Pre season picks

Time for another season of football to begin. I'll try to be better about keeping my blog updated.
Last season I picked one of the conference winners correctly and might have had both if not for a Rodgers injury. I think Rodgers is a man on a mission this year, the Packers were on their way to the top of the NFC when he was sidelined. For the AFC..hard to say as I believe Peyton is looking for redemption but the Patriots are l looking like an improved team.
I went through every week, marking wins and losses and even I was surprised how some teams did lol. I am not impressed with the Titans and think they'll most likely be picking first in the draft next year. But, let's look at how the standings fell...

AFC EAST
New England Patriots 12-4
New York Jets 6-10
Miami Dolphins 5-11
Buffalo Bills 4-12

AFC NORTH
Baltimore Ravens 10-6
Cincinnati Bengals 9-7
Pittsburgh Steelers 9-7
Cleveland Browns 8-8

AFC SOUTH
Indianapolis Colts 12-4
Houston Texans 7-9
Jacksonville Jaguars 4-12
Tennessee Titans 3-13

AFC WEST
Denver Broncos 12-4
San Diego Chargers 9-7
Kansas City Chiefs 9-7
Oakland Raiders 4-12

AFC Playoffs

(6) Cincinnati Bengals at (3) Indianapolis Colts
(5) San Diego Chargers at (4) Baltimore Ravens

(5) San Diego Chargers at (1) New England Patriots
(3) Indianapolis Colts at (2) Denver Broncos

AFC CHAMPIONSHIP
Indianapolis Colts at New England Patriots

NFC EAST
Philadelphia Eagles 11-5
New York Giants 9-7
Dallas Cowboys 8-8
Washington Redskins 5-11

NFC NORTH
Green Bay Packers 12-4
Chicago Bears 10-6
Detroit Lions 9-7
Minnesota Vikings 3-13

NFC SOUTH
New Orleans Saints 11-5
Carolina Panthers 10-6
Atlanta Falcons 10-6
Tampa Bay Bucs 3-13

NFC WEST
Seattle Seahawks 11-5
San Francisco 49ers 10-6
Arizona Cardinals 8-8
St.Louis Rams 6-10

NFC PLAYOFFS

(6)San Francisco 49ers at (3) Seattle Seahawks
(5) Chicago Bears at (4) Philadelphia Eagles

(5) Chicago Bears at (1) Green Bay Packers
(3) Seattle Seahawks at (2) New Orleans Saints

NFC CHAMPIONSHIP

New Orleans Saints at Green Bay Packers

SUPER BOWL

Green Bay Packers defeat the New England Patriots

There ya go..I didn't realize until week 9 or so that the NFC was ridiculously tied up and I did look at head to head tie breakers to get proper seeding.
I had Rodgers and company making a statement by winning week 1 in Seattle and continuing that all the way to a title.

test

test

Manning, Colt no more

At 2pm EST Jim Irsay will hold a press conference officially announcing the release of Peyton Manning. He better hope Andrew Luck is the real deal. More on this later.
Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

Stop Dreaming...

In April of 2004, Archie Manning said his son will not play for the Chargers he wanted Eli in New York. The Chargers had the #1 pick and NY had the #8, the Chargers drafted Eli and eventually traded him for Phillip Rivers who the Giants picked. Did Archie and Eli really think New York was a better spot or did Eli not want to be in the AFC and face his brother possibly every year?
Now, it is 2011 and the Colts are going to drop Peyton, we all know its going to happen. But, all I hear is Redskins and Jets fans celebrating like they already have him signed. It is not going to happen.

The Mannings don't want to keep the comparisons/competition to a minimum. New York City is Eli's town, Peyton will not come in and try to take that from him. Stop dreaming Jets fans.

Eli versus Peyton twice a year? Fighting each other for a division? Nope. Stop dreaming Redskins fans. Peyton will not leave the AFC, he will be a Dolphin or Jaguar before he even thinks about joining a NY or NFC East team. I could even see him in Cleveland first, although he is a dome QB, which is why the warm weather of Miami seems the most likely place for him. I think the only NFC team he might think about is Arizona, but I think they will stick with Kolb for a while.

Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

Super Bowl Review

Well, that's it. New York 21 New England 17, not a pretty game by any means and not as high scoring as some thought it would be. I was surprised how well the Pats defense played, and when NE made it 17-9 I really thought it was over. New England was rolling along and their offense looked unstoppable, until that high ankle sprain caught up with Gronkowski or maybe it was just Brady's 34 year old arm under threw the ball, but either way Chase Blackburn got a huge interception that changed the game.
New England's defense held NY to a couple of field goals and held on to a 17-15 lead deep into the fourth quarter. Then a huge misconnection with Hernandez and Welker gave Eli one more shot at Super Bowl glory. His first pass was an amazing 38 yard pass to Mario Manningham that even Aaron Rodgers would be jealous of. Then with NY down to the 6 yard line and a minute left on the clock, Belichick pulled a Holmgren (Kevin, you will never convince me otherwise, Davis walked into the endzone) and let Ahmad Bradshaw score the go ahead TD rather than let NY run down the clock to 20 seconds. With :57 to play Brady took over, a few incompletions, a sack and a hail mary later, the Giants were standing in the winners circle again.
So, what now? Well, the Colts have until March 8th to do something with Peyton and in April we have the draft. Personally, I think Manning will be in Miami next year or for a dome team like Minnesota maybe. If it is Miami, they become a AFC East favorite. Oh, speaking of...for the fourth straight year I have chosen one Conference Champion correctly in August. My preseason pick this past year was Patriots vs Packers, next year?? Well, I really like the Saints hiring Spags to coach the defense, let's see what everyone else does.
Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

