please log in to view this image Week 16 of the NFL season is coming up, but hooo, wait, not just yet. Thursday Night Football: cancelled this week. It's Christmas time and the NFL suits up for a weekend long football with one match on Saturday and 15! matches on Sunday. How are we ever going to keep track of that!? NFL Redzone host Scott Hanson must be having a huge migraine on next Monday. So jingle bells, jingle bells, jingle kick off at Saturday! please log in to view this image And kick off starts with the Falcons who play in Detroit against the Lions. Paul Ryan can clinch homefield advantage during the playoffs when they win this game. Stafford received some criticism on his throwing technique after the 38-10 loss of last week against the Arizona Cardinals. The Lions are out for the playoffs with a 4-10 score and Stafford is under pressure to perform. But what can he doe against the defense of the Falcons? Which is 4th ranked defense in giving up points this season, with the 49'ers ranking first. And in least yardage in penalties, the Falcons rank third with the chiefs and panthers coming in second and first. This defense is tight. Can Stafford find a way into the endzone, thats the main question of this game. If he can't he might just end up in the QB trading circus that seems inevitable in 2013. Let's move on to Sunday shall we? please log in to view this image The 1:00 PM games: Because on Sunday this girl might be in for a disappointment. The San Diego Chargers are playing against the Jets at Metlife stadium, and Tebow isn't starting. Rex Ryan finally made the decision to bench Sanchez and send in McElroy. A smack in the face for Tebow who just recently recovered from a fractured rib injury. At this moment, nobody's job is safe at the Jets. Somebody has to go for this trainwreck of a season, who will it be? Tannenbaum, Ryan, Sanchez, Tebow or maybe all together? One thing is sure, the Jets will not be the same next August when the pre-season games begin! I will not highlight every game, but only the ones with playoff contenders. The Dallas Cowboys play at home against the Saints. Brees had a rough seasons and that's maybe because all of the commotion in the off season. The Saints got fined, disciplined and some of the staff got banned. This is a season to forget in New Orleans. On the other side, things are looking up for the Cowboys. With a three game winning streak they have returned from the grave and are the number one contenders for a wild card in the NFC. Romo had a particularly bad start of the season but has since recovered. The Cowboys must win or else the comeback may have been premature and a lot of Texan's hearts will be crushed. The Minnesota Vikings have a tough nut to crack to make it to the playoffs. The obstacle: The Houston Texans and Schaub. The away game is crucial for the Vikings: A win means they qualify for the NFC wild card, a loss and everything is possible. Can the Texans stop Peterson, can the Vikings stop Arian Foster? It's will be the battle of the Running Backs. The Texans can win homefield advantage, the Vikings can lose everything. The Indiana Colts will play the Kansas City Chiefs. This may not sound like the most interesting game of the season but it just might be. The Colts need a win to clinch a wild card and a record for Andrew Luck. He will tie the QB rookie record of winning games in the starting season: 10. And this season was a lucky one for the Colts: most sacked QB in the NFL, most penalized yards defense in the NFL. How they still managed to win 9 games is a mystery, or maybe just sheer 'Luck'. Redskins vs Eagles, I'll keep this one short: RG3 versus Foles, Cousins back on the bench, Vick had his third strike and is OUT! RG3 needs a win to stay ahead of the Cowboys, and the Eagles... nevermind. And the game to watch for the 1:00PM games: Bengals @ Steelers. This is the division game of the season. Bengals defend a 2 game lead over the Steelers, a win or a tie(it's possible) is enough for them to clinch the division title. Roethlisburger only missed the post season twice, in 2006 and 2009, will this be his third year? The afternoon games Bears @ Cardinals, Cutler needs a win to stay in contention of a wild card. The Bears have had a nasty collapse since Urlacher is on the Injury Reserve. A three game losing streak has almost killed the playoff dream. Manning versus Flacco. In this game the pressure is on Manning. The Giants were slowly lurking towards a division title until things went south for them. three losses in the past five games hurt them as the Redskins and the Cowboys gained momentum. Inconsistency, the word that defines this season for the Giants. One game they look like Super Bowl contenders, the next game they can hit rock bottom, like in the game against the Falcons last week which they lost 0-34. A loss means they're most certainly out, a win means they have one more game to get their **** together. And now: please log in to view this image The San Francisco 49'ers @ Seattle Seahawks. This game has it all. Seattle is one win away from a wild card spot but can they do it against the best defense of this season? Russel Wilson is on a roll for the Seahawks with two 50+ point scoring games in a row. With Lynch as his 'running mate' they destroyed the Cardinals and Bills defenses. Can they keep this rampage up against the 49'ers or will this game end in tears? On the other side, the 49'er look like a Super Bowl winning team. Best defense in the league, Kaepernick as a rising star QB and Frank Gore as RB this is the team to watch in the playoffs. Last year the Special Teams lost them a ticket to the Super Bowl, coach Jim Harbaugh has improved on that part this season. With Alex Smith on the sidelines it doesn't even matter much if Kaepernick gets injured. Michael Lombardi said it earlier this week: "This is the most complete team in the NFL!" And that's this weeks thread! Happy Holidays everybody!
