not have before.

There's generally a clear difference in home and away stats. 

Peyton had better stats outside of the dome.

[Tank 92]

14 minutes ago, ratedr said:

Ryan has a lot of pieces, but even without that, his deep ball is much better, his mechanics are smoother, and he's no longer the statue in the pocket he used to be. Combine that with the fact that he's always been a pretty accurate QB, and it's allowed him to take his game to the next level.

This is the work he put in during the offseason:

 

http://www.espn.com/blog/atlanta-falcons/post/_/id/22186/falcons-matt-ryan-dug-deeper-to-prepare-for-2016-season

Maybe Flacco will be so inspired.

Yeah, that's a cool story and all, but given the scenario I proposed he's sitting at home watching tv right now, maybe the MVP in his living room. 

[JO_75]

Packers gave up, pulled Rodgers and put Brett Hundley in at QB.

[Cville-Raven]

16 minutes ago, BmoreBird22 said:

Is it? We consistently see the same teams picking in the top 10, so there's something more than that. I think we're trying to rationalize their success and it's simply they are a better team right now. They made better FA acquisitions and drafted better.

I don't disagree that they are better now but when you've got 3 guys in the last 5 years or so who were taken in the top ten and two of them are all pros at key positions; you can't just ignore that. The ravens would love to have Beasley let alone julio jones. The defense definitely would have been even better in the first half of the season and who knows maybe they win two or three of those 4 straight losses. The difference is they lack quality at key positions like WR and OLB. They made a step in the right direction with Stanley and should at the very least be better next year if flacco gets his game in order. 

[BmoreBird22]

Just now, Tank 92 said:

Yeah, that's a cool story and all, but given the scenario I proposed he's sitting at home watching tv right now, maybe the MVP in his living room. 

All things considered, no, I don't think we'd see a huge switch. Flacco was just too erratic and off target too often to even make that offense work and Ryan just made better throws and moved better more often than not.

[ratedr]

5 minutes ago, BmoreBird22 said:

There's generally a clear difference in home and away stats. 

Peyton had better stats outside of the dome.

Yeah, because he was another QB who struggled outdoors.

[BmoreBird22]

Just now, Cville-Raven said:

I don't disagree that they are better now but when you've got 3 guys in the last 5 years or so who were taken in the top ten and two of them are all pros at key positions; you can't just ignore that. The ravens would love to have Beasley let alone julio jones. The defense definitely would have been even better in the first half of the season and who knows maybe they win two or three of those 4 straight losses. The difference is they lack quality at key positions like WR and OLB. They made a step in the right direction with Stanley and should at the very least be better next year if flacco gets his game in order. 

The issue with including Joe is the Falcons had the balls to go up and get him. That wasn't due to poor record. The Falcons saw what they wanted and went for it. I hope the Ravens would consider that this year with Mike Williams. He's an AJ Green caliber player to me.

I'm sure the Ravens would love Beasley, too, but he's not the reason for the Falcons turning it around. 

[BmoreBird22]

Just now, ratedr said:

Yeah, because he was another QB who struggled outdoors.

That statement makes no sense based off of what I said...

His best years came in Denver... no dome, very cold weather.

[JO_75]

So are they going to delay the start of the Steelers/Patriots game until this game is finished and the presentation of the NFC Championship is over?

[Ravenseconbeast]

1 minute ago, Cville-Raven said:

I don't disagree that they are better now but when you've got 3 guys in the last 5 years or so who were taken in the top ten and two of them are all pros at key positions; you can't just ignore that. The ravens would love to have Beasley let alone julio jones. The defense definitely would have been even better in the first half of the season and who knows maybe they win two or three of those 4 straight losses. The difference is they lack quality at key positions like WR and OLB. They made a step in the right direction with Stanley and should at the very least be better next year if flacco gets his game in order. 

 

But here is the thing.  Matt Ryan, Julio Jones, Vic Beasley, and Kyle were all together year before together.  They went 8-8 finish.  This year complete turn around. And theThe biggest difference that clearly improved is Matt Ryan.  He made it his mission in offseason to really get better.  

I hope Flacco is really being honest when he said he'll be putting in an effort this offseason to improve.    

[ratedr]

3 minutes ago, BmoreBird22 said:

That statement makes no sense based off of what I said...

His best years came in Denver... no dome, very cold weather.

Strictly talking playoffs. The statement stands. And I realize they won it all in 2015, but he was basically a walking zombie at that point.

[BmoreBird22]

Christine Michael had a 100% awesome show of sportsmanship there at the end. Mad respect to him. 

[JO_75]

The Falcons are the 12th different NFC Champion in the last 16 seasons.... crazy how wide open the NFC is compared to the AFC.

[BmoreBird22]

Just now, ratedr said:

Strictly talking playoffs. The statement stands. And I realize they won it all in 2015, but he was basically a walking zombie at that point.

I think he performed pretty well in the Denver playoffs. I'd have to check, though