ΑΝΕΞΑΡΤΗΤΟΙ ΠΑΝΑΘΗΝΑΙΚΟΙ
Το blog απευθύνεται αυστηρώςPublished on: 24.04.2012
Super Week: Two Days Away
03 February 2012 14:59:00
Super Bowl XLVI is so close and the anticipation is starting to get to me. The media has been in a whirlwind all week, trying to keep up with the development of everything Peyton Manning while also covering the two teams that this week is truly about.
While there is more going on around the NFL than the storylines of Manning and the 46th playing of the Super Bowl, they by far overshadow anything else the league has had to offer the past several days. However, before I get to those two topics, I’ll provide a brief summary of some other news of the week.
Roger Goodell held a press conference earlier today and I really liked what I heard. He touched on several topics, including the possibility of expanding the NFL to Los Angeles, issues concerning concussions and HGH testing, Thursday Night Football in 2012, and more. To go into detail would make this way too long, so instead I will link to the video of his press conference at the end of this post.
The Pro Football Hall of Fame Selection Committee will meet tomorrow to make a final decision on the Class of 2012. I will also link to a list of the semifinalists at the end of this post. Personally, I am hoping that Cris Carter and Don Coryell will be two members of this year’s class. Watch NFL Network at 5:30 p.m. Saturday to see who is elected to the Hall of Fame.
I don’t want to spend much time on the topic of Peyton Manning because I know a lot of people are tired of hearing about him and, quite frankly, I’m more focused on this Sunday’s game.
Sometime last night, the doctor who performed his surgery, according to several sources, cleared Manning to resume his career. Colts owner Jim Irsay tweeted shortly after, "Peyton has not passed our physical nor has he been cleared to play for The Indianapolis Colts. Team statement coming on Friday." I have yet to hear any official statement, but there certainly seems to be some tension remaining despite the joint statement made by the two parties earlier this week.
The excitement surrounding this weekend is sky-high right now. Almost two weeks ago, after the conclusion of the NFC Championship in San Francisco, I could swear I heard a massive groan from the sports fans of America. Nobody seemed to be all that interested in the Super Bowl XLII rematch. But as the week has progressed I think many people have warmed up to the matchup.
The Giants’ defensive line is almost certainly better than it was in 2007, as are Eli Manning and the receiving corps on offense. The Giants, who barely sneaked off with the NFC East title, are the hottest team in the league right now. Though the Patriots have gone longer since their last loss (to the Giants in week 9), their defense hasn’t faced a particularly strong offense since then. The only possible exception would be the Redskins in week 14 because they turned their level of play up, but even saying that was a strong offense is a major stretch.
As funny as it sounds, the roles may be reversed this year from those of the 2007 Super Bowl. The Patriots will have to run with the Giants on Sunday, but they will need their tight ends at full strength to do so. Rob Gronkowski (left ankle) was listed as questionable today for Sunday’s game. However, he was seen practicing with no limp today. If he is indeed healthy and ready to go Sunday evening, the Giants’ linebackers and secondary will have their hands full.
One big question I’m looking forward to having answered is whether Chad Ochocinco will finally be used this weekend. He wasn’t a big part of the New England offense at any time during the season, but that could make him all the more effective.
I will play Madden on Sunday morning to determine my prediction for the game. I have played a ‘dress rehearsal’ game of just four-minute quarters and came out with a 17-0 score in favor of the Patriots. I also played an online game as the Patriots against another person playing as the Giants and won 27-0. Not good news (or maybe very good news) for the Giants, but we will see how the real deal goes.
Be sure to check out my prediction post on Sunday and you can now follow my blog on Twitter: @PuffontheNFL
Links:
Roger Goodell Press Conference
Semifinalists - HOF Class of 2012
Super Week: 2011 Postseason Rewind
31 January 2012 11:27:00
The 2011 NFL Season has been a treat. The summer lock out seems like ages ago after the regular season held perhaps more excitement than any other in recent memory. With no training camp, Cam Newton came in and played shockingly well in Carolina on his way to setting the all-time record for rushing touchdowns by a quarterback in a single season. The Packers nearly went undefeated until a Romeo Crennel coached Chiefs knocked them off; then their playoff run ended before it started. And, of course, no recap of the 2011 season would be complete without mentioning Dan Marino’s record of more than a quarter century being broken by Drew Brees (and by Tom Brady).
