2013 NFL Offseason

Peyton Manning was one of the biggest offseason stories in 2012.
What stories will share the spotlight in 2013?
Photo credit to Bustasports.

First I would like to thank everyone for reading my updates throughout the 2012 regular season and playoffs. Since September my blog has had over 9,900 page views after getting just 2,000 over the previous two NFL seasons combined. My blog posts show up regularly on Bing and Yahoo searches now, and Google is gradually getting me hits as well. So continue your support by reading my updates throughout the 2013 offseason so I can get my name out there. This is what I want to do full-time in a few years and just by reading my updates you are helping me get closer to that goal. So thank you!


This offseason I will be much more active than I have been in the past. During the 2011 offseason I spent eight weeks writing about what I thought each team needed to do during the spring and summer to have success the following year. I did not do that during the 2012 offseason but I will do something similar this year. Rather than going team by team, I will do it division by division.

I follow the entire NFL very closely, but because I cover the whole league I only know a handful of teams intimately, particularly the Redskins and Colts (my favorite teams), the Broncos (because I am a very big Peyton Manning fan) and the other playoff teams.

So as I go through the divisions and write about what I think each team needs to address this offseason, feel free to correct me or to inform me of team needs I do not talk about. All I ask is that you do so respectfully.

Mondays during the offseason will be my day to update you all on NFL-related stories of the previous week that I did not cover individually.

I will be taking the rest of this week off and I will only write on weekends for major news stories, such as the NFL Draft. Other than that I will be writing pretty much every day so be sure to check back regularly.

Again, thank you so much for following my blog all season and for giving me constructive feedback. Enjoy the rest of the college basketball, NBA and NHL seasons, and of course players start reporting for MLB training camps soon so enjoy that season, as well.

To keep up with new blog posts, ‘like’ my Facebook page and follow me on Twitter, @cpuffnfl. Also, be sure to listen to my radio show, The All-Sports Crew, Wednesdays from 7-8 p.m. on WMUC Sports. Congrats to the Super Bowl XLVII Champion Baltimore Ravens and good luck to all 32 teams that will start 2013 with a clean slate at 0-0.

Super Bowl XLVII Afterword: 49ers vs Ravens

Jim Harbaugh may have had a legitimate gripe over a missed
holding call late in the 4th quarter, but it fell on deaf ears.
Photo credit to Times-Standard.

Saturday, I gave the offensive edge in this game to San Francisco, I labeled the coaching edge as ‘even,’ and I gave Baltimore the edge in both defense and special teams. A lot of people who commented on that write-up must have lost some serious coin yesterday.

They said the 49ers had the best three linebackers in the NFL, but I didn’t see them pressuring Flacco or containing Dennis Pitta or keeping Ray Rice from breaking out on screens. One even said Donte Whitner and Dashon Goldson is the best safety tandem in the league. Funny how they looked like Denver on Jacoby Jones’s long touchdown reception late in the second quarter.

Via Madden, I predicted the 49ers to win. I had been leaning to San Francisco for most of the week and then toward Baltimore as I finished preparing to write my preview, so I have no idea who I would have picked without using Madden.

The first half of the game was pretty lame. By that, I just mean that we haven’t had a blowout Super Bowl in quite a while and I’m hoping we’ll never have one again. The past several years have been great, so when the Ravens went up 21-3, and then led 28-6 after a second-half kickoff return touchdown, I would have been ready to turn the TV off if I were an average fan.

As it was, the power outage in the Superdome a couple minutes later was the most exciting thing that had happened up to that point.

The power outage seemed to allow San Francisco to regroup, because during a 4:10 period shortly after the outage, the 49ers scored 17 points. But the Ravens can’t blame the stadium malfunction for letting San Francisco back in the game. The first play once the game resumed was a failed 3^rd & 13 attempt, which forced the 49ers to punt. The Ravens didn’t have to let the power outage affect the game.

San Francisco came all the way back, but failed on a two-point conversion try that would have tied the game. If they had made it, they never would have had to try for the touchdown on their final possession, a field goal could have tied the game and sent it to overtime.

Instead, a failed 4^th & goal effectively ended the game. Baltimore won it’s second Lombardi Trophy while handing San Francisco their first loss on the league’s biggest stage.

