Theoblogical

NFL Playoff Scenarios, Week 17 #nflplayoffs

Theoblogical — Tue, 29 Dec 2009 18:29:51 +0000

I would have thought someone would have taken the time to do this last week as well (eventhough at that point it was MUCH more complicated. But here’s what’s left for the playoff seedings. What’s amazing to me is the remaining possible shot that Jacksonville (7-8) has: If they win to finish 8-8, then Pittsburgh loses to Miami, and 3 of these 4 lose: Baltimore, Jets, Houston, Denver. Houston plays New England, who plays for a 3 seed, The Jets play Cinci, who is also playing for a 3, but the Jets are playing to “Win and you’re in”. Then between Baltimore (at Oakland) and Denver (they host KC), only one of those needs to lose. Not REAL likely, but could happen. That there’s any shot at all is amazing. Miami has a bit longer shot, needing a win over Pittsburgh at home, plus losses by Baltimore (at Oak) , Jets (host Cincy) , Houston (host New England) and Jacksonville (at Cleveland) , but still a miracle in itself that they have any shot at all.

AFC:

The top four seeds in the AFC are set, and very little movement can take place there. A look at the AFC’s division winners:
Indianapolis Colts (14-1)
- Have clinched AFC’s No. 1 seed
San Diego Chargers (12-3)
- Have clinched AFC’s No. 2 seed
New England Patriots (10-5)
- Can clinch No. 3 seed with: Win over Houston OR Cincinnati loss to Jets
Cincinnati Bengals (10-5)
- Can clinch No. 3 seed with: Win over Jets AND New England loss to Houston

The situation is infinitely more complicated in terms of the AFC’s two wild-card spots. Seven AFC teams will enter Week 17 with an opportunity to claim a wild-card berth, though the Jets and Ravens control their destinies. Here’s how each remaining team could make the postseason:
New York Jets (8-7)
- Win over Bengals
Baltimore Ravens (8-7)
- Win over Raiders
Denver Broncos (8-7)
- Win over Chiefs plus losses by at least two of the following: Baltimore (at Oakland), Jets (vs. Cincinnati), Pittsburgh (at Miami)
- Win over Chiefs plus Jets loss AND wins by Baltimore, Pittsburgh and Houston (vs. New England)
- Win over Chiefs plus Houston win AND loss by either Baltimore or Jets
- Loss to Chiefs plus Pittsburgh loss AND losses by at least three of the following: Baltimore, Houston, Jacksonville and Jets
- Loss to Chiefs plus losses by Baltimore, Houston, Jacksonville and Jets
Houston Texans (8-7)
- Win over Patriots plus losses by at least two of the following: Baltimore, Jets, Denver
Pittsburgh Steelers (8-7)
- Win over Dolphins plus losses by at least two of the following: Baltimore, Jets, Houston
- Win over Dolphins plus losses by Denver (vs. Kansas City), Baltimore and Jets
Miami Dolphins (7-8)
- Win over Steelers plus losses by Baltimore, Jets, Houston and Jacksonville (at Cleveland)
Jacksonville Jaguars (7-8)
- Win over Browns plus Pittsburgh loss AND losses by at least three of the following: Baltimore, Jets, Houston, Denver
- Win over Browns plus losses by Baltimore, Jets, Houston and Denver

NFC:

There are no wild-card spots still up for grabs in the NFC — Dallas’ win at Washington Sunday night eliminated the Giants from contention and locked in the conference’s top six. That said, there are still plenty of scenarios for Week 17 that would shift seeding in the NFC:
New Orleans Saints (13-2)
- Have clinched NFC’s No. 1 seed
Philadelphia Eagles (11-4)
- Can clinch NFC East and No. 2 seed with win at Dallas
Minnesota Vikings (11-4)
- Can clinch No. 2 seed with win over Giants AND Philadelphia loss
Arizona Cardinals (10-5)
- Can clinch No. 2 seed with win over Green Bay plus Minnesota loss AND Philadelphia loss
- Can clinch No. 3 seed with win over Green Bay AND Dallas win
Green Bay Packers (10-5)
- Can clinch No. 5 seed with win over Arizona OR Philadelphia win
Dallas Cowboys (10-5)
- Can clinch NFC East with win over Philadelphia
- Can clinch No. 2 seed with win over Philadelphia plus Minnesota loss AND Arizona loss
- Can clinch No. 3 seed with win over Philadelphia AND Arizona loss

