I'MMA LET YOU FINISH
Well, give us a hint!
How in hell do you get a delay penalty on a field goal?
Double OT
I hate the rams more than I like any of the other teams. The eagles better come through, because I don't think the Rams can be beaten at home.
Panthers win!!!
Game Over
This is making me sic-holy shit!!!!!! Steve Smith for a 69 yard TD! What could be better than marching through the playoffs beating the Cowgirls and the Rams? Go Panthers!
-49er fan
Touchdown by New England 4 minutes in.
GTO, Adam 4-4-2, you type as fast as an Olds Cutlass 4bbl 4speed dual exhaust '70's muscle car would, if it could type...
Nah... I'm more a Charger with a 318 when it comes to typing. lol
But I love Goats. And 4-4-2's. And Roadrunners. Etc.
After 70, the engines were toned down for the most part. 72 was really the last decent year for muscle cars. Damn the EPA!! 
Tenn scores...
Tennessee ties it. So much for D fence.
The Carolina-Rams game featured two of the worst performances by playoff teams I think I ever seen. Though it does continue to show that Mike Martz is the worst big game coach in the NFL.
Seriously, why did Martz not go for the TD in regulation? Stoopid coaching.
Rob,
I agree about Mike Martz. Why the hell didn't he try to win the game at the end of the fourth quarter! They had all the momentum, and could not even come close to covering Bruce on that drive. I know there was a chance of an interception but jeebus in the playoffs you should play to win!
Blackout
Martz is a GENIUS! I'm sure he's smart enough to arrange really great seats for the Super Bowl.
The Rams did not play well enough to deserve to win. The CATS had to fight the crowd noise, the loss of their #1 back early, and officials who were quick to flag them while letting rough stuff from the Rams go. I had no real investment in the game except that I just don't like the Rams or Martz or Warner. I was glad to see them sent packing.
It was among the most tension-filled games in my memory.......
And for those of you unfamiliar with sports in America, the axiom is that you play for the win on the road and the tie at home. Of course, real geniuses know that that applies ONLY to baseball because of the basic structure of the game; since the home team bats last, getting the tie means ensuring yourself another chance to win.......
Yeah... with sudden death overtimes, whomever is home doesn't matter, like in baseball.
14-7 New England.
Not to sound like Greg Easterbrook, but yea, verily, the Football Gods punished Martz for his absolute gutlessness and terrible lack of playcalling at the end of regulation.
I'm not a fan of either team, but I was pulling for the Panthers after that insipid coaching performance.
Great Minds Think Alike Dept: Mike Marz permitting time to run down with 25 seconds left on the clock at
the end of the 4th quarter, with a time out at his disposal and the Rams
momentummobile on a roll, was one of THE WORST calls I've ever seen in my
many, many years of watching the NFL. The Rams deserved to lose that game on the basis of that stupid decision alone.
Mike Martz: Feet Of Clay, Heart Of Wax.
Wow! Even the football announcers are hawking Paul O'Neill's 60 Minutes appearance.
Hey, I agree about Martz. Both teams did it in OT, too, playing for a field goal. I understand kickers do miss occasionally.
Excellent game after the Rams got back in it.
What a strange game. It's so rare to see such an oddball thriller in the NFC. In the AFC we're accustomed to craziness - tuck rule, Music City Miracle, The Drive, The Fumble, etc. But the NFC is usually so predictable. I might be mistaken but I believe that of the last 12 years the top two seeds have advanced to the NFC championship something like 10 times. And they're rarely thrillers (the NFC Championship between ATL and MIN was a big exception). In the AFC forget it. That's why I've always loved AFC playoff football. And now that they don't get blown out in the Super Bowl every year it's especially worth it. BTW, I'm a lifelong Denver Broncos fan so I'm pretty biased for the AFC. And though we got humiliated by them last week I say GO COLTS! BEAT THE GODDAMN CHEFS!!!
Hmmmm... I didn't get home to see Martz fuck up. I got in on time to see them kick the tying field goal. But, yeah, you try for the TD whenever you can. Once it is 4th down and not alot of time left, then you go for the tie.
In OT, of course you go for the field goal. Sudden death.
elrod, how about the Immaculate Reception? Or was that not in the playoffs?
Oh yeah. Immaculate Reception. Another stupdendous AFC playoff finish...and at the expense of the true force of evil in the world of sports - the Raiders. It was the 1972 Divisional Playoff. Pittsburgh went on and lost to Miami in the AFC Championship but the Steelers were a team to reckon with from then on out.
And though we got humiliated by them last week I say GO COLTS! BEAT THE GODDAMN CHEFS!!!
Thanks, elrod. Hope we do. And, believe me, I felt for you guys last week, one year to the day after our 41-0 embarassment. The Broncs will rise again.
