NFL Postseason Megathread: Playoffs in the Post-Orton Era

[sbr]

Does anyone actually pay attention to the rules anymore, or just spout off whatever idiotic nonsense runs through their head at any random time?

Okay, Mr. his hands just inadvertently hit the facemask. 

E:  And Mr. Faceguarding.  Yeah, maybe you shouldn't be saying shit about idiotic nonsense being spouted off.

E2: Anyway, Colts take the lead.

I don't know where you got the faceguarding thing into your thick shit-filled skull but that play had nothing to do with faceguarding.  The defender impeded the offensive player's ability to catch the ball without making a play on the ball himself.  That is almost verbatim the defensive pass interference rule in the NFL rule book.

[MadBurgerMaker]

I don't know where you got the faceguarding thing into your thick shit-filled skull but that play had nothing to do with faceguarding.  The defender impeded the offensive player's ability to catch the ball without making a play on the ball himself.  That is almost verbatim the defensive pass interference rule in the NFL rule book.

You're the one who said he must be playing the ball:

What part of the defender has to be playing the ball are you having difficulty grasping?

That's your full post. 

You also said this:

His hand inadvertently hit the facemask while both were handfighting, and after #59 grabbed Pettigrew's jersey more than 5 yards down field.  The contact was caused by 59 not playing the ball.

LOL



Now, explain again how the defender impeded his ability to catch the ball and should have turned around to play the ball and all that?  Because, and I'm pretty sure we've got a nice clear angle here, you can see that the TE grabs his facemask just as the ball is thrown, and doesn't release it until the LB knocks his hand away, which is followed by the ball hitting him in the back.  Explain how being facemasked for a good chunk of the time the ball is in the air should result in defensive pass interference for the player being facemasked.

Or better yet:  You should just shut the fuck up.

E:  Weren't you also saying some shit to CdM in another of the NFL threads about how you don't like talking to people who don't know as much as you about the NFL, referring to him, then you immediately proceeded to be wrong about something?  Douche.

[Neil]

I don't know where the coverage you keep watching I keep hearing about Hawks and their run for back to back titles or the amazing Aaron Rodgers.

I'm avoiding the coverage because I'M NOT A FUCKING NAZI.  Or an Imperial Japanese sympathizer.  Not even their warship girls.

Besides, today they'll be focusing on today's games.  You just wait.

[frunk]

I don't know why you bother listening to any of the coverage.  It's always incredibly dumb and driven into the ground, no matter who they are talking about.

[MadBurgerMaker]

I don't know why you bother listening to any of the coverage.  It's always incredibly dumb and driven into the ground, no matter who they are talking about.

It sucks when they force whatever they're hyping into the live games.

[jimmy olsen]

So, here's the thing:  Even though respectable teams won 75% of the games this weekend, that one team is such a media darling that we're all fucked.  Every time we watch TV, there'll be some Peter King-style asshole telling us how the Patriots are such a great team and definitely deserve their victories and how their fanbase aren't a pack of inbred, hateful racists. It's like the Axis won WWII, and NBC is being run by Lord Haw-Haw and CBS by Tokyo Rose.

[MadBurgerMaker]

Hey the Superbowl is on my anniversary this year.  I should buy her a bigass new TV.

[MadBurgerMaker]

Manning wouldn't say for sure whether or not he'd be back next year during the PC after yesterday's game:

http://fantasynews.cbssports.com/fantasyfootball/update/24955403/peyton-manning-not-ready-to-commit-to-2015

After suffering his 13th playoff loss, Broncos quarterback Peyton Manning wasn't ready to commit to returning in 2015 for his 17th season.

"My mindset right now is just disappointment after today's game. I kind of need to process this game, and we'll meet tomorrow," Manning told reporters after Denver lost 24-13 at home to the Colts.

"I can't give that simple answer," he said when pressed further.

Before the playoffs, the 38-year-old indicated he'd return.

But in a postgame interview with 850 KOA, Manning said a lot of factors are in play.

"I can't answer every what-if circumstance," he said. "What if you're not as healthy? What if certain coaches leave? I can't answer every what-if situation. I think I'll have to take some time to see how I feel, see how I feel physically."

Manning averaged 4.6 yards per attempt against Indy as he was unable to connect deep with Emmanuel Sanders and Demaryius Thomas. Manning completed 26 of 46 passes for 211 yards and a touchdown and lost a fumble.

Manning has two years left on his contract. He has a non-guaranteed salary of $19 million for next season.

Some of those passes looked so bad, I was kinda wondering if there was some sort of injury involved.

E:  Well alrighty then.  Torn right quad for the last month according to Schefter. 

[derspiess]

Cheer up!

http://www.sportingnews.com/photos/4610308-retro-nfl-cheerleaders-1980s-dallas-cowboys-philadelphia-eagles-san-francisco-49ers-oakland-raiders/slide/282460

After the game in Indy, I have to say Colts cheerleaders are up there at the top in the NFL, just below Broncos cheerleaders.  Bengals cheerleaders are apparently meant to be looked at from a long distance.

[derspiess]

I hope next season all teams adopt the Patriots' strategy of declaring eligible receivers as ineligible the second before the snap so it's too late for the referee to inform the defense, and it drives everybody as nuts as the fad of calling timeouts at the snap before field goal attempts.

That does need to be addressed in the off-season.

[CountDeMoney]

Fullbacks rock.

Ex-NFL player says he swam 9 miles in ocean to safety
By Ashley Fantz, CNN

(CNN)A former Miami Dolphins apparently lived up to his old team's name and says he swam nine miles in the ocean to shore after falling off his boat.

