Some of these pre-season presentations are simply unwatchable when couched in terms of top level professional football. The JAGUARS visit to New York to play the GIANTS ended up being one such effort. That is unless you are a dedicated soccer fan and the idea of 9 combined Field Goals is your idea of offensive excitement. ELI MANNING,… Read More »
The BENGALS laid an egg on Monday Night Football and JAMEIS WINSTON looked a lot better than he had in Week 1. WINSTON, who left the field limping late in the 1st Quarter after getting rolled up on his left ankle during a sack, looked much better than he had at the beginning of the pre-Season opener last… Read More »
Before we lunge into Week 2 game observations I wanted to touch on some roster shuffling that impressed me this week. This past off-season was a personnel nightmare for GM TRENT BAALKE of the 49’ers. Premature retirements like that of CHRIS BORLAND and off-field issues going beyond League suspensions for off field indiscretions like ALDON SMITH have ravaged… Read More »
The top 2 Picks in the 2015 NFL Draft were on stage as both started for their teams in Week 1. Both JAMEIS WINSTON and MARCUS MARIOTA have already been proclaimed as starting QB for the regular season by their Head Coaches. Welcome to the NFL boys! The BUCS traveled to Minnesota to face a resurgent VIKINGS squad.… Read More »
Technically speaking Training Camps are over and the pre-season/exhibition games have begun, with Week One’s games in the books. We have to be careful how much we read into the weekly game action until the real bullets fly in September. Every coach in the League has a different way of handling these games, but the bottom line of… Read More »
Having already stated that the RAVENS are far from a lock to capture this division in 2015 let’s take a look at the contenders and pretenders in the AFC North. The remainder of the AFC North features a group of tough teams to beat on Sunday, but an equally tough group to evaluate. The BENGALS have evolved under… Read More »
I’ve saved the AFC North until last to preview partly because the division mystifies me. No one is dominant, but most of them should be good. Remember, the RAVENS, BENGALS & STEELERS all won 10 or more games last season. Even the BROWNS are improving, if only they had a legit NFL starting QB to lead their Offense.… Read More »
The remainder of the NFC South will be struggling to keep their collective heads at .500 again in 2015, But in this division that still gives them a shot at catching the PANTHERS if that club trips up. The SAINTS seem the logical, best of the rest, primarily because they still have SEAN PAYTON and DREW BREES leading… Read More »
It looks as though, almost by default, the PANTHERS are poised to retain their NFC South title. Heck, they might even do it with a winning record this season, say 9-10 Wins. The team has done some good things this off-season, but in reality it’s mediocrity and step-backs by their divisional opponents that give them the biggest edge.… Read More »
So if I see the SEA HAWKS as being good for at least one more year atop the Division is anyone closing the gap? Can any other NFC West teams battle their way into the play-offs as a Wild Card? Yes, I believe so and the name of that organization is the CARDINALS. Since the leadership triumvirate of… Read More »
Yes, I am indeed picking the Sea Hawks to capture the NFC West crown one more time in 2015. But I will also add that I think the clock is ticking toward midnight on this team as a serious Super Bowl contender. They are close to hitting the Salary Cap wall, especially with RUSSELL WILSON finally being in… Read More »
Even though New England is due for some slippage I’m not convinced that anyone else in the AFC East is prepared to make a big enough leap to supplant them as division champs. The team most likely to chase should be he DOLPHINS, but not primarily because of the addition of DT/NDAMUKONG SUH. The biggest boost for the… Read More »
Repeating as Super Bowl champions has become one of the toughest tasks in the world of sports. Today’s NFL era of Free Agency and a hard Salary Cap make each new season a starting over point for most teams. 2015 looks to be just that for the PATRIOTS, but for right now I still think they have enough… Read More »
College football training camps will start opening in less than a month so here is an alphabetical shout-out to guys we could be talking a lot as next April/May approach. ROBERTO AGUAYO/K/FLORIDA STATE DOMINIQUE ALEXANDER/LB/OKLAHOMA VIDAL ALEXANDER/OT/LSU BRANDON ALLEN/QB/ARKANSAS JACK ALLEN/OC/MICHIGAN STATE NATE ANDREWS/S/FLORIDA STATE T.T. BARBER/LB/MIDDLE TENNESSEE STATE DANTE BARNETT/S/KANSAS STATE KENDELL BECKWITH/LB/LSU VONN BELL/S/OHIO STATE ANDREW… Read More »
Let’s call the rest of this division the Wanna Be’s and decide who, if anyone, is close to overtaking the PACKERS before AARON RODGERS retires, which isn’t likely to be any time soon from the looks of things. The VIKINGS look to me like the most serious competition for the PACKERS, and a team with a legit chance… Read More »
GREEN BAY PACKERS PREVIEW Clearly, the PACKERS have been the class of the NFC North for the past decade with a couple of brief exceptions. But when analyzing their roster heading into the 2015 NFL season I have to view their off-season a bit differently than most teams around the League. Under the guidance of VP/GM TED THOMPSON… Read More »
So if the COLTS are serious Super Bowl contenders does that pretty much relegate the rest of the teams in their division to also ran status? In a word YES! The other three teams are all trying to establish/identify their Franchise QB to lead them out of perennial double digit Loss status. The best anyone in this threesome… Read More »
Because of the mediocre to poor teams in their division (JAGS, TEXANS, TITANS) it occurs to me that a good number of NFL fans don’t realize that ANDREW LUCK, in only his 4th season as a pro, has already turned the COLTS back into a double-digit win team, and serious annual Super Bowl contender that they were for… Read More »
So if the COWBOYS have stayed about the same on a roster talent level from last season when you balance gains with losses has anyone in the NFC East made enough gains to challenge them for the division title. I think the answer lies in the city of Philadelphia if you think CHIP KELLY is the mad genius… Read More »
The COWBOYS made the leap in 2014 from being a perennial .500 team to NFC East Champs. In fact they were one questionable “catch call” away from heading to the NFC Championship game. It almost seemed prophetic when HC JASON GARRETT pronounced early in the season that the organization knew they had the right people on the bus… Read More »
So if the BRONCOS have lost some ground in roster strength has anyone in the AFC West gained ground with roster changes. The answer is, ‘yes indeed’ indeed in all cases, and IMO here they are in order of Play-Off potential. CHARGERS The guys in San Diego didn’t proceed with much fanfare, nor did they break the bank… Read More »
We are still almost 2 months away from the opening of NFL Training Camps, but now that VFA and the Draft Process are pretty much concluded it is certainly not too early to talk about the pros and cons of roster shuffling that has taken place around the League. So let me start with the AFC West and… Read More »
I truly intended for my next article to be some new analysis of the 2015 Draft and team roster improvements around the NFL. That is still on my agenda, but while doing some early 2016 prospect research I came up with some College Football observations that I just had to put on paper. I couldn’t help but chuckle… Read More »
It never ceases to amaze me how quickly the present becomes the past in today’s high speed tech world. The Draft is still less than a month ago and yet to many folks it is a distant memory. Now that I have caught my breath I want to revisit how that event has affected rosters around the League.… Read More »
Clearly, yours truly has not gotten the PACKERS out of his system, despite now living in Florida. I have been printing Rookie lists and checking on NFC North rosters in recent days to put together a post-Draft gain/loss article and found myself getting caught up in September roster projections for Green Bay. So despite all common logic I… Read More »
