2006Coltsbestever

Cubs win 4-3 over the Royals! Giving their fans what they want. The Professor with a great outing! Taking advantage of the weak part of the schedule like they should. Things are evening out now. Cubs improve to 64-59, 5 games above .500 which is the most they have been all season. All the teams fighting for the final playoff wildcard spot have completed their games today. Standings heading into August 21st: Cubs 64-59 Reds 64-61 Marlins 64-61 D Backs 64-61 *Cubs have a 1 game lead over the other 3 teams for that final spot (2 in the loss column). Go Cubs Go! Fly the Flag @HOZER

Marlins did indeed lose again. So heading into August 20th, the race for that final wildcard playoff spot looks like this: Cubs 63-59 Reds 64-60 Marlins 64-61 D Backs 64-61 I have never seen a race quite like this for a final playoff spot.

I tell you what, being in the Baseball playoff race towards the end of August is fun but it is gut wrenching day to day. There are so many games to keep up with. Today was a great day for the Cubs, nice bounce back win vs the lowly Royals. This race for the final WildCard spot is just WILD! As of now, the Cubs regain that coveted spot because they own the tiebreaker over the Reds and Marlins. Going into August 20th: Cubs 63-59 Reds 64-60 Marlins 64-60. Marlins are still playing the 2nd game of their double header at LA. They lost the 1st game. They are down 3-1, another loss would put them at 64-61. Fly the Flag @HOZER

I am going to say this with sarcasm, just having fun here: Hey Miami, here is your key to the golden ticket. A HR hitting RB, top tier RB in the league if you want to win the East and a shot at a SB run. Give us Hunt and a 1st round pick in 2024 and he's yours. Come on Miami, you know you want him

According to many, Miami seems to want him pretty bad. I already think Miami is a playoff team without him, imagine what they could do with him. If Miami thinks they have a shot at a SB run, I am sure they would give up a couple of picks. If not, then their loss, because Ballard won't trade JT for scraps. He is too good of a GM to do that.

Yep every year it happens, some teams that make the playoffs, then miss the next. Lions have improved their roster coming off of a 9-8 season, they missed the playoffs last year so are really hungry. Packers losing Rodgers, Vikings losing Cook just adds to their chances to making the playoffs. Roster vs roster, Lions are just simply better than the Bears, IMO. Teams that made the playoffs last year in the NFC = Bucs and Giants, I have them missing the playoffs this season. There are usually at least 2 in each conference, those are my 2.

Hunt is one big Fella . We need a guy like that for our O.Line.

How about Hunt and a 2024 2nd.

Yeah regarding picks, I would be thrilled with a 2nd and 3rd in 2024. 2nd and 4th is reasonable. How about just a 1st in 2024? It's only 1 pick but a 1st.

I think if a trade happens, Ballard would want picks. What would we get is a mystery? I would want them in 2024, at least 2. A 2nd and 3rd would be nice or just a 1st. Any suggestions on what we could get for him? I am just throwing stuff out there.

Our division will probably look like this: Jags 10-7 Colts 8-8-1 Titans 8-9 Texans 6-11 AR will be better than Stroud.

Fields will be better this year. Their defense is respectable. Packers will be in the basement.

Bears don't have the overall roster to compete with the Lions. I am not big on Goff but he is good enough to do some damage, sort of like Foles in Philly.

I may be wrong but I have the Packers finishing last in the North. I see something like this: Lions 12-5 Vikings 10-7 (wild card) Bears 7-10 Packers 6-11

Of course Bears won 1 in 1985, but yeah the AFC South has only had 1 winner, that would be the Colts

Since 1990 the Packers have won 2 SBs. 1996/2010. The AFC South is the worst. Colts have won 1 SB (2006), nobody else in the division has won 1.

Today wasn't good. I was yelling at the TV for Ross to take Tailon out after the 5th inning. I could see Tailon was spent. He didn't and Tailon gave up a 2 run HR in the 6th. Cubs end up losing 4-3. The Royals flat out stink, we have no business losing to them.

The purpose of the thread is before season picking though. That is what makes it fun. Just to see how close your predictions are right before any games are played. If I was to pick mid-season, I would probably get close to 90% of my division winners right. = 7/8. I still usually get at least 5/8.

