NFL Grab Bag

Tweet This week the New Orleans Saints were on their bye week getting some much deserved rest, so I have nothing to report on the Saints this week. Hopefully Sean Payton and Gregg Williams took this extra week to tighten up the defence and figure out all of the tiny little things that were plaguing the Saints. I’m extremely excited for this week’s Monday night game against the Giants, but this article will be geared towards a few other interesting developments around the league.

Playoff-bound Blunders: As the season has passed the halfway point, the playoff picture has become a little clearer. Many teams are essentially eliminated already and a few looked to be playoff locks. However, 2 teams that looked destined to make the playoffs have taken hits that might be insurmountable: Chicago Bears and Houston Texans. Both teams were coming together really nicely and both looked like playoff-calibre teams, but fate was not on their side. The worst thing that can happen to a franchise happened to both the Bears and the Texans: they lost their franchise QBs to a serious injury. The Texans are still hopeful that Matt Schaub might return in time for the playoffs, but if Matt Leinart is at the helm, Schaub might not get a chance to return this season. Some people are excited to see what Leinart can do with this opportunity, but those people have clearly forgotten the many years he shit away with Arizona. The Bears on the other hand don’t even have a ray of hope for Jay Cutler. Their star QB is planning to undergo surgery on his throwing hand, so he will be out for the season, without a doubt. I was certain that both the Bears and the Texans were going to make the playoffs this season, but the future is looking extremely grim. However, the NFL is a wacky league and you never know how things will play out, so there is always hope for Chicago and especially Houston, who plays in the awful AFC South.

Superbowl/Toiletbowl Ravens: There are currently 4 teams tied for the top spot in the AFC, which would lead some people to believe that the conference is extremely competitive. I would argue that 4 teams tied for first in a conference simply means that there is no clear favourite because no team has pulled away from the pack and proven themselves to be the best. However, if you watched the Ravens play on a good day, you would think for sure that they were the best team in the AFC and potentially the second best team in the league. The problem is, if you’ve followed Baltimore’s season, you’d know that they’ve lost to Tennessee, Jacksonville, and barely pulled away with a victory against Arizona (all teams that will be watching the playoffs from home this season). Whenever I watch Baltimore beat a team like the Steelers or the Bengals, I’m certain that they’re the most dominant team in the NFL and that this is the year Ray Lewis and the Ravens return to the Superbowl. However, then they play a lowly team like the Jaguars and can’t even put up double digit points. The Ravens have 6 more games to prove to the NFL what kind of team they are, and they better figure it out before the playoffs come around. If they continue with this inconsistent play, their football season is going to be done by mid-January.

Lord Rodgers and the Pack Attack: If you’ve been following my articles from the start, or know anything about me, you know that I’m not a Tom Brady fan. There is no doubting that he’s had a Hall of Fame career and has led his team to greatness, but I personally feel that he receives too much credit for the success that the Patriots have had. He’s always had an excellent coach, a good line, receivers that work well in the New England offense, and an opportunistic defence that has given Tom good field position and the opportunity to go out and win games. If you looked at Aaron Rodgers’ season stats, you would think he was the NFL version of Jesus Christ. His 31 touchdowns - 4 interceptions ratio and 128.8 QB rating on the season is unheard of and he’s on pace to break all of the records that Brady and Manning set in their most stellar seasons. However, Rodgers has a great coach, the best receiving core in the game, a huge offensive line to protect him, extremely effective special teams play, and a defence that gives the ball more times a game than a QB could ever wish for. There is no arguing that Aaron is the best QB in the league at the moment, but due to the elite team that he has around him, his stats should be considered inflated. I would argue that almost any starting quarterback in the NFL could step into Rodgers’ role and maybe not be 10-0, but certainly have a winning record and make a strong push for the playoffs.

