It probably wasn’t the prettiest Super Bowl ever played, but it wasn’t a bad one either.

There were a myriad of mistakes, several blown opportunities, and the game seemed to be out of hand at one point in the second quarter. However, the resilience of two outstanding quarterbacks coupled with two great defenses, made this year’s Super Bowl as about as good as it gets when it comes to meeting the expectations of sports greatest game.

And in sports greatest game, Aaron Rodgers, once again, proved to be the greatest player on the football field. Matched up against Ben Roethlisberger, Rodgers out-dueled the two-time Super Bowl-winning quarterback with ease. Rodgers was 24 of 39 for 304 passing yards and 3 passing touchdowns. His numbers would have been even better had Jordy Nelson, who dropped at least three catchable balls, had decided not to butter up his hands before the game.

Roethlisberger, who started off bad, didn’t finish the game on the same note. Overall, he had just a quarterback rating of 77.4, but just before the half, he took the Steelers down the field to make it a 21-10 game, in what was otherwise a first half routing of the AFC Champions.

The Packers firm grip on the game didn’t last long after that. The Steelers immediately came out of the locker room with an increased level of play. The running game of the Steelers dominated the Packers frontline in the third quarter, as the Steelers first possession in the second half resulted in a touchdown on a drive in which Pittsburgh never even threw the ball. All and all, the Steelers would finish the game with 126 rushing yards, averaging 5.5 yards per carry. Had the Steelers not fallen so far behind, one can only wonder what they would have done with the ground game if they weren’t forced to pass early and often.

Of course, when you fall behind by as much as the Steelers did, it’s hard to come back in a game of this magnitude. The Packers would score a touchdown early in the fourth quarter, that for all purposes, put the game away. Rodgers was just masterful, avoiding the blitz, finding the open receiver, and putting the ball on target much more than his 24/39 performance would indicate. Rodgers win now gets a tremendous monkey off his back.

No longer will he be the guy who took Brett Favre’s place, he’s now the guy that did it better than Favre. In just his third-year as a starter, Rodgers has a Super Bowl ring, and one hell of a team to defend his championship with. Just think about this, the Packers had over a dozen football players on the IR this season, including their starting running back and linebacker, not to mention what was probably the NFC’s best pass-catching tight end. If those guys come back healthy, and that defense remains in tack, who knows, Rodgers may even surpass Green Bay’s once-beloved quarterback and get his own name etched in the Packers ring of honor.

The post "Super Bowl: Green Bay Packers win big game over Pittsburgh Steelers, 31-25" was originally published at TSW.

Shortly after 6pm, some 100 million people will tune into the Super Bowl game between the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Green Bay Packers. Many of those millions are casual fans, just gong to Super Bowl parties and bars to watch the game and have fun doing so. Serious “football-watchers” like you and myself, however, watch for different reasons, like strategy, rooting interest, gambling, fantasy football and of course, making sure our predictions go as planned.

As noted in TheSportsWatchers NFL section, our site has predicted that the Steelers will reign supreme, but I don’t feel the need to rehash the entire prediction.

One point that was made in that piece, however, is that this Sunday’s football game is all about the quarterbacks. Here you have a Steelers team that throughout history has been a proponent of running the football and defense, and yet all anyone can talk about are Ben Roethlisberger’s “comeback” and his pursuit of a third Super Bowl ring that will propel him past guys like John Elway and put him in the famed company of Tom Brady.

Then there is the other quarterback. While the Green Bay Packers are pretty accustomed to celebrating great quarterbacks, Aaron Rodgers is not used to being celebrated. Sure, he has had statistical success since Day 1, but he didn’t win his first playoff football game until this season, and all of a sudden he’s being mentioned among the top 3 or 4 best quarterbacks in the league.

But we’ll come back to the quarterbacks in a second.

What’s really important here is how you feel about the game?

Are you happy to take all of Sunday off and do nothing but enjoy the pleasure of watching a game with 100 million other people that don’t have anything better to do than eat chips and watch television?

Can you not wait to get your mouth on that first bite of pizza just as the opening kick goes into the air?

Does the thought of having a Super Bowl party make you the least bit excited about that new couch that you spent way too much money on?

Are you happy that as we approach the Super Bowl, we may be witnessing the last football game for quite some time now? Unless of course, you’re talking about futbol, which of course, is played on a regular basis anywhere outside of Harlem.

Let’s face it; American football is a part of our souls. It’s the fun part of our souls, a part that has very little do with anything tangible, and a part that makes us throw wonderful parties in the name of sport Still, we take our football way too seriously. When somebody messes up, we immediately want him to take blame for it in the post-game press conference. If a coach appears to mismanage the game, we have to know why he didn’t make this substitution or call that play.

During the Super Bowl, that criticism, born out of a place of fun and happiness, will come down upon the heads of Coach Mike Tomlinson and Coach Mike McCarthy like a linebacker down the “A” gap. Don’t get me wrong. I certainly have taken the opportunity to make sports a bit more serious than it needs to be in a column or two. However, in such instances, I was wrong. I was wrong to make the sport of football, or any sport for that matter, too serious. Mike McCarthy won’t be a bad coach if he loses this game. And Mike Tomlinson isn’t lucky if manages to win his second Super Bowl in three years. I’m letting bad coaching off the hook, but the fact is that coaches are what they are. The players control the game. And the only things about football that should be taken seriously are the players on the field.

Then again, should the players even care so much?

As we approach the Super Bowl, it’s easy to see how players lend themselves to the serious nature of football. Afraid to say the wrong thing or piss of the wrong person, football players shy away from the camera like a 7th grader shies away from asking the pretty girl to dance at the school Halloween party. Of course, in this age of media and new media, a lack of sound bites from some only means more air time for the big mouths. Enter Chad Johnson’s dating reality show and Antonio Cromartie’s curse-filled rants.

You won’t hear any Cromartie-like statements coming out of the lead up to the Super Bowl though. We haven’t heard trash talk on Media Day of the Super Bowl since Plaxico Burress predicted the final score to the New York Giants eventual win over the 18-1 New England Patriots. While Burress ultimately delivered on his promise, statements like those didn’t lend to his favor when he needed all the creditability he could get once he fired a gun off in the bowels of a Manhattan nightclub.

Burress isn’t alone though. People don’t like Cromartie because he spoke his mind. People don’t like Joey Porter because he runs his mouth. And who the hell loves Terrell Owens when he’s barking up and down the sideline at the closest head coach or quarterback that will listen to him?

Still, the guys who talk the most and speak their mind are the reason we love the NFL. If nobody said anything, the NFL would still score huge viewing numbers, but if you don’t think Cromartie’s telling Tom Brady to go bleep himself didn’t draw in a few more casual (and valuable younger) viewers, you’re crazy.

The NFL needs more vocal football players. People who entertain us with their mere presence are what make the world go round. It’s why Keith Olbermann will always have a job on television. It’s why Mike Ditka is a commentator on ESPN’s NFL Countdown. And it’s why our current President was elected into office. People like soaring speeches, daring claims, and the gumption of the underdog. They eat that stuff up for lunch—hell, I eat it up.

And that is why it would be great to see Aaron Rodgers and Ben Roethlisberger go at it in the media this week. That of course is just a media member’s dream that won’t come true. The biggest stars on their teams, playing in the NFL’s biggest game, on television’s biggest stage going at it like two name-calling teenagers would make for one heck of a story. Because unlike the matchups in the Super Bowl, Rodgers and Roethlisberger can actually be on the same “playing field” during the week. On the field, there can be no such battle. Rodgers can’t run out and tackle a Steelers wide receiver headed for the end zone from his place on the bench. And Big Ben isn’t pass-rushing Rodgers. Thus, any nonsense talk about this game being Rodgers vs. Roethlisberger is crazy.

I wish I could make this game about Rodgers vs. Big Ben and their respective race for career-defining Super Bowl wins, but I can’t. There’s nothing there. There’s nothing real. They’re too good to knock down even in a loss, and the fact that they’re too serious to come at each other during the week takes away any potential spice their non-dueling positions could conjure up. For two guys who play with such reckless abandonment, they are amazingly constrained in front of a microphone.

Call it good PR-prep or home training, but whatever it is, these quarterbacks, like the many quarterbacks before them, take the game too seriously to talk about anything other than football this week. Maybe that’s what they should do to play their best game, but in reality; a few moments on the mic can’t take away from hours, weeks, months and years of preparing for the Super Bowl. Serious is who they are though—just like the teams they represent.

You, however, can take it upon yourself to make football a little bit more fun. Toss the pre-game analysis. Forget about Big Ben’s pursuit of #3 or the monkey on Aaron Rodgers back. Don’t listen to the pundits try to make an underdog out of one team, or make a mountain out of mole hill when there’s nothing else to report. Just sit back, enjoy your nachos, pizza and beer, and watch a game that was meant to be fun, while having fun. Millions of casual fans will do just that, and I want you to do that as well. For many major sports fans, football has been far too serious for far too long, and with an impending lockout after the last game of the season, enjoying this Sunday’s Super Bowl might be your last (and maybe your first) chance to enjoy watching football. So make is Super.

The post "Super Bowl Game, Parties and Quarterbacks" was originally published at TSW.

Super Bowl week is upon us!

It’s amazing, is it not? Just think back to September, Week 1, when all teams were even, we thought the Cincinnati Bengals were a good team and the New Orleans Saints were the reigning Super Bowl champions. Well, now our view of the NFL is a bit different, and rightfully so. This year’s Super Bowl features two quarterbacks that everybody knew coming into the season, but nobody was daring enough to call either of these guys the best at their position.

Well, the best at the quarterback position just might be what’s on the line here in the 2011 Super Bowl. As good as Tom Brady and Peyton Manning are, they have combined to lose their last four playoff games. If Green Bay wins this Sunday, Aaron Rodgers will have won four games this postseason alone. And if Ben Roethlisberger wins, he’ll have three.

So which team comes out on top, and which quarterback gets to hoist himself up as perhaps the best quarterback in the game today? Here is our NFL 2010-2011 Super Bowl prediction!

Green Bay Packers vs. Pittsburgh Steelers

When the Steelers have the ball: The Steelers don’t have to be creative against the Packers in this game, because they should be able to run the football. Granted, the Packers did a good job of stopping the run in their first two postseason games, but against the Chicago Bears, Matt Forte was quite efficient on the ground. The Steelers are also coming off a week in which they dominated the New York Jets front seven and had over 100 rushing yards in the first half of the game.

However, when it comes to passing the ball, things might get a little tricky. The Green Bay Packers were one of the best teams in the league against the pass, and Charles Woodson and Sam Shields are playing unbelievable football in the secondary. Roethlisberger will have to get used to checking the ball down and making the Packers defense come up and make tackles. Thus, I highly doubt this year’s Super Bowl will be the high-scoring affair it was when the Steelers were last in the Super Bowl. But with the running game working efficiently, the Steelers will move the chains and will open up the game to take some shots down the field to Mike Wallace. I don’t expect a lot out of the Steelers offensively, but it should be more than enough to win this game with a decent effort from the defense.

When the Packers have the ball: Expect a lot of passing. I know all the talk this postseason has been about how much the Green Bay Packers would prefer to run the ball if they had the personnel, but against the Pittsburgh Steelers, the personnel is definitely lacking. I don’t care who’s at running back for the Packers, that offensive line will not make a whole lot of running lanes against this Pittsburgh Steelers defense.

Thus, here’s the question: Can Aaron Rodgers, considered the hottest player in the league right now, perform at the highest levels when the Pittsburgh Steelers play the pass against a one-dimensional offense?

Well, there are two theories to that. On the one had, the Steelers are not very good on the outside. Yes, they have a tremendous defense, but they haven’t had a cornerback go to the Pro Bowl since Rod Woodson played for them in the 1990’s, and the team’s cornerbacks are average at best. Rodgers is excellent at throwing the ball outside the hashes, where the Steelers safeties and linebackers are less likely to provide any support. As we saw when the Jets connected on a long throw to Santonio Holmes in the AFC Championship game, the Steelers cornerbacks cannot be trusted in single coverage, and if Rodgers catches them in single coverage enough times, it’s probably going to be lights out for the Pittsburgh Steelers.

On the other hand, if the Steelers are in single coverage, they will also probably be blitzing. The Steelers are the master of the blitz, and against this Packers offensive line, things could get ugly for Rodgers. Not to mention, Rodgers didn’t look to good against the Bears rush in the second half to the game. They forced him into some bad throws. If the Steelers pressure can do the same thing, Rodgers may not be as effective as we are expecting him to be. And if the Steelers shut down the running game of the Packers, as we expect them to, an ineffective Rodgers will cost the Steelers the Super Bowl. In fact, we think that’s what will happen. As good as Rodgers has been, when he faced a team with a dominant edge rusher and took some shots, he looked beatable. The Steelers have two dominant edge rushers in Lamar Woodley and James Harrison, and I expect them both to be in Rodgers face all day.

Super Bowl Prediction: Steelers win, 20-14

The post "Super Bowl Predictions: Steelers vs. Packers" was originally published at TSW.

The overwhelming favorites in this game are the Green Bay Packers. This is the case despite the Packers having to go on the road to the Chicago Bears home field. The Packers are a 3.5-point favorite in Chicago, which for those of you who don’t know, is a slap in the face to a home team, especially a playoff home team. So will the Packers deliver on what appears to be a win everybody expects them to get?

Here is the official NFC Championship Game Prediction from TheSportsWatchers.

Green Bay Packers at Chicago Bears (+3.5)

The Green Bay Packers are very good on offense and very good on defense. By yardage, the Packers were a Top 10 team on both sides of the ball, and they would have been even better on offense had Aaron Rodgers not missed significant time this season, due to injury.

The Bears, on the other hand, are a very good defense, and they proved it by finishing 9th in the league in that category. Better yet, the Bears allowed the 4th fewest points this past season. Still, as good as the Bears were on defense, the injury-riddled Packers were even better, allowing fewer yards and points this past NFL season.

And then there’s the offensive side of the ball. Don’t get us wrong; the Bears had their moments this season. Jay Cutler put up big offensive games against the Philadelphia Eagles, Minnesota Vikings and the Dallas Cowboys. But at the end of the day, they were inconsistent at best. The Bears finished 30th in the NFL offensive yardage, worst than both the Cleveland Browns and the Buffalo Bills. And Jay Cutler, who is getting all of this praise for having played “so well” this season, only finished the year with an 86.3 quarterback rating and he averaged over 1 interception per game this season. That’s not exactly elite status, and it definitely isn’t Aaron Rodgers status.

Speaking of Mr. Rodgers, is this guy good or what? To this point he has outplayed Michael Vick and Matt Ryan, two of the NFC’s best quarterbacks all season long. Now he gets Jay Cutler, who wasn’t exactly in the running for NFC MVP of the Year, and no one expects Rodgers to lose this battle.

Sorry to say it, Bears fans, but making a prediction for this game comes down to one thing: quarterback play. The Packers have an elite quarterback, perhaps the best quarterback of the four remaining teams, and he’s got a better receiving core and offensive system around him. The Bears are walking into this game hoping Cutler doesn’t revert back to his old self and with a receiving core that is led by some guy named Johnny Knox, who we mistakenly picked to win be top flight fantasy football option two years ago.

So let’s keep this simple. Aaron Rodgers will play better against the Bears Top 10 defense than Cutler will play against the Packers Top 5 defense. Need I say more?

Packers win, 27-17

The post "NFC Championship Game Prediction" was originally published at TSW.

The best thing about the NFL is that nobody knows what they’re talking about. Essentially, nobody had the New York Jets beating the New England Patriots last week. Who had the Green Bay Packers demolishing the Atlanta Falcons? And if I had told you that the Baltimore Ravens would score 21-unanswered points against the Pittsburgh Steelers and take a two-touchdown lead deep into the third quarter, you would have said that Baltimore was going to go on to win that game.

Such is the NFL.

Now, having said just how accurate NFL picks can be, here is the official AFC Championship Prediction from TheSportsWatchers.

New York Jets at Pittsburgh Steelers (-3.5)

The New York Jets pulled a stunner last week when they beat the New England Patriots. After a win like that, nothing they do this week will be all that surprising. Especially since the Jets have already beaten the Steelers this season, and they did so in Pittsburgh.

However, in their win, the Jets didn’t do anything outstanding. Yes, limiting Tom Brady the way they did was impressive in and of itself, but their offense was far from dominant, and their defense showed holes all game; they just did a good job of reacting to them for four quarters—like a good defense should do. Still, there’s nothing the Jets do that pose a problem for the Steelers. Their 8-man drops confused Tom Brady, but that’s of little concern to Ben Roethlisberger, the ultimate improviser, who will destroy a 3-man rush that allows him to run all over the backfield and survey the land.

Thus, expect a change in approach this week. The Jets have to come after Big Ben. They have to get him rolling to his left with pressure in his face, and their cornerbacks are going to have to play man coverage. In this game, you can expect to see Rex Ryan call the type of defense he’s known for running, with exotic blitzes, risky coverages and a lot of linebackers in weird positions. Yeah, it’ll make for an interesting scheme, but will it actually stop the Pittsburgh Steelers and Big Ben’s passing game?

On the other side of the all, the Jets offense is going to have to get going. Sure, they scored 28 points, but in reality, they manufactured just 21 of those points, and that’s not a lot of offense. Granted, the Steelers are not an offensive juggernaut, and the first team to 21 points may win this game, but it’s hard to believe that the Jets will reach that magical number if they don’t up their passing game. You can pretty much scratch the Jets rushing attack. Running into the Steelers front 7 is a basically a kamikaze mission. There will be no success between the trenches. The Ravens managed just 79 rushing yards against the Steelers last week, averaging just 2.9 yards per carry on their 25 rushes. The Jets are a slightly better rushing team than the Ravens, but not so much so to believe they can run the ball effectively.

That means this game comes down to Mark Sanchez. With all the credit he got last week, he wasn’t exactly Ben Roethlisberger. He managed the game well, completed some big time passes, and did not turn the ball over. He’ll need to do all of that again, but he’ll also have to make even bigger plays on first and second down, because the rushing game will be defunct all game long. Do we think Sanchez can really come out and have the game of his life against the Steelers? The fact that he already beat them a few weeks ago appears to be more than enough reason to believe that Sanchez can come through. But if you’re asking us to take Sanchez against a pressure defense over Ben Roethlisberger against a pressure defense, we think you know who we are going with.

Steelers win, 21-17

The post "AFC Championship Game Prediction" was originally published at TSW.

The immovable object met an unstoppable force on Sunday. The New England Patriots, winner of 14 regular season NFL football games, lost their home playoff game to the trash-talking New York Jets, 28-21 in Foxborough.

It was a pretty convincing win for the New York Jets, who seemed to dominate most facets of the game. On offense, quarterback Mark Sanchez was efficient, and on defense, the Jets made sure Tom Brady was not. This was quite the occurrence given how badly the Patriots had beaten the Jets several weeks ago on the very same field. It was an even more special occurrence, because this game ended with the proverbial smirk on the Patriots mug being wiped off with a devastating slap to the face.

After all the trash talk, all the complaining, all the promises of revenge, the New York Jets came back to Foxborough and beat up their big brother New England Patriots, who in an act of superiority, looked down upon all of the Jets actions all week long. Antonio Cromartie called Tom Brady an ass—-. Nick Mangold had a few words to say about the Patriots as well. And the ever-quiet Jets head coach Rex Ryan came out and said he was out to beat Bill Belichick—personally. Nobody, however, on the Patriots side responded. Brady went to his usual, “I respect them” move. Bill Belichick certainly avoided saying anything about this game was personal. And the rest of the Patriots followed suit too—well, except for Wes Welker, who at a press conference, continued to reference foot metaphors to make fun of Rex Ryan’s reported foot fetish videos. Naturally, Belichick suspended Wes Welker—for all of one series. Funny enough, the Patriots lost the game because they needed just one more efficient series, so perhaps that suspension/benching was more than the slap on the wrist it appeared to be. Then again, it really wasn’t.

But I have to admit, I’m so happy that the Jets beat the Patriots. There is absolutely nothing more entertaining than a team that goes out of its way to sound like a bunch of trash-talking idiots, only to come back and backup everything they said. Cromartie called Brady an ass—-, and relative to his recent streak of interception-less football, Brady played like one, finishing the game averaging just 6.6 yards per attempt and a quarterback rating of 89.0. Wes Welker, who had jokes during the week, had just 57 yards receiving and no touchdowns. And that overrated Patriots defense left the game having given up over 100 yards rushing, a 127.3 rating to Mark Sanchez, and 6 of 13 third-down conversions to the Jets.

Another great aspect about all of this is that the Patriots didn’t have much to gloat about all game long. They were never ahead by more than a field goal, and that was just for a few minutes. We know from previous games, that had Tom Brady thrown a 50-yarder all up in Cromartie’s ass—-, he would have been all up in his face, just like he did against the Steelers a couple years ago, and just like he has acted in the past when he beat trash-talking football players for big plays. However, Brady never got that chance. That would have been a more likely scenario had Randy Moss been on the team, but that’s a story for another day.

Oh, and let’s not forget about ultra-hypocritical Deion Branch. Branch, despite being behind for the majority of the game, was talking to the Jets sideline all game long. He even had a few choice words for Rex Ryan. And then, as only a hypocrite of his fashion could do, he went out and blasted the New York Jets for celebrating on the Patriots home field. After the game, Branch called them classless. And while the coach running into the end zone and a star wide receiver doing back flips isn’t the MOST sportsman-like thing to do, calling out someone for being classless when you barked up and down at a sideline and a coach all game long isn’t exactly going to win Deion Branch the sportsman of the year award.

