The 2006 NFL Season Thread - Page 2

Karma is a cold, bitter mistress...

8-8? Please. You lose to the fucking Ravens 27-0 and expect to still have a winning season? Forget that shit.

After today's trainwreck of a game.....I'll be happy as fuck for a 8-8 season.

It's one game! I know the Bucs aren't the greatest team in the world but they're solid enough. They can still turn it around. I guess the Pats had no chance a few years back when Buffalo layed a goose egg on 'em.

The battle of the Mannings was pretty exciting. Looks like Eli might be ready for the big time this season.

Yea, I know it has been said elsewhere already, but NBC really didn't try very hard in their sunday night presentation. They basically lifted 90% of MNF on ABC's presentation. Right from the beginning of the Thursday game, I thought..."wow, they aren't trying real hard to differentiate themselves from MNF" But, I guess if it ain't broke (even though the music shit they pulled on MNF and now Sunday night football is VERY BROKEN), don't fix it.

Also, just like to let out a sigh of relief over the niner's offense. They looked pretty damn good. Frank Gore had a helluva game. Norv Turner seems to have been the answer. Now if they could just play some defense...

a bit early to call the demise of any of the contenders who did poorly-Cowboys, Bucs, Seahawks, Panthers. The NFC isn't that strong.

As a "Fucking Ravens" fan, I take a small bit of offense, but then again, Baltimore would never know what to do if we weren't considered underdogs. I of course was wallowing in all sorts of crapulence during yesterday's game, but I also am still nervous, being that we're in (what I believe to be) one of the toughest divisions in the NFL.
Plus, if you were watching yesterdays Bal/Tam game, you saw the most beautiful thing in all of football. You saw a nosegaurd run over 60 yards. Go fat man, go.

I love the Ravens chances if Lewis is healthy and they have a good back up RB. The defense looks back to form and they actually have a QB.

They have an easy early schedule-Oak, Clev, Saints in the first 6 games plus 2 teams that underperformed week 1 in Den and Car. A 7-1 start is not out of the question.

No the season isn't over but yesterday's game was one of the worst i've seen since Glazer became owner.....also the first Shutout in the 8 year history of Ray jay.......the game was so bad a local sports writer wrote this in his column.

"The Bucs we're so bad they wouldn't have scored even if they had stayed on the field two hours after the Raven's team bus had pulled away from the stadium."

As for turning it around.....sure it can happen but let's take a look at the Bucs schedule.

week 2: At Falcons
week 3: Panthers
week 4: bye
week 5: At Saints
week 6: Bengals
week 7: Eagles
week 8: At Giants
week 9: Saints
week 10: At Panthers
week 11: Redskins
week 12: At Dallas(Thanksgiving)
week 13: At Steelers
week 14: Falcons
week 15: At Bears
week 16: At Browns
week 17: Seattle

After what I saw on sunday......I'll be happy if they can pull off 8-8

was anyone else throroughly impressed with Dick Vermeil's commentary during the san diego - oakland game?

He was actually making legitimate commentary about each play. He clearly did his research on the players. It was probably some of the best color/expert commentary I have heard in a football game in a long time.

Well you gotta look at it this way, Vermeil coached against these 2 teams for the past few years so he knows the players very well. He also was an announcer for awhile so it's not like he's some rookie. He is doing a good job though. Miles better then Theismann. Late in the third quarter Vermeil had me rolling around when he mentioned Courtney Anderson (who dropped the only 3 passes thrown to him all night) was on the field and he said something like "well I guess they're not throwing it to Anderson". Now only if someone could say Nnamdi Asomugha's name correctly. They've been butchering it all night even when Sapp told them how to say it in the intros.

Art Shell certainly brought "The Greatness of the Raiders" back tonight. Sickening. The o-line was pathetic last year and what did they do to fix things? Switched the players around while the lone new addition is a player they reached for in the 3rd round from some small shit school. Like that was gonna work! Robery Gallery is a bust of epic proportions. He should give Tony Mandarich a call. Jake Grove, BUST. Langston Walker, BUST! The track record has been brutal the past 4 years. Why do they continue to have 5-7 step drop backs, when, by the time Brooks in on his 4th he has someone all over him? The coaching on this team is beyond repairable. Brady Quinn against GT was getting harassed in the 1st quarter so Charlie Weis called for more quick drop backs to help him. The Raiders coaches are too idiotic to do this. All their plays are shit like 15 yard routes so the plays need time to develope. Why not throw some crossing patterns, how about a fucking screen pass! Mix it up.

