2016 Playoffs - Wildcard Round

ROBBED! Robbed, I tell you! Always a Bridesmaid, never a bride. Zack Mettenberger and Kevin White fall just short in winning awards in the NFC. It was pretty much a Raiders and Redskins sweep as their rookie QBs took the league by storm. Mettenberger, for the record, had the highest QBR and most yards of any starting QB in the entire league, and was 2nd in Completion Percentage.  >SPOILER ALERT< And because you're gonna see his face, Raiders QB Harris Skinner looks like a spitting image of Bruce Gradkowski...

Click the spoiler below and you'll see the awards.  Any snubs? Any surprises?

Last time we made it to the playoffs, it was Halloween. Two months per season is not a bad clip.  As usual, I won't force a strict advance, but if you're not scheduling your game and showing that you're active, we'll bypass you and move on. Something tells me New Years Eve/Day might be rough for a few of us.


Bye Weeks: Texans, Browns, Redskins, Vikings

Steelers vs Raiders about to kickoff (7:15 PM EST).

Game will be streamed on Nick's twitch account: nickoftime780

A tough loss for the Raiders as the steelers pulled out the victory, Norman being injured allowed Brown to do as he pleased and am the raiders def was unable to prevent a single drive from not giving up points

The Steelers and Raiders took the field in Oakland to renew a familiar old school AFC playoff rivalry.  The game was reminiscent of those 70's battles and yet it wasn't.  Both teams rocked their 70's alternate uniforms and the game was a hotly contested battle that came down to the final minute, but it was not the hard hitting defensive battles of old.  The 2016 rendition featured 773 combined yards of offense, zero turnovers and only one drive that did not end in points (not counting the Raiders last drive that started with under 30 seconds remaining).

The fireworks began on the first play of the game as the Steelers caught the Raiders thinking first play run out of a two TE set only to have Ben Roethlisberger find TE Coby Fleener on a crossing pattern that ended 76 yards later in the end zone for a quick 7-0 lead.  The two biggest points in the game came in the first half that ultimately played a big role in deciding the outcome.  On the last play of the first quarter, Raiders QB Harris Skinner completed a pass to set up a third and 1.  On the first play of the second quarter however the Steelers brought pressure and forced an errant pass causing the Raiders to have to punt.  Little did both teams know that it would be the only punt of the game. 



That stop allowed the Steelers to take an initial two score lead as they followed up the stop with a FG for a 10 point cushion.  The second big turning point in the game came late in the half as the Raiders scored with under two minutes remaining to cut the Steelers lead to 7 knowing they would receive the ball to start the second half.  Big Ben would lead the team down the field completing a huge post route to Antonio Brown with only 2 seconds left to put the ball in range for a Shaun Suisham FG and a 24-14 halftime lead.

The fans were treated to high drama throughout the second half as both teams marched down the field with the Raiders rookie combination of Harris Skinner to Clarence Blake hooking up for 10 catches for 190 yards on the day.  The Steelers answered with effective running by Le'Veon Bell and timely conversions to Antonio Brown.  After getting the ball with around 4 minutes remaining and clinging to a 34-31 lead the Steelers drove down the field and punched in the final nail in the coffin with a Le'Veon Bell TD run with under a minute to play.



The Steelers would go on to win 41-31 and punch their ticket into the Divisional  Round where they will travel to Houston for a matchup with the #1 seed Houston Texans.

FINAL SCORE
Pittsburgh Steelers 41
Oakland Raiders 31

KEY PLAYERS
QB Ben Roethlisberger
21/26 for 323 yards 4TD 0INT

RB Le'Veon Bell
18 rushes for 134 yards and a TD

WR Antonio Brown
6 catches for 67 yards and 3TD

TE Coby Fleener
4 catches for 138 yards and a TD

Cowboys get absolutely fucked by LaGarrett Blounts 8000 broken tackles in rout to a 26-28 loss, nothing I could do to stop him or Peyton Garoppolo, disappointing end to a disappointing season

vTRUv wrote:Cowboys get absolutely fucked by LaGarrett Blounts 8000 broken tackles in rout to a 26-28 loss, nothing I could do to stop him or Peyton Garoppolo, disappointing end to a disappointing season

I watched some of the game and it did seem like Blount broke a minimum of 2 tackles on each run ... crazy.  It was so bad I thought you had some kind of special setting on.

For those of you that have played NCAA football, it was like TRU had his defensive setting on Aggressive for Hard Hits or Strip the Ball.  His defense was laying hard hits but nobody felt like wrapping up.  All should tackles and strip attempts that Blount broke free from.  Just crazy.