Besides, who wants to hear about classless after the way the Patriots have acted on the field in the past. Tom Brady’s occasional over exuberance, Wes Welker’s jokes, and Randy Moss’s statements just this season have never been the epitome of class. Don’t get me wrong, I have no problem with any of those things, because after all, these are sports that we are talking about. But you can’t call other people out for being classless, Branch, when you and your team haven’t been on your best behavior either. And might I remind you, it was these very Patriots that acted a damn fool when they beat the San Diego Chargers in California back in the 2006-2007 NFL season. So the last thing I want to hear from anybody on the Patriots team is that somebody else acted classless after the game.

The best part about all of this though, is that the Patriots now have to watch the New York Jets trash-talk their way to the AFC Championship. Maybe even better, is the fact that you and I get to watch it. Listen, everybody can talk about how they want to see players shut-up and play football, and how everything they say is just disrespectful to the other team, but I love it. Trash-talking is a part of sports—hell, it’s a part of any competitive part of business. Some people do things tongue and cheek, and some people come right out in the open with it. But there’s not a major corporation out there that hasn’t slighted a competitor or two with a few less-than-benevolent words. The Jets just happen to use more than a few words; hell, they use all of them. But that’s okay too. They have fun doing it, and on this particular occasion, they backed up their talk by beating the best team in NFL, or at least that’s what we thought they were.

The post "Zo Knows: Loss to the Jets Should Wipe that Smirk off the Patriots Faces" was originally published at TSW.

Do you know what’s good to see? A team that goes out and gets a coach that isn’t considered some football profit from on high. And that’s exactly what the Denver Broncos did when they hired John Fox. They looked past his failures with a horrible Carolina Panthers team last season, and they saw a guy who knows one side of the ball very well, has had some semblance of success and is still hungry enough to commit to winning a Super Bowl, no matter what the talent around him looks like.

Now, you may be saying, of course they got a guy like that–what else would they go out and get?

Well, I don’t claim to know what the Broncos options were in terms of the coaches interested in working for their franchise. However, names like Bill Cowher and John Gruden loomed, and you have the oft-recycled coaches like Eric Mangini and Wade Phillips out there–not to mention another dozen names I can’t remember, or don’t care to remember.

Granted, the Denver Broncos did apparently go after Jim Harbaugh, who despite having no better record than Randy Shannon of Miami, has been anointed the next great thing in coaching. I’m not saying he’s not deserving of it, because if he has proven himself capable of grooming quarterbacks, such as he did with Stanford’s Andrew Luck, then perhaps he has a very valuable skill. However, I question any notion that he has indeed proven himself to be great at grooming quarterbacks. Scoring a great talent like Luck doesn’t automatically mean Harbaugh is this great talent, it could just mean that he’s–well, Lucky.

But I digress. My point here is that I’m happy that Denver didn’t go with the big name coach, or the sexy-up-and-comer. They went with a head coach that really has no name to speak of, and is the farthest thing from sexy. Perhaps it took giving a young man like Josh McDaniels all the power that gave the Broncos organization some perspective. McDaniels was about as hot as they come after he had constructed one of the greatest offenses in the history of the NFL and then followed that up with grooming Matt Cassel into 11-win quarterback in 2008. However, it was clear from the very beginning that McDaniels was in no position to be the head man. He didn’t handle personnel correctly, he angered players, and his strategic game-planning all of a sudden became a sideshow to what his defense and special teams were producing. Ultimately, the Broncos came to the conclusion that this guy wasn’t all he was cracked up to be, and that the “sexiness” that came with hiring him wasn’t going to result in anything tangible.

It’s a shame that Denver had to go without a fielding a competitive team for the better part of two seasons to figure all of this out, especially since history could have told them all they need to know. Almost never before has a big name football person become a great head coach with another team.

Just look at Nick Saban’s run in Miami. How about Bill Parcels since leaving the New York Giants? He hasn’t done anything. Then there’s Jimmy Johnson’s stint with the Dolphins, Joe Gibbs’ return to Washington, and now Mike Shannahan’s likely fall in D.C. Even the few exceptions to this pattern are questionable. Mike Holmgren left Green Bay and had a modicum of success in Seattle, but he only challenged for the Super Bowl once, and that took eight years to go down. John Gruden was a big name when the Buccaneers traded for him from Oakland. Yeah, he won a Super Bowl, but that was with Tony Dungy’s defense, and Gruden didn’t even make the playoffs with that team after that Super Bowl run. As for Tony Dungy who went from Tampa to Indy, yes, he had success in Indianapolis. Then again, I don’t know that he isn’t more of the sensible hire like John Fox, or if was a big sexy name, but even if he was, he won with Peyton Manning one time–something many people would view as a failure.

There’s no question that bringing that sexy name to your team has its benefits. Ticket sales spike, the team all of a sudden has hope, and the front office saves its ass. But none of that creates success on the field, especially not for a sustained period of time. You know what’s better than excitement and hope in football? Reliability and excellence. John Fox is reliable and he is an excellent defensive mind. His name won’t sell box seats, nor will it increase the Broncos TV ratings. But more than some Hall of Famer who’s better days or behind him, or some college coach who has no NFL experience, John Fox’s likelihood for success is high. I’m not promising Super Bowls. I can’t even promise wins. I can promise that the results Fox will see will be no better or worse than anyone else that was on the market, because everybody else’s qualifications were no better than that of Fox’s.

The post "Zo Knows: Hiring John Fox was Smart" was originally published at TSW.

Ready to make some money off gambling on these on this weekend’s NFL Playoff games? Well don’t come here! Last week, out “super staff” was an unbelievable 0 for 4 in predicting last week’s games, and that’s without the spread!

So, in an effort not to continue embarrassing TheSportsWatchers brand in that fashion, I’ve decided to be wholly responsible for all predictions for the rest of the NFL football season. That doesn’t mean that my predictions will be any more accurate than the ones we come up with as a staff; however, now at least, you have nobody to blame but me, instead of judging all of our writers as a collective waste of sports column space.

New York Jets at New England Patriots

The New York Jets are a good team, with a lot of good parts. They have an above-average defense. They have some nice skill players on offense. And their special teams are right there at the top of the league. However, it’s at the quarterback position that they can’t be trusted. Mark Sanchez has come through on more than one occasion this season, but he has often been apart of the reason the Jets have something to come through. Last week against the Colts, Sanchez missed a lot of throws and didn’t get on point until the game was on the line. That’s all fine and dandy, especially when you have a defense like that of the Jets. But unless the Patriots game is close in the 4th quarter, Sanchez’s late-game heroics will be of no use to him.

The Patriots clearly have the advantage in this game; and I’m not even sure they have the better team. The Patriots defense is more suspect than most people are willing to admit. The Patriots have little in terms of a deep threat—especially against this Jets defense. And the rushing game of the Patriots, while improved, has much to be desired.

To put it simply, the deciding factor in this game is Tom Brady. He’s the reason the Patriots are the better team. He’s the reason the Patriots defense doesn’t look as bad as it is. He’s the reason they have some semblance of a deep threat. And he’s the reason the Patriots can run the ball worth a damn.

Patriots win, 24-20

Baltimore Ravens at Pittsburgh Steelers

These two teams really should play more often, no? Last time these two battled it out, it was essentially for the AFC North crown. The last time they battled it out in the playoffs, it was for a trip to the Super Bowl. This meager little game before us is only for a trip to the AFC Championship, which probably will be played on someone else’s home field. Nevertheless, the game will be about as bloody as it ever is.

The Ravens have an advantage in the intermediate passing game. The Steelers cornerbacks aren’t that good, and they’ve never been that good. They play off the blitz well because of great coaching, and they don’t give up too many deep balls, but if you catch them in man coverage, without pressure, they are liable to be picked apart. Expect the Ravens to get a lot crossing routes going while driving Troy Polamalu off deep. If they can keep him out of the play and still attack the intermediate areas of the field (especially on the sideline) the Ravens have a good chance at sustaining an offensive attack.

The Steelers advantage actually comes with the deep ball. They aren’t a team that is known for airing it out play after play, but they may need to do that this weekend. The Ravens biggest weakness is also at the cornerback position, only their cornerbacks don’t play any part of the game all that well. With Mike Wallace in tow, Ben Roethlisberger should be able to hook up on a couple of long balls if the Steelers rushing game can get the Ravens out of any deep zone or Cover 2 looks.

At the end of the day though, I like what the Ravens did against the Chiefs rushing attack last week. If they can maintain that kind of edge against the run with only 7 players in the box, the Ravens will be able to stay back in their coverages and make the Steelers dink and dunk their way down the football field. That’s not a recipe for success against this Baltimore defense.

Ravens win, 21-17

Seattle Seahawks at Chicago Bears

In the game that nobody cares about, the Bears face off against a team that nobody thought would be in this position. But after one of the most epic runs in the history of the NFL, Marshawn Lynch and the Seattle Seahawks are divisional round bound! But that shouldn’t last long.

The Seahawks looked great last week, but a lot of that was on the New Orleans Saints defense—which isn’t good. If there is anything the Bears were good at this season, it was defense, and I fully expect them to come through with a stellar performance at home, in the cold, with a week’s worth of rest. I don’t’ trust their offense all that much, because Jay Cutler can be a tool on the field at times, but that defense should limit what is typically a putrid Seattle offensive attack.

Bears win, 24-7

Green Bay Packers at Atlanta Falcons

Okay, so I lied. I did leave one game for the whole site to tear apart. Don’t judge the whole on the basis of this. Our picks are only as good as the players we’re picking, no?

The post "NFL Playoffs: Divisional Round Predictions" was originally published at TSW.

In making this prediction, one has to realize that the Green Bay Packers end to their defeat of the Philadelphia Eagles was not pretty. In the second half, after scoring early on the quarter, they failed to muster up any kind of offense, and the Packers defense was quite submissive to the exploits of the Philadelphia Eagles in the fourth quarter. Had it not been for two missed field goals by David Akers, who knows how the game would have ended?

Still, survive and advance is the name of the game in the NFL playoffs. And with yesterday’s victory, Aaron Rodgers and Green Bay Packers find themselves in a position to knock off the #1 seed in the NFC Conference.

Of course, such a task will prove difficult considering how the Packers finished up on Sunday. The Eagles wide receivers cut loose in the second-half, with Jeremy Maclin, Jason Avant and DeSean Jackson recording numerous big football plays. The Packers secondary seem to have no answer for the speed of those guys once the Eagles managed to corral the blitz, and next thing you knew, the race was on.

Thus, the Atlanta Falcons will pose a dilemma for the Packers. While the Falcons aren’t as explosive across the board, Roddy White, Tony Gonzalez and Michael Jenkins are all very capable receivers with respective speed at their positions. With Charles Woodson and company in the Packers 5th ranked defense, usually that trio wouldn’t be a problem. But when you see what just happened on Sunday, combined with the Falcons strong ground game, it seems likely that Matt Ryan is going to have wide receivers open for the majority of the game this weekend.

Then again, the Packers pose a difficult for the Falcons as well. The Falcons were exposed in the secondary by the New Orleans Saints three weeks ago, and in some respect, they have been exposed in that area all season long. The Eagles, namely, had no problem taking it to the Falcons with their passing game. And Drew Brees drove down the field against the Falcons for the go-ahead touchdown in what seemed like a 7-on-7 passing drill. This past Sunday, Aaron Rodgers was masterful in his destruction of the Eagles. He was 18 of 27 (66%) for an efficient 180 yards and 3 touchdown passes. While the Falcons secondary may be healthier than that of the Eagles, I’m not sure it’s all that much better.

So in a battle of suspect of pass defenses, the ultimate determinant in this game would undoubtedly be the running game, no? Sure, I could say that it’s going to come down to which ever quarterback is going to exploit the opposing defense more, but given how poor these secondaries may turn out to be this weekend, who is to say that either quarterback will be stymied. Thus, I’m going with the ground game of the Atlanta Falcons to win this matchup. Sure, Green Bay appears to have found something in running back James Starks, but that may have had more to do with a withering Eagles defense than anything else. I’ll put my money on Michael Turner and the Falcons offensive line, two known entities with proven track records of pounding the defense into submission.

Falcons win, 34-27

The post "NFL Playoff Predictions: Pack vs. Falcons" was originally published at TSW.

The NFL Playoffs are upon us, which means it is time for everybody to make their ridiculous predictions. However, TheSportsWatchers just going to cover the NFC games in this post, because clearly, as we are about to show you, our poor picks should be taken in moderation.

Let’s just get right to it. Like many of you, our Super Bowl picks from earlier this season were awful. We had the Cincinnati Bengals coming out of the AFC. Somewhere around their 10th loss in a row, we decided that our prediction probably wasn’t going to come true. Our other pick, you won’t think is all that horrible, except for the fact that we’re already picking against them. If you will note, we picked the Green Bay Packers to come out of the NFC this season.

Now the Packers have entered the playoffs as the 6th seed (despite being the probably the 3rd or 4th best team), are hot, on fire and have reeled off some impressive victories over the last couple of weeks. However, instead of sticking with our Super Bowl pick, we’re going with the opposing team. It suffices to say, if your strategy in reading this post is to bet against everything we say, you’ve made the right move.

Here are our NFL Wildcard Playoff Predictions:

#6 Green Bay Packers (10-6) at #3 Philadelphia Eagles (10-6)

As many of you recall, the Packers did indeed knock of the Eagles earlier this season—in Week 1. But that was opening week. Back then, Philly fans were still whining about Donovan McNabb, Kevin Kolb was the starting quarterback, Michael Vick wasn’t an MVP candidate, and the Green Bay Packers were actually healthy. Well, you can flip everything I just said, and you can pretty much flip the result of that game as well. The Eagles should win this contest for two reasons: their ability to run the ball, and their ability to stop the run.

The Eagles cannot stop the pass for crap, which is why one should expect Aaron Rodgers to have some fairly good numbers. But his numbers will be far from as efficient as they usually are, because the Eagles will make the Packers beyond one-dimensional. With no Ryan Grant on the field and Brandon Jackson running like a toddler in a walker at the point of attack, the Packers pose no threat to an Eagles rush defense, despite how mediocre it has seemed at times this season. Because the Packers won’t be able to run the ball, Aaron Rodgers will have to put on his cape—again. Do you really think he’s going to go the entire game without making a mistake against that Eagles blitz, tossing a freebie over Asante Samuels way, or getting a bad play from a backup tight end not named Jermichael Finley? I wouldn’t bet on Rodgers being his usual flawless self this time around.

On the other side of the ball, the Packers are actually pretty average at stopping the run. However, defending the run is an entirely different ball game when Michael Vick is on the field. All of a sudden that backside end can’t crash the line on runs away from, because he has to respect the bootleg. That poses the threat of huge backside runs for LeSean McCoy, and we know he can house those bad boys. And if McCoy gets going, it’s hard to imagine the Eagles losing this game.

That being said, we respect the Packers. This game will be close, and in all likelihood, it will come down to the 4th quarter, just as it did in Week 1. Only this time around, the Eagles appear to have the better hand, and we expect the Packers to get outplayed on the river.

Eagles win, 31-24

#5 New Orleans Saints at #4 Seattle Seahawks

Who says a losing team shouldn’t be in the playoffs? Why not? They won their division, those are the rules. If you want to change them, do it by any means necessary, but crying about it as if you didn’t know this type of thing could happen is about as ludicrous as the Seattle Seahawks chances of winning this game.

Don’t get us wrong though, we are not underestimating the power of the 12th man in Seattle. In fact, we respect it so much; we think this game is going to be close. But Matt Hasselbeck or not, there’s no way that Drew Brees is getting outplayed by a quarterback from a 7-9 team. Not this Saturday in Seattle, not on a Thursday in Mars. It just isn’t happening.

But the game will be close, mainly because the Saints have more holes than the Obama healthcare plan. The Saints have trouble stopping the run. Drew Brees has been entirely too freewheeling with football. And on defense, if the Saints need a stop, I’m not sure they can get it against an above average offense.

However, Seattle isn’t above average—in fact, by record, they are by definition below average. They aren’t any good, they probably don’t deserve to be playing this weekend, and they certainly don’t deserve to win this game.

Saints win, 27-21

The post "NFL Playoff Predictions: NFC Games" was originally published at TSW.

The NFL’s regular season is over, which means people are ready to immediately start making judgments on teams that did not make the playoffs.

Of course some teams have already been judged. The San Francisco 49ers, Minnesota Vikings, Carolina Panthers, Denver Broncos and Dallas Cowboys have already fired their coaches. And the Miami Dolphins, Cincinnati Bengals, Oakland Raiders and Tennessee Titans are expected to make unfavorable decisions about their coaches.

And then there are the supposedly good coaches—the ones that people believe to have done well-enough to save their jobs. These coaches are safe, and rightfully so, because if the masses don’t want you out, Lord knows these jobs are hard enough to keep as it is, so why let reality get in the way?

However, the fact is, while people like Tom Coughlin of the New York Giants, Gary Kubiak of the Houston Texans and Jack Del Rio of the Jacksonville Jaguars will get to skate for one more year, there’s one team out there that is getting a whole lot of praise, which it does not even deserve.

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers were a complete façade this past season. That said, Raheem Morris totally deserves to keep his job. The man did an excellent job making the most out of the talent that he had, and there’s no way he should be fired after leading that bunch of ragamuffins to a 10-6 record. However, Morris should be laughed at for saying that his team was the best the NFC about 10 weeks ago. It was cute back then, but obviously, that statement was an unmitigated fabrication.

First of all, the Buccaneers beat one good team all season long, and that came in Sunday’s finale against the New Orleans Saints. Now, don’t get me wrong, that’s an impressive win, especially on the road; however, you need more than one win over a good team to be considered good in the NFL. For God sakes, the Browns beat the New England Patriots this season, and the Minnesota Vikings just beat the Philadelphia Eagles without Brett Favre. In a league where anybody can beat anybody, beating one good team does not make you a legitimate force in the NFL.

Secondly, even when the Buccaneers won games against bad teams, they did that in unconvincing fashion. In the Bucs first 5 wins, all against teams with sub-.500 records, Tampa Bay beat just one of those teams by more than 3 points—and it was the Carolina Panthers, the worst team in the NFL! In the Bucs second five wins of the 2010 NFL season, they fared slightly better. This time they managed to record 3 wins with more than a touchdown’s difference, albeit, one of them was against the Panthers again, and the only good team they beat was the Saints.

Last, but not least, the Bucs have two major flaws that people continue to ignore. At the end of Week 17, I couldn’t believe all of the praise that the Fox crew was giving Tampa Bay, as they didn’t know football at all. Once again, some congratulations are in order for going 10-6, but they touted them as if they are among the favorites to win the NFC next season, and yet the Bucs issues on offense and defense suggest otherwise. On offense, while Josh Freeman was exceptional at protecting the ball, he was able to do that in part because he made very few big plays down the field. The Bucs offensive line let Freeman get hit 71 times this season. That ranks their protection in the middle of the pack, which is actually quite exemplary of where they are as a football team right now.

Defensively, the Bucs couldn’t stop the rush if they knew it was coming. They finished the season 28th in the league against the run, and it was only that good because they played the Saints and Panthers, who can’t run the ball at all, four times. If you want to look at a reason why this team will probably not be all that good next year, just understand that if teams know they can rush the ball on this defense, they aren’t going to be as likely to turn the ball over against the Bucs next year, something Tampa Bay benefited from heavily this season.

Thus, if there is one team in the league that looked “promising” in 2010 and you want to attach some additional hope to them in 2011, don’t let it be the Buccaneers. They did well with the schedule they were presented, but when it came down to it, they weren’t even the next best team in the NFC to not make the playoffs, and there was a solid reason for that—they weren’t that good. Winning 1-score games against bad teams is not something that can be replicated from season to season. Just ask the Chargers that question, as well as the Cincinnati Bengals, two teams that won a lot of close games last year, and are now watching the playoffs from wherever their favorite vacation spots are. The only thing the Bucs have going for them is that their schedule will be that of a 3rd place team, the same kind of schedule they got this past season. Then again, so long as the Saints and Falcons are good, they already have 3 losses on their schedule, and a whole lot of overconfident supporters waiting for them in the New Year.

The post "Season’s End, False Bucs Praise Begins" was originally published at TSW.

As of right now, Tom Brady is the MVP of the NFL.

I know. I know. It wasn’t long ago that we touted Michael Vick as the runaway favorite for the MVP award. Of course things change in this week-to-week league, and Tom Brady has been a big part of that change.

Since Mike Vick’s complete destruction of the Washington Redskins on Monday Night Football, Vick has cooled off, and it has been Tom Brady that has played at astronomical levels. Right now, Brady is in the midst of having thrown for 2 TDs and 0 interceptions in 6 straight games. His team is in first place in the AFC by two games when you account for their tiebreaker over the next closet team. And of course, Brady has that cool ass haircut in his favor too.

Let’s face it; if ever there was a surprise turnaround, it is what the New England Patriots and Tom Brady have been able to do this season. Don’t sit there and pretend as if you actually thought the Patriots would be a better team without Randy Moss, because you didn’t! You were like the rest of us, sitting there trying to figure out what in the world was Bill Belichick doing except making the Minnesota Vikings look a tad foolish for giving up a 3rd rounder.