Super Bowl Sunday

Last game until September, how fast this season went by. What a weird year it was, the Colts have the first pick in the draft after Peyton's season ending (possibly career ending) surgery, the Lions returned to the post season, teams that seemed on the rise last year collapsed this year, and it was the year of the Quarterback (especially in the NFC). In the playoffs we saw one of the greatest fourth quarters ever as the 49ers squeaked by the Saints, we saw the first ever one and done 15 win team in the Packers, and we had probably the greatest Championship Sunday ever as the Ravens Billy Cundiff choked on getting his team to OT and New York and San Fran went back and forth in OT.
Now we have the New England Patriots and the New York Giants in a rematch of Super Bowl 42. The tables have turned this time, and it scares me. Four years ago the Pats were 18-0 and a 14 point favorite to crush the Giants, but NY pulled out the huge upset. This year, even though NE is still a 3 point favorite, the experts are picking NY to crush New England. I've heard scores like 31-23 NY, 38-20 NY, 24-10 NY and I don't like it.
Not only am I picking New England because of my jinx fear, I really do think the Pats will win. They have the bigger motivation on their side, revenge. Well, let's break it down..
The Giants defense has played much better, especially in stopping the run. The Pats would like to play a balanced offense and run well against the Giants to get the play action pass into affect. If the Giants front four is playing aggressive and rushing Brady they will be scorched by the running game. But, look how NY played against Green Bay with no rush in the first half and once they got a lead they came at Rodgers full throttle. Another big part of New England's game plan will be Hernandez and Gronkowski, taking advantage of NY's Linebackers.
Here's what NY will do, they will look to pick apart New England's secondary. Nicks, Cruz and Manningham could have big days and get a lot of yards after the catch. The first half may be a low scoring, Bellichick will have a game plan ready for the Giants offense and I think this game will be a lot like the matchup we saw in Week 9. The score was 0-0 at the half and 10-3 NY after three quarters, things got crazy in the 4th quarter and with 15 seconds left Eli hit Ballard in the end zone to give NY a 24-20 win. I expect something very similar.
Giants could lead at the half, something close and low like 10-7 but things will heat up in the second half and it will come down to who has the ball last or makes that one crucial error. I say New England gets payback and pulls it out 31-29.
Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

Championship Sunday

Here we go! It seems like the season just started yesterday, but we are down to Championship Sunday already. I've had a nice streak of picking at least one conference champion in the preseason, and this August I picked Patriots vs. Packers for the Super Bowl. Now, the Pats have a chance to keep my streak alive.
The AFC will get things started at 3pmEST in New England

(2)Baltimore Ravens at (1)New England Patriots- Boy oh boy, here we go! The Ravens may be the most dangerous yet, unpredictable team left in the playoffs. They have a killer rushing game and I don't even have to mention the defense. The Patriots cannot play defense at all, and the Ravens will expose that better than the Broncos did. I know Flacco is no Brady, but with Ray Rice pounding the ball they can set up the play action pass nicely and hit Boldin in stride, if they do...forget about it. I know Brady will be looking to his big TE targets but I've heard the Ravens have a few good Linebackers, maybe you've heard of Ray Lewis and Terrell Suggs? I like the Ravens to go to Foxboro and beat the Patriots. Here's a tidbit...not only did Baltimore beat NE already this year BUT the Pats won 13 games and did not beat one team with a winning record. Everyone thinks the 49ers got in by beating easy teams, but its the Patriots who pulled that off and they played an 8-8 team last week. Frankly, the Pats aren't as good as you think they are and I'd be shocked if they won this game. Ravens 31-26 to advance to the Super Bowl.

(4)New York Giants at (2)San Francisco 49ers- For the 8th time in 30 years the Giants and 49ers will face off in the playoffs, and even with the Saints and Packers out early, something just feels right about this. This is like having a Cowboys/Steelers Super Bowl, like a Broncos/Browns AFC title game, these are historic playoff rivals and I love it. Its not Montana, it's not LT, its not Rice, its not Harry Carson but it works. The Giants have the obvious advantage at QB but that SF defense is scary, add to that the weather. Weather Channel says rain in San Fran from Thursday until Sunday night/Monday morning. Advantage 49ers. The cold in Green Bay doesn't bother the Giants but having wet, sloppy grass will. The 9ers can run and they stop the run very well. With those weather conditions you need to be able to run and pound and that is not how NY has been winning. They need the big play down field to win. One thing the Giants have gotten a lot better at is causing turnovers and they will try to punch that ball loose all they can. I think this game will be all defense and be a sloppy game with low scoring. San Francisco 49ers will beat the Giants 23-17 and we will have the Harbaugh Bowl in Indianapolis.

Baltimore Ravens vs. San Francisco 49ers in Super Bowl 46.
Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry