While I try to wait for a good topic to come to mind here are a few random thoughts......
- NFL Networks top 100 players of 2012 got the top player right for the second consecutive season with Aaron Rodgers being #1 for this upcoming season. Rodgers accuracy, athleticism, and overall skill set really set him apart from the rest of the league and in time could set him apart from many of the all time greats.
Rodgers' career quarterback rating is a ridiculous 104.1 while number 2 all time is Tony Romo at 96.9 (really Romo is #2????). Let's remember that Rodgers plays half his games at Lambeau where the weather can often be absolutely brutal - not to mention he heads to Chicago every year too. In addition to this mark, his career playoff qb rating is 105.5 - which even includes that stinker vs the Giants last January. You may have guessed it but this too is #1 all time with Bart Starr's 104.8 being #2. Rodgers has thrown 93 career touchdowns to just 38 interceptions. Where does his TD/INT ratio place him? Number 1. Anyone who speaks of Favre being better simply has their eyes shut or is trying to be a contrarian. Volume and durability, although impressive, does not touch laser sharp efficiency. There is no reason to think that Rodgers doesn't slap together at least 8-10 more solid to excellent seasons. I also expect him to get another ring or two.
He is the number 1 player for 2012 and frankly it isn't even close.
Sure I'm a Tom Brady honk but I think being placed #4 behind Calvin Johnson was incorrect. I will grant you that Megatron is the best non-QB in the league, however, the 2006 Patriots made up of absolute BUM receivers went 12-4 and should have played in the super bowl if not for a late collapse versus the Colts. Megatron, on the other hand, has played for one 10-6 team. Wide Receivers are a sexy glamour position but you can't tell me that you would start your team for 2012 (and 2012 only) with Calvin Johnson over Tom Brady, it simply isn't true.
Darrelle Revis was ranked as the highest defensive player at #5 which I don't have a problem with. I do waffle back and forth on the shut down corner or dynamite pass rusher. Having followed the Patriots my whole life and having my heart torn out in two super bowls versus a team who can get after the quarterback I think I, by the slimmest of margins, would take the pass rusher. Give me Demarcus Ware, Jared Allen, or Jason Pierre-Paul who can get pressure without the need to blitz.
- I thought I would be more upset about the Heat winning the title but to be honest I'm not. LeBron grew tremendously these playoffs. He took the Heat, placed them on his shoulders and simply would not be denied. James averaged 30+ with 10+ boards and probably played some of the greatest defense of all time. Think about this, who else can guard all five positions? He's unreal. Yes I agree he's still a shmuck and says some stupid things but on the court you have to respect what he did.
No they won't win 7 or 8 titles like he said on that embarrassing evening when he first arrived to Miami but I think there is little doubt he'll win 3 or 4.
- This postseason the NHL broadcasted every playoff game whether it be on NBC Sports, NBC, NHL Network, etc. This was a tremendous decision and for the first round of the playoffs I found myself watching just about every series. However once the Bruins got bounced my interest started to die down. I will undoubtedly give this another shot next season and maybe the non-Bruins run will become more appealing. For now, however, I'd still put the NFL and NBA ahead of the NHL for me in terms of being able to watch two random teams play in the playoffs.
- My friends are hosting a tecmo tourney on July 21st for anyone interested. I'm not certain yet that I can go but gah damn that's a great game. The simplistic left to right play, the players and their ratings going up and down through the season, statistics finally being kept... all these reasons make this a one of a kind game. I'm not much of a gamer anymore and it's my love of NES and its simple yet fun approach that is probably the reason.
I still have the trophy from the last time this tournament was held in March of 2006. We do a double elimination tournament where all 28 teams (28 teams in 1991) are written onto ping pong balls and placed into a jar. Before you square off both players pull a team from the jar. You are allowed to manipulate your teams playbook in case it is absolutely rotten (looking at you Cardinals). Also the season must be reset prior to playing your games so that everyone's condition is average.
If I remember correctly - and my wife will tell you I absolutely do not - I beat Glassman, Gumby, Cannata, Witz, then Gumby again in the title game. The game against Witz was an absolute nail biter where I *believe* I was the Cowboys and he was the Lions (it could be vice versa but those were the teams). He was driving down by 4 or 5 and made it inside the 10 when time expired.
Anyways I've rambled far too long. Tecmo rules!
Friday, June 29, 2012
Thursday, June 28, 2012
Comeback!!!
The blog has been dormant for too long... I'll be making a comeback so my 9 readers please stay tuned!
Saturday, October 2, 2010
An Overhyped Legacy
I've been watching the NFL Network's top 100 players of all time and was greatly disappointed to see that Bart Starr was ranked #51. This means that presumably the experts feel that the following group of players were better: Joe Montana, Tom Brady, Peyton Manning, Dan Marino, John Elway, Roger Staubach, Otto Graham, Sammy Baugh, Johnny Unitas, Brett Favre (pukes), and possibly Terry Bradshaw. Some of them sure, some meh, some hell no.
I'm not going to debate this though, none of us watched Starr play, and if you've read my facebook statuses over the past few years you are probably sick of hearing Glassman and myself circle jerk to him.
So whose legacy am I going to attack for the next 5,000 words??? Favre??? Too predictable, too easy. Marino??? Nah, I think his legacy is about right among the experts. Some of the old guys like Graham, Baugh, Unitas, Staubach, or Bradshaw??? Let's keep it current, someone we all saw. Montana??? I should slit my wrists and light myself on fire if the thought ever crept into my head. Manning & Brady will retire as two of the top five ever so it's dumb to go there either.
This leaves us with my boy John Elway. It's not really a mystery how I feel about Elway. Elway though is pretty damn overrated. I've seen lists that put him as a top 3 quarterback which is asinine. Elway is probably a top 15 all time quarterback at best and I'm going to tell you why he's not even really all that much better than Buffalo Bill great Jim Kelly who gets about one zillionth as much praise.
Both Elway and Kelly came out of the 1983 draft. Elway was the 1st selection overall taken by the Baltimore Colts while Kelly went 14th to the Bills. Elway was a star athlete who was also drafted by the Yankees and debated playing baseball for a living. He put up a huge snivelly stink about the Colts and forced his way out like a bitch, similar to Eli Manning. All of this immediately put Elway on the map.
Kelly on the other hand didn't make his way over to Buffalo until 1986, instead opting to play two seasons in the USFL where he was 1984 league MVP and in those two years amassed 9,842 passing yards and 83 TD's (granted against a bunch of shit bums, but still, Jesus Christ).
From 1986 to 1996 both men played in the NFL at the same time and both the Broncos and Bills owned the AFC - which, as we'll get to, isn't saying a whole lot. The 4 or 5 best teams each season were in the NFC.
So what's the two biggest reasons why everyone strokes it to Elway? What does he got that Kelly doesn't.
1. He has a signature, all time moment - The Drive. In the 1986 AFC Championship Game Elway led the Broncos on a 98 yard touchdown drive at the end of the 4th quarter to tie the game and force overtime. The Broncos obviously went on to win.
Now anytime a team has the ball with only a few minutes left every announcer parallels the moment to Elways. It's hard to argue that this wasn't one of the great playoff moments in NFL history, shit was sick, but it makes everyone think "4th quarter comebacks" and "John Elway" like they are synonomous. (In Kelly's first AFC Championship game the Bills were too busy raping the Raiders 51-3 so there wasn't a moment like this).
2. Elway won 2 Super Bowls, Kelly didn't win any. We'll get back to this....
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From 1986 to 1993 the Broncos and Bills represented the AFC in 7 of the 8 Super Bowls (they went 0-7). Here's a breakdown of how their numbers match up in this stretch:
Pro Bowls: Elway 5, Kelly 5 - EVEN
First Team All Pro: Elway 0, Kelly 1 (1991) - ADVANTAGE KELLY
Passing Yards: Elway 26,094 Kelly 26,413 - DEAD ASS EVEN
TD's & INT's: Elway 136-115, Kelly 179-126 - BIG ADVANTAGE KELLY (I was pretty shocked at how badly Kelly rolled him here)
Win-Loss record: Elway 71-45-1, Kelly 76-42 - EVEN
Playoff W/L record: Elway 7-5, Kelly 8-6 - EVEN
Super Bowl Performances: Both fucking blew - EVEN
Let's get one caveat out of the way. The Buffalo Bills in this stretch were more talented than the Denver Broncos... easily. Thurman Thomas, Andre Reed, Bruce Smith, Darryl Talley, etc, etc
The argument could be said that John Elway CARRIED a sad group to 3 Super Bowls and all this success. I can't dispute that, he did. However these two teams didn't quite peak at the same time in this eight year stretch. This wasn't like Brady and Manning having to go through one another to get to the Super Bowl. The Broncos owned the first half of this run, the Bills had the second. They only met in the playoffs once which was the 1991 AFC Championship Game won by Buffalo 10-7. Had they peaked at the same time, I'm sorry to say Broncos fans, your boy Elway doesn't get to a single Super Bowl. The Bills would have squashed them. They were just a much better team.
This leads to another question, who exactly did Elway defeat in the AFC to make this run of dominance in the conference? Talk about STINK. I guess their big rivals were the Browns and big bad Bernie Kosar. Miami was decent in the mid 80's, besides that though who else????
Like I said earlier the top 4 or 5 teams were in the NFC every year. This was about the 49ers, Bears, Redskins, Giants, and Cowboys. In this time frame, 1984 to 1996 in fact, the NFC won 13 straight Super Bowls - 11 blow outs and 2 close games. One of those close games featured the only AFC team who was probably better and should have beaten their NFC counterpart.... the 1990 Buffalo Bills.
In Super Bowl XXV, the Bills allowed Bill Parcells and Bill Belichick to dictate the way this game was played. It was a hard hitting, grind em out, and sustaining drives kind of game. EXACTLY up the Giants alley and not what the high scoring Bills wanted. Nonetheless, Kelly led a nice little drive himself to put the Bills within a Scott Norwood 47 yard field goal of winning the game. We know how it ended... wide right and the only time the Bills would sniff a chance at a title.
In the end though, Elway and Kelly played each other to a draw during this stretch - the PRIME of both players.
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Kelly went on to play 3 more seasons. He never made another pro bowl but he had decent years in 1994 & 1995. In 1995 & 1996 the Bills reached the playoffs but by this time their dominant nucleus was growing old. Kelly started to suck in his final year throwing 14 TD's and 19 INT's and it was time to hang em up.
In 1990, 91, and 92 Elway threw for 15, 13, and 10 touchdowns, yes 10. His ratings were 78.5, 75.4 and a Jamarcus Russelesque 65.7.
In 1993 and 1994 Elway bounced back with two nice years as the Broncos started to get him a few weapons but they were still pretty ordinary going 16-16. They weren't anything close to a Super Bowl contender.
Then from 1995 to 1998 Elway (and the Broncos) had a resurgence. By this point he was 35 years old. Had he hooked up with Barry Bonds folks at Balco??? What exactly happened from 1995 to 1998??
Terrell Davis. That's what happened.
Besides Earl Campbell and Eric Dickerson , no running back has had a four year run to start his career like Terrell Davis. No running back in NFL History was better in the playoffs. I won't argue this and anybody who tries to tell me another running back will be yelled down until I lose my voice. Terrell Davis played in 8 playoff games.... here are his numbers (get some tissues).
1996 Loss to Jacksonville: 14 carries 91 yards 1 TD
1997 Win vs Jacksonville: 31 carries 184 yards 2 TD's
1997 Win vs Kansas City: 25 carries 101 yards 2 TD's
1997 Win vs Pittsburgh: 26 carries 139 yards 1 TD
1997 Win vs Green Bay: 30 carries 157 yards 3 TD's - Super Bowl MVP
1998 Win vs Miami: 21 carries 199 yards 2 TD's
1998 Win vs NY Jets: 32 carries 167 yards 1 TD
1998 Win vs Atlanta: 25 carries 102 yards
Gooooood.... Loooorrrrd!!!! In 8 games he totalled 1,140 yards, 5.6 yards per carry, and 12 TD's. If you only count the two Super Bowl years (7 games) he had 1,049 yards and 11 TD's. If you stretched this pace out over 16 games (and let's not ignore that this was done against presumably the best teams the NFL had to offer when everyone knew he was getting the rock) he would have 2,398 yards and 25 TD's.
