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Established in 2006 as a Community of Reality

Welcome to the Neno's Place!

Neno's Place Established in 2006 as a Community of Reality


Neno

I can be reached by phone or text 8am-7pm cst 972-768-9772 or, once joining the board I can be reached by a (PM) Private Message.

Established in 2006 as a Community of Reality

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Established in 2006 as a Community of Reality

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    Previewing the Patriots’ competition in the AFC Divisional round

    jedi17
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    • Post n°1

    Previewing the Patriots’ competition in the AFC Divisional round Empty Previewing the Patriots’ competition in the AFC Divisional round

    Post by jedi17 Fri 06 Jan 2017, 8:22 pm

    Previewing the Patriots’ competition in the AFC Divisional round

    The New England Patriots clinched a first-round bye and home-field advantage throughout the AFC playoffs this winter with their 35-14 win on the road in Miami on Sunday. As such, they join the Kansas City Chiefs on the sidelines this coming weekend watching the AFC Wild Card round on television.
    AROUND COVER32
    Power Rankings: Playoff addition
    QB Rankings:: Who’s riding highest into the playoffs?
    Winners and Losers:: Who came out on top to open up 2017?
    Patriots’ News: Congratulations Edelman on accomplishment
    Patriots’ News: Pats’ Weekly: A weekend in front of the TV for the Pats
    Patriots’ News: Lippett meets Floyd and the Pats
    With the seeding set, the #3 seed AFC North champion Pittsburgh Steelers host the #6 seed Miami Dolphins and the #4 seed AFC South champion Houston Texans host the #5 seed Oakland Raiders.
    With a rematch of the Dolphins 30-15 win in Week 6, as the highest seed, the Steelers will play Kansas City if they win. If Miami wins, they return to Foxboro to play the Patriots for a third time this season.
    Houston (possibly without promoted starter Tom Savage) takes the place of the Indianapolis Colts as the requisite cupcake from the AFC South. However, the Raiders–down to rookie third-string quarterback Connor Cook last week after an injury to back-up Matt McGloin (filling in for starter Derek Carr who broke his leg)–have gone from potential #1 seed to on the road in the first round.
    To simplify, the teams are broken into three categories: Likely to play next week (Houston or Oakland), unlikely to play next week (Miami), impossible to play before AFC Championship game (Kansas City and Pittsburgh):
    LIKELY TO BE VISITING FOXBORO:
    Houston Texans:
    The Texans played the Patriots already in 2016 in with a hobbled J.J. Watt right before he ended his season on injured reserve with a back injury. The New England 27-0 thrashing of the Texans in Week 3 on Thursday night dealt Houston their first loss of the season as rookie quarterback Jacoby Brissett won in his first NFL start.
    After two decent performances to open the season, Brock Osweiler was exposed before the nation as mediocre. For the season, Osweiler completed just 59% of his passes for 2,957 yards with 15 touchdowns and 16 interceptions. Osweiler is starting by default due to Tom Savage being sidelined by a concussion and Savage may be back if they make it to New England.
    In the first game, the Patriots draped cornerback Malcolm Butler over wide receiver DeAndre Hopkins and challenged the Texans to outscore them throwing to tight end Ryan Griffin and wide receiver Will Fuller. The results were as mediocre as expected.
    Former Miami Dolphins running back Lamar Miller rushed 21 times for 80 yards but the bend-but-don’t-break defense watched the Texans punt six times, turn the ball over three times and have three drives end on failed fourth-down conversions.
    The Texans are an odd playoff team winning the division with a 9-7 record while being outscored by their opponents by 49 points and with the 28th ranked offense. They host the 12-4 Oakland Raiders and their 20th ranked defense. As hard as it is to believe, the Texans could actually pull out a win and travel to New England for the divisional round.
    Oakland Raiders:
    Oakland was cruising along this season riding the strong arm of quarterback Derek Carr jumping out to an 11-3 record before Carr broke his fibula in Week 16 against Indianapolis. Instead of competing for the number one overall seed, the Raiders dropped their Week 17 game as back-up quarterback Matt McGloin injured his shoulder and gave way to third-string rookie Connor Cook in the loss to Denver.
    The loss dropped Oakland out of the bye week and number two seed down to going to Houston as the fifth seed. Cook is expected to start the game at Houston. While not a great option, he is blessed with arguably the NFL’s best pass blocking offensive line in front of him.
    The Raiders still have a strong offense with running backs Latavius Murray, DeAndre Washington and Jalen Richard leading the NFL’s sixth best rushing offense. The Raiders have dynamic wide receiver Amari Cooper and veteran Michael Crabtree giving them two 1,000 yard receivers.
    Defense is the issue in Oakland although they showed improvement in the second half of the season. After getting lit-up by New Orleans and Atlanta in the first two games of the season, they have slowly improved. Outside linebackers Khalil Mack and Bruce Irvin are a dynamic duo of quarterback pressure and have 18 of the team’s 25 sacks.

    In the secondary, veteran safety Reggie Nelson leads the team with five interceptions and cornerbacks Sean Smith and David Amerson are a solid duo of starters but the loss of 2013 first-round draft pick cornerback D.J. Hayden to injury this month hurts. Hayden was having his best season after transitioning to the third cornerback role defending in the slot.
    Oakland is a flawed team with horrendous injury issues at quarterback. Had Carr stayed healthy, they would likely be joining the Patriots on the bye week. They are the most likely to travel to New England for the Divisional Playoff game as even on the road they should have enough talent on both sides of the ball to beat the Texans.
    UNLIKELY…JUST SAW YOU–GO AWAY:
    Miami Dolphins:
    Does anyone in New England really want to see Miami come back north to Foxboro for the second time this season for another game after the Patriots defeated them with and without Tom Brady? Yes, it is very difficult to beat a team three times in one season but New England outscored them 66 to 38 in two games.
    In addition, the Dolphins have to travel to Pittsburgh to face the Steelers. Yes, Miami defeated the Steelers 30-15 in Week 6, but the Steelers’ defense was in a bad place at that time and Roethlisberger was clearly hobbled.
    Miami looks a lot like the 2015 New York Jets right now: they are a .500 team who took advantage of an easy schedule this year and pulled out a number of close games. They beat Cleveland in overtime, Buffalo by three points twice (once in overtime), Arizona by three points, the Rams by four points, the Jets by four points and the 49ers by a touchdown. Seven of their ten wins were by seven or less points–games which could have gone either way.
    Miami had a lot to play for at home versus New England last week and were dominated early and late with only a brief sign of life around halftime. A playoff team fighting for the fifth seed and a match-up against Houston instead of Pittsburgh showed little fire at home generating just 280 yards of offense and falling behind 20-0 before losing 35-14.

    The Dolphins figure to be a longshot to go into Pittsburgh and win.
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