Steel Pitt wrote:

vTRUv wrote:Cowboys get absolutely fucked by LaGarrett Blounts 8000 broken tackles in rout to a 26-28 loss, nothing I could do to stop him or Peyton Garoppolo, disappointing end to a disappointing season

I watched some of the game and it did seem like Blount broke a minimum of 2 tackles on each run ... crazy.  It was so bad I thought you had some kind of special setting on.

For those of you that have played NCAA football, it was like TRU had his defensive setting on Aggressive for Hard Hits or Strip the Ball.  His defense was laying hard hits but nobody felt like wrapping up.  All should tackles and strip attempts that Blount broke free from.  Just crazy.

I thought I was going crazy, i'm glad somebody else noticed this, multiple times I had him stopped in the backfield only for him to break at least 2 tackles and run for a big gain, including the game clinching drive, I was losing my mind.

vTRUv wrote:

Steel Pitt wrote:

vTRUv wrote:Cowboys get absolutely fucked by LaGarrett Blounts 8000 broken tackles in rout to a 26-28 loss, nothing I could do to stop him or Peyton Garoppolo, disappointing end to a disappointing season

I watched some of the game and it did seem like Blount broke a minimum of 2 tackles on each run ... crazy.  It was so bad I thought you had some kind of special setting on.

For those of you that have played NCAA football, it was like TRU had his defensive setting on Aggressive for Hard Hits or Strip the Ball.  His defense was laying hard hits but nobody felt like wrapping up.  All should tackles and strip attempts that Blount broke free from.  Just crazy.

I thought I was going crazy, i'm glad somebody else noticed this, multiple times I had him stopped in the backfield only for him to break at least 2 tackles and run for a big gain, including the game clinching drive, I was losing my mind.

Close game at a 2 point differential shows that my sliders are in a good range.  If you or others notice, division games against the CPU are tough, like the Bears getting upset by the Packers. In the playoffs, it's like the CPU pretends it's a division game, but amps it up even higher. I hate seeing the CPU advance, but I'm glad they're not chumps either. Mission might have his hands full next week...

Bears vs Falcons live at https://gaming.youtube.com/watch?v=iInZBbwh6c0

I'll be in the youtube chat, not the stream chat.

"And we're going to overtime! The Bears have lost all sense of discipline and the Falcons walk to midfield for the coin flip with all the momentum behind them."  This would've been the headline, but Matty Ice melted in the waning seconds of his showdown with the Bears.
In a game where the Madden Gods clearly wanted to get down with the Dirty Bird in Hot-lanta, the Bears persevered through terrible penalties, psychic DB coverage by the Falcons, and an absurd amount of drops by receivers.

Alshon Jeffery opened the Bears scoring with an immaculate one handed catch as he climbed the latter at the goalline with nobody around him. Shortly thereafter, Mettenberger fired a fastball right at him and he stone handed it taking points off the boards.

Both teams seemed to contrast each other. Matt Ryan would lead an offense that focused on a short passing game featuring drags, crossing routes, and RBs in the flats, hoping to keep a non-existent Bears pass rush from ever breathing on Ryan. Mettenberger on the other hand was leading a Vertical attack focused on big plays to get the Bears downfield as fast as possible.  The Falcons bend, but don't break defense gave up big yardage, but focused on letting the Bears make mistakes.  The Bears attempted to snuff out the Falcons offense with next to no vertical attempts being made to keep them honest.

In the end, Chicago kicked a late field goal to take a 13-10 lead. With less than 2 minutes to go, the Falcons received a kick, and the Madden Gods threw a facemasking flag to extend the return.  On the very next play, the Madden Gods threw another flag on Chicago, a defensive pass interference to put the ball at the 28 yard line. The Falcons were all but guaranteed overtime. No kicker would miss from that range right?

We'd never find out as the Falcons went for the win. Matty Ice would drop back, find max coverage, and sprint upfield picking up yards. With no time outs, and the clock ticking away, Matt Ryan would not spike the ball with 8 seconds left, instead running one more play. Then he froze. One second of a lapsed brain fart, and instead of running out of bounds, running for a wide open pylon, or throwing the ball away, he would fumble the ball as time expired. Bears advance.

You can jump to the 58:45 mark for the final Falcons drive.

Both Thusk and Plusch have been messaged a deadline to provide their availability to the Commishes. If we don't hear from them by 7 pm EST on Saturday, we advance.

If things advance quick enough, we can draft on Saturday or Sunday next weekend.