It would be nice if our road to the SB didn't include Denver AND New England. One or the other is fine, but avoiding having to play both would be preferable. It would be nice if they played each other for the right to play the AFC championship in Houston.
Me too, Im worried about Tom Brady and the Pats in the playoffs more than Peyton. Gronk is just a beast, and now they have a good running game, the thing they lacked in previous years, the defense is getting better too. and I want to remind people they probably have Aaron Hernandez ready to play in the playoffs.
I say again I will take all the help we can get. Damn straight I'm rooting against those challenging for the top spot. We've had so much bad luck in the past, is it really so bad to hope for things to fall our way? If things go right the last 3 games of the season might not mean diddly squat. That would be glorious.
^ That's because our other teams sucked and we don't this year. Patriots have a winning record in Reliant. They've beaten us and the Panthers here at Reliant. Just about the only game they have lost here is the Welker Week 17 2009 game.
Here's how I see it shaping out... 1. Houston (13-3...losses @ NE and @ Colts) 2. New England (also 12-4 but have tiebreaker over Denver) 3. Denver (will finish 12-4 with their schedule) 4. Baltimore (tough schedule but will win the division w/ toughest games at home) 5. Pittsburgh (Leftwich is going to have to carry them through 2 games against B'more) 6. Cincy (look at their schedule...still have 3 AFC West games and none of them are Denver) With that, you end up with Denver vs. Cincy and Pitt vs Baltimore. Assuming Denver wins, they go to NE....leaving the Texans with the winner of the Baltimore/Pitt game. Win that and it's either Denver or NE at home in the friendly (and warm) confines of Reliant Stadium. I like those odds...
Ya'll ignore SwoLy. According to him, we should NEVER root for ANY other team besides the Texans under ANY circumstances - even if that team is playing the team we're tied with for the final playoff spot on the last day of the season.... This is actually pretty close to how I see it playing out this year. The key is to have Denver and NE playing each other in the 2nd round. That is basically a ticket to hosting the AFC championship, as I don't see us losing to any other team in the AFC. One thing I'll say is that I don't really understand the fear of NE this year. They have been very unimpressive so far. Losses to the Cards and Ravens and struggling to beat the Jets and Bills at home? I will wait to see how we handle them in December before I fear them...
rooting for the Colts against NE The one game we've lost was against an elite QB that torched us. Need to avoid Brady/Manning in the playoffs if at all possible.
It's a win-win situation really. If I had to pick who I wanted to win, I'd say the Colts. Still have 2 games with them left, only 1 against New England. The Patriots have a better chance at taking the #1 seed from the Texans than the Colts have of taking the division from the Texans.
Agreed, though I wonder how big Aqib Talib will be for them. We've seen first-hand how adding a good corner to a defense can change it dramatically by freeing up the rest of the team. Their secondary has been horrendous so far...their offense has been fine. (And Hernandez will be back in the next week or 2)
Looks like Gronkowski may be out "a few weeks" after surgery, hopefully that includes our game in 3 weeks... http://www.whosay.com/AdamSchefter/content/443736?wsref=tw&code=rpz4C2U
Just Saw: Willis McGahee has torn MCL out 6-8 http://espn.go.com/nfl/story/_/id/8652993/willis-mcgahee-denver-broncos-6-8-weeks-source-says
Ravens - injuries Steelers - injuries Pats - a few injuries, suspect D, 2nd biggest hurdle IMHO. Broncos - a few injuries, but biggest hurdle IMHO. This is the most open and available AFC Championship I can remember in a long time. Texans in NOLA is a very real possibility!!!
That would set him up for a return right around the time of the AFC Divisonal Round and Championship Game.
I'd love him making hard cuts on that knee in his first game back in action at Reliant [not that i wish injury]. Of course that would force Manning to throw more so maybe that's not such a good thing.
Breaking news, Ed Reed suspended 1 game for hit to head and Leftwich 2 broken ribs, will miss next game.
If we beat the Lions and Titans, we can pretty much clinch the #1 seed if we beat the Pats. We'd have at least a two game lead over the Ravens and a 3 game lead over the Broncos and the Patriots with 3 games left, and that is assuming all those teams win out (except the Patriots of course).