Now here we are, several months later, and the Patriots are on top of the world and the Super Bowl favorites. As much credit as Bill Belichick is going to get for keeping this thing together, especially after the Patriots looked dumfounded against the Cleveland Browns, the real credit goes to Brady boy, who will collect his second MVP trophy should this string of play continue on throughout Week 17.

So why does Brady deserve the MVP over guys like Vick, Philip Rivers, Drew Brees or Matt Ryan?

I could go over the numbers, and tell you that Brady’s 109.9 QB rating leads the NFL, his hasn’t thrown an interception in 27 years, and that he leads the NFL in MLE average—Making this Look Easy. As much as an analytical person like me hate to admit this, Brady’s true value has come in leadership. He didn’t show angst when Moss was shipped away. He didn’t complain when he was getting beat up early in the season and his Left Guard was holding out. He didn’t cry himself to sleep when he realized his best Wide Receiver was a guy four years past his prime and his #1 running back was somebody who got cut from the Jets backfield. Instead, Brady kept his mouth shout about the off field stuff and talked his teammates into playing some of the best football they’ve played three years.

Listen, I’m the last person to sign up for the rah-rah stuff, especially in football where a lack of execution can wound up with someone getting blown up on the field, wondering why he’s not so happy anymore. However, there’s something to say about a quarterback who is such a vocal and emotional leader in the locker room, because that stuff carries throughout the team. You know how they say that when your quarterback gets hit, the whole team fills it. But when your quarterback hits somebody else (figuratively that is) the other team feels that too.

There’s nothing more discouraging to a defense than a quarterback that hits every weakness. Defenses can’t play fast anymore, because they’re always worried about making mistakes. Thus, sometimes the biggest plays Brady makes are the ones where he throws it out into the flat because a linebacker got a little too deep on his drop. Next thing you know, that linebacker is so scared to make a decision when put in that situation, that Brady has his choice of picking up the sure first down, or hitting his wide receiver for the 20-yarder—right behind the linebacker.

And essentially, that is what you have seen from Brady over the last five games. Coincidentally, these last 5 games, in which Brady has 15 touchdown passes, have all come after that loss to Cleveland. Talk about a response, Brady’s play is the retort to end all debates. He is the unmitigated favorite to win the MVP award, and I question anybody who says otherwise.

Of course, if you ask us again next week, who knows who will be in the lead?

The post "Tom Brady’s the NFL’s MVP…for now" was originally published at TSW.

New York Jets fans, relax.

Sure, your team came up inexplicably empty in their biggest regular season game in years, but that doesn’t mean the season is over. And I’m not just saying that because literally the season isn’t over. I’m saying it because the Jets proved one thing last night: they are who we thought they were!

As I sit here and defend your team Jets fans, remember who you’re taking advice from; a guy who had the Cincinnati Bengals in the Super Bowl. Now that I have that off my chest, I must ask you not to rush to judgment on my opinion of your team; after all, most Jets fans didn’t have the New England Patriots beating New York by 42 points—so don’t be so quick to judge me!

Now that we’re both even; how ‘bout that game last night? Could the Jets have come up any worse? Well, let me take that back. I suppose they could have, since they’ve been somewhat worse earlier this season when they were shut out by the Green Bay Packers. Then again, nobody ever expected the world out of the Jets March Sanchez-led offense. It was the defense that was ranked #1 this year and had some key additions to that side of the ball. So when your much heralded defense gives up 45 points to their division rivals, one has to wonder what the Jets have to look forward to for the remainder of the 2010 NFL football season.

Actually, the Jets do have some positive things to take away from that game. For one, the rushing game was there. I know the Jets final rushing total of 152 yards for a 4.9 average doesn’t hold the mustard for everyone since some of those yards were during garbage time; however, the Jets ran the ball very efficiently against the Patriots in the 1st and 2nd halves of the Monday Night football, and that shows that the Patriots don’t have the Jets number everywhere on the field.

Secondly, Santonio Holmes finished the game with 7 catches for 72 receiving yards. That’s not a wonderful day by anybody’s standards; however, going into this game, it was clear that Bill Belichick wanted to take Holmes out of Sanchez’s passing progression. Holmes didn’t allow that to happen, which is a credit to his growth as a #1 wide receiver. On the flip side, Sanchez forced it to Holmes on one key play when the Patriots did have a beat on him, and that throw resulted in an interception. Clearly Sanchez’s interceptions were a problem, but on the positive side, it looks like Belichick and other teams will have fully commit to taking Holmes out of the game if they don’t want him to be an effective safety blanket for Sanchez.

Last but not least, the Jets did a great job of limiting the Patriots rushing attack. The Patriots only managed 3.9 yards per carry, and their main ground-and-pound rusher, Ben-Jarvis Green-Ellis, only averaged 4.0 yards per carry. So while the 101 cumulative rushing yards the Patriots gained seem like somewhat of a back-breaker, rush for rush, the Jets were quite effective at stopping the Patriots rushing attack.

So let me say it again: RELAX, NEW YORK! The Jets are still a very good team. Last night was not their best night, and no, you’re not the favorite to win the Super Bowl as of this moment. But when you look at the game for what it was, it was 60 minutes full of Patriots making big plays and the Jets doing the exact opposite. Anybody who knows football knows that the Jets have playmakers on their roster. Those guys need to step up, and chances are, they will do just that if the face the Patriots in the playoffs when Bill Belichick doesn’t have 10 days to get ready for them.

Maybe then the J-E-T-S will come to Foxborough to P-L-A-Y and compete in a football game. After all, when you look at the numbers, the Jets would have been in this game if not for the egregious turnovers and spotty tackling. In this game, the Jets got the ball to their best offensive player, ran the football, and stopped the run. That’s who the Jets are. That’s who the Jets will continue to be. And that’s how they can win games in this league. So as long as they are who we think they are, and live up to it from here on out, the New York Jets will be just fine by the time the postseason gets here.

The post "Zo Knows: The Jets are who we thought they were!" was originally published at TSW.

The Chicago Bears are a huge surprise. The Atlanta Hawks are unpredicted overachievers. The Jacksonville Jaguars lead the AFC South. And the Kansas City Chiefs are 8-4 and on top of the AFC West.

If you, or anybody you know, had all of those teams as division leaders 13 weeks into the season, you my friend, deserve a cookie. But seeing as how that is beyond belief, I’ll offer up one more surprise that nobody saw coming: the St. Louis Rams are currently in first place in the NFC West, and that buddy, is the surprise of the year.

Sure, the NFC West is horrible, and the winner of that division may very well wind up being 7-9 when it’s all said and done. But a win is a win, and if the St. Louis Rams are playing in the playoffs a year after they almost went winless and got the #1 pick in the draft—well, that would just be astonishing.

Do you have any idea how terrible they were last year? In the words of Jay-Z; “let me give you a reminder.” Last year, the Rams finished 29th in overall offense, 29th in overall defense. On offense, they were 28th in passing and 20th and Rushing. On defense, they were 25th against the pass and 27th against the run, which is beyond astounding, because usually when you’re really bad at stopping the run, teams don’t throw the ball on you all that much. However, because the Rams were so notoriously bad a season ago, they found a way to be horrible against the pass while giving up a ton of rushing yards.

To add insult to injury, the Rams lone win in a season in which they went 1-15 was against the Detroit Lions, a team that had just gone 0-16 the previous season. It was just a horrible year, filled with blunders, gaffes, injuries and miscues. Usually bad teams just seem disorganized or have a lack of talent. The Rams also seemed to be undersized, had a lack of speed and had just one playmaker.

Fast-forward to the present, and all of that has been erased—for the most part. The Rams 6-6 record that has them atop the NFC West is nothing to brag about, especially since they haven’t beaten a quality football team. What their strength of schedule can’t tell you is that they have improved immensely as a football. No longer do other teams look bigger and faster than them; they actually look like an NFL football team right now. And when it comes to playmakers, running back Steven Jackson finally has some help. Danny Amendola has been a great returner and playmaker out of the slot, and has forced coordinators to account for him in their schemes. On defense, Chris Long looks like the player he was drafted to be, and James Laurinaitis is finally playing like the great linebacker everyone thought he would be coming straight out of Ohio State.

Most importantly though, the Rams are getting some playmaking out of their quarterback position, and they are getting it in a form that is very reminiscent of a quarterback who is at the top of today’s Mt. Rushmore of quarterbacks. Rookie quarterback Sam Bradford may not have the record that Matt Ryan and Joe Flacco posted two years ago in their rookie seasons, but he does have the type of numbers that make you think of what Peyton Manning did in his rookie season—maybe even better.

In Manning’s rookie year, with the help of a little-known veteran back by the name of Marshall Faulk, the young quarterback posted a season of 3,739 passing yards, 26 touchdown passes, 28 interceptions and a quarterback rating of 71.2. Most essential to that equation is that Manning learned the game quickly. Sure, the picks were way too many, but if you look at the tape, what you’ll see is that many of those picks were the result of a young quarterback not being used to the speed of the game and the speed of the defensive backs he was throwing against. As the season progressed, and immediately into the next year, the interception numbers went down dramatically.

Now let’s take a look at the Rams rookie quarterback of 2010, Sam Bradford. Bradford is projected to finish the NFL season with 3,587 passing yards, 25 touchdown passes and just 13 interceptions. His quarterback rating as of now is 82.0, and his team is on pace to finish with a .500 record and a trip to the postseason—something Manning didn’t even sniff in his rookie season. But going back to the numbers; Bradford’s are (simply put) better. He is Peyton Manning without the learning curve.

Certainly, I’m not suggesting that we should mark Bradford down for 10 seasons of 12 wins or more the heir apparent to a permanent seat in Honolulu, but in just his first season, Bradford is showing a measure prolific ability to pass the football from the quarterback position. Matt Ryan wasn’t nearly as prolific his rookie season, and he hasn’t been that in his three years thus far. Joe Flacco wasn’t prolific either, and while he has been more so over the past two 28 games, he’s still putting up less-than stellar numbers with 43 games under his belt.

Bradford on the other hand, is getting a head start. He’s working out the kinks out now, and when you see the kind of success he’s having (with a void of talented receivers mind you), one has to wonder just how dominate he might be when he actually knows what the hell is going on out there.

Two weeks after Thanksgiving, it’s quite clear that the Rams have plenty to be thankful for. They have a team in first place, playmakers on both sides of the ball, and they appear to be on their way to the playoffs. Postseason or not, the Rams most fortunate stance may be the one they took when they drafted Sam Bradford with the #1 overall pick. Yeah, it seems like a no-brainer in retrospect, but that pick wasn’t an easy one, and yet they managed to make the right decision. Now that’s a decision that may just when them a division title in year one with the stud QB. Although, I’m guessing it will only be the first of many so long as Bradford is their quarterback.

The post "Surprise! Surprise! The Rams are back & they have a QB!" was originally published at TSW.

Chicago Bears fans aren’t going to like me for this, but I still don’t know if I am a believer in the Chicago Bears. After watching the Bears defeat the Philadelphia Eagles this past week, one thing stood out to me as I looked back at the game. As good as the Bears were, the Eagles did not play a good football game. And not to make excuses for the Eagles, but the very areas in which Chicago excelled, the Eagles were quite beat up and would have had issues against any team in the league in those areas.

Let me first give credit to what Chicago did well, independently of the Eagles own issues. For starters, Chicago ran the ball efficiently, getting over 100 yards rushing from their feature running back, Matt Forte. Secondly, the Bears did a decent job of protecting quarterback Jay Cutler, who while sacked 4 times, only 2 of those were legitimate sacks, and for the most part, the Bears did a good job of keeping the Eagles defensive line at bay.

Defensively, the Bears got after Michael Vick with what was predominantly a 4-man rush, as Julius Peppers did a great job of containing Vick (something he rarely did when he was with the Panthers might I add). Also, the safeties for the Bears had a great game. Outside of Vick’s last throw in which he split the safeties with a tremendous pass down the middle of the field to tight end Brent Celek, the Bears safeties took the deep ball away from Vick and limited the number of big plays the Eagles were able to make in the passing game.

There is one more thing the Bears did quite well against the Eagles, and it just so happens to be the reason they won the game. The Bears tore the Eagles up in the passing game.

Jay Cutler was 14 of 21 for 247 passing yards and 4 touchdown passes on the day. That’s a hell of a stat line—especially for Cutler, who has been known to throw his fair share of interceptions. However, the Eagles defense, which led the league in takeaways going into this game, was unable to turnover one of the NFL’s historically most turnover-prone quarterbacks. Despite four sacks on Cutler, the pass rush, even the blitz, never seemed to consistently bother Cutler in the pocket. Chalk some of that up to Cutler’s maturity and growth that he has acquired over the last several weeks, but let’s not deny that the lack of pressure on the quarterback is atypical of an Eagles defense.

However, pressure or not, the Eagles secondary was generally in position to make plays on balls that would have limited the 4 touchdown passes that Cutler mustered up. The one time the Eagles weren’t really in position, it was because they called one of the worst red zone pass defenses I have ever seen, and that was on the first touchdown pass of the game when the Eagles gave up the inside route to Earl Bennett for a 10-yard score. Outside of that the Eagles, were in position to make a play on Johnny Knox’s 20-yard TD catch, but the cornerback slipped. The Eagles were in position to make a play on Earl Bennett’s 6-yard catch, but the safety overran the tackle. And the Eagles should have picked off Cutler’s pass to Greg Olsen in the back of the end zone, but Olsen snatched the ball away from the defender.

I know that sounds like a lot of excuse making, but if you watched the game, there’s no denying that the Eagles secondary surrendered a lot of big plays, and it was just on touchdowns either. The Bears had a multitude of big plays all over the field, many of them were the result of secondary players failing to make the tackles and giving up yards after catch.

So what happened? Why was the Eagles secondary, a usually dependable part of the Eagles defense for years, not capable of making routine plays on the ball and sure tackles?

The answer is quite simple; the Eagles were without their two starting cornerbacks.

You are not going to win a whole lot of football games in the NFL when you are missing your two best cornerbacks and you’re playing a gunslinger like Jay Cutler. Here the Eagles had a nickel back and a special teams player trying to get the better of veteran Jay Cutler, and Cutler won the battle. What else would anyone expect? As interception-prone as Cutler has been, the Eagles essentially backup secondary wasn’t going to pick him off.

As a cornerback, you have to have confidence in yourself to make those plays, and without Ellis Hobbs or Asante Samuel in the game, the Eagles corners weren’t going to make those plays, and the Bears and Jay Cutler knew it. That’s why the Bears successfully worked the sidelines, and it’s why Cutler threw without fear. He knew no one was going to be jumping his passes or making him pay for throwing the ball slightly off target. It was a great day to be a quarterback against the Eagles, and Cutler turned it into a 4-touchdown performance.

Now, if the Eagles secondary is able to make just one of those plays, they come away with a win. Of course, the NFL is all about playmaking, and the fact that the Eagles didn’t make plays is a fault of their own. However, if you’re asking me to legitimize the Bears pass-oriented win over a team with no secondary; I don’t know if I can do that. Yes, the Bears win signifies a win over a good football team, and injuries are a part of the game. Yet the Bears win with 4 touchdown passes was a direct result of an Eagles team that had little defense in the secondary. Good teams take advantage of weaknesses, so I won’t deny that the Bears are a good team.

But a great team?

I can’t give them that nod, not even at 8-3. Of course, they will have plenty of opportunities to prove me wrong, but as of now, I will remain skeptical. Unlike Dan LeBatard, however, I will refrain from calling them frauds, as a win over an Eagles team does at the very least say that they aren’t going to “F” this all up—at least not for now.

The post "Chicago Bears still frauds? Not quite…" was originally published at TSW.

Terrell Owens is still a very good NFL wide receiver

Contrary to popular belief, you can teach an old dog new tricks.

Just ask the Cincinnati Bengals.

After an off-season an unbelievable rejection, Terrell Owens found sanctuary with one of the NFL’s most recently troubled franchises, the Cincinnati Bengals. However, before Owens signed with the Bengals, many people were skeptical about as to whether or not Owens could learn to behave and not be the downtrodden force he has been throughout the majority of his football playing career. Those doubts came despite the fact that Owens was a model citizen the previous season while playing with the Buffalo Bills. Owens caught 5 touchdown passes from obscure quarterbacks whose names we won’t even remember four years from now, and he didn’t complain one-iota.

Yet the offers for Owens services this past offseason were few and far in between. Team after team rejected his agent’s advances as if Drew Rosenhaus was the ugly boy at the prom and T.O. was a big, fat pimple on his forehead.

The Bengals were the only team daring enough to take a risk—and even then, there move was executed more out of necessity than desire. The Bengals completely missed on Antonio Bryant, who was cut by the team during the offseason after his knee proved too debilitating for him to even get on the practice field at 100%.

To my surprise though, somehow, signing Owens was a secondary thought, a backup plan, a safe date if you will. For whatever reason, a hobbled Antonio Bryant was considered better than Owens right up until the point when Bryant proved unable to walk onto a football field.

And boy were there doubters out there. In the football media’s defense, there were dozens upon dozens who thought Owens had something to contribute to the Bengals an above-average wide receiver, but the haters weren’t far behind them with their spraying of negativity.

Most noticeably was Colin Cowherd. That’s right, the ESPN personality who said Notre Dame was going to have a great season this year and who didn’t think Michael Vick could win football games anymore in a league (as he put it) has transformed significantly since Vick proved capable of winning football games in Atlanta.

Before the season started, Cowherd said Owens wasn’t even a top 25 wide receiver anymore. The thought of such a statement was laughable to me before I even saw Owens suit up this season. Not a top 25 wide receiver? I couldn’t believe those words came out of his mouth. But here he was saying just that, only a few months removed from T.O. finishing among the top 30 WRs in terms of yards, among the top 40 in terms of touchdown catches, and among the top 30 in yards per catch.

Now, I know what you’re saying? But those aren’t “top 25” finishes. That’s right, and Owens also didn’t have a stable situation at quarterback for the better part of his 16-game stint in Buffalo. You can bet that had he Aaron Rodgers throwing him the ball the same way Rodgers throws the ball to Donald Driver, Owens would have finished among the top 15 in yards too. And had the Bills not had the worst offense in the NFL last year, maybe Owens would have scored more than 5 touchdowns.

But Cowherd didn’t even take that into account. And now here we are, with Owens playing with a semi-decent offense, and Owens is putting up numbers that make that make any preseason prediction calling him a non-top 25 wide receiver look foolish. As it stands now, Owens is third in the league in yards, averages 14.5 yards per catch, has scored 8 touchdowns, and is among the NFL’s top 20 in yards after catch—a metric usually reserved for wide receivers under the age of 30 and running backs. By the way, among WRs, only five wide receivers have more yards after the catch than Owens—you know, the guy that Cowherd said didn’t have top-25 talent anymore.

Look, I’m all for giving a guy, the media and fans a break on their preseason predictions—especially in this league—because Lord knows I’ve had my fair share of dumb calls. But when you go out of your way to say that a perennially top-flight receiver, who had to be banished to the far corners of the league just to slow him down, isn’t a top 25 WR when he hadn’t shown any significant depreciation in ability—well, you’ve got what’s coming to you. Cowherd, of course, he has to deal with himself every morning, so I’ll leave him alone for now. As for the rest the people out there who doubted T.O.’s abilities coming into the season, I just hope you’re willing to learn a few new tricks yourself.

The post "Hey! Terrell Owens can still play!" was originally published at TSW.

Michael Vick. Dog fighting.

Let’s face it. There was a time when we thought that Vick’s name would be synonymous with nothing other than that terrible three-syllable term that sent him to jail for nearly two years. And while his past may never be forgotten, it appears as if Vick won’t let his mistakes define him for the rest of his life, and apparently, neither will the viewing public.

Of course, I don’t have to tell you that. If you’re like everybody else who watched Monday Night Football last night, then you already know that Vick is on the verge of becoming the NFL’s MVP. Against the Washington Redskins, Vick put up 421 yards of total offense and accounted for 6 of the Philadelphia Eagles touchdowns. He had a quarterback rating of 150.7, a stat in which he leads the league. To put it simply, Vick made the Redskins look quite foolish on defense, and the truth is that Washington really wasn’t all that bad defensively when you take a good look at the tape.

However, Vick has been that good—all season long. The man has yet to have had a bad game. His lone questionable performance came in Week 1, when he wasn’t the starter, and was yo-yo’d in and out of the game because of injuries to Kevin Kolb. Then again, in what was his worst game, he wasn’t bad at all. He was 16 of 24 for 175 yards and a touchdown.

As for his best games, obviously there was last night’s demolition of the Redskins, but Vick has also beaten up on the Jacksonville Jaguars, the Detroit Lions and the Indianapolis Colts. Fortunately for the league, Vick missed 3 games due to injury and was unable to add a couple of other teams to his trail of destruction.

As it stands right now, those three games are the only things keeping Vick from hoisting the NFL’s MVP award when the 2010 football season is complete. But even those missed games may not keep him from becoming the first black quarterback to win the award. After all, Vick was already named the NFL Player of the Month in September. Through two weeks, he is the clear favorite to win the award in the November. And should this level of play persist into December, I find it highly unlikely that the best player in 3 out of the 4 months of the NFL season would be denied the MVP award—no matter how many games he missed.

Besides, you can’t knock somebody for missing out on 3 games of productivity when their efficiency levels are at this level. Right now, Vick is completing 63% of his passes, he’s averaging nearly 9 yards per pass attempt, he’s on pace to throw for 20 touchdowns, and the man has zero interceptions. Those are numbers that just can’t be ignored. And they won’t be. Not even if they come back to earth a little bit over the next couple of weeks. Because when you combine those passing numbers, with rushing numbers that suggest Vick will run for over 700 yards this season, and is on pace for 8 rushing touchdowns, it’s almost impossible to imagine somebody ever demonstrating that kind of efficiency over the course of an entire NFL season.