NFL Playoff Scenarios, Week 17 — NFL FanHouse

Colts radio crew calls fans “pathetic”

Theoblogical — Mon, 28 Dec 2009 16:58:39 +0000

I was listening on the radio to the Colts-Jets game on the way home in the snow from Cincinnati last night. The fans were booing the removal of Peyton Manning. The announcers were berating the fans, calling their booing “pathetic”.

One: The fans wanted to see their team go undefeated. That is NOT “pathetic”. Especially considering that Manning has not even missed a game that I can remember in 11 years. Point: He’s pretty durable. There are also numerous ways to “play it safe” with Peyton IN THE GAME. The backup was clearly NOT going to get the job done.

How early did the ‘72 Dolphins (who REMAIN the only unblemished champ) clinch their playoff spot? THEY just got the job done. The fans are the ones that pay them. They won a SuperBowl 3 years ago. They had another plateau within their grasp. Does “Playing not to lose” ring a bell? That’s basically what this was. It was fear of repercussions on the unlikely event of an injury. I would have really been pissed as a fan of the NFL had New Orleans not lost (twice now) and they got the SuperBowl unblemished. (BTW, did they pull Brees out to “save him” for the post season?) I know they have not clinched the #1 yet, but #2 or #1 does not seem to be a trump card up against the conventional wisdom of “saving them” for the playoffs. I was for NO to go all the way anyway, and take it from Indy in the Super Bowl.

Does Peyton need the “rest”? One hears all the “gear up for the playoffs”. Give me a break. They have two weeks before their next game. Lame. The Colts just lost a sizeable portion of a would be audience interested in a trek to an undefeated championship. I was not for the Patriots to do it two years ago. There was SO MUCH hype I was pleased to say the least when it all suddenly stopped dead when Eli and the Giants silenced the hypsters. I LOVED it. But all that took the allure of an undefeated “feat”, and I thoroughly enjoyed the Giants march down the field for the winning score.

You know what else? The Colts announcers are no good at calling the game either. So many plays where I had no idea what was happening until they surprised me at the end of the play with where the play actually ended. Example: “Jones hit at the line…..they place the ball at the xx yard line” (an EIGHT YARD gain!!! He had spun off and fallen ahead. Would have been easy to say “Hit at the line, SPINS, falls forward”. Only one example of many. )

The problem with Twitter and conversation #smchurch #wiredchurch @chrisbrogan

Theoblogical — Mon, 28 Dec 2009 15:54:29 +0000

Chris Brogan tweeted this yesterday:

Dear @stoweboyd : I miss you writing a blog instead of 2 or 3 sentences. Come back soon. about 23 hours ago from Seesmic

Twitter / Chris Brogan: Dear @stoweboyd : I miss y …

The link above is to the Twitter entry…..I re-tweeted a few minutes ago that this highlights the problem of Twitter and “conversation”. Twitter is, or seems to me to be a NOTIFICATION of conversation, aside from its role as a pointer to worthy items of note. So many tweets are disconnected from their natural flow (the context) that would enable other readers to enjoy the humor, or see the significance in the larger conversation from which it sprung. The Twitter clients are maturing, but the path back to the original flow is not always an easy find.

