NFL Championship Game Running Thread

... although it could apply in either case.

 

Yeah but I can get QYFW for being a bitter old man a dozen times per week. Doesn't make sense to burn one now!

 

Oh that’s for sure there. But you got to weigh that against running down the clock. You’re counting on either a home opening up and TNT downs resetting or them not bringing your gut to the ground right away. They both bleed more clock than backing up for a two count. On fourth they only had to kill one second

 

Agreed. Joe Pisarcek/Herm Edwards aside, if you can't snap and make a simple handoff, you don't deserve to win. (now if all you need to do is kneel down, I get it.)

 

As the Zay Flowers taunting highlights to me (someone else got a helmet head butt penalty too), I hate those just play the game and do your job. It's not about "being free" its about playing not screwing around, especially when you're losing.

 

I don’t hear much criticism of Harbaugh, but he deserves plenty. He lost control of his team yesterday. Contrast that with the Lions, who despite collapsing remained professional. Related to qt's post, I think that highlights the difference between what people perceive as a players coach and what a players coach actually is. Letting your players do their own thing with no consequences or responsibility is not the mark of a players coach. The Lions battled to the bitter end, while the Ravens engaged in dirty play and pouted when victory was well within reach. Both are reflections of the coach.

 

They kind of looked the Marvin Lewis Bengals at times. Taunting penalties, stupid plays etc.

 

There really ought to be a word for a millionaire rapper, flipping off other very wealthy people from his own luxury suite at a conference title game. Makes Snoop changing his tune about Trump seem totally understandable.

 

It might be time to put Harbaugh on Fraud Watch. CC: @JC Three playoffs wins since the Super Bowl. They've had plenty of bad luck w/Jackson getting hurt, but the Ravens have won one game in two tries as the top playoff seed and both times Jackson was healthy for the playoffs. That doesn't reflect well on Harbaugh,

 

I was struck by the visual of Flowers sitting on the bench upset while the team was trying to rally. Maybe it was creative editing, but I kept thinking, "Why doesn't Harbaugh tell him to get off his ass and support his teammates?" Of course, this is the same coach who apparently was fine with Lamar pulling a disappearing act when he was injured last year. I'm sure a lot of players like that kind of "freedom," but we've got a growing sample size that suggests it may be detrimental to the team's ultimate success.

 

It's hard to tell if there's anything to take from the Jackson nonsense last year. It was terrible, but that seems standard for players these days. They'll throw fits and pout and unfollow the team on Twitter and then come back when it becomes clear neither one is going to do better without the other. If we're going to knock Harbaugh for this, we gotta knock the Cardinals for Kyler Murray and the Colts for Jonathan Taylor. I'm not sure how many teams could have avoided the Jackson nonsense. Of course, the Chiefs had Chris Jones holding out all summer, and he was showing up to charitable team functions. And he and they are playing in the Super Bowl.

 

I feel bad for the Lions and their fans, which I'm sort of one, though not big-time, because in 2064, they're still going to be dissecting that game. Unless of course Detroit makes a Sup.... HAHAHAHAA I almost said it.

As a Browns follower who lived through the horrors of the 80s, I can safely say those people will never get over that game yesterday. This one, in many ways, was worse than those because instead of one play it was a succession of them. And Campbell is getting raked over the coals today for doing what analytics say to do, whether we agree with that or not, much like Marty Schottenheimer is still getting second-guessed for playing a prevent defense against Elway, despite the Broncos barely having cracked 200 yards by that point. Here we are 40 years later and everyone still plays the prevent in that situation (and most of them lose as a result) and we will be watching for the next 40 as coaches play by the book and sometimes lose because of it, regardless of whether the numbers back up that move, because most of these guys are not capable of a single though of their own or going with their gut because not every single game is the same as the book suggests.