Rookies of the Year: The NFL hands out a set of awards every year to celebrate the brightest talents of that season. From MVP, to coach of the year, to comeback player of the year, it’s usually very obvious and pretty much everyone who claims to be an NFL fan can tell you who the winner is going to be. However, one award (actually handed out as 2 separate awards) that most people guess wrong every year is the Rookie of the Year award. The problem is that the media will hype up the most exciting rookies or highlight the achievements of the most popular rookies, but these are almost never the players that truly performed for their teams and deserve the award. This year all of the hype is around Cam Newton for the offensive award, and no one really seems to care about the defensive rookie of the year. Sure Cam has had some HUGE highlights and is one of the most exciting players in the NFL, but his poor TD-INT ratio and losing team record almost guarantee that he wont win the award. The true offensive ROY is Andy Dalton. The Bengal’s QB is nowhere near as exciting to watch as Newton and he hasn’t had as many spectacular performances, but Dalton has played steady all season and led the surprising Cincinnati Bengals, a team that everyone thought was going to be crap this season, to an impressive 6-4 record and the chance to battle for a spot in the AFC playoffs. The defensive ROY is a clear choice, but not a player that many people have gotten a chance to watch, or even know about. It’s tough to get credit when you play on a bad team, and to say that the Arizona Cardinals are a bad team would almost be a compliment, but Patrick Peterson is the real deal. LSU’s Pat Peterson was rated the best overall player on almost every draft expert’s scorecard and he’s shown why in his first season as a pro. Peterson has become a shutdown corner on an otherwise shoddy defence and is absolutely spectacular in the return game. He’s tied with Devin Hester for most returns on the season and even returned a punt 99 yards to win a game in overtime this season. Dalton and Peterson are my picks for this year’s offensive and defensive rookies of the year.

Heartbreak in New Orleans

Tweet I really don’t know what to say about the game of “football” that the Saints played last Sunday. The Saints were coming into the game having defeating the Colts 62-7 in a nationally televised pummelling. They became the third team in NFL history to put up 60 points in a game and their offense looked unstoppable. The Rams came into the game having been absolutely wrecked 34-7 by the average-at-best Cowboys. It looked like the Saints were going to embarrass St. Louis, Brees was going to become the MVP favourite, and Head Coach Sean Payton was going to run for president in the next American election. Needless to say, things did not play out this way.

The Saints started off bad and things just kept getting worse. The Rams didn’t even play with Sam Bradford, their franchise QB and had to settle for their 2nd stringer. Feeley, the perennial NFL back-up, was given the start due to Bradford’s injury and looked like a veteran out there. The Ram’s best player, Steven Jackson, returned from injury and ran all over the Saints defence. Watching the Saints defenders try to tackle Jackson was actually upsetting, as SJ39 finished the game with 159 rushing yards.

I’ve been saying all year that the Saints defence is mediocre, so the Rams putting up 31 against New Orleans seemed fathomable, though unlikely. What was truly surprising was the way that the Saints offense performed (re: underperformed). Brees threw for 2 picks and had less than 200 yards for almost the entirety of the game. Defensive End Chris Long had 3 sacks alone, the Saints got a punt blocked, and the entire coaching staff seemed like they didn’t really care much. The Saints were down 24-0 at one point in the third quarter and it was clear that New Orleans had no chance. That was easily the worst showing I’ve seen from the Saints in recent memory.

However, as the Saints are my team, and Drew Brees is my quarterback, I am happy to point out one positive moment in last week’s game. With only minutes left in the game, it looked like Brees’ rare streak was going to finally be snapped. Brees has the 3rd longest streak of consecutive games with a TD pass, but it seemed as though that impressive feat would finally come to an end (and to the lowly Rams). However, in the final minutes of the game, Brees orchestrated a methodical 15 play, 80 yard drive that ended in a touchdown pass from Drew to Lance Moore. Ladies and Gentlemen, the streak is still alive and Brees will continue to throw his way into the history books.

It's my small silver lining in an otherwise embarrassing performance by New Orleans.



Thoughts on the NFL:

It’s always a great feeling when you predict something and it comes true. I may have been very wrong about the outcome of the Saints-Rams affair, but I was spot on with my Tim Tebow prediction. Tebow probably had the worst outing by a QB this year (and that includes Grossman’s dismal game against the Eagles earlier this season), and made Broncos fans beg for Kyle Orton to start next game. The Lions shit on the Broncos 45-10, which had the Detroit players openly insulting Tebow. The Lions used his own celebration against him, twice, and when asked about #15, they called him a joke of a quarterback. One columnist for a Denver newspaper said that Tebow is the worst starting QB in the league and that the Broncos are lucky Orton is still in Denver. Looks like Tim Tebow is Superman no more.