Tom Walsh, wasn't a good coach in 1986, was an even crappier coach in 1991, got fired in 1996 after winning a total of 4 games in 2 years at a Divison II school team and somehow in 2006, after 12 years away form the NFL, he's the offensive coordinator/assistant head coach of the Oakland Raiders. I know nobody wants to go there but how the fuck does this guy land a high profile job? Only explaination is Walsh was giving Art some quality head, back in the early 90's. Jerry Porter is looking more and more like Nostradamus. Go back to your bed and breakfest Tom!

Atleast Rob Ryan showed me something for the first time in 3 years. He started the game playing nickel. It's 4th and goal from the 1 and he plays...NICKEL! Dumb, just dumb coaching. You wouldn't know if the Chargers didn't have the best RB in the NFL on their roster. Atleast Ryan switched it to 4-3 afterwards. The D went on to play very well.

couldn't agree with you more hell paso. I really could not understand the coaching right from the beginning. Even the commentators were speaking about the overuse of the nickel as san diego called 7 running plays in a row in their opening drive.

They really did look bad on defense. Their running game was terrible. I don't understand Shell's fascination with Justin Fargas either. I guess the guy has some speed, but he is a pretty shitty runner. They got behind early, but it seemed like no one watched last year's Lamont Jordan performances. Just give that guy the ball...as long as the o-line does a little bit of work.

On the flip side, Phillip Rivers looked good. He was given a manageable task by the offensive coordinator. Lets see what happens when he gets tested and is asked to pass to bring the chargers back into a game.

That Raiders game last night was probably the worst performance I have witnessed in sports in the past 10 years. I know its only one game but the best I think I can hope for this year is 5-11. Agree with every point you made Hell Paso. I think about the only shot the Raiders have to get good again is for Davis just realize he doesnt have a clue anymore turn the team over to someone who knows what the hell they are doing so they can get some decent coaches and scouts in for drafting purposes.

And that person is Art Shell. They've pretty much announced that Shell only plans on coaching for 3 years and then he'd take over the player personnel from Davis. What the fuck are they getting into? He's lucky to last one season with the clusterfuck coaching staff he's rounded up. This guy was fired and couldn't land another head coaching job for a reason.

Well wow look like the raiders are most definately screwed for years if this turns out to be the case. Davis should get on his hands and knees and beg Gruden to come back. He is the only guy in the past 15 years had the Raiders competing at all.

The Pats still had Brady and Belechik. The Bucs have Gruden and Simms. Yikes.

Culpeper absolutely looked tentative on that reconstructed knee, but I didn't see one snap of the Cincinnati game. How did Palmer look on his legs?

San Diego's D looks like it might be enough to win them the games they need to win, a la the Bears last year (though Rivers is better at this point than Orton was last year).

Speaking of the Bears, as I excited as I am about the game, the Packers are truly awful. The jury's still out. Grossman, however, did look really sharp, and it was nice to see Muhammed come down with balls he dropped last year.

Raiders..sigh. It's gonna be a loooooooooooooooong season.

Looks like many folks were happy with the shutout the Bears pitched:

Furniture customers score with Bears' shutout

Are you knocking Gruden? He's one of the best coaches in the game bar none. Now Simms is a joke. A quarter of his passes get knocked down at the line of scrimmage.

I still like Gruden but he's now in his 5th year with the Bucs and he still hasn't done the one thing we expected.....to make the offense be on par with the defense.

Gruden isn't in trouble yet......but another 5-11 year will probably put him on the hot seat.....and i'm sure the OL coach and OC Bill Muir is printing up his resume cause his days in TB are numbered.

I had a bad feeling when during preseason he hardly played the starters that much.....and week 1 showed that....But with their schedule the bucs can't afford to use the first month of the season as preseason.

This is also Simms' make or break year(I believe it's the last year of his contract with the Bucs) But there is no excuse for QB who is as tall as he to have that many passes knocked down......Even Shaun King didn't have the amount of knocked down passes that Simms has had.

The season isn't over for the Bucs yet.....but there is no question that right now they are the worst team in the NFC south(And when the Saints look better than you do you know your in trouble).

I guess you somehow forget the Bucs Super Bowl year where they had essentially the same offensive players the year before with Dungy only they could actually score come playoff time. The problem with Tampa is Gruden never had the right QB for his system. Johnson could work it because he's extremely accurate but he never was his guy. Why do you think Gruden would've loved to have Alex Smith last year? Simms is completely wrong. Maybe you guys should trade for Marques Tuiasosopo, hahaha.

No I remember....And while most of the offense was left over from Dungy's time Gruden also brought in Pittman and Mccardell which where Key players in the Super Bowl run.

But the fact is that even in the Super Bowl run the offense was still very Jeckyl and Hyde.....one week it would look incredible and then the next week look moronic.....last year we saw the same thing.....truth is the Bucs offense has barely improved than it was when Dungy was coach.....I mean how many times since Gruden took over has the Bucs totally blown someone out of the water.

