Which team currently faces a 2005-06 Colts-Patriots rivalry/statement game/"must win now" dilemma?

[megatechpc]

16 hours ago, Kiltman said:

It's a weird series, it just seems like whenever it matters things always go the Eagles' way...even the few wins the Falcons have over the Eagles the last 20 years...it was some of our best games in crappy seasons. There is a thing up here with some people that think it's a "Matt Ryan just can't play well when he comes home" thing...I don't know about that but it's weirdly comforting pulling the Falcons cause we have that history, we seem to just always get your worst game in some way.

You're 100% correct and all real Falcons fans are very well aware of just how badly our team historically does against the Eagles (especially in Philly) for whatever reason.  Only people suffering from recent-ism will blame the Falcons woes on Matt Ryan because I remember the same exact thing going on in the Michael Vick era as well (I already mentioned the 2004 NFCCG in which Atlanta played absolutely terribly all game long). 

That said, I don't think the Falcons played terribly in the playoff game last year (defense played very well), its just that Sark's offensive game plan was absolutely incomprehensible against that defense, which does have vulnerabilities to be exploited (mostly their tendency to be over-aggressive in the secondary) if he had just studied what the Seahawks, Rams and Giants had done against them a few weeks prior.  Don't get me wrong , Philly's defense can be very good, but Sark only called for a handful of double-move plays in the game and that is just one example of his apparent lack of preparation for the game (incidentally, their biggest plays that day came on double-moves, yet Sark never came back to it for whatever reasonm which means he wasn't even paying attention to what was working in real-time).  He also never tried to set up the double-move early on with early quick-slants to Jones or Sanu like the Seahawks and Giants did which further proves that he simply didn't recognize that inherent vulnerability in the first place.  

Sorry, I could go on and on about that game as I personally believe it was game the Falcons should've won, but the main point is that Atlanta always struggles in Philadelphia so the season-opener definitely has me concerned.  Even if there was no history there, the Eagles are the defending SB champs and have only gotten better (on-paper at least) in the off season so its a tough draw either way.  At the end of the day, if the Falcons are going to be as good as I think they are going to be this year they are going to have to play the best teams competitively and prove they are the team to beat this year in the NFC, so might as well get the tough matchups out of the way early and see how they stack up.  Its not like the season will be over for them if they lose, but winning that opener could set the tone for a special year and go a long way towards changing the public perception of the team for 2018.

I'm sure that as an Eagles fan you are probably already penciling in your team as 1-0 to start the year, and for what its worth, my own season predictions have the Eagles as the #1 seed in the NFC at 12-4 this year (I put Atlanta at #2, also at 12-4 with a losing tie-break) but we all know that after week-1 most preseason predictions go right out the window anyway!

 

[Kiltman]

2 hours ago, megatechpc said:

You're 100% correct and all real Falcons fans are very well aware of just how badly our team historically does against the Eagles (especially in Philly) for whatever reason.  Only people suffering from recent-ism will blame the Falcons woes on Matt Ryan because I remember the same exact thing going on in the Michael Vick era as well (I already mentioned the 2004 NFCCG in which Atlanta played absolutely terribly all game long). 

That said, I don't think the Falcons played terribly in the playoff game last year (defense played very well), its just that Sark's offensive game plan was absolutely incomprehensible against that defense, which does have vulnerabilities to be exploited (mostly their tendency to be over-aggressive in the secondary) if he had just studied what the Seahawks, Rams and Giants had done against them a few weeks prior.  Don't get me wrong , Philly's defense can be very good, but Sark only called for a handful of double-move plays in the game and that is just one example of his apparent lack of preparation for the game (incidentally, their biggest plays that day came on double-moves, yet Sark never came back to it for whatever reasonm which means he wasn't even paying attention to what was working in real-time).  He also never tried to set up the double-move early on with early quick-slants to Jones or Sanu like the Seahawks and Giants did which further proves that he simply didn't recognize that inherent vulnerability in the first place.  

