whats your early thoughts on the NFC title game

**isetcap** · 01-16-06, 02:12 AM

Preliminarily:

I am all over Carolina. It's going to take a lot of convincing to make me move away from this one.

**bigboydan** · 01-16-06, 03:41 AM

i like carolina as well bud. i'm still not sold on seattle.

**tyetye64** · 01-16-06, 07:38 AM

Ok..........

I am a Seattle fan BIG time,this will be a close game.Seattle is still 9-0 this year at home and just gets the job done when they play at home.

Steve Smith is the key to Seattles victory,they have to double team this guy ALL game and think they have the secondary that can do this....Trufant,Dyson,Herndon,Boulware will make it tough on them to get the ball in his hands,you will not see them get burned like Chicago did,especially after they watch that film.

Seattle will move the ball against them and score 28.

Seattle is still rested and you are talking about Carolina coming in to Seattle and playing a big game for the 3RD week in a row on the road,thats very tough for any team to do.

I see 2 teams in the super bowl with the same records...........13-3

**begolf25** · 01-16-06, 08:12 AM

I like Carolina in this one as well. I think this will be a hard fought game on both sides ending in a last minute field goal so give me the +4.

**begolf25** · 01-16-06, 08:31 AM

Any thoughts on what this line might end up at? I have seen the moneyline move down in some spots. Thinking this will probably close at 3-3 1/2?

**spanky** · 01-16-06, 09:37 AM

carolina won't have luxury of inexperience of young qb's like last 2 games.

**Illusion** · 01-16-06, 04:37 PM

Tough game, but I see great value with Carolina.

**imgv94** · 01-17-06, 02:59 AM

I can't call this game right now. Leaning towards CAROLINA.
I made a ML wager on carolina only
for value purposes and also I heard this stat on the MikeandMike show
that eliminated Seattle as a team to even make the super bowl, and
my dads friend in vegas likes carolina.. Fox can outcoach Holmgren and
Alxander is still banged up. Carolina was more impressive than Seattle
to me. And Delhomme is 5-1 in playoffs and carolina on road is just
fine.

**Dark Horse** · 01-17-06, 05:38 PM

Early thoughts

Carolina is unbelievable in finding the opponent's weak spots. Chicago defense looked like a bunch of amateurs. Giving up a TD on 2nd and 20?!

With DeShaun Foster out, Seattle has a chance. Chicago didn't adjust quickly enough, but Holmgren has a week to prepare. If Seattle can stop the run and put a faster guy on Smith than Chicago did, Seahawks should be ok. This is one loud stadium... - - Later.

**Dark Horse** · 01-17-06, 06:15 PM

More thoughts - Carolina surprised Giants and Bears by attacking their weakest spots and stopping their strongest player. Easier said than done... So, if Alexander plays, he probably won't get very far. This means that the next level, below the superstars, will have to decide the game. Amazingly, neither Giants nor Chicago were able to stop Steve Smith. I have a feeling that Seattle will (much easier without Foster). Basically, Carolina took Giants and Bears by surprise. That element -of surprise- is now gone. Holmgren can anticipate Panther's game plan and be much better prepared.

In the other game leaning more and more towards Pittsburgh. Have angles of 8-1 and 31-9 in their favor.

**spanky** · 01-17-06, 07:11 PM

all bad things pointing at carolina. 1st all the money on them,2nd injuries starting to mount against them,3rd strait road game and the longest of the 3.line by sun will be down to 3.

**imgv94** · 01-17-06, 08:36 PM

you guys are making me look at seattle as the option!! spanky,dark
horse and tyetye you guys know how 2 cap a game!!!! good job boys!!

**ChrisV** · 01-17-06, 09:29 PM

I think Holmgren will defintely have at least 2 people on Steve Smith at all times...hell maybe even 3. He is going to make someone else beat them. Ricky Proehl could be the huge factor for Panthers whether they win or not as the secondary WR. I don't know what the hell the Bears D was doing out there to let him get 12 catches for 200+ yards, whom were the supposedly the best D in the league.

Comparing the 2 teams the Panthers D is probably better, but Seahawks D looked pretty damn good last week too, although I dunno if it was them or as bad as the Redskins were.

This game is very hard to call...on one hand I could see the Panthers run out of gas finally. But it is also very hard to trust Seattle. At +3.5 or +4 I would have to still lean Carolina. If it goes down to 3, then you could possibly play Seattle. Gosh, every expert and their mother is predicting Panthers and sure the public will too so it is tempting to fade them. But I definitely wouldn't play them at +3.5 or greater so I'd wait till the line falls if you want to play them(moneyline too) because I think the public will be all over Carolina(including the whole East Coast biased people).

**spanky** · 01-17-06, 10:00 PM

thanks imgv94,i'm just trying to give everyone as much information before they put their hard earned cash on game.