The postseason has been no different. With the exception of the Atlanta Falcons (and the Broncos in the divisional round), each team has played at a level to make every game competitive and exciting. When one team excelled, their opponent stepped up to plate and hit it out of the park, too. When other teams underperformed, so did their opponent so those game could go down to the wire as well.
Unfortunately I only got to watch parts of the wild-card games live, so I missed out on the true excitement from Tim Tebow’s overtime win, T.J. Yates’s winning the duel of rookie quarterbacks against Cincinnati, and Drew Brees out-Breesing Matt Stafford.
The only game I predicted incorrectly in the divisional round was my prediction that the Saints would knock off the 49ers in an instant classic. I like to give myself half-credit for predicting a truly exciting game, but the 49ers took care of business and Alex Smith finally justified that #1 draft pick in 2005. I never expected the Broncos to be close, but what the Patriots did to Tebow was just wrong. These playoffs could have ranked among the best ever if we had even had a chance of another edition of Tebow Time.
The Giants knocked off the Packers, and I have my gut to thank for that correct prediction. I’ve ignored my gut before, when it told me to predict my Terps to win the National Championship in 2002 before the season began and when it told me to pick the Giants over the Patriots in Super Bowl XLII. I went with it this time and it paid off.
The Texans receivers struggled against Baltimore, but then Yates wasn’t fantastic either. But that was still a pretty exciting game as the Ravens squeaked by with yet another postseason win for Joe Flacco and Ray Rice.
Jim Harbaugh has had a fantastic season and is absolutely deserving of Coach of the Year honors, but rookie coaches don’t usually have the kind of success he’s had, and Giants put a stop to it last weekend. I don’t know what it is with New York, but December and January have ‘Giants’ written all over them. The Manning family has their 4th Super Bowl appearance in six seasons, and a chance for ring number three.
Meanwhile, Tom Brady had a lackluster performance against Baltimore, but the Ravens failed to capitalize for most of the game. Then, two jaw-dropping moments ended the game as a potential game-winning touchdown pass by Joe Flacco was dropped in the end zone just before Lee Evans got his second foot down. Then Billy Cundiff rushed onto the field and more than missed the game-tying field goal. We were denied a second overtime conference championship game and were awarded a rematch of the Super Bowl XLII.
This past weekend I turned on the Pro Bowl for a little while, but the uninspired play early in the game quickly turned me off and reminded me why nobody watches it. I got to see some fantastic replays after the game, such as Brandon Marshall’s 3rd of four touchdown receptions when it bounced off two defenders, off his own knee, and into his hands while on the ground in the end zone.
Now we have just one game left. I watched a 9-minute video of Eli Manning speaking to reporters yesterday and look forward to a chance to see more as videos from today’s Media Day as the week progresses. As those of you who read my blog last year know, I never make my Super Bowl prediction until I use Madden the morning of the game, and I have only been wrong twice in the past. In fact, last year I correctly predicted the Packers final score and was only five points off for the Steelers.
Of course, it should be noted that the two Super Bowls I have incorrectly predicted both involved the Giants. I picked the Giants to beat the Ravens in the first Super Bowl I ever predicted using this method and my game of Madden predicted the Patriots to beat the Giants in 2007, leading to me ignoring my gut as I mentioned before.
My point in bringing that up is that though I am 9-2 in Super Bowl predictions, I am 0-2 when the Giants are involved. However, I finally found a real good custom difficulty setting that I’ve been playing with this season and have it pretty much perfect, so I’ll be changing the parameters of the game slightly from previous predictions and hopefully that will lead to a more accurate result this time around.
If I don’t post again until the morning of the Super Bowl, be sure to either come directly here for that prediction or ‘like’ Puff on the NFL on Facebook to see when that post goes up. Enjoy Super Bowl week and thanks for reading!
Championship Sunday 2012, Pt. II
22 January 2012 07:42:00
With the four remaining teams, this weekend’s games could be as exciting as the Super Bowl itself. Without any ado, let’s get to the preview.
Game 2:
Sunday, January 22, 2012
6:30pm – FOX
New York Giants @ San Francisco 49ers
I am having a really hard time breaking down this game, but I refuse to use my Super Bowl prediction method on a conference championship game to get my prediction.
