Pre-Season Week 4 Look-back

Wow. “It’s about time” is all I can say about the Preseason finally ending. We had three games on Wednesday and 13 more yesterday and now week 4 of the 2012 preseason is in the books, figuratively. We can actually just throw that chapter out because now each team’s slate is wiped clean and games start counting next Wednesday when the Giants host the Cowboys.

Two teams probably would like if that weren’t the case, however. Philadelphia and Seattle both finished with 4-0 records in the Preseason. Conversely, the Dolphins, Bills and Jets all finished winless; in fact, the three AFC East teams were the only teams in the NFL to finish the Preseason without a victory. The Patriots won just one game.

Because this week of the Preseason featured very few expected Regular Season starters, I am not going to dive into any analysis on the 16 games played over the past couple days. Instead I will end today’s post here.

I will be publishing a new post each day leading up to next Wednesday’s season opener. Below is the schedule for those posts:

Saturday, Sept. 1 – 2012 Preseason Transactions

Sunday, Sept. 2 – Defining the 2012 Preseason - American Football Conference

Monday, Sept. 3 – Defining the 2012 Preseason - National Football Conference

Tuesday, Sept. 4 – 2012 NFL Predictions: Regular Season Week 1

Wednesday, Sept. 5 – NFL Preview: 2012 Season Opener

PROMOTION!!!

7 p.m. Wednesday, Aug. 29 marked the start of my first ever radio show. The All-Sports Crew, made up of me and two of my good friends, airs weekly. All three of us are very knowledgeable about several sports, we had a ton of fun putting on our first show, and, according to several people, were fun to listen to. Find us on Facebook at The All-Sports Crew and share the page with all your friends. We keep the page updated with various sports news that catches our eyes, various score updates, and information on upcoming shows. The page also has information on options for tuning in to our shows. So check it out, spread the word, and enjoy three fresh voices to the sports commentary scene.

In addition to the above promotion, let me remind you that you can show your support for my blog by liking its Facebook Page and by following me on Twitter @PuffontheNFL.

Thanks for reading, everybody! I hope you all are as excited about the upcoming NFL Regular Season as I am.

5 Things You Need to Know – Pre-Season Week 4

This is the final week of the preseason, and also the final week of 5 Things You Need to Know. Next week, heading into the first week of the regular season, I will begin counting down 10 topics.

1.            Only 7 days left before the season starts!

Yes, the regular season starts next Wednesday, not Thursday, as is tradition. The 2012 Democratic National Convention is Thursday, September 6, so the season opener, featuring the Cowboys and Giants in an NFC East showdown in New York, was moved to a day earlier.

2.            NFL transactions’ effects on Fantasy Football

This week tends to be one of the busiest in terms of teams signing and releasing players, understandably. Teams must finalize their 53-man rosters before the week ends, leading to the releases of particularly desirable fantasy players. Don’t jump ship too early, though. I drafted Billy Cundiff as a backup kicker in my fantasy draft. The Ravens released him and I immediately dropped him and went after Justin Tucker. Lucky for me, no one went after Cundiff and when the Redskins released Graham Gano and Neil Rackers to pick up Cundiff, I was able to get him back. You may not be so lucky, so before you drop players like Chris Cooley just because they were released, wait to see what their next move it. Although, if you picked up Terrell Owens in the draft, you should feel safe dropping him now. Even if another team picks him up, he won’t contribute to your season.

3.            Bill Belichick may have lost his mind

The Patriots play the New York Giants this week in their preseason finale, and have announced that many of their starters will get significant playing team in the game. Week 4 of the preseason is traditionally a game where the backups play almost the entire game so the coaches can get one more look at them before making final decisions on who to keep and who to cut. If the Patriots already know for sure most of these decisions, that’s fantastic for them, but this is still a dangerous decision.

The Giants have a sense of pride about playing the Patriots, and no doubt that pride has been injected into the backups. As if the Giants players didn’t have enough reason to give it their best this week – trying to lock down roster spots and all – they get to do so against their hated rival from just outside Boston. Belichick is asking for one of his starters to get hurt. If this turns out the way I envision it, at least all this ridiculous talk about Belichick’s name being added to the Lombardi Trophy should come to an end.

4.            Week 4 starts Today!!

The Patriots game I referenced above is today at 7:00 p.m. and is the start of a slate of three games being played tonight. The Redskins host the Buccaneers in their preseason finale at 7:00 as well, and the Dolphins play in Dallas at 8:30. The other 13 games of this week will all be played tomorrow, beginning at 6:30 with the Falcons and the Jaguars and running all the way into the early morning Friday, as the Cardinals host the Broncos with an 11:00 p.m. EDT start.

5.            My new radio show kicks of Tonight!!

I will be on WMUC College Park Radio, 88.1 FM, with two of my friends tonight from 7-8 p.m. We have been talking with each other about sports for a couple years now and have decided to take it to the radio this year, and tonight will be our first show. If you live in the College Park area, you can tune in on the radio. If you don’t live in the area, go to WMUC Sports and click the big red ‘Listen Live’ button. It will open up in iTunes and you can listen that way right from your computer. While my expertise is undoubtedly pro football, we all bring different interests, knowledge, and opinions to the table and will be talking about a wide range of sports, which should make for an interesting show, especially once we shake out all the cobwebs tonight. So be sure to tune in!