I thought Simms would have it together by now but his performance on sunday showed a guy that just can't work under pressure....which is the kind of QB that the Bucs need.

I really can't see how you can complain about the Super Bowl year. They were scoring with ease late in the season where it counted, unlike the Dungy years. To expect the Bucs to have the #1 offense and defense is pretty unrealistic expectations. What did you expect the Raiders offense of the late 90's/early 2000's with the same great Bucs defense? Not many teams can produce the o-line the Raiders had, an amazing QB and 2 Hall of Fame receivers. There's only so much money they can throw around too. Go overboard towards the offense and it weakens their strength. Pittman sucked that year rushing the ball too. Dunn is 5 times the back. I remember people saying Pittman was gonna be the new Charlie Garner. Not even close. He did play well in the Super Bowl though. McCardell helped out but 700 yards is nothing to get too excited about. He played better the year after. Even so the Bucs were consistently scoring over 20 points a game which is usually enough to win for them. If anything the Bucs have degressed in the Gruden years instead of improving. It's pretty puzzling and I can see your concerns but it goes back to the QB (you could say the line too) and they need one desperately. I don't think the Colts would be blowing out teams either if they had Chris Simms as their QB.

I'd just like to see a team that can score more than 20 on a regular basis. I look at a team like San Francisco, who no one could argue is as talented as we are, and they put up 20+. We break 14 and we act like we're watching Air Coryell.

Muir definitely needs to go, as there has been no improvement in overall line play. Walker's been there the whole time Muir has been there and he hasn't improved one bit. Penalties like false start and holding happen all to frequently under someone who is supposedly an offensive line guru. Granted we haven't exactly brought in marquee players for the line, but some basic level of competence is to be expected, and it's not there.

As for Simms, his throwing motion is too long. He winds up and defensemen know the pass is coming. Once they get him timed, that's it, he's getting his passes tipped. Gradkowski didn't seem to have that problem, and I think he's our guy next year regardless of how Simms does -- if he has a career year, I doubt we'll pay him the big money he could get on the FA market, and if he tanks, well, why keep him around?

I also think it's time that Gruden brought in a real offensive coordinator, someone who can focus solely on the schemes and playcalling. Not that I think Gruden has a bad offensive mind, but as head coach he simply doesn't have the time to devote to it that a coordinator would.

You know, I might have to agree with Dickson here. Gruden did bring some sense of offensive stability to the bucs in their superbowl run, but honestly I don't see what he has done to the team since that win. Cadillac is a real find, but we have to wait and see if he goes into a sophomore slump. Michael Clayton is in a perennial funk. Joey Galloway is not getting any younger. I like Simms...I really do, but the guy has shown little improvement from game to game.

I don't necessarily blame gruden for anything, but I just ask what has he exactly done to this bucs team? I think they have been stagnating for the past two seasons, with the last season being a total fluke thanks to Cadillac's breakout.

The KEY thing that Gruden brought to the Bucs(during their Super Bowl run) was a killer instinct that I just feel that Dungy lacks(I like Dungy but the guy has the same reaction to winning the division as he does when Vanderjak misses a FG against the Steelers).

Gruden really fired that team up and they just went out and knocked the other team down and then stood on their throat.....But I'm not sure what happened to that killer instinct cause things today seem just like they were in the last years of Dungy's time in TB.

Stuber Picks 'Em Week 2

Last Week: 10-6

Last week Brad Johnson looked polished as ever; the Bears reassured everyone they know what they're doing; and Jacksonville said "Do you see me now bitches"

Carolina at Minnesota... It took a punch in the teeth to wake the panthers up from their slumber.
Buffalo at Miami... Bills lose in a way that makes the Patriots look average. Miami trounces.
NY Giants at Philadelphia... Picking Philly is becoming popular. Tiki Barber reminds us who won the division and why.
New Orleans at Green Bay... If my credibility isn't already shot, it will be. The Green Bay defense will control the game.
Houston at Indianapolis... Anyone else add Samkon Gado to their fantasy team? Texans will never beat Indy while Peyton's under center.
Detroit at Chicago... It's crazy-stupid how close the Lions will come to scoring 6 points.
Cleveland at Cincinnati... Um. Yeah. Barring injury to you-know-who, Bengals win too easily.
Tampa Bay at Atlanta... I really like Jim Mora Jr. But I have to fill my quota of away teams winning.
Oakland at Baltimore... While the NFC East has a rather comparable level of talent, the AFC North has three legit title contenders.
Arizona at Seattle... This would be a terrific upset. I don't think Seattle will be the toast of the NFC come mid-season.
St. Louis at San Francisco... That's right. Frank Gore looks like a premiere back.
Tennessee at San Diego... Man, this will be ugly.
New England at NY Jets... The Jets give New England a scare but still lose.
Kansas City at Denver... Can we agree that Herm Edwards is overrated by whoever likes him?
Washington at Dallas... I thought if Portis was playing he'd level the field in the East. But with him gone, Dallas bounces back.
Pittsburgh at Jacksonville... This will be the closest thing to Varsity Blues style tackling you'll see all season.

will Brian Westbrook play?

