NFC West — You’re Not the Best

Let’s start with the numbers — the current standings in the NFC West:

St. Louis                         7-8

Seattle                             6-9

San Francisco              5-10

Arizona                          5-10

Now I understand that winners get all the headlines and nobody cares to celebrate futility. I can assure you that my intent is not hit anybody while they’re down (unless it’s the Giants). But I feel like the mess that is the NFC West has been overlooked this year. Rookie quarterback Sam Bradford looks poised the lead his St. Louis Rams into the playoffs with a losing record, and the rest of the division is a whole lot worse.

So how bad is it?

Look, we all know that the NFC is the National League equivalent of the NFL. But this division in particular is collectively boasting a 23-37 record on the season. The second worst division? The AFC South at 28-32. Four games below .500 is a lot different from 14 games below. Even more telling is the collective point differential versus opponents — the NFC West is -322 points in this category.  Second worst in the league is again the AFC South, at -39.

I figured this deserved some ink, somewhere.

Danny Woodhead Hustlin’ for Modell’s

Here we have young Danny Woodhead, just 3 days away from hitting puberty. Yes, the same Danny Woodhead whose 772 yards and 5 TD’s on the season weren’t good enough for the New York Jets. That one.

Mr. Woodhead has gone undercover in a Modell’s sporting goods in an attempt to sell his own jersey. It’s no surprise that his 5’8″ frame and the peach fuzz on his chin isn’t fooling anybody into thinking he’s an NFL player. Imagine him standing next to Ray Lewis.

Gotta love Bill for this pick up.

Patriots Win (Barely) and a Giant Turn of Events

It was a another crazy week in the NFL, and without further adieu, let’s jump right into it with our two most discussed teams (the good guys and the bad guys).

Patriots 31, Green Bay 27 — The Patriots escaped the Green Bay Packers yesterday, in a game that should not have needed escaping. The 31-27 victory was still a W, but you’ve got to give the Packers credit for coming out strong. The on-side kick to start the game was ballsy, as was the play of back-up quarterback Matt Flynn. You’ve got to feel bad for the guy — although he played great he did crumble on the last play of the game — and nothing could have been cooler than beating Tom Brady in your first career start and on your dad’s birthday (he was in the stands). Regardless, you’ve got to applaud his effort.

This game also showed the world once again what I’ve long stated is the blueprint to beating the mighty Pats. A step by step guide for those of you who haven’t caught on….

1) Win the time of possession battle — Keeping the ball out of Tom Brady’s hands is the key. The Pats offense had the ball for only 19 minutes in this game.

2) Half running plays, half passing plays — This chews up clock, and confuses the Pats young defenders (they let up 27 points to a QB in his first career start).

3) Use some form of trickery — See on-side kick to start the game.

Eagles 38, Giants 31 — I’m trying very hard to not start this game’s comments with HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA. So long, Giants. There goes the division. That said, I actually think you will still get a playoff berth still — you play Green Bay next (followed by the mess that is the Redskins) and Matt Flynn showed that he can’t handle blitzing well. Michael Vick was a stud as usual in this one, what else is there to say. This was an absolutely debilitating loss, in all ways. I will give you this — this game was NOT Eli’s fault (for once). I always give the Giants “D” their due, but this one is squarely on them. So at least I’ll save you the Eli hammering, for today.

Now for the fun part — messages I received from Giants fans, all of whom were at the game, throughout the course of the action:

1) I don’t hear you eagles fans, and I’m talking to you bandwagoners and giant haters. This is GIANT football.

2) How does that Eli Manning dive fumble taste. Looked like a fumble to me you know why…cuz were taking over first place.

3) GMEN BABBBBYY!!!!!!!

4) This is a DOMINANT win.

And the subsequent message from the Eagles fan, God Bless him…

1) Hope you guys didn’t leave quite yet..

Let’s just say that although the Pats scared me a bit yesterday, everything worked out just as it should have.  “This is GIANT football!” Sure was…

The Patriots Crush the Bears, 36-7. My Conclusion?

As per my last post, being on top breeds paranoia. After dismantling the Bears, the Patriots are the best team in the NFL. Most importantly, they clinched a playoff berth and further distanced themselves from the Jets. We’re in the playoffs. OK then. Who’s next?

