Friday, July 6, 2012

TOP 32 QBS FOR 2012

I love to do this every year because there is so much turnover from year to year. Players fall off the map (Donovan McNabb) and new faces jump into the mix (two players who have yet to even play a snap in the NFL). There are a lot of differing opinions when talking about quarterbacks but here is my list of guys who I would want leading my franchise in 2012 if I had to take them just for one season.

  1. Aaron Rodgers (Last year: 3): If you could design the perfect quarterback, it would be Aaron Rodgers. He has a huge arm, he can accurately throw the ball anywhere on the field, and he is a threat to run the ball at any time. Rodgers is so good that despite going 15-1 and having the most impressive regular season of any quarterback ever, he is extremely disappointed with himself because he came up short in the playoffs. Look for him to be even more focused in 2012 on winning a championship. He could be the best quarterback the league has ever seen if he can continue to play anywhere near the same level as he has been the last two years.
  2. Tom Brady (Last year: 1): Brady might be the best quarterback the NFL has ever seen, but Rodgers edges him out barely because of his superior athleticism. No one makes mediocre players look like Hall of Famers like Brady does. And most importantly, he still wins a ton of games in both the regular season and the playoffs.
  3. Drew Brees (Last year: 4): Brees shattered Dan Marino’s passing record last season and people barely noticed thanks to Rodgers’ season. Brees always finds a way to improvise when a play breaks down and makes something out of nothing. He is helped by a great system and a lot of role players who fill specific needs, but do not underestimate how good this guy is. The Saints need to pay him whatever number he is asking and be happy they have a quarterback who will single handedly win them 10 games a year. 
  4. Eli Manning (Last year: 9): People thought I was giving Eli favoritism when I ranked him at 9th last year. Little did we know that 9th was way too low for this guy. Eli carried his team to yet another Super Bowl in which they were an underdog in almost every playoff game. There is not a quarterback in the league who was more clutch when his team needed him most, but he needs to be more consistent before he jumps into the top three.
  5. Ben Roethlisberger (Last year: 6): Big Ben continues to develop as a quarterback and is getting better every year. His size and his arm strength make him almost impossible to game plan around. He can break three tackles in the pocket and then throw up a perfect deep pass to one of his many speed receivers. He gives the Steelers the chance to score on every play. Again, more importantly, he wins a ton of games every year.

Saturday, May 5, 2012

BEST MOVES OF THE 2012 NFL DRAFT


There were an incredible amount of trades in this year’s NFL Draft, some of them good, some of them not so good. I will stay positive for now and go over my favorite moves of last weekend’s draft.


The Redskins mortgage their future to get Robert Griffin III:

Robert Griffin III has been compared to Hall
of Fame quarterback Steve Young, but he
has a long road to get to that elite level.
The expression goes, “You can never give up too much to get a franchise quarterback.” Griffin has a lot of work to do in order to become a franchise quarterback, but he has all the skills, and more, to become one of the top quarterbacks in this league. He also has the benefit of a solid defense and an owner who spent a ton of money in free agency to get some offensive weapons to surround him with.

It may take longer than most people think for Griffin to get up to speed in the NFL, since people are already talking about a Cam Newton-esque rookie campaign. Let’s not forget how rare it is to see that type of a performance from a rookie signal caller. Expectations need to be tempered a bit for 2012, but I have very little doubt that Griffin will have a long and successful career.


With Morris Claiborne falling to the sixth pick, the Cowboys make a bold move to land the corner they coveted all along:

People are questioning this move simply because it is the Cowboys making this move. If Bill Belichick traded up with both of his first rounds pick, people would be saying it was the move of the draft to land possibly the best defensive player of this rookie class. Let’s not forget how incredibly talented Claiborne is and how badly the Cowboys needed to improve their defensive backfield after another disappointing season.

No one is happier than Rob Ryan about the Cowboys' move to
land Morris Claiborne. Maybe he will have less to be angry
about in 2012 thanks to a much improved defensive backfield.
Rob Ryan’s defense needs cover corners just to be able to function. We saw that last season when his defense gave up huge play after huge play, causing them to miss the playoffs yet again. The Cowboys gave a large contract to Brandon Carr in free agency, but even Jerry Jones admitted that they over paid him because corner was such a glaring need for his team. That is not much of a ringing endorsement from your owner, so they were clearly looking to add more talent at the position.

While giving up a valuable second round pick to get Claiborne is a heavy price, Claiborne has the potential to be a shutdown corner in this league for a long time. I am pretty sure the Jets do not regret trading up to grab Darrelle Revis in the first round. I do not think the Cowboys will be disappointed either.


Friday, April 27, 2012

BIGGEST SURPRISES OF DAY 1


Wow was Round 1 an absolute mess or what? There was a record setting nine trades in this first round (two of which came before the draft even started). I knew a lot of trades were coming this year, but I did not expect anything like this. However, it was not the trades or even the players teams traded up to get that surprised me. Let’s go over the most baffling topics from Day 1 of the 2012 NFL Draft.