Thank you, as always, for reading. Enjoy the final week of preseason action. I can’t wait to get to my regular season posts next week. And be sure listen to WMUC radio tonight from 7-8 p.m. Follow my Twitter page and Like my Facebook page by finding their respective buttons on the side of this page to keep track of various updates throughout the upcoming football season.

Pre-Season Week 3 Look-back

Between moving in for my third year of college and some other stuff, I’ve been kept very busy the past week or so, which is why I never published a Things You Need to Know post leading into the third week of the preseason. I will try to publish one for this upcoming week tomorrow.

The Packers notched their first win of the preseason, beating the Bengals in Cincinnati on Thursday night. The Ravens and Titans won the other Thursday games, Baltimore blowing out Jacksonville at home and Tennessee edging the Cardinals by five points, also at home.

I missed most of the Friday action, which is a shame because there was a lot to miss. The Eagles are one game away from an undefeated preseason, while the Falcons got their first win this August while keeping the ‘Fins winless. Seattle is also undefeated in the preseason, with their latest victory a 44-14 humiliation of the Chiefs. Not much should be expected of Kansas City, but the Seahawks shouldn’t have taken them down that soundly.

The other two Friday games saw the Bears edge the Giants in New York and the Chargers stay unbeaten with a 12-10 win in Minnesota.

As a Redskins and a Colts fan, I’m sure you can imagine I thoroughly enjoyed their matchup on Sunday afternoon. RGIII bounced back nicely from an underwhelming performance against the Bears. Meanwhile Luck also played a great game, showing great presence and awareness. The shock for me was Rex Grossman going 8/8 for 127 yards and 2 scoring passes. Preseason or not, Colts backup defense or not, it was a shock to the system.

The other Saturday game saw the Saints host the Texans. The Saints got their second preseason win in four tries (they played in the Hall of Fame Game) in their 34-27 victory.

The third week was closed out on Sunday with the 49ers winning in Denver and the Panthers keeping the Jets winless by winning in New York.

For those of you in Maryland, especially around the College Park area, be sure to keep a look out for some posts on my blog’s Facebook and Twitter pages concerning an on-campus radio show I plan to do with a couple friends of mine. We have a meeting concerning the show this evening so hopefully we will be getting on air within the next week or two.

Thanks for reading, find me on Facebook and Twitter to keep up with my blog as I update it. I know my posts haven’t been the most interesting so far this preseason, mostly providing scores, but once the regular season rolls in and I can focus on starters without feeling like I need to mention backups and third stringers, these posts will get better.

Pre-Season Week 2 Look-back

We have reached the halfway point of the 2012 Pre-Season, but the Regular Season could not feel further away. Everybody loves the first couple games of the Pre-Season. But by this time we’ve seen all our teams’ players and are ready for the games to start counting. Maybe if the season ever expands to 18 games that will happen, but for now we have two more weeks to hunker down for before the chase for Super Bowl XLVII begins.

We had plenty of action this week, and the AFC North did well, winning three of their four games. It started on Thursday when both the Bengals and Browns won against teams that I have winning their respective divisions in the NFC. Cincinnati beat Atlanta by less than a touchdown, but the surprise was Cleveland’s 35-10 blowout win over Green Bay. Brandon Weeden did well, though he was fortunate to leave with no picks thrown after making a couple very poor decisions. The Packers’ biggest concern should probably be that their two leading rushers in the game were Aaron Rodgers (2 carries, 24 yards) and backup Quarterback Graham Harrell (3 carries, 23 yards).

All six games on Friday featured an NFC team taking on an AFC team, five of those games with the NFC team hosting. The NFC won four of the games, and three of their home games. Tennessee blew out the Buccaneers in Tampa and the Jaguars squeaked by the Saints in the Superdome for the only two AFC wins of the day.

Detroit played a great game in Baltimore, scoring 17 points in the second quarter behind a pair of touchdown passes by Matthew Stafford who went 12-17 for 184 yards. Five of those completions went to Calvin Johnson, who turned them into 111 yards and a score. The final in that game was 27-12 as Baltimore fell in the AFC’s only home game of the evening.

Carolina beat Miami at home and Minnesota got a home win against the Bills, but it was the late game that drew most of my attention on Friday. The Raiders didn’t have a very memorable game, though undrafted Wide Receiver Rod Streater did have a pretty good game. He only had 43 receiving yards, but they were on seven receptions. With Oakland’s other receivers struggling massively, he could be a fantasy dark horse. On the Cardinals’ side, Kevin Kolb looked terrible. John Skelton looked good, but he only threw three passes. He completed all three of them, one of them going for a touchdown, but Ken Whisenhunt pulled him out immediately after his third completion like he was scared something would happen that would ruin it, so it’s a bit early to jump on his fantasy bandwagon.

The Jets couldn’t wait to play the Giants, and they got that chance, and wasted it, on Saturday as the defending Super Bowl Champions got a 26-3 win as the Jets played as the home team. The Jets had been trying to make a case for being New York’s team over the past few seasons, and though this is only the Pre-Season, last year’s regular season win by the Giants, and of course the Giants Super Bowl XLVI win have pretty much skewered that notion.

