2009-10 NFL Preview

‘Twas the night before football and all through the house,

Not a creature was stirring, not even a fantasy football-exhausted computer mouse,

The father and sons slept with dreams of footballs in their heads,

The remotes were cleaned and the TV was shined,

Extra batteries by their chairs, chips and burgers smelled divine,

When all of a sudden… “Bwoooooooop”,

Power outage! Wait, it was just a dream. Well, here we are once again. The start of another amazing football season. A chance for the slate to be wiped clean. (I bet the Detroit Lions couldn’t wait.) And once again it’s time for my NFL Preview Post “Fake studio applause”. I’m your host, thisoldsoul.

AFC East: I will take the Patriots here. They would have won the division last year, had it not been for Tom Brady’s injury. The Jets, Dolphins, and Bills just can’t contest this year. Possible wild card for 1 of those 3.

AFC North: This will be contested between the Steelers and Ravens. The Bengals will fight valiantly but lose out, and the Browns will acknowledge another poor season. Steelers will most likely win, with Ravens being in the lead for a wild card.

AFC South: Titans vs. Colts here, with the Jaguars and Texans slipping in here and there.  Tough call but whatever team doesn’t win the division will win a wild card. Best guess: Titans. Texans may have a possible wild card.

AFC West: Plain and simple: Chargers. They may be slightly contested by the Broncos, but the Chiefs and Raiders will not even pose a threat.

AFC Wild Cards:  Colts and Ravens.

NFC East:  Quite possibly the strongest division in the NFL at this point. I will take the Giants here with Eagles and Cowboys, and quite possibly the Redskins in wild card contention.

NFC North: I’ll take the Packers, with the Vikings and Bears lurking in the wild card and possible division contention again. The Lions should pop champagne if they get one win, celebrate by going out to eat if there are two, and if they win three, they should sit around and just stare in amazement. Give them a clap. Or two if they deserve it.

NFC South: Falcons will most likely win, but Buccaneers, Panthers, and Saints should all contend also. Expect those four to fight to the finish.

NFC West: Flat out Cardinals here. Rams, Seahawks and 49ers will not even contend for anything. Except possibly first pick in next year’s draft.

NFC Wild Cards: Eagles and Vikings.

AFC Championship: Patriots over the Steelers. (Sorry, pal.)

NFC Championship: Eagles over the Giants.

Super Bowl: Patriots over the Eagles.

Super Bowl XLIII Recap

Well, it’s all over, and boy, was this one for the ages. (Don’t we hear that every year?) The game  was a close one with some new records set, but finally the Steelers won it 27-23 and became the first franchise to win 6 championships.

The game’s first score was a rushing touchdown by Gary Russell, which put the Steelers up 7-0. Next, Jeff Reed kicked the shortest field goal in Super Bowl history, an 18-yarder which made it 10-0.  The Cardinals scored off a touchdown pass by Kurt Warner, who had stumbled earlier during the play, but kept his balance and threw it in the corner. Next, they drove deep to the end zone again, but on the next play the ball was picked off by James Harrison. Harrison followed blocking all the way to the end zone for the longest interception return for a touchdown ever-100 yards. He made a fumble recovery but it was declared incomplete.

Pittsburgh made another field goal which put them up 20-7, but Arizona came roaring back with a 1-yard pass for a touchdown to Larry Fitzgerald. The Steelers were then put deep on their own 1-yard line off of a punt with 3rd and 20 to go, or something like that. Ben Roethlisberger made a great pass to Santonio Holmes for a first down, but what?!? Holding, offense. Safety. Then the Cardinals scored again with a long touchdown pass and run to Fitzgerald. Yet again, he evaded all defenders and made his way for a touchdown putting them up 23-20. With 2 minutes left the Steelers drove all the way to the end zone. Then, a Ben Roethlisberger pass to Santonio Holmes. In the corner of the end zone. With 3 DBs on him. The world held its breath. He came down to earth.

TOUCHDOWN!!!

When the Cardinals got the ball back, they tried to drive for the touchdown, but to no avail. Lamar Woodleyforced a fumble and the Steelers fell on it, clinching the game. Penalties plagued the Cardinals all game long, and they led to some costly first downs for the Steelers. Santonio Holmes was awarded the MVP award, as he well deserved.

But the season is over and I can’t  wait for next year!!!

P.S. Sorry, but Wednesday I’ll preview the Nationals future for the upcoming baseball season.

Super Bowl XLIII Pick

Alright, now I know you’ve all been patient. And here it is! My pick for the 43rd Super Bowl in Tampa, Florida on February 1st. My pick for the Bowl is……………………….  *Drum Roll*

The Pittsburgh Steelers!

I’m picking them over the Cardinals because of their solid defense and great running game.  Their receiving corps is not as good as the Cardinals group but Big Ben is solid and so are their receivers. A sports simulation site ran this game a couple hundred times and got the Steelers winning over 55% of the time, the Cardinals the remaining 45%. I pick again the Steelers, by a score of 23-20, with a winning field goal by Jeff Reed.

But come this Sunday we will know who the 43rd champion will be, either the favored Pitssburgh Steelers or the underdog Arizona Cardinals. And a champion will be crowned and a loser will walk off in defeat.

Super Bowl!!

The Steelers and the Cardinals have fought their way to the Super Bowl. The Steelers through the obstacles of the Chargers and Ravens and the Cardinals through the obstacles of the Falcons, Panthers, and Eagles. The Steelrs won a hard fought game vs. the Ravens and the Cardinals squeaked it out versus the Eagles. Now the two teams will face each other in the 43rd Super Bowl in Tampa. Pittsburgh Steelers vs. the Arizona Cardinals. This will surely be a good matchup!