But stats aside, Vick is the favorite to win the NFL MVP not because of his numbers, but because of his presence. Yes, his hard work, football education, maturity and time in the film room have made this man a better quarterback. But it’s because of that same presence on the field that made Vick the scariest offensive player in football years ago that people are scared of him presently. The only difference is that in addition to being scared of Vick’s ability to run, people are now afraid of Vick’s ability to pass. And they’re not just scared of his arm, but of his mind. When Vick was in Atlanta, he was reacting to defenses. In Philadelphia, Vick is dictating defenses, because he’s reading them better, making his throws earlier and is throwing the ball where he wants to throw it instead of where the defense is making him throw it.

During Monday Night Football, John Gruden said he’d take today’s Michael Vick, the Vick that was down in Atlanta, or even the Vick that came out of Virginia Tech to be his quarterback. I can’t say I’d disagree with him on either decision, but the one that plays for the Eagles right now, is the MVP of the NFL, and at least for this season, I’d take that guy over anybody in the league—and I mean anybody!

The post "Michael Vick looks like the NFL’s MVP" was originally published at TSW.

The Dallas Cowboys are done. Sure, in one way, they were done last week the second Tony Romo went down and the New York Giants began their assault against the Cowboys defense. But yesterday’s 35-17 beat down from Jacksonville gave the Cowboys their official release from the 2010 NFL football season. Of course, it was also pretty apparent that the Cowboys had given up long before then.

Coming into the season, the Cowboys were the clear favorites to win the NFC East. The Philadelphia Eagles had traded away Donovan McNabb, the New York Giants looked a messed at the end of last year, and the Washington Redskins—well, they were the Washington Redskins. Thus, it made sense that the Cowboys were the favorites. They were coming off their best overall season since the mid-90s, having won the NFC East and an NFC playoff game for the first time in over a decade. They finally found a star wide receiver that didn’t have a propensity to chew out his quarterback and/or coach. And he their defense, after years of being questionable, had seemingly come around and had the ability to do it all.

Enter Week 9, and the Cowboys are a hot mess. They have losses to the Chicago Bears, Jacksonville Jaguars and the Washington Redskins. They are 1-6 overall and 0-4 in their brand new stadium. For a team that had all the talent in the world coming into the season, they sure seem to be at a loss for it, as none of their playmakers have stepped up in crucial times at any point this season.

But losses and failed expectations aside, the Cowboys are an even bigger disappointment for the effort they have shown on the field the last two weeks. When Tony Romo went down in the first half of their game against the New York Giants last week, the team seemed to lay down, given up and play uninspired football. For about two quarters, the Giants went on to dominate the Cowboys, amassing yard after yard and scoring point after point, while limiting the Cowboys to crapola on offense. It wasn’t until the fourth quarter, when a couple of errors by the Giants gave Dallas some life did the Cowboys finally start to play. Of course, by then it was too late, as they hole they had dug themselves in could do little more than make it an interesting 1-possession game.

However, yesterday’s lay down against the Jaguars was even worse. At least against New York there was an attempt at a comeback. Against Jacksonville this past Sunday, the Cow boys laid down coming in and laid down going out. David Garrard accounted for 5 touchdowns, as the Cowboys defense acted as if losing Tony Romo affected their ability to run and tackle. And the offensive line for the Cowboys seemed to think that running the ball was an impossibility without their quarterback, as they did very little to run against a Jaguars team that sucks at defending the run.

To put it mildly, the Cowboys have mailed it in the last two weeks. The performance in the field is not indicative of their talent level, and it’s their heads, not their legs, that have them in the position they are in now. From penalties costing them games to coaches saying the wrong things, the Cowboys get an F for their effort this season, and it’s why their failing on the field. Cowboys fans, as blessed as they have been over the course of their team’s history, don’t deserve this. They pay a lot of money for tickets and memorabilia and it’s their passion that helped Jerry Jones build that stadium. If having to watch a team fail to play up the highest of professional standards is what they get for being some of the most loyal fans in America, it’s no wonder this franchise hasn’t gotten it right for so long now.

The post "The Cowboys have officially mailed it in" was originally published at TSW.

When Jerry Jones is giving votes of confidence for his head coach, and Randy Moss is a Viking again, you know things aren’t going well in Dallas and Minnesota.

The Dallas Cowboys are now 1-3 as we enter NFL Week 6, and their season, it suffices to say, is on the brink. After all the hope, all the expectations and all the talk, the team set to host the Super Bowl may not even make the playoffs.

Of course, the Cowboys Week 6 opponents aren’t in any better of a situation. The Minnesota Vikings were in last year’s NFC Championship Game and were a non-interception away from perhaps playing in the Super Bowl. Now they’re sitting on a 1-3 record at the bottom of the NFC North while the Chicago Bears are 4-1 after starting Todd Collins for 3 consecutive halves of football—go figure!

Sometimes I wonder if the NFL has a couple of mind readers are gypsies on its staff, because they always seem to give us games just when we want to see them. Seriously, what could be a bigger clusterfuck of Must See TV than what’s about to go on the air this Sunday. For the rest of the week, FOX Sports can promote a “Must Win Showdown” between “America’s Team” and “America’s Man,” Brett Favre.

Speaking of Brett Favre, look at the world of trouble he’s in. I just kept waiting for somebody on Monday Night Football to utter the word penis at sometime during the broadcast, even a synonym would have sufficed. I kept imagining the lead broadcaster, Mike Tirico, saying, “And Favre completes another pass to Randy Moss at the 45-yard line. Hey, John and Jaws, as members of the NFL fraternity, what kind of pressure is Brett Favre under given all of the scrutiny he’s facing for having allegedly sent naked pictures of his Green Bay Packer to a Jets sideline reporter?” Naturally, no such sentence nor synonym was remotely uttered during the football game, but I sat on the edge of my seat for 4 quarters wincing and grimacing for 4 quarters as Tirico and the Walt Disney company danced around that word and topic like a couple of their animated cartoon characters.

But I digress. Favre has a much larger obstruction on his plate this week—and I’m not talking about having to deal with his wife. Favre has to figure how to beat a football team that isn’t as God awful as the Detroit Lions, because the Cowboys are coming to Minnesota with one thing in mind—“We must save our jobs!”

For all of the alleged talent that has found its way into preseason predictions for the Cowboys, we haven’t actually seen it at any point during this young football season. During the preseason, the Cowboys were one of the worst-looking football teams in the NFL. Many people ignored it, chalking it up rust and the fact that it’s the preseason. I would have understood such a stance if we were talking about Peyton Manning, Tom Brady or even Drew Brees. But a Tony Romo-led team doesn’t have the luxury of saying, “been there, done that.” No, they needed to approach the preseason the same way the Seattle Seahawks, Arizona Cardinals and Carolina Panthers did, because over the last 12 years, those teams have all won more playoff games than the Dallas Cowboys.

As for that Cowboys talent, it’s there. But if ever there were a team that gave credence to the phrase “give me intelligence over an idiot any day,” it is this rendition of the Cowboys. This team just keeps failing itself. Whether it’s dumb penalties or forgiving coaches, the Cowboys always manage to display a lack of institutional control. Just the other day, after having lost the game on an overaggressive post touchdown celebration, Cowboys coach Wade Philips said he wants his team to celebrate scoring plays.

Nine times out of ten, I have no problem with a coach who says, and I’d usually applaud such a statement from a member of the No Fun League, but when a head coach says that a few days after a celebration cost them the game, shouldn’t he shut down his “I’m your friend” parenting/coaching style and bring the iron hand to the film room? It’s Philips lack of discipline that has led to all of these penalties, the poor special teams play, the unbalanced offense and sporadic play of his secondary—which he personally coaches. So if he, the head coach, can’t get it right and start to put some pressure on his players, how can anyone envision the Cowboys digging their way out of this 3-1 hole?

Then there’s the Minnesota Vikings—perhaps the lone NFL team that’s more disappointing than they are. The Vikings thought Brett Favre was going to walk out of Mississippi and save the team yet again. Somehow, someway, Minnesota managed to get Favre’s best season out of him at the age of 40. Now he’s playing more like the Brett Favre we have come to know over the years, and the Vikings don’t know what to do. Without his main man Sidney Rice, Favre’s security blanket is gone; Percy Harvin looks more like Percy Weasley, and for a while, the success of the Vikings passing game rested in the hands of Visanthe Shiancoe, who’s more infamous for having dropped a towel than having caught a football.

Luckily, Randy Moss was traded to the team, and he quickly scored a touchdown for the Vikings this past Monday and helped Percy Harvin look more like Percy Jackson against the New York Jets this past Monday Night. In all honesty, Moss may be all the Vikings need to turn the ship around—well, that and the coincidental concussions to each of the quarterbacks that are ahead of them in the NFC North. Call it the luck of the draw, or great timing, but it’s amazing that the Vikings were able to acquire Randy Moss in the same time span that their division opponents have suffered serious injuries to their quarterbacks and a game before they are about to play a reeling Cowboys team—who by the way, have been burned by Randy Moss every time they have shared a field with the guy.

Maybe that’s just those crazy NFL schedule-makers doing what they do best. How they know when to schedule games the way they do is beyond me, but a turd-bowl matchup between these two 1-3 teams is the most interesting 1-3 contest you will ever see. The timing, the players, the injuries, the off-field disasters, the desperation and the 4:15 start time has to equate to a 25 million-viewer day for Fox Sports. And that right there points to the genius of the NFL. There no other sport in America where watching two teams with a combined 2-6 record is interesting, but in the case of the Cowboys –Vikings matchup, it’s all anyone can talk about this week. I know I’ll be watching, not to mention listening for penis synonyms on air, as FOX Sports, a sister channel of FOX News, is a hell of a lot more likely to drop a P-word on the air than my friends at Disney World.

The post "Zo Knows: It’s Do or Die time for the Cowboys and Vikings in Minnesota" was originally published at TSW.

Minnesota Vikings at New York Jets

Who would have thought that in NFL Week 5, the New York Jets would be hosting Randy Moss yet again, just two weeks after having to defend him as a member of the New England Patriots? This time, however, Randy Moss will be back in the Purple and Gold, touting the uniform of the team that first drafted him. But can Randy Moss be the savior that turns around the fortunes of the 2010 Minnesota Vikings, or will the New York Jets continue their ascension to the top of the NFL’s power rankings?

Here are our predictions for tonight’s Monday Night Football game.

When the Minnesota Vikings have the ball…

Brett Favre, Quarterback
Favre hasn’t looked as good as he looked last season. He already has 6 interceptions his season after throwing just 7 a season ago. At this rate, he will finish the year with 30 picks, a number that is sure to prevent the Vikings from reaching the NFL playoffs. Against this New York Jets defense, Favre will have a new toy to make sure the Jets respect the downfield passing game. This should open up the underneath part of the field, and it’s unlikely Favre will see the myriad of blitzes he was likely to see before the Vikings acquired Moss earlier this week. If the Vikings frontline can handle a 4-man rush, expect Favre to have high completion percentage, so long as he’s willing to make the safe throw and doesn’t force the ball to Moss early on.

Adrian Peterson, Running Back
While Favre’s numbers are directly impacted by Moss’s arrival in Minnesota, it’s Peterson who may get the most help from his new teammate. The Jets have to respect the deep ball to Moss, especially after the play he made against them in Week 2. To leave him one-on-one would be foolish, but to double team him means there will be one less player in the box. If Favre is smart, he will check to the run on 1st, 2nd and even on 3rd down if the Jets only keep 7-men in the box. And when Peterson is running against those kinds of fronts, the likelihood for success soars through the roof. As if Peterson’s fantasy stock wasn’t already high enough, I think he’s a beast this Monday Night and comes out of tonight’s game with huge numbers on the ground.

Randy Moss, Wide Receiver
Speaking of big numbers, Moss should be in for some of his own. I don’t know how many times he’ll see the ball in his first week, especially since the Jets have the option of doubling him or playing him straight up with Darrelle Revis, but I do know Moss will get a ball or two his way. And when he does, he has to make the most of it, right? This is a guy that has never had any trouble performing under the big lights. Whether it’s Monday Night Football, a big rivalry, or huge matchup with a premiere NFL cornerback, Moss always puts on a show. I like him to do the same thing tonight. It may just be one long pass, or a couple of short touchdowns. But whatever it is, Randy Moss is going to make the New England Patriots regret trading him immediately.

When the New York Jets have the football…

Mark Sanchez, Quarterback
Sanchez has looked great so far this season. He has protected the ball, controlled the offense, and since Week 1, he has gotten the ball down the field at almost every opportunity he has had. Also, Favre isn’t the only one getting a new weapon today. Sanchez gets Santonio Holmes at wide receiver tonight, which makes Sanchez all the more likely to stretch the field. The Vikings don’t exactly have a secondary that strikes fear into its opponents, so you can trust that Sanchez has been advised to use the deep ball and find Holmes and Braylon Edwards down the field. Of course, Sanchez’s best friend is TE Dustin Keller, who if nothing else, will provide Sanchez with a safety blanket against that fierce Vikings pass rush.

LaDainian Tomlinson, Running Back
Tomlinson looks like the Tomlinson of old, but running against the Vikings isn’t exactly the easiest thing in the world to do. Tomlinson could very well see his streak of productive games come to an end, because the front seven of the Vikings is as awesome at stopping the run as anybody in football. In fact, if the Vikings do nothing else well tonight, they will stop the running game, which should make LT anything but his usual self in tonight’s game.

Santonio Holmes, Wide Receiver
Even though this is Holmes first game back, he is the number one receiver on this team. If you saw the way he and Sanchez connected over the offseason and in training camp, then you know that Sanchez likes getting him the ball, and Holmes has a rapport with this quarterback that he may not have had with his last one. Holmes has the uncanny ability to get separation with his speed and with his quickness. He also does a great job of finding holes against zones over the middle of the field. The Vikings are going to play a lot of zone and will and drop back deep in their coverage while their defensive line applies pressure. So expect Holmes to work his way over the middle, catching balls just behind the linebackers, just like he used to do so well when he was a Pittsburgh Steeler.

Prediction

This is a tough one given Randy Moss’s return to the Vikings, because otherwise, I would have the Jets winning this game all the way. However, with Moss in the lineup, the Vikings just became one of the best dual threat teams in the NFL. The Jets will have to decide whether they want to let Moss play one-on-one, or if they want to stop Peterson. Something tells me they will play Moss one-on-one one too many times because of the arrogance they have as a pass defense, and I like Moss to undo some of that arrogance in tonight’s game…

Vikings Win, 28-24

The post "Monday Night Football Predictions & Fantasy Projections: Week 5" was originally published at TSW.

I am not a Philadelphia resident, nor have I ever lived in the city of Philadelphia. I have visited the city many times though, and have been a fan of the Philadelphia Eagles for my entire life. So while I can’t claim to represent whatever area code signifies being a Philadelphian, I can speak to the heartfelt emotions of being a lifelong Eagles fan.

Thus, I take pride in saying that when Donovan McNabb returns to Philadelphia, not only will he not be booed, but also he will be met with a resounding, standing ovation.

That’s right!

The city that booed Santa Claus will stand up and clap for a quarterback they never liked in the first place. Why? Because McNabb deserves to be cheered. He deserves to be cheered in a way that he was probably never cheered before. During McNabb’s 11 seasons in Philly, the only time I can recount a cheering of utter applause for McNabb was when he threw the touchdown pass to Chad Lewis that clinched the Eagles birth into the 2005 Super Bowl. Of course, the cheer was for the entire team as much as it was for McNabb—but if you want one example, that’s it!

McNabb will get his due in NFL Week 4 though. Hell, it would have been an even stronger applause if McNabb walked into Philly with a 3-0 Washington Redskins team and had Kevin Kolb played the last 2.5 games in the same fashion he played in the first half of Week 1. Instead, McNabb walks into the Eagles nest with 1-2 Skins club against a 2-1 Eagles team that has an MVP candidate running the show.

But even Vick can’t steal this shine. Far be it from to undermine the nastiness of your typical Philly fan, but I find it hard to believe that they will boo a player who wanted to be in Philly. Call Philly fans heartless, cowardice, insatiable or even punks, but don’t call them stupid. They know the difference between a guy being forced out and a guy asking to leave. This isn’t Chris Paul allegedly demanding a trade. This wasn’t Jay Cutler crying about wanting out of the franchise the drafted him. Donovan McNabb’s departure from the Philadelphia Eagles was a move that was determined for him. It was a decision made on his behalf and against his interest. For any fan to boo the one guy in Philly sports that went down with the ship more than any other player in Eagles history would be a tragedy of grave proportions.

So give the Philadelphia Eagles fans some credit. They are shortsighted and crude. They rush to judgment and are quick to their opinions. But they do two things very well as fans as a people: they know their sports and they can respect hard work. Say what you will about McNabb, but if you know anything about the Philadelphia Eagles, you know he was the best player to ever dawn the green and silver. And as far as hard work goes, McNabb certainly showed an effort on the field that was often inspiring and exceeded what his other teammates gave of themselves on the field. I know that. Philly fans know that. And on Sunday, with the proper applause, the entire viewing public can know this too: Donovan McNabb was an Eagle, and he’ll always be one.

The post "Zo Knows: Philly Fans Won’t Boo Donovan McNabb" was originally published at TSW.

The New York Jets are a defensive football team. We have been told that since they made the playoffs last year, when head coach Rex Ryan said that his team should be favored to win the Super Bowl.

Since then, there was a playoff run to the AFC Championship game, a contract dispute over the NFL’s best defensive player, and several entertaining episodes on HBO that all told us that the reason the New York Jets might win a Super Bowl in 2011 is because they had the best defense in the league.

Not so fast my friend.

Here we are three weeks into the NFL season, and the Jets sit at 2-1, with two of their wins coming via the offense. Against the New England Patriots and the Miami Dolphins, it was offense that gave the Jets their victories. Tom Brady and the New England Patriots got after the Jets in the first half, mounting 14 points against that vaunted Jets D before my 4 o’clock game pizza could get to my apartment. The offense, however, quickly bounced back, and with a much better helping hand from their defense in the second half, the Jets managed to beat the Patriots by putting 28 points on the board.

However, in Week 3, the defense never managed to show up. In fact, had it not been for one key turnover by the Dolphins at the end of the game, the Jets would not have won down in Miami this past Sunday night. In that game, the Jets gave up 436 yards of offense, including 363 yards passing to quarterback Chad Henne. Brandon Marshall caught the football 10 times! Yes 10 times against this Jets defense—for a 166 receiving yards!

Where’s the beef? Where’s the D?

It clearly wasn’t present that night, but Mark Sanchez and the Jets offense saved the defenses behind yet again with 402 offensive yards of their own. Sanchez had to throw 3 touchdown passes and 256 yards, while LaDainian Tomlinson had to turn back the clock and average 4.7 yards per carry. It was a remarkable offensive performance along side an otherwise disheartening display of dysfunction by the Jets defensive unit.

But will this all be a reoccurring theme, or is it just that we’re dealing with a small sample set here. We are unlikely to find out this week, as the Jets play down to Buffalo on Sunday. However, when the Jets start to play the Bengals, Steelers, Vikings, Bears and Packers, we certainly will find out if the defense can live up to its billing.

As it stands now, the Jets are the 15th ranked defense in the NFL. That type of defense isn’t going to win anyone a Super Bowl unless there’s a stellar offense there to back it up. Of course, if the defense doesn’t start to pick it up, the Jets offense won’t have any choice but to pick up the slack, unless of course they don’t mind not living up to the hype.

The post "The New York Jets Offense May Have to Save the Season" was originally published at TSW.

The New Orleans Saints loss to the Atlanta Falcons might have been negligible considering that their kicker missed a 29-yard field goal in overtime that would have won them the game. However, with the Falcons win, Atlanta assumes first place in the NFC South, and more importantly, they look like the more impressive team through the NFL’s first three weeks of the season.

The Falcons appear to be clicking on all cylinders. Tails of Matt Ryan’s demise were greatly exaggerated. Going head-to-head with Drew Brees, Ryan threw for 228 passing yards and 2 touchdowns, while the Super Bowl MVP there for 365 yards and 3 touchdowns, but also had 2 interceptions that, in part, cost the Saints the game.

Tony Gonzalez, who many thought had aged quickly given his performance in the first two weeks of the season, looked like his typical Hall of Fame self, catching 8 passes for 110 receiving yards and a score. Roddy White also chipped in, hauling in 5 catches and scoring on a 24-yard touchdown pass from Ryan.

On the ground, the Falcons were no less productive. Michael Turner entered Week 3 bruised and banged up, and still managed to churn out 114 rushing yards on a bruising 30-carry afternoon. And Jason Snelling also contributed to the running game with 62 rushes of his own.

So offensively, the Falcons have little to worry about. Defensively, they have some issues. While giving up 24 points to the New Orleans Saints is a tad bit impressive, the fact that they had multiple blown coverages and watched Brees go for 365 shows just how far the Falcons have to go before their secondary is on par with the rest of the NFL. Up front, however, the Falcons had no trouble stopping the run, and they held the Saints, an underrated rushing team, to just 2.7 yards per carry. If nothing else, being able to stop the run and make teams one-dimensional is a decent way to help a bleeding secondary—so at least the Falcons have that going for them defensively.