How did Elway do in this time???
1997 Win vs Jacksonville: 16-24 223 yards 1 TD
1997 Win vs Kansas City: 10-19 170 yards
1997 Win vs Pittsburgh: 18-31 210 yards 2 TDs's 1 INT
1997 Win vs Green Bay: 12-22 123 yards 1 INT, 1 TD Run
1998 Win vs Miami: 14-23 182 yards 1 TD
1998 Win vs NY Jets: 13-34 (yikes) 173 yards 1 TD
1998 Win vs Atlanta: 18-29 336 yards 1 TD 1 INT, 1 TD Run - Super Bowl MVP
These numbers certainly aren't bad, NY Jets game aside, but he wasn't asked to win games. I'll give him credit that ending his hall of fame career as a Super Bowl MVP is a pretty nasty way to do so (but TD wasn't exactly minced meat in that game either).
Pat Bowlen, Denver Broncos owner, has the famous line upon receiving Super Bowl XXXII's trophy: "This one's... for John!" What he really meant to say was: "This one's... for John... courtesy... of TD!"
Elway's longevity was impressive. He was fine taking a back seat in order to get to the promised land which I can only applaud. He remained very effective until the end, BUT he NEVER sniffs even another Super Bowl APPEARANCE, let alone win, without Terrell Davis, one of the greatest RB's of all time.
Thanks to this fortune, Elway has transformed in everyone's mind from the guy who always got rolled in lopsided Super Bowls to a "top 3 quarterback" while poor Jim Kelly has night terrors thinking about Norwood's shank which cost him and his legacy. He will NEVER be mentioned in the same echelon as Elway, a place where he belongs (or where Elway should be?). Drives me nuts....
I'm not going to debate this though, none of us watched Starr play, and if you've read my facebook statuses over the past few years you are probably sick of hearing Glassman and myself circle jerk to him.
So whose legacy am I going to attack for the next 5,000 words??? Favre??? Too predictable, too easy. Marino??? Nah, I think his legacy is about right among the experts. Some of the old guys like Graham, Baugh, Unitas, Staubach, or Bradshaw??? Let's keep it current, someone we all saw. Montana??? I should slit my wrists and light myself on fire if the thought ever crept into my head. Manning & Brady will retire as two of the top five ever so it's dumb to go there either.
This leaves us with my boy John Elway. It's not really a mystery how I feel about Elway. Elway though is pretty damn overrated. I've seen lists that put him as a top 3 quarterback which is asinine. Elway is probably a top 15 all time quarterback at best and I'm going to tell you why he's not even really all that much better than Buffalo Bill great Jim Kelly who gets about one zillionth as much praise.
Both Elway and Kelly came out of the 1983 draft. Elway was the 1st selection overall taken by the Baltimore Colts while Kelly went 14th to the Bills. Elway was a star athlete who was also drafted by the Yankees and debated playing baseball for a living. He put up a huge snivelly stink about the Colts and forced his way out like a bitch, similar to Eli Manning. All of this immediately put Elway on the map.
Kelly on the other hand didn't make his way over to Buffalo until 1986, instead opting to play two seasons in the USFL where he was 1984 league MVP and in those two years amassed 9,842 passing yards and 83 TD's (granted against a bunch of shit bums, but still, Jesus Christ).
From 1986 to 1996 both men played in the NFL at the same time and both the Broncos and Bills owned the AFC - which, as we'll get to, isn't saying a whole lot. The 4 or 5 best teams each season were in the NFC.
So what's the two biggest reasons why everyone strokes it to Elway? What does he got that Kelly doesn't.
1. He has a signature, all time moment - The Drive. In the 1986 AFC Championship Game Elway led the Broncos on a 98 yard touchdown drive at the end of the 4th quarter to tie the game and force overtime. The Broncos obviously went on to win.
Now anytime a team has the ball with only a few minutes left every announcer parallels the moment to Elways. It's hard to argue that this wasn't one of the great playoff moments in NFL history, shit was sick, but it makes everyone think "4th quarter comebacks" and "John Elway" like they are synonomous. (In Kelly's first AFC Championship game the Bills were too busy raping the Raiders 51-3 so there wasn't a moment like this).
2. Elway won 2 Super Bowls, Kelly didn't win any. We'll get back to this....
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From 1986 to 1993 the Broncos and Bills represented the AFC in 7 of the 8 Super Bowls (they went 0-7). Here's a breakdown of how their numbers match up in this stretch:
Pro Bowls: Elway 5, Kelly 5 - EVEN
First Team All Pro: Elway 0, Kelly 1 (1991) - ADVANTAGE KELLY
Passing Yards: Elway 26,094 Kelly 26,413 - DEAD ASS EVEN
TD's & INT's: Elway 136-115, Kelly 179-126 - BIG ADVANTAGE KELLY (I was pretty shocked at how badly Kelly rolled him here)
Win-Loss record: Elway 71-45-1, Kelly 76-42 - EVEN
Playoff W/L record: Elway 7-5, Kelly 8-6 - EVEN
Super Bowl Performances: Both fucking blew - EVEN
Let's get one caveat out of the way. The Buffalo Bills in this stretch were more talented than the Denver Broncos... easily. Thurman Thomas, Andre Reed, Bruce Smith, Darryl Talley, etc, etc
The argument could be said that John Elway CARRIED a sad group to 3 Super Bowls and all this success. I can't dispute that, he did. However these two teams didn't quite peak at the same time in this eight year stretch. This wasn't like Brady and Manning having to go through one another to get to the Super Bowl. The Broncos owned the first half of this run, the Bills had the second. They only met in the playoffs once which was the 1991 AFC Championship Game won by Buffalo 10-7. Had they peaked at the same time, I'm sorry to say Broncos fans, your boy Elway doesn't get to a single Super Bowl. The Bills would have squashed them. They were just a much better team.
This leads to another question, who exactly did Elway defeat in the AFC to make this run of dominance in the conference? Talk about STINK. I guess their big rivals were the Browns and big bad Bernie Kosar. Miami was decent in the mid 80's, besides that though who else????
Like I said earlier the top 4 or 5 teams were in the NFC every year. This was about the 49ers, Bears, Redskins, Giants, and Cowboys. In this time frame, 1984 to 1996 in fact, the NFC won 13 straight Super Bowls - 11 blow outs and 2 close games. One of those close games featured the only AFC team who was probably better and should have beaten their NFC counterpart.... the 1990 Buffalo Bills.
In Super Bowl XXV, the Bills allowed Bill Parcells and Bill Belichick to dictate the way this game was played. It was a hard hitting, grind em out, and sustaining drives kind of game. EXACTLY up the Giants alley and not what the high scoring Bills wanted. Nonetheless, Kelly led a nice little drive himself to put the Bills within a Scott Norwood 47 yard field goal of winning the game. We know how it ended... wide right and the only time the Bills would sniff a chance at a title.
In the end though, Elway and Kelly played each other to a draw during this stretch - the PRIME of both players.
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Kelly went on to play 3 more seasons. He never made another pro bowl but he had decent years in 1994 & 1995. In 1995 & 1996 the Bills reached the playoffs but by this time their dominant nucleus was growing old. Kelly started to suck in his final year throwing 14 TD's and 19 INT's and it was time to hang em up.
In 1990, 91, and 92 Elway threw for 15, 13, and 10 touchdowns, yes 10. His ratings were 78.5, 75.4 and a Jamarcus Russelesque 65.7.
In 1993 and 1994 Elway bounced back with two nice years as the Broncos started to get him a few weapons but they were still pretty ordinary going 16-16. They weren't anything close to a Super Bowl contender.
Then from 1995 to 1998 Elway (and the Broncos) had a resurgence. By this point he was 35 years old. Had he hooked up with Barry Bonds folks at Balco??? What exactly happened from 1995 to 1998??
Terrell Davis. That's what happened.
Besides Earl Campbell and Eric Dickerson , no running back has had a four year run to start his career like Terrell Davis. No running back in NFL History was better in the playoffs. I won't argue this and anybody who tries to tell me another running back will be yelled down until I lose my voice. Terrell Davis played in 8 playoff games.... here are his numbers (get some tissues).
1996 Loss to Jacksonville: 14 carries 91 yards 1 TD
1997 Win vs Jacksonville: 31 carries 184 yards 2 TD's
1997 Win vs Kansas City: 25 carries 101 yards 2 TD's
1997 Win vs Pittsburgh: 26 carries 139 yards 1 TD
1997 Win vs Green Bay: 30 carries 157 yards 3 TD's - Super Bowl MVP
1998 Win vs Miami: 21 carries 199 yards 2 TD's
1998 Win vs NY Jets: 32 carries 167 yards 1 TD
1998 Win vs Atlanta: 25 carries 102 yards
Gooooood.... Loooorrrrd!!!! In 8 games he totalled 1,140 yards, 5.6 yards per carry, and 12 TD's. If you only count the two Super Bowl years (7 games) he had 1,049 yards and 11 TD's. If you stretched this pace out over 16 games (and let's not ignore that this was done against presumably the best teams the NFL had to offer when everyone knew he was getting the rock) he would have 2,398 yards and 25 TD's.
How did Elway do in this time???
1997 Win vs Jacksonville: 16-24 223 yards 1 TD
1997 Win vs Kansas City: 10-19 170 yards
1997 Win vs Pittsburgh: 18-31 210 yards 2 TDs's 1 INT
1997 Win vs Green Bay: 12-22 123 yards 1 INT, 1 TD Run
1998 Win vs Miami: 14-23 182 yards 1 TD
1998 Win vs NY Jets: 13-34 (yikes) 173 yards 1 TD
1998 Win vs Atlanta: 18-29 336 yards 1 TD 1 INT, 1 TD Run - Super Bowl MVP
These numbers certainly aren't bad, NY Jets game aside, but he wasn't asked to win games. I'll give him credit that ending his hall of fame career as a Super Bowl MVP is a pretty nasty way to do so (but TD wasn't exactly minced meat in that game either).
Pat Bowlen, Denver Broncos owner, has the famous line upon receiving Super Bowl XXXII's trophy: "This one's... for John!" What he really meant to say was: "This one's... for John... courtesy... of TD!"
Elway's longevity was impressive. He was fine taking a back seat in order to get to the promised land which I can only applaud. He remained very effective until the end, BUT he NEVER sniffs even another Super Bowl APPEARANCE, let alone win, without Terrell Davis, one of the greatest RB's of all time.
Thanks to this fortune, Elway has transformed in everyone's mind from the guy who always got rolled in lopsided Super Bowls to a "top 3 quarterback" while poor Jim Kelly has night terrors thinking about Norwood's shank which cost him and his legacy. He will NEVER be mentioned in the same echelon as Elway, a place where he belongs (or where Elway should be?). Drives me nuts....
Wednesday, September 8, 2010
2010 NFL Predictions
Welcome to what will hopefully be the first of many blogs regarding the 2010 season. I've been a lazy fuck since the NBA Finals but baseball is wicked boring so I'm sure no one would have cared had I written anything anyway.
Before getting to my predictions a lot of teams and story lines intrigue the hell out of me. I'm definitely teetering between considering myself a bigger fan of the Patriots or of the NFL in general. At the moment I think the latter is winning out. A combination of having seen titles in my lifetime, witnessing a few straight terrible drafts, BB making crappy transactions or lack thereof in other cases, and gambling/fantasy/survivor/blogging/CFL makes being a fan of the league more appealing. I mean I get it BB, why would you want to improve your team around a top 10 NFL player of all time still in his prime, instead please keep trading back in the draft and passing up on impact players. And by all means play hard ball with players who will help you compete for Super Bowls.