The Redskins came back with a very impressive fourth quarter by Kirk Cousins, who you have to think has proven that he should move past Rex Grossman to #2 on Washington’s depth chart. It wasn’t quite enough as the Bears still got a 33-31 win at home, but it was something positive after RGIII struggled for most of the first half.

Houston won at home against San Francisco, but the 49ers shouldn’t be too worried yet. Only playing in one half, we can’t expect too much out of Alex Smith in the Pre-Season. The 49ers will be fine once their first team is playing entire games. Sam Bradford looked good in St. Louis’ win over Kansas City. He only threw nine passes but completed six of them for over 100 yards and two touchdowns.

Denver backed up their 31-3 week 1 win in Chicago with a 30-10 loss at home against the Seahawks, showing severe inconsistency. Manning looked good in his second outing, but did throw a pair of picks. His accuracy is mostly there, but he is still not 100% when trying to stretch the defense with downfield throws. Dallas’ first team offense still didn’t look very good this week. They scored 10 points in the first half, which isn’t terrible, but you hope for more. Their first team defense, however, looked great. After the team shut out the Raiders last week, the Cowboys’ first team defense blanked San Diego’s first team offense. The Chargers won the game thanks to 21 fourth quarter points.

Andrew Luck didn’t do great, but he didn’t do badly either. It is all a learning experience for the rookie quarterback. He threw his first interception and was sacked for the first time in his team’s visit to Pittsburgh, but there was plenty to like, too. He completed 16 of 25 passes for 175 yards. He also scored a touchdown on a triple option run.

Last night was the final game of the week as the Patriots hosted the Eagles. Tom Brady didn’t play at all – Belichick rested him and a few other players as last night’s game marked the start of a 3-game-in-10-day stretch. Michael Vick sustained a hit on his ribs that knocked him out of the game. It was the second week in a row he left with an injury, though the X-rays came back negative for the second straight time. The good news for the Eagles is that Nick Foles did well in backing up Vick, going 18-28 for 217 yards and a pair of scoring throws against the Patriots’ first team defense. The Eagles went on to win 27-17.

This week action begins on Thursday again, but the last games will be played on Sunday, so my next look-back will be next Monday. Tomorrow I will post this week’s Things You Need to Know, so keep a lookout for that. Thanks for reading everyone!

5 Things You Need to Know – Pre-Season Week 2

I’m going to try and stray from the obvious. There of course will be things I bring up in these posts that people already know, but hopefully for every reader there will be at least one or two topics I mention each week that are news to them. But I will stay away from common knowledge (e.g., Chad Johnson being arrested and then cut from the Dolphins is not in my list).

1.            Witten, Harrison Could be out for Season Opener

Two announcements were made concerning injuries that could keep two star players out of their teams’ season openers in a few weeks. Cowboys TE Jason Witten has a spleen injury that will likely keep him out for the rest of the pre-season and could carry past then, so if he is on your fantasy draft list, either bump him down or be prepared to draft another Tight End to use for the first week or so of the season.

Steelers LB James Harrison had knee surgery today. He has had some issues with his left knee for some time and the team felt it was important to have the procedure done now. According to NFL.com, Mike Tomlin called the surgery ‘minor,’ but didn’t say how long he will be out. Harrison is just one part of a very, very good defensive group, but is important nonetheless. I wouldn’t strain yourself grabbing a high-ranking backup defense to begin the fantasy season, but be prepared for slightly lower numbers for the first week or two. Hopefully your other players can pick up the slack.

2.            Ball with Synthetic Laces to be used this Week

If you have been on NFL.com, you may have already seen this story, and I will link to the story in just a moment, but for those who don’t feel like following it, here is the gist of the story.

High school and college football games use footballs with synthetic laces, while the NFL uses leather laces. The difference may not seem substantial, but the way a quarterback has the grip the ball and how he has to release the ball changes based on that material. For most of us, the difference isn’t significant, but at the professional level, where the best of the best reside, the difference most certainly is.

The NFL is calling it an experiment for this week of the preseason. Teams have the option of which ball to practice with, and also which to play with in the games (at the discretion of whichever offensive unit is on the field). Despite the voluntary nature of the ball’s use, many passers throughout the league have been complaining because they have experienced issues from using the synthetic laces and are concerned the NFL may be trying to make these balls used permanently.

NFL.com, Synthetic Laces Trial

3.            Maurice Jones-Drew Still not with Jaguars

MJD is still holding out from the Jaguars, and while he was probably the best running back in the game last year, fans are, rightly so, steadily moving him down their fantasy draft boards. Remember that Chris Johnson held out all the way until the start of the season last year. His stats last year? 300 fewer yards than he had in a poor 2010 effort, only 4 touchdown rushes, down from 14 in 2009 and 11 in 2010, and no receiving touchdowns, a first in his career. Hopefully the impact this holdout has on Jones-Drew won’t be as devastating, but without playing time in practice and games during this pre-season, he will be coming in well behind the curve at the start of the season.

4.            Green Bay Defense just cannot catch a Break

Two years ago the Packers had around 13 defensive players on IR by the time they played in, and won, Super Bowl XLV over the Steelers. Last year they had a few top defensive players lost to injury, finished dead last in the NFL in total defense, but went 15-1 in the regular season before dropping their divisional round playoff game to the Giants.

