The All Things PLAYOFFS 2022 Thread

[SkinsFTW]

4 minutes ago, HogsVa7 said:

 I think we can expose him but we need to shut McCaffrey down. 

McCaffrey is going to run all over this defense and probably catch a bunch of balls too.

[petey hodge]

We’re all moxied up for the first playoffs!!!

[kleese]

1 hour ago, Simmsy said:

This team deserves to be in the playoffs as much as the Giants and they would get about as far as the Giants.

I would love to permanently retire the “we don’t deserve the playoffs…” comments. If you get in, your deserve it— period. NFL is a tough league— most years the last wild cards aren’t great teams— often middling teams that found ways to win enough games. 
 

In 1992 we lost our last two games including final game of year at RFK to a lousy Raiders team that started a back up senior citizen at QB. We got lucky the next day when Minnesota beat Green Bay even though Vikings had already clinched their spot. We 100% backed into the playoffs that year at 9-7. Then we kicked the hell out of Minnesota in the WC game and were possibly a fumble away from getting to an NFC Champ Game the next week at SF. Just get in and give yourself a shot. More importantly— actually MOST importantly you extend the fun for fans and give everyone at least one week of being part of the playoffs. It’s a good thing. 

[Csup]

11 hours ago, kleese said:

I would love to permanently retire the “we don’t deserve the playoffs…” comments. If you get in, your deserve it— period. 

I agree, Kleese, with one caveat.  I hate teams that get into the playoffs with a losing record.  I hated being division winners at 7-9 and I cringe when I see what's happening in the NFC south.  Doesn't happen often, but yikes! 

[kleese]

19 minutes ago, Csup said:

I agree, Kleese, with one caveat.  I hate teams that get into the playoffs with a losing record.  I hated being division winners at 7-9 and I cringe when I see what's happening in the NFC south.  Doesn't happen often, but yikes! 

It’s rare, so it doesn’t bother me much. But remember the Beast Quake run for Seahawks to beat the Saints in playoffs? That was a 7-9 Seahawks team and I believe the Saints were 12-4. I promise Seattle fans wouldn’t give that moment back though. They played pretty tight in divisional playoffs as well. 

[hail2skins]

With three wild card teams in each conference, teams with losing records making the playoffs is not going to be that rare from here on out. At some point it really waters down the meaning of the regular season, and between that and the quality of play and BS roughing the passer crap, pro football doesn't have nearly the appeal to me that it used to. The only thing the league has going for it is its relative scarcity, as it gives fans the once per week experience of watching their team. And the season isn't as long as the other sports too.

[CobraCommander]

Not to mention Shanahan still hates this team and Dan. Look for him to pull out all the stops and run up the score. 

[Koolblue13]

The Lions are taking one of the two spots we're fighting for and I have a hard time seeing us grab the other one now. 

 

Us, the Seahawks and the Gnats have a very tough schedule. The Lions are strolling. Packers have a brutal finish to their season, so I doubt they catch up.

 

We need more than a 12 points of moxie offense to have a prayer and we are trending down hard.

[CobraCommander]

2 minutes ago, Koolblue13 said:

The Lions are taking one of the two spots we're fighting for and I have a hard time seeing us grab the other one now. 

 

Us, the Seahawks and the Gnats have a very tough schedule. The Lions are strolling. Packers have a brutal finish to their season, so I doubt they catch up.

 

We need more than a 12 points of moxie offense to have a prayer and we are trending down hard.

[method man]

51 minutes ago, Koolblue13 said:

The Lions are taking one of the two spots we're fighting for and I have a hard time seeing us grab the other one now. 

 

Us, the Seahawks and the Gnats have a very tough schedule. The Lions are strolling. Packers have a brutal finish to their season, so I doubt they catch up.

 

We need more than a 12 points of moxie offense to have a prayer and we are trending down hard.

My mind is sadly on 8-8-1 for grabbing a playoff spot. Would mean the Lions and Seahawks will both have to lose two. I can see that happening to the Seahawks as they are sinking due to very bad defense - they will certainly lose to the Chiefs and they could lose to the Mike White Jets (he should be back then). For this to happen to the Lions, it would have to start with the Panthers this week. 