The Colts just outclassed us in every facet of the game. It was like Dungy learned what happened two weeks prior and vowed not to let it happen again, and Shanahan and the Broncos went into brain freeze. I had my doubts that the Broncos could go into Indy and win twice in three weeks but I didn't think they'd lose THAT bad. Indy is a very good team, especially if they can jump on top early. Their pass defense is OK but their run D is terrible. If they can get the big 3 going they can roll over the the Chiefs, though, who have an even worse run D. If history is a guide the Colts are in good position. Remember 1995? Chiefs are 13-3. Colts under Harbaugh go into Arrowhead and shut them down. 1997, the Chiefs go 13-3 and lose the first round against the Broncos. Now they're 13-3 again. Will the Colts do it once more? I hope so.
I usually don't give a damn about football, but fuck it...
GO PATS!!!
What erh420 sez.
I predict a good year for Boston. Patriots winning Super Bowl. Red Sox winning the World Series.
*must be getting on BlakNo1's good side*
One other thing. The Rams game reminded me of the Pats-Rams Super Bowl, when Madden was incredulous about the Patriots even trying to drive down the field at the end of regulation. I remember saying, errr, yelling to my brother, only to be proven more right than I knew, that Madden had lost it.
Hurray! The Rams lost! Hurray!! That was almost as sweet as seeing the Cowboys lose last week -- and a better game, to boot. I could start to like these Panthers, except they've already knocked off the two teams I hate the most in the NFL.
With the 49ers out of the playoffs, and now their most hated rivals defeated, all I have to live for is the occasional Good Game. Oh, and hoping that the Eagles send the Packers back to Wisconsin for the year.
The Rams play for OT at home. I mean, at the Car 45 with 2.5 minutes left? Play for the tie??!!?? At home? And leave it to a coin toss?
But the coaching ineptitude did not end there. Carolina runs a play at 1 and 10 from the StL 20 in OT?
Of course someone had to win this game, despite the best efforts of both coaches to outsmart themselves.
I'm Eagles all the way - well almost. If they get in my man Tony Dungy's path, I will, in all good nature, hope for the worst.
If it ain't the Colts I sure wouldn't mind seeing McNabb hoisting the Lombardi trophy, and saying, "I'm going to Disney World, but I'm gonna stop off and shove this thing past Limbaugh's anal cyst."
But NE is scary good, in a Soviet chess grandmaster sort of way.
Also: Agree that Martz is by far the worst coach to ever make the playoffs. He has never had any sense of time management, and is just lucky to have inherited good players from Dick Vermeil. I still can't understand how he wins with Bulger. Warner is no better anymore, though, ever since Jesus stopped loving him a year or so ago.
Re: AFC vs. NFC playoff highlights: Forthe AFC, I can add the game between Miami and San Diego in 1981 - triple overtime! Don Shula against Air Coryell. Wild and wooly and memorable. In defense of the NFC, though, have any of you heard of a little bit of Niner lore called The Catch? That game against the Cowboys, propelling the 49ers into the first of five Super Bowls and beginning the legend of Joe Montana, arguably the best QB to ever play the game, is pretty high up on MY list of all-time great playoff games. But hey, I'm biased.
6 quarters? A five minute overtime is not a quarter.
It was 15 minutes.
I just looked over the St Louis Dispatch sports bulletin board. One Ram fan was in such agony that he began his comments with this plea to help alleviate his pain: "Somebody please kick me in the nuts"...
Heh-heh.
Maybe now coach Haslett can explain how Jake Delhomme wasn't good enough to fill in for an obviously injured Aaron Brooks at the end of the 2002 season and was then let go.
As a St. Louisan and a Rams fan, I can only say "Congratulations" to the Panthers. They came into the Ed, a tough place for visiting teams even in routine games, and whupped the Rams fair and square.
Both teams made their share of mistakes (penalties hurt the Panthers, interceptions hurt the Rams) but the Panthers made the plays when they had to. The Rams couldn't stop the Panthers' running game, and early in the game when they had the opportunity to score a couple of touchdowns, they couldn't get the ball in the end zone.
Applause for Marshall Faulk and Isaac Bruce, two veterans who turned in gutsy performances to help the Rams get back in the game, and for Jeff Wilkins, who despite falling a bit short in OT, was remarkably consistent throughout the season.
Boos to Coach Martz, for his inexplicable decision not to go for the TD as regulation time was winding down. And where was Torry Holt? He had an outstanding regular season, but all he did today was drop a pass that, at best, could have been a touchdown and at worst could have put the Rams in position to score. He was pretty much invisible for the rest of the game.