I chose 2016 over 2014 mainly because I felt like the Seahawks gave away that SB in 2014. Not running Lynch was just mind boggling at the end. Pats also could've easily have lost to the Ravens in the Divisional Round as well. They barely pulled that out. In 2016, that was Tom's greatest moment. Yeah the Falcons blew a big lead but IMO the comeback wasn't a fluke or lucky. It was just the Pats being the Pats, they played great defense and offense in that 2nd half to make that happen. The Seahawks SB was gifted to them.

The Patriots, 2016 specifically had a much better defense than the 1998 Broncos. It is all subjective so I thought I better mention the 1998 Broncos because they were great. Perhaps with Davis, they could have limited Mahomes chances, I don't doubt that at all.

Probably the one big omission I left off was the 1998 Denver Broncos. They won a back to back SB's = 1997/1998. I just think the 2019 Chiefs could outscore them if those 2 teams played, JMO. No disrespect to John Elway and Terrell Davis, the 1998 Broncos do belong in with those teams but I could only choose 5 teams. During the 2019 Chiefs playoff run, they scored 51 points, 35 points, and then 30 points in the SB. In the 3 games they played they averaged almost 39 points a game. For Championship week, I would want to see: 2016 Patriots at 2006 Colts (AFC) 1995 Cowboys at 1994 49ers (NFC) -I would give the 2 teams that aren't as great on paper HFA to make it damn near even. Tons of story lines with those games. The 2006 Colts went 10-0 in the Dome that year, never lost. Brady vs Manning on Peyton's turf! Aikman vs Young and that Cowboys/49ers rivalry was unbelievable during the 90's.

Brewers lost last night, Cubs and Reds are only 2 games back now.

I could have left the last sentence off but many in here know I usually don't do my final picks until pre-season is over. When I post in here I try to be thorough, otherwise I get questioned. That is the first time in my 8 years here, a title I created got questioned.

Since the 1990 season, here are my top 5 greatest teams. Teams/franchises that have won a SB since 1990: 5. 2019 KC Chiefs - Led by Patrick Mahomes. That team also featured Travis Kelce and Tyreek Hill. That team had the perfect Coach as well in Andy Reid. Very explosive team. 4. 2006 Indianapolis Colts - yes, we made the list. They have to be here simply because of Peyton Manning who is a Top 3 QB of all-time at worse. The team also featured, Marvin Harrison, Reggie Wayne, Dallas Clark, Jeff Saturday, Dwight Freeney, Robert Mathis, and Bob Sanders. Healthy Bob for that team made the defense really good. 3. 1994 SF 49ers - Led by Steve Young and Jerry Rice. They also had great CB's, Deion Sanders was the greatest of all-time IMO. 2. 2016 New England Patriots - Tom Brady's greatest moment was leading the Pats back from down 28-3 in SB 51 to win it 34-28. That team also had Julian Edelman who was great all season, and a 1000 yard rusher in Blount. Bill Belichick is arguably the greatest Coach of all-time as well. The 2016 Patriots were 1st in team defense regarding points allowed. They steamed roll a very good Steelers team in the AFC Championship Game 36-17. There have been so many great Patriots teams, but I choose this one out of their 6 SB wins, who went 14-2 in the regular season + there was no cheating scandal behind that year's Pats team either. 1. 1995 Dallas Cowboys - Simply this team had no weaknesses. Troy Aikman at QB, Emmitt Smith at RB, and Michael Irvin at WR1. They arguably had the greatest O.Line of all-time led by Larry Allen, Erik Williams, Mark Tuinei, Ray Donaldson, and Nate Newton. That Line was huge and would just maul teams. The Defense as a whole was lightning fast and great + like the 1994 49ers, they had Deion Sanders as well. That core team won 3 SB's in 4 seasons = 1992, 1993, 1995.

To follow this up, that Bills core went to 4 straight SB's from 1990-1993 led by QB Jim Kelly who is in the Hall of Fame. That team also had Thurman Thomas, Andre Reed, and Bruce Smith. All are in the Hall of Fame as well!