This year, trying to right the ship and better compliment their top-notch offense will not be easy, especially with Desmond Bishop suffering an injury, which will almost certainly be season-ending, in their pre-season opener against the Chargers. The best we can do is cross our fingers and hope no more bad luck comes their way.

5.            Saints Opening Day Coach still Unnamed

We have just three pre-season games left to play before the Saints host the Washington Redskins in the first week of the 2012 regular season. Joe Vitt is going to be the Saints’ head coach while Sean Payton serves his season-long suspension from the NFL, but Vitt has a 6-game suspension of his own to serve at the start of this regular season, and we still don’t know who will be coaching in his stead during those critical first seven weeks (their bye is in week 6).

Looking on ESPN.com today, they have three names that are at the top of their list: Aaron Kromer, the offensive line coach, Pete Carmichael, the offensive coordinator, and Steve Spagnuolo, the defensive coordinator. I won’t try and predict who will be coaching during the first several weeks, but while ESPN seems to think Kromer is the front-runner, I think it will be near suicide to not go with Spagnuolo. I think he did a great job in St. Louis considering what he had going in and the detrimental injuries his team sustained last season, most notably to Sam Bradford and Steven Jackson. The Rams may have upgraded, but so did the Saints, and with a much better team, I think Spagnuolo is the right man for the temporary job.

I will likely post a brief blog later this week/weekend about my thoughts on the Madden ’13 demo, which dropped yesterday. As for my NFL writing, I am done until next Tuesday. Thank you for reading and enjoy the second week of the pre-season!

Pre-Season Week 1 Look-back

I know we already had the Hall of Fame game, but I have never truly considered it a pre-season game, more like a pre- pre-season game. We finally got our fill with a full slate of NFL action this past weekend (Thursday-Monday), and it was very fulfilling, for me at least.

We got things kicked off with six games on Thursday, beginning with Robert Griffin III’s debut as the Redskins visited Buffalo (quick side note, I think the best thing the Redskins could have done and didn’t, when Nike took over uniform production, would have been to use it as an opportunity to put the classic ‘R’ back on their helmets). RGIII didn’t disappoint and made the most of his limited action, throwing the only touchdown of the game for either side while taking 14 snaps over three drives.

Baltimore beat Atlanta handily, but not before Julio Jones made all fantasy football players aware of his potential (6 catches, 100+ yards and a TD in just a quarter of playing time). The Patriots narrowly beat the Hall of Fame Game winners, the Saints, 7-6 as Brady wasn’t protected well and Brees just went 1-4 in his short outing.

Philly and Pittsburgh played a close one, with the Eagles taking a 24-23 victory at home. Green Bay struggled a bit against San Diego, losing 21-13. The Chargers had their own bad news, however, as Ryan Matthews went down with an injury that could keep him out past the season opener.

And, of course, Peyton Manning made his return to the field. He looked good, not great, but very solid as he only played in one drive, and drove the length of the field before a tipped pass was picked off near the goal line. Denver’s backups got the job done, though, and they handily beat the Bears in Chicago, 31-3.

Friday saw another six games played. Mark Sanchez and Tim Tebow didn’t look terrible, but neither was able to get points up as Cincinnati won at home. Cleveland beat Detroit, 19-17, reminding us how silly it is to care about pre-season football; wins tend to mean a bit less when it’s your second and third string players who are better than the other team’s second and third stringers.

Jacksonville inched by the Giants, 32-31. Jordan Palmer, Carson’s younger brother, got a fair amount of playing time for the Jaguars. Tampa Bay beat the Dolphins soundly, shortly before Miami parted ways with Chad Johnson. Kansas City beat Arizona at home and the 49ers, also at home, earned a 17-6 victory over Minnesota.

The weekend saw a bit less action as the week wound down. The Texans beat Carolina, 26-13. Cam Newton was a little shaky throwing it in his pre-season opener, but he ripped off a 15-yard run on one of his two carries. The other Saturday game saw the newly swagged-out Seahawks notch a 10-point win over the Titans.

The only Sunday game saw the bottom two teams from the 2011 season, the Colts, who had the 1^st overall pick in the draft, and the Rams, who got several draft picks in trading their 2^nd overall pick to the Redskins. The Colts showed no mercy in their 38-3 blowout. Andrew Luck’s first pass went for a 63-yard touchdown, though it was only completed a few yards down field. The team would score touchdowns on three of his four drives as he went 10-16 with 188 yards and a pair of TDs.

Week 1 closed with a very different, 3-0 win by the Cowboys in Oakland. It is only pre-season, and kinks can be worked out, but neither team looked comfortable, or particularly good. I don’t want to analyze too prematurely, but both teams could be in for a long season based on what we saw from them and from the teams they will be facing in the regular season.

Like me on Facebook at www.facebook.com/cpuffnfl and follow me on Twitter @PuffontheNFL. Tomorrow I will post the coming week’s Top Things to Know and Pre-Season Week 2 will kick off Thursday with the Bengals playing in Atlanta and the Packers hosting the Browns.

Until then, thanks for reading!

2012 Preseason Week 1 Update

During the six months I took off from writing this blog I have been thinking of what I can do differently this year, or at least of something extra I can do with my blog. What I came up with is a weekly post, to be published every Wednesday, which outlines the top 10 most important things I believe you need to know heading into the upcoming week.