Still, the Rams have been a lot of fun to watch over the past few years. And as someone who grew up suffering the wretchedness that was (and continues to be) the football Cardinals, that's something, anyway.
Uh, guys, isn't football discussion the sole domain of the GOP?
Nope. There's no reason Democrats can't be football fans.
Patriots won. Sure, there's a minute and a half left, but Tennessee has no time-outs left, and the Patriots have the ball.
Jesse Tyler called the exact score of the Pats-Titans game. Note the "Vinatieri Special" shout out.
Martz doesn't deserve Marshall Faulk. He just lost that game by not doing what the Patriots did to him and Rams in their Superbowl. You play to win because you expect to win.
ThinkingPats
fuckin bizarre season. go packers. but lets have a good game. and let's hope the game doesn't run into the 60 minutes o'neill interview.
I doubt they'll let it cut into the interview. 60 minutes is hyping the interview, so CBS won't allow the game to pre-empt it.
Besides it wouldn't be the Eagles/Packers game, but the Colts/Chiefs. CBS does AFC games.
The end of that game was great television. It made proud to eat meat.
What a game to lose.
*sob*
Damn. Go Pats...I guess.
Later,
Had 5 bucks on Carolina.
Won it.
Very happy thank you very much.
Thinking Pats has it exactly right - Martz deserves to coach the North Bumfuck High Chickenshits, not the Rams. Imagine what these guys could do with a real coach?
Some guys aren't smart enough to learn from their Super Bowl mistakes.
Now what or who, exactly, is Edward Jones of the Edward Jones Dome? h
Well, has anyone noticed that Steve Smith is a stud? That guy has been tearing it up in the playoffs. You can now analyze my statements.
Edward Jones is a St. Louis-based investment firm, named after its founder, that differentiates itself from competitors by putting many small one- and two-person offices in neighborhoods close to where their retail customers are. (For example, the one closest to me is in a strip mall that also houses a Blockbuster Video store, dry cleaners and Subway sandwich shop.)
They bought the naming rights to the former Trans World Dome in St. Louis after Trans World Airlines (TWA) was absorbed by American Airlines.
Martz made the safe call because the Panthers defence had him scared of losing the ball. It was probably the best decision against a defence that had already intercepted twice and had kept the Rams out of the end zone for the first 57 minutes.
You can't blame Martz, you have to credit the cats ...
Elrod:
NFC championships not exciting? Rams 11, Bucs 6 on last minute TD pass to Ricky Proehl? Rams over Eagles two years ago, game saved on last minute interception by Aeneas Williams?
Then again, the Rams have a penchant for playing in big games with exciting finishes. At least they've won two of them in one season (1999).
On another note, besides Faulk, Holt, Bruce, Pace, Little and Wistrom, who is left from the 1999 Super Bowl champs?
Gaffer: I do give credit to the Panthers. Nevertheless, the consensus among those who follow the Rams seems to be that Martz screwed up by playing for the tie.
He showed no confidence in his offense, particularly in QB Bulger, and broke from the style of aggressive offensive play that has been the Rams hallmark over the last few years. They only ran four plays during the last 2:30 or so, and during the last half minute could have spiked the ball and taken one, maybe two shots into the endzone and still had time to kick the FG. Martz' clock management has been a sore spot all season, so that probably has something to do with the attitude of St. Louis fans toward the way this game ended.
Phein: in addition to those you name, Kurt Warner is still around, and IIRC there are two others left from the '99 club, but I can't recall who they are. Punter Sean Landeta may be one, although he was let go and then brought back again in the interim.
FWIW, ESPN seems to agree with the Martz-wussed-out theory, and says we may see Warner regain his job as starting QB next year(!)
I think Bulger is a good, not great, QB who still has a lot to learn. And while Warner may still have something left his tank, it's unrealistic to expect him to return to his '99-'01 form.
Phein,
You're right about the Rams-Bucs championship game, and to a lesser extent the Rams Eagles game. But those, along with the ATL-MIN game and The Catch in '81 are outliers. Another classic AFC playoff game? How about the Kellen Winslow game between SD and MIA in '81. One of the most exciting of all time.
COLTS WIN! Or more to my emotions - CHIEFS LOSE!!!
Some history, again:
1995, Chiefs go 13-3 and lost first round to the Colts
1997, Chiefs go 13-3 and lost first round to the Broncos
2003, Chiefs go 13-3 and lost first round to the Colts.
Anybody just catch the FoxSports mocking of Rush Limbaugh? Beautiful. A fake Limbaugh sounding like an idiot, talking about pills and picking the Packers because they have a white quarterback. Then McNabb comes in and beats the shit out of him. And this was FOX that showed it! Does not Rupert Murdoch control Fox Sports too?
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