16 Week per-game average: 45.475. About a point and a third over last year. About a full point over two years ago, the highest since 2001.
And on the Cliffhanger Watch:
New Orleans beat Dallas in overtime.
Cincinnati beat Pittsburgh (and eliminated them) with a field goal late after a Rothlesberger interception which most saw as unbelievable.
I'd like to know what planet you are on. He threw it right to the Cincinnati defender, 5 yards over AND off line from the intended Pittsburgh receiver. There are few, if any, players who owe the league more for their thuggish behavior than Ben Rothlesberger. You got swindled again.
And that's it. Just 2 - and a total of only 3, I believe, in the last two weeks - decided in the last 2 minutes or in overtime.
--
So let's see what chicanery the NFL probably has planned for us in the playoffs...
(These are predictions as of today.)
NFC: Seattle-Green Bay. Put it down, mark it in pen, these two teams are all but destined to play again. So much damage has been done this season due to The Call (That call singlehandedly has assured Atlanta has clinched the #1 seed, for starters. Atlanta would have to win or have the Pack tie or lose next week.)
But not only that, I will say this now: I don't think that the most important game on Week 17's schedule is the game they flexed to the Sunday Night game. (NFC East title: Dallas-Washington.)
It's one they flexed to 4:25: Green Bay at Minnesota.
I'm thinking of a full-on flame post for the obsessives up in Seattle. Haven't fully formulated it yet, but there's something in the water up there that's making even the Packer fans seem tame. If the road to the Super Bowl functionally goes through Seattle, they're going to be in it, if not win it.
If Minnesota beats Green Bay, then all Seattle has to do is have the 12th Man run over St. Louis for them to get the #2 seed.
AFC: Denver-Indianapolis, if not Denver-New England on top of it. Gotta check my work to make sure that works, but those are probably the two most compelling storylines on that side of the bracket.
And even that comes nowhere close to Seattle-Green Bay -- it's so ridiculous that, over:
- all the championships
- the Olympics
- all the off-the-field news
- the NHL lockout
- etc.
Bah humbug.
Spot on mate, spot on. I told someone almost the exact same thing yesterday. The league is dying for a Green Bay/Seattle rematch. You can just smell it in the air. Atlanta has been the least penalized team in the league (Funny for a team that has Roddy White that pushes off almost every single play and the holding that is never called on them)but they've also had the EASIEST schedule in the league and struggled against teams they should have beat down.
ReplyDeleteAtlanta loses in the first round just like in 2010 when they went 13-3, Seattle and Green Bay are in the NFC Championship. The league wants this more than anything. "The Call" yeah that changed things big time. But what more would they want besides a rematch of that? It's going to come down to those two teams for the NFC. Atlanta will get blown out by Seattle or Green Bay, and then I don't see the Niners doing anything after last night.
What would they want more than Peyton vs Brady in the AFC? To be honest with you, I think New England has nothing to worry about. I'd worry about Denver if I was a fan of them. They have not played a real team in months. I think the league is going to try and get a Colts/Broncos game, cause after all they want to see Manning against his old team.
It's going to be a Seahawks or Packers Super Bowl against New England. I just don't see anyone stopping New England in the AFC, not even this Denver team that everyone thinks is so great.