The Chargers actually make me mad. How do you have so much talent on one team and choke so often? San Diego’s 2 starting receivers, Malcolm Floyd and Vincent Jackson, are both 6’5”, Antonio Gates is arguably one of the top 3 tight ends in NFL history, and the running back Matthews is a versatile weapon that can be a factor in the passing game. It would seem that my little sister could come into the starting line-up and put up 300 passing yards a game, but apparently Phillip Rivers is finding a way to make things not work. The Chargers started off the season 4-1 but have managed to drop to 4-3 and with this week’s loss, have fallen to second place in their division (trailing KC, who started the season 0-3). Last year the Chargers finished the season 1st in overall offense, 1st in overall defence, and managed to miss the playoffs....how does that even happen!?!?! Head Coach Norv Turner better figure this out before Oakland passes them as well.

The AFC North is looking absolutely beastly this season. Last week I pointed out a stat to Daki that I didn’t think would ever be possible. The top 4 NFL teams in terms of total defence (total yards allowed) were the Ravens, Bengals, Steelers, and Browns. The amazing thing is that those 4 teams make up the AFC North division. That stat has since changed, but it goes to show why the AFC North is the best division in football: Defence baby! The Ravens and Steelers are 2 of the top 5 teams in the league at the moment and the surprising 5-2 Bengals aren’t far behind them. Some people might say that the Browns are bad, but they have lost a few very close contests and gave the 6-1 SF 49er’s a run for their money last weekend. I have always argued that the 2 best divisions in the NFL are the AFC North and the NFC South. The NFC South has started off a little bit slow, but is picking up momentum coming into the halfway point of the season, but the AFC North is without a doubt the toughest division in football at the moment. If the season ended today, the Ravens, Steelers, and Bengals would all be in the playoff. That’s a true testament to smashmouth football right there.

That’s all I got for this week folks. I’ll be back to talk FOOTBALLLLL soon!

The Patriots Report: Week 8

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After praising the Patriots defense and hailing the BYE week as a point where Bill Belichick would finally patch things up and turn the Patriots into a Juggernaut, the Pittsburgh Steelers came and shoved everything I said into the same vortex that Donovan Mcnabb's career went to.  Seriously, it was painful watching 'Ben' pick apart the Patriots secondary like he was Joe Montana in his prime.  You would think that after the fourth straight catch by Heath Miller someone on the Patriots sideline would suggest they stop blitzing and allowing a zillion passing lanes.  I cannot stress how abysmal the Patriots were on Sunday, even their offence was sluggish, managing a meager 17 points for the game.  Before I continue it should be acknowledged that the Steelers played a hell of a game and literally kicked the Patriots ass, they handled their business like a contender should (and after the smack-down they laid, I have them and the Ravens as the primary AFC contenders).

So what the hell is wrong with the Patriots defense?  They are missing three starters, but this is no excuse because they used to thrive in situations like this, remember the days Troy Brown would cover the opposing teams best receiver?  Back then it didn't matter who played defense they were great for some reason, not so much anymore.  Poor drafting? A very big factor, their only decent draft pick in recent years has been Patrick Chung, Belichick has to accept some of the blame here, there is no excuse for picking so poorly in four consecutive drafts.  Lastly, some of the blame has to go on the players.  If you are playing a professional sport that you love, you should hold yourself accountable and do whatever it takes to be better.  So far this season, the Patriots defenders have not improved and if they don't the L's will pile up faster than everyone thinks.  At this rate, the Patriots will qualify for the playoffs as a wild-card and get demolished by Pittsburgh or Baltimore whenever they got to them.  The really sad thing about this is that the Patriots are still probably the third best team in the AFC, they picked an absolutely terrible year to suck defensively, if they were even decent I would have them penciled in to the Super Bowl.

Since there really isn't much more to say about the Patriots, a few quick hits from other parts of the NFL:

49ers: Do you realize that they still play the NFC west five times?!  They could easily finish the season 13-3 and get a first round Bye and a guaranteed home game in the playoffs.  Whether or not they can do anything with Alex Smith at Quarterback remains to be seen.

Ravens:  This season they have played some inspiring defense, they were setting some incredible records until they allowed Arizona to score 27 points against them.  Just throwing it out there, I don't think they will allow that much for the rest of the year.

Eagles: Finally played like the team everyone expected them to be, and even sweeter for them is that they are one (you read that correctly) game out of the playoffs.  An 11-5 finish isn't out of the question if they play every game like they did against the Cowboys.  

Titans: Chris Johnson has disappeared off the face of the earth

Giants: Playing the Patriots next week for the first time sense the '18-1' game, if Belichick doesn't throw his best and most secret game plan at them to try and humiliate them then I think his pulse should be checked.