NFL 2009/10

The plyoffs will be very intereting (as ever) as New Orleans and Indianapolis lost momentum in the last few weeks. Minnesota and San Diego are very good and Dallas have run into form...in December!

It won't be the Jets, the Bengals, the Ravens or the Eagles. So that leaves 8 teams with a decent shot of going to the Super Bowl... Indianapolis still look good in the AFC although the Chargers could beat them and I like the Vikings in the NFC, though not as much, but could see Dallas make a run in the playoffs. I never thought I'd put he Cowboys as a dark horse Super Bowl team but the defence has stepped up and Romo has been playing well down the stretch. This has been a down year for defences so any one that can step up - the Vikes or the Chargers - has got a really good shot. We shall see...

true Doc
the cowboys have been playing well when it matters for a change!!!!!!!! I'm a big fan but I still see Tony Romo choking somewhere along the line of the play offs even if we do over come the Eagles .... he spits.

Setter,
I can appreciate your concerns about Romo choking but he's played really well down the stretch. The Cowboys have got good balance between defence and offence, passing and rushing and look dangerous. I'm not a Cowboys fan - in fact I'm a bit of a Cowboy hater - but given that the Steelers aren't in the playoffs I can actually enjoy the playoffs without the anxiety of following the black and gold.

I think that there are going to be some high scoring shoot outs as I don't see any really strong defences. Green Bay were ranked highly but gave up 37 points and 500 yards passing to Big Ben a couple of weeks ago and Baltimore and New England aren't what they were on defence. The Jets have a good defence but there's no way they're going to win on the road with Sanchez. Should be a good post-season!

Romos performance against the packers still concern me though. I just hope you are right. But who is to say we will beat the eagles on Saturday it is very rare to beat a team 3 times in one season. We beat the giants twice in the regular season than lost to them in NFC conference semi final, the year they won the Superbowl. Any way here is hoping!!!!!!

I listen to the Football Today podcast on ESPN every day and the 3 wins over the same opponent was discussed yesterday (I think) and it has happened a few times. Give me home field advantage over that stat anytime - you've already beaten the opponent twice so they should be fearing you rather more than you should fear them. I didn't like the look of the Eagles O-line last week and their defence has regressed, partially due to the death of Jimmie Johnson their D-co-ordinator?

Wade Philips is a good guy who get's the bum's rush (if you're a real anorak then you'll see the slightly amusing reference) as a head coach so if they lose it will be his fault along with Romo but if they win it all I suspect he won't get much credit. It will be because of the brilliance of Jerry Jones in putting it all together. That's a big reason I don't like the Cowboys - it is all (if you'll excuse the obvious pun) a bit of a soap opera - that revolves around Jerry's ego. If there's no salary cap in the next couple of seasons then you know that the Cowboys and the Redskins will splash the cash and I think that will be a bad thing for the NFL in terms of competitive balance. Stil let's just enjoy the playoffs and I'll take the Cowboys over the Eagles, 27-14.

very good points Doc. The Cowboys defence have played the best football going into the play offs and defence wins super bowls. Jerry Jones is a megalomaniac but surely he cant be considered as bad as "super Al" at the Raiders. Of course if Cowboys win the Superbowl it will be Jerry Jones who master minded it, should they lose against the eagles will be the Head coaches fault lol. He has done well since he has been at the Cowboys won something like 66% of his matches in charge yet seems to be the obvious contender for the next firing.

I have split interest in the cowboys wining the super bowl. I have a female cousin from Chicago who went our with him from high school in his home town. I have a bet if he wins the Superbowl ever I owe her fifty quid should he never win she owes me. I shouted my mouth off about him being a choke artist and she wanted to make the stakes even more interesting the loser has to fly over to the winners home town to pay. I just get the horrible feeling it is going to be me and Tony Romo is going to be there with his bare arse hanging out and ordering me to kiss it lol.

Fair point about Al Davis - the Raiders are a joke and not very funny either. How the Steelers lost at home to those bums is beyond me... Jones is a typical rapacious capitalist entrepreneur who has spent a lot of money on the Cowboys - the new stadium is spectacular - but the essence of the NFL is competitive balance through the draft, salary cap and the schedule and and I've long taken the view that he believes that 'America's Team' is a cut above the rest of the league when they're not and no franchise can be.

Interesting bet that you've made! Could prove to be expensive and humiliating if you did have to kiss Romo's ass. The more I think about it the more Iike the Cowbos in the NFC because they've got momentum and if/when they play on te road it wil be in a dome against teams they match up with pretty well. Still, it could all go tits up against the Eagles this weekend. I've found predicting games to be be, er, more unpredictable than usual this year and you know that tere will at least one classic shoot out/shock/dramatic last play game. I've not read the line scores and forcasts on ESPN yet but will do so later today and then watch the Jets at the Bengals and tape the late game for Sunday am. Have a successful weekend!

I agree any team in the playoffs you can see in the NFC making it to the Superbowl. Look at Arizona last year they were terrible till the playoffs then came alive and were unlucky to not win the big one on the day.

I feel the patriots will be the team to beat because they have a proven track record. I'm just glad that the giants and steelers did not make it otherwise those two teams would have been a real danger for sure.

Well I'll be damned the Cowboys won a playoff game (their first since 96) and looked good doing it, although the Eagles looked poor the Cowboys executed plays well and even if i'm not a Cowboy fan it's good to see Romo put previous seasons behind him, he looks like someone that genuinely enjoys the game so it's good to see him doing well

I still fancy the Chargers for the Superbowl, but I think after watching last night it could well be the Cowboys they need to beat

I'm getting a bit nervous about Dallas good play. I am very anxious of the fact that I could lose £50 on a bet, £500 on air flight to Chicago, and on top of it all, their could well be Tony Romo's butt cheeks having my name on it lol.

Poof that you should never bet against your favourite team even if historically their Quarter Back is a choke artist extraordinaire!!! and certainly not with an old girlfriend of his:(lol