The Seahawks draft Bruce Irvin with the 15th overall pick:

Can Bruce Irvin put his past behind him and find a way to
be as productive in the NFL as he was at West Virginia?
Besides the sheer amount of trades on Day 1, this might have been the biggest surprise tonight. Irvin had been considered by many as possibly the best pure pass rusher in the draft, but at 240 pounds, no one really knew what position he would play at the next level. Irvin is not a three down player since he is questionable against the run and in coverage, so it will be hard for him to become a full time starter (not what you want to hear about a top 15 pick).

Most had considered Irvin a second or third round pick because of a ton of character concerns (he spent two weeks in jail for breaking into a drug dealer’s house), so taking him in the first half of Round 1 made little to no sense. Pete Carroll did something similar last season in over drafting two offensive linemen, so I guess I should not be so surprised.

Irvin will be used in a similar role as Defensive Rookie of the Year Von Miller in Denver, but I cannot see him having even close to the type of season Miller had last year, or even being on the field as often as Miller was due to his limitations. This is the type of bold move that tends to get coaches fired. Luckily for Carroll, he is good friends with the Seahawks’ owner so he has a long leash. However, that leash might get tested this season if Carroll’s picks don’t start panning out.


The Titans get offensive with Kendall Wright:

Drafting Kendall Wright seemed like a bit of a stretch at 20,
but maybe the Titans realized that to stay competitive in
this pass happy league, they needed to stock pile weapons.
This is a team that lost a ton of talent on defense in free agency. With so many great defensive line prospects left on the board, it was shocking to see them take an undersized speed receiver. Kenny Britt is recovering from an injury, but when healthy, he is an explosive big receiver. Nate Washington had a good year filling in for Britt and is a speed receiver similar to Wright. Even third year player Damian Williams showed potential as a slot receiver and has the ability to be a decent number two receiver.

So why would they add a receiver when they have so many other needs? Some will say that Wright has added value because he can return kickoffs and punts. However, Marc Mariani fills that role for the Titans and even went to the Pro Bowl as a returner in his rookie season (2010). So that does not add much value for the Titans.

Even if the Titans are afraid Britt will not fully recover from his injury, Wright does not add much of a new dimension to the offense because of his similarities to Washington. Why not trade down and get a big receiver like Stephen Hill if you wanted to add a receiver?

Michael Irvin called this pick right before the draft started, so maybe there is more going on in Tennessee than I cannot see. However, this was one of the picks that really stood out to me.


The free fall of offensive lineman:

Tackles Matt Kalil and Riley Reiff were the top two
offensive lineman taken in the draft, yet somehow almost
20 picks separated the two of them on draft day. Why?
After Matt Kalil got snapped up by the Vikings with the fourth overall pick, we did not see an offensive lineman come off the board until 23 to the Lions. Riley Reiff was considered a top ten pick, but fell to the Lions at 23. David DeCastro was waiting there for the Steelers at 24 despite being considered one of the best guard prospects in years. Jonathan Martin, Cordy Glenn, Mike Adams, and Peter Konz were all considered to be first round talent, yet none of them heard their names called on Day 1.

With the NFL becoming a passing league, it is hard to believe that the guys who keep the quarterbacks off the ground would be devalued. That leads me to believe that these players simply are not all that talented. Reiff is a good prospect, but many think his arms are too short to play left tackle and is a better fit on the right side. Since left tackles are in much higher demand than right tackles, that pushed him down. Martin also looks to be a better fit on the right side and Glenn might be best suited to play guard. Adams fell out of the first round due to his poor work ethic and character concerns.

The one thing that all of these prospects besides Adams have in common is that they all seem to be better run blockers than pass blockers. So maybe it is not that these guys are not talented, but just old school players who do not fit what teams are looking for right now. With less of an emphasis on the run game, mauling run blockers have lost a lot of appeal.

I think there will be a run on these players at the start of the second round because a lot of teams at the top of the draft have offensive line issues. While these guys might have fallen out of the first round, the early run on these players might actually push up some lineman who were thought to be later round talents into rounds two and three. It should be an interesting Day 2. 

Thursday, April 26, 2012

2012 NFL MOCK DRAFT FINAL TAKE


Last chance to get my final picks in. Here they are, with some interesting changes.

1. COLTS: QB Andrew Luck, Stanford
LAST MOCK: QB Andrew Luck, Stanford
This has been a done deal for months, let’s move on.

2. REDSKINS: QB Robert Griffin III, Baylor
LAST MOCK: QB Robert Griffin III, Baylor
Mike Shanahan said there is a 99.9% that they are taking RG3. That .1% is if Griffin gets arrested, injured, or dies before the Redskins pick. Let’s just assume none of those things are going to happen.

3. VIKINGS: OT Matt Kalil, USC
LAST MOCK: OT Matt Kalil, USC
Like I said last week, the Vikings will try to trade this pick because this team is simply awful. However, no one will trade up this high for anyone left on the board. Say what you want about Kalil, but he is the only surefire left tackle in this draft and is the Vikings only option to lock up that position in 2012.

