COUGHCOUGHWEEK13*

[Guest Vitamin X]

Don't be so modest. You're like the Cal Ripken of TSM. I'm a pretty tough, burly guy, but if I slammed my funny bone on a chair...4-6 weeks, easily. You're posting the night of? Jesus Christ, you're like some sort of iron man or something.

I know! I didn't even need a compression sleeve for my arm or anything, no sir. Just ordered a Pabst and kept watching the game.

 

My arm is kind of tingly, actually. But I'm not complaining.

[Jaxxson Mayhem 0]

You sure you didn't separate your shoulder?

[Kinetic 0]

Judging by Sean Salisbury's abrupt about-face on Favre tonight, I look forward to the rush to jump off of this guy's cock on the ESPN family of networks tomorrow.

[Your Paragon of Virtue 0]

He's lunchpail as fuck though, remember that. I doubt they'll be so harsh on him.

 

NCM; this isn't Edwards first start, I think he actually has a 3-1 or 2-1 starting record.

[Slayer 0]

Vitamin X is currently listed as "questionable" for next Monday's group chat

[snuffbox 0]

Sounds like Favre will start against Oakland.

[JaMarcus Russell's #1 Caucasian Fan 0]

I don't understand Favre playing against the Raiders. Its in Lambeau first of all, and the Raiders, although better than last year, are still a pretty sorry squad. Rodgers did a good job considering the circumstances. Why not give him a look? They still lead thier division by a conderiable margin. Even without Favre, the Pack will be able to defeat the Raiders. Why not rest Favre until he is fully healty? Is the record that important?

[snuffbox 0]

Favre wants to play for what will probably be 3 touchdowns & over 300 yards so he can get over another bad day in Dallas.

[Guest Pizza Hut's Game Face]

Let's see how well Aaron Rodgers plays when team gameplan for him. Lots of backups appear to be stars when they relieve injured quarterbacks. I'm not saying that he's bad, but if you announced today that he's starting the next game, then I think we'd see different results.

 

Why not rest Favre until he is fully healty?

This hasn't been necessary in more dire circumstances than last night's injury, so I don't see the point.

[JaMarcus Russell's #1 Caucasian Fan 0]

I understand all that backup QB jazz, but the Packers play the Raiders and Rams in back to back weeks. Not exactly world beaters. I would understand if this was a divisional game or a game that the Packers needed to win, but he is going to play against two teams with five wins amongst them this season. For all intents and purposes, the Packers are probably not going to win the top seed, but they will win their division. Why not give the best and most important player on the team at least a weeks rest to heal his injuries. To me, is much too important to keep him healthy and rested for the final weeks playoff push, than to start him in games that the Packers could possibly without him playing.

[Mike wanna be 0]

Nobody knows how Favre would play after having to sit out for a few games, considering I can't recall the last game he was on a roster for that he didn't start. Maybe he sucks if he doesn't play every game.

[NoCalMike 0]

Its just motivation for the game man. Nothing more, nothing less. Sometimes when people (or professional football players) are grieving, then channel i their emotions in positive games. In this case the Redskinsare using the untimely death of Sean Taylor to motivate themselves in an obviously emotionally charged game. I don't understand whats wrong here.

You're still missing it. They can use whatever they want as motivation: winning for winning's sake, lose and we're done, we've been withholding alcohol from ourselves till we have a good game, avenging death, whatever. I don't care. It doesn't matter what teams do to motivate themselves, and in the case of my Bears, I don't care as long as it yields wins. But for Mike to say that this death is going to be sublimated into a decisive victory is pretty dicey business. If the Redskins beat the Bills, it won't be because Sean Taylor was murdered and this inspired them, and if they lose, it won't be because Sean Taylor was murdered and they weren't focused. There are so many more immediate aspects to the outcome of the game than the pregame dangling carrots. It's like the "Rest vs. Rust" canard, but much more offensive to any rational person's football sensibilities.

 

I guess you ignored the part where I said the Bills are starting a rookie QB against a good Redskins defense. I didn't say the Redskins will be lifted by Taylor's guardian angel wings into the throws of victory. Nor, did I say that would be the determining factor. I was just trying to say that it is possible that running on an emotional high could also be a factor. It might not make them play better perse, but I could definately see it making a team fight harder in the stretch. Everyone reacts differently to a close loss in their life, and I think it is a bit pretentious to act like you know for a fact that none of it translates to the playing field.