The Giants had a terrible rushing game against Green Bay to say the least. It will only be worse this weekend against the best rushing defense in the NFL, and maybe the best overall in the NFL this season. Eli Manning was able to pick apart the Packers, but don’t expect San Francisco to be so easy to take to slaughter.
Two calls really changed the dynamic of that Giants/Packers game. Two calls that should not have been made (a fumble early and a roughing the passer late) that allowed the Packers to continue dead drives, both of which ended up in the end zone. That game really should have been a bigger blowout than it was. The Packers should consider themselves lucky, and send some ‘thank you’ notes to the officials for allowing them to score double digits. The Giants might have even broken into the 40s had it not been for those two calls. (There was one bad call in favor of the Giants, but it was insignificant to the outcome of the game).
Meanwhile, the 49ers are on a huge high coming off a thriller against the Saints. And now they get to stay at home for one more week. You better believe Tom Coughlin is not going to be playing man coverage on Vernon Davis this weekend. He’ll be mixing zone and double-teams on him most of the night. The only way Davis will be heavily involved is in the short passing game and as a blocker.
Will Alex Smith be able to lead the offense so efficiently if Davis is indeed limited so severely in this game? It is possible, but only if their ground game can get good footing early. The Giants have a knack for showing up in January, and as was said in an episode of NFLNetwork’s America’s Game, Eli is the king of January. Eli has no control over the defense, but when Eli has a good game, it seems to carry over to the other side of the ball.
Alex Smith has finally earned my respect as a top overall draft pick, but can he win in another shootout? I highly doubt it. The 49ers are a great team right now, but they showed late in that Saint’s game that they can get a little sloppy. And if they make the same mistakes, Eli will take advantage.
In my mind, the Giants have slightly more room for error. The 49ers capitalized on some early Saints mistakes, but as New Orleans continued to make huge mistakes, San Francisco slowly stopped making the most of those opportunities and allowed the Saints back in the game. If the Giants play mistake free football, they should run away with it. If they limit their mistakes, the game could be close, but as I said, they have a small window for error that I don’t think the 49ers have.
In the regular season meeting between these two teams, the 49ers came out on top, 27-20. Eli Manning converted two 4th down plays in the final minutes of the game before having a pass batted down at the line on a 4th and 2 in the red zone with the game nearing it’s end. 2 interceptions were likely the biggest downfall for Eli in that game. But he has been playing more and more mistake free every week, and as I said already, he rules in January.
Ultimately, I think we’re in for a Harbaugh-less Super Bowl. I’ve never had a week where I didn’t get at least one game right (other than 2 Super Bowls), but then, there is a first time for everything. A Thanksgiving night rematch certainly is in the cards.
My pick:
New York beats San Francisco, 24-20
Championship Sunday 2012, Pt. I
22 January 2012 07:40:00
With the four remaining teams, this weekend’s games could be as exciting as the Super Bowl itself. Without any ado, let’s get to the preview.
Game 1:
Sunday, January 22, 2012
3:00pm – CBS
Baltimore Ravens @ New England Patriots
I really haven’t gotten a chance to watch as much coverage of either conference championship game as I would have liked to this week. However, early in the week a friend of mine, a Ravens fan, said something that surprised me slightly, though once I thought about it, it made sense. He told me the Patriots had not beaten a winning team all season. Though with a quick check of the standings I found that to be accurate, I decided to do a bit more digging, just for arguments sake.
This regular season, the Patriots played just two teams who finished with winning records, the Giants and the Steelers, losing to them in consecutive weeks in the middle of the season. Their other loss came to the 6-10 Bills early in the season. All 13 wins came against teams who finished the season with 8 or fewer wins. However, in games against teams who had winning records coming into the matchup, they were 4-1 (5-1 if you count their win against the 9-8 Broncos last weekend). While three of those games may be considered mute because they were in the first 5 weeks of the season, New England was 2-0 against such teams after week 8 (the Jets were 5-3 and the Broncos were 8-5 coming into their games against the Patriots in weeks 10 and 15 respectively).
Of course, as I said this was all just for arguments sake, none of this ultimately has any affect on how this game will be played. Both teams are in for a real challenge.