10 Reactions to the Patriots Stepping on the Jets

Well then……no one saw that coming. Although I am a Rex Ryan fan, I have to admit it was pretty entertaining watching his facial expressions during the Pats 45-3 beat-down of the Jets. You could just hear the voices in his head. Maybe he did a little too much talking before this one. The outcome of this game speaks for itself, but here are my 10 reactions to this game and what it means going forward.

1) Suprise suprise, I’ll start with a Mr. Tom Brady — he was the man. Tom completed 21-29 passes for 326 yards, 4 touchdowns, and 0 turnovers. In his last 7 games he’s thrown 17 TDs and 0 interceptions. I’d say at this point he’s got his hands wrapped pretty tightly around the NFL’s MVP trophy. He’s leading the league in passer rating and according to Jaws, “He’s one of the all-time greats. The NFL is a quarterback league and Tom Brady is THE MAN.” ‘Nough said.

2) The Jets will be fine — sure this was embarrassing and will give the Jets a more difficult road to and through the playoffs. But they’ll bounce back — they’ve got too much talent not to.

3) The Patriots defense is making strides — sure, they aren’t nearly as good as they played last night, and Mark Sanchez made them look a lot better than they are. That said, there has been definite progress — as I’ve said before, give them a year or two and this team could be scary good.

4) Jerrod Mayo is a beast — he’s now leading the league with 144 tackles.

5) Give Rex Ryan credit — that was no was not an easy press conference to do after the game. Rex handled it with class, yet still managed to give it his old Rex twist. You could see the pain on his face and the foot in his mouth. Kudos to him.

6) Danny Woodhead got his revenge — to the tune of 104 yards on 4 receptions, as well as some big special teams play. You know he took pride in that.

7) The Pats are ok without Randy — trust me, I’m Randy Moss’ biggest fan and I still don’t agree with his departure from New England. That said, Tom Brady has incredible chemistry with two of his receivers — Wes Welker and Deion Branch. That chemistry is worth a lot.

8)The Jets missed Jim Leonhard — the “quarterback of the Jets defense,” his presence was undeniably missed. Rex made a good point in saying that no one player makes a 42 point difference, but it’s likely some mis-communication was taking place out there.

9) The Jets have some firing to d0 — I’d start with kicker Nick Folk (maybe the worst performance I’ve ever seen from a kicker) and whoever the hell was in the Jets’ review booth.

10) This is Patriots weather — if the Patriots can hang on to home field advantage throughout the playoffs, they’ll have a huge advantage. I’ll be hoping for more 20 degree weather and snow every game.

The bad news in all of this? The Patriots now officially have the target back on their backs, and everyone in the league knows it.

Fantasy Football? More Like a Bad Dream — NFL Wrap Up

Overall, this was a pretty boring week in the NFL. To touch upon the teams most relevant to our readers:

1) The Patriots defense looked like hell in the first half against the Detroit Lions, allowing 17 first half points. Bill Belichick then made halftime adjustments and Tom Brady turned it on, resulting in a 35-7 second half beat down, 4 Tom Brady TD’s, and a 45-24 victory. Still, I’m not going to get excited about beating the Lions with their backup quarterback starting.

2) The Jets cruised by a lousy Cinci team, 26-10.

3) The Giants pulled out a late victory over the Jaguars, 24-20. Eli Manning managed not to turn the ball over for once resulting in a win — big surprise this formula works! This was an atrociously played football game. David Garrard was given an opportunity to win the game in the 4th quarter and should be shot for his performance. This was a crucial win for the Giants — a loss could have derailed their season.

4) Jay Cutler did what he decides to do about 10% of the time — play well — and the Bears beat Michael Vick’s Eagles despite his amazing TD pass late in the 4th quarter. A strange loss for Philly, this one keeps the Giants in the hunt in the NFC East.

All of that said, I must touch on fantasy football this week. I have long thought that fantasy sports are useless, and I continue to think so. Nothing should keep you from simply rooting for your favorite team. That said, I am in a league for work and have had a huge season with my running backs. Here is how they performed this past week:

Chris Johnson — 7 rushes for 5 yards

Darren McFadden — 8 rushes for 2 yards

Reggie Bush (backup) — 1 rush for 1 yard

Suffice it to say, I lost big time despite Tom’s big performance. Frustrating, to say the least. Even Adrian Peterson only managed 6 rushes for 36 yards. And they call these fools fantasy studs….