**imgv94** · 01-17-06, 10:12 PM

thats exactly what we all need to do! put our knowledge 2gether and
come up with the formula. formula right now is popping out a seattle!

**tyetye64** · 01-18-06, 08:04 AM

I think Seattle will let Steve Smith get his 10 catches and so many yards,the key here though is not to let him have touchdowns,Seattle is best in the league at home in points allowed,which is about 11.4 per game.They might stop Alexander,but Haselbeck might just come out with quick strikes to recivers and open up the running game alittle more,play action with Shawn in there is huge if Carolina wants to stop the run,if this happens then look for Seattles tight end Stephens to have a great game.Seahawks 28 Carolina 20

Originally posted by ChrisV

I think Holmgren will defintely have at least 2 people on Steve Smith at all times...hell maybe even 3. He is going to make someone else beat them. Ricky Proehl could be the huge factor for Panthers whether they win or not as the secondary WR. I don't know what the hell the Bears D was doing out there to let him get 12 catches for 200+ yards, whom were the supposedly the best D in the league.

Comparing the 2 teams the Panthers D is probably better, but Seahawks D looked pretty damn good last week too, although I dunno if it was them or as bad as the Redskins were.

This game is very hard to call...on one hand I could see the Panthers run out of gas finally. But it is also very hard to trust Seattle. At +3.5 or +4 I would have to still lean Carolina. If it goes down to 3, then you could possibly play Seattle. Gosh, every expert and their mother is predicting Panthers and sure the public will too so it is tempting to fade them. But I definitely wouldn't play them at +3.5 or greater so I'd wait till the line falls if you want to play them(moneyline too) because I think the public will be all over Carolina(including the whole East Coast biased people).

**begolf25** · 01-18-06, 10:52 AM

Originally posted by tyetye64

I think Seattle will let Steve Smith get his 10 catches and so many yards,the key here though is not to let him have touchdowns,Seattle is best in the league at home in points allowed,which is about 11.4 per game.They might stop Alexander,but Haselbeck might just come out with quick strikes to recivers and open up the running game alittle more,play action with Shawn in there is huge if Carolina wants to stop the run,if this happens then look for Seattles tight end Stephens to have a great game.Seahawks 28 Carolina 20

My only thought is that until Shaun Alexander can prove that he can step up in a big game Carolina will not need to stack the box with 8 people to stop the run. Plus he is only another phantom hit away from being a cheerleader on the sidelines again. They should have no problem shutting him down with their front 7. The status of Julius Peppers will play a big factor this weekend on whether or not Carolina will be able to stop Seattle.

**Razz** · 01-18-06, 01:43 PM

I don't think the points will matter here - either Carolina wins SU, or Seattle covers easily. The deciding factors on which will happen is Carolina's physical state - I trust John Fox, so this shouldn't be a problem, and the ability of both teams to run the ball. Foster's loss hurts, but Goings is as good a backup RB as there is in the league.
Morris isn't a bad replacement either, but if Alexander can't go at full blast, Carolina has the edge, in my opinion. Throwing a 70% Alexander out against that run defense is asking to get him killed. But, I expect Seattle to be able to run the ball better this week than against the Skins (remember, the Bears were getting about 5 yards a pop against Carolina, but went away from the run too soon). This is important, because Hasselback to Jackson won't be able to win this one by themselves.
One last thing in favor of Seattle is this trend a buddy gave me: When the line moves with the road team, the road team only covers the closing line 31% of the time in the last two rounds of the conference playoffs. This is, I believe, mostly due to the effect of recent performance (Carolina in this case) that blurs the public's vision.

**Dark Horse** · 01-18-06, 01:45 PM

About Alexander. During the game, when he was on the sidelines, he didn't look like someone with a concussion. Smiling, celebrating, etc. Have you ever had a concussion? Believe me, you feel sick, and jumping around only makes it worse. lol

Then we find out later he was heavily under the weather, and had taken a lot of drugs right before the game... He even commented afterwards that he doesn't handle medicine well! What does that tell us? Did you see his first runs? The real Alexander was never on the field. What we saw was a drugged variety...

Putting two and two together. He admitted to playing 'drugged', looked like it on the field, and was taken out for a 'similar' condition?! My guess is Alexander never had a concussion (but he may not know that). The coaching staff probably instructed the medical staff to diagnose a concussion, because it was the only way to get a useless Alexander out of the game without hurting the player's pride, exposing him to real injury, or getting into arguments. (Then again, Alexander may have been instructed to fake a serious injury if he couldn't get it going).

I may be wrong, but, as Charles Barkley says, I doubt it. In any case, the only significance this has for Sunday is that Alexander will be declared 100% fit, and ready to go.