Unfortunately, I became too busy during the semester to keep my blog up to date during this past semester. With the winter break here, I have time to get this going again, just in time for the postseason, no less.
This has been a very exciting season, and a surprising one, too. Of my preseason predictions of end-of-season records, I got just three teams correct: the Giants (9-7), the Redskins (5-11), and the Texans (10-6). I was close on several others. As for my playoff predictions, I was way off on a few, but I am pleased that I correctly predicted the top three seeds for the AFC playoffs; New England, Baltimore, and Houston, respectively.
2011 saw many let downs, breakout performances, and, of course, Tebow Time. The Eagles, or the ‘Dream Team’ as Vince Young famously titled them, stumbled out of the gate. It was too late for them, but they got on a roll at the end of the season, and with Reid returning next year they have some good momentum heading into offseason workouts.
The 49ers may have been the biggest surprise of the 2011 season. With no offseason to work with his team, Jim Harbaugh let San Francisco to not only their first playoff appearance, but also their first winning season since 2002. Alex Smith finally looked like a quarterback worth the first overall pick that he was back in 2005, and Ted Ginn, Jr. helped them start of the season with a win, returning a kickoff and a punt for touchdowns in the 4th quarter of their week one game against Seattle.
The Packers season got off to a hot start. But a recently Todd Haley-less Chiefs team outsmarted the Jennings-less Packers in week 15 to give Green Bay their first, and only, loss of the season. Not only that, but the winning quarterback was Kyle Orton, who led the Broncos to a 49-23 loss against the Packers eleven weeks earlier.
Meanwhile, the Broncos, after starting 1-4 with Kyle Orton starting, switched to Tim Tebow and won seven of their next eight games before losing their last three. But it was just enough to win the AFC West and their first playoff appearance since 2005.
The Colts never did get Peyton Manning back this season and went from being considered a Super Bowl contender before the season to a 2-14 season and owners of the #1 pick in the 2012 college draft.
Last year’s #1 pick, Cam Newton, made a strong case for rookie of the year, breaking all kinds of rookie records, including a few of Manning’s. He also set the all-time record for touchdown rushes by a quarterback in a single season.
His main competition comes from Bengals quarterback Andy Dalton, who had a pretty fantastic rookie season himself and has his team in the playoffs.
Von Miller, the rookie linebacker for Denver is almost certain to be the defensive rookie of the year, and is the one other individual who could give Newton a run for overall ROY in 2011. He was a major contributor to Denver’s excellent defensive efforts during the regular season and has already been awarded with a ticket to play in the Pro Bowl.
And, of course, there was one other major occurrence I would never live down not including in this post. On the day after Christmas, Dan Marino's 27-year-old passing record was finally broken by Drew Brees, who is now my favorite for league MVP, with Aaron Rodgers a close 2nd and Tom Brady a distant 3rd.
The postseason begins this Saturday. Interestingly enough, I am already excited for next season. In the meantime, I will do as I did last year and post predictions the day before each day of playoff games, so my next post will be on Friday.
Showing posts with label Kyle Orton. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Kyle Orton. Show all posts
Wednesday, January 4, 2012
Wednesday, August 17, 2011
First Impressions
Since it is only the preseason, I am not going to bother making predictions or giving in-depth recaps of any of the games (though weekly predictions is something I am adding this season).
However, I do want to give some of my first impressions on some potentially key quarterbacks in the NFL based on their performances in the first week of the season.
Neither Tom Brady nor Peyton Manning played in their teams’ preseason openers. Manning’s appearance without a jersey on the Colts’ sideline was to be expected, and he likely will not play at all this preseason as he continues to let his neck recover from corrective surgery). Brady’s absence from the playing field was very surprising, even to him, who did not even know until the team had arrived at the stadium that he and a small handful of other starters would not play against the Jaguars.
I got to watch the first few drives of the Browns/Packers game. Aaron Rodgers looked good, like he picked up nearly where he left off in the Super Bowl, with that lost step being attributed to it being preseason and having a shortened camp. Colt McCoy’s performance is what really impressed me. He might some very crisp passes into tight spots and everything was on the money. He left the game having gone 9/10 for 135 yards and a touchdown pass. Most notably, he threw no picks (he finished last season with 6 touchdowns to 9 interceptions).
Despite what many experts seemed to be saying, I thought Tim Tebow’s performance was pretty respectable against the Cowboys. He was not necessarily one of the standouts, but the contrast between my view and the views of most analysts on ESPN and NFL Network make me feel that his performance is worth mentioning. He was 6/7 for 91 yards. He did not look exceptionally comfortable, but he sure looked better than the projected Broncos starter, Kyle Orton, who was just 2/6 for 37 yards.
Staying on that game, Tony Romo, as usual, looked decent but did not impress, which I expected. However, Jon Kitna did not particularly impress me either, something I had not expected. Stephen McGee looked fine, and led the ‘Boys to a win, but he was playing against backups, so I would not dream of saying he should be the starter in Dallas. I will, however, say that I think Dallas has a tough decision ahead of them on who the starter would be. They will need to give both Romo and Kinta more than five passes in their game against the Chargers on Sunday.
It certainly looked like Kevin Kolb and Larry Fitzgerald were on the same page against the Raiders, but he did not look particularly sharp throwing the ball elsewhere. It will take some time to adjust to his new team, so nobody should be too concerned. If anything, it is a positive that Kolb has already apparently developed a bit of a rapport with the Cardinals’ best receiver.
