2015 Playoffs - Wildcard Round Open

I'm late to updating this post. Thank you guys for a very smooth year. With welcoming a batch of new users, it was inevitable that several would flame out early.  I'll be hammering out the details that will be made for the next season. But will not touch anything this late in the season.  Some changes will be welcomed, some will probably be loathed. But as long as we get constructive discussion on things, and not blatant, heated complaints, we should find a good balance.

Congrats to the playoff teams. I didn't expect to see a 15-1 team at the finish line.  As of posting this, there is one team remaining. Way to go!

Happy Halloween everyone!

Bye Weeks: Browns, Dolphins, Eagles, Bears

Skins/Panthers kicking off around 130 est. twitch.tv/mission8

Steelers vs Chargers tentatively scheduled for 5PM EST.

twitch/SteelPitt16

rookie WR Breshad Perriman won AFC'S offensive player of the year and broke an nfl record in receiving yard ^^

afc divisional

ravens vs browns
Steelers vs Dolphins

Ben Roethlisberger had probably the worst game of his career in a Week 17 loss to the Browns as he threw 5 INTs and lost a fumble.  It was that horrible game that caused the Steelers to have to play in the Wild Card Round of the AFC Playoffs on the road in San Diego despite their 14-2 regular season record.  Big Ben could not wait to get back on the field to get the taste of that game out of his mouth and it showed as he came out on fire and stayed that way.  He would need to be hot in this one, especially early, as the Chargers came out smoking with big play after big play forcing the Steelers QB to do his best to keep his team in the game.

The Steelers took control of this game late in the second quarter as they scored to make it 28-21, then INT Phillip Rivers and Big Ben led the team to another TD right before the half making it 35-21 at the break.  The Steelers received the ball to start the third and promptly scored again to make it 42-21 and essentially put the game out of reach.  The Steelers would hold on for the 48-28 win.

On the day, Big Ben had a perfect QB Rating (158.3) as he finished 15/16 for 320 yards, 4TD and 0INT.  Le'Veon Bell did more than just keep the defense honest as he rushed for 160 yards and 2TD.  The Steelers will now await the outcome of the Ravens/Texans matchup to see whether they will be heading to Miami or Cleveland in the Divisional Round.

Skins lose 20-19. Glad the season is over and the rebuild is ready to begin. Should be many new faces in DC this offseason and hopefully we have watched RG3s last incomplete pass on this team. Good luck to all remaining teams and please play quickly

NFL

MVP: QB Joe Flacco (Ravens)
Coach of the Year: Mike Pettine (Browns)

AFC

OPOY: WR Breshad Perriman (Ravens)
DPOY: SS Shamarko Thomas (Steelers)
OROY: WR Breshad Perriman (Ravens)
DROY: LB Dante Fowler Jr (Jags)
Best QB: QB Joe Flacco (Ravens)
Best RB: RB Le'Veon Bell (Steelers)
Best WR: WR Breshad Perriman (Ravens)
Best OL: OL Joe Thomas (Browns)
Best DL: DL JJ Watt (Texans)
Best LB: LB Jerod Mayo (Patriots)
Best DB: FS Eric Berry (Chiefs)
Best K: K Randy Bullock (Texans)

NFC


OPOY: RB DeMarco Murray (Eagles)
DPOY: CB Kyle Fuller (Bears)
OROY: RB Ameer Abdullah (Lions)
DROY: LB Eric Kendricks (Vikings)
Best QB: QB Zach Mettenberg (Bears)
Best RB: RB Lache Seastrunk (Redskins)
Best WR: WR Dez Bryant (Cowboys)
Best OL: OL Zach Martin (Cowboys)
Best DL: DL Fletcher Cox (Eagles)
Best LB: LB Eric Kendricks (Vikings)
Best DB: FS Earl Thomas III (Seahawks)
Best K: K Robbie Gould (Bears)

Congrats to all of this season's award winners!

Special shoutout to WR Breshad Perriman of the Baltimore Ravens as, in his first NFL season, broke the single season record for receiving yards previously held by the Lions Calvin Johnson.

WR Breshad Perriman finished the regular season of his rookie campaign with an amazing 2,062 yards becoming the first player in NFL history to break the 2,000 barrior for receiving yards in a single season.

Congrats!

Prior to the season starting each team was asked to provide their predictions for their teams OPoY, DPoY, RoY and FAoY.  Here is where the Steelers stacked up.

Offensive Player of the Year

Pre-Season Pick: RB Le'Veon Bell
Winner: QB Ben Roethlisberger

RB Le'Veon Bell had an awesome season, but this team went as Big Ben went.  Even though Le'Veon Bell missed four games due to injury the Steelers were able to go 3-1 in those games.  That was in large part thanks to the play of Big Ben who had 2 perfect QB rating games during that stretch.  When Big Ben was bad the team lost and he was only really bad twice as the Steelers finished 14-2 on the season.  QB Ben Roethlisberger finished the regular season with 3,684 yards passing, 33TD and a QB Rating of 119.4 which was good for third in the league.

Defensive Player of the Year

Pre-Season Pick: DE Cameron Heyward
Winner: SS Shamarko Thomas

One of the biggest question marks for this team heading into the season was the play of their secondary, in particular who was going to replace the future HOFer Troy Polamalu at SS.  Shamarko Thomas was drafted a couple years ago with the intent that it would be him but he was passed on the depth chart by the veteran Will Allen to end last season.  Thomas won the starting job in camp and had an incredible season, one that was worthy of earning him the AFC's Defensive Player of the Year.

Rookie of the Year

Pre-Season Pick: LB Bud Dupree
Winner: P Jordan Berry

There weren't too many rookies to see the field for the Steelers which didn't leave too many choices.  As much as I hate to give awards to kickers, the rookie P Jordan Berry wasn't just the only rookie on this team to get significant playing time but he actually did perform very well.  Berry finished the season with an average of 41.5 yards per punt.  He was incredible in terms of kicking out of bounds for distance, limiting opponents returns, as evident by the fact that his net punt average was 40.0 yards per punt.  Berry pinned 9 kicks inside the 20 with zero touchbacks all while never getting a kick blocked.

Free Agent of the Year

Pre-Season Pick: LB James Harrison (RB De'Angelo Williams after realizing the terrible ommision)
Winner: RB De'Angelo Wiliams

While his numbers were not spectacular, he was the only note worthy free agent signing and he did just what he was brought here to do.  He spelled Bell more than adequately and filled in nicely during Bell's four game injury stretch.  Williams finished with 486 yards rushing on a healthy 4.8 yards per rush and added 8 TDs.

Wow! Three games in already. And I've added my weekly post. It seems to have duplicated some of the info Pitt had already provided.  How in the world did Kyle Fuller win NFC DPotY?!

Received word from BigSteve. Game should get played Sunday afternoon.

x--Nike wrote: 
Steelers and Ravens it's an honor to be in your division and I am looking forward to playing you both in the playoffs.

Same here.  As I told Thusk after his tryout game in which we had a thriller, the AFC North is going to be interesting.  Four AFC teams remain and the AFC North holds down 3 spots.

With that said, we've probably jinxed it and the Dolphins will now represent the AFC in the SuperBowl, lol.