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The NFL 2011-2012 Midseason Thread Well, we're halfway through the season, and there have been a few surprises. The defending champion Green Bay Packers have been playing at a Super Bowl level, staying undefeated through seven games, while the San Francisco 49ers, Detroit Lions, and Buffalo Bills have all shocked the league and played at an exceptionally high level, either leading their divisions or near the top and well in playoff contention. Meanwhile, the San Diego Chargers and New Orleans Saints, while off to great starts, both stumbled with disappointing performances last week, while the season has been disappointing overall for the Dallas Cowboys, Washington Redskins, Philadelphia Eagles, Tennessee Titans, and Kansas City Chiefs. Also, both New York teams, the Pittsburgh Steelers, and Chicago Bears have stayed in the playoff hunt despite some shaky performances throughout the season. But the St. Louis Cardinals, Miami Dolphins, and the Peyton Manning-less Indianapolis Colts have all gone horribly downhill.
Meanwhile, new eras have begun in Minnesota, Carolina, and Cincinnati, with new rookie quarterbacks taking the helm and playing surprisingly well. And in Denver the Tim Tebow era has begun, though it's not certain how well this will play out.
Can the San Francisco 49ers continue to play exceptionally well and compete with the Packers to earn home field advantage? Will the Detroit Lions finally make the playoffs for the first time since 1999? Will the Buffalo Bills shock the NFL and make the playoffs for the first time since being crushed by the Music City Miracle in 2000? Will anyone beat the Green Bay Packers? Will Peyton Manning ever put on a uniform this season? Will the Houston Texans finally break over the .500 mark and make their first playoff appearance in history? Have the Eagles and Chiefs finally turned the corner after disappointing starts? Stay tuned.....
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Unfortunately, I don't think the Patriots will go far. They'll make the playoffs and be out before the AFC Championship. You can't show up for a whole season with no secondary to speak of and expect to win it all. | |
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Giants are 5-2 which looks good on paper. But this does not "feel" right to me. I'm not expecting much for the second half. Hopefully I'm wrong. We got the Patriots today with a banged-up offense. We'll see..........
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HUGE WIN FOR THE NEW YORK FOOTBALL GIANTS!!
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Very true.
As for the San Diego Chargers, they actually played a pretty decent game against the Green Bay Packers, but if Philip Rivers doesn't throw those two interceptions which were run back for touchdowns, they win the game.
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This was a gutsy win against a formidable opponent playing at home.
Meanwhile, the Chiefs got spanked by the lowly Dolphins, who won their first game today, and the Raiders lose to Tim Tebow and the Broncos, who now find themselves just a game behind the Raiders, Chargers, and Chiefs, who are all 4-4. The Saints got back on track today while the Falcons have seem to overcome their early season woes and jumped back into the playoff and division title hunt after beating the hapless Colts.
Yeah, that front four of ya'll's had Brady shook for most of the game | |
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The Houston Texans are for real, y'all. But let me say a word about REAL football:
Go Houston Dynamo!
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My Baltimore Ravens finally did it!!! They FINALLY swept the Steelers for a season, which hasn't happened in God knows how long! Well anyway, 6-2 and in sole possession of the division! Pretty good for ONLY the halfway point! Let's see if they can keep it up and be a REAL SB contender! | |
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It's all on the QB. If he can play at a high level, combined with that defense, the sky's the limit come late December. |
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Where was the Steeler's pass rush last night? | |
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Memo to the Bears' front office - don't fuck around with Matt Forte. Pay the man!
Speaking of RBs, what has happened to Chris Johnson? Is he hurt or what? |
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Forte is being run into a pulp. If I'm him..........I push 4 a trade at season's end. The Bears will NEVER win with Dovie Smith anyway.
Johnson has ZERO holes 2 run in. No OL, no yards. [Edited 11/8/11 5:12am] | |
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Yay, Bears win!
But I'm sure that since Matt Forte fumbled the ball twice tonight, the powers that be will use that as an excuse not to pay him the huge money he deserves.
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The Bears looked like a real NFL tam last night. That was different. | |
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I guess Marvin Lewis is off the hot seat. Anyone notice what the Bengals are doing? Big game with Pittsburgh coming up. |
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The Lovie Smith era Bears seem to own my Eagels, they always have the right game plan to beat my team | |
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The Bears just don't ever have it when it really counts. | |
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Haynesworth is done in New England. And I'll bet OchoCinco's next to get cut. Belichick don't play. |
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The only way my Packers will lose, is if they beat themselves....I don't see any team of equal talent yet..though we ARE only half way through the season! GO PACK GO!!!!!