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The Patriots Rebound Against Steelers, Get Signature Win

In an NFL season that is proving to be a wild and wide open crap shoot, the Patriots re-established themselves as one of the favorites in the NFL by beating the Pittsburgh Steelers 39-26 in impressive fashion. Even before this game began it was notable — Ben Roethlisberger and Tom Brady are the only quarterbacks with two or more Super Bowl wins to face each other since 1985. And following a loss, Brady is 22-2 in his career. Make that 23-2 now, as Brady and nearly everybody else on the Patriots brought their A-game.

Brady threw three touchdown passes to rookie tight end Rob Gronkowski and ran one in himself, to go along with his 350 yards passing. He was fired up all game, between the lines and on the sideline, and it clearly got his team going. The Patriots defense, revitalized by the return of safety Patrick Chung, looked awesome. This group, whose starters average 25.5 years old, has turned in some fantastic performances for such a young crew — and yesterday was their finest. I think that inconsistency, as shown in the past two weeks by the Pats defense, will have to be expected as the norm as this group matures. But it’s scary to think about how good this group could be 1, 2, or 3 years down the road — especially when coupled with Tom Brady and the 1,100 draft picks the Pats have next year.

The damn Jets keep winning overtime games, which really stinks for the Patriots, but they’ll be ready for them when they meet again. Coupled with a Giants loss to the Cowboys, I think it’s fair to say any of the NFL’s elite teams can win or lose any week — making for one of the most interesting NFL season’s in recent memory. Tom and the defense certainly injected this one fan with an additional spark of hope last night.

In other news, I finally checked out Ben Affleck’s The Town yesterday. I was expecting it to be good, and it easily surpassed my expectations. I’d definitely check it out if you haven’t already.

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Eli Manning Exposed!!!!!!!!!!

His name is Elisha Nelson Manning ladies and gentlemen. Yup, Elisha. Elisha Elisha Elisha!  How is this not bigger news already?

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Patriots KO Vikings, Brett Favre 28-18

The Patriots rolled past the Minnesota Vikings 28-18 yesterday, both knocking out Brett Favre and denying Randy Moss a touchdown in the process. The win, despite being another that falls into the unconvincing category, gives the Patriots the best record in the NFL at 6-1. The defense played solidly, and Benjarvis Green Ellis managed to give the Pats a run game for once en route to two rushing touchdowns. That’s all well and dandy, until you look at the road ahead for the Pats. Next week they’ll take on Cleveland (a should be victory), but after that game the rest of the season will prove to be a battle with games against (in order): Pittsburgh, Indianapolis, Detroit, the Jets, Chicago and Green Bay. Yikes. You’ve got to think that next week will be a victory, moving them to 7-1, but splitting the following 6 games after that would be a huge victory. That’d leave the Pats at 10-4.

On another note, it was good to see that Patriots’ owner Bob Kraft, Tom Brady, and most of the other Patriots speaking with Moss both before and after the game — classy on all accounts.

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Patriots Take It To Miami, 41-14

The New England Patriots offense played well, the defense played better, and the special teams unit played best as the Pats routed the Miami Dolphins 41-14 on Monday Night Football. The Patriots forced 3 interceptions and blocked 2 punts, led second year safety Patrick Chung who was responsible for both blocked punts, and interception, and five tackles. This win echoes my sentiments from previous posts — if the Pats can make a play or two on the defensive side of the ball, they will be very tough to beat.

Tom Brady was all fired up about this win, as he should be — he didn’t have to do this one all on his own. This was a big game for Tom from an individual perspective as well — he did a great job of shutting up his critics who so frequently try to bring him down on this blog. The win was Brady’s 100th, making his the quickest quarterback to 100 wins in NFL history. Faster than Terry Bradshaw. Fast than Brett Favre. Faster than Joe Montana. Faster than Peyton Manning. What else is there to say? Brady is now 100-31 on his career, an absurd average of 12.3-3.7 per season. And for those who have been spitting out the “Tom Brady isn’t that clutch argument,” 29 of those wins are 4th quarter comebacks — so you can take that, shove it in your pipe, and smoke it.

The Patriots have a bye next week, followed by a tough game against the Ravens.

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