Under/Over acheivers; AFC

[sailorsam]

AFC East
Pats; underacheivers. a div title and first round loss is a disappointment to this team anymore.
Jets: way overacheive. actually they went 9-7 last year too. playoff wins rock.
Dolphins; meh. overacheived last year, tough sledding this year, new qb. they'll be back.
Bills: underacheive. not much hope. anyone really think Chan Gailey will be a better NFL coach than Billick? I don't.

AFC North
Bengals; overacheive. no one expected a div title and a sweep of the Stoolers.
Ravens; meh. the playoff win salvaged the season. upgrade dbs and maybe wr next year? looking forward to it.
Stoolers; under. no playoffs. losing to Raiders/Chiefs/Browns...no one to blame but themselves.
Browns; borderline over. did well late. Stoolers win huge.

AFC South
Colts; Overacheive. new skill players, new coach...some folks in August were saying 9-7.
Texans; borderline over. first winning season, still no playoffs.
Jags; under. one playoff win a few years ago, nada since. blew sure playoff chance this year. things not good down there.
Titans. first half, non-acheive; second half, over. look out next year.

AFC West
Chargers; meh. another big season, another playoff flameout. they fired Marty for this?
Broncos; meh. opposite of titans. first half Denver and 2nd half Tenn would have been 12-4. coulda woulda shoulda.
Raiders; under. blame Al Davis and his Jamaracus experiment for a wasted year. the sharpest tool in the shed is now a liability. retire, Al.
Chiefs; under. I don't know if they've hit bottom yet either.

[Beerracuda]

I have to disagree with the assessment of the Texans. I think this is a team that's very close to being a legitimate playoff contender. Certainly a team on the rise.

As for the Chiefs, I think they already hit bottom, and are now on the rebound.

[psuasskicker]

Can't argue with much of that other than the Texans. I think they under more than over. They had playoff expectations this year, and were way too inconsistent.

I also think the under is a great bet on almost any Titans line next year. By every significant statistical measure, they were every bit as bad through the first six weeks as their record reflected. Second half they got fat largely off a soft schedule. They won three games against teams that could be considered mediocre or better. They beat the Texans, Cardinals and Dolphins, and all three were wins by 3 points. Next year they won't feast on the NFCW. They have the AFCW which isn't too tough but still tougher than the NFCW. The Colts should still be great, the Texans will probably be a playoff team, and the Jags ... well, who knows there. I expect the Titans to be around an 8 win team, very possibly worse.

Anyone really think Chris Johnson will have another 2,500 combined yards and 16 combined TDs?

- C -

[HoustonRaven]

I have to disagree with the assessment of the Texans. I think this is a team that's very close to being a legitimate playoff contender. Certainly a team on the rise

Nobody in this town is saying this, that's for sure.

99.9% of the Texans fans here want Kubiac's head. This team has been "at the cusp" for 5 years now but cannot seem to ever pull the trigger.

[RavenScallywag]

AFC East - agree with all

AFC North
Bengals - Hard call...they overachieved big time in regular season, but to sweep the division, get the division title, and then get run out of the playoffs in Round 1? I'll say Overachieve*, with * being BIG Postseason Underachieve

Ravens - Another tough call...but I'd say underachieve. After last year's success and early season results, we hit #1 in Power Rankings. We had a rough road to the playoffs, 1 great game in Foxboro, 1 terrible game in Indy.

Stoolers - agree
Browns - I'd stick with underachieve...they did well at the end, but boy did they SUCK in the majority of the season

AFC South
agree except for Texans, I think they overachieved.

AFC West
Chiefs were big under, Raiders I'd actually give an over...I expected them to be the laughingstock of the league...they were actually spoilers against some good teams.

Broncos were over through first half, settled to be under to end 2nd half...Playoffs would've kept them as over.

Chargers overachieve...yeah they flamed out in playoffs, but the Broncos looked to be the clear division winner early in the season, they bounced back well.

[sailorsam]

Nobody in this town is saying this, that's for sure.