As for their NFC South counterparts, they have a lot of issues right now. They barely beat the San Francisco 49ers, which just got thrashed by the Kansas City Chiefs. They barely beat the Minnesota Vikings, who are a shell of their former selves. And now they were involved in yet another very close game in their home stadium. At the end of the day, they are 2-1 and are tied with the Falcons, but how many times do you succeed at winning close games before your bubble gets popped like it did this past week?

Where’s the dominant Saints offense of old?

Where’s the turnover-causing defense of yesteryear?

If the Saints keep playing like a team on the rebound that has to scratch out every win, can we really expect them to win this division with that type of defense.

Probably not.

Thus, things are looking pretty good for the Atlanta Falcons. A lot of people thought they might win the NFC South, but they were looked at with crazy eyes given that the Super Bowl champs played in the same division. Well, those eyes aren’t so crooked-looking anymore, as the Saints look sluggish, and the Falcons look like sluggers through the first three weeks of the 2010 NFL season.

The post "Atlanta Falcons: Kings of the South?" was originally published at TSW.

The New England Patriots aren’t what we thought they were!

In fact, they’re not even close to it.

Many of us who watch football thought the New York Jets were in for a beating in NFL Week 2, as the Patriots were coming off a decisive win over the Cincinnati Bengals and the Jets were coming off a loss in which they managed just six first downs.

But when the matchup between the Patriots and the Jets was all said and done, the Jets struggling offense converted 6 of 13 third downs, put up 28 points on the Patriots defense, and won the game 28-14.

After the game, much of the attention was on the Patriots offense, which had scored 14 points in the first half of the football game. In the locker room, Patriots quarterback Tom Brady said the Patriots offense sucked and he made no excuses for it.

However, it’s the Patriots defense that caught my eye. For the second week in a row, the Patriots defense allowed the opposing quarterback to be a little too efficient for my liking. A week after allowing Carson Palmer to throw for 300 passing yards, the Patriots gave 220 yards to Mark Sanchez, a guy who isn’t exactly the best passer in the world. Sanchez also managed to complete 21 of his 30 passes and threw for 3 touchdowns and no interceptions. Any defense that allows that kind of efficiency through the air to this New York Jet team and this quarterback can’t be taken seriously.

Quite frankly, I’m not worried about the offense of the Patriots. The Jets are a very good defensive team, probably the best defensive team the Patriots will see all season long. However, in two games, the Patriots defense has looked like a bunch of civs. In Week 1, people chalked it up to being garbage time, but last time I checked, Chad Johnson’s big yardage came against starters. This week, I’m not sure what they can chalk it up to other than a lack of talent. Nobody seemed to guard Dustin Keller or Braylon Edwards very well, and old LaDainian Tomlinson averaged 7 yards per carry on 11 totes of the football. Unacceptable.

Obviously, this doesn’t meant end of the world for the Patriots, but it is the beginning of a lot of trouble. The Patriots defense has more holes than Swiss cheese on a bagel, and if they don’t get that fixed, their removal from first place in the AFC East may be a permanent one.

The post "Brady says Patriots offense sucked, but their defense was no better" was originally published at TSW.

After losing to the Miami Dolphins 14-10 on Sunday, are the Minnesota Vikings done?

The Vikings are now 0-2 and didn’t look any better in Week 2 than they looked in Week 1. In fact, they looked even worse, as Brett Favre struggled in his attempt to not throw the ball to other team. Favre was a ghastly 22 of 36 for 225 passing yards against the Dolphins on Sunday, and his 3 interceptions ultimately cost the Vikings the football game.

Of course, Favre has been known to throw an interception or two in his day. In fact, he is the all-time leader in interceptions, a title he should wear proudly, because after all, you have to do a whole lot of good to warrant staying in the NFL long enough to hold the record for the most interceptions in NFL history.

But on Sunday, there was no good. Tight end Visanthe Shiancoe continued to be Favre’s favorite target in Week 2, as he received 9 targets from his quarterback and caught 6 of them for 86 yards. Shiancoe, however, didn’t get a touchdown this week because Favre didn’t throw one. While in the red zone late in the game, Favre tried to hit Bernard Berrian on a fade stop route, but Favre threw it right to the defender and turned the ball over.

So what’s wrong with Favre? Why can’t he get it done?

It’s simple: he doesn’t have a wide receiver that can bail him out.

Last year, that guy was Sidney Rice. Rice was a big receiver with great speed, who at the end of the day, was capable of catching anything thrown in his vicinity, and if he didn’t, the opposing defender probably wasn’t going to catch it either. That’s what you call a safety valve. When a wide receiver can turn a 50/50 ball into big yardage or a touchdown, it makes a quarterback look really good. But that same 50/50 ball to a guy like Bernard Berrian can cost a quarterback his job or a crucial victory.

Fortunately for the Vikings, all is not lost with Rice out right now. Vincent Jackson is eagerly awaiting a trade that will get him out of San Diego and into another uniform for a team paying him $9 to $10 million a year. The Vikings may have to pay that salary and send the Chargers a few draft picks if they are going to salvage their season. Right now, Favre really needs that big target that can, if nothing else, loosen up the rest of the secondary.

Jackson is definitely that guy—and more. Jackson is too big for any single cornerback to defend on a jump ball, and he’s entirely too fast to leave on an island all day long. Jackson is great in the end zone, and he has enough quickness to get open along the sidelines, as well as the strength to break tackles and score touchdowns after the catch.

Simply put, Jackson is the answer to the Minnesota Vikings problems, and as it stands now, if the Vikings trade for Jackson soon, they can get him back in NFL Week 4. If they don’t trade now, they may have to wait until Week 5. But by then, it may be too late, because Favre and that Vikings passing game looks like whirling dervish of misappropriated talent, and without a big wide receiver to bring some stability, that unit is going to lose the Vikings quite a few football games.

The post "Can Vincent Jackson Save the Minnesota Vikings?" was originally published at TSW.

This from today’s Dallas Morning News:

Right now, no matter how you rationalize it, these Cowboys are a bad football team.
They’re overrated. And overhyped.
A 27-20 loss to Chicago, hardly an NFL powerhouse, simply drove home the point.
After all, this is the same inconsistent team we’ve been watching since training camp began. Nothing’s changed except the calendar.

To read the rest of this article by Jean-Jacques Taylor, go read “Overhyped Cowboys headed for disaster…”

The post "Are the Dallas Cowboys not all that good?" was originally published at TSW.

In NFL Week 3, the Chicago Bears host the Green Bay Packers in what could wind up being one of the determining games of the NFC North Division. The fact that we can utter such a thing about this about Chicago Bears team speaks volumes about how far they have come since last season.

When the Green Bay Packers have the football…

Aaron Rodgers – Quarterback
Through the first two weeks of the NFL season, Rodgers has been more or less mediocre. He had subpar game against the Eagles in the opener, and his game against Buffalo—well, it as against Buffalo. This Chicago Bears defense, however, may not be the thing to get him back on track. Chicago has looked quite impressive against the pass so far, limiting both the Detroit Lions and the Dallas Cowboys passing attacks to less than efficient performances, no matter the actual number of yards gained. Still, with an extra day of preparation, the Packers have more than enough time to prepare for the holes in the Bears defense, including Chicago’s questionable safeties. Thus, I fully expect Rodgers to put up solid numbers and produce at least 275 passing yards and a couple of touchdowns against the Bears.

Brandon Jackson – Running Back
Brandon Jackson was a complete bust in his first week as the Packers starting running back, and that was against a Bills team that is totally uninspiring. IN his 29 attempts this year, Jackson is averaging just 3.2 yards per carry, and he has just 1 touchdown. He also hasn’t been apart of the passing game, having caught a mere three passes for 22 yards on 3 targets. Maybe all the fantasy football hype about picking Jackson up after Week 1 was as warranted as many had thought. Jackson appears to have trouble bursting through the rushing lanes in this offense, and his abilities as a receiver aren’t being utilized. One shouldn’t plan on that changing in Week 2, as the Bears have done a solid job of stopping the running game in their first two contests. So if you have solid options at running back, this would be a good week to bench Jackson.

Greg Jennings – Wide Receiver
Jennings may have the talent and the ability to produce like a #1 wide receiver, but in this offense, he’s not being used in that way. Jennings has just 15 targets in two games, which certainly is nothing to sneeze at, but when you consider that Andre Johnson had 15 targets in Week 2 alone, you begin to realize that the football is going to be spread around in Green Bay this season—much like it was last year. Jennings still could put up a huge number in Week 3, as the Bears safeties are as exposed as a naked man walking down Times Square, and so sooner or later, Aaron Rodgers will eat up that Cover 2 defense with a shot into the hole, a route Jennings executed perfectly against the Philadelphia Eagles two weeks ago.

When the Chicago Bears have the football…

Jay Cutler – Quarterback
In comparison to Aaron Rodgers, Jay Cutler has been a beast so far this season. It has only been two games, but Cutler’s 325 yard/game average, his 5 touchdown passes, and most importantly, his lone interception, have the makings of a great season for this young talent. Give all the credit in the world to Mike Martz, who has coached this young fella up very well and has found a way to harness all of that talent that has gotten Cutler into trouble in the past. However, don’t expect Cutler to have a 300-yard game against this Packers defense, as Charles Woodson and company have been absolutely destroying teams passing games dating all the way back to midway point last season. In fact, I wouldn’t be surprised if we saw come of last year’s Cutler seep into this game, as the Packers confusing defense could force a few turnovers out this guy. But the production will still be there—maybe not 300 yards of passing, but 250 or so with a touchdown is a reasonable projection for you fantasy football players out there.

Matt Forte – Running Back
What is somebody supposed to think of Matt Forte when he has 79 rushing yards this season but has 188 receiving yards? Well, do the words Marshall Faulk mean anything to you. Not to say that Forte is the next Faulk or anything, but that certainly is the way Martz is utilizing him. In fact, as a frequent Faulk owner in years past myself, there were plenty of games where Faulk did little on the ground but would have 70, 80 or 90 yards through the air. This is what Martz does with talented running backs, because it prevents teams from blitzing his quarterback on second and third downs. So while you shouldn’t expect too much from Forte on the ground, his receiving prospects are more than enough reason to expect a productive day from him in Week 3.

Devin Hester, Johnny Knox, Devin Aromashodu – Wide Receivers
The Bears wide receivers aren’t exactly the Bruce-Holt-Hakim trio of 1999, but they do make plays in their own way. Hester has the speed to make this Green Bay Packers defense back off, which could open up the rest of the football field for Knox and Aromashodu, the two more polished receivers. Still, you can’t count on any of these guys to be consistent or reliable. However, one of them will have a big day and help Cutler do his thing. Collectively, I don’t know that they will have above-average success against the likes of this Packers’ secondary.

The Prediction…

The Packers are coming to hostile territory in a game that could go a long way in determining who wins the NFC North. Clearly, Green Bay is the better all-around team with a lot success on both sides of the ball. The Packers typical edge at the quarterback position isn’t what it usually is given the way Cutler has played so far this season. If Cutler can step up and be the best player on the field, the Bears could still this game. However, the lack of a rushing attack plays right into the hands for the Packers defense, and that will be a very debilitating factor for the Bears offense as Green Bay sits back and probably forces Cutler into one or two throws he shouldn’t make. Thus, I like the Packers defense to carry the load and when a game that could turn into a shootout.

Packers win, 34-27

The post "Monday Night Football Predictions & Fantasy Projections – Week 3" was originally published at TSW.

NFL Week 2 is upon us, and the Monday Night Football Matchup is one we all want to watch. While it’s not exactly Jets vs. Ravens, it does have a lot of implications for the NFC playoff picture. Here is what we foresee happening in this week’s Monday Night Football game between the New Orleans Saints and the San Francisco 49ers. Read More…

The post "Monday Night Football Predictions & Fantasy Projections – Week #2" was originally published at TSW.

This Sunday, the New England Patriots and New York Jets will face off, and so with their perimeter superstars, Randy Moss and Darrelle Revis.

Rarely in the NFL do you get to see two of the best people at their respective positions go head to head. Hell, you barely get to see that in the NBA, where a guy like Kobe Bryant isn’t going to guard Kevin Durant for the full 48 minutes. It’s only in baseball that we get to see a league’s best hitter go against a league’s best pitcher on a regular basis.

But in the NFL, such matchups are hard to come by. Quarterbacks don’t really have any foes. Offensive tackles usually have plenty of help if they are going up against an elite rusher, and even then, nobody finds the OT vs. the DE to be a sexy, talk-worthy battle. And even in the case of the start wide receiver and the star cornerback, we’re usually deprived of seeing them go at it all game, because most star corners elect to play their one side of the field. Take three of the best cornerbacks of the last 10 years; Champ Bailey, Charles Woodson and the one and only, Deion Sanders. Those guys, when in their primes, typically stayed on side of the field, no matter whom the opponent was.

But Darrelle Revis isn’t that kind of corner.

In defense of those other three guys, they remained on side of the field for schematic reasons. Typically, it’s best to let a guy like Sanders stay on one side of the field, and let him eliminate an entire portion of the field from the opposing team’s playbook. It’s actually genius, and the Dallas Cowboys and San Francisco 49ers won a lot of games employing that strategy with Neon Deon.

However, Coach Rex Ryan employs a different strategy with New York Jets wide receiver Darrelle Revis, and it’s the kind of strategy that is all or nothing, but it’s what we want to see.

Let’s face it; putting your best corner on the best wide receiver all game isn’t the smartest move, because if provided with the time, a really good wide receiver is going take advantage of the cornerback sooner or later. Thus, the only way to put your best cornerback in a position to shut the opposing wideout down, one has to blitz like crazy and make sure that wide receiver doesn’t have all day to get open.

Enter Coach Ryan and the New York Jets.

They have no problem blitzing all of the time, even if it means putting corners not named Darrelle Revis under the spotlight. In NFL Week 1, that strategy hurt the Jets, as their opponents, the Baltimore Ravens, went after everybody not named Revis and converted very well on third down.

And the strategy will be no different against Randy Moss in NFL Week 2, when the Patriots choose to employ a strategy that’s quite simple: Darrelle Revis will follow Randy Moss all over the stadium on Sunday, even to the bathroom.

So who will win the matchup?

Randy Moss isn’t what he used to be. That doesn’t make him a bad receiver though, it just means he can’t get buy with his natural talents as well as he used to. Unfortunately for Moss, Revis still can get by with his natural talents. Which is why in last year’s matchups, anytime you saw the Patriots throwing Randy Moss the football, Revis was right there. He wasn’t trailing, he was catching up, and he wasn’t 10 inches lower in the air than Moss on jump balls either. If this were 1999, Moss would outrun and out jump even a guy like Revis, but in 2009 and this season, Moss’s raw advantage doesn’t exist against a cornerback of Revis’s talents.

But unlike in 1999, Moss has mustered up the ability to do a little bit more than run by and jump over folks. Moss is a lot better at running the deep comeback, working the sideline and running the slant. And for all the crap some people give Moss about his effort, he actually plays just about as hard as any wide receiver in the league, including in that infamous game against the Carolina Panthers.

With that said, Moss’s raw skills are still a huge threat to Revis on certain parts of the field. If Moss runs a drag route, he’s size, coupled with his speed, is too much for Revis to prevent the catch. And down in the end zone, I still like Moss’s chances against Revis one-on-one, which we saw Moss have success with in one of last year’s matchups with Darrelle.

As for Revis, he has a lot going for him this game. For one, there’s no way that Tom Brady is going to have enough time to let Moss get as deep as we wants to down the field. And those drag routes probably take too long to develop for the Patriots to risk running them as often as they would like.

Also in Revis’s favor is the fact that his teammates seem to be quite suspect after their opening match against the Baltimore Ravens. Both Antonio Cromartie and rookie cornerback Kyle Wilson gave up big plays in that football game as the Ravens avoided Revis and targeted other members of the Jets secondary.

Quite frankly, how can the Patriots not come into this game with the same mentality? A smart football team, a Bill Belichick coached football team, has to understand that if they are going to pass the ball, the best and most opportune matchups to go after are the ones that don’t involve Darrelle Revis.

Now I understand that the Patriots are a prideful bunch, and they are just the types to stand up for their boy Moss and help him win the battle against Revis on Sunday, but they won’t do it to their own detriment. I just won’t believe it!

And because the Patriots won’t force the ball to Moss, there’s no way Moss can have a huge day against Revis. In order for Moss to succeed against a guy like Revis, he needs opportunities, he needs targets, and he needs the game plan to be about him. But that’s not going to happen; partly because it’s bad strategy to do so, and partly because Moss isn’t good enough to win as many battles with Revis as he might have in his prime.

So let’s get down to the nitty-gritty—how well will Moss do against Revis?

On Pardon the Interruption on Thursday (see above), the guys set the over/under at 58 yards for Moss. That’s the number of yards Moss had against Revis in two games last year! Both Tony and Michael went with the over on this one (“way over” to be exact), but I’m taking the under. History is history, age is age, and strategy is strategy. A big day against Revis just isn’t in the cards for Moss, because neither talent nor defensive scheme is in Moss’s favor. So outside of a goal line touchdown, I don’t see anyway in which Moss can leave Week 2 having gotten the better of Revis for 60 minutes on the football field. It’s just not going to happen.

The post "Randy Moss vs. Darrelle Revis…This Should Be Interesting" was originally published at TSW.

When Andy Reid traded Donovan McNabb to the Washington Redskins, he made it quite clear that the franchise was ready for Kevin Kolb to become the team’s leading man at quarterback. Accordingly so, the Philadelphia Eagles gave Kevin Kolb a $12.25 million contract extension to keep Kolb through the 2011 season.

That move showed the kind of confidence Andy Reid and the Eagles organization had in Kolb, and it made a lot of people around the NFL think that the Eagles had found a gym in the former second round draft pick.

Funny how things change.

During a rather uneventful first half for the Eagles in yesterday’s opening game against the Green Bay Packers, Kolb was horrible. His 5/24 passing for 24 yards doesn’t even begin to describe how flummoxed he was in the pocket. And when Kolb got knocked out of the game with a concussion, it was in part that he displayed no sense of field awareness when a Green Bay Packers defender was chasing him down.

After the concussion, Michael Vick started the second half for the Eagles. Down 20-3, Vick went 16/24 for 175 passing yards, threw one touchdown and rushed for 103 yards on the ground to lead the Eagles to a near comeback against the Packers. Vick’s only bad decision was when he opted to throw the ball into the back of the end zone when he seemed to have a pathway into the end zone. Other than that, Vick looked as composed as one could have looked in a pocket that kept collapsing, and his throws were as on the money as one could have ever expected a second-string quarterback’s throws to be.

Controversy anyone?

With Vick’s great play and an uninspiring start to the Kevin Kolb era, the Philadelphia Eagles have a controversy at the quarterback position—yet again. Whether Reid wants to admit it or not, the pressure from the fans is going to call for Reid’s head if he doesn’t start Vick in NFL Week 2, and probably for the rest of the season so long as Vick plays like he did on Sunday.

But if Reid benches Vick for Kolb, he has to admit that he isn’t as behind Kolb as the trading of McNabb suggested. In fact, it would be an immediate about-face by the entire organization considering the $12 million they just gave some unknown to replace the best quarterback in Eagles history.

Wow! This situation could be more f’d up, could it?

Andy Reid probably can’t believe this crap. The only way this could have been worse is if Vick had led his team to the 17-point comeback and if Kolb was healthy enough to play in Week 2. But even as it stands now, the Eagles were best with Vick in the game, and Kolb looked like he was on training wheels yesterday.

Far be it from to cast aspersions on the Eagles coaching staff and Kolb when I haven’t seen Kolb in practice, but I would have to question Reid’s motives if he doesn’t start Vick next week. Now, Kolb’s concussion may make this an easy decision for Reid, because Kolb might be incapable of playing in Week 2. But if against the Detroit Lions, Vick puts out the same kind of production he did this past Sunday against the Packers, there would be no reason not continue playing Vick whether Kolb is healthy or not.

Any deviation from such logic would tell me that Reid and/or the Eagles franchise is trying to save face for having traded away the team’s best player in favor of a guy that may not be all that good. Of course, I won’t be the only one questioning them; the Philadelphia media and fans will be on the Eagles like white on rice. It’s unfortunate the Eagles got put in this position with a quarterback situation they thought they had figured out, but when you treat your organization’s best player the way they treated McNabb in the end, maybe this is the kind of stuff that comes back to bite you in the ass.

The post "Michael Vick and the Hot seat that is the Eagles QB situation" was originally published at TSW.

Whoa! Was that the sign of buckling we just heard?

Darrelle Revis wasn’t known for getting weak in the knees when he was facing opponents like Andre Johnson, Randy Moss and Brandon Marshall. But apparently, the New York Jets general manager, Mike Tannenbaum, is the one entity on football that gets Revis weak in the knees.

On Monday morning, Revis and the New York Jets agreed to a 4-year, $46 million contract extension that will essentially give Revis $25 million in return for adding one more year to his previous contract that had three years left. The agreement puts an end to a contentious holdout by Revis that saw the All-Pro corner lose over half a million dollars in fines and miss all of training camp and the preseason NFL schedule.

While the new contract averages out to about $11.5 million (enough money to make anyone here at TheSportsWatchers weak in the knees), Revis had been holding out for much more than that. Revis wanted to be the highest paid cornerback in the NFL, a position currently held by Nnamdi Asomugah (who in our opinion may be still be the best paid cornerback in football). Asomugah currently has a deal that will pay him just over $45 million over the next three years, averaging out to $15 million per season.