The Broncos defense laid an egg on Saturday, there’s no way around it. All season, Tebow was gaining headlines for his late-game comebacks, but it was the defense giving him enough opportunities to orchestrate those drives. Though New England looked very crisp on offense, I refuse to believe that they performed that well against a Denver defense that was up for the task, especially considering the Bronco’s defense did pretty decently against Brady in their regular season meeting.
The only issue for the Patriots will be their defense. The Ravens faced one of the better defenses in the league last weekend, and though they didn’t exactly take care of business, going from facing the Texans to the 31st ranked defense during the regular season could make a big difference.
Surprisingly, it’s the Raven’s defense I’m most concerned about. It’s a great unit, yes, and Ed Reed is expected to be good to go after a very scary late-game play that looked much worse than it turned out to be. But Tom Brady can pick about any defense when he’s at the top of his game, and good performance or not for the Broncos, he looked very on top of his game on Saturday. If the Ravens can’t put some serious points on the board and put the Patriots in a deep hole heading in the 4th quarter on Sunday, I have little doubt that Brady will put something together with the weapons he has.
The Ravens will have their hands full with Gronk, Hernandez, and Welker. Expect Branch to get some looks with the other three receiving most of the focus. And I fully expect Green-Ellis to be splitting playing time pretty evenly with Danny Woodhead; Belichick would be silly not to give Woodhead significant playing time in this matchup.
But, it is fully possible that if it turns into a shootout, the Ravens can keep up. The Patriots passing defense is not nearly as bad as Green Bay’s was, but Ray Rice will either have a field day, or at the very least do well enough to open things up for the pass to be successful. As long as Joe Flacco is up to winning a road playoff game for the fourth consecutive season, the Ravens have a great chance of winning this game.
Unfortunately, I still don’t fully trust Joe Flacco and I fully expect him to be the deciding factor. The Patriots are 12-3 all time at home during the postseason. They were 11-1, then lost to the Ravens and Jets in consecutive seasons. They are coming off a big win and I don’t expect them to start another slide so soon. I don’t have enough confidence in Flacco and I have a ton in Brady.
My pick:
New England beats Baltimore, 38-27
Divisional Round 2012, Part III
13 January 2012 15:17:00
A crazy wild-card weekend is in the books and eight teams now remain in the quest for the Lombardi trophy. This weekend features some matchups that, mostly, appear to be skewed heavily in favor of one team, but may be closer than expected.
Game 3:
Sunday, January 15, 2012
1:00pm – CBS
Houston Texans @ Baltimore Ravens
The Ravens have only earned a first-round bye once in their 16-season history. That year was 2006, and they lost a field-goal shootout at the hands of Indianapolis, who went on to win their first ring since Super Bowl III.
The Texans just won their first playoff game in their 10-season history. Wade Philips has done a fantastic job with Houston’s defense this year, Arian Foster continues to be a dominating force in the league, and T.J. Yates showed last week that he can play well against a talented defense.
But the Bengals are no Baltimore Ravens. The Ravens defense is one of the best in the league. Ray Lewis is getting older, but he plays with no less intensity that he did when he helped Baltimore win their first Super Bowl title (he is the only player from that roster still in Baltimore today). And with players like Ed Reed and Terrell Suggs, what the Ravens do lack in talent, they make up for in intimidation.
The Ravens offense has shown glimpses of greatness all season, but has had trouble with consistency. However, in three seasons with Joe Flacco at quarterback the Ravens have never lost their first postseason game. But they also haven’t won in the divisional round since Flacco’s rookie season when they lost to Pittsburgh in the AFC Championship. This year, the Ravens won their first AFC North title since 2006 when they finished with a franchise best 13 wins.
The Texans won 10 games for the first time this season, and in the process clinched their first division title. Now they’ve tasted success and want more.
This looks like a defensive battle to me, but the key to this game will be T.J. Yates. If he plays like he did against the Bengals, the Texans will be tough to beat. If, however, the Ravens defense can get to him early, he won’t regain his composure and the Ravens could run away with it.
My pick:
Baltimore beats Houston, 23-20 in OT (17-17 at end of regulation)
[Edit: I originally picked Houston to win by the same conditions but switched the teams just before publishing.]
Other Predictions:
Saints @ 49ers
Broncos @ Patriots
Giants @ Packers
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