99.9% of the Texans fans here want Kubiac's head. This team has been "at the cusp" for 5 years now but cannot seem to ever pull the trigger.

this was their first winning record, which is an acheivement, and they only missed the playoffs in tiebreaker. not sure what their expectns were, I defer to the local guy. are they happy wi Schaub?

[RavenScallywag]

Nobody in this town is saying this, that's for sure.

99.9% of the Texans fans here want Kubiac's head. This team has been "at the cusp" for 5 years now but cannot seem to ever pull the trigger.

yes and after two back to back playoff appearances, I'd say 30-40% of Baltimore fans want us to fire Harbaugh.

Fans can sometimes be a fickle bitch. If you're not first, your last.

[HoustonRaven]

this was their first winning record, which is an acheivement, and they only missed the playoffs in tiebreaker. not sure what their expectns were, I defer to the local guy. are they happy wi Schaub?

People here, rightfully so, love the combo of Schaub / A. Johnson. They also are on the Slayton bandwagon.

They see it as they have the talent but a coach that gets in the way. There were a few times this season they had the lead in the 4th quarter only to give it away due to uber conservative defensive play-calling that was not the doing of the DC.

[Rxdoxx]

I wouldn't call the Pats underachievers.
I thought they might be packing it in when they traded Seymour, but it took Welker's late injury to derail what they were trying to do again.

Have seen the team being retooled without being dismantled and them staying very competitive.
Now they have 3 picks in round 2, plus their 1st, so there is an influx coming along with Oakland's #1 next year.
Rebuilding while also making the playoffs doesn't come close to underachieving in my mind. We still may have beat them but the score probably is different with Walker covering Welker.
I'd say they are a wash, neither over or under achieved.

[sailorsam]

thing about the Raiders (to me) is how much better they did wi Gradkowski and Frye at qb. remember, they played Ravens toe-to-toe wi Frye in, then collapsed wi JRussell.
after the Cutler mess I thought Denver was going to be a mess so 8-8 might be not bad.
Pats are a hard call. they won 11 last year w/o Brady. they had the Colts almost ('almost') beat this year. not many people expected them to lose a home playoff game.

[RAVENOUS52]

[QUOTE=RavenScallywag;196206]yes and after two back to back playoff appearances, I'd say 30-40% of Baltimore fans want us to fire Harbaugh./QUOTE]

Exaggerate much?:laugh:

Like most, I see gaping holes in Harbaugh's tenure thusfar, but each year he starts off with a clean slate. As long as he keeps winning in the playoffs though, some of his obvious deficiencies will be tolerated.

[RavenScallywag]

Exaggerate much?:laugh:

Like most, I see gaping holes in Harbaugh's tenure thusfar, but each year he starts off with a clean slate. As long as he keeps winning in the playoffs though, some of his obvious deficiencies will be tolerated.

I didn't say EDUCATED fans...I'm talking about if you suffer through listening to talk radio or watch the comments on the Baltimore Sun blog posts, there are a significant amount of idiots who blast Harbaugh for just about anything he does or doesn't do and sound like they want him to be on the next MTA bus out of here. Hell, we can't hire a former Pats DC without people jumping on Harbaugh for bringing in another "Harbaugh family pal"

I'm just saying that there are fans everywhere who jump on coaching/FO even when they are successful.

[Captain Offense]

The distinction between Ravens fans and Educated Ravens fans is best described by those that argue the team screwed up by taking Boller over Leftwich. An educated fan would know that the correct argument is Suggs/Boller over Leftwich since Suggs would not have been around at Boller's spot if the Ravens do not take him when they did. You can tell when it is OK to carry on a debate with someone when you can tell they know the difference. I also love the ones that say that the Ravens should trade for a player in December to help their playoff chances.