So the obvious question is: Did Revis cave in?

Of course he did! He caved in like a cheap tent.

After all the insinuation he and his people (not to mention his grandmother) put out there about the possibility of Revis holding out for the entire season, when the money was on the line and the clock was ticking, Revis gave in to the Jets requests and lowered his demands.

Now, in all honesty, this was the correct move by Revis. While he didn’t get his money, he drove his point home, got some extra time away from training camp, and in the end, it looks as if he got the most money he could out of the Jets organization. However, he looks like a complete bluffer and a liar since it would appear that he was never willing to sit the season out—not when you consider when he gave in and for how much he was willing to come off his demands.

From a negotiating standpoint though, I guess that is what Revis had to do. He had to scream to the highest heavens, pronounce his “innocence” in all of this, and ask for every penny the Jets had. And like all negotiations, the number he settled on was a number that was between that of what he wanted and what the Jets wanted to pay, and I’m sure the $46 million deal (of which $32 million of it is guaranteed) is more than the Jets ever wanted to pay—so in a way, the Jets caved to some degree.

However, when it was all said and done, it is Revis who made the outrageous threat, and it is Revis who came up short. He seemed to be fighting on behalf of NFL players everywhere, and in the end, he lost the battle. Despite being the best cornerback in football, he isn’t being paid as if he were. Despite threatening to sit out the entire season and miss out $11 million a year, Revis opted to give in and take what he could get. And that’s the right business move, because sitting out a year, when there’s a possibility that there might not even be football in 2011, would have been stupid. Not to mention, who is to say he would have been in a better position to argue next offseason? It’s not as if he would have gotten any better by not playing football, and in the NFL, if you don’t get better, you got worse.

So kudos to Revis for getting paid as much as he did, but shame on him for caving into the demands of the Jets. Don’t get me wrong, he was right not to let pride cause him to do something stupid like miss the entire 2010-2011 NFL season, but he still looks stupid for threatening to do something that he clearly never had any intention of doing.

The post "Did Darrelle Revis Cave in to the New York Jets?" was originally published at TSW.

The 2010 NFL Schedule has been out for some time now, but with NFL Week 1 fast approaching, I thought we would review some of this season’s upcoming games. Of course, we are going to skip over the ones that aren’t as interesting as some of the NFL’s marquee matchups. Thus, I present you with seven of the biggest games on the 2010 NFL schedule, starting in Week 1!

Minnesota Vikings at New Orleans Saints – September 9, 2010
Maybe I am over-hyping this matchup between the Minnesota Vikings and New Orleans Saints along with the rest of the sports media, because it is Week 1 of the NFL season. There are some compelling storylines, with Brett Favre returning with a bum ankle, the Saints defending their Super Bowl title and this being a rematch of the NFC Conference Championship game. All the elements are there, especially when you throw in big NFL names like Reggie Bush, Drew Brees, Marques Colston, Favre, Adrian Peterson and Jared Allen. So while this is just a Week 1 game that won’t tell us much about either team, you know it’s going to be a blast and a lot of fun to watch.

Baltimore Ravens at New York Jets – September 13, 2010
I would much rather watch this game as the NFL opener, but Monday Night Football on ESPN will certainly suffice. The New York Jets and Baltimore Ravens hate each other right now. The Jets have former Ravens defensive coordinator Rex Ryan, and boy does he love to talk. The Jets also have former linebacker Bart Scott, and boy does he love to talk. Of course, the Ravens have a talker of their own, Ray Lewis, although he’s not usually talking trash, just spewing out words in a voice that could kill a weak-minded individual. But this game isn’t just about the talk, it’s about the defense. The Ravens don’t have the defensive unit they used to have, but for one game, they might act like it. As for the Jets, they want to prove they can shut down Joe Flacco and the Ravens offense. We’ll find out which defense reigns supreme really soon.

New York Jets at Miami Dolphins – September 26, 2010
The Jets and the Miami Dolphins—oh, this is going to be great! Jason Taylor is returning to Miami for what is sure to be a “lovely” welcome home party. Not to mention, we get to see the Wildcat offense against this vaunted Jets defense. It would be great to see cornerback Darrelle Revis face off against Brandon Marshall. That might not happen because of Revis’ holdout, but watching Marshall will still be a lot of fun.

Washington Redskins at Philadelphia Eagles – October 3, 2010
Donovan McNabb returns to Philly for the first time as a member of the Washington Redskins. I think the fans will cheer him, but they will be quick to boo the Philadelphia Eagles and Kevin Kolb if they let McNabb tear them a part. Oh, it could get ugly in Philly this October—would you have it any other way?

Minnesota Vikings at Green Bay Packers – October 24, 2010
Favre facing off against the Green Bay Packers—didn’t we already see this movie?

Indianapolis Colts at New England Patriots – November 21, 2010
This game never gets old. No matter how many times the Indianapolis Colts and the New England Patriots face off, it’s a must-see event. Thanks to the recently new NFL schedule rotation, the 2010 NFL season has these two teams facing off following a year in which they provided one of the most controversial regular season playcalls in recent regular season history. It will be fun to see if Peyton Manning can decimate this Patriots offense for the second straight season, but it will be even more interesting to see if Tom Brady can fire back a few touchdown passes of his own. Ought to be shootout in New England if it doesn’t get too cold!

Cincinnati Bengals at New York Jets – November 25, 2010
Some aren’t as interested in this game as we are at TheSportsWatchers.com, but this game has greatness written all over it. First of all, if you think the Jets have been talking on Hard Knocks this year, can you imagine what the Cincinnati Bengals offseason is looking like with Terrell Owens and Chad Johnson on the same team. But outside of the talking, look at the matchups. We could have Terrell Owens against Darrelle Revis. We could see Santonio Holmes against Pacman Jones. Cedric Benson and Bart Scott could be meeting in the hole. And in a battle of the “Who has more baby mommas contest,” Chad Johnson and Antonio Cromartie could have one heck of a battle. Oh, the matchups in this game excite me, and I didn’t even mention the two USC quarterbacks, Carson Palmer and Matt Sanchez, going head to head.

The post "2010 NFL Schedule: Games to Watch This Football Season" was originally published at TSW.

I could bore you by breaking down the fantasy viability of the San Diego Chargers-Kansas City Chiefs game, but I won’t do that. Instead, I will stick with the real treat of Week 1’s Monday Night Football lineup: the Jets-Ravens game!

The Baltimore Ravens Offense

Joe Flacco
I don’t think Flacco is going to have his best game of the season in Week 1. While he could do fair well if they test Darrelle Revis and win that battle, I find it hard to believe that Revis will be that hard to pick on. Besides, Revis doesn’t necessarily have to guard Anquan Boldin, he could cover Donte Stallworth or TJ Houshmandzadeh and shut either one of them down. And as if limiting Flacco’s options weren’t enough, the New York Jets are certainly going to limit Flacco’s time in the pocket. They will come after him with a barrage of blitzes that only the Baltimore Ravens can replicate. Week 1 could get ugly for Flacco, which is why he is one of our Duds of the Week.

Ray Rice
Rice may be the Ravens only hope for consistent offense. Rice has the speed and agility to make even the Jets defense look suspect. Even if the Jets can stop Rice in the running game, it’s going to be very difficult for them to stop him in the passing game. I fully expect Rice to his 100 yards one way or another, so expect this Rutgers alum to show up strong when he goes back to New Jersey this Monday Night.

Anquan Boldin
Anquan Boldin is a great wide receiver, but given how Revis has shut down so many top wide receivers, I just can’t see him shaking the all-pro cornerback. Of course, Revis may not even cover Boldin, especially since Anquan is more adept at coming out of the slot. However, drawing Antonio Cromartie or Kyle Wilson may not be the best matchup for Boldin either, and thus I highly doubt that NFL Week 1 will be a week to remember for the Ravens brand new wide receiver.

The New York Jets Offense

Mark Sanchez
While Flacco is busy struggling to run his offense, Sanchez won’t have it all that easy either. Sanchez also has to deal with a front seven that loves to get after the quarterback. And if Terrell Suggs can show up this year, it could get really ugly. Sanchez won’t have the same problems Flacco has once he gets rid of the ball. The Ravens secondary is beat up, bruised and thus missing two starters this week. That means guys like Braylon Edwards and Jericho Cotchery have a good chance of getting open and making plays, which should at least result in Sanchez having an efficient passing numbers.

Shonn Greene & LaDainian Tomlinson
The rushing attack of the New York Jets was the best in the NFL last year. I find it hard to believe they will finish 2010 in the same place after letting Thomas Jones go and replacing their #1 rusher with Shonn Greene and the aging LaDainian Tomlinson. Those two are quite capable of producing, but to be the best rushing team in the league you need experience and durability, and Greene hasn’t proven durable while Tomlinson—well, he’s just old. In NFL Week 1, the odds are really stacked against the Jets two running backs, because the Ravens can stop the run. Their front seven, albeit old, is ferocious. The age of the Ravens front seven may prevent them from being consistently dominant this season, but in Week 1, Ray Lewis and friends have fresh legs and should have no problem taking the Jets running backs out of the game.

Braylon Edwards
With Santonio Holmes out of the lineup, this may be Braylon Edwards only chance to prove he can be a #1 wide receiver in the NFL. He has a good chance at proving his worth against a Ravens secondary that is lacking both Ed Reed and starter Domonique Foxworth. Edwards has the speed and size to dominate this Ravens defense, and if Sanchez has time to get the ball off, Edwards should have a big day. In the last year of his contract, Edwards is playing for big money right now, and bad Week 1 certainly won’t get him the payday he’s looking. But I expect him to come through with at least one or two plays to keep his contract year interesting.

Prediction

Given the credibility of these two defenses, this shouldn’t be a high-scoring game. Not that I necessarily put the Ravens defense in the same category as that of the Jets, but I think for one week, they can play at that level. Ultimately though, I think the Ravens one weakness on defense cost them the game, as their secondary is just to battered to handle the Jets for all four quarters. I would love to say the Jets will win via a late drive by Sanchez, but I don’t think he’s capable of doing that. Thus, I predict an ugly game, with one or two big plays in the middle that lead to a slight victory for the New York Jets.

Jets win, 18-13

The post "Monday Night Football Predictions & Fantasy Projections – Week 1" was originally published at TSW.

With the 2010 NFL Football season upon us, I can’t help but think about all things football. Thus, when presented with the opportunity to come up with my five NFL predictions for the 2010 season, I jumped at the chance.

Here are five things other people doubt will happen, but I believe to be “Statements of Veracity” when it comes to the 2010 NFL Football season.

1. The Cincinnati Bengals will be a dominant football team.

I know everybody else thinks the Cincinnati Bengals are a train wreck…and they are. When you combine Terrell Owens, Chad Johnson, Pacman Jones, Cedric Benson, Tank Johnson and Matt Jones, all on the same team, their football team does start to look more and more like a circus. However, those same players are all very, very talented football players. Just think about it, wouldn’t five or six of those guys start on your team? The only guys on that list with questionable talent are Matt Jones and Pacman Jones, but at their best, they have made plays at the NFL level. So say what you will, but when you combine that kind of talent with Carson Palmer, Leon Hall, Johnathan Joseph, Keith Rivers and Rey Maualuga, I think you have what amounts to a dominant NFL football team. What’s dominant? At the very least, I fully expect the Cincinnati Bengals to get a first round bye in the 2010 NFL Playoffs.

2. Brandon Marshall won’t dominate with the Miami Dolphins.

I know the Brandon Marshall trade that sent the talented wide receiver to the Miami Dolphins was a big deal for the South Florida, but it won’t be that big of a deal in 2010. With all due respect to Marshall and his new quarterback, Chad Henne, they both are slightly overrated as we enter the 2010 NFL football season. Brandon Marshall is a great receiver, and one of the top five or six pass catchers in football; however, he is not a deep threat. He doesn’t make a ton of plays down the field and along the sidelines. He’s great at going over the middle, running stops, slants and crossing patterns, but he’s entirely defensible on go routes and post patterns. Yes, he will still dictate coverage and his presence will help the Dolphins running game. But with the combination of a young quarterback like Henne throwing him the ball and Marshall already not a tremendous downfield threat, I don’t think we see the same stats out of Brandon Marshall that we have seen over the last several seasons. Don’t expect Brandon Marshall to be in this year’s Pro Bowl.

3. Anquan Boldin will return to the Pro Bowl.

Maybe this prediction isn’t as bold as I find it to be, but after taking Brandon Marshall down, I figured I mine as well prop somebody up. After a couple of years of battling injuries and contract negotiations, Boldin was set free in Baltimore this offseason, where he will play with the Ravens and try to resurrect his career. In my opinion, Boldin is among the top 10 wide receivers in football. Just like Marshall, he’s not the greatest deep threat, but unlike Marshall, his quarterback is a proven commodity. The Baltimore Ravens starting QB threw for over 3,600 yards last year and averaged 7.24 yards per pass. Needless to say, he’s not holding the Ravens back, not to mention, the Ravens already have other deep threats via Derrick Mason, Mark Clayton and perhaps even Donte Stallworth. Expect Boldin to get a lot of passes over the middle, on the sidelines and down the seam. He’s great at those routes and Flacco is great at throwing those routes. This should be a Pro Bowl season for Anquan Boldin.

4. Chris Johnson will rush for 2,000 yards in 2010.

For a while, I was of the mind that Johnson wouldn’t get to 2,000 rushing yards in 2010 because Vince Young would be there for the full season and the team would enter the year with more plays catered to Young’s abilities. However, now I am of the mindset that with Young in the fold all offseason, the Tennessee Titans are going to be a little more inclined to let their passing game fly. That should open the rushing lanes for Chris Johnson even more. Just imagine, if he’s on a team that can pass for around 200 yards per game, he could really get a few extra rushing lanes throughout the season. Believe or not, I think Young can do just enough to keep defenses honest, just as he did late last season.

5. Michael Vick will be the starting quarterback for the Eagles.

Kevin Kolb? Please! He is no Donovan McNabb and there’s nothing to suggest that he’s Aaron Rodgers either. Look, this Eagles team has so much young talent, that whenever the Eagles face a mediocre defense, they are going to look good, just as Kolb did in two starts last season. But when the Eagles get blitzed, pass rushed, and confused as defenses begin to hone in on Kolbe’s weaknesses, I fully expect him to become a shrinking violet. Enter Michael Vick, the quarterback that I believe finishes the season for the Eagles. I don’t know if it will be pretty, smart or if it will win the Eagles any football games, but I think it will be their best option by the end of the 2010 NFL Football season.

The post "2010 NFL Football Predictions: Five Statements of Veracity" was originally published at TSW.

Tonight, the 2010 NFL season officially kicks off with a bang! The NFL schedule makers got it right when they put the Super Bowl champion New Orleans Saints up against the Minnesota Vikings.

Talk about creating a rivalry! This game has been in the making since the NFC Championship, when these teams didn’t exactly fall fall in love with one another during that game. But before those teams even played in the NFC Championship game, the 2010 NFL schedule already had these two playing this season, but to make it the Week 1 opener makes it that much better.

Anyway, enough chatter, here are our thoughts and NFL Picks for the game between the Minnesota Vikings and New Orleans Saints.

New Orleans Saints on offense…

The New Orleans Saints probably aren’t going to change much about the offense that led them to a Super Bowl last year. However, if there is a change, one can expect it will be in the form of their running game. Originally, running the ball was a staple of the Saints offense when Sean Payton first got there. But last year, things didn’t go so well in that regard, and while certainly it didn’t affect their ability to win, a poor rushing average didn’t help. So while Drew Brees should still dink and dunk the ball down the field and throw a couple of bombs to Robert Meechum and Marques Colston, you can expect a few more rushing attempts than normal, especially in the red zone.

Minnesota Vikings on offense…

The Vikings approach to offense should be entirely different from what it was last season. Sidney Rice is out for at least the first six games of the NFL schedule, which means the Vikings no longer have a #1 wide receiver on their roster. Percy Harvin’s recent migraines don’t help that either; although, it appears as if they have solved that issue—for now. All and all, the passing game for the Vikings is going to take a step back. This means much more Adrian Peterson than what we saw in 2009. Against the Saints in tonight’s Week 1 opener, the Vikings will surely give the rock to Peterson an extraordinary number of times. I think he will get the ball at least 25 times tonight, but I really want to say 30. It just doesn’t make sense for the Vikings to throw the ball all that much when their most accomplished receiver is Greg Camarillo, a guy they just acquired two seconds ago.

NFL Pick:

The New Orleans Saints should definitely win this game. If these were the same two teams that played in the NFC Championship last season, I could go either way in this one. However, without Sidney Rice, this Vikings team isn’t what it once was, and I’m not sure they will make the change as quickly as they and Vikings fans would like them to. The Saints, however, know what they want to do and they have the same players that executed that strategy a season ago. Besides, with New Orleans playing at home and given all of that momentum they have from winning the Super Bowl, I find it hard to believe they won’t play some of their best football of the year in tonight’s NFL Week 1 opener!

The post "NFL Picks Week 1: Minnesota Vikings at New Orleans Saints" was originally published at TSW.

TheSportsWatchers want to get you in shape for the upcoming 2010 NFL football season. So in the spirit of NFL training camp, we are doing two-a-days to get you in gear for each and every NFL team.

The Carolina Panthers were a roller coaster of a team in 2009. After getting whacked in the playoffs at the end of the 2008 season, the Panthers allowed their inconsistent play to continue into last year.

2009 NFL Recap for the Carolina Panthers

The Panthers started the season on the wrong foot in Week 1, getting pounded by the Eagles 38-10 at home. They would lose their next two games as well, before getting wins over the lowly Redskins and Buccaneers. But at the end of the day, the offensive firepower of the Panthers lacking, and the team couldn’t muster up the points to contend with the NFL’s best teams. Losses to the Saints, Jets and Patriots kept the Panthers from achieving their playoff goals, and by Week 13, the team had given up on QB Jake Delhomme and the season. QB Matt Moore took over as the starting quarterback in Week 13. In his 5 starts, Moore had just one game over 200 yards passing, but he only turned the ball over once, which is why the Panthers managed to 4-1 in their last 5 games, finishing 8-8 on the year.

Carolina Panthers 2010 NFL Transactions

The Panthers moved into a new era at quarterback, and all it took was three transactions to make that happen. The first one required the Panthers releasing long-time quarterback Jake Delhomme. The second one saw the Panthers committing $3 million to Matt Moore. And the third transaction was the drafting of QB Jimmy Clausen, who could be the quarterback of the future for the Panthers.

Of course, the Panthers made moves at other positions as well, especially on defense, where they released DT Damione Lewis, DT Maake Kemoeatu, LB Na’il Diggs and LB Landon Johnson. To fill some of those holes, the Panthers brought in LB Jamar Williams, DL Eric Norwood and DE Tyler Brayton. The Panthers could not replace WR Muhsin Muhammad, who announced his retirement in June, nor could they replace DE Julius Peppers, whom the Panthers lost in free agency.

2010 NFL Predictions for Carolina Panthers

Despite the Panthers 8-8 record last year, they have a team with above .500 talent. With running backs DeAngelo Williams and Jonathan Stewart, they have a very strong rushing game. And so long as Steve Smith lines up on the outsides, the Panthers have a deep threat that teams have to respect. Thus, the success of the offense all comes down to whether QB Matt Moore can deliver. If he’s the same guy that went 4-1 down the stretch win nothing was on the line, then he can give the Panthers the boost they need to make the playoffs. But if Moore comes back to earth and isn’t as efficient as he was at the end of last year, the Panthers could continue to subsists in mediocrity. We’re betting on Moore coming back to earth, just because teams will now have some film on him and will force him to make plays he’s not entirely capable of.

On the defensive side, losing Julius Peppers could derail this team all season long. Peppers made things easier for the entire defensive line, and losing Damione Lewis doesn’t help either. Granted, the Panthers have two reliable cornerbacks in Chris Gamble and Richard Marshall, but without a pass rush to help them, the entire Panthers defense may take a step back. With the amalgamation of a regressing quarterback, a missing pass rush and an unenviable 2010 NFL schedule, the Panthers schedule is tough, they’re probably going to do no better than 8-8 in 2010.

The post "NFL Predictions 2010: Carolina Panthers" was originally published at TSW.

TheSportsWatchers want to get you in shape for the upcoming 2010 NFL football season. So in the spirit of NFL training camp, we are doing two-a-days to get you in gear for each and every NFL team.

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers were a mess in 2009 and finished last in the NFC South. If they don’t see some improvement in 2010, their head coach might be looking for another job.

2009 NFL Recap for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers

The Bucs started their season off all kinds of wrong last year. They fired their offensive coordinator just weeks before the season started, putting them in the unenviable position of having to run an offense that nobody there was responsible for. As you can imagine, that resulted in little offensive success, very little growth at any offensive positions, and ultimately, a 3-13 record. Defensively, the Bucs weren’t much better, finishing 27th in total defense.

Tampa Bay Buccaneers 2010 Offseason Transactions

Given the type of season the Bucs had, their myriad of offseason moves was right on point. To start things off, the Bucs traded for WR Reggie Brown, given them a veteran wide receiver that knows how to work the West Coast offense. The Bucs also had WR Maurice Stovall sign a one-year tender, and got RB Clinton Smith and RB Cadillac Williams to sign one year deals. To bolster the defense, the Bucs drafted DT Gerald McCoy with the third pick of the 2010 NFL Draft, and signed DT Brian Cox to a four-year deal. Also from the draft, the Bucs landed WR Mike Williams out of Syracuse.