4. BROWNS: RB Trent Richardson, Alabama
LAST MOCK: RB Trent Richardson, Alabama
Richardson is the best player available and the Browns have a huge hole to fill with the loss of Peyton Hillis. I would be shocked to see anyone else at this spot unless Richardson goes ahead of this pick.

5. BUCCANEERS: CB Morris Claiborne, LSU
LAST MOCK: CB Morris Claiborne, LSU
My top five stays intact with the Bucs taking Claiborne. Every team needs three good corners and with rumors of Ronde Barber moving to safety, corner becomes an even bigger need for a team in a division with a ton of offensive talent. The Bucs might move up with the Vikings to grab Richardson, but corners are way harder to find than running backs and they will not have to trade up to get a future Pro Bowler in Claiborne. 

Friday, April 13, 2012

2012 NFL Mock Draft Take 1


We are getting so close to the NFL Draft that it was 100% necessary to put in my first mock draft of the season. As always, I will mock it up as if there were going to be no trades, which I am sure there will be plenty of on draft day. Look for the Vikings and the Browns to trade down early, but after that is anyone’s guess on who will be making trades (not a single mock draft last season had the Jags trading up to the 10th pick to nab Blaine Gabbert). Here is my best guess at who is going where.

1. COLTS: QB Andrew Luck, Stanford
This is a no brainer. People have been talking about this since Week 4 of last season. The Colts get the best quarterback prospect since, you guessed it, Peyton Manning. The Colts have to be the luckiest franchise in the NFL. Maybe it has something to do with that horseshoe on their helmets…

2. REDSKINS: QB Robert Griffin III, Baylor
This is already set in stone as well. Griffin has already been seen doing events in the Washington area and has been deemed the savoir of a once proud franchise. Let’s hope Mike Shanahan manages him better than he did Donovan McNabb.

3. VIKINGS: OT Matt Kalil, USC
The Vikings will look to trade this pick, but they are in desperate need at a franchise left tackle to help out last year’s first round pick, quarterback Christian Ponder. If they cannot get a great deal for this pick, they will gladly take Kalil and he will man the left side of their offensive line for the next decade.

4. BROWNS: RB Trent Richardson, Alabama
I really have no idea what the Browns will do here, but it will send a ripple effect throughout the rest of this draft. Richardson is the highest rated prospect on the board and they have a need at running back with Peyton Hillis gone for Kansas City. Wide receiver is a big need, but there is way more depth at that position and Richardson is the best running back prospect since Adrian Peterson. Ryan Tannehill will definitely be considered here, but they will realize that Colt McCoy should get at least one offseason as their starting quarterback before they completely give up on him.

5. BUCCANEERS: CB Morris Claiborne, LSU
No one will be happier than LeGarrette Blount when Richardson goes to the Browns, as he has publicly said that he “would not be happy” if the Bucs take Richardson. Cornerback is a huge need for this team, even with the signing of Eric Wright, and Claiborne could be a Pro Bowler for years to come. The Bucs’ defense needs to make huge improvements before this team can take the next step with all of their expensive free agent acquisitions. 

Monday, March 12, 2012

BROWNS: WHAT SHOULD THEY DO?


The Dawg Pound has gone through a rough decade or so,
but will the Browns be able to turn their fortune around with
two first round picks and around $20 million in cap space?

The Browns have been a seemingly cursed franchise since they returned to the NFL in 1999. They have only had two winning seasons and one playoff berth in that time period, and have been disappointing their fans on a yearly basis.

The Redskins have just made a move up to the second pick in the draft, a move that the Dawg Pound was hoping the Browns would make, in order to land Baylor quarterback Robert Griffin III. This leaves the Browns with very few options to find their franchise quarterback, unless they want to put their faith back in Colt McCoy after going after Griffin and Peyton Manning.

Despite a need for an upgrade at the quarterback position, the Browns have much bigger problems on the offensive side of the ball besides the QB. While the Browns have a solid offensive line, there is not a single offensive threat on this team right not that a defense has to game plan around. A lack of skill players on offense in the reason they were one of the worst offenses in the league last season and is the main reason they finished with just four wins.

Friday, March 9, 2012

REDSKINS: WHAT SHOULD THEY DO?


The Redskins started the bumbling duo of Rex Grossman and
John Beck in 2012, meaning they will spend this offseason
scrambling to find a franchise quarterback to lead this team.

The Redskins beat the Super Bowl championship New York Giants twice last season, but that was about the only good thing you could say about Washington in 2011. Head coach Mike Shanahan said he would bet his career on getting production out of Rex Grossman or John Beck, and that blew up in his face big time.

Clearly the Redskins' top priority this offseason is finding a franchise quarterback, but they have so many issues all over their roster that this is a team that is not likely to have a huge turn around, unless they land a fully healthy Peyton Manning in free agency along with some other big name free agents.

The only good thing to say about the Redskins’ roster is that they have two young and extremely talented rush outside linebackers for their 3-4 defense in Brian Orakpo and Ryan Kerrigan. Every single other position on this team is at least sub par. So let’s get into specifically what they should be looking to accomplish in 2012.

