WELCOME NFL FOOTBALL FANS

[woodstock2]

The Bears are losing 14-10 at halftime.  All their playoff chances are based on a win today.  Minnesota is losing at halftime, but not by much.  Even if the Bears win and Minnesota loses, the Bears need the TB Bucs to lose as well as the Cowboys.  (Sorry Prissy and Lora.)  Too many things to think about.  I just want them to pull this game out or we are done and I will be totally depressed.  GO BEARS!!! You have one more half and have done it many times before!!!  Will check in with you later with  or 
Enjoy your games!!!
Woodstock

[ACcountryFan]

Cincinnati won their game so they end the season 4-11-1. The final score 16-6. Kansas City got their only touch down in the 4th quarter but the set-up caused the clock to eat away the time. Kansas City had a First and Goal but couldn't get their touch down originally. Then on the Third and Goal they were stopped for a loss...they went for it on Fourth and Goal and didn't get it but a penalty by Cincinnati allowed Kansas City to get an automatic first down at the 2 yard line so it was right back where they started from...after so much time had winded down they finally got their touch down making it 16-6. Kansas City went for the two point conversion and it didn't happen...causing the final score to be 16-6. They were wanting it to be an 8 point game, 16-8, and potentially get the ball back and try and tie it but it didn't happen. Cincinnati wins 16-6. Dallas will be starting on FOX in a few minutes. The CBS game will be the New York Jets.

[woodstock2]

Congrats, AC!!!      I'm happy for you!!!

DA BEARS lost.  No post season for them.  I think I may go into mourning.

[ACcountryFan]

Congrats, AC!!!      I'm happy for you!!!

DA BEARS lost.  No post season for them.  I think I may go into mourning.

If the Bears would have won, the Cowboys are losing right now 34-3 against the Eagles...but all of that post-season math confuses me anyway with who wins and who loses and which team must win and could win or should win this or that. I just know my team isn't in the post season but I'll still be watching the play-off's whenever I can. I know they like to play a lot on Saturday's and with the NFL network it's hard to tell how many post season games I'll get to enjoy watching. I hope FOX and CBS carries enough of them...I know NBC will have at least one post season Sunday night game with Al and John.

**UPDATE**

Wow...the Eagles created another interception and scored another touchdown and so the score now is 41-3...I would officially call the game over...it would be almost impossible to score 38 points to tie...they're mid-way through the third quarter...I wonder if FOX will switch to another game?? They usually do that in blow-out's.

[woodstock2]

The Bears needed Tampa Bay AND the Cowboys to lose, which apparently, as you said, the Cowboys are about to do.  Sorry, Prissy.  Not a good game.  Anyway, IF the Bears had won, they would have made the playoffs.  Kinda like rubbing salt into a wound... 
Woodstock

[Prissy]

  DALLAS COWBOYS LOSE THEIR SIXTEENTH SEASON GAME TO THE PHILADELPHIA EAGLES 44 TO 6   


COWBOYS ARE 9 AND 7 FOR THE SEASON.

The Cowboys were totally squashed by the Eagles.  Only able to score two field goals.  The Cowboys are out of the play offs, and frankly, don't deserve to be in the play offs the way they played most of the season.  Very frustrating!

This is how the scoring occurred in each quarter:

                1      2    3    4    T    
Cowboys    3    0    0    3    6       
   Eagles   3    24    17    0    44

[ACcountryFan]

At the Yahoo Sports page I copied this...to illustrate how baffling and intricate a win or loss means:

6. Philadelphia Eagles (9-6-1) – Clinched playoff berth, No. 6 seed and first-round playoff game at Minnesota with win over Dallas; AND Chicago loss at Houston AND Tampa Bay loss to Oakland.

The thing that's bizarre is Philadelphia the way it's written wouldn't have made the play-off's in spite winning unless those other two teams lost, which they did. Miami won their game and so that caused New England to not become division champs. Miami is 11-5 and tied with New England but because Miami, like Baltimore, won more games against conference opponents, that's why they move on and New England does not. Each team had a three way tie at 11-5.

New England Patriots (11-5) – Eliminated from play-offs with Miami win AND Baltimore win.

Baltimore wins tie with New England because of conference record (8-4 to 7-5). 

As mentioned, both the Baltimore Ravens and New England Patriots are tied 11-5 but because Baltimore won more games in their conference, 8-4, that's how they move on and New England doesn't.

One more quote...

San Diego Chargers (8-8) – Clinched AFC West title, No. 4 seed and first-round playoff game vs. Indianapolis with win over Denver.

