2019 NFL Divisional Playoffs

[FootballDad]

A good round of games this weekend, just like the Wildcard week. Up this week are:

Saturday 4:35 PM EST: Minnesota Vikings at the San Francisco 49ers. This should be a fun game to watch as many of the highly-visible stars for both of these teams are melanin-deficient. Both QB's are top notch young players. SF has maybe the best TE in football with fifth round pick George Kittle. There were EIGHT tight ends selected before him, notably all-world stiff O.J. Howard. For the Vikings Adam Thielen seems to be getting his groove back. And I always love seeing Harrison Smith and Andrew Sendejo on the field at the same time. I like both of these teams about the same, just looking to see a good, fun game.

Saturday 8:15 PM EST: Tennessee Titans at the Baltimore Ravens. Now this one is a super-easy game to pick a favorite in. Ryan Tannehill over Lamar Jackson is a no-brainer. I think the Titans have a shot only because they are a physical team on both sides of the ball, and that's what is needed to keep Jackson off of the field and to clamp down on his running. We shall see.

Sunday 3:05 PM EST: Houston Texans at the Kansas City Chiefs. Ugh. The only thing that the Texans have going for them from a caste football standpoint is JJ Watt. The rest of the team is perhaps the blackest in the league. The Chiefs at least have a snowplow up front, half of a white QB, Travis Kelce at TE and two palefales who see better than 50% of the snaps on D in Daniel Sorensen and Ben Niemann. I'll be a homer and root for the Chiefs here. Can you imagine an AFC Championship game between the Ravens and the Texans? That might be one of the worst games ever.

Sunday 6:40 PM EST: Seattle Seahawks at the Green Bay Packers. Outside of the QB position, these two teams are remarkably similar from a caste perspective, bad. But that's enough for me, I'll be rooting hard for Aaron Rodgers and his African contingent over Russell Wilson and his sub-Saharan comrades led by gum-chomping plantation master Pete Carroll. 'Nuff said.

 

[backrow]

Shame that Vikings are playing Niners. I'd rather have both of them in the conference final. AFC is just terrible this year if best we have is Kelce and Tannehill.

 

[Don Wassall]

The Packers start eight Whites (when FB Dan Vitale is in the game) and have a White QB, compared to just two White starters for Seattle, which is a big difference for two NFL teams so GB is the easy rooting choice.

Also hoping Jace Sternberger takes over next season for Jimmy Graham, who has slowed to the point of parody.

 

[CrazyFinn]

I'll be rooting hard for Aaron Rodgers and his African contingent over Russell Wilson and his sub-Saharan comrades led by gum-chomping plantation master Pete Carroll. 'Nuff said.

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve wanted to just break into my TV and punch that fool in the face whenever I see him pacing the sidelines like that, laughing, high-fiving, shucking and jiving with his Africans.

I just hope GB can come thru. Aaron Rodgers finally has a defense that should hold-up in the playoffs and while he hasn’t looked his best at times this season, it’s really put up or shut-up time for him.

Unfortunately the plantation makes me nervous, especially when Russell Wilson heroics are involved. This Packer team is one of the weakest 13-3 teams I can remember in recent memory.

 

[FootballDad]

The problem that GB has is similar to what was plaguing Tom Brady. The receiving corps are not always on the same page as Rodgers. As for the number of white players starting for GB, I had forgotten about the three palefaces on defense. The skill side has basically zero and a 3/5 O-line. Vitale is in for under 16% of the offensive snaps. But still, two crackers on the D line with Blake Martinez racking up tackles is above average. Hopefully this cracka connection can reign in the maddening Wilson escapes.

 

[Liverlips]

I will be cheering for whoever wins between SF and Minnesota from here on out. Green Bay is a no-brainer and I guess the Chiefs are as well against very black teams. Baltimore seems to play a decent amount of whites but the black quarterback ruins it. Titans are pretty black but have a white QB. A wash for me though I guess slightly hoping for Titans. As long as either SF or Vikes make it "we" will have a team to cheer for.

 

[white lightning]

Best case scenario after this weekends games on the nfc side is either green bay vs minnesota or greenbay vs san francisco. Either way as long as the Packers win
we would be rooting for the nfc in the superbowl. In the afc not so much. Tenn has no chance. It's either gonna be KC or the Ravens most likely. How do you pick
between those two teams? Lol.

 

[Johnny_U]

Best case scenario after this weekends games on the nfc side is either green bay vs minnesota or greenbay vs san francisco. Either way as long as the Packers win
we would be rooting for the nfc in the superbowl. In the afc not so much. Tenn has no chance. It's either gonna be KC or the Ravens most likely. How do you pick
between those two teams? Lol.

I would pick the Chiefs and then hope either SF, MN, or GB beat them in the big game.