Saturday, March 3, 2012

COLTS: WHAT SHOULD THEY DO?


Colts' owner Jim Irsay and new GM Ryan Grigson have a
very tough road ahead of them in rebuilding a franchise with
a fan base that is very accustomed to winning a lot of games.

The Colts lost their first 13 games this season, so they definitely have a lot of work to do. They were in the bottom five of almost every single major offensive and defensive categories. Rookie head coach Chuck Pagano and rookie GM Ryan Grigson do not have time to settle into their positions because the Colts probably have more crucial personnel decisions to make than any other team in the NFL.

While the big topic is what to do with Peyton Manning and his $28 million roster bonus, the Colts have to decide on what to do with their 13 free agents. Defensive end Robert Mathis, center Jeff Saturday, and receivers Reggie Wayne and Pierre Garcon are their biggest free agents. It will be interesting to see who gets the franchise tag, if any of them.

The Colts could go in a lot of directions with their offseason, but here is what I think they should do.

Free Agency:

As tough as a decision this will be for a franchise that has built their entire organization around one player, the Colts have to release Peyton Manning. His contract is simply too massive and there is no guarantees that he will even play another down in the NFL. The Colts are rebuilding, which is something you do with a young quarterback, not one that is turning 36 in less than a month. The team has no choice but to move on and attempt to use the money they would have paid him to retain their young players. 

Tuesday, February 28, 2012

JETS: WHAT SHOULD THEY DO?


Well since free agency is about to start and draft talk is heating up, I thought I should start a new segment called, “What Should They Do?”

As always, the teams that did not make the playoffs, and many teams who did make the playoffs, are scrambling to figure out how to fill the holes on their roster. Since the amount of money each team has to spend has been increased as a part of the new CBA signed before the 2011 season, there are a lot of teams that need to spend a lot of money just in order to get above this amount.

As I am a Jets fan, I will start off with the Jets since I have a very good understanding of the deficiencies on their roster after watching their mediocre 8-8 season.

The Jets would love to see Mario Williams (90) in their uniform
taking down Dolphins the same way he did with the Texans.
Free Agency:

As strange as it sounds, the Jets are best off looking for ways to improve their defense, not their offense, in free agency. The Jets are desperate to get an elite pass rusher and signing Mario Williams would make this defense scary good. Williams has some injury concerns, but he has proven to be one of the best pass rushers in the league and is stout against the run as well.

It might be very hard for the Jets to find the cap space to sign him, and there is a definite possibility that Williams wants to stay in Houston, but the Jets should really focus on trying to convince him why the Jets would be a great fit for him.

If the Jets cannot sign Williams, there are unfortunately not too many other options to upgrade the pass rush in free agency, so they should turn to trying to find a starting safety. Michael Griffin should be their focus from the safety class because the Titans will have a hard enough time trying to lock up cornerback Cortland Finnegan, who will be their focus in free agency. Griffin would be a huge upgrade for this defense and Rex Ryan would feel much more comfortable with him in deep coverage instead of Eric Smith, who was atrocious for the Jets all season long.

Friday, February 17, 2012

THE GOOD, THE BAD, AND THE UGLY SUPER BOWL WEEKEND


The time has finally come to go over the last week of football until September (don’t even mention the preseason to me). As a Jets fan, I was in a bit of a lose-lose situation with this Super Bowl. I either got to hear trash talk from the rival Patriots’ fans or I got to watch Giants fans walk around my city all year long in their Championship shirts and hats.

Either way, I could not be happier for Eli Manning and Tom Coughlin, who have gone from having to worry about their jobs to all but sealing their names in the Hall of Fame. They deserved this win. Once again the underdog Giants found a way to come together as a team to put on a spectacular performance to knock off the top seeded Patriots. Let’s jump into it.

The Good: Three of Mario Manningham’s five catches come on the Giants’ winning drive, including a spectacular 38 yard catch along the sidelines.

It was hard for me to not put Super Bowl MVP Eli Manning here, but I think Manningham had way more to gain by his performance than Eli did. Everyone expected Eli to be perfect in this game, especially against such a weak defense. However, Bill Belichick game planned on “making Manningham beat us,” and that’s exactly what he did.

Anyone who knows Manningham’s story, knows he had a lot to prove in this game. Manningham was a highly productive receiver at Michigan and wowed Wolverine fans with his acrobatic catches and game changing plays. At one point, he was thought of as a first round pick, but fell to the third round because of character concerns and running a slow 40 yard dash at the NFL Combine, which was a red flag for a lot of teams that his work ethic was questionable.

After his first two seasons with the Giants, he became one of Eli’s favorite targets in 2010 recording almost 1000 yard and nine touchdowns. 2011 was the last year of his rookie contract and many people expected him to have the type of season that Victor Cruz ended up having. Manningham had a decent season in 2011, but still failed to reach expectations.