[RAVENOUS52]

I didn't say EDUCATED fans...I'm talking about if you suffer through listening to talk radio or watch the comments on the Baltimore Sun blog posts, there are a significant amount of idiots who blast Harbaugh for just about anything he does or doesn't do and sound like they want him to be on the next MTA bus out of here. Hell, we can't hire a former Pats DC without people jumping on Harbaugh for bringing in another "Harbaugh family pal"

I'm just saying that there are fans everywhere who jump on coaching/FO even when they are successful.

Oh, the talk radio morons...Urrrrgh!:grbac:

One of the main reasons that whenever I'm in Baltimore and the Ravens lose I DON'T turn on the radio! Their "the sky is falling" mentality is really irritating.

I think that's what the radio programmers look for when they screen calls though...:(

[Sua Sponte]

I wouldn't say the Colts over achieved. Yea they had a new rookie head coach, but just like Tomlin did with the Stoolers he took over a playoff ready team. Caldwell didn't build shit in Indy, he just stepped into what Dungy built and remember he was already there with Dungy, so he new the ins and outs of the team. The Colts upgraded at WR, the Offensive Line was still intact and the Defense still had Freeney, Mathis and Bracket. The coordinators and coaches stayed the same. Last time i checked they went to the playoffs last year and lost in a slug fest to the Bolts. They may have over achieved in the sense that they went 14-2 and probably could have gone 16-0 if Caldwell left the starters in.

Agree with rest.

[Jeremiah W]

The Ravens under in the regular season and did about what was expected in the post season other than not score a TD or 2 vs Indy.

A lot people picked the Bengals to go to the post season early. I never bought into the bungles even after they swept the division. They were not bad but did not look like a playoff game winner. I think they achieved what they could.

Steelers are who we thought they were. Troy P is the real MVP. Big Jen is good but needs more help from the run game and D. They were about 1 or 2 games under expectations, but that was predictable when Troy got hurt.

The Charlie Browns define lowered expectations. They could be 10-6 but should be 6-10.


AFC S is the most balanced. The Titans should have won more, benched Collins sooner, maybe kept Haynesworth or traded him for something. The Texans, Titans and Jags were good enough to make the post season and so it is not suprising none of them did.

AFC E only the Jets did more than expected but they started 3-0 so it was not a total shocker they knocked off playoff teams. The other teams did a little less but were pretty close to form.

AFC W standings were predictable, how they got there was not. KC and Oakland played well vs good teams and bad vs bad. Denver started 6-0 and true to form found new ways to fold down the stretch. SD sluggish start hot finish and playoff loss just like always.

[psuasskicker]

I wouldn't say the Colts over achieved.

C'mon dude. They CHOSE not to go undefeated and are in the Superbowl. Are you saying there is anyone out there that prior to this season thought the Colts would be 14-0 going into the stretch run?

- C -

[Sua Sponte]

C'mon dude. They CHOSE not to go undefeated and are in the Superbowl. Are you saying there is anyone out there that prior to this season thought the Colts would be 14-0 going into the stretch run?

- C -

No and I even said that, but the point of them being in the SB is not a surprize, they are a contender every year, but alot of analyst said that they wouldn't do shit because Dungy left and this and that. All I am saying is that just because Dungy left everybody though they were not even going to contend. Caldwell took over a playoff ready team, that he was already involved with and made no dramatic changes, so it really shouldn't be a surprize that they are in the SB and played well this year. I would have liked nothing more than Indy to suck this year and not even make the post season, and though the sameway after Dungy left, but after I put my heart aside and looked at the facts, it's no surprize that they are in the SB.

But they did overachieve by going 14-0 and possibly going 16-0 and all the way to the SB. Any team that comes away with 14 straight wins and give the last 2 away is an overachievement in the NFL if you ask me.

[sailorsam]

re; Ex-Baltimore Colts;
some folks saw the coaching change and personnel change, and maybe recent playoff losses, and figured 9-10 wins. Some saw a big-time team, perennial contender wi Peyton and an apparently competent coach and figured another 11-13 wins. I, for one, would never have imagined 14-2* with an asterick (*lost on purpose resting their players). and who woulda thunk the Titans would fall so far (remember, Tenn won the div last year).