I am still not ready to jump on the Joe Flacco “elite” bandwagon – I’ll explain on The All-Sports Crew on Wednesday – but he had a phenomenal postseason. Despite only leading two field-goal drives in the second half, he added three touchdowns and no turnovers to his tally, bringing his postseason total to 11 touchdowns and no interceptions and earning Super Bowl MVP in the process. Not bad for four games considering his only threw 22 touchdowns in 16 regular season games.

I give a lot of credit to John Harbaugh. I’ve felt for a long time that Jim is the better head coach, but we saw some things on special teams that we never would have seen in a Super Bowl without John trying them. They failed by just two yards on a fake field goal in the first half but they ran a kick back and the way they took the safety late in the game was genius. Defense is the one thing that could keep the Ravens from getting back here soon.

The 49ers, meanwhile, will definitely be back. They have a terrific team and they aren’t likely to lose too many key players. What they may lose, they can get back through the draft, especially since they ought to get a decent pick for Alex Smith.

Thanks for reading my blog all season. I’ve enjoyed maintaining it and I will make some changes to make it even better in 2013. To stay updated on my blog as new posts are published throughout the offseason, ‘like’ my blog’s Facebook page and follow me on Twitter, @cpuffnfl.

Super Bowl XLVII: Puff’s Pick

It is that time again. Those of you who have read my blog in the past know that I have used Madden to make my Super Bowl prediction every year since Super Bowl XXXV, so this is my 13^th year. I am 9-3 to date and I thought it would be fun, before I get to today’s prediction, to look back on the past twelve years.

Super Bowl	My Result	Real Result	My Record	1st Half Team
SB XXXV	NYG-42, BAL-38	BAL-34, NYG-7	0-1	Giants
SB XXXVI	NE-21, StL-17	NE-20, StL-17	1-1	Patriots
SB XXXVII	TB-13, OAK-10	TB-48, OAK-21	2-1	Raiders
SB XXXVIII	NE-24, CAR-23	NE-32, CAR-29	3-1	Panthers
SB XXXIX	NE-42, PHI-31	NE-24, PHI-24	4-1	Patriots
SB XL	PIT-17, SEA-14	PIT-21, SEA-10	5-1	Steelers
SB XLI	IND-35, CHI-27	IND-29, CHI-17	6-1	Colts
SB XLII	NE-27, NYG-21	NYG-17, NE-14	6-2	Giants
SB XLIII	PIT-14, ARI-12	PIT-27, ARI-23	7-2	Cardinals
SB XLIV	NO-37, IND-31	NO-31, IND-17	8-2	Colts
SB XLV	GB-31, PIT-30	GB-31, PIT-25	9-2	Packers
SB XLVI	NE-35, NYG-21	NYG-21, NE-17	9-3	Giants
SB XLVII	See Below	CBS – 6:30pm	?-?	49ers

For those who are not familiar with my method of prediction, the significance of the ‘1^st Half Team’ is that I always play the first half with the team that I want to win and the second half with the opposing team – when it comes to the Super Bowl, I have to have a rooting interest, even if I don’t like one team more than the other, I just pick one to root for.

This year, I chose the San Francisco 49ers. Yes, I backtracked on what I said just after conference championships. Ravens fans may be more annoying after a loss, but I just don’t want to see them happy, so I’ll be rooting for the 49ers even though I really don’t care which team wins.

Yesterday I previewed the game so I won’t waste your game day with anything else. ‘Like’ my blog’s Facebook page and follow me on Twitter, @cpuffnfl. Enjoy the Super Bowl and thanks so much for reading!

Puff’s Pick (via Madden NFL 13):

Baltimore Ravens – 17

San Francisco 49ers – 27

MVP: Patrick Willis

Super Bowl XLVII: The Preview

Super Bowl Sunday Countdown: 1 Day

Photo credit to International Business Times.

Super Bowl weekend is finally upon us. In less than 36 hours the NFL will have a new defending champion. Today I will not be making my prediction, but I wanted to preview this game before I choose a winner since I don’t actually choose my official prediction on my own. Instead, today I will cover each aspect of the game and give an edge to a team.

Offense

On first glance, Baltimore and San Francisco are pretty even. Frank Gore is a little more power than Ray Rice, while Rice is a little speedier than Gore, but neither is limited to running for speed or for power. The 49ers had better depth before Kendall Hunter went down with an injury, but LaMichael James and Bernard Pierce are about equal.