[Guest Tzar Lysergic]

Chicago Bears Fun Fact:

 

Cedric Benson has rushed for a little over 600 yards this season.

 

Devin Hester has earned 526 on punt returns only.

[Guest Pizza Hut's Game Face]

I guess you ignored the part where I said the Bills are starting a rookie QB against a good Redskins defense. I didn't say the Redskins will be lifted by Taylor's guardian angel wings into the throws of victory. Nor, did I say that would be the determining factor. I was just trying to say that it is possible that running on an emotional high could also be a factor. It might not make them play better perse, but I could definately see it making a team fight harder in the stretch. Everyone reacts differently to a close loss in their life, and I think it is a bit pretentious to act like you know for a fact that none of it translates to the playing field.

I'm going to ignore "throws of victory" (well, I guess now I didn't) and move right to the rest of it. If it's going to make them "fight harder," why weren't they "fighting harder" when he was alive? I'm generally led to believe that football players are fighting their hardest at all times, and I'm sure that for 99% of players, this is true. The only rational prediction that you can give for the Washington defense's performance is that they will be missing some strength in the secondary for the second week. Claiming that this will make anyone "fight harder," or conversely, "not be focused on the game" is just nonsense, and one of those will be assigned to their performance by stupid fans and stupid analysts following the game, depending on the outcome. We both know this to be true. His death will have no empirical impact on the game other than the fact that he's not playing.

 

EDIT: Peyton Manning had some great throws of victory last week. ugh. Temptation.

[CanadianChris 0]

Nobody knows how Favre would play after having to sit out for a few games, considering I can't recall the last game he was on a roster for that he didn't start. Maybe he sucks if he doesn't play every game.

Maybe no one has the guts to tell him they're going to end the consecutive games streak.

[snuffbox 0]

Because there would be no point in ending it if he's healthy enough to play.

 

Let's not go all Espn here, some of you, the game in Dallas (which those of us who grew up seeing Favre get stomped in that town knew we should dread) does not somehow disqualify how he played all the weeks previously.

 

"Wow, Favre played poorly & got hurt in a game where we should have seen it coming...bench him!"

[JaMarcus Russell's #1 Caucasian Fan 0]

Why is making the claim that the Redskins will "fight harder" a concept that you so vehemetly oppose? Grief is a powerful emotion, you know. Honestly, you don't know how the Redskins will react in a game in light of Sean Taylor's death. Losing a teammate so suddenly and so tragically does have a powerful emotional and psycholigical effect on the Redskins players. What I think Mike is trying to say that the death of Taylor will provide an extra motivational boost to players that could have a postive effects on the players. I mean look at when LMU rose to NCAA Elite Eight after the death of Hank Gathers in the middle of the season. You just can't discount the power of human emotion, Czech. Football players are't robots.

[snuffbox 0]

It's just a stupid thing to discuss. This is competitive sport, not some Shakespeare horseshit.

[JaMarcus Russell's #1 Caucasian Fan 0]

Because there would be no point in ending it if he's healthy enough to play.

 

Let's not go all Espn here, some of you, the game in Dallas (which those of us who grew up seeing Favre get stomped in that town knew we should dread) does not somehow disqualify how he played all the weeks previously.

 

"Wow, Favre played poorly & got hurt in a game where we should have seen it coming...bench him!"

 

 

But why risk further injury to your best player when you have a pretty easy two game strech and a comfortable lead in your divison? If I were a Packer fan, I wouldn't want Favre to get hurt further in game playing aganist the hapless Raiders or Rams

[Fuzzy Dunlop 0]

This is competitive sport, not some Shakespeare horseshit.

 

I think this pretty much sums it up.

[Guest Pizza Hut's Game Face]

This is competitive sport, not some Shakespeare horseshit.

 

I think this pretty much sums it up.

You getting the feeling that some of these posters would be the "start Orton" and "bring back Rowand" people of the Chicago sports world? Nobody's using their heads here.

[snuffbox 0]

Because there would be no point in ending it if he's healthy enough to play.

 

Let's not go all Espn here, some of you, the game in Dallas (which those of us who grew up seeing Favre get stomped in that town knew we should dread) does not somehow disqualify how he played all the weeks previously.

 

"Wow, Favre played poorly & got hurt in a game where we should have seen it coming...bench him!"