Nice one Cove! Food for thought, combined the Week X threads with the prediction threads or keep the seperate?
Separate please, it's two different kind of discussions that will interfere in one thread. Best to keep them apart in my opinion. This thread should be nothing but NFL discussion. NFL fantasy discussion is also separated on the NFL website and broadcast for a reason me thinks.
agree with the Vikings part. I can't see us beating Green Bay so we must win against Houston. it's all on A.P's shoulders.
Another belter Cove, I totally agree with game of the week, this week. A west coast special, I think the Seahawks will just shade it. They are peaking at the right time. I'm not even going to mention TB, next season seems a long way off.
For those that want to stay up on Sat night/Sun morning, the Beeb are showing the Falcons @ Lions on the red button..
I only found out via a tweet from NFL UK... But normally it's worth while checking the listings on BBC, Sky and CH4
looking at the stats from last night, the lions beat the falcons in every category apart from points scored! kinda been the story of their season. also Johnson overtook Jerry rices record of most passing yards received and Matt stafford is only 7 attempts behind drew Bledsoes single season record. if either of those players were on a decent team it'd be scary!
Watched the game this morning, Johnson looked very sharp. Stafford very sloppy in his passing, his decision making in the Endzone has been poor all season. Was impressed with Suh though, had a couple of great pass rushes. Wish he did something about his temper, go to an Anger Management group or something, he has serious issues
Watched the game, was great to see Johnson break the yards record (among the 5 or 6 other records he broke that night) but the Lions never looked like they were truly competitive. The Falcons were once again good, Ryan was dead-on and the play-calling was fantastic at times, but they failed to really put the Lions to the sword when they had the opportunity to. Still one big hanging question mark over them, gonna be very interesting to see how they come together in the play-offs. Lions look a way off to me, without Johnson I feel with no exaggeration they would be one of the worst 4/5 teams in the league, they need some more talent and to become more of an NFL team and less of a disorganised rabble. Some great games tonight that could decide who goes to the play-offs and who doesn't, should make great viewing!
I still think the Falcons can go all the way, I just have a feeling about it. I watched the first half and they looked pretty good.
The notable injuries this week: Packers DE C.J. Wilson is out with a Knee injury Miami Wide receiver Davone Bess won't play due to a back injury Bengals kicker Nugent Questionable, his right calf is strained Patriots TE Aaron Hernandez is questionable, he has problems with his ankle. Same goes for WR Wes Welker. Colts Andrew Luck reported a small injury with his knee Cowboys WR Kevin Ogletree did not participate in practise earlier this week due to illness, his status is questionable. Buccaneers DE Aaron Morgan is doubtful, did not participate in practise with a shoulder injury Giants RB Ahmad Bradshaw picked up a knee injury this week but will play, same goes for Hakeem Nicks also with a knee. CB Amukakara is questionable with a hamstring. Baltimore Linebacker Jameel McLain is out with a neck injury, safety Bernard Pollard is doubtful with a chest injury Houston Texans have to do without centre back Alan Ball, he is out with a foot injury. Browns WR Mohamed Massaqoui is out with a knee injury.TE Jordan Cameron is out with a head injury. Bears Linebacker Urlacher is still out Arizona's WR Early Doucet is out with a concussion 49ers WR Mario Manningham is questionable with a shoulder injury SEA WR SIDNEY RICE STILL QUESTIONABLE WITH A KNEE INJURY, LIMITED PARTICIPATION IN PRACTISE Jets TE Dustin Keller is questionable with an ankle injury
Roethlisburger quickly sacked by the Bengals And the Jets screw up after 2 minutes, 7-0 for the Chargers
Vikings defense hold Schaub on a 3 and 10, Texans forced to a FG. 0-3 for the Texans Patriots can't contain Henne and the Jags offense, 0-7 Jacksonville Colts make it 7-0 Saints start with touchdown on their opening run against the Cowboys
GB are up 14-0 thanks to a 6yrd run by QB Aaron Rogers and a 20yrd catch by Randall Cobb. And for once our defence seems to be holding firm.