Rex Grossman really stood out to me. The Redskins need a good quarterback if they want to have any shot at competing this year. I am still not convinced that he is the one, but he definitely made big strides toward be considered such in my mind. Granted he played the entire first half, and only the first drive against the Steelers starting defense, but on that drive he took the ‘Skins from their own 1-yard line to the Steelers’ 10-yard line, resulting in a missed 27-yard field goal attempt. Soon after he led an 82-yard drive for a touchdown, though against a second-string defense. Tim Hightower was the main attraction for Washington on the first drive, but Grossman made some nice passes. He made great passes later on, too, ones that I have no doubt would have been great against a first-string defense and a small handful that could have been big mistakes against a better defense. All in all, it was not a perfect outing, but a huge improvement from the final few games of the 2010 season.
Of course, I cannot close this out without mentioning the #1 overall draft pick in the 2011 NFL Draft, Cam Newton. He got plenty of playing time and went 8/19 for 134 yards. I cannot really speak too much on this subject, as I have not had the opportunity to see more than a couple of his good plays from their game against the Giants. However, those numbers do not particularly impress me. Though there is more to football than stats, and if you make the plays in key spots and do not in other times, you can still come away with a win. But, by and large, players who make plays have better stats than those posted by Cam Newton. He is a rookie, so he has to be given time to adjust, but he better not think that he is locked in as their starter in Carolina. Clausen wants a shot, and Anderson has been a starter before, granted in a terrible Browns offense, but he knows how good it feels to start and you better believe he will fight for that right again.
I will be back next week with a short recap of players who stood out to me in week 2 of the preseason.
However, I do want to give some of my first impressions on some potentially key quarterbacks in the NFL based on their performances in the first week of the season.
Neither Tom Brady nor Peyton Manning played in their teams’ preseason openers. Manning’s appearance without a jersey on the Colts’ sideline was to be expected, and he likely will not play at all this preseason as he continues to let his neck recover from corrective surgery). Brady’s absence from the playing field was very surprising, even to him, who did not even know until the team had arrived at the stadium that he and a small handful of other starters would not play against the Jaguars.
I got to watch the first few drives of the Browns/Packers game. Aaron Rodgers looked good, like he picked up nearly where he left off in the Super Bowl, with that lost step being attributed to it being preseason and having a shortened camp. Colt McCoy’s performance is what really impressed me. He might some very crisp passes into tight spots and everything was on the money. He left the game having gone 9/10 for 135 yards and a touchdown pass. Most notably, he threw no picks (he finished last season with 6 touchdowns to 9 interceptions).
Despite what many experts seemed to be saying, I thought Tim Tebow’s performance was pretty respectable against the Cowboys. He was not necessarily one of the standouts, but the contrast between my view and the views of most analysts on ESPN and NFL Network make me feel that his performance is worth mentioning. He was 6/7 for 91 yards. He did not look exceptionally comfortable, but he sure looked better than the projected Broncos starter, Kyle Orton, who was just 2/6 for 37 yards.
Staying on that game, Tony Romo, as usual, looked decent but did not impress, which I expected. However, Jon Kitna did not particularly impress me either, something I had not expected. Stephen McGee looked fine, and led the ‘Boys to a win, but he was playing against backups, so I would not dream of saying he should be the starter in Dallas. I will, however, say that I think Dallas has a tough decision ahead of them on who the starter would be. They will need to give both Romo and Kinta more than five passes in their game against the Chargers on Sunday.
It certainly looked like Kevin Kolb and Larry Fitzgerald were on the same page against the Raiders, but he did not look particularly sharp throwing the ball elsewhere. It will take some time to adjust to his new team, so nobody should be too concerned. If anything, it is a positive that Kolb has already apparently developed a bit of a rapport with the Cardinals’ best receiver.
Rex Grossman really stood out to me. The Redskins need a good quarterback if they want to have any shot at competing this year. I am still not convinced that he is the one, but he definitely made big strides toward be considered such in my mind. Granted he played the entire first half, and only the first drive against the Steelers starting defense, but on that drive he took the ‘Skins from their own 1-yard line to the Steelers’ 10-yard line, resulting in a missed 27-yard field goal attempt. Soon after he led an 82-yard drive for a touchdown, though against a second-string defense. Tim Hightower was the main attraction for Washington on the first drive, but Grossman made some nice passes. He made great passes later on, too, ones that I have no doubt would have been great against a first-string defense and a small handful that could have been big mistakes against a better defense. All in all, it was not a perfect outing, but a huge improvement from the final few games of the 2010 season.
Of course, I cannot close this out without mentioning the #1 overall draft pick in the 2011 NFL Draft, Cam Newton. He got plenty of playing time and went 8/19 for 134 yards. I cannot really speak too much on this subject, as I have not had the opportunity to see more than a couple of his good plays from their game against the Giants. However, those numbers do not particularly impress me. Though there is more to football than stats, and if you make the plays in key spots and do not in other times, you can still come away with a win. But, by and large, players who make plays have better stats than those posted by Cam Newton. He is a rookie, so he has to be given time to adjust, but he better not think that he is locked in as their starter in Carolina. Clausen wants a shot, and Anderson has been a starter before, granted in a terrible Browns offense, but he knows how good it feels to start and you better believe he will fight for that right again.
I will be back next week with a short recap of players who stood out to me in week 2 of the preseason.
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