 

 

But why risk further injury to your best player when you have a pretty easy two game strech and a comfortable lead in your divison? If I were a Packer fan, I wouldn't want Favre to get hurt further in game playing aganist the hapless Raiders or Rams

 

1) No game is a guranteed win in the NFL. You use your best players to win the games. Before Thursday night, Favre was a legitimate MVP contender. Now he should be benched for a couple weeks despite the team already saying he will be fine?

 

2) People dont like to just end their records or streaks for the hell of it.

 

3) Favre has had great success vs. Oakland in the past, and would love to do it again and help the team get back on track. He's never won in St. Louis and would obviously like to remove another monkey from his back this season.

 

4) With a good game against Oakland, which is very possible, he has a chance to break the all-time yardage record at home. If he doesnt start the next two games he would be looking at breaking yet another record on the road.

 

5) We don't know if Favre is coming back next season so we will take all the games we can get. Especially games at Lambeau vs. the Raiders.

 

6) The playoff debacle several seasons ago in St Louis was awful for Favre, the team, and the fans. Two Sundays from tomorrow will see a chance for some redemption against a much less talented St Louis team.

 

7) If Favre does decide to play another season or two he could end up nearing the all-time streak record of the Vikings' Jim Marshall. If he doesnt start against Oakland, obviously, there's no chance for 271.

 

8) Dallas can still lose somewhere down the line. We need to win every game we can to stay in the possible hunt for home-field advantage. Taking games off or looking past them in any way would be really dumb.

 

9) This injury is less severe than a similar one last season, let alone several others over the years, and there appears to be no reason why this one would end up ending the streak.

 

10) Get it yet?

[Guest Vitamin X]

With the win on Thursday though, Dallas has homefield all but locked up. I mean, I know it's a tad presumptuous to say that already since there's still 4 games left to play, but they need to lose two games while Green Bay wins out in order for the NFC to go through Lambeau Field.

 

Dallas' upcoming schedule:

@Detroit

Philly

@Carolina

@Washington

 

Two of those teams will be fighting tooth and nail for a playoff berth (Detroit and Philly) and Washington, even if they're out of it by Week 17, will still want to kick Dallas in the nuts to finish off their season. If Dallas does lose those two games though, it'll be nice since all of the Cowboys' opponents would be in the NFC, which would match Green Bay's conference record as well.

 

Green Bay's upcoming schedule:

Oakland

@St. Louis

@Chicago

Detroit

 

This appears a little easier, but I'm not discounting either one of those last two games as being a cakewalk, either. Now, I don't think Favre should sit because he's going to have an extra few days of rest anyways, and like snuffy said, no game is a guaranteed win in the NFL and you need to have everyone you possibly can ready to play.

[Your Paragon of Virtue 0]

Because there would be no point in ending it if he's healthy enough to play.

 

Let's not go all Espn here, some of you, the game in Dallas (which those of us who grew up seeing Favre get stomped in that town knew we should dread) does not somehow disqualify how he played all the weeks previously.

 

"Wow, Favre played poorly & got hurt in a game where we should have seen it coming...bench him!"

 

Yeah, because for the past fifteen years ESPN hasn't been all over Favre's cock...

[Hawkius Maximus 0]

Why the hell is Seattle starting Shaun Alexander?

 

I don't get that. The formula right now is working (for the most part). Hasslebeck throws the ball. Maurice Morris runs short yardage, and possibly takes the big run if it's not there, but he won't force it.

 

I'm willing to bet Alexander will try to force everything into a big run.

 

Maybe knowing that he might be losing his starter role will make Alexander work. Dude's been coasting for about two years now. He's been injured alot, but even when he's been healthy, he hasn't played even half as good as he did in the 2005 regular season. All the while Maurice Morris has been there covering for him and trying to salvage the running game in the last two seasons. Not really fair at all.

[fazzle 0]

So, the Redskins are only gonna put 10 men on field on defense for their first play of the game.

 

What can the Bills do in this situation? If they were to bomb it deep for a TD, they'd be bigger villains than the Patriots.

 

 

But you can't take a knee either, because it's still a real play in a real game. So what do you do then, just run it up the gut?

[tominator89 0]

I don't think there's anything wrong with them taking a knee given the situation.

[Smartly Pretty 0]

Run a play from the shotgun?

[Slayer 0]

The Missing Man Defense?

[fazzle 0]

the answer: run a sweep to the outside for a first down. Then get bitched at by the announcers for "taking advantage" of the Redskins honoring Sean Taylor.