 

[Westside]

KC against Blacxtens any day and every day. JJ Watt is not going to matter.

 

[white lightning]

Some possible bad news for the Vikings. Diggs has the flu and has missed practice while Thielen cut his ankle in practice. He had to have stitches put in. He may or may not play. If
I had to bet he will be out there even if he is bleeding. Theilen is as tough as they come and he already has missed too much football this year. I expect him to play but I hope he is still
able to play good as they need everyone to try and beat a very talented niners team. I like the niners alot and wish these teams didn't meet for another week. I will be happy either way but
would prefer to see a Vikings Upset.

 

[Don Wassall]

Adam Thielen mysteriously "cut his ankle" somehow during practice this week. I'd like to know more about this strange injury.

ESPN's Jeremy Fowler reports Adam Thielen is expected to wear protective padding on his injured ankle in Saturday's Divisional Round game against the 49ers.
Thielen was absent from Thursday's practice and isn't expected to do much ahead of Saturday's 4:35 PM ET kickoff after getting cleated on Wednesday. NFL Network's Ian Rapoport reported earlier Friday that the Vikings aren't sure how Thielen's ankle will "hold up" after receiving stitches. Thielen should suit up for Saturday's win-or-go-home Divisional Round contest, though how effective he'll be playing at less than 100 percent is up for debate.

 

[Shadowlight]

A good round of games this weekend, just like the Wildcard week. Up this week are:

Saturday 3:35 PM EST: Minnesota Vikings at the San Francisco 49ers. This should be a fun game to watch as many of the highly-visible stars for both of these teams are melanin-deficient. Both QB's are top notch young players. SF has maybe the best TE in football with fifth round pick George Kittle. There were EIGHT tight ends selected before him, notably all-world stiff O.J. Howard. For the Vikings Adam Thielen seems to be getting his groove back. And I always love seeing Harrison Smith and Andrew Sendejo on the field at the same time. I like both of these teams about the same, just looking to see a good, fun game.

Saturday 7:15 PM EST: Tennessee Titans at the Baltimore Ravens. Now this one is a super-easy game to pick a favorite in. Ryan Tannehill over Lamar Jackson is a no-brainer. I think the Titans have a shot only because they are a physical team on both sides of the ball, and that's what is needed to keep Jackson off of the field and to clamp down on his running. We shall see.

Sunday 2:05 PM EST: Houston Texans at the Kansas City Chiefs. Ugh. The only thing that the Texans have going for them from a caste football standpoint is JJ Watt. The rest of the team is perhaps the blackest in the league. The Chiefs at least have a snowplow up front, half of a white QB, Travis Kelce at TE and two palefales who see better than 50% of the snaps on D in Daniel Sorenson and Ben Niemann. I'll be a homer and root for the Chiefs here. Can you imagine an AFC Championship game between the Ravens and the Texans? That might be one of the worst games ever.

Sunday 5:40 PM EST: Seattle Seahawks at the Green Bay Packers. Outside of the QB position, these two teams are remarkably similar from a caste perspective, bad. But that's enough for me, I'll be rooting hard for Aaron Rodgers and his African contingent over Russell Wilson and his sub-Saharan comrades led by gum-chomping plantation master Pete Carroll. 'Nuff said.

Thanks FootballDad for your weekly previews this season.

I might be approaching these games at a slightly different angle but the worst news is that Titans WR Adam Humphries is out yet again with an ankle injury.

I too like QB Ryan Tannehill and compare him favorably to the more hyped albeit younger Deshaun Watson. Both have suffered ACL injuries but to me Ryan is the smoother better athlete. Remember he played WR at Texas A&M.

I know our college experts here like TwentyTwo and Red raider ( who both also chime in on the NFL) are on the same page as me when it comes to placing great emphasis on white defenders and I am sure we are not alone in that but it gets lost at times with all the QB talk. So neither the Ravens or the Titans play white defenders which is a major drag. How excited can I get with such a thing?

There has been discussion here and in the greater media about playing "assignment" option football defense when up against Lamar Jackson. One major defect in that thinking. Unlike every college option team I can think of from yesteryear or today ( Air Force) the Ravens have changed the formula. Air Force has the standard option team. A powerful chain moving fullback, an agile running QB and a quicksilver HB in Kade Remsberg. Their passing attack revolves around play action set ups and catching defenses asleep with long bombs.

The most innovative thing about the Ravens is their multiple TE usage. Believe me college option teams never featured tight ends like the skilled trio the Ravens put up. Granted Mark Andrews is not 100% but I think he will still play. But both Hurst and Andrews, who have wide receiver skills, cause defenses nightmares because trying to stop an attack that features a punishing north south runner in Ingram, a fast twitchy QB like Jackson plus a fleet of top tier versatile tight ends that include savvy Nick Boyle adds a new dilemma for defenses that isn't easily solved.