Fighting back tears, Rob Konrad, 38, recounted an incredible story Monday at a press conference in Plantation, Florida. He said he swam through cold water in the Atlantic Ocean for about 16 hours, alternating between the breast stroke and backstroke. Jellyfish bit him, and he was once circled by a shark, he said.

Appearing healthy, his wife sitting next to him, Konrad told reporters that, treading water in the moments after falling off his boat Wednesday off the South Florida coast, he knew how improbable his survival was.

He had read about what happens to the body under such circumstances. He figured that he had maybe three hours before hypothermia set in.

It might take him more than 10 hours, at best, to get to shore. But he told himself he would make it.

"I've got two beautiful daughters," he said, his eyes watering. "I was hitting shore."

Konrad said he departed alone in his 36-foot Grady White boat from Deerfield Beach, Florida, at about 10:30 a.m. Wednesday and went about nine miles offshore. He set the boat on autopilot for 5 mph and started to fish. He said he hooked a fish around 1 p.m. and while trying to reel it in, a huge wave smashed into the boat and he lost his footing and fell overboard. The boat was moving east, he said, toward the Bahamas.

He wasn't wearing a flotation device and didn't see any other boats around.

"I quickly realized I was in a real bad situation," he recounted. "I made a decision that I was going to start swimming toward shore, west."

Hope for rescue rises and falls

Over the next 16 hours, he said he had two opportunities to be rescued.

He saw a recreational fishing vessel. He was floating about 50 yards from it and tried to swim closer, but no one spotted or heard him.

A little later, a U.S. Coast Guard helicopter circled and shined its light on him, he recounted.

"They had come right over the top of me," he said. But the helicopter flew away.

"That was a difficult time. I realized at that point in time ... I was on my own."

Coast Guard Lt. Cmdr. Gabe Somma told CNN on Monday that Palm Beach authorities contacted the Coast Guard to report that Konrad was missing and that it had a helicopter out looking for the former fullback.

Down to his underwear, Konrad alternated between breast stroke and backstroke, mustering the strength to keep swimming.

He made it through the night, and managed to coach himself to remain calm despite seeing "glowing" creatures in the water.

When he heard waves crashing against the shore, he told himself: "At that point, you can't not make it?"

At around 4:30 a.m. Thursday, Konrad said he hit the shore in Palm Beach. He was shivering uncontrollably so he curled into a ball and tried to warm himself up.

He had trouble walking but eventually made his way to a home where a security guard was working. The guard notified that Palm Beach Police Department, according to a department report.

Konrad was taken to the hospital, where he said he was treated for hypothermia, severe dehydration and rhabdomyolysis, the breakdown of muscle tissue.

Even conditioned athletes would struggle

Konrad's remarkable experience has wowed distance swimmers.

Sid Cassidy, a nationally renowned distance swimmer, has swum the 22-mile course around Atlantic City, New Jersey, five times. He's trained in the same waters in South Florida where Konrad fought against the odds.

"If you're a good swimmer and you're faced with an emergency, you could be capable of doing what he did," Cassidy said.

The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission said it is investigating the boat incident.

Depending on Konrad's location in the Gulf Stream, he would have had to swim west, across the water's south-to-north current, according to CNN meteorologist Chad Myers. The current could have been up to 4 mph.

Normally swimming a mile in the ocean could take 20 to 30 minutes -- if a person is very fit, Cassidy said. Most professional swimmers don't attempt that many miles without help from a team providing hydration and nutrition.

Konrad played for the Dolphins from 1999 to 2004 and is the CEO of Alterna Financial, a South Florida financial services company. It appears Konrad had an average football career. He was the second-round pick in the Dolphins' 1999 NFL draft. He played 57 games for the Dolphins and was released from his contract in 2005.

"I can't imagine that swimming isn't part of his typical workout," Cassidy said.

Konrad said he judged which direction to swim by looking at the sun during the day and the stars at night.

But even if Konrad knew which direction to start swimming, he'd have to contend with constant saltwater in his eyes, intense muscle fatigue, wind and, of course, current, noted Bruce Wigo, president and CEO of the International Swimming Hall of Fame in Fort Lauderdale.

"From the salt alone, you'd have a tongue the size of a baseball," said Wigo.

It makes sense that Konrad stripped down in the water to lessen the drag, Wigo added.

A former pro athlete like Konrad knows what it takes to push past pain, Cassidy surmised. He would know how to focus and to stay calm, too.

Sitting next to her husband Monday, Tammy Konrad said he has always been the kind of guy who never gives up.

"Rob is a very powerful human being," she said. "He set his mind on something and he does go after it."

[11B4V]

Fucking Sea Chickens. 

[MadBurgerMaker]

That's a long swim.

[MadBurgerMaker]

John Fox isn't the Broncos coach anymore: http://fantasynews.cbssports.com/fantasyfootball/update/24957886/report-broncos-coach-john-fox-parting-ways

E:  I know what he said, and I think he's best as an OC, but I wonder if Kubes could resist going back to Denver if they were to ask.

[The Minsky Moment]

Helluva catch/non-catch that got called back.  Guess he shouldn't have reached for the endzone like that.

I miss the 1980s, where the ground could not cause a fumble.

That wasn't a fumble.  Maybe that was a joke but damn it pissed me off all the time when Musburger would be all 'the ground cannot cause a fumble!' on an incomplete pass.  Um pretty sure the ground can cause a pass to be incomplete.

My point was, the rulings were easier to make back then, when there were none of the silly ass "process of the catch" rules and other assorted nonsense involving the ground or "football move" interpretations. 

Wasn't familiar with this rule but having gone and read it - CDM has a good point here; the rule as written  is rather vague, not very bright-line, and calls for judgment.