The New England Patriots 2014 Playoffs Thread

Any team having success has bandwagon fans. The people saying that shit are just jealous their team doesn't have them.

Time for a serious question. Will this be Ice Bowl 2014 because this is the 2014 season, or Ice Bowl 2015 because the actual date is 2015? Or will it not be an Ice Bowl at all since it's not the championship game?

Azeth_sl said:

who fucking knows, just another purposeless, opinionless, fodder poster

Click to expand...

Says the one guy who managed to get free tickets to the rickshaw purely from being a tool in this thread. That is your most significant achievement in this thread.

Alex is correct. I grew up in Wisconsin and Packers are the state religion there. And for the record it was Deanna Favre who started the whole breast cancer awareness bullshit (which I honestly hate) in the NFL because of her fight with the disease while Favre was playing in GB. That's where a lot of this pink football apparel shit started, it just took self absorbed twats from Massivetwoshits to turn it into something about themselves. And I have nothing to prove, because I stuck with the Pack from the Bart Starr era, though the Forest Greg years, Lindy Infante, Ray Rhodes one year stint, Mike Sherman's trail of mediocrity, and on through the current McFatty and Teddy the Ghost Regime. Packers have one notable suspicious thing in their history which was the Don "Magic Man" Majkowski's clear illegal forward pass in the instant replay game, which any old school packer fan will admit was bullshit in our favor, but it was during an .500 season and no playoffs were affected by it. Ditka just had an asterisk placed in the official Bear records. How much shady bullshit does your franchise have again?

Packers certainly have some bandwagon fans, especially since the State Farm guy took over under center, but there have always been cheesehead faithful in every state since the Lombardi era. The same is largely true of the Broncos and Steelers fan bases. You have to look to teams like the Cheatriots, Seahawks, and the like to find the well oiled revolving door on the bandwagon bus.

moontayle_sl said:

And it's not actually that bad, mid teens and in the middle of the day, a good 30 degree warmer than the Ice Bowl. People can talk about "advantage" when it comes to playing in the cold weather but that's something fans like to trumpet. The vast majority of players don't like playing in the cold, it doesn't matter what team they play on. Northern based teams are exposed to it more often but they hate it as much as the visiting team.

Click to expand...

This. It has been unseasonably warm in Wisconsin lately, at least in the Green Bay area. The real issue for the Cowboys is going to be if the wind picks up because the wind chill will cut through you like a knife if you are not used to it. It is a mid day game, though, so I would expect weather not to be a factor for anyone but the QBs. For Rodgers it will be his sore leg and for Romo his sore back. Shit like that tends to bother your motion more in the cold, though raw pain is less of an issue. If the Cowboys can't correct the issues they had in the first half against the Lions, they are kind of in for it. I think the Packer OLine will be fine, if Sitton shows up to play. This is really going to be a game of how long Garret is patient enough to stick to the run to keep the game close and wear down our D. If he does his usual thing (or Romo Audibiles into a Pick 6 Play), it could get ugly. If GB has another bout of Red Zone allergy or has a string of drives all stall, then its the Dallas's game. My best unbiased guess is that (barring refs tipping it) Packers 27-24, but that's purely on home field advantage which is enormous for the Packers.

I would agree completely.... except Garret and Romo chronically forget that they have the best running game in football. If I were a Dallas fan, I would rage every time I see an empty set early in a one score game, but it happens a lot for some reason. GB does the same shit, but not as often or bad. And it is not like Lacy is incapable of matching pace against the Dallas front, if it comes to that. My concern on the GB side is more about Rodgers mobility and plant leg suffering due to stiffness. It is likely why he has not been doing much in the way of practice time. A bad back is mainly going to limit Romo from throwing across his body or as deep, especially if he takes a few early hits. I really think the run game is mostly a wash in this game, at least while it remains close.

I don't think the cold will affect Rodgers throwing, outside of his leg issues, as he has been largely impervious to weather over his career. I am not sure on Romo, but his past stats are less relevant since this whole season is a massive outlier for him.

Famm_sl said:

Yeah, just look at my entourage of Johnny-come-lately posters shitting up the thread!

.....

I'm sure they'll be here any day, probably been drinking and smoking crack since Saturday night's celebration.

Click to expand...

Who is your team again? See below.

Hoss_sl said:

Any team having success has bandwagon fans.The people saying that shit are just jealous their team doesn't have them.

Click to expand...

moontayle_sl said:

And it's not actually that bad, mid teens and in the middle of the day, a good 30 degree warmer than the Ice Bowl. People can talk about "advantage" when it comes to playing in the cold weather but that's something fans like to trumpet. The vast majority of players don't like playing in the cold, it doesn't matter what team they play on. Northern based teams are exposed to it more often but they hate it as much as the visiting team.

Click to expand...

How cold does it have to be to be another ice bowl? I kinda figured anything below freezing with ice on the field counted (though looking at the weather forecast, it doesn't look like there will be ice).

Grimmlokk_sl said:

2nd best. Seattle > *

Click to expand...

Word.

Yeah Seattle has the best scrambling game in the NFL, but in terms of designed runs and production, Dallas is the best this season.