At receiver, San Francisco has Randy Moss and Michael Crabtree. I give the Ravens a pretty clear advantage at receiver because of how stellar Torrey Smith and Anquan Boldin have been this postseason. People give Boldin grief for not being as good as he was in Arizona, but I disagree with them. Jacoby Jones is a solid third receiver and the 49ers don’t really have much of a third option.

But there is another factor in the receiving game, and that is of course the Tight End. Dennis Pitta vs Vernon Davis and Delanie Walker; looks like a clear advantage here. The fact that San Francisco doesn’t really have a good third receiver and Davis still makes plays is remarkable.

The offensive lines are fairly equal in both the run game and the pass game, so not much to talk about up front.

As for the quarterbacks, it would be easy to continue to hate on Joe Flacco and call him overrated. I don’t really know where I stand on that argument right now, but he has had a fantastic postseason and I give him a lot of credit for that. So when I say that I give the edge at quarterback to San Francisco, it is not because I think Colin Kaepernick is a better quarterback than Flacco. It is because the 49ers have more versatility with Kaepernick than the Ravens do with Flacco.

Offensive Edge: San Francisco 49ers

Defense

If you look solely as defensive statistics from this past season, you’ll see that the 49ers were better than the Ravens in just about every category, in some more significantly than in others. A lot of people are leaning on those stats to claim that San Francisco has a clear edge. Ray Lewis changes that, whether you like to admit it or not. He was missing for 10 games during the regular season, during which the Ravens defensive rankings went down steadily. This defensive unit looks completely different this postseason. They look much more focused, much more energized, and much more comfortable working with each other.

On the defensive line, it is hard not to give the edge to the 49ers. Even though Aldon Smith is officially listed as the 49ers’ starting ROLB, he comes up to play off the line alongside Justin Smith pretty often and is very dangerous. Because of this, I tend to treat Aldon Smith as a lineman.

Take him away from the linebacker corps, and it’s much more even between Baltimore and San Francisco. If anything, it gives the edge to the Ravens with Lewis, Courtney Upshaw, Terrell Suggs and Albert McClellan. Good as they are, I don’t know that Ahmad Brooks, NaVorro Bowman and Patrick Willis quite measure up.

In the defensive secondary, I have to give the edge to the Ravens, and it’s not even close. Corey Graham and Cary Williams have been phenomenal on the corners this offseason. They rarely get beat and with 40 times around 4.4, they have the speed to make up for occasionally mistakes. Carlos Rogers and Tarell Brown have nothing on Graham and Williams.

Deeper in the secondary, Donte Whitner and Dashon Goldson have done a pretty good job, and C.J. Spillman is a good third man, but I again give the edge to Baltimore. Ed Reed is still a ball hawk and is healthy right now. James Ihedigbo is a terrific player and Bernard Pollard made a huge difference in the secondary when he returned from injury just like Ray did at middle linebacker.

Defensive Edge: Baltimore Ravens

Special Teams

Andy Lee has been slightly better than Sam Koch in the punting game this season, but it is by no close margin that Justin Tucker has outkicked David Akers. Just one year removed from setting the NFL record for most converted field goals in a season, Akers has been arguably the third most unreliable kicker in the league.

In the return game, Ted Ginn Jr. was much more explosive in 2011 than this season. LaMichael James has been pretty solid in kickoff returns, but Jacoby Jones has both of them beat in all aspects of the return game.

Special Teams Edge: Baltimore Ravens

Coaching Staffs

I personally believe that Jim Harbaugh is a better coach than his brother, John. It isn’t by a wide margin, but he has a very different relationship with his players than John does with his. Neither has, in any way, a poor relationship with their teams, but I think Jim’s personality is a little more conducive to coaching football players.

That said, I give Baltimore the edge with the assistant coaches. It is getting harder and harder to say that Jim Caldwell shouldn’t be the long-term offensive coordinator in Baltimore. His play calling has been very good this postseason, though it was very strange in the Denver game. Dean Pees has done a great job replacing Chuck Pagano on the defensive side. I like San Francisco’s position coaches a little more, but when it comes to coaching staffs, you have to look at head coaches and coordinators. The position coaches don’t have a huge affect on how the games go.

Coaching Edge: Even

Tomorrow I will make my official prediction by playing Madden, which I have done every year since the Ravens’ first Super Bowl appearance. To stay updated on my blog as new posts are published, ‘like’ my blog’s Facebook page and follow me on Twitter, @cpuffnfl.

