This year New England fans will have a tough time rationalizing Patriot players worthy of being selected. The offense’s big three of QB Tom Brady and WRs Randy Moss and Wes Welker will get their share of votes. Beyond them…good luck.

As much as we like ILB Jerod Mayo, his injury set him back. He’s eighth on the team in tackles. No one from the front seven has a chance of getting voted in.

And even though safetys Brandon McGowan and Brandon Merriweather are playing well, the star power at the position in the AFC (Pittsburgh’s Troy Polamalu, Baltimore’s Ed Reed and Indianapolis’ Bob Sanders) might keep either out, as well as costing each other votes.

Continue reading "Pro Bowl Ben"

In 2007 the Cowboys were 13-3 and hosting the New York Giants in a divisional playoff game.  Although the Cowboys had already beaten the Giants twice in the regular season, everyone knew this would be a tough game (except for maybe the Cowboys).  On the first drive of the game, not only did Demarcus Ware get called for a bogus offsides penalty to give the Giants a first down, but Amani Toomer (who was way past his prime) managed to shake several Cowboys’ defenders on the next play for a 52 yard touchdown.  The rest was history as the Cowboys would lose to the eventual Super Bowl Champions 21-17.

Continue reading "History Repeating The Lost Inches"

Here are some of my astute observations from the Cowboys’ Monday night victory against the Panthers:

     1. The Cowboys played a very gritty game.

They actually “out-toughed” the Panthers, which hasn’t happened since week 3 of last season against Green Bay.  Despite giving up a few plays in the passing game, the defense shut down a vaunted Carolina rushing attack and managed to keep DeAngelo Williams out of the endzone.  The offense managed to pound the rock at Carolina’s undersized front seven and take advantage of their depth at the running back position (Felix Jones and Tashard choice managed over 80 yards rushing a piece).  More importantly, Tony Romo showed toughness and focus, and did not make the critical mistake that could have swung this game in Carolina’s favor.

Continue reading "Tuesday Evening Hangover Dallas Cowboys reveiw and other NFL news"

Today is Saturday September 26, 2009 so you have a little more than 24 hours to get your fantasy act together or you may end up with that crucial week 3 L.  

It has been a very interesting week in fantasy land for me.  Lots of wheeling and dealing, some unfortunate attempts at cheating and a hazy injury to Marion the Barbarian.  Let’s begin with this “cheating” situation:

So, I am in a random NFL.com fantasy football league. We’ll call it the “Bush League” which is a very appropriate title for so many reasons.  One great fantasy insight that I’ve picked up this year is setting up my fantasy alerts.  (In most leagues you can set up regular e-mail alerts that notify you of a player’s status, league transactions, starting line-ups, trades, etc).  These alerts are very useful because it allows me to check on important league activity without having to log into the site every five minutes.  My fantasy alerts proved to be very useful this week. 

Continue reading "Welcome to Fantasy Land"

Critics be silenced! The Chicago Bears have defeated the Super Bowl Champion Pittsburgh Steelers!

A week after his less-than-stellar outing against the Green Bay Packers, Jay Cutler came home to Chicago and proved to be worth the king’s ransom that was paid for his services. Though there is certainly room for improvement, this is a win the Bears desperately needed.

On the their opening possession, the Steelers drove the ball 92 yards down the Bears throats to the result of a Matt Spaeth touchdown grab on fourth and goal from the one. Chicago looked doomed to fall to a superior team, but the football gods came down and deemed my Bears worthy of victory.

Continue reading "Bears Shock Steelers with Late Field Goal"

Robbie Gould made a dramatic 44 yeard field goal with fifteen ticks on the clock and the Bears grabbed their first win.

Jay Cutler, who threw 4 interceptions in the first game, had a tremendous game going 27 for 38 for 236 yards and two touchdowns.  His 4th quarter strike to rookie wide receiver Johnny Knox tied the hard-hitting game at 14.  The Bears took advantage of two missed Steelers FG attempts and made a late drive of their own to set up for Gould's attempt.  His kick went through the uprights, and Bears fans breathed a collective sigh of relief.  They may have a good team after all.

Continue reading "Bears Cutler Make It Happen over Pittsburgh"

 New England over New York

New Orleans over Philadelphia

St. Louis over Washington

Jacksonville over Arizona

Atlanta over Carolina

Minnesota over Detroit

Green Bay over Cincinnati

Tennessee over Houston

Oakland over Kansas City

Buffalo over Tampa Bay

San Francisco over Seattle

San Diego over Baltimore

Chicago over Pittsburgh

Denver over Cleveland

Dallas over NY Giants

Miami over Indianapolis

There are some tough ones this week. 