In the Super Bowl, Manningham clearly had a lot of pressure on his since the Patriots were going to do everything they could do to take Hakeem Nicks and Cruz out of the game, and after the Giants lost their only two pass catching tight ends, that only left Manningham to come up big for Eli.

Manningham had received criticism from the announcers during the Super Bowl on a play in which he ran his route too close to the sidelines so that Eli did not have enough room to fit the ball in to him, which resulted in a huge missed opportunity for a big play. Manningham clearly learned from his mistakes because on his 38 yard catch, he was running the same route, but managed to stay further away from the sidelines, leaving room for Eli to place the ball right where only Manningham could catch it. He had two other crucial catches on that final drive and has solidified himself in Giants’ history.

Manningham might not be on the Giants roster next season, but he definitely made himself a good amount of money with his performance in the Super Bowl. Whoever signs him this offseason will have to pay significantly more due to just a few plays at the end of this game.

Runner-Up: Giants’ defense holds the Patriots high-powered offense to just 17 points.

The Bad: Wes Welker’s confidence level.

Anyone who blames Welker for the Patriots’ loss is out of their mind. Was his drop a big swing in emotion for his team? Yes, absolutely. Would that play have put the game out of reach for the Giants? Not necessarily, but it certainly would have made it significantly tougher for them to come back. However, it is still just one play and there will always be missed opportunities whether you win or lose.

On that play, Tom Brady’s pass was off target and Welker made a great adjustment in order to just get his hands on that ball, like he always does. Nine out of ten times, Welker will pull that down for the Patriots, but he just could not handle it for whatever reason. There were plenty of other key plays that hurt the Patriots, but you could tell that this one had a huge effect on the team’s morale. If Welker is dropping passes, what can the Patriots count on?

As bad as the media criticism has and will be, there will not be anyone tougher on Welker than himself. You could tell after the game that Welker thought that he had lost the game for his team and was emotionally crushed.

Since Welker’s contract is up, I am praying that his drop at the end of the game does not hurt him in contract negotiations with the Patriots. Welker has been one of the most underpaid players in the NFL for the last few seasons now and I hope he finally gets his due.

As much as I would love to see Welker go elsewhere, there is no way this happens. Welker is the second most important player on this Patriots team next to Brady and Tommy Boy is significantly more productive with Welker in the lineup. Welker will get a big payday, I just hope he does not hurt himself in negotiations by blaming himself for the Patriots loss.

Runner-Up: The Patriots force three fumbles, yet fail to force a turnover all game long.

The Ugly: Rob Gronkowski’s dance moves.

In a game that did not have too many poor performances, the ugliest thing that happened Super Bowl weekend was off the field. And boy oh boy was it ugly.

Let’s look at it this way. Imagine you are a young player who has just had one of the greatest seasons anyone at your position has ever had. Your team has gotten to the Super Bowl, but you are still hobbled from a huge hit two weeks earlier. You play the game, but are unable to really contribute and your team loses. What would you feel like doing? If the answer is anything but get a good night’s rest and stay away from the media, you are doing something wrong.

Gronkowski not only did not try to get some rest and heal up his ankle, but he got drunk and jumped around the dance floor with significantly more energy than he showed at any point in time on the football field earlier in the day. He made himself look like a total moron and I am sure there are guys in the Patriots’ locker room who will think differently of Gronkowski after seeing his excitement right after such a devastating loss.

What Gronkowski does not appreciate is how incredibly difficult it is to get to a Super Bowl and have the type of season he had this year. After the Patriots almost went 19-0, it took them four years to get back to the Super Bowl. At age 34, Brady probably only has four or five years left at best and the Patriots are not nearly as strong of a team as they were four years ago. And once Brady is gone, the Patriots are going to have a hard time replacing him.

Tony Gonzalez is possibly the greatest tight end to ever play the game and he is most likely going to have to retire without ever winning a single playoff game. Gronkowski needs to appreciate the situation that he is in or else Bill Belichick will not hesitate to cut bait with a player who clearly does not abide by his code of conduct. 

Monday, January 30, 2012

THE GOOD, THE BAD, AND THE UGLY CONFERENCE CHAMPIONSHIP ROUND


I have been putting off writing this week’s “The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly,” because like many football fans, I am in total denial about the fact that there is only one game left this year. This season seems to have passed even faster than usual, but what a year it has been. Considering there were a lot of new faces in the playoffs this year, it is funny that the Super Bowl will be a rematch of the historic 2008 game. But I am getting ahead of myself. Let’s take a look at last week’s successes and failures.

The Good: After playing second fiddle to Hakeem Nicks the last two playoff games, Victor Cruz hauls in a whopping ten catches for 142 yards.

All season long, the Giants had lived and died by creating long, explosive plays on offense. Eli Manning led a passing offense that had more 40+ yard plays than any other team in 2011, but he was going up against a defense that was the best in the league in stopping big plays, mostly due to their stellar play at the safety position. Hakeem Nicks had been unstoppable the last two weeks, accounting for 280 yards, four touchdowns, and more than 20 yards per catch. The 49ers clearly focused on stopping Nicks, and they did, holding him to just 55 yards.

