NFL 2016-17 playoffs running thread

What is on the Patriots field? An oil well? I've always wondered.

 

Ball game. Outplayed up front. Outcoached. Just enough bad officiating and this one is over before the fourth quarter.

 

Pats have played wonderfully all year. But not one of their soon-to-be 16 wins had any drama in them at all. Only game where the last five minutes meant much was the Seattle loss. Not their fault, but I'd bet on another dull Super Bowl with New England to win and cover, probably by double the spread.
OOP, I don't get the outcoached. Pittsburgh couldn't do anything with Pats' offensive line. That's beyond any coach's power to alter.

 

I do think for all of the talk about high seeds being flat when they have the WC bye, the WC teams that do survive into the NFC or AFC title game usually have nothing left if they've played in physical or tense divisional games.

Think about Green Bay and Pittsburgh. They had difficult home wins -- both on Sunday while Atlanta and New England played on Saturday.

While the Falcons and Patriots were clearly superior today (especially over the Packers), the fatigue of the visitors was also apparent.

 

All I've heard all week is how Brady will tear apart a zone and the Steelers gave him nothing but zone to pick apart.

They have also had one breakdown after another in the secondary. I think you put part of that on the coaching as well.

 

Thanks for playing, Steelers. We have some lovely parting gifts for you.

 

If you have no pass rush and play man to man, the results aren't pretty.

 

If there's one thing the Patriots DON'T do, it's play dull Super Bowls.

 

That 3 a.m. wake-up call probably didn't help, either, but the Steelers' defense just isn't good enough to stop this offense. The Steelers also gave away opportunities early with sloppy play such as Coates stopping for no reason on what should have been a big gain and Hamilton dropping a touchdown.

To be fair, I've said a lot about the officiating and it was shitty and it did help the Patriots, but no way Pittsburgh beats this team even if the refs had done their jobs properly.

 

What we're seeing tonight sure isn't pretty, either. I'm not sure that would have worked, either, but this zone was a clear failure from minute one.

 

Tom Brady.