2010 NFL Predictions for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers

The Buccaneers have their work cut out for them this year. Certainly, the 2010 NFL schedule did not help them out at all. Despite finishing in last in 2009, the Bucs have to face off against the Saints twice, the Falcons twice, the Steelers, the Bengals, the Cardinals, the 49ers, the Ravens and a much-improved Washington Redskins club. I am tempted to say that the Bucs will lose all ten of those games, but I will give them at least one of those on the oft-chance they win a fluke game. As for the remaining 6 games, the Bucs have it much easier. And if they had tweaked their defense with some veteran acquisitions, I would have given them as many as 3 of those remaining six games. But with the young Josh Freeman at quarterback, Reggie Brown as their best wide receiver, and a troubled offensive line, it is very hard for me to envision the Bucs splitting 6 games as less than mediocre competition. Thus, I believe the Bucs leave the 2010 NFL season the same way the left the last one: exhibiting no growth. The Bucs go 3-13 for the second time in a row.

The post "NFL Predictions 2010: Tampa Bay Buccaneers" was originally published at TSW.

TheSportsWatchers want to get you in shape for the upcoming 2010 NFL football season. So in the spirit of NFL training camp, we are doing two-a-days to get you in gear for each and every NFL team.

The Detroit Lions were in a rebuilding year last year…again! However, they were a lot more successful in their rebuilding this time around, as they seemed to have found their quarterback of their future, which puts them in a position they haven’t been in for a long time.

2009 NFL Recap for the Detroit Lions

The Lions finished the year with a lowly 2-14 record that included a loss to the NFL’s worst football team, the St. Louis Rams. Still, the Lions showed some signs of growth, most notably the abilities of Matthew Stafford as a quarterback. Sure, Stafford had just 13 touchdowns and 20 interceptions, but his 2,267 yards in 10 games averaged out to 267 passing yards per game. Quite impressive for a rookie. In fact, Peyton Manning himself only averaged 233 passing yards per game in his rookie season, and that was with Marshall Faulk in the backfield. As for the rest of the Lions, they were abysmal. Calvin Johnson and Kevin Smith didn’t perform up to their expectations, and the defense finished 32nd against the pass in 2009. At the end of the day, that added up to 14 losses and the second pick of the 2010 NFL Draft.

Detroit Lions 2010 Offseason Transactions

The Lions offseason went under the radar, but they did make some solid moves. Early on, the Lions signed DE Kyle Vanden Bosch, giving them a veteran defensive lineman that can lead this team’s turnaround on the defensive side of the ball. To add to that defensive line, the Lions drafted Ndamukong Suh, the stand out defensive tackle from Nebraska. They also drafted running back Jahvid Best, who could be the Lions feature back by the start of the season. To back up Stafford, the Lions acquired QB Shaun Hill, who will apparently take the place of Daunte Culpepper. And to help WR Calvin Johnson out, the Lions acquired Nate Burleson.

2010 NFL Predictions for the Detroit Lions

The additions to the Lions defensive line gives them one of the best front fours in football. Suh and Vanden Bosch are two linemen with never-ending motors, and will have offensive lines on their toes all day. However, the Lions defensive secondary wasn’t improved much over the offseason, which means this team will still have trouble defending the pass. On the offensive side of the ball, the Lions line has a lot of problems. If LG Rob Sims can step up, the combination of him, Jeff Backus and Dominic Raiola could give them a left side of the line that is above average. The addition of Jahvid Best gives the Lions a homerun threat not named Calvin Johnson, which should put Johnson in more one-on-one situations. Most importantly however, one would expect Stafford to be much improved in 2010. A significant jump his level of play should double the Lions win total this season, especially against a schedule that is far from backbreaking. We expect the Lions to win 4 games in 2010, but to be a lot more competitive this year.

The post "NFL Predictions 2010: Detroit Lions" was originally published at TSW.

TheSportsWatchers want to get you in shape for the upcoming 2010 NFL football season. So in the spirit of NFL training camp, we are doing two-a-days to get you in gear for each and every NFL team.

The Green Bay Packers were an afterthought entering the 2009 season. But a dominant year by Aaron Rodgers and the Packers new defense quickly changed the perception of the post-Brett Favre era in Wisconsin.

2009 NFL Recap of the Green Bay Packers

With the Minnesota Vikings acquiring Brett Favre and the Chicago Bears trading for Jay Cutler, many thought that the Packers were doomed for a third place finish in the NFC North. However, the Packers wound up being one of the premiere teams in football, and it was their defense that led the way. Don’t believe me? Look at the stats. While quarterback Aaron Rodgers was a beast and was perhaps the most prolific quarterback in football last year, the Packers finished the year just 7th in passing and 14th in rushing the ball. Defensively, however, the Packers, which had installed a new 3-4 scheme the previous offseason, finished 5th against the pass and 1st against the rush, making them the second best defensive team, behind only the New York Jets. That ultimately led to an 11-5 record and trip to the playoffs, where the Packers lost to the Arizona Cardinals in overtime.

Green Bay Packers 2010 Offseason Transactions

If the Packers had any major holes on their team last year, it was the offensive line’s inability to protect Rodgers in the pocket. Thus, the Packer went out and used their first round pick on OT Bryan Bulaga and resigned both OT Chad Clifton and Mark Tauscher in hopes that they would get better in 2010. The Packers tried to keep their defense in tact by making Nose Tackle Ryan Pickett their franchise player, before signing both Pickett and S Nick Collins to contract extensions a few weeks later. The Packers also bolstered their secondary by signing CB Trevor Ford and S Khalil Jones, which should improved the Packers depth at those positions.

2010 NFL Prediction for the Green Bay Packers

As we mentioned, the Packers biggest hole was on their offensive line. While drafting a talented rookie gives them talent at the position, it doesn’t necessarily make them a better pass protecting team in 2010. So they might be a little better on experience alone with last year’s starters, but they will still have games in which Rodgers gets harassed and bothered by the rush. Luckily for the Packers, Rodgers does a great job of moving around and avoiding the rush—as he proved last year when he was the most prolific quarterback in football. The rushing game might be hurt if Ryan Grant can’t stay healthy. The Packers used to have some solid help at the position, but Brandon Jackson hasn’t been too resourceful as a backup to Grant. Defensively, the Packers remain strong, and if Charles Woodson has a similar year to the one he had last year as the NFL’s Defensive MVP, the Packers defense will remain one of the best in the league. With Ryan Pickett moving to the defensive end spot and BJ Raji taking over the nose tackle position, the Packers defensive line is even more talented than it was a year ago. Not to mention, these guys have a full year under the 3-4 scheme, and players that didn’t fit last year, such as DE Aaron Kampman, are now out of the system, making the defense that much stronger. So with an offense that should be a little bit better than last year and a defense they may challenge the New York Jets for that #1 spot, the Green Bay Packers are in prime position to win double digit games in 2010. In fact, we’re so confident in the Packers, that they are one of our favorites to make it to the NFC Championship game and possibly represent the NFC in the Super Bowl.

The post "NFL Predictions 2010: Green Bay Packers" was originally published at TSW.

TheSportsWatchers want to get you in shape for the upcoming 2010 NFL football season. So in the spirit of NFL training camp, we are doing two-a-days to get you in gear for each and every NFL team.

No one can say anything bad about what the New Orleans Saints did last year. Their 2009-2010 NFL season was one for the record books. They dominated the regular season and proved to be the better team in each playoff game, as they won the 2010 Super Bowl and took the Lombardi trophy back to New Orleans! Can anyone say encore?

2009 NFL recap for the New Orleans Saints

The Saints looked like Super Bowl contenders from start to finish last season. Their ability to put up huge offensive numbers made them look like world-beaters early on. Whether it was the 45 they put up on Detroit to open the year, or the 38 they put on the New England Patriots, the Saints didn’t discriminate, as they pretty much scored at will all year. It wasn’t until Week 15, when the Saints faced the Dallas Cowboys that the Saints would score fewer than 24 points and get their first loss of the season. Being 13-1 after that game, the Saints elected to sit the final two games out and enter the playoffs fresh. That proved to be a winning strategy, as the Saints would score 45, 31 and then another 31 points in the Super Bowl to beat the Indianapolis Colts and become NFL Football Champions of the World.

New Orleans Saints 2010 Offseason Transactions

The Saints had a somewhat interesting offseason over the last couple of months. Knowing that their defense is going to determine whether or not they can repeat as champions, the Saints brought in DT Anthony Hargrove, DE Alex Brown, S Roman Harper and re-signed S Darren Sharper. Of course, this is an offensive team; so head coach Sean Payton made sure to bring in a few new weapons and resign some of his old ones. Offensive tackles Jamaal Brown and Charles Brown were re-signed, as was RB Pierre Thomas. Lance Moore got a new contract. TE Jimmy Graham was brought on and so was WR Mark Bradley. With their first round pick though, the Saints went to work on the defense and drafted cornerback Patrick Robinson.

2010 NFL Prediction for the New Orleans Saints

Offensively, the Saints have very few questions to answer. They have the ability to throw the ball deep, dink and dunk the ball, and work the sidelines. Their lone weak point might be their rushing game, which had been more formidable in previous seasons than it was in 2009. However, Reggie Bush seems to have taken to a new downhill running style, and if Pierre Thomas can stay healthy, he is formidable option as well. The Saints true weakness, however, is on the defensive side of the ball, where the team finished 25th among the NFL’s 32 football teams. Last year, the defense got away with giving up so many yards by creating so many turnovers and leading the league in turnover differential. However, leading the league in turnovers is usually more of a fluky thing than it is about the talents of the team, and despite the Saints defensive acquisitions, it would appear that the again would need to rely on turnovers. They just don’t have the size up front or the speed on the edges to be a really dominant defensive football team—or even a mediocre one at that. Thus, we predict that the Saints will continue to be among the bottom third defenses, yet again, which we think gets them another NFC South crown, but haves them exiting the playoffs early on this season.

The post "NFL Predictions 2010: New Orleans Saints" was originally published at TSW.

Matt Leinart, Quarterback, Arizona Cardinals

TheSportsWatchers want to get you in shape for the upcoming 2010 NFL football season. So in the spirit of NFL training camp, we are doing two-a-days to get you in gear for each and every NFL team.

The Arizona Cardinals made it to the playoffs last year after winning a weak NFC West. However, with the loss of a Hall of Fame quarterback, can they continue to win the division, or is their reign over?

2009 NFL Recap for the Arizona Cardinals

The Cardinals entered 2009 with big aspirations. They were fresh off a narrow loss in the Super Bowl, and it seemed as if their franchise was in the fast lane with no intentions of looking back. Well, that’s exactly what they did in 2009, once again proving to be an offensive juggernaut. The Cardinals started off the year 4-2 by beating the likes of the Houston Texans and New York Giants. They would also go on to beat the Minnesota Vikings late in the season. Still, when it came to beating teams with commendable defenses, such as the 49ers, Colts, Titans, Panthers and Packers, the Cardinals came up short, including two losses to the 49ers. However, being in the NFC West afforded them such mediocre play against good teams, as they swept both the Seahawks and the Rams to get 4 easy wins.

Kurt Warner was awesome throughout the season, throwing for 3,753 passing yards and 26 touchdowns on the year. Larry Fitzgerald had a down year, but still managed to break the 1,000-yard double-digit touchdown mark, and Chris Beanie Wells managed to step up as the team’s premiere rusher.

Despite all of that talent at the skilled positions on offense, their defense killed them in the postseason. Arizona stole a win in overtime against the Green Bay Packers after surrendering a 21-point third-quarter lead. But in the NFC Divisional Round, the defense let up again, giving up 45 points for the second week in a row to the New Orleans Saints.

Arizona Cardinals 2010 Offseason Transactions

The most noteworthy part of the Cardinals offseason was Kurt Warner’s decision to retire. Of course, when the biggest thing that happens to a team in the offseason is the loss of a player, it’s hard to call the offseason a success. In addition to losing Warner, the Cardinals released S Antrel Rolle and Kicker Mike Nugent. To bolster the quarterback position, head coach Ken Whisenhunt brought QB Derek Anderson in to challenge Matt Leinart for the quarterback spot. Of course, defense is where the Cardinals struggled the most, so signing LB Joey Porter, LB Paris Lenon, LB Stevie Braggs all made sense. As did drafting rookie DT Dan Williams in the first round. The Cardinals had another significant loss when they sent Anquan Boldin packing and re-signed WR Steve Breaston to a brand new deal.

2010 NFL Prediction for the Arizona Cardinals

The NFC West is going to be in contention this year. The Cardinals no longer had the clear advantage at the quarterback position, which brings them back to the rest of the pack. Matt Leinart will have his work cut out for him too. He has to face Philip Rivers, Drew Brees, Brett Favre, Tony Romo and Matt Hasselbeck this season, all of which are better quarterbacks than Leinart has ever been. It doesn’t help that Leinart lost one of the best receivers in the league in Anquan Boldin. Sure, Breaston is a nice fill-in, but who fills Breaston’s roll as the #3 guy? And despite Beanie Wells’ emergence last season, the Cardinals do not have a proven running game, which will leave Leinart susceptible to the same blitzes that caused him to lose his starting job in the first place. Expect Larry Fitzgerald to suffer as a result of Leinart’s play, as well.

On the defensive side of the football, the Cardinals didn’t do much to improve their unit. Joey Porter might rush the quarterback some, but he’s far, far from his days as a double-digit sack guy. Darnell Dockett should continue to be a force inside, and maybe that will free up Porter and some of the other rushers, but one can’t be too sure. In the backfield, the Cardinals do have some big names. Kerry Rhodes and Adrian Wilson are two safeties that are superb when it comes to stopping the run. They both have range as deep droppers, but neither is great in man-to-man coverage, and teams certainly will exploit that when the opportunities are there. Thankfully, the Cardinals do have one person in their secondary that can play man, that being CB Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie, who had six interceptions for the Cardinals last season.

All and all, the schedule isn’t too tough for the Cardinals. The problem is that it is unlikely the Cardinals will win any of the few tough games they have if Leinart doesn’t play as well as Warner has in the past. Since Leinart is no Kurt Warner in our book, we have the Cardinals regressing to a record of 8-8 during the 2010 NFL football season.

The post "NFL 2010 Football Predictions: Arizona Cardinals" was originally published at TSW.

TheSportsWatchers want to get you in shape for the upcoming 2010 NFL football season. So in the spirit of NFL training camp, we are doing two-a-days to get you in gear for each and every NFL team.

The Chicago Bears were one of 2009’s most disappointing teams. After trading their entire drafting future for quarterback Jay Cutler, the Bears saw their prized possession throw 26 interceptions. Can the gunslinger get his stuff under control and use his arm for good during the 2010 NFL season?

2009 Chicago Bears Recap

In 2009, things started off kind of well for the Chicago Bears. Although they lost the opener to Green Bay, they bounced back with 3 straight wins and all of a sudden were world-beaters by Week 5. But then the roof came off that glass house. The Bears lost to just about every worthwhile opponent they faced for the rest of the year. Outside of a shootout with the Minnesota Vikings in Week 16, the Bears couldn’t keep up with the more talented teams in the NFL, and their quarterback was largely to blame given his aforementioned 26 picks. That said, Cutler didn’t have very much help. The Bears didn’t have a thousand-yard rusher, a thousand-yard receiver or a 10-sack defensive lineman. They were straight up below board on just about every individual stat out there, and it showed whenever they came together as a team on Sundays. Five of the Bears six wins in 2009 were against some of the worst teams in the NFL, and it’s amazing they won as many of those as they did.

2010 Chicago Bears Offseason Transactions

The Bears had to do a little housecleaning this past offseason. The unofficial word is that head coach Lovie Smith had to get rid of much of his staff or risk losing his own job. Thus, Ron Turner was fired as the Bears offensive coordinator, as were several other assistant coaches. Running back Kevin Jones and defensive back Nathan Vasher were both released, and WR Vic Hall, RB Chester Taylor and S Josh Bullocks were acquired. Chicago’s third-round pick (their first of the draft) went to FS Major Wright. The Bears also released DE Alex Brown, and then replaced him with free agency’s most coveted player, defensive end Julius Peppers. The biggest move for the Bears this offseason, however, was the hiring of Mike Martz as the offensive coordinator. Martz may not have the cache of a Peppers, but he has had a hell of a lot more success at coaching offenses than Peppers has had at rushing quarterbacks, and that could come in handy when tutoring Jay Cutler.

2010 NFL Predictions: Chicago Bears

The Chicago Bears didn’t do much to improve themselves on the offensive end. Outside of bringing in RB Taylor, who amounts to little more than a backup right now, the Bears did nothing at all on offense. Defensively, the Bears might be able to hold their own. I have never been a huge fan of Brian Urlacher as a linebacker, but most people assure me that he’s better than whomever else would line up at that position in his place. And DT Tommy Harris might be back to being a dominant force in 2010 after he managed to get a little healthy towards the end of last season, when he registered 6.5 sacks for Chicago. Because of the defense, we believe that the Bears can reach the 8-win mark. That’s not what you want from a quarterback that you traded the future of your entire franchise for. However, I do believe we will see a much better offensive year for Cutler. Under Martz, Cutler will certainly top the 4,000-yard mark, and somebody on this team is going to rack up 1,000 yards in a single category. Not to mention, in Martz’s system, a lot off passes go 20 yards over the middle of the field, an area in which Cutler specializes. That will take advantage of TE Greg Olsen’s athletic prowess; therefore adding that third dimension that the Bears need so desperately to even stay in the thick of things during the 2010 NFL football season.

The post "NFL Predictions: Chicago Bears, 2010" was originally published at TSW.

TheSportsWatchers want to get you in shape for the upcoming 2010 NFL football season. So in the spirit of NFL training camp, we are doing two-a-days to get you in gear for each and every NFL team.

The Washington Redskins have gone through a lot over the years. They’ve changed coaches, they’ve changed coordinators, they changed quarterbacks—hell, they’ve even changed parking prices. Still, despite all of that change, many people believe good times are ahead for the Redskins, and some signs certainly point to a brighter future.

2009 Washington Redskins Recap

The Washington Redskins were a joke last season. While they certainly didn’t have the talent to contend for a Super Bowl, they were way more talented than the Lions and the Rams, the only two teams that rivaled the Redskins for on-field fodder. The Redskins started out okay, a respectable 2-2. Then again, their two wins were over the Rams and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, and one of those early 2 losses was against the Detroit Lions. After that .500 start, the Redskins would lose their next four games and almost immediately, former head coach Jim Zorn was put on the hot seat, with his exodus from Washington practically sealed before the halfway point in the season. Needless to say, Zorn’s football players didn’t come to his defense, and the team went 2-6 during the final 8 games, ending the year without a single win against a team with a winning record.

2010 Washington Redskins Offseason

It’s hard to say what was the bigger move for the Redskins this offseason. Was it the hiring of Mike Shanahan, or was it the trade for Donovan McNabb? One would have to go with the former, because McNabb would have rejected a trade to play for the Redskins if he did not have complete faith in the head coach. Thus, Shanahan’s presence made it possible for McNabb to come to Washington, and that shouldn’t be understated when determining the success of this franchise. That said, the Redskins did make some other moves this past offseason. First, they managed to sign OL Artis Hicks, RB Larry Johnson, RB Willie Parker and QB Rex Grossman, giving this team a lot of depth in the offensive backfield. On defense, the Redskins brought in CB Philip Buchanon and DL Vonnie Holliday to help out with the new implementation of the 3-4 defense. In the 2010 NFL draft, the Redskins used their first round pick to replace future Hall of Famer Johnathan Ogden by selecting OT Trent Williams.

2010 NFL Predictions: Washington Redskins

The Washington Redskins certainly have their work cut out for them if they are going to be anything worth watching during the 2010 NFL football season. That being said, the Redskins were never as poorly talented as their 4-12 record suggested, so the room for improvement, even absent Mike Shanahan’s arrival, was already there. But add to the Skins’ presumed talent, Shanahan and Donovan McNabb, and what you have is a team that could surprise a lot of football fans in 2010. The operative word being “could.” While all the pieces are there for a magical run, it’s hard to imagine this franchise overcoming its recent late season failures and the 2010 NFL schedule that has been put before them. The Redskins will face off against 12 teams that were 8-8 or better last year, six of those games coming from within the NFC East. Of course, with McNabb on their side and some semblance of a defense, the Redskins have a chance to win every game they are in this year. Thus, I’m willing to give them one more win than the number of winnable games I counted on their schedule. That would give the Redskins a 7-9 record at year’s end, which would signify upward movement for the Redskins franchise, but another year of watching the NFC playoffs on Fox.

The post "NFL Predictions: Washington Redskins, 2010" was originally published at TSW.

TheSportsWatchers want to get you in shape for the upcoming 2010 NFL football season. So in the spirit of NFL training camp, we are doing two-a-days to get you in gear for each and every NFL team.

The Minnesota Vikings have gone through yet another offseason of turmoil, but at the end of the day, they got their guy. Brett Favre is going to be the quarterback for the Vikings this season, and that makes the Vikings one of the NFL’s best teams in 2010.

2009 Vikings Recap

The Vikings had it all during the regular season. For a while there, it looked like they couldn’t be beaten, as the Vikings started off 6-0 and looked like the team to beat in the NFL. Things went sour for a brief moment near the end of the season when the Vikings were handled by the Arizona Cardinals, and wound up dropping back-to-back games against the Carolina Panthers and the Chicago Bears. However, a quick 44-7 thumping of the New York Giants in Week 17 seemed to put things back in proper perspective. The Vikings would then beat the Dallas Cowboys in the division round of the NFL Playoffs before losing to the eventual Super Bowl champs, the New Orleans Saints, in the NFC Championship game.