However, they did not have an answer for Cruz all day. It was his ability to keep the chains moving that slowed down the fierce 49ers pass rush just enough for the Giants offense to keep them in the game. His ability to get open quickly gave Eli a reliable target to go to while he was being taken to the ground by defenders, which was quite often (a staggering 20 times to be exact). I almost went with Eli in this spot because he took such a beating and still led his team to a W, but he could not have produced much of anything on offense without Cruz coming up big for him over and over again. Cruz and Nicks should give the Giants a dangerous one-two punch in the passing game for a long time to come and it will be interesting to see if the Patriots struggling defense has an answer for either of them.

The Bad: Kyle Williams loses two punts, including one in overtime that set up the Giants with the game winning field goal.

I will not blame Williams as the sole reason the 49ers lost like many have done, but there is no denying that this was a really tough game for such a young and inexperienced player. His two turnovers accounted for 10 of the Giants’ 20 points, including the game winning field goal. Both were inexcusable mistakes, especially in such a huge game for a franchise that had not been in the playoffs since the 90s. His muffed punt during regulation where he simply failed to get out of the way and allowed the ball to be recovered by the Giants was in my mind significantly worse than the fumble in overtime. The golden rule of being a punt returner is either catch the ball or get the heck out of its way. He is not the 49ers’ starting punt returner, but he has still been around football enough of his life that he should have known better.

All that being said, the 49ers had many other problems that led them to lose this game. Most notably, the 49ers passing attack did absolutely nothing unless Vernon Davis was streaking down the field wide open. The 49ers have to figure out if they want to ride it out with Alex Smith or if they will bring in another quarterback to compete with last year’s second round pick Colin Kaepernick. Possibly more important, they need to find some decent receivers to help out whoever their starting quarterback is in 2012 because Michael Crabtree drops a lot of passes and their second best receiver has a lot of work to do to repair his image in the Bay Area. What’s his name? You guessed it, Kyle Williams.

The Ugly: The Ravens offense.

I could blame Lee Evans for dropping what would have been a game winning touchdown, or Billy Cundiff for missing the field goal that would have sent the game into overtime, or even Ray Rice for averaging barely over three yards a carry. However, it is much simpler to just say they all stunk and it took the entire Ravens offense to lose this game. Going into this matchup, the Ravens had to know that they were not going to win this game with 20 points. The Patriots offense had been unstoppable in recent weeks and the Ravens defense played out of their mind holding Tom Brady to zero touchdowns to two interceptions.

I have already mentioned Evans, Cundiff, and Rice as guys who could be blamed for this loss, but Joe Flacco needs to get at least some of the blame as well. Statistically Flacco had a good day, but anyone who watched that game saw him miss open receivers numerous times and often looked lost. His pocket awareness was pathetic and he often stepped up right into the Patriots’ blitz. He might have thrown for 306 yards, but the Patriots allowed 294 yards per game so he had nothing but an average game against them. Flacco has not helped himself in the media by talking about how he does not get enough credit for the Ravens success and speaking publicly about wanting a new contact before next season. Since he has not really backed up his big talk with anything but mediocre performances in the playoffs, it will be interesting to see what his future will be with the Ravens. 

Wednesday, January 18, 2012

THE GOOD, THE BAD, AND THE UGLY DIVISIONAL ROUND


To say it lightly, I did not see the outcome of these games coming, although I guess I should have figured the Patriots were going to blow out the Broncos. Every game besides the Patriots game was a close one and probably could have gone either way had a few things gone differently. There is plenty to talk about so let’s get to it.

The Good: The Giants dominate the Packers in all aspects of the game and guide Aaron Rodgers to his worst performance of the year.

The Packers came in with a 15-1 record lead by a guy who will most likely be the league MVP. Despite their record and their regular season performance, the team came in with some glaring deficiencies. Despite how good Rodgers was all year long, the offense had struggled to get anything going on the ground all year long, which allows teams like the Giants to constantly blitz without fearing a running back breaking a long one. Also, their defense, which was a strength in their Super Bowl run last season, touted the worst pass defense in the league and allowed the most amount of total yards of any defense in 2011. The defense’s only strength was that they lead the league in interceptions. Basically this team lived and died by the play of their quarterback and their ability to force turnovers.

The Giants exploited those decencies to perfection. They made Rodgers uncomfortable all day with their plethora of pass rushers and it forced him into making big mistakes. Rodgers had two turnovers and his running backs who had been ineffective all season long had two more of their own. The Giants offense torched the Packers all day long with huge plays, most notably a 37 yard touchdown to Hakeem Nicks as time expired in the first half to put the Giants up ten instead of just three points. Eli Manning was inches away from being perfect and again made all the plays that he needed to in order to keep the Giants a step ahead of the Packers for 60 minutes. If I were the 49ers, I would be very scared of this team right now.

The Bad: The Saints turned the ball over five times and their defense couldn’t stop the Alex Smith to Vernon Davis connection in the forth quarter in a shocking 36-32 upset.