The only 500 team to make the play-offs...and actually win a division title...the 8 and 8 Chargers. They won their game against the Broncos last night on Sunday Night Football. The Broncos by the way are also 8-8...so much like other divisions and conferences, this also requires a heavy dose of understanding the rules of post-season of which I don't know much about. I just report the stats.

This coming Saturday and Sunday the Wildcard games will be played...the winners of those games will move on farther. The following weekend, January 10th and 11th, the official round of main play-off's begin because of the first-round bye weeks that the top teams get for winning their divisions. The first-round of play-offs are the wildcard games this coming weekend.

[Tiffany]

Go Ravens!!!! They'll be at the Superbowl with the Eagles! My hope and prediction.

[tamaraluvs]

Go Ravens!!!! They'll be at the Superbowl with the Eagles! My hope and prediction.

That would definately be a good match up! 

[ACcountryFan]

SPOILER ALERT

The NFC Championship game ended about 10 minutes ago on FOX...it was a dramatic game. Arizona dominated the first half and at half time it was 24-6. Then in the second half Philadelphia came out dominating and by the start of the 4th they were trailing Arizona 24-19. The Eagles had made a decision to kick an extra point instead of going for two points but the kicker missed the extra point completely, causing it to stall at 24-19...this was proven to be a crucial point looking back because the Eagles were able to go ahead in the score 25-24, but they couldn't get the two point conversion to make it 27-24. So, Arizona comes back with it being 25-24...they end up going down the field and using a lot of the game clock and get a touchdown, 30-25...they go for two points and have a 32-25 lead. As the minutes and second wound down so did the game, of course...leaving the final at 32-35 and Arizona going to the Super Bowl next month.

The AFC Championship game is about ready to start...between the Steelers and the Ravens...one of those two will face Arizona next month.

[Prissy]

SUPER BOWL today with Pittsburgh against Arizona. 

I heard that Pittsburgh has won 5 Super Bowls and is tied with the Cowboys with 5 wins, so I am for Arizona!!

[lucrezianoine]

Prissy~

I haven't watched football in years but my younger brother has been a Pittsburg fan since we were kids. I may take a sneak peek just to see how it is at half time..just to see the scores and thinking of how my brother's blood pressure or state of mind will be by then

Hope whose goin to watch it or are having a Super Bowl party with friends, enjoy themselves.

Jules

[ClayHeart]

Watching the Super Bowl makes me so nervous.  I live south of Pittsburgh, and of course I'm a Steelers fan.  Oh well, back to watching the game.  It's almost half time and Bruce Springsteen is performing.  Have a good evening everyone.

Debbie

[ACcountryFan]

The first 100 yard interception/touchdown run in a Super Bowl ended the second quarter with Pittsburgh taking a 17-7 lead. The Cardinals were right on the 1 yard line when the pass from Kurt Warner was intercepted and ran back 100 yards for a touchdown. I was hoping Arizona would have gotten the easy touchdown and go up 14-10. The 100 yard touchdown run was the first one in Super Bowl history...and should Pittsburgh win, that will give them 6 Super Bowl wins...which will be the most of any team. So, the game is historical depending on the outcome...it will either be the 6th win for Pittsburgh or the 1st win for Arizona.

I'm not a rock music fan so I'm not watching the half-time show.

[Prissy]

 

I don't think anyone can say this is a boring Super Bowl!  And I am enjoying the commercials, too. 

I hope the Cardinals can come back, but I really want the better team to win!!

            

[ACcountryFan]

Well, the game is over and Pittsburgh won...I was really hoping Arizona would have won and it was really close...being 23-20 at one time with Arizona leading but as it turned out they would lose 27-23. The game shown that Pittsburgh isn't invincible and are able to be scored against...so the winner doesn't necessarily mean they're the better team. Pittsburgh is notorious for their over-the-top defensive plays, which when analyzing a game means that the best defense will stop almost any offense and in a game such as this with less than 2 minutes to go and Pittsburgh trailing 23-20, defense always brings victory or defeat. The lack of Arizona's defense enabled Pittsburgh to do what they did with so little time left...and the Pittsburgh defense enabled the victory by stopping the Cardinals with a fumble and recovery with 15 seconds or so left on the time clock. 

The Pro Bowl is next Sunday.

[ClayHeart]

 

This is not gloating, and the Cardinals played magnificently, but I'm so happy THE STEELERS WON!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

My goodness, was that a great game or what!!!!!  I hate when Super Bowl games are boring, and this one certainly wasn't.  If the Steelers weren't playing in the game, I would have been rooting for the Cardinals.  This would have been their first Super Bowl win.  Pittsburgh will be jumping tonight.  They announced earlier which streets would be closed down because of all the celebrating if we won.  To anyone rooting for the Cardinals, you can be proud of how they played.  I was impressed with their talent and spirit and when they went ahead, I was very nervous.  Well, I'm going to try and calm down now and maybe I'll be able to go to sleep.