In no particular order I find myself really interested in watching the following teams and would like to see them do well
Quick Example:
2008 Division Winners: Dolphins, Steelers, Titans, Chargers, Giants, Vikings, Panthers, Cardinals
2009 Division Winners: Patriots, Bengals, Colts, Chargers, Cowboys, Vikings, Saints, Cardinals - 3 of 8 were the same
2008 Playoff Teams: AFC: Titans, Steelers, Dolphins, Chargers, Colts, Ravens. NFC: Giants, Panthers, Vikings, Cardinals, Falcons, Eagles
2009 Playoff Teams: AFC: Colts, Chargers, Patriots, Bengals, Jets, Ravens. NFC: Saints, Vikings, Cowboys, Cardinals, Packers, Eagles - 6 of 12 were the same
2008 Conference Championship Games: Steelers vs Ravens, Cardinals vs Eagles
2009 Conference Championship Games: Colts vs Jets, Saints vs Vikings - Entirely Different
2008 Super Bowl Champion: Steelers
2009 Super Bowl Champion: Saints - Neither team was a huge stretch but we weren't exactly expecting them to be hoisting the Lombardi Trophy either.
So here goes... try not to predict based on 2009 results but don't be a complete dildo and pick a Browns-Lions Super Bowl either. Let's walk this fine line.....
AFC East
1st. Miami Dolphins - The AFC East has a brutally tough schedule this year. They play the AFC North and NFC North. The two strength of schedule games is what I feel determines this very tight division. The Patriots play Indianapolis & San Diego, the Jets play Houston & Denver, while the Dolphins play Tennessee & Oakland. I think this plays out a lot like 2008 where the Dolphins just scrap out enough wins to find themselves at 10-6 come season end. Two points to make on Miami.
3rd. New York Jets - I like Rex Ryan's attitude, I love the way they sign their own impact players, I love the swagger, I really love the bamboozle job they did in getting Holmes for a 5th rounder, I like the Cromartie acquisition (17 illegitimate kids and all), I'm not crazy about signing LT the washed up dingleberry, and lastly how can you not love the defense. You're thinking, "Really, Joe, 3rd place, wtf is up with that?"
There are a few things that are going to hold the Jets back. First off, the expectations on Mark Sanchez are completely too high and unachievable. In year two he is still going to struggle at times and flat out lose a game or two for you. It's simply part of the growing process. If this team's expectations were 10-6 and they were under the radar a bit (like the Dolphins) I'd feel better, but they aren't. From Hard Knocks to the countless Super Bowl predictions the bar is wicked high for the Jets. I also think Shonn Greene is injury prone. I don't think they will be able to give him the same number of carries that Thomas Jones was able to provide. If they need to run the rock with LT for a 2 or 3 game stretch this season it's going to end up falling on Sanchez's shoulders. He's a QB that will be most effective throwing 20 passes a game or so, not 40. Lastly, could the Jets have a bigger X on their backs going into this season? To boot the Jets open the season with Baltimore, New England, Miami, Buffalo, Minnesota, Denver, Green Bay. I don't think a 3-4 or 2-5 start is out of the question.
4th. Buffalo Bills - I can tell this blog is going to be long enough as is, let's not spend any time on the Bills. Mark them down for a top 5 pick in the 2011 draft.
AFC North
1st. Baltimore Ravens - For the first time in 76 years (more like 14), the Baltimore Ravens will have a better offense than defense. I like that Flacco has already gotten his sea legs with a pretty impressive 3-2 playoff record to start his career. Couple that with the addition of Anquan Boldin (ugghhhh at least Taylor Price should make a huge impact for the Pats this season, oh wait), the studliest of running backs in Ray Rice, and I think we are looking at a team who scores 400+ points and wins the AFC North fairly easily.
2nd. Pittsburgh Steelers - Had Big Ben not gone out and unleashed his shlong then allegedly rape a girl, I'd have picked the Steelers to bounce back big time in 2010. Much like the Patriots losing Rodney Harrison in 2005, the Steelers (even moreso) were porked without Troy Polamalu. Now that the long haired, soft spoken, animal is back that defense should be flying around again.
Nonetheless it all comes back to Roethlisberger really letting this franchise down. I can't say it any better than Glassman in his predictions, "Remember when Manning missed the preseason in 08? He was bad for like 6 or 7 games before he got going. Big Ben is going to miss 4 games before he even gets to start. Too much to overcome."
3rd. Cincinnati Bengals - The offense is relying on a noodle armed QB, a couple of crazy receivers, a trouble making running back, and a rookie TE. They will NOT go 6-0 in the division again. Mark them down at 8-8.
4th Cleveland Browns - It's really too bad Hardesty went down for the year, he looked sick in the 4th preseason game before he got hurt. Mangina won't make it beyond this season, but at least Holmgren is calling the shots - I would think they become competitive in the next 2 or 3 years.
AFC South
1st. Indianapolis Colts - The other team I threw money on in Vegas. The over under on wins was 11.5 and the over paid +170. It would totally be my luck that the Colts crap out once I put money on them but doesn't 12 or more wins seem like an absolute mortal lock?
I think it's about time that this is now accepted as fact.... Peyton Manning is the greatest regular season quarterback of all time. Is this even debatable anymore after 2009? He was an artist out there. Every close game he came through. Manning pretty much runs the offense (and quite possibly more than that). You can put him down for a 13-3 record, 4,000+ yards, and 30+ TD's. Sure he's had a good team around him but there is no debate or comebacks to be made, the man is the greatest regular season QB ever, period. Part of me thinks Favre continues to play so that Manning might not break all his records - ain't happenin' Brett. Mark it down, come 2016 or 2017 when Manning hangs them up he'll have smoked all of Favre's records.
Now are the Colts approaching the greatest regular season run in NFL history?
2003-2009: 12-4, 12-4, 14-2, 12-4, 13-3, 12-4, 14-2 - Total 89-23 (.795 win %)
Here are a few more 7 year runs:
Patriots (2001-2007) 11-5, 9-7, 14-2, 14-2, 10-6, 12-4, 16-0 -- Total 86-26 (.768 win %) *If you actually go from 2003 to 2009 the Patriots are 1 game better but then you are cutting out a Super Bowl year... I just can't acknowledge it that way
49ers (1984-1990) 15-1, 10-6, 10-5-1, 13-2, 10-6, 14-2, 14-2 -- Total 86-24-1 (.779 win %)
49ers (1992-1998) 14-2, 10-6, 13-3, 11-5, 12-4, 13-3, 12-4 -- Total 85-27 (.759 win %)
Steelers (1973-1979) 10-4, 10-3-1, 12-2, 10-4, 9-5, 14-2, 12-4 -- Total 77-24-1 (.755 win %)
Quick, what's the difference between the Colts 7 year run and all these other teams? Yup, you got it 1 Super Bowl title vs multiple titles (You didn't think I'd just praise the Colts here did you?)
2nd. Houston Texans - I'm surprised there isn't a bit more hype around the Texans. The offense is going to score a ton of points again with Schaub, Johnson, Foster, Jones, Walter, and Daniels once his knee is good. The defense has quite a few playmakers in Mario Williams, Brian Cushing, DeMeco Ryans, Bernard Pollard (just puked), and rookie CB Kareem Jackson. Mark them down at 10-6.
3rd. Tennessee Titans - I don't like teams that can't pass their way back into a game. If the Titans fall behind by 10+ points I'm sticking a fork in them 9 times out of 10. They need to get ahead in games they play. It reminds me a lot of the 2009 Dolphins. They will be competitive in every game but Manning will have a few game winning drives at their expense while VY won't be able to answer in the reverse situation.
4th. Jacksonville Jaguars - Calling it now. The Los Angeles Jaguars (or potentially a name change) will begin play somewhere around 2013. What a lousy NFL city, what was the league thinking granting them a franchise over Baltimore, St. Louis, or Tennessee who also put in bids at the time?
AFC West
1st. San Diego Chargers - Losing the horribly overrated (at least the past 2 or 3 years) LT (and the painful obligation to give him 20+ touches when he didn't deserve 10), playing their division in 6 games + the NFC West = a pretty sick season. If they don't clinch the division by week 12 I'll be shocked.
Another thing worth noting is that travel tends to be brutal for west coast teams since the majority of the NFL lies on the east coast. Since the Chargers are playing the NFC West they won't have those short week cross-country flights. Look for them to challenge for the #1 seed.
Speaking of cross country flights the Patriots fly to San Diego this season, mark that L down already.
2nd. Oakland Raiders - I don't know why but I think the Raiders could be pretty good this year. Maybe the law of averages and sucking so putridly for 7 years has made me delusional about their potential turn around... almost as if they're just due because you can't suck this much forever?
Remember the best 7 year runs I listed above? Let's check out the Raiders from 2003 to 2009:
4-12, 5-11, 4-12, 2-14, 4-12, 5-11, 5-11 -- 29-83... Goooood.... Lorrrrrd!
3rd. Kansas City Chiefs - If Charlie Weis can make something of Cassel I think the Chiefs could turn around fairly quickly. There is a LOT to like about the roster. Jamaal Charles is a stud, Thomas Jones is the perfect compliment, Ponch has informed me that Dwayne Bowe attended Fitz's offseason camp and lost 30 lbs (look for a big year from him), they drafted McClusterfuck & Tony Moeaki, and this is just on offense. Then on defense Eric Berry has been compared to Ed Reed and fellow rookie Kendrick Lewis may be starting at the opposite safety position. I'm sensing another crappyish 6-10 year, but come 2012 or so they should be fighting for a wild card spot.... that is unless they have to start over at QB.
4th. Denver Broncos - Hmm so I'm not quite sure where Josh McDaniels is going with this. He's turned Cutler and Marshall into a pu pu platter of Kyle Orton/Brady Quinn/Tim Tebow (and his Nolan Ryan windup delivery) and Demarius Thomas. I'm not sure he's going to survive long enough for this to potentially pan out & turn around.
AFC PLAYOFF SEEDS
1. Colts
2. Chargers
3. Ravens
4. Dolphins
5. Patriots
6. Texans
Last team out: Steelers
Wild Card Round: Patriots over Dolphins (c'mon did you really think I'd give the final word in the AFC East to another team?), Ravens over Texans
Divisional Round: Colts over Patriots (I'm not sure who will cover Wayne, Clark, Garcon, Collie, Gonzalez, Addai, Raymond Berry, John Mackey, or anyone else), Ravens over Chargers (San Diego is unseating Indy who unseated the Steelers as playoff choke artists)
Conference Championship: Colts over Ravens - Manning leads a last minute game winning drive. All of New England throws up.
NFC East
1st. New York Giants - They may not be a very popular pick this year but I think the Giants have a nice bounce back season. Let's look at why they fell apart last year:
2nd. Dallas Cowboys - Every time the Cowboys are hyped up to compete for a Super Bowl they crap down their legs. The NFC East is a TOUGH division. The Cowboys play the NFC North and AFC South to boot. I just don't see Romo or Phillips being mentally tough enough to grind out challenging stretches in the season. It seems you always hear about Dallas having 3 game losing streaks mid-year. Tony Romo is a great fantasy QB but I would never want him leading my potential Super Bowl run.
3rd. Philadelphia Eagles - In my opinion, this is pretty much the Green Bay Packers. Long time QB is leaving a good playoff team. There is no debating that the correct move was made to transition the team to your younger QB. I think McNabb will be good in Washington and may kick Philly in the newtons once or twice head to head, but Kolb is going to thrive. It just isn't going to show in the standings in 2010. I do like the Eagles a lot though in 2011 and 2012 as far as a legit Super Bowl contender.... kind of like how I stroke it to the Packers in 2010.
4th. Washington Redskins - Fourth place in the NFC East is probably 7-9 or 8-8. Put the Redskins in the NFC West and they may take the division. McNabb could be the most underrated player of the 2000's and Mike Shannahan instead of Jim Zorn at head coach is like going from Rosie O'Donnell to Scarlett Johanson in a porno with Redskins fans as the lead actor.
I just don't like the rest of that offense at all. The offensive line is terrible, the running backs are geyzers, and I'm not sure there are enough threats at wide receiver. Santana Moss and Chris Cooley should have nice years but will McNabb have enough time to consistently get them the ball?
NFC North
1st. Green Bay Packers - The Packers are going to be nasty this season. Once Sydney Rice was put on the PUP list they pretty much clinched the division right then and there. I liked them to split with the Vikings, go 12-4, and win the division anyway, but now it's a slam dunk. Aaron Rodgers should probably already be called a top 5 quarterback but for dink analysts who still like to put Favre, Roethlisberger, or Rivers ahead of him, they won't be able to after 2010.
2nd. Minnesota Vikings - Brett Favre had a career season at the age of 40 in his 19th season. He had the highest QB Rating, completion percentage, yards per attempt, and fewest Int's in all his years. Can you believe that?
Actually, yes I can. This is marked proof, and one of the best arguments for pro-Brady people in a Brady versus Manning debate, that it is approximately 17,472,183 times easier to play quarterback in a dome than outside in a cold weather environment. Brett Favre didn't get any better. Anyone who says or thinks that is a fucking idiot. You don't get better at age 40. Playing in a controlled environment for at least 8 games a year makes accumulating statistics much easier. That is all that's been proven. Gee, throw a 30 yard pass into snowy wind when it's 10 degrees out or in a 68 degree dome?
I know I already proclaimed Manning the greatest regular season QB ever but what would Brady have done playing >50% of his games in a dome. Shit, what would Favre have done? Would he have 100 more TD's and 100 fewer Int's???? Maybe...
3rd. Chicago Bears - Here is a team that I have had a hard time predicting. Will Martz make Cutler better? Will Cutler keep acting like a wicked pube daddy? Will Forte bounce back? Will any of their wide receivers break out? Will Martz ever throw to Olsen? Is this defense still good?
I'm thinking.... not really, most definitely, not really, probably one of them, probably not, no. Mark them down for 7-9... I think.
4th. Detroit Lions - It's bad but I like a lot of this Lions offense. Fantasy wise I found myself grabbing Jahvid Best, Calvin Johnson, and Matt Stafford in mock drafts. Why in god's name would I want to rely on the shittiest team the past 10 years? But I think they are going to put up some points. The Lions may only win 4 or 5 games but I think they are finally on the right path and will become competitive.
NFC South
1st. New Orleans Saints - No love for the Saints from Vegas. They are 12-1 to win the Super Bowl. The PATRIOTS are 10-1!!! What dingleberry made those lines?
Then again that defense last year had approximately 935 turnovers and 261 defensive touchdowns. Those stats are a bit fluky. They allowed a ton of yards and a lot of points. Those stats aren't fluky. I think the Saints offense is still good enough to win 11 games and take the NFC South, but I don't foresee a repeat.
2nd. Atlanta Falcons - This has become a trendy team to pick to win the division and conference. Anytime booger eating John Clayton backs a team I go in the opposite direction. Has any other burn victim been given a cushier job that he sucks at more than him? ..... what's that? He's not a burn victim?! Fuck, he's ugly.
I remember Clayton coming out each week and picking the Patriots to lose in 2001. Granted this team came out of no where but he was an obnoxious turd about it. His lead story on espn.com was, "The Patriots are a Team of Destiny... Destined to lose to the Rams." Fahk you, Clayton. Why don't you get more sources off of hearsay.
I wonder how he feels now that he has Adam Schefter tossing his salad every day with spot on breaking news?
3rd. Carolina Panthers - The youngest team in the NFL, your Carolina Panthers. It's weird, just two seasons ago they went 12-4 and were legit contenders to reach the Super Bowl. That's what Jake Delhomme will do to you. Now they are a bunch of rookies with Steve Smith at wideout and two studs at running back.
Panthers fans, if they exist, are probably in for 2 or 3 crummy years while they try to turn this ship around. I would imagine they also won't be able to keep D'Angelo Williams & Jonathan Stewart together much beyond this year (which is outstanding fantasy news).
4th. Tampa Bay Buccaneers - Here is a youth movement I'm liking a lot. If Raheem Morris didn't seem so completely unqualified to do an adequate coaching job I'd have them ahead of Carolina.
They are rolling out quite a few rookie or 2nd year players who are going to play a pretty significant roll on the team (Josh Freeman, Kareem Huggins, Mike Williams, Gerald McCoy, and Brian Price). It may result in taking a few lumps in 2010 but it can only make them that much stronger in the next few years.
NFC West
1st. San Francisco 49ers - I can't even conjure up a scenario where the 49ers don't take the division by 2 or 3 games. Six games against the Seahawks, Cardinals, and Rams - absolute worst they will do is 5-1. Four games against the AFC West, Chargers, Raiders, Chiefs, Broncos - that looks like 3-1. I won't even bother looking at who else they play. If they go 3-3 in those games they are 11-5. I think they could end up as one of those wicked soft 12-4 first round bye teams just through that soft schedule - a lot like how the Bears were in 2001 and 2005, the Falcons in 2004, or the Titans in 2008.
Welcome back to relevance San Francisco.
2nd. Seattle Seahawks - I commented previously that 4th place in the NFC East is like 7-9 or 8-8. Well, 2nd place in the NFC West is probably like 5-11 or 6-10. How early could the 49ers clinch this division? Week 9?
I love that people have talked up Pete Carroll like he's going to be a good pro coach. There isn't a single thing he did at USC that makes me think he won't continue to suck in the NFL.
Let's look at what Carroll does exceptionally well:
3rd. Arizona Cardinals - First off, fare thee well to Kurt Warner. My five or six loyal blog readers know how much I like Warner. Definitely sad to see him go since he can still perform at a high level but kudos in getting out before you end up getting rolled - especially when you have 19 children.
On the other side, good riddance Matt Leinart. What a whiny little bitch. Crying everywhere about being outplayed by Derek Anderson and furthermore, getting outplayed by Derek Anderson. Did everyone see Anderson last year? The guy is fucking horrible. Leinart is just another college qb who had no business being drafted as high as he was in the NFL.
He joins the likes of: Brady Quinn, Heath Shuler, Danny Wuerfel, Ken Dorsey, and in two years, Colt McCoy - I'd name more QB's but I don't know shit about college football. Any sport that relies on computers to determine a championship game is pretty dumb and not worth my while.
4th. St Louis Rams - Now that I've told everyone how little I know about college football I have to be a complete hypocrite and pretend that I know what I'm talking about.
That being said, I think the Rams struck gold with Sam Bradford. The kid has a great arm, is very poised, has a good quick delivery, and seems to have that swagger a NFL quarterback will require. The Rams have very little talent around him and this isn't going to turn around over night, but for the first time in four or five years I think things could be looking up in St Louis.
NFC PLAYOFF SEEDS
1. Packers
2. 49ers, yes the 49ers
3. Saints
4. Giants
5. Falcons
6. Cowboys
Last team out: Vikings
Wild Card: Giants over Falcons, Cowboys over Saints
Divisional Round: Packers over Cowboys, Giants over 49ers
Conference Championship: Packers over Giants - The game goes to overtime but Aaron Rodgers shows everyone what a good QB does in OT (i.e. doesn't throw a pick in his own end of the field)
Offensive Rookie of the Year: CJ Spiller - the only good thing in Buffalo
Defensive Rookie of the Year: Rolando McClain
Coach of the Year: Mike Singletary
MVP: Aaron Rodgers <----- Take this one to the bank
Offensive Player of the Year: Rodgers
Defensive Player of the Year: Troy Polamalu
Super Bowl Prediction: Green Bay Packers over Indianapolis Colts
MVP: Aaron Rodgers
So how did I do?
Did I pick at least 50% new division winners? 2009 - Patriots, Bengals, Colts, Chargers, Cowboys, Vikings, Saints, Cardinals. My picks - Dolphins, Ravens, Colts, Chargers, Giants, Packers, Saints, 49ers. 5 new teams out of 8: CHECK
Did I pick at least 50% new playoff teams? 2009 - Colts, Chargers, Patriots, Bengals, Jets, Ravens, Saints, Vikings, Cowboys, Cardinals, Packers, Eagles. My picks - Colts, Chargers, Ravens, Dolphins, Patriots, Texans, Packers, 49ers, Saints, Giants, Falcons, Cowboys. 5 new teams out of 12: NOPE, but not terrible.
New Conference Championship teams? 2009 - Colts vs Jets, Saints vs Viking. My picks - Colts vs Ravens, Packers vs Giants: NOPE, 1 repeat team which isn't awful and out of the question
Surprising but not so surprising champions? Green Bay Packers: Hell no, this isn't going out on a limb at all.
So there you have it, my terrible predictions in which I can't even follow my own guidelines. Hope you enjoyed all 50,000 words of it.
Before getting to my predictions a lot of teams and story lines intrigue the hell out of me. I'm definitely teetering between considering myself a bigger fan of the Patriots or of the NFL in general. At the moment I think the latter is winning out. A combination of having seen titles in my lifetime, witnessing a few straight terrible drafts, BB making crappy transactions or lack thereof in other cases, and gambling/fantasy/survivor/blogging/CFL makes being a fan of the league more appealing. I mean I get it BB, why would you want to improve your team around a top 10 NFL player of all time still in his prime, instead please keep trading back in the draft and passing up on impact players. And by all means play hard ball with players who will help you compete for Super Bowls.
In no particular order I find myself really interested in watching the following teams and would like to see them do well
- 49ers - You all know the boner this franchise gives me. It'll be good to see them playing in January again. How can you not like Singletary either?
- Packers - When you hate Favre as much as me, it's really easy to pull for Rodgers & Co. I was going to throw a ton of money on them to win the SB but their odds fell from 11 to 1 down to 8 to 1 in Vegas, guess I wasn't alone. Still tossed $20 on 'em anyway.
- Chiefs - The Patriots-West. Charlie Weis may be a fat-ass crappy college coach but he calls a good offense. That and I got Charles in two leagues.
- Eagles/Redskins - Reid completely made the right decision, it's time to roll the dice with Kolb with all that young talent but man, trading McNabb to the 'Skins... will be crazy.
- Raiders - I'll admit, their Defense and lack of JaMarcus has me wondering if they can approach .500 or better with their soft schedule (play the NFC West this year)
- Texans - I feel for the former Oiler fans who haven't seen a playoff game since 1993.
- Jets - Yeah, yeah, yeah we always hate the Jets anyway this isn't earth shattering. The thing is I'm beginning to become jealous of how they choose to approach player transactions (it doesn't help that Felger drives this point home every day on my car ride home). They trade up in the draft to take big time players, open their wallets to top shelf talent, and have a fuck you attitude. What's not to like about that? Would be nice to shut em up and hold them off another year.
- Dolphins - Quick how many teams have won a Super Bowl with a complete pussy ass diva WR instead of lunch pale guys who just do their thing? Quick, quick, quick rack your brain!!! Answer: Two. 2002 Bucs had Keyshawn Johnson who really wasn't all that instrumental in their success and the 2007 Giants had Plaxico Burress (If you said Michael Irvin smash your face into the ground for heresy. The playmaker was flamboyant and eccentric, but no diva). So don't count me in the group who is giddy to see Brandon Marshall in town. For all the hype you hear around Chad Ochocinco, TO, Marshall, Randy Moss, or any other prima donna wide receiver the fact is all they do is flap their gums and put up regular season stats... it's all they care about. Now Ochocinco is a harmless diva but Marshall has some big time problems. It's very disturbing that deceased former teammate Darrent Williams was murdered by people who intended and thought they were firing at Marshall. Have fun Dolphins fans.... it ain't gonna end well.
- Colts - Duh.
- Cowboys - Enough already we know they are hosting the Super Bowl. Guess what, the mothafuckas ain't going to be there. Talk about a franchise who, in recent years, walks with their chests out while having accomplished jack shit. The roster does look good, I'll admit that much, but I'm not throwing my chips anywhere near the center with Romo and Phillips as my QB and Coach.
- Vikings - Another year of the media Brett Favre circle jerk. I'll save you the drama. He has some gun slinging moments where he throws an under hand pass and Jon Gruden creams his pants in the booth, they win some games, maybe approach last year's success, then when it all matters Favre will brown out his pants and subtly avoid all blame in post game and any other interviews down the road. The media will make excuses and Sportscenter will cover it 24/7.
Quick Example:
2008 Division Winners: Dolphins, Steelers, Titans, Chargers, Giants, Vikings, Panthers, Cardinals
2009 Division Winners: Patriots, Bengals, Colts, Chargers, Cowboys, Vikings, Saints, Cardinals - 3 of 8 were the same
2008 Playoff Teams: AFC: Titans, Steelers, Dolphins, Chargers, Colts, Ravens. NFC: Giants, Panthers, Vikings, Cardinals, Falcons, Eagles
2009 Playoff Teams: AFC: Colts, Chargers, Patriots, Bengals, Jets, Ravens. NFC: Saints, Vikings, Cowboys, Cardinals, Packers, Eagles - 6 of 12 were the same
2008 Conference Championship Games: Steelers vs Ravens, Cardinals vs Eagles
2009 Conference Championship Games: Colts vs Jets, Saints vs Vikings - Entirely Different
2008 Super Bowl Champion: Steelers
2009 Super Bowl Champion: Saints - Neither team was a huge stretch but we weren't exactly expecting them to be hoisting the Lombardi Trophy either.
So here goes... try not to predict based on 2009 results but don't be a complete dildo and pick a Browns-Lions Super Bowl either. Let's walk this fine line.....
AFC East
1st. Miami Dolphins - The AFC East has a brutally tough schedule this year. They play the AFC North and NFC North. The two strength of schedule games is what I feel determines this very tight division. The Patriots play Indianapolis & San Diego, the Jets play Houston & Denver, while the Dolphins play Tennessee & Oakland. I think this plays out a lot like 2008 where the Dolphins just scrap out enough wins to find themselves at 10-6 come season end. Two points to make on Miami.
- I was talking to Nagle last night and he was scared about the Bills game for obvious trap reasons. When I told him I figure Miami pulls away in the 4th quarter and wins 24-13 or so, he said he didn't care if the final was 3-2, just wants the win. This is exactly their philosophy right through to Sparano. Who the hell cares what the score is just keep winning. I wouldn't be surprised if they finish 10-6 and their PF/PA is close to 0. No style points with these guys.
- Remember, in 2007 the Dolphins went 1-15. The 2008 record of 11-5 was a bit inflated. The schedule was very easy that season. The 2009 step back was predictable. It was probably one of the strongest 7-9 seasons (had the Saints and Colts both on the ropes but blew each game) I've seen and injuries aside it was probably a better team in 2009. Sometimes you have to take one step back before you take two forward. The 1993 Patriots went 5-11 and were among the crummier teams in the league. In 1994 they came out of no where to rip off a winning streak and go 10-6 while making the playoffs for the first time in a long while. We all figured 1995 would be a coming out party but they had injuries and took a step back going 6-10. 1996 turned out to be that party with an 11-5 record and Super Bowl berth. Both those Pats and these Dolphins got the Parcells connection going on... hmm....
3rd. New York Jets - I like Rex Ryan's attitude, I love the way they sign their own impact players, I love the swagger, I really love the bamboozle job they did in getting Holmes for a 5th rounder, I like the Cromartie acquisition (17 illegitimate kids and all), I'm not crazy about signing LT the washed up dingleberry, and lastly how can you not love the defense. You're thinking, "Really, Joe, 3rd place, wtf is up with that?"
There are a few things that are going to hold the Jets back. First off, the expectations on Mark Sanchez are completely too high and unachievable. In year two he is still going to struggle at times and flat out lose a game or two for you. It's simply part of the growing process. If this team's expectations were 10-6 and they were under the radar a bit (like the Dolphins) I'd feel better, but they aren't. From Hard Knocks to the countless Super Bowl predictions the bar is wicked high for the Jets. I also think Shonn Greene is injury prone. I don't think they will be able to give him the same number of carries that Thomas Jones was able to provide. If they need to run the rock with LT for a 2 or 3 game stretch this season it's going to end up falling on Sanchez's shoulders. He's a QB that will be most effective throwing 20 passes a game or so, not 40. Lastly, could the Jets have a bigger X on their backs going into this season? To boot the Jets open the season with Baltimore, New England, Miami, Buffalo, Minnesota, Denver, Green Bay. I don't think a 3-4 or 2-5 start is out of the question.
4th. Buffalo Bills - I can tell this blog is going to be long enough as is, let's not spend any time on the Bills. Mark them down for a top 5 pick in the 2011 draft.
AFC North
1st. Baltimore Ravens - For the first time in 76 years (more like 14), the Baltimore Ravens will have a better offense than defense. I like that Flacco has already gotten his sea legs with a pretty impressive 3-2 playoff record to start his career. Couple that with the addition of Anquan Boldin (ugghhhh at least Taylor Price should make a huge impact for the Pats this season, oh wait), the studliest of running backs in Ray Rice, and I think we are looking at a team who scores 400+ points and wins the AFC North fairly easily.
2nd. Pittsburgh Steelers - Had Big Ben not gone out and unleashed his shlong then allegedly rape a girl, I'd have picked the Steelers to bounce back big time in 2010. Much like the Patriots losing Rodney Harrison in 2005, the Steelers (even moreso) were porked without Troy Polamalu. Now that the long haired, soft spoken, animal is back that defense should be flying around again.
Nonetheless it all comes back to Roethlisberger really letting this franchise down. I can't say it any better than Glassman in his predictions, "Remember when Manning missed the preseason in 08? He was bad for like 6 or 7 games before he got going. Big Ben is going to miss 4 games before he even gets to start. Too much to overcome."
3rd. Cincinnati Bengals - The offense is relying on a noodle armed QB, a couple of crazy receivers, a trouble making running back, and a rookie TE. They will NOT go 6-0 in the division again. Mark them down at 8-8.
4th Cleveland Browns - It's really too bad Hardesty went down for the year, he looked sick in the 4th preseason game before he got hurt. Mangina won't make it beyond this season, but at least Holmgren is calling the shots - I would think they become competitive in the next 2 or 3 years.
AFC South
1st. Indianapolis Colts - The other team I threw money on in Vegas. The over under on wins was 11.5 and the over paid +170. It would totally be my luck that the Colts crap out once I put money on them but doesn't 12 or more wins seem like an absolute mortal lock?
I think it's about time that this is now accepted as fact.... Peyton Manning is the greatest regular season quarterback of all time. Is this even debatable anymore after 2009? He was an artist out there. Every close game he came through. Manning pretty much runs the offense (and quite possibly more than that). You can put him down for a 13-3 record, 4,000+ yards, and 30+ TD's. Sure he's had a good team around him but there is no debate or comebacks to be made, the man is the greatest regular season QB ever, period. Part of me thinks Favre continues to play so that Manning might not break all his records - ain't happenin' Brett. Mark it down, come 2016 or 2017 when Manning hangs them up he'll have smoked all of Favre's records.
Now are the Colts approaching the greatest regular season run in NFL history?
2003-2009: 12-4, 12-4, 14-2, 12-4, 13-3, 12-4, 14-2 - Total 89-23 (.795 win %)
Here are a few more 7 year runs:
Patriots (2001-2007) 11-5, 9-7, 14-2, 14-2, 10-6, 12-4, 16-0 -- Total 86-26 (.768 win %) *If you actually go from 2003 to 2009 the Patriots are 1 game better but then you are cutting out a Super Bowl year... I just can't acknowledge it that way
49ers (1984-1990) 15-1, 10-6, 10-5-1, 13-2, 10-6, 14-2, 14-2 -- Total 86-24-1 (.779 win %)
49ers (1992-1998) 14-2, 10-6, 13-3, 11-5, 12-4, 13-3, 12-4 -- Total 85-27 (.759 win %)
Steelers (1973-1979) 10-4, 10-3-1, 12-2, 10-4, 9-5, 14-2, 12-4 -- Total 77-24-1 (.755 win %)
Quick, what's the difference between the Colts 7 year run and all these other teams? Yup, you got it 1 Super Bowl title vs multiple titles (You didn't think I'd just praise the Colts here did you?)
2nd. Houston Texans - I'm surprised there isn't a bit more hype around the Texans. The offense is going to score a ton of points again with Schaub, Johnson, Foster, Jones, Walter, and Daniels once his knee is good. The defense has quite a few playmakers in Mario Williams, Brian Cushing, DeMeco Ryans, Bernard Pollard (just puked), and rookie CB Kareem Jackson. Mark them down at 10-6.
3rd. Tennessee Titans - I don't like teams that can't pass their way back into a game. If the Titans fall behind by 10+ points I'm sticking a fork in them 9 times out of 10. They need to get ahead in games they play. It reminds me a lot of the 2009 Dolphins. They will be competitive in every game but Manning will have a few game winning drives at their expense while VY won't be able to answer in the reverse situation.
4th. Jacksonville Jaguars - Calling it now. The Los Angeles Jaguars (or potentially a name change) will begin play somewhere around 2013. What a lousy NFL city, what was the league thinking granting them a franchise over Baltimore, St. Louis, or Tennessee who also put in bids at the time?
AFC West
1st. San Diego Chargers - Losing the horribly overrated (at least the past 2 or 3 years) LT (and the painful obligation to give him 20+ touches when he didn't deserve 10), playing their division in 6 games + the NFC West = a pretty sick season. If they don't clinch the division by week 12 I'll be shocked.
Another thing worth noting is that travel tends to be brutal for west coast teams since the majority of the NFL lies on the east coast. Since the Chargers are playing the NFC West they won't have those short week cross-country flights. Look for them to challenge for the #1 seed.
Speaking of cross country flights the Patriots fly to San Diego this season, mark that L down already.
2nd. Oakland Raiders - I don't know why but I think the Raiders could be pretty good this year. Maybe the law of averages and sucking so putridly for 7 years has made me delusional about their potential turn around... almost as if they're just due because you can't suck this much forever?
Remember the best 7 year runs I listed above? Let's check out the Raiders from 2003 to 2009:
4-12, 5-11, 4-12, 2-14, 4-12, 5-11, 5-11 -- 29-83... Goooood.... Lorrrrrd!
3rd. Kansas City Chiefs - If Charlie Weis can make something of Cassel I think the Chiefs could turn around fairly quickly. There is a LOT to like about the roster. Jamaal Charles is a stud, Thomas Jones is the perfect compliment, Ponch has informed me that Dwayne Bowe attended Fitz's offseason camp and lost 30 lbs (look for a big year from him), they drafted McClusterfuck & Tony Moeaki, and this is just on offense. Then on defense Eric Berry has been compared to Ed Reed and fellow rookie Kendrick Lewis may be starting at the opposite safety position. I'm sensing another crappyish 6-10 year, but come 2012 or so they should be fighting for a wild card spot.... that is unless they have to start over at QB.
4th. Denver Broncos - Hmm so I'm not quite sure where Josh McDaniels is going with this. He's turned Cutler and Marshall into a pu pu platter of Kyle Orton/Brady Quinn/Tim Tebow (and his Nolan Ryan windup delivery) and Demarius Thomas. I'm not sure he's going to survive long enough for this to potentially pan out & turn around.
AFC PLAYOFF SEEDS
1. Colts
2. Chargers
3. Ravens
4. Dolphins
5. Patriots
6. Texans
Last team out: Steelers
Wild Card Round: Patriots over Dolphins (c'mon did you really think I'd give the final word in the AFC East to another team?), Ravens over Texans
Divisional Round: Colts over Patriots (I'm not sure who will cover Wayne, Clark, Garcon, Collie, Gonzalez, Addai, Raymond Berry, John Mackey, or anyone else), Ravens over Chargers (San Diego is unseating Indy who unseated the Steelers as playoff choke artists)
Conference Championship: Colts over Ravens - Manning leads a last minute game winning drive. All of New England throws up.
NFC East
1st. New York Giants - They may not be a very popular pick this year but I think the Giants have a nice bounce back season. Let's look at why they fell apart last year:
- New defensive coordinator that TOTALLY didn't pan out - He got shit-canned. D-Line is now back and completely healthy after Umenyiora missed all last season.
- Brandon Jacobs and Ahmad Bradshaw were dinged up all year - Both 100% healthy and raring to go this year.
- Wide Receiver play was good but a bit erratic - Steve Smith is your possession guy and Hakeem Nicks is going to be a bona-fide stud. Huge breakout year, I'm calling it.
- The Eagles finished higher last season but the transition year to Kolb will probably cost them a few games. The Redskins got better but are still weak at some skill positions. The Cowboys are the chief competition but for whatever reason the Giants own them.
2nd. Dallas Cowboys - Every time the Cowboys are hyped up to compete for a Super Bowl they crap down their legs. The NFC East is a TOUGH division. The Cowboys play the NFC North and AFC South to boot. I just don't see Romo or Phillips being mentally tough enough to grind out challenging stretches in the season. It seems you always hear about Dallas having 3 game losing streaks mid-year. Tony Romo is a great fantasy QB but I would never want him leading my potential Super Bowl run.
3rd. Philadelphia Eagles - In my opinion, this is pretty much the Green Bay Packers. Long time QB is leaving a good playoff team. There is no debating that the correct move was made to transition the team to your younger QB. I think McNabb will be good in Washington and may kick Philly in the newtons once or twice head to head, but Kolb is going to thrive. It just isn't going to show in the standings in 2010. I do like the Eagles a lot though in 2011 and 2012 as far as a legit Super Bowl contender.... kind of like how I stroke it to the Packers in 2010.
4th. Washington Redskins - Fourth place in the NFC East is probably 7-9 or 8-8. Put the Redskins in the NFC West and they may take the division. McNabb could be the most underrated player of the 2000's and Mike Shannahan instead of Jim Zorn at head coach is like going from Rosie O'Donnell to Scarlett Johanson in a porno with Redskins fans as the lead actor.
I just don't like the rest of that offense at all. The offensive line is terrible, the running backs are geyzers, and I'm not sure there are enough threats at wide receiver. Santana Moss and Chris Cooley should have nice years but will McNabb have enough time to consistently get them the ball?
NFC North
1st. Green Bay Packers - The Packers are going to be nasty this season. Once Sydney Rice was put on the PUP list they pretty much clinched the division right then and there. I liked them to split with the Vikings, go 12-4, and win the division anyway, but now it's a slam dunk. Aaron Rodgers should probably already be called a top 5 quarterback but for dink analysts who still like to put Favre, Roethlisberger, or Rivers ahead of him, they won't be able to after 2010.
2nd. Minnesota Vikings - Brett Favre had a career season at the age of 40 in his 19th season. He had the highest QB Rating, completion percentage, yards per attempt, and fewest Int's in all his years. Can you believe that?
Actually, yes I can. This is marked proof, and one of the best arguments for pro-Brady people in a Brady versus Manning debate, that it is approximately 17,472,183 times easier to play quarterback in a dome than outside in a cold weather environment. Brett Favre didn't get any better. Anyone who says or thinks that is a fucking idiot. You don't get better at age 40. Playing in a controlled environment for at least 8 games a year makes accumulating statistics much easier. That is all that's been proven. Gee, throw a 30 yard pass into snowy wind when it's 10 degrees out or in a 68 degree dome?
I know I already proclaimed Manning the greatest regular season QB ever but what would Brady have done playing >50% of his games in a dome. Shit, what would Favre have done? Would he have 100 more TD's and 100 fewer Int's???? Maybe...
3rd. Chicago Bears - Here is a team that I have had a hard time predicting. Will Martz make Cutler better? Will Cutler keep acting like a wicked pube daddy? Will Forte bounce back? Will any of their wide receivers break out? Will Martz ever throw to Olsen? Is this defense still good?
I'm thinking.... not really, most definitely, not really, probably one of them, probably not, no. Mark them down for 7-9... I think.
4th. Detroit Lions - It's bad but I like a lot of this Lions offense. Fantasy wise I found myself grabbing Jahvid Best, Calvin Johnson, and Matt Stafford in mock drafts. Why in god's name would I want to rely on the shittiest team the past 10 years? But I think they are going to put up some points. The Lions may only win 4 or 5 games but I think they are finally on the right path and will become competitive.
NFC South
1st. New Orleans Saints - No love for the Saints from Vegas. They are 12-1 to win the Super Bowl. The PATRIOTS are 10-1!!! What dingleberry made those lines?
Then again that defense last year had approximately 935 turnovers and 261 defensive touchdowns. Those stats are a bit fluky. They allowed a ton of yards and a lot of points. Those stats aren't fluky. I think the Saints offense is still good enough to win 11 games and take the NFC South, but I don't foresee a repeat.
2nd. Atlanta Falcons - This has become a trendy team to pick to win the division and conference. Anytime booger eating John Clayton backs a team I go in the opposite direction. Has any other burn victim been given a cushier job that he sucks at more than him? ..... what's that? He's not a burn victim?! Fuck, he's ugly.
I remember Clayton coming out each week and picking the Patriots to lose in 2001. Granted this team came out of no where but he was an obnoxious turd about it. His lead story on espn.com was, "The Patriots are a Team of Destiny... Destined to lose to the Rams." Fahk you, Clayton. Why don't you get more sources off of hearsay.
I wonder how he feels now that he has Adam Schefter tossing his salad every day with spot on breaking news?
3rd. Carolina Panthers - The youngest team in the NFL, your Carolina Panthers. It's weird, just two seasons ago they went 12-4 and were legit contenders to reach the Super Bowl. That's what Jake Delhomme will do to you. Now they are a bunch of rookies with Steve Smith at wideout and two studs at running back.
Panthers fans, if they exist, are probably in for 2 or 3 crummy years while they try to turn this ship around. I would imagine they also won't be able to keep D'Angelo Williams & Jonathan Stewart together much beyond this year (which is outstanding fantasy news).
4th. Tampa Bay Buccaneers - Here is a youth movement I'm liking a lot. If Raheem Morris didn't seem so completely unqualified to do an adequate coaching job I'd have them ahead of Carolina.
They are rolling out quite a few rookie or 2nd year players who are going to play a pretty significant roll on the team (Josh Freeman, Kareem Huggins, Mike Williams, Gerald McCoy, and Brian Price). It may result in taking a few lumps in 2010 but it can only make them that much stronger in the next few years.
NFC West
1st. San Francisco 49ers - I can't even conjure up a scenario where the 49ers don't take the division by 2 or 3 games. Six games against the Seahawks, Cardinals, and Rams - absolute worst they will do is 5-1. Four games against the AFC West, Chargers, Raiders, Chiefs, Broncos - that looks like 3-1. I won't even bother looking at who else they play. If they go 3-3 in those games they are 11-5. I think they could end up as one of those wicked soft 12-4 first round bye teams just through that soft schedule - a lot like how the Bears were in 2001 and 2005, the Falcons in 2004, or the Titans in 2008.
Welcome back to relevance San Francisco.
2nd. Seattle Seahawks - I commented previously that 4th place in the NFC East is like 7-9 or 8-8. Well, 2nd place in the NFC West is probably like 5-11 or 6-10. How early could the 49ers clinch this division? Week 9?
I love that people have talked up Pete Carroll like he's going to be a good pro coach. There isn't a single thing he did at USC that makes me think he won't continue to suck in the NFL.
Let's look at what Carroll does exceptionally well:
- Schmooze recruits and work endlessly to get them to commit to USC - In the NFL you have a draft. You either take the player or you don't when it's your pick.
- Fires his team up with a lot of energy and rah rah spirit - Do you really see established veterans rallying around that? Me either.
3rd. Arizona Cardinals - First off, fare thee well to Kurt Warner. My five or six loyal blog readers know how much I like Warner. Definitely sad to see him go since he can still perform at a high level but kudos in getting out before you end up getting rolled - especially when you have 19 children.
On the other side, good riddance Matt Leinart. What a whiny little bitch. Crying everywhere about being outplayed by Derek Anderson and furthermore, getting outplayed by Derek Anderson. Did everyone see Anderson last year? The guy is fucking horrible. Leinart is just another college qb who had no business being drafted as high as he was in the NFL.
He joins the likes of: Brady Quinn, Heath Shuler, Danny Wuerfel, Ken Dorsey, and in two years, Colt McCoy - I'd name more QB's but I don't know shit about college football. Any sport that relies on computers to determine a championship game is pretty dumb and not worth my while.
4th. St Louis Rams - Now that I've told everyone how little I know about college football I have to be a complete hypocrite and pretend that I know what I'm talking about.
That being said, I think the Rams struck gold with Sam Bradford. The kid has a great arm, is very poised, has a good quick delivery, and seems to have that swagger a NFL quarterback will require. The Rams have very little talent around him and this isn't going to turn around over night, but for the first time in four or five years I think things could be looking up in St Louis.
NFC PLAYOFF SEEDS
1. Packers
2. 49ers, yes the 49ers
3. Saints
4. Giants
5. Falcons
6. Cowboys
Last team out: Vikings
Wild Card: Giants over Falcons, Cowboys over Saints
Divisional Round: Packers over Cowboys, Giants over 49ers
Conference Championship: Packers over Giants - The game goes to overtime but Aaron Rodgers shows everyone what a good QB does in OT (i.e. doesn't throw a pick in his own end of the field)
Offensive Rookie of the Year: CJ Spiller - the only good thing in Buffalo
Defensive Rookie of the Year: Rolando McClain
Coach of the Year: Mike Singletary
MVP: Aaron Rodgers <----- Take this one to the bank
Offensive Player of the Year: Rodgers
Defensive Player of the Year: Troy Polamalu
Super Bowl Prediction: Green Bay Packers over Indianapolis Colts
MVP: Aaron Rodgers
So how did I do?
Did I pick at least 50% new division winners? 2009 - Patriots, Bengals, Colts, Chargers, Cowboys, Vikings, Saints, Cardinals. My picks - Dolphins, Ravens, Colts, Chargers, Giants, Packers, Saints, 49ers. 5 new teams out of 8: CHECK
Did I pick at least 50% new playoff teams? 2009 - Colts, Chargers, Patriots, Bengals, Jets, Ravens, Saints, Vikings, Cowboys, Cardinals, Packers, Eagles. My picks - Colts, Chargers, Ravens, Dolphins, Patriots, Texans, Packers, 49ers, Saints, Giants, Falcons, Cowboys. 5 new teams out of 12: NOPE, but not terrible.
New Conference Championship teams? 2009 - Colts vs Jets, Saints vs Viking. My picks - Colts vs Ravens, Packers vs Giants: NOPE, 1 repeat team which isn't awful and out of the question
Surprising but not so surprising champions? Green Bay Packers: Hell no, this isn't going out on a limb at all.
So there you have it, my terrible predictions in which I can't even follow my own guidelines. Hope you enjoyed all 50,000 words of it.
Friday, June 18, 2010
Game 7 & Other Dick-Punch Losses
A lot of my views are pretty in line with Glassman's but I wouldn't say quite that harsh. I don't think the game was fixed nor do I think Stern benefited in any way with one team winning or losing. Had this happened in Game 6 to get us to a Game 7 then I would be a bit more on board.
