Nine of this year’s 15 modern-era finalists for enshrinement in the Pro Football Hall of Fame are first- or second-year eligible players.
Drew Brees and Larry Fitzgerald highlight the list of first-year eligible candidates, which is rounded out by Frank Gore and Jason Witten.
Second-year eligibles up for enshrinement include Luke Kuechly, Eli Manning, Terrell Suggs, Adam Vinatieri and Marshal Yanda.
The modern-era candidate list includes: (more…)
Four games into the 2012 season, Arizona was undefeated and Kevin Kolb looked like he might be turning into the quarterback the Cardinals hoped he would be when acquiring him from Philadelphia.
But a loss to St. Louis in week five and an injury to Kolb during a defeat against Buffalo turned the tide on the season and the Cardinals never recovered, losing 11 of 12 and finishing in last place in the NFC West. The collapse cost Rod Graves and Ken Whisenhunt their jobs and ushered in yet another new era in the desert.
There’s plenty of talent on this roster, however, with guys like Patrick Peterson on defense and Larry Fitzgerald on offense, which made the job eventually won by Bruce Arians a coveted one. Arians and his crew are high on this team’s potential and many think the Cardinals are just solid play at quarterback away from being a contender in the NFC. Tyler Nickel, a manager for Revenge of the Birds, shared his thoughts.
Zoneblitz: Do you agree with the firings of Ken Whisenhunt and Rod Graves? (more…)
I’m not sure if my brother feels this way, but for me, most seasons, there usually is a point where I feel like I’ve started to feel like I’m at least getting a hint for which teams are good, which are bad, which know how to go for the jugular and which are prone to bad upsets.
Not this year. I don’t have a flippin’ clue. It played out again last week in a 1-3 mark that dropped my best bets to 26-33-1 for the season. That sounds bad – and it is terrible. But it’s still actually ahead of my brother, who went 0-4 and hasn’t made a correct bet in this segment since week 14.
We are committed to playing this out for the season, but if we were really playing this out in Vegas, we’d either have been committed or we’d have been left lying in an alley with our legs broken multiple times.
On that upbeat note, happy holidays and here are our bets. (more…)
I had planned to start this notebook with an item on the improvements made by rookie quarterbacks in their week two showings as compared to week one, but the ineptitude of the replacement referees manning the Falcons/Broncos Monday night game was so great that the issue almost required response.
Industry observers, media, former officials, players and seemingly everyone else out there had already been commenting on how the officiating in week two took a huge step back after the replacements did a passable job in week one.
For various reasons I didn’t see much of the Broncos/Falcons game last night. But the write-ups are all over the Internet. Pro Football Talk called the officiating performance an embarrassment to Commissioner Roger Goodell and the owners. I would have to agree.
As many have said, including Tony Dungy on Sunday Night Football, the replacements seem to have no concept for pass interference, defensive holding and illegal contact. Sometimes players are getting called for barely making any contact – if any – at all. Other times near muggings go uncalled.
I can’t remember which of the national pundits I heard commenting on this as well, but one of my biggest pet peeves is when a running back is clearly stopped and the whistles have been blowing for several seconds, but a gang of defenders continues to drive a ball carrier back 10 to 15 yards to make sure he actually goes to the ground.
Those are the situations where injuries are going to happen and those situations warrant personal foul penalties being called. Those calls are oft-ignored when the regular officials are calling games, but it’s gotten ridiculously out of hand at times with this current crop of replacements. I tried to give the subs a break – after all, it is not entirely their fault they’re in the positions they’re in. But week two was a disaster and it is time for the league and the regular refs to get on the same page and get their issues solved.
On to other issues. (more…)
You are what you are in the NFL and the Arizona Cardinals were an 8-8 team in 2011. But the Cardinals, more than most teams, have reason to saying “what if” right about now. Arizona started 1-6, but lost four of those games by four points or less. That dug a hole from which the team could not emerge.
But closing 7-2 on the strength of a mostly strong defensive performance has at least some Cardinals fans optimistic about the future. The quarterback situation is in flux, the running back position has some question marks, the team needs more consistent play from wide receivers not named Fitzgerald and the offensive line needs some upgrades.
Even with those issues, the blog Raising Zona’s Lead Writer Scott Allen says he thinks the Cardinals’ future is bright. Here’s what he had to say:
Zoneblitz: John Skelton won six of eight starts. Arizona gave up a lot for Kevin Kolb. Is the Cardinals quarterback of the future currently on the team’s roster? (more…)
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