The Ravens are my AFC team....glad to see them handle the Steelers!!! Whenever you say that you can't, that's when you need to be trying. | |
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The Giants might be able to get to Aaron Rodgers with their front four. |
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On the sideline. Lamar Woodley. James Harrison did okay given what he's been through. Pass D will always be a weakness if you attack William Gay. Unbelievable this guy is allowed to start. Don't laugh at my funk
This funk is a serious joint | |
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Yeah...that should be a good game! That one's in NY, right? Whenever you say that you can't, that's when you need to be trying. | |
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Don't know offhand, but I'm not even thinking about the Pack yet. Giants have a tough game against the 7-1 49ers.
It's another Sunday of great matchups and crucial division games - Jets/Patriots, Bills/Cowboys, Saints/Falcons, Texans/Bucs, Steelers/Bengals, Lions/Bears and Vikings/Packers on Monday night. No one's talking about the Bears, but they are having a solid season. That's going to be a nasty game against the young Lions. Can Pittsburgh rebound after a brutal loss to Baltimore? Bengals are tough on defense and they have playmakers at WR. |
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Now Mario Manningham is hurt. Damn, this shit never ends for the Giants. |
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The Steelers answered the challenge from the Bengals today. Ironically last week's goat against Baltimore made the game turning interception late in the 4th qtr to help the Steelers ice the game 24-17. William Gay has taken some criticism from Steelers fans including myself but reading this story this morning made me root for the guy even harder today and you just had a feeling he was gonna have some good fortune today.
From hardship, Steelers' Gay shares hopePhotos
click to enlarge
Talking about loss In his words
William Gay's testimonial on how domestic abuse affected him can be viewed at vimeo.com/19524006. Some numbers on domestic abuse, according to the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence: • 1 in 4 women will be a victim of domestic violence. • 1 in 3 teenage girls will be physically assaulted by a boyfriend. • Boys who witness domestic violence in their homes are 1,500 times more likely to perpetrate abuse later in life. In-depth Steelers
About the writer
 Scott Brown is the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review's Steelers beat writer and can be reached at 412-481-5432, via e-mail or on Twitter. Ways to get us
Go ahead and trash William Gay on a message board. Light up the cornerback who, even in the midst of a solid season, is the most likely Steeler to be torched on sports-talk radio. But before you eviscerate the player beaten on the Ravens' winning touchdown a week ago, draw back the curtain and look at the man. Go back to last November, when Gay arrived at a Pittsburgh shelter to serve Thanksgiving dinner. Look at the arch of his eyebrows when Barbara Nicholas, the development director of the Women's Center & Shelter of Greater Pittsburgh, informs him he is at a haven for abused women. Watch Gay tell his story to women with cuts and bruises that are as raw as their psyche is wounded. Gay tells them how brave they are for leaving a bad situation, something his mother tried to do when she was fatally shot. He tells them how courageous they are for taking refuge in a building where some of the windows are bulletproof. He later stops at every table, individually talking with the women and children. He listens to them. He hugs them. He understands them. "It was just so real," said Nicholas, her voice catching a bit at the recollection. "It was such a genuine moment for everyone." Moments such as these are why Joe Whitt Jr. wonders whether fans would be so tough on Gay if they knew what he has had to overcome. Whitt was Gay's position coach at Louisville. They have taken different paths to the NFL but remain close. "People can say what they want about the football player -- that's fine," said Whitt, who is in his second season as Green Bay's secondary coach. "But the character, the man? You can't say anything about the man because I know what he is. I know I couldn't go through the things he's had to work through." Rising from the depths Here's something you might not know about William Gay: He graduated from Louisville in 3 1/2 years with a degree in sports administration. He never took fewer than 15 credits in a semester despite the demands of major college football. And he always picked his own classes. "I didn't want to be that guy that had to depend on academic advisors telling me what I need to take, telling me what I don't have to take because of football," Gay said. That need for control may stem from the time he didn't have it. In 1992, Gay was 7 years old and living in Tallahassee, Fla. His mother was in an abusive relationship with his stepfather. The day she tried to leave, he shot her, then turned the gun on himself. Carolyn Hall was 30 years old. The bottom dropped out of Gay's world. He moved in with his grandmother, into an already crowded house where space was so tight that Gay sometimes shared a bedroom with three others. He lashed out for the next couple of years. He fought constantly and caused enough trouble that he nearly got kicked out of school. The turning point came when his grandmother and an uncle told Gay he was on a track toward jail. Or worse. Life is unfair, they told him. Get over it. "I had to change, actually grow up," Gay said. "I wanted to succeed in life." He became a good student, excelled in sports and earned a scholarship to Louisville. He started parts of four seasons. He showed so much football acumen that he called the defensive signals as a senior -- almost unheard of for a cornerback. He also intercepted six passes his final season. The Steelers drafted