Sorry, I could go on and on about that game as I personally believe it was game the Falcons should've won, but the main point is that Atlanta always struggles in Philadelphia so the season-opener definitely has me concerned.  Even if there was no history there, the Eagles are the defending SB champs and have only gotten better (on-paper at least) in the off season so its a tough draw either way.  At the end of the day, if the Falcons are going to be as good as I think they are going to be this year they are going to have to play the best teams competitively and prove they are the team to beat this year in the NFC, so might as well get the tough matchups out of the way early and see how they stack up.  Its not like the season will be over for them if they lose, but winning that opener could set the tone for a special year and go a long way towards changing the public perception of the team for 2018.

I'm sure that as an Eagles fan you are probably already penciling in your team as 1-0 to start the year, and for what its worth, my own season predictions have the Eagles as the #1 seed in the NFC at 12-4 this year (I put Atlanta at #2, also at 12-4 with a losing tie-break) but we all know that after week-1 most preseason predictions go right out the window anyway!

 

the NFCCH was such a sigh of relief after how the 3 previous ones went, it's definitely not a new thing though for sure.

Yeah they played really well and could've gone either way last year, once we beat you guys I was weirdly confident. Cause it's like if we can play crappy for a whole half and win maybe we had a shot. Sark not putting up points gave us time to churn the offense and get nick going...had you been up like 24-6 at half or something we probably lose that easy.

It's nice to start off against a good team I agree, it shows off what a team will be like more.
Too many years we'd have gimmes for 3 weeks and think we were going somewhere to get curbstomped or play like garbage for the next 4 out of 6 games

I honestly at this point don't really know what will happen, can't pencil them in yet.
Nick looked crappy all preseason, Wentz seemingly will be back...but they've gone dark on that. I think he's starting 11on11 again tomorrow so that's a positive sign.
Then we got a ton of guys who had surgery in the offseason that arent back yet...we could be limping into week 1 as it stands now.

I do think we'll get #1 seed again, just because we don't have the interconference competition the other NFC favorites do. The North, and slightly easier the South, are gonna be rough to get through. Which could give a nice edge to those team...no rest all season.

[N4L]

The Packers in the 90s certainly had the 9ers number. It's funny that you used the phrase monkey on the back because after Steve young finally won the big one, he literally used the same phrase

 It's why I will always have malicious hatred for Fav-ray and the rest of those moldy cheese heads. Sure felt good when Kaepernick ran all over them in the playoffs two years in a row. 

As for who the next one will be? It's someone in the NFC. It's so stacked on this side of the bracket, there are 7+ deep, talented teams with quarterbacks. 

Right now it's basically whoever you lost to last. Saints would love to see the vikes again. Falcons have been salivating thinking about the eagles. Vikings and eagles have bad blood now, or at least the fanbases do. 49ers Rams shaping up to be something to keep three eyes on.. 

[3rivers]

On 2018-08-10 at 12:30 AM, sryan66611 said:

I dunno my best guess is Steelers as they always get **** on by the pats

is there another matchup in this league that is as lopsided as this one? Notice how I never called it a rivalry   At least the game last year was actually worth watching until ben threw that stupid pick, just atrocious for a HOF player

There have been times where a team never matched up well with another, and only advanced when they never met in the post season. Steelers won SB's but never faced the pats those years.

When the packers went in the 90's they never faced the cowboys. 

 

[3rivers]

On 2018-08-10 at 12:54 AM, Shady Slim said:

yeah it’s the steelers over the pats... say if the pats lose to jacksonville in the divisional and the steelers go on to beat them in the AFCCG then win it all in the SB, you’ll have a cadre of dumb takes along the lines of “but they didn’t beat new england, so they don’t count”

maybe they should let the top seed decide who plays where in the play offs That could make for some interesting matches wouldn't it? 

[KellChippy]

I remember the Eagles having the Bucs number for a while before their sb win. Eagles vs anyone in the nfc championship was good for a while too.