Some of these things could be news updates from around the league that I found interesting; some may be what to look out for during the upcoming week’s games. I may even included fantasy alerts, such as players who had breakout games the previous week who I think could have repeat performances, or who were one hit wonders, as well as other players who seemed to under-perform but could be poised to break out in the upcoming week. Just stay tuned to see what I include each week.

I would like to start today to get a feel for how I want to do this, and so you all can get an idea of whether this is a weekly post you think it is worth it for me to continue to write. I will only have five topics for this week.

5 Things You Need to Know

5.            Fantasy Football 2012

I’ll go ahead and start with a fantasy update, even though it doesn’t really mean much yet. The season is coming up soon and even though most drafts will not take place until near the end of the preseason, the next four weeks are an excellent opportunity to keep an eye on which players could do as well as they did last year and which ones may not perform up to the same level. Also keep a close eye on injuries to impact players that could hamper them all season so you know to avoid them during your league’s draft.

4.            Andrew Luck, Robert Griffin III set for NFL debuts

Luck and Griffin III will get national spotlight attention as a part of the NFL for the first time since the 2012 NFL Draft. We can assume they will each get to play a couple series in their teams’ preseason openers.

The Redskins play in Buffalo Thursday at 7 p.m. The nation will get its first view of what RGIII can do against an NFL defense. We will also see whether Rex Grossman has made any improvement over the offseason and what kind of quarterback Kirk Cousins really is (everything I have heard is that he could be the next Matt Flynn, not that we know for sure what that means yet).

The Colts play their preseason opener at home against the Rams Sunday at 1:30 p.m. In addition to Luck, Colts fans hope to see a backup quarterback who the team can actually rely on if the need should present itself, as opposed to no one of note backing up Peyton Manning for the past decade.

3.            Green Bay Packers injury concerns

The Packers are in the news for two reasons this week. The concerning one is their injury situation. They will sit 11 players from their game in San Diego on Thursday, including Greg Jennings. None of the injuries seem to be particularly severe, but so many injuries before they’ve even played a game against another team has to have the team a little nervous heading into the season. It certainly makes me a bit nervous about my pick to have them in the Super Bowl.

2.            T.O. in Seattle

He still has to get through the preseason before he makes the final roster, but Terrell Owens is back in the NFL thanks to Pete Carroll and the Seattle Seahawks. With reports coming out of Seattle that Matt Flynn has been doing very well, could Owens be just what the ‘Hawks need to make a push for a wild-card spot this postseason? I’m not convinced that Randy Moss will make a huge impact for the 49ers this year, so I’m definitely not feeling that T.O. will make too much noise in Seattle; but you never know until the season gets underway.

1.            First woman on the field during an NFL Game

Shannon Eastin will make history as the first woman to officiate an NFL game by doing so when the Packers take on the San Diego Chargers this Thursday evening. She will serve as the line judge for the game, which makes me slightly less nervous than I was to begin with, but my nervousness was for nothing as it was. Eastin is a six-time national judo champion who began training at the US Olympic Training Center when she was 11 years old, making her the youngest person to do so. She has also been a football official for nearly two decades, most recently in the MEAC, an FCS collegiate football division. The Green Bay/San Diego game will be on national television, and I will be flipping between that and the Redskins game Thursday night.

Hopefully this sort of post is worth writing. Any suggestions, either on how to improve this or even of better ideas for me to try out, are always welcome. Also, if you like the content I have in my blog posts, please help give my blog more attention by sharing posts on Facebook, or by ‘liking’ my blog’s Facebook page and suggesting the page to your friends as well. You can also follow me on Twitter, @PuffontheNFL. Enjoy the first week of the preseason. I will be back with another post soon, most likely next Tuesday, the day after the final game of the week.

2012-13 Postseason Predictions, Part III: NFC Playoff Picture

My predictions for the AFC have already been posted, so here are my NFC Playoff predictions. This post will include my Super Bowl XLVII prediction.

NFC Postseason

1.            Green Bay Packers (13-3) – NFC North Champion, Home Field Advantage

The Packers stumbled in the playoffs last year in a game I actually predicted them to lose. But I don’t think that was a foreshadowing of future troubles for this team. I don’t think they’ll make a long undefeated run this year, but that may make this an even better 13-3 than their 15-1 record was last year. They won’t feel the same pressure and they will enter the postseason much more relaxed. But this team is just as good as they were last year and the only thing that I see keeping them from the top of this conference is multiple catastrophic injuries.

2.            San Francisco 49ers (12-4) – NFC West Champion, 1st Round Bye

This team’s defense is what gives me some level of confidence in this pick. I am a bit nervous about their offense. I liked their additions of Brandon Jacobs and Mario Manningham this offseason; Jacobs will give the 49ers a legitimate backup they can turn to in order to keep Frank Gore well rested, but it remains to be seen how much Manningham will be able to do, and it has nothing to do with him. Last year Alex Smith was good - not very good, not great, just good. What he did very well was limit turnovers, but with the confidence he almost certainly gained from the team’s conference championship appearance, will he take more chances this year? If he does, expect more interceptions, and that could keep San Francisco from the number two spot in the conference. Still, I don’t think any other team in the division can touch them, so they’ll still get in the playoffs regardless.

