Thursday, January 7, 2010
Wednesday, January 6, 2010
NFL Football- Playoff Previews & Forecasts
Back in early September, this blog site picked the San Diego Chargers to defeat the Philadelphia Eagles in Super Bowl 44 in Miami.
Now the playoffs are here and it's a possibility. However, when the playoffs start, we can all expect the unexpected.
Evidenced by the Arizona Cardinals nearly winning the Super Bowl last year against the Pittsburgh Steelers.
Two years ago, the New York Giants shocked the New England Patriots in the Super Bowl. The Indianapolis Colts essentially came from nowhere to win Super Bowl 41 over the Chicago Bears.
So recent history dictates that anything is possible once the playoffs begin.
This Saturday, the Cincinnati Bengals (10-6) will host the New York Jets (9-7) and the Philadelphia Eagles (11-5) are at the Dallas Cowboys (11-5). Sunday's wild card games feature the Baltimore Ravens (9-7) at New England Patriots (10-6) and the Green Bay Packers (11-5) at Arizona Cardinals (10-6) to conclude the opening round.
The Bengals won the AFC North and despite losing to the Jets last Sunday 37-0, they are a slight favorite at home and will be ready for the Jets.
Quarterback Carson Palmer had a pretty solid season and Cedric Benson was among the top running backs in the league this year.
The Jets feature a solid defense and a rookie quarterback to go with Thomas Jones, who also was a solid runner this year for New York.
Baltimore has been playing consistent on both sides of the ball down the stretch and that got them a playoff game against Tom Brady & Co. in New England. The Ravens feature a steady running game and a defense that keeps them in games.
The Patriots have not been the dominant team may people thought they'd be with Brady returning this season.
The offense played respectable football, but the defense had too many letdowns this season and now wide receiver Wes Welker has been lost for the playoffs due to a knee injury.
The NFC games are rematches from last weekend and the Cardinals will be ready for Green Bay in the opening round.
Cardinals' quarterback Kurt Warner is ready to lead his team back to another Super Bowl following a 10-6 finish this year. With a solid passing game and a steady defense, the Cardinals are good but, this year no one is taking them too lightly as was the case a year ago.
The Packers have a "rookie" in quarterback Aaron Rodgers when it comes to playoff football and that could bite the Pack if the mistakes mount in a game and the defense is called upon to win the game.
The Eagles were flying high with a six game winning streak until they were shut out by Dallas last week and now they get a shot at redemption in the wild card round in Dallas.
Quarterback Donovan McNabb had another good season and has so many weapons to choose from on offense. DO NOT expect another shutout or bet down by Dallas this week against the Eagles.
Cowboys' quarterback Tony Romo has been steady and in December he actually played well and didn't make the bone head mistakes as in years' past.
The Dallas defense has been playing out of their minds, allowing just nine points a game during the month of December (including two straight shutouts to finish the season) and held the mighty New Orleans Saints to just 17 points in a win three weeks ago. If the defense continues to step it up and the running game continues to churn, the Cowboys have a shot to go a long way in the playoffs.
Here are the fearless forecasts for this week's games...
Saturday, January 9
New York Jets over Cincinnati
Philadelphia over Dallas
Sunday, January 10
Baltimore over New England
Arizona over Green Bay
FINAL REGULAR SEASON RECORD: 166-90
Tuesday, January 5, 2010
Monday, January 4, 2010
NFL Football- Week 17 Review
The regular 2009 NFL season is now official and it's on to the playoffs.
The final week of the season saw the final two spots in the AFC playoff picture settled as the Baltimore Ravens and New York Jets won their games to get the last spots and will be in action next weekend.
The Ravens topped the Oakland Raiders 21-13 to secure the sixth spot and will play the New England Patriots. The Jets crushed the Cincinnati Bengals, 37-0 in the Meadowlands and will play at Cincinnati next weekend in the wild card round of the playoffs.
In the NFC, the Dallas Cowboys shut out the Philadelphia Eagles 24-0 to clinch the East division with a 11-5 record. Dallas will play Philadelphia once again next week in Dallas in the opening round.
The Minnesota Vikings pounded the New York Giants, 44-7 to secure the number-two seed and a first round bye in the NFC playoffs. Quarterback Brett Favre threw for 316 yards and four touchdowns in the rout.
The Green Bay Packers (11-5) finished the regular season on a high note with a 33-7 thrashing of the Arizona Cardinals, whom they will face once again next weekend in the desert.
The top seed in the NFC, the New Orleans Saints, lost their third straight game as the Carolina Panthers won 23-10 to finish their season at 8-8. New Orleans is 13-3 and will have home field advantage throughout the playoffs.
The top seed in the AFC, the Indianapolis Colts finished the year 14-2 after being pounded by the Buffalo Bills 30-7 in a blizzard at Ralph Wilson Stadium in Buffalo.
The Colts once again rested many regulars as the Bills enjoyed their biggest win of then season in what really amounted to being like a pre-season game considering the way the Colts treated it.
The New England Patriots probably wish they had taken that approach as they lost at Houston 34-27 and lost the NFL's leading wide receiver, Wes Welker, for the playoffs to a knee injury in the first quarter.
The Patriots host Baltimore next week in the wild card round.