Before the Giants-Packers game, the last game of the weekend, I had Alex Smith penciled in my “Good” section. That all changed when the Giants came out and dominated the top team in the league, but that does not at all diminish Smith’s performance. However, his impressive performance was still way less surprising than the Saints completely dropping the ball (often literally) on offense, defense, and special teams. I knew the 49ers defense was tough and that the Saints would have some sort of trouble with them, but I assumed they would still manage to score a lot of points, which they did. I knew that Smith would have an above average day passing because the Saints defense has been the team’s weakness for a long time now. However, I did not think the Saints would let an opportunity like this pass through their fingers like it did last season.

However, that is exactly what happened. The Saints, much like against the Seahawks last season, got down big early, managed to catch up, and again lost the game in the forth quarter despite charging back. I did not think that Alex Smith would be able to carry this offense when Frank Gore had such a pedestrian day. It was Alex’s play, not his defense, that won them the game. Smith was able to out-play Drew Brees all game long and that was the difference in the game. I simply did not think that would happen and that says a lot about the Saints’ defensive performance (I don’t care what you think of Smith, he is not even close to as good as Brees). Had there been another 60 seconds on the game clock, maybe the Saints would have won it, but you cannot expect to win a game when you are -3 in the turnover differential. The Saints have a lot of work to do on the defensive side of the ball, but they might have even more work to do in order to keep their offense together with Drew Brees, Marques Colston, Robert Meachem, and Carl Nicks all set to become free agents, along with eleven other players. This was a Tebow away from being an ugly performance.

The Ugly: Tim Tebow completed about one third of his passes and the Broncos defense gave up five touchdown passes to Tom Brady in the first half.

I don’t care how well you run the ball or how good your defense is, you will not win many games in the NFL completing less than 50% of your passes, let alone less than 35% of your passes. It would also be helpful if you could score points more than once a half. Tebow has to become a much more efficient passer from the pocket in order to become even a decent option at quarterback. Yes, he had an impressive season, but that had more to do with his team rallying around him than his individual performance. Leadership is an extremely important characteristic for a quarterback to possess, but when push comes to shove, the guy has to be able to pass the ball (that’s kind of one of the bigger job requirements for a quarterback). Tebow failed to get anything going on offense against one of the worst defenses in the league and the Broncos have to bring in a quarterback in the off season in order to push Tebow to become better.

Tebow at his best probably would have still lost this game because Brady was lights out all day long. The only reason the score wasn’t 70-10 was because Brady simply stopped trying to put up points after getting his team up by five touchdowns. The Broncos defense, which has been the strength of the team since their mid season surge, was unable to do anything to even slow down the Patriots offense. I mean allowing a 43 yard run by a backup tight end on the first drive of the game is unforgivable. The Patriots did not get much out of their run game outside of Aaron Hernandez (the backup tight end), who lead the team in rushing with 61 yards, despite the fact that he had only eight rushes in his entire career leading into this game. This might have been the ugliest playoff performance I have ever seen. 

Saturday, January 14, 2012

THE GOOD, THE BAD, AND THE UGLY WILD CARD WEEKEND


Sorry I missed the last week of the season, but I was extremely busy and was very depressed over my Jets falling apart at the end of the season. Let’s just say Matt Flynn was great, the Raiders blew a huge opportunity to win the AFC West, and the Jets took the ugly cake.

Moving on to the Wild Card round of the playoffs. I always think this is the most exciting round of the playoffs because you never know who is going to play up to their potential or fall on their faces. Despite all of the wild card teams being knocked out of the playoffs already, there were still a couple of upsets/surprising performances. Check out the highlights.

The Good: Tim Tebow throws for a career best 316 yards and an NFL record 31.6 yards per completions against the top ranked Steelers defense.

Drew Brees was amazing yet again against the Lions, but so was Matt Flynn the week earlier so I just had to go with Tebow’s performance. The Steelers made the mistake of trying to defend against what they had seen Tebow do this season instead of what he is capable of doing and it cost them the game. They kept all their defenders close to the line of scrimmage in order to stop the run and Tebow beat them with the deep ball over and over again. Not having free safety Ryan Clark really hurt this defense and Tebow exploited that early and often. This was by far Tebow’s best game as a pro and it shows his immense potential when he can throw the ball accurately. It also didn’t hurt that Demaryius Thomas averaged over 50 yards a catch and his offensive line was spectacular, but still a great day for Tebow.

The Bad: Andy Dalton threw a career high three interceptions to zero touchdowns against the Texans after throwing just 13 interceptions all year long.

Dalton had a better rookie year than he has gotten credit for, mostly because he plays in Ohio, and if it wasn’t for Cam Newton’s record breaking year, he would be hands down the rookie of the year. I know he had a pretty easy schedule, but he took a four win team to the playoffs in his first year which is no easy feat. This is also an offense that had no established receiver, yet he was extremely efficient and led his team to nine wins. He showed off an arm that was significantly better than he got credit for in the draft, which I am personally guilty of, and was the clear leader of this extremely young offense. It is unfortunate that his season had to end this way, but he has really struggled against the top defenses in the league so it will be interesting to see how he progresses over the next few years. The Texans defense confused him all day and since they could not get anything going on the ground, Dalton was forced to try to carry the team. It did not work out for the Bengals this week, but the future is still bright for this team.

