by Andy | Dec 13, 2012 | 2012 season, NFL Picks
The sense heading into the 2012 season was that if Peyton Manning could come back to anything resembling his earlier years, the Denver Broncos would be in position to have a pretty good season.
Manning has answered any doubters he may have had to the tune of 3,800 yards and 30 touchdowns heading into week 15. And the Broncos have won eight in a row, running away with a division that in recent years often has been won by whatever team can reach eight or nine wins for the season.
Kim Constantinesco, senior editor of Predominantly Orange, thinks the best is yet to come.
“When all three phases are playing well, this is undoubtedly the best team in the NFL,” she says. “If everyone stays healthy and takes care of business, the Broncos team is Super Bowl bound.”
I’m not sure the separation is that great yet. New England is playing well and, when on its game, Houston can play with anyone. But the Broncos are right in the mix to be playing for the town’s first title since John Elway retired.
Constantinesco joined Zoneblitz as our guest blogger for week 15. She follows Greg Cowan, managing editor and senior writer with Colts Authority. I’m not sure we’ll be inviting him back again – Cowan destroyed both of us by going 11-5. Andy was a brutal 6-10 and Tony finished a paltry 8-8. Tony maintains the lead as we head into the final three weeks of the season.
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by Andy | Dec 13, 2012 | 2012 season, NFL Random Thoughts
Drew Brees and Roger Goodell far from burying the hatchet
New Orleans Saints players indicted and convicted by Commissioner Goodell had their suspensions overturned by Paul Tagliabue, who had been appointed to take another look at the BountyGate allegations.
But neither the commissioner, nor Saints quarterback Brees are backing down from the ongoing fight.
Brees chimed in shortly after Tabliabue’s ruling saying Goodell lacked credibility with players and fans for how he handled the incidents. The quarterback has been outspoken from the start about his frustration with how the allegations were handled.
Goodell responded via the Huffington Post article by saying he would not apologize for anything and indicating that he still believes the Saints employed a bounty system and that doing so was unacceptable.
I’m not sure either guy is completely right. I think Goodell has done a credible job since becoming commissioner of creating penalties for players who A) don’t conduct themselves well off the field and who B) carelessly put opposing players in danger with massive hits, etc.
But like many of his critics, I think Goodell has gone too far in appointing himself as accuser and judge. There needs to be a more equitable and fair process. And he has been less than forthcoming about any evidence that does exist against Saints players, executives and coaches.
Brees, meanwhile, has always conducted himself with respect and class. But he seems to have buried his head in the sand, at least to some respect, as far as BountyGate goes, seemingly denying that anything took place despite admissions from defensive coordinator Gregg Williams and others.
It’s understandable that Brees would be frustrated about how the season has unfolded. The 5-8 Saints are virtually out of the playoff race and he isn’t getting any younger. How many more chances he’ll have to chase a second Super Bowl is no guarantee.
But still, even if the evidence against the players wasn’t strong, penalties against Williams, Sean Payton, Joe Vitt and Mickey Loomis were warranted, whether the ones they received went overboard or not.
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by Andy | Nov 16, 2012 | Hall of Fame
With the gay marriage amendment defeated during the election in Minnesota earlier this month, outspoken Vikings punter Chris Kluwe has found a new topic on which to opine: Ray Guy’s omission from the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
The arguments have gone both ways. He revolutionized the punter position. So he should be in. He’s just a punter, so he should stay out. He was great at pinning teams inside the 20 yard line so he should be in. His gross average wasn’t all that great so he should be out. As this Pro Football Reference blog post states, few players’ cases stir “as much passion and disagreement as Ray Guy.”
The topic came up again earlier this week when a Yahoo! Sports story featured the 62-year-old Guy, who now works at Southern Mississippi with former athletes from his alma mater, where he also helps raise funds. (more…)
by Andy | Sep 27, 2012 | 2012 season, NFL Gambling
After two terrible weeks, I at least achieved respectability in week three. I still hit just two of four bets, but I did nail my upset of the week, Kansas City’s win over New Orleans at +330.
Tony, on the other hand, has followed up a strong week one by posting two straight 1-3 marks – though he also hit his upset last week, with Cincinnati’s win over Washington.
He violated one of his cardinal rules last week—never bet on “my” team — especially the Vikings, as usually they’ll find a way to lose the bet and the game. At least last week, they only lost the bet. He still leads me by two for the season, however, with a 5-7 overall mark. The first two weeks were rough to me. I’m straggling at 3-9.
Still, there’s no giving up now. I feel it starting to come together. Here are our Best Bets for week four. (more…)
by Tony | May 29, 2012 | 80's, By the Numbers, Hall of Fame
We’ve reached the dog days of the NFL–I consider myself a pretty big fan of the NFL, and even I can’t get that jazzed up about OTA’s. And it’s not just because my team went 3-13 last year–seriously, if you get excited about OTA’s, you might need professional counseling. Or you might be a Packer fan.
While there’s some great debate going on in our annual Hall of Fame thread, we’ve decided to fill the dead space with a series of posts that has been kicking around in my head for some time, and recently came back to the front of my brain when I heard a local radio host discussing the uniform number choice of a highly touted rookie (in this case it was hockey, but that doesn’t matter).
A few years back I bought a book that discusses, across all professional sports, who the best players to wear each number was. Of course, some of the numbers skew towards football (50-98, where fewer athletes in other sports wear numbers that high regularly), but I also thought some of the lower numbers tended to focus more on baseball/basketball than I would have expected.
So I figured we would start a series of posts discussing each number in the NFL (randomly) and who wore that number the best in the history of the league (we’ll gladly consider AFL, and even some CFL and USFL where applicable), and allow the fans to vote for who they think was the best.
The first number up is one that has had a significant tradition of star players: #81
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