3.            Philadelphia Eagles (11-5) – NFC East Champion

They may still consider themselves the ‘Dream Team,’ but while I do think they’ll make some noise this year, I don’t think they will sprint away with the division. This is a team full of athleticism. Last year I saw what I repeatedly called a lack of talent. Clearly every player on the team knows how to play football, but they could not seem to find a way to play as one unit until the latter part of the season, and I consider the ability to work as one with your teammates as the number one indicator of a high level of football talent. Considering how they closed the season, and the athleticism present on this team, they should find their way into the postseason.

4.            Atlanta Falcons (11-5) – NFC South Champion

I think the Saints will do well considering what they are going up against this year, but I also think the Falcons will take advantage of whatever they can to pull out the division championship. I’m still waiting for Matt Ryan to ditch the ‘Ice’ moniker, but they still have so much talent on defense and around Ryan on offense that I really think they can get it done.

5.            Detroit Lions (11-5) – 2nd Place NFC North, Wild Card

This year will be an interesting one for Detroit. With all the offseason arrests this year, the Lions were hit the hardest. They even cut a player after being arrested for the second time since the 2011-12 season ended. What keeps them among the best for me is Jim Schwartz. He has really brought that team out of the depths of Detroit and into the limelight and I think that within the next 5 years he should have this franchise making it’s first ever Super Bowl appearance.

6.            New Orleans Saints (9-7) – 2nd Place NFC South, Wild Card

Picking the Saints actually wasn’t as difficult a decision as some might think. I certainly was not going to give the Cowboys the nod. They didn’t really show me anything last season to suggest that they could make the run this year, so they have a lot to prove to me before I doubt them any less. I think the Bears could have a nice run, but it is very tough for a third team in a single division to make the postseason, especially when both of the other teams win 11+ games and you don’t manage 10. Drew Brees was the NFL Offensive Player of the Year in 2011 for good reason. I truly felt that he should have been the MVP last year. There are so many offensive weapons on this team, and even though Vilma will be gone for at least 8 games if not the full season, the defense is still good and I am confident that Steve Spagnuolo is going to be fantastic for that unit.

Rest of the Conference

I already mentioned the Cowboys and Bears and why I don’t think they will make it. The Bears have some things going for them, including Jay Cutler and Matt Forte. The Cowboys could certainly prove me wrong, and they are my third favorite to do so. I think the Giants are more likely to sneak in than the Cowboys. They have a very good team, and last year Eli more than proved that he was not crazy to call himself elite. I love the Redskins, but they are still at least a year, probably two years, from being a pre-season contender for a postseason appearance.

The Vikings have Jared Allen, but do we even know for sure who their starting quarterback will be? I mean, sure everyone assumed Christian Ponder will be the man, but what about Webb? He certainly seemed to earn some consideration, but I don’t think either is the man to carry this team to the next level.

I cannot imagine the Panthers will not improving this year, but will they claw their way into the playoffs? I don’t think this will be the season, but they will win a couple more games than they did in 2011. I like the Bucs’ hire of Greg Schiano from Rutgers but, as with most college coaches, I think he will struggle more than most rookie players during his first year or two. The five wins I gave them might even be considered generous by season’s end.

To call anyone else in the NFC West a serious contender is ludicrous. The Rams have the best chance assuming Bradford and Jackson stay healthy, but mostly because of Jeff Fisher. The Seahawks will continue to be pretenders, but not even good ones this year. As for the Cardinals, Kolb is going to be feeling that injured rib for the rest of the season, and Skelton will not be able to take this team anywhere, but then I didn’t think Kolb would be able to either – after all, I did predict their 5-11 record before the Hall of Fame Game began.

Preliminary Playoff Predictions

This is the first year that I have done this. In my last post I made my preliminary predictions for the AFC Playoffs. This one will have my predictions for the NFC Playoffs and for the Super Bowl, which will feature the New England Patriots, who I chose to win the AFC Conference Championship at the end of my last post.

NFC Wild Card

New Orleans Saints @ Philadelphia Eagles

It seems that when teams have a family member of an important person within the organization pass away, their level of play elevates in the most important games. With Coach Reid’s son passing Sunday morning, you can bet the season will be dedicated to him and to Andy Reid. The Saints, meanwhile, will be playing without Sean Payton, which will make a big difference in a playoff game.

Detroit Lions @ Atlanta Falcons

The Falcons have been nearly impossible to beat at home the past two regular seasons, having lost only 3 times over that span – twice to the Saints and once last year to the 15-1 Green Bay Packers. I don’t think they’ll do any worse this year and Detroit will lose their postseason opener to a NFC South opponent for the second year in a row.

NFC Divisional Playoffs

Atlanta Falcons @ Green Bay Packers

The Pack have had the Falcons number the past couple seasons, and playing at home will only greaten their advantage.

Philadelphia Eagles @ San Francisco 49ers

Ditto on what I said above for the Eagles, and as I also said above about the 49ers, I could see a few mistakes on chances taken by their quarterback coming back to haunt them in a game like this.

NFC Championship Game

Philadelphia Eagles @ Green Bay Packers

I hate to pick the top seed from both conferences to go to the Super Bowl. However, again as I said before, this could be a Packers team playing with much less pressure on their shoulders this year. They are no longer the defending Super Bowl Champions; they also won’t be undefeated for nearly as long this year as they were last season.