[kleese]

1 hour ago, hail2skins said:

With three wild card teams in each conference, teams with losing records making the playoffs is not going to be that rare from here on out. At some point it really waters down the meaning of the regular season, and between that and the quality of play and BS roughing the passer crap, pro football doesn't have nearly the appeal to me that it used to. The only thing the league has going for it is its relative scarcity, as it gives fans the once per week experience of watching their team. And the season isn't as long as the other sports too.

We have disagreed on this before and no different today. I prefer the game now to the 80s/90s. There are aspects of the old days I prefer, but I think the overall product is better now. QB play is so much better, more dynamic, more interesting, and schematically the game has evolved into more strategy. FA has some

negatives, but has been an overall positive for the league. No longer do you really have teams like the Saints and Bucs who were roadkill literally for 20+ years consecutively. Go back and look at NFC playoffs in 1980s. Blowout City. Dominant teams have their place; but the individual games and weekends just weren’t very good or competitive overall. And the Super Bowls were a joke. 
 

Everyone— players, coaches, fans, are “smarter” now with more info and access— plusses and minuses to that for me, but overall I think the product is better than during our glory years. 
 

I LOVE nostalgia in general so I nerd out all the time and watch old games on YouTube. I enjoy the old graphics, intros, announces, commercials, players, settings, etc because it reminds me of being young, simpler times in my life, etc. But man the game was really slow and coaches were SO conservative and unimaginative. Third and 2 is gonna be a gut run. And fourth and inches is gonna be a punt. Every. Time. I will always enjoy those old clips and there is definitely something to be said for how much more “innocent” and simple the game was then— but I really believe it’s overall better now.  

Edited December 20, 2022 by kleese

[kleese]

1 hour ago, Koolblue13 said:

The Lions are taking one of the two spots we're fighting for and I have a hard time seeing us grab the other one now. 

 

Us, the Seahawks and the Gnats have a very tough schedule. The Lions are strolling. Packers have a brutal finish to their season, so I doubt they catch up.

 

We need more than a 12 points of moxie offense to have a prayer and we are trending down hard.

Lions are hot and to a certain extent pass the eye test as well. But I’d also point out they were a play away from losing to Zach Wilson last week-who is just awful. Carolina is going to be a very tough game for them and it’s reflected in the low point spread. I think it’s actually the most important game left on schedule all season for us outside of our own games of course. If we can get a Panthers win, I think it will ultimately result in us making playoffs. If Lions win, I think they ultimately get in. 

[Koolblue13]

9 minutes ago, kleese said:

Lions are hot and to a certain extent pass the eye test as well. But I’d also point out they were a play away from losing to Zach Wilson last week-who is just awful. Carolina is going to be a very tough game for them and it’s reflected in the low point spread. I think it’s actually the most important game left on schedule all season for us outside of our own games of course. If we can get a Panthers win, I think it will ultimately result in us making playoffs. If Lions win, I think they ultimately get in. 

Imagine hoping the Panthers will beat the Lions (which seems insurmountable) so we can make the playoffs. Is this the worst year ever?

[kleese]

8 minutes ago, Koolblue13 said:

Imagine hoping the Panthers will beat the Lions (which seems insurmountable) so we can make the playoffs. Is this the worst year ever?

Nah, we’ve done it plenty of times in our history, including the Gibbs year. Sometimes you need help. Sometimes the teams that need help go and win playoff games. 

[Koolblue13]

19 minutes ago, kleese said:

Nah, we’ve done it plenty of times in our history, including the Gibbs year. Sometimes you need help. Sometimes the teams that need help go and win playoff games. 

In the Gibbs years we had a 17 year ass kicking streak on the lions and are the reason the greatest running back in history never won a superbowl. Don't give me that.

[kleese]

21 minutes ago, Koolblue13 said:

In the Gibbs years we had a 17 year ass kicking streak on the lions and are the reason the greatest running back in history never won a superbowl. Don't give me that.

What I’m saying is even in Gibbs years we had instances where we clinched last week of season and/or needed help to get in; most notably in 1992. 
 