Super Bowl XLVII: Media Day

Super Bowl Sunday Countdown: 3 Days

Ray Lewis will play his final NFL game on Sunday. A win would give him
a second Super Bowl ring and send him out on top.
Photo credit to NFL.com.

Tuesday was Media Day at the Superdome. For the second year, the NFL allowed fans to come in, for a fee, to watch the action quietly from a section of the stands.

On Media Day, every player and coach is made available for about an hour to answer questions from the media. There are so many players and coaches involved in this game, so here are just a few of the highlights.

Randy Moss

I had a good time listening to Randy Moss talk. I respectfully disagree with his statement that he is the greatest receiver of all time, but I thoroughly enjoyed his response to a Manti Te’o related question: “ If I did ever have an imaginary girlfriend, I never told anybody about it.”

Ray Lewis

Of course, the allegation that he used deer antler spray to aid his recovery from a triceps injury this season came out on Tuesday during media day. He sidestepped questions about it, saying it was a two-year-old story being rehashed. I wonder why nobody has written anything about that? Interestingly enough, asked a similar question to one asked of Randy Moss, Lewis said he “may have been catfished once or twice.”

Joe Flacco

On Monday, a story I read on NFL.com said Flacco’s father called the Baltimore quarterback “dull.” Asked if he is dull, Flacco said, “I don’t know if I would say I’m dull, but I’m probably close to it.”

Jim Harbaugh

Of course plenty of questions were asked about the Harbaugh brothers. In fact, one of the 49ers offensive linemen, Joe Staley, was asked a serious of questions concerning the brothers, including which is more handsome and dresses better. Jim took a Shakespearean approach to answering one question about the matchup. The quote ended with, “For he who sheds his blood with me today shall be my brother.” I immediately recognized it as a quote from Shakespeare – though I did have to check on which work it was from, it was Henry V – but it was pretty cool to have someone answer a Media Day question in that manner.

Chris Culliver

I’ll end with this bit. Culliver was asked whether he would accept an openly gay football player in the 49ers locker room. I respect his courage to speak his mind when his opinion is not at all politically correct, but that respect is significantly lessened by the way he in which he spoke his opinion, saying, “We don’t have any gay guys on the team. They gotta get up outta here if they do. Can’t be with that sweet stuff.”

The 49ers quickly released a statement saying that Culliver’s words do not express the ideals of the franchise and Culliver later apologized, saying, “The derogatory comments I made yesterday were a reflection of my thoughts in my head, but they are not how I feel. It has taken me seeing them in print to realize that they are hurtful and ugly. … I apologize to those who I have hurt and offended and I pledge to learn and grow from this experience.”

Tomorrow I will publish two posts, one about the 49ers’ history in the Super Bowl and one about the Ravens’. Saturday I will preview Super Bowl XLVII and my official prediction will by published by noon on Sunday.

To stay updated on new posts as they are published, ‘like’ my blog’s Facebook page and follow me on Twitter, @cpuffnfl.

Super Bowl XLVII: Baltimore Ravens

Super Bowl Sunday Countdown: 4 Days

In Ray Lewis's final game, the Ravens look to win their second Lombardi Trophy
and hand the 49ers their first Super Bowl loss. Photo credit to NFL Network.

It would be too easy to just copy what I wrote yesterday about the 49ers and apply it to the Ravens. It would be easy to say that this was a two-year, a three-year, a five-year process that Baltimore’s franchise has worked through to this point. After all, they went to the AFC Championship last season and they are the only team in the NFL that has made the postseason each of the past five years.

But it is for that very reason that I say it has not been a five years process. Something had to have happened to get over the hump, to take this team to that next level that has eluded them since John Harbaugh and Joe Flacco came to Baltimore.

The Ravens, in my mind, are Ray Lewis’s team without a doubt. The most faithful Ravens fans who think they know their team inside and out while say that it wasn’t just Ray who sparked this postseason run. Remember that Bernard Pollard also returned from injury in that wild-card game against the Colts.

But I still point to the teams they played during the Regular Season. Ray Lewis played in Baltimore’s first six games, in which they went 5-1. They should have gone 6-0 – yes, I’m still bitter against the replacement refs for that Week 2 game, even though I didn’t really have much interested invested in it.

The first week that Lewis did not play, the Ravens got pummeled by the Texans, 43-13. They had a bye week and then won four straight, but the only semi-impressive win was their 55-20 victory over Oakland, which was a statement made by their offense. It wasn’t an impressive display by their defense considering nobody else scored 20 against them during that winning streak.