Super Bowl XLVII in New Orleans, LA

New England Patriots @ Green Bay Packers

Yes, I know the Packers would not be playing at home, but the NFC is the designated home team in odd-numbers Super Bowls, so that explains that.

Part of me really thinks the Packers could pull this one out, and they really could. But I love NFL history and, though I probably go back to the leagues history a bit more than is healthy, I have to point out that Brady has not lost a Conference Championship Game or a Super Bowl against a team quarterbacked by someone with a last name other than Manning. Of course, he also has not won a Super Bowl since 2004-05 so maybe I just cannot predict this game so early. But let’s just go ahead and note that my pre-season Super Bowl favorite is the Pats over the Pack.

Thanks again to all of you who read this. Hopefully you thought it was good, and if so be sure to recommend my blog to your friends. You can also follow my blog’s Twitter page and ‘like’ its Facebook profile by seeing the links on the side of this page. Enjoy the 2012-13 NFL Season, and be sure to check back for updates, which will be posted to both my Twitter and Facebook pages.

2012-13 Postseason Predictions, Part II: AFC Playoff Picture

Sunday evening, shortly before the Hall of Fame Game opened action in the 2012 NFL season, I made predictions for end-of-season standings across the league. Today my focus is on the AFC postseason, so let’s get to it.

AFC Postseason

1.            New England Patriots (15-1) – AFC East Champion, Home Field Advantage

This was a fairly easy pick for me, maybe a bit too easy. To make my season standings predictions, I predicted the outcome of every game of the NFL season (of course, those predictions may not be the same as all my predictions during the season). As I passed the halfway point of the season and the Patriots were still undefeated, I began looking to give them losses, but couldn’t justify more than one. The only thing that may hold them back is that they seem to be over-stacked at certain positions, especially tight end. Although, considering the way they used the position last year, that might not be a disadvantage.

2.            Pittsburgh Steelers (12-4) – AFC North Champion, 1st Round Bye

Ravens or Steelers? That is the biggest question in my mind as we head into this season. Which one is going to pull out a division that sent three teams to the postseason in 2011? I think the Steelers have the edge, and I’ll give the main reason in just a few moments. The Steelers could just as easily fall out of contention this year, but there is something about this team that screams out that they will be around for a few more years as serious contenders within this league. They are just two years removed from a Super Bowl appearance, and it took another miraculous installment of Tebow Time to pave their exit from the 2011 NFL playoffs. Don’t expect them to drop off the face of the league anytime soon.

3.            Houston Texans (12-4) – AFC South Champion

Last year we saw how dangerous a team the Texans can be, and we saw them complete their playoff push with an inexperienced rookie under center. I really like T.J. Yates and think he could be a very good starter one day, but you have to be scared to face this team with Matt Schaub back from his season ending foot injury that placed him on IR with seven weeks left in the 2011 regular season. This may not be a great team, but with the division they are in, I have no doubt they can win 12 games, and less than 10 wins would make this a failure of a season for Houston in my mind.

4.            Denver Broncos (10-6) – AFC West Champion

It’s hard to count out Peyton Manning, whether he is at full strength or not. He is such a smart quarterback that he could be half as strong as he was before his injury and he would still be one of the top 5 quarterbacks in the league today. But besides Manning, this is a team that made the playoffs in 2011-12 with Tim Tebow bringing them back from a 1-4 start to the season. Whether Tebow is ‘baby Jesus’ or not, if that team believed that Tebow could bring them back from that kind of start, imagine what they believe Manning can do with them. I don’t have them starting off well (I don’t think they’ll win a game until week 4), but they have such an easy schedule in the second half of the season that a playoff appearance should be easy.

5.            Baltimore Ravens (12-4) – 2nd Place AFC North, Wild Card

So, why did I pick the Steelers over the Ravens in the AFC North? Ultimately it came down to the early season. I think there are teams, including the Bengals, who may be able to pull of upsets against the Ravens early in the season. It doesn’t help the Ravens’ cause that Terrell Suggs, the 2011 Defensive Player of the Year, will be out for a while. He claims he’ll be back in November, but who knows if he’ll be back at all. It could be a much bigger hit than many Ravens fans realize. I do think they have a good chance to pull out the same record as Pittsburgh, but it will be the division record that forces Baltimore to play during the first weekend of the postseason.

6.            San Diego Chargers (10-6) – 2nd Place AFC West, Wild Card

The Chargers are the absolute opposite of the Broncos. I have them rushing out to a 7-2 start to the season before falling apart down the stretch, which seems to be their M.O. This team is too good, and has been together too long, to continue missing the playoffs. I have to believe they can make it. Unfortunately, the team’s history isn’t going to give them any confidence, and their head coach hasn’t seemed to be the best for them recently, so they will have a lot to fight against.

Rest of the Conference

I honestly don’t have one this year for the AFC. The six teams I’ve already named should be the favorites to be playing in January. There are teams who made strides last year, like the Bills and Dolphins, who could certainly upset my predictions, but neither has a schedule particularly conducive to that. The Jets could be much better than I predict them to be, but Sanchez isn’t going to take them anywhere and, as much as I like the guy, I find it difficult that Tebow can be as miraculous as he was in 2011, so I don’t think a wild card spot will go to an AFC East team.

