2025 Conference Championships

[SeahawkFever]

Easiest schedule in decades

I know you were kind of exaggerating here, but from a Seahawks fan, the 2021 Seahawks schedule is easier by opposing win percentage, and the easiest this century so far.

[SeahawkFever]

I think that Stidham will be ok, not great but good enough for Denver being able to win if they contain Maye to Diggs a bit and can force "must pass" downs so their pass rush can get after it. That being said, I'm picking New England to get by at 27-21.
In the NFC, it is wild that these two teams split with Rams at like +7 TO in the two games. I look for the TO battle margin to level out a bit and the home crowd to help push Seahawks through. Seattle 28. LAR 27.

Stidham looked pretty solid for a backup I thought. That game belonged to the defenses.

[SeahawkFever]

Haha ... after helping the Rams stay in the game, now the referees are helping the Hawks keep this last minute drive going. I dont believe Kupp got the first down. Will the Seahawks cut Woolen tomorrow, or keep him on the team?

Had the Rams kicked the FG, maybe these last seconds could have been different?

I'd say there were a handful of questionable calls (to put it lightly) in this game, but I remember seeing a bad call for one team, then the other, and it seemed like the officials balanced it out. Not well called, but not the most unbalanced officiating I've seen or read about.

[CSKreager]

I don’t know any to hear about what a great coach Vrabel is and “culture”

IT’S. THE. SCHEDULE!

This is like when Barry Switzer made a SB with Dallas

Not exactly.

True, it is his first season in New England, and he is working with players that he himself didn’t not draft.

Their schedule definitely is easier as well (the adjustment down my formula gave them still puts them fourth this year though)

But unlike Switzer where the core of players in 1994 for Dallas had won Super Bowls the two seasons before he got there, the Patriots were not good the last couple of seasons before Vrabel got there (8-9 in 2022, and back to back 4-13 seasons).

The knock on Switzer was anybody could have won a SB with that roster.

Any competent coach could have made a SB with that schedule and this good fortune in January.

[SeahawkFever]

I don’t know any to hear about what a great coach Vrabel is and “culture”

IT’S. THE. SCHEDULE!

This is like when Barry Switzer made a SB with Dallas

Not exactly.

True, it is his first season in New England, and he is working with players that he himself didn’t not draft.

Their schedule definitely is easier as well (the adjustment down my formula gave them still puts them fourth this year though)

But unlike Switzer where the core of players in 1994 for Dallas had won Super Bowls the two seasons before he got there, the Patriots were not good the last couple of seasons before Vrabel got there (8-9 in 2022, and back to back 4-13 seasons).

The knock on Switzer was anybody could have won a SB with that roster.

Any competent coach could have made a SB with that schedule and this good fortune in January.

I thought the knock on Switzer was that the bulk of the roster was put together by Jimmy Johnson before him and was already great?

Not saying you can't argue that Vrabel is overrated, or gets too much credit, but if it was the same situation then I would expect to have seen New England do a lot better the prior couple years under Mayo and Belichick in his last two seasons.

The Pats have a very easy schedule no doubt. That said there have been teams that were handed easier schedules by opposing win percentage that didn't get this far (1975 Vikings, 1975 Rams, 2021 Seahawks, 1970 Dolphins, 1983 Broncos, and 1999 Jaguars to name a few).

For the record, last season their opposing win percentage was .470 which is far higher than .391, but still ranked only 26th, so also on the easier side.

At least at a cursory glance, it appears that some of the skill position players for the Patriots for 2025 were already there the prior year (Maye, Henry, Stevenson, etc.), but most of the offensive linemen who are listed as starters for last season weren't there for the bulk of this season.

The Patriots certainly added talent before this season, but I don't know if I'd call this the same situation.

[Jay Z]

I'm scratching my head why the Rams didn't go for 2 after their last TD.

They probably should have. The downside is you miss, still need a TD, miss the second 2 pointer and now a FG beats you instead of ties you. That is better than what they got. Wouldn't figure the final quarter would be scoreless but it was.

Not nearly as big a blunder as Payton passing on the FG. With a backup QB you play for points I think, get the points on the board and hope the defense does the job.

[Brian wolf]

Denver did its job on defense but Maye ran well. When was the last time a team lost giving up less than 100 yards passing in a championship game?

[Mark]

Denver did its job on defense but Maye ran well. When was the last time a team lost giving up less than 100 yards passing in a championship game?

Maybe the Bengals vs. the Bills in 1988 when Esiason only passed for 94 yards. Simms only had 90 yards vs. Washington in 1986 and Eason only had 71 vs. the Dolphins in 1985. I haven't found any others since then but maybe I am missing one?

[JuggernautJ]

On a completely different note...

I wasn't able to see the game live and planned to watch the replay of NFL Channel at 12:30 am PST.
I carefully avoided all news and let friends know to not tell me the outcome of the game until after 3 am Monday.
I was really looking forward to watching the game "as if" it was live... I had no idea of the outcome when I sat down in front of my tv at 12:30.

And then...
18 minutes into the replay the NFL Channel ran a commercial for "get your Seahawks NFC Championship Merchandise Now!!"
I was/am really miffed...

I wonder how many other (tens of?) thousands of fans had their enjoyment of the game utterly ruined by that ad (it was run several times during the replay). Does the NFL not realize that there were many people seeing the game under the same (or similar) conditions that I was?? Sure, they made a few bucks off that commercial but they have to (should) know this will cost them many viewers in the future.
I'll sure as heck never plan to see a game under those conditions again.

Idiots.

(And yes, I've seen them run final scores on the "chyron" at the bottom of the screen before but I've been able to avoid seeing those by focusing elsewhere on the screen. This was a full screen ad that you couldn't miss even if you, as I do, mute the commercials.)

[Brian wolf]

Thanks Mark ... Garoppolo for SF also threw for only 77 yards in a victory over the Packers in 2019/20, where Mostert ran for 220 yards and 4 TDs.

Maybe I was harsh on the officiating during that Rams-Seahawks game but you just kinda wish if they are going to let the players play, then let it stay that way till the end?

The Rams were hurt by that lack of facemask call but the officials shouldnt have called taunting at that crucial moment against Seattle as well. Its amazing they allowed that catch and first down by Kupp. Likely for Baltimore had done the exact same thing against the Steelers and it was ruled incomplete during the season. Who says there is no home cooking from the officials?

The Rams had their chances however. Tough loss for their fans.