Chris is encouraging his friend to not let Twitter drown out his capacity to more fully express himself. This is precisely why I was not enamored with Twitter early on. I saw this abandonment of better conversations and self-expression by really good writer/bloggers who I now dearly miss. I have experienced the “joy” of Twitter to be sure, but I still begrudge it for the same reason that Chris seems to do here. That is why, early on, I installed Twitter tools in my Wordpress installation. I hope to see the integration continue to deepen (like with comments for instance; a way to get blog comments to become tweets that point back to the post from which they sprung. And vice-versa: That comments given via Twitter as retweets or replies be pulled into the blog comment thread. And I all for the expansion of the idea of twitter metadata that allows twitter clients to easily recover the larger context of the lone tweet that is disconnected from its original inspiration for the twitter user who happens upon it.

Twitter Weekly Updates for 2009-12-27

Theoblogical — Sun, 27 Dec 2009 14:11:00 +0000

Ustream links on the tweets not viewable via iPhone. Not exactly what I would want #
Look my new video on Ustream. http://ustre.am/:eBYJ #
Look my new video on Ustream. http://ustre.am/:eBO7 #
I'm broadcasting, from my iPhone, live on Ustream. Come watch! http://ustre.am/95nP #
Look my new video on Ustream. http://ustre.am/:eBDq #
Hey! I'm live on Ustream from my iPhone - http://ustre.am/95nP #
@1801mills See you at 3:00 bobo! #
RT @dlature visiting Larry at 1801 Mills Ave in Cincinnati OH at 1//moved back to 3 @bobotalk #
ah, just saw that my friend Larry posted about his new twitter accts yesterday; step1 already taken. Our meetup at 1 just moved back to 3. #
Hope everyone had a merry, blessed Chrsitmas #
Seeing some disturbing tendencies in making it sound like online church is the answer for those w/o a church. Blog posts coming 2 explain #
visiting Larry at 1801 Mills Ave in Cincinnati OH at 1;I will insist that he get his Twitter activity going. 1st Step- get an account #
Hopefully in another 9 days we'll be proud of theTitans finishing at .500. But tonight was an embassment. Only CJ had anything praiseworthy #
Ha….as soon as I tweeted my wish for 50-100 more CJ yards, he gets 30 on a TD run #
Consolation possibiity: CJ gets 50-100 more yards tonight #
Bengals are now my only interest in the rest of the games and post season #
SD punted their first posession. Since: 6 consecutive touchdowns. VERY disappointing. Wasn't sure we'd win, but expected a team to show up. #
Hoped Bullock absence would not be a disaster. WRONG #
Not only no breaks, but awfully stupid defensive 1st half. 3 and out to start 2nd half let slide continue #
No breaks at all….VY tripped up from behind….cannot win when none of the breaks happen for us #
Offensive pass interference- ad rcvr pushed finnegan down and got the call—bs. Chargers need no help #
RT @digital_boy: MMS magically started working in Houston// so Houston does NOT have a problem? #
@digital_boy That'll be my fallback AFTER the chances are exhausted…most likely thing is that they will lose to SD, but I won't cede that in reply to digital_boy #
Bullock being out makes Titan's playoff hopes all the more improbable….need his D against Chargers #
When will the Tiger Woods stuff end? I don't care!!!!! Never did. #
In Seesmic Win, I don't want to see tweets mentioning people I follow….just the tweets and retweets of the people I follow. How to fix? #
RT @gavoweb R Johnson & Young enough to carry the Titans to playoffs//No, since so much more has to happen than winning last two #
@human3rror John, I read it, really liked it, and tweeted some thoughts of my own yesterday at http://bit.ly/8AhhSO in reply to human3rror #

Replay decisions in Football ignore the rule of indisputable video evidence

Theoblogical — Sat, 26 Dec 2009 18:36:59 +0000

The rule for replays is supposed to be that the call on the field shall stand unless replay shows INDISPUTABLE video evidence sufficient to reverse the call. That is widely ignored now. Time after time, I see replays ignore what is called on the field and reverse calls with nary a shred of evidence. The TV crew announcers are repeatedly left scratching their heads, when calls they all unanimously concluded that there was not enough evidence , or in many cases even seemed to confirm the call on the field, are claimed by the officiating crew to be sufficient to change the call. So go figure.