Then they lost four of their last five. Two, and maybe three, of those games were matchups they should have won. Not having Ray Lewis made it very difficult for Baltimore to do what they needed on defense. Not only is Ray Lewis an emotional leader, he is still one of the best middle linebackers in the NFL on a physical level.

Baltimore has given up fewer than two touchdowns in five of Ray Lewis’s nine games played this season. Without Ray, they’ve achieved that feat three times in ten games, and in one of those games they still gave up five field goals.

I look forward to finding out what the Ravens look like without Ray Lewis next season. My outlook isn’t as bright as many Ravens fans’ outlooks. But one thing is for sure, with Ray Lewis in at middle linebacker, this team has a great shot at winning the Super Bowl on Sunday.

It certainly doesn’t hurt that Joe Flacco has found his mojo this postseason. Eight touchdown passes and no interceptions over three games is always a formula for success.

Tomorrow I will recap some of the things that caught my attention during Media Day – not the news of Ray Lewis possibly using Deer Antler Spray; I’ll wait for more info to come out before I address that. Stay tuned all week, as I’ll have a new post every day and my official prediction on Sunday by noon. For links to blog posts as they’re published, ‘like’ my blog’s Facebook page and follow me on Twitter, @cpuffnfl.

Super Bowl XLVII: San Francisco 49ers

Super Bowl Sunday Countdown: 5 Days

The 49ers have appeared in two consecutive NFC title games, but make
their first Super Bowl appearance in 18 years on Sunday. They beat the
San Diego Chargers in Super Bowl XXIX. Photo credit to NFL Network.

It is both exciting and depressing that the week of the Super Bowl is now upon us. There is so much anticipation leading up to the main event, but well before midnight on Sunday, the 2012 season will be over.

It hasn’t felt like a long season, but this 49ers team is more than just a culmination of the past six months. When Jim Harbaugh was hired as San Francisco’s head coach during the 2011 offseason, nobody knew what to expect. Few, if any, expected that he would turn this franchise around and bring it back to the sport’s biggest stage. Even fewer, maybe nobody, expected it to happen so soon.

I still remember how the 2011 season began for the 49ers. I may be a little hazy on which team they were playing, though I’m fairly certain that it was Seattle, but Ted Ginn Jr. returned a kickoff and a punt for touchdowns in the final minutes of the game to carry the 49ers to victory.

It was a fluke as far as the experts were concerned. I certainly didn’t think much of it. But they kept finding ways to win. They won close games, they won in blowouts – most of you may not remember the Tampa Bay game from last year – it didn’t matter how they had to win; they won.

Yet, after losing just three games all season, when we reached the playoffs, nobody expected they could outrun the Saints if it turned into a shootout. They hadn’t beaten a team with a high-octane offense like that of New Orleans all season. Sure enough, the game turned into a shootout. The winner, however, was not the team many of us expected, as Alex Smith and Vernon Davis became Steve Young and Terrell Owens.

The party ended the following week, as errors haunted the team and the Giants advanced to Super Bowl XLVI.

This past offseason, Jim Harbaugh schooled his team in preparation. He never wanted his team to find itself in a close game and let it slip away from them. They had some rough games this season, more than they did in 2011, but to their credit every time they lost a game, they came back the next week with a big win, and they only lost one close game.

This week, though, if they lose, there is no ‘next week’ where they can go out and win a game and make a statement. This is the last game of the season. They won’t play another game that matters until September, and that won’t be counted as a part of this team’s accomplishments.

Many of these players came to San Francisco before Jim Harbaugh took over. He has transformed this team and this Sunday they will attempt to tie Pittsburgh as the owners of the most Vince Lombardi Trophies in the NFL. They also look to keep their perfect 5-0 Super Bowl record intact.

Baltimore, meanwhile, will look to duplicate what it did on Thanksgiving night in 2011. This is a different 49ers team than it was then; perhaps more vulnerable in some ways, but also much more explosive since the move from Alex Smith to Colin Kaepernick. This team may have been ready for the Super Bowl last year, but the second year has prepared them even more. Few teams get two years of steady building toward this game. This team did, and they’ve used these two years well.

Tomorrow I will profile the Baltimore Ravens and will continue my Super Bowl XLVII coverage all the way through to Sunday, when I will make my official prediction by noon. For links to new blog posts as they are published, ‘like’ my blog’s Facebook page and follow me on Twitter, @cpuffnfl.