Till then,

thisoldsoul

P.S. Coming Thursday: My pick for the Super Bowl!

P.P.S. Coming next Monday: an outlook on the 2009 Washington Nationals season.

P.P.P.S. Coming the Thursday after the upcoming one: an outlook of the entire baseball season.

Today in Football

Today in Football we have the Panthers taking on the Cardinals in the night game and the afternoon game (in an hour) is the Ravens and Titans. Should be good!

Sunday Wild Card Round Review

And now. the second part of my wild card review.

The  Baltimore Ravens demolished the Miami Dolphins with a resounding 27-9 defeat of the team. Ed Reed had two interceptions off Chad Pennington, the Dolphins quarterback, who ultimately threw four, a season high for him. One came where Ted Ginn Jr. tripped on a deep throw and Reed easily picked it up and followed excellent blocking all the way back for the touchdown. The Dolphins did score one touchdown, off a beautiful finger tip catch by Ronnie Brown, the halfback. but then missed the ensuing extra point, putting the exclamation mark on a lousy game for the Dolphins. Baltimore will take on the Tennessee Titans next week on Saturday.

 

The afternoon game pitted the Philadelphia Eagles versus the Minnesota Vikings. The Eagles rode 83 receiving yards, 38 rushing yards and a beautiful screen pass for a touchdown by Brian Westbrook, and had an excellent pass defense. The Vikings did have two touchdowns by Peterson, one a beautiful down field run but it wasn’t enough as the Eagles won 26-14. The Eagles will take on the division Rival, the New York Giants next week.

Well, that concludes my review. Check back next week on Sunday and Monday for more playoff game reviews!

Saturday Wild Card Round Review

Well, the Wild Card Round is over and for those who didn’t see it, here’s what happened.

On Saturday, the Atlanta Falcons visited the Arizona Cardinals in the first game. The Cardinals pulled away early and took a 14-3 lead but the Falcons fought back and made it 17-14 at the half. Kurt Warner threw an amazing flea flicker bomb to Larry Fitzgerald, then gave the ball to Anquan Boldin on a beautiful pass for a 71-yard score. Boldin injured his hamstring on the play, with no word on his recovery.  They scored two more touch downs in the third to make it 28-17, then got a safety. The Falcons scored again but were not able to win as their season ended with a 30-24 loss. The Cardinals will take on the Panthers in the next round.

 

The second game was the Indianapolis Colts at the San Diego Chargers. The Colts took a 7-0 lead but the Chargers scored two touchdowns to make it 14-10 at the half. Then the Colts got another TD and a last minute field goal tied it at 17 going into overtime. When the Chargers got the ball they gave it to Darren Sproles who took  it for a 43-yard touchdown to win it. The Chargers will take on the Steelers who will have Big Ben Roethlisberger on Sunday afternoon.

Playoffs?!?

Don’t talk to me about playoffs! Playoffs?!?

Well,the season is over for the Patriots and the Redskins. The Redskins ended another dismal season, finishing 8-8 with a horrific loss to the lowly 49ers, 27-24. I didn’t even watch the game because I had no interest in it at all. Instead, I decided that STAR WARS Battlefront 2 was more interesting. Zorn has done well for a first time head coach, bringing the ‘Skins to 8-8, which is good for a beginner. We can expect more of him next year.

 

Meanwhile the Patriots have been knocked out because of wins by the Ravens and the Dolphins. But it was a great game to watch as they played the Bills in 40 to 50 mph winds, with some gusts up to 60 mph. There was one field goal attempt where the ball was kicked to the left on account of the winf going to the right, and the wind blew it across , out of play, and into the stands!

Well, now I am officially fans of the Steelers in the AFC, and the Giants in the NFC. I am fans of them because I was born in the New York area and was conscripted by a close friend into the Terrible Towel regime.

Finally!

Finally, a Redskins win. And it actually came from a quality opponent. The Eagles’ playoff hopes have now been dashed, and the Redskins have played the spoiler. Next week, they take on the 49ers. USA Today has actually picked the 6-9 49ers over the 8-7 Redskins. Not surprising, considering the poor quality of theri wins and play this season. But jsut think, if the Redskins had been able to beat the Rams and the Bengals, 2 absolutely horrible teams, they would be 10-5. And if they had just one more win versus another team, they would be 11-4 and have a playoff spot virtually locked up.

 

Now, considering the wild AFC East race.  The Patriots need to defeat the Bills and have the Jets beat the Dolphins to win the division, or have the Ravens lose to the Jaguars and Beat the Bills to get the final wild card. If the Jets beat the Dolphins and the Bills beat the Patriots, the Jets win the division. If the Dolphins win over the Jets, they win the division.

Man, that was tiring.

What….

is going on with the Redskins?? Losing 20-13 to the lowly Bengals??? The Bengals before the game had 1 win 8 losses and 1 tie; now they have 2 wins 8 losses and 1 tie. The Redskins are now 7-7. I’ve been keeping track of the season standings, and I believe that they are out of “the hunt”. NFL.com agrees with me also. I have been a Redskins fan from the beginning of my moving to Virginia. With a start of 4-1, everyone was thinking playoffs, and possibly, a Super Bowl ring. The ‘Skins have lost 6 of their last 9 to fall to 7-7 and have been passed by the ‘Boys and the Eagles.  Although, they have had to play 6 games vs their divisional opponents, all very tough teams. If they were in the NFC West, AFC West, or NFC North, they would still be in the race for the divisional title. They really need to start throwing the ball downfield more, and dump half of their short toss plays.  To quote a famous coach, “Playoffs?!? Don’t talk to me about playoffs!! Playoffs?!?