I am getting a sinking feeling about this becoming a weekly question (if it isn't already).

I knew I would regret drafting that guy in 2 of my fantasy leagues.

As a self-styled "fantasy guru", I have ALWAYS advised against picking Westbrook, mainly because I find him to be consistently injured and consistently inconsistent on a week-to-week basis.

I have never had to eat those words. Looks like that trend will continue this year.

I've heard rumors Ed Hochuli dislocated both his elbows while trying to bench press 450 lbs.


Poor guy didn't even get to do his real workout.

I'm not believing what I am seeing in the Bears. Grossman is hitting everything and Berrian is making great catches. Seeing a 3rd and 12 for a first down was unthinkable the last few years. Plus this defense is getting turnovers. They give up some yards here and there, but they make big plays every week.

The Chris Simms era is over.

Ah, Chris, we hardly knew ye.

Question for those watching the Atl/TB game. WTF is wrong with the Atlanta kicker? He was bombing them in the preseason from 40 and 50 yards. Now he's missed 6 friggin FG's? Are they all blocked, hitting posts, or not even close? He's killing me in FF.

*and is the TB TE Alex Smith even playing? is he getting looks from simms?

And Detroit needs to quit being stupid. So many penalties. Though I'm sure Roy Williams will say they were so close again to scoring 40. Get rid of John Kitna.

They should've signed a K in the off-season. Koenen kicks off, punts, and kicks FGs. Just because he made his "high-pressure" kicks in the pre-season, they thought they could make him the all-round guy. He only kicked FGs over 45 yards last year, and I think the pressure and "exercise" of kicking 3 ways is getting to him. Atlanta should've just kept the guy they had last year, as he only missed like 3 FGs I think, and had Koenen for the long ones again.

The Bears are going to be damn tough to beat this season, and for all the Grossman naysayers (and you know who you are), yea well, eat it.

Well the Bucs' season officially ended today.....And today started the countdown to Chris simms' career as a backup for life.

The team is in complete shambles and Gruden officially went on the hotseat today......3 points.....the least points scored in the NFL this season.....The Bucs need to find a vet QB and fast.....Bill Muir shouldn't even be allowed to get on the plane and for the first time in over a decade the Bucs must now address their Defensive problems.

2-14 at best........and anyone that thinks i'm crazy......just look at the at the Bucs schedule.

I think most Grossman naysayers rightly objected to his lack of experience due to his fragility.

With their o-line in the shape it's in, if a TE does anything but block it's a miracle.

I was one of the naysayers last year when he took over the job. Chavez you are correct atleast for me anyways. Last year when I was arguing agaisnt him it was more about the Bear fans proclaiming he was a saviour but in his limited playing time how the hell did anyone know. Hell who is to say he is even the saviour now, he played well agasint the Packers and the Lions not exactly two powerhouses.

But it was they way Grossman threw the ball. He gunned it in when he had too and hit his recievers on stride. Hasselbeck didn't get into the endzone against this Lions teams and he was very good last year. Grossman doesn't have to the savior to win with this defense. Put 20 on the board and it's 12 or 13 wins this year.

Wheter he stays healthy or not is another question but he has the tools to be a very solid QB.

As to Green Bay, they looked LIGHT YEARS better. That pass D is going to kill them if it doesn't improve though.

Andrew Walters...welcome to the black hole (thats not a good thing)

I hear Jeff George is available.

Sadly he'd probably be a improvement over Chris "tipped pass" Simms.

Oh I forgot to say it again.......hey NBC......Pink ain't no Hank Jr.

Hey, now as good as Grossman is at beating top teir teams like Green Bay and Detroit, I want him to beat a good-great defense before we can say he a great QB.

I'd love to argue with this but it's true. Green Bay and Detroit ain't exactly the pinnacle of NFL defenses.

Having said that, he throws a great ball.

I'm on Grossman's side, but it just reminds me of last year when the Indy defense shut down the offensive powerhouses of Baltimore and Houston the first two weeks and people were taking like it was one of the best NFL defenses ever (yes Indy would go on to have a good defense, but it was clear who had one of the best NFL defenses, the bears!).