My thing is this... through 3 quarters of the game last night the two teams were allowed to bang. Dave says it perfectly when he mentions the amount of free throws attempted by each side. The sudden urge to call a tight game in the 4th quarter was ridiculous. As a matter of fact, I told Nagle before Game 7 that if the game is called tight the Lakers would win in a rout whereas if the teams were allowed to play it would be much more beneficial to the Celtics (which it was).
Basically had refs called the entire game the way they called the 4th quarter the Lakers would have won by 25 points.
I could make up my own analogy about this situation, but I heard Tony Massarotti say it perfectly this afternoon. This is equivalent to watching a baseball game where through the first 7 innings the strike zone was very big, but then at the end of the game the ump decides, ok, I'm taking over, and shrinking it down to nothing. You just don't see that, why would you see that?
I have absolutely no problems with the Lakers beating the Celtics legitimately, and they may have anyways if the refs swallowed the whistles. But.... we'll never know, and it's a god damn shame.
So now where does this rank in dick-punch losses for New England teams in recent memory..... I got it ranked #4....
Ladies and Gentlemen, your top 3 brutal losses (in reverse order).
#3. 2006 AFC Championship Game. Colts 38 - Pats 34
Patriots beating the Colts 21-3 then the Colts offense goes bananas in the second half, there are a few rotten PI's, Tom Brady & Troy Brown doesn't convert a game clinching 3rd down, Reggie Wayne fumbles right to himself, then Brady ends the game with a pick. To make matters worse douche bag Peyton Manning won the Super Bowl two weeks later and held up what should have been Brady's fourth trophy.
#2. 2007 Super Bowl. Giants 17 - Pats 14
To this day I would honestly say I think about this game a few times a week. It will haunt me until the day that I die that the Patriots didn't cap off their historic amazing season. Finally a team with the balls to go for perfection (unlike the pussy Colts - how'd that work out Pollian?) then losing it in the final 90 seconds of the Super Bowl cuz some 5th string WR caught a desperation quacker off the side of his helmet. Historically this is the worst loss in my lifetime since history was on the line. However.....
#1. 2003 ALCS Game 7. Yankees 6 - Red Sox 5
The only game to make me cry like a little girl. Absolutely agonizing defeat when all we knew as Red Sox fans was 85 years of this very same crap.
So in conclusion Celtics fans.... well I don't really know where I am going with this, but now I'm going to go pop in the 2001 Patriots America's Game DVD... I need to cheer myself up.
My thing is this... through 3 quarters of the game last night the two teams were allowed to bang. Dave says it perfectly when he mentions the amount of free throws attempted by each side. The sudden urge to call a tight game in the 4th quarter was ridiculous. As a matter of fact, I told Nagle before Game 7 that if the game is called tight the Lakers would win in a rout whereas if the teams were allowed to play it would be much more beneficial to the Celtics (which it was).
Basically had refs called the entire game the way they called the 4th quarter the Lakers would have won by 25 points.
I could make up my own analogy about this situation, but I heard Tony Massarotti say it perfectly this afternoon. This is equivalent to watching a baseball game where through the first 7 innings the strike zone was very big, but then at the end of the game the ump decides, ok, I'm taking over, and shrinking it down to nothing. You just don't see that, why would you see that?
I have absolutely no problems with the Lakers beating the Celtics legitimately, and they may have anyways if the refs swallowed the whistles. But.... we'll never know, and it's a god damn shame.
So now where does this rank in dick-punch losses for New England teams in recent memory..... I got it ranked #4....
Ladies and Gentlemen, your top 3 brutal losses (in reverse order).
#3. 2006 AFC Championship Game. Colts 38 - Pats 34
Patriots beating the Colts 21-3 then the Colts offense goes bananas in the second half, there are a few rotten PI's, Tom Brady & Troy Brown doesn't convert a game clinching 3rd down, Reggie Wayne fumbles right to himself, then Brady ends the game with a pick. To make matters worse douche bag Peyton Manning won the Super Bowl two weeks later and held up what should have been Brady's fourth trophy.
#2. 2007 Super Bowl. Giants 17 - Pats 14
To this day I would honestly say I think about this game a few times a week. It will haunt me until the day that I die that the Patriots didn't cap off their historic amazing season. Finally a team with the balls to go for perfection (unlike the pussy Colts - how'd that work out Pollian?) then losing it in the final 90 seconds of the Super Bowl cuz some 5th string WR caught a desperation quacker off the side of his helmet. Historically this is the worst loss in my lifetime since history was on the line. However.....
#1. 2003 ALCS Game 7. Yankees 6 - Red Sox 5
The only game to make me cry like a little girl. Absolutely agonizing defeat when all we knew as Red Sox fans was 85 years of this very same crap.
So in conclusion Celtics fans.... well I don't really know where I am going with this, but now I'm going to go pop in the 2001 Patriots America's Game DVD... I need to cheer myself up.
Game 7 Venting.... Glassman
Anyone who needs to vent after Game 7 feel free and I'll post it... I know Dave needed to, so without further ado, here's his take:
THE NBA: WHERE FIXED CHAMPIONSHIPS HAPPEN
The Fakers. It's not exactly a clever nickname but it couldn't be more fitting really could it? Fake people, fake fans, fake city full of fake boobs, a fake team in a fake league run by a fake commissioner, and most importantly, fake championships.
With that said, here my exact words entering the 4th quarter:
"The refs are actually calling this game even right now. There's been maybe 1 or 2 bad calls either way"
Given what happened, it's amazing that I actually made this statement. But should we really be surprised?
Flashback to January. LA at Boston. Boston up by 1. Seconds to play. Pierce goes to his step back shot but has a hand on Artest as he stops a la Michael Jordan on Bryon Russell. Money and the foul. C's up 3 and will win. Oh wait.. why is Artest in the 3rd row? Huh? The foul was on Pierce. I recently watched this game deciding call on YouTube and it was an even more putrid call than I remember. Artest deserves an emmy for that flop and the ref deserves to be executed for calling it.
Now let's go back to game 7. I had just made my bold statement. C's were up 6 I believe. Gasol takes a jump shot with Glenn Davis in his face. There is no contact. Swish and one. Ugh, AWFUL call. Ok, no big deal. It's just one bad call right? Kobe has the ball behind the 3 point line with Allen defending. Kobe does the move where a player tries to get a foul because Allen's right hand was in the air over Kobe's arm. Foul. 3 shots. Are you fucking kidding me? They call that? In this game?
After everything they've let go? Artest shoulder tackle into Pierce and banks it in. Foul. What the FUCK is going on? And now here it comes...
With 4 minutes left in the 4th quarter, Llama Gasol had the ball on the baseline and was being guarded by KG. KG put his arms in the fetal position and turned his side to Gasol as Gasol rose up over him and missed a shot. Foul.
It was with this shot that game 7 was decided. Not because LA had the lead. Not because it was a great shot. No. It was because that call was the 4th awful, attrocious call in a row that favored the Lakers. In a game where players were ripping each others heads off for 3 quarters, suddenly standing next to a player was enough to committ a foul - as long as you were wearing green while standing there.
At that point, I realized the Celtics would not be allowed to win this game. I refused to watch another second of this debacle. With 4 minutes left, I simply walked outside and waited until the game ended. Yep, you read that right and many friends can confirm it. I absolutely, positively refused to watch anymore of a game that was so obviously fixed. I almost went back in once but was told a 100% clean block on Kobe Bryant had been called a foul.
What is even more mind boggling about all of this is that the Lakers were taking jump shots. They weren't being aggressive. 3 of the 4 rotten fouls I named above were JUMP SHOTS!!!!
For 3 quarters, these teams played the same way. Tough defense and desparate, bad offense. Not one thing changed in the 4th quarter and yet take a look at the Free Throw numbers.
1st - 3rd Quarter: LA 14, Boston 11 (rough average of 5/Quarter & 3.7/Quarter)
4th Quarter: LA 23, Boston 6
These numbers are staggering. 23 to 6 in the 4th versus 14 to 11 for the first 3 quarters. Any rational, respectable, human being with half an ounce of common sense can absolutely agree that that reeks of fix. Had Jack Nicholson been officiating, there would've been less foul calls on the Celtics. Yet despite not changing their style of play one bit, the Lakers received more than QUADRUPLE the FT'S in the 4th quarter as they did in any other quarter.
What I want to know is why? I want to find David Stern and beat this information out of him. Why Stern? Why fix this game?
How could you do this to all those diehard Celtic fans who poured their heart and soul into every game? Who lost sleep every night before a game and every night after a loss? To hand another title to the arrogant, bandwagon, cocky, undeserving, condescending, assholes that are the LA Lakers is despicable.
Now hard working, good guys like KG, Paul Pierce, and Ray Allen will end their competitive careers as losers while evil, whiny, arrogant pricks like Phil Jackson, Kobe Bryant, and Derek Fisher walk out as winners? Whatever happened to good things happen to good people?
What's worse is that most of their faggot fans are so busy sucking Kobe's dick that they won't admit that any of their titles were fixed. ARE YOU FUCKING BLIND? 23 FTs to 6?? SIX!!! Sound familiar Kings fans? Until your team is on the wrong end of a fix, you'll never know how it feels. I always thought I understood what happened to the 2002 Kings. I was wrong. It wasn't
until last night that I finally got it.
I will never again watch a live NBA game. I will always secretly root for the Celtics and against the Lakers but I will not watch. This is after 23 years of watching my Celtics faithfully every year. I will never acknowledge this Lakers title or their 2002 one. Ask me how many titles they have and I will answer 14.
In 27 years, I have never, EVER felt this cheated in any walk of life. Everywhere you turn, people are talking about it. I checked countless forums, facebook, and even yahoo answers last night. Every other question is about the refs and the fact that this game was fixed. I guess it is comforting to know that people all over the country are just as outraged and that somewhere... 3,000 miles away... there are millions of people in Sacremento who truly understand.
THE NBA: WHERE FIXED CHAMPIONSHIPS HAPPEN
The Fakers. It's not exactly a clever nickname but it couldn't be more fitting really could it? Fake people, fake fans, fake city full of fake boobs, a fake team in a fake league run by a fake commissioner, and most importantly, fake championships.
With that said, here my exact words entering the 4th quarter:
"The refs are actually calling this game even right now. There's been maybe 1 or 2 bad calls either way"
Given what happened, it's amazing that I actually made this statement. But should we really be surprised?
Flashback to January. LA at Boston. Boston up by 1. Seconds to play. Pierce goes to his step back shot but has a hand on Artest as he stops a la Michael Jordan on Bryon Russell. Money and the foul. C's up 3 and will win. Oh wait.. why is Artest in the 3rd row? Huh? The foul was on Pierce. I recently watched this game deciding call on YouTube and it was an even more putrid call than I remember. Artest deserves an emmy for that flop and the ref deserves to be executed for calling it.
Now let's go back to game 7. I had just made my bold statement. C's were up 6 I believe. Gasol takes a jump shot with Glenn Davis in his face. There is no contact. Swish and one. Ugh, AWFUL call. Ok, no big deal. It's just one bad call right? Kobe has the ball behind the 3 point line with Allen defending. Kobe does the move where a player tries to get a foul because Allen's right hand was in the air over Kobe's arm. Foul. 3 shots. Are you fucking kidding me? They call that? In this game?
After everything they've let go? Artest shoulder tackle into Pierce and banks it in. Foul. What the FUCK is going on? And now here it comes...
With 4 minutes left in the 4th quarter, Llama Gasol had the ball on the baseline and was being guarded by KG. KG put his arms in the fetal position and turned his side to Gasol as Gasol rose up over him and missed a shot. Foul.
It was with this shot that game 7 was decided. Not because LA had the lead. Not because it was a great shot. No. It was because that call was the 4th awful, attrocious call in a row that favored the Lakers. In a game where players were ripping each others heads off for 3 quarters, suddenly standing next to a player was enough to committ a foul - as long as you were wearing green while standing there.