Andrews is really a big WR who is an exceptional talent and Hurst is a fast athletic TE with various skills. Defenses today are not built for or prepared to deal with these type of tight ends in this type of offense which in my opinion is why teams have had trouble "solving" the Ravens offensive riddle. Of course you have to have a solid physical OL to boot and the Ravens have that.

My biggest issue with the Chiefs is the media love affair with their speedster black wide receivers. But if S Sorensen plays most snaps and LB Niemann gets involved it makes the team more palatable. I am a huge Travis Kelce fan.

I hope and think WR Thielen will be ok for this game but we won't know for sure until we see him out there cutting etc. The 49ers Vikings game is a nice matchup and I suspect most here are most looking forward to that game this afternoon.

The biggest mystery game is Seattle against the Pack. This is a tough game to predict. I feel especially bad for edge talent Kyler Fackrell who has been reduced to being a fill in after his double digit sack season last season. He still could make some big plays tomorrow. The Packers of course have more white defenders than Seattle but rookie LB Cody Barton will likely start and he had a tremendous game last week.

I believe none of the games will be affected by inclement weather. In fact it will be warm in Baltimore. A spring weekend where I am too. That won't last. Ha.

 

[FootballDad]

With Thornhill suffering an ACL injury in the week 17 game vs. the Chargers, Sorenson will be in for every defensive snap. In KC it is snowing heavily now, for gametime tomorrow it's going be in the 20's with a possibility of some 2nd half snow showers.

 

[Shadowlight]

One more point about how to stop the Ravens attack. Some of the stop the option like offense principles remain which means stacking against the run etc. But because Andrews is an "inverted" TE he can't rally be covered consistently. He is not only their best pass catching TE he is their best pass catching WR too. He was a WR in high school and understands route trees. He is a chameleon who is a TE and a WR.

If I was a DC you always have to funnel towards something. I would take my chances on their one trick rookie speedster WR Brown. You might get burned a couple of times but you want Jackson to throw traditional passes to his wide receivers. No one is completely sold on his traditional drop back QB skills so one must try to put him in that exact position. But as I said the trouble is his tight end fleet for the most part can't be covered because they are too athletic and versatile. And Boyle is very savvy in finding soft spots.

But if I am going to take chances and hedge towards the TEs then I would try to force them to rely on "downtown" Brown to score points. Of course you have to stop their running attack too. Not easy but there are enough weaknesses in this offense which could be their downfall somewhere along the line.

 

[wile]

Just off the NFL website the times for today are a bit later than what Football Dad has posted, it looks like his are the Central times

 

[FootballDad]

Just off the NFL website the times for today are a bit later than what Football Dad has posted, it looks like his are the Central times

Fixed it

 

[Old Scratch]

They just devoted a segment before the game on the unfortunate fact that blacks aren't vastly overrepresented in head coaches. Still waiting on the segment about whites being very underrepresented in the NFL and there being 0 white CBs. Oh wait, blacks are athletic supermen and that's an acceptable explanation, but blacks having a low average IQ and only 15% even having an IQ 100 and above isn't an acceptable explanation for why there aren't more of them as HC.

 

[The Hock]

I was liking Minnesota's chance vs. the Niners. Niners a bit of a wunderkind team, maybe not ready for play-off pressure, while the Vikings are more seasoned.

But dammit I hear Theilen is injured with a cut ankle. And just as he's finding his rhythm again. Dammit.

Still should be a good game.

 

[white lightning]

I was liking Minnesota's chance vs. the Niners. Niners a bit of a wunderkind team, maybe not ready for play-off pressure, while the Vikings are more seasoned.

But dammit I hear Theilen is injured with a cut ankle. And just as he's finding his rhythm again. Dammit.

Still should be a good game.

Thielen is a Viking Warrior. He will play with stitches in his ankle. SKOL......Let's Go Vikings!

 

[Don Wassall]

Garoppolo very sharp to open the game, 49ers get the first TD

 

[Riggins44]

Thielen with the catch on third down for the first. He looked good there.

Let's see if Diggs now has an emotional breakdown.

 

[Riggins44]

TD Cousins to Diggs. Guess Stephon will be OK for a while.

 

[Don Wassall]

lol at the SF d-back who was "covering" Diggs on the TD pass. The only thing more certain than poor play by the league's defensive backs is the way it's covered up by the media and announcers like Crissie and Uncle Al.

 

[Riggins44]

Yep that DB just fell down when Diggs caught the pass. That should not have been a TD.

 

[The Hock]

That Niner DB comically misplayed that Diggs TD.

But he is athletic I hear.