I really hope Andy Dalton doesn’t fall into the all-to-common sophomore setbacks, but the Bengals don’t have an exceptionally easy schedule either. The Browns won’t do much either.

I am confident that neither the Jaguars nor the Titans will do much this year, though of the two the Titans would be more likely to surprise me. The big question mark is the Colts. They don’t have a lot to love, but who knows if Andrew Luck could come in and be as good or better than Cam Newton was next year, and I’m confident that the Colts have more to offer than the Panthers did last year.

The Chiefs have no prayer in my mind. The only team in the entire AFC that I’m seriously nervous that I underscored is the Raiders. I don’t particularly like them as postseason contenders, but they are the one team that I think could shake things up in the conference.

Preliminary Playoff Predictions

I’ve never done this in past years; I have always waited until the playoffs began to make predictions. I will still make those predictions weekly when the time comes, but I wanted to try something new this year so I will make preliminary predictions. My Super Bowl XLVII predictions will be at the end of my NFC Playoffs post.

AFC Wild Card

San Diego Chargers @ Houston Texans

The Chargers have a little more experience in games of this nature, but assuming their key players remain healthy, I have little doubt that the Texans will be the overwhelming favorite in this matchup. I don’t expect the Chargers offense to be the most consistent entity, and I think that will heavily favor a Texans defense that might be even better than they were last year, considering Wade Phillips has had an entire offseason to work with it this time around. I also believe the Chargers defense will be no match for a healthy Texans offense.

Baltimore Ravens @ Denver Broncos

This is a surprisingly tough matchup to pick. Peyton has had Baltimore’s number throughout his career, but this would come against a potentially stronger Ravens team than any he’s faced before, and it would come with a Broncos team that he had less than a year to become comfortable with.

AFC Divisional Playoffs

Baltimore Ravens @ New England Patriots

If Suggs is healthy by January, this becomes a very interesting matchup, but without him, I don’t see the Ravens defense as one that can easily slow down New England, and certainly not in a game played in Foxboro.

Houston Texans @ Pittsburgh Steelers

Not everyone feels the same way I do, but this is just how much I like the Texans chances this year. I think the Steelers will be a better team this year than they were last year, but I think they’ll still be inconsistent enough for a strong Texans team to take advantage.

AFC Championship Game

Houston Texans @ New England Patriots

Like when I was making my regular season standings predictions, I want to give the win to Houston here. But I can’t justify the Patriots losing, even to a strong, healthy Texans team, and certainly not at home in Foxboro against a dome team.

As I mentioned before, I will include my Super Bowl prediction at the end of my NFC Playoffs post. Thank you for reading!

2012-13 Postseason Predictions, Part I: Final Regular Season Standings

Hello everyone, and welcome back to football! It has been a long off-season and I’ve been avoiding ESPN so that I could truly get away from the NFL for awhile and focus on other sports, from my two favorite teams among the leaders in their respective leagues within the MLB to watching extensive coverage of the 2012 Tour de France and the 2012 London Olympics.

I am now well rested and ready to dive back into the wonderful world of the National Football League, and with tonight’s Hall of Fame Game between the Arizona Cardinals and the New Orleans Saints just moments away, I have my predictions for the final regular season standings for the 2012 NFL season.

My postseason predictions are still a few days away (I had to rush to try and complete this in time for tonight’s game), but I’ll have both done before the first official preseason game, between the Bills and Redskins, begins at 7 p.m. Thursday.

Here are my 2012 NFL final standings predictions:

AFC

AFC East

Buffalo Bills (7-9)

Miami Dolphins (7-9)

New England Patriots (15-1)

New York Jets (6-10)

AFC North

Baltimore Ravens (12-4)

Cincinnati Bengals (5-11)

Cleveland Browns (3-13)

Pittsburgh Steelers (12-4)

AFC South

Houston Texans (12-4)

Indianapolis Colts (7-9)

Jacksonville Jaguars (5-11)

Tennessee Titans (5-11)

AFC West

Denver Broncos (10-6)

Kansas City Chiefs (3-13)

Oakland Raiders (4-12)

San Diego Chargers (10-6)

NFC

NFC East

Dallas Cowboys (9-7)

New York Giants (8-8)

Philadelphia Eagles (11-5)

Washington Redskins (7-9)

NFC North

Chicago Bears (9-7)

Detroit Lions (11-5)

Green Bay Packers (13-3)

Minnesota Vikings (7-9)

NFC South

Atlanta Falcons (11-5)

Carolina Panthers (8-8)

New Orleans Saints (9-7)

Tampa Bay Buccaneers (5-11)

NFC West

Arizona Cardinals (5-11)

San Francisco 49ers (12-4)

Seattle Seahawks (4-12)

St. Louis Rams (5-11)

By Thursday I will have predictions concerning the postseason, including which 9-7 team in the NFC I predict to be playing in January, as well as which teams I believe could upset my picks, or even blow them out of the water, on the way to a surprising 2012-13 playoff run.

As always I appreciate all of you reading this. As I continue to work on improving my writing style, it is having all of you read these posts that keeps me motivated to continue writing this blog. I hope you continue to read my work and of course comments, both positive and critical, are very much appreciated. Enjoy the NFL Season!!