I don't support either team but I always love it when an underdog beat a favorite.
In this case, the Pittsburgh Steelers (6 times Super Bowl Champion and the defending champion) got beaten by the Cincinnati Bengals (20-23).
It's end of week 3 of the NFL 2009-2010 season, and the Steelers have won just 1 game and lost 2. Not a good start to the season for the defending champ.
Monday, September 28, 2009
The 12-team finals competition.
Some may argue 12 teams are too many, it rewards mediocrity. But, imagine what it would be like if team 12 is able to win the premiership. We can call it the wild card spot like the NFL system.
Maybe, it's time the NRL ladder are divided into two. The top 4 of each ladder go into the finals, and the next best 4 from the combined ladder gets the wild card spot based on their win-loss ratio and points scored or points scored against.
The two ladders could be the Metropolitan league (sydney teams) and the National League.
Metropolitan league
rooster, eagles, dragons, bulldogs, rabbits, eels, sharks, tigers
National league
cowboys, broncos, titans, knights, raiders, storm, warriors, panthers
I thought panthers is the furthest outside sydney.
The 12 team finals system,
Week 1
1-4 gets a rest
5v12, 6v11, 7v10, 8v9 (all knock out games)
Week 2,
re-rank remaining teams
(assuming all the lower rank teams won in week 1)
1v12, 2v11, 3v10, 4v9 (again all are knock out games)
Week 3
re-rank remaining teams
(again assume all lower rank teams won in week 2)
9v12, 10v11 (knock out games obviously)
Week 4 (Grand final week)
11v12 (assuming lower rank teams won in week 3)
and continuing the assumption of lower rank team winning, 12 is the Champion.
So in this version, for team 12 to win the championship. It needs to beat team 5, 1, 9 and 11.
Maybe, it's time the NRL ladder are divided into two. The top 4 of each ladder go into the finals, and the next best 4 from the combined ladder gets the wild card spot based on their win-loss ratio and points scored or points scored against.
The two ladders could be the Metropolitan league (sydney teams) and the National League.
Metropolitan league
rooster, eagles, dragons, bulldogs, rabbits, eels, sharks, tigers
National league
cowboys, broncos, titans, knights, raiders, storm, warriors, panthers
I thought panthers is the furthest outside sydney.
The 12 team finals system,
Week 1
1-4 gets a rest
5v12, 6v11, 7v10, 8v9 (all knock out games)
Week 2,
re-rank remaining teams
(assuming all the lower rank teams won in week 1)
1v12, 2v11, 3v10, 4v9 (again all are knock out games)
Week 3
re-rank remaining teams
(again assume all lower rank teams won in week 2)
9v12, 10v11 (knock out games obviously)
Week 4 (Grand final week)
11v12 (assuming lower rank teams won in week 3)
and continuing the assumption of lower rank team winning, 12 is the Champion.
So in this version, for team 12 to win the championship. It needs to beat team 5, 1, 9 and 11.
NRL Final Series
On the eve of the NRL grand final, we shall looked at the finals system. The Mcintyre system, some say is good, some say is bad. Let me know what you think?
Personally, I think for the year 2009, it is a good system. My reasons are because of the origin games, most teams have been depleted at some part of the season. This makes the re-ranking that automatically happens after the week1 finals game to balance the competition, either fairly or unfairly (depending on which team you support).
The dragons can argue that it was unfair, but when you look at how the dragons season have gone during the origin period. It seems they have been largely unaffected. Correct me if I'm wrong, their halves, backline and hooker hasn't changed much apart from Boyd and Morris during this period. The same can be said about the dogs and the titans.
In contrast, the storm and broncos have been decimated during the origin period with many injuries following the origin games. They may have finished higher up the leader, we'll never know.
Manly had their own issue and Lyon and wolfman in the origin game. They did well to get to 5 with all the issues they had during the season.
The Knights worked hard to get to 7, and I think it's fair for them to be in 7.
The Eels took 20 odd rounds to figure out how to play their style of football. Maybe, they could have finished higher. But in my opinion, without the origin games for Hayne, he wouldn't have been as good as he is right now. The origin games actually helped him. Maybe he re-acquaint himself with the kind of football he should be playing at, after the experience of playing the origin games this year.
After all said and done, the past three weekends have shown that the dragons, dogs and titans are all inadequate to be in the grand final. Manly had a tough season. Broncos were unlucky they couldn't challenge the storm with Wallace's injury. At this moment of the season, it's no question that the Storm & the Eels are the two in-form team with contrasting style. Bring on the Grand Final.
In my opinion, Storm will win. However, I can't wait to see what Hayne will do on Sunday. I can't wait to see what the Storm will attempt or do to stop Hayne. Whether the eels will give up if the storm score plenty early in the game. Or whether the storm will change their gameplan if they fail to contain Hayne and the eels score plenty early or towards the end of the game.
Personally, I think for the year 2009, it is a good system. My reasons are because of the origin games, most teams have been depleted at some part of the season. This makes the re-ranking that automatically happens after the week1 finals game to balance the competition, either fairly or unfairly (depending on which team you support).
The dragons can argue that it was unfair, but when you look at how the dragons season have gone during the origin period. It seems they have been largely unaffected. Correct me if I'm wrong, their halves, backline and hooker hasn't changed much apart from Boyd and Morris during this period. The same can be said about the dogs and the titans.
In contrast, the storm and broncos have been decimated during the origin period with many injuries following the origin games. They may have finished higher up the leader, we'll never know.
Manly had their own issue and Lyon and wolfman in the origin game. They did well to get to 5 with all the issues they had during the season.
The Knights worked hard to get to 7, and I think it's fair for them to be in 7.
The Eels took 20 odd rounds to figure out how to play their style of football. Maybe, they could have finished higher. But in my opinion, without the origin games for Hayne, he wouldn't have been as good as he is right now. The origin games actually helped him. Maybe he re-acquaint himself with the kind of football he should be playing at, after the experience of playing the origin games this year.
After all said and done, the past three weekends have shown that the dragons, dogs and titans are all inadequate to be in the grand final. Manly had a tough season. Broncos were unlucky they couldn't challenge the storm with Wallace's injury. At this moment of the season, it's no question that the Storm & the Eels are the two in-form team with contrasting style. Bring on the Grand Final.
In my opinion, Storm will win. However, I can't wait to see what Hayne will do on Sunday. I can't wait to see what the Storm will attempt or do to stop Hayne. Whether the eels will give up if the storm score plenty early in the game. Or whether the storm will change their gameplan if they fail to contain Hayne and the eels score plenty early or towards the end of the game.
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