@dave_n:
When I played football back in the dark ages, they taught us to tackle with our shoulders. Spearing like that in the ribs not only is targeting the receiver, it also is causing head trauma to the kids tackling. On the other hand, I recently saw a video on a tv program filmed at high school football practice in some of the more football crazy places, and there are still coaches yelling at players to hit low and use their helmets, or telling running backs to put their head down and charge, which is stupid. Sorry, the kind of coaches you see in movies like 'Varsity Blues" or some of the troglodytes I saw in high school should be put out to pasture, if their kids are found to be routinely doing that they should quite honestly lose their jobs.
The games yesterday were a lot of fun to watch. Very happy that the Dolphins are out and that Green Bay is in. We’ll (see screen name) be playing the Texans on Saturday night…on a funny note, I’ll be representing New England but wearing my Wilfork Jersey. Better yet, I’ll be watching the game on the big screen aboard a cruise ship in the Caribbean. GO PATS !!
^ DW has a Wilfork Patriots’ jersey as well. 
We’ll be watching on our 50" plasma with 20 or so friends, but the Caribbean sounds nice too. 
Pats opened as 16 point favorites. They beat the Texans earlier this year, 27-0. If Brady had played it probably would have been 45-0.
Playoffs thus far have been dull.
My Seahawks do not look like a 10-win team. Hawks look like a team that managed a tie with a mediocre opponent during the regular season. Has anyone seen Endomukong Suh? He disappeared against Pittsburgh. Raiders receivers did not earn their pay, unless they are paid to drop balls. Ferocious Giants defense turned into lambs in the 2nd half. Prediction: Patriots will cruise to victory over the eventual NFC champion, unless it’s Dallas.
@nepatsgirl:
I hope it isn’t a game worn Wilfork jersey, given his size would likely be like wearing a tent lol. I think I hear Belichick laughing (in private, of course) over facing Osweiler, Texans have a great defense but their offense, well…
@musicprnt , nope its a jersey especially purchased a few years back just in my size but I’m a huge fan of Wilfork regardless of who he plays for 
As an added note (and not to sound arrogant but its a decent bet…lol) I can hardly wait to see Goodell hand the Vince Lombardi Trophy to Brady…bonus points if he has to hand him the MVP prize as well !
@nepatsgirl:
As a lifelong Jets fan, I am supposed to hate NE and Brady, but I don’t, and I kind of hope that happens, would be poetic revenge on a first class delta bravo (Goodell aka the worlds richest used car salesman)
@musicprnt That’s very gracious of you, we are very used to being the team everyone loves to hate. We often travel to your stadium yearly for a game, two years ago on Thanksgiving and just last month again. Its a nice NYC weekend getaway for us and the fans are always fun to hang with before the game. FWIW, while I am a Brady fan, its Bill that I give the credit to, that man can do no wrong, its like he has a Magic 8-ball and can see the future lol. I don’t doubt he’ll go down in history as one of the best coaches ever, if not THE best.
CLEMSON!!!
That was a really good game. Definitely the best 2 teams made it.
Most of the Bowl games were total snoopers. Then came the Rose Bowl and the Natonal Championship. Great games, and nail biters to the last seconds.
One complaint I have though is how long these games are lasting. The game last night started just after 8pm amd didn’t end until about 12:30. That’s just too freaking long.
Snoopers?
Cleveland wins the NBA title over Golden State, notwithstanding GS’s best season ever.
Cubs win the World Series.
Four dark horses win the golf majors.
Andy Murray beats Djokovic. Serena Williams loses to a series of Eastern Europeans.
Yale beats Harvard, after losing nine straight.
Army beats Navy, after losing 14 straight.
Clemson beats Alabama.
Donald Trump . . . .
How much of this is Putin’s fault? I understand why he might want Army to beat Navy, but why does he like Yale?
^ Hopefully he’s a Patriots fan.
That was actually a pretty good game last night. I did not expect Clemson to be able to march down the field with 2 minutes left, especially with the way they were showing no urgency and refusing to use their time outs. Leaving a time out on the board could have cost them several attempts to score a td after the PI in the end zone, fortunately they got it on the first one.
I was kind of surprised to see Alabama just standing around on the ensuing kickoff, they didn’t even make an attempt to get to the ball. It’s like they were in shock or something.
Now for the Cowboys and Packers!
This made me laugh:
http://www.thedrawplay.com/comic/the-miami-dolphins-go-for-a-boat-party/
CLEMSON!!! What a nail biter! Kudos to 'Bama for a hard fought game, but soooo happy for the Tigers!!!
Now getting ready for the Falcons/Seahawks. Any reason its on Saturday rather than Sunday?
Sure – the NFL doesn’t want to have two playoff games competing with one another on TV at the same time. That wouldn’t be revenue-maximizing. And college football on Saturday is over. Hence two games on Saturday and two on Sunday. Just like last weekend.
The first half was kind of boring to me, Clemson was sort of sleepwalking and Alabama’s D was fierce, but their offense was one dimensional. Got a lot more interesting in the second half, was trench warfare down there, and it was exciting when Clemson went ahead, Alabama scored and Clemson had 2 minutes left to get a TD. The clock management was shockingly poor, I don’t know if the coaches did that or if Watson did, a kid in his last year should know how to manage the clock. I heard some people say the pass interference call won the game, but I think the defender in that case knew he was beat so figured stop the receiver from caching it (which likely would have been a td anyway) and hope the clock runs out.
The one disturbing thing I saw was helmet to helmet hits not being flagged (not necessarily as targeting). The rules guy said the reason it wasn’t called was it was not crown of helmet to helmet, it was side of helmet to helmet, but that is ridiculous to me. With all the emphasis on concussions and such, helmet to helmet unless it is glancing and inadvertent should be called. There were other hits I questioned as well, I know the refs likely wanted to let them play, but there were some really dirty hits not getting called IMO.
The length of the game is because of commercials, when there were timeouts or other pauses the commercials went on forever, it is as bad or worse than pro games. Having a game finish at 12:30 on a weeknight is ridiculous, I wonder if the advertisers know how much of the audience turned off the game at the half, they might be better with fewer commercials with a higher audience.