Last week - 12-3

Season 12-3

Continue reading "Week 2 NFL Predictions sure to go right"

This certainly has been a troublesome week for Bears fans after a confounding opener in which Jay Cutler threw four interceptions and Brian Urlacher dislocated his wrist, ending his season. With a load of criticism being heaped Jay’s way and a depth chart shuffle since Monday, the Bears now have to focus on Sunday’s match-up to avoid starting this season 0-2. Unfortunately their mountain to climb is steep, as the Super Bowl Champion Pittsburgh Steelers are coming to town.

Thankfully, Chicago’s offense won’t have to worry about the ball-hawking Steeler safety Troy Polamalu adding to Cutler’s interception total for the season. Out with an MCL injury, Polamalu may be the heart of Pittsburgh’s defense, but they certainly aren’t to just roll over for Cutler. Tyrone Carter will be filling in at free safety, and the Steeler linebackers will be anxious to get after the quarterback.

Continue reading "Joes Gameday Preview Steelers at Bears"

We now must switch gears and fight together as a unit to fend off fancy soaps to focus on Tom Brady's leg! Will he march his Patriots back to the promise land and back in to the leagues elite, or will his revamped defense and spotty offensive line be too many set-backs for one mere myth of a man to overcome? Just say no to hummus and no salt crackers, and instead dig into a gooey, loaded, heart attack inducing, plate of nachos while pondering Michael Vick's role with the chic Super Bowl pick Philly Eagles. Will all his prison rust, PITA stress, and obviously distracting presence be too much for the often disrespected Captain Donovan McNabb to overcome. Will McNabb's ribs, the arrival of Jeff Garcia, the forced nature that Vick's wildcat wet dream possibilities be too much to juggle for Andy Reid- who's real concern should be if he can keep Brian Westbrook healthy against an NFC East which boasts three of the best defensive fronts in the game? I need another Nacho...

Continue reading "Fall Springs Eternal- It is once again time to be a man- the NFL is Here"

Steelers over Titans (was submitted here prior to the game)

Seahawks over Rams

Falcons over Dolphins

Bengals over Broncos (Brandon Stokely, are you flipping kidding me?)

Vikings over Browns

Colts over Jaguars

Saints over Lions

Bucs over Cowboys (Tampa's definitely rebuilding now)

Eagles over Panthers

Ravens over Chiefs (Survivor/Lock of the week)

Texans over Jets

Giants over Redskins

Cards over Niners (San Fran is back)

Packers over Bears

Patriots over Bills

Chargers over Raiders

 

I'll look at my final results after the Monday night games are over, but those should be a couple of sure things too. Now here are my division and playoff picks for the year. Number indicates seed in playoffs.

AFC North

1 Steelers (Still the Champs)

5 Ravens (No more Rex Ryan)

Browns (QB controversy could last all year)

Bengals  (Marvin Lewis' last year with this mess)

 

AFC South 

2Titans (Running game + defense > Kerry Collins)

Colts (No more Dungy, no more dominance)

Texans (Every year a sleeper pick, every year a disappointment)

Jaguars (Maurice Jones-Drew can't play every position)

 

AFC West

4 Chargers (Another year of underachieving due to Norv Turner, no relation)

Broncos (No Cutler, no problem)

Chiefs (If they can hang with the Ravens, they can hang with this division)

Raiders (The PUNCHline of the AFC West. Ba dum shing!)

 

AFC East

3 Patriots (Brady's back, but the defense is starting to get old)

6 Dolphins (The Tuna won't let them be a one-year wonder)

Jets (Mark Sanchez will have his growing pains, but will be in the playoffs next year)

Bills (TO will provide entertainment, but that's about it)

 

NFC North

1 Vikings ( AP showed yesterday why he went number 1 in fantasy)

6 Packers (Rodgers is ready, defense is solid again)

Bears (Urlacher being out for the year is tough, too tough for the Bears to win)

Lions (Stafford starting might be the right call, but not to win games this year)

 

NFC South

2 Falcons (Atlanta will post back-to-back winning years for the 1st time in franchise history)

Saints (Brees threw 6 tds yesterday. I was right to be unhappy when I missed out on him in fantasy)

Panthers (Delhomme might be done winning games as a NFL QB)

Bucs (Already time to look towards next year)

 

NFC West

4 49ers (Decent team wins worst NFL division)

Cardinals (The second biggest hangover of the year)

Seahawks (That game was ugly yesterday. Needing a half to break away from the Rams doesn't look too good)

Rams (I'm still going to cheer for them, but in the end, another high draft pick could help. Bulger is awful)

 

NFC East

3Giants (Manning's new receivers appear to be ready to help)

5 Eagles (Probably pick them to win if McNabb doesn't get hurt)

Cowboys (Now that TO is gone, we'll see that Romo was the bigger problem all along)

Redskins (They could easily win the NFC West, this is the AL East of football)

 

I'll wait to pick the postseason until we get there. League MVP is Drew Brees.

 

Anyone who missed the US Open yesterday missed some crazy stuff. There was Roger Federer's dominating win over Novak Djokovic, including this magical shot to set up match point.

Continue reading "NFL Opening Weekend and US Open"