Have a great week everyone.

Debbie

[Prissy]

I am a Dallas Cowboy fan and chose to root for the Cardinals in this game.  They were the underdog but certainly played a great game.  I was afraid it might be really one sided, but it was not.  This was a real nail biter of a game and one of the best Super Bowl games I've ever seen!

[ACcountryFan]

The 2009 Pro Bowl is set to air...well, it's airing now...but the kick-off won't happen for several minutes. It's on NBC and it takes place in Hawaii. It's the NFL version of the All-Star game. I hope the AFC wins since that's the conference that I'm used to seeing, being a Cincinnati fan.

[ACcountryFan]

YAHOO SPORTS

After 30 seasons, 1979-2009, John Madden is retiring from NFL broadcasting. His broadcasting career began in 1979. Prior to this he was an NFL coach, spending most of his time with the Oakland Raiders. His win-loss record as a coach is one of the best in all of the NFL: 103-32-7. Seven ties in his career...that's when games are still tied after an over-time. One of the unique traits in football that doesn't appear in baseball or basketball is in football there's only one over-time period and if the game is still tied at the end of the 15 minute over-time period then the game ends in a tie. This kind of thing is rare but just recently it happened when the Eagles game was tied...leading their quarterback to announce that he didn't even know a game could end in a tie.

John was the head coach of Oakland for nine years, 1969-1978, and in 1979 he entered broadcasting the game.

Madden's specialty was commentary, not being a play-by-play broadcaster. His voice was heard on radio commercials, radio commentaries and on sports programs, on a Madden video game series, and he was seen on TV commercials advertising medicine: tough actin' Tinactin...but more famously as the spokesman for ACE Hardware.



Madden entered the broadcast booth in 1979 at CBS. He wasn't one of the networks lead broadcasters at first. In 1981 he was paired with Pat Summerall and the two of them remained a team...they became the lead broadcasters for CBS Sports over the next decade and a half. Click the thumbnail for a larger picture...



In the spring of 1994 CBS lost the rights to cover NFL and so Madden and Summerall moved over to the FOX network that coming fall. While on FOX the two of them continued broadcasting as a team...they usually broadcast the early game at 1pm but later on the two of them were assigned the later game at 4pm/4:15pm.



In 1998 CBS began airing NFL games once more. Their lead broadcasting team became Jim Nantz and Phil Sims along side Gus Johnson and Steve Tasker as well as Dick Enberg and Randy Cross.

At the end of the 2001 season, early 2002, Madden and Summerall went their separate ways after a 21 year run. Madden was hired by ABC to become the on-air partner for Al Michaels on Monday Night Football that coming fall. Al had been a broadcaster on the program since 1986. Madden and Michaels were on ABC's Monday night show during the 2002, 2003, 2004, and 2005 seasons.

However, behind the scenes, ABC had been wanting to end the series and perhaps air it on Sunday night, with Sunday being the traditional day for football watching. ABC had aired the show since 1970. In the meantime, the people behind the scenes got a bright idea to move the show to ESPN, but still air it on Monday night, due to the economics of airing the show on a cable network instead of on a broadcast network. The move to ESPN happened in the fall of 2006...no longer airing on ABC after a 36 year run. However, in the off-season before the ESPN debut, news broke that Madden wouldn't follow the show to ESPN...although it appeared Al was stuck in his contract with ABC.

NBC in the meantime announced the news of their new sports program, Sunday Night Football. Football on Sunday nights had long been a feature on ESPN prior to the debut of the Monday night show in 2006. NBC announced that they would air a 5 hour block of football programming on Sunday nights starting at 7pm. The pre-game show, "Football Night in America", airs roughly for 90 minutes. The game itself usually kicks-off a little after 8:30pm and then there's the half-time show and then the second half. So, usually, depending on the flow of the game, it's typically over by 11:45, no later than midnight in some cases. NBC hired Madden and bought out Al Michaels contract from ABC and they paired the two of them again at the start of the 2006 NFL season.



Madden and Michaels appeared to be set for a partnership that would last at least 10 years {2002-2012} but news broke today, 7 years into their run, that Madden would retire from broadcasting. The news comes rather suddenly...in spite of what those in the sports media may have to say about his on-air demeanor and style. Critics say that it couldn't come soon enough and that he should have retired years ago...those who like listening to Madden, for them, it's an out of the blue decision. Cris Collinsworth, no stranger to sports, will be taking over at the start of the 2009 season, partnered with Al Michaels. 

Madden's final NFL broadcast was the Super Bowl a few months ago.