Pats/Steelers is the best right now. 

[scar988]

On 8/18/2018 at 4:46 AM, Kiltman said:

It's a weird series, it just seems like whenever it matters things always go the Eagles' way...even the few wins the Falcons have over the Eagles the last 20 years...it was some of our best games in crappy seasons. There is a thing up here with some people that think it's a "Matt Ryan just can't play well when he comes home" thing...I don't know about that but it's weirdly comforting pulling the Falcons cause we have that history, we seem to just always get your worst game in some way.

Which is interesting because lately, the thought was "Ryan can't beat Rodgers" and he put that to rest. Would love to see Ryan go up there and smoke the eagles... btw, Ryan in Philly's average game is 22/37 (58%) for 264 yards, 2 TDs and an INT in the regular season. And this past year was his only game in the postseason vs. the Eagles and it was basically the same. So there might be something to it because those #s are all below his road career average.

[3rivers]

2 hours ago, KellChippy said:

I remember the Eagles having the Bucs number for a while before their sb win. Eagles vs anyone in the nfc championship was good for a while too.

Pats/Steelers is the best right now. 

what is the best about the steelers/[pats? To me it's no contest until proven otherwise . 

[Kiltman]

2 minutes ago, 3rivers said:

2 hours ago, KellChippy said:

Pats/Steelers is the best right now. 

what is the best about the steelers/[pats? To me it's no contest until proven otherwise . 

that's the whole point of the thread, it's one-sided rivalries

 

[megatechpc]

10 hours ago, 3rivers said:

is there another matchup in this league that is as lopsided as this one? Notice how I never called it a rivalry   At least the game last year was actually worth watching until ben threw that stupid pick, just atrocious for a HOF player

There have been times where a team never matched up well with another, and only advanced when they never met in the post season. Steelers won SB's but never faced the pats those years.

When the packers went in the 90's they never faced the cowboys. 

 

Be honest, the Steelers had already won that game with the TD to James.  The NFL did everything it could to help the Pats through last season.  They stole a win away from the Jets for the Patriots as well.  Funny how every lucky break always goes to the Patriots.  Somebody screwed up in the SB though, they forgot to steal it for Brady like usual.

[3rivers]

2 minutes ago, megatechpc said:

Be honest, the Steelers had already won that game with the TD to James.  The NFL did everything it could to help the Pats through last season.  They stole a win away from the Jets for the Patriots as well.  Funny how every lucky break always goes to the Patriots.  Somebody screwed up in the SB though, they forgot to steal it for Brady like usual.

I never watched the other pats games, but if the nfl is up to no good, then that is one more aspect to this league I can see fans disliking .  The league appears shady at times no doubt, we just never know who for until later.

We never won the pats game, and found a way to lose it. The james play, ok, that could have been a TD or possession at where his knew went down etc etc but I don't care. My point was we had a chance under the existing rules at the time (which is what matters) and ben for some reason made the absolute worst play , just about as bad as one could do right there.  I couldn't believe it seeing that he was clutch so many times over the years, like what  happened.

[Bolts223]

Steelers over Pats is the obvious one. 

I think as far as the AFC West goes I think the Chargers finally being able to beat the Chiefs is a huge one. The week 1 game against them might be the most important feeling week 1 game in my entire life as a Chargers fan.

[megatechpc]

10 minutes ago, Bolts223 said:

Steelers over Pats is the obvious one. 

I think as far as the AFC West goes I think the Chargers finally being able to beat the Chiefs is a huge one. The week 1 game against them might be the most important feeling week 1 game in my entire life as a Chargers fan.

I think your Chargers are going to beat the Chiefs somewhat easily to be honest.  I just have a gut feeling that the Chiefs are going to majorly regret shipping Smith to DC and that Mahomes will be a bust.  Not basing that on anything solid, just a feeling.  Somehow the Chargers always seem to sn*tch defeat out of the jaws of victory early on but I think they are going to figure things out this season.  Could be wrong, but that’s what I think...