him in the fifth round in 2007. Gay has played in every game in five NFL seasons. He will make his 28th career start today in Cincinnati. He is plugged in enough to social and mainstream media to realize that his 28 starts are 28 too many for some people. Gay is largely indifferent to the criticism; he has dealt with much worse. He will talk about his story, as deeply personal as it is, but he doesn't "broadcast" it. "I don't want to use it as an excuse or something to say, 'If I don't do this, it's because of this,' " he said. "I hate to make excuses." Criticism 'unwarranted' One way to get blocked from Ryan Clark's Twitter account is to trash William Gay on it. And not just because of his backstory. "I think a lot of the criticism he gets is unwarranted," said Clark, a Steelers free safety. "Yeah, people have made plays. People make plays on a lot of cornerbacks. But I think, as well as he's playing this season, that needs to be recognized also." Gay, who signed a one-year deal in August, has allowed 23 catches in the 39 times (59 percent) his receiver has been targeted this season, according to STATS, LLC. Only one Steelers player has allowed a higher percentage of completions: Troy Polamalu, who has yielded 23 catches on 36 targets (63.9). Gay had largely stayed under the radar until last Sunday. Ravens rookie receiver Torrey Smith got behind the 5-foot-10, 190-pounder late in the fourth quarter and caught the winning touchdown before a stunned Heinz Field crowd. Clark had been late in helping Gay on the play. Gay took responsibility for the touchdown immediately after the 23-20 loss. He did the same thing three days later. What didn't register much more than a blip was what had happened earlier on the Ravens' winning drive: Smith slipped behind cornerback Ike Taylor, who is having a Pro Bowl-caliber season, but dropped Joe Flacco's pass in the end zone. "People don't know football. They don't come in on Mondays and watch what we see," said Taylor, who works out with Gay during the offseason. "Gay has gotten a whole lot better. I know how hard he worked in the offseason, and it's showing." Active off the field In a five-minute video he participated in for a domestic abuse campaign, Gay talks about going to the hospital after his mother was shot and asking repeatedly why he couldn't see her. He talks about the devastation of losing his mother at such a young age. "If I had another chance to see my mother today, I would tell her that I love her and I know the courage she had to try to get out of her situation," Gay says. "I would tell her I truly believed in her." Gay has done what he can to combat domestic abuse, the leading cause of injury among women 15-44 in the United States, according to the U.S. Surgeon General. He has donated his time for several public-service announcements. He is slated to speak to judges, parole officers and counselors, among others, about the need for preventive measures. Gay has given the Women's Center & Shelter of Greater Pittsburgh a face for its campaign to combat domestic abuse. He also provides an example to kids living with domestic abuse and the sense of hopelessness that accompanies it. "It's just great to have someone who is so thoughtful and considerate and really wise for how young he is to step forward," Nicholas said, "and do something so courageous and so meaningful -- not just for the women, but for the children." Gay will return to the shelter in the coming weeks to serve dinner. He again will thank the women and children. He will tell them they are braver than they think. He will shine some desperately needed light into their lives. Moments like these, away from the public, are why Whitt said, Gay "is somebody that I want my son to grow up to be like." The son who grew up without his mother rolled up the jersey on his left arm after practice recently. He revealed a tattoo of a cross, framed by his mother's name and the date of her death. "I know she's watching every day," Gay said. "It just brings joy to me that I'm doing things positive, and I know she's smiling. We'll be reunited one day."
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Don't laugh at my funk
This funk is a serious joint | |
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Two quick WTF's
What was Falcons coach Mike Smith smoking to go for it on 4th and inches in their own territory in OT? It cost them the game.
What is wrong with the Eagles losing at home to Arizona and some qb named Red Skelton or is it John Skelton or something? The Eagles and Andy Reid are through. Very undisciplined team and the latest DeSean Jackson episode just proves it. Don't laugh at my funk
This funk is a serious joint | |
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Man the Eagles are stinkin' it up. Mcnabb (when healthy) outside of his rookie year never had a seaosn like this. I really believe they let him go a year or two too early. And the whole defensive situation is a complete mess. Bahhhhh | |
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Yay, my Bears kicked some serious Lions ass today.
But it looks like the 49ers are for real. They beat the Giants, and it appears they may possibly give Green Bay a run for their money as the top seed in the NFC if the Packers ever manage to lose.
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Nah, Andy Reid knew what he was doing letting McNabb go. He was done. Too many breakdowns on defense. They got owned by a backup QB from Fordham. Not having a REAL defensive coachdoesn't help either.
Fucking Giants had chances to win this game, but made too many mistakes. WTF happened on that Vernon Davis TD?? [Edited 11/14/11 0:34am] |
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The Bears did not forget the trash talking before or after the last game, they lost to the Lions. Da Bears tanned some ass. Detroit needs to stop reading their newspaper clippings and their coach needs to stopping trippin' over mid-field handshake etiquette.
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