The 2016 NFL Playoffs Thread

Yeah no way defending champs should get a handicap. I hate the Pats being a Bills fan. Also, I am always going to watch the Super Bowl. The thing is, having a recognizable team is never a negative for getting casual fans to watch. Even if it is to root against them, they will be watching. It's like the villains on reality TV shows. Everyone is tuning in love or hate them. It's nuts to think the NFL wants the Pats to lose. If anything it's the opposite.

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Yea that's true Sean, but I understand some people's frustration. I remember having to see the Yankees year after year, but they brought the numbers as well, and it gave me interest simply to root against them as the villain.

Yeah, personally I can't wait till the run is over. Actually, I think the Pats may be my divine punishment for being a Yankee fan. I'm not the NFL though, they are about the benjamins. Also, I want them to go out on fair terms. I wouldn't feel satisfied if the Pats lost because we handicapped them.

I think it would make a lot of sense for Brady to retire if they won this year, but he has said that he plans on playing several more years.

Their style of play makes it possible for him to last. He is getting very long in the tooth by NFL standards though. I bet he lasts at least two more after this.

There's a bit of controversy out here about how he takes care of himself. He's very much into holistic and natural foods and remedies. It seems to be his passion and what he plans on doing after football. He's been talking about playing maybe another 8-10 years or so. It appears that he will play as long as he's effective.

Yes but my problem with the nfl is they treat players like cattle. Or should say some teams do. Pats treat players like cogs you can replace with the exception of Brady.

That's funny, you never hear players talking badly about their time there.

I have to say, you wouldn't know him and Manning were the same age. The NFL is crazy physical though, time can catch up with you quick. I think that play Saturday where he dove for the pylon would have killed Manning though.

http://mweb.cbssports.com/nfl/eye-on...nfl-until-2025

Yea, I couldn't believe how he just bounced up from that.

They are a system team that has decided they are not going to overpay. I wish the Yankees lived by that philosophy. Despite my hatred I can't hate them for the things they do well.

There is a little irony in a "Stairway to 7" fan bringing this up . The Steel City was NE a few decades ago.

Id feel the same way if it were the Steelers winning the superbowls. Pats football schedule too me is easiest in the NFL. I dont like New England but i didnt use too hate them when they were an under dog team. Under Pete Carrol and Parcells.

As a New England fan, this has been the weirdest season the team has had since as far back as I can remember. Denver is gonna be tough, I was pulling for Pittsburgh the last game because while I think a healthy Pittsburgh is more dangerous than Denver, I'd rather have had the homefield. Denver is not going to be an easy match-up for us but I think with Edelman healthy and Gronk back to doing Gronk things we should be fine, but I'll be sweating all week leading up to it.

Edelman is probably my favorite non-Brady football player ever. I remember seeing him on special teams his first couple seasons and calling immediately that he'd be special. I don't know what it was but he just felt like he was gonna be a good football player and now in my opinion he's one of the best and most underrated wideouts in football. I've always liked the guy and now he's probably the most important player on the team other than Brady (that includes Gronk, who is better, but I think Edelman is more important to the offense's flow and especially to Brady).

Anyway if we do manage to make it past denver I hope to god that we don't have to play Carolina because even though I think us completely healthy would be neck and neck with them (if we hadn't had injury issues I maintain we could have gone 14-2 or better easily we were steamrolling before edelman's injury) that team is still scary and I'd much rather play Arizona. It's gonna be a fun, crazy, nerve-wracking 3 weeks I sure hope we can find a way to come out on top again.

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Rest easy. NE is gonna nuke Denver.

Yeah and I am saying I would agree since Denver already beat NE this year and no team beats the same team in regular season and and the play offs. But Peyton has had a good rest time and while his arm seems too be a noodle. Yet I am certain Bill Belichick is not all smiles and say this is gonna be easy. Im sure Bill rather have Osweiler in a playoff game.

They've definitely benefited from playing in the AFC East, a division that has spent the better part of a decade and a half playing football only slightly better than what the AFC South played this season. While they still would have had a ton of success, you can't help but wonder how they would have fared in a more difficult division.

I'm actually somewhat surprised that, considering the NFL's obsession with parity, that they haven't considered breaking the AFC East up and re-aligning a little bit (and I say this as a Jets fan). There is no competition for the Pats in the division, as there's no chance of either the Bills, Dolphins, or Jets rising up to replace them because all three are poorly run organizations. It's like having three Cleveland franchises in the division. Most of the other divisions, even ones with teams that go through somewhat extended periods of losing, at least have competent owners who are capable of turning things around. That doesn't exist in the AFC East. The only two times the Pats didn't win the division since the run began was the fluke run the Jets made in 2002 after starting 1-5 to win the division and then the very strange year of 2008 when the Favre trade and Brady injury led to a QB shuffle in the division and the Dolphins squeaked out a division title on a tiebreaker, and even then the Pats still went 11-5 with a backup QB.

Again, that's not to take away from what the Pats have done. They'd still have multiple championships playing in another division. But, the outright dominance they've showed might have been tempered a bit by, perhaps, a year or two here and there either playing as a wild card or maybe even missing the playoffs once in a while.

Division placement is definitely underrated in most of these discussions, yeah. Playoff football is pretty random, so any kind of dynasty is really just about making the playoffs a lot, combined with getting a little luck at the most opportune times.

Once you get into the playoffs there's a lot more parity. It's not quite the crapshoot the baseball playoffs are, but it's also one-and-done, so there's a ton of variance. Your odds of winning championships can be much better in a weak division than they would be with a better team stuck in a tougher division.