2010 Vikings Offseason Transactions

The Vikings were not a very active team during the 2010 NFL offseason. The acquisition of CB Lito Sheppard was perhaps their biggest defensive move, and the drafting and signing of Toby Gerhart and Ryan Moats, respectively, were their big additions on offense. They did let RB Chester Taylor go, DE Ray Edwards got signed to a one-year tender thanks to CBA negotiations (or lack thereof). Other than those things, or even with those transactions included, the Vikings biggest move of the offseason happen just recent with #4 coming back for another season (see “Brett Favre Returns to Minnesota”).

2010 Prediction for the Minnesota Vikings

In our view, the return of Brett Favre makes the Vikings the best team in the NFC. With all due respect to the Saints, the Vikings combination of offense, defense and special teams is hard to come by. Not to mention, last year was the team’s first year with Favre, and while I’m not sure how much better the offense can get, Adrian Peterson was anything but stunning, and I do believe that’s something Vikings head coach Brad Childress is hoping to correct during the 2010 NFL Football season. The only thing working against the Vikings is a pretty rough NFL schedule. The Vikings open up with the New Orleans Saints, then go on to play the Cowboys, Packers (twice), Patriots, Giants, Jets, Eagles, and we even think the Redskins are going to be a tough out. Because of the schedule, we think it would be no surprise if the best the Vikings can do in 2010 is muster up an 11-5 record. However, we expect this team to do very well in the playoffs, and at least reach the NFC Championship again.

The post "NFL Predictions: Minnesota Vikings" was originally published at TSW.

TheSportsWatchers want to get you in shape for the upcoming 2010 NFL football season. So in the spirit of NFL training camp, we are doing two-a-days to get you in gear for each and every NFL team.

The New York Giants were among the many NFL teams that failed to live up to expectations last season. Entering the 2010 NFL Football season, however, the Giants are expected to challenge in an NFC East division presumed to be slightly weaker at the top than it was a year ago.

2009 Recap
The Giants came out guns-a-blazing last season, stating off 5-0, looking like the team that had finished the previous year as the #1 team in the NFC. However, things quickly changed. Eli Manning got bruised and banged up, and the Giants quarterback didn’t look himself for a short stretch during the middle of the season. During that stretch, the Giants lost four games in a row, including a laugher against the Philadelphia Eagles. From then on, the Giants would never recover. They had a chance to get back in it against the Denver Broncos on Thanksgiving Night, but that was an apparent no-go, as the Giants offensive line again failed the Giants on the road. New York would finish the season a meager 8-8 and in third place in the NFC East.

2010 Offseason Transactions
The Giants definitely were not out to make a splash this past offseason. They did get a new defensive coordinator, Perry Fewell, and they promoted Sean Ryan to head up the Giants talented young wide receivers. The Giants biggest move of the offseason was the acquisition of S Antrel Rolle, who can help revive a Giants secondary that was beat up all of last year. And at the linebacker position, the Giants got rid of Antonio Pierce and signed Keith Bullock, who will now play middle linebacker for the G-men. The Giants gave up on wide receiver Domenik Hixon, and released QB David Carr. In Carr’s former role as backup quarterback appears to be youngster Rhett Bomar. In the 2010 NFL Draft, the Giants spent their first round pick on DE Jason Pierre-Paul, the electrifying pass rusher out of USF.

2010 Predictions for the Giants
While the Giants didn’t have the splashiest offseason in history, they didn’t need to. The team really just needed to get healthy after having what was an injury-riddled 2009 campaign. The secondary was one of the Giants weakest points last year, but with Rolle at safety and a healthy Aaron Ross at cornerback, the Giants may be on track to recover in the defensive passing game. In the defensive front, Keith Bullock definitely gives the Giants a playmaker, but in his old age, Bullock may be just as susceptible to the passing game as former Giants MLB Antonio Pierce was over the last couple of seasons. Offensively, that unit will go as far as the offensive line takes them. Eli Manning was forced to throw the ball a lot last season, because the running game simply wasn’t what it had been in years past. The Giants certainly have the weapons to throw the ball to now (Steve Smith, Hakeem Nicks, Mario Manningham, Victor Cruz), but if the Giants front 5 can’t be as dominate as they were in 2008 and 2009, the core of G-men’s offense will only burden the passing game. However, we think those five get it together this season. They were once an unstoppable unit, and they should be able to get back to that point if everyone is indeed healthy. With the Eagles likely to be out of things this season, the Giants are in great position to challenge for the NFC East crown. They did beat the division favorite Dallas Cowboys two times last season, and the Giants schedule isn’t nearly as tough as that of the Cowboys. Our prediction for the Giants is a 10-6 record and a trip to the postseason.

The post "NFL Football Predictions: New York Giants" was originally published at TSW.

TheSportsWatchers want to get you in shape for the upcoming 2010 NFL football season. So in the spirit of NFL training camp, we are doing two-a-days to get you in gear for each and every NFL team.

The Philadelphia Eagles traded away their franchise’s best player ever. Will the 2010 NFL football season be a turning point, or did they trade their hopes away too?

2009 NFL Football Recap
The Eagles were a very solid team last year. After getting off to a rough start thanks to yet another Donovan McNabb injury, the Eagles rebounded and finished the season winning 6 of their last 7 games and finished second in the NFC East. However, finishing second would lead to their ultimate demise in the playoffs. Had the Eagles beaten the Cowboys just one time out of three matches last season, the Eagles would have advanced to the NFC Divisional round—at the very least. Instead, the Eagles lost two backbreaking games to the Cowboys in a row, and their 2009 season came to a stunning end in the Wildcard round of the NFC Playoffs.

2010 Offseason Transactions
The Eagles did what many thought was the unthinkable, even though it was something that was talked about for quite some time. Donovan McNabb was traded within the NFC East division to the Washington Redskins. The Eagles got a couple of picks in return and not much else. The Eagles also let RB Brian Westbrook go, and they let G Shawn Andrews go too. The Eagles brought in WR Hank Baskett, DB Marlin Jackson and WR Chad Hall. The Eagles traded away CB Sheldon Brown and LB Chris Gocong to Cleveland. And with their first round pick, Philadelphia drafted DE Brandon Graham out of Michigan.

2010 NFL Predictions for the Eagles
The Eagles are a very, very young team now. Outside of CB Asante Samuel there is hardly a pivotal position player over the age of 28 on this team. QB Kevin Kolb enters the 2010 NFL season as the Eagles starting quarterback, and he has his work cut out for him. Around him are a bunch of other youngsters, including RB LeSean McCoy, WR Jeremy Maclin, TE Brent Celek and even RT Winston Justice is a youngster. Being young could be the best of things or it could be the worst. However, those other guys have proven themselves on the field, while Kolb has not. Thus, any lack of success by the Eagles offense in 2010 will fall on the shoulders of Kolb. The defense for the Eagles should be better against the run, but maybe not as well off against the pass. By letting Sheldon Brown go, the Eagles gave up a solid corner that has been in the system for years. Now that spot will likely go to Marlin Jackson or Ellis Hobbs, and questions abound there. All and all though, this season goes back to Kolb. The Eagles were 11-5 and solid playoff team a season ago. The only major difference in this squad is Kolb himself, and I don’t think he’s Donovan McNabb yet. The Eagles are likely an 8-8 team in this tough NFC East division.

The post "Two-a-Days: Philadelphia Eagles" was originally published at TSW.

TheSportsWatchers want to get you in shape for the upcoming 2010 NFL football season. So in the spirit of NFL training camp, we are doing two-a-days to get you in gear for each and every NFL team.

The Dallas Cowboys finally broke their virgin seals last season. Their win over the Philadelphia Eagles in the playoffs gave the Cowboys their first playoff win since the Aikman era, and of course, Tony Romo gets the credit for it. However, with credit comes pressure, and one has to wonder if Romo is up to the task of leading his team to a home Super Bowl game.

2009 NFL Football Recap
The Cowboys entered the 2009 NFL season hoping and wishing that their offense wouldn’t disintegrate before their eyes. After releasing a wide receiver that had scored double-digit touchdowns in each of his three seasons with the team, the Cowboys had to turn to Roy Williams to help save their passing game. Naturally, Roy didn’t work out, and injuries to Patrick Crayton didn’t help that cause either. Instead, it was a young football player out of Monmouth University named Miles Austin that saved the Cowboys passing game—and maybe their season. Austin’s 1,320 yards and 11 touchdown receptions gave the Cowboys the #1 wide receiver they thought they had lost when they released Terrell Owens. And Austin may have been much better than what Owens would have produced when you factor in the high catch rate, the ability to run the screen play and Austin’s rapport with Romo. As for the rest of the Cowboys, this was a team that thrived in the rushing game on both sides of the ball. The Cowboys used a three-headed attack to finish 7th in the league in rushing. Stopping the run was easy too, as DeMarcus Ware held down the right side of the defense, and the Cowboys finished 4th against the rush.

At the end of the day, the season came down to beating the Philadelphia Eagles. Dallas got the better of the Eagles for the first time in a while, winning all three games against a football team that won 11 games itself. The 24-0 pounding of the Eagles in the final game of the season gave the Cowboys 11 wins and the NFC East crown. And the Cowboys victory in the 2010 NFC Wildcard game gave Dallas the playoff victory they have long awaited.

2010 Offseason Transactions
The Cowboys didn’t make many major plays in the offseason, as they opted to go the more traditional route in their new post-T.O. era. The Cowboys used their first round draft pick on WR Dez Bryant, who of course, is anything but a noncontroversial guy at this point in his career. That being said, Bryant is a tremendous talent, and he could become the next best thing at wide receiver before you know it. The Cowboys let both LT Flozell Adams and S Ken Hamlin go, and they agreed to terms with OT Mike Tepper and S Patrick Watkins to help keep those positions stable.

2010 Predictions for the Cowboys
The Cowboys have a very tough schedule. For starters, they play in the vaunted NFC East, which is rough on every team in the division. Oddly enough, they finish the year with 3 out of 4 games against NFC East foes. They also have the New Orleans Saints, Minnesota Vikings, Green Bay Packers and the Indianapolis Colts on their 2010 NFL schedule, all of which could be troublesome games for this Cowboys team. Not to mention, they have some tough games against teams we don’t think a whole lot of right now, including the Tennessee Titans, Houston Texans and the Arizona Cardinals. With this type of schedule, the Cowboys are destined for a record that is less than symbolic of their team’s abilities. That being said, a tough schedule should make this team all that much better. So even if the Cowboys aren’t able to win the NFC East with the 10 games we think they will win in 2010, we still believe that the Cowboys will reach the NFC Championship game.

The post "Two-a-Days: Dallas Cowboys" was originally published at TSW.

TheSportsWatchers want to get you in shape for the upcoming 2010 NFL football season. So in the spirit of NFL training camp, we are doing two-a-days to get you in gear for each and every NFL team.

The Seattle Seahawks were anything but a complete team last year. Riddled with injuries, poor coaching and a dwindling interest in the team, the Seahawks are desperately looking for a successful 2010 NFL season to rebound from last year’s debacle.

2009 NFL Football Recap
There was nothing about the Seahawks 2009 campaign that gives them hope for the upcoming season. Against a schedule that wasn’t all that impressive to begin with, the Seahawks managed just 5 wins and had losses to teams like the San Francisco 49ers, Chicago Bears, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, and the Tennessee Titans. Granted, two of those losses came while Matt Hasselbeck was injured, but the Seahawks still went just 5-8 when Hasselbeck was their leading passer. Of course, the rushing game was faulty too, finishing just 26th in the league with Julius Jones leading the charge for most of the season. By the end of 2009, the Seahawks offense looked its worse, as Seattle averaged just 9 points per game during the final four games of the season, all of which they lost.

2010 Offseason Transactions
The Seahawks biggest offseason transaction involved stealing Pete Carroll away from the USC Trojans college football program. With Carroll’s arrival comes a new era in Seattle football, especially since Carroll has been ceded much control over this franchise. One thing Carroll couldn’t control though was the retirement of OL Walter Jones, who finally called it quits after battling injuries all last season (not to mention battling the front office for a large stint during his final years in Seattle). To replace Jones, the Seahawks drafted Russell Okung in the draft, an offensive tackle that many thought was the best offensive lineman coming out of college. Also on draft day, Carroll made a major play for his former college player, RB LenDale White; however, the Seahawks would later release him in the process, opting for their other trade acquisition, RB Leon Washington, instead. The Seahawks sent QB Seneca Wallace, G Rob Sims, CB DeAngelo Willingham away, and watched DT Patrick Kerney call it a career. Carroll brought in WR Sean Morey, G Ben Hamilton and wide receivers Mike and Reggie Williams to bolster the offense.

2010 NFL Prediction for the Seattle Seahawks
The Seahawks definitely made enough moves this offseason to warrant some attention in 2010. Clearly, if QB Matt Hasselbeck is healthy, they have a chance in every game. But yet again, one has to wonder if Hasselbeck has enough help in the passing game. With Walter Jones gone, the Seahawks are hoping that rookie Russell Okung can come through at left tackle. And the Seahawks have a logjam at the wide receiver and running back positions, and one has to wonder if any of those guys will step up and be the man. Defensively, the Seahawks aren’t all bad. They do have enough talent to stop the run with linebackers Aaron Curry, Leroy Hill and Lofa Tatupu controlling things in the middle. And if Josh Wilson can grow into his cornerback position, the Seahawks can get a lot better against the passing game. But like all NFC West teams, the best thing going for the Seahawks is their 2010 NFL schedule. Even with what appears to be less-than-mediocre talent all around, the Seahawks could easily muster up a .500 record in this division. Thus, we like Seattle to go 8-8 this year, but the NFL playoffs will be far, far away from the Northwestern corridor this winter.

The post "Two-a-Days: Seattle Seahawks" was originally published at TSW.

TheSportsWatchers want to get you in shape for the upcoming 2010 NFL football season. So in the spirit of NFL training camp, we are doing two-a-days to get you in gear for each and every NFL team.

In predicting what the St. Louis Rams are going to do this season, it’s about more than just wins. This team needs to grow and progress as a football team, making the 2010 NFL season more about individual victories than team wins.

2009 NFL Football Recap
The St. Louis Rams were awful last season. They finished last in the NFC West, last in the NFC Conference, and last in the NFL. Their 1-15 record wasn’t even symbolic of how bad they are, considering their lone win was against the Detroit Lions at home. The Rams passing game was egregious, finishing 28th in the league at 167.9 passing yards per game. Their rushing game was a little bit better because of Steven Jackson’s prowess, but they still managed to finish below league average. And their defense was God awful, ranking 25th and 27th against the pass and the run, respectively. All and all, it was a year to forget, and on that head coach Steve Spagnuolo hopes his young players can put behind them.

2010 Offseason Transactions
The Rams biggest move of the offseason was one they earned the right to make with their 1-15 record. With the #1 pick in the 2010 NFL Draft, the Rams selected quarterback Sam Bradford out of Oklahoma. The team’s hand was pretty much forced, given that they needed a quarterback and Bradford was so highly regarded during the draft process. However, they did bring in some competition, as A.J. Feeley signed a deal with the Rams this past offseason. The additions of rookie WR Mardy Gilyard and RB Kenneth Darby should give the Rams a little more depth at the skill positions. On defense, the acquisition of LB Na’il Diggs gives them a solid veteran presence, and trading for LB Bobby Carpenter may prove to be a great move if he can get it together in St. Louis.

2010 Prediction for the St. Louis Rams
The Rams don’t have too much going for them as we enter the 2010 season, except for the NFL schedule and the fact that they play in the NFC West. With a schedule that begins with 5 teams that won a combined 26 games (an average of 5 games a piece!) the Rams, at the very least, have an opportunity to start the season off on the right foot. Their schedule gets a little bumpy the rest of the way, but not too much, with 5 more games against a mediocre NFC West division. However, like I said before, the 2010 NFL season is about more than just wins for this team. They need to improve in elements of the game, and they need specific players to get better. Running back Steven Jackson is already there, but if young players like Donnie Avery Keenan Burton don’t step up, this team will take a step back. The offensive line also needs to get better as a whole, but I’m sure the Rams would be happy to see 1 or 2 guys step up and build the rest of the line around them next season. Most importantly, Sam Bradford needs to get enough repetitions under his belt so that he’s the clear starter entering the 2011 NFL season. If the Rams win no games but Bradford looks like a Pro Bowler down the stretch, it would have been a successful 2010 for the Rams. As for how many wins they will actually get, we predict the Rams mustering up 3 wins against a very, very, weak-looking NFL schedule.

The post "Two-a-Days: St. Louis Rams, 2010" was originally published at TSW.

The 2010 NFL Football season is approaching, which means it is time for our first edition of this season’s NFL Power Rankings!

Don’t be surprised by anything we have up here today, because as each and every NFL season continues to prove, these things are in what one might call a “fluid situation.”

So before the NFL schedule is underway and games are actually being played, we though we’d give you some insight into how we see things entering the 2010 season. Here it is, our preseason NFL Power Rankings for the 2010 season!

1. Indianapolis Colts – The Colts come back with essentially the same squad as last year. The only difference is the health of their players, of which the wide receivers are good to go, the offensive line is banged up, and Bob Sanders and Dwight Freeney should be ready to play. This Colts team ought to be just as good as last year, so the only questions are, did every other NFL team catch up to them, and will the 2010 NFL schedule be kind unto the Colts?

2. New Orleans Saints – I know they are the Super Bowl champions, but I can’t put a team without any defense at the top of the initial NFL Power Rankings. Sure, they managed to win a Super Bowl without playing superb defense, and I’m sure they CAN do it again—but I wouldn’t bet on it. So while I like the Saints offense and Drew Brees, they are going to need to some help from the other side of the ball if they are going to repeat as NFL champions.

3. Cincinnati Bengals – That’s right! The Bengals got a bump up in our rankings. The hell with chemistry! This squad is full of stars that know how to make plays. With Terrell Owens, Chad Johnson, Jermaine Gresham and Antonio Bryant catching passes, Carson Palmer should have a field day against the rest of the league. The biggest benefactor is Cedric Benson, who just may rush for 1,500 yards with all of the pressure that got taken off his back by the additions to the Bengals receiving core.

4. Green Bay Packers – Brett Favre or not, the Packers could be better than the Vikings this season. Yet of course, if I account for any chance that Favre may not play, I have to put the Packers ahead; especially given how well the Packers played outside of their two games against the Vikings in 2009. Allegedly, the offensive line will protect Aaron Rodgers a lot better in 2010, and the defense now has a full year under the 3-4 scheme. This team is prime to make a move to the top of the division and the NFC Conference for years to come, and 2010 just may be their time.

5. Minnesota Vikings – The Vikings need Favre; otherwise, they can kiss this top-10 ranking goodbye. I love Sage Rosenfels and all, but he’s not throwing 30 touchdown passes and putting the Vikings on his back. He might be able to get the Vikings to 10 wins, and he could even help them win the division. But playoff wins are a whole other animal, and Rosenfels just won’t get it done for the Vikings on that accord.

6. Dallas Cowboys – The Cowboys have their best team in years. With the emergence of WR Miles Austin, the Cowboys know who they are on offense. Defensively, they have a pass rush to die for, but they also have a secondary that could kill them. If they can sure that secondary up, they will be at the top of this list in no time.

7. New York Jets – Given the high-praise we gave to the New York Jets in our Two-a-Days segment, you might think I’m accounting for the possibility of a Darrelle Revis holdout. On the contrary, while the Jets have the talent to go all the way, QB Mark Sanchez still needs to prove himself. I need at least half a season before I can give the green light on the Jets as the best team in the NFL, so don’t expect the Jets to move too far up in these rankings before then.

8. Baltimore Ravens – I love the Ravens, just not as much as everybody else. The addition of Anquan Boldin makes them much better on offense, but that defense that everybody automatically overlooks has gotten old over the years. Sure, Ray Lewis can still play and Haloti Ngata is a beast, but they have a lot of holes in the secondary, and their linebacking core isn’t as vaunted as it once was when Rex Ryan was there.

9. San Diego Chargers – The Chargers either let go of let hold of several players this offseason, including LaDainian Tomlinson and three holdouts. The holdouts prevent the Chargers from being higher on this list, but the lack of a running game probably would have had them back down here anyway.

10. Atlanta Falcons – The Falcons are poised for a big year, if they can just hang tough early on in their NFL schedule. They have to play the Steelers to open, the Saints in Week 3, the Eagles in Week 6 and the Bengals in Week 7. After that, it gets a lot easier, with 6 out of 9 games against teams that didn’t make the NFL playoffs last year.

The rest of the 2010 NFL Power Rankings:

11. New England Patriots
12. Houston Texans
13. New York Giants
14. Tennessee Titans
15. Pittsburgh Steelers
16. Washington Redskins
17. Philadelphia Eagles
18. Miami Dolphins
19. Chicago Bears
20. San Francisco 49ers
21. Arizona Cardinals
22. Denver Broncos
23. Oakland Raiders
24. Jacksonville Jaguars
25. Seattle Seahawks
26. Kansas City Chiefs
27. Carolina Panthers
28. Detroit Lions
29. Tampa Bay Buccaneers
30. Cleveland Browns
31. Buffalo Bills
32. St. Louis Rams

The post "NFL Power Rankings: Preseason" was originally published at TSW.