In 1997 we actually needed the Lions vs Jets to lose to get us in. It was a close game, but Lions won and eliminated us. It happens pretty much every year throughout the league. 

[Franklin60]

31 minutes ago, kleese said:

Sometimes you need help. Sometimes the teams that need help go and win playoff games. 

This is the truth. I remember the final week of the 2018 season with my Eagles as defending Super Bowl champions. Carson Wentz was injured again and Nick Foles was back in the lineup for a late season playoff push. Going into the finale in Washington, the Eagles needed to win and have the Bears beat the Vikings in Minnesota. The Vikings were pretty decent and the Bears had the division clinched and had the proverbial nothing to play for. We did not expect to make it. In fact I even placed a fifty dollar money line bet on the Vikings at a local casino, figuring I’d either make a very small profit if the Vikings won as expected or gladly “pay” for the result I wanted.

 

This was the game where Eagles fans took over the stadium and the Redskins played like they didn’t even want to be there. Nick Foles tied an NFL record for most consecutive pass completions. And Nate Sudfeld threw his first career touchdown pass late in the game and had to go to great lengths to retrieve the ball after the Eagles receiver unknowingly gave the ball away to a fan in the stands. I think the final was 24-0.

 

And yet the Bears were inexplicably ahead the whole game, much to our shock and delight. They eventually won, setting up the first round matchup of the Eagles at Chicago. As thanks, the Eagles went on to win that game thanks to a double doink and came very close to beating a heavily favored Saints team the following week

 

So yeah, sometimes you do get lucky and sometimes you actually do advance afterward.

[kleese]

Scheduling side note. Normally NFL has 12 day window for flexing games— exception is week 17 and 18 where they can exercise 6 day window. Looks like this will be the case for week 17. 
 

The current 4:25 primary game is Vikings/Packers. Not super strong for a stand-alone game in that window. SNF is Chargers/Rams. Today would normally be the day those changes were made, but looks like NFL will wait until next week to make those changes— makes sense because so many meanings of games could change based on what happens this weekend. 
 

I think it’s likely our game with Browns stays at 1pm that day, but it’s not set in stone. If Browns beat Saints Saturday and other pieces fall into place, our game with them could become more compelling and possible be in consideration to be moved. 

[Koolblue13]

7 minutes ago, kleese said:

What I’m saying is even in Gibbs years we had instances where we clinched last week of season and/or needed help to get in; most notably in 1992. 
 

In 1997 we actually needed the Lions vs Jets to lose to get us in. It was a close game, but Lions won and eliminated us. It happens pretty much every year throughout the league. 

and we lost in 92 and 97 was bad too, but now the eagles fan is appeased. 

[kleese]

5 minutes ago, Koolblue13 said:

and we lost in 92 and 97 was bad too, but now the eagles fan is appeased. 

We backed in 92, but then wound up a fumble away from the NFC Champ game. It was absolutely worth getting in. 

[shemp nixon]

2 hours ago, Koolblue13 said:

Imagine hoping the Panthers will beat the Lions (which seems insurmountable) so we can make the playoffs. Is this the worst year ever?

We still control our own destiny. No excuses. Go to fresco and get a win. Heinicke needs to play well  from the start or get pulled at the half. We play this one like it is the seventh game of the World Series. All hands on deck.

[Skinsinparadise]

 

 

[BleedBNG]

I'd rather see that game so I could root for the Panthers. I mean we already know the outcome of our game and it could get ugly. Might as well be rooting for the Panthers and then the Packers in week 18 while watching us try and beat the Cowboys. 

[rumplestilskin]

21 minutes ago, BleedBNG said:

I'd rather see that game so I could root for the Panthers. I mean we already know the outcome of our game and it could get ugly. Might as well be rooting for the Panthers and then the Packers in week 18 while watching us try and beat the Cowboys. 

we already knew the outcome of the Philly game too. Or did we?

[BleedBNG]

1 hour ago, rumplestilskin said:

we already knew the outcome of the Philly game too. Or did we?

I'll freak out if they do it again. I really hope so, and along with beating the Browns and It's hello to playing the 2nd seed (probably Vikings) in the playoffs.