At that point, I realized the Celtics would not be allowed to win this game. I refused to watch another second of this debacle. With 4 minutes left, I simply walked outside and waited until the game ended. Yep, you read that right and many friends can confirm it. I absolutely, positively refused to watch anymore of a game that was so obviously fixed. I almost went back in once but was told a 100% clean block on Kobe Bryant had been called a foul.
What is even more mind boggling about all of this is that the Lakers were taking jump shots. They weren't being aggressive. 3 of the 4 rotten fouls I named above were JUMP SHOTS!!!!
For 3 quarters, these teams played the same way. Tough defense and desparate, bad offense. Not one thing changed in the 4th quarter and yet take a look at the Free Throw numbers.
1st - 3rd Quarter: LA 14, Boston 11 (rough average of 5/Quarter & 3.7/Quarter)
4th Quarter: LA 23, Boston 6
These numbers are staggering. 23 to 6 in the 4th versus 14 to 11 for the first 3 quarters. Any rational, respectable, human being with half an ounce of common sense can absolutely agree that that reeks of fix. Had Jack Nicholson been officiating, there would've been less foul calls on the Celtics. Yet despite not changing their style of play one bit, the Lakers received more than QUADRUPLE the FT'S in the 4th quarter as they did in any other quarter.
What I want to know is why? I want to find David Stern and beat this information out of him. Why Stern? Why fix this game?
How could you do this to all those diehard Celtic fans who poured their heart and soul into every game? Who lost sleep every night before a game and every night after a loss? To hand another title to the arrogant, bandwagon, cocky, undeserving, condescending, assholes that are the LA Lakers is despicable.
Now hard working, good guys like KG, Paul Pierce, and Ray Allen will end their competitive careers as losers while evil, whiny, arrogant pricks like Phil Jackson, Kobe Bryant, and Derek Fisher walk out as winners? Whatever happened to good things happen to good people?
What's worse is that most of their faggot fans are so busy sucking Kobe's dick that they won't admit that any of their titles were fixed. ARE YOU FUCKING BLIND? 23 FTs to 6?? SIX!!! Sound familiar Kings fans? Until your team is on the wrong end of a fix, you'll never know how it feels. I always thought I understood what happened to the 2002 Kings. I was wrong. It wasn't
until last night that I finally got it.
I will never again watch a live NBA game. I will always secretly root for the Celtics and against the Lakers but I will not watch. This is after 23 years of watching my Celtics faithfully every year. I will never acknowledge this Lakers title or their 2002 one. Ask me how many titles they have and I will answer 14.
In 27 years, I have never, EVER felt this cheated in any walk of life. Everywhere you turn, people are talking about it. I checked countless forums, facebook, and even yahoo answers last night. Every other question is about the refs and the fact that this game was fixed. I guess it is comforting to know that people all over the country are just as outraged and that somewhere... 3,000 miles away... there are millions of people in Sacremento who truly understand.
Thursday, June 3, 2010
NBA Finals and more random thoughts
Warning: I'm pretty jacked up for tonight's game so everything written below has a bunch of swears and foul language... if this offends you, too fuckin' bad :)
The NBA Finals kick off tonight after another ridiculous 76 day lay off. Hopefully by August the season will be wrapped up... here's a list of some random thoughts and opinions to help ya kill a little time at work.
- The 2-3-2 playoff format really ought to go away in all sports, and especially in basketball where home court means more. I could argue that the road team has a tougher challenge to wrap things up at home since game 5 is at home instead of game 6 but then again eff the road team, how about you earn home court advantage. Instead I'll steal this directly from Larry Bird, the home team *should* play game 5 at their place. This is often a tremendously important game that can tip a series in one team's favor. It's stupid that this game is played by the team with the worse win/loss record. All NBA series up to this point follow the much better 2-2-1-1-1 format. From what I understand the reasoning is for the national media to travel less. If I were David Stern I'd hold a press conference announcing the cancellation of the 2-3-2 format. When the first whiny ass media member stated to me that this isn't fair for them, I'd pause, cough gently, clear my throat for a solid 30 seconds then calmly say, too fucking bad you pussy... then walk away.
- I was watching a show on the 1960's Boston Celtics and really I couldn't be more impressed. You look back and see 11 titles in 13 years and you just figure, well they had the best team and players therefore back then you just plow through the competition. However the Celtics didn't always have the best record in their own division. They twice finished 2nd and in 1969 finished 4th. During this time frame though the Celtics went a perfect 9-0 in Game 7's. SICK
Just about every season in this run they had to go through Wilt Chamberlain the most dominant scorer in NBA history.
The best moment to me is in this clip after the 1969 NBA Championship: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j26xl9HP758
If you skip to the 7:06 mark you can see abc's interview with Bill Russell. You can tell the man poured his guts out as he's at a loss for words to start the interview. This was Russell's final game and just hearing him speak I can't see how any teammate wouldn't want to run through a brick wall for the man.
I rescind my Lakers post as the greatest dynasty in NBA history!!!!
- Just kidding about the last remark, it's definitely a very open debate. I thought of a point that I missed in my write up....
Basically everyone (especially in this area) has to realize the question is NOT who has had the better of the Celtics-Lakers rivalry. We know this answer, but instead which team has had the most success in franchise history....
always think of the good stuff afterward, oh well
- Turning my attention to a few things in baseball that piss me off....
1. Jim Joyce - I won't beat this to death, just call the guy out, a fucking perfect game trumps you trying to call a close play safe. It's not about you ya tard. You shouldn't have had to even apologize, just call him out to begin with.
2. Bud Selig - Not overturning the call... pretty good decision (thick sarcasm)... baseball is so gay, I hate hate hate hate the stupid purist bull shit.... Pitchers hitting is worse than watching nascar, the lack of replay is unacceptable, the lack of accountability in the steroid era both in the game and in the media is a joke... I still love the game but I kind of feel until I have kids of my own who start playing little league or softball, baseball may slide down and stay at #3 or #4 on my sports radar...
3. I heard Bobby Valentine on ESPN boasting about the wonderful parity in the MLB. Which is fine, he's right a lot of teams are doing really well. He then pointed out that the last 5 world series champs have been different (White Sox, Cardinals, Red Sox, Phillies, Yankees)... sure that's great
Then the dink says well the NFL has the same teams every year... pauses... except the Saints last year....
Well, Mr. Valentine ... The year before we had the Cardinals in the SB for the first time ever, 2 years before that the Bears and Colts for the first time in a trillion years, the year before that the Seahawks for the first time, the year before that the Eagles for the first time in forever, the year before that the Panthers for the first time ever, the year before that the Bucs for the first time ever and Raiders first time in forever, 2 years before that the Ravens first time ever, year before that Titans first time ever and Rams first in a while, year before that Falcons first time ever....
As a matter of fact here are the NFC Champs going backwards... I'll stop once the same team has been there on my list 3 times... Saints, Cardinals, Giants, Bears, Seahawks, Eagles, Panthers, Bucs, Rams, Giants (there's 2), Rams (2), Falcons, Packers, Packers (2), Cowboys, 49ers, Cowboys (2), Cowboys (3).... 18 years it takes and 13 diff teams played in the SB
Translation... shaddup Bobby
- I guess it's always relative but man right now the Lakers are so far #1 in my team hatenicity it isn't even funny... then again football is about 3 months away... the Colts will probably reclaim this spot... as for the Yankees - read above, baseball is fading mcgee in my mind
- My prediction for the finals is the Celtics will win in 6... the Lakers are still a soft, fruity, snively, showtime wannabe, lame ass, oooh look at us we are a celeb team... I don't want to hear about how they dismantled the big bad tough Suns or the Jazz...
And if I'm wrong... Nagle... I will come back here and write a big long post about how horribly wrong I was and how great the Lakers are... I don't expect to write anything, go celts!
The NBA Finals kick off tonight after another ridiculous 76 day lay off. Hopefully by August the season will be wrapped up... here's a list of some random thoughts and opinions to help ya kill a little time at work.
- The 2-3-2 playoff format really ought to go away in all sports, and especially in basketball where home court means more. I could argue that the road team has a tougher challenge to wrap things up at home since game 5 is at home instead of game 6 but then again eff the road team, how about you earn home court advantage. Instead I'll steal this directly from Larry Bird, the home team *should* play game 5 at their place. This is often a tremendously important game that can tip a series in one team's favor. It's stupid that this game is played by the team with the worse win/loss record. All NBA series up to this point follow the much better 2-2-1-1-1 format. From what I understand the reasoning is for the national media to travel less. If I were David Stern I'd hold a press conference announcing the cancellation of the 2-3-2 format. When the first whiny ass media member stated to me that this isn't fair for them, I'd pause, cough gently, clear my throat for a solid 30 seconds then calmly say, too fucking bad you pussy... then walk away.
- I was watching a show on the 1960's Boston Celtics and really I couldn't be more impressed. You look back and see 11 titles in 13 years and you just figure, well they had the best team and players therefore back then you just plow through the competition. However the Celtics didn't always have the best record in their own division. They twice finished 2nd and in 1969 finished 4th. During this time frame though the Celtics went a perfect 9-0 in Game 7's. SICK
Just about every season in this run they had to go through Wilt Chamberlain the most dominant scorer in NBA history.
The best moment to me is in this clip after the 1969 NBA Championship: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j26xl9HP758
If you skip to the 7:06 mark you can see abc's interview with Bill Russell. You can tell the man poured his guts out as he's at a loss for words to start the interview. This was Russell's final game and just hearing him speak I can't see how any teammate wouldn't want to run through a brick wall for the man.
I rescind my Lakers post as the greatest dynasty in NBA history!!!!
- Just kidding about the last remark, it's definitely a very open debate. I thought of a point that I missed in my write up....
Basically everyone (especially in this area) has to realize the question is NOT who has had the better of the Celtics-Lakers rivalry. We know this answer, but instead which team has had the most success in franchise history....
always think of the good stuff afterward, oh well
- Turning my attention to a few things in baseball that piss me off....
1. Jim Joyce - I won't beat this to death, just call the guy out, a fucking perfect game trumps you trying to call a close play safe. It's not about you ya tard. You shouldn't have had to even apologize, just call him out to begin with.
2. Bud Selig - Not overturning the call... pretty good decision (thick sarcasm)... baseball is so gay, I hate hate hate hate the stupid purist bull shit.... Pitchers hitting is worse than watching nascar, the lack of replay is unacceptable, the lack of accountability in the steroid era both in the game and in the media is a joke... I still love the game but I kind of feel until I have kids of my own who start playing little league or softball, baseball may slide down and stay at #3 or #4 on my sports radar...
3. I heard Bobby Valentine on ESPN boasting about the wonderful parity in the MLB. Which is fine, he's right a lot of teams are doing really well. He then pointed out that the last 5 world series champs have been different (White Sox, Cardinals, Red Sox, Phillies, Yankees)... sure that's great
Then the dink says well the NFL has the same teams every year... pauses... except the Saints last year....
Well, Mr. Valentine
As a matter of fact here are the NFC Champs going backwards... I'll stop once the same team has been there on my list 3 times... Saints, Cardinals, Giants, Bears, Seahawks, Eagles, Panthers, Bucs, Rams, Giants (there's 2), Rams (2), Falcons, Packers, Packers (2), Cowboys, 49ers, Cowboys (2), Cowboys (3).... 18 years it takes and 13 diff teams played in the SB
Translation... shaddup Bobby
- I guess it's always relative but man right now the Lakers are so far #1 in my team hatenicity it isn't even funny... then again football is about 3 months away... the Colts will probably reclaim this spot... as for the Yankees - read above, baseball is fading mcgee in my mind
- My prediction for the finals is the Celtics will win in 6... the Lakers are still a soft, fruity, snively, showtime wannabe, lame ass, oooh look at us we are a celeb team... I don't want to hear about how they dismantled the big bad tough Suns or the Jazz...
And if I'm wrong... Nagle... I will come back here and write a big long post about how horribly wrong I was and how great the Lakers are... I don't expect to write anything, go celts!
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