NFL Schedule for 2009
This website gets pretty quiet during the NFL offseason. That’s mainly because I really don’t have anything interesting to say. I don’t get too excited about all the player trades or the draft talk, and let’s face it, Tom and Giselle getting married for a second time really isn’t prime-time news for me (even if shots were fired at the paparazzi following the event).
But when they announce that the NFL will be releasing the schedule for the upcoming season in a live, 2-hour prime-time telecast “for the first time ever”, I start to get pretty excited.
Excited about how ridiculous that is!
It’s even worse than when TSN devotes an entire day every year on NHL draft day for their live talking heads, who really don’t have anything new or interesting to say because they’ve said it all before (yes I mean you Pierre), to speculate about how many squares of TP John Tavares might use during the first day of his NHL career!
Don’t we have anything better to do than to watch 2 hours of talking heads chatting about the schedule for something that won’t even happen for 5 more months?
Go outside people!
The Brain is a Funny Thing
While watching the Superbowl yesterday I was very excited and I assumed that it was because other recent Superbowls have been blowouts, or at least (I told myself) because the winner was never really in doubt.
But then I got to thinking about last years game between the Giants and the Patriots and I remembered that it was actually pretty close and it really could have gone either way. So I did a little digging to see what the scores from recent years have actually been:
2009: Pittsburgh Steelers 27–23 Arizona Cardinals
2008: New York Giants 17–14 New England Patriots
2007: Indianapolis Colts 29–17 Chicago Bears
2006: Pittsburgh Steelers 21–10 Seattle Seahawks
2005: New England Patriots 24–21 Philadelphia Eagles
2004: New England Patriots 32–29 Carolina Panthers
2003: Tampa Bay Buccaneers 48–21 Oakland Raiders
So the games between the Colts and the Bears in 2007 and the Steelers and the Seahawks in 2006 were never really in doubt, but you have to go all the way back to the Bucs vs. Raiders game in 2003 to find a true blowout. The rest of these games were within 4 points!
I’m sure that all of these games were exciting in their own way, but it seems pretty typical that the brain tells you that the thing you remember the best (ie. the most recent game) must have been the most interesting or exciting thing to happen in a long time.
The brain is a pretty funny thing!
Easily the best Superbowl in a long time!
Updated Standings and Balances
Well that was exciting. Who would ever have thought that Arizona would be in the Superbowl, never mind that that might actually be IN the game and even have the lead in the final seconds. This was easily the most interesting and the most exciting Superbowl that we’ve seen in a long time. And aside from a few minor officiating controversies, and a close-up on Bruce Springsteen’s crotch that I wasn’t expecting, it was a very entertaining game to watch.
Congratulations to all of our winners in the Superbowl pool this year! Because of a 4 way tie for third, there are a lot of us:
1st – $155 Joe
2nd – $65 Tino
3rd – $10 Aaron
3rd – $10 Adrian
3rd – $10 Bob
3rd – $10 Sean
Pittsburgh vs. Arizona?
So we have a situation here. An unheard of, unexpected, and damn near unbelievable situation. Arizona is going to the Superbowl! Wow.
And our little pool is yet to be decided… It’s down to the battle of the brothers. If Pittsburgh wins then brother Joe will win the pool. If Arizona wins (is that even possible?) then brother Tino will win. Good luck to both of you!
Obviously the loser of this little battle will finish second.
In third we have another unheard of situation. A four way tie. Wow! No matter what happens next week, Aaron, Adrian, Bob, and Sean will split the $40 third place prize! Congratulations all of you!!
To the rest, good luck next year!
Divisional Champions
Probably the biggest surprise in a weekend of upsets is that the only favorite to hold up was Pittsburgh. Although the Steelers had the highest ranked defence in the league this year, they seemed very beatable most of the season. Even still they managed to make the Chargers look like a college team, and they look very good going into the AFC Championship next weekend.
The other upsets were all reasonably predictable, especially Baltimore holding off the Titans (who never really seemed to deserve their amazing record), and in particular I don’t think anyone was surprised that the Giants lost to the Eagles (who beat them in Philly in week 14) as their season ending skid (they lost 3 of their last 4) was particularly ugly (can anyone say Plaxico?).
Jake Delhomme personally managed to ensure that the Panthers would not be able to stand up to the streaking Cardinals by allowing 6 (yes, six) turnovers (5 INT, 1 FUM). On the other hand Kurt Warner looked solid and made some very nice touch passes to lead Arizona to an easy win. Who could ever have imagined that Arizona would be hosting the NFC Championship game?? I wonder what the Vegas odds were on that back in September??
So the lineup for the Conference Championship round will be:
NFC
(Jan 18 @ 3:00 ET)
Philadelphia vs Arizona
AFC
(Jan 18 @ 6:30 ET)
Baltimore vs Pittsburgh
Birds In, Fins/Vikes Out
Well it was a day for the lower seeds as the Ravens and the Eagles preyed on the favorites in the second day of Wild card games. With the way these two teams have been playing lately, this is really no surprise…
So the lineup for the Divisional round will be:
SATURDAY
Baltimore at Tennessee
Arizona at Carolina
SUNDAY
Philadelphia at New York Giants
San Diego at Pittsburgh
Good luck next week!
Indy / Atlanta Out, SD / Arizona In
So the higher seeds held up today (going counter to the Vegas odds AND the majority of players in our pool) and will advance to the Divisional round next week. But the real story is that those of us that took Indy to win the Superbowl are pretty much eliminated from contention in this pool. I haven’t checked to see if we are mathematically out, but I’m pretty sure…
UPDATE: Well, I did a bit of playing and it seems that since nobody took Arizona or San Diego to advance very far, it is still possible for those of us that took Indy to go all the way to win the pool. It’s not very likely, but possible!
NFL Playoffs 2009 Pick Summary
A summary of everyone’s picks is now available:
http://www.poolaholic.com/nfl-playoffs-2009/pick-summary/
We have 13 entries this year and so the prize breakdown is as follows:
| Prizes | Total | $ 260 |
| 1st | 60% | $ 155 |
| 2nd | 25% | $ 65 |
| 3rd | 10% | $ 25 |
Good luck to everyone!
NFL Playoffs 2009
The playoff pool details are up… Check it out:
http://www.poolaholic.com/nfl-playoffs-2009/
NFL Pool 2008 Final Standings
Updated Standings and Balances
In a wild end to the season Joe surged into first place overall! Steve’s second half charge also worked out well for him as he moved him into a tie with Rich for 2nd overall, and they will share the 2nd and 3rd place money.
Congratulations to all our winners and good luck in the playoff pool (coming soon)!!
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