The Ugly: The Falcons’ offense scores zero points against the Giants.

Wow were the Falcons bad all over the field in this game, but as bad as the defense was, the offense was way worse. Michael Turner averaged 2.7 yards a carry against a very mediocre Giants’ run defense and the Giants forced the offense to run through the passing game. Matt Ryan again had an awful performance in the playoffs despite all the talent around him and the Falcons as an organization have to start thinking about whether or not they actually have a franchise quarterback. The Falcons gave up basically two draft classes in order to get their hands on Julio Jones to help Ryan progress. Despite having his best statistical season, he was pretty inconsistent, especially early in the year, and might have had the worst game of his career last week. This team was not one player away from being a Super Bowl team, obviously, and their move to get Jones really hurts their chances of rebuilding an aging and ineffective defense. The future is not so bright for this franchise, who will also have to replace the soon to be retired Tony Gonzalez on offense.

Sunday, January 1, 2012

THE GOOD, THE BAD, AND THE UGLY WEEK 16


Sorry this got out so late, but I have been without internet for about a week and have been extremely busy. Week 16 was yet another exciting week of football and a lot of teams had their playoff hopes squashed, or at least highly diminished. Let's get right into it.

The Good: With one game left, Drew Brees breaks Dan Marino’s passing record with 5,087 passing yards.

What a year Brees has had. He is completing over 70% of his passes and scored 41 touchdowns to only 13 interceptions, way down from 22 last season. All of those stats might be even more impressive than the 5,087 yards. In 1984, Marino threw for 5,084 yards, but he scored just 17 touchdowns and had the same amount of interceptions as Brees does this season. While the rules have changed to help the quarterback since Marino’s time, Brees 2011 season is still at least as impressive as Marino in 84. The Saints are ranked 9th in rushing offense, but this is all a product of defenses focusing on stopping Brees and the passing game. The Saints do not have a player with more than 600 rushing yards and have used an effective rotation of running backs with Darren Sproles leading the way. He is averaging seven yards a carry and has also caught over 80 passes. He runs almost entirely out of the shotgun formation and is only effective because defenses have to play the pass every time they line up in the shotgun. They are not prepared for a run and Sproles has exploited defenses all season for huge chunks of yardage. Sproles has never had more than 350 rushing yards in a season and his production this season goes to show how Brees gets the most out of every offensive weapon that Sean Payton lays at his feet. Brees is well deserving of his place in the history books and this season has most likely made him a first ballot Hall of Famer.

Runner Up: The Colts score their only touchdown of the game with one second left on the clock to beat the Texans and give them their first win streak of the year.


The Bad: The Chargers blow their playoff hopes by coming out flat against the roaring Lions, who clinch their first playoff berth in over a decade.

The Chargers needed a win more than the Lions, but the Lions wanted to clinch that playoff berth more than the Chargers wanted to stay alive. Matthew Stafford was perfect all game long and scored three touchdowns in the first half. The Chargers could not get anything started in the first half on offense or defense and they were down 24-0 at the half. They had to completely forgo their surprisingly strong running game and were forced to pass for the entire second half and Phillip Rivers could not deliver, much like he has failed to do for the majority of this season. This was a rough game all around for the Chargers and it really leaves them scratching their heads about what could have been this season. They are going to have a long offseason and there is most likely going to be a lot of turn over on this roster, and possibly the coaching staff.

Runner Up: The Rams give their fan base no hope for the future by getting obliterated by the Roethlisberger-less Steelers 27-0.


The Ugly: Tim Tebow shows why a quarterback needs to be able to throw the ball in order to win football games.

After going on a 7-1 run, Tim Tebow has lost the last two games mostly due to the fact that his defense is not spoon-feeding him wins. Last week, it was no surprise to watch the Patriots steam roll the Broncos’ defense and Tebow being unable to match Tom Brady. However, you had to think they would rebound against a Bills team that had lost its last seven games and has not shown a shimmer of light since losing both defensive captain Kyle Williams and play making running back Fred Jackson for the season. The Bills rebounded in this game, putting together a great performance on offense, defense, and special teams. C.J. Spiller had his most impressive game as a pro, the defense had three sacks and forced four turnovers, and they returned a punt for an 80 yard touchdown. Despite all of this, Tebow had a chance at the end of the game to do what he does best, come from behind and miraculously win the game for his team. However, on back to back drives, Tebow threw interceptions that were returned for touchdowns and blew the game for his team. We have not seen Tebow do this all year, but I would not be surprised if this started to become a trend for Tebow. Defensive coordinators will definitely be watching tape of the Bills game in order to see how they were able to slow Tebow down all game, especially in the forth quarter.

Runner Up: The Jets fall flat on their faces against a Giants team that does not look like a playoff team either.