The AFC's number-two seed, the San Diego Chargers, finished the season 13-3 and head to the playoffs riding an 11-game winning streak. The Chargers played most of the game with the backups in the game and beat the Washington Redskins, 23-20 as QB Billy Volek hit Mike Tolbert with a two-yard scoring pass with 35 seconds left in regulation.
The Redskins (4-12) fired Head Coach Jim Zorn following the final game.
OTHER GAMES ...
The Chicago Bears smashed Detroit 37-23 as QB Jay Cutler finished 2009 on a high note with four TD passes to lead the way for the Bears, who finished the season at 7-9.
Pittsburgh will not have a chance to defend it's Super Bowl crown despite beating the Miami Dolphins, 30-24 to finish the regular season at 9-7. It was the second time in four years the Steelers failed to make the playoffs after winning the Super Bowl the previous year.
Tennessee's Chris Johnson (pictured top left) set a new NFL record for total yards from scrimmage for a single season in the Titans 17-13 win at Seattle. In addition to that, Johnson also finished the 2009 season with 2,006 yards rushing to lead the league. He is only the sixth running back in NFL history to top 2,000 yards in a season.
Kansas City eliminated the Denver Broncos, who were at one time 6-0, from playoff contention with a 44-24 thumping in Denver. The Chiefs were led by Jamaal Charles, who rushed for 259 yards in the game and scored two TDs while the KC defense also scored twice on interceptions.
The Broncos finished the season at 8-8 for the second consecutive season and Head Coach Josh McDaniels can forget about Coach of the Year honors this season after seeing his team's season go up in flames once the calendar turned to November.
The Atlanta Falcons (9-7) put together back-to-back winning seasons for the first time in franchise history as they handled the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, 20-10 behind two TD passes from QB Matt Ryan.
The Cleveland Browns finished the 2009 season with a four-game winning streak as they won at home against Jacksonville, 23-17 to finish at 5-11. Jerome Harrison led the way once again for the Browns with 127 yards rushing and scored a touchdown to put the game away in the third quarter.
The San Francisco 49ers, led by running back Frank Gore's 107 yards rushing and two touchdowns, wound up the season at 8-8 as they pasted the St. Louis Rams, 28-6 in St. Louis. The Rams, which had the worst record in the NFL at 1-15, will have the first draft pick in April.
Now, it's on to the playoffs!
Friday, January 1, 2010
NFL Football- Week 17 Previews
Happy New Year everybody and here we are at Week 17 ... the final games of the 2009 regular season in the NFL.
There are a lot of games that mean nothing as far as the NFL playoffs are concerned. However, there a lot of teams still in the running in the AFC for the final two spots.
It's real simple in the AFC, if the Baltimore Ravens and New York Jets win their season finales, they are both going to the playoffs. If they both lose, then Houston, Pittsburgh and Denver definitely have a shot at making the post-season party. Miami and Jacksonville are definite long shots after losing key games last weekend.
In fact, Pittsburgh has somehow managed to play it's way back into contention with two straight wins after losing at Cleveland three weeks ago. The Steelers' LaMarr Woodley has gone so far as to accuse the Patriots and Bengals (each division winners and playoff bound) of possibly laying down in their final games against Houston and the New York Jets just to keep the Steelers from making the playoffs.
That's ridiculous because the Steelers should be 11-4 after losing games against Kansas City, Oakland and Cleveland. They put themselves in this tough spot where they need A LOT of help should they beat Miami on the road on Sunday.
Another thing is whether or not the Indianapolis Colts, having sewn up home field advantage throughout the AFC playoffs, will even play any starters in their final regular season game at Buffalo.
In the NFC, it's all settled as far as who is in the playoffs. The only question is who will be playing who next weekend in the Wild Card Round.
The Minnesota Vikings have dropped three out of their last four games and now must win at home against the New York Giants and then get some help to regain the number-two seed and a first round bye.
The BIG GAME this weekend without question is the Philadelphia Eagles at Dallas Cowboys for all the marbles in the NFC East division. If the Cowboys win, they will move up from sixth spot to at least four and possibly even third seed.
The Eagles (11-4) currently are the second seed and could secure the first round bye if they beat Dallas. The New Orleans Saints have clinched home field throughout the NFC playoffs and the Green Bay Packers are already assured a wild card spot while they travel to Arizona to finish the regular season against the playoff bound Cardinals.
No doubt there will be a lot of scoreboard watching going on in the NFL this Sunday and then the final game of the regular season on Sunday Night Football will have the Cincinnati Bengals at the New York Jets to determine the final spot in the AFC playoff picture.
It should be an exciting finish to the 2009 season and then the real fun begins.
Here are the final picks for the last game of the regular season ... (HOME TEAMS are listed in BOLD)
Chicago over Detroit
Miami over Pittsburgh
New England over Houston
Buffalo over Indianapolis
San Francisco over St. Louis
Tampa Bay over Atlanta
Carolina over New Orleans
Cleveland over Jacksonville
Minnesota over NY Giants
Tennessee over Seattle
Philadelphia over Dallas
San Diego over Washington
Denver over Kansas City
Baltimore over Oakland
Arizona over Green Bay
NY Jets over Cincinnati
Last week's record: 11-5
SEASON RECORD: 156-84
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