BuffOrange

Yes, really. They have been an elite reg. season program since Dixon has been there, while 'Cuse until two years ago had been barely better than mediocre during that same time period. I wouldn't go that far, but I would like our chances vs. them with KJ on a neutral court. Unfortunately chalk never seems to hold in the BE tourney.

Seriously, pressure and cover - brilliant!

Lol @ the Steelers being the underdog at home. Big Rape will be fine - the Jets pass-rush is not as good as you seem to think it is.

It helps to play a crappy team that came out of a division the Bills would've won if they were in.

I don't like NE or Pittsburgh either but what is one more SB for those teams? The Jets (that includes players, coaches, and fans) otoh will just be one more unbearable franchise to put up with if God forbid they win it all. It can't happen.

That's mostly because they've been the better team, with the exception of last year.

I get it now. Defense is important (no kidding). And our defense would be better if we hadn't drafted useless losers like Whitner, Maybin, McKelvin, and Puzz. Double no kidding. Why did this need a new thread? I know we're used to seeing our offense be dead last or 2nd to last in the league , but just because they upgraded to "only as bad as our defense" (which the stats prove) doesn't mean they were good, or even average.

Indeed, Rodgers > Ryan and Big Rape > Flacco certainly prove that QB play is overrated. Good God this thread is bad.

I think they changed the rules recently or something. Whatever, it'll always be two to me.

I thought the Patriots showed everyone about 8 years ago (before Brady was ever playing at a HOF level) that achieving "balance" against the Steelers is just banging your head against the wall and doesn't achieve anything. Funny how the announcer cliches are never heard from when a team throws twice as much and beats them. They are built to stop the run - running for the sake of running is what plays into their hands.

Agreed on all fronts. Anyone who ever thought Flacco was on par with Aaron Rodgers before yesterday hasn't been paying attention. But Jesus, somebody else needs to make a play. The inexcusable Housh drop was the least costly mistake since they still needed to put it in the endzone just to tie. But both the Boldin TD drop that would've put them up 28-24 and the defense epic fail to get off the field on 3rd & 19 would've put them in the driver's seat to win the game. Those two plays were the difference - big thumbs down to Tomlin and especially Ray Ray's post-game "we killed ourselves" comments when the turnover mistakes basically cancelled each other out.

I don't ever remember an SU team that rebounded better. For once we're getting more 2nd/3rd chance looks than the other team (at least it never seemed that way in the past). Pitt is basically a house $ game, particularly if Joseph can't play. Hopefully he is ok and ready for the Nova game at least.

So how much did you offer her?

I watched about 1.75 games which is as little wildcard weekend I've watched since I can remember. Maybe I am getting older but I just don't feel obligated to watch everything anymore. This week CBS decided that NYJ-NE is the big game because, umm, they're big markets? So that's the Sunday game? OK whatever, I will enjoy the Saturday games this weekend and find something else to do for the putrid Sunday games.

They went 11-5, but the scheduled aligned in such a way that they played both West divisions. Miami certainly wasn't an 11 win team, but they managed to win 11 games.

Perhaps people forget that because it's not true? 2001 was a garbage/fluke year - everyone knows that. But that was his first year. From '02 on they were a passing team.

You seem awfully eager to argue with this imaginary person who thinks he is the 2nd coming of Bellichick. If Fox would've been a better choice than Williams, then how exactly were those critics of the Williams hire wrong? True, the grass is always greener on the other side for the worst franchise in the league the last decade. Just like it is for the LA Clippers, the Washington Generals, and the Bangladesh olympic team.

Yah, there's a whole lot of "what did you do in 2010" recency bias itt. I'd take Coughlin, Reid, and Fisher over Harbough or Smith. Wake me up when the latter two are still coaching 10 years from now. If we did this in 2006, Eric Mangini would've been in most people's top 5.

This pretty much nails it. Now that is a little extreme. Tavaris Jackson stunk and Favre freakishly had the best year of his career; so of course that's going to make a huge difference. The easier point to make would be that there are very few Adrian Petersons; and the 2nd tier guys like MJD just don't win you that many games. Somebody might say that likewise there aren't many Tom Brady's, but a 2nd level guy like Aaron Rodgers is still pretty damn good and worth a lot of wins. It appears Spiller is one of the many guys who isn't AP - and yes RB is one of the few positions where you can make that judgement after one year.

Really hope Baltimore wins this. I dig Haley and the KC crowd and all, but if they pull this game out this has the potential to be the worst slate of 2nd round games in NFL history.

You don't need to tell anyone that an NFL team can turn things around quickly. The fact that it's happened so many times to so many teams every year only further points to how extraordinarily incompetent you have to be to not make the playoffs in 11 years.

Finally a voice of reason. The only part of the OP I disagree with is the idea that it was a good season before the NE game. With respect to fan reaction this was definitely the best 4-12 season in NFL history (or even 4-10 if you want to ignore the last two games). You would think our offense ranked in the top 5-10 or at least top half if you just read this board - it doesn't. You would think we lost the KC game 38-35 because of our atrocious defense not picking up the slack for Ryan Jesus Fitz in a 16-13 game. You would think the Pittsburgh game was the first game in 10 years we almost beat a good team - I guess nobody remembers the zillion close NE losses, or Gregg Williams taking a bunch of scrubs into NJ and beating a playoff team in '01, or that game the refs hosed us vs. the Chargers a few years ago. Fitz exceeded expectations and that's cool - he's not the first journeyman to do that for one season. With respect to optimism towards the future, I like the flashes S. Johnson and the OL showed. Otherwise it's the same old crappy team on both sides of the ball that still needs a franchise QB; and if you hate the term "franchise QB", well too bad. It's also too bad we still don't have one and doesn't look like we're getting one next year.

It's hard to resist "I told you so" brags after 1.5 quarters though.

I thought it was a weird game too. Thought they played ok, Providence didn't really shoot the lights out, and yet somehow it was a 4pt game with 3 min's left? Not sure how I feel about that. Should get a good test from ND on Saturday, who plays G'town tonight. edit: woot 5k posts!

Nothing is ever his fault.